Becoming Kings

Are you living in a bubble?

Anxiety has a funny way of making us feel safe. What I mean is, anxiety fully realized tends to push us further and further into ourselves, into spaces where we’re protected from what bothers us. 

Even though we end up feeling “safe” we’re really only limiting our potential to shift and grow in our lives. I think about all the times I began to cave to anxiety and how it threatened to derail my trajectory. 

Yet the thing that always brought me back from entering the anxiety bubble was the realization that I didn’t want to feel safe. I wanted to feel deeply challenged. 

In my years of coaching other people, I’ve met many who haven’t felt the same way, until we’ve done the work to prove that challenge > safe. Overcoming anxiety starts with both mindset and understanding your feelings. 

Today, we’re going to burst the bubble. Are you ready?

In this episode you’ll learn about…

• How often do you feel nervous, panicked, unhinged? (0:36)
• The cause of anxiety. (2:58)
• It takes years to build and seconds to destroy. (5:49)
• 60 seconds to breathe. (9:28)
• What you can do to lower your anxiety. (12:10)
• Do. The. Work. And tag me in your posts! (14:30)

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Start with how you talk about yourself.

You know, my buddy gets that people love him dearly. He just has trouble receiving it. We were sitting down to talk about it after he had a downer of a birthday. What was weird was that he had an outpouring of genuine care on that day, and he still felt unloved… or rather he hadn’t accepted that he was. 

I’ve been the same way in the past, and it’s entirely possible you struggle with it as well. As we were chatting, we landed on something important:

Our language often shows us why we struggle to accept love or other good things from others. We talk down to ourselves, and run with negative thought patterns without even realizing it. So I want to ask you something…. 

How do you think your day-to-day would change if you shifted your language? Let’s break it all down in this episode of The Johnny King Show.

In this episode you’ll learn about…

• Was it the best day of your life? (0:48)
• HBD notes. (3:31)
• Either YOU’RE lying, or I’M lying to myself. (7:01)
• “Try harder to love yourself”. (11:28)
• This is the truth. (15:06)
• You cannot run away from your problems. (18:37)

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Dismissal kills drive to change.

It’s a reflexive habit for me. Over the past few years I’ve adopted a glass half full mindset, and yet I never realized what I was doing to myself to maintain it. 

As I was meeting with my coach, she pointed out something I hadn’t expected:

Whenever I start to open up about my feelings, I immediately chuck them out the window. I take the broom and shunt them under the rug. Thankfully, I think we’re all able to grow even when we do this. However, it IS something to confront in your life if you do it. 

There’s this quote that goes “Comparison is the thief of joy,” and when we dismiss our feelings, it’s often with the context of comparison. 

What can be done to address an issue like this? How can we stop leaving our feelings out to dry, or putting someone else down to “make light” of our negative feelings? Let’s find out in this episode of The Johnny King Show.

In this episode you’ll learn about…

• The bandwidth for progress. (0:48)
• Questioning the origin of our behaviors. (4:27)
• Dismissing your feelings? (7:11)
• Comparing ourselves with people who are worse off? (9:40)
• How do you process negative emotions? (11:49)

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If it’s not a win-win we all lose.

Somewhere along the way masculinity became all about dominating others, showing force, while treating others like competition. And we need to get something straight here:

It shouldn’t be like that. 

Being driven is good. I advocate for it all the time, however if you’re trampling others along the way, I have to ask you “Why?” You see, it’s not about getting to the finish line or building the life you want as fast as possible. It’s important to remember what you’re leaving behind along the way. 

What does it mean to be led by legacy then? We ought to be strong, yet not crush others. Every action we take impacts our families, every path we choose must be traveled with companionship in mind, and we must never go out of our way to hurt others. 

Which is why creating that win-win is so important, and I’ll teach you how in this episode of The Johnny King Show, while helping you see how to leave dominating behind.

In this episode you’ll learn about…

• Being turned off by building a legacy. (1:19)
• Refining instead of defining. (5:00)
• Raising future generations to be better off than us. (8:43)
• Are you driven or are you being led? (12:14)
• What we can learn from the greatest generation. (13:56)
• Are you in competition with someone or are you focused on win-wins. (17:08)

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It’s all about high-stakes accountability.

Have you ever made a deal with someone that was so crazy, it just had to work? Maybe as a kid, however as adults sometimes we get the idea in our head that we can’t take risks. Well let me tell you something about risk: 

It CAN be a good motivator. The catch is that you can’t use it too recklessly. The risk needs to be just enough to be unnerving, yet not so much that it’s overwhelming. We’re looking for results here, not fear! 

“Johnny what does this have to do with accountability?” 

Let me cut to the chase… back in the day my buddy and I had an accountability partnership with just each other. Yet sometimes, we’d let ourselves be lazy and cut corners. We were accomplishing more because of the effort, it just wasn’t as much as we’d wanted it to be. 

So one day, I created a wager so ridiculous, he couldn’t help but say yes. We put enough on the line that it drove us to succeed. Unfortunately, you’ll have to listen to the episode to find out what that wager was, and how it changed EVERYTHING for us!

In this episode you’ll learn about…

• You’ll always do more for others. (0:36)
• Enrolling someone to support you helps 100%. (2:28)
• My FREE 5-Day Productivity Challenge. (5:37)
• Putting my money where my mouth is. (8:07)
• Creating an artificial sense of urgency. (11:16)

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Are you actually “good” or “fine”?

When we’re always going for the glass half-full approach, it turns out it’s difficult to have the opportunity to experience true feelings. 

Do the things that are uncomfortable. Put yourself out there! “Social standards” cannot become an excuse to never be yourself. To be vulnerable is to be real, and you can do that while avoiding burdening someone with your baggage. For some reason, we’ve gotten into our heads that expressing what’s going on in our hearts is baggage.  

It’s important to acknowledge how you’re actually feeling, and vocalize it to others NOT to bring them down, rather to help them also be authentic. Having the courage to do that gives them permission to be themselves… perhaps for the first time in a while. 

Get out of your normal habits, leave behind the robotic notions of what’s an acceptable feeling, and brighten someone’s world. Let’s talk about it in this episode!

In this episode you’ll learn about…

• I’m feeling “F.I.N.E.”. (0:35)
• Have the courage to open up. (4:56)
• Glass as half full or half empty? (5:44)
• The purpose behind emotional release. (8:55)
• What comes back when you put out raw, real emotion. (11:30)
• If you normally go left, choose to go right. (14:31)

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Bodybuilding, Arnold, and mastering the body.

I got down to 6% body fat at 25 years old. By preparing for a bodybuilding competition, I began to understand that so much of weight loss/gain and body improvement was mindset. It was then that I resolved to never become overweight, or rather I realized it would be impossible. 

Fast forward to today, and all of that has proven to be true. The hundreds of people that I’ve coached through my gym business years ago, and the people I work with now, have proven time and time again that it’s all mindset work. 

The effort we put into working out can feel overwhelming, yes. However, by removing the mental roadblocks, we can do so much more! I’m not kidding when I say that a healthier body is just a few days away. 

On this episode of the podcast, we’re diving into how YOU can change your body THIS year, and set your health up for a bright future. Let’s get to it!

In this episode you’ll learn about…

• From Dad Bod to Greek God. (0:50)
• Body building in 2006. (5:07)
• Science of muscle gain & the art of sustaining it. (9:52)
• The emotional side of good health. (13:58)
• Reverse pyramid training. (17:43)
• What is your 2021 health goal? (21:00)

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Wrestling with faith, life, and the self.

“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” -Bruce Lee

My long-time friend, and former Tony Robbins coach, Keith Waggoner, lives by this sentiment. The belief that life should be difficult is something we ought to consider for a few moments. 

What is growth without struggle? What is accomplishment without challenge? Who are we if we just let the world pass by?

Living with intention, seeking greater faith, and wrestingling with our deepest beliefs are some of the best ways to become who we want to be. It all starts with showing up ready to work, by being willing to take things as they come, or seeking something to push you to your limits. 

I cannot imagine anyone better to speak to this journey. Keith is a man of conviction, faith, and action. The coaching work he does with his clients is centered on faith and challenge, which is definitely something I’ve been thinking about lately… and something we’ve been focusing on during my most recent podcast episodes. 

Are you ready to become undisputable? Jump into my conversation with Coach Kieth Waggoner on this latest episode of The Johnny King Show.

In this episode you’ll learn about…

• Part Coach, Part Comedian. (1:34)
• The wrestling continues and continues…(8:18)
• Envisioning how we’ll die. (16:12)
• We all suffer from TW. (24:48)
• What Coach Keith loves most about his work. (32:56)
• Are you giving away your power to be validated? (39:40)

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The viral full-body press.

Sensitivity warning: we’ll be talking about the effects COVID-19 had on me. If you’re uncomfortable with discussions of illness, pain, etc., skip ahead to the next episode!

As much as you’ve seen others say it on social media, I need to affirm something about COVID-19: it’s no joke. This virus hits in a way I’ve never quite felt before, and I’m not certain where I picked it up from. 

 What was it like? Well, it was like this slow burn that reached into every part of my body and twisted it up. I won’t go into details here, however if you only read this today, please know that if you’re immunocompromised or live with certain health risks, COVID-19 is brutal. 

I’m in pretty good physical health and it had me sleeping 12 hours a day for almost a week.  The pain, achiness, and lethargy I experienced was almost alien to me, because I don’t get sick often. 

If you’re curious about my entire experience, from the “I know I’ve got this thing,” to “I can barely move” phases, you’ll want to dig into this one.

In this episode you’ll learn about…

• COVID is no joke. (0:44)
• Gotta keep on, keepin’ on! (4:18)
• An attack on my nervous system. (8:53)
• The timeline of symptoms. (13:06)
• Definitely different than anything I’ve ever experienced. (17:10)

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Break out of your patterns with tactful interrupts.

Tony Robbins has a habit of asking people really personal questions to throw them off their game. It’s easy to fall into a pattern of thinking or an unhealthy headspace in just a few seconds. 

However, by interrupting these patterns with the right questions you can draw yourself out of the emotional hole AND give you valuable insight into how to overcome next time. 

After my chat with Dominic, I wanted to further reflect on how we can work against the anxiety we have in our lives. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that overcoming anxiety can be a difficult task. Yet with the right tools, by asking the right questions, we can begin to understand the roots of our anxiety…

And dislodge its grip on our lives! Imagine the doors that could open to you. Let’s dig into the questions we can ask ourselves to put anxiety to rest in our lives.

In this episode you’ll learn about…

• Dealing with anxiety. (1:21)
• Tony’s intervention with anxiety. (2:07)
• Anxiety is determined by your focus. (4:55)
• Changing the quality of your questions. (7:41)
• Catch yourself and change your focus! (10:33)

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