Master Your Growth: The Habits, Mindset, and Daily Choices That Change Everything

0:00 The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are solely those of the hosts and their guests and not those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services, or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability explicit or implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W FOURCY Radio. Welcome to to Ask Good Questions Podcasts, broadcasting live every Wednesday, six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at w four cy dot com. This week and every week, we will reach for a higher purpose in money and life, as well as a focus on health and wellness. Now, let's join your host, Anita bel Anderson, as together we start with Asking Good Questions.

1:01 Hey, and welcome to the Ask Good Questions Podcast. I am your host, Benita bell Anderson, and I am so happy that you have joined us today. We have got a fantastic show with a real pro in the development personal development field that is just going to be a fascinating thing. Here for us. So with that, I would like to invite doctor Aggie Karamides. Oh boy, boy, I hope I said that right? Yes? Did I pronounce that right? Ai? Very nice, very nice, well done. So I'm so excited to have him. I met him because of a group of people that do podcasting and it's called Podmatch, and I met him because of him doing a training like a webinar training for people that do podcasts, and so I was so excited. He's actually in the U. We were playing with time zones today because I'm still in Hawaii. My engineer is in Florida, and Aggie is in the UK. So with that, let me tell you a little bit about him. He's originally from Greece and based in the UK since twenty ten, so you've been there for a while now, sixteen years.

2:24 So he's the host of the Personal Development Mastery podcast, which has over five hundred episodes. You've been doing it for a while, and he ranks in the global top one percent. He's had the privilege of interviewing more than three hundred thought leaders, including Brian Tracy and Mark Victor Hansen, who I have done a lot of things with, and doctor John de Martini as well as inspiring individuals from all walks of life. Interesting random fact about him is he once guarded a willbarrow full of hot calls at a Tony Robbins event. I know that I did. I did the hot call walking on hot calls at a Harvecker event one time back in the day.

3:13 Mm hm hmmmm. It's a great experience. Yes, I was very surprised. So do you want to add anything to that? Thank you for the introduction, and it's great to be here if you're asking me to add something to the will barrow food and full of hot coals. It was part of my I was volunteering as a crew at that time and we were responsible for organizing setting up the firework, which means, you know, the hot coals that people walk on. So it was my responsibility that time to guard that will burrow because there were lots of people around and it could become dangerous if I got this tame. So that's the story behind it.

4:04 Wow, well how long did you do that? How long? The pharaoh lasts a few hours to three hours, so something like that. It took me up. Yeah, I was doing that for about a couple of hours. Yeah, yeah, well, okay, so we are going to talk about a book you've written. That book is called eighty eight Actionable Insights for Life, Discover the Secret Shared by Experts on Personal development Mastery. So I feel like you're a little bit of like Napoleon Hill going out and interviewing people. Thank you very much for the analogy. It is quite I understand that, and I will go past your very flattering comment about Napoleon Hill. The viewing people is one of the best ways to gain knowledge about a topic that you want to gain knowledge about. You're already doing it, Bunita with the podcast, and so was I with my podcast.

5:15 So it was only a matter of time before all these interviews at that time started to create the needs inside me that I need to do something else with them rather than just the audio content. So then I took the time to organize some of that content, put it into categories, and eventually turn into a book. Right, awesome, Well, what first led you to this whole idea of personal development work and why did you feel you know, so, did you feel like you were starting to get something that needed to get out there?

6:01 As a matter of fact, it started because I needed answers for myself. It was not about getting anything out there. It was about me trying to understand what was happening with me. And that was about ten eleven years ago. I had just finished a master's degree. My professional what I trained to be with a dentist. So I had just at that time finished the master's degree in dentistry, and I found myself in a very strange position where after two years of studying, lots of expenses and so on, I didn't feel like I wanted to do any of that sophisticated advanced dentistry. I had lost my motivation. At that time, I was just entering my forties. So I'm sure that this also had something to do with it, this midlife rization. Yes, so I tend to personal development to find answers for myself because I wanted to understand what is happening with me? Why am I not content and happy with what I've been doing? What is it that I want to do? And you know, I started reading books, I went to seminars. One thing led to the other, but it was in the beginning. It was an inner quest, desire to understand what was happening within me.

7:29 Way before it turned into you know, podcast or expressing those things outwardly. Wow, that's that's quite something, because, you know, being a financial advisor, I've worked with a lot of datas and I've actually seen just I don't know, I maybe want to just call it the ankst. I mean, there can be a lot going on with that profession. Well, let's turn a little bit more to you know, just this whole idea of just people and what they want to do. Why do you think so many people know what they want but they still struggle to achieve it.

8:14 I think knowing what to do and doing it are two different things. So I think the answer to your question lies in the second bit. Many As you said, many people, if not most people know what to do, but they don't do what they know. There is the struggle immediately, because knowledge without the application of the knowledge does not progress one's life. Or, to use a phrase that I like very much, to know and not to do is really not to know. Yeah, right, that is so true. Well do you think you've found that people often as underestimate how much they're energy or their habits. I think probably habits and their physical well being affect their mindset and their progress.

9:08 I suppose they do. Sometimes they do underestimate the habits, the energy level. All these things play a big role in how we think, and how we think affects how we feel. How we feel affects what decisions and actions will take, and the latter really affects the results that we will have. So if we start our day, for example, being tired because we didn't sleep well, and that's because perhaps we had two three glasses of wine in the previous night, then inevitably the results that we will produce in that day will be inferior to the same day, all the other factors being equal well, but having the top energy, mental, energy, clarity, all these things that come with health would generally like that to do stuff and be more inspired. It's it's a combination of accent. I think it's a cornerstone being healthy, being energetic, having this kind of a clear mental and physical position. If I can that from which we can operate.

10:42 Right, well, I totally get that. I feel like, if I don't feel right, I am not going to be on. I'm not going to be the best at whatever I'm doing that day. No, I'm just not. So there is Actually, as I have been reading your book, I was completely drawn to chapter eight, and so that's where we're going to spend We've we've already we're already eleven minutes into our podcast here and so but we're going to spend most of the rest of the time on chapter eight and those principles. So what is it really and so the name that the chapter heading is master your Personal Development? What does it really mean to you agi to master your personal development?

11:31 This is a It's a great question to start with, because my understanding of what this is has changed over the years. Initially, I thought that mustading personal development would be like mustered in something extended, like mastered in a musical instrument, or mastered in a foreign language or something like that. In other words, reaching a stage or a level where your comprehension of understanding and ability to practice that is at a superior level. What I realized after a point in my own journey, and that is my understanding up to now, is that the mastery of personal development is not a destination. It is not an end point, It is not something to be achieved as such. Rather than that, it is a constant, continuous perhaps rather than constant, a continuous art of improving ourselves, perfecting towards a vision that we want or we have said.

12:45 It. It is not a destination. It is a journey. And that journey consists of every single day, really every passing hour, I would even say every moment that constitutes the journey. So master in the personal development. Our personal development means breaking it down and master in the day, master in the hour, master. In the moment, through every moment. Right, Well, you kind of start that chapter with reprogramming your subconscious mind. I think that what you just said has a lot to do with reprogramming yourself so that you keep going, right.

13:34 I think you know, in order to reprogram, as you say, there is before that. Before we reach that level, we have to understand first what is happening and how our subconscious mind operates, and how it influences, if not commands, but certainly influences everything that we do or the decision we make, all the even the things that we speak, the all the things, all those things are directed by the subconscious mind. And to the very large extent this happens well as the world says subconsciously, we are not aware of it. In such so we think we are and we think that we are being aware in you know, doing an action or saying a comment or whatever else it is. But more often than not, this is not the case. We're not aware of it. It happens automatically without the you know, the intervention of our conscious mind at that moment. So I think that is the fundamental level what we need to understand before we even discuss about reprogramming it or anything like that.

14:59 Right, well, so let's start with that minimum morning routine. What's your minimum morning routine when you first wake up? What's what? What? What do you think? I like the term like minimum morning routine, and that came because for many people morning routine meant and also for me in the beginning, a huge list of tasks for activities that need to be done in the morning. So meditate, do this, do that, exercise, journaling, gratitude, blah blah blah, which could take easily over an hour, which is fine if you have an hour in the morning.

15:49 Most people don't have the luxuries, i well say, of having one hour in the morning completely to themselves to do whatever they So a minimum routine. The concept of the minimum routine means for me that yes, I could do all these things and spend one hour. And actually sometimes I do. When I have the time, I do it, but often I don't have the time, so I do compress or eliminate some elements and only keep the bear essentials for that particular day. And if you were to ask me, which are for me the better sense? So one of them is meditation that has been a cornerstone of my morning routine for many years, many years over a decade, journaling where I write down a few things about how I'm feeling or what I'm grateful for, or even look through my day so that I am prepared in a way you know, I'm aware, I'm prepared of what I need to do, and some form of physical exercise, which depends on on the time. It can be as quick as a ten minutes yoga practice, which I can do and it really helps, or it can be you know, if I have the time, I can go out and have a run for half an hour. So it all depends.

17:20 But the minimum are some things that are in a way non negotiable for me that even if I only have ten minutes or fifteen minutes available, I will squeeze those things in to the best way that I can. Well you, I mean, it looks like you have ten elements, so you've mentioned what three of them? What are the other ones then if you know besides that, if you had the time. Yes, ten elements. One of them now I'm trying to remember. One of them was to hydrate, have water, which. Is well, I'm yeah. Many people unfortunately go for the coffee muscine immediately when they wake up, which is wrong for many reasons. But let's not go into that yet. One other thing on another element, very important? What else is it now, I'm trying to think which runs I've said, Oh, the very very first one, which I believe it's very important, is when the alarm goes off, get out of the bed, do not snooze, do not press the snooze button, do not do anything like that. And there is a very simple reason for that. This is the first decision you're making the day. So if the first decision you make the day is one of comfort, let me snoos for another ten minutes, like you need ten minutes after a

18:52 seven hour sleep, which it doesn't make sense. We do it because it is a matter of comfort, you know, and warm and comfortable. But that decision sets the tone, whether we are aware of it or not. It sets the tone for other decisions that we will take. So when we start a day like this, then further down the line, when we are more tired in the day, it's easier to take the decision that is comfortable rather than the right thing to do. Okay, interesting, Well, another concept that you talk about is expose yourself to the worst case scenario. Is that, like, what's the worst thing that could happen today? What does that mean? AIGI?

19:45 I remember that particular chapter from the book was from a guest that I had who was he had a starter and he was a TEDx speaker, which is, you know, on many levels this doesn and he was actually he delivered the speech while having the stutter, and he was telling me that exposing himself to the worst case scenari and I'm using his as an example because that's how I have written it in the book, was to actually speak to people that he didn't know and say, look, I have a stuted and being exposed to the potential ridicule that they might have, or if there were you know, young people they would laugh at him or things like that.

20:34 But what he realized was that after he had done it, he felt empowered because he didn't die, nothing bad happened to him. The only thing that really happened afterwards was that he felt better about himself that he could do that, and he would not care, or at least he would not care to such an extent about what other people would tell him. So that is, you know, a practical example that I mentioned in my book, But it can be more theoretical if you want, I mean, if you want to visualize. And actually, now that I say visualize, that was also one of the ten elements that you asked about the day. You could visualize the worst case scenario or something bad that might happen, and that is not you know, to attract it and make it happen.

21:38 If only we could do that like this, it would be a very different situation. We can't anyway, but we can prepare mentally for something bad that might happen. So if that happens, it does not cuts as it does not grab us by surprise. They're not catch us by surprise, so we have more had the opportunity to process it and think about some potential outcome from some potential responses that we might have. Yeah, so you're you're a little bit prepared. Well, you say, you talk about changing your life with a simple five minutes a day tool. What might that five minutes a day too? Will be?

22:31 Bonita will have to help me out here now, because it is something specifical on the book that I don't remember which five minute tool you mean. There are many five minute tools. Five minute tools. Okay, Well, you know, I think the one thing that stops people a lot is limiting beliefs. And and basically one of the things you said is look at your limiting beliefs rather than look through them, which I think is interesting because my belief is that sometimes we don't even know what our limiting beliefs are.

23:17 That's true. And the best analogy that I can think of limited beliefs, it's like a pair of glasses of spectacles that we look through them, and most of the time, and anyone who wears glasses, or perhaps if you wear sunglasses or anything like that, most of the time you are not aware that there. You just look through them. You see whatever it is that you see, and you take that as the you know, your visual perception to your your image. You do not look at the actual lens, at the frame. So this is a similarity that are limiting beliefs or I believes in general, have because they filter or they change the way that we see things depending on what kind of beliefs there are. So if there are glasses, for example, if I have these glasses, or if I put a pair of dark glasses, all of a sudden, everything will look dark, and that's probably the time that I realized that something has changed. But if I keep on wearing my sunglasses day in, day out, sooner or later this will become the normal for me.

24:38 I will forget that there are sunglasses there, and I will believe that this dark tint that I see everywhere around me is how things are. So that is a great analogy to consider when we're thinking about our beliefs and our limited belief in particular. There is one example that I have that in the book as well, and it makes me I would say that because I think it is very clear. It made a big impact on me the first time I heard that. And it is two people, two friends, walking down the street. One of them loves dogs, the other one is terrified of dogs, and they're going around walking chatting about something, and all of a sudden a dog starts running towards them. So the situation, the external situation, is objectively the same. There are two people and the dog running towards them. Subjectively, though, those two people who have a very different experience of reality and the experience of that situation. One person would feel really happy that there is a dog come in and perhaps he wants to you know, pet him or whatever.

26:06 The other person will be scared, terrified, and not only in his not only mentally, also his body. If he feels scared, then there will be a physical response to that. So that is a great example of you know, different lenses, different beliefs. There the same exact situation, two completely different internal representations or internal understandings of reality or experiences of reality. Well, if that person who's freaked out about the dog, how do they begin if they become aware that they want to change that? What would you say? Say? It would be the first thing that they would need to do to start changing that. If they're realizing, Okay, this is stupid, don't I don't want to be scared like this?

27:02 How would they start changing that? I guess basically, another another thing from this chapter is overcoming. You're limiting beliefs. For sure, and I wish there was some simple answer that I could, you know, share right now in one minute and say this is how you reprogram your subconscious mind, Bonita. When I find that very simple and effective models, I will get back to you and share it with the world. But well, it is I think awareness. Many awareness the first is the first step.

27:44 Awareness the first step for sure, because if I become aware that I'm afraid of dogs and I want to change that, that would lead me to look for solutions. If I'm not aware of it, or if i don't mind it, or if I accept that as part of who I am, that this is who I am and I'm afraid of dogs and period, then there is little chance of you know, taking some action in order to change that belief. Well, talk to me about self sabotage, because I think probably if you have those limited believes, you're going to self sabotage yourself. You're not going to take some actions, You're not going to do some things that can move you forward. Isn't that correct?

28:31 For sure? And self sabotage happens, I think to most of us, or at least it wants to happen, and that's it. It reminds me of what I said earlier about you know, putting the present the snooze button before when the alarm goes off. That is, in a way a form of self sabots provided that you know, you had some plans for your day and that's why you set your alarm at a certain time, so you wanted to do it, but you are not doing it by snoozing. Therefore you are self sabot dozing. And you know with self sabotize what comes up now that you're asking me about this is a tendency to stay in our comfort zone one way or another, or a tendency to avoid doing something that will be uncomfortable or be fearful, or be potentially you know, could be It depends on what it's person's limiting beliefs are that will be challenged or pushed.

29:49 So the self sabot dosing is a very nice disguise, because I'm saying disguise because we don't usually call it self sabots. So if we do something that prevents us from growing or taking some kind of action out of the comfort zone, we don't necessarily call it self subbort as we find our mind has a way of rationalizing it very well and giving us a great you know reason, or it presents them as regions even though they ex chooses really but it presents us real solid revisions why what we chose to do is the right thing to do, and we won't be in trouble and we can carry on.

30:41 But when you look at it objectively, or perhaps when someone else helps you to see it objectively, because it is more difficult to be objective about ourselves. So when we look at that from a different perspective, then we realize, yes, it is self sabotage. Because you know, I had the opportunity, for example, to go to a guest go as a guest to a podcast like this, and I didn't right at the time, but I felt and I don't know why I'm giving this example, but anyway, it is probably because we're both podcasters. But any similar situation where we avoid doing something that would challenge us in a way or another, and instead we do what is familiar, what is comfortable, what is not challenging us. This is, you know, in a simple form, the self sabotage. I mean, it can go way much deeper than that. But I feel more prone to share this more subtle expression of self subotage rather than you know, something that is very clear, like an intend heavy drinking. That is a different form of self which is more easy to observe, perhaps, but there are more subtle levels than that that it would

32:13 be useful to be aware of. Right, Well, there's another I think there's a related concept, and that is something else you'd mentioned about noticing your autopilot response. I think that we can have an autopilot response towards avoiding discomfort, you know, self sabotagy, or or if you feel like you want to move yourself forward, maybe your autopilot response is going to be, Hey, I'm going to try that. So what's your what's your feeling about this whole idea of an autopilot response. The autopilot response goes back to we were talking about subconscious and that is how I perceive the autopilot response is something that happens habitually. Response or a habit or an action that we do that we do not take the time or they have the awareness in the moment to process it and filter it before it is expressed, before it is taken as an action. So I don't know if that answers answers your questions. Rather well, it's a complex thing and I'm trying the best way to, you know, describe it as simply as I can.

33:41 I'm just I'm just going to encourage everyone to read this book because there is a lot there, and basically we're kind of skimming the surface. But I think one of the things that I completely agree with that you say in this chapter is your beliefs and perceptions create your reality. I think that is like one of those foundational things that whatever you believe, whatever you perceive, that's going to be a reality. Right. It's that example with the dog again, isn't it. I mean, what you perceive if you perceive that dogs are evil creatures that want to hurt you, and that you might have some really good reasons for doing that, because perhaps there is a dog bait you as a child, and you keep on carrying that. But that is a clear example of how our perception and our belief our beliefs determine our reality or how we experience our reality. Because reality is something completely individual to its its person. It is not one objective reality. Our reality is very very subjective. Right.

35:02 Well, one of the things I'm thinking about the whole thing with getting out of bed and getting your day started. Right. Another concept there is the power of proximity. So using the power of proximity to your advantage. I'm thinking like, well, if you have your running clothes out and your shoes are laid out and everything's ready to go, then you're more prone. Is that kind of like what you're thinking is the power proximity would be set yourself up to do the things you want to do. That certainly helps. I think in the context that have in the book about the power of proximity was the proximity with other people like peers or mentors or coaches, this kind of proximity. But to go back to your example, Yes, if you plan on running, for example, the next day, having the running shoes the clothes right next to the door, it's a very great facilitator of that, right, because it removes an excuse that you could use now I need to find my shoes. I need to do that, so it removes that. And I will add, since you mentioned that, I will add one more trick, if I can call it like that. Let's say that the previous day you were planning to run three miles or five kilometers or whatever it is that you had planned to run, and

36:32 then the next day, despite having put the shoes next to the door, you don't feel like it. And I mean, I'm raising my hand here because I have been there many times, really don't feel like it. The trick is to say to yourself, Okay, I'm just going to go out and run. I'm not going to run the three miles that I had said I would do. I will only going to run once around the block and go back. This really lowers the threshold of resistance because running for three or five minutes is something that the mind finds it more difficult to say no, no, no, you can't do even that. And what happens, from my experience usually is that once you are out and you have tricked your mind into you know, I'm just going to go for half a mile or whatever, then you find because you start to feel good, you end up doing what you had said that you would do. Yeah, maybe you have to trick a little bit. Our mind tricks us all the time, so it's good to be able to trick it back with some techniques like this.

37:43 Yeah, that is absolutely true. I have found that so often and if I just get started, then I'll do Oh, I can keep going, right. So you you talk about a mastermind, And one of the things I got to tell you, Agie, is that I started my podcast in twenty twenty four, and before that I had a limiting belief that, oh, I can't do that, And then I actually had a mentor who said, well why not you, you know, and look at all the experience you have and all that, and so I just decided to start. And it's one of those things where I just kind of kept going one step at a time. And now the reason that I met you was because of the Mastermind group that's within pod match and other people that are doing this sort of thing. So what has been your experience with mastermind groups?

38:42 What comes to my mind now that you ask that and think for the question is that then there's some I will use a quote, now there's some The is shorty. I want to say the again, the total in this case of the intelligence of the people in the mastermind, the total is more than the sum of each individual, of the sum of the people. And what I'm trying to think, I'm a bit confusion. Now, what I'm trying to say is that and that has been also my experience with mastermind groups that often there are things that are said, all solutions that are being presented that people look at each other and say, wow, okay, this was Where did that come from? Yeah, and I think it comes from You mentioned Napoleon hell In in the beginning, who talks about the concept of the mastermind groups, and he was saying that when a group of people coordinate for you the best of all, then they tap into He called it the infinite intelligence, or something that is beyond the minds of the individuals. So that has also been my experience. And as a matter of fact, now

40:15 that I would give an example many years ago, the idea of starting a podcast came from a mastermind group. Someone else said a comment and a thought, wow, I had never thought of that. Yeah, let's start a podcast. That was back in eighteen So okay. So, and like normal, these interviews seem to go really fast, and so I want to start winding, you know, kind of bringing it all together here. You talk about improving those two stories that you tell. What are the two stories that you tell?

41:01 Again, you're referring from a chapter on my book that there was a guest that he was speaking coaches, that he was talking about stories, and the one story the stories that he refers to it was the story of our past. In other words, what has happened to me? What is the journey that has led me here? And the other words, the story was all about our future. And this again we were talking about the subconscious and autopilot responses often, and I will invite someone listening or watching us now to think, what is their own experience of that, What is the story of their past that they're carrying with them to the present moment. For example, for me, before my before I started my personal development journey, I was, or at least I believed that I was shy, introverted, uncomfortable in social situations, that my words did not appeal to people or people they were not interested in that.

42:11 So that was a story that I was telling myself, not necessarily consciously, but I was telling that story at the back of my mind, and that story was influencing how I would show up in social events or in conversations or you know, meeting a stranger. So that is the story of the past, and that story of the past. It is up to us to look at it and rework it in a more empowering way, which you know, it's a big topic. The other is the story of the future. When we look at ourselves ahead one year from now, five years from now, twenty years from now, what do we see? And the thing is that Bonita or me or anyone we don't really know. The best we can do is guess. So might as well guess something that empowers us or something that inspires us to go there, rather than guessing that the next ten years of my life will be exactly like these ten years.

43:21 I mean, it is a choice to use and say that story, and also it is a choice to change it. Well, I you know, we're going to have to wrap up here unfortunately, but I have so appreciated having Augie as my guest today. The book again is eighty eight Actionable Insights for Life, Discover the Secret shared by experts on personal development Mastery. Personal Development Mastery is also the name of his podcast, and you will be able to find all the information about Aggie on my website. I have a little flyer about guests and what you know when they've been there, and the link to the episode, So argue, if there was one thing that you would tell people, one practical idea from you know, from your book, what would it be to have people maybe you know, do a little bit better in this arena.

44:26 The one that comes up right now is to take small but deliberate action towards something that you are curious about, or something that intrigues you, or something that you have been you know, entertaining an idea but not really done anything about it for you know, probably the reasons that we were talking about earlier, rather limited beneath short of story that you would be saying, or the autopilot or whatever. So my invitation would be too think about that thing or that idea that you feel curious about. Perhaps it's not enthusiasm, but there is some curiosity, something drawing you towards that, and take one small step or one small action towards it. It doesn't have to be anything massive or anything that you commit to do anything. It can be as simple as picking up the phone and calling someone you know and asking them about it, or going into the web and researching about it. But take some kind of action towards it. Do it now if you can, or if you were not able because you're driving or something else. Do it as soon as you have a chance and see that this little action has the potential to bring another action, and another after that and so on.

46:00 That is my invitation, take some the live, small but delib reaction towards something that intrigues you or you are curious about. Awesome. The name of this podcast is Ask Good Questions and I always try to do that and I always try to leave people with something. So think about what Aggi has said, Think about what small action you could take to move you down the road towards those things that you would most like to accomplish. And with that, AGI thank you so much for being my guest today. I so appreciate you. And with that we are we are finished for today. Thank you for joining our episode today on the Ask Good Questions podcast. See you next time.

46:52 Today's episode is over. But we did Ask Good Questions again, didn't We don't miss out as we broadcast live every Wednesday, six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at w fourcy dot com. Joined Benina Bellmerson next week for more conversations with experts on finances, retirement, behavioral finance issues, health, and wellness and more. Until then, remember to ask good questions.