Arrogance, insecurity, and doubt are 3 manifestations of pride.
They are in turn the Fight, Flight, and Freeze response to it.
The antidote is simply recognizing that it’s not that important.
Don’t feed your ego. Feed your family. Do it anyway.
P.P.S. Want an AI prompt to build a body-powered business plan? Comment “BODY” and I’ll DM you a Health-to-Wealth prompt - let’s reshape profit and physique together.
P.S. Are you looking to Scale your business, your impact, your results? We design the Building Blocks of Scale for hundreds of businesses: Vision & Offer - Leads - Sales Systems - Leadership - Talent Development
The obsession with health boosted my self-concept. That elevated self-concept released the business breakthroughs I’d been chasing for 20 years.
Chasing health brings you wealth. Chasing wealth brings you neither.
What would change if you flipped your priorities tomorrow?
“Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.” - John F. Kennedy
From the excuse: "I’ll work hard today, gym tomorrow, because with enough money who cares about the body."
To one with much more power: "Today I prioritize my body and magnetize the business and career I desire."
I built my business in the gym. I built my bank account with each run.
The self narrative changed.
Two years ago, I made a swap. I shifted my obsession from career to health. Daily runs. Clean fuel. Lifting weights. Relentless focus on my body.
The result: My earnings exploded. My business transformed. The success I’d been grinding toward for decades suddenly became effortless.
20 years of working harder and getting fatter. 20 years wasted.
I can never out-perform my self-image.
Less confidence = worse performance = harder grinding = worse health = even less confidence.
I was essentially trying to buy my way out of obesity with business success. Completely backwards.
Twenty years of career obsession made me broke and overweight.
I was trapped in a vicious cycle. Working harder for money while my body deteriorated. Each pound gained weakened my self-concept. A weakened self-concept made business success more distant.
#SalesTraining
#Leadership
#PersonalDevelopment
#IdentityUpgrade
P.S. Are you looking to Scale your business, your impact, your results? We design the Building Blocks of Scale for hundreds of businesses: Vision & Offer - Leads - Sales Systems - Leadership - Talent Development
We teach our clients: "You can perform in your roles only in a manner that is consistent with how you see yourself conceptually."
My words are programming my self-concept every day. I choose them like my results depend on it. They do.
I don't "hope to close deals" - I facilitate decisions. Hope is passive. Facilitation is active.
The shift from soft language to precise language transforms how I show up.
My brain processes "I'm a runner" differently than "I jog." One builds identity. The other encourages casualness.
Business Upgrades:
We have "accountability meetings" - not catch-ups. Accountability is a scoreboard word, not a pep-talk word.
They're not a "client" until they've paid me. Not even a "prospect" until they've qualified. They're a suspect until they've earned the right to be anything else.
Personal Shifts:
I don't "go for a jog" - I run. Because I'm a runner. The energy lands differently.
It's not "food" - it's fuel. Changes how I think about every meal.
I don't "try to wake up early" - I rise at 4 AM. Trying implies failure is acceptable.
The words we use matter. They matter most when they show up in behaviors.
I've spent years watching how language shapes identity, and the patterns are undeniable. The words we choose create our reality.
Here's how I've upgraded my vocabulary over the years:
Last week my Legend Builders met to support each other and receive the most excellent leadership talk from Mark Panciera. See photo.
If you're a Miami-based Owner or Chief Executive ready to support and build other leaders, Carolina and I are forming a new Vistage group launching Q4.
The leaders who transform communities don't join to extract value. They join to multiply it.
I've known founders building silos by hoarding knowledge and founders building legends by sharing wisdom.
- Your execution sharpens because you can't teach what you don't live
- Your network deepens because generosity creates the stickiest bonds
- Your confidence multiplies when you guide peers through their storms
As a client constantly reminds me, "You reap what you sow, after you sow, and way more than you sow."
The compound effect of giving first:
But when I stopped hoarding and started sharing insights - when I quit asking "what's in this for me" and began wondering "what can I offer that nobody else can?" - this was when I found the gold.
I joined Vistage 7 years ago. At first, I measured ROI in connections made, deals sourced, shortcuts discovered. I was a consumer disguised as a contributor.
They say you join the gym for the vanity and stay for the therapy.
One of my Vistage members said something last week that reminded me of this: "I joined for what I could get, and I stay for what I can give."
A screenshot essay titled 'The Spotlight Effect: Redirect the Beam, Close the Deal' discusses the psychological concept of the Spotlight Effect, where individuals overestimate how much others notice their actions, particularly in sales contexts. The essay highlights research by Gilovich et al. showing that we perceive our mistakes as 2-3 times more visible than they truly are. This bias leads to increased fear of rejection and reluctance to engage in sales activities. The author suggests focusing on the buyer's perspective by acknowledging their needs and successes, using phrases that validate and uplift them, enhancing their self-image, and encouraging sales success. The essay emphasizes that the true spotlight in any deal should be directed based on the seller's strategy.
The spotlight effect: It can kill us in selling OR it can release us.
When we realize our prospect isn’t obsessing over us - they’re staring in a mirror. Fixated on themselves.
Founders and sellers who scale fast don’t play comparison games - they write the scorecard and compel prospects to measure everyone else against it.
Are you ready to become the standard, or will you keep competing on someone else’s spreadsheet?
Seize the mic. Frame the problem so only your approach feels adequate.
Name your methodology and anchor on the business impact.
Drive the agenda with questions that expose gaps only you can close.
You spoke features, not frameworks.
You pitched angles, not outcomes. And the minute your story sounded familiar, the buyer pulled out their ruler and measured you against every other “good enough” option.
Commodities bleed margin, swallow sales cycles, and suffocate conviction.
You drop price to stay “competitive.”
Forecasts wobble because buyers are “thinking it over”.
If you feel trapped in endless bake-offs, it might be because you surrendered control of the narrative.
"So Carlos ... How does your delivery time compare to Vendor X."
"George... It's not an apples to apples comparison. We are fundamentally different."