Episode 311: What It Takes to Have Your Best Year Ever (Especially If You Didn’t Have the Start You Wanted)

Hal Elrod: Hey, goal achievers. Welcome to the Achieve Your Goals Podcast with your host and friend. This is Hal Elrod. Hope your friend. Consider me a friend. I don’t know. I wanted to record this quick introduction because what you’re about to hear is a powerful conversation gets off to kind of a funny start. Jon Berghoff and I are bantering back and forth here as we get started, getting set up. So, I wanted to encourage you to stick around to those front few minutes and really listen today. In fact, you might want to grab a notebook, a pen and paper. We’d share with you the most valuable lessons that we’ve learned over the last six years running the Best Year Ever Blueprint Live Experience, those that we’ve shared personally but really more so those that we’ve learned from the mentors, the BYEB, Best Year Ever Blueprint mentors that we’ve had over the years, world-class individuals, by entrepreneurs, athletes, different people in different walks of life that are highly successful, authors, speakers that are going to teach you through us how to make this and every year after the best year of your life quite literally.

 

So, I wanted to make sure you stick around because there is a lot of value in today’s episode. And then last but not least, stick around until the end because we’re doing something special. I don’t want to ruin it. I explain it toward the end so I don’t want to explain it twice for you. But do stick around toward the end. We have this new thing called the BYEB Mentors program, which has turned out pretty amazing. BYEB again, Best Year Ever Blueprint, the BYEB Mentors program, you don’t want to miss that. There’s something kind of special today that is available so be sure to listen to the end. And if you can make it through these first few minutes of Jon and I bantering back and forth, you might actually enjoy this I think, but I hope you get a ton of actionable value that will help you make this year again, quite literally, the best year of your life. Hope you enjoy.

 

[INTERVIEW]

 

Hal Elrod: It’s good to see you.

 

Jon Berghoff: Hey, it’s great to see you, buddy.

 

Hal Elrod: I feel sad for people that are listening to the podcast and not watching this video. And first and foremost, I have to tell you, can I say something?

 

Jon Berghoff: Well, what am I going to say? No, no, you can’t.

 

Hal Elrod: Hey, buddy. You look really good like you look different. Why do you look better than you usually look? What is it? You have a little bit of scruff on your face, but I’ve seen that before What is going on?

 

Jon Berghoff: It could be my diet. It could be my physical routines. It could be my hair. It could be all of the above.

 

Hal Elrod: Diet, physical routine? No, that’s not. Your hair is longer.

 

Jon Berghoff: Yeah, I was in Aspen all week in the mountains and so I just…

 

Hal Elrod: Well, buddy, you figured out the secret sauce. That’s the hair. Keep your hair that length. Do not cut it.

 

Jon Berghoff: So, it’s not the fact that I went vegan or my yoga is dialed in?

 

Hal Elrod: No. You’ve always been all physically fit and running in the woods and basking in the vitamin D of the sun and all those things. It’s your hair. I couldn’t put my finger on it. It’s amazing. It’s weird. I like you more right now than I normally do when we see each other face-to-face or on video.

 

Jon Berghoff: Oh my God. We should be negotiating. I think I owe you a lot of money right now.

 

Hal Elrod: You do. I know, in my opinion, get some second and third opinions on the hair before you cut it. I’m pretty sure you’re a more likable person with this haircut.

 

Jon Berghoff: Well, the good news is if this actually makes it into the podcast, we’re really adding a lot of value to our listeners so I think we should just stay on this topic as long as it feels right.

 

Hal Elrod: We keep going on. Yeah. Well, now I’m second-guessing. I was about to cut my hair. Maybe I look better. You didn’t say I did but maybe I do.

 

Jon Berghoff: No, I love you because of what’s on the inside, buddy, not what’s on the outside.

 

Hal Elrod: Oh my gosh, all right. Should we start this podcast? Should we talk? Is this good, important?

 

Jon Berghoff: I thought we were halfway through.

 

Hal Elrod: Halfway through it. So, this is a long overdue or perfectly timed recap of the Best Year Ever Blueprint Live Experience that we had about a month and a half ago.

 

Jon Berghoff: Yeah. It’s been awesome.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. And today it’s not really just a recap of the event. It’s how do you have your best year ever even though we’re in the February and I think that this is a really pivotal time for people because most people like if you look at statistics, right, the amount of people set goals and resolutions and then they don’t have the start that they want. They fall off track. So, when I say it’s either a, right, today’s episode is either long overdue or perfectly timed, I’m leaning toward perfectly timed because this is that time when you’re like, “Oh man, I went into January 1 with all these goals and dreams and I was so hopeful and optimistic,” and my habits and routines did not catch up with my vision, and I’m not where I want to be. And so, I feel like it’s arguably more important to do a show like this on how to have your best year ever really how to do it now mid-February-ish than on January 1. What are your thoughts?

 

Jon Berghoff: I like that. I think we roll with that. I think that sounds good.

 

Hal Elrod: Alright, so then maybe we’ll call today’s episode: It’s Not Too Late To Make This Your Best Year Ever.

 

Jon Berghoff: Not Too Late To Be Great.

 

Hal Elrod: Not Too Late To Be Great. Oh, who said that? Somebody used to – someone used to say that?

 

Jon Berghoff: I just said it right now.

 

Hal Elrod: You just said it right now. All right. Let’s talk about so here’s what I’m thinking for the direction today and just everyone can tell we’ve spent hours preparing for the message that we’re going to give. It’s not a message conversation but we did just live three days of the Best Year Ever Blueprint a month-and-a-half ago. So, we’ve got a lot of juice to share. And I want to talk about the biggest lessons that we’ve learned on both at the event and in terms of at the event, what we learned from all of the other mentors, the Best Year Ever Blueprint mentors, the BYEB mentors that everybody heard from. We have Geoff Woods and Allana Pratt and Dr. Ben Hardy and Chandler Bolt and JP Sears. I mean, just on and on and on. And the wisdom from those folks was phenomenal. And I also want to share if I could say, our wisdom, if we’ve got some and what we shared at the event.

 

Jon Berghoff: We think we do.

 

Hal Elrod: We think we do. Enough that we put a microphone in front of our faces and set it in front of 500 people in San Diego. So, let’s talk about the biggest lessons that people can apply and really target them to this time, which is okay, “Hey, maybe you’re on track. Great. This is going serve you. If you’re off track, it’s really going to serve you.” It’s going to help you to, first of all, get your mojo back, your confidence back that like, man, I didn’t have the start, that I wanted but I’ve still got over 10 months to make this the greatest year of your life. So, where do we want to start? I’ve got a place that I could start. Jon, is there anything you want to share in terms of…?

 

Jon Berghoff: Well, let me ask you this. Do we want to start with kind of what we learned being in the room from the teachers that came in? Or do we want to start with more of a meta-conversation around what did we learn from six years of bringing a community together? Because it’s kind of two different sets of learnings. I think both can be helpful for people for different reasons but do you want to start with either one or just mash it all up like a mixtape? I don’t think I’m really confident in what a mixtape is.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. It rings a bell. You know what, let me start. If I could start, I’ll start.

 

Jon Berghoff: I think the best thing would be for one of us to start, I think.

 

Hal Elrod: Oh, buddy. Why don’t we co-host this podcast? This is way more fun than any other episodes that I do.

 

Jon Berghoff: It might be down to zero listeners.

 

Hal Elrod: Yes, but here’s what’s going to happen. Everybody don’t hang up yet. Don’t turn it off yet. Listen, I’m going to swing for the fences then I’m going to start with what I believe may be the biggest lesson that I learned. Okay. So, in case you’re like, “Where are these guys going with this? When are they going to dive into the content?” I’m going to get in right now. I’m going to go hard. I’m going to go heavy. I’m going to start to talk.

 

Jon Berghoff: We’re still talking about this podcast.

 

Hal Elrod: Yes. So, this is what I think is the biggest lesson that I’ve learned about life you could say in general, and arguably, to me, it’s the best news that I could ever share with you. And here’s what it is. If you’re listening to this right now, if you’re living and breathing and you’re alive, you already have the one thing that you need, the only thing that you need to be the happiest and the most grateful, the most excited, the most passionate, and the most fulfilled that you could possibly be in your entire life. You already have it. And so, it’s good news because you go, “I’ve already got this. What is it?” and if you’re present to it, it changes everything. And that one thing is life. That’s it. You’re alive. So, in other words, you’ve already got it. You already won. It’s to be the happiest, most grateful you can be. It’s about realizing that you’ve already got everything that you need.

 

And everything else is just a story we tell ourselves. Everything else is just an illusion or a delusion. That will, “I’ll be happy once my relationship improves or I’ll be happy when my partner’s happy or I’ll be fulfilled when I reach and impact more people or I’ll have freedom when I achieve a level of financial success.” In other words, here’s another way of putting this. This is about making a vow to feel good just because. This is about inner freedom, right? So, most of us are looking for financial freedom and we’re probably going to get to that in the episode today because I know for me, that was a topic that we really covered in Entrepreneur Day at the event at the Best Year Ever event. But think about that your ultimate objective always is inner freedom, right? It’s inner freedom, the ability to choose how you’re going to feel at any given moment. So, it’s about deciding that your happiness will no longer be dependent on anything around you on how things go or how people treat you or how big your bank account is.

 

But your happiness, your emotional well-being is dependent on your vow to feel good because that’s all we want. We just want to feel good. That’s why we do everything that we do. We do it because we think, “Well, if I do this, it’ll make me feel good,” and very often, it’s making us feel good in the moment. It’s giving us a short-lived sense of pleasure, right? You pull out your phone and play a game you feel good. You get that dopamine rush. You turn on the TV, you feel good. You get that dopamine rush. You eat food that tastes good and you feel good while you’re eating, but it’s short-lived pleasure. And I’m talking about an unwavering state of bliss that you make the vow that I’m going to feel good as my primary level of consciousness and you can change the word good with love. I’m going to feel good. I’m going to feel love. I’m going to feel bliss, I’m going to feel ecstasy, right? Because that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. I’m not going to make it dependent on anything outside of myself.

 

So, I invite you right now to implement this lesson, to make a vow that you’re going to feel good, regardless of what’s going on around you, to feel good in the face of your imperfections, of the challenges that you’re facing. To feel good, not because life is perfect, but because life is perfect. It’s always perfect. And that means giving up the illusion that we deserve a problem-free life in order to feel good. And think about that. We always have these, “Well, once I get rid of my problems, then I’ll be happier, I’ll feel good.” But the problems cause me stress and anxiety and fear. They don’t have to. So again, I invite you to start this right now and implement this lesson while you’re listening to this podcast with Jon and I, simply be present to the words that you’re hearing, the experience that we are all sharing over the next 45 minutes, an hour, however long we go today, and let that incessant need to worry about your problems, let that disappear.

 

And I’m going to leave you with one question. It’s a question that one of my spiritual advisors Jenai Lane, shared with me that’s a game-changer. I use it every day. What would be here now if there wasn’t a problem to solve? What would be here now for you if there wasn’t a problem to solve? For me, the answer is usually love, bliss, God, peace. So, I’ll leave you with that. What would be here now if there wasn’t a problem to solve and tap into that feeling the rest of our time together today.

 

Jon Berghoff: But I have a feeling you’re handing it over to me now. Is that right?

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah, that was one of those. I knew you’d figure it out.

 

Jon Berghoff: Yeah. Thanks for sharing that, buddy. I was taking notes here. I’m just fully present to what you were sharing. What would be here now for me if there wasn’t a problem to solve? That’s a beautiful, beautiful question. I really love that. And I also just enjoyed hearing your reflection too on embracing the beauty even in the imperfection and realizing that there’s an inner freedom. One of the things I love about you sharing that, buddy, is I feel like you and I have worked together. We’ve been friends for 20 years, 21 years and…

 

Hal Elrod: Too long. Yeah.

 

Jon Berghoff: Way, way too long. We’re overdue.

 

Hal Elrod: Tired of each other.

 

Jon Berghoff: We get it. Let’s get off this thing. You know, the word freedom is one that I’ve always had kind of a personal issue with hearing entrepreneurs talk about their desire for freedom because of the way that it is so often defined by external things like, “I want to be able to do what I want, when I want, with who I want, how I want.” Well sh** like if everybody could do that then frankly, we would live in this fairy tale unicorn rainbow universe that is just not legit. And I understand the intent of that idea and, by the way, I too aspire to design my life and my work so that I’m doing what, with, when, where I want. I get that. But what I love that you just shared, Hal, is that for years, I feel like between you and I and amongst other friends of ours, the word freedom comes up. And I feel like, for me, something that’s always bothered me is resolved by the way you just talked about freedom because, at the end of the day, we’re all full of crap if we think we can actually control everything that’s going to happen in our lives. The best we can do is influence it.

 

And so, to hear you glorify the inner freedom versus the outer freedom, I think, for so many professionals and entrepreneurs, it’s such a big bell that needs to be rung that like our highest freedom, it’s not going to be our ability to control everything that ends up happening in our lives, but it’s ultimately the inner work of, “Hey, in this moment, what do I want to choose?” By the way, it’s not easy, like you said, it’s not easy, but it is something that we have a little more control over versus everything outside of us. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe we’re both totally wrong. Maybe we’re all prisoners of everything and there’s no freedom available ever for anybody, unless you buy the course that we offer at the end of this episode.

 

Oh, what’s funny is that that’s true. All right. Hey, we’ll see if that gets people to stick around for our commercial. We haven’t even mentioned it. We have the first commercial we’ve ever had on one of these episodes. It’s coming up at some point. So, saying this just to remind you and I that we actually have something really interesting to offer. If that doesn’t hook somebody, they weren’t going to stay on anyways.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. We don’t make offers very often that therefore very well.

 

Jon Berghoff: All right, my turn.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. I’m sure you learned something.

 

Jon Berghoff: I had to pick something up. So, a couple of the big learnings for me over this six, how many years of putting on the Best Year Ever Blueprint Event? So, one is I learned a heck of a lot about the power of community and so I can’t help but want to say a few things about that. And then I also learned a lot about what goes on inside of ourselves. So, I guess I’m going to start with the community piece because that’s the part that is most meaningful to me. And if someone’s listening and you run a small business, or you’re a coach, or you’re a mom, or you’re a teacher, you could be thinking, “What does community matter?” Well, I think one of the reasons why everybody owes it to themselves to understand a few fundamental things about the dynamics of a community is because the dynamics that exist in a community exists with anytime two or more people come together. So, whether you’ve got a family or you’re thinking of yourself in your next-door neighbor or you’re thinking of the town that you live in or the church that you attend or the team that you lead or the customers that you’re trying to serve, like, these are all communities, right?

 

So, there’s a few big things that I’ve learned about community that mean a lot to me. Number one is anytime two or more people come together, everybody’s all asking the same question, consciously, usually unconsciously. And the question is, “Can I be myself and fit in?” And one of the things that we learned for after years of hosting the Best Year Ever Event and all the other events that came out of it, is that the thing that matters most within a group of people for that group to thrive is for people to feel safe. They need to feel like they can express who they are, how they want to express, and still belong. And it’s an easy thing to say but unfortunately, that’s not the regular condition that is created in workplaces and teams or even in our marriages. And so, that’s been one of the things for me that I’ve really appreciated is realizing that being safe around each other, really is transcended beyond everything else.

 

And I think, there’s a lot. I have whole multi-hour podcasts I’ve done with other people on this very topic so I’m thinking, “If I had 30 more seconds on community, what would I say?” I think the other thing I would share is that I’ve learned to really appreciate that the wisdom that is available in a group of people is real and it is powerful. And when we are willing to invite the wisdom of a group of people, which is not always easy to do. We don’t know how to do it, but when we invite the goodness to arise collectively, something becomes available that will not arise when a leader or a guru is looked to for all the answers. And that’s been something that I’ve appreciated learning by the way that we’ve run our events for however long it’s been now is that the collective wisdom of the crowd, it’s available, it’s not always tapped into. You know, how to tap into is another conversation, but it’s something to appreciate.

 

The next two things I jotted down real quickly, Hal, that have been big learnings for me, then I’ll just list them here and then we can move on and go wherever you want this to go is last year at our last BYEB event, the theme of the event, if there was a theme was follow your heart. It was to listen to that intuitive whisper of a voice. And when you talked earlier about learning how to feel our feelings, I think about our mutual teacher, Julianna Raye, and the gifts that she’s given us, and inviting us to improve our attention skills through the unified mindfulness practice. In any meditation practice that anybody has is better than nothing. And one of the reasons it’s important is because we learn to listen more deeply. It’s a muscle. It’s not just an idea. It’s a muscle learning how to listen to that, to our feelings into that intuitive messaging that comes literally from the intelligence of the heart.

 

That’s something that Debbie Rozman and Howard Martin, two of the founders of HeartMath, who attended our event last year shared with all of our attendees, the science behind that and how the world needs us to listen to our hearts right now more than ever. And in fact, our brains get smarter. Our day-to-day functioning improves in every imaginable way when we learn how to listen to the heart. So, that was a big theme that came up last year. And I think the last big lesson that’s been a big theme going back several years, I think about our friends, Christopher Lochhead and Allana Pratt and [Derek Cates – 21:25], by the way, leading a heart lock meditation to start every day last year. So many people said those three minutes really opened them up for the rest of the event.

 

But then you think about Allana and Christopher and Chris Ducker and when we had Joe Polish and David Osborne, one of the very consistent messages JJ Virgin too, Mike Koenigs, one of the things they all said, in their own words, was how important it is to figure out what makes us different, not better, and as entrepreneurs leverage what makes us different, not better. And appreciate that part of you that maybe as a kid was what got you in trouble or made you to feel like an outsider. It’s actually the very part of us that we need to really embrace and nourish because it’s the part of us that holds the greatest gifts to create value in the world. So, that was a really, really big theme. When I just think about what did I learn not as one of the hosts but just being in the room is figure out what makes us different and lean into that and don’t try and be better, you know, for those of you who are entrepreneurs. So, I’ll stop right there, buddy.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. Well, no, I think, well, two things that you said sparked some thoughts. Number one, I just watched the documentary on Mr. Rogers. Have you seen that yet? It’s a must-watch. And then right after that, I went and watch the feature film with Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers. And Mr. Rogers, I don’t know about you, but I just want to be more like him. I want to embody his qualities and then the message he was trying to get across to kids, to me is the same message that we need to get as kids in grown-up bodies, the child within all of us. And it’s what you just said. It’s that same theme that came from Allana and Christopher and Chris Ducker and JJ Virgin, and it’s embracing you as you are. And I think it starts with loving yourself, loving yourself as you are. Imperfections and all. Not going, “Well, I got to be all figured out and perfect and clean up my mess in order to actually feel good about myself.” No.

 

It’s about loving ourselves as we are and then to your point, that when people do that, and they go, “You know what, this is who I am.” In fact, JP Sears, that was at the event this year, who did the mediocre morning which by the way that you’ll hear by the end how you could actually watch that and a lot of other things today to echo what Jon was saying earlier. But JP Sears is the definition of someone who is following their different. And if you don’t know JP Sears is first thing I’d say is, “What rock are you sleeping under?” but long red hair, does videos on YouTube or videos on spirituality, speaker, comedian, etcetera. He’s brilliant, hilarious, but he decided to just be himself and it’s so evident in every video that he does and now he’s created a career, just putting videos online of him being his quirky, weird funny spiritual self. And he is the perfect living example of everything that you just talked about. He’s turned it into a business, doing work that he loves, and he’ll be the first to tell you that old cliché, he doesn’t work a day in his life because all he does is turn on the camera and just be himself and that allows him to buy a beautiful home here in Austin, Texas and travel the world with his wife and Amber and live the life of his dreams.

 

So, I think that’s such a valuable lesson. I think that so often we try to copy others right like, “Oh, my gosh, look at them. They’re better than me. I need to be.” And I’ve done that. I’ve been guilty of looking at people I admire. Aubrey Marcus or Tony Robbins or Lewis Howes over the years, right? The last 10 years it’s like, as you’re coming into your own, you’re just trying to be a better version of those people. You’re just trying to model and copy them. Well, they have it figured out. I’ll do what they do. And then you realize, no, be yourself. Be vulnerable, be authentic. And that is what I love what Robin Sharma says, “When you’re vulnerable, people fall in love with you.” Right? When you’re vulnerable, people fall in love with you and that’s exactly what this is about, authentic vulnerable. Those words can be interchanged. But that is what will endear you to your family, your friends, yourself and your customers and/or prospects. Go ahead.

 

Jon Berghoff: If someone was listening right now, Hal, and we wanted to answer the question, starting today, beginning of February, what are some practical things they could do to have their best year ever? Could we share a couple thoughts on that?

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. Good question. And I’ve got an answer.

 

Jon Berghoff: I do, too. So, in case you weren’t ready, I’m happy to…

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. And you weren’t sure. That’s fair. I saw the look in your eye. You’re like, “I’m setting him up and I have no idea if he’s going to have any answer to this.”

 

Jon Berghoff: Let me start with something that Ben Hardy shared at BYEB last year. Do you see what I’m doing, by the way?

 

Hal Elrod: Yes.

 

Jon Berghoff: It’s is a setup.

 

Hal Elrod: Yes.

 

Jon Berghoff: Get on the same page with me. So, good work. So, Ben, if you don’t know Ben Hardy, he’s one of the all-time most prolific writers on the Medium.com platform. And he’s an incredible blogger, writer, author, around different topics, but historically around peak performance, around habits. His next book called Personality Isn’t Permanent is a legendary book. But one of the things Ben taught us is around the concept of structure and there’s a phrase that I use here in our company, when we teach facilitators, but I think it’s a phrase that like we could all benefit from evaluating this phrase. And it’s the idea that the outcomes in our lives are determined by the structures that we create. So, I do a lot of work in groups and one of things we always talk about is that culture follows structure. And that means something in teams and companies and communities. But for somebody listening as an individual, I think one of the most important questions for them to ask is what are the structures in my life that are currently helping me and what’s not helping me?

 

And by the way, and I’m paraphrasing what Ben taught us, but you might choose to replace the word structures with systems or processes or habits. The bottom line is the structure of the building that I’m sitting in just to talk about that word, literally, it’s the container. It’s the foundation. It’s what gives the building shape. So, if somebody practices The Miracle Morning, that’s a structure that is hopefully helping them in their lives. If somebody has a certain discipline of eating a certain way, they may or may not think about it this way, but it’s a habit, it’s a system. It’s a structure that is supporting them. And one of the things Ben has really helped you and I and he taught us at BYEB last year is to really consider the structures both our internal structures meaning our habitual thought patterns, but also our external structures, meaning, how am I organizing my physical space? Am I organizing it in a way that supports my inner world to feel empowered and ready to tackle my work?

 

Or am I allowing my physical space to be so cluttered that it’s actually reflecting into my mind and making my mind feel cluttered and so I can’t go to work? What information am I putting into my head when I’m being unconscious? Am I justifying or rationalizing that, well, I’ve only got a few minutes here so I’ll go ahead and watch this random YouTube video because it will make me laugh? Or do I have a structure in place where I pre-find YouTube videos that fit categories of my business or my life that I want to develop myself in so that when I am gifted five minutes or I’m going poop, I don’t unconsciously fault to something that I rationalize because it’s only five minutes, that really doesn’t serve me. That’s a structure that I’ve put in place so that even when I have a few minutes, if I’m going to consume something, it’s something that lifts me up versus is just a distraction.

 

So, the question I’m just going to finish this with is, what are the structures that you can put in place physically to set yourself up to be successful? Are your goals right in front of you versus tucked away inside of a file on your computer, right? The difference between having to see them every day versus having to work to see them, it could be beyond transformational for some people. How do you organize what’s in your mind? How do you organize your thinking? How do you organize the way that you approach your daily habits? These are structures that can make a big difference and Ben taught us a lot about that. I think that’s an important question for people to ask. So, I just wanted to slide in there that that additional learning from our prior BYEB guest mentors.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. And he was a BYEB mentor for this past year 2019. So, both your question and what you just shared leads to a lesson that I taught, and I always teach this lesson because I think it’s the most important lesson but it was one that was taught back to us a couple of years ago from BYEB mentor and attendee which is interesting, Rob Dial. And Rob Dial attended the first Best Year Ever Blueprint back in 2013, 2013, I think. And then Rob at that time was trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life professionally. And he ended up taking what I taught at that event, and I’ll share that lesson here in a minute, but Rob took what I taught at the event and he applied it to recording videos to put on social media. And when he started, he had no following and he created this repeatable simple process using a structure as Jon mentioned, where one day a week he recorded X amount of videos. The other days of the week, he would do research on what video or what topics he was learning that he could turn into a video.

 

So, we have these processes in place and its structure in place and all he did is start putting out great content, great content, great content, and following another piece of his process, which was learning from people that were social media influencers, YouTubers that had huge followings and got large amounts of views. And Rob, starting at zero now has over 1 billion views on his videos and he essentially credits this lesson. The lesson I sometimes refer to it as the power of the process but the idea is that you wanted to find, every result that you want to accomplish this year. So, if you want your Best Year Ever and whether you’re on track or you’re month and a half end of the year or you’re listening to this later in the year, you’re not on track. Regardless, every result that you’re trying to accomplish this year, and a result is another word for a goal or an outcome. Whatever outcome goal or result you’re trying to accomplish is always preceded by a process, right?

 

You want to lose weight for example, well, you can back that into a process that is simply putting forth burning a certain amount of calories each day and then limiting that your caloric intake so that you’re burning more than you’re taking in and then it’s inevitable, you can’t fail. If you keep doing that, you’re going to lose weight, right? Same thing with building muscle. If you’re taking in enough calories more than you’re burning and you’re utilizing weight training to build those calories in the muscle, you’re going to succeed in that and this is true for everything. It’s true back when I was in sales. Whatever you want to accomplish when Jon’s training to run 100-mile ultra-marathon, it’s figuring out what is the daily or repetitive, consistent process that will make your success virtually guaranteed?

 

And back when we were in sales, it was determining how many phone calls during to make each day on average, maybe it was 20 or 30, or 40, or 50. How many calls I make each day, where if I make those calls, my success is inevitable? The only variable is timing, right? You’ve heard me probably say this before. It’s something that I think it’s the secret to making success simple and making success inevitable, which is identify what is your outcome? What is your goal? That’s the easy part and then it takes a little more work, but it’s not that hard to figure out what’s the process, right? Rob Dial, he wanted to be an influencer online, a YouTuber, a Facebook, a social media influencer so he identified the only way for me to do that is I’ve got to put out quality content and he figured the content that gets the most plays and the most shares, it’s not written content. It’s not audio content in the medium he was pursuing, which was social media. It was video.

 

So, he put up these videos and he’ll tell you his videos, in the beginning, were goofy, and he felt awkward and he was unconfident. He wasn’t sure. But he continued to stay committed to his process without being, and here’s the secret sauce, without being emotionally attached to his results in the short term. So, stay committed to your process over the long term without being emotionally attached to results in the short term and I don’t know his stats on year one, year two, year three, but now it’s been good six years and he’s had over a billion YouTube video views and we have other examples of folks in the Best Year Ever community that they’ve written a book by committing to sit down and write 1,000 pages, or I’m sorry, a thousand words a day, no matter what, even if they’re not motivated, even if the writing sucks. They just commit. My process is writing for one hour a day or 1,000 words a day or 200 words, whatever it is. But if you commit to that process without being emotionally attached to your short-term results, your success is inevitable.

 

So, to me taking what Jon talked about that Ben Hardy taught with putting structures in place, and Jon even said another word for structure would be processes or rituals or routines. So, figure that out. That’s it. That’s how you keep success simple is don’t get overwhelmed by getting to the pot of gold at the end of the year. Just look at what’s the one step I’m committed to taking today, the one thing I’m committed to doing today, that will move me in the direction of my predetermined goals and outcomes that are most meaningful for me this year. And I just said the one thing a few times that reminds me of Geoff Woods, which we’ve got to teach, you know, if you got a lesson from Geoff, I’ll set you on the spot to talk about what Geoff did. Because I think, Geoff, I think he led arguably, what he did as a BYEB mentor this year was arguably the best goal setting workshop I’ve ever seen and our attendees kind of said the same thing.

 

Jon Berghoff: Yeah. I mean, to be fair, we set the bar really low the way we did it in prior years.

 

Hal Elrod: That’s true.

 

Jon Berghoff: And he knocked it out of the park. And you kind of revealed the main lesson of what he taught, which was realizing how important it is that not all tasks are of equal value. You got to learn how to ask the question, what matters most? What’s the one thing that if I can do it consistently or at some predetermined interval or tomorrow, what is the one thing that will make everything else either easier or irrelevant? Something along those lines. I’m paraphrasing, but he led a workshop. You’re right. It was incredible. He did a great job. And I think everybody walked away from that realizing that sometimes we unnecessarily allow ourselves to be overwhelmed. Because most people in professional situations have many things to do and we have to stop and ask ourselves. And I’ve learned from Geoff, to ask all the time like if I could only do one thing, what would it be?

 

And then start with that, and then add the next thing instead of saying, “How do I reduce my list from seven things to five?” No, I reduce it to one. I make sure I do that thing with excellence then I figure out what’s going to be two, three, and four. And that was a big, big lesson that he taught us and people really loved. What else we want to cover, buddy? Is there anything else?

 

Hal Elrod: Is there anything else? You know, one of the things that was it’s been a big theme for me, and it came up I think throughout the event from different mentors, Jon Vroman was one of them. You know, Jon is a good friend of ours. He is the founder of Front Row Dads, and he talked about strengthening families. He and I, and actually our other friend, Justin Donald, we were all mentors on stage and you were there and talking about how do you really make family a priority? And this was such a crucial lesson for all the entrepreneurs, who all of us, it’s like family’s number one, but for most of us, you look at the schedule that we’re living and it’s like, “Yeah, are you sure? Because it doesn’t look like you’re living in alignment with that value.” And Vroman, I think of all of us really went first, really courageously five or six years ago, when he reached out to me and to you, and he said, “Hey, I’m going all-in on family.” And for him, it was the realization that as a dad with two sons, he realized that his kids weren’t going to remember how many mortgage payments he made or how many books he sold or how much money he earned, how many accolades he racked up. It was the impact, the time, the meaningful connection that occurred between them.

 

And so, he decided to align his values, not by separating personal and professional, and not that we can’t all do exactly what he did, or maybe we can, but it was he literally said, I’m going to figure out how to create a business that supports my number one value, which is being a great dad for my kids and right up there with that would be being a great husband for his wife Tatyana and he created Front Row Dads and he is through trial and error living every day to be the best dad that he can be. And then he came to that saying, he came to Front Row Dads. He always come saying, “I’m not here because I’ve got this mastered. I’m a work in progress just like all of you and I’m here to learn as much as I am to contribute and facilitate and lead and so on and so forth.”

 

And so, I think that one of the reasons that you and I ended, you know, this was our last best year ever, and that is, by the way, I know Jon teased earlier that there’s something at the end that we’re going to offer and I’ll just I’ll mention it. It’s the BYEB Mentors program. This is the first time we’ve ever offered this. Every year we get asked, “Hey, are you…”

 

Jon Berghoff: I didn’t even know what it was called.

 

Hal Elrod: Jon was involved in putting the event on. I’ve been more involved in getting the videos ready.

 

Jon Berghoff: So, tell me about it. I want to hear about it.

 

Hal Elrod: Alright. So, literally, this is so funny. This is totally in the moment and present and this is great. So, BYEB Mentors and by the way, bring me back to teaching here in a second but this just I figured now’s a good time as we need to mention this. So, BYEB mentors is it’s us taking the last two years of the Best Year Ever Blueprint Live Experience. So, this has been a live event. We’ve run it for six years. We had really good video work in the last two years and we’ve made every year it gets better. So, you’re getting the last two years the best two years. So, the 2019 program we had most of the people we’ve just mentioned, Ben Hardy, Julianna Raye, Allana Pratt, Chandler Bolt, JP Sears, Jon Vroman, Geoff woods, Christopher Lochhead quite a few more teaching you how to have your best year ever. And these are highly successful people in all walks of life from business and financially to health and relationships and family and so on and so forth. And me by the way, I should say me and Jon also we did share our best lessons up there as well both on life, on hitting your goals, having your best year ever as well as entrepreneurship because we do have an Entrepreneur Day.

 

And the BYEB Mentors program gives you all of that from 2019 and we decided to throw in the event from 2018. So, that involves you’re hearing from Chris Ducker on building the brand of you, the late Dr. Sean Stephenson on how to influence and master emotions. You heard from Rob Dial who I mentioned earlier, JJ Virgin, Garrett Gunderson talks about financial abundance made simple and, again, quite a few more mentors that you’re getting here from 2018 and then we decided to throw in the best of our Quantum Leap Mastermind programs. There’s all these bonuses and by the way, you can see all of this at BYEBMentors.com. So, BYEBMentors.com you can get all the details, see all the bonuses. It’s like $8,000 or $11,000 of stuff for it’s a few hundred bucks. I mean, it’s really affordable. But you’re going to hear our Quantum Leap Mastermind is an $8,000 program that people join to get time with us and with these folks that you can’t usually hear from. You’re going to see messages from Jeff Hoffman, who is the billionaire founder of Priceline.com, from Ryan Levesque, from JP Sears on how he built his brand around his personality and so much more.

 

But again, I don’t want to spend more time on this but it’s BYEBMentors.com and for a limited time, it’s a discount where you’re getting in for just a few hundred bucks. And I think that pretty well covers it JB. Anything else?

 

Jon Berghoff: Oh, that’s a killer deal. I didn’t know what we were going to charge. I was waiting to hear at the prices. That’s an incredible deal.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah, it really is. I mean, yeah, we wanted to make it especially it’s a deal. It’d be a great deal just for this year alone but I had Chip Franks. Chip Franks is the one. By the way, this is important. I want to mention this because it’s worth mentioning. You’ve heard on the podcast from Chip Franks. He’s run a few episodes. Chip is one of our close friends. He is the Chief Miracle worker at Miracle Morning and he was an attendee at Best Year Ever. He said, “Hal, I don’t want to be on staff at the event like I want to learn. I want to soak it all in,” and I said, “Yeah.” And then at the end, he said, “Hal, we have to offer this for people that couldn’t.” I mean, we have hundreds of thousands of people in our community around the world that they couldn’t fly out to San Diego with a ticket. The event sold out really fast. And Chip said, “Hal, turn this over to me. I was in the audience. I took like something like 16 pages of notes.” He said, “I will create the best, most world-class program from this content. I will outline. I’ll take all my notes, I’ll put them under the videos. I’ll outline everything. I’ll give bonuses. Chip, like he’s put his heart and soul into putting this content together for you over the last ever since the event literally a month-and-a-half.

 

We’re like, “Chip, we need this by January 1, if you’re going to do it.” He’s like, “Sure.” And then it’s now February, whatever and he’s like, “Hal, I want it to be perfect. It’s got to be perfect.” And so, he kept on working on it and now I’ve been in there looking at the last few days and it’s beautiful what he did. And yeah, I’m sorry to keep going on this but it’s, it’s BYEBMentors.com. Check it out. And if you want to experience this stuff that we just talked about live, you’ll get to experience it and then go your own pace. You can choose between all the videos from 2019 2018, the QLM Mastermind all of it and I forgot how we got on the tangent but I did want to share a wrap that lesson up about living in alignment with our values.

 

Jon Berghoff: Hal, if people want to go get access to this, all these videos that’s awesome where do they go to get it? Did you say it?

 

Hal Elrod: I just said it. You just got disconnected. I just said it a few times.

 

Jon Berghoff: Can you say it again so we can go find it?

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. BYEBMentors.com and that’s so BYEB as in Best Year Ever Blueprint. BYEBMentors.com and don’t get disconnected again, Jon.

 

Jon Berghoff: How long is that available? Is it a limited time thing? Are we going to pull that down?

 

Hal Elrod: If we were better marketers, we’d have an answer to that. Yeah, I’m sure we will. You know, we have to figure out exactly. I think that what it is, is that you know, Chip had mentioned like, “Hey, let’s do a discount so for the next I know it’s at least a week.” The price is $295, less than $300 for the whole thing and again you’ll see all everything listed out in the price. It’s $11,000 of content between the events, the bonuses. I forgot. Oh, this is huge. The Best Year Ever Coaching 12-month coaching program that you and I ran, again, Chip’s a genius. He’s like, “Hal, you have to throw that in.” So, that was a $1,200 program that Jon and I ran with monthly calls on we chose the 12 most important topics that we felt would help you have your best year ever and it’s audio. So, that’s not a video program. It’s an audio program with handout downloadable printable handouts, PDFs that you can fill out on the computer or whatever, follow along and turn really, really turn the content into actionable advice and coaching. Yeah, and that’s thrown in too. So yeah, BYEBMentors.com you’ll see all of that.

 

Now I’d love to wrap up. And you can, of course, tack on to what I share. But just wrapping up that lesson. It’s been the most important lesson for me. It’s why we decided to stop doing the Best Year Ever Blueprint. It’s living in alignment with your values. And this is something that one of my coaches, Jeffrey Williams, helped me to really understand and go deep on. When I first realized that my values are my family, my health, freedom, like Jon talked about inner freedom, but also outer freedom. Yeah, I want to be able to have the freedom to spend time with my family and focus on my health and not be trapped working a job that I hate. I want freedom to live life in the way that feels good for me. And so, for me, Jeffrey helped me get really clear on living in alignment with my values. And I did talk about I gave a whole message on this at Best Year Ever so you’ll see this if you decide to partake in the BYEB Mentors program.

 

For me, living my values was Jeffrey helped me frame it in these three simple ways, got three simple steps. Number one is to know yourself. Number two is to love yourself. And number three is to be yourself. And the short of that is know yourself means get clear on your values. And again, I’m not going to go into a full message on it but at the event in the video series, I did break down how to do this. But number one is you’ve got to understand, identify, clarify your highest values. That’s knowing yourself. Number two is loving yourself and this is the hard part. But it’s the crucial part. It’s loving yourself enough to shut down everything that is not in alignment or is somehow conflicting with your highest values. And that for me, as much as I love Best Year Ever, as much as this event changes people’s lives, it was a large drain on my time and energy and attention to where I just wasn’t ready this year to put another year into that event. And number three is to be yourself. And that’s the fun part. That’s where once you’ve gotten clear on your values, you’ve eliminated everything that’s conflicting with those values. This is where you set up a life, a schedule and a life that you love to live because it is completely in alignment with your highest values and what matters most to you.

 

And this is a topic that I’m going to continue to keep – I’m exploring it my own life and I’ll keep sharing it with you guys and gals throughout the rest of this year and probably beyond because like any topic in our lives, mastery takes 10,000 hours and I’ve probably got a few hundred hours in at this point with figuring out a live in alignment of values. I’m still working on it. And yeah, anything to add to that, Jonny?

 

Jon Berghoff: No way, buddy. No way. I’m excited to go over to BYEBMentors.com and see what we put together.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. Hey, thank you for helping to lead the event because without that, this BYEB Mentors thing wouldn’t have come together. And thank you. I want to shout out to Chip Franks. Chip, heart and soul man, that’s all you are. I love you. Thank you for the, you know, Chip probably put I, don’t know, 1,500 hours into making this program phenomenal. Like I said, I’m going through and the amount of notes he added and bullet points and structure underneath of it and handout. I mean, just everything. It’s amazing. So, I love that.

 

Jon Berghoff: Also, Hal, I want to give a shout out now that we’re at the tail end and we’re just looking for shout outs here.

 

Hal Elrod: Shout it out, buddy.

 

Jon Berghoff: You mentioned the Front Row Dads community, which we’re a big fan of, many of the women that have contributed in the past couple years are a part of a group called the GoBundance Women’s Group. And if there’s any super high performing women out there that want to be around other women where you can fully express and be safe to have conversations that you think you might only be able to have in a tribe of women, find us or find them. Because a lot of those women were huge contributors at our event this last year and so I just wanted to let people know.

 

Hal Elrod: That’s GoBundance Women?

 

Jon Berghoff: Yeah, that’s right. GoBundance Women. I don’t know how to go find them or us.

 

Hal Elrod: Well, at least it’s called GoBundance because that’s not a real word. It’s G-O-B-U-N-D-A-N-C-E. So, if you google GoBundance Women, I’m sure that’s how you find it.

 

[CLOSING]

 

Jon Berghoff: Yeah, there you go. YoPal, this was great, buddy.

 

Hal Elrod: Hey, buddy. I enjoyed. Yeah, like I said, we should do this more often.

 

Jon Berghoff: Just again, I promise I won’t get a haircut.

 

Hal Elrod: I was going to say, we’re so aligned. I was going to say I will only do a video again if your hair is that length because otherwise, yeah, I enjoy looking at you a lot more.

 

Jon Berghoff: You know maybe we should offer the video of this as part of what people get if they invest in the BYEB Mentors program.

 

Hal Elrod: There’s enough bonuses. I don’t think that’s going to push somebody over the edge but we should post this video in the Miracle Morning community or it will post it somewhere on the day we post it all, I guess.

 

Jon Berghoff: That’s great. Hey, how’s your family doing, buddy? How are the kids? How’s Ursula?

 

Hal Elrod: Oh man, my son and I just got back from our first ever daddy-son trip so my wife doesn’t trust me to fly with the kids very often.

 

Jon Berghoff: I understand. I don’t blame her.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. And you know I forget suitcases so she thinks I might forget a kid. So, my daughter and I, we for her birthday, her 10th birthday like six months ago, we went and saw Queen. I took her to see Queen in concert. You know, one of the first few rows. It was amazing. That was our first daddy-daughter trip or second, I guess. And my son, he’s younger and he goes, “Dad, you’ve been…” I’ve been on two. “You’ve been on two with Sophie. When do we get to go?” And I thought, “Oh man, this is rough. I got to take my son.” And we just went, I took him actually on a speech and I went to Vegas, which you think, “Wait, you took a seven-year-old to Vegas?” but we went and did all sorts of daddy-kid stuff and kid-friendly, family-friendly. We saw a magic show and the highlight was at the end of the magic show the last trick and by this magician, Matt Franco, he was the winner of America’s Got Talent. He got pulled on stage. My son got pulled on stage for the final trick. It was surreal. And he just has the whole audience cracking up and it was three days that I will never, never forget. So, yeah, family’s doing great, man.

 

Jon Berghoff: Oh, man. That’s so great. That’s so great. I love it.

 

Hal Elrod: Now, I have to ask how about you? But I do care a little bit.

 

Jon Berghoff: Yeah. I mean, the only reason I asked is because I want to…

 

Hal Elrod: Sure.

 

Jon Berghoff: Yeah. Well, my family’s a train wreck.

 

Hal Elrod: At least we’re being honest. Yeah.

 

Jon Berghoff: Oh man, what do we got going on? When you and I hang up, Mara, my wife was just texting me about taking the kids skiing. We’ve got an awesome hill. It’s like 10 minutes from my office here. And our kids all have season passes. So, probably going to take all three kids skiing and it’s great. It’s so easy to do. We just like jumped in the car. We’re on the lift and 15 minutes we’ll do like 10 runs because each run is like four seconds long because… The kids love it. It’s actually they’re surprisingly big enough that it’s a lot of fun. So, we’re just enjoying life. Ace, my oldest he’s playing hockey and basketball and baseball at the same time.

 

Hal Elrod: Your son Ace is like, he’s a sports phenomenon. Yeah.

 

Jon Berghoff: Yeah, yeah. So that’s fun. Sierra is into acting. She and Kaizen, our youngest, they both play piano and they both really love to practice without us asking them to. And I’m sure the fact that I said that, they’ll probably never practice again.

 

Hal Elrod: Oh, it was fun while it lasted.

 

Jon Berghoff: Yeah, that’s the law of idiot parents celebrating. As soon as you do a victory lap, your kid will pretty much guaranteed to do the opposite of what you just celebrated. Anyways, yeah, it’s a lot of fun these days. And Mara, my wife who you know, but I have to say, my wife, she’s a ski instructor right now. She’s doing like 15, 20 hours a week. I think they pay her $0.04 an hour, but she loves it. She’s doing it just out of love.

 

Hal Elrod: That’s awesome.

 

Jon Berghoff: And teaching a lot of yoga. She’s teaching I think four or five yoga classes a week. So, we’re all keeping busy. It’s good.

 

Hal Elrod: I do have to mention. You remind me of something. So, I love playing basketball and my dream was always that my kids would play basketball. I don’t know if you ever saw the movie, Father of the Bride, but in Father of the Bride, you know, Steve Martin and his daughter always shooting hoops in the driveway. And when I had a daughter, I thought I saw that movie. Oh, that’s going to be me and Sophie. You know, that’s the dream. And she was never interested in basketball. And about a year ago, my son Halston got into basketball and I would practice with him every single day and we had a great time and the dream about a month or two ago, my daughter came and said, “Dad, I’m going to play on the school basketball,” she’s 10, “play in school basketball team. Would you work with me and practice like you did with Halston?” And I almost cried. I was just like, yes. And so, how it is seeing your kids out there and for the first time, it was one thing when like I’ve seen that Halston played plenty of games with my daughter’s first game and she’s doing it and she got hit in the face with the ball once, hit another girl in the face the ball and you know, it’s okay. It’s okay so it’s beautiful.

 

Jon Berghoff: Are you watching the UFC fights this weekend? Jon Jones is fighting a guy who’s…

 

Hal Elrod: Dominic Reyes, undefeated. Yeah, it’s funny. I have a UFC thread with a couple hardcore fans. And I text I said, “Hey,” I said I’m saying it right now, Dominic Ray is going to win by KO this weekend against Jon Jones. And I said, and just so you know, I think there’s also a strong possibility that Jon Jones could take this. So, let the record show I’ve made my prediction.

 

Jon Berghoff: That’s like our mutual friend [inaudible – 56:44] loves to predict sports scores for sporting events and good for him for having a life where he has so much time.

 

Hal Elrod: Wait. He was a mentor at the event too. Yeah. Keep going.

 

Jon Berghoff: Yeah. BYEBMentors.com. Yeah. Good for him for having a life where he not only has the time to predict scores, but he’s so accurate because he spent so much time actually studying these teams. So, one of his posts last weekend for the Super Bowl, I was reading it and he had like four possible scores and I thought wait a minute, you got four possible scores. You’re making it…

 

Hal Elrod: You’re not predicting much.

 

Jon Berghoff: And the interesting thing is like everything he said, though, is like what happens but just like you, just like your prediction that Jon Jones may or may not win. I have a feeling you’re really onto something.

 

Hal Elrod: I’m on record and a text. I got a text that proves it.

 

Jon Berghoff: We’ll go through and talk about it. We don’t want to end this episode. There’s at least four human beings that are still listening. So, what’s one more? Do you want to know it’s in this container that I’ve been drinking?

 

Hal Elrod: No, I’ve got to go. I’ve actually got a call in about two and a half minutes. So, as much as I would love to drag those two half minutes out, we should wrap this up, but it’s been fun, man. I feel like we hit all bases. We started laughing, genuine laughter.

 

Jon Berghoff: I think we came on strong about 18 minutes in so statistically we took too long for 99% of all.

 

Hal Elrod: I’m pretty sure I’m going to go back and listen to the beginning of this and edit out the first 30 minutes or so.

 

Jon Berghoff: Oh, leave it. You got to leave it all. Don’t edit it. We live in a world where people are begging for authenticity. They need to hear it all.

 

Hal Elrod: That’s true. Okay, cool. All right, man. Why authentically…

 

Jon Berghoff: This episode was brought to you by Om Organic Mushroom Nutrition.

 

Hal Elrod: No, it wasn’t. No, it wasn’t at all. Yeah.

 

Jon Berghoff: On this side of…

 

Hal Elrod: Hey, buddy. Go get some second and third opinions on that haircut and let me know that, “Hal, you’re right. Everyone does think it looks better.” All right, buddy. I love you. Let’s talk soon.

 

Jon Berghoff: I love you, buddy. Say hi to Ursula.

 

Hal Elrod: Yes. Say hi to Mara and the kids. What are their names again? I’m just kidding. I love you.

 

Jon Berghoff: See you, buddy. Bye.

 

Hal Elrod: Bless you.

[END]