Ep #127: Full Belief vs. Want Belief

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast with Amanda Karlstad episode number 127.

Welcome to The Life Coach Business Podcast, a show for coaches who are ready to up-level their business and take their impact, leadership, and results to a whole new level. If you’re ready to start taking powerful action and become the leader your business needs in order to grow and thrive, this show is for you. I’m your host, Amanda Karlstad, certified life and business coach, and entrepreneurial leadership expert.  Now, let’s get down to business.

Hello, and welcome everyone. So glad to have you here. I hope you’re doing well. I’m doing amazing. I am finalizing some last pieces for my upcoming High Level Mastermind retreat. I am so excited for this retreat and for what we have planned for my High Level Mastermind clients who are amazing and doing such big things and making so much money in their business. They’re all doing it in such an aligned way, and honestly building and scaling their dream businesses. It is so much fun to be able to help them do that.

I want to tell you, if you are a coach who is ready to take things to the next level. So maybe you’re working with clients on a one-on-one basis and you’re ready to scale, or maybe you’re already at or trending at six figures in your business. And you’re serious about growing your business to multiple six figures, seven figures, then I want to invite you to join us.

I have created this program to be the program that you need that helps you to take your business to that level. It is the mastermind for coaches who have a desire to build a very successful coaching business, and that also wants to do it in the most accelerated and sustainable way. And in a way that is in full alignment to their life, to the work that they do in the world.

So I am so proud of the work that we do in this program, and the transformation that happens for my clients through this process. So that they can fully step into their greatness and truly become examples of what is possible.

One of my goals this year. I’ve shared this on the podcast before, but one of my goals is to help as many coaches as I can in this program to take their business to that multiple six figure level, that seven figure level, and even beyond that. So I want to invite you to apply as there are limited spots available in this mastermind because there is a very high level of support that is in this program. Because I’m also very serious about helping my clients get results.

Just to give you an idea, we’ve had clients that have recently did over $90,000 in revenue just last month. We’ve had clients who are creating $50,000 launches, new group programs in literally a matter of weeks. We have clients in the process of launching and creating their highest revenue months yet. Clients who are successfully selling coaching packages in $10,000 and up.

So it’s a very high level group where we’re having higher level business conversations. It’s really a container that is at the highest level in terms of coaching, strategy, and mentoring that literally gives you the roadmap, the playbook on building your million dollar plus business.

I am so, so excited about this group. I’m so excited about this program. So I really want you, if this sounds like you, to go ahead and fill out, there’s just a quick application. If you’re an established coach and if you’re at a place where you know you’re ready for this level of coaching, this level of mentorship, this level of strategy and support. We’ll definitely link that application up in the show notes. I would love for you to fill that out, and set up a call so we can talk about what’s possible for you this year and really put a game plan together for you to do that.

I will say for those of you who are maybe not quite at that point, and so maybe you’re building to your first six figures and you want to do that also in the most streamlined and in the most accelerated way. I do have my six month foundational program. It’s my six month business accelerator program called the Mastermind. This is for coaches who are really working towards that first six figures who really want to do it in a way that feels in alignment with them.

So for a lot of them, it’s a matter of not having to sell their soul on social media or rely on tactics that don’t feel aligned. Just like my High Level Mastermind, it really allows for building your business in the most aligned way that sets the foundation for you to be able to grow and scale in the long term. So we will have a cohort that’s starting again soon. So you can find that application, set up your call as well through the link in the show notes. We’ll see if it’s a fit.

All right, let’s dive into today’s episode. What I want to talk to you all today about is a concept that I have been thinking about lately, and I observe a lot as I am working with my clients and working with so many coaches now in the industry. Coaches from all different types of backgrounds and all different types of niches.

What I want to talk about today is really choosing with intention what you want to believe. I want to say before we dive into this that, you know, on the surface, I think that this can appear to be a really simple concept. We, for the most part as coaches, know that we get to choose as far as what it is that we want to believe, right. We know that we get to choose what we get to believe when it comes to, for instance, our business, when it comes to the results that we have.

The difference is that, and this is what I want to talk about today, is that when we’re truly choosing and truly believing something is when the results manifest, right. That’s when the result really starts to appear. What happens is when we’re truly believing, we can see evidence of that in the business. We can see evidence of that in our life. So I want to talk about this because it’s a very subtle difference, but it’s a really important difference that I see come up over and over again.

So just because this is a simple concept on the surface, I want to encourage you to not dismiss this because I think it’s very, while it is a simple concept, it can be very difficult to embody. It can be very difficult to actually live in your life.

So I want you to consider for a moment and think about where you are right now in your business.  I want you to think about the difference between you wanting to believe something, and you actually believing in something. Okay.

So think for a minute about your business. I want you to consider the results that you have right now in your business. When you think about the result, when you think about your business, I want you to think about what it is that you’re believing right now.

What I want you to consider with this is whether or not this is something that you want to believe, or is this something that you actually believe?

I want to bring this to the surface today because it’s something that, you know, for my clients and for all the coaches that I work with, so often even when you’ve been in this work for so long, even when you’ve done all of your own personal work. When you’ve been on this journey of building your business, when you continually work on your belief, it’s so easy to dismiss. We intellectually know that our belief creates our results, but it’s very easy to still lose sight of this subtle difference that I’m talking about.

So one of the examples that I think that I personally observe that’s come up a lot with whether it’s clients or just in general is especially during launches. So I just want you to consider if you’re going into a launch or if you’ve ever gone into a launch and you’ve experienced that when you’re going into that process or when you’re in that process. Maybe that launch is happening over the course of a few weeks, maybe it’s a little bit longer, whatever that timeline is.

What happens is that in a lot of cases, what tends to happen is that we go into the launch with a high level of belief, right? We go into that launch with in this example knowing exactly what the goals are, thinking that we’ve got the plan all laid out. What quickly ends up happening is that inevitably, right, there’s things that come up. Inevitably things that maybe you didn’t anticipate came up.

What I noticed is that when I observe, again whether it’s a client or in general, when you’re in a place where things aren’t going quite as planned, right. Maybe there’s challenges that you weren’t able to accommodate for, you weren’t able to see, it wasn’t on your radar.

What happens very quickly is our belief starts to be shaken up a bit, right. We start to change our belief based on the evidence that we’re seeing. So whatever it is that we’re seeing, we start to believe that as evidence. And in some cases, if it’s a challenge right, we start to see that as evidence why maybe we’re not going to hit our goal.

So in that scenario, what tends to happen is we might start to lower the goal. We might start to think okay well, based on what’s happening, maybe I’m only going to hit this amount or maybe it’s going to be. We start to make predictions about the outcome. What I want to offer to all of you here is that there’s a really subtle difference between operating from a lens of wanting to believe versus living and actively believing, which is the difference and can make all the difference.

So whether you’re in a launch or whether you are putting on some type of event. Maybe it’s a webinar, maybe it’s some other type of event that you’re putting on, you always have a choice to believe that you can create that end result.

So I would really encourage you to take a minute and look at where you’re at right now. Whether it’s a launch, whether it’s a launch that you’re going into, or whatever it is that’s happening in your business. I want you to be really honest about your level of belief.

Because what happens is when we start stepping forward in a bigger way, when we start to put new things in place in the business, when we’re trying something new, when maybe you don’t have that full evidence and you don’t have yet the results that you would have hoped for, it’s very easy for that belief to start to be questioned.

So what I want to challenge you with here is to think about if you were to truly believe. What I mean by this is believing and living into and being in that full belief that you knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that you could create that end result, right? All the way, no matter what was happening, all the way to that deadline. What would that difference be?

Because the truth is that it’s really easy to believe something after it happens. It’s easy when you have the evidence. It’s easy to believe when you’ve done it before. What’s more challenging, and this is where I find that most coaches struggle, is to believe when you don’t have the evidence. Is to believe when maybe you can see that end result, you have that desire, and you probably even know you’re capable, right, but maybe you’re not sure exactly how you’re going to do that.

So when you don’t have that full evidence along the way or have the results that you were hoping for, my question to you is, can you still be in full belief? Or are you in a place where you’re wanting to believe? This is the difference that can change everything.

Because when this doubt comes up, when thoughts come through, like maybe I don’t have enough audience. Nobody’s opening my emails. My messaging isn’t good, right, like all the things. So all of the difference between wanting to believe something and feeling like it’s not within your control is a wanting to believe.

So I want you to take a look at this and look at up until this point. Maybe it’s been a recent experience that you’ve had or maybe something that you’re experiencing right now in the moment. Really think about what the difference would be and be honest about it, if you truly were in full belief, if you truly believed and allowed yourself to believe all the way to the deadline. Whatever that is.

Because truly believing is allowing yourself to fully believe no matter what. It’s allowing yourself to be fully in the belief no matter what that evidence is telling you. Wanting to believe is coming from a place of belief where there’s a part of you that isn’t in full belief. That belief isn’t fully there. So, really look at that for yourself and consider what the difference would be.

All right, so the second thing that I want to offer you here is that when you’re actually believing something, when you are actively believing on purpose versus coming from a place of where you’re wanting to believe something, and being in that space where you can see it, but your belief isn’t fully there. One of the distinctions that is really important to understand is that when you truly believe, you are, in essence, living into that belief. You’re living in the presence of it already being done.

So the first piece is really about having a level of belief that is a little bit shakable. It’s based on the evidence that you’re seeing, based on the circumstances, based on the facts that you might be experiencing. The difference is deciding when you’re in that process, deciding in that moment, in that experience, whether or not you want to truly believe or do you just want to believe.

Now, the second piece is the distinction between wanting to believe in something and actually believing it. When you actually believe it, when you’re living into that belief, it’s interesting because things tend to happen that are very distinct.

So let’s say that you had a goal to create $250,000 this year. When you talk about that goal, and if we assume that that’s your goal. For all of you listening, I know your goal might be a little bit different. But when you talk about whatever your goal is, I want you to consider how are you talking about that goal? Are you talking about it in a way as if it’s already done? So I want you to really think about that, and consider what your goal is, and think about when you think about that goal, and as you’re communicating about that goal.

So this might be people in your personal life. It might be to team members that you have. Whoever that is, I want you to really look at how you’re communicating about that goal.

A key here is are you communicating in anticipation of that $250,000 goal being met this year? Are you speaking about it in a way of how are you going to solve for certain things at that level of revenue? It might be how are you going to handle certain processes in your business? How are you going to accommodate certain things in the business?

So it’s not a matter of negotiating the details, right. It’s not trying to figure out exactly how it’s going to play out. It’s anticipating that it’s already done. It’s planning that it’s already done. It’s really common to want certainty, to be able to know exactly how you’re going to create your goal. Exactly how you’re going to create that level of revenue. It’s important to think about that.

But when you’re fully living in belief, what I find is that you’re not spending your time negotiating the details. So I’m not talking about not looking at your numbers, because that’s important, but what you’re not doing is trying to negotiate all of the details around it. So it’s the difference of knowing that it’s already a done deal. It’s the difference of knowing that whatever it is that you’re doing, whatever mechanism that you have in your business, that it’s already done.

It could be a matter of tweaking certain things and doing certain things to optimize things in your business. But it’s also not allowing yourself to get discouraged. It’s also not allowing yourself to be swayed by any external circumstances. It’s instead coming from that place of knowing, knowing that it’s already done and being willing to work within that, being willing to make those necessary tweaks.

So as you go, when you’re coming from a place of full belief, and you’re living into that place of full belief, what I’ve found is that you make so much smarter business decisions. You can think so much more clearly about your business.

So there’s a real subtle difference here that I can see when clients are moving in and out of belief. So the difference is it’s already done, and really being committed to that belief and talking as if that’s the goal that it’s already done versus the figuring out and all of the negotiating.

So this is what I want to offer to you is to really look at how you’re speaking about your goal, really look at how you’re speaking about what it is that you’re trying to accomplish. Because when you find yourself in a place in the energy of constant negotiation, constantly switching things around, constantly opening yourself up to different things in your business and not staying focused on the decisions that you’ve made, on the things that you’ve already pre-decided that you’re going to do, you’re really coming from a place of wanting to believe.

All right. The third thing that I want to offer to you is that when you have a plan, when you’re going out, as all of you are, and you are putting things in place, and you’re implementing different things, and you’re learning so many new things as you grow your business. What tends to happen is that when, for whatever reason, things come up, which inevitably will happen. I want you to really consider what are you making that mean? For many of you, what are you making it mean right now that you’re not at your goal?

I know so many of you are high achievers already. I know that so many of you have already accomplished so much in your life. What I also know is that what tends to happen is when you have that plan and when you go out and execute that plan and when things come up, it can be very easy to start to lose faith, to start to doubt, to start to look for evidence outside of yourself that things are going to work out.

A lot of times what’s happening here is that there’s a narrative that starts to be created around not being ethical. I think that when you can be coming from a place where there’s no narrative, when you’re able to look at your business, when you’re able to look at what’s happening with an objective eye, I think it’s one of the most profound places that you can operate from.

So when you can find yourself in a place where you can operate in a way that none of the outside circumstances mean anything. Instead, you understand that you have full agency over your perception, over how you choose to think about those circumstances. When you can come from that place and know that it’s just part of the deal, that it’s just part of the process. It’s part of growing and scaling a business. What it does is it allows you to focus and be in that belief, and to be in that belief of yourself.

So I want to encourage you all to not operate from a place, not allow yourselves to make certain things mean things that aren’t true. When you consider, I always think about the example of as a parent, when your child is learning to walk. We all know that it’s inevitable, right?

We all know that it’s part of the process that the child is going to fall. That there’s going to be some wobbles. That they’re probably not going to get it right away. Some are going to start earlier than others. Some will get it faster. Some will be slower. But we all know at the end of the day that a child is going to learn how to walk. We all know that no matter what, no matter how they start out, they’re going to figure it out.

So if you take a look at that process, right, all of the falls, all of the time, all of the wobbles that a child goes through when they’re learning how to walk, there’s really never a point where there’s doubt. There’s really never a point where it’s like as a parent, you question whether or not that’s going to happen. Yet what happens in the business is that so often when things don’t go exactly as planned or when maybe you’re not at a certain place, our brain starts to offer up narratives as far as what that all means.

So I want you to think about if you had no doubt, if you knew that 100% that your goal, that $250,000 goal, that $500,000 goal, that million dollar goal, whatever it is. That $100,000 goal. That it was done, how would you be showing up differently? How would you be thinking differently about the circumstances? How would you be… What would the story around it be?

I think what’s so powerful and I want to leave you with is that there’s really no downside to being in full belief. There’s really no downside to living and being in full belief every single day no matter what. So even if there are circumstances, even if there’s evidence that it would be easy to make a narrative, it would be easy to start to question whether or not something could be true for you, I want you to consider being in full belief, to living in that place of full belief no matter what.

I have found this to be the richest part of the journey. It’s why I talk about it’s who you become in the process. It’s who you step into, that version of yourself that creates those levels of results. So whatever your goal is, I want you to believe and truly believe in that goal with all your heart no matter what even until the last minute.

Even if you experience “failure” along the way, just know that that’s such an important part of the process because it shows you the ways or in the places that you’re not fully believing. That’s where your beliefs or your lack of beliefs in those areas can be revealed.

So align yourself with true belief. Be aware of when you’re starting to align with doubt. Being able to handle the fear, being able to have the confidence and knowing that there’s nothing that you can’t handle is a beautiful place to operate. So be willing to believe in something even when the evidence isn’t there. It’s one of the most profound parts of this journey is to live and be in that belief. You all get to choose what you believe. So stand in your belief, live in that place of belief, not just wanting to believe it but actually living in that belief.

I will tell you the proof will be in how you’re showing up, in the actions that you’re taking, in the language that you’re using. The results that you’re experiencing in your business. When you’re in that place of full belief, I’ve also found you don’t need to tell anybody else how hard you’re believing. Because when you actually do, that’s when the results start to appear. So, go out, live in full belief, my friends. There is no downside to this. Have an amazing week. I’ll talk to you all again very soon. Take care. Bye, bye.

Hey if you’re ready for a real breakthrough in your business and want to grow and scale your business to at least six figures or more in annual revenue, I invite you to apply for my exclusive program The Mastermind at amandakarlstadcoaching.com/the-mastermind. I look forward to seeing you there.

Thank you for listening to this episode of The Life Coach Business Podcast. If you want to learn more about how to build, grow, and scale your business and accelerate your results visit amandakarlstadcoaching.com.