450 | Q4 – Pause and Reflect Episode: Top Ten Power Points From 2021

Chris LoCurto 0:00
On today's episode, the coaches gathered together to discuss the most listened to episodes of 2021. What were the most important takeaways from those episodes and what we need to carry with us into 2022. All of that is coming up next.

Welcome to the Chris LoCurto show, where we discuss leadership and life, and discover that business is what you do, not who you are. Welcome to the show, folks. Hope you're having a fabulous day. I am joined today by Joel and Aaron. Welcome to the show, guys.

Joel Fortner 0:47
Thank you. Thank you.

Aaron West 0:49
Thank you for having us.

Chris LoCurto 0:52
But before we get into that, really quickly, before we dive into things, we want to remind you about the Next Level Leadership Live Event that is coming up soon. So if you are a business owner or leader, this event was designed specifically for you. Now we are in the extreme earlybird phase, and you can get 30% off of your tickets to do so go to Chrislocurto.com/nextlevelleadership to reserve your seats today, folks, we are super crazy excited about this event. I know it's already going-we just launched it. And it's been going pretty great.

Joel Fortner 1:28
We did and we've got so many leaders that have already committed and they're coming in April, more than we've ever had at this time. Spening up a registration. It's amazing. We are

Chris LoCurto 1:39
super excited. Alright, so jumping into today, Aaron, what are we doing? Well, I

Joel Fortner 1:44
think it's a great thing for us to reflect back on this last year and look at what are the top 10 episodes of the podcast. Over the last 12 months, you know, we've been able to do 52 different episodes. This year, there's been the 52nd. One, we celebrated our 400th Episode near the beginning of the year. And so with this being episode 450 In the last of 2021. Let's take a review back on what the top 10 episodes were for this year. How does that sound to you guys? Sounds good to me.

I don't have anything else to do, bro. Let's get in here and do it.

Chris LoCurto 2:18
It sounds as though we're just randomly doing this. Yeah, I think that's a great idea.

Joel Fortner 2:22
I heard it we should have planned this boy. Oh, look

Chris LoCurto 2:25
at this, we actually have a list already

Joel Fortner 2:27
been crazy. So alright, so take it away, brother, just like Casey Casey was top 10. We're gonna wrap up the top 10 songs, we're gonna be the top 10 episodes of this year. So starting with episode number 10. It was episode 424, which was beliefs shape your future. And this was actually one of our coaches episode where we actually pause and reflect on what our beliefs were and what shaped our future. And so what we're gonna do is just take a few minutes and kind of just speak back on those episodes and talk through what happened with that. So let's just get some some feedback from you guys. What do you remember from that episode that stood out for you?

Chris LoCurto 3:06
Well, I think for me, by far, the most important thing from that episode was the decision making processes. I think, with everything that we teach here, whether it's next level life, whether it's leadership stuff, it doesn't matter. Everything that we're teaching revolves around this decision making process. And I think one of the tough things for people to really understand or really get sometimes is that the things that they are believing the things that they are telling themselves, the the you know, whether it's positive, whether it's negative, whatever that self talk is, whatever the belief systems they ascribe to, those are all creating that decision making process doesn't matter what it is in life, right? Whether it's on making big decisions, making big purchases, whether it's where you go to eat food, you know, how many times have you decided not to go to the restaurant because you know, the waiter or waitress there? And you're like, Well, I don't want to see that person today, right? There's so many things in these belief systems that we have that drive our decisions. And when we truly get that, and we truly understand that we can change either the belief systems, you know, maybe they're good, and maybe they're bad. Maybe we can enhance them, maybe we need to get rid of them. But we can learn how to drive our decisions. Better because we understand the belief systems that we have in our minds.

Joel Fortner 4:48
I think the thing I'll jump in here on is looking at when I take a step back and look at this episode and look at many of the episodes that are going to be in the top 10 are looking at you man. It's how many people are interested in In this kind of learning, they're interested in information of how do I how do I grow a better decision making process? And how do I improve what I believe? And especially when it comes to shaping my future? I think it was, I think it was such an intriguing topic for people, because it seems like people are just all over the place are so fascinated in IQ, EQ, the emotional smarts, if you will. And I think that so many of our listeners, are those kinds of people that are I mean, think about, they're listening to the show, because what are they wanting to do learn and get good information and change who they are and change how they do things? Yeah, absolutely.

Aaron West 5:41
Yeah, that's good. Thanks for sharing, guys. So number nine, then was episode 426, which is redefining financial success. And Chris's is an episode that you and Brian were on together, and talked a lot about how success is defined. And it's an interesting time, because obviously, we all have connections, even coming through through Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey, but really stepping into what was financial success for a individual and for a business leader. And what did that look like? And so one of the things that I know that you and Brian talked about was relationships, specifically relationships with money. I'd love to hear your kind of your take on that.

Chris LoCurto 6:20
Well, yeah, so so much of, you know, how I look at finances is based more on God than anything. So for me, money is a tool money is something that is to be used. I am not crazy focused on building incredible wealth. I, I discovered and I think I shared this on the episode, if I remember correctly, that there was a time I dropped my head and just busted it and just kept working. And 10 years later, I looked up going, wow, I've made a lot of money. And there's parts of my life that are missing. And it's not that I was making money, the the major focus, it's just that I, I didn't realize that getting myself into a specific place in life had become more important than some other things. So for me, I think it's ridiculous not to do things like go through Financial Peace University, I think it's ridiculous not to understand how you're losing money. When you don't understand money. I think it's ridiculous to get into debt. I think it's ridiculous to outspend what you earn, I think all of these things are just silliness. Why? Well, one, I taught it for 20 years, right. But I think when you get to this understanding of how to utilize finances as a tool, and you couple that with, there's never going to be a time we get to heaven, and God's gonna go I'm super impressed with the bottom line of the businesses. I mean, that was just incredible. That's not his focus, right? His focus is on us as human beings, his focus is on helping people get closer to him and, and for us to be live more peaceably as as brothers and sisters in Christ. And so when you look at it for me, I, I, at 51 they come 51 I spent a lot more time looking at finances as that tool of how do I use this to further God's kingdom? And, you know, how do I use this to create opportunities for people to get closer to him or for my family to get closer to him? And and how do I use finances to set up our future? That It's also fitting into that. So that's for me, that's my relationship with money is I don't look at money as something that is that incredibly important anymore. When it comes to worth? Well, not the worth of money, but my worth, right. It's not that that part's not the important part. What's my relationship with God? What's my focus? What is What do I feel like he's directing me to do in life? And then how do I utilize the tools that he is blessing us with in a good stewardship way that can impact the kingdom of heaven?

Joel Fortner 9:20
Now, that stewardship word there, Chris is such a key. That's that's the one that always comes back to me is just that word stewardship and what that means and what the Bible talks about with that, and you're absolutely right. It's just that whole thing of recognizing that it's not ours to begin with, anyway. It's us being stewards of what his he is. And whether we're doing in life or in business. This is this is where that financial success comes from, because it's not it's not the worldview of financial success. And so that's what that redefining of that that was so number eight on our list was episode number 425, which was beyond task excellence as a work ethic, and I'm going to pull out a scripture right here on the very beginning of this one, and that's Colossians, 323, whatever you do do with all of your heart, as if working for the Lord and not for man. So we're utilizing that scripture in this in this podcast, to talk a little bit about, about this and what, what you guys have got coming out of this lesson.

So yeah, this is one that I think, I think appeal to people, because I believe it. I think people are after how are we? How are we more excellent in what we do. It's something that we, we teach a ton on, we talk about it all the time. And we focus on it so heavily as a team, that I think it's something that people are after, how do we do things better? How do we not just accomplish tasks? But how do we have excellence in everything that we do? And as leaders, how do we lead and create a culture of excellence. And so much of that is it's not settling for things. It's having tough conversations, it's having accountability, it's looking for all those things that make you an excellent organization, high performing, we're thorough, we're organized, we focus on results, the culture is fabulous. And I think it's, I'm so glad actually that this episode has played so well. Because I love that people are after this, this whole concept of, of excellence as a work ethic. I mean, to me, it's very intriguing as a leader, if I didn't listen to our show, and I came across that title. As I mean, I think I'm a pretty high performing, I busted I go after stuff, I drive at things as a leader, I would be intrigued with just Okay, what does that really mean, as a work ethic? That means a daily practice of excellence? I want more of that? Yeah, I think?

Chris LoCurto 11:53
Well, I mean, when we look at our clients, right, the people that we do get to see. So there's a lot of folks, a lot of you out there that are listening to us that we've not had the pleasure of meeting or running into are talking to. So what we have to base on is, is those folks that do come to the events, join the programs, whichever send an information, send in questions. And I think when we look at the folks who are following us, I think they're looking for that already. Like you're saying, you know, if you weren't a part of this, that would intrigue you just because of what we're talking about excellence as a work ethic. And I think so many folks that are listening to us either desire that already, you know, or they're already doing it, they already have excellence as a work ethic, and they understand it, or they desire it, they haven't figured it out yet. Or they know that there's more than just showing up and doing a, you know, a day's worth of a J. OB. Right. And so I think the folks that listen to us are more along those lines of this is what I want as a part of my life. And one of the things we've heard a lot is people that are in crappy situations, and I'm sorry, if you if it's you that you're you're in a bad culture where you want to be excellent. We you know, the early days we used to get that question a lot. Is what do I do? Because the work environment I'm in just sucks, nobody cares. People are fighting people. There's backstabbing, the leaders don't care. And yet, I want this thing that you guys keep talking about, where I'm excellent every day. And you know, as you shared, Aaron, that it's showing up every day and doing your work as unto the Lord. You know that if no matter what, so we have a phenomenal culture and environment. And we're always talking about how great it is to show up and do our work as unto the Lord. So it's already it's just a natural fit. We love it. It's great. But what is it like I've been in multiple environments where I was in the crappy environments, I was in industries where I hated what I did. But I knew God had me there for a reason and a time period. And I continue to do my work for him, not for the people around me who didn't, didn't really give a crap, right. And I think that's one of the big pieces, is if you're going to have excellence as a work ethic, it has to be a higher purpose. And it's got to be that God has got you in that place. And listen, if he hasn't moved you yet, then he still has you there for a reason. So what does it look like to show up every day and not do your work? You know, obviously, you got to do your work for the people that are paying you. But you have eight hours today, what can you do for God?

Joel Fortner 14:52
That's really good. Yeah, thanks, Chris. for that. I appreciate that. And it's just a great reminder even for me, and for our whole team. Just we talked about that like He said, we talked about it, it comes up. It's a regular part of our culture and who we are. And it really does. It drives us to want to be the best team members that we can be for the organization, but not because we're doing it for you. Because we're doing it for God.

Chris LoCurto 15:14
Exactly. Yeah. If you're doing I always say, if you're doing it for me, then I got to manage you. If you're doing it for God, then I get to lead you.

Joel Fortner 15:22
Yep, that's a great way to put it right there. Alright, folks, when we come back, the countdown continues with the race to the number one most listened to episode of 2021.

Hey, it's Joel Fortner here. I'm the Vice President of leadership development on Chris's team, and I oversee our Next Level Mastermind business coaching program. Most business owners and leaders lack a clear path to succeed in business. They question whether they're making the right decisions, if they're focusing on the right things to really grow their business. If this is you, you need a coach in your life. Coaches help you make better decisions, navigate uncertainty, lead more effectively, and grow your business without sacrificing your life and your family. In their first year, our clients typically see an average of 67% increase in gross revenue, and an average of 138% increase in net profit. And regained hours of time, our clients stay in the program for three and a half years simply because of the results they get. So if you're ready to run your business at the next level and see the growth you've been wanting, then visit chrislocurto.com/mastermind. Again, chrislocurto.com/mastermind, today.

Alright, and we're back. Chris is old. Thanks for joining us on the show today and talking through our top 10 episodes of 2021. I will get we'll get through these here in just a moment. We've been through the top 10, nine and eight. So we're gonna now jump into number seven, which was episode 423. limiting belief systems lives leaders tell themselves. This is an episode that Chris, you and Brian were talking about, in digging into lies that leaders often believe let's let's dig into that one for a moment.

Chris LoCurto 17:12
Yeah, this for me. Gosh, I think we just poured out some, I think I felt like we pour out a lot of every episode, but man, I tell you what it is. This is one of those tough things that, you know, so much of this business is spent on helping people to try and get rid of the lies, you know, the the crap that they tell themselves and the lies that they believe in? You know, it's it's so interesting, probably 97 98% of the time as we talk through with folks saying, hey, you know, like what we're doing next level life, hey, there's lies that you tell yourself, we're gonna focus on some of those right now. People are right there. Yep, I know I do. Every now and then you'll find that there are people that don't actually understand that, that they don't recognize that they tell themselves like I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not funny enough. I'm not handsome enough. I'm not attractive enough. My, my position with the company is my value as a person, you know, my team's performance is a direct reflection of my leadership. And obviously it is but there's, there's aspects to that, uh, you know, if I, if I show my ignorance, you know, I can't, I can't let my team know that I am a failure, or I failed at things because if I do, then I'm going to lose their respect for me. There's all of these lies that we tell ourselves. And I think this was, you know, one of those ones that we see. So it's one thing when I tell myself lies, and I affected myself. It's another thing when I tell myself lies, and it affects my family, that really, really sucks as well. It's another thing when I tell myself lives and affects a whole team of people, right? It's affecting a business a group of people. So I think for me, this was just a very important one for us to walk through specific things that we actually see people struggle with, and help them to overcome you may not fully overcome it until you can get into like a deeper next level life or something like that. But at least the awareness of how do I get myself out of this this lie and what does truth look like? And how do I get to that truth faster? And how do I not allow this to affect not only myself but you know, I don't want it affect my family. I don't want it to affect my team. I don't want it to affect my business.

Joel Fortner 19:29
Well, I think for you know, just just speaking on this for a moment, I think even for myself you know the the lies that if you're not careful that you can tell yourself all have to do with and it's funny, you talked about next level live, Chris, but even in a business standpoint, a lot of the lies as a business leader come back to worth Yeah, that my value my worth is in my position and the team that I lead the things that I do the tasks that I accomplish, you know, well, even going so far as to say well, my team can't do the stuff they need to do without me. Yeah. And and putting so much value in worth in that, that you prevent your team and you prevent yourself from even growing.

Chris LoCurto 20:10
That's so funny. We actually had a discussion at leadership lunch about that. Recently just talking through how do we guide people that when they think that it's all I've got to take it all on. So that's that's another fantastic lie that we tell ourselves and what is it doing? It's keeping us from actually leading. Right? Yeah. And we think that it's just easier for me to do this. Right. I have to take on the responsibility or that keeps us from leaving. Yeah, absolutely.

Joel Fortner 20:39
That's good. That's good. All right, jumping to number six. This was episode 431. And it's going to be the first one on the list. That was a guest episode, where you had Mr. Chris camp from TPC construction management, on on the show, talking about leadership, his leadership, journey, scalability and capacity. So knowing that, you know, both of you guys have worked with Chris, I've worked with Chris quite a bit and stuff. Would love to just speak in a little bit on that episode. And what all was, was uncovered in that episode, if you will,

Chris LoCurto 21:15
yet Chris camp is just a rock star. You know, we love not only Chris, but the whole leadership team. The team that's in Atlanta, the team that's in Nashville, crowd they've gotten there, they're in Dallas. I mean, it's just, they're all over. And here's the great thing. Here's the thing I love. People ask me, who's your worst client? It's so funny. I would never think to ask that question to somebody, but I get that question for years. I mean, that still, it's something I get to this day where people say, you know, who's your client? And I always say the same answer. It's the person who doesn't implement. Right. And so here we've got a Chris camp, high D personality style high driver, a guy who just is constantly on the move constantly bustin things open. And when he joined us, in the beginning, there were definite things that it was like, Hey, man, these are problems, these are issues that we got to fix, you know, if we can adjust these things, if we can shift these things, here's where we're headed. And my gosh, it was like a, you know, cannon ball out of a out of a cannon, just boom, he in the leadership team. Let's see back in those days, it was him and Paul and Marcus. And let's see, I think even Wes was on the team back in those days, if I'm, if I'm after That's right. And just they, they went ballistic. And, you know, this came out of a strat plan that we did back in 2016. And they just went crazy, right, and they busted so much stuff, and started moving stuff and implementing the very things that we teach, and then came back. And then we ran through it again. And next thing, you know, he's, he's creating, you know, things that are coming out of the event are, Hey, we should open up a commercial side. And next thing, you know, they're opening up a commercial side, and they're raising leaders up. And then we have a whole new leadership team that's coming through that has been raised up through the business. And so the higher ups are moving into better places, and he's bringing people up to the team. And now we're, we're operating with those folks and teaching them how to, to operate at that level of excellence and communication, just crazy, powerful stuff. And we love seeing where they are. I mean, they're just they're doing so good. And of course, COVID had to, you know, kick them in the teeth a little bit in the beginning as well. But they considerably overcame that, and are just rockin with it.

Joel Fortner 23:55
Yeah, I think Chris is just such a great story. And he's such a great person to learn from. And I'm so glad that people were digging this episode because they can hear the real life story of an entrepreneur. Just the hard work, the the the grind and the hustle of the whole thing. So we were doing this whole two days of team trainings with all of his companies recently. And then I was talking with him last week reflecting on hey, how do you think it went? And we were talking about it? And after all the things you just said, Chris, Chris camp told me that man, if if he's thinking about the future of the companies, and he said something along the lines of it's the thing that's most important for me is that someone like Alia can come to an event like this, because we can give her opportunities that allow her to become a better mother for her new baby. He's like, That's why I do yeah, that's where Chris is. That's where he's gotten to. And that is the heart of a leader right there.

Chris LoCurto 24:59
Which is so good. Great, because in the early days, we're going through strat plan. And I love this story because this is just Chris's brain, you know how he operates in the early days, you know, it's like, we're walking through problem solving problems, problems, problems, and he's like, okay, but where's the money? Okay, but where's the money? Okay, but where's the money? And we stopped and I'm like, Okay, if we do this, how much is it? Now? It's probably a million bucks. If we do this, how much is that less? Probably, you know, another two, we just walked through all this stuff. And all of a sudden goes, okay, I'm good. And from that place of, okay, if we do all of this stuff, where's the money? You know, how does that equate to revenue? To that's so far from being the focus. It's just like what we talked about in the earlier episode on was that number number nine, redefining financial success. Chris is in that place, where back then it was, well, what does this look like revenue wise, and now he's sitting there looking at how does one of my leaders become a better better mother? How does this affect her family? You know, there's so many big things that are coming up in their businesses. And I've talked with him, I'm pretty darn sure you've talked with him as well just, you know, knocking some things around, and everything is coming down to you know, well, how is this gonna affect my team? How does this affect you know, if we do this? What is what happens with the team? And, and how do I want this? What, what's the direction? I want this to go with my team? It's not about the money. It's not about, you know, where's the money gonna come from? It's not, you know, is the money gonna show up? It's so focused on people. And I think that is such a great thing. And Chris is one of such a large number of people who have had this type of impact, right, that in the early days, it's the Well, let's talk about the money. And now it's the praise God, My people have an ability to become a better mother. I love i Unfortunately, I wasn't here, because I was out with COVID. That was fun. So I didn't get to be here. But and that's the first time I've heard that. So that's just so powerful.

Joel Fortner 27:15
Yeah, and I would I would concur on what Joe was talking about, I you know, we I've talked with Wes, and Jeremy and Taylor, all leaders within the organization after that training that we did, and just the impact it had not only on them individually, but their teams. And like you said, we had their entire team here, every single person from the top down, was here and being able to pour into them, and, and be able to get that information to them. But then that life change that they've got coming out of it, that they're changing the way they look at things they're growing. They're becoming better team members out of it. It's just it's just fantastic to see what's gone gone on with that company. So absolutely. Moving on to number five, was episode 439. How transformative His purpose. And this is an interesting one, because the title of it was a little little out there for I think, for some people, but it it rang true, in that we understand that there is there is something about purpose, about figuring out what our purpose is, and going after that. And so I'd love to hear your take on that one.

Chris LoCurto 28:25
Again, I think I go back to our listeners that we have an incredible number of people who want something bigger than a jlb. Right, the the folks that are listening to these shows as we're talking through, hey, let's fix your business because it's going to help your team members become a better mother, hey, let's let's help you have a really good view of finances. So you don't spend your life trying to build, you know, an empire and then you figure out that you lose that you lost out on a whole ton of stuff. I think one of the great things I love about the people that follow us is that they care. Man, it is so tough for me and again, I am 51 Right? I am you know, not a spring chicken. I am a Gen XOR and I you know, I think Gen Xers are some of the hardest working people and just you know, we don't have a problem busting it, right? It's tough for me to watch people who could give a crap about purpose. Their purpose is how do I work less? You know, how do I you know, get through this life not doing much and you know, focus all of my worth on man's opinion of me and it just, uh, it's just, it's tough. And so for me, I think that that is such a difficult thing is when I see folks that are like it no matter how much you try and help. You're just wrong. You know, they're just so much smarter than you No, no, no, the way the the way to fix zest for life is to continue to struggle through, you know, problem after problem after problem not working hard and putting food on the table and, you know, taking care of important things. Instead, it's more, you know, I need to spend all day long on Instagram or Tiktok, or whatever the crap. Oh, as a teacher, it's tough to see that. And so I think one of the things I love is that, you know, when we teach an episode like that, on how important purposes it transforms, when you have a great way if you even just have a good purpose in life, you know, having a good goal, right? But really a good purpose drives your decision making. It drives your desire to get off your butt and make some things happen. And I'm not talking about let's go create a world of of workaholics. I think if people have listened to me long enough to understand that is definitely not the direction that I go. But when you do put a good purpose in place when you do recognize your purpose, and it's more than man's opinion of you and man's comments about you and you know, all that crap, that that's actually something higher than that, then it changes the direction that you go.

Joel Fortner 31:16
So the other day, the only thing I think I'll I'll we could wrap on all these forever, like we open up a can of worms every time we hit a new topic here. But the thing, the thing to add to this is the other day, I was looking back on my healthy vineyard notes that the lino the for those who don't know, it's the lesson we teach that. It's really awesome. It's transformative, but it's very difficult. And it's all about how do you become this healthier person? And what is God doing in your life, even through difficulty and struggle? And how do we get past self sabotage and just all this amazing stuff to know about yourself and move beyond better is I was looking at my notes. And there was a note that I wrote, and I don't know if you said it, Chris, or what but the note was, the only person I can't lead is the one who's not on the same mission as me. And I was like, I have not thought about that note, until I just reread it. And I'm like, it was just it just struck me once again, it's so powerful, because I think about it from a leadership wins in terms of leading purpose leading mission within your organization about how transformative is it? Well, think about that. Think about what I'm saying that I'll be reading back this note. That's how powerful it is for an organization. That's how it is how powerful it is for a family. Think about if you're a parent right now, that is, you know, struggling with this unity in your family? Are you all on the same mission? are you pointing in the same direction? Are you leading your family that way? The same questions apply within your team. It's in my in my their struggle in the team? Well, is there unity? Does everyone know that and have buy into the shared mission and shared vision? Because if there's a lot of struggle, the answer is probably not. So it's well shoot, what do I need to do as a leader?

Chris LoCurto 33:09
Yeah, I think that's so powerful. When, like for us we say your mission is your purpose. Right? It's your purpose for existence. So what is my individual purpose for existence? What is my business's purpose for existence? What is my family's purpose for existence, when you look at that, that's that mission. That's what we use as a definition. And I think like you're just saying, if you are struggling with even just one team member fear to sit down and go, What is your purpose for showing up every day? And just get that response? It will, it'll be a, it could be a fantastic affirmation, that you've done a great job communicating, and you have a great person on the team, or can also be a great smack upside the head of oh my gosh, this person is not on the same mission as me. And so there's no way I'm ever going to get them where I want them to be. Because they're, they don't align with the purpose of the existence of this business. That's good. That's powerful.

Joel Fortner 34:09
It's so interesting, because I had a coaching call earlier today with one of our clients who, for 2022, what they're actually going to do is they're going to ask our team, every single person on their team from the top down to write the five to seven most important things that they do in the business, and then they're going to meet with him and go, Why does that matter? Oh, I love it. I love it. That's the team member. Let the team member let them know this is why this matters. These are why I wrote these things down and dig into that with him and see that purpose piece that's that was really powerful. And that was a great tie in to what we're doing. Talking about with that lesson and with that podcast, so yeah, moving on to number four and number three, we actually have a Part One and Part Two that lineup today. So number four was episode 433. How challengers promote growth part one And number three was episode 434. Our challenges promote growth part two. So let's talk about how those challenges promote growth and what that looks like.

Chris LoCurto 35:08
Yeah, I think it again, I think these are our big because of the people that are following us because they actually have somewhat of an understanding. And it's something that we talked about it, if you're not experiencing stress, you're not going to experience growth, this concept that you're going to grow without problems, without challenges without stress without, you know, terrible times, tough times, you know, difficult situations, you're just not going to grow, how do you grow? You know, there's a great movie, it's a favorite movie of ours, which is called a good year. And this uncle is teaching his nephew, you know, he, they're playing tennis, and the nephew just loses, and he just throws his rack, and he's really pissed off and, and the uncle is like, you know, hey, you know, a gentleman should acknowledge his losses, as well as his wins, you know, as well as his his successes. And he goes, and when you do that, what you recognize is how much better it is, a man learns nothing from winning, he learns from losing. And it goes, one of those things is how much better it is to win. And it's just such a great line. Because if you do nothing but win, then what happens, you get this false, flighted, you know, ego, inflated ego, and in this thought of, I'm so amazing, I'm so great, my gosh, this whole business exists because of the failures in my life, or the failures in other people's lives that I've learned how not to make the same mistakes. And you know, that we the things that we teach are coming from years and years of getting just knocked around, dealing with stress, dealing with failure, and being okay with it. And so I think those two episodes may resonate so well, because the folks that are following us, again, are in that place of going, You know what, I'm okay. I can make it through challenging situations.

Joel Fortner 37:16
You know, this reminds me of a leader I was talking to the other day that who's been with us for a long time. And something that struck him the other day that had not struck him before was his mindset around suffering, that he's grown so much that now he sees, I've been looking at this, the whole dog been looking at it wrong. And I have heard you all teach this information for years and never connected until right now. And it was such a powerful place, because that's a huge mindset change to go to say, you know, it's okay. Yeah, yeah. Chris, I hear what you're saying that, that we grow the most, due to the things that we want the least of in our life, that sounds great. But you can actually get there, you can actually really, you know, transcend to that place. If you I don't know if that's a good way to say that or not. But you can you can adjust your mindset. And I think many of you all who listened to the show and listening to this now, possibly are at that place where you're lucky. No, that's exactly right. I've come through difficulty and hardship. And I've come through trauma, and I've come through a massive amount of healing. And I've learned that that mindset, it's how we intersect struggle, as makes all the difference about how life is going to go going forward. You know, how submitted how surrendered are we to difficulty, because we just know that it's going to be there. And our mindset is, you know, it's going to be my greatest teacher.

Chris LoCurto 38:41
Yeah, absolutely.

Joel Fortner 38:42
Yeah, I'll even throw on with this. Because this reminds me so much of the lesson that you've taught so many times, Chris, on how we're like one. And the fact of what the grapes go through the suffering, the stress the pressure that they go through, to create the great wines that they create. And, you know, it's that whole thing and even a quote that you used in the episode from CS Lewis hardships off to prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. And it's such a great quote, but just think about how much stress and pressure we all have to go through to make us be the person that we have to be yeah, there's to shape us who we

Chris LoCurto 39:21
are. I think I shared this quote in one of the episodes as well I have the well I don't know if I did share it, but it's in the why your life is like wine, or how your life is like going where there's a winemaker in Burgundy who says if you give wine grapes, all the sun and water they want they become lazy couch potatoes. And but if you stress you know, and he doesn't go on to this, but the concept is but if you allow it to stress and struggle and strain, it becomes a phenomenal, complex, beautiful line. You know or beautiful great that can become an amazing one. And so just that thought process when we're whenever we're trying to avoid pain and struggling and suffering, then all we're doing is pointing ourselves to becoming lazy couch potato, so

Joel Fortner 40:14
it's good. So number two, Episode 413 with one of our guest episodes, and it was actually with Mary Beth fourtner. And her journey as a wife and a mother. And so this was, this was a great episode. I really enjoyed this episode, getting the perspective because it helped me think about even my own wife and think about her journey, and where she is, and being able to hear Mary Beth. And of course, I've known Mary Beth for years, to be able to hear her story and to be able to tie that in with even us as individuals. And you know, it's so much it's so funny, because this is a lot of people see this as a business and leadership show. But there's also a major life impact in the show. And seeing that aspect of it from her and her perspective. And the conversation that you get at you guys had was just so great for me to see. But I'd love to hear Chris's your perspective, but especially Joel, your perspective on this, on this episode.

Chris LoCurto 41:15
Yeah, I would love to hear that as well. I mean, you know, Mary Beth, and I go back. Gosh, what is it 1516?

Joel Fortner 41:25
It's more than that. Now. It's got to be even more than

Chris LoCurto 41:27
that. It's a long list.

Joel Fortner 41:29
I think it's saying it's 18 years,

Chris LoCurto 41:31
18 years, we go back. And so for me, there's just so much that I love about the episode and seeing her growth but your her husband? What was it like listening to this episode?

Joel Fortner 41:42
Oh, I'm just proud. Just Just proud listening, because she's, she's so phenomenal. And I've been able to see such amazing transformation over the years. And, Mike, when it was one thing for me to go through my next level life event, it was another thing for her to go through. Because it was a major turning point in our life, because we got thrust onto the same page. So many different ways. And life has been so different since then, because of our growth and how that intersected. And it's just continued over the years, there was a decent, there was a there was years between our events between your events, that was hard. And I know that other married couples that have come through next have a life that one's come through and the other hasn't have experienced that same thing. And it's a real thing, like when we experienced a lot of growth and insight, and someone else hasn't. And we're married to that someone else that can create disunity, it can create, Oh, you think though there's this Oh, you're or they haven't gone through that level of healing and growth that you have. And so it's just it's a real thing. So once she came through her event, and then just the years of growth, oh, since her since her event, it was neat to hear her reflect back on this on the show, because I'm listening to it. And when it published that was literally the first time I had listened to the show. And I listened to it. And I'm just so proud of her. And I'm so happy about where we are as a married couple, especially now that we do God's brought us into fostering and all of the difficulties and struggles along the way with that. And I'm just so proud of her as an individual that I'm like, she's my best friend. There's no body I will want to spend more time with and my wife. I want to do everything with her. And it's just yeah, just proud.

Chris LoCurto 43:45
Yeah, not not not first time you listen to the show, but the first time you listened to that specific show?

Joel Fortner 43:50
Yeah, yeah, I listened. I listened to the show well before Episode 413. This is pretty decent stuff like this.

Aaron West 44:01
I might listen to a few more episodes. One of the things you said though, Jill, and I do want to hit on this for just a moment is is the concept that you talked about with family and kids especially. And Chris, you guys hit on this episode talking about versus raising kids versus what we actually really want is raising adults. Yeah. And one of the pieces that Mary Beth talks about with that and I personally got to experience Joel and Mary Beth and the kids over at my house just a couple of weeks ago. We had them over there passing through town and had them over and I will tell you and I've not even told Joel this so this is news to him but my girls absolutely loves hanging out with your kids and just having a great time with them. But seeing you and Mary Beth parent the kids, and like you said more not focusing on just raising kids. We're focused on raising adults and seeing that in the kids that as you guys are bringing them up is really just quite amazing. Yeah, thanks, man.

Chris LoCurto 45:02
Good stuff. If I, if I remember correctly, the first person to make me cry inside the next level life could Oh, Mary Beth, where to go, where to go and be. There have been a few crying events since then. But that was the toughest that I think that was the toughest event at that point of knowing her so well and having to lead her through something so difficult, and not rescue, you know, one of my best friends. That was one of the tough things is sitting there going, I have got to push her and all I want to do is give her a hug right now. So that's good stuff. All right. When we come back, the number one most listened to episode of 2021.

Speaker 2 45:45
“Freedom, it's so powerful.”

“I felt rejuvenated, almost renewed.”

“I just felt so welcomed and loved and accepted for who I am, and not an ounce of judgment. So I was very comfortable there, that had a really big impact on me.”

“It's going to be worth it. It's going to be hard. But it's going to be even better on the other side.”

“For me, it was just very refreshing. And I want to say life giving, for me, it really was.” “You know, I would go through Next Level Life again, and probably again, and probably again, because it's so powerful.”

Chris LoCurto 46:26
I want you to ask yourself a question. Could you hear the sense of hope and freedom in their voices just then? I want you to know, that could be you. Look, it's easy to get trapped in old habits, negative thought patterns, and unhealthy relationships, it's gonna take some work, but yes, there is hope for you. If you want to experience the same kind of life transformation, the same kind of self-awareness and freedom that they have or maybe you're just curious what the process would look like for you, then head on over to chrislocurto.com/nextlevellife.

Alright, we're back and we're hitting the number one episode Aaron West, what do we got?

Joel Fortner 47:07
So the number one episode was episode 437. Choosing our influences, which was a coach's positive reflect episode, one that had the three of us on there. And this one was, I think, honestly, it may have been my favorite episode all year long as well, just because there's a chance for us as coaches to really get vulnerable, and talk about the things that have influenced us both positively and negatively. And how those things have have worked at at our lives in our business lives and our personal lives. And things like that. I'd love to hear from you guys. What was your takeaway from from that particular episode?

Chris LoCurto 47:46
Well, this, I don't even know how to say it. I think this was a fantastic episode for me to be able to share something that I feel like I'm constantly trying to help people understand. And that is what you allow to influence you is going to affect every aspect of your life. I don't care if it's a teacher, I don't care if it's a preacher, if it's music, if it's TV, if it's unhealthy, friends, family members, if it's you, you know if your negative self talk is the thing that's influencing you so heavily, right? When you recognize how much things people experiences, social media, you know, all of this stuff is impacting your decision making. Right? When you can take a look and see whenever I you know, I think if I remember correctly, I believe I shared on that episode, how I haven't watched the news. Until COVID. I hadn't watched the news since the gore Bush election. Because I used to turn it on in the morning and just get pissed on the you know, I'd be driving to work upset, right, because of just the ridiculousness and how much it was an influencing me into a bad mood. Well carry that over into all of your social media now, carry that over into, you know, that friend who just complains all the time, carry that over into that family member who's just a colossal victim all the time and constantly wanting you know, your your, your being that ear for them to dump all their crap on. All of those things are influencing you and affecting you and affecting your decision making processes. So for me, I loved the episode because I felt like it was a really good opportunity to just dump a bunch of stuff out there that I want people to know. So that's what I loved about

Joel Fortner 50:01
I think for me, I think this is another one of those episodes that point to how much people are wanting to learn how to change their decisions and grow and be better. And I think about all the episodes that we put out in the year, that sometimes the most sometimes the most tool driven practical, you know, you know, the content that we put out there, like it does well, but it doesn't like it does as well as look at the top 10. Look at the trend here is you guys want to just get better? Yeah, you all want to grow and be better. And that's what this episode is all about. That it's about in one of the cool things about this episode is that this thing only came out like a few months ago, right? And it has more lessons than anything else that came out all year. That's absolutely amazing. So we look at to the power of influence. And at first it says how much you all are interested in that topic. But when we think about, you know, what's our mission and our purpose in our life? And do we align our influence with that? Do we take that we look at it that way in terms of saying, What am I doing with my life? Like, who am I? Where am I trying to go? What is my purpose? Therefore, what am I allowing? In? What information am I allowing in? And it seems like you all are, after more information on how do I make different decisions on that? How do I learn more about the power of influence? Because, you know, it's like until I learned that I never thought about oh my gosh, let me think about that the power of influence the level of detail, talking about how spending too much time with this kind of information on social media is is negatively affecting my brain for the long term. It's training me to think in certain ways, it's training me to feel in certain ways is training me to react to situations in different ways. And not it's not always healthy. Because it's not as simple as saying, well, I'll just ignore that. I see it coming. And I'll just ignore that. And it'll be easy. And you know, and we we can't stand in pride and say, well, I'll be fine. And I'll be impervious to that. And I can stand back and watch it or I'll let that even that information that's like just, you know, appealing to some type of temptation, or desire you have and like, I'll be okay with that. And because it's it's it's not the case, it's so such a powerful topic, let alone we think about the whole concept of like a healthy vineyard of what kind of influence are we allowing in that causes us the grape to grow to strain in a good way? Like it's such an important critical topic? And I'm so glad that it resonated with you guys.

Chris LoCurto 52:43
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So as you guys have heard, we've went through our top 10 episodes for this year. And these are these are not chosen by us. These are based on what you guys are listening to, as you've heard us talk about these things have have had an influence on you guys this year. And so in the show notes, we're going to put all these episodes again. So you'll be able to go back and re listen to any of them that you want. Share them with friends, share them with family, share them with people that you think can can learn from these episodes can get some valuable information out of it. That's why we did this. We wanted to recap the year and help you guys and maybe you missed something, maybe you missed an episode that could be really impactful for you. And we want to make sure you get a chance to know what that episode is about and to be able to do that. So with all that anyone have any final thoughts they want to add to our top 10 For thisyear, I think my final thought is like this what you're right there. And this was based on plays. But I think the only error that I see is that this episode of Mary Beth fourtner Wasn't number one.

Joel Fortner 53:47
Well, actually, it was number one, but we felt like work here. That's not fair. Couldn't make it stay that way. So I spent the last three weeks listening to this other episode over and over.

Chris LoCurto 54:03
Oh, you inflated the numbers. Number one. Hey, she's got to be feeling pretty darn good that you know, this is the number two episode of 20 You taught or not to find worth instead? Or anything about it.

Oh my gosh. It's so good. Yeah, I think again, I think Joel like you pointed out I love the content. It's you know, I've been putting out content for so long and it's hilarious. I no longer do this. In the early days. I used to go oh my gosh, this one is going to be big. This information. People are going to just love this and it's going to change their lives. And then it gets like nothing. And then I put something out that I'm like, I think that's gonna suck. Nobody's gonna like that and then it becomes just one of the most amazing episodes. I think what I love seeing is how much like you just said how much people want change the The top episodes are people going, I want to know how to be a better version of me. And that is fantastic. Because our mission here is worship God, by loving people and guiding individuals and organizations to greater perspective. You know, which forever people have told us, you've changed my life. And we're like, No, we got you to the right perspective, you had to make the choice to change your own life, right? We helped you along the journey, we got you the information, and we got you to that place. But the whole purpose for us, you know, what is our mission? What is our purpose for existence, worship God, Love God love people. Right? If we do those things, then a lot of change happens. And so I love this episode that we just did, by going through all these in seeing how much people want their lives changed. I think that's just a powerful piece for me, too. So, with all of that, folks, what we want you to think about as you're going into 2022 is what are you allowing to influence you? You know, what are your influences? What, what do you have on the schedule? Goal wise to create better purpose in your life? You know, one of the, one of the, the challenges that you have in front of you, and how are you going to face them? How are you going to hit them? Right? How are you going to allow those things? How are you going to allow struggle and strain and stress and suffering? To be a tool in your life, so that you can become a better version of you? So last thing I can ask is, you guys have enjoyed these episodes, help us to reach more people. Share those things. You know, go go do a like, go do a review, right on the show so that we can help change more lives because that is, that is our purpose for this show is to help change as many lives as we possibly can. So as always, we hope this has helped you today. Take this information, change your leadership, change your business, change your life, and join us on the next episode.