How to Believe in Yourself

What if you created everything in your life as if it was already working? This is a perspective that I recently created and it really inspired me and I want to unpack it so you can see these possibilities in your life too.

And the way that I'm going to do this is by straddling two different worlds that are both real time in nature. Number one, I am five days out from running the 2025 Chicago Marathon. I'm running for the V Foundation to support cancer research.

So, uh, let's, uh, let's spider web this thing out and break this thing down because the original, um, inspiration for this was all around the term create as if it's already working. And for me, I had some uncertainty in a new project that I was working on and that I was bringing to market right there. And it didn't mean that I didn't believe in what I was creating. What I created is world class. I believe in all I'm doing. I'm a positive force for good in the world. So I know what helped people.

But oftentimes when you're going from zero to one at that very beginning where you have not yet seen those results, where you have not yet collected that evidence. Oh, that this is the thing that this is the way that this is how things are going to go. You can feel that uncertainty for yourself.

So the thing that I naturally do is I will share this with ChatGPT saying, Hey, here's all the stuff that we've been building. Here's what's on my mind. Here's my hesitation, my challenges, my uncertainty, the things that are limiting me, because this is an area with AI where I get more value out of the challenging moments than I do all the puppy dogs and rainbows and the positive stuff, because if I've got holes in my boat, I want to identify those holes and then fill them in so I can build a better and stronger boat.

And that's a simple perspective for how you can leverage ChatGPT in the way that you create. And when it shared the perspective with me, Hey Rob, create as if it's already working. What that did is it dropped all that fear, judgment, self-limiting belief, that head trash of those things that aren't going to help you get to where you want to go.

Because the person who is most certain is the one who will always sell the person who is not. So certainty is something, it's an energy, it's a mindset, it's a way of being, it's a way that we can create that is an absolute superpower. But here's the thing, even when you are about that life, sometimes your uncertainty can creep up. So that's why being able to anchor in a mantra like create as if it's already working is something that can help you step into your power as a creator in your business and in your life.

So now let's switch over to the Chicago Marathon. And I'm recording this five days until the marathon and I'm super excited. This is something that I've been planning and training for for more than a year. I had the vision of what my 2025 best year ever was going to look like. And included in that was running the Chicago Marathon. I lived in Chicago for more than a decade. When I was in my mid-20s, moving to Chicago was a dream of mine. It's a dream that I fulfilled and it is one of the best things that I ever did. I have so many friends, so many memories, so much everything there. I love Chicago. I consider Chicago my home even though I live in Florida.

Because every time I go to Chicago, I'm inspired. The energy, the vibe, the people, the sports, the culture, the lifestyle, everything about Chicago. Man, I love it. So my wife has run the Chicago Marathon. My sister has run the Chicago Marathon. Friends of mine have run the Chicago Marathon. I've been a spectator of the marathon for so many years.

And when it came time for me to say, hey, what's going to make this my best year ever? I was like, I got something I want on my life resume. I want to run the Chicago Marathon. So one year in advance, I have this vision. And when it came time to submit my name to get a bib, I'm like, all right, super excited. Let's go. I get that email and I open it up and I'm certain that I'm going to run this. It's like, sorry, we did not select your name to get a bib for the Chicago Marathon.

And I was like, whoa, I didn't even see this as a possibility of getting rejected. So I was certain on this best year ever. And now all of a sudden life's like, nah, dog, we have something different in store for you. So I noticed this little link at the bottom that said, hey, if you're still interested in running, you can look into running for a charity partner. So I clicked that link and I scroll through there. And what do I see? The V Foundation for Cancer Research.

And I'm like, whoa, I have a massive connection to the V Foundation. As a sports fan, Dickie V, Jim Valvano, the ESPYs, don't give up, don't ever give up. This is a part of sports culture and sports fabric. This is who I am. This is my DNA. On top of that, my family and so many others, we have a journey with cancer from people currently going through it to past family members. So it's something that's near and dear to my heart actively every single day.

So I said, you know what, universe? I thought it was going to go one way, but now it's going a different way. I'm going to raise $2,500 for the V Foundation to run the Chicago Marathon. And now I realized something. The light bulb went off. I am now running this for a cause bigger than me. Previously, it was Rob. I'm going to go run. I'm going to go do this thing. I'm going to have this accomplishment. Now I'm fundraising something that was not on my list of what I was planning to do. And I knew why, because I wanted to be part of the cure and the answer to help everybody else overcome their journey with cancer.

So with all of that, I looked at the start of the year and I'm like, all right, the Clearwater half marathon put on by my friends at the All Day Running Company. It's happening in January. Let's go ahead. We're going to run that. We're going to get that thing on the books because that will get me momentum for the rest of the year. We're easy peasy. We're not really easy peasy because we all know that running a marathon is extremely hard, but the mindset and the training for all of this.

So with this, I had certainty in my end goal. I had certainty in my vision. I had certainty in my strategy. Boom, you do that. And then as Jesse Itzler likes to say, we stay ready, right? So it's not like there's this big chasm between, oh my God, I signed up for this thing. This is going to be super hard. It was like, nah, let's just keep doing this and build yourself into this person.

So over the course of the last nine months from January until today, every single training run that I did, I was priming my mind for completing that Chicago marathon. So at the end of my street, there is a stop sign with a crosswalk that has three white lines going across it. And immediately I was like, oh, that's my finish line. So I don't know how many runs I've done. Call it at least three a week for nine months. So we're talking 50 or a hundred plus runs. Every single time when I saw those lines, I put my number ones up. Like I'm sitting there crossing the Chicago finish line. I had absolute certainty that this is what's going to happen.

Then here's the challenging part of this. I live in Sarasota, Florida. And guess when I get to officially train for the marathon, it's called three months out in the summertime where it's like a hundred degrees with a hundred percent humidity in Florida, man, you quickly realize the difference between running at 5am and running at 3pm and what that does for your body. No matter the mileage, it takes its toll on you physically, but more important, mentally. And for me, this marathon training was all about the mental reps.

I would sit there and I would envision myself at mile one, at mile two. And since I'm so familiar with Chicago, I could see the buildings, the neighborhoods that I'm running into very big into the visualization of this, right? So the way that I'm creating my certainty for this marathon, which would be my third marathon that I'm running is man, put myself in there on those times where my body feels hard, where my cardio isn't feeling so hot. Remember that feeling, Rob, because you're about to feel this in Chicago. What is it now in five days right there?

So I'm priming my mind. I'm priming that visualization. And I'm sharing this because I have absolute certainty that I am completing the Chicago marathon. And I've had certainty for nine months or a year that this is what is happening.

But why is it so often that we can create a physical goal for ourself? But when it comes to creating something in our life or our business to where it's a new product, or you're learning something new, you're going to be putting a piece of content or a coaching program or a new offer or a new product out there, now all of a sudden we don't create from that same certainty. But what if, once again, we created as if it's already working? And this is the difference between uncertainty and certainty.

I gave the example of how in a regular part of my life, I feel uncertainty in a lot of things. This is entrepreneurship 101. But when it comes to running the Chicago marathon, absolute certainty because I'm putting in the work, I'm doing it every single day. I'm priming my mind. I've got a strategy. I see that finish line. I see the fundraising efforts, everything there.

And my encouragement for you is audit your business in your life right now and what you're creating in your life. And then ask yourself, what if I created as if this is already working, right? Where you're Chicago marathon, Rob, not new product. I'm not sure if this is the thing, Rob, right? Because there's an energy difference. There's a mindset difference. And there's a focus difference, right? I can tell you in my own life, there's a difference in my eyes.

Because when I look at focus for me, one of my declarations is I am, that no one outfocuses me. And I speak my declarations when I'm training for the marathon right there. And so often when you get that runner's high, and it's usually when I'm doing longer runs, let's call it six miles and above, all of a sudden there's a switch that flips. Maybe I'm listening to music. Usually it's at the end.

But then I notice, I call it terminator mode activated, where there's this sharpness of thought in your vision, in the way that you are seeing things. You're like, I am dialed in right now. I'm making this happen. I'm running through what I'm feeling right now. Let's go. I'm the terminator, right? So I know what that sharpness of focus looks like there. But imagine bringing that to the way that you create every single day.

And imagine if that's the lens of how you create it with AI. Why? Because what originally even created the perspective of exploring this into ChatGPT was all around, I'm building out the Unlimited Method. Go from AI curious to AI dangerous in one day. It's going to be launching soon. I'm super excited about it. And one of the modules that I have is all around vision.

And the perspective that I share is, I would love for you to be able to see that everything you need is already inside of you as it relates to how you can create and grow with ChatGPT and AI. Your experience, your knowledge, the things that you know you're great at already. If you only leveraged that which you already knew and is already a part of you, that you know this is the absolute truth of who I am. Imagine if that's the place that you created from. And guess what? That's the place that helps you create the best results in your life.

So legitimately, when I'm teaching and coaching around AI and ChatGPT for business and life growth, it all comes from a perspective of heart first, human first. Everything you need is already inside of you. And when you can believe that, there's a certainty and there's a focus that you will bring to things. And then with that, you quickly realize there is zero barrier to entry because you don't need an AI or a coding or a tech background in order to leverage this to help you grow. All you need to do is get in the game, right?

And that's why so often creating with ChatGPT and AI is so effortless for me. And I really try and share these perspectives because it doesn't have to be hard if we create a perspective that it's not hard. And what if we create a perspective that everything that I'm doing is working and that's where I create from?

Because so many people create from, and definitely in the AI era, scarcity, lack, not enough. I don't have enough time. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't have a tech background. What do I put into ChatGPT? What if we just threw all of that in the trash and said, no matter what I do, it's the right thing to do? Huh? All of a sudden, you're like, all right, let me build that certainty and create from certainty, right? Because when you create from certainty, great things are going to happen. Just like great things are about to happen five days from now when I cross that finish line at the Chicago Marathon.

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