176: A Journey Through the Vision to Action Intensive: Case Study with Hillary

Andrea Liebross: Hello, my friends, and welcome back to the Time to Level Up Podcast. But hey, I'm going to let you in on a little secret that the name of the Time to Level Up Podcast is going to be changing in the coming months. Stay tuned for that. You're one of the first to know.

I don't think I've hinted at this before, but it is part of a little bit of a mini rebrand of the podcast to coincide with the big thinking that I have been doing and that I am encouraging you all to do. You heard it here first. Don't let anyone tell you you didn't. Just be on the lookout for all the fun that's going to go along with that renaming. Level up will still be in there somewhere. But it's time we think bigger. When you think bigger, you actually do level up, so it all works out well.

All right, so today what I want to do is as a follow-up to the episode where I tell you what you can expect to happen in a Vision to Action Intensive where I help you turn your vision into action, if you go back to that episode, you'll hear that I included some clips from actual clients who have gone through the process.

But one client gave me a whole story, I'll call it, of her experience in the Vision to Action Intensive, and I decided to just take this one story and go through it piece by piece with you because I think it makes a lot of great points, not just about what happens when you do an intensive, but really what happens when you literally try to extract your vision from your brain and turn it into action, what happens before and what happens after.

She explained this so well that I wanted to bring it to you as an episode in and of itself. Okay, so we're going to dig in. Number one, what I want you to notice, and I'm going to share a little clip right off the bat here, the first thing she said in her response to her audio that she sent to me was, “I'm not sure what I was expecting when I walked into the meeting.”

I really want you to listen to that and I want you to know that part of being a big thinker is to embrace the unknown. The U in TRUST, which is what big thinkers do, the U in TRUST is to embrace the Unknown. She honestly embraced it. She embraced it because she didn't know what to expect and she was okay with that.

I want to know how many times you're okay with embracing the unknown. If you're going to go farther, faster, and you're going to be a big thinker, you have to be okay with embracing the unknown. Let's just hear this quick teeny little clip from her.

Hillary: I'm not sure what I was expecting when I walked into the Vision to Action meeting with Andrea.

Andrea Liebross: You don't need to know all of the information. You don't even have to know what to expect, although I do share that in the previous episode. You're still going to be okay. Big thinkers are okay with not knowing.

The next thing I want to point out to you is she realizes and she shares with us that she had to grasp two key principles in order for this Vision to Action Intensive to have the impact that she wanted it to have.

I think she had grasped these two concepts, but they came to life, I'll call it, when we went through this process. Sometimes I think it's really hard for these concepts to come to life unless you are put in a situation where you are asked tough questions.

I ask tough questions. I ask the questions that your mom doesn't ask. I ask the questions that maybe even your partner doesn't ask. But the two concepts that she brings up here are committed versus merely interested and massive versus passive action.

Both of these concepts I go into more in-depth in my book and both of these concepts I have podcast episodes on, which I will link in the show notes, but they are hard to absorb.

She even says that in what I'm going to share with you. Here's why. I think anyone that's coming to an experience like this where they want to turn their vision into action, they want a business plan, they maybe want to engage in coaching, they're all going to tell me that they are very committed to their business.

But she learned that she probably wasn't truly committed in the ways that she wanted to be, that she was just interested. She also learned that she had been taking tons and tons of passive action, which is that action where you're learning things, you're grasping concepts, but you're not actually physically doing anything.

Usually, this is the harder part. This is the uncomfortable, hard, and inefficient part of action versus the comfortable, easy, and efficient is passive action. Comfortable, easy, and efficient is passive action. Uncomfortable, hard, inefficient is usually massive action.

I’m guessing that all of you listening to this podcast even is passive action, but are you taking massive action? She, going through this Vision to Action Intensive process, realized that she wanted to be 100% committed and take massive action. Listen in.

Hillary: Looking back over this entire process, I firmly believe I needed to grasp two key principles before Vision to Action would have had any true impact in my specific business.

The difference between committed and merely interested and massive action versus passive action, look, I won't lie, both of those concepts were hard for me to absorb when introduced. Before hearing them, I would have said I was working diligently on my business and was very committed.

However, I couldn't decide if it was humbling, upsetting, or crushing when I learned what it meant to be truly committed and how to implement massive action. But once I started figuring it out, I was shocked at how the mindset of my business changed. Once I realized I wanted to be 100% committed to my business and actually take massive action--

Andrea Liebross: Okay, in this next little part, she makes a statement that I knew the investment I was making in myself wasn't enough. What does that mean? What she meant by that is that she had invested dollars into herself by engaging in coaching, but she knew it was going to take a little more. She started to realize that.

She knew that she had to do more. When she saw how we were turning this vision into action, she knew that she actually had to do something, not just talk about it and being in coaching was 100% important, but she actually also needed to take some action. Here's what she had to say.

Hillary: I knew the investment I was making in myself just wasn't enough. While utterly terrifying, I knew I had to do more.

Andrea Liebross: I think really what was happening there is she was realizing that she was treating her business as a jobby—you've probably heard me talk about that in past podcasts—a jobby and not a real business entity.

It was like a half between a job and a hobby, a jobby, not a business. She needed to go all in in order to get the result she was looking for. She brought up the fact that she encourages her clients to go all in so she had to go all in herself. She'd be a hypocrite if she wasn't going all in, or she said, jump off the diving board. Listen in as she talks about that.

Hillary: I realized I had to take that leap from just doing a little to actually really going all in. I mean, how can I tell my clients how important it is to go all in if I'm unwilling to do it for myself? I didn't just jump into the deep end. I decided to find the highest diving board I could find and jump headfirst.

Andrea Liebross: Next, she points out that she had never had success setting goals. I would say she probably was part of that anti-goal-setting crowd where I have an episode about the anti-goal-setting crowd. I think she was definitely part of the anti-goal-setting crowd.

When I asked her to think about 10 years from now, that was really hard. I just had the experience too where I was a guest expert at a day-long conference. As part of this conference, there were round-table discussions where the participants got to come up and talk to the experts one-on-one.

I will tell you, I asked all of the people that came up to talk to me where they wanted to be in 10 years, and they, just like Hillary here, would scoff at me and said, "I can't even get past today."

But when I continued to probe and give them permission to look at 10 years from now, they all had breakthroughs. In fact, I think I had four people even cry in front of me. Doing this Vision to Action Intensive and being asked these questions is something that's not happening for you on a daily basis.

No one's asking you that. If anything what it's doing is it's giving you the space, I am holding space for you to think about things. I think that's sort of surprising. Listen in to what Hillary said.

Also, notice that she again mentions that she didn't know what to expect. She mentions this again, she didn't know what to expect. She just decided she was going to do it, even though it was unknown and uncertain what was going to come from it. Okay, so listen into this little clip.

Hillary: As part of my new coaching group, Andrea includes her Vision to Action plan session. While I didn't have the first clue what I was getting into, I looked on Andrea's calendar and picked the next possible Vision to Action slot available.

Andrea Liebross: Next, she touches on the fact that I am no-nonsense. Yeah, I'm kind of no-nonsense, no bullshit. Let's just get to it, my friends. That's a funny little tidbit here, but I also don't tolerate excuses.

I'm great at making up my own excuses for why something doesn't happen, but no-nonsense and no excuses. Here we go again with Hillary telling you about that experience.

Hillary: Now here is my challenge walking into the Vision to Action session. If I'm honest, I've never had success setting real goals. I was lucky if I accomplished monthly goals and truthfully, I don't know if I've ever met a real yearly goal.

When Andrea pointed out that she intended to set not just three-year but also 10-year goals, I laughed and frustratingly, I figured that the Vision to Action session wasn't going to really provide me as much direction as I was hoping. Since it was included in my coaching package however, I told myself I was all in so I decided I was just going to do it.

Andrea Liebross: When I force someone to get to the point, really give me their 10 and three-year goals, not make any excuses, I force you to look beyond your fears. There is a previous episode about the nine common fears that most entrepreneurs face.

Also, you can catch that in my book. But I really forced her during this time to look beyond her fears. Isn't this awesome that this all happened just in a half-day experience?

I mean, it's really mind blowing when you think about it, that she experienced all of these things. Then not only did she meet her fears, but she said out loud some of her deepest hopes and dreams.

I don't think she'd ever done that before. It's what I call the WILD Goals. I got to a place where I was helping her dig deeper into what she doesn't ever verbalize and verbalize it. Like I did at that conference last week. This is life-changing.

This is stuff that you do things that you never thought you would experience before. You say things you never thought you'd say before. You feel things that you never thought you'd feel before. Listen in.

Hillary: When you start the process, you will realize very quickly Andrea is no-nonsense. When she says 10-year and three-year goals, she is not kidding and I promise, she will not settle for “I'm just not able to,” or “This isn't me,” or “I've never worked in the past,” or whatever other excuse you can give.

Looking, back I can say I felt like Brittany from her book being forced to look beyond her fears, removing all of the excuses all of the reasons why I couldn't, and therefore being challenged to really dream.

I actually spoke out loud some of my deepest hopes and dreams. She calls them WILD Goals, and I promise you that if you think big, your vision-to-action 10-year goals will be some of the wildest goals you can come up with.

Andrea Liebross: Now she actually uses the word permission. I gave her permission. This is like the permission slip that you can go download from my website. I give you permission to tap into these things. No one else gives you permission. You don't give yourself permission. We hold ourselves back. Listen in to what she had to say.

Hillary: But what is even better than what you come up with during your actual Vision to Action session is that it opens up a world that probably always existed but you never allowed yourself to tap into. It's as if Andrea gives you the permission you need to dream in a way that seems like you'll be able to take those wild dreams and see them actually come true.

Andrea Liebross: Okay, and next, I want you to notice that she points out that she's now really combined the vision to action. She is taking these actions and since she's done this, she notices, it's been at least 90 days, that things have changed.

But because she has continued to work with me—so you have the option to continue to work with me, my friends, once you do this Vision to Action Intensive—because she's continuing to work with me, it's always okay if you change your goals, but she's gotten the support she needs to change them, to revamp things, to determine, and figure out what the new actions will be. Crazy, so listen into what she has to say about that.

Hillary: The benefit for me has been the fact that I've combined the Vision to Action with her I've Got This coaching group. Since my business dynamics have changed substantially since my Vision to Action in November, my 90-day and one-year goals changed a lot since we set them. But by being in the group, I've had the opportunity to still work with Andrea and my team, as I call it, to help establish new ones without losing too many steps.

Andrea Liebross: Here's how I'm going to leave you. She makes a statement that she says, "Here's the thing about the Vision to Action, it completely changed my world." It completely changed my world. Her secret dreams that she considered impossible have been transformed. She's actually moved them into the spectrum of SMARTER Goals that are actually actionable.

Remember that A in SMARTER stands for Actionable. These wild impossible goals have now been translated and transformed into action. She probably would not have gotten to this place without this experience, so listen in.

Hillary: Here's the thing about the Vision to Action, it completely changed my world. My secret dreams that I considered absolutely impossible have been transformed into wild dreams, or even better, I've gone as far as moving a couple of them onto the spectrum of SMARTER Goals.

Andrea Liebross: Okay, my friends, here's the kicker. Would you get here on your own? I don't know. This is a good question. Would you have gotten here on your own? Well, I think maybe you would get to that place, but it would have taken you tons of time.

I love to say that with coaching, you're going to pay one way. You're going to pay with time when you do it on your own or with money if you do it with coaching. You pay one way or the other.

Do you want to get there faster and easier or slower and harder? Which road do you want to take? The faster and easier or the slower and harder? Because you're going to pay somehow. I'm talking about literally and figuratively.

Hillary even says, "I slowly would have gotten to this point." But since I kind of forced her to look at the future, and meet her future you, she doesn't have to wait. She doesn't have to wait. She's working on it right now.

She is expediting the whole process. Pretty cool, right? Pretty cool. Let's listen in to see what she has to say.

Hillary: Would I have gotten to where I am without the Vision to Action? Probably. I mean, I'm working with Andrea, so what I would assume over the next year or so, we would have slowly gotten to this specific point.

Here's the thing though. Andrea is always emphasizing thinking about things with respect to the future you. How cool is it that by doing the Vision to action, rather than having to wait until December of 2024 to meet the current me, I was able to expedite the whole process?

I've already met what would have been the Hillary of December 2024 without the Vision to Action. Now I get to meet an entirely new and even better Hillary December 2024 instead.

Andrea Liebross: So, my friends, if this sounds like something that you need, something that would make your life a whole lot easier, I encourage you to reach out. I encourage you to schedule a call and determine whether or not this Vision to Action Intensive is the best thing for you.

Because what happens during one of these is really kind of amazing, not kind of amazing, it is amazing. I have seen it over and over again and over again. I want you to be like Hillary. I want you to meet the future Hillary now. I want you to feel what she felt, permission to tap into her wildest goals.

Then not just have them sit there to actually turn them into action and I want you to have support doing it. This is a gift you're giving yourself, you're giving your business, you're giving your future.

Okay, my friends, I hope this was helpful for you to see this from someone else's eyes, to see this vision to action from someone else's eyes, I hope it was as helpful for you as it was for me. Head over to andreaslinks.com, schedule a call, let's get you going into this Vision to Action Intensive. Have a great day.