How He Rebuilt His Life After Chasing Success with Isaac Stegman – EP 205

Justin Donald: What’s up, Isaac? Good to have you on the show.

Isaac Stegman: Thanks, Justin. I’m excited to be here. Appreciate the opportunity.

Justin Donald: Yeah, this is fun. Well, you and I have gotten a chance to connect a lot over the years. We’ve been friends for a number of years. And we spent some time back in the Cutco days, way back when we are Front Row Dads together. You’re an amazing dad, very intentional father. And by the way, we’ve had many deep conversations about parenting and how we feel we’re showing up versus how we’re showing up or how we used to show up versus how we are showing up today. And I’ve seen a lot of growth on each of our ends in that, to show up more intentionally and better as dads, right? So, yeah, let’s explore all things, parenting, business, wealth creation.

And I also have to thank you because you’ve been a great advocate of the Lifestyle Investor Mastermind. One of our members right now is a friend or a client of yours, friend and client of yours, and he’s just been amazing. And so, thank you for that referral.

Isaac Stegman: Yeah, I think Tim is coming to another event that we’re doing here, the EastWest clinic that you guys did. He missed that. So, we’re going to get together there next month.

Justin Donald: Oh, I love it. That’s so cool. Well, we had a ton of fun doing that live event. And we love the EastWest team, Regan Archibald, and big shout-out to them and the cool work that they’re doing on the peptides side of things and stem cells and all things health and the blood work and you name it. One of the coolest things we ever did was we partnered with them, with the Lifestyle Investor community. So, anyone who comes on board inside of our community gets free blood panels with them, then their spouse, their kids, whoever. And it has been so cool to see the members flock to this because it’s such a value-add on the health side of things.

Isaac Stegman: Totally. I just got my blood work done and had my consultation. They’re so thorough.

Justin Donald: Yeah. They’ve got like 100 markers they track. It’s crazy.

Isaac Stegman: Yeah.

Justin Donald: Yeah, overall, what was your thought? I mean, we’ve both done tons of health stuff. We’ve both done tons of blood work. I mean, to me, this was the starkest contrast out there because I’ve never had someone that tracked so many different markers. But what was your experience?

Isaac Stegman: It was a completely different perspective than anything I had done because it was so proactive. And here’s the protocols specifically addressing the underlying issues and not just treating symptoms or, okay, what are you feeling right now? Well, let’s do this. It was like, okay, this is probably because there’s a systemic issue here which ties back to that. And this is showing up in these levels.

So, not only was it very comprehensive, it was also, they took the time to make sure I understood, which I really appreciated, because sometimes you talk to doctors and they’ll give you all kinds of medical speak and you’re like, I have no idea what you said, but I guess, I got to do that. They were very, very good at explaining exactly what was going on, what I could do from a lifestyle perspective, and what they could help with, which was a breath of fresh air. I appreciated it and enjoyed it.

Justin Donald: That’s so cool. Well, I’m glad that you’re tight in there. Regan’s become a real good friend. And I can’t remember if I mentioned this or not, back when I tore three ligaments in my ankle, we had a bunch of buddies playing some sand volleyball. We were playing two on two volleyball. I went up for a kill, came down on a buddy’s leg. My ankle rolled. I landed all my weight on the side of my ankle. I hit so hard that I tore the two ligaments on the outside as your ankle rolls, but it hit so hard, it tore the ligament on the inside of my ankle. It kind of imploded. So, I had three torn ligaments. It was brutal. And this was an ankle that I had surgically repaired, several different surgeries in one, about 11 years ago. And it just dismantled everything from that surgery. So, it was pretty rough.

But one of the cool things is having Regan as a friend and knowing all the stuff, obviously, having all the peptides to help heal. But I also went in and went to their facility and did all kinds of the modalities that they have there, but I did some stem cell, which was huge, and then later followed that up with some PRP and just healed so fast. My orthopedic surgeon is like, “I can’t believe you’re literally months ahead of schedule.”

So, now, I’m playing pickleball and volleyball, again, and back to full health. And I can’t remember if I’ve actually shared that story with our community here or not, but I wasn’t doing podcast for a while because I had this big old boot and I just did not want to be sitting or standing with this awkward thing. So, I took some time off.

Isaac Stegman: I remember that from when I tore my Achilles at Front Row Dads.

Justin Donald: Oh, that’s right.

Isaac Stegman: So, I didn’t even think about bringing that up to the clinic. I definitely will do that when going next month.

Justin Donald: Yeah. It’s probably worth it just to get some stem cell put right in there just in case there’s anything lingering or just to help repair it. But that, I think, was a huge gift for me. It’s been fun being able to get this, I would call, accelerated, tracked to health, and kind of like they do some other really cool stuff with stem cells as well. I mean, there’s all kinds of things that they’re doing that I know a lot of clinics aren’t able to do. I know Utah makes some things easier on the peptide side of things and on the stem cell side of things, but they’re doing some cool stuff.

Isaac Stegman: Before we really kick off here, I do want to say something. My sons are old enough now. So, my oldest just turned 18, which my kid, right? You still think kid. And then I’ve got a daughter and then another son. And my sons, in particular, they like listening to podcasts I’m on or knowing what I’m up to. And I told my youngest that I was going to be on a podcast with you, and he’s like, “Oh, can’t wait to hear it,” just last night. And it just reminded me too, as I was thinking about how excited he was and the conversations we’ve had about kids, the impact that you’ve had on me as a dad. I love the Lifestyle Investor stuff. All of that is amazing.

And aside from that, I think the biggest impact that you’ve had on me is just encouraging me as a dad and being an example of that. I was thinking, man, if there was five people, if I got hit by a bus tomorrow and I could leave a list of, hey, just get around these five people, especially my boys, I would say Justin is one of those five, because the way that you approach life and your family and yourself, I’m like, all of that together is what I want my kids to emulate, what I’m working towards emulating for them. So, I just appreciate the influence that you’ve had.

Justin Donald: Well, thank you for the kind words. And what an honor to hear you say that. I’m thankful for our friendship and our relationship and I’m happy I can be there as a support. And by the way, you and I have had a chance to go really deep. I remember, we took a hike up a big mountain. I mean, we’re 13,000-plus elevation in Breckenridge with our little oxygen inhalers and just getting into life, going deep, just talking about not surface-level stuff like most people do, but talking about the real meaning of life and relationships and parenting and marriage. And it was just a wonderful human-to-human connection and conversation. So, I thank you.

Isaac Stegman: I’ll circle back to that conversation later on because there’s something that ties into that, that I want to mention. I still think about that conversation probably once a month, and it’s had a bigger impact than you know.

Justin Donald: Oh, that’s cool to hear. Well, it has been fun for me as an outsider watching you grow just as a person, watching you grow your business, but watching you grow as a dad, just a committed father. You’re always committed, but your level of commitment has just gone through the roof, and not everyone knows all the circumstances around it, but you’ve battled through a lot and you’ve had a lot of hardship in your life and you still have shown up in just an incredible way for your kids. So, hopefully, your kids get a chance to listen to this. And I just want them to know that I think the world of you as a dad and they’re lucky to have you.

Isaac Stegman: Thank you.

Justin Donald: Yeah. Well, let’s dig in. Let’s talk about all the cool stuff you’re up to. I mean, you’ve done a number of things over the years. I think you really found your groove in coaching, right? I think that is your sweet spot. You are great with people. You’re really good from an accountability standpoint. You’re very data driven and process oriented. So, I would love to kind of dig into that and I’d love to even talk about some of the differences between just blocking and tackling type of coaching and then true driving results and accountability coaching. So, I don’t know where you want to start, but I’d love to showcase the cool stuff you’re up to in the world and the cool entrepreneurs that you have taken under your wing and have helped accelerate their path and their journey.

Isaac Stegman: Yeah, I feel like I lived 100 lives already. It’s been quite a journey from selling Cutco at 18 and then being the 82nd airborne in the military and firefighting professionally and running a real estate team and coaching company. But all of that, I was mapping it the other day, and I can see a throughline. And it really led me to what right now is a new model for coaching that just in the last couple of years, I’ve started to take on as I did the deep work on myself. And what I realized was I’d built a seven-figure coaching company, I had a marriage and three kids, and all the things that you’re supposed to be like, all right, I’m on the right track. And it didn’t matter. I still felt empty, I felt stuck, I felt like I was going through the motions and just kind of on autopilot. And that’s not really living. It’s like, where did the last 20 years go?

And so, I looked at my coaching and I was like, “Am I giving people what they really need? Or am I giving them what they think they need and what they want?” And what I was doing at the time was very tactical. It was like, here are the strategies and the tactics and the scripts and the playbooks and the spreadsheets. And yet, I’d still have people who would do all of those things with 100% of what they had and be left in the same position that I was feeling. And I felt out of integrity because I was like, I’m feeling stuck, too. I feel like I’m out of integrity. I feel like I don’t really know if this is what I’m supposed to be doing.

And so, I took that and I broke it down into five components that I think were missing from most traditional coaching. And the first one is perspective. And by perspective, I mean that your experience of life is based on how you see yourself, other people, and the world around you because there’s the truth and then there’s our truth, right? Our stories about what happened are usually not factual. They’re about how we felt about the facts and what we think about the facts. And that has a huge impact on how we see our life.

You see people who have all of the things that everyone says, if I just had this, I’d be happy, if I just had all the money and the fame and the success, and those are the people who are out there suicidal and deeply depressed. And it’s like, what’s the mismatch here? What’s going on? And it has to do with how they see themselves, other people, or the world around them. And so, perspective has got to be where you start.

And then the second one is purpose. And Mark Lovas, who’s someone who I know that you know, was a manager and then became a dear friend of mine in Cutco and he had this talk that I listened to all the time called Off Self, On Purpose. And that kind of just became a theme because when I had some difficult things happened with me with Cutco, I was supposed to go up in London. And then that fell through because the person I was going with quit the business in March or February before we were supposed to leave.

And I remember Mark calling me and saying, “Hey, you know what? This is one of those opportunities. Are you focused on yourself and how much this sucks and everything else? Or can you be focused on something bigger? Can you be focused on what really matters?” And so, when I think about purpose, I don’t think about some grand vision statement you have on your wall that looks nice and pretty and it sounds good to everyone else. This is more about the daily and minute by minute way you approach life. Are you being purposeful or are you just on autopilot? Are you focusing on yourself or are you on a mission for something else?

And the third one is principles. So, that’s core values, plus Ray Dalio’s book about, like, what are your decisions about how you want to live your life and who you want to be? And until we define those things, a lot of times we’ll just react based on what we think other people want or what we did last time or what we think we should be doing or looking like in the moment. So, principles really allow us to do that self-work and figure out who do I want to be in this world, who can I grow into, and how do I want to approach this life? And then the most important one for me is priorities. This is where I think a lot of people really missed the boat.

Warren Buffett has a story, and the short version is his pilot came up to him one time and asked, “What does it take to be successful?” And he said, “Say no to almost everything,” right? And the longer version is that the pilot asks him, “What do I have to do to be successful?” And Warren says, “Well, the first thing you have to do is you have to write down the 25 things you want to do with the rest of your life. Only 25. That’s it. You have to say no to everything else. And then the next step is you cross off all but five.”

And it seems counterintuitive. You’re like, why would you do 25 and then cross off all but five? And here’s why. If you think about the five things that you want to do with your life that are the most important, and I cheat a little bit, so it’s like, be a great dad and maybe a great family person, right? So, you kind of mix this stuff together. But if you have five main things you want to do with your life and you think about, I’m going to be the most amazing husband, the most amazing father, I create a legacy for myself by doing good work in the world, be a man of God, how much time do you really have left over if you’re doing those at a level 10?

And so, when you think about, if I don’t have any time left over, if I’m doing those at a level 10, the other 20 are the ones that are going to steal from those five. They’re the ones that are just attractive enough, just sexy enough to take away from the ones that at the end of your life, you’ll regret not giving to.

Justin Donald: That’s good. That’s what you have to be most intentional and consistent in saying no to.

Isaac Stegman: Absolutely. Saying no is the key to happiness because we all think we have time. I don’t remember who said it, it was Dalai Lama or Buddha or someone, who says the problem is we think we have time. And then some day, we don’t anymore.

Justin Donald: Yeah. And by the way, it’s funny, people think, oh, if I just stop doing what I’m doing or if I just sell my business or whatever, I’m going to have all this time back. But if you’re not careful, that time just disappears so incredibly fast. It’s commandeered by so many other things. That’s why it’s so important to be intentional with where that time is spent, that you actually know where it’s being spent. And instead of just going through the motions and letting life happen to you, it’s mapping out what are the key things that I want to do, and then pursuing those, scheduling them, putting in guardrails to protect those.

Isaac Stegman: I know you’ve seen it happen with money, where people get a lot of money and then they spend a lot of money, right?

Justin Donald: Oh, yeah.

Isaac Stegman: The money habits just scale with the money that’s coming in. And the same thing happens with time. So, people think, oh, if I just had all this money, if I had half a million, a million, 10 million, 100 million, that would solve all my problems. But they don’t treat money in such a way that they can save it. They don’t treat their time in such a way that they protect it. And so, people retire, and then they just fill up their day. They just squeeze as much stuff in as they can because they haven’t actually asked themselves what can be had by prioritizing my time and my day. What do I really care about?

People say, oh, you can have it all, or they say, you can’t have it all. I don’t think you can have it all, but you can have a lot more of what you really want by saying no to the things that you don’t really want. And that’s hard, because a lot of those things are good things. They’re inherently good. Oh, I want to sit on this board for the children’s hospital. Well, that’s amazing in and of itself. But if there’s a conflict of priorities and that happens instead of date night or you want to take on this other position and you can’t coach T-ball, that then becomes something that detracts from your quality of life. We get in that trap so much.

Justin Donald: Yeah. I mean, on one hand, it’s like you got to know what you’re saying no to. But on the other hand, you have to have so much clarity in what you want, that it is very evident what you need to be saying no to.

Isaac Stegman: That’s the only way to do it. Otherwise, we’re just doing life. We’re showing up and being reactive, reacting to whatever comes our way. And very few times have I sat down with people and said, “Tell me what the top five things are that matter for you? What do you want to be known for? What do you want to invest your time with?” And they’ll tell me five things. And then I ask them the question, “All right, let’s look at your calendar and your bank account for the last week, what you spent money on and what you spent time on or invested time in, invested money in. And is there congruence there?”

So, there’s two types of priorities. There’s our stated priorities, which are the things that we want to have be our priorities, or we think sound good. And then there are demonstrated priorities, which are the things that we actually show we care about. And there’s a story that comes up from my own personal experience that I think is painful to even think about, much less tell, but I think it’s relevant and important.

And so, kids, if you’re listening, this is for you. I don’t know if you remember this or not, but at the time, this is, gosh, 12, it’s many years ago. And I was driving home and I was really hitting my stride when it came to success, traditional success. I was being asked to do all kinds of things at speaking events and people asking me to collaborate on things. And so, I was really busy, and that felt awesome because I always wanted to be chosen and included and worthy and all of these things that as a kid, we make up these stories that were not.

And so, I was filling my bucket there, but I was running ragged. I was running probably 70 hours a week at that point, maybe 60 on a good week. And I was always late to everything. I was always saying no to the things that really mattered because we think, oh, I’ll just say yes to my kids later, I’ll say yes to date night later, I’ll say yes to my health later when I have more time. And we don’t have more time. We have to make more time. We have to choose to change our relationship with time and priorities.

So, I’m driving home and I had a client call. I was already probably an hour late. My kids are home schooled, so they’re all home, doing their projects and stuff with mom. And I remember my youngest had done this Lego thing that he was really proud of. And I was driving home, I got a call from a client, and this client was not happy about a different scenario, and I was trying to talk to him through that and calm them down and give them some advice on what to do, because I was like, oh, I’m valued here, so I want to deliver. And I pull in my driveway, and they’re still talking. I’m like, this sounds like it’s going to go for a while, those phone calls that you’re like, this is not ending any time soon and I’m not saying anything.

Justin Donald: That’s right.

Isaac Stegman: So, I figured I’d walk in and just go downstairs in my office. We’re in a split level. And so, I was upstairs to the rest of the house or downstairs to the office and garage. So, I walk up to the door and I walk through the door, and my son is sitting there on the stairs that go up to the upstairs, and he stands up and he’s showing me this Lego thing, and I give him the finger, and I just say, “Hold on, buddy.” And I walk downstairs and I finish my phone call. And it was probably another hour and a half of the call. And so, it was well past their bedtime, kids were all in bed by the time I got done. But I saved the client, so I felt really good about that.

And on further reflection, when I finally looked at the other side of the coin, the other side of the door, and I realized what really happened, it changed a lot for me because I pictured on the other side of my door, my son working on this Lego thing that he was really proud of, and that his hero dad was going to come home and see this thing and say, “I’m so proud of you. You did a great job” and validate that. And so, he’s sitting on the stairs waiting for dad, and I’m sure it was a while because I was very late that day. Not a surprise to his mom, but probably a surprise to him.

And so, as I walked through the door, I could only imagine his excitement to show me and get that validation and then to get the finger. And again, it wasn’t the middle finger for those of you that are just listening. It’s the worst finger. It’s the finger that says you don’t matter. It’s the finger that tells them that whoever’s on the other side of the phone is more important than they are. It’s the finger that says, you have to wait your turn for my time because I’m investing it somewhere else.

And unfortunately, that was not the first or the last time that I did that. It was a pretty common occurrence at that point because it was like, well, I’m trying to manage all the things, so I’ll just delay the ones that I can. And it really hurt my relationship with my kids for a lot of years. And it hurts my heart still to talk about it. And that’s one of those stated versus demonstrated priorities that I was saying my kids matter, but I was saying to them that they didn’t.

Justin Donald: That’s a powerful realization. And I think anyone listening, anyone with kids, or anyone that has important people in their life, they’ve done this somewhere at some point. My wife is so good at saying, she has these one liners that are so powerful. And one of them is when you say yes to anyone else, you’re saying no to the family. When you say yes to this event, you’re saying no to the family. And it’s easy to want to be, for me, I’m an Enneagram 7, so I’m excited to go do stuff, I want varieties, fun, and go travel everywhere. That’s a blast for me. So, I’m always focused or I used to always be focused on that yes side or, over here, I’m saying yes to this, this is going to be so cool without reflecting on or even recognizing the opportunity cost or the loss cost of what I was saying no to.

And so, now, it’s just ingrained in the back of my mind. I heard her say it a few times, it stuck. And now, it’s just always like, man, what am I saying no to in this moment? And which one is most important today? And I think the closer your kids get to 18, you said your oldest son is 18, it’s like they’re on their way out of the house. So, it’s like the closer you get there, the more urgency there is, but also, the more years that go by, the less direct influence you may have, right? So, it’s like you got to cherish these moments. And I wish I would have learned what I learned earlier, but I’m glad that I learned it at some point. And I’m glad that you shared that because that’s a powerful takeaway.

Isaac Stegman: Yeah. Every yes is a no, every no is yes. And until you define the things that matter most, it’s easy to say yes to the ones that show up because they’re right there in your face, people are asking, you want to feel good and you want to feel valued. And until you say you know what? Saying yes to this, it’s taking from this specific thing. So, I love how Jennifer makes that very clear to say no to the family. And the reciprocal of that is anytime I say no to something, I get to say yes to my family.

Justin Donald: That’s good. I love that.

Isaac Stegman: And so, it’s characteristic, right? Whichever one motivates you, but being able to say, you know what? I’m choosing not to do this so I can take my kids to a ball game, so I can do this and give ourselves that gift which kind of brings us to the fifth point of the five P’s there, which is presence. Being present is something that’s very rare in today’s culture and society, and we tend to miss a lot of the moments that matter, much less create them. Like, I had a moment that mattered with my son on the stairs there. I could have really done something meaningful and invested in that relationship, and I missed it.

And you don’t get those moments back. You might get another one later, but again, like you said, there’s less and less and less as time goes by. And so, that with presence, it’s Matthew Kelly. I think where we actually first met was in SLC when Matthew Kelly came to Banff. And I remember him talking about the concept of carefree timelessness.

Justin Donald: Powerful.

Isaac Stegman: Such a beautiful analogy. And it’s just getting lost in the moment with the people that matter. And so, that’s the most challenging thing for most of my clients is to actually disconnect from all the noise and be here now. And until you realize, until we all realize that if we’re not here right now, if we’re not present, we are missing out on our life. If we’re thinking about something that happened that didn’t happen, that’s not happening right now, we’re missing out on the now. If we’re thinking about or planning something in the future, not that planning is not important, but I got stuck on that for years. I would always be thinking about the future, what’s next, what’s next, what’s next, and dreaming that and visioning it and vision boarding it and journaling it. And I missed so many moments that mattered when I was thinking about what I wanted for later. And so, that power of being present, if you’ve been around someone who’s good at this and they actually look you in the eye, they’re not on their phone when you’re talking to them, and you can feel their full attention, they’re not thinking about someone else or something else, they’re not trying to be, wishing they were somewhere else or with someone else, that’s one of the biggest gifts that you can possibly give anyone.

Justin Donald: That’s powerful. Yeah, I love that.

Isaac Stegman: That’s where we wrap up the five P’s. That’s what the coaching is really focused on is how do we bring those things into someone’s life and their business so that instead of just being on autopilot and looking at what’s next for 20, 30, 40 years, retiring, continuing the same patterns and habits and behavior, and feeling stuck and unfulfilled. People can start doing that now. They can start living on purpose now.

Justin Donald: That’s awesome. It’s funny. If I think we live in such a condition culture, that presence is one of the toughest things to get. We’re so distracted by our phones and social media and so many other things. And I’ve got a good friend, Steven, back home and his family, he’s a mastermind member, joined Lifestyle Investor a few years ago. And we just did a really incredible trip to Greece with his family and Dane Espegard, their family as well. It’s just amazing.

But one of the cool things that their kids do, they have five kids back home, too. And they’re such positive influences on each other. So, the parents here, Steven and Paige, decided to take their kids and all their kids’ friends on a trip to Florida where they are the parents and they are the chaperones. But what’s really cool is in this distracted easily, this place, this time of life, this cultural norm of being distracted or not giving presence, they have this thing when they sit down where the kids initiate this and they say, phone stack, and everyone just stacks their phones together so that they can be present in that conversation, in that meal, and for that time. And everyone just puts their phones together out of the way, out of sight, and no one is on them. And I just think that’s great leadership at a young age, like, that’s youth leadership at its finest. And I love seeing that.

Isaac Stegman: And that is such a counterpoint to the cultural norm of, oh, just let them be on their devices so they’re not bothering us, so that they can be doing their thing so we can do our thing. That’s brilliant. I love that he does that and that’s what a pattern interrupts you culturally and generationally of saying as a family, we value presence, we value time with each other and connection.

Justin Donald: That’s so cool. I love it. Well, it’s been just so much fun having you on the show today, getting a chance to catch up, getting a chance to really dig in to the cool work you’re doing. And I love that you’re always growing. You are a great coach before you made these pivots and moves, but it’s great that you’re still feeding yourself and learning and growing in your experience and just fine-tuning all the tools in your tool belt so that you can show it better for your people, for your clients.

Isaac Stegman: Yeah. I just finally feel like I’m good with my five, and it’s taken me about a year to really refine that down because I was struggling with the concept. And then what do I do? And I had to do some growth in myself before I knew what my five were. And to come back full circle to our hike, the first one of my five is God first. And that’s one that I grew up as a pastor’s kid, I was in the church and was rejecting the church and running from God for 40-something years.

And the first conversation that kind of cracked me open was the conversation you and I had on the hike. And it’s made a really big difference for me because without that, there is no point of truth. And it’s a measuring stick to look at everything else through for alignment and say, I know this is for me, or I know that it’s not. And so, that was my first of the five.

And just to close the loop for the listeners, just in case they’re wondering, the other four were, I just titled them better man. And I’ve got the Kaizen tattoo on my arm. It’s like pursuing self-mastery, never settling for okay or just good enough and not growing. The next one is live fully. And I think that, for my kids, the best thing I can do for them is not tell them what they should do, but be the type of person and live the type of life that I would be proud to show them and for them to model, because that’s how people learn, that’s how our kids start doing things, is they don’t do what we tell them. They do what we do.

Justin Donald: Yeah, that’s the truth.

Isaac Stegman: And then the next one is love deeply. I’ve got this, I know what epic love looks like for me. And so, it’s intentionally being the best man I can be for the woman who is going to be best for me. And the last is legacy, which is where The Courage Project comes in, and that’s leaving the world better than when I came. And so, The Courage Project is a book that I’m writing in a movement that I’ll be talking about between now and next May. And so, that’s my five.

And anything that doesn’t line up with those things, it’s an easy no. It gets easier the more you are able to say no. First is not an easy no to say no to anything for me, but then the more you do it, the more it’s like, well, of course. That’s not aligned with those five. And so, for anyone listening, I would encourage you to think about what are your five? What’s really, really important for you? What are the things that have in the past or likely in the future, to pull you off track because they’re good, they’re sexy, they’re goals, they’re things that are exciting, but they’re going to take away and steal from something? And write them down for yourself and look at them every day and say, if it’s not aligned with one of these five, it’s just a no.

And if you want a resource for digging into that more, Bronnie Ware wrote a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. And she was a hospice nurse and she asked these people who were on their deathbed and sitting with their lives and thinking about the impact that it had and what they wish they would have done. And until I put myself in that place and thought about, if I’m in my last month, if I had a month left to live, what would I regret? Would I regret not doing any of the things that are on my to-say-yes-to list right now? Or would I regret something that mattered more? And so, that’s how I would like to leave a call for people who are wanting to go deeper with this is just decide your five and then start saying no to the little things that are stealing from that.

Justin Donald: That’s powerful, Isaac. Just great, great information, commentary, just brilliant. And I really hope that everyone watching this and everyone listening to this takes the time, right now even, to just write down the five things. What are the five things you’re going to say yes to, so it makes it easy to say no to everything else?

And I really appreciate your total transparency and brutal honesty here just for the world to see and hear. I think it’s amazing that you can show up that way. Very authentic and unapologetic about mistakes made and lessons learned and who you’ve become in the process. And I appreciate what you’ve even shared about the conversations we’ve had and the impact that it’s had because that is very meaningful and uplifting for me. And I think it helps condition even more of these P’s, me to live out these P’s in my life, right? That I do need to remember that giving people presence and full attention is that important and treating people like they’re the only one in the room in that moment, in that conversation.

And some of my heroes, they were really good at that with me. And so, that’s what I have tried to emulate. And sometimes, I’m better at it than other times. But I got to remember to be very diligent about that, like that matters. So, just so many great lessons, great reminders, and things that I feel like at times I’m doing great at, at times I’m not. And at other times, I was doing well at, but for whatever reason, I stopped. But this is a great reminder for me too.

Isaac Stegman: Thank you. If you’re watching or listening, it would really help to get a partner, get a mentor or someone else and tell them, “Hey, I’m really focused right now on being present. Can you just hold me accountable and ask the question?” That’s something that I so appreciate about what Jon Vroman’s put together with Front Row Dads and our relationship and the other relationships there is real conversations and saying, “Hey, here’s where I’m messing up. Can you hold me accountable? Here’s what’s actually happening. Can you ask me the hard questions?”

Justin Donald: Yeah. Got to have real conversations, got to do real life and pick the people that you’re going to do that with. By the way, side note, for those of you watching, not listening, Isaac has the coolest picture of a lion in the background. And for me, lions are really important. The logo, the Lifestyle Investor lion, that logo was intentionally picked. And it really stands out. There’s a lot of hidden meaning to me in lion, even finding lion in millionaire or billionaire, and just some other really cool connotations and meanings in the word and how a lion, what manifests in a lion. And it’s powerful. So, I just want to share that. I love that picture. That’s cool.

Isaac Stegman: Thank you. Love you, brother. I appreciate you. Thanks for having me on the show.

Justin Donald: Yes. Love you too. This is awesome. And glad you can make it. Where can our listeners find out more about you?

Isaac Stegman: KaizenCoaching.com, K-A-I-Z-E-N coaching.com is the best way to find out what I’m up to. And then The Courage project will have its own website coming towards the end of this year.

Justin Donald: Love it. I’m excited about that project. Courage Project sounds awesome. Glad that you’re really moving forward there because I know that, for years, you’ve been trying to figure out what that thing is. So, I love that you have pinpointed what that thing is and your ability to impact at another level, which is cool.

I love ending every podcast episode with a question to our audience. So, for those of you watching, for those of you listening, what is one step you can take today to move towards financial freedom and move towards living a life that you truly desire, one that’s on your terms, so not by default, but by design? And I think a pretty simple one is make your five yeses. Like, what are the five things you’re going to say yes to?

And by the way, one of these yeses could be a financial freedom-oriented question or yes or things that you’re going to focus on so much that you say no to the other things. So, love ending every episode with that. Be intentional. Pick your one thing from Isaac today. And we’ll catch you next week.