Embracing True Identity: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Spiritual Transformation with Mark Collins

What if embracing your true identity could shatter the chains of imposter syndrome? Join me for an inspiring conversation with Mark Collins, whose journey from a military upbringing to becoming a Christian pastor and coach is nothing short of transformative. Mark candidly shares his battles with introversion, insecurity, and the weight of familial expectations, and how his discovery of Christianity at 27 shifted his entire perception of self-worth and purpose. Through his Life Mastery course and book, Mark empowers others to craft lives filled with intention, revealing that true success begins with understanding one’s God-given identity.

Mark delves into the essence of transformation and living authentically, encouraging a life led by intentionality rather than mere reaction. His insights on aligning thoughts, words, and actions with our true selves underscore that we are already equipped for triumph in various life arenas. We wrap up with a celebration of Mark's empowering resources, inviting listeners to explore more at jenniferplates.com, and reminding everyone of the importance of living an empowered from within. As always, your support through ratings, reviews, and subscriptions helps us continue these enriching conversations on "Empowered Within with Jennifer Pilates.

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Chapters

• 0:06 Journey to Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
• 9:03 Navigating Christianity and Personal Identity
• 20:27 Discovering Identity and Celebrating Accomplishments
• 30:12 Living Life Mastery by Design
• 39:27 Empowering Conversations and Resources

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Welcome to Empowered Within, a soul-quenching, transformational podcast that will set your soul on fire. Through candid and inspiring conversations, leading experts, celebrities, healers and I share our journeys of how we've overcome challenges to living an empowered life from within. I'm your host, jennifer Pilates. Welcome to another episode of Empowered Within. Welcome to the show. I am honored to have with us today's guest, mark Collins. Mark is a husband, father, pastor and coach with a passion to see men equipped to become the hero they were created to be. To do that, mark has developed an online course called Life Mastery and has authored his first book, life Mastery Living Life by Design, not by Default, and in over 15 years of working with men as a Christian coach and pastor, mark has seen hundreds of lives changed and callings unleashed. A Christian coach and pastor Mark has seen hundreds of lives changed and callings unleashed. Welcome to the show, mark.

Speaker 2: 1:10

Thanks so much. I'm excited to be here, Jennifer.

Speaker 1: 1:13

I'm so excited to talk everything imposter syndrome. I know that this is something that is very close to your heart and I would love for you to take me back to the journey that got you on your faith based journey and path, as well as specializing with working with Christian men.

Speaker 2: 1:32

Thanks for the question. I appreciate it. Yeah, so I'm a little bit older, so my story and my path is quite a long one, but I'm going to summarize it for us. Really grew up in a military family, my dad was a very strong willed person. He was in the military, as I said, and I tell people he would have been a great drill instructor, even though that wasn't his vocation. So he was very hard, stoic, very matter of fact kind of gentleman and grew up in that household and moved to a lot of different places.

Speaker 2: 1:59

For me that looked like living in five states and one foreign country by the time I was 12 years old. So every two years of my life there was a new environment, new community, new friends and all of that. So growing up in that environment really gave me a feeling of, you know, introversion and insecurity, potentially. And then trying to measure up to a father who was where he was at you know, trying to measure up to a man that I felt like I never could where he was at you know, trying to measure up to a man that I felt like I never could brought me to a place of you know, kind of living out the bit of insecurity and a bit of fear and those anxiety and issues. You know, looking good on the outside, like maybe a lot of us are in this community, but on the inside kind of struggling with those issues through school and high school and then getting into adulthood and really trying to outwork it, if you know what I mean, whether it was through trying to have a martial art degree, which I was able to do, or business that was successful, which my wife and I were able to do, or you know, all of those things, the trappings that you think are going to make a difference and matter, that are going to stop fear of failure. But didn't.

Speaker 2: 2:59

And in that place, being successful and having fear of failure come alongside imposter syndrome, really not feeling like I was qualified for the life I was living, but really having this sense on the inside that there was a life I was meant for.

Speaker 2: 3:14

I wanted to see the man I thought I could be show up in my business, in my marriage, in my life, without the stress, the fear that resulted in the anger and control and those issues that you use to try and manage your life. And so that brought me into adulthood and led me on a path of trying to figure it out through personal development, which you know works to a level right. There's value in those tools and those things that they're doing. The problem was it wasn't transformational, it was just habits. I was changing one habit for another, then became a Christian later on in life, at 27 years old, and in trying to really kind of unpack the Bible as instruction found really for me the secrets that I understood to be able to become the person I was created to be not what my life and my history and my past told me I was and in that place, wanting to kind of give those tools to other people which caused me to develop Life Mastery as a course in the book Life Mastery Living Life by Design, not by Default.

Speaker 1: 4:08

I think that's fabulous when you think back to the days of probably it was before we even knew imposter syndrome was imposter syndrome, right? Do you remember those first steps that you took to pivot, to go? Okay, I'm not enjoying where I'm at. I need to figure out how I can get to where I feel I'm destined to be.

Speaker 2: 4:29

Yeah, great question, and you know it's kind of a trial and error. For me, again, it was seeing those things. You know, you see those late night infomercials of how to transform your life or change who you are, be, you know, the hero or the Superman that you want to be. I'm really kind of absorbing some of those teachings.

Speaker 2: 4:46

The books how to Win Friends and Influence People and all the other self-development books I studied every one that I could afford to try and get to that place, not knowing, like you said, not knowing what imposter syndrome was, but just knowing that I wasn't satisfied with where my life was at. But because of issues and really what I call in our course, in our system, a false identity, I wanted to be better but I was always holding back from it. So really it was trying to find an answer in the things that were around me, whether again using the outside influences of money and fame and power and position or personal development that tried to get me there. It was a journey of having a voice on the inside that matched the life on the outside.

Speaker 1: 5:28

I love that Mark oh voice on the inside matching the life on the outside, and to me this feels like that's where your faith stepped in.

Speaker 2: 5:39

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 5:40

Yeah, tell me about how that feels, like it was the missing piece for you.

Speaker 2: 5:45

Well, the interesting thing was, you know, of course, I am a Christian, and so my faith. Yeah, tell me about how that feels like it was the missing piece for you. Development courses have a great value, but the challenge is, in many cases they're really just saying I have an amazing life and if you do the things I do, you'll have an amazing life also. But I knew I wasn't them, and so the identity piece was huge and I'll just be totally honest becoming a Christian didn't stop me from wrestling with insecurity or imposter syndrome, because walking in the door doesn't transform you. It's the tools and instructions you use to get there.

Speaker 2: 6:26

So, while I thought my life was going to be perfect when I said yes to Jesus, it didn't turn out that way, but it was the start of a journey which was amazing.

Speaker 2: 6:33

And, to cut to the chase on it, what I found in bringing in the same tools I used outside of Christianity to do inside, which is this trying to measure up, trying to get the checklist in place and do all the right things.

Speaker 2: 6:48

You know right, because that's how I felt, like growing up, like with my father, and then in my adult life, that I had to measure up to matter and, in that place, being able to walk in my Christian faith and understand that, no, my value started when I was born. It started from who God created me to be. It didn't start the minute I accomplished something, the minute I achieved something in my life and that kind of instruction, and I could quote scriptures to back up what I'm talking about. But at the end of the day, it was understanding that I was innately valuable simply because I was created, you know, as all of us are, uniquely, specifically and perfectly for the purposes of my life. And as I unpack that in scripture, started to gain more of an identity, started to see that there was a difference between what my past was in the pains and the hurts and the lies I believed versus who I was actually created to be.

Speaker 1: 7:37

Oh, that is so weighted with such good depth. Do you feel that when you first started to introduce your faith to yourself or to understand it, and maybe the first time you opened up the Bible, do you think or do you remember feeling was there a whole different imposter syndrome at that point? Because I could see that happening to someone going geez. Now I feel like I have to measure up to God, jesus, the Holy Spirit, mary and everyone right. What do you say to that kind of statement for someone who may be using that as a kind of a crutch to not fully dive in?

Speaker 2: 8:16

Yeah, and you know what you're saying. Which is very profound is it comes down to rituals or relationship, and unfortunately we cite on the side of rituals, which means this it's a checklist of, in our language, a checklist of righteousness, a checklist of good enough. Right, if I do these things, if I show up at church often enough, if I pray often enough, if I read my Bible often enough, all of them are very good habits because they lead to a relationship if you allow them to. But all of them are a horrible substitute for a relationship Because, at the end of the day, I have to measure up to be perfect, which is kind of taking on the identity of what the world says sometimes right, you're only worth what your income is or your statement is, or your fame and your fortune are, but those aren't necessarily the case. But it is the mistake we make in Christianity.

Speaker 1: 9:03

What about helping the person who does want to find their faith, whatever that looks like to them? What's the first step? What's a good first step to guide that person?

Speaker 2: 9:18

That's a great question, I think. So it looks differently for two different types of people those people who maybe don't have a faith I don't have a faith I can name, but I have a belief that there's more than what I'm seeing and where I'm at. The very first thing is that's a great place to be, while it can be uncomfortable because you don't you know, I don't have that roadmap, I don't have that path that I know that I can walk on no-transcript If you're a Christian. Really it comes down to this. It really comes down to understanding the purpose behind the things that we do, whether, again, like I said, it's reading the word, it's praying to God, it's showing up in community at a church.

Speaker 2: 10:28

All of these things are meant to inform a relationship and give an instruction for life. They're not meant to be the ends right. It's not a checklist that you get to measure up to. It's an invitation to a relationship that you get to live out. So the very first step is to maybe take a second look at the word, your Bible, and understand it as two things. For me, what I tell people is you know, there's a lot of value and worth in it, but there's two things that I would give people. One is your Bible. The word of God that we read is a biography of your father, and the second is it's a relationship of him with his children. So who he shows himself to be with other people is who I can have as a relationship with him as well.

Speaker 1: 12:04

It's beautiful. I love the mindset shift there in ways to understand the Bible and your father. That really hits home. I love that. The biography of your father that's so powerful. For those out there who may not understand, because right now in our world it is a little rocky and that's being polite, who may say, well, I don't know that I understand Christianity. There's so many different aspects of religion and spirituality out there. How would you define it and introduce it so that people understand truly what Christianity is?

Speaker 2: 12:46

Another great question. Thank you, jennifer. If you want to break it down to simple basics, it's, first and foremost a belief that there's a God, that I'm made on purpose, that I'm not an accident, that I'm not just a miraculous happenstance of a bunch of molecules getting together and forming a person that happens to be me. So the initiation is knowing that there is a God and, like you said, there's a multitude of religions out there and each of them have a version of a God, a creator of all of the earth.

Speaker 2: 13:14

The difference between what we do in Christianity is who we go to for that relationship.

Speaker 2: 13:19

For us, it's the relationship that starts with Jesus Christ, so believing that Jesus, who was born over 2000 years ago, was the son of God, who came and lived and died for our sins so that we could return to a relationship with God.

Speaker 2: 13:36

And so in Christianity, it comes from a man who came to the earth as God, who came to the earth as a man who lived and died and gave us instruction. That's where, for us, the last third of the Bible is what we call the New Testament, and it starts with the birth of Jesus and goes through his life and the church as it's grown thereafter. If you would want to start in a place, to me it's the first four books of that New Testament, called Matthew, mark, luke and John, and there it's understanding what the sacrifices that God made in bringing Jesus to the earth, what the promises that Jesus made, that we were the first. He was the firstborn among many brethren, which means each of us have the opportunity to be brothers and sisters to Jesus and sons and daughters of God and in that place, being able to live out that relationship in a way where you're living out the impact that you desire to have, that brings glory to him and brings great blessing to you.

Speaker 1: 14:27

That's beautiful, thank you. I think that's a beautiful explanation For those out there who are intrigued, who are now propelled to perhaps open that Bible, to lean into their faith more, to connect. Do you think that there is a right or wrong way be it in church, not in church for someone who really wants to connect? Again, our world is changing by the moment, it feels like, and I feel that the look of how we connect with God's spirit universe is changing so much. How would you guide that person?

Speaker 2: 15:10

You know, for me, at the end of the day, I, you know, I'm an associate pastor at a church in Buena Park, California, and obviously we have a community there that meets and does the things that you traditionally understand Christianity is about. But the challenge that I think a lot of us have is that we think that we go to a place to encounter, in this case, God, our Father, but that is actually, should be, a supplement to the life you live. Right, you know, I don't want to go to a place as a substitute for a relationship. I remember, to be totally honest, in my own walk with God, as I was going after things, you know, I became passionate as I understood that God was real, had an encounter with him that showed me that he wasn't a God that was here for salvation and there when I die, but he was actually here for every day of my life and being able to deepen that relationship and in that place I would go all over the place to, you know, throughout the state, throughout the country. I went to Brazil, I went to Australia, in these places trying to, you know, find more of God and more of the truth and, you know, fulfill that passion I had for him.

Speaker 2: 16:12

And I remember being in a place at a conference one time in Northern California, wanting to have an encounter and an experience and not having it, seeing people have it around me and not having it. And I you know you don't want to get super spiritual on you, but I felt an impression of a voice that was inside my head, not somebody speaking beside me and it said you've heard about me long enough, Would you like to hear from me? And so for me that's Christianity in a nutshell, it's not hearing about God. So while I learn from people who are wiser than me and I go to places to learn and become part of community, those are sometimes a poor substitute for a relationship.

Speaker 2: 16:55

God doesn't want you to know about him necessarily as you grow in the relationship. He wants to have that conversation with you. So whatever that looks like in your life, it doesn't have to be in four walls. In fact, most of my relationship with him never happens within the four walls of our church. It happens in my ongoing opportunities to have conversation and relationship, just like in a marriage. Right Marriage doesn't just happen in a house, it didn't just happen at the altar. It happens in an ongoing shared relationship and life together.

Speaker 1: 17:26

And so do you think it's fair to say that developing that relationship is so important. And in finding yourself, and then should you choose to go to a church, then that's the community that you're all there to share it with right. There's that community sense that we're trying to get back to instead of being divided, and why that's so important. And I think it's about working with your life mastery and that mindset shift of what those four walls really mean, that sense of community support.

Speaker 2: 18:01

Yeah, absolutely, I totally agree. And it's the difference between being one of a group and one of a kind, you know, and it's the difference between being one of a group and one of a kind. So in in church, we understand we're one of a group, whether you call it a family or a community or what have you right, it's. It's all like-minded people with similar beliefs, walking our life together and and there's value in that in all sorts of places, just like there's value in our family and our friendships and those things. But there's this one-of-a-kind aspect of you said it's the identity. It's identity is actually the foundation of my course and it's the foundation of my book, because it's the foundation of my life. I tell people identity is everything For me as a Christian, as a believer. I'm sorry, go ahead, oh, no, no, no please finish.

Speaker 2: 19:30

No, I was going to say for me as a Christian, as a believer, my identity always comes from God. It and, as a believer, my identity always comes from God. It was a way for me to be able to instruct and give people the understanding of identity within our course. That separated me from my world, so that it wasn't my world telling me right my business, my position, my relationships, my finances, but it was me understanding that I am created uniquely, specifically, individually, with value, before any of those things happen.

Speaker 1: 19:56

That's so important. And so when you talk about life mastery because it definitely I mean the depths that you have gone between your travels and your studies and all of the coaching that you've done how do you help people within your course with their mindset to get past? As we've talked about just the personal development, and I don't wanna say just because just the personal development, and I want to say just because I feel personal development is super important, but what's that deeper level that you're able to bring through?

Speaker 2: 20:24

Yeah, that's a great question. Thank you for asking that. You know the differentiation is really. It starts with identity, instead of having a model of what I want. To be right, I want to be wealthy, I want to be famous, I want it.

Speaker 2: 20:38

Whatever the things are the highest value things that you strive to attain, at the end of the day, those are just things and or they're an imitation of somebody else's life that you're trying to live out. What we do and where we initiate and again, because I'm a Christian, it's easy to start there is starting with identity, but it really is. Who were you created to be? It's a much shorter journey because you're not having to measure up to somebody else. It's a bit of a longer journey because you have to kind of strip away, like we had talked about previously, all the things that have been imitations of the person you actually are, and so for me, it starts with identity and what we do, and this is something similar to a lot of people. We start with an I am statement and it's simply saying who are you apart from your things, from your title, from your position, from all of those things? There's an inherent victory in that, because, since I don't have to measure up to those things. I'm not weighed down if those things aren't working well at the moment. So if my relationship we're having a disagreement, I'm not all of a sudden feeling insecure about myself because the relationship isn't on track. If our business is hitting a bump and our finances are kind of struggling, I'm not wondering am I a failure waiting to happen? Is this not going to work out? Because I'm just not good enough? Those kind of inherent thought processes that tend to derail you aren't happening if you understand who you are. So for us, it starts with identity. It starts with who are you created to be? And then, if I could give you a couple of other tools really quickly, I do three things. I have them. Create an I am statement. Who are you as a Christian? I invite them to start that with a conversation with God saying God, who did you make me to be? Even if you're not a Christian, you can see innately again, there's a spirit on the inside of all of us. You can innately see that there's things that are unique and specific about you that you can celebrate. And so that's the I am statement. And then, second is a celebration statement. You know, I'm not sure if I can speak for women, jennifer, but I know for men.

Speaker 2: 22:31

One of the hardest things we can do is to look at ourselves and not see the things that we're falling short versus the things we're great at, and the things we don't like about ourselves versus those things that we can celebrate. And so we start with the celebration list, because when I start to be able to celebrate me, I start to see God in me. The more I know about me, the more I know how amazing God is because of all the things that he's done, the intimacy and the intricacy with which he made me. And the third thing we do is we do an accomplishment list, and I've invited them to do 20, but I have done 100 myself Because at that point you're giving yourself a list that includes getting up in the morning and paying your bills and those kind of things.

Speaker 2: 23:08

But the challenge in our life is, a lot of times, people that I know of great value and financial worth that I work with, as well as just ordinary, everyday individuals. A lot of times we wait for that amazing victory before we give ourselves credit for anything. And the challenge is, as super successful people in athletics or business know, if I don't celebrate myself along the way, I'm actually going to not have energy to get to that place. And so what I do through the accomplishment list is hey, you're accomplishing things, you're? You have a track record of success on a daily basis. You may think that it's ordinary, but it's not things that everybody does, so it is worth celebrating. So we start in that place of really kind of unpacking hey, who am I? And look, I've actually already done things in my life. I may not be the CEO yet, I may not be the multimillionaire in business yet, but I am taking steps towards that and I'm succeeding along the way.

Speaker 1: 24:00

I love that. Would you be open to giving an example of each one of those, because I feel like I can hear someone attempting an? I am, but more in an agitative, more do you know what I mean? More descriptive but not really getting to the weight of what I know. You're trying to help people get to, yeah absolutely so.

Speaker 2: 24:22

for me, an I am statement, and one that I would use for myself, is I'm a person of confidence and worth. I'm a person of great value and depth. I'm a great friend and a compassionate giver to those that I love. I follow through on the things that I decide to do in my life. I have fortitude and action towards the things that matter to me and to my God. So those are all kind of aspects of who you are, and they have. No, there's not a resume of what you've done.

Speaker 1: 24:49

Right, and so then, when you get to the celebratory statement, what does that look like?

Speaker 2: 24:54

Absolutely so. A celebration list. I love the fact that I have blue eyes. I love the fact that I have a childlike sense of humor. I love the fact that I love chocolate, that I'm engaged in things, that I'm actually very black and white. If I'm all in with something, I'm all in till the end, and if I'm not all in, it matters not to me. I love the fact that I find humor in things that other people don't. I love the fact that I have a great compassion for animals. I love dogs and love being around people that I care about. So again, celebration.

Speaker 2: 25:29

Who are you created to be? Because, just to reiterate, each and every one of them has the fingerprint of God on you. And here's something I would give your listeners. Here's the truth of the matter.

Speaker 2: 25:38

All of the gifts and talents and abilities that I have, man, I love those, but what I've learned to like and start to love are all the things I'm horrible at, because here's the truth of the matter the things that I'm bad at. I'm good at language. I'm not as good at math. I'm good at passionately going after things. I'm not really as good at meticulously planning, but the truth of the matter is every single part of that the things you're great at and the things you're really bad at. They're all wrapped up in a package with your name on it. For us, as Christians, what I understand is God gave as much attention to the things I'm horrible at as the things I'm good at, because he knew the impact I was going to have in the world and he knew that if I was good at things that weren't of value to my future, there would be a distraction towards my future.

Speaker 1: 26:22

So true. So with that, do you feel that it's almost well? It's completely equally as important. If there's something that you're struggling with, if there's something that you're fearing, lean into it, because on the other side can be that door that God has placed there for you to walk through, and that abundance, that love, whatever can be on the other side of that.

Speaker 2: 26:48

That's a really, really good question, and so there's a couple of interesting things to that right, like there's the struggle and there's the fear, and that's two different things. So for myself, although I do the finances in our household, I wouldn't say that I'm as good at it as my wife. My wife is an accounting background, but at one stage she just felt like she wanted the relief of not having to deal with the bills, and so I've taken them on. So there's those things that you're challenged with that you have to work through. Or there are also struggles and challenges because I am trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. You know I have to be good at this for whatever. So like for yourself, jennifer and myself, we have our own businesses and so at some time within that framework you have to be, you have to wear all the hats Right. But where you accelerate your success in life in every area is where you find those things that I'm not good at this and I'm doing it until I can find somebody who's better. So I have the bandwidth and the ability to accelerate the things. So that's the struggle part. It's am I doing it now because it's a necessary thing, or am I trying to fit myself into a mold of something I really shouldn't be doing?

Speaker 2: 27:53

To begin with, it comes back to identity, which falls under the fear side. Because the fear side is interesting? Because fear isn't necessarily something I'm not equipped for. Fear is a pre understanding that I'm not going to be successful at it. What I tell people is, in these places where you're dealing with fear and anxiety or worry, what you're already doing is presupposing a failure in your life. This isn't going to work out right. It's the definition we give to the experience we're walking through. So fear isn't necessarily a place of well. I shouldn't be doing this.

Speaker 2: 28:26

But fear is an opportunity to say what am I afraid of? Is there value and worth in it? Does it make sense? Is it true or is it not? Because there's only two choices. I said I was black and white earlier. It's either the truth or it's a lie. So if the fear is, I'm going to fail at this and it's going to ruin our whole business, or I'm going to blow this thing and it's going to mess up my relationship, is that true? Or is that your past speaking to your future? As we unpack identity and walk through these things, that's one of the things we do. I tell people this you're either living from your identity, who you know again as a Christian, or even not. You're either living from who you're created to be or you're living from what your past, your pain, your experiences and the lies you believe have told you you are, and in that second case, that's where a lot of fear is coming from, as our past telling us what our present is going to be like and what our future is going to look like.

Speaker 1: 29:17

So, so important to unpack that. Oh my gosh, I feel like I could do a podcast just on that last statement for sure.

Speaker 2: 29:24

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:25

For overcoming imposter syndrome and overcoming the fear and overcoming of, you know, not overcoming but being comfortable with leaning into our faith and leaning into our identity and going into that. What daily practices or routines do you do and or share in your coaching with your clients to help people manage it? That bite size Like here's a little of this that you can do, here's a little of that to you know, get you going for someone who might not be as all in as you and I would. We're very black and white, we're so the same it's we're either in or we're out.

Speaker 2: 30:04

Yeah, that's a great question, and I think, first and foremost, I'll be totally honest. The goal of our program is transformation, not change, which I know you're talking about as well, jennifer, in that a transformation isn't me creating habits to replace old habits, but transformation is me really literally living out who I'm created to be. I tell people, so you know, I will throw a scripture, and there's a scripture that's part of our program and it's a life scripture for me. Jesus said this. He said he who the sun sets free is free. Indeed, that scripture is a salvation scripture telling us that Jesus died for our sins. Therefore, we don't have to. But there's also a lifestyle aspect to it, and I tell the people I work with, this Freedom looks like something lived out in every area of your life, and so it's. This transformation process is me looking free in every area of my life, whether it's relationship or finances or business or what have you. And so the things that we do to get there are we give ourselves ammunition before the fight, and that's where that I am statement comes in. And so, for myself and the people I work with, it's giving them a reminder. Hey, life happens daily, so shouldn't you remind yourself ahead of time what you look like walking into your life.

Speaker 2: 31:15

My book. It's called Life Mastery by Design, not by Default, because most of the time we're living life by default. We could even say we're living it defensively, which means this life happens and I respond. Life happens that I try and figure it out. Or, as a Christian, I pull out my favorite scripture and I speak it over it. And it's not that the word of God isn't powerful, but the challenge is God isn't asking us to be defensive so that when life happens I've got to respond and scramble and figure out how I'm going to get through it. The truth is it's life by design which means this I understand that I'm the impact that God means for the situation I'm working in. I am the actual answer to the thing I'm walking into the circumstance, the challenge and the issue. When you walk in understanding, you're already the answer. You're looking to find solutions, not looking to figure it out and struggle through it. So that identity statement is huge because, as I understand who, I am walking into my day, into my business, into my job. Now, all of a sudden, that man or woman shows up.

Speaker 2: 32:10

There's a couple of other tools. We have to be honest, if I could go through them really quickly. We have a three-step transformational strategy mastering your thoughts, words and actions. Because, come to find out, you know how you transform your life, transform your thinking, even transform your neuroplastic structures, the structures of your brain that give you decision making. You do it through repetitive thoughts, words and actions. And so mastering your thoughts very quickly. I got it from a scripture.

Speaker 2: 32:34

I tell people this God already knows what science shows, and the scripture says this as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

Speaker 2: 32:41

So if who I am right now is a sum total of. We talked about the three steps, but I'll just talk about one step mastering your thoughts. But I'll just talk about one step mastering your thoughts. If I am where I am at right now because of who I believe I am, as I tell the people in the course, who you think you are, you'll become. So if I want to change, if I believe I'm more than this, if I believe I'm better and I'm in for higher, then I need to align my thoughts with who that man or woman is. And so we go through a strategy of mastering your thoughts, which is, you know, are your thoughts aligning with who you're created to be, and if they're not, then they're lying to you. And so, as you repetitively again, through I am statement and through recognizing are my thoughts aligning with who I am, or are they lying to me and then realign them with who you believe you are? Again, that person shows up in dynamic and confident ways to have the life that they're created for.

Speaker 1: 33:30

That is so powerful. I'm still back on. You said something along the lines of like showing you are the answer. You're here in the middle of this amazing journey, amazing celebration, amazing crisis.

Speaker 2: 33:44

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:45

Because you are the answer and that just sits so differently than viewing the celebration, the crisis or whatever it may be yeah, and you know again, I don't want to keep beating people up with the bible, but here's the interesting thing if you're a christian and you're looking in scripture, god is always doing two things he's telling somebody who they are and he's telling him the mission, the purpose, the impact they're going to have.

Speaker 2: 34:10

But the fascinating thing is he never is giving them additional skills, ability, talents to accomplish the task. He's simply telling them who they are. And in telling them who they are, again, that answer aspect that he already knows that they're innately created completely for the thing they're walking into Fighting a battle, winning a war, saving a people, all of the things that he talked about. Well, my father says in the Bible he's no respecter of persons, which means he creates and treats all of his children the same. So for you and I and anybody who's listening, if that's who he has been through history, then that's who he is today. So I can walk in confidence that you're not equipping me after I get there.

Speaker 1: 34:52

You're reminding me who I am, so I walk in there oh say that again, you're not equipping me after I get there.

Speaker 2: 34:56

You're reminding me who I am as I'm walking in there. So for you going into a boardroom, are you going into a business meeting? Are you going into a hard conversation in a relationship? Understand, you're already equipped for the success and victory you're supposed to have in it, not over people, but your success and victory to move that situation into alignment with where it's supposed to be.

Speaker 1: 35:16

Or you wouldn't be there at all, right.

Speaker 2: 35:18

Exactly, that's a good word.

Speaker 1: 35:21

Yes, or you wouldn't be there. You wouldn't have been guided to walk through that door if it wasn't meant for you.

Speaker 2: 35:26

Absolutely. That's a great word. They should write that down.

Speaker 1: 35:33

Absolutely. I mean, I'm a big believer that what is meant for you will not pass you by.

Speaker 2: 35:36

Yeah, absolutely, that is the truth.

Speaker 1: 35:40

Oh, my goodness. So talk to me a little bit about your book. Your course, where can our community best get in contact with you so that they can reach out and learn more from you?

Speaker 2: 35:50

Mark, best get in contact with you so that they can reach out and learn more from you. Mark, yeah, absolutely so. The book is Life Mastery and, of course, life Mastery Living Life by Design, not by default. And what I tell people is it's the quick start guide to life mastery. So, like your quick start guide on your phone or your microphone or whatever your camera, it's always the information you need to get started today, to make a change today, and so that's what the book is. It's not like the full-fledged course, because otherwise it'd have to be six volumes, but it's a quick start guide to say, hey, can I get some tools and some strategies to actually start living it out today and see my life change and transform? And so that's what the book is.

Speaker 2: 36:23

The course Life Mastery is on my website, which is freedom-for-lifenet, so I apologize for the length, but it's freedom-for-lifenet. And so that's the full-fledged court with all the strategies. The four pillars of life mastery are part of the lessons. The three transformational strategies are also part of the lessons, and identity is really right at the beginning, because as we build identity, everything else kind of combines with that to create the whole transformation for you. All of that's on my website and if I could share, jennifer as well. There is a free I call it a discovery tool. It's called a diagnostic tool on our website and what it is is just a quick 40 questions. You can get a summary at the end and add up your score and it'll tell you where you're at in your life mastery journey and because of where you're at, what's the next step you can take to become that next level man or woman that you want to be.

Speaker 1: 37:12

I think that's fabulous. And, of course, all of Mark's links information. His website will be over in the show notes, as always, so you can just jump over there and take your quiz and get started. Order the book and get going. Find that identity, find the identity, get the I am statement so that you can learn how to celebrate who you are today, not just who you want to be tomorrow.

Speaker 2: 37:35

Amen, amen, that's a great word, right.

Speaker 1: 37:40

Mark, as we're closing out the show today, what is one last piece of inspiration or advice that you'd like to leave with us?

Speaker 2: 37:48

It's the one thing that I held on to more than anything else throughout my whole journey. So I was obviously walking through, you know, living life without God and living life with Him, but also doing personal development. All of these things, and at each stage there was different things I was doing and they worked at different levels, but none of them gave me my transformation. So the one thing I would tell you is if you've tried it before, right, If you've tried things before, oh, I did that thing or I've done that thing.

Speaker 2: 38:15

My hope for everybody that I talk to is that you don't give up on yourself. In fact, I say this that you bet on yourself one more time. For me, it wasn't the first thing I found that transformed my life. It was the last thing, but it was the one that I needed and it was perfectly positioned at the time. So I leave you with a hope and a desire that you would bet on yourself one more time, that you're worth it, that what you believe on the inside is your value. Don't shrink back from the life that you're called to simply because the things you've done haven't worked out so far. Believe that there's the next one around the corner that will absolutely do it. You know, I believe life mastery is the thing, but if you don't have a hope and a belief that you're actually going to get there, you'll never try. So please continue to invest in believing that I'm going to find the thing, no matter what.

Speaker 1: 38:58

That is beautiful. I love that. One more hope, one more day. You've got this, yeah.

Speaker 2: 39:05

Amen, that's a great word, jennifer.

Speaker 1: 39:08

Thank you Well, Mark, this has been so incredible. I thank you so much for your time, for your insights, for your amazing energies and bringing all that you have to our world to help us step forward in faith, not only in God and Jesus and Christianity, but in ourselves.

Speaker 2: 39:28

Absolutely, it's been a great joy. Thank you so much for sharing the time with me. Absolutely, it's been a great joy. Thank you so much for sharing the time with me.

Speaker 1: 39:32

Absolutely Everything will be over in the show notes so that you get all of Mark's contact information, the book, his course insights, the quiz. So I want you to head over there that's jenniferplattiescom Check out the show notes and, as we say, until next time, may you live an empowered life from within. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode. Please remember to rate, review and subscribe to Empowered Within with Jennifer Pilates. Your feedback is important. It helps me to connect with you and gives me insight into who you are and what you're enjoying about the show. For today's show notes and discount codes from today's sponsors, head over to jenniferpilatescom. Until next time, may you live an empowered life from within.