“It's really important for us to look at what it is that we do believe and then work at dismantling those so that we free ourselves up to accomplish what we really want to.” -Michael Neeley
Shirley and Michael go deep in this conversation about removing mental blocks, being awake, creating a community, and ultimately saving humanity. This episode is not for the weak. It’s for those who are ready to step into their authority and actually make a difference in their own lives and in the world. Don’t miss this!
Highlights:
01:18 The Medieval Knight Gives Up the Sword Fight
04:21 Why People Don’t Find the Answers
08:00 How to Create What You Want NOW
18:19 Turn-off the Autopilot
27:52 Levels of Relationships
30:51 The HIVE
34:26 How Important Your Authority Is
39:25 Okay With Being Bored
Resources:
Podcast
Tweets:
Reach out for what you want. Remove the mental blocks and free yourself. @SfbaldwinOwens and @MichaelKNeeley talks about how to get what you want NOW! #attainablegoals #mentalblocks #freeyourself #slowdown #awareness #consciouslyspeaking #theHIVE #BetheAuthority
Quotes:
04:28 “A lot of people are searching for answers… They think that what they're searching for is outward, external… But, predominantly the challenge that most of us face, is getting over our own mental blocks.” -Michael Neeley
06:10 “A lot of times what we think is going to make us happy, is not truly what's going to make us happy.” -Michael Neeley
10:25 “It's really important for us to look at what it is that we do believe and then work at dismantling those so that we free ourselves up to accomplish what we really want to.” -Michael Neeley
17:14 “People don't realize that it's an addiction to stay away from your own thoughts and get into that flow state of being able to create and think for yourself, because we're so busy listening to what the world is feeding us.” -Shirley Owens
19:53 “When we automate too much, we've taken out our thinking process and we are missing out on being present in the moment.” -Michael Neeley
27:21 “The planet doesn't need saving. As humanity, we're going to need saving if we really want to stick around.” -Michael Neeley
29:16 “All sentient beings on this planet deserve happiness, and peace and love and joy. Suffering is just part of the picture.” -Michael Neeley
31:55 “A community is so important… Not everyone is going to resonate with you or what you say but they may resonate with someone who resonates with you. And so that frequency can go super far.” -Shirley Owens
33:50 “You can have multiple communities but I think it's so important for us to be intentional in those communities that we create so we don't end up… being zombies.” -Michael Neeley
36:36 “If you want to maximize your impact… build that authority to get you there.” -Michael Neeley
40:03 “As a society, we have become so boredom averse that it's hurting us… We need to be okay with being bored.” -Michael Neeley
41:01 “There's a lot of really cool stuff in just quiet.” -Shirley Owens
Connect With Michael:
Michael Neeley is a Business Mentor and Strategist for visionary solopreneurs. He is also a former professional actor and Medieval Knight. His interest in conscious development and humanity has led him to take coaching as a profession. Michael is also the host of the top-rated podcast, Consciously Speaking and the previously launched, Buy This- Not That Podcast. He is big on expanding impact by building on authority and leadership in any community. For Michael, waking up the planet and helping others do the same, is a path he must take on.
Transcriptions
Shirley Owens: My guest today is Michael Neeley. Michael is a mentor and business strategist for visionary solopreneurs, a former professional actor and medieval knight. He also hosts the podcast Consciously Speaking, Buy This – Not That. Hey Michael.
Michael Neeley: Hey, how are you, Shirley?
Shirley Owens: Good. Thank you for being here.
Michael Neeley: Are you kidding me? Thank you for having me on your show. I'm so excited to be on here.
Shirley Owens: So I've got the pleasure of getting to know you in person and hang out with you. And I know how awesome you are. I didn't know that you were a former medieval knight though, so I would love for you to tell me a little bit about your background, and how you came to be who you are today.
Michael Neeley: Yeah. Cool. Well, I appreciate that question because it's such a weird path that I've taken in my life, but kind of the medieval part started out after I finished my undergraduate degree, I have a degree in acting. And so, I've learned for acting work, and I'm like, well, what kind of work can I do? I mean, there's obviously stage, and film, and TV would all, which requires a lot of effort to get into. And someone said: "Oh, well there's this restaurant where they have people jousting and sword fighting." And I'd always loved horses. And being a medieval knight just sounded incredible to me. So, I went down to this place called Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament and got them to hire me, and I trained to become a Knight, and I pretty quickly got into the show, and then became the show manager. And from there, went around opening up new locations throughout the United States.
Shirley Owens: Wow.
Michael Neeley: That was a lot of fun.
Shirley Owens: That's awesome. I've been there.
Michael Neeley: Oh, yeah. Loved it.
Shirley Owens: So, how did you get from medieval knight to Michael Neeley? Host of Consciously Speaking?
Michael Neeley: You know, it was a long and arduous journey. But suffice it to say that during my acting career, and I did a lot more than just a jousting and sword fight, I did go on and do a lot of soap opera, and television work, and some film work as well. And in this whole process, I was studying what's considered, the term is Ontology, how we are as humans being in the world. And it's kind of like a psychology, but a little more about just human nature a bit. And in this process, I'm using it for my acting career, I realized a lot about myself. I learned a lot of depth to it. And when I stopped acting, I started to think of so many elements of this training really help us in our personal development. And so, I started to add some coaching to my business on the side. And then ultimately in this process, I was introduced to a lot of other people in the world of conscious thought, evolutionary thought leaders in the realm of mindfulness and consciousness. And so, I decided to create my show, Consciously Speaking, and introduce these people to the world. And so, I continued upto 380+ episodes in now, and I continue to try to introduce new ways of thinking and being in the world to people in the audience for Consciously Speaking.
Shirley Owens: Wow. I love that. I to actually study Ontology. So that's interesting. I think that people are on what? What? Is it like a, I don't understand. That's awesome. Tell me about where you start. Like, where do you start with someone who comes to you for coaching? And where is the start of getting them to go deeper into their thought process?
Michael Neeley: Yeah, that's a good question. And one of the things that I've found is my coaching business has evolved is that, while a lot of people are searching for answers, they don't necessarily know that the answers they're seeking for are personality related and internally mental process related. They think that what they're searching for is outward, external. And so, a lot of people will come to me and ask for business advice, and how do I do this? And how do I strategize my business to do this? And so, a lot of what I do is business mentorship, but predominantly the challenge that most of us face is getting over our own mental blocks over those hurdles because it's not always just about, Oh, how do I set up my funnel? Or how do I build my podcast the right way? It's really about how do I stay productive when psychologically something is blocking me, or causing me to not follow up, or do other elements. Is this making sense to you? It's kind of, there's more to the mental piece than there is just to the business strategy piece. I guess what I'm saying.
“A lot of people are searching for answers… They think that what they're searching for is outward, external… But, predominantly the challenge that most of us face, is getting over our own mental blocks.” -Michael Neeley
Shirley Owens: Yeah. I love that. Obviously my show is Get What You Want, and I often see people say: "If I can just get this house, then I'll be happy." "If I can just have that car, then I'll be happy." "If I just can get that guy, I'll be happy." And there's a lot of that, like you say, outward.
Michael Neeley: Yeah.
Shirley Owens: Yeah. Expand on that a little.
Michael Neeley: Yeah. Can I dig into that a little bit? Do you mind?
Shirley Owens: Yes.
Michael Neeley: So for me, a lot of times what we think is going to make us happy is not truly what's going to make us happy. And so, I try to turn that around for people, especially in a world where business, a lot of times people think, well, if I make more money, I'm going to be happy. And trust me, and I think we have enough evidence out there that that's not true. There are plenty of people who are uber-wealthy who are miserable, and frequently, you know, resorting to drugs and alcohol to self medicate, and sometimes even to the point of suicide because they're finding that they're still not fulfilled and happy. And so, what I like to break it down to is when you think about that new house that you think is gonna make you happy, to really look at, well, what would make you happy about that new house? Is it sitting in the living room looking at the spaciousness? If you can boil it down to the actual thing that makes you think that that is going to provide you happiness, you frequently will find that it's not about the house, it's about something else. And usually that's something else could be found right now, right where we are without having to go and get that new home. So I really like to cut it backwards to really get to what is the root FEELING you want to create? And then let's just DO THAT instead of thinking that that house is going to do it. I think we get it all backwards. That makes sense?
“A lot of times what we think is going to make us happy, is not truly what's going to make us happy.” -Michael Neeley
Shirley Owens: Oh, it makes total sense. I completely agree with that. I feel like sometimes I'll talk with people and say: "What feelings are you going to have sitting in that house?" You know, and it'll go to the emotional part like, so I think that's exactly what you're talking about. So how can we create that now, actually having that. And so, how can we? You tell me how can we create that now?
Michael Neeley: Okay, I love that question. That's a great one. As an example, if someone thinks that they want to make a lot of money, one of the questions I'll say: "Okay, great. What does having a lot of money PROVIDES YOU that makes you think that's going to be happy?" "Well, if I had a lot of money, I could live in Italy for a month if I wanted to, or I could live somewhere else, or I could travel the world more." And I'm like: "Okay, well let's really unpack that. Let's look at that. Because quite honestly, I don't think it's about having more money. I think it's about setting up your lifestyle so that you can have that now, which is part of why a lot of the stuff that I teach is about how to create a freedom lifestyle. Truly freedom in the respect that what you do, do for your living, you could do anywhere you wanted to." And so, as an example using myself for this element is like I'm planning in 2020 to spend a month in Italy, working, that's probably why I just chose that example. But I want to live in Italy for a month while I worked from there. And there's no reason I can't do that because of the way that I've set my life up, and I don't have to be a billionaire or even a multimillionaire to be able to do that. And so, that's one of the areas where I think really if we shifted to start to look at, Oh, how can I create what I want now? Where money isn't the solution to it. It's more about just creating that as part of your plan.
Shirley Owens: Oh, I love that. That makes it attainable.
Michael Neeley: Totally.
Shirley Owens: Do you think that having that mindset of attainability instead of like, I can't do this unless I'm a billionaire. I mean, it puts a lot of obstacles in your way, builds a lot of walls, right?
Michael Neeley: It really does. Yeah. And I gotta say, you know, I'm as guilty of that type of thinking as anybody else. I know, when I first started my acting career, I had it in my mind that I couldn't have a family and an acting career. They didn't feel to me in my world, it didn't feel like those two things went well together. Therefore, that was a self limiting belief that I had established around that. And I think a lot of times we do this in life in general. We think in order for me to make a lot of money, I've got to work my ass off or something like that. Those thoughts aren't necessarily true. They're self limiting beliefs. So I think it's really important for us to look at what it is that we do believe and then even work at dismantling those so that we free ourselves up to accomplish what we really want to.
“It's really important for us to look at what it is that we do believe and then work at dismantling those so that we free ourselves up to accomplish what we really want to.” -Michael Neeley
Shirley Owens: So it's like just taking little baby steps and breaking it down to, would you say it's breaking it down to attainable actions, or thoughts, or how would you set that up for somebody? Kind of like what you just said, but a little bit.
Michael Neeley: Yeah. I actually think it's a combination of both. I'm glad that you're really go digging into this with me to have that discernment because there is part of it, yes, that you want to break things down into achievable elements, and I actually liked to do a goal process that I have people work backwards from your goal and select, let's say your goal is to be in Italy for a month. Okay, what do you have to have set up just immediately to that? What needs to be in place? And then what needs to be in place just prior to that? So if you work those things backwards, not only does it help you with the timing of your goal, but it also breaks it down into immediately actionable steps. However, this is where the other piece comes in. All of that can be fine and dandy, but if you haven't gotten your mindset wrapped around that this is a possibility, then it's going to be really a challenge for you to even move into those pieces of breaking down the results you want to create. And frequently, it does boil down to these self limiting beliefs, which we need to dig into and see, okay, where am I limiting my consciousness? Where am I limiting myself based on some story I keep telling myself over and over again? That probably, by the way, was handed down to us from our parents, and our peers, and everywhere else. So it's really a combination of doing both of those.
Shirley Owens: Right. I love that because I feel like I hear all the time, love yourself, or get past this thought, or you can get this. And I really want to get deeper and deeper into how others can get what they want. I feel like I'm doing that in my life, and I see that you're doing that in your life. And so, to dig deeper into how, so now we've broken it down into working backwards. We've broke it down to attainable actions, and then the next obstacle going backwards would be actually getting in the mindset to be able to even go through that type of a process, to getting rid of our stories. Tell me if I'm going too deep, but take it back to that. If I come in to you, to coaching, I know you have several coaching programs, and I've seen what you do, and I love what you do, and I'm super excited about exploring that even more. But in all of your coaching programs, none of it works unless you're really in a place to be open to learning and growing in a sense like tearing up your story and opening a new book. So what is a step or a process that you would teach for someone who's coming in that, doesn't even know that they have that story? That's like super asleep to all of this?
Michael Neeley: Yeah, yeah. I love that you put it that way to being asleep. What happens is we just go to sleep around what is true in our world. And so, for me, one of the best things that you can do, and anybody who's listening right now can take this up immediately, and that is to meditate. And for anybody who immediately goes, Oh, I've tried meditation and I can't meditate, it's just too hard. Forget everything that you may think you know about meditation and the challenges of it because a meditation can be as simple as sitting for two minutes, just two minutes to start with. See if you can quiet your mind, and when I say that, it's also this other piece people are frequently mistaken about meditation is, when I say quiet your mind, it doesn't mean to have it be plank because that is pretty much an impossibility. Our minds are built to think, but it just means slow it down enough to where you can focus on one thing and practice just focusing on your breathing and notice as you're meditating, I'm breathing in, breathing out, and think just that. And then here's the thing, the lower you even start to sit over time, what it improves in your capabilities is your self awareness and yourself noticing. Because then what will happen is as you're quietly following your breath, then at some point, happens to all of us, our mind is going to go off on some series of thoughts. It's going to go down some rabbit hole. And it's as we start to notice these rabbit holes, we'd go down, that if you bring awareness to them, you could start to go, Oh, I have this belief that says this, and then you can challenge it. Is that belief really true? And then to the next step, well, what if it weren't true? What would open up for me? And all of this though is going to happen through building the self awareness and this relaxation to sitting with your thoughts. Because frequently, what we do is we just do something to avoid them. We stay in action. And by the way, where a lot of people may self-medicate with drugs, or alcohol, or whatever to not have to think and sit with and be with their thoughts, there are other things that people wouldn't consider negative addictions that we do. And one of those is workaholism. We work harder because then we don't have to deal with some of these other hidden truths. And so, slow down, that's the first step. Slow down, pay attention, and take the time to really look at yourself, and look at what your beliefs are. That help?
Shirley Owens: Oh, for sure. I love that you just said that. I'm actually, I have some clients right now that I'm working with that they are really into self-help, and listening to podcasts, reading books, listening to audio books, and they're doers. And I know that you understand, with ontology, there's doing and there's being, and a lot of people think, well, I just need to work.We had teach our kids don't work, we got to work. And I think that there's definitely an art and a skill that's learned from being a worker. But I feel that a lot of people in today's society, and it might've been in previous societies, but our world is so busy and it's so filled with noise. And if we don't take time to just turn off the TV, turn off the tablets, turn off the podcast, turn off the audio books, turn off everybody around you and to just sit, it's amazing what comes up. And like you said, I think people don't realize that it's an addiction to kind of stay away from your own thoughts and to kind of get into that flow state of being able to create and think for yourself. Because we're so busy listening to what the world is feeding us, that is writing this book of our story. Like, it's just adding pages, and pages, and pages of things that don't even align with us. And so, I love that you're talking about that because meditation to me isn't, I mean, sometimes it's journeying, going on a journey, or a deliberate thought process. But for the most part it's sitting with myself, laying out in the sun, just letting my mind wander and be free. And that's where a lot of creativity, that's where a lot of this comes in. And so, I love that you're talking about this, and I'd love to hear what you have to add on top of that because I feel like, okay, now we've got people to turn it off, and listen, and practice this breathing, and practice thinking. What do they do with those thoughts?
“People don't realize that it's an addiction to stay away from your own thoughts and get into that flow state of being able to create and think for yourself, because we're so busy listening to what the world is feeding us.” -Shirley Owens
Michael Neeley: Yeah. Well, a couple of things, and one, I'm going to backtrack a little bit before stepping into this new piece, and I want to share a hacked paraphrased quote I will add that I'm not getting this verbatim, but Alfred North Whitehead, a British philosopher from over a hundred years ago said that: "The progress of society will be continued to be greatly enhanced by the amount of things that we can do automatically." And what he's referring to in this, and I've totally butchered the quote, I'm sure, but the takeaway from it is that we do so much in our lives are on an autopilot. Even think about it frequently, I'm sure, anybody who's listening to this has experienced at some point, if you've driven a lot that you will get somewhere and not even remember how you got there, and yeah, you'll remember that you drove, but you will go, Oh, I don't recall making that turn because you did the whole drive on autopilot. And we often do this, and I've actually driven, you know, made wrong turns because I went into autopilot going into one place. I drive to a regular basis, like, say taking my son to school, where I meant to be going somewhere else, but autopilot kicked in. And so, we do this in so many areas of our lives. And the challenge, as Alfred North Whitehead put it is that the piece of this that is valuable is that it allows us to do so much more because a lot of stuff we do in an automated way. But the challenge though, and this is where it becomes this double edged sword, is that when we automate too much, now we've taken out our thinking process and we are missing out on being present in the moment. And so, now trying to that other part of your question, okay, so now we've got people thinking, realize now what do we do? Well, now you can actually take the time to, instead of, you know, you flip off that autopilot, and now instead of taking the same old, same old, the way you've always done things, you can start to look at, is this truly serving me? Is this something that makes me happy? You know, when we talk about, maybe you think you're going to be happy because you've made a million dollars. Well, I know people who are making that money who are working too hard to make it and therefore they're unhappy. When in reality, if they stopped, and paused, and looked at it, they might go, you know what? I was much happier when I was only making 100,000 a year or whatever. And top into that, realize that instead of treading along in this hamster wheel that is just wearing us down. So once you've stopped, you've paid attention, then really start to tune in, okay, what am I doing here that I love? What am I doing here that I don't love? How can I shift what I'm doing? So there's more of what I love and less of the other stuff. All of these things now, we really start to analyze from this point of awareness by turning off the autopilot.
“When we automate too much, we've taken out our thinking process and we are missing out on being present in the moment.” -Michael Neeley
Shirley Owens: Oh, I love that. Awareness, that's my favorite word lately. I feel like everything that you're saying, and everything that we hear around us helps us to create awareness. But these deep conversations help us to stop what we're thinking, Oh, wait, I'm doing that again. Oh, I'm on autopilot. Oh, I'm not thinking. When was the last time I sat with myself? That type of thing. So I love the awareness part.
Michael Neeley: Yeah. And let's even unstack this or unpack this a little more, Shirley, there are levels of awareness. And so, I think it's so important that as we look at those to really dig deeper, I love the analogy, if you've ever been to type of a cafeteria setting where they have the plates that are stacked and they're sitting on this Spring Bay System so that as you pull off a plate, the next one kind of moves up a little higher so that they'll keep plate after plate, they just keep coming up through the Spring System. Well, it's kind of like this that as you start to bring your awareness, the awareness is the first layer. And then peel that back and go, Oh, wait a minute, there's something else under here. And then you peel back that layer and you go, Oh, wow, this goes even deeper than I thought, and further than I thought. And a lot of times, when we start to really break all this down, you can get back to stuff that we experienced as a child that is impacting what we're doing today in the world,and you've really got to go to those other levels to really get to that, and it's only when you get there, I think that you can truly dismantle an underlying belief and change your story, but it's worth the work. It's worth paying attention and to dig through all these layers of awareness to get to it.
Shirley Owens: This is a great conversation. So bringing all of this back, thanks for doing that deep discovery with me. But bringing all this back to getting what we want. I know you have a bunch of coaching programs, and I know that you've had a lot of success and a lot of people speak so highly of what they've gotten from you. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about getting what you want now that you've taken one of your clients and you've helped them to peel back the layers and be really truly aware of what was causing those beliefs. And now they're feeling pretty good about creating their own path, their own way to getting what they want. Now let's go back to that, to the beginning, and say, okay, where do we go now? So if it was me, like, I feel like I've done a lot of this work, right? And now I come to you and I say, Michael, I've got all this. I feel that I'm conscious, I feel that I'm aware, I've a beer, I sit with myself all the time, I meditate, I've really gone down this path, I know what I want now, so let's turn it to maybe towards a little bit more towards business, and what kind of things do we start with then? Where does it go from here?
Michael Neeley: Yeah, great questions. I love that you're digging into this level of depth with it because for me, there's a part of me that feels like, you know what? Surely I'm very selfish, and where I'm selfish is that, I'm not in this business that I'm doing to make money. And let me be real clear, I mean, the money is great and I love making money, but there's some bigger action involved, that for me, it's about waking up the planet. When I look at what's going on in the world today, and I see where us as humanity are moving towards, it's unsustainable. Yes. And I think the only way for us to shift because, and this is where selfish for me because I want a better world for my son, okay. So that feels like, yeah, that's about me taking care of my son. And it's also selfish in the spec that I want to take care of the planet, that's something that I want. And because of that, when I work with clients to help them get beyond their mental blocks, it's not just so they can go out and make a ton of money. I'm really interested ONLY in working with clients who are here to change the world, here to make an impact. And so, my goal is that, in helping people to break beyond their limiting beliefs and to really get out in the world, that message that they're spreading will have a ripple effect. And so, let's say, I do this work with you and I touch your life, and then it frees you up to go out and touch 10 more people's lives, and then it frees them up to go out and touch 10 more people's lives. And ultimately, I think it's through doing this type of work that we're really going to start to wake up the planet because it has to become more than just about us as individuals, but about us as a collective and as a movement that more people who are more aware and awake on what's really going to save humanity. Now, some people might say save the planet, I think that's BS. The planet doesn't need saving. The planet will shake us off its back like a dog shakes the water off after swimming in the pool. The planet doesn't need saving, as humanity, we're going to need saving if we really want to stick around here. So that's the way I approach it.
“The planet doesn't need saving. As humanity, we're going to need saving if we really want to stick around.” -Michael Neeley
Shirley Owens: I love that. So would you say that the relationships around us, our most important relationship with ourselves and then the relationships around us?
Michael Neeley: Yeah, I would say, yes on multiple levels. And the third one in there, obviously our relationship with ourselves is super important. It's kinda like the, you know, oxygen mask drops down when you're in an airplane. Although I've never had that happen, fortunately. Yeah. Yeah. You got to take care of your own relationship with yourself first, then you can start to take care of those around you, and that's the second layer of relationship. But even beyond that when we talk about, you know, there's our inner circle, people who are close to us, our family, our friends, or loved ones, and then it goes beyond that to the relationship that we have with our clients, with our business associates, that relationship, which those are so super important. And one of the biggest pieces of that I think is if you really want to attract like-minded people, you want to be sure that the people you're bringing into your sphere are people who have a similar motivation as you. Like I said, I really only want to work with clients who are here to help the world, who are here to help wake up more people. If someone comes to me and says, Oh, I'm all about the money, well, I'm not really interested in working with them. Then the next level out beyond that is just our relationship with everybody. And I'm sure you know this as someone who meditates, is that, you know, all since you have beings on this planet deserve happiness, and peace, and love, and joy, and suffering is just part of the picture. I mean, we're all going to have pain at some point. And for me, there's even meditations that I'll frequently do to a certain degree. I mean, this becomes super woo-woo, but you can breathe in the pain and the suffering of the people in the world and breathe out joy and peace to those people, and in this process help to alleviate some of that suffering. And so, I'm a big advocate for that type of relational support even with people that you don't know and they don't know you, that we can still be in support with them. Is that too woo-woo?
“All sentient beings on this planet deserve happiness, and peace and love and joy. Suffering is just part of the picture.” -Michael Neeley
Shirley Owens: No, I don't really think there is a such thing as too woo-woo. I may not agree with it, understand it, but I think there's a lot more out there than we actually can even comprehend. I love, I love everything. I do feel that relationship with everything, the grass, the rocks that make fun of me because they're like, she's a rock lover. She loves everything. I get what you're saying. And honestly, when you start with just you, it may not be as far reaching, but when you can start a movement, an awareness for EVERYBODY, or a majority of people in the world doing that for humanity, imagine what that could create.
Michael Neeley: Oh, yeah. I recently created a community called the HIVE Community, and HIVE stands for Harnessing Integral Vibrational Energy. And it's all about creating a community of people who, we meditate together, and we practice together that raise our vibrational frequency because I do believe that in creating this more powerful community, we can support humanity in a much bigger way. And so, that's why, it's just one of the other things that I just recently created, which is not about business at all, but is truly about us just connecting.
Shirley Owens: I love that, and this might be quite the tangent, but when you talk about community, I just kind of like feel called to speak on that a little bit, and do you agree with this? I feel that when you are a workaholic or you are asleep to all of this, it's really hard to develop a community around you. Like, we may have associations, and we're all just kind of Zombieing around together. But I feel that a community is so important, and when we can allow ourselves to sit, and you talk about vibration, I always say, I think it was Esther Hicks or some actually were the person that said that: "When you align with yourself, people either vibrate in or they'll vibrate out." And so, I visualize that a lot. Not everyone is going to resonate with you or what you say, but they may resonate with someone who resonates with you. And so, that frequency can go super far. And I feel that we can't even create a community around us, whether it's for business purposes, whether it's for relational purposes, we can't create that without actually being awake and sitting with ourselves, and even knowing what we will even resonate with as humans.
“A community is so important… Not everyone is going to resonate with you or what you say but they may resonate with someone who resonates with you. And so that frequency can go super far.” -Shirley Owens
Michael Neeley: Yeah. Well, I would say that we can create it, but it's going to be what I call a community by default. It's like you didn't actually have any controller input in it, it's just what you ended up falling into because you didn't bring that awareness to it. That makes sense?
Shirley Owens: Yeah.
Michael Neeley: Therefore, it's like, yeah, you're not creating it, it's just what you got stuck with because you didn't pay any attention to it. And yes, like you're saying--
Shirley Owens: That's when I was saying like Zombieing around together.
Michael Neeley: Yeah, exactly.
Shirley Owens: I imagine this group of zombies, and then everyone else is around looking at them like, what are they doing? What are they doing? Walking the same, and talking the same, looking the same.
Michael Neeley: Yeah. Yeah. Cause they had no intentionality in it, and that's the community that they ended up with. And you know, there's a way for us to really bring intentionality to it, I do it on multiple levels. I mean, obviously, I've created the HIVE Community for that in particular, but I also have my community in the business world that I have. And then the community of people who follow me is my tribe who follow my business and podcasting stuff as well. So you can have multiple communities, but I think it's so important for us to be INTENTIONAL in those communities that we create. So we don't end up like you're talking about being a zombie, just walking around following some crazy notion that wasn't even ours.
“You can have multiple communities but I think it's so important for us to be intentional in those communities that we create so we don't end up… being zombies.” -Michael Neeley
Shirley Owens: Right. So how important is it for you to be a leader in your communities? I know that you have the Authority Academy, how important is it for us to really, I guess, be intentional enough to be heard, to be the creator, to be the authority in what we do?
Michael Neeley: Yeah, I think it's super important to be an authority. And the reason why, and I want to be real clear on this because it was an authority figure who saved my life back in 2013, I don't want to go into the whole story of it cause it's kind of a long story, but I'll just suffice it to say that a doctor called me out. The doctor had not even met and called me up, and said: "Don't get on that plane." And I was getting ready to fly back. He actually called me while I was going to the airport, stopped me from getting on a plane because of what he thought, an instance that I had misdiagnosed at the hospital. But again, this was not the doctor who met with me, some other one. He said: "You need to come back to the emergency room. I think you suffered from a pulmonary embolism, and you don't have pneumonia that they diagnosed you with." And because he was a doctor, I listened to him. Those letters, MD after his name gave him a certain level of authority. Had it been somebody else who had called me from the hospital, a staff person, I probably said, Oh, I'll deal with it when I get home flying, cause I was flying back home from across the country. But because it was a doctor, and they had authority, I listened to them. And so, now when we think about this, how important your authority is? I want to, because I don't know what the heck anybody else may want, but I want to have enough authority so that when I give advice to somebody that they're going to take it, that they're going to listen to it and help, and by the way, and I don't give that advice lightly. I mean, I like to make sure that I've tested everything before I tell somebody about a particular way to do something. But my hope is them listening to it can impact and potentially save their lives. And maybe not save them from life and death, but it can certainly save them years of wasted time, it can save them lots of money. That's the importance of authority. And I think, for anybody who really wants to have an impact in the world, it's important for us to build that authority to a level that people will listen to us. So hopefully that comes across not as being arrogant about it, but as being like you want to maximize your impact, you want to build that authority to get you there.
“If you want to maximize your impact… build that authority to get you there.” -Michael Neeley
Shirley Owens: I agree. I feel somebody needs to be an authority, right?
Michael Neeley: Yeah.
Shirley Owens: I mean, there's a world of followers and so we need to, I like how you say you make sure that what you're being in authority about is real, and tried, and true. And I mean, that's important too because that's how we establish our credit and keep our authority, right?
Michael Neeley: Yeah. And when you look at it, I mean, there have been authorities in the world and will continue to be authorities in the world who are actually leading people astray.
Shirley Owens: Oh, for sure.
Michael Neeley: And so, we also as followers, we need to watch out for them, but also as OTHER LEADERSHIP, if we see that happening, then I think it's even MORE IMPORTANT FOR US to step up, own our leadership, step into a role of authority, and help to keep people back on track not following some false prophet or whatever you want to call them, some leader who's taking them down a wrong path.
Shirley Owens: Oh, I love that. Well, I wish we could talk all day, back for like 15 other subjects.
Michael Neeley: Yeah, it will be fun.
Shirley Owens: I wanted to ask, if there was anything, and I ask all of my guests this because I think I'm trying to build this commonality and it's been pretty cool, but I want to ask if there was anything, or is there anything that you would change looking back over your life?
Michael Neeley: Is there anything I would change looking back over my life? That's a tough question because there are definitely some defining points in my life that I know that if I had done B instead of choice A that I would, my life would be so vastly different than it is today. And I'm so happy with where my life is today that I don't think I would've probably changed anything. Just because of the risk of where it might've set me off too, then I wouldn't be here. So, yeah.
Shirley Owens: I love it. That's actually what I'm looking for because I feel like every person that I've talked to so far has just been so amazing, and we've all been through really hard things. And I think those hard things are what sculpt us and help us to realize that we can create anything going forward. We created that, we can create this. The other thing I would love for you to do is, I know that there have been several pieces of advice that you have given that people can start with today. I don't know if it'll be one of the same ones or if you have something else, but what would one thing being that you could leave with listeners today that would help them to start today moving forward?
Michael Neeley: I would say, slow down is the number one thing. Slow down, and read, and pay attention to your thoughts. And by the way, when we talk about meditation, one of the areas where I like to meditate is in the morning when I'm doing the dishes, I tend to, it's just a little habit I've gotten into. I tend to leave the mess from the night before because I like to do it in the morning, and I meditate during that. And so, yeah, if we just slow down, and breathe more, and pay attention, one of the little pieces, as I'm saying this, it reminded me of too, I think as a society we have become so boredom averse that it's hurting us. I think we need to be okay with being bored. I think we've lost that talent, or the skill, or whatever it is that you want to call it that allowed us to just go out and lay in the grass, and look up at the clouds and sit there, and not reach for a cell phone, or something to keep us occupied or entertained during this passage of time. I think it's important for us to relax, be okay with being bored, and just sit and watch the clouds.
“As a society, we have become so boredom averse that it's hurting us… We need to be okay with being bored.” -Michael Neeley
Shirley Owens: I love it. I really love that you're talking about this because this is exactly what I'm dealing with clients right now. Everybody seems to be in this place where, yeah, we want stimulation and instant gratification, and we forget that there's a lot of really cool stuff in just quiet, and yeah, I love that. Thank you for that.
“There's a lot of really cool stuff in just quiet.” -Shirley Owens
Michael Neeley: Absolutely.
Shirley Owens: I personally have had experience with you, and know that your programs work, and I would love you to tell our listeners where they can go to see what you offer, to be able to learn from you.
Michael Neeley: Yeah, absolutely. Well, the best place to learn more about me is go to my website, michaelneeley.com, and Neeley spelled N-E-E-L-E-Y. So go to michaelneeley.com, or they can also go to your authorityblueprint.com, and either of those sites, you can learn about the different programs or live events that I have available. As a matter of fact, one thing I'd love to offer if it's cool with you Shirley, is if anybody wants one of my free reports, I've got a free report on podcasting, and I've got a free Webinar on podcasting. They'll find links to those at my website at michaelneeley.com, so if anybody's interested, please come check it out. A lot of free stuff.
Shirley Owens: Awesome. And I'll put those on my shownotes too--
Michael Neeley: Beautiful, thank you.
Shirley Owens: --they can link to that. Thank you so much for offering that.
Michael Neeley: Yeah, thank you Shirley for doing what you're doing as well. I'm so excited about your podcast, and that you're exactly what, doing what I aspire to do as well. You're here to help, wake people up and bring more mindfulness and awareness to the world. I love what you're doing.
Shirley Owens: Well, it's awesome that we have this community together then, right?
Michael Neeley: Totally.
Shirley Owens: Okay, well, thanks for being with me today on the Get What You Want Podcasts. Again, this was Michael Neeley. He's amazing. Go to his website, check out his programs, and thanks a bunch.
Michael Neeley: Thank you, Shirley.