About the Episode
Here’s to a story of transformation that’s bound to light a fire under you. I’m joined by my good friend, Craig Siegel, a man who’s mastered the art of reinvention. Craig’s journey is nothing short of remarkable, from dominating Wall Street for over a decade to finding his true calling in the world of personal development and becoming a marathon runner. This episode isn’t just about changing careers; it’s about completely transforming your life’s direction and finding fulfillment in places you least expect. Craig shares his pivotal moments, from the challenges that led to his darkest days to the epiphany he had while running, which became his sanctuary and source of inspiration. If you’re feeling stuck, seeking a sign to make that big change, or just need a boost of motivation, Craig’s story is a testament to the power of resilience, passion, and the courage to go all in on your dreams. Join us as we explore the essence of true transformation and how to unlock your full potential.
About Craig
Craig Siegel, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Best-Selling Author of ‘The Reinvention Formula,’ is a global keynote speaker, coach, TEDx speaker, and host of The CLS Experience podcast. Endorsed by luminaries like Jim Kwik and Ed Mylett, Craig, a 7-time marathoner, left his Wall Street job during the pandemic to pursue his true purpose. His mastery, energy, and inspirational impact have made CLS one of the most engaging communities globally. Craig focuses on removing limiting beliefs, fostering positive mindsets in both business and personal realms, and encouraging a wholehearted commitment to one’s true purpose. He believes the riskiest thing we can do is to play it safe.
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Episode Topics:
- Be inspired by Craig Siegel’s incredible journey from Wall Street to personal development guru and marathon runner.
- Discover the power of reinvention and how it can lead to a life of fulfillment and success.
- Learn how to find clarity and inspiration in your darkest moments.
- Gain insights into turning life’s challenges into opportunities for growth.
- Rick and Craig dive into the mindset shifts necessary for transforming your life and pursuing your passions.
Rick Jordan
Hey, what’s shakin, hey, I’m Rick Jordan today. We’re going all in. All right, today I have a good friend of mine on somebody who we’ve been trying to do this with for a long time. And that’s probably my fault. Why it hasn’t happened yet? And we were just hanging out in Vegas a couple of weeks ago in a studio and the win, and we’re like, we need to do this. So I have today a Wall Street Journal and USA Today Best Selling Author of the reinvention formula, a global keynote speaker, who is also a TEDx speaker, and host of the CLS Experience podcast. Craig Siegel. Welcome to the show, man. What’s shakin, man?
Craig Siegel
It’s good to be here, brother. Every time you and I connect. It’s just magic. I have so much love and respect for you. Let’s have some fun today. Let’s get nuts.
Rick Jordan
For sure. Yeah, man. As soon as you came on, I commented on your backdrop and anybody who’s like watching this, if you’re listening right now, you have to at least look at some of the clips right when we post these because that is 100% legit real right, brother?
Craig Siegel
It’s it. New York City, baby.
Rick Jordan
That’s incredible. Have you been there all your life?
Craig Siegel
Pretty much. I mean, I grew up in Long Island. Yeah. After college was on Wall Street for 13 years until I reinvented myself. And so pretty much since I have to college New York City is what I know. And there’s just something different about the energy here for sure.
Rick Jordan
Right on man. I always love visiting the city. You know, I’ve got an office in Morristown, New Jersey, but then I’ll always hop over to the city anytime I possibly can. You should have an office here. Yeah. Should have an office downtown. Right, Manhattan? Yeah, I can see that. That’s cool. I think that’s the next step. You know, we had an acquisition that was planned that way. And then when we actually said no to after a little while, but we’ve got we’ve got some others that we’re looking at man around that area. You said something interesting, though, dude. You said you’ve been on Wall Street for 13 years. And then you reinvented yourself. Let’s follow that trajectory here. Yeah, street for 13 years. What do you talk like broker?
Craig Siegel
Yeah. So basically two lives. One is prior to the pandemic, and one is after. And so, you know, after college, I didn’t wasn’t one of those cats. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. But I was ambitious. And I was detached from the stock market. And so I went there. And that’s also when I stumbled upon personal development, which was a really pivotal moment in my life. But I spent 13 years on Wall Street and Wall Street was a lot of fun until it wasn’t. Yeah, and you listeners know, you know, with industries like that. It’s not exactly lighting up your soul. Yeah, I pivoted from the stock thing for a while. And then I had my own business, basically providing working capital to businesses all across the country, lucrative, but not exactly so fulfilling. And it got pretty dark for me a few years back, a couple of things happen at once in the external world. I just got out of a toxic relationship, which at the time was never fun. My best friend, my partner, and my dad had just been diagnosed with cancer, he’s still battling. And so between that and waking up every day, and going to this J, ob that I just knew wasn’t in alignment with who I was becoming. It was soul-sucking for lack of better words, and it got pretty dark for me. And then all of a sudden, I started running. And that’s pivotal because I had never run before. In fact, you couldn’t pay me to run.
Rick Jordan
Yeah, I’m running all these narratives to you. Yeah, all the time posting about the marathons, dude. Yeah. And
Craig Siegel
I started running pretty fast. But for me, the reason why this was so deep brothers, is because when I would run, I would do my best to connect. During lunch, I didn’t care about anything else. And it was then that I was really able to draw upon that divine inspiration. And then fast forward to that pandemic, when we talk about a global awakening, everybody kind of responded to it differently. For me, I looked at this historic opportunity to just reassess it now when, and I shut down my office for what I thought would be two weeks at the time, and it really just connected. And I started to realize, I always knew I was here for something bigger and more I believe we all are. However, I was able to finally put it together after 35 years and realize that my obsession with personal development was more than just a passion. It was an assignment. And so studying business for so long, I put together a strategy kind of created a 10-lane highway, with each lane representing a different way to make an impact, but also doing business coaching, speaking community TED Talk pocketbook, deal, all the things, and then I reverse engineered it. And I said, Okay, what’s step one, let’s build our CLS brand. At the time I had no phone, no connections, nothing. But I understood the power of that. And I also consider the alternative of going back. And I actually associated that with choosing to go back and be miserable. And so I leaned in, and for the first time in my life, I was in alignment and greater like that. And over the last three years, I guess you could say the rest is history, kind of a long-winded answer, but at least now your community and audience have a little bit of context.
Rick Jordan
Yeah, it’s very real. You said something towards the end there that really gripped me and you said that death was very much like going back. Yeah, you can dive into that a little bit did you see yourself as almost like The Walking Dead during those time periods when it links in the reflected really?
Craig Siegel
Yeah, in fact, when I was with family during that time period, I look back now and I was a shell of myself, but it was like the lights were on but nobody was home. I was always stressed To out. And you know, we’re big into gratitude and personal development. And I always love personal development. But it was tough to be grateful every day waking up to go do the same thing that’s depleting, right? And like, at the end of a long day, I know you personally, you do so much, you’re moving and shaking and all these things all day you’re tired, but it’s a good tired of a job well done, and can’t wait to get back at it tomorrow. Same. Yeah. But prior to reinventing myself, at the end of a long day, wasn’t just hired, I was depleted because I was out of alignment and just forcing myself. And so nobody, I think there’s a good lesson, nobody has to settle for that. We have unique gifts that were given to us, depending on what we believe in, but they’re not ours. Once we’re able to really connect and channel what those gifts are and help other people reveal light in return reveal our own light. And that’s when the magic happens, meaning higher consciousness, relationships, money, alignment, all the things and that’s what we should all strive to be at.
Rick Jordan
Yeah, that’s so awesome. And when did you actually know? You know, I know, you said you took it was two weeks off, right? But when did you first begin to have that awareness that you were the Walking Dead? Because I’m hearing you? And I’ve got people that talk to me all the time? And I’m sure you do, like, I’m so stressed. Right? And it’s like, how do you know, when’s the time to give up on whatever it is? How do you know, when you’re forcing it? As you said, How do you know when you’re going the next day? And it’s like, maybe it’s just a shift that I need to change something in me to actually make what’s around me better? You know, how do you know when it’s like that, where it’s like, I need a complete, monumental realignment in my life?
Craig Siegel
Beautiful question. But I’d like to articulate that too. I think there’s a huge difference between pressure and stress. I actually think pressure is a great thing, if you’re the revelation, but then it’s kind of flash telling you that on the other side of this pressure is massive growth and expansion. And to give you a real-time example, this week, we spoke at the UN, it was a really big opportunity that was awesome. And then I was speaking to our mutual friend Dave, and I said, I had an idea, you know, to maybe leverage that opportunity with our first VIP dinner afterward. I know you do those days, and I love him. And he’s again, a corporate, that’s a great idea. But I have a lot of pressure, I’m like, it’s only one week to really promote it. You know, whatever the case may be, but I leaned into it anyway. Because I recognize the feeling now of pressure. From my past experience, it’s always a good thing on the other side. And so we did do it. It was one of the coolest nights of my life, we had 25 People at the dinner, it was sold out, it was fantastic. Stress is when either you don’t do anything about the pressure, or it’s not in alignment, and it’s just turning into presentment. And for quite a long time. Rather, I felt stress. Because I was so lost in the wilderness with no compass. I knew that I was a gladiator in the wrong arena. I was going through the motions. And basically, I was complacent and settling. And I could say it’s a comfort zone. And I do think your comfort zone is a death sentence. But it wasn’t even really comforting, because my soul was contracting. So I think that trust is very telling as to why you’re in the wrong arena industry relationship. If you ever feel those types of feelings that’s out of alignment. Pressure, however, is a good thing. And it creates opportunities. So for anyone listening right now, if you’re feeling drained, tired, depleted out of alignment, I think those are great indications for you to reevaluate what you’re doing and maybe who you’re dealing with. And to answer your question. I had felt that for a few years before the pandemic, but I felt so stuck, I wasn’t stuck. I just felt stuck. I never took the time, I was just going 100 miles an hour on Wall Street, and I didn’t really give myself a moment to kind of get quiet and reassess, that pandemic kind of forced that.
Rick Jordan
That’s awesome. You’re actually speaking to me right now, too. I mean, just taking the company public, you know, it’s like, I’m deep in everything. So it’s the other side of Wall Street. You know, it’s, I feel it, I feel the pressure man. At the same time. It’s like, what keeps me grounded every day, as I come back to it. Like in the morning. I’m like, I’m the one that gets to do this. Right. You know, it’s not it’s not like a you know, my team. Yeah, they feel the pressure. They feel the stress, you know, but it’s more of like, you know, every single day I’m getting up and it’s like, you know, some of the stuff really does suck. It’s hard ass work. It’s stuff I’m never gonna have to do again. But it’s like I’m a bricklayer laying a foundation. It’s like I get to do this. There’s not a lot of people that get to do this. I saw a little bit of a funny story I saw you, your posts about Speaking at the UN right? And by the way, where can everyone find you I saw it on Instagram. We’ll hit it at the end too.
Craig Siegel
But on social media, underscore CLS anywhere you buy books we manage a formula and the CLS experience through
Rick Jordan
that’s good practice well done.
Rick Jordan
That was great. So I saw you speaking with I mean, I want to know how you ended up getting that book that was phenomenal and speaking to the UN and it was SriLanka, right was the country if I remember, right, yeah. What’s funny dude is because you know, I have a cyber company. And anytime I talk on stage about cyber, because I talk about, you know what the real hacker looks like, you’re not I’m like, It’s not some guy and like, the back room with a hood over his, over his head, and you’re talking about, you know, I’m going to hack the World Health Organization or something like, I put up a photo, no kidding, of a family from Sri Lanka, like, as a slide as an illustration, you know, and I, I do it in a humorous way, but at the same time, it’s like, that’s who’s hacking you. Like, it’s if you think of Pablo Escobar, but I saw your photo, I’m like Man, my boy, my brother is talking to Sri Lanka, I’m gonna have to find a different country to pick on. And use this as my example of a hacker
Craig Siegel
Experience. It was awesome. They were good people there. But that’s so funny. I love the alignment.
Rick Jordan
Yeah, it was hilarious. That to me anyway. I mean, you had no idea of course, but I saw that, like, I gotta find a different country now, man, it’s gonna have it’s gonna have to be like South Africa or something. Something benign.
Craig Siegel
Yeah, that’s cool. This was a different type of audience. And guys, like you and I are used to Yeah, so hopeful that that move can maybe pave the way and open the door for people like you and me to speak at each other always for be able to transmit energy and delay really cool message to other types of people, so to speak, as well.
Rick Jordan
That’s awesome. Man. I just found out yesterday, because I mean, the show, it’s like a shout-out to everybody in India, because it’s around 40% of my audience is actually from India. We did some Democrats. And yeah, it was interesting. It’s like 52% of us, of course, but then a great portion is India. And I maybe did a little bit of an accent the other day, so maybe I apologize. Like on the show. I did no joke. It was it was it was funny. Yeah. But that was around like the Instagram algorithm. I’ll tell you about that some other time. But dude, how in the world? Did you get that gig? You know, they reach out to you? Because that’s, that’s pretty awesome. I saw the photos that just looked badass. Like you were able to really do a lot of good for them there.
Craig Siegel
Yes. It’s a great question. And when you’re in alignment, and you’re really connected, and you’re doing the right thing, that’s when good things happen. So you’ve heard, I know, you’re pretty spiritual care. I imagine audiences too. You’ve heard before, like, when you’re so locked in, you don’t have to worry but how I used to be so skeptical of that brother because I was such a mindset guy. masculine energy grind, tell me what to do hardest worker in the room, till I really went down this kind of spiritual path that I realized that everything that’s happening here, even right now is really just 1% of what’s really happening. So when someone asks what does it mean to be spiritual? My perspective, at least is, that means that you believe that there’s a lot more going on here beyond their logic. Yeah. And what really started connecting to that I just found myself at the right place at the right time, good people coming into my life, the wrong people exiting my movie, so to speak. And, so my building in New York City did a little event like we’ll call all authors and artists, and we’d love for you to participate. And I said I’d love to. And so I went there on a Sunday, and I met this gentleman who’s now my good friend, and he works there at the private mission of Sri Lanka. He loved what I was doing. And he asked if I’d come speak to him. And so I said, Absolutely, I will. So like Steve Jobs said, you can never connect the dots going forward, only backward. So when you’re connected, and you’re in the right arena at the right time, good things begin to happen that you don’t necessarily have on your whiteboard.
Rick Jordan
Yeah, it’s crazy. Because I mean, the definition of luck I’ve heard too, is like preparation meets opportunity. It’s fine. You know, and I believe a lot of the preparation is exactly what you’re saying. I mean, you mentioned Steve Jobs to man, I’ve seen it almost as like, it’s like blinders that end up getting lifted off. Because it’s almost like all of that already existed. You’re talking like the other 99%. Right. The other 99% already existed, but you were completely blind to it because you did not know how to see. It’s just intriguing. And I love that.
Craig Siegel
Yeah, I think and also like, you know, religions, philosophies, you never want to put that on someone, let them do their own thing. But I can just encourage everybody, whatever your thing is, take the fruit leave the peel, but connect in something. And when you really invest in that rate, things will begin to happen even like just having conversations like this. A lot of my one on one constitutes a kind of intoxicating, because you’re tapping into something bigger, and so forth. So I would encourage everybody to explore.
Rick Jordan
That’s cool. Do you ever get up on stage and I’m gonna ask for a related moment here? Do you ever get up on stage because you’re a big speaker and get off and be like, I have no idea about half of what I just said? But everybody says it was the best thing in the world.
Craig Siegel
Yeah, I do. And I’ll tell you why. Because whereas I used to maybe over prepare. Now I’m a big believer that preparation breeds confidence, but also, I believe, this might sound a little too spiritual, but like when you’re really connecting your chin I know, and sometimes the right stuff to the right audience for the literally come through you. Maybe it’s two seconds before you need to say it. So I felt like that a lot. If I’m being honest,
Rick Jordan
That’s pretty powerful, isn’t it? And, and it’s okay. It’s spiritual. Exactly. It really is. And I’ve, you know, all of our listeners, I mean, they understand me, they’ve been listening for years. They know how, how I believe what I believe. And those connected moments you’re talking about. It’s crazy, because I think when I’m on stage, and there’s times when I think that I crush it, that it doesn’t land well. And those times are times that I can remember almost everything that I said, you know, so it’s almost like, like, you’re talking about the over preparation, but then the inverse is, I remember, more than half, you know, more than half of what I said, I don’t remember. And it’s like, man, what did I say? Because everybody’s saying, like, can you show me the recording of this? You know, so maybe I can use it again, at some point, but it’s so cool because it was meant for certain individuals in that audience at that specific time period.
Craig Siegel
And yeah, that’s really cool data right there. Because he basically just nailed it. Right? When you don’t necessarily remember, it’s because you were really channeling to remember the whole thing, and maybe you didn’t get the desired objective that you anticipated. Probably because maybe you overcompensate or are over-prepared.
Rick Jordan
Yeah, right on. Even for the shows, too. I mean, your show, do you have questions that are prepared for you at a time? Are you prepared at a time?
Craig Siegel
Yeah, so I love to prepare, because, you know, we really, really big people in the show that people that don’t technically do a lot of interviews, and I always take pride in being able to disarm them. I think that’s when you could really create the most Magic by building the deepest rapport. And so I definitely like to know stuff about them, they don’t typically get asked, but then. And to be clear, I have a guideline, of course, but I like to allow the conversation to flow. I think that when it’s more like that, that’s when you really create that unbelievable mystical, like the connection that’s most beneficial for the listeners.
Rick Jordan
That’s awesome. When did you start all this? I mean, the personal brand was that when the pandemic hit after those two weeks, was that the shift in alignment?
Craig Siegel
And it’s been a little over three years? Yeah, it’s been, it’s been a crazy ride by the crazy ride. And in many aspects, we’re just getting warmed up, and I’ll be doing something in this capacity, you know, for the rest of this human experience, for sure.
Rick Jordan
Well, that’s how it is you find your purpose. For real, like you can see it. I’m curious, I would love to see photos of you sometime. You know, from prior to that, you know, and because when you look in your eyes, you know if anybody’s listening, you can check in a video, when you look in Craig’s eyes, you can see light, you know, you can see just wholeness, you can see fulfillments it’s like, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, you know, like the times when you looked in the mirror prior to this, did you see emptiness? Did you see Glassy? Still?
Craig Siegel
Thank you for that I received that. And I really appreciate that. Yeah, yes. Nailed it. And, you know, I can’t tell you how many people would sign up for something that I’m offering these days. And the big Okay, great, what I signed up for the go, I just wanted to be around your energy, it’s very likely ages. But before I reinvented myself, and to be clear, it wasn’t just a career, I wanted everybody to know it was an identity. I’m engaged. We’re planning our wedding to my soulmate in September, and we get a brand new reinvented, thank you, brother. But before that, but I was I wasn’t even me I was inauthentic. I created this persona, that I thought I was supposed to show up to the world as I don’t even know who the persona was based on I kind of made it up. And so one of the things I do whenever I read to myself is I gave myself permission to be less than perfect. And for the first time ever, kind of come back to actually me that journey back to myself. And even though there’s no guarantee that it would work, I guarantee to myself, that I would be the real raw, strange cat that I am. And you people would gravitate or they wouldn’t. But I could live with that. Up until that point, I wasn’t myself. Again, I was empty, for lack of better words. And like I was telling you earlier, I remember some specific conflicts with my family. And I wouldn’t go back and change it. It was all part of the pad. But the lights were on but nobody was home. Yeah,
Rick Jordan
I hear you. What did you think? Did you ever notice that ahead of that two weeks at all? Did you ever look at yourself and be like, Dude, you gotta do something about this? But yeah, I didn’t 100%
Craig Siegel
Because there’s no excuses. Yeah, but, you know, Wall Street is very fast-paced. And I never took the time to get quiet and give myself an opportunity to reassess. I always felt a tug at my soul. There are two voices, the right one is the ego or I like to call him the opponent. That one’s very loud. Most people don’t aren’t able to identify that and they just succumb to the ego all the time. But there’s another voice which is kind of like a whisper. That’s the target of your soul. And I felt that for a few years. I just wasn’t able to put it all together until the lockdown provided me with that opportunity to get quiet and reassess. But before that, when I started running these marathons, I started to get on the path because I would do some great Connecting, then I just wasn’t able to put it all together until the lockdown.
Rick Jordan
That’s interesting. I’m gonna dive a little deeper on this one. Instead after after your shift. Did you ever feel the tug to go back? And what did that feel like? You’d now
Craig Siegel
I’ll tell you this, I’ll be real vulnerable for a second. When I shut down my office, and I started to put this together, I went back to work, maybe a few months later, like when they started letting people come in for a couple of days a week.
Rick Jordan
And then back out again. Yep, yeah.
Craig Siegel
So when one day brother, and I’ll never forget, I came home and like, I’m never coming back ever again. And it was that consciousness that said, Okay, I’m burning the ships, I’m all in with CLS, and we’re all gonna die trying and figure it out. And so once I went back and read and had that contrast, again, that’s when I realized I’m making this work in one
Rick Jordan
way or the other. That’s cool. I’ve heard that a lot with individuals who make big decisions in their lives. You know, and I could probably pick those moments out in mine, too, to where it’s almost like, you have to view in some form or fashion what you were doing prior, almost, like solidify it, you know, because it brings it up, and we get the reminders all the time, right, because there’s always polls. I mean, you look right outside your window, dude, you’ve got the city of money right behind you. Yeah, you know, it’s, I’m sure, but I love that it’s also outside there right outside your window because it’s like, it’s beautiful and everything. But that building over there, wherever it is, it’s like that’s the place I’m never going back to.
Craig Siegel
And also just to be clear, because often I get asked like people are so inspired what I did, but I also have to, you know, make money and make a living. And I just want to I want to be clear to people, I’m making more money now than ever making them shade. The difference is it’s a byproduct and an energetic exchange, you can absolutely create that hybrid of having purpose, loving what you’re doing, and also unapologetically doing business.
Rick Jordan
So that’s amazing. Our friend day, right? He always says that people get so busy with things that they forget to make money at what they’re doing. Yeah, yeah. spinning your wheels, man. Yeah, absolutely. That’s amazing. Brother. I love how you were so convicted to where it’s interesting, though, that you still went back for one day. You know, what was that? Even after you made the decision? But what was your thought process that morning getting up and getting dressed?
Craig Siegel
If you take him back right now, don’t take me back.
Rick Jordan
I’m like diving into your bathroom right now for real? Like you get out of a shower. What do you think? And it’s the
Craig Siegel
stuff that I think will really resonate. Yeah, I think at that moment, I probably just got CLS up and running. Because probably the first three months, I had a ton of momentum. But I probably was still figuring out how to monetize and stuff like that. And I think my thought process was probably like, maybe I can still do that. And, you know, build a cushion for myself to get this up and running because I was to a certain lifestyle, you know, straight up, and there was no money coming in for a little bit. And then I went back and I said, Oh, this isn’t totally out of alignment being here. That identity of me that used to be here is dead. Let’s have a funeral for it. Now, what is the new identity that matches my new desires? And so I literally went home, and I’m like, I’ll figure this out, we’ll start to do business, we’ll continue the brand, we’ll get a lot of momentum, we’ll add a ton of value, we’ll just get this thing going. And once I made that deal with myself, and I just surrendered from the expectation of having money that month, that’s ironically when you know, the opportunity started to come to monetize and so forth.
Rick Jordan
That’s so awesome, man. It really is at all and that’s why you’re on the show, right? That’s why you’re on the show. And it’s a burn the boats. You know, I’ve heard that so much recently. And even through the pandemic, it was intriguing, because everyone said, Oh, you don’t want to, you don’t want to trash a relationship. You don’t want to you don’t want to burn the bridges. You don’t want to burn the boats in case you ever need to go back. Is there really ever a point in going back?
Craig Siegel
You make this decision with yourself and you know that your soul is totally out of alignment, then there’s no need. That’s really the best feedback that you need when you have this feeling of like you’re high on life like me, you have this conversation right now. This is what we should be doing right now. Friday afternoon.
Rick Jordan
I was like one dude. On the schedule today. Yeah, yeah.
Craig Siegel
But when you have that other feeling, I’m sure you can relate at some point. And the feeling that I had on Wall Street was that it exact indicator of your glider in the wrong arena. And it’s time to reassess. So no, I don’t think there’s time to go back. I think that most people, tie this is what I see with a lot of people that come into my community and coaching. They’re successful in the 1% world meaning money, things, stuff like that. And they have this limiting belief. It’s a little gremlin that needs to be cleaned up, and they don’t think they could replicate that success in a different arena that they actually feel aligned to. They make this mistake of thinking that what made them successful was the arena and not actually them. And the reality is it’s you that may Do all the things that you do successfully, and the majority of those characteristics and traits are transferable.
Rick Jordan
Yeah, for sure, dude, that’s intriguing too because it’s like the circle, I used to think that way, you know, back, I’m talking like seven, eight years ago, it’s like, if I can just get into that circle, you know, that circle is what’s gonna make me successful. If I can just be in that room, that room is what’s gonna make me successful. And then I started to realize, once I got into those rooms, it was like, I don’t really like a lot of these people. I’m looking around. And yeah, that’s like, these are not the conversations that I want to have. Because the conversations are all about, quite literally money, like almost a worship of it, and quite literally, about elevating themselves, you know, I get it, there’s a point to where it’s like, I really feel, you know, you talked about celebrating, I really feel like Jesus is probably like the best self marketer in the world. You know, because we’re recording this on a Good Friday here. He’s like, I am the Son of God. The one and only, you know, and he would talk about himself all the time that way. But it was from such a position of humility to and I know, we were not typically going spiritual on the show. But I love this, you know, when you look at it, whether you believe it or not, it’s like you look at the history, it’s like, that’s from a different position. Because I hear you talking, and you’re like, I love doing this. I love it when people get around me because I love to impart things to them. I love to hear their story and their journey after they come into contact with me when they say I just want to be around you. They have no idea what they just bought, but I just want to be around you. Because I know there’s something that I want to that I can model off of humans happen to myself and lift myself up to, you know, and then money is the byproduct. You know, those rooms, do those circles. Some of those circles are just stupid.
Craig Siegel
I understand. And it’s funny because those people look like they’re successful. Their definition of success is right. And it’s like, I’m not, you know, I don’t want to put shade on anybody. But nowadays, it’s like, if I find someone that’s crushing it in the 1% world like they’re making money, but they hate what they’re doing, or they’re miserable. To me, that person doesn’t get they’re not successful. Missing point.
Rick Jordan
Yep, I feel you. That’s awesome, brother. Dude, the reinvention formula that was just released just a short time ago, right? Like within the last year?
Craig Siegel
Yeah, in August last summer. That’s awesome, man.
Rick Jordan
I mean, you’ve got Wall Street Journal and USA Today Best Selling Author already on that. That’s phenomenal. Dude, I’m so excited for you with this. Can you give us step one on the reinvention formula? And then it’s a little teaser that everybody else can go buy the book? Yeah,
Craig Siegel
you know, the book is a really interesting vessel, because it’s the 15 years of personal development. And I tried it all, I mean, from NLP to Kabbalah, the law of attraction, I studied so much, and I put it all in there. And then also what I actually did to go from rock bottom to reinvent myself and know the brand, and go from zero to seven figures in three years with no PR and marketing. So there’s something in there for everybody. No matter where you are in your journey, even if you just like personal development, inspiration, and so forth. I think the first step is, is getting clarity in realizing that you’re not in alignment, and you’re not happy. And, just understanding that you have a choice for everyone to think this is your movie, and you are the main character. And essentially, everyone else in your movie is just extras. And if you don’t like the plot, even the geographical location, the pen is in your hands to rewrite the next scene. And for so long, I was so invested in this narrative that this was it for me, I’m a Wall Street guy or make a certain amount of money, I’ll always be strung out a lot of toxic relationships. When I consider the fact that I could choose a different story. I stopped double-downing on what could go wrong. And I started triple batting or what can go right, yeah, let’s not give the energy to that narrative. And that clarity helps shift my perspective. And then also you have a ton of momentum, which obviously is the hardest thing to get in the easiest thing to lose.
Rick Jordan
Yeah, that first step is a lot. That’s a lot of the work too. It’s a, I’ve noticed that because even when I needed to make a huge shift in my life, dude, I commend you, because that’s, that’s incredible.
Craig Siegel
You know, the 35 years, you know, depending upon who you ask a lot of our mutual friends and so forth, some that are a bit older than us, they’ll say, Wow, you figured it out early. Sometimes I feel like I figured it out late. You know, we have the rest of our lives and so forth. But it is tough. It’s probably the hardest thing you’ll ever do. Yeah. And it also requires the most amount of courage.
Rick Jordan
Yeah, right on fear is something I always believe that you should lean into. It’s meant to be there to shake you up to do something different to take some kind of action not to keep you stuck.
Craig Siegel
You nailed it. And I think when I think of fear, not the same, but cousins may have pressure feelings because they both feel a little like air. But on the other side of that is massive expansion. Dude, I
Rick Jordan
love it. That’s a good book and brother, I appreciate you being on man for real. I mean, you just like, like, close it out right there because we just went right back to where we started with talking about pressure. Man, I appreciate you. I love you. I’m excited to continue to know you and get to know you even better. And I’m excited to even stand on stage with you at some point which I know we’re going to be doing. The brother thank you for coming on Craig Segal underscore CLS that’s on Instagram and cultivate lasting symphony.com Do I love that? You know, I actually did not know what CLS meant until I looked at your sheet before the show today. That’s what’s beautiful brother.
Craig Siegel
Thank you. But it’s also playing my initials pregnant. It’s
Rick Jordan
Eagle. Didn’t know the yellow. That’s awesome. Lucky you.
Craig Siegel
Thank you for having me. So much love and respect for you and every time we get together, it’s just magic I can’t wait to do more with you
Rick Jordan
Same Brother, thanks for being on. Thank you