Overcome Your Past & Live Your Life on Fire with Megan Unsworth: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. are brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Science of Scaling. Today, we're pulling a classic episode from the archives and we'll be breaking down overcoming your past and living your best life on fire. To drop these value bombs, I am brought to Megan Unsworth and to EO Fire Studios. As the first lady of life on fire, Megan's mission is to help you launch your expertise and profit from your passion. Megan has personally coached over 2 ,000 entrepreneurs to success and has certified over 500 Life on Fire coaches.

0:40And today, Foundation will talk about not taking anything personally, about how the best way to heal is to forgive, and about how everything in life is about repetition and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Megan and our sponsors. Marketing Made Simple, hosted by my friend, Dr. JJ Peterson, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Marketing Made Simple brings you practical tips to make your marketing easy and more importantly, make it work. A recent episode on whether vulnerability is a superpower in business is a must listen.

1:12Listen to Marketing Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts. Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world. And four-time TEDx speaker, Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor's free training where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions. Megan, say what's up to Fire Nation and then let's just move right into chatting about why our past is the number one reason entrepreneurs fail and what we can do about it. What's up fire nation.

1:55Megan Unsworth here and I'm so excited. Thank you JLD for having me on. And I love the word on fire as you know, so I am fired up to be here discussing why your past is the number one reason why entrepreneurs fail and what we can do about it. And I, I've really found that as a coach and after coaching over 2000 people, entrepreneurs, speaker, people who are listening right now, I've found that we can give them any strategy. We can give them the blueprint. We can give them follow this step, you know, ABC, but if they haven't healed from the things of their past that will hold them back in their limiting beliefs, they're not stepping into all that they're called to be.

2:45And I'm here to give some tips and tricks on that to take life and business to the next level. Well, that's why the title of this episode, Fire Nation, is Overcoming Your Past and Living Your Life on Fire. And speaking of healing, Megan Ann, like I've known you for quite some time. I mean, in fact, when I had Nick on the show just a couple days ago, we actually were honestly, during the interview, we were fondly reminiscing about how, you know, we planned to have you come over with your smoothie drinks and detox so that Nick can meet you. And he, you know, he was so nervous about it because he's like, oh, I think this girl's really special and all this stuff.

3:24And we were having a great time just reminiscing about kind of like the beginning of what you two are. Now you've built literally this life on fire, which is so exciting to see. but you do have a story. You did overcome a childhood of both trauma and tragedy to now, which I just share, which I love, is you're living a life on fire. You're running a multiple seven-figure business. You're a wife. You're a mama of two adorable kiddos. I mean, tell us about that story. Yes, I would love to. And this is the part where I get to share and I get to be vulnerable. And I think that it's so important that when you're overcoming things from your past that you're vulnerable.

4:08So during my imprint period of life, which is that zero to seven, I experienced almost every type of trauma that you could. I was physically abused, mentally abused, sexually abused, any word of the abuse I experienced as a young child. And, um, when I was three months old, my mom actually left. So I, uh, had some abandonment issues. And at, when I turned seven, um, I went to live with my dad and my step-mom where I experienced lots of different abuses. He just heard me say, and then, uh, my father committed suicide. And so all of that happened in my life in such those, those toddler years. And as a, as you just heard a mama of two, you know, Aiden and Riley, they're three and four.

5:08And I just look at them and I think, Oh my gosh, what pure lives they get to live where I had walked through a lot of tragedy, a lot of trauma during that time. And it wasn't until I was in my twenties that I actually was able to really recover from that. And so just experiencing and walking through traumas for some people, if they're not healed from that, then that will dictate their whole life. But for me, I went on a journey. I went on a journey to say, I am not my past. I am not what has happened to me that they, that may have been a test. I have a turning point and now here's my testimony.

5:53And in that I was able to overcome all of those things that had happened to me. And now I use it for good. I use it for coaching people, use it for people to experience breakthrough. I say, I'm not who, what my past looks like, but I'm who I am today because of my past. And I'm going to use that to empower people to step into everything and all that they are called to be. Well, I just want to commend you first and foremost for your courage, for your vulnerability, because just like the words you just shared, I mean, it is so impactful for other people to hear what certain individuals have been through because now they can just say, Hey, like if Megan Ann went through that tragedy and that trauma.

6:39And look at what she's doing now. Like she's literally living a life on fire. I can see myself doing that same thing. And I just love the path that people like you and Nick are laying out for others that can see that, Hey, it's not like we were born today, successful tomorrow. It's like, no, we've been on a journey. We've been on a story. I mean, I've talked about my trauma, you know, my tragedy in my life of seeing soldiers in my platoon get killed right before my eyes during a time of war and like having to deal with that and that trauma and PTSD and depression. It's like when we can share with others the honesty about, you know, where we were to where we got today, it helps bridge the gap for them so they can be excited about, hey, now I can get on this journey and get to my life on fire.

7:22And I love the formula that you and Nick have created, the ABHD formula, which is the awareness, breakthrough, healing, and then decide and declare. Can you take us through these four steps? Absolutely. I really would love to. And I would say if you're listening and just find yourself in these steps and you right now might be able to break through some things. So the A is awareness. So I had to become aware of my past, of the traumas, of the tragedies. And I had to become aware of how they were showing up in my life. I had to look at, well, what was my pattern, right? So there are basically three patterns that we see that don't allow people to break through to the next level level.

8:14And that's they're starting and they're stopping. And that might be in business. They start something up and then they stop again. That might be that they're settling, they're laying stagnant, or they're just stuck. And the other one might be self-sabotage. And so in the awareness process, it's finding, well, which one am I? Am I starting and stopping? Am I settling or am I experiencing self-sabotage of which I've experienced all three of them? And so I went on a journey to say, why am I starting and stopping? What was happening? What's coming up for me? I was And I really got fascinated with the mind and how it worked.

8:59And I was also in therapy at the time. And it's not that I don't believe in therapy and that I don't think therapy works. It just wasn't working for me. I found myself really frustrated and really wanting to break through to the next levels. And so I stopped going to therapy, was minoring in psychology, and really got fascinated with the book, Power of the Subconscious Mind. And I started reading that in my early twenties and saying what, you know, and that, that helped me with this awareness process coming up. Like what's coming up for me? Why am I, why do I have this pattern? Why am I self-sabotaging in relationships?

9:38Why do I feel like maybe I'm just settling? Why am I not moving forward? Why, why am I starting something, but I'm not following through. And so I just had this moment where I was like, I'm going to do everything in my power to learn about this and to break through. So for me, I started on a personal development journey. So that's really where I had some of my biggest breakthroughs was saying, I want to rewrite what's happening in my subconscious mind because I've told myself a story for so long that I'm actually believing that and it's no longer serving me. So if we think about awareness, it's what story have you been telling yourself that you continue to tell yourself that you reinforce something, but it is actually not true.

10:25And so for me, it was personal development. I went to a Tony Robbins, UPW event, um, after reading power, the subconscious mind. And then I dove into books and the biggest book that has had the impact on my life is actually the four agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. And in that book, there's four of them, but the second agreement is the one that really supported me to continue to follow through. And that was don't take anything personally, nothing, nothing others do or say is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality. And when I was able to really understand that agreement and I really was able to live by the four agreements, I then had so much breakthrough and that takes us to in the ABHD formula that takes us to the B breakthrough.

11:24When I was, I was willing to be aware of the things that were showing up for me, what my patterns were. And I was saying, not today, I'm not going to continue to live another day in this. Woe is me in the self-sabotage. I was actually going to take control of my life. And I wasn't going to take anything personally because that for me was one of the biggest things I did. It mattered what other people were saying. Um, if I was in business, it was, well, you're not going to be able to do that. Why are you trying to do this? Why don't you do this? Right? So maybe some of you fire nation, you've gone through, you have people around you, the naysayers, the people speaking into you.

12:01Like, why do you want to do that? How do you think you're going to do that? And here's the thing. don't take it personally because nothing others do or say is because of you. They're just projecting onto you. And so when I was like, okay, I'm not, I'm not going to take things personally, which is really hard to not do so hard. Yes. It's really hard to not do, but if it takes practice, right? When we're aware of something, we're willing to break through. That means we're willing to work through it. And so it was like, okay, now I'm going to keep going and keep going in business and keep going to life.

12:32I want to achieve those things. I have this dream, this vision, this calling on the inside of me since I was a teenager that I now get to live. I get to live my life on fire. And so I believe in personal development. That book is absolutely amazing. And so for me, after being aware, having these breakthrough moments, I'm like, okay, well, now I need to heal. I need to actually heal from my past. And in the formula, healing is so important. And the biggest thing to heal is to forgive. And I went on this forgiving spree. So it just looked like every person that had ever hurt me in my past, I forgave because forgiveness isn't for that person.

13:24It really is for you. Forgiveness is for you to walk free, to not have something on the inside of you. So what did I do? Well, I made a list of every single person that I needed to forgive and I reached out to them. I actually reached out to them and I said, Hey, you may not even remember this, but this is something that came up for me. And I know that I need to forgive you. So for instance, my step-mom and I had a, not a very good relationship at all. and I reached out to her just on Facebook and I said, Hey, I just want to let you know that everything that I experienced, all that trauma in my childhood, I just want you to know that I forgive you and I'm turning what happened to me to help others.

14:17And so I just want to thank you. And that was, that was hard. She responded and we haven't had much correspondence since then. And that was in 2013, but it was just the freedom in knowing that I'm not harboring anything for anybody. And my father, who is not here, you know, he, he passed away when I was eight and I wrote him a letter and I just said everything that I forgave him for, because over the years I was thinking, how could you commit suicide? How could you leave your daughter, your eight year old daughter? How could you do that? And I created the story in my mind and I said, I need to forgive him because he didn't know how to deal with his inner thoughts, right?

15:04The devil, whatever that may be. He didn't know how to deal with that. And he literally thought the best decision he was making was to take his life. And I look back and now I've made up my mission to help others heal. So they don't have to experience that, that they don't have to resort to thinking that they're better off not on earth than they are on earth. And so the healing process is forgiveness, forgive, forgive, forgive. And the biggest person that I needed to forgive was myself. So maybe some of you hearing this have walked through some things, have experienced shame or guilt, or just put things on you that don't belong on you.

15:43Now is the time to forgive yourself and walk in the freedom of what forgiveness does, because forgiveness brings healing. And then I was able to say, I forgive all those people. And then it was like, well, now what? Well, now what am I going to do? I'm free from this area of my life. I've brought awareness to different things. I've discovered what the root of it is. I've applied the four agreements. I've had my breakthrough. I'm developing my mind. I'm forgiving people. Now what? Now what's the next thing? And for me, it was deciding and declaring. It was, I have a vision for my life. Now, what am I going to do?

16:23And for me, it was, I'm going to become the best coach out there. I say I'm the queen of coaching because it's like, pick up your crown, put on your crown. And so I just decided I'm going to be the queen of coaching. And here's what I'm going to do. And this is the vision that I have for my life. And Nick and I and Life on Fire and what we get to do is absolutely amazing because we We get to bring this formula to the forefront. ABHD, awareness, breakthrough, healing, decide and declare what you're going to do. There's so much power in what Megan and Angie shared. I love this ABHD. I mean, there were so many notes I was taking during this entire time.

17:06One thing that I want to go back to because it's something she said at the beginning, and I just want to make sure you really get this, Fire Nation. Rewrite what's happening in your subconscious mind. and rewrite what's happening in your subconscious mind. Like there are so many powerful things Megan and Sherry, but like that one is something I want to double back on because it's so powerful. And we have a lot of awesome stuff coming up in the rest of this interview, Fire Nation. But I want you to just remember that Nick and Megan are putting on an amazing challenge. And this challenge, you can find out more about it, businessonfirechallenge.com slash JLD.

17:46businessonfirechallenge.com slash JLD. You heard from Nick a couple of days ago, how tactical, how strategic he was, how he shared so many awesome tactics and strategies that you can seriously implement in your business and life right now. And now you're hearing just about how Megan Ann's bringing this different and unbelievably important angle through this ABHD formula that you're going to get as well. You can see why they are the king and the queen, the life on fire tandem that they are. So make sure you stick around because as soon as we get back from thanking our sponsors, we have more fire coming at you live.

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19:38Thought Leader is not affiliated with TED or TEDx, but they're able to get these results because their founder, Taylor Conroy, is a four-time TEDx speaker himself and past EO Fire guest. You might be thinking a TEDx talk sounds great, but where do you start? Taylor has put together a free training that's going to teach you how to land a TEDx talk in as little as 90 days. Join Taylor to learn exactly what TEDx organizers are looking for in their speakers, how to write a talk that goes viral once it goes online and more. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire. Join Taylor for this free training and get your message out of your head, out of your heart, and out into the world where it belongs.

20:17That's thought-leader.com slash fire. Megan Ann, we're back and past experiences, limiting beliefs, They are causing so many people to struggle in the search of their life on fire. Can you share why this is happening? I believe that we need to be shining light on blind spots. And so it's just there's these stories, right? So you quoted what I was saying about rewriting the subconscious mind because of the stories that we tell ourselves. We have experiences in life. Things happen. Things happen to all of us. We have circumstances in life, but it's how we react and how we show up. So there are limiting beliefs that are, that are coming up for people because of their core belief, something system, something didn't line up that there are just things that have happened that they said, okay, now I can't do something.

21:18Well, yes, you can. You can do hard things. somebody on here listening, you need to know that you can do hard things in the hard things is where we can flourish is, is when we're able to say, I'm going to push, push past that lemon belief. I'm going to push past what's coming up for me because I know there's greatness on the other side of that. And so we got to help under people understand that your past experiences, your subconscious mind, your limiting beliefs are not, are part of the reason why you're not moving forward and that we need to say, okay, today I'm going to face it today. I'm willing to take off that mask today.

22:03I'm willing to lay it down and I'm re I'm willing to be vulnerable. I'm willing to share. I'm willing to break free. I'm willing to say, this isn't how I'm meant to live. I know it's for more and reframing those thoughts. And it's not only reframing, it's rewiring. So, you know, if there's something that's coming up for you, like, I feel like I'm not worthy to have this business that I'm not loved enough by people around me, that I'm not insert limiting belief. If you're saying that, I want you to think about what's the opposite. Really? I am worthy. I'm, I'm worthy to have a business that is seven figures.

22:41I'm worthy to get started. I'm worthy to go after the things that I know that I, that I have on the inside of me. I'm worthy to do that. And I am loved by those around me. And then knowing that there will be more love pulled into me when I step into that. And so it's the, the rewiring of that limiting belief that's coming up. And it's a repetition. everything in life is about repetition so we get up we should have a morning routine i know jld you go out morning routine you talk about morning routines but it's just life is about routine so when we can rewire our thoughts about ourself and we start to show up we get to break free from those limiting beliefs that are just rooted in our subconscious mind.

23:31They are rooted in our subconscious mind, Fire Nation, until we intentionally root these things out. And Megan, you shared so much value throughout this entire episode. I want to really end with a bang because you and Nick, you guys have created a life on fire. Myself and Kate, we have truly created a life on fire. How can Fire Nation commit to their vision, commit to their dreams so that they as well can truly live their life on fire? Oh, I love this question. I love talking dreams and visions and commitment. It just takes, it's going to sound simple and it's going to sound easy. Most things in life are simple.

24:13We choose to overcomplicate them, but it's making a decision. It's saying, this is what I want to see happen in my lifetime. This is what I want to see happen in the next 12 months, even in the next month. This is, we get to decide what we want in life and that's how we need to show up. So for people it's thinking, oh man, I have this vision of where I want to go of what I want my life to look like and how I'm going to get there. Part of it is stepping in and becoming that person to going after their dreams, but really deciding today is the day. If you're hearing this and you know that you have something on the inside of you, Fire Nation, and you're ready to give birth to that thing, you just say, I'm making a decision today.

24:59Today I am going to do, insert, I'm going to start that business. I'm going to scale that business. I'm going to reach out and follow up. I'm going to go and talk to people that I know that might be able to help me. I'm going to and make a decision. Now, what comes with the decision is also called integrity and it's called follow through and it's committing. So you make a decision, you decide and you declare it. And how do you declare it? You go on your social media, you say, Hey, today is the day that I'm deciding I'm going to launch that business. And you get held accountable by those who are following you, by those who are seeing it.

25:39You just declare, you say, today is the day that I am going to do something different. and you get to declare it publicly. You can talk to your friends about it and say, hey, I'm thinking about doing this, but you don't have that accountability to follow through. And as a coach, I know accountability is so important. And so when you declare it publicly, when you say, this is what I wanna see happen in my lifetime, I wanna see happen in the next 12 months, I wanna just see happen this month, I'm just gonna decide today, and you declare it, watch what happens because that's how you can follow through when you are able to cast your vision to cast your net out and then watch the fish come in watch what happens when you decide and then you declare fire nation take megan and up on this challenge declare your dreams publicly and now it's time to talk about accountability because megan and you and nick have an amazing challenge coming up.

26:40We went into it in depth in the last episode with Nick just a couple days ago. So Fire Nation got so many details about the tactics and the create and the launch and the scale and all the awesomeness that's going to be going on. You again brought this amazing other angle of the ABHD formula, the awareness, the breakthrough, the healing, the decide and declare. So much awesomeness, Fire Nation. So much value. Businessonfirechallenge.com slash JLD. it's free Fire Nation what are you waiting for? Megan Ann in your final call to action here why does Fire Nation need to take this call to action and join you and Nick on this challenge?

27:21Having a business on fire Nick went through the tactics of this and that and the next thing but you'll get to walk through this ABHD formula in depth on our challenge you'll be able to you know become aware of your thoughts and awareness is there's a lot, there's a lot more to that, right? And so that might be one area of your life right now. That's coming up for you that we'll work through another area of your life. You're going to get the business side of things on this free challenge, but you're also going to get the emotional side of things on this challenge to support you, to have the breakthrough so that you follow through on your dreams.

27:55You make that decision, you declare, you get into action because this challenge is going to be amazing for starting your business, scaling your business, and just stepping into who you're called to be. So I would invite you to join us for the Business on Fire Challenge. It's going to be awesome. Fire Nation, by the end of the challenge, you're going to like Nick Unsworth. You're going to love Meganann. Businessonfirechallenge.com slash JLD. because Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with MU and JLD today, so keep up that heat.

28:35And Megan, I just want to say thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your vulnerability, your story, your power with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation. Today's value bomb content was brought to you by Megan and Fire Nation. And over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 3 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, and I've created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to get you to your version of financial freedom and fulfillment. I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success.