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July 21, 2025 30 mins

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In this episode, I explore how negative thoughts aren’t always true and how our beliefs about them shape our reality. Using the allegory of a deaf frog and Byron Katie's method, The Work, I highlight actionable strategies to break free from limiting beliefs.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Examine past successes to challenge negative self-talk.
  2. Create new evidence through consistent action.
  3. Question and reframe limiting beliefs.
  4. Transform negative thoughts into fuel for growth.

These strategies will help you separate yourself from negative thoughts and become unshakable in what matters most.

Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
Keep in touch below!

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is also coming from somebody that for many
years allowed himself to hearnegative stories and make them
true and wonder why my lifecouldn't be normal.
Quote normal like everybodyelse, Because then everything

(00:21):
would be a-okay.
And what I know now is thatthere really aren't too many
quote bad things in life,because everything delivers good
.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Do hard things.
Help one person, be good and dogood, live a life of discipline
, and you will always win.
You have all the tools that youneed to succeed.
Welcome to win today.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
My name is Ryan Cass and I amyour host.

(00:55):
My purpose in this world is tohelp push people further and
harder than they believedpossible and become unshakable
in what matters most to them intheir lives.
Every week, you're going tolearn from either myself or a
renowned expert in their field,and we're going to unveil pieces
of our playbook to help you wintoday.
Please, if you love this show,subscribe and share it with

(01:16):
somebody that will benefit fromit.
Let's dig in.
Byron Katie once said that it'snot your thoughts that create
your reality.
It's your beliefs about yourthoughts, and Byron Katie is a
renowned author of multiplebooks, but this one comes from
Loving what Is four powerfulquestions that can change your

(01:40):
life.
And Byron Katie's method iscommonly known as the work,
meaning that when we commit todoing the work on our inner
selves and really explore whatis going on in our mind and then
question what actually makesthat true, then we can start to

(02:06):
really uncover.
Are we always holding ourthoughts as reality, because our
thoughts are simply aninterpretation of reality, yet
sometimes we run with them astrue and then the most negative
thought that can visit you in amoment of you're not capable,

(02:29):
you can't do this, this isreserved for others that are
better than you.
That no longer serves asreality and you're able to push
forward.
So I'm a huge fan of her work,and this is diving into how to
not hold negative thoughts astrue.
This is actually remixing anepisode from earlier in the year

(02:53):
, at the beginning of the year,and actually tacking on further
from what we went through lastweek in powerful language.
Two things that I believe canreally help set people free are
powerful language and thoughtmastery, meaning that we're more

(03:14):
mindful of what is actuallytaking place in our mind and
then more tactical as to how tointerpret that and respond to it
and run with it or, in manycases, be able to properly

(03:34):
dispose of it when we find outthat this is something that
doesn't serve us well.
So now that we're in the midwaypoint of the year, I love to
bring these things back, as wedid last week with powerful
language.
This is thought mastery and howto not hold negative thoughts
as true.
We'll certainly be diving moreinto Byron Katie's work and her

(03:59):
method.
The work and I highly recommendher book, loving what Is it's
something that has really beentransformative in my life and
has been recommended by some ofthe coaches that I love and
respect most that have had amassive influence on my way of

(04:20):
being.
When we truly commit to thework, then we can become more
tactful around our reality andwhat shapes it, and this is what
this is intended to do herethis week.
Enjoy.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
One thing that I often experience in people that
I get to work with and peoplethat have enrolled in the
mastermind that I coach, that Isee in the corporate world, it's
not that they don't have theability or capability to do
things.
Most people have the capabilityto do so much, yet are held

(04:58):
captive by what's going on intheir minds and everything that
they hold to be true.
That really isn't true.
Now, the opportunity there, andwhat excites me about that, is
that all of that can be shifted,because our minds and our

(05:19):
brains are so malleable that wecan reprogram how we think about
these things and what we dowhen these negative thoughts pay
us a visit and we have so muchpower that we can rewire them.
This is also coming fromsomebody that for many years,

(05:50):
from somebody that for manyyears, allowed himself to hear
negative stories and make themtrue and wonder why my life
couldn't be normal quote normallike everybody else, because
then everything would be a-okay.
And what I know now is thatthere really aren't too many
quote bad things in life,because everything delivers good

(06:11):
, even the people that don'tshow you love.
In my view, now they areshowing love because they're
giving so much energy and driveand fuel to prove them wrong.
And even that like how can weget people to see somebody not

(06:35):
showing them love as showingthem love?
I highly recommend reading theObstacle is the Way by Ryan
Holiday, because it really digsinto all of that.
How can we look at the badthing actually being the good
thing and wire our minds to seeit as such?
Because, going back to the verybeginning, nobody is immune to

(07:01):
the negative thoughts.
Nobody is immune to thenegative instances.
Nobody is immune to thingsnegative instances Nobody is
immune to things not going yourway.
So I'm going to start off with astory to illustrate this.
I love telling stories.
Last week, we talked about howpeople remember things because
of stories.
We can say don't hold negativethoughts.
Okay, great, roger, that.

(07:23):
But if there's no story tiedbehind it, then maybe it doesn't
create any meaning for you.
Or you can say yeah, everyonesays that, ryan.
So here's a story.
I often like to share storiesin my corporate world with my
team during weekly leadershipteam meetings.
Some of them are old legends,some of them are stories from

(07:48):
experience.
But, bottom line, there'salways a lesson to be imparted
on the team in each story thatis told, and there's always a
lesson that is to be imparted inlisteners when it's told here
on the podcast, and people lovestories, so here's a fun one.

(08:09):
All right, put yourself in aforest and we're looking at a
tribe of frogs yes, a tribe offrogs and there's one frog that
has decided that he is going toclimb to the top of the highest
tree in the forest.

(08:31):
And frogs, as you may know,they they do climb trees, but a
frog usually does not havebusiness climbing to the top of
a tree, because then they'regoing to become more vulnerable.
Because who hangs out at thetop of the tree?
The birds, the hawks, so it'snot advantageous for a frog to
go up there.

(08:51):
But this frog decides he'sgoing to go all the way to the
top.
So, as this frog is in hispursuit, all the other frogs,
the tribe of frogs at the bottom, are jumping up and down.
They're going crazy, and reallywhat they're saying in their
frog language is get down, getdown.
What are you doing?

(09:12):
You're crazy, you idiot.
You can never make it to thetop.
No, frog goes to the top.
Frogs aren't supposed to be upthere.
We can't do this, you'reincapable.
And this frog?
We can't do this, you'reincapable.
And this frog?
He sees the tribe of frogs thatare going up and down, but he
has no clue.
He thinks that they're cheeringfor them, so he makes it all

(09:39):
the way to the top and gets backdown, and the frogs are now a
little more at ease becausetheir, their friend, has made it
back down to the bottom andwhat they realize is at the
bottom.
The frog that just climbed tothe top of the tree is deaf, and

(10:01):
he thought that all the otherfrogs were just cheering for him
the whole time to make it tothe top.
So what he did was he didn'tcreate this story in his mind
that everybody's rooting for meto not make it to the top and
not succeed.
He rewired that, or all heallowed himself to hear is that

(10:26):
these frogs are cheering for himand rooting for him and they
want him to be successful.
And now think about that.
With normal life and us humans,what do we allow ourselves to
hear?
Do we allow ourselves to hearmore negativity and believe what

(10:52):
everyone has to say down at thebottom?
People are rooting for us andthere's no reason why we can't
get to the top of whatever treewe're climbing the tree being a

(11:12):
figurative thing now beingwhatever we're pursuing, getting
to the top of whatever goalwe're running towards or
climbing towards.
It's often what we choose tohear when people are
communicating to us that cankeep us climbing or keep us on

(11:34):
the ground and not movingtowards our goals.
So a few things that we're goingto cover today in how to not
hold negative thoughts as true.
How to not hold negativethoughts as true.
I've got four things that we'regoing to run through with the
intent that it allows you torewire your relationship with

(11:58):
negative thoughts and helpcreate more positive energy to
move forward, regardless of whatmay get in the way or
regardless of the tribe of frogsthat may be yelling at you.
Not to go after whatever it isthat you may be going after in
life right now.
Not to focus on whatever youdeem as most important in your

(12:25):
life.
So the first thing is look atthe evidence.
Look at the evidence thatyou've created for yourself what
I think about here.
I had an amazing conversationrecently with my friend,
jonathan Cohen, who is going tobe on the podcast soon.
We recorded recently and heshares this really powerful

(12:51):
story about how he wanted to goto a certain law school and he
had a learning disabilitygrowing up, had struggled with
critical thinking, and when heshared this vision with one of
his academic advisors, with hisparents in the room, she

(13:13):
literally laughed in his faceand said your parents are going
to have to buy a building foryou to even have a chance to get
into this law school.
And Jonathan now is asuccessful attorney up in New
York City and also a podcasthost.
He's had some of the mostprominent thought leaders in the

(13:36):
world on his show Inside theInspired and hearing that for
him created this machine insideof him and gave him so much fuel
.
Like no woman.
You're wrong, and here's why.

(13:56):
And he said that he looked backat everything that he had done
to get to that point ofovercoming his learning
disability, making it throughchallenging himself to sign up
for more difficult classes, tobe in the classes at the
learning level that they deemedwas going to be incomprehensible

(14:20):
for him.
He had been involved inextracurricular activities.
So, looking back at theevidence, the evidence of his
journey, doesn't support theclaim that this woman was making
, and I think about that in ourlives.

(14:45):
There's a concept that we alsodiscussed and it's something
that I absolutely love.
It's from Dr Ben Hardy and theconcept is the gap in the game,
and as humans, we often live inthe gap.
So living in the gap means thatwe're not appreciative or awake

(15:10):
to the journey that we've taken, and this is something that is
common in highly ambitiouspeople, that being probably many
of you listening, because ifyou're not highly ambitious or
going after big things, you'reprobably not tuning into
podcasts like this.
I know that I catch myself inthe gap from time to time as

(15:30):
well, and the gap can be.
Here's an example I recentlyran a 150 mile ultra marathon
and raised $7,000 for familiesthat have a loved one battling
cancer that we've given awayroughly $4,000 so far to two
families, so two more to go.

(15:51):
Living in the gap would beforgetting about that moment and
now getting upset at myselfthat oh well, there's so many
people that have ran 200 milesand have raised $200,000 and
helped 50 families, and thisisn't good enough.

(16:11):
What you've just done, eventhough that was one of the
hardest things I've ever done inmy life, spent 43 hours out
there, struggled for almost twodays straight, versus living in
the game.
Here's everything it took toget to that point.
Thousands of miles daily, reps,waking up early, working out

(16:39):
when you don't want to, learninghow to raise money, learning
how to fundraise, building anetwork of people that are
gracious enough to support thesecauses.
So when I look at all theevidence there and look at the
gain and recognize the journey,then it keeps me pushing these

(17:01):
negative voices aside.
That you're not enough, youhaven't done enough, somebody
else is doing more.
That you're not enough.
You haven't done enough,somebody else is doing more.
Look at the evidence.
What has gotten you to whereyou are?
What are the monumental steps?
What are the things you'veovercome?

(17:25):
What are the challenges you'veovercome?
What are the naysayers thatyou've proven wrong?
How many times have you provenyourself right?
How much evidence have youcreated that supports this false
claim in your mind that youcan't do something?
We often forget about how farwe've come when a negative

(17:48):
thought comes into our mind andthen we allow that negative
thought to serve as true.
That's crazy.
That's absolutely crazy.
Call to action to allowyourself and remind yourself to

(18:15):
explore the evidence that hasgotten you where you are today.
The second piece, along withlook back at the evidence that's
gotten you where you are today,create new evidence.
Create new evidence day in, dayout, week in, week out, month
in, month out.
How do you do that?
Build a system around thethings that are most important

(18:40):
to you.
How do you do that?
Identify what it is that ismost important to you in life
and what does success look likein those things that are most
important to you?
Now, let's build a systemaround it.
What are the daily habits, whatare the daily things that we
can do that align to getting uscloser to that goal, to creating

(19:05):
that reality?
I've been talking a lot aboutthe Unshakable Discipline
Mastermind Group and one thingthat's really cool about that
half the people in there I'venever met in person.
One thing that I'm doing now,one thing I'm doing to create
new evidence, is I'm reachingout to people on LinkedIn that

(19:27):
have engaged with my content,that I haven't met, building a
relationship with them,connecting with them and then
encouraging them to join thegroup, building sales skills,
but making a habit of reachingout and having genuine
conversations with people that Idon't know.

(19:49):
And now it is building thisamazing mastermind community.
So now, when I had previousthoughts of, hmm, this
mastermind community you'vewanted to build and you've been
dreaming of of having hundredsof people in there.
Maybe this isn't for you,because look at all these other

(20:12):
folks that have hundreds offolks in their mastermind groups
.
They must just be 10 timesbetter at selling than you.
Okay, I can sit there and if Imade that true, I can say, yeah,
maybe it's not for me.
Or I can build a system aroundmy goal of getting 100 people in
reaching out to people,learning how to ask more
powerful questions and here weare 50% of people I've never met

(20:36):
.
Create new evidence for yourselfthat does not allow you to hold
the negative thought true as towhatever you may be going after
in this life.
So what we're getting at here,the intent behind this I'm
attempting to get you to stacksome wins and stack a few

(20:58):
different tips, tools, tricksthat you can put into your
arsenal, so that, in this case,I'm going to give you four
things.
So that, in this case, I'mgoing to give you four things.
So now you've got four ways tobeat any negative thought that
may come your way or anynaysayer that may come at you.
The next one is create space tobe with your thoughts.

(21:21):
Create space to be with yourthoughts, so anytime that you
have a thought about I can't dothis, or this person said I
can't, so I guess I can't.
Maybe it's not for me, spendsome time with it for a minute.
What's triggering you in thatparticular thought or with that,

(21:47):
what that particular personsaid, what really dug at you?
Okay, is it true?
The most powerful, one of themost powerful questions in the
world, I believe, is is it true?
What makes this true, whatmakes this thought true?
What makes this person saying Ican't do?
This is true.

(22:07):
Now you can go back to theevidence.
Or now, if you understand howit allowed you to trigger you,
how can we rewire that?
Or what was the deeper meaningbehind this thought, the deeper
meaning behind what this personsaid?

(22:28):
Sometimes we hear things thatpeople say, or sometimes we even
hear things with certainthoughts that do not align with
the actual intent of what thatperson meant to communicate, or
what that person or what youeven thought.
An example of that is I look atmy mom.

(22:49):
I love my mom to death.
My mom to this day we just hada snowstorm in Charleston will
ask me or remind me am I wearingmy jacket as if I'm six years
old and it drives me nuts, and Iused to sit there and think she
doesn't trust me, she doesn'tthink that I'm capable of being

(23:12):
an adult by myself, and, gosh, Ijust wish she would understand.
Okay, what really triggered mein that moment is I didn't feel
that I was trusted, and that'ssomething that's important to me
.
I didn't feel that I wascapable, rather, and that's

(23:34):
something that's important to me.
But I know that.
Okay, is it true?
No, okay, what's the underlyingmeaning behind what she's doing
?
Or what's the underlying thingthat she, she's doing?
Or what's the underlying thingthat she's doing?
Hmm, she's just loving me,she's just showing me some love,
that's it.

(23:55):
We often create thesedefinitions for ourselves and
and the thoughts that we haveand the things that people say
to us.
So now, every time, you know, Iknow if there's another snow
storm or if there's bad weather,I know my mom's going to tell
me to wear my jacket and, ratherthan allow myself to think she
believes I'm incapable, whichisn't true, I've rewired that to

(24:19):
hey, it's somebody that lovesme.
It's just somebody showing mesome love that loves me.
It's just somebody showing mesome love, and that's a
beautiful thing.
You want people in your lifethat love you and care about you
, and by allowing yourself alittle bit of extra time to be
with your thoughts and reallybreak them down, and break down

(24:42):
what people tell you.
And break down what people tellyou, then you can explore the
good intent or the good messagethat's really behind the things
that sometimes we hear asnegative.
What are we choosing to hear?
Go back to the frog.
The frog chose to feel support,even though he couldn't really

(25:09):
hear anything.
He imagined that those peoplewere just cheering him on by
choice.
If he thought that all thosefrogs were telling him that he's
incapable, or if he chose tohear that in his mind, he would

(25:29):
have never made it to the top ofthe tree.
So spend time with yourthoughts.
The last one is and we'vetouched it a little bit but
rewire the messages that youreceive.
So Jonathan, at the verybeginning, with his academic
advisor, said he would never getinto a certain school.

(25:52):
Now he's an amazing attorney.
He rewired that to become fuel.
One thing that I see with withpeople that leave nasty messages
or haters the way I look at itnow is hey, if you want to leave

(26:13):
me some hate or say that I'mincapable of doing something.
You just gave me the bestcompliment, because now I'm
going to prove you wrong, andhere's exactly.
Here's why.
Because here's all thisevidence I have that doesn't
support your claim.

(26:34):
Oh and, by the way, if youleave a bad message, I love you
because you're probably someonethat needs a little bit of love.
Think about that.
Someone said something bad.
Hey, I wish you the best and Iappreciate the fuel that you
just gave me, and I'll holdanything against you for it, by

(26:57):
the way.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
It took a long time to be ableto arrive at that and a lot of
practice.
I just finished reading thisbook by Naval Ravikant.
It's actually the almanac ofNaval Ravikant and, as we're

(27:19):
talking through these things, itmakes me think about happiness,
and people bring up happiness alot as if it's this thing that
we gain after certain outcomes,and it's not.
And often, when we think aboutwhat gets in the way of
happiness, it's our relationship, with our thoughts.

(27:40):
So I'm going to pull somethingfrom the book that I found to be
really useful and applicable towhat we're talking about here,
and this is from page 134.
Happiness is a choice you makeand a skill you develop.
The mind is just as malleableas the body.
We spend so much time andeffort trying to change the

(28:02):
external world, other people andour own bodies, all while
accepting ourselves the waywe're programmed in our youths.
We accept the voice in our headas the source of all truth, but
all of it is malleable andevery day is new.
Memory and identity are burdensfrom the past preventing us

(28:28):
from living freely in thepresent.
At any given time.
When you're walking down thestreets, a very small percentage
of your brain is focused on thepresent.
The rest is planning the futureor regarding the past.
This keeps you from having anincredible experience.
It's keeping you from seeingthe beauty in everything and for

(28:52):
being grateful for where youare.
You can literally destroy yourhappiness if you spend all of
your time living in delusions ofthe future.
I just don't believe in anythingfrom my past Anything.
No memories, future I justdon't believe in anything from
my past Anything.
No memories, no regrets, nopeople, no trips, nothing.
A lot of our unhappiness comesfrom comparing things from the

(29:14):
past to the present.
Now, the last piece there canbe a little challenging to hear.
I don't believe anything fromthe past and I believe some of
that comes across as discardingmemories.
But the first piece, I lovethat first piece, that memory,

(29:39):
and rather I love that firstpiece that our minds are
malleable.
So this means that everybodyhas the opportunity to recreate
the stories, to recreate thedefinitions, to rewire, to
redefine what these negativethoughts mean.

(30:00):
That goes to you, that goes tome, that goes to everybody, that
goes to you, that goes to me,that goes to everybody.
So it's my wish that you takethese tips and tricks and place
them into your arsenal so thatyou will not hold negative
thoughts true in 2025 and wintoday.

(30:23):
Thanks so much.
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