Episode 016: Gerald Rogers

Full Transcript

Intro: 00:01

Hi, I’m Rock Thomas, the Founder of M1, the tribe of healthy, wealthy, and passionate people. Also known as Fulfillionaires. You’re listening to the I Am Movement podcast where we believe that the words that follow I Am follow you. Join me and the world’s greatest thought leaders as we discuss the power of transformation and making success a part of your identity.

Rock Thomas: 00:32

All right. My next guest, I am really, really pleased to have because this gentleman is somebody I’ve known for a long time and I’ve watched him evolve and I’ve watched him transform his own definition of himself and grow into somebody who’s impacting a lot of people. Gerald Rogers is a transformational leader. He’s a speaker and a coach that has trained thousands of individuals on how to discover their purpose and step into their power and learn how to make their purpose-driven businesses profitable and to live big. Yes, love it. His commitment is to leading and inspiring individuals to awaken to their divine, authentic power and to liberate them through financial freedom in a mission to teach people how to create financial freedom. Sound familiar? While doing what they love and living their purpose.

Rock Thomas: 01:21

Over the last several years, he has led over 100 seminars of various topics. We’re going to get into that on the show. I’m not going to list them here. Tele seminars and events, training principles include many of the things that we’re going to talk about today, but mostly around creating financial freedom, being very, very authentic, and having strategies that can allow you to have yourself perform at your peak. Welcome to the I Am podcast, Gerald.

Gerald Rogers: 01:47

It is so great to be here, Rock. I love you so much and I’m so inspired by what you’ve created. It’s always an honor to be in your presence and really grateful to spend time with your people.

Rock Thomas: 02:00

Let’s get right to it. Let’s give people a little bit of a background, where you came from, a little bit of the training. And then we’ll talk about some of the things, the strategies and the tools that you use to help people level up their lives.

Gerald Rogers: 02:12

Yeah. It’s always interesting for me when I’m doing interviews, people are like, “So tell me, how did you get here?” And I think that’s a relevant question for all of us because it’s easy for someone to look at you, Rock, or me and to see on the outside all of these successes and things that we’ve done and for people to assume that it was easy, you know? And the reality is for all of us there’s this genesis, there’s this evolution that happens over the years and even in terms of the work that we’re called to do right now, it’s hard to identify when that beginning point was, but if I rewind back in time, at the time I first met you, which is about maybe 13 years ago, I was deep in real estate investing at the time, and I would go to these workshops and seminars and I would hear all this information, get all these ideas, and I was struggling so much to actually apply the things that were being taught.

Gerald Rogers: 03:04

I was really frustrated because I would see the potential and I would recognize how far short of that potential I was experiencing, and all of my internal blocks. And I realized it wasn’t what I knew, it’s what I was feeling inside that was keeping me from getting where I wanted to be, and it was at that point that I started to understand that it wasn’t about more information. It was about transformation. I needed to experience a change or shift in the way that I experience myself if I wanted to show up more powerfully in my business and create the results that I wanted. So that’s when I started to immerse myself in personal development and I think I met you along the path with one of our mentors, TR Becker, and of course, Tony Robbins and countless different influences helped shape my understanding of who I was.

Gerald Rogers: 03:57

And I think that fast forward 12 years from that point, I look at all of the amazing experiences and all the crazy ups and downs that have been part of my journey, and I feel like every one of them has led e to greater clarity of who I am and I feel like that’s the real purpose of personal development is to help us understand who we are at the core.

Rock Thomas: 04:20

That’s so appropriate for the I Am podcast, words that follow I Am follow you. So I’m going to ask you in a moment how you describe yourself. And at the same time, do you think that a lot of people actually ever get clear on who they are, or are they kind of just stumbling through their life trying to still figure that out? And another question is do you help them get clear in your work?

Gerald Rogers: 04:43

Yeah. It’s a great question and this is where we talk about consciousness and unconsciousness. I feel like most people spend their life in unconscious patterns, unconscious reaction. They’re just going along with the scripts that they’ve been handed and the things that they’ve been taught to believe about themselves since they were little children. And in this unconsciousness, we don’t even realize that there’s another way to live. We don’t understand the friction we’re experiencing in our relationship is of our own creation. We don’t understand that the disconnection we’re having in our work and our business and our purpose is actually from us. In unconsciousness, we don’t see ourselves as the source of our reality. And so the journey of consciousness is the process of wakening, of discovering and to start seeing clearly what reality actually is. Because in unconsciousness, most of our experience is based on these false beliefs, “I’m not worthy of love. I can’t have what I want. Money is hard. Money is difficult,” or all of the other BS, the belief systems that we get ingrained with since the time we’re young.

Gerald Rogers: 05:54

And once again, in unconsciousness, people can operate their entire life in that space of unconsciousness and not even realize how they’re creating the results that they are. So this journey of awakening, that’s become my purpose is because I know that for each of these different experiences that I’ve been blessed with and each of the different mentors I’ve had have helped peel away the layers to help me see myself more clearly, and I know that on the other side once we do see ourselves clearly, we understand … like what you teach. It’s like we can be unapologetically awesome because that’s who we are at the core. And a core part of my mission is helping people awaken so that they can see themselves clearly and from that space, then they can create the lives that they want.

Rock Thomas: 06:40

Do you believe that some of the obstacles that we’re faced with, for instance, I grew up in a difficult childhood where my father repeatedly told me I wasn’t good enough, my chores weren’t done properly, my homework, my grades, everything wasn’t done enough, and that bred in me this passion to see the enoughness in other people. I have this incredible, I think superpower to see greatness in people, shine a light on it, encourage them to lean into it, and that’s why I’m a fantastic coach and the type of person when people are around them, they feel good because I look for that. Some times when they’re around me a long time, I also see the other because my father over time shows up and I start to criticize them a bit, but I do have that ability and I believe that that’s my purpose is to see the greatness in people and bring it out and help them bring it out.

Rock Thomas: 07:28

Do you think that the adversity people go through, there’s a clue there, there’s a hint that that’s, somewhere there’s a gift in that?

Gerald Rogers: 07:37

I really do. And I feel like the way that I look at it is I look at this life that we have is this universal school of transformation. We’re all enrolled in different curriculums based on what I call our soul contracts, right? And because of your sole contract, you were given this father that was a mentor or teacher that taught you certain things that would allow you to have compassion in serving others. My first wife, my relationship that ended in divorce, that was part of my soul contract because I had to awaken to what it meant to be masculine and how to show up more fully. And I had to realize all these patterns that showed up unconsciously in this woman that I was married to for 16 years. She was one of my mentors in my school of transformation. And she was one of the greatest gifts.

Gerald Rogers: 08:32

Now, the question is whether or not we actually receive the lessons from the mentors or from the experiences we have. And I feel like if we don’t receive the lessons, then we’re doomed to repeat it over and over again. Yeah, I believe that each of us, if seen through the right lens of perspective, every experience in life, every challenge, every obstacle, everything can be an enhancement or an accelerator to our sole contract. But we have to be able to see it through that perspective, because there’s plenty of people that stay stuck in victim mode, Rock. And they see their past as the reason why they can’t have what they want. If someone has an abusive childhood or abusive relationship, or they experienced poverty or whatever, they can leverage that to find the wrong lesson and to use it as an excuse to create what they don’t want. Or they could look at those exact same perspectives through a lens of truth and find the perspective that actually empowers them to be more compassionate, to be more loving, to be more fearless in living their life.

Rock Thomas: 09:38

So, I love what you’re saying, that we’re all going through this collective universal school of transformation. Everything that comes at us, our business partners or our mates can be teachers, they can be indirect lesson givers. So what are some of the things that you do to help people accelerate that, to be more conscious of it, to look at it in a way where they can get the lesson more rapidly? Because I’m sure you would probably agree with me there are people that repeat lessons over and over again and they’re the ones that are mostly frustrated. They’re like, “I just don’t get it. I just don’t get it. I can’t make the money. I can’t get a good relationship. I never get fulfilled,” etc. So what are some of the tools or strategies you use to help people?

Gerald Rogers: 10:17

There’s a couple different steps that I take them through, and let me just share this framework because I think for me these are the core steps of transformation. If you want to experience change in your life, these are the steps you have to go through. And so the first step is awakening our awareness. That’s the first step, awareness. Just to be able to see clearly what you’ve created and how right? And I’ll go back and I’ll go through each of these in more detail and I would love to have a dialogue with you and have you share your perspective, Rock. But I think awakening your awareness is the first step because you have to be able to see what’s really truly happening. You have to pause and understand what you’re creating.

Gerald Rogers: 10:57

Second step is accountability. Without accountability, transformation is impossible. If you don’t own the results in your life, you’re doomed to be a victim and to keep experiencing what you don’t want. Accountability is the second key. The third key is alignment. So awakening, accountability, alignment. Alignment is where we actually align and get clear on these three things, what we want, what we need to believe to have that, and what we need to do. So, if our actions and our beliefs and our desires are in alignment, then success is easy. When any one of those things is out of alignment, then it’s impossible for us to succeed. And then the fourth step is activation or action, right?

Gerald Rogers: 11:43

And so often people try to move into action without the other pieces being in place, and that’s the reason why they keep recreating more and more chaos. And so this first step of awakening awareness is really beautiful and I would love for you to share, Rock, from your perspective, how do you feel like you can get someone to see what they’re actually creating and what the real source of it is?

Rock Thomas: 12:08

First of all, I love those four and I love the fact that you say that they all have to be in alignment in order for the person to execute properly. For me, coaching, a great coach asks a lot of questions so that the individual comes to the conclusion themself. And that’s the process I use so that people can actually get to a place where they’re aware first and then they’re accountable that they created that. So it could be as simple as saying, “So tell me about how you manage your money.” “Well, I don’t really do a budget. I mean, I try to make ends meet and stuff.” “So, are you aware of how much comes in and how much goes out?” “Well, more or less.”

Rock Thomas: 12:43

So they start to then realize that if they were running a company, they would not be a good steward of their money and that maybe there’s an opportunity for change there. So that’s a simple example. What about yourself?

Gerald Rogers: 12:55

I think you nailed it in the sense that the power of questions. The power of questions helps us illuminate and help us see clearly. So here’s some questions I would ask myself if I was feeling stuck or someone else if they’re feeling stuck is number one, what are you feeling? Identify the emotion, identify the experience. What are you experiencing? Identifying the reality you’re creating. For instance, this person you just talked about, if they’re experiencing up and down roller coaster around money or if they’re experiencing friction or frustration or feeling like they’re always stressed around money, then that’s the surface level. That’s the fruit that’s showing up in their garden.

Gerald Rogers: 13:32

But the next question is okay, what are you doing to create this? What are the choices that you’ve made, either things that you’ve been doing or the things that you’ve been avoiding doing that have created this? So for instance, let’s take another example. Let’s say the fruit that’s showing up on someone’s tree is that they’re overweight. There’s obviously certain choices that they’re making that have created that over time. They’re not going to the gym. They’re not exercising. They’re not getting enough sleep. They’re eating crappy food. Whatever it might be. Their choices, that’s the trunk of the tree, that’s what’s creating those results.

Gerald Rogers: 14:05

The next question, though, is okay, what would you have to believe to make those choices? So let’s go back to this example of someone that’s overweight. If they’re not working out, there’s a series of underlying beliefs about who they believe they are and what they believe about their reality that make it impossible for them to work out? They’d have to believe exercise is hard, exercise is painful, exercise is a waste of time.

Rock Thomas: 14:27

Boring, I don’t know how to do it.

Gerald Rogers: 14:29

Boring, I don’t know how to do it. Whatever. And with that framework of roots underneath the surface, the natural choices would be to not work out and the result would end up being overweight. Someone that’s stuck in poverty cycles or scarcity, once again, what choices are they making? They’re not managing their resources. They’re not paying attention to the money. They’re spending frivolously. What would they have to believe? Budgets are difficult, it’s a waste of time, I’m not good about money. And so there’s all of those things. And so leveraging these questions just so you can see clearly, and that’s where the power begins, because most people just look at the fruit that’s showing up in their tree and they think the fruit’s the problem, right?

Rock Thomas: 15:09

Right.

Gerald Rogers: 15:10

You remember this analogy. TR Becker used to teach this principle so brilliantly. He’d have a drawing of a tree and he’d like, “How many of you have ever heard of a lack of money being a problem?” He’s like, “A lack of money is never, ever the problem. A lack of money is the result.”

Rock Thomas: 15:27

It is a symptom, yeah.

Gerald Rogers: 15:28

And in our unconsciousness, we think that divorce is the problem. The unconsciousness, we believe that being overweight is the problem. In our unconsciousness, we believe that being broke is the problem. But it’s not. It’s the symptom. It’s the result of certain choices that are created by a fabric of beliefs underneath. So that’s the first step is actually being clear what are the beliefs I have about myself in the world that are creating this result.

Rock Thomas: 15:52

Now let’s go down that road a little bit, because I think the word beliefs gets thrown around a lot and people, I’m under the impression that they don’t really get to the level that they could because you can have a belief that taking care of your garden is a pain in the butt. You can have so many micro beliefs, that running on a treadmill is boring. That could be a belief. That the time it takes to change in the gym, there’s a chance I get fungus in there and I don’t want to go to the gym because of that. There are literally, would you agree with me, hundreds and thousands of tiny little beliefs that could in and of itself take you out of getting an end result unless you have enough leverage on yourself to gain that? Does that make sense?

Gerald Rogers: 16:37

Yeah. I mean, we have a fabric, and I call the surface level or secondary beliefs, and then we also have primary beliefs, which are the driving beliefs. So for instance, let’s take health. I mean, it actually … In any area of our life, whether it be relationships, finance, health, emotional state, any of these things, we all have surface-level beliefs around those things, right? So you can have certain surface level beliefs about relationships and about women and about men, and about connection, and about marriage. Those are all surface-level beliefs. Those are external.

Gerald Rogers: 17:10

The primary beliefs are always the internal beliefs about yourself. And when it comes down to it, Rock, each of us, there’s really only three core master beliefs that are at the root of all of our dysfunction. And every one of us as human beings has it. The first belief is, “I’m not enough. And no matter how hard I try, it’s not going to be enough or I’m not good enough,” whatever that might be. “I’m not enough.” The second is, “I’m not lovable.” And the third is, “I’m not worthy.” In the end, all of our results, in the I Am podcast, this is what we teach people, right? If those are the generative beliefs inside the soul of your identity, of how you see yourself, then all of a sudden, all of the secondary beliefs of how you perceive the world are going to be a reflection of that. They’re going to be a justification of that.

Rock Thomas: 18:02

Nice.

Gerald Rogers: 18:02

If you believe you’re not worthy or you’re not lovable, then the secondary beliefs is like relationships are hard, relationships are difficult, men are abusive, women are crazy, I don’t have the skills to take relationships. Whatever that might be, right? Those are secondary beliefs that are just validating the internal beliefs that says, “I’m not lovable.” And so the manifestation comes through our choices that just, once again, keep validating those things. And the way that I imagine this is let’s say someone has the belief, “I’m not worthy” or “I’m not lovable,” and then they get into a relationship and in that relationship, they keep having these beliefs that say, “Relationships are hard,” or “I can’t get the love I want” or “No matter how hard I try, it’s never enough.”

Gerald Rogers: 18:53

I feel like especially for us men, this is one of the underlying beliefs that we all have is like, “No matter how hard I try, it’s never enough.” And then with that, then the choices end up creating this fruit of disconnection, dysfunction, lack of intimacy, stress, feeling emasculated for a man or feeling like you can’t have what you want if you’re a woman.

Rock Thomas: 19:13

Underappreciated.

Gerald Rogers: 19:14

Underappreciated. Whatever that might be. And that becomes the fruit. Now, then the reality that we then perceive is a direct reflection of those beliefs. The outer world is always a reflection of the inner world. It’s like this lens is created where all of a sudden we find validation for everything that we believe and it’s almost like that fruit then drops seeds on the ground based on those same beliefs. Relationships are hard, relationships suck, marriage is difficult, it’s never going to work.

Rock Thomas: 19:42

We gather the evidence.

Gerald Rogers: 19:43

Right.

Rock Thomas: 19:44

We gather it, we look for it, we see it, we find it.

Gerald Rogers: 19:46

Yeah. And so then those seeds then create new energy for these beliefs to keep recreating. And this is the cycle of unconsciousness as we keep reacting and creating from the same pattern over and over again. And until we stop and decide to start planting new seeds in our garden, we’re doomed to keep creating that same reality because it’s based on our current identity. As long as we have that as an identity of who we are, we’ll always … We don’t create from what we want, we create from who we believe we are. And as long as that current … Like one of the things I say, our current reality is simply a reflection of your past way of being, believing, and behaving, right?

Gerald Rogers: 20:30

Who we are today, it’s simply a reflection of all of the choices that we’ve made based on who we thought we were in the past.

Rock Thomas: 20:36

Yes.

Gerald Rogers: 20:37

This fruit that I’m experiencing is from seeds that I’ve been planting all throughout my life. And if we want a different future, then we have to start planting new seeds and start reclaiming a new identity with new I Am statements like you teach.

Rock Thomas: 20:51

You just took the words out of my mouth. I don’t know if you … There’s a drawing on the back of the board behind me, but a lot of people will not be able to see that, but either way, I talk about the same thing you mentioned in similar words is you have your past, the way you see yourself, you have labels that were given to you. You have outside validation of that. Let’s say you were chubby most of your life and people call you fat or whatever and you get used to that. You get on the plane, you have to squeeze in the seat. And you develop all these references that validate that identity. Then you have your inner narrative, which is, “I can’t run as fast as other people because I’m overweight. I can’t tie my shoes properly.” And you start to have this inner narrative that you’re chubby. Or bad with relationships, whatever it is.

Rock Thomas: 21:39

So let’s talk about how do you go to the newer identity. I grew up on a farm. I had a mentor that helped me see the potential in me and I went from farm boy to salesperson, from salesperson to entrepreneur, from entrepreneur to teacher, from teacher to author. And I kept on creating a new identity, and I believe it’s important that you romance those labels. So you know what? I’m dyslexic and not really great at spelling, but I could write a book. I have some good thoughts. Let me write one chapter. Maybe one day I’ll be an author. That’d be cool.

Rock Thomas: 22:13

And you start to romance it. You start to get more comfortable with not the fruits that you talked about, but another tree that has different fruits. You still look over at it and you go, “Oh, that’s kind of neat. Maybe I’ll go over, hang out over there. Maybe I’ll taste it a little bit. Feels different.” But then with time, and then you hang out with the people that are hanging around there, and most people say, “Hey, these apples are pretty good. Hey, yeah. I like these apples. Yeah, that’s a nice tree you grew.”

Rock Thomas: 22:39

So how do you take them with your systems to the new identity, because the old identity for most people keeps on calling them back. That’s their comfort zone as we call it.

Gerald Rogers: 22:50

Yeah, exactly. And what you’re saying is really important, because there has to be an internal shift if you want the external results to change. And hopefully, people don’t feel like that’s cliché to say. I know that’s a core part of your message. Identity work is a core part of the work I do in helping people transform and it’s critical to really reinforce over and over again that this is the foundation of transformation. You have to shift the internal world. So the first step is that awareness, being able to see clearly, “Oh, it makes sense that I’m creating this frustration or this stress or this poverty or whatever in my life because these are the choices I’ve been making and these are what I believe.”

Gerald Rogers: 23:33

The first step is just to see clearly what you’ve created and how. The second step is to take accountability and to own that whatever’s showing up in your garden is your results. There’s no one else. You can’t blame your dad, you can’t blame your mom, you can’t blame your spouse. You can’t blame the government, you can’t blame your boss. They’re not in charge of your garden, you are. And this is really challenging for some people,, to actually take accountability. We’re great at taking accountability for what’s great in our life. But no one wants to take accountability of they’re in an abusive relationship, right? They don’t want to believe that they’re actually the one that made the choice to be in that relationship. No one wants to take accountability if their business just failed and they’re going through bankruptcy, right?

Gerald Rogers: 24:17

It’s way easier on the outside to be a victim and believe that it was someone else’s fault or some business partner swindled or whatever. But there’s no power in being a victim. Victimhood will always keep you stuck. Until we realize that we are the source of everything that we’re experiencing in our life, the moment we can accept that all of the good and all of the bad are because of our choices, then all of a sudden it gives us the ability to move to the next step, which is alignment. So alignment is where we shift from being an unconscious reactor to a conscious creator. That unconscious reactor is where you’re going through all these patterns and creating all these results based on your subconscious beliefs without knowing that you have a choice and you can do something different.

Gerald Rogers: 25:03

A conscious creator is when we ask these three questions. Just like if you can imagine the fruit analogy, when you look at the fruits, what am I experiencing? The trunk is what are the choices I’ve made? And the roots are what would I need to believe to have these choices? That’s the space of awareness. On the other side, taking this same thing is like what fruit do I want to experience. These are the three questions. What do I want? What would I need to do? And who would I need to be to create that?

Rock Thomas: 25:37

So then let’s say you want an amazing relationship like I’ve been divorced several times and as I look at it, I look at it as part of it is that core belief that I was not enough, not worthy for … you know, my parents weren’t around, my parents abandoned me, blah blah blah, boohoo. But what I did was I recreated that in my relationships. I started to look for reasons why they weren’t going to stick around or I created fights or opportunities to push them away to validate that other work that I hadn’t done on myself.

Rock Thomas: 26:05

So how do you get to the point or how do people get to a point where they can go, “Yeah. What I want is an epic relationship and I want to be loved,” but if that little voice is still there, “I’m not enough,” and they start to get conscious of it, how do they then start to be the type of person that they believe that they’re lovable and they believe they’re worthy? What do you suggest there?

Gerald Rogers: 26:26

Yeah. And I love this because the core of this question is how do we get from the conscious desire to the unconscious belief and understanding, right? Because it’s true. We can say that we want these things, but one of the quotes from this book called Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, one of the things he says, he says, “You can never outperform your self-image.” Like you can never outperform your self-image. You can say you want to lose weight, you can say you want to be in an epic relationship, you can say you want to be a multi-millionaire. But if deep down you believe that you’re not worthy, you can never outperform that self-image.

Gerald Rogers: 27:02

So it’s required that you shift your core inner beliefs. I find that it’s useful to do the conscious exercises of defining what you want and getting really clear on that vision. It’s helpful to look at identifying the strategy or the skills that you need to have and the choices you need to make. But 90% of the work is going to be underneath the surface. So how do you realign those roots so that they fuel the results that you want? And there’s a lot of different tools and healing modalities and strategies and different things we could talk about. There are so many different ways to shift the inner game and change the emotional energy around things, and there’s no way we would have time to go in-depth-

Rock Thomas: 27:46

Sure.

Gerald Rogers: 27:47

Let me give three specific ones that anyone can do at home that I think would be useful. Number one is understand the power of creative visualization. The power of activating your subconscious mind to believe. Because the subconscious mind, the way that it works is the subconscious mind does not have the ability to distinguish between that, which is vividly imagined in that which is real. Right? The challenge is most of us are using our unconscious mind to imagine what we don’t want, which is why we have fears, why we have anxieties, why we have stress is because we’re projecting like this is my definition of fear. Fear is when we imagine a negative outcome on a future event. That’s it. We’re just leveraging our imagination to imagine something terrible happening.

Gerald Rogers: 28:35

And then of course, we then begin to manifest it. So using the power of creative visualization is when we take time to imagine, go into this vision of what we want to create and go there with such vivid detail and emotion where we can feel it, where we can see it, where we can believe that we’ve already created it. And when we go there often enough in our mind, then all of a sudden our mind then begins to perceive that that experience, that result is part of our reality, and then it becomes part of our comfort zone.

Rock Thomas: 29:10

Yes.

Gerald Rogers: 29:10

If you imagine often enough that you’re a multi-millionaire, then it’s not going to feel foreign to you when you actually become a multi-millionaire because you’ve been there. Let me give you a specific example. When I started speaking, I was terrified about public speaking. This is probably about the time I met you, maybe a little bit before, like I felt this call or draw to be a messenger, but I was so in my head and my knees would shake, my heart would beat super fast and I was terrified about speaking in public. But I knew this was part of my calling. And so what I did is I would, every morning I would wake up and I’d go to the field near my house in Oviedo, Florida, I remember this very clearly, and I would put on audio of actually Tony Robbins at the time. It was like his Personal Power Two program or whatever and I would listen to him, and I would just pretend I was Tony Robbins. And I would move as he would move, and I would speak, and I was just repeating everything I was hearing in my iPod, and I was just speaking, and I was imagining in my mind’s eye that I was speaking to a group of 2000 people.

Gerald Rogers: 30:15

This was at a point where I was afraid of speaking to 10 people. But I would do that every morning. And I would just imagine being in front of this audience and speaking and delivering my message with power and certainty and confidence. And I would just go there over and over and over again in my mind. It was really cool for me because a couple of months after that, I actually held my first event, and we had about 250 people at that event. And I remember going up, and this was the first time that I had been in front of an audience this large in person, but I remember getting up there and feeling so confident because it’s like, “Oh, this is a small audience. In my mind, I’m used to speaking to 2000 people.”

Rock Thomas: 30:55

Nice.

Gerald Rogers: 30:56

Right?

Rock Thomas: 30:57

I want to just bookmark a couple of things, because you’re dropping down a lot of gems, Gerald, and I want people to capture them. So one thing is you talk about becoming familiar with and the creativeness of your mind, and I think that you became familiar with being a speaker with yourself. You looked at your future identity, you romanced it, you repeated it, you spent time with it, you connected and bonded with it, and it was who you became. And so well put, I say the same thing, is worry using your imagination for a negative result. We’ve all imagined, well us men have probably all imagined being with a girl once we were 16, 17 years old and we gave it a bunch of energy. We thought about her. We imagined kissing her, holding her hands, walking down the street with her. We gave it so much energy that one day it happened. We were completely consumed by it.

Rock Thomas: 31:52

We might’ve been nervous, but eventually, we made it happen. So I think that you so well are laying out the steps for people, if they can’t visualize what they want and they’re not willing to invest the energy to feel the feelings of what that’s like, then their body’s like an antenna. It will not resonate when the opportunity shows up. Continue.

Gerald Rogers: 32:15

Exactly. And there’s other ways to do it. Some people create vision boards. Other people, like say if there’s a specific car you want to drive, go and test drive the car and feel yourself in it and experience that. Like if you’re in someone’s house and you’re like, “Wow, I really love the feeling of this home,” just immerse yourself as much as possible into the emotion and the imagination of that experience. And now the second principle I would say is just understand the power of where you’re putting your energy. This is the coaching I give to my people and I’d encourage everyone, it’s like only put energy into that which you desire to experience more of. Only put energy into that which you desire to experience more of. This means being conscious of your words, and your thoughts, and your emotions.

Gerald Rogers: 33:04

Don’t speak that which you don’t desire to create. For instance, like with my coaching clients, I banned them from complaining at all. I never want to hear them say, “Oh my gosh, I’m so tired. I’m so exhausted. I’m in so much pain.” Scratch that. Because all you’re doing by complaining is reinforcing more of that reality. Only put energy … And if you’re experiencing stress, really get clear. Wow, what am I imagining? Oh, I’m imagining rejection, or I’m imagining going into financial pain or destruction or losing money or whatever. And I’m like, “Stop putting energy into that which you don’t want.” Only put energy into that which you desire.

Gerald Rogers: 33:42

And when you can be aware that your emotions are your greatest tool to indicate where your attention is, then all of a sudden you realize there’s no bad emotion. If you’re feeling stressed, if you’re feeling angry, if you’re feeling upset, that emotion’s one of your greatest gifts because it tells you that you’re focusing your energy and walking in the wrong direction. And if you’re walking in the wrong direction, the best advice I can give you is stop walking. Stop moving in that direction. Stop putting energy into that which you don’t want. Rather, turn your focus to that which you desire. Only speak that which you want. And as you do that, your energy will naturally gravitate you to those opportunities and experiences that are more in alignment with your truth.

Rock Thomas: 34:25

That makes me think of what Harvey used to say, “Where attention goes, energy flows and results show.” And it sounds so simplistic, yet it’s so profound, because whatever you give life to, life will be created. So if you give life to complaining, to feeling tired, to feeling disappointed, you’ll just get more of that. Like The Secret says, you’ll magnify it back. All right. So we got one more, you’re going to give us three. Before we do that, I just want to mention one little thing is when I started a Mastermind for men six years ago called Go Abundance and I was in charge of enrolling people, and there are now thousands of people that have come through my Masterminds. And yet it was interesting because we had this criteria for people to be millionaires to get in, and for the population only about 3% or less of the population are millionaires. So when you get through people and they get to that level, they’re pretty excited. It’s like the VIP room. They’re coming in, they’re like … And a lot of people we found out later, which was surprising, you’d think whoa, the guy’s a millionaire, multi-millionaire, he’s going to walk in the door with confidence.

Rock Thomas: 35:31

The exact opposite actually happened, because a lot of them were afraid, “What if I don’t fit in? What if I’m not enough?” Yet, when they got in and they realized that the guys were just like them, there was this incredible thing that happened is their confidence went through the roof. They go, “You know what? I am in this VIP room. I can hang with these people. I am a badass. I do play at a high level. I have these skills I can pass on to other people. I’m a good student. I can learn.” So I think that one of the things that doesn’t happen in our society because we are so negative and most people play small is it’s really hard for you to be seen and encouraged and validated to live your best self. We don’t have a culture that does that and I know you run Masterminds and I do, and I think one of the biggest benefits is the people you get to hang out with.

Rock Thomas: 36:26

I know when we did dinner the other night, it was just like it flowed, it was great. The energy was awesome. Because we have mutual goals. How important is it to surround yourself with other people that are at the same or a higher level?

Gerald Rogers: 36:40

Yeah. That actually is the third principle that I want to teach is just immerse yourself in environments where you’re surrounded by like-minded people, because it’s critical, right? If you’re around people that are toxic and negative, and at what we call a low vibrational state, it’s really challenging to maintain a high vibration when you’re around people that are complaining and whining and tearing you down, and making fun of you or making you wrong.

Rock Thomas: 37:06

You have to manage that energy. You don’t have choice.

Gerald Rogers: 37:10

So much energy output. Versus when you’re actually around people, like when I’m around people like you, Rock, and the people like you attract, it’s almost impossible not to be a badass when you’re surrounded by badasses, right? Like it’s almost impossible to not thrive and to have a desire to achieve, because the vibration of the community and the group lifts you up. And I really believe in the power of immersive experiences. I believe in Mastermind groups. I believe in like our three-day legendary breakthrough experience is a place where people are immersed in the energy and the vibration of abundance to the point where it shifts their spiritual DNA, right? It shifts the way that they see themselves and it happens in a way that you can’t get by reading a book. You can’t get by having a thought or having an idea. You have to immerse yourself in the environment and the energy of high vibrational people.

Gerald Rogers: 38:07

So having that high vibe tribe and having these immersive experiences is for me by far the biggest catalyst for accelerating this journey. And that’s why anyone that’s listening to this, like if you aren’t part of Rock’s creations and events, aspire to experience that and be around that, and as much as possible, go to environments where you’re just around people that think the way that you desire to think and have the things you desire to have.

Rock Thomas: 38:37

And you run your own, but at the same time, you go to other people’s. You go to Tony Robbins Platinum Partners. You’re always looking for new and higher ways to evolve yourself. How can people get in touch with you, follow you, learn from you?

Gerald Rogers: 38:50

Yeah. You know, I feel inspired for those of you that are listening to this podcast, that you would like to have some additional support. If you’re on that journey, if you’re trying to clarify who you are, you can always find me on Facebook, Gerald Rogers. I’m the goofy guy with the blue hair that you can find. But I would also love to offer your people, anyone that feels inspired to just reach out and even have a personal conversation, a breakthrough experience with me, you can reach out and just go to CoachwithGerland.com, and just set up a time. I’m really all about contributing and serving those that are desiring to grow and I would love to offer that to your people.

Rock Thomas: 39:30

Wow. That’s awesome. With your wealth of experience, that’s quite the offer. So hopefully you won’t get too inundated, but maybe a little bit. You know what’s often funny is that people, I teach something and it’s not new, but I highlight it as ask and it shall be given. And so many times, leaders like you, great people are willing to help people that are hungry. But guess what little voice shows up? “I’m not good enough to call up Gerald and take his time and tap into his wisdom. I don’t want to bother him.” So I’m going to encourage those of you that are listening to override that voice and to reach out. This is your opportunity to get connected.

Gerald Rogers: 40:10

And this is what’s important. The reason why I do this, I dedicate basically five hours per week just giving back. This is my way of giving karma back. And I think this is important for everyone. As you’re on the path, you should always be reaching up and having mentors to support. And also, you should always be reaching down and supporting other people in your journey. So I have my mentors that I’m working with, people that are supporting me, and then I love creating these experiences where I dedicate, I have 10 sessions every week that I just give away to people that are wanting to create more of what they want in their life.

Gerald Rogers: 40:44

So once again, if that calls to you, go to CoachwithGerald.com and just set up a time and I’d love to sit down and see how I can help you get more of what you want.

Rock Thomas: 40:51

Well, I think we could talk for hours, but we’re going to wrap up this call. I want to remind everybody that you can practice creative visualization, which is a way for you to use your imagination for the positive versus the negative. What was the second point that you gave them, Gerald?

Gerald Rogers: 41:07

The second, it’s a creative visual is the second part is only put energy into that which you desire. So focus on managing your thoughts and words so that you’re focusing on the things that you want more of and learn how to stop when you’re noticing yourself in a downward cycle so that you’re redirecting your energy. And the third is-

Rock Thomas: 41:26

Change … Yeah, surround yourself with badasses.

Gerald Rogers: 41:29

Surround yourself with badasses. Surround yourself with people like Rock. That’s the key. Just hang out, listen. And sometimes it’s just being immersed and listening. For those of you that are listening to this, congratulations and make sure that you listen to every episode that Rock creates. You have no idea what benefit you get from being around, and it’s almost like Rock, because of what you’ve experienced and what you’ve done, your energy frequency is the way I call it, you have this energy frequency that surrounds you, so the more people even hear your voice, the more they’re elevated in their own energy frequency so that they can create more of what they want. So for everyone that’s listening, make a commitment to make sure that you catch every episode that Rock puts out.

Rock Thomas: 42:16

Thank you. I appreciate that. And I did not pay him to say that. But thank you. You know, the reason I started the podcast is when my goal cast video came out and 100 million people decided to see it and a million-plus people shared it, I understood that this message around the words of I Am and parents have so crushed their children not knowing, not having the right message, telling them things like, “No, you can’t. You’ll never amount to much,” in an effort to protect them. But the reality is what they did is they crushed their identity.

Rock Thomas: 42:49

So the mission here is for people to have the tools from talking to people like you. So how would you describe yourself? What are some of the words you use that enable you to feel empowered and vibrate at a high level?

Gerald Rogers: 43:03

Actually, this is really powerful. I’m going to share with you something that I have here in my office. I’ve got this flag that I’ve created, and this happened when we did like a men’s retreat, but it’s just a series of statements that I have around myself. So these are the words that I wrote. “I am fierce. I am a powerful, kind, and loving king. I’m a leader, a servant, a father, a healer. I am a lover, a husband, a protector. I’m a visionary, a warrior, an oracle. I’m an ambassador of truth. I’m a conduit of wisdom. I am the strength of the mountain, the peace of the river, and the light of the morning sun. I am the nobility of the universe. I am.”

Rock Thomas: 43:50

Wow. How perfect. I appreciate that very much. So remember everybody, the words that follow I Am follow you. Describe yourself in your own way like Gerald did and create a poster, create something. Put it on your phone, listen to it, describe yourself in the best possible way. Romance that. And then watch how you eventually will become familiar and comfortable with the highest version of yourself, the best iteration, and then you’ll live that kind of a life. Gerald, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time.

Gerald Rogers: 44:20

It’s an honor, man. Thank you so much. And then thank you, everyone, for listening.

Outro: 44:26

This is the I Am Movement podcast. To find out more about how you can join the I Am Movement and take your life to the next level, go to GoM1.com. G-O-M-1 dot com.