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      Break Through Barriers: Welcome to Episode 112 of Building My Legacy.

      In this podcast, we talk with Jeff Heggie, a former professional rodeo cowboy who uses this background and his extensive experience in banking and as an entrepreneur to help others achieve their biggest dreams. What happens in the 3.4 seconds when a steer wrestler faces a 700-pound steer head on? Jeff’s description will have you on the edge of your seat. Although very few of us would even consider steer wrestling, Jeff equates this experience to the importance of not letting fear intimidate you.

      Describing fear as “something in the future that’s not real,” Jeff explains the process he used to overcome his initial fear in the rodeo ring and how it can also help entrepreneurs build and grow a business. He takes a unique look at achieving goals and the importance of reflecting on achievements as well as failures to see what they can teach you going forward.

      So if you want to know:

      • Why you should find something every day that takes you out of your comfort zone
      • How, when we put things off, the more difficult they become
      • The importance of breaking challenges into pieces and taking them one step at a time
      • Why you need to put yourself in the position of doing it rather than watching it
      • How a “mindset journal” can help you change the negative conversations in your head

       

      About Jeff Heggie

      Jeff Heggie likes to call himself a “father, husband, coach and entrepreneur.” As a success coach, he has a passion for helping others achieve their biggest dreams. Jeff enjoys using his extensive experience in the banking industry, more than 20 years as an entrepreneur and his coaching experience to help his clients break through the mental and physical barriers holding them back. A former professional rodeo cowboy, Jeff also has 20 years’ experience coaching basketball. More information about his company, Jeff Heggie Coaching, is available at his website, jeffheggie.com. He can also be found on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

      About Lois Sonstegard, PhD

      Working with business leaders for more than 30 years, Lois has learned that successful leaders have a passion to leave a meaningful legacy.  Leaders often ask: When does one begin to think about legacy?  Is there a “best” approach?  Is there a process or steps one should follow?

      Lois is dedicated not only to developing leaders but to helping them build a meaningful legacy. Learn more about how Lois can help your organization with Leadership Consulting and Executive Coaching:
      https://build2morrow.com/

      Thanks for Tuning In!

      Thanks so much for being with us this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Please leave a note in the comments section below!

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      Transcript



      – Welcome everybody to today’s Building My Legacy Podcast. I have with me today, Jeff Heggie. He is rather interesting because amongst all of the things he’s done with coaching he is also a former cowboy. He has done rodeos and I used to live in Lubbock, Texas and used to see a lot of rodeos so I respect that, that takes a certain amount of courage, drive and I’m just plain gumption. So I wanna start with that. So let me just explain to the audience. He comes out of the banking industry. He’s a coach, he works with entrepreneurs to really look at how do you grow and build your business. I’m sure you work with people in the banking industry as well coming out of that. He’s also a former basketball coach. He’s coached for 20 years, in addition to his marvelous rodeo experience. So I wanna start with that because that is rather unique. And I want to know what did being a rodeo cowboy teach you? But tell me, what did you do? Was it roping the cows? Was it, which part of the rodeo experience was it that you did?


      – Sure, absolutely so, thank you. When I was in high school, my older brother started rodeoing before I did. And when I began, I started as a roper and I was roping and then he got into steer wrestling as well. And that’s something that I really wanted to do. And so I’ve actually on my podcast, I’ve talked about courage and things like that. And so I use this story because I decided I wanted to be a steer wrestler. And for those that don’t know what steer wrestling is, it’s when you’re on a horse running full speed down the arena and you jump off onto the horns of the steer and wrestle him to the ground. And so I called him one day and I said, “Todd I wanna be a steer wrestler, I want you to teach me.” And he says, “okay, the next time we go out and practice I’ll give you a call and we can kind of show you some of the stuff.” I said, “well, that’s kind of a problem. I entered a rodeo this weekend, you gotta teach me before the weekend.”


      – Oh wow, okay.


      – So I started as a roper and I jumped both feet into the steer wrestling. It actually went well, that weekend I won second at the rodeo. And then it kind of, I went through the amateur ranks and then rodeo professionally for a number of years. But, you know, it’s an interesting sport because you’re, except for events such as the team roping you’re working as an individual but everyone is so supportive of one another. It’s a tight family, everyone’s helping one another. And, you know, especially in rodeo, you’re basically in a position where you’re getting help from people that you’re trying to beat. And so it really created some real neat relationships. And yeah, there’s definitely a lot of life learning experiences from it. I had an unfortunate situation. It was still when I was in the amateur circuits where I got in an accident had a really bad head injury. I had a horse lined on my head. And there’s a span of at least two weeks that I don’t have any recollection of. And you know, there’s a lot of repercussions from that. But even events like that taught me a lot of life lessons and prioritizing things and those sorts of things. So, it was a good experience throughout my life.


      – Okay, so going to wrestling a steer without ever having training, there’s something rather brazen about that but it also says fear doesn’t intimidate you. So how did you arrive at that? I mean, what brought you to that place ’cause that’s unusual?


      – You know what, I mean, I’ve always been an adrenaline junkie. You know, I’ve done the skydiving, the cliff jumping, all those sorts of things and I’ve enjoyed those sort of things. So that gets me excited about things. But it’s also facing your fears and taking them head on because one of the things I talk a lot about is fear. It’s something in the future that’s not real and we let it control us so much and we’ve got to overcome those things. One of the things I teach my clients is to find something every day to step out of your comfort zone. Because when you do that on a daily basis, all of a sudden your comfort zone is pretty big. And so I’ll tell you the story of how this all went about. So when my brother took me to practice and teach me, he said, “okay I understand, you’re on a horse running full speed jumping onto the horns of another animal. It’s scary, especially your first time. So if you ride by the first time and you don’t get off, I understand. In fact, if you ride by the second time and don’t get off, I understand. But at that point if you keep doing that the fear just keeps building up, building up and it’s that much harder to do it. So if you do that on the third time, I’m putting a rope around your waist and I’m pulling you off, whether the steer is there or not you’re hitting the ground.


      – Oh wow.


      – And so I had two choices, jump off onto the horns or eventually get pulled off onto the ground. And I actually the very first time, very first steer I chased, I jumped off and was able to do it and it gave me, I guess, part of it the alternatives were giving me the courage to do it but it was also just looking at it and knowing that if I didn’t do it, it would get more and more difficult. And I think a lot of the fears we face in life when we put things off, the more we procrastinate the more we put them off, the more difficult they become.


      – You know, that’s so, so true. And we hope it’s gonna go away, the fear that is. And yet when you have an experience like you’ve got where you have an animal and you don’t have too many choices, either you do it or you don’t, it is your push, it’s that pain versus pleasure. And it’s at the most high intensity, right? So you’ve just have got to get it and move. So, I’m amazed at that. So tell me, what was it that allowed you to, that was focus, right, you had to be focused. And it was the focus that probably got you through it controlled the fear, so it didn’t take hold of you. So just tell me, when you got on that horse you knew you were gonna tackle that steer. How did you manage yourself and your mindset so that you could accomplish what you were going after?


      – The first step was getting over the fact that the heart was beating out of my chest. But it was, a lot of it was focus and I’ll have to admit you know, the first time things are happening so fast. And as I got more and more experienced, it seemed to slow down for me but it was breaking it into pieces and taking it one step at a time. Because I mean, in the process of it, if you’re looking at steer wrestling, you’re backed into the corner, there’s a process of nodding your head so they’ll open the shoot and the steer starts running. Then you go, and then there’s a lot of processes, you know, like-


      – Walk us through those processes, I’m fascinated by it.


      – For sure. And you look at it, my fastest time in a rodeo was 3.4 seconds. And so when you look at these processes there’s a lot of things that happens in 3.4 seconds. So you’re riding this horse, you get to a certain spot on that steer and you’re holding onto the saddle horn on the horse and you slide down onto the side of the horse. And then you’ve got to, with your right arm your hook and what the outside horn into your elbow you’re grabbing the other horn with your left hand and through the techniques, there’s certain areas where you have to place those horns. And then the horse keeps running, your feet hit the ground, and then you’ve gotta know how to control your feet so that steer comes to a stop, comes around your hip, and then you take your left hand, that’s on the left horn, you reach down and catch the steer’s nose in your elbow and that’s how you roll them over onto their back. And so there’s a lot of things that happen in a run such as 3.4 seconds. But as you, as I got more and more experienced those things I could slow them down and even though it was happening quickly it was one step at a time.


      – Okay. So a steer typically will weigh how much?


      – Four to 700 pounds.


      – Okay, so the velocity of that at the speed at which they go is pretty amazing, right? With your feet are on the ground, you’re running alongside to pull him down. So is it the technique that pulls the bull over? ‘Cause certainly it isn’t power. He’s got the greater power.


      – Absolutely, yeah. And most of it is technique I mean, in the rodeo, they call it the big men’s event because obviously being big as a benefit but there is a lot of technique to it. And like I said, when you’re coming off and you grab those horns, the placement of where you put those horns before your feet hit the ground, really has an impact of what you’re doing you know, with your left horn, if it’s too high when that steer hits the ground, they have the leverage and they’re gonna carry you to the end of the arena.


      – Oh wow, got it. So would you visualize this in your mind before a race, step by step by step? Or how would you prepare for a competition?


      – That’s actually interesting, yesterday I was actually doing the recording for one of my modules in a mindset course that I’m doing. And I talked exactly about that. Is before it was my turn, I would sit there and I would visualize everything from when I backed into the box, to when I nodded my head, to watching the steer come out and just step-by-step. And especially with those specific techniques of that play a vital role in your success or failure. And I would visualize those very clearly and you know Neville Goddard, when he talks about visualizing he says to put yourself in the position of doing it rather than watching it. So rather than being an observer, be a participant. And so that, and that’s how I would do it is I wouldn’t watch it like I’m watching a TV with someone’s steer wrestling, I would watch it in my mind as if it was me doing it and going through that process.


      – Okay, amazing.


      – So tell me, now you’re a coach you’re an adrenaline junkie sitting in a chair and coaching it must drive you crazy.


      – Not well, yeah, yeah and no, I mean, I also, I still have a lot of opportunities. I mean, I mentioned that I went I’ve been skydiving and stuff like that. When I did that, it was I took my team and we went as a group, one of the companies I own we went as a group of, from our staff and went skydiving. And so as a staff, we still do things. And I mentioned that I’ve been a basketball coach for 20 years. Most of that time has been coaching my children and my daughter I coached her all the way up through her senior year. And then she moved on, went on to collegiate ball and stuff. But even that having the opportunity to be in a position where I’m coaching an athletic team, that’s adrenaline for me.


      – So the role of adrenaline in your life today is, is it what get you momentum?


      – I would say it does to a degree. It gives me excitement. It gives me the excitement and drive and so yeah, that would build into my momentum. Yeah.


      – It’s just amazing ’cause I I remember so vividly those rodeos I used to go to in Texas and Texas is proud of their rodeos. And there are some of some the best that you would go to. And it was interesting, ’cause I didn’t know really much about the sport at the time, but you kind of get so as an observer you watch how people walk, how they talk to other people and you begin to go, okay, that one’s nervous. And so, when you see them get on the horse you breathe more shallowly at least I would, because I was afraid for them. And so it’s interesting how as an observer, you would pick up on those cues with not even knowing or understanding I didn’t know or understand the sport at that time. I was a newbie at it, that watching. But it was, I think the other thing that just impressed me was the sheer gut. You know, it was was mind over matter. I’m gonna beat this animal no matter what. Right?


      – Right.


      – And that’s a big challenge. So I wanna go on from that, you do a lot of mindset coaching. So when you work with mindset what is it that you focus on and how do you, what is it about mindset in terms of business that you find is important and how do you help people get ready, get their mindset together?


      – Absolutely, thank you. You know life, whether you’re looking at business or whatever it is, I think it ties in so much with sports. And so actually in my courses, I talk a lot about rodeo. I talk a lot about basketball and stuff like that because there are so many similarities and a lot of the problems that people face are the limiting beliefs that they’ve developed over years that hold them back from their real true potential. And many of it, I have someone that I’ve been working with and some of her most challenging limiting beliefs were some things that were said to her in a conversation between her father and her grandmother when she was six years old. And she wasn’t even realizing that’s what was holding her back. And when we look at the conversations that we have in our head it’s a matter of we’re asking, and answering questions to ourselves on an ongoing basis. And a lot of people, when something happens the questions they’re asking themselves are things like, why do I think I could do that? Why is this happening to me? And they’re really on the negative side of things. And so one of the things that I really try to focus on is those habitual questions that people are asking themselves because it’s not gonna, you know going through my courses or working with me or whatever doesn’t mean you’re never gonna have a negative thought again but you recognize them. And when you can recognize them you can interrupt that pattern and you can start changing that conversation. And then one of the techniques that I use a lot is for example, I’ve got what I call it my mindset journal. And in it, I include what I call my mindset questions. And every day you go through and the morning starts with some questions and it ends with some questions at the end of the day. And those questions are basically set up to help prime you for the day. And then it also includes the space to write out all your goals for the day and just focus on those things. Because one of the things I really believe is through the power of your reticular activating system, your RAS you can find a lot of the answers you’re looking for. And just to explain, anyone listening that doesn’t know what the RAS is a story I use a lot is when we moved from Canada, Arizona I bought my daughter a little Mitsubishi convertible car. I’d never seen this car before that I was aware of. And after I bought it, I saw this car everywhere. And it wasn’t the fact that that car wasn’t around before it just wasn’t important to me. So your reticular activating system is a filter because we’ve got millions of things going on and around us all the time, it helps you recognize the things that are important to you. It’s like when you buy a new outfit and then you see other people wearing the same outfit. And so when you’re focused on answering these questions on a regular basis and your mind is looking at these things and you’re focused on your goals every day, your mind is looking for the answers that are gonna help you achieve those things. And so it’s just a matter of habit. And the more we can work on these things and the more we can make them a dominating thought in our mind, the more we’re gonna recognize the opportunities that we need to achieve those goals.


      – So as you work with people Jeff, what do you find are some of the things that hold people back the most?


      – I think one of the biggest things I mean their limiting beliefs definitely are. But what we talked about earlier is the fears that they have. And the interesting thing is, so many times when they finally can get themselves to move forward on something, all those fears that were holding them back they never happen. You know, so many of the fears that we have, we build them up and they, we give them so much power over us but they never even happen to us anyways.


      – Isn’t that amazing?


      – It is.


      – It is such a human aspect, isn’t it? We worry, we worry, we worry. It’s like the storm is, it’s like when we get the hurricane reports, it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming. I felt that way with COVID, it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming anyway, anyway and now almost eight months later it’s finally hitting our state and you go, okay.


      – Exactly. But that is part of the challenge we deal with is there’s a lot of things that are out there that are impending and you’re right, they never happened. Or if they do happen, that impedingness allows us to prepare, right? So you don’t have to be caught off balance. And so, is that part of what you do with mindset is to really look and pulling pieces together so that you can literally walking into the fear and whether it happens or doesn’t happen?


      – Yeah and one of the things I really like to look at too is I believe it was Tony Robbins that I heard say this, is when you look at things and a lot of the things that are you’re afraid might happen, when you can change your perspective on them from life is happening for me, rather than to me you can really take those fears on differently because when you, I mean some of the things that I’ve faced throughout my career that I had fears from and they actually did come to pass and they were terrible at the moment. But then in hindsight, looking at what I learned from that experience and maybe what it prevented me from doing, going in a different direction, there’s a lot of power in it. So even though something that might not be what we want or ideal or something that we’ve been fearing, might happen to us, if we look at it from the aspect of, okay, this is happening. I’ve got to find what I can take from this and learn from it and make my future better and take this as a learning experience and grow from it. Because you know, we’re not gonna grow from it if all we’re doing is living in the sorrow of what’s happened


      – Right. It’s that learning, isn’t it? That is so huge ’cause if we learn, we tend not to be as angry, right? Because it’s shifted how our mind approaches it. So as you work with people, as they look at what it is that they’re tackling and you help them step into whatever fears or anxieties that they might have with it, then do you take the time as you’re walking through and as the event concludes to really look at, what do we learn, what do we take forward from this? So you have that share that you’re taking with you into your next activities. And is that part of the process Jeff?


      – It is, because even when things are going great and you’re knocking off goals and doing all these great things, one of the things that I see a lot of people not doing well is recognizing what they’ve achieved because you know, they’ll set a goal and then, you know six months later they’re setting new goals and whatever they’re not even looking back and saying, you know what, the goals that I set six months ago I’m living those now. They’re living what was once just a dream but because they’re so focused on moving onto their next goals or the next task, whatever it is they don’t even reflect on what they’ve achieved and whether it’s they’ve achieved something or they failed at something, if they take the time to reflect on that and what are the lessons? Whether it’s a failure or an achievement, what are the lessons that I can learn going forward that are gonna make me that much stronger and be better in the next experiences? And I mean, that’s the same thing with what I was saying about stepping out of your comfort zone on a daily basis. So your comfort zone continually gets better when you have these experiences, whether they’re wins or failures, that grows that comfort zone in that particular area and gives you that experience. So when you’re faced with it again you’re gonna do better but you need to take the time to reflect on it and understand what you just went through.


      – Jeff, our time is almost over. It is so fascinating to talk with you and to hear about your experiences. What have we missed that is important for our audience to know?


      – You know what, this is we could probably sit here all day talking about this. There’s so many things that I get passionate about talking about this. And it’s just a matter that, whether you’re an entrepreneur, an athlete or whatever area of life you’re in, when you can develop a powerful mindset it’s gonna help you to become more successful in whatever that is you’re trying to achieve. And so it’s just a matter of figuring out what it is you need to focus on, how you need to overcome those limiting beliefs and change those conversations in your head so that you’re in charge of them.


      – So you’re in charge boy, you know I just think that the trick it’s, yeah it’s easier to think somebody else is doing it to me than to think that I’m in charge and I can control the results by how I choose to look at it. The story I wanna create, yeah. Jeff, thank you so much. And for those of you who are listening we will have information about Jeff in the show notes and you can get in contact with him if he would like to do so. If you have difficulty or want more information, feel free to call or to email us and we’ll be glad to connect you with Jeff. Jeff, thank you. You have, what a delight. I love that beginning experience of yours, it just takes me back to those old, old days in Texas, which were just so much fun. And-


      – Well thank you.


      – Yeah, thank you all for listening to Building My Legacy podcast today visit our website at wwbuildtomorrow.com and our social media sites as well buildtomorrow.com on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn. And we look forward to talking with you again very soon.


      – Thank you.

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