0:00We like to believe that we can read a book, do a meditation, try some ayahuasca, go to a retreat, and then figure it out. What is the secret to unlocking your full potential? What makes your idols any different than you? How do you become the person you've always wanted to be in life? This is where you get all of your questions answered. My name is Justin Shank, and I sit down with some of the most epic individuals who are changing the world with their actions in business and in life. We discuss how they did it, why they pushed themselves, and more importantly, how they were able to focus on continuous growth to achieve their dreams. Welcome to the growth now, movement. Andrew, welcome to the show, man. Great to be with you. Yeah, I'm excited to dive into this journey. We were connected by a mutual friend and Devon Seismore, and this has to be like the sixth episode I've said that in the beginning of the super connector,

1:01the guy who connects everybody with everybody. But I'm excited to dive into your journey, your experiences, and share a little bit of wisdom with my audience. But why don't we start with who is Andrew today, and then we'll break down how you got there. Yeah, so man, Andrew today is super grateful. This year, we're graduating our oldest from high school and our youngest from diapers. And then there's five more in between. So, Andrew today is getting ready to... Coach is very first little league team on Saturday, and just go skiing up in the mountains with my kids the Monday after that, and coaching in between the people that I just love, and I'm grateful that work allows me to spend the time with my wife and kids and nature that I love most. So, yeah, that's where I'm at today. How do you find a quiet place in your house with seven kids? We have quiet time after lunch for two hours where the two-year-old naps and everyone else knows

2:02that they get to hang out in their room until mom and dad have some sandy. I office away from home, so that helps. That's true, man. Yeah, implemented quiet time. Literally, that's how we do it. No, I can't even imagine we have two kids in our house and just even the running around that we have to do with two. I imagine the schedule is quite busy with seven and then taking on the role of coach. What kind of coach are you as far as the little league? Not as we'll get into the business stuff, but as far as little league. Yeah, little league is going to be a head coach of a minor league team. My son is turning eight and here in Boise, in this area, we don't have a ton of baseball kids. So there's eight-year-olds and nine-year-olds and 10-year-olds and 11-year-olds, so they just lump them all together. And so I'm going to be the head coach of this team and I got my brother-in-law, who doesn't have a son. He's just my sister's husband. He's a cool uncle, so he's going to help me coach this team so that I don't have to create trauma for my son as being the coach, dad coach.

3:05That's my goal that are very purposeful and intentional to not create problems for him. Yeah, dude, they say that I think it's like 85% of your imprints happens before the age of seven. So those early developmental years are super important, right? Because when we look back as adults, a lot of times we look back and go, oh man, why do I have that issue? Or why do I have a short fuse? Or why do I have this? And a lot of times we could trace it back to our childhood and things that had happened. And then that's the work that we do as humans, as we get older to make sure that we can heal from those things. But why don't we talk a little bit about the work that you do, because I find it so fascinating. That's why after we connect it, I was like, dude, I have to have you on the show. Talk a little bit about the work you do and how you help people. Yeah, so I like to say that I want to be the last coach that someone has to work with. And most coaches say, some of you want to help you get there. And then they end up either firing the coach or thinking that coaching doesn't work for them, because what happened was on their journey

4:07to getting what they wanted, they either self-sabotage, or they get there and they're still not happy. So the work that I do is with people that have had coaches, they have counselors and therapists and they're still not able to figure out, why am I so successful in all these areas of my life? But in this one area, I continued to just hit my head against the wall. And so we get to the root cause. The stuff you were talking about before, right? Like deep down unconscious mind, what is going on that is preventing you from finding that happiness fulfillment? So that's the work I do. I've got modalities we can talk about and experience of hundreds of people that we've done with, but it's just the deep work. Yeah. I've talked to so many ultra successful people that, and by ultra successful, worth half a billion, a billion, whatever. And you realize they carry all this trauma with them. And then all of a sudden they come to this realization, I'm like, oh wait, I've just been chasing all this stuff my entire life,

5:08trying to find what was missing. And I obviously, I have to go inward. But you'd mentioned something super important, which is the unconscious mind. How does somebody unlock even what that trauma may be from if it's just unconscious? Like they're not even thinking about it. They might not even remember it. Yeah. Well, when I blew out my ACL and meniscus playing basketball, I didn't open it up and see what was going on in there. I paid to have a surgeon who had done this over a thousand times. And I think the same thing goes with our minds. We like to believe that we can read a book, do a meditation, try some ayahuasca, go to a retreat, and then figure it out. But I use a process called mental and emotional release, Dr. Matt James wrote the book, and he trained me personally. And we just used this method. And I've done this 334 times there. It's a five to six hour session that I split up over two days. And that's on average one week for the last seven and a half years.

6:09That's what I do. Wow. It's pretty remarkable. So talk a little bit about that. Like how can somebody begin that process? Obviously, yes, working with you, but obviously there's a book about it, right? So what's the modality that people can use to begin to unlock this? Well, they can read the book. And but again, like I don't want it. I'm not trying to like have people, everyone just come rush to talk to me about it. But I mean, you can read the book on knee surgery. You can figure out exactly what's going to mean. But it's just like, I don't even do this work on myself. Justin, like I have my best friend who we got trained together. We're roommates at this event. And we just we coach each other. We help each other when we are finding places where we're stuck. So you can read the book. It'll open your eyes. And there's some things there that you'll start to begin to understand. But you just gotta have a professional help you do the work. Yeah. So you mentioned, you know, we help each other whenever we get a little stuck

7:10because it's not a once and done thing, right? It's not rinse and repeat. What's the process look like as far as like, okay, like, okay, now I've hit another roadblock. Is it do I have to go through the coaching again? Or like, what does that all look like? Yeah. So let me give you an example. I've got clients that have literally been with me for nine years and eight years are the longest. I don't think I have a seven or six right now. So with these people, we do the big breakthrough. And that takes care of everything immediately. And we don't ever have to do that work again. And usually what's happening is there's one area, their life, whether it's their career, their marriage with their significant other or spouse, their family, their health and fitness, or there's this like deep personal or spiritual, like, you know, crisis that's going on. So we do the work in one area, but it takes care of everything beneath the surface in all areas of the life until they're out of place where they're hitting a ceiling of achievement. So let me give you an example for my life, okay?

8:12I did this work when I became a practitioner and it helped me take care of a lot of stuff. And then there was a time when I wanted to start coaching people at a higher level, that at higher networks. And I realized that I wasn't able to, you know, close these new clients because I didn't know or believe that I could be worthy to charge this amount of money and help these kinds of people. Because growing up, those kinds of people, I realized had cheated on both of my sisters, screwed my dad out of a business opportunity when I was born. And I realized that I didn't believe they were bad people. I just didn't think I could trust them. And I didn't want to lose my soul by working with, or becoming one of them, but I didn't know all of that until I worked with my dear friend and coach. And we figured out this is the root cause. And once we took care of that, I can step in a room with anyone and there's no comparison

9:14and I don't have to try to prove myself. I just share what I do and see if they need the help and if they want to trust me to do the work. So we can do the work very simply in other areas, but we don't have to spend, you know, five to six hours like we do initially. Yeah, so you kind of, it's kind of like that master unlock and then you can move through the modalities a lot faster after that. Yeah, yeah, and we don't have to do it very often. Like with Cara, who I've coached for nine years, she, we hardly ever do this anymore because she's just like in flow. And now we're just building and creating new opportunities for her business and her life. And it's all building rather than, you know, digging, like most therapy and counseling is. Yeah, but no, I love this approach because at some point the digging needs to stop, right? Like you have to then be able to rebuild, right? You have to dig the foundation and then rebuild everything that you're doing after that. And I think a lot of times people miss that.

10:15You know, I've had some great therapists and I've had some not so great therapists and the not so great ones made me kind of feel worse for going through the things, right? And they weren't truly helping me through. It was almost like they wanted to keep me in their process. Like, okay, hey, he's helped me pay the bill. So I'm just going to keep him here in this process. And I remember years ago I found this therapist and he goes, I plan on working with you for six months and then be done with you. And it was like the most refreshing thing I had ever heard. And we actually like hit on all the important things and learned certain things that I could do to help kind of overcome some of the re the thinking and why I was acting the way that I was. And he was kind of the one that pointed out to me that I had abandonment issues, which is wild. Like, you know, you talk about unlocking these things, right? And we're like, oh no, I was like, I've never been abandoned. And he goes, wow, right? And he starts to break down like some of the things that I had been through. And it was quite fascinating, you know, and but then once you get to the building process, what does that approach look like for you? Because one thing is, hey, I've been trained in this modality, but the second piece is now I have to help you build a life.

11:16What is that all about? So eight out of 10 people that come to me, we just do that breakthrough experience. Five to six hours, we follow up, stay friends. I tell them you have a lifeline for a lifetime. The other two out of 10 people say, I want you in my corner. Like, will you be like my business life part? Like, I wanted to have you there in every decision that I make. So from, so after the breakthrough, someone wants to coach with me, we do two one hour sessions a month. I have a mastermind with my clients, and then up to daily contact. I've got a client right now that runs a business in Mexico, and that's where his wife's family is from. And he's not here in America, and he doesn't have a business partner. He's a sold printer with a small team that he's running the show. And he just loves having a sounding board to make decisions for himself and his family and his business. And, you know, I'm asking the questions that no one else will ask him, and they're just supportive and weak. Sometimes, like, in a week, we'll talk more than once a day. My clients have been with me for years.

12:16We talk once a week, because I'm checking in to see how they're doing in between our sessions. So it really just becomes that place to support accountability, interrogation of like, your thoughts, and just why you're doing what you're doing, and making sure that it's serving, you know, all aspects of your life. How did you find this? Like, how did you just stumble upon the book? Like, how did you get into this world? Ah, yeah. So I got into this world at St. Luke's Hospital in 1985. Thanks to my mom, actually. But the coaching world I was introduced, I had had a career of teaching for six years. I went through a separation and divorce in year seven of our marriage. And we had three little girls. And at this time, my life, I believed that I was struggling with a lot of mental illnesses that prevented me from being a good husband and father. And I realized I was going through a lot of things that men go through in their mid 20s and late 20s. But I found myself unemployed, sitting in a real estate school,

13:17getting a license to sell houses. And that landed me at Keller Williams. And Keller Williams is all things personal growth and development and coaching. And I got my, I got to coach myself in that first year. And I just fell in love with the process. And after a year of selling houses, I was offered a position to start coaching new agents. And that just opened up the world of coaching. And then Keller Williams has a transformational coaching program where they use these deep processes to help people at a high level. And I did that for a year while building a coaching team here in Boise locally. And then after working with Keller Williams for about three years in that capacity, then I just broke off on my own, said, I want to help people all over in all kinds of industries. And so I really have Keller Williams to thank and my great mentors and coaches that showed me, you know, how we can change people's lives and help them not just make a lot of money, but make a lot of impact as well. I love that. A lot of times the road we start down, it takes us to a completely different road

14:19and we didn't even realize it, right? And that's such a great example of it. How did you know it was time to make the leap? I think a lot of entrepreneurs are hearing the noises, right? Like I want to do this thing, but this thing's paying the bills. And they're afraid to make the shift. Like how did you know it was time and what pushed you to jump in? Yeah, so I go through this with people that I coach now, you just know whether you want to call it your gut or your conscience or your intuition or the Holy Spirit himself. Like if you slow down long enough and choose to never let your head talk you out of something your heart knows to be true, then you'll get into that place of flow and you really just have to follow all your intuition as well as put great people around you that know your heart. So I had family members and friends and people that were helping me make this career change and that I was sharing all my fears and insecurities about and they helped put all those limiting beliefs back

15:19into the place that they came from, which is nowhere, right? It's just BS, monsters in the closet that we make up to keep ourselves quote unquote safe, right? Yeah, yeah, it's fascinating. I love the idea of making sure you're surrounding yourself with the right people. The downside of that is especially like you got lucky, you said you had your family. A lot of times family will keep you stuck, right? Because they don't, they're trying to protect you. They're not doing it from a bad place. But if you're like, hey, I'm leaving my corporate job and I'm gonna go build this business a little bit, whoa, you're crazy, don't do it, right? Like a lot of people have that. How do you make sure that you're constantly surrounded by the right people as you grow and evolve because the circle changes? Yeah, I'm super nerdy about this. I actually have a note in my iPhone. I'm gonna pull it up like at the very, the note is called number one so that it shows up at the top. So it's not alphabetical and it's called my mission. So like my life mission will grow to the depth of my relationships. And I have 10 spots for personal friends.

16:21And I can never have more than 10 personal friends that I'm thinking about or focusing on any given time. And I rate them. And if they're not a nine or a 10 in terms of I give to them and they give to me, then they come off the list. And it's not that I don't care about them or think about them, it's just, I'm not intentionally looking at their name on a weekly or whatever basis thinking, have I reached out to them? What do they need? When was the last time we spent together? I have one of my sisters and her husbands that's on this list, but I have other siblings that aren't. It's not that I love them, it's just, they're not getting that full attention. So I have that, I've got my professional advocates on there, I've got my future professional advocates, I've got my clients, I've got my leads, I don't use a CRM, I just have all the most important people, not named my wife and children on this sheet. And I just look at it all the time. I think, okay, what am I doing with these people? And are they pouring into me like I'm pouring into them? And if not, then those aren't relationships that are gonna serve me in the long run.

17:21Dude, I love it, you know, that's, I love your approach. It doesn't mean I don't love them, it doesn't mean I don't care about them, but it's about your attention, it's about your time, it's about your energy. And there's a lot of people in friendships, relationships, even a marriage that can be draining and they don't even realize it. How do you reflectively look on that when you're removing somebody from the list and is there ever any guilt around it? Yeah, there used to be, but I've done all the deep work, right? And I do it with others all the time. So it's just, it's like the analogy of pruning a fruit tree. Have you ever done this Justin? You've pruned a fruit tree before? No, I've already told you that I won't ever. Okay, let me teach you, because I'm sure you enjoy a good fruit that gets delivered to your house. If you do it like my wife does, or you get it from the grocery store, when you prune a fruit tree, you may have like four or five different apples growing in one little area from the same stem.

18:23They can't all grow to their full potential from that one stem. So you have to thin them by pulling all of them off and only allowing for one apple to grow on that one little tiny stem. And then you do that throughout the whole tree. And then at the end of the season, you start to take away the actual branches to allow more light to come in. And the way you do this is intentionally and purposely to maximize the production of the nutrients and the water that's going to the fruit. So if you look at all the people you know, and you have a hundred friends, which is probably true. If you think about everyone you've got a high school with and worked with and people, neighbors, like you might have a hundred or two hundred. Like you have a hundred friends of the hundred, who are the 10 right now at this time, that I'm going to pour into because they're also pouring into me. And these other ones, they may come back later, but right now all of the light, all of the energy, all the resources, we need to be a good steward of all of that.

19:24So we're not running around pretending to be everything for everyone and giving 30%. I'd rather give 100% to a handful of people than pretend to show up and not keep commitments and have people resent me. Has anybody ever, you said they may come back again. So I'm curious, has anybody ever been off the list and then they came back onto the list? That usually happens more with clients than friends because I having coached for, I'm in my 12th year right now. I have one guy who started with me at the very beginning and he is left and come back four or five different times. So I have never had friends. I think the older I get, these friends, they just kind of stick longer. I've got a friend that's on here that I've known since I was 12 years old. Another one that I met when I was in Europe as a missionary, we've known each other for 20 years now. The newest one that I just added today,

20:25we met in this last year and I invited her into a small mastermind group of, there's five of us and I just know, I'm gonna be friends with her for life. So yeah, I'm grateful, grateful for those relationships for sure. Dude, I love it. So I wanna ask you a question. I ask every single person on the show. It's a two-part question. First part is, what is your definition of success? And the second part is, what are three things you do every single day to ensure that success for yourself? Yeah, so my definition of success is, the worthy pursuit of fulfilling goal and worthy is super subjective each person. Like is this worth my time? Is it worth my energy? Is it worth everything that I prepared for? So the worthy pursuit of a fulfilling goal. Is this really something that is gonna bring fulfillment to me? And if I'm pursuing it and I'm not there yet, and that's okay, and that could be in, you know, in terms of spending this morning from 5am to 6.30 with my two-year-olds so my wife could sleep.

21:25That was success. I kept him quiet enough to not wake her up while we were playing games and reading stories and my seven-year-old woke up and wanted to run on the treadmill. So it's 6.15 in the morning and my seven-year-olds running on the treadmill while my two-year-old is sitting on the rowing machine and I'm just keeping them as quiet as possible. So that's my definition of success and worthy pursuit of a fulfilling goal. And then the three things that I do on a daily basis, I do a journal entry every morning, bare minimum, five graditudes. Can I look back on yesterday and find five things I'm grateful for? I may turn that into a longer journal entry, but at the very least, I've listed five things or people or events that happen that I'm grateful for. That helps me keep alignment and accountability. So that'd be the first thing. We have dinner together every night as a family, every single night. It's really important and not every child is always there,

22:26but mom and dad are there 90% of the time and both of us and then, you know, like at least one of us were always there. We always have dinner together as a family. So that keeps things in alignment between work and family. And then the last thing that we do in our home that's important to us is we pray. My wife and I have a couple of prayer together at night. We pray together as a family at least over meals and I have individual meditation prayer time. So for me, staying connected to my creator and knowing that the things that I'm grateful for and the time I'm spending is being, you know, I'm being accounted for in a bigger picture than just right here right now with all these people on this list. Yeah, yeah. And so what's your meditation practice look like? So it varies. I did a meditation the exact same for 60 minutes every morning for three years straight. Geez. That was like, that was very consistent. But now my morning routine is completely thrown out the window

23:30because of my two year old. So I may have a 15 minute window today where I just lay back in this chair here and stick my feet up and put on some meditation music. I try to do it at least once a day. It doesn't always happen and it's kind of scattered and I use all different kinds of meditations from Joe D'Spenza to different HC frequencies and Lane Dyer or Luis Hay or I have Holo Sync which is this program that I use for three years. So it's very sporadic right now, which I'm okay with. Yeah. Well, hey, life is a constant evolution, right? We have to adjust to our environment around us and I can't imagine life with a two year old. I was fortunate enough to marry my wife when the kids were already a little bit older and so I never had to deal with diapers. I didn't have to deal with any of that stuff. It's a whole different world. I mean, I did as an uncle, but that's way different, right? Like it was easy to be the fun uncle and when the diaper needed to be changed up, where's your mom? Let's go find your mom. And so it's absolutely crazy, man. So I want to ask you this question as well as we reflect

24:31and we understand things are greater than us and you've coached so many people and you've been on podcasts and you shared your content and you shared your wisdom with so many people. But I want you to fast forward to the end of your life hopefully 300 years from now. And you're on your deathbed and everything that you've created every piece of content, everything has vanished. And you can only be remembered for one sentence. What would you want that sentence to be? I've written my eulogy, Justin. I've actually written it. I'm looking at it right here. It's at the bottom of my journal so that every time I do an entry, I can remember what it's all about. So here's the one sentence you ready? Andrew Lee Anderson is a man of high integrity showing Christlike love to all he impacts throughout the world. I love it. I love that you had that there is. I actually walked my mastermind through that process that our last meetup and we were in New Orleans and so everybody wrote their own eulogy and it was an eye-opening experience, right? It really allows you to kind of reflect and say, okay, well, am I living that life, the way that I want to live it?

25:32And will I be remembered for being that person which I love man and the few conversations that you and I've had, you certainly are on that trajectory and you can tell you're a man who reflects back on that often. So I love that dude. So what are you working on next, man? Obviously, as entrepreneurs, we're always building, we're always growing, we're always looking to do the next thing. What are you working on? This is such a great question. I hope I can be the person that answers it maybe differently than anyone else. Nothing. I'm working on this, we got this little league assessment day which is what we now call tryouts. So like we have assessment day coming on and I'm honestly at this point where I know I will have future big goals and things I create in my business. But right now I'm really happy with the 20 people I'm coaching, the referrals I'm getting and I don't even, I don't have anybody employed. I'm not doing any marketing. I'm just sitting here grateful and I'm in flow and so my work right now is my kids and my wife.

26:38That's what I'm creating. I'm creating relationships and memories and trust and trying not to kill them on a daily basis. So you've mentioned the word flow twice and I think that's a word that gets thrown around a lot and I think everybody has a different interpretation. What is your interpretation of flow and being in flow? It's just like, it's easy. Is there anything Justin that you do like for fun? It's just easy and if people watch, they'd be like, man, you make that look so easy. Probably, I mean, this podcast, I think a lot of people don't realize how difficult a podcast could be, but I've been doing it every single week for 10 years. So for me, it's just in flow and I love having these conversations and seeing where they go and being able to react in the proper way. So for sure, yeah. Okay, so you just, I just as a coach, I just found your system. Here's what it is, right? I worked hard at it. I love it and it's fun.

27:40So for you, that's what flow means. Okay, for me, when I'm snow skiing, I know that when people watch me from the chair, they're like, man, that dude is really good because it's easy. I don't have to think about it. I've worked really hard following my older brother and sister learning how to become a great skier as a little boy, right? I paid the price and now it's fun and it's easy and I love it. So for me, that's what flow is about. You're doing something you love. You've worked hard at it and it's now become easy and people look at you and they just, they recognize a level of mastery. I love it, dude. That's a great explanation. And the fun part is super important. So every time I get a new opportunity presented to me, which it happens a lot. When you have 600 plus conversations over the course of 10 years as high performers, you're like, hey, I've got this idea. You want to do it with me? I asked myself two main questions. One is, well, three main questions. One, it does it fall in line with what I feel my purpose is. But two, how much time is it going to take? Because I'm a big fan of not working a ton. I think we talked about that when we first connected. And then the third thing is, is it going to be fun?

28:41Because our teachers do anything that's not fun, right? We only get one life. Sometimes it's short and you don't know when it's going to end. So might as well enjoy every single thing that you're doing, including the things that you need to do in order to pay the bills. And so, so yeah, man, you hit the nail on the head. I see why you're so good at what you do. I absolutely love it, dude. So I wrap up every single interview with the same question. But before we get there, how do people find you, connect with you, all the good stuff? Because I know you're not, you don't have a huge marketing plan. You don't reach out to people. But you are a referral based business. But how do people find you? Yeah, you can find me on LinkedIn. You can go to my website, andrulanderson.com. Or you can reach out to Justin and he'll connect us. I'll gladly take a text or a phone call from anybody. I don't, you know, I'm pretty accessible. I love it, dude. And we'll make sure that we link that up in the show. And we'll spell the name right. So that way people can find your website, find you on LinkedIn. Unlike me, I scheduling our first podcast where I misspelled my name and didn't get the email reminder.

29:42So everyone now knows I stood just enough on our first real date. But see, now people who know me at the core, they know that that means I like you that I actually rescheduled it. So that's, that's a good thing. It's a, it's a good thing, man. I'm glad we had this conversation. So like I said, I wrap up every single interview. And you also, you also, let's be fair to listen. And like you also had to cancel last minute on our second date. So this is our third podcast date. Well, we're doing it, man, third time's a charm. And it's working out super well. So like I said, I wrap up every single interview with the same question since the show is called the Growth Now Movement. That question is, in your life, what has been your biggest moment of growth? Yeah, biggest moment of growth up to, you know, this point and this, this changes. But the, the one that's the biggest for me was when my first marriage ended and I'm sitting on my bed, reading Victor Frankel, man, search for meaning. In fact, I'm going to pull it off my tail and I'll end with this quote because he's one of my greatest mentors.

30:46He said, as we who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts, comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything. And, and I'm going to add my note here. A marriage, a family, a career, so that's what was that, that's what I was losing. Everything can be taken from a man, but one thing, the last of the human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. I made a choice when I read this very book, sitting on my bed in my parents' basement, that was my makeshift bedroom at the time. I just made a decision that I was going to choose to approach this differently than the way a lot of people do and the things that are most important in them are apparently taken away. And I'm grateful for that choice. I used to pity that kid, 28 years old, 29 living in my parents' basement, but I respect him. And he got me here and Victor Frankel helped.

31:48So that was one of the greatest moments of growth for me personally. Awesome man, Andrew, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story and wisdom with my audience, dude. This was a ton of fun. Keep doing the work, man. You're changing lives, you're changing the world, so thank you so much. Appreciate it, thank you, you keep doing it. You're good at it, it's flow, you're a master. Thanks, brother. Thank you guys so much for being a part of the growth now movement. This is how you can really help me out. If you guys enjoyed this episode, please share it out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, all that fun stuff. And let's grow this movement to Epic Heights and it's all gonna be because of you guys. Thank you so much and we'll see you next week.