You are listening to The Life Coach School podcast with Brooke Hicks, episode number 540.
What's up? It's been way too long, my friends. The last time I talked to you was in October of last year. Have you missed me? I've missed you.
Here's the thing. The reason I named this podcast episode The Top 5% is because I'm going to talk about being in the top 5% of your potential and in the world because most people aren't. But I also was just looking up the stats on the podcast because I was just curious. Do people even listen to this podcast anymore? And the podcast is still in the top 5% of podcasts, even though I rarely post episodes. And I think that just goes to the fact that there's just so many episodes that I recorded for 10 years and people are still listening to them and they're still useful.
So I got excited. I was like, oh, that's sick. I love that all my work that I did over the decades of my life is still helping people, is still supporting people, even though I'm kind of semi-retired over here living my best life and traveling all over the world. Oh, and hey, did you guys hear I got married? I got married. I'm so happily married and I changed my name to Brooke Hicks. So there's still going to be Brooke Castillo everywhere. My kids' last name is still Castillo, but I have officially changed my name to Brooke Hicks on my driver's license.
And I still, when I yell at myself, this is actually super funny. We were just playing pickleball the other day and when I was mad at myself, I was like, “Brooke Castillo!” And I was playing with Elijah and he was like, “Yo.” And I was like, “Oh, I still call myself that when I'm mad.” So it's taking me a minute to get used to it, but I am officially Mrs. Hicks. Hopefully, you were able to see some of the pictures and the video from our ridiculous wedding. We were going to have a small little wedding and we ended up having a very large, very crazy, exciting, wonderful, amazing wedding.
And we had it in April in Napa. And all the days leading up to it were sunny and all the days after it were sunny, but on that day, it rained like crazy. And so we moved everything into this one location. So we ended up having like 45,000 flowers inside this very enclosed space. So it ended up being the most magical thing ever. And I just feel like my husband was right, that we should have had a big wedding and we should have pulled out all the stops. And it was his first marriage, so he had never been married before, so he really wanted to have this extraordinary wedding. So we did, and it was awesome and that's why you heard me say Brooke Hicks. It takes some getting used to for my mother because it's only two syllables and she has a hard time with that. But that's what we're dealing with.
So I want to come on here today because I am about to launch a Master Coach Training. And I haven't done a Master Coach Training in so long. I used to do it all myself. I used to do all of those trainings myself and they were very small groups. They were very intense. They were my favorite trainings ever because as a coach, my intensity and my desire to push ourselves to the impossible brink of what we think we can do is really well suited for that type of really close hands-on environment. But as the school grew, it was really hard for me to be teaching because there was such a huge demand and we had, you know, way too many people in Master Coach Training for me to be doing it all the time, and we were doing it so often.
And so I've been thinking a lot since The Weekly is now, we're coming to the end of the year. We're not coming to the end of the year, but in terms of me delivering it, but in terms of our marketing calendar, like really thinking about it. I've been thinking about what are my favorite things to do in the business? And coaching is obviously one of them, teaching is the other. But I think my favorite classes, my favorite trainings have been Master Coach Training. And I was like, I want to do a Master Coach Training, but I want to do it in the most amazing way. And I want to create a training that because you get to this place in life, because I've gotten to this place in life where I don't have to work ever again as long as I live. Everything becomes like so creative and so interesting because you can think about who do you most want to work with and who are you best suited for?
So, you know, it's one thing for like, hey, someone really likes you and somebody really likes the podcast and somebody really wants to train with you, but who are you actually a good fit for? And I've thought a lot about that. Like, who are my people that should work with me? And not everyone should work with me. Not everyone is going to really vibe with my energy, especially in a Master Coach Training because in a Master Coach Training, I'm going to be all up in your business. And you're going to hear a lot from me every single day and I'm going to be very involved in all the things you're struggling with and pushing you to the next level and doing a bunch of crazy shit. That's what we do in Master Coach Training. It's just insane.
And so it was funny when I announced that I was doing Master Coach Training, one of my master coaches was like, you should do like something beyond Master Coach Training so we can come back and do it again. And I was like, I mean, I don't know what that would be. So I'm not quite ready for that. She's like, what about like a PhD level? And I was like, nah, I think that I want to do one more Master Coach Training and if I really love it, maybe I'll do some more, but I'm setting it up in a way that's kind of crazy to think about.
And the reason why I wanted to make it into a podcast and I wanted to kind of share with everyone the way that I think about success and the way that I think about mastery is because I think it'll be really helpful for all of you who have been attracted to me because of my tools that are around success and around breaking through old patterning and creating new thinking around yourself and your life.
And so when I think about the top 5% of your potential, like, you know, when I look at the human race, when I look at humans and our potential, how do we shift ourselves so we're not just part of the regular crowd? You know, if we want to be at that next level, if we want to be at the highest level of the crowd, if we want to work harder than everybody else, if we want to push and have more ambition than other people, what does that look like? And if you know, you know, right? If you're one of those people, you know you are one of those people. And if you're not one of those people, you know you're not one of those people. You may try to be one of those people, but then when you don't succeed, you're just going to sit and complain about the people who are successful, right? You know who you are. I see you. I see you over there complaining.
But those of you who really want to be in the top 5% of your own potential, the top 5% of whatever industry you're in, the top 5% of the areas that you're focused on, what does that require and can you tell yourself the truth about what that requires in order to get you there? I believe that in order to hit those goals, those impossible goals, those top-level goals, to be in the top 5% financially, to be in the top 5% health-wise, physically, to be in the top 5% of, you know, business, if you're in business, whatever it is, whatever your area is, I think it's really hard to do that without a coach or a mentor or a therapist. I think that putting yourself in harm's way at that level really requires the support of someone who is focused on your success. And that is not your friends. It needs to be someone who that's their job. Their job is to focus with you on your success. So it may be a trainer, it may be a coach, it may be a teacher, but that is their job.
And so I have a lot of really amazing success stories from when I was working really closely with students in this capacity, in this mastery level trainings. And it's also when I had the most fun because I was working with people that were just like me, people who wanted to work like crazy, people that were willing to bare their heart and soul. They were willing to be vulnerable. They were willing to give up all of their fears and belief systems that were holding them back. And that is very, very rare.
It's very common for people to sign up for things. It's very common for people to enroll in things, right? Enroll in college, enroll in a class, enroll in a training. That's the first step, right? But a lot of people think that's all you need to do in order to be successful, right? Just go sign up for college or just go sign up for class and then you'll somehow have all of the things that class promises. But that's not how it works, right? You can't just sign up for the class. You can't just sign up for the gym membership and then expect to be fit. And then if you're not fit, you just say gyms don't work or this wasn't a very good gym. I think it's hilarious. I think it's actually hilarious that gym memberships count on you not showing up. Us humans are so predictable that we won't show up and do the work that they can count on it as a business model. How insane is that?
Everyone buys in the beginning, right? Oh, I'll work out. I'll come to the gym. I'll go lift the weights. I'll go do all the things, right? Everyone believes that about themselves. But then when they don't do it, they explain it away. Like, oh, it was too far from my house or I got busy or whatever. The amount of excuses we are so good at coming up with makes it so easy for us to fall into the 50%, achieving about 50% of what we're capable. Not the top 5%, but that 50% of what we're capable.
And I think that working with a mass amount of people for me as a coach, a larger group of people is much more challenging when we're trying to get everyone to the top 5% and most people don't want to do that, right? So I think that's been frustrating for me to not have more of an intimate experience, to be able to really figure out what's going on with people, and to have the right fit of client that is like, I am all in. I'm 100% going for it and I'm not going to give up no matter what.
So I thought about this and I thought, how could I set up a course that would demand this from the student? And I've talked a lot here about business and I've talked a lot here about my business and building my business. And one of my mentors, Dean Jackson, he had this concept that I thought about a lot and I think about a lot. And it says, if you only got paid if your clients were successful, how would that change your business?
And I've asked this to many of my students, right? And all of us have the same answer. We'd be much more discerning about the people we work with. Because if you only get paid for people that are going to succeed, you're only going to want to work with people that you know are going to do the work. You are going to be the opposite of a gym, right? You're going to be the opposite of, oh, I hope these people don't show up. I hope these people don't do the course. I hope these people don't study or don't practice or don't apply or don't ask the questions or don't show up to class or whatever. It's the opposite of that, right? If you're going to get paid on the back end, you only want the most ambitious, diehard, ride-or-die client. And so how do you create a class that demands that? Here's how.
I'm offering live Master Coach Training, but you don't pay for the class until you're offered certification. And you're only offered certification, and anyone who's gone through Master Coach Training knows this, you're only offered certification if you earn it. We're not handing out certifications here, right? You have to earn it. So the cost of it, the tuition for it, the enrollment payment for it is not due until the class is complete. And not only it's not when I complete it, it's when you complete it that you owe the tuition.
So here's what I mean by that. It's not like I'm going to teach you this very intense six-week course and show up every day and give you everything I've got and then demand you pay me. No, I'm going to do that whether you pay me or not. I'm only going to ask you to pay once you've earned that, once you've showed up, once you've done the work, once you've succeeded. That's when you pay.
And I get chills just thinking about it. I think it's the coolest way for both me and my clients to work together. Because here's what's so great about it. If at any point during the class, you decide as my client that it's not for you, that you're not really feeling it, that you're not going to show up, that you're not going to do the work, that you don't trust me, that you don't understand it, we part ways, nothing's lost. You've maybe lost some of your time, I've lost some of my energy. I've spent a lot of time and energy teaching you, but we walk away from that without any money being exchanged, but also without any certification being offered, right? So it's like this wasn't a good fit, no problem. And you don't even have to ask for a refund.
But on the same or the next side of that coin is if you're not showing up, if you're not doing the work, if you're not participating at the level that's expected in this class, then I can walk away and cut you from the class and say, this isn't the right class for you.
And I wonder what our industry, not just the life coaching industry, but I wonder what like the educational industry, the paid educational industry, colleges, all of these things. I wonder what they would be like if you paid at the end. And there was no like, well, you paid for this college education, so therefore you in some way, because you paid for it, deserve to get a degree. No, you have to earn it. You have to earn it.
And it's like, I like the idea of you don't get the degree, you don't pay for the degree, but you also don't get the degree unless you show up at your top five-level percent. The expectation is so high of you. Now, I think this does so many things. And I want all of you to think about this for any courses that you sign up for, for any degrees. Those of you who are thinking about going to college, any of these things. I want you to think about it. If you didn't get the degree or you didn't get the certification unless you gave your absolute best effort, would you sign up for that course if it required you to do that? Or you would just get cut right in the middle of it. How many of you would love that and how many of you wouldn't?
So I just want to say if you're considering applying for Master Coach Training with me next year, you need to be one of those people that loves the idea that you don't complete the course unless you show up 100% for yourself, period. There's no, well, I'm so talented and I'm so gifted that I don't even have to work that hard. I can pass this with half-assed effort. No, that's not how this works. This isn't a one-size-fits-all class. Every single person will have a customized class, so it's 100% of their potential. So someone else's level of work could be very different than yours because you're capable of so much more based on, who knows, your talent, your experience, your age, where you're at, whatever.
Because when I went to college, I didn't have to work very hard to go to college, whereas some of my classmates really had to work hard. And I think it was because I was more prepared with my high school to be in college than a lot of my classmates were. So the expectation was still low of me. And so I just sailed through it. But I wonder how much more could I have learned, how much more ahead would I be, how much more emotionally resilient would I be had I expected the top 5% from myself?
So now, Master Coach Training is only offered to people that have already been through our certification program, who have already been through either one of our self-study programs or one of our live event programs or one of our online trainings. So for some of you, this won't even apply. You won't be applying for Master Coach Training. But take this idea, this concept, and apply it to anything you sign up to do. What if you only signed up to do things that you were willing to do 100%? Like going to the gym. What does 100% look like to you? What does the potential look like for you in that endeavor?
And maybe it's not everything you sign up for, because you can't be giving 100% to every single thing. But which thing in your life right now are you willing to put 100% energy into? What job have you accepted that you're willing to put your top 5% potential into? And maybe it's not your job. Maybe that's not what's getting your top 5% potential. Maybe it's your home life. But are you asking of yourself those things? Those are my people. My people are the people that don't spend time complaining but spend time growing, that spend time applying.
Master Coach Training is not going to be a place where you can offer excuses. It's not going to be a place where you can show up and pretend. It's not going to be a place where you can minimize yourself or your goals or your efforts. And for some of you, that might sound terrible, but for many of you, that sounds amazing. That sounds exciting. That sounds like something you want to be a part of. You want someone in your life for a really short blast of intensity to require you to buckle up and go to the next level. That's what Master Coach Training is going to be.
And I want to invite you to apply. If you are a coach and you are willing to put your growth into our hands together and take your life to the next level, buckle up, let's go.
Here's the application process. You will opt in to the wait list and then you will receive an email that will have an assignment for you to complete. That assignment needs to be completed within two weeks. I will review all of the turned-in assignments for everyone who completes them, and then I will offer a select group of students to go to the next stage of the application. The next stage of the application, you will also have a few weeks to complete. And at that point, I will offer a certain small number of people the opportunity to join Master Coach Training.
Now, remember, just because you're in Master Coach Training doesn't mean you'll make it all the way through. It doesn't mean you'll make it to certification, but you're also not required to pay me a dime until you do. Once you are offered that position in Master Coach Training, it'll be a six-week very intense program. It will only be live about an hour a day. So if you have a job, it'll be fine. We can work around the job, but the connection, your need to be scheduled is only about an hour a day, but your connection with me will be pretty intense for six weeks. And then at the end of the six week, we will have an in-person event that will be two days. And at that point, you will either be offered certification and be required to pay for the course, or you will decide to leave or I will decide that it's not a good fit for you. We will discuss it, that sort of thing.
If you are offered Master Coach Training, it is because I believe you're ready for it. You have the potential to handle it and you can do it. So it's not like I'm looking to cut people from it. I'm not. I want everyone to succeed. But if we decide at some point that it's not working, no harm done. That's the plan.
So are you ready? It's thelifecoachschool.com/mct. Master Certified Training, M-C-T. Go there, opt in, get the butterflies going, get ready. Game on.
And for those of you who are not coaches and who cannot participate in Master Coach Training, I am going to be offering some really intense, really awesome, smaller class opportunities next year. I've gotten some really good ideas from a lot of you in The Weekly of things that you want me to teach. And I really like this kind of semi-retired life that I can do. I can still do an intense program. I can still show up and coach and I can still have this very free life with my new husband and with my son who is pro-golfing. I can go to every single one of his tournaments and I can see every single thing that he's doing and spend a lot of time with Connor who lives pretty far away from me.
So it's a perfect life for me. So for those of you who are like, oh, I want to do Master Coach Training. I want to be top 5%. I may offer a course like that for people who aren't coaches that isn't around life coaching. But for now, this is the program. It starts in January. I just want to offer that if you have a bunch of questions and you need a lot more information, this is probably not the training for you. This is like, I know what Brooke has taught me and I know that she can take me to the next level. If you believe that, it's a good fit for you. If you don't, it's not a good fit and that's okay.
All right, my friends. I've missed you. It's so fun to catch up. I can't wait to jump inside a master coach container and get crazy again. Have a beautiful rest of your time until we talk again. Take care. Bye.
