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I’ve proudly name-dropped this guy’s name so many times over the last several hundred episodes of the Goal Digger Podcast, but I’ve never had the opportunity to introduce you to a mentor and friend that has truly been one of my biggest lifelines and supporters over the years.
Brendon Burchard is one of the earliest leaders in the online education space, and he’s gone on to impact over two million students with his courses. He’s a leading coach, a favorite author, a respected leader, and one of my go-to texts when I need to hash out an idea. He’s shared the stage with the Dalai Lama, Sir Richard Branson, Tim Ferriss, and more. Oprah herself named Brendon, “One of the most successful online trainers in history.”
He knows a thing or two about the online education space, and so this conversation is sure to be rich with insight on the future of the course industry, the opportunities for professional and personal development in a world that’s leaning into virtual connection, and why it’s always necessary to invest in yourself.
Don’t Avoid Personal Development
For years, I avoided personal development and self-work because I was obsessed with blueprints, systems, and strategies. I believed that was the sole ticket to success and living a life I’d dreamed about. It’s a common path for achievers — as many entrepreneurs are — but it can be a slippery slope, too.
Brendon began, “I worry so much about achievers and people who are strivers and who are high performers, who don’t do personal development for several reasons. One, their journey is much more difficult, hard, stressful, and anxious than it needs to be.”
“And two, if they happen to succeed through all that, then they’re in a leadership position, and then they teach everybody else to strive miserably and they end up failing to reach their real leadership capacity and potential.”
Personal development, as Brendon explained, can help you understand yourself, make better decisions based on what you really need and want, improve your response to pressure and stress, manage your response to uncertainty (which entrepreneurship is full of), and more.
What Successful People Want
Brendon has coached some of the most successful people in the world — Olympians, Presidents, billionaires. What it comes down to at the end of the day, no matter how much money they make or fame and recognition they collect, successful people want three things.
First, they want to “feel the day”. Brendon explained this means actually experiencing your journey, living in the moment of emotions, not just downing endless coffee and powering through endless work to reach some benchmark of success they’ve invented for themselves.
Next, they want more depth and meaning in their relationships. They want their work to have a level of mastery and art, not just answering emails and Slack messages all day.
Finally, Brendon told me, “I think the third thing people want is more fulfilling pursuits, things that they can say, you know what? That means something that matters. You can do that with a hundred thousand dollar business, with a $10,000 business, with a $2 billion business.”
He continued, “At the end of the day, if you know those are the three outcomes you’re after — to feel the experience of the day, to have depth in your life, and to sense that what you’re doing has meaning and fulfillment — then you’re winning regardless of your bank account, regardless of your follower account. You are winning so far beyond.”
Why He Created GrowthDay
With his long career in the personal development and coaching space, Brendon has amassed a large audience and people who follow his work. One thing he noticed, though, was that sometimes a student would come into his coaching program and attend a month or two of live coaching sessions, and then drop off. It was confusing to him, because he felt that coaching should be experienced longer than just a few months if real personal development was the goal.
Then COVID hit, and Brendon knew that his students needed a place where every aspect of the personal development coaching journey was contained in one place and one platform that also welcomed connection. As the idea for GrowthDay developed, Brendon knew it would be important to incorporate voices of women, diverse voices, voices with viewpoints other than his own. This is the short version of the origin story, but with all of these ideas and needs coming together, Brendon created a platform called GrowthDay, and I’ve been a proud supporter and teacher on the platform since day one.
GrowthDay includes live speaker sessions on different topics each month, research-backed journal prompts, a place to connect with other students, and so much more. I’ve been teaching on the platform for almost a year now — Join me on GrowthDay if you’re ready to dive into your own personal development journey.
More from this Episode
This episode is packed with all things personal development, from what it is to where to start and who Brendon himself looks to for guidance in his own personal development journey. Press play on the full episode and follow along on Instagram @brendonburchard and @growthday.
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