Climb The Right Mountain With Tony Martignetti

 

Many people succeeded in climbing the mountain, only to realize they summit the wrong peak. You can only find success in achieving something with fulfillment in your life, but how will we know we are climbing the right mountain? In this episode, Tony Martignetti, the Chief Inspiration Officer of Inspired Purpose Coaching, navigates through change and the journey to an inspired life. He also shares lighting yourself helps illuminate the path for others because to spark change needs to start in you. The change will never occur if you get stuck in patterns, so Tony emphasizes why we should expand our vision and narrow our focus to unstuck ourselves. Are you ready to begin your journey? Tune in to this episode now!

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Climb The Right Mountain With Tony Martignetti

I am over the moon, excited, and honored to welcome our guest to the show. Tony Martignetti is a trusted advisor, coach, experience designer, author, podcast host, and speaker. He brings together many years of business and management experience and formal training in extreme curiosity to elevate leaders and equip them with the tools to navigate through change and unlock their true potential. He loves guiding people to find clarity in their lives. They are energized, fully present, and unstoppable. When leaders unlock their potential and lead from a place of inspired purpose, they impact and inspire everyone around them. He has dedicated himself to helping people live inspired lives.

Before becoming the Founder and Chief Inspiration Officer of Inspired Purpose Coaching, he was a finance and strategy executive with experience working with some of the world’s leading life science companies. Along his journey, he has also managed small businesses and ran a financial consulting company. Tony is the host of the Virtual Campfire Podcast, which I’m a huge fan of, and the author of Climbing The Right Mountain: Navigating The Journey to An Inspired Life, which I’m excited to read.

On this show, Tony shares how he found his calling to overcome burnout and depression by looking for the signs and listening to the whispers. As Tony prepares for his upcoming TED Talk, he talks about the importance of locating and turning on the light within ourselves and how we span the possibilities sitting there right in front of us.Tony dives in and reminiscences his childhood about his love for the arts and how this continues to influence how he inspires others with purpose.

I appreciate you joining me at the show, Tony. I’m excited to dive in to talk through your transformative career. You spent 25 years in business and finance. You moved over into being the Chief Inspiration Officer. I can’t believe it. I want to hear all about it. Welcome to the show. When did you make that shift to be that Chief Inspiration Officer?

First of all, I will start by saying thank you so much for having me on. I have been such a big fan of your work, and I’m thrilled to be in this space. Everything you do inspires me. How did I come into this space of being the Chief Inspiration Officer? It is a title I have to earn every day by how I show up, which is not easy. The way I got here, I found this place in my life where I was not showing up in the best way. I was finding myself stuck in a rut in the corporate world, continuing to go through a pattern of doing the work and feeling my fire was not lit any longer.

 

 

There were two moments when I decided I needed to do something different. One was when I was completely burnt out. I was working hard, feeling like I was trying to be someone I was not, and that was feeling like I needed to be the smartest person in the room, the head of finance, and work hard to be the best financial officer in the room. The reality is, I don’t think I was ever meant for that. It is something that was programmed in my mind that this is who I was.

I kept on working harder for long hours. I’m burning the candle at both ends. I felt like all of the colors in my life were going gray. I didn’t want to continue on. I don’t mean to start on such a downer note, but luckily the fact that I’m standing here is a testament that it was a good story that ended up happening. I had that dark moment where I finally figured out I couldn’t continue this way because this is not a life. I came out of that dark moment and started to inch my way forward with the hope of saying, “I got to do something better for myself. I got to have a life that is more meaningful, purposeful, and aligned with who I am. The question is, who am I?”  

I won’t say that I discovered all that at the moment, but I started to ask more questions of myself and started to explore more. Eventually, I found myself in this room. This is the second point that revealed the moment when I had to come out and do the real work. That was when I was sitting in a boardroom at a biotech company where I was working at. I decided, as I looked around the room, this was not the work I wanted to be doing any longer. I was with the senior leadership in the room. I was saying, “They care only about protecting themselves and their own image. That was the only thing on their mind.”

Everyone in the room was checked out doing their own thing. It was not an inspiring situation. I decided to get up and walk out. I said to myself at that moment, “I’m going to leave this room to change this room.” I didn’t know how those were going to happen. I knew it had to do with creating a sense of different ways how leaders would lead, connect with who they are, and how to inspire others.

Great setup, Tony. There are many questions we are going to dig into here. How many years ago was that to set the framework on that?

It was several years ago.

Congratulations on making the change. Your colors disappeared. It was gray. That sounds morbid. Sorry that you went through that. How did you see it? How did you notice it? Was it at the boardroom conversation? Sometimes I feel like when we are overwhelmed, down, depressed, or burnt out we can’t even lift ourselves up to look or be able to open up our eyes wide enough to say, “I can do better.” Inch by inch, was there a trigger? Maybe it was the boardroom. I don’t know.

The reason why I explained it in two moments is because if you are at a point, you don’t have the full view yet. You need to go to an entrance. It is like taking steps to get to the place where you are able to have the courage to go full all out and make the brave moment happen. A lesson in there for people who are looking to make big moves is that you don’t have to go from 0 to 100, but you can go from zero to 50  and 50 to 100 by first realizing, “How are you living? How is this situation you are in now serving you? Do you want to live differently? Do you want something different to happen? What is one step you can take that would make you feel differently?” That is the starting point.

Take steps to have the courage to go all out and make the brave moment happen. Click To Tweet

When I had that moment in the boardroom, that was the moment that said, “I have had enough.” I have had a little bit of clarity. I know that I need to start breaking patterns. This was a pattern I was turning to see things more clearly. The aperture of my camera had opened up enough and now I was starting to see a lot wider. I love that you connected with this idea of grayness. I was an artist as a child. I loved this connection to colors, the vibrancy of colors, going to gray, and the colors again. You bring that sense of contrast that comes from being in and out of color.

It is an interesting way to think about it in the ability that we can come in and out, and we have those opportunities. For everybody reading, if we are down, thinking about things, or questioning if we are worth things or capable of things, Tony would agree that we are all deserving and worthy. We all can change. We are born in a certain way that we are continuously improving and capable. We both believe that possibilities are available for everyone. I think you agree with that, Tony.

I want to throw this out here, which I think you will love. I have been playing with this term called I want to be a possibilitarian. It is a way for us to live and operate in the world where we say, “We see possibilities everywhere.”

 

 

There are days when you might not see them as clearly. They are there waiting to be noticed. They are waiting to be taken care of and be part of our lives. There are things we see every day. I’m sure we’ll get into that a little bit, the signs, signals, and what we have seen. You talk about your childhood being an artist. That is fun. You went into finance.

I don’t know what happened in between. What happened to your vibrant set of colors? I’m not picking on finance because I grew up in finance. I’m a CPA. I could relate to a lot of things you are talking about. I use bright pink now as my brand color for everything I do (for example). I believe in everything you are saying. I’m curious about what happened to the painting and the ability to create it in that way. I understand you can create a lot of things in finance. I’m curious about the shift.

There are a lot of different steps along the way that got me to where I ended up along the path. One of the things that I originally was going to get into was architecture. When I was doing art as a young child, I was celebrated. I was winning awards. I was seen as someone who had the potential to do something with it while meeting adults who would say, “You should think about a career that is going to make you money. You don’t want to be living on the streets.”

The first thing that came to mind, at that point, as I was shifting gears from being an architect, was, “I will go to med school.” That made complete sense. You go from being an artist to going into medical school, but that is what I did. I went from the arts to the sciences and, eventually, into business. That tells a story of a person who has this innate curiosity about wanting to know everything about everything and realizing you can’t.

The shift into finance was about realizing that I wanted to be able to know the language of business and finance I saw as being the language of business. It is the way that everything gets done. It is the underlying architecture of how the world of business gets operated. It was, and it has served me well for many years. What was missing for me was this connection to the fact that I wanted to be able to do it in a way that connected to these things that had me creating with people. That was missing for me. You can still do that finance.

I have read in some of your bios and you have written many informative and wonderful articles on your website, which will certainly add a link to about leadership and how you make connections. It is important to make connections as a finance leader. You have a different perspective as a finance leader. You can connect the dots with life, art and sciences in a different way. You see the value in it. You try to encourage people to see more of that. You are doing that in every role that you participated in.

I appreciate you talking about architecture and art because my daughter is a good artist. She is talking about being an architect, which is wonderful. I was like, “Stay with it. Don’t give up.” I do fear that sometimes we put too much on our kids about, “You are not creative. You are not a good artist.” I was told those things. I’m a stick figure drawer person, yet it is still beautiful and creative. We are creating things all the time.

I feel like our world is teaching us in a lot of ways. It is divisive. It is right or wrong or zero or one, yet creativity is in between. The possibilities are endless if we start to think about what if. I love how you think about curiosity. I love to learn more how you use curiosity in your day. How do you keep that alive so you are not going too far? You said, “You could learn about many things.” How do you use it to bring out the beauty that you want to see in the world?

I love this question because I have been leaning into this idea of the shiny object syndrome, which is sometimes you can be overly curious. You can be curious that it can have you going in many different directions. It can feel like you are constantly wobbling around in the world and moving from one thing to the next and not finishing one thing.

The key thing is to have the curiosity to stay with something long enough that you see it through and see, “What is this thing that I am working with? Am I allowed to go deeper? Am I going deep enough with the thing I’m staying with?” That is important for me in the work that I do because I want to be curious about the person who is in front of me and find out more about what is important for them and meaningful to them. If I am curious that I get distracted by the next thing that shows up, it is hard for me to stay in the zone with that person. The challenge and tribulation of being curious are you can have many interests, and that is fantastic, but it is also challenging to go deep with curiosity.

How do you connect it back, or what do you do to keep it connected so you don’t go too far or build in something? You are trying to either work with a client. Maybe you are painting like a five-year-old Pablo Picasso. He said he did his best work as a child. For the rest of his career, he is trying to paint like a five-year-old. I feel like you are doing that. How do you tie that back? How do you tie your curiosity to what is going to keep you in the realm of possibilities in reality now?

The starting point is we are wired as a society to go fast. That fastness is not serving us in terms of being able to A) Going deeper and B) Going wider. If we are going fast, we are touching things on the surface. We are moving like, “Done, move forward.” Some things are sure in the context of like, “It is good enough. Move on.” I get that. If it is important to you, you should linger a little longer and say, “I need to figure out what else is possible here. What else do I need to know in this particular lane that I’m in that I want to dig into?” By slowing things down, you are able to stay with it a little longer.

I was interviewing a gentleman by the name of Jeremy Utley, who is the author of Ideaflow, and how we are quick to take the first idea that shows up and say, “We got it. Let’s move forward.” We have to have a flow of ideas and find through that flow of ideas which one is the best idea. We have to be okay with sitting with a problem a little longer and allow that to be something we are comfortable with. We are impatient as a society and people in general. We want to move quick. We can’t. We got to slow it down.

In the world of these Zoom and online calls in the business sector with meetings, I remember going from one meeting to the next. As I’m hanging up, I’m practically hitting the next one to join. I’m just sitting in these meetings online. I’m sure a lot of people could relate to that. It is fascinating. What are we learning? What are we doing? Are we driving that level of curiosity? Are we making those connections? Are we doing the most important things? Are we doing what we used to do because that is what we did or were told to do?

I did go down a similar path with accounting. I was like, “That was the center of business. That was practical.” I learned how to help lead and to help companies do right by their financials and investing. That was all fun, but I learned it was about the people I got excited about. I can see this in you. You are trying to bring out the best potential in people. You are trying to get people to be fulfilled. You are trying to get leaders to light up. There is something about the light-up component stands out for me because there is one of the articles that you and I might have talked about on your show. It is about a box. Can you talk about that article or that story? Do you know what I’m referring to?

I know what you are referring to, and I have a confession to make. This is a little bit taboo, but I will say it. The Illuminated Box is inspired by this piece of art that is here locally in the Boston area. It is in the Peabody Essex Museum by Pakistani-American artist Anila Quayyum Agha. It is called All The Flowers Are For Me. That is the name of the piece of art. It is a structure. It is a metal box that has a light inside. The reason why it is taboo is because I’m on the verge of getting a new tattoo. The tattoo is going to be of this metal box. It is going to have this inscription on the outside that says, “Illuminating the path forward starts by sparking the fire within.” I have never said that to anybody yet. That is the first reveal. I’m going to be getting it soon.

Make sure you send a picture if you are okay with that and if it is not taboo. At the same time, my purpose changed at one point to see the light in other people. We share that connection because there is a light inside of all of us waiting to unleash and come out filled with creativity, love, joy, and whatever is important to each of us.

I love that you have that article out there because if I could quote it, you even make a point there about how it makes you sad. Most people are living out their lives as enclosed boxes keeping their light hidden inside. When we are ready to let our light shine through, it creates art and beauty that is completely unique to us. You also go on and say in the article about how to create this light or turn the light back on with your clients. They can shine brightly. Talking through it, as a leader or someone in the community that is shining brightly, doesn’t that attract people? Doesn’t that excite people? Does that bring out the best in people? What is your experience with that? What are you seeing?

What this model is if you want people to show up differently, you have to show up differently. If you want to have other people shine their light brighter, you have to be the one who can do the same. That is where change starts with yourself. When I talk to people, they say, “The environment I’m in is toxic. You can’t get anything done. I can’t seem to deal with these situations at work.” They will say something like, “That is the way it is around here.” I will be like, “What would happen if you are the one who can spark that change? You are the one who is going to be the start of something bigger. If you don’t, what happens is you stay in a dark box. You are not lit up. That is not serving anybody, most of all yourself.”

It is limiting what is possible. I will put a link to that article on your website. It is a great one because there are two pictures on there. One picture is with the light off. It is sitting there and equates to earlier parts of my career. I was a bit uptight. I’m worried about the outcomes and the numbers. You turn on the light, and the walls are filled with beauty because we are lit up in how we are sharing the safety with others to say, “You can do this too.” They light up and start popping. The next thing you know, everybody is contributing in different ways.

Back to your example, how are people going to contribute and change a culture to make things better? If the leader is not willing to do that, accept it, or make it safe enough for folks to do that, people’s lights are going to stay off. We are going to be those hanging boxes sitting around in the offices or online. We are sitting in a box right now virtually. We are trying to light up the door a little bit differently.

Darrin, I have to be honest with you. You triggered something in me because this is what you do in a good way. I’m doing a TED Talk. It has to do with making deeper connections at work. I never made the connection until this moment. When you show up fully with your light on as a fully illuminated box, you are able to create deeper connections in the workplace. It is not about bringing in all these things. It doesn’t have to be forced, but about being more authentically you and sharing little parts about you that you don’t normally share. That makes a big difference to the people around you. It gives them permission and desire to want to do the same to you. My talk is called “Don’t Check Yourself At The Door.” I never thought the two were connected, but now I see they are connected. Thank you.

You are welcome. It is two first on the show. I love it. The tattoo phrase and this. I look forward to watching that. That is going to be exciting because you are not only will you light up the room. You will light up the audience to think within. It starts within us. As we light up, we truly are this lighthouse for others that we help to illuminate what is around. It is like that hanging box does. It shines the light elsewhere for folks to step in differently.

A lot of us want to go to work as our full selves or be fully authentic. It doesn’t mean telling what is on our minds because that is not always the healthiest thing. When you talk about authenticity and being your authentic self, how would you define that a little bit more, and what are a couple of steps you would encourage folks? I know you talked about small steps, but what would you encourage some folks to start thinking about to practice being authentic? I know it sounds silly. We have been trained in such a way as your talk is saying. We do check ourselves out the door. We are not our full selves.

Looking at the things that you think are like, “It is no big deal.” We think they make us weird or different in a way that we don’t think is special. We may think of a thing like a hobby that we do and explore and say, “What are some things that I do on the weekend that people would never even guess? Sharing that little quirky thing might have someone say, “I never knew you did that. That is cool.” That little opening up can change the game.

I will use one example. This is not an example from my talk, but I had done a workshop with this organization. The CEO plays the electric bagpipes. I never even knew that existed. He had shared that with the people he worked with. They were like, “We have to hear this. We have to bring it to work. We want to hear you play.” He played and had people in tears because he was good. It was also this thing of them seeing him truly in his full form and passion, playing something people had never even experienced before. It opened them up to something bigger than they ever thought they could. It was a cathartic moment for everyone in the room. For me, being there and having him open up his aperture a little bit changed things. It had him showing up differently going forward.

It is like humanity is back a little bit. People saw that person as a human being. That is what you are talking about.

It didn’t take a lot. It didn’t take him to reveal some deep dark secret. It was a little thing that moved the needle for him and allowed him to connect deeper with the people around him. Think about those little hobbies or things that you think make you weird. Other people would say, “You are fascinating. I love that about you.”

I believe we are all perfectly unique. We all have our special adventures, things we like to do, hobbies, or differences. Something I have had to learn along the way is that differences are the power we all play around with because it gives us and humanity a chance to learn about each other, be curious, and embrace what is different and wonderful about somebody else. When we do that, we all grow. That is a form of inclusion, curiosity, and love. It is genuine care. Whatever buzzword you want to talk about, it is being human, kind, welcoming, and accepting of each other.

 

 

That is the small micro step but think about the deeper moments that go in. You think about those things like people not revealing the fact that they have. They have kids because they are afraid of being judged for having to step away from work. They need to take care of their kids because whatever. There are things that people hide all the time because they are afraid of being judged. Those are the bigger things. If we can start small and start to open up ourselves, we start to see that there are bigger things we can open up to, and we start to see each other at a bigger level. That is what we are trying.

We could all step in now, tomorrow, and the next day with one small thing to try out at home and community. Share something because it will create a ripple effect. I love that you talk about opening up a little bit. I have to call out my icon of the show, the one-eyed smile. It is about pulling back. It is looking inside. It is seeing what is within us. It is the joy, creativity, and things that I pushed away in my life and career that I have allowed to come to the surface again. I have started to light up in different ways. As I’m stepping out, being a vulnerable, courageous, and unique self also brings out the best in other people. That is why I guess why we are here, Tony.

I applaud everything you are doing. It is quite amazing. I would love to learn a little bit, if you don’t mind sharing, about how you went through your journey. I have a feeling about the work you are doing with Inspired Purpose Coaching, the techniques, and the guides you have on your website. A lot of these might have been some practices you might have learned along the way. I’m guessing at that.

I’m wondering if some of the stories that you are talking about led you to develop these wonderful modules. Maybe you could walk us through something that would be helpful for one of the readers to understand, like, “Here are some steps and ways that you could start to work on.” Use your story because I love to talk about the theory with a real example.

We are the work. Everything we learn and take in is part of our own body of work that we bring out into the world we live in. Whether you are in finance or a doctor, the things we are experiencing become part of the body of work that we bring out into the world. The same thing is true for me. Everything that I do is part of my toolbox.

One that I have truly loved sharing with people because it is something that for me I needed to learn was this thing that I have shared with countless people. It is this idea of expanding your vision and narrowing your focus. Oftentimes, we get stuck in patterns. We think, “This is how I need to navigate. This is the path I’m on. We get stuck in that because we only see what is in front of us.

What we need to do sometimes is we need to expand our vision and see new possibilities. Maybe you get overwhelmed because you have too many options, but you need to see what is available. By doing that expansion, you are connecting to your own inspiration. You are seeing what inspires me as I look around here. What is the thing that is creating a spark for me that I might want to connect with? I don’t have to have it to be as clear as day as to say, “I see over here that I could become a rock and roll singer in a band.” That is exciting, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is going to be an overnight thing.

We must expand our vision and see new possibilities to connect to your inspiration. Click To Tweet

If it is something that is real for you, at least you know, “I want to put that as an option. I want to put that in my toolbox and shopping cart.” Once you get those options available to you, even if it means simple things, you want to think, “How can I narrow it down and create focus?” If you don’t have that focus. What happens is you will stay there and be like, “I collected a bunch of knowledge. Now what?” You have to take action. Narrowing your focus is about, “What is the thing that I need to do now that will put me in the trajectory of creating something? What imperfect action am I willing to take to move forward?” Expanding your vision and narrowing your focus is like a tool that allows you to be able to see the world differently that you are living in.

I imagine your tools and guide gets into the details. “What happens if I’m in a place where I’m stuck?” As you talked about earlier for yourself, you were in burnout mode. You were seeing gray. How do I get myself even to start to look expansively about my vision? How do I even start that? What are a couple of things that could help pull me out of that? 

The first thing you can do is realize you are not alone. There are other people out there who are going through the same thing you are dealing with. You want to make sure what happens in those moments often is we feel like we are the only one experiencing that experience and we are some oddball out there trying to go through these emotions on our own.

We have to connect the people. Connection is important. The first thing you can do is find somebody you can talk to, a loved one, anybody who sees you and ask them, “What do you think? Here is what I’m going through. What are your thoughts about what I’m experiencing?” Having someone else read back to you what they see is helpful because it will help you see that glimmer of hope that you may be missing.

I’m sure they can reach out to either one of us if they are in a pinch and looking for an idea.

Some possibilitarians are out there.

In making connections with folks, I’m hoping people are reflecting a bit about where they are, not to beat ourselves up or to question why. I do believe in looking forward. I think about growth mindsets quite a bit and how we get to a possible mindset. Hence the show Live Your Possible. I do feel like we can unearth and tap into many different things. It does take small steps. I love how you talk about the small steps. Not only here but in your work, book, and guides. That is helpful.

In your book, I’m looking forward to diving into that. When you talk about climbing the right mountain, that is something that was personal for you. Is that something that you went into where you climbed the right mountain, going into finance, and you had to climb the other mountain? I heard you went on an adventure to climb a different mountain. I love to hear about all that.

There are some stories in there about climbing mountains. It is about my journey and other people’s journeys about how they define success based on societal norms and what we think success looks like. We realize when we get to the top of that mountain, “This is not the mountain I want to decline. I’m ready to do something different. I want to choose a different path.”

This is not about running out and starting your own company or doing something completely different. It is even changing the way you look at what you are doing and your perspective on the climb you are on. You have to jump to a different climb. It means that you have to choose how you are climbing. That is the perspective we need to change.

In terms of climbing mountains, after the book was published, I climbed Kilimanjaro, which was quite an undertaking. The lead-up to it was more of a journey than anything else. It was the excitement, preparation, and conversations I have had with people along the way about, “I have climbed. Let me tell you what I think.” There were many cool things that have happened since I decided to do it.

Is that something that you always dreamed of doing?

It was ironic. I was asked the question. The person who asked me was Dory Clark, my coach. She asked me, “What is the next thing? What are you going to do next?” I’m like, “I’m going to climb Kilimanjaro.” As soon as I said it, I was like, “That is happening now.” It was that moment that, as soon as it came out of my mouth, the next day, I went online and started planning it out. That is how it got created. That is a testament to how things get done. You first have to create it in your mind and say, “This is what I want.” You start visualizing it, take the steps, and prepare for it.

What is inspiring you these days?

It is the conversations I have with people who get it and understand that it is not about continuing to come to work and crank out more, but it is about going deeper. That is what inspires me most. I’m all about the deeper connections these days. The more I can get, the better. I feel like we went through a period of not having that. I was as much desiring it as anyone else. That is what inspires me most, and besides that, the one thing I’m inspired by is travel. I’m looking forward to getting out and having some more adventures.

How are you keeping in touch with your passion from childhood as far as art, museums, and architecture? Is that still alive in you?

I would say more so because I kindled that spark again. My wife, for my most recent birthday, which was in January 2023, got me two things. She got me a session with doing some metalwork, which I’m thrilled about creating art in metalwork. I can’t wait. She got me a pottery class, which I love because I have never done that before. I’m looking forward to digging into that. I like to do glass blowing and painting. I’m still doing that type of stuff. I engage with it. One of the things I have done is I have decided to create a program to get people immersed in the arts through coaching workshops. I call it Seeing Things Differently, which is powerful.

I agree with that approach for many reasons. One is to enjoy, embrace and connect. You are making connections on many levels there. I also feel like there is a level of humility that we gain from trying things that we are not experts in. I tried to learn guitar. I’m terrible, yet I enjoy it to the extent that I play it. What I gained is more appreciation for music and musicians.

I imagine going through what you are talking about. It is appreciating the arts differently. I appreciate art much differently, watching it through my daughter’s eyes and my son’s too. He is going through it. He has a different approach, similar to mine, but he is passionate about it. I want to embrace and feed that because you never know.

If you have two kids who are the future Mozart and Eddie Van Halen, you want to make sure that you don’t let that get squandered. I don’t want to leave on a downer note, but there is this book by Todd Henry. Many years ago, he wrote a book called Die Empty. What I love about this concept is the sense that the most valuable pieces of property in the world are cemeteries because that is where all these brilliant people have let their ideas go to die. They never let their song be sung or their ideas be put out in the world.

Cemeteries are the most valuable pieces of property because that's where all these brilliant people have let their ideas die. Click To Tweet

That is why it is valuable because, unfortunately, they went to the grave without letting it all happen. That is one of the things that apropos to what we are saying, and the possibilities. If you have a possibility inside of you, you have to let it out. Not only are you not serving yourself, but you are not serving all of us. That is selfish.

It is great gray matter being lost. Not turning into vibrant colors. The idea of not being shared is fascinating. It doesn’t go anywhere. You talk about vibrancy, and we are living in a vibrant world. These ideas will make it brighter. It will make it shine in a different way. Why not try it out? Share it with somebody. See what they think. Run it by Tony. See what he thinks. He will help you run it through the whole guide and his process. I’m here to help too.

Tony, a fun question before we wrap up, and I also want to hear if there is anything else you want to share with the audience. The fun question is about your superpower. I have a couple of words in my mind about you after talking with you. There is no wrong answer. I’m curious about what you are feeling for you. Do you feel like you have a superpower? What does that look like for you?

This is an interesting question because this was not something that I realized I had until people reflected it back to me. I have what is called grounded energy. As it has been explained to me, it is the sense of staying calm in the chaos and being able to not freak out when things go wrong but allow myself to stay in a place of letting people stay calm at that moment and seeing things at that moment that allow us to move forward powerfully. That sounds weird but being grounded has been the superpower that has been identified for me.

Stay calm in the chaos, and don't freak out when things go wrong to move forward powerfully. Click To Tweet

I can relate to that. Everybody needs you, Tony. In the world we live in, we need to stay calm with the things that go on. We have all seen that in the world. It is expanding in different ways. We got to keep ourselves grounded and present in keeping our thoughts more positive. Your sense of curiosity and how you think of things, you think about what is possible in a good way. What could this be? What can we do about it? How do we move forward without blowing past the fact that we have to recognize that there is darkness and down days?

There are moments where you expressed earlier about being burnt down or depressed. There are ways for us to find the light in all of that. You are doing that every single day. I see your superpower as living with wonderment. There is something that is transcendent about you that you see things differently. What keeps you grounded and filled with energy is that you see things we are not taking the time to look at.

I appreciate you for doing that and sharing your wisdom and the beauty you are bringing out to the world. It’s your art, creative mind, curious mind, or the love you are giving to your clients and everybody in the world. I admire what you are doing. I appreciate everything that you are giving back. You are paying it forward into what you are doing. Before we sign off, I love to hear if there is anything else you want to share with the audience that designed your mind based on the conversation we had to help them step away from this conversation and get into that level of action mode or whatever is on your mind.

This has been such a great conversation. Darrin, you are good at this. You found yourself in a great place. I have enjoyed this conversation. I want to leave the audience with something that was shared with me. It has been sitting with me for a while now, and I love it. It is a question. The question is, in this moment, what is whispering to you that needs to be heard louder? I love this question because there are these things that we don’t say silently enough to hear. When we listen to them, they could be something that is like the next chapter of our lives or the next thing we should be focusing on. We are afraid to listen to that whisper. What is whispering to you?

I have chills. We are going to end at that moment. That question is fascinating. Thanks for your comment, Tony. It is a pleasure having you on the show. I have a feeling we will be back together at some point, talking somewhere live, hopefully, or maybe back on your show. You never know. I’m looking forward to your TED Talk and talking with you soon. Thanks again.

Thank you.

—

I am energized. Tony is a guiding light and a great example of discovering what is possible when we connect with open-minded curiosity and belief in a greater purpose. He has a superpower that he refers to as grounded energy. I believe it is filled with wonderment and awe, where he is helping us to stay calm and find meaning in our chaotic world.

A few ideas to consider practicing in our day from our show are as follows. First thing, listen to the whispers or signs showing up for you. Notice what is most meaningful. For me, the one-eyed smile, which is on my logo here, is something I see in nature all the time. Other people are sharing this one-eyed smile, stopping them in their tracks. It has me pausing to learn or embrace what is that learning at that moment.

Other people are sharing with me. They see hearts, pennies, red cardinals, bunnies, or feathers. They see these things that stop them from thinking, “What does this mean for me?” Listen to the whisper. It could be something in their head or mind. They want to share what connects to a greater purpose or meeting for all of you. Take a moment now and every day. Is there a sign that we should stop, pause and look for the lesson?

Secondly, consider how you show up at home, in the community, or at work. Are you bringing your authentic self? Tony shares how we can do this. It makes people around us more open to doing the same and contributing in a more meaningful way, which truly lights us all up. Slow down and pause to reflect in meetings or discussions to see how you are showing up. Take small steps and different steps to be your best authentic self. Explore how people change as you reconnect to being you. Keep doing more. Take the small steps.

Lastly, Tony encourages us to bring our ideas out in the world and not be selfish and keep it to ourselves. It will not only enrich us. We will make our world a bit brighter when we do.

That is it for now. Thank you for reading. Remember, you are possible every single day. Take small steps from now and turn up the light in you that sparks your happy, authentic self and live your possible.

 

Important Links

• Inspired Purpose Coaching
• Virtual Campfire Podcast
• Climbing The Right Mountain: Navigating The Journey to An Inspired Life
• TED Talk
• Die Empty
• Illuminated Box
• https://LinkTr.ee/InspiredCoach
• https://IgniteHappy.com/What-The-Heck-Is-Wg/

About Tony Martignetti

Tony is a trusted advisor, coach, experience designer, author, podcast host, and speaker. He brings together over 25 years of business and management experience, formal training, and extreme curiosity to elevate leaders and equip them with the tools to navigate through change and unlock their true potential. Before becoming the founder and Chief Inspiration Officer of Inspired Purpose Coaching, he was a finance and strategy executive with experience working with some of the world’s leading life sciences companies. Along his journey, he also managed small businesses and ran a financial consulting company. Tony is the host of The Virtual Campfire podcast and the author of “Climbing the Right Mountain: Navigating the Journey to An Inspired Life.”