Unbound Ambitions; Career. Relationships. Wellbeing

The Two Pillars of Transformation

• Penelope Magoulianiti • Season 4 • Episode 5

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Have you ever felt trapped in a cycle of endless self-improvement, only to find that lasting change remains elusive?

In this episode, we challenge the limiting beliefs that keep us feeling inadequate, revealing how these beliefs shape every facet of our lives. By aligning positive beliefs with supportive habits, like habit stacking, we can create a genuine and empowering system of living. Discover actionable strategies to propel your transformation journey forward, and learn about my upcoming Road to Success Masterclass, a unique opportunity to build the life you're meant to live. 

Your transformation starts with awareness and is sustained by persistent action. Stay ambitious and unlock your highest potential.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Unbound Ambitions, the podcast where aspirations meet action, dreams fuel drive and every ceiling is just another floor to break through. Here we celebrate the power of persistence, explore the art of balancing career and personal life and unlock the secrets to growth and fulfillment. Whether climbing the corporate ladder, navigating entrepreneurship or finding harmony in your daily life, unbound Ambitions is your companion in journeying toward your highest goals. Join us as we get real about challenges, present valuable information and equip you with insights for a life that's as thriving as it is grounded. Because here we believe your ambitions are just the beginning. And now your host, penelope Maguilniti.

Penelope :

Hello and welcome to another episode of Unbound Ambitions, and in today's episode I want to cover the two pillars of transformation. These two pillars are the ones that actually they create transformation, and they need to be in alignment because, you see, transformation doesn't just happen by chance. It's a deliberate process built on strong foundations. And today we are talking about these two foundations the model of reality and the system of living. And I will explain what I mean by these two. But for now, know that these are the pillars of true change and, as I said, we will break them down and we will cover why they matter and also, most importantly, how we can implement them. And if you're serious about transforming your life, if you actually want to change the trajectory of your life, don't miss the opportunity to dive deeper into this topic, and I will be covering it in my upcoming ROAR to Success Masterclass, where I will guide you through a proven process to eliminate the blocks that are holding you back from having what you want in life. So the idea for this episode emerged while I was watching a training the other day and the trainer asked us this question why don't people change? Why, after buying or attending courses, spending thousands maybe of money on sessions with their coaches to improve their health, their mindset or whatever they want to improve. After months and months of going through this process, they still find themselves in the same position, or the change that happened is not huge. Or maybe after they finish the sessions, after they finish the course, after they finish the diet, they come back to where they were. Is it the course's fault when this happens? Is it the coach's, or is it because of something else? So what do you believe needs to happen for transformation to take place? Well, I researched the word transformation because I wanted to explain this session. These pillars, deep and human transformation. This is what came up on the internet. Human transformation is an internal shift that align us with our highest potential. The keyword here is internal. It is the heart of every major aspect of our lives. This is our why. It affects how we see and relate to the world and how we understand our place in it. How we see and relate to the world are also key words here, because this is our belief system.

Penelope :

The question then becomes when you listen to this explanation if it can affect us so positively, why do we resist it? And the reason is simple. Actually, it doesn't work when you try to solve a singular problem, when you try to get rid of your excess weight and your sole purpose is to lose a certain amount of kilos or pounds, it won't work, and we have seen this many times. It doesn't work because it tries. You try actually to solve a singular problem lose weight and that's not the real problem. Yes, it's not the real problem. The real problem is the belief system we have about ourselves and our bodies, and those beliefs on how we should look. Pay attention to this is not something new. They have been instilled in us from a very young age. So when we try to solve the first layer of the problem, which is, in this example, lose weight transformation doesn't happen. Transformation to create transformation.

Penelope :

You must understand these two very, very important pillars that I am going to tell you right now. So the first pillar is our model of reality and this is how we view the world and the systems. The second pillar, the system of living. They are our habits.

Penelope :

So to create lasting change in our lives, we need to unplug our outdated model of how we operate in the world, of how we view the world, and plugging an updated version of that view. It's like upgrading a software. We all have phones that every couple of months they need an upgrade. Same with our belief systems. We are running our belief systems for ages, and I'm saying ages because we carry the belief system of our parents. We carry the belief system of our parents', parents and so on. So let me give you a personal example parents and so on. So let me give you a personal example. When working in corporate, I was convinced I had to work harder to succeed what I did. I sacrificed free time with my family to succeed. I brought work at home and work until midnight because of this belief and I took on more than I could handle. But that model of reality that I had only led me to burnout. So my model of reality was outdated and dangerous in a way for my health and my actually relationship with my husband and my kids.

Penelope :

A model of reality, as I said, is how we view the world. It's our lens, it's our past experiences, our upbringing, our culture, even our environment form we have. And this lens that we see the world dictates how we see opportunities when they come on our way, dictates how we react on challenges or how we approach challenges. It also dictates our relationships with others and with ourselves. And I want you to think it as your internal operating system, and this system is the one to decide how you're going to experience, how you're going to think, how you're going to act for every event, whether either consciously or unconsciously, whether either consciously or unconsciously. And right here is the tricky part, because this model of reality can either empower us to grow or keep us stuck in limiting patterns. And if you believe success requires struggle and self-sacrifice, then that's why it becomes your reality, because this is your model, this is your lens. But if you shift that belief to one where success can be achieved with ease and balance, the world begins to reflect that back to you.

Penelope :

So I want to ask you this If you're feeling overwhelmed right now, if you are so tired that it takes hours for your body to relax and fall asleep, what thoughts are creating this result for you? What beliefs are creating this result for you? What is your underlying belief system that you are operating on? And please don't tell me that you don't know. You do know, if you just took five minutes right now and you answered this question, what thoughts are creating the result that you're experiencing right now and you don't want it. If you devoted a few minutes to reflect on this, you will know so. If you're currently feeling that you are close to burnout, that you lack fulfillment in your life, or you find yourself self-sabotaging your efforts and by self-sabotage I mean again that you might be on a healthy eating plan and the next minute you go and you eat a big piece of cake All these are often the results of flawed or outdated models of reality. And because this is so important, I want to give you another example on this. This A woman in a high-pressure job might believe that she must constantly prove herself worthy of recognition.

Penelope :

Have you ever done this? Even if you are not in a high-pressure job right now? Think back. Did you find yourself trying to prove to others that you are worthy of recognition? I certainly did, and I bet you did at some point in your life. If you're not doing it right now, in this case, when we are doing this, when we are constantly trying to prove ourselves ourselves, our model of reality tells us that we are not enough, unless we are always doing more. But what happens when this belief is challenged? When we challenge this belief, what might happen? Well, we might start recognizing that actually, I don't need to prove myself. I have worth and I have value. And when we reach that point, the entire way we show up at work, in our personal life, in our relationship, it will change.

Penelope :

Transformation begins with questioning these models of reality. Transformation starts when we recognize the limiting beliefs we hold and we own, that they are shaping our world. Once we own the fact that they are shaping our world, then we can begin to redefine them. This is the whole process in action, and I want to offer you another reflective exercise. I would like to encourage you to take again a moment and think of one belief that has been guiding your life, of one belief that has been guiding your life. And once you find that belief, when you decide on that belief there might be more than one, but for now, for the sake of this exercise, let's concentrate on one and once you pinpoint the one, then go ahead and ask yourself this set of questions Is this belief serving me or is it keeping me stuck? Is this belief serving me or keeping me stuck? And journal about it. And once you write down what is actually happening, your reality right now, start considering how your life might look if that belief was different. And if you do this, I guarantee you that as you write down your answers, you will see how your beliefs shape your life.

Penelope :

If your belief system is the model of reality system is the model of reality, then our systems of living are the routines, habits and daily practices that make up the structure of our lives. Your system of living is how you bring your model of reality into action. It is the things you do every day that either support your goals or sabotage them. And again, for change to happen, for transformation to happen, these two pillars need to be in alignment. Think of this. You can have the most empowering model of reality, but if your daily habits are working against you, you won't see the results that you want, and I bet you've experienced this. For instance, if your system doesn't support the belief that you deserve balance, you will continue to find ways to feel overwhelmed.

Penelope :

If you believe that health is important, but your system of living doesn't support that belief, then what you will do is to make sure that you will skip meals, you're going to work late into the night and won't make time for exercise. And let's be honest, how many times you decided I'm going to the gym, I'm going to start yoga, I'm going to start Pilates, and we paid for the sessions. I've been there. I know We've paid for the sessions in advance in order to keep us motivated. I mean, we spend money, don't we? And then we go one, maybe one, maybe two times, and then we stop. Why? Because there is no alignment between our belief systems and our habits or daily practices. There is a disconnection. What we believe is important and how we live our lives, and without changing our daily habits, our health and energy will continue to suffer, and I bet you've heard me saying this before. Transformation doesn't happen just by thinking about it. It happens when we act. The systems we create and the habits we cultivate help us redefine our reality in the long term.

Penelope :

Take a look at your current routines. Is there a system in place that is working against your goals? What is it? Explore it. Maybe it might be I don't know checking emails first thing in the morning. What is one habit you can shift, starting off today? If, for example, you are reading emails while you're having your first coffee of the day, maybe you choose to swap this with reading a book around motivation, around mindset or around whatever topic you want to feed your brain with positivity. Or maybe you decide, while I'm drinking my coffee I will journal, and this is called habit stacking. And there is this great book, atomic Habits, by James I forget his surname. It's a great book. I will suggest you go and buy it and read it.

Penelope :

And basically the method is to adopt a new habit, stack it on an existing one, and in this case I am enjoying drinking my coffee. So every morning, what I do when I wake up and I usually am up by 5 am when I am up, I drink a glass of water, I prepare my coffee and then I go into my hour of power, which consists of 20-minute reading first thing in the morning. So the first thing I do is I feed my mind with positivity, I feed my mind with motivation while I'm drinking my coffee and these two habits I enjoy doing and then I swap the reading with journaling. I journal my thoughts. I journal my thoughts, I journal my maybe worries or my challenges and I try to self-coach myself around it. And then I proceed either to go for a walk or exercise and after all this, I start my day.

Penelope :

Think one thing that you can stack in an existing habit that it's going to be empowering for you, because nothing changes if we do the same thing over and over. And we need reality to change and also we need our systems of living to change and be in alignment. And viewing the world positively without aligning our views with good habits always leads to frustration. You might believe that success can be achieved with balance, as I already said, but if you don't have boundaries at work or if your habits keep you overworking, you won't experience that balance. And then you will start thinking oh, the concept of balance it's a big lie. No, it's not. You can't create the right balance for you, and many times I've mentioned the right balance is not 50-50. But in order to do that, you need to align the two pillars. On the other hand, again, if you are having good habits but no guiding model of reality, not a positive, strong belief system, it also won't work. If, for example, you have a solid morning routine like mine, similar to mine, whatever is your routine, but your model of reality, your belief system, is I will never be good enough. No matter how much I try, I will never achieve the level of satisfaction, success, health that I want, then no system will make up for that limiting belief, you will continue to feel like you're not moving forward Again. It is only when your model of reality shifts and your systems of living support that shift that you are unstoppable. The change becomes sustainable when this happens, not just a temporary fix. And I want to offer you these three practical steps to implement for the two pillars and bring them in alignment.

Penelope :

Step number one reflect on your model of reality, on your belief system. Think about one area of your life that you would love to improve. Maybe it's your career, maybe it's your health, maybe it's your relationship. What beliefs are driving your actions in that area? Answer this question. Devote time then ask this question and answer it what needs to shift? Because deep down, you know what you need to do to shift where you are right now. Step number two is audit your systems of living, in other words, audit your current habits. Once you have identified the belief, then this step is all about identifying the habits and systems that you currently have in your life. Are they aligned with that belief? If you believe in prioritizing self-care but never made time for it, that's a system issue and you must fix it if you want to change.

Penelope :

And step number three align and take action. If you had to make a small change, what would that be? Maybe it's waking up 15 minutes earlier to have quiet time for yourself, or setting boundaries at work to ensure you don't burn out, and you won't believe how these small shifts can create massive results when aligned with a positive belief system. Okay, did you like today's episode? I think this episode is one episode that shines light on what we mean by transformation, by transformation, why it's not happening and why we are repeating the same things over and over and we are waiting a different result and we are expecting a different result. And I hope you liked it because, again, I would like to invite you to dive deeper and resolve this imbalance once and for all.

Penelope :

And on the 24th of October, at 6 pm CET, central European Time, I am hosting the Roar to Success Masterclass. This masterclass will help you recognize and own your model of reality of reality, but also it will help you act on it and redefine your life with powerful systems of living. Head over to www. penelopemagoulianiti. com/ roar or check the show notes to register. This masterclass is where transformation truly begins, and I can't wait to see you there. So always remember that transformation requires more than changing your thoughts or your actions. You must align both. When you shift your beliefs and change your habits, that's when the magic happens. Thank you so much for joining me today on this journey into the two pillars of transformation your model of reality and your system of living. Always remember that lasting change happens when your beliefs align with your actions, when the way you see the world is matched by the systems you build in your daily life.

Penelope :

And if today's episode sparked a new perspective or a deeper understanding of what is holding you back, I want to encourage you to take that next step with me, in your back. I want to encourage you to take that next step with me. The upcoming Road to Success Masterclass is where we will go beyond the theory and into action. I will be walking you through practical strategies to recognize, own and redefine your reality, and together we will build the systems to support the life you're meant to live. To join me for this transformational experience, head to www. penelopemagoulianiti. com/ roar or visit the show notes to see the whole URL and register today. I would love to see you there. Until next time, remember your transformation begins with awareness and is sustained by action. Keep roaring and stay unbound in your ambitions. Much love.