Engage The Field
Level 3: Master Player
GET READY TO GET WEIRD!!!
I mean
GET READY TO TAP INTO THE METAPHYSICAL ESSENCE THAT MAKES YOU UNIQUE!!!
I mean
GET READY FOR THE GREATEST SINGLE THING YOU CAN DO TO GET EVERYTHING YOU WANT IN LIFE!!!
I mean
GET READY FOR A SPECTACLE OF WONDERS, A PANORAMA OF POSSIBILITY, AS WE UNVEIL THE SECRETS TO UNLOCKING AN ABUNDANCE OF SUCCESS AND SATISFACTION HERETOFORE UNIMAGINED!!!!
But for real,
You're gonna see us hype this concept up everywhere.
It's because it's true, and everyone of us who now "gets it" has had monumental shifts in personal growth, business growth, health, etc ... whatever you are trying to "do."
But
THE IRONY
If you can call it irony ...
Is that there's no real way for you to 'get this' without accepting the words we say and then just "doing the thing."
Yea
There's no possibly way I can convince you past the intellectual understanding of it's potential value.
It's a real chicken and egg type situation. Before you "get it" you've got to implement with faith in yourself.
No matter how much I hope you "get it", really there's nothing I can do beyond the words I'm about to share.
So actually this works pretty well as a litmus test.
Either you get this and do the thing, or you probably won't really get anything else out of TGA nor change your life nor get what you really want.
YIKES!
Who let THIS guy out of the box to write??
He's all comin in here being like "if you don't do this YOUR GONNA DIE!" That's my favorite (read: sarcasm) marketing framework. If you don't do this you'll forever fail.
It's great. Really makes people feel good and helps them get what they want. (again, read: sarcasm)
Here's the thing,
What we're about to share IS ACTUALLY FUN, and ITS ACTUALLY SIMPLE.
You might find it scary sometimes.
Because doing new and different things is scary. And being completely real with not just yourself but others can be scary. But it's not complicated. And you probably already do it for a lot of things.
So, to help you out today
We're gonna try to make this as WEIRD and as FUN as possible so you can enjoy THIS moment and hopefully see what we're talking about.
READY?
Since the subject is in the title, I'm not going to tease this out a bunch more.
It's time to ENGAGE THE FIELD!
And what does Engage The Field mean?
Well,
It means to uh...
Go Engage The Field.
THAT'S IT FOLKS!
Thanks, and see you in the next one!
Oh, I suppose that wasn't very helpful was it.
Ok let's figure this out for real.
But,
Before we actually get into "Engaging the Field" ...
We need a little context.
Let's start with "what the hell are we even doing here?"
I mean right here right now.
Why am I writing this article and why are you reading it?
I can't put words in your mouth ...
But I suspect you have a desire to get something in life. That's a frequent theme 'round these 'ere parts. Get what you want in life.
It's general because the principles and philosophies we follow are not solely owned to a particular realm. We have a lot of entrepreneurs who read and we speak about business quite a bit because many of the people in our circles fit those interests.
Also, one of the most common interests is "how the hell do I get more money?"
But you may also be interested in "how the hell do I get rid of this tire around my midsection?" Or "how do I have a relationship with someone I really actually love who really actually loves me?"
And many variations therein.
We're not here to tell you what to do. But what we can do is help you behave in a way which increases the likelihood of you getting the result you desire.
So,
Context. What the hell are we even doing here?
Hopefully trying to increase the likelihood of getting what we want in life. And we're doing that by learning. We're learning so that we can grow.
How do I know we all need to grow?
Well ... if you, right now, are exactly who you need to be to have what you want in life, then you would be having it. Since you don't have it, that means something different needs to be in order for you to have it.
That something comes from growth. Change. A difference from where you are now to where you want to be.
(Also if you ascribe to similar ideals as we do in TGA, you’ll realize that life is growth)
You still with me?
Quick recap - we're here to get what we want in life by growing and changing (ideally becoming more ourselves as we do so).
That requires gaining intelligence.1
Our definition of intelligence is "the ability to get what you want." So if you are more capable of getting what you want, intelligence has increased.
You learn in order to gain intelligence right?
Sure,
But,
Wait hold on.
You know,
We probably should be wearing togas and drinking wine while we go over all this.
Don't you think?
Ok back to it:
What is learning?
Our definition of learning is "same situation, different behavior."
In other words, if you are standing before a hot stove, and you put your hand on the hot stove, and you burn your hand, and then you stand before the hot stove again, and you put your hand on the hot stove again, and burn your hand again,
You clearly haven't learned shit.
But if you stand again before the hot stove, and you DON'T put your hand on it because you know you're gonna burn your hand << look, you learned something.
Same situation, different behavior.
That is learning. It is also growth.
Ok
I have a story to share,
But before I do that, I want to give you one more framework to consider.
In TGA we talk about Open Loops and Multi Loop Learning.2
Let me bring this all together for you:
Learning is "same situation, different behavior." You gain intelligence by learning. What do you need to do in order to exemplify different behavior in a situation so that you have learned?
(hint ... get in that situation and do behavior stuff)
Here's the loop ...
1. Consume (this is reading/watching/etc)
2. Reflect (think deeply on what you have learned, 6WU, etc - critically, do NOT close loops, leave questions unanswered)
3. ENGAGE (go out into the real context and enact your new behavior)
4. Reflect (now that you’ve engaged the field, journal again, consider your original challenge, consider new questions and then repeat the process - different person, different river)
That is learning.
MOST people stop at consume and think they've learned. Oh I watched Laurel Portié's video on creating power content, now I know how to create power content.
NOPE. You haven't learned squat yet.
SOME people stop at reflect. They watch the power content video, and then they write notes, reflect, plan what they would do. And they think they have learned how to create power content.
NOPE. You still haven't learned a darn thing.
Because you can't understand what it really means for yourself and your own person until you do the full behavior in the context of it being done ...
THAT MEANS, for power content specifically, you don't just make power content, you make it in the context of your ads strategy, publish it, spend money to run ads to it, talk to people who comment/respond, reflect on what's happened because of all the things you've done.
And then you take that experience and you loop it back to the beginning.
ONLY THEN have you learned. Even if you didn't get a good result. It doesn't matter. The outcome does not matter.
Only THE PROCESS matters.
And that part of the process which is most important for learning?
ENGAGING THE FIELD.
Are you starting to see it?
Why we're like "THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER AHHHHHHHHHH"
It's because if you take Engage out of there,
No one learns a damn thing.
No one's behavior changes.
No one grows.
We just all turn into mulch.
Womp Womp.
OK, now I want to show you WHY Engaging The Field is so powerful.
Are you ready?
Heh.
You have no idea what's about to come to you. And that's ok.
Let me tell you a little story.
This comes from The Guardian Academy Event in March of 2024.
We had the distinct privilege of the Presence of Dr Jeff Spencer.3
I use presence in every sense of the word.
Dr Jeff is the kind of person we call A Cornerman.
Because he's lived enough of life, experienced enough, done enough to be able to see around the corners (little tidbit, because of the cycles of life, you can't be a real Cornerman if you haven't lived at least 70 years - but more on that later).
Dr Jeff understands the value of being fully and truly present in the moment.
He knows the value of the gifts he brings to the world and the value of sharing those gifts in a room full of present and receptive people, like those of us in The Guardian Academy.
He shows up. And he gives of himself. Completely.
(Personally I am forever grateful for that gift and I hope you have the chance to meet him one day)
He began our event with a call to be present, and to be teammates (more on this idea another time), that no one wins alone.
Then,
He let us know that we are all here NOW to Engage The Field.
A concept we could somewhat grasp at first,
But critically, we were told to just let that sit. Let it sit as an open loop. To percolate. To mingle with the rest of the thoughts and experience of the day.
And then,
Whether it be knownst or unknownst to those in the room,
As we sat with it, we experienced it.
We experienced it throughout that first day, and into the evening as we all sat around the fire together, discussed life, energy, and giants.
Day 2
Dr. Jeff brings a new perspective to us in "the field."
Those who have stepped into The Arena will be able to watch a reply of this and get the full in depth Dr Jeff version.
Which is important.
I'm going to give you a shorted explanation.
We are essentially made up of vibrating energies. All of us. Every one of our cells is held together by vibrating energy. And when we, our own unique selves, come into the moment, into presence, into the actual space, INTO THE FIELD ... our own unique vibrations come into play.
They interact with the world around us, with other people. We receive back vibrations. And we learn and understand *a lot* that is not conscious because of this.
Be aware that your authentic self matters.
If you are showing up trying to be someone else then there will be a disconnect between your personal vibrational energy and the energy you are attempting to put out there.
But that's another conversation for a different time.
What matters,
Is that when you yourself show up in the field your specific vibrational energy makes all the difference in the world.
We all know the tangible energetic difference between seeing people in person and seeing them on Zoom right?
Consider a zoom meeting - there's a ton of energy and behavior which is different simply because the thing you are actually interacting with is a camera and a screen, not other people.
Say, for example, you're sitting in a group in person and you look around wondering ... gee, can I get away with picking my nose? I don't think I can. I'm not gonna do that.
But, if you're on ZOOM ... you can just turn off your camera and pick your nose.
You're not gonna let a fart loose in a room full of people if you can handle it.
On zoom though?
Y'all could be fartin away at will and no one would know.
We behave differently.
We show up differently.
We feel differently - both of other people and within ourselves ...
When we Engage The Field.
Let's go further with another story from the weekend.
After The Guardian Academy Event over the weekend, we had Laurel Portié's4 Super Duper Awesome Ads event the following 2 days. A handful of those who attended TGA also attended Laurel's event and got many first hand experiences of Engaging The Field with TGA concepts.
But the story I want to share is actually from a guest speaker.
On the afternoon of our second day, we were visited by Vince Reed5, who shared with us his unique experiences in selling.
Now,
I can't tell you everything he told us. A lot of what he told us I don't think he's shared anywhere outside of his business before.
But what I can share is a story he does tell quite a bit.
For context, Vince Reed sells a unique video hosting platform called Eboov.6
He tells the story of first starting off selling this saas program. The story of how he lost $150k in 30 days, and then gained millions from his mistake.
When they launched Eboov, Vince did what most people do in launching a product like this. He hired a sales team and then worked his ass off getting as many people in front of that sales team as possible.
He quickly noticed that some of his sales team performed a lot better than others. This is nothing new. He also quickly discovered that MOST sales were coming from one sales person. Also nothing new.
Sales were going really well.
But, about 1 month in, they discovered a significant problem.
They noticed two things at once.
The first was that most of the people who bought from that one sales person never used the product ...
And the second was that nearly all of the people he sold to were starting to refund.
They figured out that one sales person wasn't even really selling the product, he just pushed people into buying encouraging them to refund within the first 30 days if they didn't like it (and since they didn't know what it was, didn't really want it, and didn't use it, they refunded).
Vince fired the sales team, and incurred a huge amount of loss. In his story he explains $150k of ad spend on all that, but there was significantly more loss involved as well.
Down to the wire,
Vince was forced into one position.
He had to do all the selling.
He was good at it. Really good. He closed 40-50% of his calls. The problem is it wasn't scalable or sustainable. He figured he'd train people on his team to do the calls. They did fine, but at best 20-30% close.
He continued pushing, and then he had a thought.
If he was so good at selling, why have anyone else do the pitch? He recorded his best pitch call, turned it into a video, and then had his team run a simple script into the video pitch.
Same result as him doing it live.
Fast forward, Vince is running a fast growing saas with a really impressive sales system. (I wish you’d been there to see it)
How do you think he did it?
He ...
Everyone all at once now,
ENGAGED THE FIELD
He brought his unique energy and person into the actual work, into the actual field, into the actual people who were buying.
He knew what he was selling best and with his unique individual person right in the midst of THE FIELD, he was able to figure out all the nuance, all the details, and because he himself was in the thick of it, he was able to figure out a selling process he *never* would have figured out otherwise.
Engaging the Field is putting yourself into the literal physical real context in which you are trying to enact your ideas and your principles.
If it sounds simple, it's because it is.
Not necessarily easy - we have to confront our fears and what is stopping us from being fully present in the space we need to be in. But it is simple.
Put yourself actively, with your behavior, into the context of what you are trying to accomplish.
Want to lose weight and think lifting weights is gonna help? Go lift some damn weights, consistently, for a month and see how you feel.
Want to get more sales for your coach/service/course/product business and think Laurel's program might do the trick?
Make the damn videos, follow the damn process, DO THE DAMN WORK ... because what you really need to know in order to have growth can only come from Engaging the Field.
Are you guilty of this?
If you "learn" something new … let's say at a Guardian Academy Event. Something which changes your perception. Something which you think is now very important to you ...
And you do NOT change your behavior because of it,
Then you are violating your own personal and economic principles.
If you say "wow, I really resonate with 'what is enough?' I think that's going to help me solve several problems" - and then you don't go and apply that concept, what the hell are you even doing?
If you do not put that thing into action,
You are being an asshole to yourself.
You are engaging in mental masturbation.
As the writer of this fine publication, I shouldn't be so harsh. I mean, probably many of you are going to enjoy reading and then not implement. Not Engage the Field. And really, that's your choice and that's ok.
In many ways, I'm writing to myself.
Because I'm 100% guilty of this. None of us are perfect. Take Laurel's Ad program for example. As a copywriter I've applied that to clients before and gotten great results.
But I've never fully applied the process to myself, while simultaneously acknowledging that's my best way to get conversations and sell what I'm selling.
This is stupid. DALA. I'm being a total a-hole to myself.
Yep, Calling my own self out in my own writing. If I can do it publicly like this, you can do it for yourself. Just,
Go Engage The Damn Field.
Are you READY?
This Substack, where we publish our knowledge, information, experiences - the writing, the videos - this is all …
1. Consume
And then if you take what you read here, you think about it, you write about it, you make a 6WU or two and share that ...
2. Reflect
You can reflect in the Unofficial TGA Facebook Page7 if you like. Paid subscribers get the added benefit of being able to reflect in the comments where we like to reflect back with you.
Do you see how that fits?
Free and Paid Substack are 1 and 2, Consume and Reflect.
If you want to learn, to change, to grow ?
You've got to Engage.
You can engage however makes the most sense for you and your situation. We’ve created a structure to help.
In comes…
The Arena.
We’ve created “The Arena”… where we take those who are READY to take action, and provide a useful structure for ENGAGING THE FIELD.
The Arena along with TGA Events are steps 3 and 4, Engage and Reflect Back.
Its this point where we go past simply taking in information and going into action. You already know everything you need to know, now it is time to DO.
The Arena will be presented primarily as ongoing live workshops where those who are in The Arena will get the opportunity to be on live calls with the TGA Team (including our favorite people like Dr Jeff Spencer and Laurel Portié) to go over the problem/challenge you are currently trying to Engage The Field with.
On these calls we are able to give you the unique guidance and direction necessary to solidify Certainty of your next actions.
Then, you will take what we suggest and ENGAGE THE DANG FIELD.
(Are you seeing the theme here?)
Those who Enter The Arena, and Fully Engage The Field will be supremely rewarded - not just by the intrinsic reward you will get through the action, but we're also gonna do some really cool stuff for those who follow through and do the work.
Everyone who is not in The Arena will be able to watch, as we will find ways to stream the sessions when appropriate or possible.
You don’t have to choose to participate in our Arena, but we do recommend you step into an arena and engage the field consistently. It’s the only way to learn.
The link to join us is in the Arena on Monday is at the bottom of this post.
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