Achieving The Best Begins With Knowing The Best
Earlier this year I was asked to join Ken Joslin’s Instagram Live, and I couldn’t say no. Ken is the owner of the company Grow Stack Drive, a personal and professional development company that helps individuals grow their dreams. In addition, he is a real estate and mortgage broker and has served as a pastor for over a decade. Ken is a guy with a lot of enthusiasm and curiosity for life — always trying to push the needle forward.
Just talking with Ken for a few minutes, you can quickly pick up on his competitive nature. Growing up in Iowa, I always had a strong desire to win at anything I did. From sports to academics to the little things like racing my brother down the street — winning mattered. What are we doing, if we aren’t trying to give life our best performance?
By the time I entered college and my athletic career had concluded, but my competitive juices were still flowing and I needed a new outlet. So my journey with pageantry began, and it really scratched the right itch for me.
“Little did I know what I was in for… Two a days, chicken and broccoli, and this fun stuff that comes along with pageantry and a ton of training.”
After college and a few pageant competitions, I moved from Iowa to Missouri. I was in a sales role that just wasn’t doing it for me. I needed to shake things up and get out of the comfort zone I had built. So I packed up my bags and moved to Los Angeles. During my time here, I worked as a model and sports reporter while I Airbnb hopped around town. After a year in LA and a lot of self-growth, I decided to move back to Missouri.
I knew I wanted to compete again in pageantry, and I wanted to be the last girl standing on stage. So I decided I needed to hire the best.
“That year I hired the best mindset coaches. I had already competed five times prior… and I’d already had all the runway training, all the interview training, all of that stuff to get my performance up… I was like why am I not winning? Then the second I focused on my mindset and confidence and zeroed in on that, and stepped out of my comfort zone, that was when I won.”
But obviously, that journey to the crown wasn’t easy. I had failed A LOT. I had heard the word “NO” so many times. But my upbringing instilled in me that quitting didn’t solve anything. All these life experiences have led me to my motto: “every no is one step closer to your yes.”
A big part of staying positive and overcoming adversity for me is my quiet time. I have three different journals that I spend an hour with each morning. I journal about my day-to-day, I have a gratitude journal where I write out what I am thankful for (big or small), and an I AM statement journal where I write about what I believe about myself (I AM courageous).
This hour each morning resets my brain and helps me see the bigger picture, and not get caught up in the small details that might weigh me down. This daily habit, which has had such a positive impact on my life, wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for me surrounding myself with mentors and coaches that challenge me — that were a few steps ahead of me in understanding life.
There are two things I want you to take away from this video.
First, for whatever path you want to take in life, to reach your goals you need to surround yourself with the right people. Gather mentors and leaders into your life that can help stretch you in positive ways, showing you how to grow in your own personal journey.
Second, we live in a society where people feel like everything needs to be digitally documented through Facebook and Instagram. We have an unhealthy relationship with instant gratification. I want to encourage you, that success isn’t achieved by the work we do in front of people, but what we do behind the scenes.
Just some food for thought 🙂
Be Unstoppable!
– Tori
