→ We did the 2025 Digital Business Model training last month and it was SO good, I’ve had so many of you ask me to do it again. So, I’m doing it! I’m teaching it live one more time on October 23rd at 3pm EST: https://get.embodiedmarketing.com/model 

You can be crushing it in business and still be operating from fear.

Most entrepreneurs think we’re bold and going after things. And in many areas, we are. But what if you’re only being bold within a certain box where your system feels safe?

In this episode, I’m sharing how to identify the subconscious programs running your life, a powerful two-page exercise that reveals exactly what needs to change, and the question that will show you what your future self is screaming at you to do.

Key Takeaways

• The tricky ways fear runs your life—how to identify when fear and scarcity are dictating your decisions (even when you tell yourself you’re operating from abundance)

• The exercise that revealed where I’ve been playing safe—two pages that showed me the gap between who I am and who I’m becoming.

• The movie screen question—the question that shows you what you already know but haven’t acted on.

 ____________________________________

More ways Embodied Marketing can support you:

If you’re ready to hand off your entire marketing strategy (from funnels to ads to copy) and finally get the expert team you can trust, apply here and let’s talk: helpmystrategy.com

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW THE PODCAST!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Embodied Podcast! If this podcast has added value and helped you in your business journey, please head over to Apple Podcast, subscribe to the show, and leave us an honest review.

Your reviews and feedback will not only help us continue to deliver great, helpful content, but it will also help us reach even more amazing entrepreneurs just like you.

♥ LISTEN ON SPOTIFY

READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Emily Hirsh:

If I don’t personally know you, I don’t care what you think, good or bad, like you could tell me, that’s so amazing and you’re so amazing, blah, blah, blah. And if I don’t know you, like it’s neutral to me, I don’t care. Same thing is if I get a negative response, you know, from someone I don’t personally know, I don’t care.

It’s neutral, and I just drew a line like it impacts me zero. Because if I don’t personally have a relationship with you, I don’t care and I don’t want the feedback. And I love that for content creators. Because I think that’s how it should be. It’s like how can we allow people to have any opinion, either good or bad, drive how we show up if they don’t really know us?

Embodied CEOs don’t chase trends. They pave the way they lead from within. Move by purpose, unshaken by noise. When you are the source, you do not need permission. Hello everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. I’m excited for this episode. I feel like it’s gonna be one of those that I just hit record. I’ve got the somewhat of the direction, but we’ll just see what flows outta me, man.

So I went to a Dispenza event. We’re not gonna talk all about Dispenza this time. It was so different than the last time in the sense that the first time I went was such a perspective shift. And you know, when you have one of those perspective shifts that you’re like. Oh my God. Like all these things kind of crack open and unfold and you can’t unsee it.

And you can’t unknow it. And so it makes such a big impact on your life, which is incredible. But that already happened to me, and so then I went to this event that really was more of like a deepening, it was like just a, a refresh and next layer, next level. In between the two events, I’ve really kept up my meditation practice every day on my own, and so I think that allowed me to go so much deeper in the event.

And then after the event, I did a few solo days. I love solo travel. I used to hate it. I used to be really scared of being like on my own ’cause it would make me feel weird. But now I don’t know if it’s being a mom or what. I love it. It’s like one of my like highest creativity times. And so it’s my birthday month and I told my husband like.

I just want this. I just wanna be able to go from Dispenza and have three days in the mountains, kind of the mountains, boulder’s, not really mountains, sort of on my own. I wanna work on some projects. I wanna just walk around, like just be with myself, which was really powerful after Dispenza and there’s a lot of shifting happening, which is something I wanna talk about today.

So not what the shifts are. I’m not there yet. I’m very much in a season of like the next layer. Uncovered and I am ready to really look at some things and walk through them that I’ve identified. I have been avoiding, and I did some really powerful exercises that I’m gonna share on here. But what I wanna talk about as like the theme is this realization I’ve had about how much fear runs a lot of our lives.

Even when we don’t think it does and like the more I do this work, the more I realize how tricky and smart and powerful the subconscious mind is and how much and life is just these programs and our brain and like the nervous system. Dictating and creating this reality to essentially keep us safe. And it’s wild.

Like the deeper you go into the work, the more you realize like, oh my God, you know, like this runs so deep and to the point where like you can think you’re not doing something, but you are doing it. I mean, it’s fascinating. So one of the biggest kind of takeaways for me was, ah, there’s so many, but one of the biggest like things that I wanna bring forward is I realized how I definitely would call myself somebody who is bold and you know, goes after things and isn’t really afraid.

But what I realized is. I do that in certain areas and where it fits in a box. And then there’s some areas that I do not do that. And I allow fear and scarcity or lack to dictate my actions and my thoughts and how I’m showing up. And it’s tricky because it’s not like black and white, it’s not obvious, but like when you start investigating it and digging deeper, you realize that.

And as I realize this, I realize how many people. Are operating this way, like almost everyone, and here’s the reality. Our brain is wired for survival. It’s not wired for actually going and doing scary things and putting yourself out there and change and discomfort and growth and thriving as a soul and human.

Its job is to predict the future and take the things that happened in the past and go, you got hurt here. You, you know, were scared here. You felt isolated, you felt abandoned. We associate that with death and so we’re gonna do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen in the future. And it is tricky, like our subconscious and our brain, it’s tricky, but it’s also like so powerful.

You, you watch it and you’re like, I just had a conversation with my mentor Samson yesterday, who was like. He asks me a lot of questions as I work through things and doesn’t ever tell me the answers, which can be kind of annoying, but I love it. And he got me to see like, do you see how you’ve set this all up?

Like that’s how powerful you are is that you have, without even realizing, it created this entire reality and this entire, you know, pattern for protection. And so here’s how it served you, and now you’re realizing it’s not serving you anymore, but your nervous system has to catch up to that. So I wanna talk about this because I wanna shine the light for you guys and just allow you some space to reflect on where are you allowing fear.

To drive actions, decisions, beliefs. And this is so huge in business and I, I don’t mean like you have to become, you know, where you just become reckless. Like that’s not what I mean at all. But you know, in those moments when you have to make a decision around hiring a new team member. Investing in some sort of support, putting yourself out there, creating content that maybe makes you uncomfortable launching an offer or launching a new offer.

I mean, launching your business in general. Deciding to leave a job, you know, going after these things that to, to most of the world are crazy and are scary and unpredictable and not safe. Like it’s the opposite. Of what our brain wants. And I do actually think a lot of entrepreneurs are wired differently for sure, to be able to even pursue this level of uncertainty and pressure and discomfort.

But I also think it holds people back so much. And I think one of the most powerful things you can do is be able to identify when you are operating from fear of. Basically made up stories, right? Because we operate based off of all these, what if this and what if that? And it’s like none of that’s even true.

Or when you are actually tuned into your heart and your intuition and your gut. And you can make a decision from that place. And it’s not actually easy to get to that point because again, the subconscious is so strong, it’s gonna make you think that the fear is real and that the fear is the reality. And so I’ve had these experiences where I realized I thought.

I was facing it all and you know, not afraid to go through anything and, and willing to do this until I really got still at the dispense event and went deeper. And I had this really one wild experience of like completely leaving my body in a meditation and realized, oh no. Like I set this all up. And in so many ways, there are so many things that is.

Preventing me from feeling the things that I personally am most afraid to feel, which, when I think about it, it is abandonment, it’s rejection, it is being alone. Those are things that I’m really afraid of, and so it, I manipulate my reality to make sure that I never feel that, when in fact the fear is like feeling abandonment has to be attached to a story.

Because you’re never actually abandoned, right? Like you, you always have you and God or whatever you believe in and, and others like, there’s so much stories around this. So when I started looking at this, I started realizing in the ways that I, you know, filter what I say, especially in relationship in the ways that I play this role of.

Everything’s great and not really speaking truth. Sometimes again, especially in relationships, like not just my main relationship, but also friendships and social situations and even sometimes in, you know, business dynamics of like playing this role of I’ll just take it on and I can force myself to be fine in many situations, but then I’m not really being authentic.

I’m not really. Speaking truth, and why am I not speaking truth? Because I’m afraid of the reaction. And that’s a form of control, right? If I don’t speak what’s on my heart, and the reason I’m doing that is because I’m trying to control the other person’s reaction to protect myself. Now I’m just trying to control the reality, and I’m trying to control the situation when now I’m not really being authentic.

And what that does is creates a gap between me and being able to actually have real. Deeper connections because now it’s like you’re getting this version of me that I think you want and not the real version. So I really like realize this and realize like there are some things in my life that I have tolerated for a long time.

You know, ways I show up relationships and just things in my life that I’ve tolerated because I didn’t wanna rock the boat because I am afraid of walking through whatever the reality is when I start showing up in the way that I’ve wanted to and that I have. You know, filtered out of protection and, and control.

And when you think about business owners, like I watch so many people, so many people have a big dream, pursue a business and not actually make the decisions that they need to make. To bring it to reality outta fear. And, and again, I’m, I’m not saying like this means go be reckless and say yes to everything.

Like there are times where you will say no. You know, investing in that or making that decision is not actually the right thing for me. Like, that’s not actually in alignment. But there’s a lot of times that I see people operate from a place of fear. So my question for you to sit with is what would it look like?

Like just imagine in your business and in your life. If you were operating from a place of abundance, of wholeness, of safety, like what would that look like? Because I think we often operate from a place of lack, of scarcity, of fear. ’cause again, that’s how we are wired. So we have to go against the programming and it, it’s just like, it’s such a deeper level for me because I never would’ve said I was someone who was operating out of lack.

Or fear until I was like, okay, uncover. Like there’s the surface, you know, that looks like, yeah, as long as it’s working well for me and I’m protected and I feel good and I don’t have to face those things that feel like death. Oh yeah, I’m operating out of full abundance and wholeness. But when you get to the layers down below, where in order for me to make that decision, face that thing, have that conversation.

State that truth, it would require me to have to surrender the response and allow that response to cause feelings of fear, sadness, grief, these things that I avoid at all costs. Oh, I’m not. You know, facing those at all is what I realized. And I mean, it for sure impacts the business and, and my personal life.

And I, I really thought about like what would my content look like if I really did not care what people think, because to an extent I don’t. But I heard something the other day on a podcast and this, I heard this guy say he, he’s off social. And he’s a comedian. I was listening to Theo v, he’s off social media, and he said, I, I, I set a hard line rule for me, which is if I don’t personally know you, I don’t care what you think, good or bad, like you could tell me that’s so amazing and you’re so amazing, blah, blah, blah.

And if I don’t know you, like it’s neutral to me, I don’t care. Same thing is if I get a negative response, you know, from someone I don’t personally know. I don’t care. It’s neutral. And I just drew a line like it impacts me zero. Because if I don’t personally have a relationship with you, I don’t care and I don’t want the feedback.

And I love that for content creators because I think that’s how it should be. It’s like, how can we allow people to have any opinion, either good or bad, drive how we show up. If they don’t really know us, like think about the internet, they have the sliver of a perspective. Until someone personally knows you and and can witness you in different seasons and in person and connect like that, they should have zero say.

In how you show up as a human. Now if you personally know me and you say, Hey, when you do that thing it’s really hurtful, or Hey, I really love this about you. Now it matters. So I’m implementing that and I, I don’t think I, I mean I have a pretty thick skin in terms of content ’cause I’ve done it for a long time and it’s not that I get a lot of negative content, but I think if I dug around, there are things that I filter out out of the natural innate fear of being.

Too much or offending someone or whatever. So that’s one thing. Two more points I wanna make. So I did this exercise that I would recommend everyone do. It was so powerful for me, and it was actually a friend who came up with it and told me this maybe six months ago, and it just kind of came to me when I was on my trip, which is.

Writing out a statement of exactly who you wanna be like in detail. I wrote out, you know, this is Emily. She is this, she feels this, she shows up this way. She carries herself this way. She’s this type of leader. Her team feels this. Her kids feel this when she’s around, like in detail. Who I wanna be. I wrote, she’s got an eight figure company, but she runs it from ease and grace and gratitude and abundance, right?

She’s hosting events that sell out and are actually making an impact on humanity. So I wrote like, it was like two pages in my journal in detail who I wanna be. And as I wrote it, I really felt it like I felt her alive. And then I asked myself, okay, if this is who I am becoming because I can make the decision today to be that person.

Those things like eight figure business won’t happen overnight, but I can make the decision to be the person who already has it. So if that’s who I have chosen to become, what environment supports that? Meaning the actions I’m taking, the relationships I have, the habits, the ways that I’m showing up. Like the environment around me from people to actual, you know, ways that time is spent to my physical environment.

Like what is the environment that supports this and what’s the environment that doesn’t support it? And instantly I had so much clarity around relationships that maybe don’t need to end, but need to shift. You know, things like for me, being on social media, I’m taking a pause. Actively being on it, not creating content, but actively being on it.

Because when I look at that version, it’s like, no, she spends a lot more time in stillness sitting with herself, like not using anything to numb, you know? And so that was a really powerful exercise to really look at and say, this is who I’m choosing to become in detail. And I could feel her. She’s alive now.

Where’s the gap between my reality today and the reality of this person? And there’s the clarity. Instantly there’s the clarity. And with all of this has come some decisions and conversations and not easy ones. Like really, because in order for me to have them now, I am speaking a truth that I haven’t in probably 10 years.

And you know, or maybe more like, you know, the things that I’ve, I I who we are started as a kid and with that comes facing the fear. And so the other piece to this is like mastering. And I had written this down too, like I will master. Through these experiences. In this next level, I will master truly a next level of understanding, surrender, and, and the unknown.

Because Dispenza talks a lot about the unknown, right? Of allowing things to unfold and how much beauty’s in the unknown. And that’s like again, for the brain, really hard brain loves predictable. And I would’ve loved to be like, yeah, I just let the unknown happen. But no, I mean, I control so much still subconsciously, and it’s improving.

It’s another layer and another layer, and I think it’ll be a lifetime thing for me. But I realized through some of these next. Levels that I, I get to walk through is it’s gonna force me to be in an environment that teaches my system true surrender and true embracing of the unknown. With that, as I was doing that exercise, I saw this video and I love this.

Concept. The creator definitely didn’t make it up. I don’t know where it exactly originated from, but it was, if your life was a movie and the audience was watching it unfold, what would they be screaming at the screen? What would they be saying? Just do it. Start the company. You know, pursue the relationship, whatever, like shoot the shot, what would they be saying?

And in this video he said, you know, that’s your future self screaming at you to get your attention to do that thing. And usually that thing is really freaking scary. It requires you to walk through that fear. It requires you to walk through the unknown. And so I did that exercise, got the clarity, saw that video, and was like.

I know what people would be screaming, you know? And so my question also to you is like, what’s your answer to that? Because what are those things? Oh, also, another thing I did was I read my journal from the last year and there’s a few things in the journal that just repeat themselves all the fricking time.

And you don’t see it ’cause it’s like in your day to day and then you read the journal and you’re like, oh my God, this is like something that I, I write about all the time and I don’t, I’m not changing it. I’m not taking an action to change it ’cause the action is scary or uncomfortable. So like, what are those things?

You’ve gotta like step outta the box and get the perspective of what are the things that are just repeating in your life. And, you know, I really have, I’ve thought a lot about like. What I wanna show my kids, and you know, what I wanna be known for and, and one of the things I really want to be known for is the courage to go all in, in the scariest and hardest ways, and to do the impossible and thinkable and uncommon and honestly, the things most people will never do in their life, which is face the biggest fears and constantly question the current you.

And then. Bring yourself to the future. You and I mean, I don’t mean in a way that’s like addicted to growth, you know, in personal development. I mean in a truly authentic way of like expansion from the soul. And I think a lot of us are in an environment. Where we don’t do that. And you know, most people do the same thing every day and, you know, live the same life and wake up and they’re the same person.

And I want to be and am committed to just radical expansion and growth, even in, and especially in the most uncomfortable and scary ways, because I know that’s where the most expansion happens. And it’s like this beautiful dance when you’re in that space. Like I can feel my system oscillate between like the fear and the what ifs and the emotions, and then the peace and the joy and the excitement and the freedom.

Because I really think on the other side of fear, on the other side of the. Fear of all of those things, of the abandonment, of the rejection, of the disappointment. On the other side of that is freedom and wholeness, and you feel so liberated when you finally are like, I am not allowing this fear to rule my life anymore, and this is coming from someone who does a lot of bold things, you know?

But I do a lot of bold things within the box of where my system and brain feels safe and in control. And I’m like, I’m ready. I’m ready for this. I’m ready to walk through the fire of the next level in like such a deep. Deep way, which only impacts and improves my events, my retreats, my ability to coach, like I will lead the way.

That is what I wanna do. And last thing I’ll say is one of the most powerful things in any of this is gratitude. Like gratitude is the ultimate state of receiving enough change because I think we get a very easily caught up in that victim, poor me, I’m so sad, or, you know, these things are happening to me.

And one thing I love about my mentor, Samson, who I’ve had on the podcast, you can go listen to our episode, but he really asks all these questions that get you to realize like you created all of them. As shitty as it might be, as hard as it might be, as painful as it might be, you created this reality and a lot of it subconsciously.

What does that mean? If we created all of it from the relationships and the dynamics and the patterns and the situations, like literally everything. Look around everything. You created it. What does that mean? It means we can change it. It means our power is not outsourced to anyone else but ourselves. And when you realize that.

Like when you have that realization in your life, you feel unstoppable because you’re like, okay, as hard as this might be, as shitty as this might feel, you know, as challenging as this is, I created it. And if I take the accountability, then I can also take the accountability to change it, and then it’s like sky’s the limit.

I hope this was helpful. I have a very good feeling that the next. Three to six months are gonna be really expansive for me. I am walking through that so that I can show up continually as the best leader and the best version of me on here in my events, for my team, for my family, all of it. That’s like my life mission, right?

Everybody, I’ll talk to you next time.