ISAIAH WARREN THE POWER TO LEAD
A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER
Candice Bar
Multi-media mogul, speaker, mentor, tv personality, author & entrepreneur advocate
Ms. Bar is the Founder and CEO of Luxe Enterpise which includes:
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Founder & CEO Candice Bar
The Power To Lead with Isaiah Warren
Candice Bar: In this magazine we always highlight the entrepreneurial journey, especially those who are creating waves. This issue is no different, with Mr. Isaiah Warren. Every entrepreneur has a story, and it must start somewhere; would you tell the readers where your story began?
Isaiah Warren: I'm originally from the Bay Area. My journey just starts like a lot of other athletes. I played football; I had the dream of going to the NFL. I went to college and had my dream crushed. I had to figure out what I was going to do in life after that. That in-between process is where it really started for me. I thought I was going to be this NFL star, and I thought I was going to have this wonderful life in football. While I was playing football in high school, I felt like I was treated like a star. I would have all these people saying, “You’re going to the NFL!” To have that crushed and gone, with no support, or anybody telling you there’s life outside of football; that was when the journey really kick-started. I had no other choice than to start figuring life out.
CB: How do you mentally get through that? Expecting your life to be one way, and it turned out quite the opposite.
IW: Unfortunately, and fortunately; life was my teacher. I had to make a lot of mistakes. I took a lot of losses and backtracked. It was either life was going to take me, or I was going to make a hard decision to go down the right path. Life had to be my teacher. When I was young, I had my hardships. I grew up with the typical single mother, with a dad on drugs. I had every excuse, and I was looking at football as my way out. To get this big check and save my family. That was a huge blow. Even acquaintances that made it to the NFL had a similar experience. They made it and then football stops. (Cont.)
They still have to go down the path of figuring out life.
CB: Absolutely. It’s not a forever career. People have longer careers in it than others but that is going to stop at some point. Then it becomes a question of what you do after that. A lot of people experience depression because they’re picking up such a high and then literally the next day, it's like nobody's paying attention to you. It’s very jarring.
IW: It truly is. As you mentioned depression; there’s so many emotions that started to come up with it all. Emotions that I had no tools or ideas on how to even handle. It affected my relationships, it affected my decision making in the women I chose, having children out of wedlock, doing all these crazy things. Looking back now at the emotional state I was in; I wasn't aware back then. That's why, even with you allowing me to host my podcast, “Lead Your Life.” It's all about me being a leader of my own life. That's where I learned that I’ve got to be in the driver’s seat of my own life; I’m accountable. These decisions are my decisions, I have a choice to choose this or that and what I choose will affect my life. I’m a huge advocate for any man that's out there, or even women; I’m just a huge advocate for being in the driver’s seat and being a leader of your life. Not trying to lead others, but just lead your life. Choose the decision that's going to be best for you. What are the emotions that you are feeling? It's OK to become aware of your emotions.
CB: It’s the responsibility of self, first and foremost. I think a lot of people tend to shy away from responsibility. They run away from it. You can run all you’d like, but it’s still going to be there, and you do have to deal with it.
The Power To Lead
IW: Absolutely. You’ve got to eat; you’ve got to live. There are certain necessities that we need in life and you’re responsible for that. Nobody’s going to feed you and house you, it doesn’t work that way.
CB: I know the career industry you are in now, and I know there was a journey to get to that, but did you have coaches or were you listening to anything along the way that helped you create your thought processes? The thought processes that helped you make better decisions and lead the life that you wanted to start living.
IW: I definitely did, and that was a big part of it as well. Changing what I was feeding myself, feeding my brain. If I wanted those tools, I needed to watch people who were either teaching that or speaking about that. I started to educate myself on how to communicate better with myself and that's how I got into NLP. NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming. It is a way of communication with yourself and others. Behind every problem is always a communication issue. So, once I figured that out, that’s when things started really changing. I really started to dive deeper in on people that were doing self help and trying to improve yourself. Trying to just help you become a better person for yourself and the people around you. The more you change yourself, the more you are better for other people around you. The more I became better, everybody else in my environment got better. I do have coaches and that’s why I understand the value in having that; it’s so important. Anybody who is a coach and a mentor; reach one, teach one. We all need to step up. Help somebody else. You grow, you start helping somebody else grow. I pay my mentors, I pay my coaches. Now, I'm doing the same and I offer a service that isn’t necessarily for the money, it’s the value that I bring. (Cont.)
I know the value that I bring, and it is important. Even Michael Jordan had a coach!
CB: All coaches have coaches! Every therapist has a therapist.
IW: Yes! I look at Michael Jordan, and like who’s going to top Michael Jordan, but even though his coach was not the best basketball player, he helped coach him through.
CB: When you started doing the work, what are some major shifts that you saw in your life that change created immediately? What about working with clients? When they were one way before working with you, and then another way after working with you.
IW: One major thing myself was I used to smoke a lot. I smoked weed, I smoked cigarettes, vapes, and I used to use that to help me get through the night. I just want to relax and those were the justifications because of what emotion I was running from. So now, I’m a leadership coach but I'm giving back to people who deal with and battle with any smoking addiction. What I think would help people be aware is don't use smoking as an excuse. I noticed when people start to have even that little bit of awareness like of, “What am I actually running from? What don't I want to face right now?” by just posing those questions, people’s mindset shifts. Just asking that simple question, “What am I running from? Why do I want to smoke right now?” It makes you think of whatever emotion is there. It makes you turn and face it. The people that I deal with now, they're asking those questions, and they realize, “Oh wow I may be feeling a little sad today, why am I feeling a little sad?” It helps them start that journey and once you’re on the path, you'll get some answers. You'll get a sense of a breakthrough.
CB: I think it's important to highlight this work. In American culture we are so programmed to think, “Sad? Have a drink. Sad? Have a smoke, or happy hour or whatever you want to do. You can deal the consequences later.” You’re put into this hamster wheel, and you don't even know you're in it unless you make a decision to step out of it.
IW: Absolutely. It's so interesting that you bring that up because a lot of things have become normalized. A normalized behavior is what makes people think they are not doing anything wrong, it's everything else. It becomes easier to make an excuse when you don’t reach the goals you want immediately. People want to reach a certain weight, but don’t want to put that food down. Not everybody is born with a natural way of looking good, they put in the work. People are making conscious decisions, they are at the gym, they’re doing what it takes. Normalizing certain reactions is easier than putting in the work.
CB: It’s like getting a gym membership, never stepping foot in the gym, and then expecting to lose weight and have your ideal body. You’ve got to do the work.
IW: It is mind blowing when I see people in that space. One thing I let people know that most of the time, the start of the process can be very uncomfortable. It's going to bring up some things that bubble up and triggers, things that make you take a hard look into something. You must look in that mirror at your true self, every single day.
CB: If you want better for yourself, you need to do better. You need to make the daily, sometimes hourly, conscious decision to not do certain things that you typically might do. You have to reprogram yourself and your mind.
IW: That’s why I use NLP. It literally helps people create and rewrite new programs, but first must discover what program you’re currently running. You have to have some sense of awareness, there is a program running and I need to figure out how to interrupt that. How do I find the root of this, pull it out, and create a new program to do the necessary work?
CB: How long after you completed your NLP coaching that you knew you wanted to start coaching, and helping other people with their lives?
IW: It was immediate. It was during, it wasn't after. The feeling that I get from having these conversations is beyond anything else, it's a real fulfillment. It’s not that temporary fulfillment that you get from smoking weed or having a drink, and then the next day you need a better one. I’m going to be thinking about this the rest of the week, the rest of the weekend. I’m nice and full after this conversation and it feels good. It just feels good knowing. Helping coaching others is a certain type of fulfilment that you get as opposed to a temporary pleasure.
CB: Do you ever feel like sometimes falling back or have you trained yourself so much that you don't even have that as a thought anymore?
IW: Oh no, I still can be triggered. I get triggers all the time. I was talking to somebody yesterday and I can hear them smoking a cigarette on phone. I haven’t smoked a cigarette in years, it’s going on almost ten years, but I can hear them. I can hear them blowing the smoke through the phone and I was like, “OK.” I still use all my tools because I can't let my foot off the gas. I know that it takes one second, or one thing for me to fall back into that same trap. My want to be better and my want to improve daily is greater than that temporary pleasure. (Cont.)
The Power To Lead
Everyone one of us is constantly making those choices; to improve and move forward, or regress.
CB: When you don’t fall into your vices, you're proud of yourself. It's like you know what I got through that day, I get can get through the next day. When you make good decisions for yourself, energetically you get rewarded, much bigger than what you anticipated. Could you share a time where a client came to work with you on something, and after going through the processes with you, changed their whole demeanor, into the different person that they wanted to be?
IW: I'm going to give you a broader spectrum. A lot of people don't realize that they may even have an addiction, right? Some people may come to me that they are battling with smoking, battling with weed, or battling with a vape. However, there's a person that I may come across that believe they are just fine. As we start to uncover some things, I begin to realize that this person has an addiction, an overeating addiction that they weren't aware of. They didn't even think about how much its affecting their day-to-day life. How much it’s affecting their finances because they're choosing food and then choosing these bad eating habits. So, through the process of working with a client in that, once they uncover those habits and just having the awareness of what they are doing, is a breakthrough within itself.
CB: It's interesting you bring up food because our food system is absolute crap. A lot of people are doing what I call, “unconscious eating.” They’d just eat whatever, whenever and health for whatever reason is put to the side. It’s the unconscious eating, then the overeating. (Cont.)
People don't think of food as an addiction because it's not drugs or alcohol. If it’s not drugs or alcohol, you know it's not addiction; however that's one of the biggest addictions that we have.
IW: It is one of the biggest ones, and there's a program in human nature to think that when I'm eating; my body needs this, I'm low on energy. No, what you put in your body made your energy low. Just helping people be aware of those type of things is so much of a habit to learn. Picking up something and snacking, chewing; things we can do without much conscious thought.
CB: I’m not a scientist or a doctor but. I think that everyone's eating patterns are quite different and you need to do what works for you. The difference is what you're fueling your body with. Is it actually good for you and is fuel, or is it just junk?
IW: Absolutely, and it's the awareness all the way down to how you're feeding yourself, what are your habits, what's going on, or what are you even putting in your brain. You have to be consciously aware of all these things.
CB: It also goes back to your point earlier, it's like you know the why, what is the why of everything. Why are you eating? Why are you choosing cheese puffs over celery? Why do you think you don't deserve better?
IW: I was telling a friend of mine, “Man sometimes this can get exhausting!” It really can and that's why you need a coach. Its good to have a coach because it can get exhausting constantly; you just have this awareness. However, if I want to become this person that I want, I have to watch myself and I have to do the work.
CB: You must question pretty much everything. Is this action serving my higher self, who I want to be? Is it serving my goals and dreams? You have to ask that. Is hanging out with this person serving my goals and dreams? Is eating this food serving my goals and dreams? You have to be that focused and that lasered in.
IW: I understand we all fall short sometimes; we all make mistakes. Like you said at the beginning, on this road its up, down, back and forth. I'm not trying to be better than anybody else. All it takes is one little step. We are on a journey. Tomorrow we are going to get up and fight again. Tomorrow we are going to get back at this again.
CB: It goes back to how powerful mindset is. Your mind will always be your most powerful tool. How you're talking to yourself, what you're thinking, what you're reading, what you're watching; all comes into play. Every thought we create, has a reaction. Even when we don’t realize we are thinking in a certain way, it still will affect us.
IW: You’re totally right! We must be aware of that silent narrative. The silent narrative is that we're talking to ourselves still. It’s not only what we're saying out loud, but internally as well. I've been having a silent narrative since we've been having this interview. I'm being aware of what I'm saying to myself, and what I’m thinking. Thinking about what I am going to say next, how might I react. That is something to be aware of, that is something that is very important to keep in mind, whether it's positive or negative. It really affects our everyday. That inner part of ourselves is the one we want to connect with. That place can hear, it can even see, it creates everything exterior; alot more than this “shell” that we are living in. I want to share with anybody that’s out there – anytime – listen to that inner voice. It's listening and talking all at the same time and its with you through the good, the bad, through everything. It sees everything and it's you, it's all of you. (Cont.)
That's the one that we want to connect with and fall more in love with within ourselves.
CB: I love that, thank you for sharing that. I ask everybody this, do you have a favorite quote or scripture that you keep in the forefront of your mind? One that you rely on when you're not having a great day, that can switch that around. You’re aloud to have not a great moment but you can't afford to not have a grateful day. Is there anything that resonates with you that you've always said to yourself that keeps you going?
IW: There's a lot, I kind of switch them out, but there’s this one that comes to mind, “You vs. you = you and you. You and you = breakthrough.” (Cont.)
"I’m a huge advocate for being in the driver’s seat and being a leader of your life. Not trying to lead others, but just lead your life. Choose the decision that's going to be best for you.
The Power To Lead
That right now, is the quote that I am constantly reminding myself. There's always, “me verses me.” It’s when I change it into, “me and me” that I have a breakthrough; regardless of whatever moment or challenge I may be dealing with.
CB: I love that. When you started doing your coaching program and started making money, things started doing better and better for you. What is something you were able to afford yourself that maybe you wanted when you were younger, but never thought it’d become a reality? This this answer is different for everybody.
IW: 1970 Chevy Chevelle. Red with black stripes, two twelves in the back, fully customized, with a 350 engine. That was my dream car. I paid $30,000 for it and when bought that I was like, “I’m the man!” I was riding down the streets in slow motion, cherry red paint is shining; I was just in love with my dream car! The crazy thing is, I barely even drive it, it just sits in the shed! It was a turning point for me for sure, but I think it’s interesting how we all act once we get the dream “thing” we were always wanting.
CB: How can everyone find you; how can everybody connect with you?
IW: Connect with me on Instagram @ ALeaderLeads, send me a DM. You could check out my website at www.leadersleadprogram.com and book an appointment. Right now, I'm working with people who are battling smoking addiction; marijuana or vapes, but if you do need a one-onone coach, I am taking very few slots for that. I have very few openings, and I’m holding once a week seminar starting July 6th. (Cont.)
They will be every week, once a week, at 10:00 AM PST if you want to have a live hypnotherapy breakthrough and get rid of your addiction within 24 hours. Please join me, schedule an appointment at www.leaderleadsprogram.com.
CB: Thank you, Isaiah. Please do check him out, he is amazing, he's a wealth of knowledge, and he can absolutely help you. Make sure you connect with Isaiah! Remember, only you can take that first step to change your life.
