Oprah didn't wait until she had all the answers. She just started talking about what she was learning - and invited people to learn alongside her.

That's the method. Share what you know. Take action before you feel ready. Let people watch you figure it out.

Your gifts don't need to be polished. They just need to be shared.

• (00:00:01) - The Oprah Method
• (00:06:34) - Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead: Phil Staples
• (00:09:07) - The Oprah Method: From Knowledge to Experience
• (00:13:03) - The fourth step of sharing your work
• (00:21:04) - How to become an Expert: Don't Wait to Learn Until You
• (00:29:54) - Opinion

Your experiences. Your struggles. Your hard-won lessons. None of it has to be wasted.

What if everything you've been through was preparation - not just for your own life, but to help someone else going through the same thing?

You don't need new gifts. You just need to use the ones you already have.

• (00:00:02) - Using Everything You Have In A Worthful Way
• (00:07:00) - Think about Your Riches
• (00:10:15) - Virtues of the Law of Nature
• (00:14:12) - Six Spiritual Powers of the Soul
• (00:18:02) - All your opportunities in the world

You don't have to make a giant leap. You just have to take a small step.

Start before you're ready. Ship before it's perfect. Then tomorrow, make it a little better. And the next day, a little better still.

That's kaizen - the slight edge, the tiny upgrade that compounds over time.

The only way to win is to begin.

There was a period in my life where I was playing the role of the enlightened teacher—meditating for hours, preaching non-attachment, pretending I had transcended suffering. On the outside, I looked serene. Inside, I was miserable. Anxious. Depressed. Struggling. Drowning in perfectionism.

But I couldn’t let anyone know, because I was “the spiritual one.” The persona became a prison.

The day I finally admitted the truth—“I’m not enlightened. I’m a mess. And I’m tired of pretending”—everything cracked open. The relief, the honesty, and the freedom that followed changed my life.

In this episode, we explore the shadow most spiritual entrepreneurs secretly battle:

The Fake Guru Persona — the performance of perfection that disconnects you from yourself and from the people you’re meant to serve.

You’ll discover why trying to be flawless actually blocks your gifts, kills your joy, and stops you from connecting deeply with your audience. And you’ll learn the real path of a true teacher: being human, honest, and just a few steps ahead.

We’ll dive into:

• The emotional cost of pretending you have everything figured out

• Why perfectionism keeps you stuck and insecure

• How the “guru costume” prevents real connection

• The moment every teacher must face their shadow

• The freedom that comes from being imperfectly real

You’ll also experience a guided moment of self-compassion where you gently take off the mask, speak to it with love, and return home to your real self.

If you’ve ever felt pressure to be the polished, perfect teacher — this episode will make you cry, breathe, and finally exhale.

Because your people don’t need the persona.

They need YOU.

In this soul-stirring episode, we step into one of the most powerful moments of the Bhagavad Gita—the battlefield where the warrior Arjuna collapses in fear and confusion. He knows what he must do, but he’s frozen. Why? Because he’s trying to control the outcome.

Through Krishna’s divine wisdom, we discover the eternal truth that liberates us from anxiety and paralysis: our job is to do our dharma—the work itself—not to control the results.

You’ll be guided through a full emotional journey—from the heavy tension of self-doubt and control, to the deep exhale of surrender. You’ll feel the release of carrying what was never yours to hold: the outcomes, opinions, and results.

By the end of this episode, you’ll have a sacred clarity on what’s truly yours to do—and what belongs to the Divine. You’ll experience a powerful self-compassion practice to release the burden of “making it all work,” and return to peace, trust, and freedom.

You’ll discover:

• The real meaning of dharma—and how to live it joyfully

• Why trying to control outcomes blocks divine flow

• How to act from love, not fear

• A heart-centered meditation to surrender control and feel instantly lighter

Perfectionism isn't just about wanting things to be perfect. At its core, it's a coping mechanism to avoid feeling bad. Every time we're about to share our work and we think "I'm not sure it's ready" - that's a negative feeling. And instead of feeling it, we distract ourselves. We perfect more. We wait. We do anything except feel the discomfort.

This is the hidden root of why nothing happens.

In this session, I share two powerful stories. The first: standing in a health food store in Kauai, feeling terrible, and discovering that when I stopped resisting the feeling and just allowed it to be there, it immediately began to shift. The second: lying desperately sick in India, in so much pain I couldn't move, until I finally stopped resisting and found a place of peace within the pain itself.

Here's the truth: We spend our lives avoiding negative feelings. We pick up our phones hundreds of times a day. We open tabs to check the news or watch videos the moment we feel anxious. We perfect endlessly rather than finishing because finishing means feeling the fear of judgment. We've been taught that if something feels bad, it must be bad. But that's not true.

When we're doing something new, meaningful, and different, it WILL bring up discomfort. That's not a sign to stop - that's your brain creating new neural pathways. Learning to ride a bike felt impossible until suddenly it clicked. This is the same.

The practice is simple but profound: When negative feelings arise, instead of distracting yourself, stop. Breathe. Put your hand on your heart. Feel whatever you're feeling without trying to change it. You are not the feeling - you are the witness watching the feeling. Just notice and breathe. Surrender it to something greater if that helps. Be curious about it like you're discovering a strange animal in the jungle.

When we stop resisting our feelings, half the problem of perfectionism disappears. The feeling is just a feeling. It's okay. You're okay. And then you can take imperfect action anyway.

Listen to this episode and let me know what hit you. Email me at success@awakenedacademy.com with your thoughts, breakthroughs, or questions. If you're an Awakened Academy student, join the discussion in our private Facebook group. Not a student yet? You're welcome to apply anytime at awakenedacademy.com.

Here's where we are right now: Stuck in the perfectionism prison. Projects started but not shared. Gifts locked inside. Watching others succeed while we prepare. Exhausted from trying to be perfect.

And here's where we're going: Complete freedom. Clear minds. Healed hearts. Sharing our gifts imperfectly and joyfully. Living our dharma. Being authentically ourselves—messy, real, alive.

The question is: How do we get from here to there?

This is the map. Not just ideas—the inner transformations that break us free. A bird's eye view of our sacred journey to wholeness together.

This session reveals the complete path with twelve powerful shifts:

We are not our thoughts—we are the witness. We learn to surrender outcomes to the Divine instead of controlling everything. We discover that imperfect iteration is the only path to mastery. We embrace 80% as the new sacred standard. We learn why being real makes us magnetic. We stop performing the fake guru and come home to ourselves.

We find our lane—Pioneer, Translator, or Practitioner—and stop comparing. We share before we're ready using the Oprah Method. We develop growth mindset and see failure as feedback. We understand how 1% daily compounds into miracles. We learn that critics don't count—only the warriors in the arena matter.

And finally, we remember: We were never broken. We are already whole. We are already worthy. We are already enough.

Each shift is a key that unlocks a different part of the prison. We don't have to master them all at once. We just have to walk the path. One shift at a time. One small step at a time.

This is the complete roadmap from where you are to where you're meant to be.

Listen to this episode and let me know what hit you. Email me at success@awakenedacademy.com with your thoughts, breakthroughs, or questions. If you're an Awakened Academy student, join the discussion in our private Facebook group. Not a student yet? You're welcome to apply anytime at awakenedacademy.com.

• (00:00:00) - The Real Journey to Freedom
• (00:05:01) - Discover Your Dharma
• (00:06:42) - The Only Way to Success
• (00:09:00) - What is the standard of perfection?
• (00:10:12) - How to Be Real and Make Money
• (00:16:06) - Growth Mindset
• (00:23:27) - A Journey Through the Self

Memento Mori: Remember You Will Die

The ancient Stoics had a practice called memento mori—remember death. Not to be morbid, but to be fully alive. When we contemplate our mortality, something profound happens. The petty worries dissolve. The perfectionism loses its grip. The fear of judgment seems ridiculous compared to the fear of dying with our gifts still inside.

In this session, we practice a powerful death meditation. We imagine having five years left, then one year, then six months, then one week. We ask ourselves: What would I do differently? Who would I tell I love them? What would I stop worrying about? What would I finally share?

When we truly feel our mortality—when we let it sink in that we don't know how much time we have—everything changes. Nick didn't know he only had 64 years. None of us know.

Contemplating death daily isn't depressing. It's liberating. It puts our fears in perspective. It reminds us what actually matters. It gives us permission to stop waiting and start living. To stop perfecting and start sharing. To stop preparing and start being.

This practice has been used by monks, warriors, and wise teachers for thousands of years. Because when you remember you will die, you remember how to live.

Listen to this episode and let me know what hit you. Email me at success@awakenedacademy.com with your thoughts, breakthroughs, or questions. If you're an Awakened Academy student, join the discussion in our private Facebook group. Not a student yet? You're welcome to apply anytime at awakenedacademy.com.

WHY CONTEMPLATING DEATH DAILY IS GOOD FOR US:

Dissolves perfectionism - When you might die tomorrow, "not perfect enough" becomes absurd

Clarifies priorities - You instantly know what matters and what doesn't

Eliminates petty fears - Fear of judgment shrinks compared to fear of dying with gifts inside

Creates urgency without anxiety - Motivates action from love, not panic

Makes you grateful - Every day becomes a gift, not a guarantee

Frees you to be real - No time for pretending when time is limited

Puts critics in perspective - Their opinions matter nothing when you're facing eternity

Makes you braver - What's the worst that can happen? You're going to die anyway

Deepens presence - You stop living in "someday" and start living NOW

Ancient wisdom - Stoics, Buddhists, monks have used this for millennia

• (00:00:00) - Why We Should Think About Death
• (00:06:27) - A final moment of life
• (00:16:59) - A Day to Live