10xing The Business, Opening 2 New Ventures And The Key to Overcoming Being an Introvert W/ Jabez Reuben | Elite Performance Podcast #54

00;00;00;01 - 00;00;18;12
Jabez Reuben
Getting past the surface-level crap really was one of the biggest game changes in my life. And when I started digging deep. I realized it's just empty. There's nothing substantial, nothing that I should fear. All that drill really got me to free off a lot of things that were holding me.

00;00;18;14 - 00;00;23;05
Itamar Marani
Do you think that these are the factors that cause people to be more, to think they're introverted when they're perhaps not?

00;00;23;08 - 00;00;39;28
Jabez Reuben
I don't believe there are introverts around. You said even if you're insured, if you are on your tickets group of friends, it will be very hard to make you stop talking. It's about how you find your comfort zone in a group of people. If you find a comfort zone, it's hard for people to make you stop talking. Right?

00;00;39;29 - 00;00;46;27
Itamar Marani
What do you think was the bridge from those things in your personal life and you actually being able to translate it into business success?

00;00;47;03 - 00;01;05;29
Jabez Reuben
The bridge was always there. The path was always there. What was falling was just the mindset blocks the negative voices, self-doubt, all the fears acted as barriers that prevented me from going over that bridge.

00;01;06;01 - 00;01;28;22
Itamar Marani
Could somebody else, with your exact skillset, be achieving more than you currently are? If so, you're in the right place. I'm your host, Itamar Marani, ex Israeli Special Forces, former undercover agent, Brazilian jiu jitsu, black belt and mindset and performance coach over 106 to 9 figure entrepreneurs. Welcome to the Lead Performance podcast, where we are ambitious entrepreneurs with actionable mindset tactics.

00;01;28;25 - 00;01;34;15
Itamar Marani
They can stop playing small and win big.

00;01;34;17 - 00;01;50;13
Itamar Marani
Welcome to today's podcast, everyone. Today I'm joined by Job as he's an ARENA alumni and he's had a pretty big breakthrough, a pretty big shift since doing the arena. So I asked him to come on and share basically his story and what enabled that shift, and he was gracious enough to come. So, Jabez, thank you for coming on and welcome.

00;01;50;14 - 00;01;55;15
Jabez Reuben
I'm really happy to be here. Glad you got me.

00;01;55;18 - 00;01;59;24
Itamar Marani
Awesome. So to start off, can you please share with people kind of the before and the now?

00;02;00;03 - 00;02;08;07
Jabez Reuben
All right. So in a very simple materialistic career. Before I joined.

00;02;08;10 - 00;02;13;08
Itamar Marani
Let's do both. Let's do the materialistic first, and then we'll get deeper and deeper levels of it.

00;02;13;10 - 00;02;48;07
Jabez Reuben
Yeah. And in a very materialistic way. Before joining the arena, I was just running a mundane Earth lane building agency. Well, what are you. Not now. We still are running the agency, but it has definitely annexed from what we were doing before. We are running a SAS three are running a portfolio of affiliate websites and also we are building our biggest project ever project.

00;02;48;07 - 00;02;57;03
Jabez Reuben
And they were the two have ever walked on. So like I disclose it right now with you, something that you are working on.

00;02;57;05 - 00;03;03;16
Itamar Marani
Congrats. All right. So then let's talk about the internal, because you brought that up as well. What was the internal shift?

00;03;03;19 - 00;03;34;04
Jabez Reuben
Internal fit. I am now, I would say a much more I'm a much more happier person. I'm more content with where I am in life, not because of business or those type of things that are happening, but just internally. Even if today I lose all my business, all the work, even if I stop doing all that stuff, I am happy of where I am.

00;03;34;07 - 00;03;47;18
Jabez Reuben
People that are around me and the relationships I am, I have with people. So that's the personal biggest thing that I've had post-Katrina.

00;03;47;21 - 00;04;00;16
Itamar Marani
It's quite a win. Yeah. So let's actually start with that. What do you think was stopping you from having that before the arena? Like, well, why didn't you have that, so to speak.

00;04;00;18 - 00;04;30;19
Jabez Reuben
Thing when we then even mentioned that about being coming on this blog? Because I was thinking about similar thing that, you know, going back what was actually holding me and I realized like, you know, a lot was like, you know, this empty notebook, you know, that has maybe has crap written on top of it. But I never got into digging deep what's inside.

00;04;30;22 - 00;05;01;00
Jabez Reuben
And one of the drills that I've learned in Arena was going deep, deeper behind the surface level of crap. Many times, you know, I would have these voices. Okay, Don't do this just because of x, y, z crap or x, y, z fear. But then there was one. I mean, we had a calls on doing, you know, you would go deeper into, okay, this is happening, but what's the root cause?

00;05;01;02 - 00;05;34;19
Jabez Reuben
What's what's behind this? Dig more, deeper, dig deeper. What's what's. And then when I started digging deep, I realized all this, like, pages were, like, empty, you know, is just crap on top. But if I dig deep, it's just empty. There's nothing substantial. Nothing that's that I should fear of. So that drill really got me to free off a lot of things that were holding me.

00;05;34;22 - 00;06;09;18
Jabez Reuben
For example, like, you know, let's say starting a new venture, I would hear these voices. Okay. That you've had many unsuccessful ventures before. People have said on my face that, you know, you just keep moving from one place to another for one venture to land without any success. But then when I start digging deep into it, that's those voices have nothing on me that that their voices are not going to make my future, my future is in my hand.

00;06;09;18 - 00;06;44;00
Jabez Reuben
And whether I fail or whether I succeed, it's totally up to me. You know, I can't let those voices hold me from trying things I want to try. So I think digging deep and getting beneath all the crap, all the bullshit that keeps happening around us, digging deep inside all those things, that's, I think, one of the biggest thing that helped me to start moving out and doing more stuff in life, if that makes any sense.

00;06;44;02 - 00;06;56;27
Itamar Marani
It does. So just let me make sure I understand. So you're saying that when you would go to do a new thing, like open up a new venture or try to grow the business on the surface of the outside of books, out of the notebook, And there were these a lot of these immediate voices like, don't do that.

00;06;56;27 - 00;07;15;04
Itamar Marani
It might fail again. People will say this, people say that, and before you to the arena, that would be the stopping point, so to speak. You would just stop their offense. Once you learn to say you know, what? Is there anything behind that I should listen to or that it's either valid or not valid? And you recognize that there wasn't anything that you could say to yourself, okay.

00;07;15;10 - 00;07;19;20
Itamar Marani
The surface level stuff doesn't actually matter, and that's what enabled you to go, Is that correct?

00;07;19;22 - 00;07;30;04
Jabez Reuben
Absolutely. Absolutely. Getting past the surface level crap really was the big one of the biggest game changes in my life.

00;07;30;06 - 00;07;46;28
Itamar Marani
Yeah. Do you have any specific example you could share? Like an actual thing? I know you just said the kind of like the other voices and all that, but is there anything specific that you said? This is what's stopping me. And when I dug into it, this is what I found or what I didn't find. Is there any of that that you could share just for context?

00;07;47;01 - 00;08;16;20
Jabez Reuben
Yeah, I mean, in a very simple way. Like with the SAS, we, we launch it's called Link Validator and again I was running this agency link building agents see it and see pretty smoothly. And then this thing of studying SAS in the similar SC of field, I had this like hesitation for a very long time was like, what happens if this does not work?

00;08;16;22 - 00;08;33;04
Jabez Reuben
Aside from all the losses? And I wasn't scared about the losses. If you put in money, it doesn't work. The losses were monetary losses in bother me. What was bothering me, holding me were what? What would people say? You know what if this fails?

00;08;33;06 - 00;08;37;02
Itamar Marani
So that was a level one outside of the folder. Like what would people think of this fails.

00;08;37;06 - 00;08;49;22
Jabez Reuben
Yeah. What are people thing? What I will like I will I be mocked more. Will I use my recommendation more of just yet another unsuccessful venture?

00;08;49;26 - 00;08;50;16
Itamar Marani
Yeah.

00;08;50;19 - 00;08;56;04
Jabez Reuben
That was holding me from not launching that fast.

00;08;56;06 - 00;09;05;00
Itamar Marani
So how did you go What was, what was your process challenge it. How was it for you? What was the result that you found when you dug in deeper, so to speak?

00;09;05;02 - 00;09;32;20
Jabez Reuben
So my process was I started digging deeper. I started questioning the same stuff in my head. Okay, what happens? What will people say if this fails? And I would question and answer in my head. Okay. They'll say, okay, yet another failure from obvious. And then I would answer again. Okay, then what? What's the next thing that they would say?

00;09;32;22 - 00;10;02;22
Jabez Reuben
And I had nothing else. No, the voice is coming in. Okay, let's try again. Let's try again. If this fails, what are people saying? Oh, this guy makes crappy products. I said, okay, What? What will the next thing after this? And no other voice? No. The debate after that, I thought, that's it. That's just very superficial. Top of the thing that that's not me.

00;10;02;22 - 00;10;30;20
Jabez Reuben
That's not even going deep. It's not making any deeper meaning in my life. So there's no way to does I shouldn't be like, you know, bawling more about these things. Let's go beyond this, because I've stayed away just by these superficial questions. But when I started digging deep, they were not they had no truth to they these questions, these voices didn't have any deeper holes in my life.

00;10;30;20 - 00;10;53;17
Jabez Reuben
So, yeah, that was a process that I chose to questioning back and forth. All these questioning all these negative thoughts, all these negative voices started questioning them. And I figured out that these things are not going deep. And that help me to know just remove all these questions. Yeah, that's it.

00;10;53;19 - 00;11;07;17
Itamar Marani
That's a big one. So correct me if I'm wrong. What I'm hearing from you is that most people don't do something, not because of what people might say, but how they think that will actually affect their life. So people will say, okay, they'll judge me and then I won't have any friends. Then I'll be lonely and I won't have a business.

00;11;07;17 - 00;11;23;07
Itamar Marani
I'm alone, I'm homeless. All of a sudden I'm in the savannah hundred thousand years ago alone by myself and I'm going to die. And it sounds like when you weren't aware of what was going on, it did kind of stop you because it had that primal. Oh, if people think about me negatively, it's going to have these really, really massive implications.

00;11;23;09 - 00;11;37;09
Itamar Marani
But then when you actually boil it down, you recognize there's actually no further implications than just having an opinion. Like, I'm not going to be affected by this. My life, my relationships, whatever it may be. And then you were able to be like, okay, this is actually a non-issue and that's what feed you. Is that correct?

00;11;37;12 - 00;12;13;01
Jabez Reuben
Absolutely. Absolutely. And again and again, working on what I consider still superficial, like what the deeper changes, you know, I consider myself introvert, and I think a lot of it is my enter into weakness comes a lot of because of these negative voices in my head, you know. Yeah. And I started doing the same drill. Then I'm supposed to be like if I'm invited somewhere or there's a meeting or a meetup happening and the again, I'll question myself.

00;12;13;03 - 00;12;44;09
Jabez Reuben
And then to witness all those negative voices and say, okay, you're going to these this meet up where it's all successful people, or it's like all the people who had established something or X, Y, Z, this and that and you are not matching up to them or this. And then again, I would question if I'm there, what's going to happen, or maybe they're going to the negative question that will come up is they will maybe market people laugh at me and then debating, right?

00;12;44;09 - 00;13;08;11
Jabez Reuben
So I'm like, okay, what what's next for them after this? Are they actually who's actually going to laugh with you? Why do you think the kind of people you're going to meet? Is that what they really are? You know, so questioning that and then really realizing most of these things are just crap, just cracks in my head. I need to get rid of this and just go.

00;13;08;14 - 00;13;29;07
Itamar Marani
Yeah. So what I'm hearing from you is that you think a lot of people think to themselves, Oh, I'm just an introvert. That's my genetic disposition. It's just who I am and where you're coming of this from. You're saying that you found out and that it wasn't that you were just a genetically an introvert, so to speak. It's just that you had a fear of how people would think of you if you were more attractive or if you spoke up more, whatever it may be.

00;13;29;09 - 00;13;30;18
Itamar Marani
Is that accurate?

00;13;30;20 - 00;14;00;24
Jabez Reuben
EPS Absolutely. I heard a podcast of this guy who was telling this, and this thing really hit me. He's like, This guy was saying that I don't believe that introverts around. You said even if you're insured, if you are around your thickest group of friends, it will be very hard for you to make you stop talking. So it's about how you make how you find your comfort zone in a group of people.

00;14;00;26 - 00;14;10;10
Jabez Reuben
If you find a comfort zone, I mean, it's hard for people to make you stop talking, right? So, I mean, and.

00;14;10;13 - 00;14;24;05
Itamar Marani
There are two components of that from what I'm hearing from you. Sorry, if may. Yeah. Because I think this could be interesting to make sure that I'm hearing you correctly. One is that you're kind of people and I've seen this with a lot of entrepreneurs. They feel like, oh, I'm an introvert. I don't get along well in social settings.

00;14;24;08 - 00;14;40;13
Itamar Marani
I'm like, Dude, you're an entrepreneur. Why would a bit differently? So of course, the majority of the kids you hung out with in high school, they weren't wired the same as you. And then they recognize, Oh, actually, when I'm around entrepreneurs, I'm pretty active. I enjoy it. But they still have that definition of themselves and that holds them back.

00;14;40;15 - 00;14;42;26
Itamar Marani
That's one the right circle. Is that correct?

00;14;42;29 - 00;14;46;01
Jabez Reuben
Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.

00;14;46;03 - 00;15;00;19
Itamar Marani
Yeah. And two is just it's not that you're an introvert, just you're a bit afraid of what people may think about you. And the reason you're probably really afraid of that is because you haven't actually thought about what are the implications, like how deep do they go? Like, I think we all naturally have that. It's a very, very tribal thing.

00;15;00;19 - 00;15;18;06
Itamar Marani
We're afraid of being rejected by the tribe because 100,000 years ago when we evolved, if rejected by the tribe, you're alone in the savanna, you're probably going to die. Now, these days, it's just if someone doesn't like you, if one person in the tribe thinks this or that of you or whatever, it doesn't really have any significance, is that true?

00;15;18;07 - 00;15;23;25
Itamar Marani
Do you think that these are the two factors that cause people to have you more, to think they're introverted when they're perhaps not?

00;15;23;28 - 00;15;50;21
Jabez Reuben
Oh, oh, yes, absolutely. And also, like, you know, this whole tribe thing, we come from Asia. Not only is it India, like the place I come from, it's so deeply rooted in this whole tribe mentality, you know, like, well, being like you have you grow with people around you. You grow with, like, making sure, like, you know, you are always in the accepted in the tribe.

00;15;50;25 - 00;16;30;23
Jabez Reuben
You're always making sure, like even when you get past your age, you're getting a job. Everything you need to make sure that you know, everything you do is in alignment on what is acceptable in the community. Yeah, And that has just such deep roots into upbringing that even if you and you leave the place, even when you move on to other things in life, you are so that whole of tribe and that fear of not being accepted has such a big hold on you.

00;16;30;25 - 00;16;38;10
Jabez Reuben
So yeah, getting past that, getting past that fear is such a big.

00;16;38;12 - 00;16;54;25
Itamar Marani
So I'm curious about this because we said the two things that you think were holding you back from doing that and how you solve them was understanding your circles and just understanding that it was a fear. So what? When ask is what support mechanism did you have in place? Because I know you and your wife are very close.

00;16;54;25 - 00;17;10;24
Itamar Marani
And I'm curious because the thing that's challenging with a lot of this stuff, especially when you're saying you're from this kind of culture, as I'm assuming, correct me if I'm wrong, that you probably had to disconnect a little bit from your upbringing. And that inherently is very scary because we feel a little bit alone and people resist doing that because of that.

00;17;10;26 - 00;17;18;06
Itamar Marani
Yeah, So I'd be very curious what kind of support system you had, if you had any, that made that perhaps not as difficult.

00;17;18;08 - 00;18;02;10
Jabez Reuben
So I would say, yeah, big a big credit goes to my wife. Actually, while we were doing I was doing the arena module, everything I would, you know, just voice everything to her and we would actually after the weekly calls, I would even just run those things. And also like once you would do those worksheets in an arena and I would figure out, okay, okay, this is a point that's this thing is coming back from my childhood, this thing is coming back from my upbringing.

00;18;02;10 - 00;18;31;15
Jabez Reuben
And I would then discuss it with my wife and then we would really, you know, go deep into finding the root causes or just debating, clarifying what's in my head and coming up with, okay, what's the what's the right thing to do? So in short, like, my support system was my life and I didn't have to go any further from that.

00;18;31;15 - 00;18;34;14
Jabez Reuben
I didn't need anything else off of that.

00;18;34;16 - 00;18;54;12
Itamar Marani
That's great, man. So how helpful do you think that was for the people that are listening? Let's say? What's the likelihood that you would have completed this or achieve what you wanted to achieve or not if it weren't for that support system versus when you actually had it? Like how impactful is it for people to seek that kind of support system out when they're trying to make these big changes?

00;18;54;15 - 00;19;22;29
Jabez Reuben
I mean, are you definitely need a support system? I'm not here to like, you know, just say that you can only find it that support system in your spouse. It can be anyone who who who makes sense and is valuable for you in your in your life can be either one of your parents or a very close friend of yours or your business partner for that.

00;19;23;02 - 00;19;44;08
Jabez Reuben
And maybe we'll discuss this later in the podcast. What I learned and another big thing that I took out during the reunion was quality over quantity. So same with like the friends I have or the support system I have. I don't need a very big network. I don't need a huge circle of friends, I don't need a very big support system.

00;19;44;10 - 00;20;13;15
Jabez Reuben
Whatever I'll have, I have a very quality support system. And even if it's 1% of three people giving me the support, it'll be of highest quality. So I think, yes, you definitely need a support system to help help you. Great. If you have a big support system, but don't worry if you have just one or two people helping you out in your journey.

00;20;13;18 - 00;20;14;02
Jabez Reuben
Yeah.

00;20;14;05 - 00;20;24;23
Itamar Marani
So can you speak more about that? I see that this is something that resonates with quality over quantity, and I'm assuming it's not just in the support system, but as a general principle. It's kind of a broader than that for you. Do you think more of.

00;20;24;23 - 00;20;54;05
Jabez Reuben
A Yeah, like right. Like in one of our other calls you were talking about addition by subtraction. Another thing that I picked up during a course addition, by subtraction I mean this thing, this principle is I can see this pattern in so many places. It's it's it's a pattern. It's a rule that I've now started implementing in work and relationships and friendships.

00;20;54;08 - 00;21;35;23
Jabez Reuben
Oh, let's start with, like, what's deeper? What's more meaningful? Let's say like with friendship, a deeper relationships addition by subtraction or in other words, quality over quantity. So again, the whole tribe mentality that that would kick in is that okay, I need to be friends with everyone. I need to be in good books of everyone. I need to have everyone's approval, whereas I, instead of thinking that way, thinking, okay, even if I have these five friends around me or three friends around me, these three are the ones who understand me.

00;21;35;25 - 00;21;58;02
Jabez Reuben
I don't have to seek their approval. They on their own know me. They love me for who I am. I don't have to become something else to earn their friendship. I don't have to become do some or I don't have to keep them happy all the time to have the support or to have the friendship.

00;21;58;04 - 00;22;17;13
Itamar Marani
So interject here because I have a question of balance. So a part of my philosophy is that I think it's hard to say I don't want anyone's approval, you know, I mean, but if we can choose to surround ourselves, the kind of people's desires matters or their value system matters, then it's not that big of an effort for me to do the right thing.

00;22;17;20 - 00;22;29;05
Itamar Marani
You know what I mean? It's not necessarily that I don't have to do anything, but if I'm just the person that I want to be and I'm striving to be that person, they will respect me. And it's a way to kind of smack this approval thing. Does that resonate?

00;22;29;07 - 00;23;10;06
Jabez Reuben
Absolutely. That's what that's what I happen to. You know, like you don't have to put an effort into relationships that like superficial efforts. Yes. I mean, you. Yeah. And I think that's that's the way that's the way you can truly even enjoy any sort of relationships there. Things you do comes naturally if you're trying to go meet someone just out of the fear that, hey, if I don't go to his meet up or his party or this thing, and then if I don't go, then this relationship will die down or he will stop talking, Then I think that's that relationship is not built on the right principles.

00;23;10;10 - 00;23;27;14
Itamar Marani
Yeah, that's really well said. So a way to avoid wasted effort on superficial relationships is by just finding who naturally you align with and accepting that some people won't fall into that bucket. And then being at peace with that. And just that creates more energy and everything in life, not just for those friendships, but everywhere else. So is that correct?

00;23;27;16 - 00;23;31;24
Jabez Reuben
Absolutely. Absolutely.

00;23;31;27 - 00;23;50;16
Itamar Marani
That's great, man. All right. So moving on. I think this was a big thing. There was one thing I wanted to go back to a little bit about the introvert stuff. A big thing that you said earlier in the podcast was that it helped you overcome self-worth challenges. And I would love for you to speak specifically on that if you could share what that means to you.

00;23;50;16 - 00;23;52;29
Itamar Marani
How is that all related? What was that about?

00;23;53;02 - 00;24;32;27
Jabez Reuben
Yeah, self-worth. That that's the thing. Like really dig it deep. You know, during our arena time many the place we are, I would say like this thing goes really deep early into child style. So where you always want to prove yourself, especially when when there's a big competition around you with big holder on you, big high on you, you want to stand out, you want to seek everyone's approval, you want to stand out and be known for doing something.

00;24;32;29 - 00;25;02;03
Jabez Reuben
And there's always been this fight inside me. Okay. Am I enough? Have I done enough? Have I done better? Have I done this? Have I done have I done done this? Just to seek approval of everyone starting from childhood teachers, friends, family? Have I done the right thing? However, then the right thing and then moving with the work like is okay, have I done the right things to please the clients?

00;25;02;03 - 00;25;31;00
Jabez Reuben
Have I done the right thing in the business community? Have I done Have I made enough money to be accepted in the right, in the circle, in the community, in the business circle, in the community, Whereas again, like, that's the point that I realized that and what gave me freedom was I just like trying to achieve windows or internships.

00;25;31;00 - 00;26;02;16
Jabez Reuben
I trying to find your place in the community based on what you're doing, or rather the people around you who just accept you the way you are. So kind of giving a pause to my fast passing life and just thinking on this thing that like, for example, like going get it.

00;26;02;16 - 00;26;21;24
Itamar Marani
So instead of trying to optimize for everyone and then because you can't meet those expectations because it's not what you really want anyway, you feel like your level of achievement is pretty low and that cause a lack of self-worth. And then the moment you get clear that I don't actually need everyone's approval, actually care about a specific few who I respect and I want to be more in tune with, more align with whatever it might be.

00;26;21;26 - 00;26;36;22
Itamar Marani
And once you align with those kind of people and obviously because they were more aligned with what you're trying to get out of life and when you're doing all of a sudden your level of achievement relative to their expectation, your expectations of the group, whatever it may be, are just so much higher. So then you also felt better about yourself.

00;26;36;23 - 00;26;39;21
Itamar Marani
Yeah. Is that right? Is that kind of where you're getting to?

00;26;39;23 - 00;27;07;20
Jabez Reuben
Yeah, that's so again, like kind of, you know, of quality rather than quantity. And I love this quote that I heard when I was in school, but now it makes sense to me that I would rather be love. I would rather be headed for who I am than to be loved for who I am not.

00;27;07;22 - 00;27;39;17
Jabez Reuben
So that thing like, you know, coming back excel for finding that you're like finding really true, meaningful friendship, relationships, finding through friendships, friends based on just being yourself, finding comfort in just being yourself, rather than delighting you suddenly because you are doing so much like you sort of need because you have so many companies and all that stuff.

00;27;39;20 - 00;27;59;22
Jabez Reuben
Actually, I'm now being more aware of like, you know, who who is coming because they saw me here or saw me saw my product or saw this and that. You know who is coming because of my superficial achievements or other than who is coming, who has seen my growth, who who has seen me as a person, who has seen my values.

00;27;59;25 - 00;28;33;21
Jabez Reuben
And that's the filter I now use to build relationships and yeah, and building myself also on that. It's also it's something to sell for. There's something to keep a constant check on you. You can really slide in a wrong direction if you suddenly you get a lot of attention because of your I would define what I call operational achievements and you get a lot of achievement and get a lot of attention and you think, you know, yeah, you've made it and you're getting a lot of attention from people and you decided enjoying that.

00;28;33;24 - 00;29;00;14
Jabez Reuben
I think those relationships really don't go deep rather than, you know, keep reminding me, okay, what what's, what's the basis of this relationship? What's what's the value system on which we've made this seem ship Based on that, I think it's the I'm able to now filter and make deeper organizations and deeper relationships.

00;29;00;17 - 00;29;20;18
Itamar Marani
What do you think was the bridge from those things in your personal life and you actually being able to translate? And so I got superficial business success as far as taxing the business, building these new projects. The big one as well. What was the bridge that was able to get? Okay, I got these insights. I freed up a lot of things in my brain with more self-worth, more confidence.

00;29;20;21 - 00;29;28;04
Itamar Marani
How did that translate into business success? What enable that?

00;29;28;07 - 00;30;00;09
Jabez Reuben
I would say like, you know, the bridge was always there. You know, the path was always there. It was what was falling was just this mindset blocks that for preventing me from, you know, taking that leap and going cross that bridge. It was all the negative voices, all self-doubts, all the fears acted as barriers that prevented me from going over that bridge.

00;30;00;11 - 00;30;10;21
Itamar Marani
Makes sense. So basically what you're saying, the desire was always there. It wasn't it? This wasn't a desire. You always had a desire. You know, you always have a skill set. But those two blocks were stopping you from actualize.

00;30;10;21 - 00;30;12;14
Jabez Reuben
Absolutely. Absolutely.

00;30;12;14 - 00;30;26;16
Itamar Marani
That. So like once they got removed, you're saying the biggest thing was affected. Once you remove those blocks that had an impact both on the personal life and the business at the same time. I was like, read the new strategy. All of a sudden, just to be able to do the thing you always kind of want to do it.

00;30;26;19 - 00;30;28;02
Itamar Marani
Is that accurate?

00;30;28;05 - 00;30;30;12
Jabez Reuben
Yes, absolutely.

00;30;30;14 - 00;30;49;18
Itamar Marani
Hello? Okay. That makes a lot of sense. So one thing I wanted to ask you as a first off, is there anything else, too that you feel made a strong impact and that really resonated from the program that helped you make a shift or anything else that you want to share with people so that you can share someone's in the same position you are.

00;30;49;18 - 00;31;04;29
Itamar Marani
They're really they have ambition, they have a pathway, they have a skill set to do it, but they're kind of blocking themselves or not doing. Was there anything else that we didn't talk about that you feel very impactful? That was kind of I mean, think about something that actually you did whatever In.

00;31;05;02 - 00;31;26;10
Jabez Reuben
The early days of my my time in the arena, I had this feeling like, you know, like Itamar is going to be like a business coach in terms of he will help us make systems get into processes and how to do management and stuff like that, because that's what I was trying to achieve, you know, like how to grow a business.

00;31;26;15 - 00;31;52;08
Jabez Reuben
That was my aim, like how do we increase productivity and all that stuff? But then instead, like I realized what I would say, like for session of like what I, we talk like this clearing off, like mindset, clearing of this and that and that and now literally it all made sense, you know? And once your head is cleared, for once your head is cleared, systems, processes will come on and so on.

00;31;52;10 - 00;32;25;03
Jabez Reuben
It's right. Not like usually what happens mind is so, so, so cluttered with, with unnecessary stuff. There's no space to create systems. There's no. And what I was talking about as well, that, you know, only after you free up your mind, I'm able to get speed. I mean, to get think clearly. I think in a creative way so of boss arena anything and often months it all started making more sense was this this head is cleared only then it will allow space for systems and processes.

00;32;25;03 - 00;33;30;28
Jabez Reuben
I think we've covered most of the by. But I think just to summarize, like my journey post-Katrina home and all the discussions that we've had, I think I'm grateful for the success. And on the business side of things for this grateful, But what I am like, well, I am super, super grateful and I think that I think has been my biggest event is finding joy in everything, finding comfort, joy and meaning and value and every single thing that I do personally in my in my in my life and most importantly in my house, you know, in my family, getting rid of the village of crap, the village of what people think, getting rid of that

00;33;30;28 - 00;34;22;06
Jabez Reuben
and just doing things out of joy. I think that's been the huge win and turning point in my life. And yeah, yeah, I've just kept things very, very simple. I didn't, you know, create a hack. Amazing. Feels funny, enlightened crack, amazing dealer business team. It's just like I just got rid of unnecessary stuff and found meaning in smaller things in life and things that are more meaningful and things that I would like to talk about when I'm 70 and I'm proud of finding having meaningful things to talk about.

00;34;22;06 - 00;34;31;02
Jabez Reuben
I think that's been my most the biggest event post-Katrina.

00;34;31;05 - 00;34;55;02
Itamar Marani
Kind of summarize what you're saying in conversation. I'm happy that the moment you were able to remove the surface level of distractions that perhaps you weren't aware were distractions that made room for everything else in the business to actually do the things that were important without caring about this person thing. And also just to have more space to the meaningful, deeper things like relationship with family and so that I can.

00;34;55;05 - 00;35;25;15
Jabez Reuben
Absolutely. And the once you get to add to it, like for people who really want to know, okay, hey, how is this helping business? I was just helping business. You know, once you start operating freely, once you start operating things with joy, you'll get so much speed at work, you will have so much clarity. And I can say like, well, when I'm working happily, when I'm work, working without the pressure of or thinking, okay, if I make this product, what did this person thing?

00;35;25;15 - 00;35;46;22
Jabez Reuben
If I, if I do this, what the what will the reputation of this company in this this community Once I've gotten rid of all that and I'm working happily with the the product, I want to work on all the things I want to do. I get so much speed, I get so much clarity, and I'm able to think faster.

00;35;46;22 - 00;36;12;03
Jabez Reuben
I want to think in a creative way, faster. So I think that, you know, people were really willing to just joke, How has this thing like austerity nothing helped you with is the side of things. I think speed, you know, clarity, ability to think faster in a creative way as well because then you are not wasting time on unnecessary scrap.

00;36;12;04 - 00;36;45;16
Jabez Reuben
You're not wasting time or dealing with unnecessary voices or what they're trying to, in your mind, trying to plan ideas of pleasing people and pleasing community, all that stuff. I know you're not scared of failure. You are. Then I'm I'm then focused on now focused on work. I'm not focused on doing things that I enjoy doing things I want to be enjoying, things I want to build irrespective of voices, irrespective of fear of failure.

00;36;45;18 - 00;37;03;15
Jabez Reuben
So that's giving me because now instead of ten thoughts, I have five thoughts or like just three thoughts about product, about the business. So I'm getting speed, I'm getting more, I'm being more creative, I'm being more innovative. So yeah, yeah.

00;37;03;17 - 00;37;08;00
Itamar Marani
That makes sense. That's what to focus on. What actually is impactful, what actually makes a difference.

00;37;08;02 - 00;37;09;23
Jabez Reuben
Yeah, Yeah.

00;37;09;25 - 00;37;30;26
Itamar Marani
There's a sense that if you focus on the medal, then you'll miss the target. But if you focus on that target, you end up getting the medal. And it that I think most people, they forget to focus on the actual task ahead what they should be doing in the business today. They waste so much of their basketball you'll think steam and they're usually not even aware.

00;37;31;02 - 00;37;43;05
Itamar Marani
They're not aware consciously. Yeah but of course you're going to be half as effective if half of your bandwidth is wasted on that kind of stuff. That doesn't actually does impact the bottom line.

00;37;43;07 - 00;38;24;05
Jabez Reuben
Absolutely. I mean, the audio thing, you know, when you focus on the the medal instead of the target, that really I'm into on similar lines. I've been I train with my coach and I'm about to about to win I'd be let's say I mean I'm playing with my coach he's a national champion and he badminton you know and some days like you know I am leading and he is I'm just that missing by two points and because he's going easy on me so he's like ten points behind me.

00;38;24;08 - 00;39;03;07
Jabez Reuben
And then I'm really about to get those final two points. I'll start losing points and this is exactly what he would say every single time when I'm close to winning, would say, don't focus on the points, don't focus on the points, don't focus on the points. Because every I look like I'll just go like this on Saturday, losing all the points, you know, and and this is I'm right there the finish line and he every single time this is what you keep on doing focus on the points don't focus you if you're focusing on the point you will lose the point.

00;39;03;09 - 00;39;16;19
Itamar Marani
Yeah yeah exactly that because you're not focusing on just swinging correctly. But we're not focusing itself. You're focusing on what you hope it will get you. And every time that you focus less on, you're actually supposed to be doing.

00;39;16;21 - 00;39;18;27
Jabez Reuben
The right.

00;39;19;00 - 00;39;49;27
Itamar Marani
Point. I want to ask you one last kind of thing, because you had a very interesting journey into the arena. It was a bit unique. The first half during the very last minute. And the reason you joined was because somebody who we had actually like in the first cohort, basically we kicked out you would I don't don't think we were moving because we understood he wasn't he wasn't a fit and he was the person that actually recommended you to it, which, yes, I would have personally thought that wouldn't have happened.

00;39;49;29 - 00;40;06;06
Itamar Marani
Yeah, he recommended it to you one and two. Then you were like, Oh yeah, if he recommends it, and I'm just curious to hear about that first off. So two part question. First off, why did you think it was time for you to jump on something was because you jumped last moment very quickly? It wasn't a long cycle.

00;40;06;06 - 00;40;08;11
Itamar Marani
If you heard about it the next day you were in.

00;40;08;13 - 00;40;09;18
Jabez Reuben
So, yes.

00;40;09;20 - 00;40;19;24
Itamar Marani
How did you know it was time for you to do something like this? That's one and two. Why why was that person's advice? What was so impactful?

00;40;19;27 - 00;40;48;02
Jabez Reuben
Okay, so on the time when before joining Arena, like around that time, I've been, you know, just thinking to myself, you know, I see a lot of potential. I see a lot of talent. I see I have a good team also with me that looks at me, but I don't see the amount of progress we should be made, we should be making with all that we have in hand right now.

00;40;48;04 - 00;41;12;16
Jabez Reuben
So I was thinking, I need someone to, you know, just guide me through all the barriers because there's a lot of potential here and we are not achieving what we can achieve with what's in the head. So I was looking around, I was all constantly looking for who, what can I do, what can, who can I hire? Well, let's do I need a business consultant and X, Y and Z.

00;41;12;16 - 00;41;49;20
Jabez Reuben
So I was in that phase already. Then a good friend of mine mentioned about the arena and about you, and you said that he he was removed from the training and also got his money refunded. I said, Who does that? Who, who does that? Who takes that kind of loss? And he's and he said, you know, this guy is this guy who he's kicked out of that arena, like, I'll be pissed off.

00;41;49;20 - 00;42;11;12
Jabez Reuben
Like, it's so hard to build after I paid, I'll be annoyed. I'm like, I'm going to make sure nobody joins him again. And I had something this guy for his honestly like is a good friend of my and I know I mean from where he is coming from so first of all he's kicked out. Then he's telling me to look into this course.

00;42;11;14 - 00;42;43;18
Jabez Reuben
And then on top of that, he's saying that if you can join this, it can make a big difference. I said, that's the biggest it's beyond ceiling speech for me. It's like I cannot get a more authentic recommendation from like for anything if if being from from a state with someone that should be annoyed, this person is instead recommending me something that's got to be something really of deep value.

00;42;43;18 - 00;43;09;06
Jabez Reuben
Then. So then I came to because this person was recommending me is a good friend of mine also. So I knew that I knew his value citizen. So I knew that he's just not, you know, talking something in there is definitely the substance in the what he's telling me. Then I came to your side and what I liked about again was your first initial process of not straight away.

00;43;09;06 - 00;43;31;29
Jabez Reuben
Okay, here's the payment detail and let's sign up and get you started. There was a call to see if I will qualify for, of course, or in other words, whether you wanted to make sure if I will get value from this course a lot. So again, a huge green flag for me. Like, yes, I mean, this makes sense.

00;43;31;29 - 00;43;58;28
Jabez Reuben
This is not a program, of course, where you know, once you apply as a sales page, you just swipe your card and yeah, buy the product. I mean, you have to work to to get inside. Yeah. So I think those things just really changed the way we, I purchased things, I purchased products and I think this is, I think I found authentic.

00;43;59;01 - 00;44;03;09
Jabez Reuben
I tend to speak and in this whole process.

00;44;03;11 - 00;44;04;27
Itamar Marani
Really do.

00;44;05;00 - 00;44;19;18
Jabez Reuben
So like I was like I had and I hadn't heard and as I had, I hadn't heard about Arena, I hadn't heard about Itamar. And two days I called down and signed up for it.

00;44;19;20 - 00;44;42;12
Itamar Marani
That's what we try to bring across. I'm having a common. Is there any last thing anyone you think you want to leave the listeners with? Any tidbit of advice from your experience, any suggestions, any words of wisdom, like someone who is in a similar situation where he feels like he's not achieving all that he can with what he has in hand?

00;44;42;14 - 00;44;47;26
Itamar Marani
They feel kind of stock. They plateaued, whatever it may be. What would be your your words of wisdom to them?

00;44;47;26 - 00;45;18;14
Jabez Reuben
Just I would say for me personally, I can't say for everyone, but I would say what's working for me and what's looking for me is having a set of constant reminders. I mean, I can have I've done arena once. I've got, you know, great insights on that. But it's of no use If I, if I forget all that I've learned and continue to think, look, you know, that's done and life will be automatically improving on it.

00;45;18;14 - 00;45;48;04
Jabez Reuben
So you know, life just doesn't improve. There's no fix that will fix your life. A formula that'll fix a life of growth. And you don't have to work hard ever again or you won't find any challenges. You have to have constant reminders so that you can navigate to different situations and work on improving yourself based on what value system and the kind of reminders you've said for at least.

00;45;48;06 - 00;45;52;01
Itamar Marani
One of those reminders prior to that.

00;45;52;03 - 00;46;12;11
Jabez Reuben
When so many of them, you know, again, I remember filtering based on values filtering. Yeah I mean, just just one filtering process itself, what you are dealing with and any issue like going going deep into that or just being scared of it.

00;46;12;13 - 00;46;15;08
Itamar Marani
So just using a lot of it's just.

00;46;15;10 - 00;46;37;29
Jabez Reuben
Just a lot a lot of those. Yeah, Yeah. Just a lot of those remind us to constantly keep it keep in mind, I mean, I don't get like I didn't it's not even that bolstering I've got become bulletproof that my mind has become so strong I liked the module. What's the name of this module? So I always keep it open.

00;46;38;02 - 00;47;07;09
Jabez Reuben
The emotional fortitude. Fortitude also, you know, it's not that you become super strong in your head. Bulletproof. Nothing can get inside, Nothing can break. You know, it's the bigger the the the challenge, the bigger the price, you know? And if the challenges are not bigger than you're not on a bigger race, then so if you on a bigger race, you will constantly have bigger challenges and you will constantly be challenge tested.

00;47;07;11 - 00;47;34;09
Jabez Reuben
So I have to constantly remind myself I still have to every day keep fighting to keep working towards becoming a stronger version of myself. But if I don't keep those reminders, if I don't keep those values six going back again, again on those, I don't think I would be able to progress in the right faith. Yeah.

00;47;34;11 - 00;47;41;06
Itamar Marani
It's a big ask for context. How long were you in the arena? Remind me.

00;47;41;08 - 00;47;47;04
Jabez Reuben
2022. So a year and a half. Q4 or Q4? Q4.

00;47;47;06 - 00;47;48;05
Itamar Marani
Okay. Well, I don't.

00;47;48;05 - 00;47;51;20
Jabez Reuben
Know which in the last year, couple people.

00;47;51;22 - 00;48;20;10
Itamar Marani
Comment. So I want to thank you for coming on. But I think there was a lot of valuable things here. And yeah, if anybody else kind of feels are in the same situation for their have, they could be achieving more what they have in hand. And like Jabba said, I think what I want to point out there was a year and a half ago like the journey keeps going, but if you have the tools and if you have the equipment to keep dealing with bigger challenges as you grow, you can keep going, keep winning.

00;48;20;13 - 00;48;37;26
Itamar Marani
It's not just a six week thing, but it's if you have tools that you can deal with for the rest of your life can really break things. And that was I want to say first off, that I really, really appreciate you sharing it. So honestly, like everything. And I'm really yeah, I'm really appreciative of the part that played a small little part in your journey and seeing you go, Man, I really appreciate it.

00;48;37;26 - 00;48;43;12
Itamar Marani
Really big figure. Like it just brings a big smile on my face now. I'm very happy for you, brother.

00;48;43;14 - 00;48;54;14
Jabez Reuben
And I really enjoyed being part of that. Are you going to come to community and just, you know, knowing you guys and thanks for having me, you guys.

00;48;54;16 - 00;48;56;15
Itamar Marani
We will see everyone on the next episode.