What does it take to unlock and become your best self? In this three-part discussion, Jeffrey Saad presents how to take action and unleash your fullest potential. For this first part, he shares the importance of starting the day with meditation and positive affirmation, which shapes not just your mindset but your daily actions as well. Jeffrey also reflects on the biggest challenges he has faced to discuss how even the most serious adversities can lead to a meaningful and fulfilling life.
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How To Unlock Your Best Self – Part 1
We are doing it again, making millions debt-free, loving life, physically fit and healthy, bringing joy to all we encounter, inspiring our children, enjoying quality family time, watching and guiding our children fulfilled their dreams, traveling the world, learning, overflowing with vigor for life, and most importantly being present in every moment. I happen to life. Ride the wave. Empathy is the ability to step into the shoes of another person, understand what his or her feelings of thoughts are and use that to guide our actions.
Starting The Morning With Meditation
A size of person can be judged by the size of the things that bother them. That is what I say every single morning when I wake up for decades. There’s been little tweaks, but that’s what I say because that’s how I want to start my thinking for the day. How you start your thinking is how your day, your month, and your life will unfold. The next thing I do is a little meditation. It’s taking me forever. I’ve gotten to like twenty minutes and I’m still always like, “What should I do with that escrow? Nadia’s birthday is coming up. What should I give her?”
It’s still just to try it and do it is huge. Is anybody willing to do a 30 second meditation? That’s the vast majority. Whether you’re telling the truth or not, it’s enough to say let’s do it. I’m going to set the timer for one quick minute. Everything in life go for one in a row. Whatever it is you’re trying to do, just start with one. Don’t meditate for twenty minutes. Meditate for one minute, and you’re going to have a much better chance of continuing that journey.
I went to see Eckhart Toll years ago because he is such an idol of mine. He says, “Don’t make all these rules. Don’t be complicated. It’s simple, stand up, sit down, lean on the wall, shut your eyes, open your eyes, or dance. Whatever you want to do. The whole point is do what helps you to get in the moment for a minute because that’s where everything great in life happens. It’s in the moment.” I’m going to close my eyes. You don’t have to. What I like to do is start at my toes and just picture that I’m taking the air and filtering it through my body. All the gray bad energy is coming out and getting replaced with better energy. I feel whole. Let’s do it.
A Wonderful Business Plan For An Epic Year
Now, I’m ready. Thank you, guys, all for being here. It’s awesome. The whole goal of this is to have a great year in 2025, an epic year and wonderful business plan. What I want to talk about is the business plan that I want to share with you. It doesn’t mention buyers, sellers, escrows, door knocking, prospecting, or your CRM. None of that. To me, the ultimate business plan is right here. Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. That was Carl Jung and I love that quote because if you don’t first understand, it’d be like me thinking I had this beautiful hair and then I finally looking for one day and go, “That’s a lot of foreheads.”
We all go through life thinking we’re being this certain person, but who could you be if you weren’t who you thought you were? Until you get clear on that, the 9:00 to 5:00 is the rest of the business plan. What I want to talk about is the 5:00 to 9:00. How you start your day and how you end your day, because the 9:00 to 5:00 is the doing, but the 5:00 to 9:00 is the showing up. It’s who you are. As a chef, I always say, a great burger will get destroyed by a bad bun. If you wonder why you’re having that bad day, it’s probably because you got a bad bun book ending that day. You haven’t taken the time to think about what you want to do.
Don’t ever discount thoughts because every thought you have is like planting a little seed in your brain. If you keep having that thought, you’re watering it. It’s germinating and growing. Now, the garden of your mind is either beautiful and bountiful, or it’s a weed disaster. Be careful of every thought you have because every thought leads to an emotion. First, you have the thought and then it makes you feel a certain way.
Once you feel a certain way, you’re going to act on that, because it’s how you’re feeling. All those individual actions, there’s your life, thoughts, feelings and actions. What I want to do is help you have better thoughts. Get a hold of that unconscious Genie. We’re going to try to create some new mental tattoos. Here’s our plan. The first thing I want to do is just share a few stories with you so you understand where my mindset is coming from and how it’s happened.
The next thing we’re going to do is talk about the personal constitution. It’s something I’ve been doing for decades, and I swear next to my amazing wife, it’s the thing that’s made my life amazing, that personal constitution. The last thing is action steps. My wife knows and she gets so annoyed with me. One of my favorite saying that in Chinese proverbs says, “Much talk does not cook rice.” We could be 2025 now, and if you go home, what you choose to do will determine whether any of this was worth your time.
Loving Life Every Single Day
The actions always matter. One thing I do want to make very clear is I’m not here because I’m the number one producer. I’m sure of you in this room do more business than me. I’m not up here because I have some special talent skill that allows me to do what I do and have a great life. Everything I’ve done is been learned. I’m flawed. You can ask Nadia. What I can tell you that I’m very clear on is I wake up every single morning loving my life, and I’m not kidding you.
Do what helps you to get in the moment for a minute. That’s where every great thing in life happens in the moment. Share on XI wake up and I go, “It’s going to be the best day of my life.” Every now and then, I’m lying a little bit, but I’m still playing the right seed, but 99% of time, I feel that way. What I can tell you is that we travel three months a year. I do French class twice a week. I surf. I’m on my motorcycle’s. I’m with my kids. We cook all the time and entertain. I love my life and it’s a beautiful place to be. You may say like, “That’s just because how your life started or whatever.” That’s not me. Let’s see if it’s how my life started.
My dad is Roger Saad. I’m seven years old, run down out of bed to have breakfast with my two sisters. Our nanny comes down and she says to my mom, “Why isn’t Roger up? He’s always up early.” My mom says, “He just wants to sleep. Leave him alone.” Our Nanny is like, “I hear noises.” I will never forget the blood curdling scream when she found him shot to death in my bed. It was like, “What is this?” Police and chaos, but then you might think, “Life must have gotten way better after that.”
Did my life get better? My mom went on trial for murdering him, so that was not exactly the Waltons or Modern Family. It was like, “What’s happening here?” You think, “Maybe it was my childhood after that.” The upbringing that’s made me love life and be so happy. It wasn’t because she was an alcoholic and a horrible person. The guy that moved into our house and became her new husband shortly after my dad’s funeral was it awful man. Nothing but alcoholism, abuse, and chaos. It was sad. I don’t tell you all this because you should feel sorry for me.
We all got something. The reason I tell you this is because one of my biggest beliefs, I have this whole top ten. We can do that another time for a great life. One of my biggest beliefs is do not be a victim. That victim mentality will destroy you. Being a victim means you put more value on the past but on now and on the future. How crazy is that? Life is not about what happens. Steve is big on this. Life is not about what happens. It’s how you choose to react.
Believe me, my mom faded quickly from the cool clothes like I had. I’ll never forget I was a junior high school. All raise your hand if you think you’re cool parent that dresses her kid well. That will change their lives. My buddy got a perm in his hair in junior high. He had this blonde hair. It was wavy. He looked like a surfer. I’m like, “Mom, I want one of those.” She takes me to her hairdresser and I get a freaking bouffant. I looked like Lucille Ball with big brown rimmed glasses. It was devastating.
You can always retake a class, but you can never relive a moment. Share on XThe other reason I put this up is because of my two sisters, and because I have no ill will for my mother. I have no bad feelings. As Nelson Mandela said that’s like drinking poison in an effort to kill your enemy. That’s not going to do selfishly. It doesn’t do you any good, to hold a grudge of any kind or bad will of any kind. I always try. The most extreme example is my mother. I always try to find the good in everybody and everything. I love those pants. I still like clothes. Thanks, Mom.
Finding Love And Passion In The Kitchen
She cooked constantly. I’d come home from school and I see some chopped up bacon on the counter. She’s doing that hot spinach salad dressing thing. I know she is. She inspired me to love food and to entertain. It’s important to remember that regardless of what happens, there’s good to find and you will be better off with it as well. When you’re 110 pounds and your sister can kick your ass, you’re probably not going to be a football star.
She would get the bullies away from me when we’re in grade school and junior high school. I was in junior high and I went to this diner behind the junior high school called the Piccadilly and I was a dishwasher. I was like, “I’m not playing football with boys. Dishes are clean.” Slowly, they let me get into the kitchen. I’m thirteen years old and I had to get a work permit. When I gave you the burger analogy, it’s because I’ll never forget, I finally got to be in the kitchen with a little paper hat. I was like, “Am I a sailor or a chef? I don’t know, but I don’t care. I’m in the kitchen.”
I have my little apron. I pulled the frozen burger out of the freezer, and put it on the grid. It would start sizzling. The water dissipated. Finally, it started getting nice and gold and I lay that piece of American cheese on it, which is not even cheese. It’s like orange oil thing, but I don’t care. I still love it because it’s a memory of joy. The cheese would drip down the side of the burger. I’d toast that bun and the other grease. There was more grease in that place than you’ve ever seen in your life. They’d send that burger out and I looked through the little window with my little hat. I watched that person take a bite and it was like all their worries went away. I said, “This is what I’m doing my life.”
The first tipping point for me in my journey was finding something that I loved and food was the best. I loved it. I went on to work at my Godfather’s restaurant back then. The place is packed all week. What are the sales? There weren’t any. We sold $1,000. It was a different way to do business back then, but I learned all about the business and I loved it, then I went off to a hotel restaurants school at Iowa State University. I got my undergrad and I was still purging demons though.
The only difference between dreams and reality is how badly you want it. Share on XThe first two years, I crashed five motorcycles, hit windshield and rolled over hoods. Somebody wants me here. I should not be here. I’m trying every drug of available, but I always feel lucky that I had some work ethic. I wanted to work. All of us, realtors are hardworking, people. Somehow, it’s in you from the beginning. I walked into this restaurant that I’d been working. It’s called the Northwestern State House. There was a crazy Greek guy. I know you wouldn’t do this as a team leader in real estate but he wasn’t engaged, teaching, or coaching. He was just out doing his own thing.
The chef got his third DUI and was taking to jail immediately. He looks at me and goes, “Aren’t you the guy that likes food or going to school for food or something? Take over,” and he walks out. I got my first executive chef job and I’m stoned. I was nineteen and I don’t even know what I’m doing. I’m like, “I got this.” I destroyed that kitchen for the first week. Any customer was there that week probably never came back but it was another tipping point where I said, “I’ve got something to accomplish here.”
I figured it out. I cleaned that kitchen. I organized that kitchen. I learned that you put the stake on this way and then you put on this way to get that X then you know it’s at medium rare. You move it down and you do that rotation. I had 50 stakes going to once. It was the most amazing experience. I finish that but, it got me serious. I started not partying as much, but also it was the first time I learned the art of moderation because I still wouldn’t say no to a party. As my good friend that I think is still a freshman. We talked about this exam coming up and he go, “It’s going to be a good party. You can always retake a class but you can never relive a moment.”
He’s still a freshman or maybe a sophomore. I found that balance because moderation is everything. I learned so I can have fun and still get done what I need to get done. I went off to culinary school in Upstate New York. I was getting my degree there and ran out of money, so I moved to San Francisco, and finished at the California Culinary Academy. Everyone said, “Now, it’s time to go work for other people and slowly learn the business.” I’m thinking myself, “I’ve been working for other people.”
Now, I went from a paper hat to a nice cloth toke. It was tall. It was like, “I am a chef graduating now.” It was a great time in San Francisco’s. It was Jeremiah Tower’s and all these incredible icons that we got to be around and work with. The speakers said, “The only difference between dreams and reality is how bad you want it.” I took off my little toke. I went and signed a lease. This woman happened to me because I was like, “Can you show me your assets?” She said, “I have none.” “Show me your credit.” It’s not good, but somehow at 24 years old, she signed a five-year lease with me and I had a restaurant.
The only problem was I hadn’t thought about the menu or what was going to look like. I went on that journey. Believe it or not, this is me focused and serious. I know I look like I’m in charge of the weed movement or something, but I was working a million hours a week loving what I was doing and creating this incredible business but it was another tipping point, and I’ll tell you that in a minute. The best moment was I’m walking down the street, in San Francisco, Chestnut Street, and I look into these eyes.
I’d like to tell you that I came up with some very swamp thing that I said, but I was just trying not to draw and keep my hair in shape or something not. Nadia says I invited her to the restaurant opening. I was building the first restaurant when I saw her, then I walked into the restaurant. I was working at night and told the staff, “I just met my wife.” I’m 25 at this point. I would tell you, one of the biggest things you can do in your life is to get the right partner.
When you get home, that person should be shoveling coal in your soul or maybe these days, your solar panel. Let’s keep it green. They need to be lighting you up, because if the person that is your person is not lighting you up and making your life amazing. That’s always going to be a big challenge and I’m lucky that I have somebody always lighting mine.