Everything Has a Purpose: Manifesting Your Purpose with Justin Castelli

Join me and Justin Castelli as we talk about how manifestation has impacted his family, his basketball trajectory, his career, and ultimately his personal life and pursuit of his passions. We unpack the parallels (and the differences) between manifestation and optimism, and talk a lot about what it is (and isn't) - if you're looking for a breakthrough and trying to turn something you're passionate about into reality, or even if you just love interesting and inspiring conversations, this is definitely the episode for you.

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Transcript

Everything Has a Purpose: Manifesting Your Purpose with Justin Castelli

[00:00:00] Jess: Hey friends, it's me, Jess Bost here with another episode of The Breakthrough Factor, and today's guest is Justin Castelli. Justin is first and foremost a family man. He and his wife Angela have three boys who are always in the mix of life with them, whether it be in the gym, on the courts, in Angie's Boutique, or just going on another family adventure. 

As a professional, Justin is an entrepreneur focused on championing others to pursue their greatest passions.

From financial advice to content creation, to video production and podcasting to community building, Justin is nonstop building a brand and a legacy of connecting with one's passion and purpose. So very fortunate to have Justin on the show with us today. Thank you for being here, Justin. 

[00:00:56] Justin: Thanks for having me on. And I, you, I don't know if you can see this, but I legit have goosebumps and here we start this episode off on a random note. I kid you not, first off, I don't prepare a lot for podcasts cause I do 'em all the time and I love them and I'm never short for words, but I look, literally wrote out what my introduction was gonna be for myself.

And I started with the personal side, the professional side, but then I wrote Champion for Others, which is not anything I've ever written down before. Now I know you got that from my website. So I, I know where it came from, but that's the first time I ever wrote that down to share as a description about myself.

And I promise to all the listeners and watchers like we did not rehearse that. 

[00:01:37] Jess: Yeah. 

[00:01:37] Justin: Play it back and watch me on YouTube and you'll see me kind of like, holy crap. How did Jess know that I wrote that down? So that's the type of weird stuff that happens in my life right now. It's the frequency.

We are on the same wavelength right now, which is pretty cool. 

[00:01:49] Jess: And we'll talk more about this later, I'm sure of it, but I wrote it down. You're right. I went to a website and pulled some things cuz I knew you, but, saying it in a few sentences is always hard for me. So I did a little prep ahead of time, but when I saw that word champion, I was like, Yeah, that's Justin. Like I'm definitely saying that. The energy that you're putting out is real about that word. And I was like, Yeah, that's the right thing to say. 

[00:02:11] Justin: I have to give my sister-in-law credit for that one. So shout out to Abby because 

[00:02:14] Jess: Sweet. 

[00:02:14] Justin: When we were redoing the website, I was struggling coming up with a word and she does editing and she's a writer. So I told her what we were looking for and she came back with Champion and as soon as I saw that I knew that was the word. So Abby gets all the credit for that word being on the website and resonating with you as well. 

[00:02:32] Jess: Woo. Woo. Yeah. All right. Shout out to Abby. That was, she's spot on. It was perfect. Speaking of Abby one of the things that I wanna start with is a little bit about who Justin was before finance and before this moment. Is he the same guy he is today? We're about to find out. 

[00:02:47] Justin: Definitely not the same person I am today, which I think is a good thing cuz we all want grow from the little version of ourselves to the grown up version of ourself. So I grew up in Indianapolis, that's why I live in Fishers, Indiana now. So I live maybe 20 minutes from my parents and 45 minutes or so from my in-law. So we haven't journeyed very far from where we grew up, but me as a little kid, growing up in Indiana during the early eighties into the nineties, basketball was life and that was truth for me. 

I always had a basketball in my hands. There's pictures of me at two years old playing and that's all I ever wanted to do. So basketball really was what I loved. It was my first passion if we're gonna use that word a lot today. But that was it. So I was a good student. Family was very important. My extended family all lived in western Pennsylvania, so it was my mom, my dad, my sister and I, the four of us. I had a great uncle who was here as well, that was kinda like another grandfather. But we were really close.

I was looking back and my dad and I had this conversation on the podcast I'm doing with him for all About Your Benjamins last week. My parents never really went out. It was just, we always did everything together. So family was very important, which is why I think that's the way I am today, is just having that close knit family. My dad is one of the most selfless people I've ever met, and my mom was great. They always supported my sister and I. So I think that part of the reason I have the confidence that I have and the optimism I've had is because of that family life growing up. I look back and I don't really say that we had a lot of struggle. We weren't by any means rich, but we were fine. Also, my parents, I think, shielded us from anything that could have been read as struggle back then, which I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But yeah I lived a great life. 

[00:04:28] Jess: Yeah. 

[00:04:28] Justin: And then as I got older, basketball was always the dream. I became more realistic in that Europe was probably gonna be the best chance I had for playing basketball. The NBA wasn't gonna be it for me. And secretly I wish that I knew some of these things I know today back then, because I think Europe actually could have happened if I believed in myself more rather than saying it, but having this little bit of doubt.

But I went to college in south of Indianapolis at a division three school called Franklin College. Played four years of basketball there and then really went through graduation and didn't know what I was gonna do. And I wasn't even scared. I looked at other friends, they had jobs lined up, but I met my wife Ang going into our senior year. Actually we met our freshman year. It's kinda a cool story real quick. So one of her friends from like second grade on went to Franklin with me. I actually liked her friend our freshman year, but her friend had a boyfriend, so we never her and I never dated, but I remember hanging out with her and seeing pictures of her girlfriends from high school. And Angela always stuck out to me. 

And one time Chloe is our mutual friend, she said, hey, Angela's coming over to visit. You should come down and meet her. So Angela's IU, which is Indiana University, which is probably 45 minutes to an hour from Franklin. I went down and didn't say a single word to her, maybe just hi. And that was it. And went on my merry way. She went on her way and going into senior year on the 4th of July, we bumped into each other with our groups of friends. And I still didn't say anything to her on that night and she stayed in my mind, leaving 4th of July. 

[00:05:55] Jess: Why, why?

[00:05:55] Justin: And so I like, I joke and say, it was like when I saw her and her girlfriends, it was like a movie that there's this group of girls, I nudge my buddy cuz they're walking towards us. And every one of her friends was blurred out and Ang was leading the pack and she stood out. I kid you not, the way it went down was like slowmo and blurred out and I saw her. And from there we started dating, that was it. And meeting her at that time and realizing that my original game plan for college was to go to law school and I had no desire or passion to be a lawyer. I had a cousin that I looked up to that was an attorney. My dad said it'd be a good profession. So I thought that's what I would do. And when I met Ang I realized I didn't wanna go to school for three more years.

[00:06:36] Jess: Yeah. 

[00:06:36] Justin: So I graduated with no job lined up, no idea what I was gonna do. And not a worry in the world. I lived with Ang down in Bloomington while she finished up through the summer and then networked around with people in different areas of business to figure out what I wanted to do. And that brought me to financial planning and being an advisor.

So I met some, a couple advisors, had lunch with them, really liked the idea of the problem solving, the relationship building and really having the flexibility to create your own work schedule, which resonated with me. Cuz I didn't work much growing up. I was spoiled in that aspect that my job growing up was sports and academics.

So I didn't have to work. You look at my wife, she started working on her 15th birthday. So the ability to have flexibility was a draw to me. Much like many financial advisors, I made a bunch of stops: insurance based firm, a bank, a 403B company and the 403B company is when I actually really decided that I loved being a financial advisor and that I wanted to go to the independent side and probably ultimately own my own firm. But I look back and I'm just, I'm very lucky. I could have stumbled into a job that I hated and got on that rat race of just clocking in, clocking out and just not enjoying my life. And I got lucky that I found a path to be able to grow into that ultimately led me to where I am today. I started my own firm back in 2015 and that was really like when I went to a new level of a professional and a person. That's when I started to become a creator. I always wanted to have a blog. So when I launched my firm, the first thing I did was start writing. 

[00:08:12] Jess: You start writing. Yeah. 

[00:08:13] Justin: Yeah. And that was the only way I was gonna grow my business cuz I'm not gonna cold call, I wasn't gonna do seminars. That's just not my style. Not there's anything wrong with it, but that's just not me. The writing and letting people get to know me, that felt natural and something I would. And the more I did that, the more I experimented. Writing turned into video, turned into podcasting, and then I just started going. And I look at myself today and the reason I'm not the same kid I was growing up is not because I'm not playing basketball very much anymore, but I am very creative, which was never a part of who I was growing up. I don't know where it came from, how it got unleashed, but now I just, I love creating, and to me creating is a very general term like we're creating right now. So podcasting, writing, I'm not a, I'm not an artist. I'm not an architect. But I like to create and put things out there and express myself and it just continues to go.

And then the final piece of who I am and who I grew to be. I met Ang, we have a family as well. So yeah, a big part of who I am is being a father and a husband. My wife is a brilliant entrepreneur. She's got an amazing business that she's done and her story is awesome. So supporting her and being excited for the success she's having and having these three boys, help them grow and become who they're supposed to be, which is something that I'm learning to become better at. I have a vision of where I want them to be and what I want them to know. And I have to realize that I have to let them be who they are and try to plant these little seeds.

[00:09:39] Jess: So Hard. Yeah. 

[00:09:40] Justin: To help them go down the right path. 

[00:09:43] Jess: Yeah. Yeah. So much there. I'm gonna hook onto that last piece and then we can go back cuz there's other things that I don't wanna miss too. So one of the other things I did to prep for this conversation together was... we had talked about before that manifesting and manifestation is something that is really present for you right now in, in realizing that this is the way that you've made your strides through life, whether by intention or unintentioned, when you look back and when you gather everything together, you've really manifested your way through either the moments that were difficult or the circumstances that could have been challenging that you say didn't feel challenging, partly because of this whole concept.

So I went and looked at manifestation and as I started to look into it, what I realized was optimism, which I feel like you have a lot of, is one thing. Sometimes it comes very naturally to people and some people cultivate it. Both of those things can be true. And optimism is just this idea that things are probably gonna work out. A feeling that things will probably if there's a bad and a good outcome, the good outcome is probably going to happen.

Whereas manifestation is like taking that and channeling that kind of energy into an action. So it's like there's a feeling which is optimism. There's an action which is manifesting. And then it occurred to me, and here's my question for you, cuz you had mentioned that you have all these things that you want for your kids, and I feel the same way about mine. I don't think we can manifest things for other people. 

[00:11:30] Justin: I don't think we can either. If you go back to the book The Secret that was really popular. In it, they basically were like, Oh, if you just want something, you have to want it bad enough and it will happen. And if you don't want it bad enough, then it's not gonna happen. And. I don't believe that's the way we manifest.

And I look back over my life as you alluded to, and I have been manifesting all along the way and I just didn't know it at the time. And I do think that you have to be optimistic to be able to manifest because the energy that you put out attracts and optimism is going to put out a positive energy, which is going to attract positive things.

If you are pessimistic, or realists, as some people like to say, there's some negative energy that gets put out from you and that attracts negative. And I don't say that to insinuate that people who always have bad things happen to them want that to happen. But if you look at that one friend you have that always has negative things, they can just never get out of the dumps and all these things, bad things keep on happening to them. The car breaks down. Something like, part of that is the way they view those situations is they're seeing only the negative. And there woe is me versus, all right, man, this stinks, but look at all these other great things in my life. We control how we receive what happens to us. If you receive it and internalize it as a negative thing, it's going to continue to attract negative energy.

If you can receive it, you can be bummed for a moment and be down. Being an optimist doesn't mean that you're always happy. It just means that you don't stay down. So something bad happens, you process it, you feel bad for a little while, but then you look to all of the other great things you have going on to recenter and put that positive energy back out there so more positive things can come. 

Manifestation, I just think, is it's stating your intentions and putting them out there, whatever you want. Whatever you have in your mind, once you put it out there, it can be. Now there's multiple forces. I believe you have to put in the work.

When I worked at the 403B company, I said I wanted to go independent and I wanted to have my own business. I stated that as what I wanted. That was my intention, was to one day have my own business. I couldn't just go along and not be a good financial advisor and have that outcome happen. So I stated it out there and there are forces out there that kind of helped me. But then I did the work. I took care of people. I did what I was supposed to do. I developed and grew as a financial advisor. I went and got my CFP designation. I did all of the work and then things came to me. 

The universe brought me going out on my own by basically putting me in a situation where for all intents and purposes, I was fired. It wasn't a bad firing, it was more of a mutual agreement. But at the end of the day, the decision was made for me to leave my last firm, which catapulted me into starting my own firm. And I look at that as that was the universe, or divine intervention, however you wanna define it, helping me finally accomplish the thing I wanted to do. Cause I had done everything up to that point. Before that conversation was had at that firm, I had already talked to TD Ameritrade. I knew it. I knew everything about this firm and I had visualized it and it was going to happen. I didn't know when. 

And I am somebody who shys from conflict. I would've drug out working there longer and stayed in a situation that wasn't best for me and best for my clients and best for the old firm. And they just, the universe basically said, All right, you're ready to go. No more delaying it. We're gonna speed things up and off you go. 

And I never even batted an eye. I went home that night, set up my LLC, emailed clients, filed my paperwork, and got things moving. And within a month and a half, RLS Wealth was open and I was meeting with clients, moving everybody over and off to the races. 

And I look back even as, I think I've told this story on other podcasts, but going into my junior year of high school, I knew I was gonna play varsity basketball because I had played JV and varsity as a sophomore. And I believed I was gonna start at shooting guard. And I remember the Indianapolis Colt's quarterback at the time got injured and the backup, his last name was Justin. And the headline said, Justin will start. And I cut that out and put it on my corkboard. And I didn't even think about this until recently that, I stated my intention. I put it out there. I practiced hard, I worked hard. I put myself out on the court and game one I started. 

And it doesn't sound like a big manifestation. It's not winning the lottery or changing my life, but it's little things. And I look back over life, and maybe this just means I shot too low, but the majority of the things I've set out to wanna accomplish, I have . And I don't say that to be arrogant. I just, I have the confidence to be able to make it happen. I go out and do things. I've been using my optimism and the power of manifestation my whole life and I didn't even know it. 

And the final thing I'll say about it is, this is a lot of the things that I want to bring to Pursuit, my little passion project. I don't believe I can convince you in the ability to manifest. I think what I can do is I can share my experiences. I can share the experiences of others cuz I'm not the only person that has experienced this. And plant seeds, like I mentioned with the boys, put that this is possible out there for you to think about and then reflect back over your life. And you may have, I guarantee you have manifested things in the past. You just haven't made that connection yet. And then once you make that connection, you start to believe and the more you believe, the more you buy into it and the more you can use that to your advantage. 

[00:16:49] Jess: Yeah.

[00:16:49] Justin: But it goes against everything that we're taught.

[00:16:51] Jess: It, it does. And, that's probably one of the reasons why I've had such a hard time embracing it. But I, again, as I was doing the research about it, it aligns more closely with my actual belief system than I think I was giving it any opportunity to, because I had this preset idea that manifestation is more like hoping... 

[00:17:24] Justin: No. Manifestation is more believing in the outcome. I am going to do this. 

[00:17:28] Jess: ...well, believing in a ridiculous way. And I think that's where I got off track as someone who does tend to be more practical and realistic in my thinking. But it's funny you say the varsity. I had a similar experience. I was not a great soccer player. I was mediocre at best, but I enjoyed knocking people over in the back as a defender. I did that very well and and I put all of my energy and effort into making the varsity team my senior year cuz you had to, you couldn't play JV. And then I worked my ass off and eventually started and that totally aligns with this whole concept of manifestation. 

[00:18:12] Justin: I'll give you another example that's not for me, and then we can go where else you want to go.

[00:18:16] Jess: No, this is good. 

[00:18:17] Justin: Ang writes down every year goals that she wants to do for her business. And I'll never forget, and this was maybe three or four years ago, she wrote down her note card beginning of the year. And at the end of the year, we were cleaning, like around Christmas time, and she found her note card behind the dresser. She had written out her intentions, what she wanted to accomplish, and she accomplished every single one of them. And they were lofty goals, sales goals, all these different things, and she didn't give a thought to it, because she knew that's what she wanted, she stated her intention, she put it out there, whether you verbally say it or you write it down, you just have to get it outta your mind. You have to put it out there for it to be able to happen. So she put these things down, forgot about it, busted her ass working at the store and knocked out every single one of these goals. 

And that's a form of manifestation. So I think that also manifestation, we think it has to be some big goal that I want to have, pick your sum of money or whatever it might be, some level of power. It doesn't have to be that. It can just be that, I want to be the best mother that I can be or the best spouse that I can be, and I'm gonna, and I'm going to be that and I believe that I am that. And then you just follow that intention up with doing things the right way, yeah. 

[00:19:26] Jess: Action. One of the things that I read was like, what can you do to start manifesting your dreams? Number one on that list was adhere to a regular sleep schedule. 

[00:19:37] Justin: I'm not good at that. 

[00:19:37] Jess: And I was like, excuse me, wait, what? But I thought it was neat in the sense of that recharge and that reorganization that our brains do while we sleep is a part of staying on top of and not getting into the seasons of where you're burnt out or stressed out. In order to manifest, in order to continue to put action into what you're dreaming of doing, you have to be able to continue to bring that energy and that passion to the table. And protecting that energy and passion becomes something that's just as important as actually doing the things that will directly lead toward the sales, the relationships, like all those things, protecting the energy and the passion that you have. I, it was the first time I had thought of it that way.

[00:20:27] Justin: And we could throw the term manifestation out because of how people have a obstacle to try to overcome that this is some crazy terminology. It's just bringing what you want to you and it's, you have to put the action in. You have to work hard. It's not easy. But I also think that a lot of the times, the things that we want fall in line with our passions. So putting in that hard work to get that outcome doesn't necessarily seem like work because it's doing the thing that you love. 

 Think of time in our life as not as a straight line like we think of it, but think of it like a record. 

[00:20:59] Jess: Yeah. 

[00:21:00] Justin: That, you know the song is playing. You don't, if you're too young to know what a record is, I have 'em back here on here. It's a big black or a different color circular thing and there's these lines and these grooves on it. And the grooves are where the song plays. So you have a record player, you put the needle on the groove and it plays that song. You look at that record, all of the songs are there. And the way that you move from song one to song three is you pick that needle up, and you move it out to song three and you drop it on that groove. 

The future version of yourself exists. It's already out there. You just need to pick that needle up and move it out there and embody that version of you today. And in time, the conscious world will catch up with your subconscious. So I actually went out and bought a record player for my office. One just to listen to music. But two is that constant reminder that wherever I want to go, whatever it is I want to do, I just need to pick the needle up and move it. 

And I do think that like we can pull our families with us, but to your point earlier, I can't manifest Roman and Leo to be great people. I can love them, I can show them by example. I can give them things that they need to learn, but at the end of the day, they're gonna be who they can be and they have to manifest their own life. 

[00:22:09] Jess: But you can, like you mentioned, have an impact in that picture of the future for them, by believing that they are going to be great people in the future and acting upon that belief for them. Doing that crosses over into the actions of a father who believes his sons are going to be incredible people in the future. You're going to treat them differently than if you're a father who believes they're gonna be failures. 

[00:22:36] Justin: Exactly.

[00:22:36] Jess: And I think to your point of that person in the future that's pulling you forward. I love the behavior psychology of that. There's a million different things I could say about that as well, but in either case, you really are still manifesting the future person that you believe yourself to be. If you're envisioning yourself in the future as either the same or even in worse health, you are really still are identifying with that future person, you've just decided who that future person is going to be first and then identified with the one that you would like to be. And that's super helpful. 

When I work with folks who are losing weight or trying to get healthier there's two things: one, the catalyst is I don't wanna be where I am anymore. You have to not like where you are, but that feeling is not helpful at all beyond that moment. Because in that next moment when you start to become that new person that you mentioned, you can't still be I hate that person in the past. 

[00:23:43] Justin: Mm-hmm. 

[00:23:44] Jess: You have to be, I like who I'm becoming. I like that I feel more like myself. Now you have to take that catalyst, use it for what it is: that quick spark, then it's gone. And then the identity from that point forward has to be more and more in alignment with the person that you see yourself being in the future because hate for who you were will not get you to your goal.

[00:24:10] Justin: Now what makes this really complicated, and this is a topic that I am just now reading and learning about and trying, I don't know if you could ever perfect it, but being more present. So we're talking about the future version of ourselves and the past version of ourselves, when really all we really have is our present self.

And so rather than it being, even though I said the example of where I want to be in the future, like what I'm reading now is saying you shouldn't even be thinking about that. Our ego is what's thinking future and past, and that we just need to be right now. Be right now, be happy now. And that's really hard. And I don't know enough there to speak on it because I'm just now reading about it. 

I'm reading the book, The Power of Now, which it's a tough book to read. Eckhart Tolle is the author and it's about presence and the ability to be in the moment and how we are always distracted. I'm trying just taking a deep breath and then listening to the birds or whatever it might be that's around and taking in that moment at that one time. So that complicates everything as well. 

[00:25:11] Jess: Have you ever read this? 

[00:25:12] Justin: Which one is it? I've got a Bob Goff book.

[00:25:15] Jess: Dream Big? 

[00:25:16] Justin: Yeah, I have. 

[00:25:17] Jess: Okay. So he talks about this. That figuring out your present is about understanding who you are, where you are and what you want. And he used the analogy as he had been learning to fly planes, and one of the things that he was more anxious about than anything was speaking to the flight control center. So he's just a crazy, unique person. He was like, if I'm intimidated by them, I just need to meet them. So he walked in the door, and whoever it was that pulled him to the side said, Bob, all we ever need to know from you when you get on the line is Who are you, Where are you, and What do you want? Those three things, that's all we ever need to know in order to get you safely to the next point. And that's our job is to get you safely to the next point. And so he used that to help people get real with their present and to understand who they are, where they are in the present and what they want. 

Another question that I'd posed for our conversation was... you are an optimist, and you have the wonderful gift of being able to lean into a mindset that is carrying you forward into the good possibilities. But if someone out there is not a natural optimist, for them to fabricate an optimism about their future is actually an off ramp toward the ability to manifest in my opinion. I don't think that you can fabricate optimism and channel that into the true end result that you want. What do you think?

[00:27:17] Justin: I think the move from somebody who's, it's hard to be optimistic to become somebody who is optimistic. I think there's gotta be a lot of like internal work to be done. You have to find out why aren't you optimistic? 

Cause I, I think that we are naturally born to be optimistic people and then life events, influences jade us. It's our surroundings and our upbringing and things of those things that, that determine it. I was lucky. I was born to parents who loved us and sacrificed for us and showed us a good life but I also know people who have had tough lives that have been able to find optimism. Authenticity is a buzzword, but find somebody who is them and knows it that's them. They're living their best life because they're not being somebody they don't have to be, Find somebody who has gratitude all the time, no matter what their scenario, they live a happy life because they're grateful. 

But I think you've gotta figure out what's pulling you down, what , what is making you see the negative in everything versus seeing the silver lining in every bad scenario. And again, being an optimist and being optimistic doesn't mean you don't have down days or down months or down years. You know what, like you can't avoid those emotions, but how long you let them keep you down and how much they impact you, I do think we have control over, and work may need to be done, therapy may to be done to be able to get control of that, but I do think you can move more towards looking at things with an optimistic lens.

[00:28:49] Jess: It may just not be that natural optimism, but it may just be that you have a set of tools. like One for me was whenever something that felt bad happened to me, I taught myself to say out loud this is good for me because and imagine all of the good things that could come out of that, and now it's a habit, but in the beginning it was really hard for something bad to happen and for me to immediately turn it around and go, Oh, this is good for me because... it was just, it was ridiculous in the beginning, but it was practice, right? And it didn't necessarily lead to those same good outcomes, but it was just a practice of expanding my mind to something different. 

And then the other tool that I learned was to write a list when I'm worrying about something and I don't know the outcome. To write out all the bad things that I'm thinking could happen and then write out all the opposites of that. So for every bad thing that I wrote, I would write the complete opposite. So if I'm worrying because a client won't call me back and maybe they're upset with me for whatever reason, I'm writing that down, client's not calling me back, they're probably upset with me. Client's not calling me back because they won a million dollars and they're just trying to figure it out before they give me a call. I ridiculous other possibilities. But the truth is potentially in all of them. And so it's helpful to be an optimist, I think, but it's also helpful to just know yourself, be willing to start there and learn the tools that you need to in order to make the journey to that more optimistic mindset. Even if it's not a natural thing. Instead of just going, This is probably not bad, it's probably gonna be good, I'm probably gonna be fine and then just leaping past all that potential growth for yourself. 

[00:30:43] Justin: I think the exercise you just highlighted is great from the standpoint of it makes you realize the thing you think is the reason they're not calling for you is one of infinite possibilities. 

[00:30:52] Jess: Infinite. 

[00:30:53] Justin: And as you start to realize, hey, that's not the only reason they may not be calling me, it allows you to drop that and not focus on that negative one. So you might not even get to the point where the reason they don't call you is for a positive reason, but it moves you away from this negative one that you're stuck on. And I think about lot of times people get knocked down because someone's rude to them. But you don't know what's going on in that person's life. They are so unhappy that they were rude to you for no reason. 

[00:31:19] Jess: Yeah. 

[00:31:19] Justin: There's something bigger going on in their life, and it just came out that way as a crappy attitude towards you. 

It's not always the positive thought that gets you out of it. It's the realization that there's another explanation beyond what you think it is and allows you to move away from it. So the stress and the anxiety goes away and before long you don't even remember. And come to find out, nine times outta 10, it's gonna be something minor that you could have never dreamt of. Their cell phone broke and they were trying to, trying to get a new one and the sim card didn't work and all these events that happened, which is why they didn't call, and you would've never guessed that one of the infinite scenario.

[00:31:52] Jess: Yep. People can learn, if they don't have this kind of natural, ingrained optimism that can still get them to a place where they are tumbling forward and seeing these passions play out into real life goals and real life moments that they've dreamed of happening. And I know that part of your purpose, and your passion here on life is to extend that and be the entrepreneur that creates the business that allows people to do that, to be the financial planner that allows his clients to reach their goals and see their passions come to life, to be dad and husband, and to see Angie's passion come to life. I know you want your kids to grow up and do the things they're passionate about. That has been the impetus behind this brand that you've created. So move us now from Justin's a financial planner, I know I love what I'm doing there. I start to create other things, start to have passions about other things. And then now, I'm turning that into my passion to help other people find their passions. 

[00:33:15] Justin: Yeah. It's all been just experimentation and exploration and in the moment I didn't know that's what was going on. For as long as I can remember, basketball's always my passion and that led me everything I did centered around basketball because that's all I ever wanted to do.

And then, I graduate college and I go down this path and I develop a passion for financial planning. And the thing about with passion is passion doesn't have to become your career. If you're lucky it does. But the reason I'm so fixated on it is so many people live lives that do not lead them to fulfillment.

They're not happy. There's other things they wish they would be doing. They're living somebody else's life that's been placed on them and that sucks. And I just want more people to realize that if there's things that you wanna do, things that you have interest in, pursue 'em and see where they take you. And it doesn't always mean it's life changing money or whatever it might be, but find a way to bring the things that make you happiest into your life.

And I just think things that make you happiest are the things you have a passion for. Maybe my passion isn't necessarily being a financial advisor. Maybe my passion is helping people. And for my career, my passion of helping people manifested itself in the form of being a financial advisor. And now that passion continues to grow and I grow as an individual. I will always be a financial advisor. RLS Wealth will always exist. But now my passion to help other people is, hey, I've realized that over my life, I've let my passions in my interests guide me on where I go and what I try. And I'm not afraid to go down a path and realize, eh, that's not me, let me pull back. I'm not afraid to pivot. I'm not afraid to make a mistake because that's just me learning about that version of myself. I want more people to do that. And I think that so many people don't even know that they have the opportunity to do it. 

Like I don't ever remember my parents not telling me I couldn't be what I wanted to be like they, they injected confidence in me and whatever you wanna do, work hard, set out for it and good things will happen. But there are people who are told you can't do this. That's not for you. And that's not fair because the person telling that person that doesn't really believe it for them, that's what they believe about themselves. 

Or we look at like the way society has conformed us, that, men are one way, women are the other. And who decided all that? So as I've gone down this path, I just ask why a lot? Why do I think that way? Why do I do that? Why do people do this? And a lot of times if you were to ask why to the same questions multiple times, you would end up realizing that this belief you have really isn't your own belief, it was one that was planted in you. And then now that you realize that, you can go down this path of self exploration and really learning who you truly are and what is it that you truly believe and what is it that you want to do? And when you realize that, go try it. 

And ultimately, I would love for everybody's career to be their passion, but that's not always gonna be the case. But I do think that your career can be a means to an end for you to bring more of your passion into your life. So maybe your passion is volunteering, and we know you can't make any money volunteering, but that is your passion. So you have this career that you enjoy, that you like. It may not be your passion, but it affords you the schedule, the finances, whatever it might be to go live your passion volunteering. 

[00:36:36] Jess: Yep. 

[00:36:36] Justin: I think for a lot of people, when they are able to give their passion more attention, more time, they prioritize it, that passion can grow and become something greater.

I'll give you an example. I don't know if you know Odaro Sweeney who's an advisor. 

[00:36:51] Jess: Yeah!

[00:36:51] Justin: He's a DJ as well. So Odaro is a friend of mine and on Saturdays he DJs just because he loves it. It's a passion of his. For my birthday last year when I turned 40, I guess this year, he made me an hour long mix that he DJ'ed and mixed up together. He said, Hey, tell me your favorite songs. And he sent me this hour long mix. And this is not a, like a DJ mix that I made in high school where it's a CD with songs back to back.

Yeah. He actually mixed the songs that were sampled in the hip-hop song into the song. There was a lot of thought and time to put into it. Phenomenal. Inspired me because I love music to go buy a DJ board. So Roman and I can learn how to DJ. Something to do together. Odaro's gonna help me.

I post a picture of this mixed board on Twitter. I get asked if I want to DJ this big party at a conference. I say, No, it's not me. I don't even know how to do it. But talk to Odaro. Odaro goes out, he does it, he smashes it. He will probably DJ at other financial services conferences in the future if I had to make a guess.

And then the reality of it is, He could turn that into a career. He could leave being a financial advisor and be a DJ to all these big financial advisor conferences if he wanted to. And I don't know if he wants to, but the moral of this story, this example of how this could play out all because he kept on finding time for his passion on Saturdays. He made me a mix that snowballed this thing that he DJ'ed at a conference and did a really good job and everybody loved it. And that word gets around and he could do more. And if he does more, it could be a business opportunity or maybe just stays something he does on Saturdays, because if he made it a bigger part of his life, it would lose the fun, he'd lose his passion for it. 

[00:38:27] Jess: Yeah. 

[00:38:27] Justin: I don't know where it goes, but that's the way I see these things snowballing. You never know where your passion's gonna take you if you don't give it a chance. Like with manifestation, you can't go where you want to go if you don't put it out there. So the whole thing for a high pursuit is I just want people to find what makes them happiest and find more time for it in their life.

There's a financial planning component to it because maybe there's sacrifices that need to be made to be able to make that happen, but I think we should account for that in a financial plan to try to bring more happiness and fulfillment into our life because we only get one life.

And why live somebody else's version of yours, because that's what you were told you're supposed to do. If that's not what you wanna do. 

[00:39:06] Jess: I love it. 

[00:39:08] Justin: And I'm still figuring it out. That's the cool thing about this is my passion. Again, I love being a financial advisor. I will always be a financial advisor. I love my clients. So if any of my clients happen to be listening, I'm not going anywhere. I've changed my business life to be able to do both. 

[00:39:23] Jess: And this is informing your financial planning. 

[00:39:25] Justin: Pursuit is making its way into my financial planning with my clients. 

[00:39:28] Jess: Yeah. 

[00:39:29] Justin: We are having regular conversations about what are you not doing that you want to, and let's look at how we bring that to your plan. Why aren't you doing it? Why do you wanna do it? And trying to bring that. I wanna take our values and our passions and I wanna put them at the center of our plan, and I wanna build our finances around that. And we've got everything that matters the most to us at the center of our plan. We don't have to compromise any of it. And I, I have this belief that going back to passion, if you're able to incorporate passion and you're lucky enough for it to be your career, you're going to be your best and you're gonna do your best work. 

[00:40:04] Jess: As long as you protect that energy. 

[00:40:05] Justin: And with you doing your best work, you start to move up the ladder, you have success, the finances come and everything works itself out. 

[00:40:10] Jess: And correct me if I'm wrong, it seems to come pretty easy for you to protect your energy for the thing that you're passionate about. Yes? 

[00:40:24] Justin: Where it was hard for me to protect my energy was on myself. Last year I spent time doing RLS wealth, working at a startup. We've got the AGC community, and then my family, and I sacrificed myself. I just wasn't sleeping well, I wasn't working out anymore, which has always been a big part of who I am and what I love doing. And I wasn't giving myself the time to create, which is really what I wanted to do. I had to make some changes. And I did. 

So having a dad that's selfless, you witness somebody making sacrifices for the betterment of others. And I looked at, okay, I wanna do all of these things, I'll just sacrifice myself. And it finally hit me that, hey, I can't sacrifice myself cuz I can't be my best for everybody else if I'm not taking care of myself. And Phil Pearlman was on my podcast back during Covid and he shared with me this concept of having a note card that he looks at every day and has three letters on it.

And it was H-F-W: Health-Family-Work. And that's the order of his priorities. And I remember telling him, I, I like those letters. Those would be my letters, but I would put F-H-W: Family-Health-Work. And he said no, no, no, you've gotta put yourself first because you can't be your best. And I always kept it that I was gonna be family first, but then I realized that okay, I've gotta prioritize taking care of myself. You have to be a little selfish at times to be your best for your family. 

And I look at the changes that I've made in my life, leaving the startup. Creating more time for myself to create more time for myself to work out. I've gotten more into mindfulness. You'll be happy, I just signed back up at the CrossFit gym right down the street. so Ultimately I know that if I'm taking care of myself, that I'm gonna be the best for Angie and the boys, I'm gonna be the best for my clients, and then I'm gonna put my best efforts forward for Pursuit, which is hopefully going to impact even more people. 

[00:42:21] Jess: Yeah. 

[00:42:21] Justin: And it's hard to get there, but again, going back to, the pain of change has to be less than the pain of staying. It was becoming so painful to stay in that stressful overworked environment that I chose, I have to own it. I chose that myself. Staying there was more painful. And it was time for me to finally make that sacrifice and no longer be the guy that does all of the things. And how do you do that? I had to let that go and let the ego go away. Just say, Hey, I've done that before, I've experienced it, it was fun, but it's not what I need right now. It's not what my family needs right now. It's not my clients need right now, and it's not what I want anymore. And I don't, I actually am going to pull inspiration from Kendrick Lamar, and there's a quote that I tweeted out yesterday and I made a visual for it for Pursuit. And it says, "Work for a cause, not applause. Live life to express, not to impress. Don't strive to make your presence noticed, just to make your absence felt." 

And for so long, especially over the last seven years of growing my business, creating, finding my place in this financial services profession, I did it to educate. I did it for fun. 

[00:43:30] Jess: Yeah. 

[00:43:30] Justin: And I built a brand initially without ever really setting out to do that. It was never my goal. I was just doing it because it was fun. I was following my passions. I got good feedback. I kept on doing it, and then a brand was built and then it became, all right, I have to uphold this brand.

And over the last year I've accepted the fact that if I pull back and just create because I want to create and let it go out there, that people will find it, it will still have the impact, I will have even more time to create and that the people who are supposed to come into my life will still come into my life. So the big thing for me of pulling back on the social media, that's how I know you. That's how the AGC came to be. I have a tremendous network of amazing people that if it weren't for social media, I wouldn't have. What I've realized is that I would still have that amazing social network because that was what's supposed to happen, I just would've found you all through other avenues. It wouldn't have been Twitter, it would've been something else. The people in my life today would be in my life no matter what. It just so happened that at the time, Twitter was the vehicle that brought it. Going forward, it's gonna be another vehicle that brings people to me or me to people. I just need to just create, because I love creating it. I have something to say. Put it out there and then the people will find it because they're supposed to. And not do it for the accolades, not do it for the recognition. Just do it because that's what I enjoy. And just be more in the moment of doing that and focus on that rather than focus on creating to try to grow Pursuit. 

[00:44:56] Jess: Yeah. 

[00:44:57] Justin: And we're all over the place today, so hopefully we haven't left. 

[00:44:59] Jess: That was awesome. This... it's awesome. This has been awesome. 

[00:45:03] Justin: All connects and we jump around, but it, but ultimately I do think it all is interconnected. 

[00:45:08] Jess: Yes. 

[00:45:08] Justin: And the cool thing about it is I mentioned earlier it's found its way into my financial planning firm. Like I am, I've been able to explore and learn all these things and then bring it back, and I've actually had instances of clients changing their financial plan, changing their lives because of the conversations we've had, and living better lives now, more fulfilled, and it's really cool to see.

 Ultimately I hope that through the work of Pursuit and how I tie it back into RLS Wealth and just conversations I have with advisors, that this thought of, let's move really into deep with the clients about what they really want and helping them figure that out because they might not know.

And then structuring the investments and the planning and all of that to help them live this life. To me, helping somebody change their life and live a life that has less regret than they would've without me, that's that's impact. And that's something that a program on its own can't do. You can go to a calculator and you can figure out what you need for retirement and how to draw it down. You don't need a person to do that if you've got the interest in as individual. 

But if you're an individual that's stuck or you're not happy and you think there's something more you want to be doing, sitting down and having that heart to heart conversation and figuring it out and then going back to the drawing board and changing your plan and changing the way you view money and how you handle money to make that life a reality like that, that's a big deal, I think. 

[00:46:32] Jess: Yeah. No, I a hundred percent agree. It's been the heartbeat of my financial planning practice as well is just continuing to ask, "okay, but what are we building here?" It's not just wealth for the sake of wealth, and it's one of the things that I tie back to fitness a lot.

That concept is, you don't just get fit to be fit even if you're not trying to run a marathon. Like being fit unlocks a part of life for you that you wouldn't otherwise have. Maybe it's just peace of mind. Maybe the wealth that you're building is just so you can live the life that you currently have with the most peace of mind you can possibly have in the same way that somebody might be going to CrossFit for the purpose of having enough fitness to just be able to do life easier and to feel like they don't have to say no to grandkids when they wanna go for a walk or bike ride or whatever. It's, it doesn't have to be a grand and glorious scheme. It needs to be what matters to you. And continuing to help people drill down on that and put their money towards those things without judgment, without feeling like there's pressure to do something extravagant. It's really why I'll always be a planner even with the other things that life may bring for the same reasons.

[00:48:08] Justin: I don't believe in coincidences anymore. There are signs that are given to you that tell you're on the right path. And I've had so many amazing signs that are just telling me to keep on going and that's another thing I want people to realize is that, as you're going on your pursuit, as I always call it, there are signs that are telling you to keep on going and keep on going.

So in Indiana, there's a bald eagle population. Not a huge one, but there's bald eagles in Indiana. For 39 years of living in Indiana, Central Indiana, I had never seen a bald eagle in the wild. And as I started going on this journey and understanding things over the last year, I've seen bald eagles no less than 10 times in the wild.

[00:48:50] Jess: Cool. 

[00:48:51] Justin: Bald eagles have a symbolic meaning behind them that you're going on the right path and keep on going. And it's kind of a sign that like to keep chugging along. 

Another one that I think is really cool is the logo behind me. There are 36 lines that make up that circle, and I remember when I got the logo redone. I told the designer I would love to have a logo that could stand on its own. And that was the one I liked. I never asked her why she chose 36 lines versus 34, whatever it might be. I just thought, Wutang Klan, 36 Chambers, there's my story to tell, I'll make a joke about it. And for a year and a half, I looked at that logo. I loved that logo. I didn't have any meaning behind it. And I was talking back to my buddy Derek and he said you know that 36 is an angel number.

And I'd never heard of angel numbers, but the belief is our guardian angels who are watching over us communicate to us through various signs, one of which being numbers. That's why people get excited when they see 222 and 444 and 1111. Like 36 is a message from our angels telling us to focus on our self, our health, and basically like our creative interests. And I was staring at that logo for a year and a half. And when I realized that, that's when I started to realize that I was doing too much. And for a year and a half, it was staring at me saying, hey,

[00:50:06] Justin: focus on yourself, your health, your family, and your creative interest. And that was exciting for me because I thought this is, it's telling me to go down the path I really want to go. So just these little signs that I don't think are coincidences that pop up in my life that are guiding me and helping me along this path.

[00:50:25] Jess: I love it. And I think those things are important to write down because there are gonna be these moments where you feel shaky, where you feel uncertain, where you feel like things are stacking up against you and it may be an indication that this part of the path needs to shift, but if you can always go back to the bank of reasons why this is the right ultimate path to the ultimate goal for you, then you'll continue to put your energy and your effort toward that thing that you really wanted to do that was important to you, that thing that you are manifesting. And some people may need to start small with that. And that is totally fine. That is also one way that as a realistic/pessimistic thinker. Just getting that snowball going is really important for me. And I can't get the snowball going by saying, Oh if I see a bald eagle today, then I'll decide to do the next step. It needs to be something where between me and the next step, I have a lot more agency over that process...

[00:51:38] Justin: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

[00:51:38] Jess: ...and I can direct my effort and energy toward that and see, okay, I can make this happen. Okay I can make that next thing I can call that person. I can get this set up. That's been a big part of my story with a podcast actually, so, that's cool. I feel like we could talk for hours on this. We'll have to come back and do that. 

[00:51:55] Justin: Yeah. We didn't even get to like what happens when I fail or get stuck?

[00:51:58] Jess: You have more to say about that? 

[00:51:59] Justin: We did hit on it, but I want just pull back what we've already talked about, so cuz it is breakthrough. One of the ways I was gonna say is I think that the breakthroughs come in different forms. So one of them could be, that you have a breakthrough of something that you've failed at. I wanted to do this, I didn't do it, or didn't work out that right way. I think the way you break through that is to realize that every failure, there's a learning lesson, so don't look at it as a failure. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, wipe the tears away. And then look for a way to grow. 

The only way you fail is if you fail to see the lesson in the failure. If the breakthrough needs to come that you didn't achieve what you wanted or things didn't go your way, take ownership i what you could've done different, but find the learning opportunity.

[00:52:42] Jess: Yeah. 

[00:52:43] Justin: So then that way you gain something from this "failure," and you move forward and you get better and it helps you in the next one. 

[00:52:49] Jess: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:52:50] Justin: If you're stuck, if you can step back and quit thinking about being stuck and let your gut and your intuition guide you - and this is where passion kind of pulls into it - if you're stuck, just step back and quit overthinking it, and just let your gut tell you what you should be doing to go forward.

Intuition's a very powerful force that a lot of us silence. And we silence it because again, we have other people's voices in our head telling us negative things. A lot of times your intuition's gonna lead you in the right direction. I would use your gut to go through. 

And then momentum, you mentioned it. Either build your momentum or go back to the times you've been successful, to use that as your start for momentum. Whatever that thing is that you're trying to break through, go back to the times that you've accomplished things that were hard and remember that you can do that. It's not your first time overcoming an obstacle. That's not your first time breaking through something. So pull back on those experiences to give yourself the confidence and the belief that you're gonna get through. 

And then also, if it doesn't work out right, then sometimes that's okay. That wasn't the direction you're supposed to go. And you explored it, you understood it, you realize that wasn't the right, and then you go back to where you were and keep plugging along. 

[00:54:05] Jess: This is good for me because... 

[00:54:07] Justin: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. 

[00:54:08] Jess: Yeah. Oh yeah. Thanks for, Yeah, thanks for wrapping back around on that. 

[00:54:12] Justin: I don't want it to seem as if I think you should just go around like manifesting everything, but there are important things in your life. There's things you want to accomplish, and that's where it comes into play. The thing I want to throw out there, is that sometimes things manifest themselves in ways that aren't the way we envision it.

So the example I always give, winning the lottery. Why is it that somebody might wanna win the lottery? Chances are they have financial stress of some sort, and if they are fixated on winning the Powerball, they might not ever win the Powerball, but they might get a bonus, they might get a gift, they might get a raise, which alleviates their financial stress and they miss the fact that they actually brought that to them by doing the right things, alleviated that financial stress, but because it wasn't the winning Powerball ticket, they miss the fact that they were able to pull that to them and fix their big stress.

You've gotta know what you want, you've gotta know where you want to go. You've gotta set those intentions, but also be willing to realize it may not always go out exactly the way that you want, because what you think you want is to solve a problem that ends up being solved in a different way.

[00:55:23] Jess: I love that. Yeah. Zoom out as our friend, Carl Richard says and make sure that you are seeing the whole picture and not just what you wanna see. 

Thank you Justin for coming on the show and sharing your passion with us today. Thank you for being willing to be authentic and challenging. I love it when guests come on here and they're willing to challenge people who are listening in their thoughts in a kind way, but also in a strong way. So thank you. 

[00:55:56] Justin: Thanks for having me. I've been looking forward to coming on. I'm glad we didn't record last year like we had planned on it. Because this was better. And I also just wanna tell you that it's been a lot of fun to watch you grow into this thriving podcast host and put your voice out there and put yourself out there. Just knowing you over the last couple years, like this is where you're supposed to be. This is the path you're on, you're following your passions. Everything that I want people to realize, at least from the outside looking in, you're exhibiting it, you are, you're evidence of what I want people to understand. So it's been fun to watch you have these awesome conversations, get the most out of people, and really be in your element doing what you're supposed to be doing. So I'm glad I got to be a part of it, but I just want you to know that it's been a lot of fun as a friend to watch you do this and grow and follow your passion to, to do what you're supposed to be doing. 

[00:56:46] Jess: Thank you. It's the hardest thing I've ever done truly and the most outside the box thing I've ever done.

[00:56:50] Justin: For what it's worth, it doesn't seem that way. It just seems natural, which is good. 

[00:56:54] Jess: Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. 

I wanna make sure that listeners can connect with you. So I know I connected with you on Twitter in the beginning and you are @jus10castelli.

You have a website, and that's justincastelli.io. Other ways that you would like for people to reach out? 

[00:57:17] Justin: I think that those are the best two. I mean if this concept of pursuing your passions and all that excites you, then the website for that is it's just www.prst.co.

So the PRST, it's pronounced Pursuit, but it stands for Passions, Relationships, Self and Time, and there's everything there. So I have a newsletter there. I've got a Monday through Friday podcast. I have a guest podcast. So if the pursuit conversation interests you, that's the other place. But otherwise the first two are great. 

[00:57:43] Jess: And that is prst.co

[00:57:46] Justin: .co, Yep. Dot com was $25,000. And it's not that successful yet, so I went with the .co. 

[00:57:52] Jess: I like it. It fits the io, co, io. Yeah. Well, it's perfect. 

[00:57:57] Justin: Thank you again, Justin, for being on our show today.

[00:58:01] Jess: Listeners, if you've loved this episode of The Breakthrough Factor, don't forget to hit the subscribe button. And if you know someone who has had a breakthrough moment in their life or their business, or if you are the person who's had a breakthrough moment in your life, business, or other, please reach out, let me know. I'd love to have a conversation about bringing you on the podcast. And finally, I appreciate your reviews, your feedback, anything that you have to say that helps us get better on our end so that we can bring you a show that truly educates and encourages, it challenges you, and then ultimately helps you break through those moments in your life that are difficult and standing in the way of what you want. Cheers, friends, as always, go lift heavy and be kind. 

Jess Bost is a Retirement Income Certified Professional and the Vice President of Brand Partnerships at Alpha Architect. Due to industry regulations, Jess will not discuss any of Alpha Architect’s funds on this podcast. All opinions expressed by Jess and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Alpha Architect or its affiliates. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. For more information, please visit w w w dot alpha architect dot com