Dave: Hey everyone, Dave here with another episode of the Philly Tech Connect podcast. Today I’m speaking with Mr. Mike Martin, who generously had me on his podcast and now I get to return the favor. Mike is a TEDx speaker, he is the author of a book that’s coming out called The Self-Fulfilling Formula, which we’re going to talk a lot about today. He runs a podcast, he has decades of experience in tech, he’s a coach… what doesn’t he do? Mike, how you doing, man?
Mike: I’m great, Dave. Thank you so much for having me on, it’s my pleasure. I love when I can reciprocate someone else’s generosity, so thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so.
Dave: You have a book coming out on June 15th, and if I’m not mistaken, we can see it right now in the background. It’s called The Self-Fulfilling Formula. Tell us about it. What’s the book about? What prompted you to write it?
Mike: Yeah, absolutely. So, I had an opportunity to give a TEDx talk recently, back in March. It’s up on YouTube under TEDx. When I got that opportunity, I was actually already writing a book about consulting and more tech-focused topics. But when I got the opportunity to do TEDx, I thought I needed a book that was more appealing to a broader audience. Since I’ve started my own company with top-down strategies, I am much more focused on helping other entrepreneurs grow their businesses. That’s where I knew I could create a book around helping mindset and execution.
This idea really came about because I myself lived a self-fulfilling prophecy when I was younger. Quickly, I’ll tell the story: when my parents took me to the first day of kindergarten, my father told my kindergarten teacher, “We’ve had Michael’s IQ tested. It’s very high. Expect him to be an excellent student, maybe the best one in your class.” The only catch was that my dad just completely made that up—it wasn’t true. But the teacher believed him, and imagine the millions of tiny things that both I believed because of this and the teacher did, and it created that self-fulfilling prophecy.
So, I decided to draw upon that, my experience in tech and entrepreneurship, and my current work as a business coach. I put it together, and briefly, The Self-Fulfilling Formula is mental fitness, execution fitness, and social fitness. Those are the three things that really help to thrive in this world and in business.
Dave: That’s interesting. That’s a super cool story. Perception often leads to some form of reality, and when you talk about your dad stating those expectations with the teacher, I can imagine how that would lead to you getting some extra attention, more achievement, and it becomes the self-fulfilling prophecy. I don’t want to spoil the book, obviously, but I want to know more about the three tenets. So, let’s talk about them at a high level. When you say “mental fitness,” what does that mean?
Mike: Sure, absolutely. In my experience with teaching others and helping entrepreneurs, I felt that these three areas encapsulated almost all of the coaching methods and effectiveness teaching you see. The first one being mental fitness, which is really based on belief and action. Think about belief: you must believe at the very fiber of your being in whatever that is. For me as a child, it was being a very good student. I believed that and bent reality to align with that belief.
The book talks about how we can take this power, the magic in a self-fulfilling prophecy, and engineer it to help us thrive. Mental fitness is about cementing that belief to drive ourselves forward. I do a lot of work with positive intelligence, a coaching framework. It’s based on a book by Shirzad Chamine, asking why only 20% of teams and individuals ever reach their true potential. They found we built saboteurs to protect ourselves as children, but they don’t serve us as adults. They get in the way. So, understanding how we limit ourselves and using proven neuroscience to rewire our brains for more positivity is at the core of mental fitness.
Dave: That’s very cool. These limiting beliefs or perceptions we have about ourselves often set our potential. Are there certain habits mentioned in your book to develop mental fitness?
Mike: Absolutely. The ones I believe in are backed by science. Sometimes people think this is mystical, but it’s not. There’s a formula I mention in the book called the law of self-control. Thoughts cause our feelings, feelings drive our actions, and actions determine our outcomes. Positive thoughts create positive feelings, actions, and outcomes. Conversely, negativity creates self-defeating prophecies. Mindfulness and meditation are key. It’s about training your mind, self-command, catching negative behaviors, and moving forward with positive thoughts or actions.
Dave: Tell me about the process of writing a book. Many people think they might want to write a book one day but aren’t trained authors. What was the process like for you?
Mike: It’s a little meta, but the techniques I describe in the book are the very ones I used to write it. I’ve done a lot of writing in my tech career, but writing a book is a different undertaking. You have to take massive action. This is my first book, and I created that prophecy for myself. To be an author, you have to write—a lot. I set a goal of writing 500 words a day. Often, I wrote much more. Consistent, correct action enabled me to write the book. The same formula can solve anything, grow businesses, land clients, and create new services.
Dave: That’s great. I’ve heard about writing every day to exercise that muscle. Any books that inspired you or you’d recommend?
Mike: Absolutely. My bookshelf is filled with them. For this book, I drew upon Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine, Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy, and Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi. These influenced my mental fitness and social fitness constructs. The Harvard study on adult development was also influential.
Dave: I can second Never Eat Alone. It’s a great book. Let’s shift gears to your TED Talk. How was that experience? Was it more or less difficult than writing a book?
Mike: I approached them together. The TED Talk taught me about editing. You have a time limit—TED Talks need to be less than 18 minutes. My first draft was long, and I had to focus on economy of language. It was a very enlightening experience. I strive for high-quality communication, and giving a speech without slides was a challenge.
Dave: I love the focus on efficient language. In marketing, we’ve moved towards long-form content, but we’ve forgotten the efficiency of words. I did some comedy writing, and there’s a lot of emphasis on delivering laughs efficiently. Mike, where can people learn more about you and your book?
Mike: My website, topdownstrategies.com, is the best place. You’ll find all my social links there, resources from the book, and links to order it on Amazon. You can also find my podcast, which is available on all platforms.
Dave: Awesome. Thank you so much, Mike, for being a part of the show. Best of luck on the upcoming launch, and I look forward to more content from you in the future.
Mike: Dave, thank you very much. I really appreciate it.
Dave: Thanks.