Special Guest Expert - Todd Andrewsen: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

Special Guest Expert - Todd Andrewsen: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
How many times have you said to yourself, I'm going to succeed? And yet you keep coming up short. You probably noticed that high achievers with heart. Do things differently, but you just can't put your finger on it. You're curious about why high achievers accomplish more and have more satisfying relationships. It's because success is the result of your mindset and the consistent actions you take. This show is designed with your success in mind by revealing these powerful patterns of our dynamic individuals and guest experts. You can model what they do and apply it to your future success. Now let's roll up our sleeves and get started. My name is Brigitta Hoeferle and this is the Success Patterns Show. And that is right. Welcome, everyone to the Success Patterns Show. With golden nuggets, success patterns are more valuable than ideas. Let me explain. Ideas, while powerful, require trial and error and a lot of time to put into action. Think about manufacturing, for example. First you have an idea, then you do a proof of concept, then working a prototype, then small production batches, and then finally full scale production. This takes months, maybe even years. And you maybe have met some people who are collectors of ideas, but they do little else. Forget everything you heard about ideas. You're not looking for ideas. You are looking for success patterns. Success patterns are different. Success patterns are better. Why? Well, success patterns are proven. They have a logical sequence of steps to follow. They have an action imperative and they deliver consistent results. In this content, rich in this content rich program today, you'll learn valuable success patterns with our special guest all the way from Norway. And today is all about leadership. Our guest expert today is a pilot. He's a coach. He's a leader. He's a podcaster. He's an author. And he's several other things, too, which I did not mention yet. And wait till you hear this. His life experiences are literally insane. He's fluent in four languages. He flies aircraft since he was 15 years old. He's a diplomat and an author. This is Todd Anderson, and he's experienced internationally, highly skilled in culture and diplomacy and functions as a liaison with the defense industry.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
And he is here today on the Success Pattern Show. He's a host of Todd Talks. He talks about designing your best life in his podcast and launched a coaching business to go along with the podcast and the podcast and the workshop is on Overcoming sugar addiction. His military career is winding down. He's actually got three more months and he's enjoyed the last 25 years in the Air Force and is about to retire from the military. He can tell stories upon stories, upon stories, and I can't wait to dive into it. So as you are somewhere where you can stand up in your own room, in your own house, if you're in a car, don't do this. I would say give him a standing ovation. I'm super happy to have him here. Todd Anderson. Hey, Todd.

Todd Andrewsen:
Hello. Thank you for having me. Happy to be here.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yes. This is so good. So three more months. Thank you for your service.

Todd Andrewsen:
Well, thank you. It's been a it's been an adventure truly the last the last 25 years, almost 26 now have been an adventure. I've. Been on over ten deployments, spent years overseas in war zones. And I've had the time of my life with what I've been doing. Changed my career essentially in the military four different times. And. I've learned a lot, which I like to try and share with people to help them to design the life that they desire. And the whole reason that I talk about it like that is because. People get pigeonholed or they or you start doing something and you think, well, this is what I studied, this is what I need to do. This is. And you don't think that you can shift or change? But I'm here to tell you that you can design the life you want. You don't have to do whatever everybody else is telling you that this is the route that you have to take. Had I done that, I wouldn't be here in Norway right now because. 15 years ago. 18 years ago, actually, I had a commander tell me. No, you're a pilot. You're a pilot. You need to just follow the pilot track. And I didn't. I chose the path that I wanted to go. And I have had miraculous experiences because of it.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
I want to hear more about that. I mean, you know, I've never been in the military, not in the US and not in Germany. My husband served in Germany. Um, but one thing that I know about military, no matter in which culture you are saying no to, your superior is actually not a thing that you would actually do. Is that right?

Todd Andrewsen:
The that, that is correct. You don't typically say no, but you do learn how to guide them to an answer. Other than what they want you to do. If if you have other options that you want to seek, you politically steer your leaders to towards what you want. It's it's not impossible.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Where did you learn that? Because that is a skill that not everyone has to to form your to lead someone to where you want them to go. Right. And you were rather young. So what did you learn that Who modeled that for you?

Todd Andrewsen:
Well, I grew up with four brothers. I was the second of four brothers and. In my family, we tend to be very, very. Knowledgeable and sure of ourselves. And so you had to get your words in and get in and learn how to work with each other to, um, to not be left behind in a sense. And then as I got into the military, I mean, I left home when I was 17 going off to college and then joining the military when I was 22. And I just I was always mature. But going on a church mission for two years really helped me to learn how to deal with people. I spent two years in Guatemala as a missionary where I had different companions. I had to for one point for eight months. I actually ended up doing. Um, marriage counseling for this couple in the little branch of the church where I was the leader of the branch at the time. And. I was 20, 21 years old, being a marriage counselor. So I was forced into situations when I was young that taught me how to how to talk to people and how to help steer them and and maybe not only see things as black and white, that there are shades of gray in a lot of things.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Plenty. Wow. So grow growing up with siblings, being away from your own culture, being away from your own home. I mean, even if we would just take someone today from you know, I live in Atlanta, from their home in Atlanta and take them over to Washington State, that's already a pretty big you know, that's that's a pretty big move, if you will.

Todd Andrewsen:
Culture shock right there.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
That's true for many reasons. So I'm I'm really curious. And you and I have talked before and I'm really, really curious because I don't have the answer to that either. What do the military leadership podcast host, workshop creator and overcoming sugar addiction all have in common?

Todd Andrewsen:
What do they all have in common? They all. They all have in common the desire to not be stuck. The desire to change. The desire to improve. Um, in the military, we are always taught, you know, you continue improving. You start out like when I became a pilot, you start out as a copilot, then you become a aircraft commander, then you become an instructor pilot. You build every skill level that you that you develop, builds upon it. All the other things that I do, the podcasting, the the coaching, all of that is a out of a desire that I have internally to. Become the best version of myself that I can. And I've found when I'm not working on my myself, when I'm not trying to improve, I tend to slide backwards. We all do. It's like life is like a staircase. You're either going up or you're going down. You're. You're never static. And so because of that. All of those things have in common the desire to improve. The desire to be better tomorrow than I was yesterday. And when I started working on myself, then that desire to help others achieve that really, and I've always, always been the person that helps my friends. I've been the one that they come to for for counsel that they came to for support. And so taking it to the podcasting and the coaching, that's just the next level of of growth that I can to help other people because I really enjoy seeing other people improve their lives.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yeah. Yeah. And, and the, the insane experience that you have, that you have and that you've gotten over the years is just so invaluable. You can't put a price tag on that. I mean, if you could put a price tag on it, what would the price tag be?

Todd Andrewsen:
$0.30, maybe 40?

Brigitta Hoeferle:
I don't think so. Listen, I really like what you just said. You know, life is a staircase. You either go up or you go down. There's no you know, there's no hanging out somewhere on the staircase unless you're in the 80s and you're in a movie like Pretty in Pink or something like that. But that's a whole different story. Um, I think that is so valuable, especially today. You know, you have kids. I have kids, actually. Your your son's going to get married soon.

Todd Andrewsen:
My son's getting married. And our youngest, our baby, she's 20 years old. She just returned home last week from an 18 month mission where she was in Chile, um, serving the church. So for 18 months. So, yeah. Beautiful. All of our kids are grown. We have a 25 year old, a 24 year old, a 22 year old and a 20 year old.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
You get your hands full and and and thank you for instilling the values that you're instilling in them. And I want to talk about exactly that generation because everything is so quick. Everything they you know, this generation, the the younger millennials and the Gen Gen Zs it's a even the popcorn that only takes an hour, a minute and a half feels like an hour because we're standing in front of the microwave waiting for it to finally be finished popping so we can eat it. Right. So I know, I know. What what are we going to or what advice do you have for this generation to slow down so they can speed up and have patience and actually go through the steps that we all need to go through? There is no skipping steps.

Todd Andrewsen:
There's not. One of the interesting things with this new generation is that their brains are actually wired differently than than our brains are. So learning and understanding that helps us when we are talking with this generation because they they think faster. They think in in a different way than you and I do. And so. One of the key things that. That they need to know, and that helps us to be able to. To help them. Is to to talk about mindfulness. And my favorite line is from the movie The Last Samurai, where Tom Cruise's character is learning. How to how to just be present in the moment and to to learn not to be rushing here, there and everywhere. But as the the the samurai that's teaching them tells him. Life in every breath. And he's showing them a cherry blossom that only blooms for for one week a year. And and he says, we take life in every breath. And it's so true that when we if we can focus. On what we're doing now, what we're doing in the moment while still setting goals and still still planning ahead. But not necessarily being so stuck on our phones, stuck in the screens we need to get. Out of the electronics and actually focus on what is going on around you, the people around you, the nature that is around you. The best the best thing is to get out there and not have your phone up, trying to videotape everything, but to just be present, feel the wind on your face, feel the rain. Or in our case, snow. We got six inches of snow yesterday. Um, feel the snow underneath your feet. Listen to it. Crunch. But I love the the life in every breath. Thank you, Brian. It's. It's been one of my favorite phrases to to use and to remind myself when I start getting frazzled. I just picture that scene and I go, you know, life in every breath to remember to be mindful and notice the things going on around me.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Think we should have t shirts made life in every breath with a cherry blossom on it. I love that. I think that is so powerful. That was a good reminder for myself, um, because I sometimes really honest, I lose patience with with this generation. Thank God. Not with our kids. Because, you know, I'm biased. They're the greatest kids. Other than your kids, of course. And Brian's kids. By the way, Brian also want to share this. He worked on a C-130. Do not know what that is back in his software engineering days. And he echoes what I said. Thank you for your service, Todd.

Todd Andrewsen:
The the C-130 is the for fans of freedom. It is the the best airplane in the inventory. I flew it for ten years. I have 2000 hours in that airplane, 1000 of them combat time. Basically, it's the smallest of the cargo planes and. We're the ones, the C-130s, the one that moves everything within the combat zone and so moves people and things around. Tactical airlift is what we call it. So it's fun. Plane to fly.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yeah. Brian knows a lot about this, and I know Todd. You do too. And I think I need to just connect the two of you and you guys can totally geek out over all of that. Todd You have seen probably more than many of us that are listening to this show have seen in their life. Is there any regret?

Todd Andrewsen:
One of the things that I have of course, we all have regrets, right? Sure. We all have regrets. Things that we wish we did differently. One of the things that I learned a long time ago, and this is something that I that I teach other people is. You have to leave the past in the past. You can't progress. You can't become the person you want to become. If you're focused on the past, you can have regrets. You can feel bad about about it, but you need to basically just take a deep breath. And let it go. Because nothing will change it. As bad as it was or as good as it was. Nothing. Nothing will change it. You learn the lessons from your past and you move on. Because you can't go back and change it, but you can change the future. You can make better choices.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
When you prepare for the future and you you you plan or you have, say, an imaginary mastermind, as Napoleon Hill is describing it in his great book, Think and Grow Rich. Who's in your mastermind?

Todd Andrewsen:
Oh, I've got all sorts of people. Um, I actually, I love listening to Jim Rohn, Jim Rohn, Napoleon Hill, uh, Earl Nightingale. Uh, of course. Then you've got. Aristotle. Um. Jesus Christ, of course, would be in there and. Also some some generals from from way back when I would love to pick. Sorry about that. I would love to. I would love to pick the the brain of some some of the people from World War Two like Patton or some of there's a couple of pilots from World War Two that that did some amazing things. Serve their time and then went right back and continued when they could. They had the option to go home just to learn from their service oriented nature and that the selflessness of that generation, there's a lot of people that I would that I would bring into my mastermind from that because there's so much we can learn from that World War II generation.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Mhm. Mhm. That selflessness, is that a a strategy or a characteristic that you would like to have more of within you.

Todd Andrewsen:
Probably. I mean, I feel like I have a lot of it, but I think it's something that more and more is missing in, in today's generation. Um, we're more of a selfish generation than a selfless generation, and you see that perpetuating. And because of that, you then see all the chaos and negativity that is coming because of that. The more the the more you focus on yourself, here's the more you focus on yourself, the harder your life is going to be. If you're focusing.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Say that again. I think that was really important.

Todd Andrewsen:
The more you focus on yourself, the harder your life is going to be if you're focusing in a selfish way. Now, if you're focusing in a self-improvement way, you're actually going to become more selfless and you're going to be seeking to help other people more.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
So then how is selflessness and mindfulness connected?

Todd Andrewsen:
Well, because you're mindfulness, you're focused on what's around you, right? So you're seeing not just the leaves and the trees, but you're seeing the people, you're seeing your family, you're seeing your friends, you're seeing what they're going through, and you're not focused. On yourself. You're seeing everything. You're living in the moment, in the present. And then the selflessness. You see, you see whatever what people are going through around you. And you try to help them in whatever way that you feel would be best served to to help in the best way that you can be a servant. I'm a I'm a proponent of servant leadership. I think that the best leaders throughout history have been servant leaders. They've not been dictators. They've been servant leaders for sure.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Now, we've seen some dictators in our history. Um, one rather very close to my culture. And it's not endearing whatsoever. No. Um. When the going gets tough. And you have been in probably more than several situation when the when the going got really tough. How do you maintain a clear head and stay for lack of a better term, motivated to get through the whatever you're in?

Todd Andrewsen:
Well, it depends on what what we're talking about, what kind of difficulty we're talking about. Because when it was war zone difficulties being shot at or planes breaking. I actually slowed down. My I would I would become more relaxed. The more chaotic it got, the more relaxed I was and was able to just still move at a fast pace. But without it was actually I was less stressed the more chaotic it got. Just an interesting fact of my personality.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Is there like a breathing technique that you use?

Todd Andrewsen:
No, it was just a mental tic, basically. Eh, Huh. That's interesting. Can't do anything about it. Keep moving on. Just a I learned a long time ago when I went through basic training that many of the things. In the military, but in life, it's a game. And if you treat it like a game. You can overcome most stressors. Most things that throw people off and make them want to jump off buildings. You can. You realize that it's just a game and you don't need to be so overwhelmed. If you if you look at some of the biggest stressors in your life as as a game, we we used to tell our kids you know if there's a. A situation where you're around some really negative people in your life. Well, turn it into a game and see who can get the most negative comments made to them. You know, I learned that from a Dr. Lund. He has a family, eternal family discourse, and that was one of the games he taught was was, look, you know, if if you have somebody that's just poison in your life that you can't get rid of because they're family, well. Treat it like a game, too. And he would. He would pay the kids to the whoever, whoever had the most negative comments to them. Got an ice cream and it went from the kids feeling so bummed out at being having all these negative thoughts or negative things told to them that they they made it a challenge to see who could get the most negative comments toward them. And so the negative comments just bounced off of them. It's it's a when you treat life like a game in that way when you learn the rules of the game. Suddenly things that you used to take so personally. They're like Teflon. They bounce. They bounce right off.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
And it's it takes the seriousness that we give it totally away. Just dissolves it. Yeah, it makes it fun. I love that. I'm going to I'm totally life is fun.

Todd Andrewsen:
Life is fun. I have had I'm 48 years old and I have had a blast. I. I always we always have fun. Yeah, Because. Because. Life is too short. Now, now, that. Don't get me wrong, I can be serious. When I need to be serious, I can be serious. But again, that's part of the game. Knowing when you need to be serious and knowing when you can. Let's tell the dirty jokes, knowing when you can know. I have a very dark sense of humor. So knowing when you can have that dark sense of humor. I mean, just case in point and I know this is totally off topic, but what is one way you deal with stress when you're when you're a pilot in a war zone? Right. So one of the jokes we had in the C-130 community was when your plane's going down and you're crashing, what's the last thing to go through the co-pilot's mind? The navigator. Because he stands right behind the copilot. Oh.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Okay.

Todd Andrewsen:
I mean, it's morbid. It's completely morbid, but but that's the way that that we deal with stressful situations in the military. There's a lot of dark humor. Why? Because we deal with dark forces, and you have to be able to laugh at the at the darkness. You have to be able to laugh at the darkness, otherwise you get succumbed to it. Why do so many people have PTSD? Because they go through traumatic experiences and internalize it instead of learning how to shake it off. Because you internalize it. Rather than realizing it's a very morbid game, but it is a game.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yeah. And clearly, Brian says there's no ejection seats either. So I know that the two of you are going to have a great time together. I can't wait to hear all the stories and we got to just do a good meetup in in in Florida. When you're when you're in Florida. Absolutely. Once you leave Norway. So this is just been so insightful and so much fun. And and I just love and I'm going to echo what Brian said and didn't share that here. But he says Brian said that he's met and worked with a lot of pilots. And Todd is very different from all of them in in all of the good ways. In all of the good ways.

Todd Andrewsen:
So thank you. I take that to heart because I've always. May the point of being different. Not being too serious. Yeah, because life's too short.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Life's too short and life's too serious. And people take themselves too seriously. All, all, all, all together. So. Todd, I know people love you. I mean, there were people that are mentioning here on the thread that, oh, my gosh, they have other things to do. But this is such a great conversation. They're just going to ignore all of the emails and whatsapps and text messages that are coming in because they want to stay present to our conversation. How do people get in touch with you.

Todd Andrewsen:
So I can be reached via email at Todd Talks LLC at gmail.com. Or I also have a link. It's a magically slash Todd talks and that link goes to it. It's an overall link. It has my podcast link, my Shopify store link, um, link to you. A couple other things I can't remember at the moment, but basically everything you need to contact me is is in there.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
So. So they either going to email you Todd. Todd Talcs LLC at gmail.com. So Todd talks LLC at gmail.com or they even easier click on the magically link. That's magic. Magic.ly/todd talks that's with two D's. Todd Talcs. Todd, I know that you're going to get some great emails from incredible people because you have so much energy in a really, really good way and that's why we connect in the first place when we first connected. And I'm getting on course here. So we're going to have you back on the show. Once you're back in the States, it's only going to be a few more months. I can't wait till you and I break bread in Florida or in Atlanta or both places. Um, and and I look forward to seeing you, man.

Todd Andrewsen:
Ditto.

Brigitta Hoeferle:
Yeah. Thank you for being here, guys. Thanks for being on the show. Thanks for tuning in. Make sure you're going to do the same thing again next week, same time, same place. Until then, ciao and bye for now. Thank you for tuning in. And you will notice opportunities to apply success patterns daily while eagerly anticipating next week's content rich success patterns.

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