The Version That Got You Here Isn't the Version That's Going to Get You There

Ready for a year that doesn’t wait for permission? We break down the “big leap” into five moves you can actually execute: identity awareness, smart subtraction, an environment upgrade, decisive action, and microhabits that stick. If you’ve felt the drag of burnout, stalled markets, or the hangover of easy post‑COVID wins, this conversation turns vague motivation into a repeatable system for change.

We start by naming the parts of you that belong in your future—and the parts that must stay in the past. That clarity powers subtraction: fewer anchors, fewer fears, fewer time sinks. Then we dig into the engine of lasting change: your environment. Rooms set ceilings, and the people you spend the most time with calibrate your standards. When you upgrade your circle, your baseline rises faster than discipline alone ever could. From there, we push for action bias. Move before you feel ready, fail fast, and use short, reversible steps to convert ideas into momentum. Think “get the bus rolling” first, optimize second.

Finally, we anchor the leap with microhabits: tight social media limits, protected green time, daily identity check‑ins, and one metric that proves momentum. Reinvention isn’t one decision; it’s a thousand small ones aligned with where you’re going. If you’re craving a clear path to make 2026 your breakout year, this is your playbook to choose better rooms, release old loyalties, and build the next version of you one step at a time.

If this sparked something, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s ready to upgrade their room, and leave a quick review telling us the first anchor you’ll subtract.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Big Leap: Set The Stage
• 0:39 Why 2026 Demands Real Change
• 1:56 Identity Awareness: Future Vs Past You
• 3:22 Subtraction: Releasing Anchors And Fear
• 6:29 Environment Upgrade Beats Discipline
• 9:01 Action Bias: Momentum Over Perfection
• 11:05 Microhabits: Tiny Steps, Big Shift
• 13:47 Recap And Final Challenge

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Say that again.

SPEAKER_01: 0:01

Your environment will upgrade you much, much faster than discipline ever will. This is a secret sauce podcast with Chad Trees and Lacey Moore's, where we want to help people build big businesses and live big lives. We think every episode's gonna maybe give you one ingredient that you could add to your recipe to create your own secret sauce. Let's get into it. Let me ask you something. Have you ever had a moment where you realized the version that got you here isn't the version that's going to get you there? That's the big leap. And 2026 is the year people either step into it or stay stuck wondering why nothing changes. Welcome back to the Secret Sauce podcast. Today we're talking about the big leap, how to make the big leap going into 2026. Or maybe you're listening, this it probably is 2026. There's still time, but how do we make some big changes that make 2026 one of the best years ever?

SPEAKER_00: 1:00

I love it. I think I think we could all agree from an industry whole and not even just um real estate and mortgage, but I mean, bigger picture than that. People are tired. People are stuck.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12

Burn out.

SPEAKER_00: 1:13

People are burnt out. People are tired of waiting for this market to pass. Like all you know, all of the things.

SPEAKER_01: 1:21

Some people need to really change. Some people like are still stuck in the right after COVID days where things got pretty easy, right? And they and um not just mentally, but they need to they need to get going, right? They need they need to make some big changes. And so that's kind of what this episode, wherever you're at in the journey there. Uh, if you relate to any of that, if you're feeling a little stuck, if you need to make some big changes, uh, I think this is gonna be a great episode. It's gonna be a quick hitter. Uh, I think we've got five, five key points that we want to make. So we're gonna break this down real quick, but we think there's five things that can help do that for you, make that that are gonna make a big leap in 2026. Number one is identity awareness. So self-awareness, probably a healthy dose of self-awareness. Basically, we got to figure out you got to know which version of you is trying to grow because not everything needs to change, probably, but there's probably something that maybe is holding you back.

SPEAKER_00: 2:10

Well, I love that. I think you know, one of the key parts, and this this kind of really hit me square in the face is in the eyes, in the face, whatever. All right, how was that closed?

SPEAKER_01: 2:19

Yes are part of your face.

SPEAKER_00: 2:21

Name the parts that belong in the future, the parts of you that belong in the future, and name the parts that need to stay in the past.

SPEAKER_01: 2:28

Yeah. I think that's that's a that's a great way to put it, right? Yeah. Um, and it's gonna take it's gonna take probably a little bit of checking your ego at the door as you go through that that exercise, but you got to be honest with yourself. Like what is working, what's not working, and what's worth taking into 2026 and beyond.

SPEAKER_00: 2:45

Yeah. Right. It's this is just a going to to jot down, right? Like I love that. I in my brain, I'm already thinking on the left side's gonna be things I want to take with me. On the right side, I want to things I want to leave in the past. And just traits, like things I do, things the way I think. I mean, all of those things, my mind's already blown up on what would go on both sides of that. That's such a good, good breakdown of identity awareness.

SPEAKER_01: 3:08

Yeah. I mean, I I think, I believe, I'm very confident that you can't become the next version of yourself if you're still loyal to the old one. So here we are building the next version of ourselves.

SPEAKER_00: 3:20

Gotta leave something behind.

SPEAKER_01: 3:21

That's right. Okay. And that brings us to point number two, right? Number two after is identity awareness, is one. Number two is subtraction. And that's exactly what Lacey just mentioned. Great foreshadowing there, Lacey. Sorry. No, it was an awesome segue uh into number two. So yeah, reinvention starts with removing what blocks you, right? So um, what does that mean to you, Lacey?

SPEAKER_00: 3:42

Well, there's some definitely things that hold me back or mindsets that hold me back. Or I mean, what it says to me specifically right now is I am wrestling, and you and I've had some talks about that. About I don't want to become lazy.

SPEAKER_01: 3:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 3:56

You know, and and as long as I've been doing this and and I still love it, um, I'm still very passionate about but what I do, but I don't, I'm, I'm afraid to become lazy. And so I gotta break that down into where's that coming from? Because I've always been kind of a crackhead and and have gone hard for a very long time. But what part of that do I want to take with me? Because there's some good things about that. And what do I want to leave behind? And where is that part coming from?

SPEAKER_01: 4:23

And where's the fine line between complacency and contentment? Contentment.

SPEAKER_00: 4:28

I have studied that for a year and a half now.

SPEAKER_01: 4:30

You got any advice?

SPEAKER_00: 4:31

No, I mean I think that yes, I do. Complacent is scary. Complacent means that that's where lazy, where you're gonna walk that line into lazyhood real fast.

SPEAKER_01: 4:41

Lazyhood, I love that. It's a new phrase. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 4:43

Is it not a word?

SPEAKER_01: 4:44

I think it's laziness, but uh it's a lazyism that I love.

SPEAKER_00: 4:47

I like the hood. The lazy hood. I don't want to be part of the hood. Yeah. Um, but the other side of that is contentment. And this is beautiful when you start studying it.

SPEAKER_01: 4:56

I mean, but it's really tough to live in contentment because it feels lazy sometimes.

SPEAKER_00: 5:02

Yes. So that's the that's that journey I've been on is is defining what really is lazy and what's really, you know, being content. Um, but content is is loving exactly where you're at and who you are and what you have now.

SPEAKER_01: 5:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:15

You know, and being really thankful for it. So it is, but I do want to leave behind the that feeling of I'm gonna become lazy. So I've got to dive into that. But that would be a subtraction for me for sure.

SPEAKER_01: 5:26

Awesome. Best quote for that the future that you want is hiding under the things that you're afraid to release. So figuring out what you can release, yeah. I mean, I think for me it's uh fear, like being afraid of anything. Like even 23 years of doing this at a super high level. If anybody can relate, I mean everybody can relate, I'm sure, is I still have days I wake up that I'm afraid that things are it's gonna come crashing down, or I'm afraid that this person won't like me, or what happens if I, you know, ask for this and I get told no, right? Yeah, that's such such a stupid way to live because like living in fear is gonna keep me from the life that I want, right? Well, most people don't care if they see that.

SPEAKER_00: 6:01

Most people don't need more, they just need fewer anchors. Yeah, right. And and what you just said there were anchors, right?

SPEAKER_01: 6:08

That are that's holding me down.

SPEAKER_00: 6:09

That are pulling you down. Yeah, not just holding you. I mean, they're pulling you.

SPEAKER_01: 6:12

Yeah, yep, absolutely. It's a ball on chains keeping me there.

SPEAKER_00: 6:16

Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 6:16

All right, so let's move on to number three. Uh, so again, just to recap, we've got number one, identity awareness. Then once you've made aware of it, we'd got to do some subtraction. That's number two. Number three, an environment upgrade. I think this one is huge. It uh this is not just for this year, this is every day of every year. We all know it. We're the sum of the people that we hang around the most, we're the average of the five people we hang around the most. I mean, that's a I mean, I don't know if that's statistically like I don't know if you can back that up with actual science, but I think it's very, very true.

SPEAKER_00: 6:47

Well, your ceiling, I mean, your rooms determine your ceilings. What are all the cliches that we could say about this? I love the flying with chickens or eagles, or what's that one? That one's one of my favorite, but I mess it up.

SPEAKER_01: 6:58

Yeah, uh you gotta soar, uh soaring with eagles, uh, but you can't soar with chickens or something like that. I don't know. Uh I know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00: 7:07

Yeah, so that's me. I always mess them up, but this is exactly what it, you know, what you think about. Like if you're you're gonna hang around a bunch of chickens, you're gonna be a chicken. Right. Right? You're gonna hang around a bunch of eagles, you're gonna soar. And it is about that. And sometimes it doesn't mean you can't have people like that that are your friends, but it really is who are you spending your most time with. And and that can be inside of your company, that can be inside of your team, that can be inside of any of it.

SPEAKER_01: 7:33

Being your personal life definitely flows into work life. If you're around a bunch of people in your personal life that aren't driven, that don't lift you up. I mean, they're gonna, they're gonna be an anchor for you. They're gonna pull you down. Yeah, right. For sure. Um, so you gotta, I mean, you gotta limit your time with those people. Uh, you know, I think uh your environment will definitely upgrade you a whole lot faster than discipline.

SPEAKER_00: 7:54

Well, say that again.

SPEAKER_01: 7:56

Your environment will upgrade you much, much faster than discipline ever will.

SPEAKER_00: 8:01

I think that's important because I am disciplined, right? Like I have always been a disciplined person. And that is such a true statement. So when when you're struggling and you're really good at discipline, like check your environment.

SPEAKER_01: 8:14

Well, your ceiling becomes different too. Like discipline has all sorts of forms, right? You are can you would be considered discipline at a very, very high level. Other people would say, Oh, I'm very disciplined, but you're disciplined for your the group that you hang around with. People are look at you and they're like, Man, you're so disciplined. There are people that are more disciplined than you.

SPEAKER_00: 8:29

Oh, yeah. I just gotta get in a different room.

SPEAKER_01: 8:31

Right. Yeah. You don't ever want to be the smartest person in the room. If you're if you are, you should get into a different room.

SPEAKER_00: 8:36

Yeah. That is you're upgrading your environment.

SPEAKER_01: 8:38

That is.

SPEAKER_00: 8:39

So I mean, it's re we all have to sit and think about am I where am I at in that room? And do I need a new room?

SPEAKER_01: 8:44

Yeah. And you gotta figure out what rooms you need to get into, and you gotta figure out how to get into those rooms. Yep. And most of it's just being bold. Yeah, you know, you can get into those rooms. It doesn't take a secret key uh or anything. You gotta be bold enough to ask.

SPEAKER_00: 8:55

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 8:56

And look and research. I love it. All right. Four decisiveness and action and an action bias. So we now we've like discovered all these things, but we've got to actually do something about it, right? Big leap. People move before they feel ready. They fail fast, they just go. Uh, some of the most successful people in the history of the world, most of the most successful people in the history of the world were not afraid to fail. And they would just go and try things. And a lot of the a lot of the rest of the human race is scared. What if I fail? And the real successful people are not scared if they fail. They don't they actually welcome failure because it means they can move on to their next thing. So if you're gonna fail, fail fast. But you've got to go make a decision and you've got to go after it.

SPEAKER_00: 9:39

Or fail forward, right? Yeah. Like at the second you fail, you find out what was wrong and you can you can fix it. You can't fix anything if you don't fail.

SPEAKER_01: 9:46

Right. Momentum over perfection.

SPEAKER_00: 9:48

Yeah, it's it's so good. And I think so many people get stuck in it's gotta be perfect before I do it. It's gotta be perfect before I start it. And they don't they sit in Stuckville forever.

SPEAKER_01: 10:00

No doubt. Yeah. And we've all been there. All right. Yeah. Yeah. But when we're we're at our best, we're moving and we're making decisions, we're moving and shaking, and we're deciding what rooms we need to be in, and we're getting in those rooms, and that's when your energy is the highest, and that's when you just feel like you're like on fire, right? Is when you're making fast decisions and you're just going after it.

SPEAKER_00: 10:19

The one that this just I just have to share it really fast because it always pops up in my brain. And this is just one chapter of a book. And the chapter was called Get the Bus Rollin'. And that's just I that's what I tell myself every time, just get the bus rolling. And the chapter real fast is they were interviewing these big guys that can pull them big old semis a distance and how much training and how hard and what all they gotta do. They put these harnesses on to be able to pull these semis just like a man.

SPEAKER_01: 10:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 10:50

And he said, you know, the the most important piece is just to get the bus rolling. You can't spend your time pre like thinking about all that. You just gotta get it moving. Because once you get it moving, that's when momentum builds and all the other things become so much easier. Right. So all the concentration has to be focused on just getting it started, not a perfect product.

SPEAKER_01: 11:11

Yeah, it's a perfect metaphor for this. That's so good.

SPEAKER_00: 11:14

And it's so good with for everything. Like you just gotta get it started because then you can make it better. But if you wait to get it started, you're never gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01: 11:22

But and also the science behind that is in is incredible too, because getting the for the bus, for them to get that, that is the most effort. Yep. Right? That is the hardest thing that they do. We're not not recognizing the fact that that is very difficult. It is the most difficult thing to do is to get the bus moving or to get the ball rolling because it takes the most energy, right? But once you do, everything becomes easier. Uh it is that momentum kicks in, right? So yeah, I I love that. Last one, we're gonna wrap this up quick. Uh is gonna come from microhabits. So we're talking about identity shifts through like tiny, tiny detail actions, right? So yeah, exactly. Do you have any like do you have an example of that for you?

SPEAKER_00: 12:02

I just think it's important, like it's not one big decision, but it's little things at a time. Um, when we talk about microhabits, it is okay, you know what? I spend way too much time on social media, right? So boom, I'm I will not do that anymore. I will spend 20 minutes a day. I will make sure my phone shuts off after 20 minutes, I will shut an alarm, I will, whatever it is. But right there, it's a habit that you're going to create because of a decision that you made. And that's small, but it's not. And those little bases have to be on everything. If you're in sales and you need to spend an hour a day, or let's cut it even shorter, 20 minutes a day in green time, then you need to come up with these little changes and microhabits so that it gets done. Start small and just do it.

SPEAKER_01: 12:48

Yeah. And if you and if you didn't get it done the day before, it's not the end of the world. Another 24 hour starts the next day. Yep. Make the little changes that you need to make. You're not gonna do, you're not gonna become the perfect version of yourself in 2026 from yesterday to today. It's gonna happen over the course of the year as long as you're making you get the bus rolling first and then you're making these little micro changes, creating little micro habits, right? That every day starts over and you're going at it again. Yes. I love that. That's important. Quote that I found on that quote: reinvention isn't one big decision, it's a thousand small ones. But as long as those thousand small ones are moving you in the direction that you want to move, or at least the sum of the parts are moving you, you're not every decision you make is not going to move you towards that perfect version of yourself or that next version of yourself, because there is probably no perfect version, but there's always a next one. Yep. Right. And if the sum of the parts, if if there's more we're making more decisions that are moving you towards that than are moving you in the opposite direction or keeping you grounded where you're at, then you are moving towards reinvention. Yeah, it's good. Okay. Let's go. Uh just to we don't need to go into detail, but just to rehash what they were identity awareness, then subtracting what's not working, getting an environment upgrade, getting around more people that are going to keep you in that space, and then getting just moving into decisiveness and taking action, and then little microhabits every day that keep you moving in that right direction. So to close us out, your big leap won't happen when everything is ready. It'll happen when you decide you are. The future that you're chasing is already in motion. Just go meet it.

SPEAKER_00: 14:19

Oh, just go meet it. Just go meet it.

SPEAKER_01: 14:22

It's there. We just gotta go. Thank you guys for listening. I hope 2026 is your best year ever.

SPEAKER_00: 14:28

It's gonna be our best.

SPEAKER_01: 14:29

Yeah, we'll see you next time. Thanks so much, guys.