Inspirational Words of Wisdom with Cody Jefferson

Host Katie Richardson is absolutely blown away by today’s guest on The What’s Working Now Podcast. Cody Jefferson is an influencer of change, a life coach, trauma survivor, spiritual believer, and inspiring public speaker. “This guy is real, sincere, integrity and truth,” -Katie. Katie and Cody go deep into the self-sabotaging hustle culture of today’s world, especially for entrepreneurs, and identify the many personal and career spaces where you are likely hurting yourself without even knowing it because of how your brain is trained to think. 

Cody also spends some time talking about his incredible journey from a state of chaos that almost killed him when he went septic to the fulfilled life of peace that he lives every day with the knowledge that his existence is a gift. Trust Katie when she says that you will not want to miss the advice that Cody offers in this episode.

3 Key Takeaways: 

• Learn how to “act your way into a new way of feeling” rather than trying to “feel your way into a new way of being.” 
• What most people do when they wake up that creates great anxiety.
• Why it’s crucial to have focused accountability for what you chose to invest in emotionally.

Show Notes

[13:10] Cody shares his story

• Helping others come out of pain into power
• Starting his career as a pastor in the church at nineteen years old
  • Having a difficulty associating between where the job is and where God is
• Dealing with severe burnout and insecurity
  • Proving himself through a toxic imposter syndrome
• Losing his own identity

[17:50] Losing his career’s luster because it became convoluted

• When people become metrics
• Going through a public divorce

[19:55] Unexpected tragedies and dealing with multiple close deaths in an eight-month window

• His body breaks down
  • Going septic
  • “Is this who I want to be?”

[21:52] The question Cody has asked himself every day since

• “What needs to die in order to become the man that you said you would be?” -Cody Jefferson
• Not knowing how to process that much trauma 
  • If I can just keep it together…: the common entrepreneur mentality

[24:42] Dealing with being a person who doesn’t like to stop

• “If I can, why don’t I”/ Patterns of familiarity
• Going to therapy as a sign of weakness
• Being busy as an unhealthy way to cope with trauma

[28:10] “It’s interesting because so many people, I think, get addicted to their own stress. That was one of the things that I had to learn, that when things were good, I would add a stressor to my life. And especially in the culture…our paradigm of reality is ‘Do the work! Do hard things every day!’…What that can create is an unhealthy balance of thinking that things constantly need to be in tension… It becomes this really, really unhealthy paradigm.” -Cody Jefferson

• “If you want to hurry up in this, we’re gonna need to slow down.” -Cody Jefferson

[30:17] Cody’s new perspective on hustle culture

• Understand that there are seasons for hustle
• What is his 6-year-old son learning from him; does he see what Dad does as stress?
• The 4 pillars he uses for his clients
• Balance as a myth
  • The ability to create a peace
• “Often it’s not that we need to do more, it’s that we need to do less, more effectively.” -Cody Jefferson

[34:40] What Cody says to those who don’t have the belief that they can slow down

• That’s a really great story to tell yourself
  • It doesn’t have to be that way
• Telling the real truth

[37:50] How to slow down the stress

• Breathing, relationships, and more 
• Inward components that are healed through outward actions

[39:54] “The brain doesn’t care about what you want. The brain just cares about patterns of familiarity and creating confirmation of its own bias. So understand: your brain will always try to default to what it knows. If you are consistently stressed, you will manufacture chaos in your life because it feels normal to your brain.” -Cody Jefferson  

• Why you need therapy and a coach 
  • Needing an outside perspective of your own bias

[41:24] The distinction between shifting into a mode of peace rather than shifting toward chaos and “the septic”

• Hearing that you’re going to do such amazing things/God has such big plans for your life holds a lot of pressure
  • Understand that you have nothing to prove
  • Live potential 
• The call to “just be me”

[45:47] What most people do when they wake up that creates great anxiety

• Wake up and breath in instead/start the day with immense gratitude
• Where are you noticing yourself feeling frantic?
• “Where in your business are you creating friction maybe because of something that you don’t know, of something that you’re assuming, of a story that you’ve created, of an emotional response that you’re so accustomed to that you don’t know any other way?” -Cody Jefferson

[52:20] What’s working now for Cody

• His daily habits/strong morning routine
• In business, more than tactics & frameworks, is his relationships and friendships
  • “My network is my net worth”
• Humility, understanding, compassion, and grace for his family
• Daily spiritual practices
• Being on podcasting shows every week

[58:08] Katie as one of the handful of people he knows that will make it work as quickly as possible

• Whatever you’re doing, I’m in

[59:59] What Cody does consistently every day

• Developing a daily sermon
• Training 
• Morning routine

[1:01:4] A book that Cody keeps on his shelf

• Loving What Is by Byron Katie
• Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz
• 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
• How to do the Work by Dr. Laperra
• No More Mister Nice Guy by Dr. Robert A. Glover

[1:02:49] Some of the best advice given to Cody

• “What’s your full name? You’re a Jefferson. Jefferson’s don’t steal. So I don’t want you to identify yourself as a liar or a thief, even though you stole this. There’s nothing you can do, or nothing you’re gonna say that’s ever going to remove your name or my love for you.” -Cody’s grandfather

Connect with Cody

Find him via Google

Instagram: @cody_jefferson

 *Reach out to him personally with your story and how this conversation resonates with you.