From Marathon to Mindset: Debbi DiMaggio's Blueprint for Personal Growth

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with Curveball. If you believe, you can achieve. Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast. A show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire. Today's guest is a producing real estate advisor. She's an author, speaker, coach, entrepreneur. She's authored five books, including the mindset in motion book. Debbie DiMaggio. Debbie has a lot of uh quotes and stuff that she has made famous. And we're going to be talking to her about her books and everything that she's up to and gonna be up to. She's based in California. Sometimes she's in Northern California, San Francisco, sometimes she's in Southern California and Los Angeles. So, Debbie, thank you for joining me.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Thank you so much for having me today. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Sure. So I have been in real estate for over 35 years. It's a kind of a funny story how I got into real estate. It was actually nothing I wanted to do, but that's how life goes sometimes. I've written, this will be my sixth book, Mindset in Motion, which is set to launch next week, will be my sixth book. I have two children who are grown now. I have a husband of 35 years. I think that's a big feat. A lot of people, unfortunately, these days are divorced. I also coach and I love to mentor young people as well as mentor new realtors coming into my field. But I do a lot of different things. I also focus on beauty at any age because age is just an attitude to help people learn that they can do simple things to make themselves feel better and look better. So my whole, I would say the line that goes through everything I do is consistent. It's about helping others, whether that's clients, friends, colleagues, family members, acquaintances, or people on listening on the podcast. So thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Absolutely. So let's talk about your new book, Mindset in Motion. Tell the listeners about the book and uh why you decided to write it and what they can expect when they read it.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Wonderful. I am in the throes of editing my final edits and I'm enjoying reading it again for the tenth time. It's about helping people conquer their goals. So when I set out to write, well, I actually did not set out to write the book. I was very clear to myself that I was not going to write another book. I had already written five books. But as I was going down a path to plan and uh plan and learn and figure out how to uh to give a TED talk, I was taking a course on that. It didn't last but 12 hours. And then I decided I needed to find clarity in what I would speak about for 15 minutes. And with that, I pivoted to writing this book. And in this book, I talk about five steps. I call it the mindset in motion method. And as I was starting to write the TED talk, I realized I needed clarity. And that's step number one. So clarity, when you have a goal, you need to find clarity. You have to be crystal clear on that goal. And then number two is you have to believe it. You speak in the affirmative. I will, I am, not I might be or I think I can. You speak directly in the affirmative, whether you believe you can or you cannot. Then the third step is to internalize it. And this is where you become part of that. You, whether that's through gratitude journal, journaling, vision boarding, however, meditating, mindfulness, however, that is for you, but you really become that thing, that goal, that clear goal that you've identified for yourself and defined for yourself. Then the next step is to share, share with supportive people. And I'll go into why I made it, I changed it from share to share with supportive people in a minute. And then the last step is the hardest step, and this is where we lose people who are working towards their goals and they hit a brick wall. This is what we call the activate or the activation. It's the fifth step. And of course, one of the most important steps, this is where we have to call in others to help us with our goal, to achieve our goal. You don't have to do it all on your own. So there's five steps to the mindset in motion method. And you can use this book no matter what sort of goal you're looking to achieve, whether that's a personal goal, professional goal, overcoming an addiction, going through divorce, going through the empty nest, going through a relocation. It could be for anything. You can use these five steps for anything to achieve your goal.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Okay. Well, let's talk about the LA Marathon because you you ran the LA marathon with no training and you say it's not recommended. So tell us about that. Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Yes. So I said, so when I set out to, well, it wasn't really a big goal of mine. It just kind of happened. In at the end of December of 23, my son said he wanted to challenge himself. And I didn't really understand what that meant. I couldn't understand because he said he he we grew up in an area where um people don't readily go to the military go into the military. And he was now 27, was never been, it had never been part of his dialogue or our dialogue as a family. He didn't have friends who went into the military. So it was a little bit of a shock at 27 years old. I can understand when someone all their life has said, I want to do this, that makes sense, but not at 27. So, and I said, why? And he said, I want to challenge myself. And I said, What does that mean? I don't understand. So I set out on December 31st, out my door, put my headphones on, and ran in my neighborhood for like two miles. And I was like, what does that mean? I want to challenge myself. Well, from January to March, I would, I was running sporadically, but most sporadically, but most of it I would sign up for a 10K or a 5K and just kind of challenge myself that way. But I wasn't really training in between. I might have taken a soul cycle class here and there, but I wasn't running miles and miles by any stretch of the imagination. So I was turning 60 that year. And I said, okay, by the time I'm 60 in July, I want to run a half marathon. I could do that. Well, in February, I said to myself, why don't I just try for the marathon? And the marathon in LA is coming up in March. Okay. So as Mindset in Motion talks about, I decided to sign up. I could always not go if I didn't want to, but I signed up. And of course, it's always my DNA to follow through with whatever I say I'm going to do. So I signed up in February for the March LA Marathon. I didn't tell anyone. I only share, I didn't share it with anyone at this point because I knew people would think I was crazy. I wasn't working out. I wasn't running. I wasn't on the special diet. I wasn't training. But what I did do was I was listening to a book at the time. I had no idea who this person was. Of course, now I know and everyone knows him. I was reading David Goggin's You Can't Can't Hurt Me. And I was, because what I was trying to do, I was trying to under my understand my son, what he was going to be going through when he went to officer candidate school. So I read everything on the military. I went to the hardest of the hardest, which is Navy SEALs. I watched rescue missions in the dark with night vision on YouTube. I immersed myself into everything military because when you look at a military person, they start as a normal human being and they become the superhuman, especially those Navy SEALs. So I was trying to understand it can't be all physical. Yes, there's a lot of training they do, but there's got to be something in their mind that just switches on. So I was, and now the book had not happened. So this marathon was separate, had nothing to do with the book. And so the book came a year later, actually. So I said, okay, I'm going to see if I can run the LA Marathon on mindset. I don't know what could happen. I'm going to give it a shot. So I didn't tell anyone because I knew people would think I was crazy. So a week before I told my husband, you need to come to LA with me. I'm running the LA marathon and I don't know, I have no idea what I have in store for me. I had zero idea. Will I fall? Will I trip? Will I have a heart attack? I mean, I felt good, but I just had no idea what would happen because I hadn't trained. So he knows me and he knows I'm a little nut. So and my nickname is the droid. I do what I'm told and I go on autopilot. So we went down and he drove me to the bus, the uh train station where we got on a bus to go to the starting line. So far, no one had been in my head because I didn't allow anyone to know what I was doing except for my husband. I was sitting on the bus with this young man and he was telling me about all the training he had done and he had ran across bridges. And just the day before, he had run across a bridge, you know, 20-something miles. And I was saying to myself, please do not ask me what I have done, because I've read a lot of books and I've done a few races here and there. But level races in a 10K, five laps up and down the beach does not constitute real training. So I got to the start line and I took off and I didn't stop. Yes, it took me a long time, but I didn't trip. I made it through. I did talk to myself, and I only just now, two years later, did I hear there was something that happens on the 18th mile, which I did not know about. I've written about it a number of times. By the time I got to around the 17, 18th mile, I was running down Burton. I was going through Century, you know, on my way through um Century City. And I said to myself, what did I get myself into? But you're not stopping. You're not stopping. You did it, so you're you to you set off to do it, so you're gonna finish it, as I was telling myself. What I learned, it's something that happens to all marathon runners in mile 18, where your mind and your body start to just kind of re-evaluate. And I don't have the exact term because I just learned about it, but it happened to me in mile 18. Anyway, I finished the race and it was really on mindset. And when I when I crossed that finish line, I burst into tears. And it wasn't even a goal of mine, it was just something I wanted to prove. And it it just came on as quickly and fast as I was into my running, but I burst into tears and I don't know what it was from. I think it was just emotional that I'd actually done it. And it was, it took a, you know, it took like took me like over six hours. So it took most of my day. I guess I was just shocked. And then at the end, the top of my thighs were sore. Yes, I was sore, but my heart and my health and everything felt great. And a year later is when I actually wrote the book, Mindset in Motion.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Okay, well, let's talk about another book where you use sports analogies in three parts of a game. Uh, tell listeners about that book and why you decide to use sports analogies.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

Yeah, it's weird. I don't know why I think that way. I mean, I like sports. It is actually that is how I have the mindset in motion. Um, the framework is based on a sports game. So for some reason, I don't know why. Yes, my cousin is Joe DiMaggio. I am third cousins to Joe. Uh, I've played sports. My husband would laugh because, you know, are you really an athlete? Yes, I'm an athlete. I've always liked to play sports, but uh by no means I am an Olympic athlete. I just like it. But I think I see things through sports. Sports is always on in my household, my husband, the kids. Um, so I see things. And when I was watching all the years, watching my son play lacrosse and football, I've always been a writer. And when I'm visual, super visual. So when I would watch my son on the play field, my mind would start going like a typewriter. I would start, I would start writing as I was watching him on the lacrosse field pivot and adjust, whether he was playing football or he was playing lacrosse. He was always having to shift. And so I wrote a blog. Oh, I still remember very clearly, I wrote this blog, just as in life and as in business, we have to learn to pivot and adjust just like an athlete on the play field. And it just kind of stuck. And so the book is broken down into before the game, the pregame preparation, the game, and then during the game, you have the halftime, and then at the end of the game, you have the post-game and the recap and what you learn from the game. So it's broken down so you can pick your favorite sports game, whether it's basketball or football or soccer, whatever it is, and then break it down in your head. And that's kind of how I tell the story and share my my wisdom and knowledge and experience.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Well, uh, talk to the listeners about your 5 to 9 a.m. morning routine and tell us how it helps you produce or you know, increase your productivity.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Sure, absolutely. So, like athletes, they have their morning routines, like top producing CEOs and business people and founders, they have their morning routine. Uh, they all differ a little bit. I write some examples in the books of different uh morning routines. Um, mine, if you'd like to know my morning routine, it's evolved and it's always being sharpened and tightened and refined. Um, but for the most part, my morning routine. Now, the morning routine is to set you up for success. I get up early. It's always been, I've always been a morning person. So I get up around 3:30, 4 o'clock. If I've slept until five, oh my God, the day is half over. So I do, I put on my headset. It's a way that, and I talk about this in the book, it's it's a way for me to lock in. I'm wearing my headset now. It's just a way for me to find focus. So I get up, I don't turn the lights on, I put my headset on, I put on meditate a meditation. Some well, it usually goes on for a long time. So sometimes it's music, a meditation, music, but then it's also a meditation practice. And so I do that for at least an hour, maybe two, depending. I do not touch email, I do not check my phone, I do not definitely do not scroll on social media. It's really at my time. I call it me time. I do that. I will, the first thing I do is actually I drink water because you're dehydrated after sleeping all night. So I drink water, I take my medications, I listen to my meditation, I have a gratitude practice. Of course, like every time throughout the day, I always in the same in the morning when I'm inspired, I have to write. So sometimes I will have to take out my phone and on my notes, I'll make some notes because something inspired me to write. And then I have a vibration plate, which I love. So I get on that and do some exercises on that just to get myself, my body moving. And sometimes I have to get back into it. But in writing this book, I've backed off of my, I have to get back downstairs to in my house to my treadmill and my Peloton and start working out again. Uh, go in phases of of working out. So that that's pretty much it, my morning routine.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Okay, well talk about how listeners can use the five uh mindset in motion steps uh exercises in your book to uh to be able to do the mindset in motion method.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Perfect. So let's say you want to so no matter what it is you want to do, so you you start with, I always like to say start with the spreadsheet. A lot of people have a lot of different goals, some are big, some are small. Um take a Google Doc and at the top, or Google spreadsheet, I'm sorry, at the top, put one goal and then on that column, just work that one goal. So at the top, you're gonna put whatever that goal is, and then in the next step, um, so you'll say what that goal is, and then you have to be create a write a sentence or two about that goal and very specific. Don't have six different items for that one goal. Be very crystal clear, write out a statement, what that goal is, and then to the believe stage, write out I will, whatever, fill in the blank how you're that I am and I will I am that person, I am, I will. Be affirmative in that next statement, believe, whether you know how you can get there or not. Then when it's the internalization phase, now this is where you can write a whole lot more. Open it up, write, write about what it's gonna feel like when you achieve this goal, uh, who will be there, really paint a very visual picture of you being that person, being in that situation, having that X, whatever that is for you. Just this is where you journal, you visualize. You when I say journal, you're writing, you're visualizing, you're creating vision boards. Uh, some of us like to Pinterest, you can use Pinterest, uh, you can cut out magazines like we did when I was young, pictures and words out of magazines, and have that in the forefront. So when I walk up my stairs, my collage is right up. Every time I walk up my stairs to my bedroom, my collage is sitting there. I'm sure you've heard many times people put it on their mirrors, and you know, so you have it, have it on your phone, have it everywhere, whatever that goal is, and then share, share it with supportive people. Now, some goals can be shared publicly, like you can share, I want to lose weight, or I want to get on a health regimen or a workout. That's okay. People all can get around that. But if it's something kind of big and people are gonna say, oh, they might be naysayers or they might be envious, or they might just, it's not their goal, so they don't care as deeply as you do. So you want to make sure, like when I ran the marathon, I wasn't, I mean, I knew it was kind of silly that I was trying to do it without training. So I didn't need any extra naysayers telling me or or challenging me. It wasn't their goal, it was mine, and I wanted to do it, and I just didn't need anyone in my head about it. So, whatever if a goal is a certain thing that is a little big or a little hard, just share it with only those supportive people. And the last one is to activate. This is where you, whether it's, you know, let's say you're going through a divorce, join divorce support groups within divorce communities, um, find accountability partners, maybe you need a therapist. Same with if you're it's an athletic goal you're working towards, a nutritionist coach, a physical therapist, a mindset coach. If you want to be a speaker, get a speaking coach, if you, whatever it is, and find people. And in the book, I list all the different types of groups and people and mentors and accountability partners, but surround yourself with people who can help you activate and achieve your goal. And one of the things I talk about, reach out to people who you don't know. Send them a direct message, send them a message on social media, find their go to their website, find their email address, reach out. I've done that myself, and I have a great friend in Bob Berg now. Uh we connected on Twitter and I spoke to him a couple days ago. So, and that was someone, you know, he's a famous author and speaker, and uh, we started on Instagram or on Twitter. And I've met other people on social media who became really close friends and really wonderful inspiration, inspirational people. So um, so I talk a lot about that in the book, but you can use those five steps for whatever it is. And this is someone at a young age, mid-level, older age, going through whatever it is, whatever chapter you're going through in your life, you can use it. When I was sitting in a hot tub at a social spa in Los Angeles, I was speaking to some young men, and we started talking. It was the first time I had opened my mouth publicly about what my method was, my mindset in motion method. And we started talking. And it was because of that conversation they were overcoming, they were, they were in AA and they were overcoming their addiction to alcohol and other things. And they they were clearly already have gone through it and were doing so wonderful. And I was just, it was so cool to see that they totally understood and could relate to my method, but I wouldn't have really thought of this method as helping someone get through an addiction. But when you line up the five steps, you can use the method to overcome an addiction as well.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Well, talk to the lessons about how you started a real estate business during a recession with no fear.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

The funny thing is, I don't really, I never thought of it that way. It's just something that we've done along the way. And it was my son, Chase, again, who pointed out hey, mom, you never talk about on your podcasts about how you and dad and Heidi launched a company during a recession. And I said, Yeah, that that is kind of cool. I said, I didn't really think about it. We just jumped in and went for it. And we didn't think that it was, it was just, it was the timing that came up. We had an opportunity and we seized it and we just moved forward. And when we needed a tool, when we needed something for the company, we just figured it out. We needed this, we we called on that person, we called on that professional. We needed to learn about social media. Social media was new. We weren't really using it. We weren't using it at all. So I immersed myself on social media. We weren't going to build a company by billboards and uh print marketing. Times had changed and we needed to go from a zero to a hundred. So I learned, I met with a guy, had him come to the office. I asked him, How do you, what is this social media? And uh worked with him and then trial and error, and just we started punching it out, figuring it out along the way. But it's it's just funny. I didn't really think of it as it was such a big feat. I just we just had it, we had it in front of us and we were gonna do it. And we did, and we figured it around out along the way. Where there is a will, there is a way.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Absolutely. So tell us about any upcoming. Oh, before I do that, uh, talk about your podcast. Uh let listeners know what it is and what they can expect when they listen to it.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Perfect. Thank you for asking. So mas it started out a two years ago as mastering the art of real estate, because that's what I know and I've done for 35 years. So it started out as that, but then I started having people approach me, publicists and different people podcast people approaching me about their person. You know, they weren't necessarily in real estate, but they were a business person. And so I decided to switch it to mastering the art of success because everyone has a story of where they were and where they are now. And it didn't have to be real estate because even when I was interviewing people in real estate, it all the information pertains to anyone who has a service product or brand. So you can go back and listen to mastering the art of real estate. But if you have a, you don't have to be in real estate. If you have a service product or brand, the same disciplines, same frameworks, um, same experiences will translate over very nicely. So with mastering the artist success, I just opened it up to more people and I get to have more conversations and I have different topics and meet new people. And I just love, I love meeting with them and hearing their stories. But as I was starting in the beginning and I was um, I was thinking, of course, a lot about the podcast, I realized I was talking to my 25-year-old self. When I was in everything I do, I'm always talking to that 25-year-old Debbie who was sitting in her apartment in LA, not sure what she wanted to do. And so I always want to make it easy for someone, whether they're young or whether they're going through a new transition or chapter in their life and they're recreating themselves. It's talking to that person and saying, how do you start? Where do you start? And one of the things is don't kick, don't beat yourself up. It'll happen. Just keep moving forward.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

All right. Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that this need to be aware of.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Sure. So right now I'm just in the throes of launching my book, Mindset in Motion. Uh, it's called Activate Purpose, Power, and Peak Performance. So I'm finishing those edits today as we speak. Um, and then that should come out that will come out uh next week. And then my intention with that book is to really, and it's been part of what I my mission all along is to take that book and really go around the world sharing with people to help them learn to conquer their goals, whatever I can do to inspire them. And it might not be exactly what I said, but something that I say will inspire them to take action. So I want to help people around the globe. I've always had that as a part of me. I've done a lot of charity work in the past, and and helping others has just been a part of my DNIA, whether that's in real estate or in my books or in what I talk about. Thank you. You can go to DebbieDemaggio.com, D-E-B-B-I, no Ian Debbie, DebbieDemaggio.com. You can even call, you can text me best. I don't get phone text back, text is best and I'll respond right away. 510-414-6777. I can help with real estate or coaching. Um, and I'd love to hear from you. And I'd love to have you follow me on LinkedIn or Instagram, Debbie DiMaggio.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Close us out with some final thoughts. Maybe if there was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on any final thoughts you have for the listeners.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Yeah, I just I like to say one of my quotes I say in mindset in motion is be on the lookout for magic. That's where opportunities reside. Every day when you get up and you go out and you're outside and you're just be aware, pay attention, look for those opportunities. A lot of my book talks about experiences and things that occurred to me because I was open, I was watching for it, and I seized the moment that if I was not paying attention or I was lazy, I could have let that opportunity fly by. So don't miss the opportunities that are out for us all out there all the time.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

Absolutely, ladies and gentlemen, DebbieDemaggio.com. Check out the new book that's coming out, check out the rest of her books, her podcast, and everything that she's gonna be up to. And and Debbie's uh an amazing woman. She definitely can get you right. So uh check out that uh mindset in motion method as well. Follow rate review, share this episode to as many people as possible. And if you haven't done so, go sign up for the Living the Dream newsletter at www.curveball337.com. Share the website and the show to everybody you know. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Debbie, thank you for all that you do, and thank you for joining me.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Have a great day.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, visit www.curveball337.com. Until next time, keep living the dream.