[00:00:00] Hala Taha: What is up? Yap. Bam. In today's Yap classic, we're replaying my interview with Sarah Centrella, a manifestation expert and two-time bestselling author of Hustle Believe, receive, and Future Boards. As a master life coach, Sarah has worked with professional athletes, celebrities, and thousands of people around the world, helping them create and manifest their dream life.

And this episode, Sarah and I are discussing the power of mindset, the effects of the words we speak, and how to stay committed to continuous self-improvement. We'll also talk about how to envision your future using vision boards and future boards. I know all of you young and profits out there wanna learn how to live your dream life, and today's episode is all about that.

So without further delay, enjoy my conversation with Sarah.

[00:00:59] Sarah Centrella: I am really looking forward to this hollow. Thank you. 

[00:01:01] Hala Taha: Of course, me too. So let's start off from your beginnings. Now, you are a bestselling author. You've been on so many different TV shows, podcasts. A lot of people may be familiar with you, but they might not know your entire backstory.

So I would love to talk about one of the most pivotal points in your life, which was the day that you found out some really unfortunate newsand you saw a text message on your husband's phone, and it changed the trajectory of your life forever. So I'd like to start off with that story 'cause I feel like that was a huge, pivotal moment in your life that kind of sets the ground for the rest of the story.

[00:01:39] Sarah Centrella: Absolutely. It's, um, it was the day my world blew up, literally like a bomb exploded in my life. And every piece of my life exploded at about 10 minutes. At the time I had been married to my high school sweetheart. We had been together since we were 16 years old. We had three kids. We had twins that were just over a year.

And then our son was five and a half. And, you know, I had become a stay at home mom because I have the twins and all of that. We just lost our house and the, you know, real estate bubble. So things were already, you know, we were already kind of going through it. And the day that I read that text message just changed everything.

And it was, you know, obviously from his mistress. And I'll never forget what it said. It said, I can't wait till you're all mine. Finally free and no more sharing. Wow. And I was like, wow. Thanks universe for the perfect message that was like, told me as a woman pretty much everything I needed to know. Right.

Like all the info was there, you can really back out of that one. And so, yeah, he was in the shower, I went in, turned the water off the shower, say, get the, you know what out. And um, he did. And within like 10 minutes it was just like this crazy explosion for, for lack of better word, you know, word. And I just remember like, that night was obviously a very black, you know, time in my life.

And I'd been like crying. I was like literally laying on the hardwood floor and, and I just kept on thinking like, oh my God. Like what do I do tomorrow? How do I get up? How do I feed my kids? 

you know, we didn't have the social networks we have today and I didn't know anyone who was divorced. I didn't know any single moms. And it seems insane. I know for all of us to think back that far. But that's what life was like.

It, you couldn't connect with your people online. It was just the people you knew in real life. And so it, it felt very terrifying and alone and kind of felt like I was the only person this was happening to. And, and so, you know, in that kind of blackness, I just remember thinking like, I can't do this. I really can't do this.

I was running all the scenarios in my head and I just didn't see a way and. There was kind of a moment, and you can call it whatever you want, I God, universe, whatever, but there was this moment where it just was clear as day that came back and just said like, what if you can, and I have to say like those two words, what if have been a pivotal transformational thing for me?

I think because they gave me hope when I didn't have it, they gave me like the possibility that something could, you know, work out. It didn't tell me how to do it, damnit, but you know, at at least gave me the option to start thinking about like, if I could make this work, how would I do it? So that really started everything for me.

[00:04:30] Hala Taha: It's so important to have that like one little sliver of hope. 'cause that could just multiply into a whole new life, which, which you saw. I wanna get into that statement. What if in a bit, but first I wanna dig deeper in terms of your situation. So you were actually a stay at home mom at the time. You weren't even working.

I think you guys had just filed for bankruptcy. So you guys were not even in a good financial situation, And so you must have felt like, what the hell am I gonna do? I have three miles to feed. I don't have a place to live. I'm not generating any income.

I feel alone. Nobody else I know is going through this. And I put all my eggs in one basket and here I am. Right. And I think a lot of women get into that situation where they put all their eggs in one basket. 

[00:05:15] Sarah Centrella: Yeah, it's, and then they're stuck. It's it, it's so true. And I think for me, I was almost shocked to find out I was in that situation because I'm very Type A, you know, I would say in our relationship I was probably the leader in the relationship.

You know, I made most of the decisions. And so to find myself in a position where it just so happened that the bank accounts had got in his name, I mean, those were decisions I was part of. So I can't, you know, blame it on him. It was just for whatever reason, for the bankruptcy or whatever, and the car was in his name.

And kind of as I was starting to run through, like, okay, what do I do now? That's when I really realized like, holy shit, this is not good. And you know, when you're married, you think it's a. Tell death to us part situation, you don't really think of a backup plan. And you know, I think that was a shock to me.

I really did not think that I was going to be, um, ever in that desperate of a situation. And like you said, we had just filed bankruptcy, so, you know, imagine trying to get an apartment with no job, no income, and a brand new bankruptcy, you know, like oh and a foreclosure so you know who's gonna rent to you.

So just things like that. It was terrifying to be quite honest. I did not have any income coming in. Um, did not have access to his income. You know, I remember the next day like taking back hands to get formula. It was not a cute look. Sold everything I owned, you know, to get enough for, to move into an apartment.

So, yeah, I mean, I think now I am always, uh, reminding women. You know, take care of your finances too. It's fine if you wanna merge 'em, but you should always have access to, you know, your money or your finances as well. You know, you never know what life can throw at you 

[00:07:00] Hala Taha: 100% and so you left right away, which I think is really impressive because I think a lot of people who are in that situation, men or women, when they find out that their spouse is cheating on them, especially if they're not the ones who've cheated and they didn't know it was coming, their first reaction is, how do I save this?

How do I save this marriage? You were with him for 16 years, eight of them married. 

So talk to us about how you started to pick up the pieces.

Like what are the first steps that you started to do? You were at ground zero, you had almost nothing and a lot of responsibility. So what did you do to kind of get yourself back up on your feet?

[00:07:35] Sarah Centrella: hitting rock bottom does free you, whether it's rock bottom or whether it's, you know, something traumatic, like losing something you really, really put your hopes in.

It frees you in a way, like you're like, okay, well the worst case scenario just happened. Obviously I can't hide that. People are gonna see that, so might as well just embrace what's going on in my life and move forward. And I think for me, it really gave me total freedom because things were so dire and so dramatic really that first year that didn't have any space to handle anyone's opinion.

You know, like I didn't care at all anymore. I was like, if you have an issue with what's going on, then you try and live this life. 'cause this is survival, right? And in so many ways, that gave me a ton of freedom because I started, you know, realizing, okay, I have to. Literally reinvent myself, create a brand new life from total scratch.

So that got me thinking. It was kind of like, what did I imagine my life would be like when I was a teenager or when I was a kid? Um, all those dreams that I had that I kind of shelved, you know, through my marriage, I was like, you know, maybe I start dreaming again. And that was really kind of the very first thing I did.

I, I did it almost as I think a coping mechanism. because kind of like the day to day was, was honestly really bleak for a while. And so to kind of take my mind off it, I just started daydreaming about what I wanted about, you know, best case scenario. It made me kind of feel good. It just helped me kind of get through the day.

I started imagining like, well, if I'm successful, what does that mean? And like, could I travel with my kids? And where would we go and what would our house look like? And all of those things. And I think a lot of people are scared to do that, especially if they're not in a great position because they think it's gonna make them feel worse.

Right? But everything is perspective, and for me, it did the opposite. It gave me hope. It made me think like, Hey, if I can imagine it in my mind and that makes me feel better, then maybe there's a 1% chance I could live it. And for me, a 1% chance was huge. You know, I was all in, on the 1%. I was like, be, because I knew what the alternative was, right?

Either I could sit here and continue living this shit hole, or I could, you know, build and have a shot, have a shot at something different. And that was the first thing I did. The second thing I did that was really kind of pivotal that I teach now is I started, when I finally got a job, I, I started translating.

'cause I've been, you know, imagining this life in my head for quite a while. And we all do this. We all have the capability of doing this. When you're thinking about anything you want, it turns to visuals in your head, right? Your head kind of needs to put some parameters around it, and so it becomes what I call a movie in your head.

And so I started just going on Google and started of looking for the pictures that match the movie in my head, and that wound up being my very first future board and the start of just everything changing. 

[00:10:40] Hala Taha: Yeah, I love that story. So she got a job as an inside sales rep, her first job, and one of the first things she did was plaster photos and pictures of her dreams in her cubicle.

So that's what she sat and looked at eight hours a day. And then some of those things started to manifest. So talk to us about when you first started realizing that all this that you were doing, thinking about your dreams, You know, looking at your dreams, talk to us about when you first started noticing that you were actually manifesting things into reality.

[00:11:11] Sarah Centrella: Yeah, I, I, I did. My entire cube was covered. I, you know, people used to come by and be like, what's going on over here? And it was, to me, it, like I said, it made me happy. It made me more motivated than kind of looking at, oh, hit this quota or whatever. 'cause I was starting to translate what it would mean if I hit the quota.

I was like, Hey, if I hit that quota, I can take my son to Hawaii, you know, for vacation. That would be amazing. We could swim with turtles. Like, wouldn't that be cool? Right. So as soon as I started doing that, it was like flipping a magic switch. It was really crazy. So it did two things. One was, it started creating naturally because I was looking at it and kind of imagining the moments throughout the day that started creating a natural motivation in me, right?

It's almost like a fire that gets stoked all day long. And so the more that, um, fire was stoked, the more I was like, oh my God, I. I have to get this, like, I, I will find a way, right? So that means I'm working extra hard. That means I'm bringing in more deals. That means I'm doing, you know, 1% more, 10% more than everybody else.

I'm staying up late nights, you know, learning the product or whatever. So I wanna be clear that it's not about just like sitting on a couch and, you know, wanting to win the lottery. It, this is very, very different. This is very personal. So once you've kind of identified what it is that you want and you start obsessing about it, and you start thinking about it, it does this magical thing and it turns on your fire and it pulls you every single day to your dreams.

And about a year and a half after he left, so about a year after I made the board, my,

[00:12:47] Hala Taha: you kicked him out. He didn't leave. Let's be, let's be Exactly. Exactly. Let's be strange about that.

[00:12:53] Sarah Centrella: Um, yes, yes. My first big. Big manifestation came to life, which was, I had had at the center of the board a picture of Times Square, and I had like written on the picture, New York City baby.

And about a year after that I was in New York on a business trip, my first kind of all expense, you know, paid week long business trip for a conference in New York. And I was having like a stranger take my picture and all of a sudden it just felt very deja vui. And I was like, wait a second. What? You know, what is happening?

And it was that, that was kind of the first moment that I was like, holy crap. Like this started as a thought back before I even had a job, you know? So it was kind of that moment where I knew it wasn't random. I also knew other people could look at it and be like, yeah, that's called a business trip. Lots of people have them.

And I was like, Hmm, this is different. I just knew that I had made it happen in whatever way, and that got me on a quest to figure out how to do it more and more and more.

[00:13:58] Hala Taha: I love the story of your transformation. It's so inspirational because now you're like a bestselling author, like I mentioned, like you've appeared on so many different television shows and podcasts.

You know, you've made such a name for yourself 

I wanna talk about your first book because you've got this H B R Method, hustle, believe, receive. I'd love for you to help us understand like how you got to the point where you were ready to write a book.

Like how did that happen where you actually 'cause to write a book and get picked up, you need to have some sort of a following and people need to be interested in you unless you just did it independent. So I'd love to hear that. 

[00:14:38] Sarah Centrella: So that first board, this was like 2010. I, a bunch of stuff started coming to life right after the New York.

I mean, we're talking in three months about, 15 things on my board came to life. So, you know, I went from completely having nothing, being on food stamps to, I was box seats at Nick's games and like, you know, just living this crazy, crazy alternative life that I was, kind of felt a little bit like Cinderella, like dropped into someone else's life, you know?

And that's when I kind of started sharing it. I was like, holy shit. Like something that I'm doing is working and this is, you know, when I put it out and this is, and I started doing side-by-side pictures because I never thought it would work. I'll, I'm gonna be honest, I never thought it would work. I put the pictures up 'cause they made me feel good.

So when it started working, I was like, no one's gonna believe this. 

[00:15:32] Hala Taha: What? What do you mean side by side? Pictures. 

[00:15:34] Sarah Centrella: So I started taking pictures of myself, living the moment, and then doing like a side-by-side of picture of my board. And then, so I call it like my reality, my future board, my reality board. So on Pinterest, if anyone wants to go see of tons of examples, um, on my reality board on Pinterest, because I, I just thought, no one will ever believe this.

It'll be too crazy. You know? So I kind of started doing it as a, as a proof log almost, um, turned into a blog and people around the world started reading it and reaching out to me. And so I kind of started, you mentioned side hustle in the beginning of our conversation when we were off air. And I, man, I did the side hustle for a long time.

I kind of did it, the blog as just my own release. I didn't think much of it. I was working full-time in corporate, taking care of my little kids, you know, and the blog was kind of a release, but it, it really took off and it had about 4 million views a year by the time I was like, okay, I gotta turn this into something.

And it, that was huge back then too. 

[00:16:38] Hala Taha: Yeah. That was a big number back then. Yeah.

[00:16:40] Sarah Centrella: And it came to this place where, I almost necessity because I was responding to so many of the same type questions, right? And I was like, dude, I just need like hand 'em a link of like, here's all the answers or whatever. And so on a treadmill one day I was like, oh my God, it's the H B R method.

What are the steps? I took and I ran home and I wrote out the eight steps. And then I thought, who's going to, who's gonna listen to me? I'm a single mom from Oregon, like, and I started reaching out to my network and by then I had made some amazing connections with some super successful people. And so there's 50 stories of people from professional athletes to entrepreneurs, to millionaires, to people just starting out on their dreams.

And it turns out we've all done the same things. Those eight steps showed up in every one of our stories. Um, so that's when I knew, I was like, okay, we're onto something here. 'cause it's pretty magical. 

[00:17:35] Hala Taha: Yeah. Would it be too hard for you to rattle off those eight steps? Do you know them by heart? 

[00:17:40] Sarah Centrella: So yeah, we start out with a dream just like I did, right?

You have to have a dream. You have to know where you're going before anything can happen. So start visualizing whatever your outcome is. And here's the cool part, the H B R method. How I teach it mostly is for your whole life. But the awesome thing is you can use it for one specific thing. So I, I use the whole method to run a marathon as a non runner.

So you can, you can use it for both, right? So dream it. And then number two is think it, you gotta watch your mindset. And people talk a lot about mindset right now, but very few people are teaching you how to permanently change your mindset and to change your belief system. And I feel honestly, like I've kind of cracked the code on that.

I use three very basic, simple, simple tools that work incredibly well, that help you align your mindset with your dreams that you, they're both going in the same direction. And then number three is, say it. So guys, girls, you gotta watch your words, man. 'cause your words are so predictive. They're so, so, so predictive.

And then we have write it. And I kind of break that down into a plan as well. Like, okay, now what do I do?

I have this big, huge dream, but there's a big gap between where I'm today and where I wanna go. So what are some things I can start kind of moving the needle on? And then five is see it. So that's where our future board comes in. We're really turning all of that work into visuals so that it's around us and then we have do it, okay, what do I start doing today?

How do I start making this dream happen? And then seven is believe it and really, and believe it. If you've done all these steps. By the time you get there, you do believe that it's possible you are all in. So believe it is really about how we manage the things that could destroy our confidence or destroy our belief in, in our ability to make it happen, which are like our crew, the people around us, right?

And how to get through a diversity, how to overcome an obstacle. And then our last one is live it. So how do we continue to up our game? All the time, right? So that we understand this is not the destination. It's not the achievement of the one thing. It is a lifetime commitment to upleveling yourself.

[00:20:08] Hala Taha: First of all, I love the fact that this is like so actionable. A lot of people talk manifestation, but they give no kind of guide to how to get there. So you've made it really actionable in your first book, hustle Believe, receive. So you guys should all go check that out, and you've got tons of articles out there about this topic.

So I would encourage everybody to go check out those resources. But I have a few questions in terms of some of these specific steps. First of all, there's a lot of people out there who have trouble with step one, which is dreaming. They're pessimistic, they're realistic. They've been taught that being unrealistic is bad.

That they need to kind of stay in their lane. It's almost like they've been programmed since they were younger, to believe that like, you know, the biggest goal you could have is like to be a lawyer or a doctor or something, you know? And, and like anything outside of that is just so ambitious. It's wrong.

And they're afraid to dream because they're judging themselves by these internal beliefs. And then they're also afraid of other people judging themselves for dreaming too big. Truth be told, when you do have ambitious dreams. When I first wanted to start a podcast, everybody told me I was crazy.

Everybody told me it will never, it will never work. You already tried this once before you failed. Everybody told me that I was ruining my career and that how could you ruin? You know, people would die for your job that you have. How could you be so selfish? And I just ignored them. And I'm so glad that I did because otherwise I would not be following my passions right now, you know?

And so it does go against the grain of bed. So talk to us about how we start off with step one, just the simplest step, which is dream and being okay with dreaming. 

[00:21:47] Sarah Centrella: Yeah, you're so right. And I think that came up a lot for me in the second book because by then I'd been doing a ton of coaching and workshops and I remember distinctly I was in one workshop, um, and I was having everybody do this exercise that's meant to help you dream big.

'cause like you said, lots of people can't. Right. So, you know, by them answering these questions on, on their big what ifs, it kind of helps break the box out a little bit. And I'm a natural dreamer. I think if you are a natural dreamer, you know you are. Right? You've probably been told that your whole life.

And so I was like, isn't this the best thing ever? And I got this total 50 50 response where half the audience was like, yes, I could have written forever. The other half was, that was horrible. Like that was terrifying. You know, I felt very uncomfortable, whatever. And that was the moment I realized that for the most part, people kind of fall into, you know, two groups.

One is a thinker, which is kind of more the analytical, you know, loves a spreadsheet, loves a Google, that type. And then the other can be any spectrum of, of the dreamer to the point where they have never achieved anything and they only dream, or they hopefully can kind of meet in the middle. And so that became a very big deal.

Once I kind of realized that, then I, I understood how to teach the skillset to each group because we have to have both. You had to have both in order to get where you're at, right? You had to have the vision, which was strong enough to get you through any obstacles or native, you know, feedback. But you also had a thinker mindset in the way that you could execute on it.

Like you could figure it out, you could bring in people, whatever the case is. But a lot of people kind of don't have those medium skillset. So I think there's two things. One, if you're a dreamer, you have to give yourself permission to dream the same way a person who doesn't dream, right? Because you probably have a lot of almost shame, like you said, we really can carry a lot of those voices from even childhood who told us that was stupid or ridiculous.

Stop sharing your dreams, right? So I think giving yourself the permission to, like Obama says, have the audacity to dream, have the balls to dream, have the bravery to dream, because that's what it is. It takes bravery to imagine that you could be living an experience that no one you know is living. And that is very scary.

And if you're dreaming big enough, that should be the case. You should kind of look around at everyone you know, and no one's there, right? Because if what you're going for is what everyone else is at, you're not pushing the envelope big enough. So there's definitely some kind of tools I'm big on. Yeah, homework.

So both my books have homework. I have a workbook that helps ask those questions. 'cause a lot of times people don't know how to get there. You know what I mean? They don't know how to ask themselves the questions that kind of peel back their own layers a little bit. But you've gotta get to a place where I'm never gonna live something that I haven't first identified.

And to me, once I realized that, I was like, listen, I don't want that. I don't even want a risk of not living it. Right. And if you think back to anything that you're proud of that you've accomplished in your life, it started with that vision. It started with that dream. And we never just step into living something that we weren't brave enough to claim and to put out into the world in whatever way.

So I think there's definitely blocks that a lot of us have, but you have to be brave enough to push past those and say, you know what? I deserve it. I want it. I'm going for it. 

[00:25:24] Hala Taha: And I love the fact that you're saying like there's a spectrum to all of this. Like you don't have to be like on the edge of the dreamer spectrum where you get nothing done.

Like you actually wanna be in the middle of boasts so that you can accomplish things. I feel like it's, it's so true. There's so many people out there who dream and never get anything done who think to the point of inaction and don't ever start anything. But you need to figure out how to get better at like those specific skills.

'cause they are life skills and I think they're honestly some of the most important life skills that often don't get talked about. So there's other parts to this eight steps that I wanna dig in. So a couple of those steps are all about, like saying it out loud. Seeing it with the future boards that you were talking about and we're kind of getting, we're gonna start getting into your second book future boards as we talk about all this stuff.

So what's the importance of actually saying it out loud, seeing what you're thinking about? Why do we need to kind of make it real in that way? Like what, what does that do to us mentally? Or like how does that impact us? 

[00:26:28] Sarah Centrella: Well, there's two really powerful parts to our words, right, to say it. The first part is most people are going about their life speaking.

Into their life, all the outcomes they actually do not want. So they're saying things like, you know what if I fail? What if you know, no one shows up for me, blah, blah, blah. So they're actually giving voice to those fears sometimes over and over and over again, or they're complaining or whatever. So that whole piece of it, I'm gonna call that the negative side, right?

We gotta shut that down as equally as we need to then start proactively speaking about outcomes we want. And that part can be scary again if, especially if you're a dreamer and you've shared dreams with people in your life. Honestly, they probably don't wanna hear it anymore, so that's great. Let's not tell them anymore.

Let's show them. Let's make it happen. Let's let our actions speak for themselves, and then let's find a couple like-minded people who I can kind of verbalize my dreams with that can help gimme ideas, right? But a couple amazing things happen when we start talking about our dreams, especially in the right circles, it starts to open opportunities, right?

You never know if the person you know you're talking to at the airport about what you do. You know, has the connection that you've been kind of waiting for. So that doesn't happen if you're keeping it all to yourself, if you're afraid to kind of verbalize it. Also, you do not get that accountability if you're not willing to say it.

Right. So for you, you know, back when you started your podcast, you could have the idea, you could kind of work silently at a certain point. You gotta tell people you have a podcast, right? You gotta, you gotta put it out there. You gotta really like own it. And that can be a very scary step for a lot of people.

So there's lots of ways to quote unquote say it. Back in the day, I used social media 'cause I, I didn't really have a crew, but I knew that if I put something on social media and said I was gonna do it, It was end of story. Yep. Like there was no way, I love that. There was no way I was gonna like eat crow on that.

[00:28:32] Hala Taha: Like it's, it's accountability. I did that with my podcast. I remember in front of all my coworkers, we were saying our New Year's resolution and, and then I announced it. I was starting a podcast and then I wrote it on social media and I announced it and, and that was my account. I knew I was doing that on purpose 'cause I knew that I would stick with it.

So something that I don't really do. Is vision boards. I've never done it. I've never actually, you inspired me. I was thinking I'm gonna make a future board now after. Yes. Reading your material. I love it. And I do a lot of speaking into existence. I always say stuff like, oh, I'm gonna be the female Tim Ferris.

And I always said that, you know, oh, I'm gonna be the next Gary V in terms of my agency. Or you know, people call me the next Oprah and I'll, I'll say that now. You know? And that's kind of. My way of envisioning the future, I'm actually not very good at envisioning like what I am gonna be when I'm, you know, 45 years old.

Like, I, I don't, I have no idea because if you had asked me last year, I would've been like, no way. Like, you know what I mean? Like, all this is not gonna hap like, you know, a lot of this. Podcast growth really happened in one year, like where it just blew up. And so I guess how do you get better at visioning far out in the future?

Like I can tell you what my goals are for this year and maybe the next three years, but then further than that, it gets really foggy. And I almost am worried about putting myself in a box. I know manifestation is so powerful and I don't want to only manifest just something small. I want it to be as big as possible.

So I almost feel scared to kind of manifest anything. 'cause I might be putting a limit on myself. 'cause for example, I, if you had asked me, you know, last year, do you think your podcast would be, you know, get X amount of downloads? I would've been like, no way. That's impossible. I only get this amount right now.

So to 2000 exit makes no sense. Not gonna happen. Like, you know. 

[00:30:19] Sarah Centrella: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's such a good point. And I think especially when you have exponential growth, right? Growth that happens really quickly, which is very similar to that first future board for me, right? It was all of a sudden it was like I kind of woke up and I would say about 70% of that board I.

Came to life within about a year. So, and there was crazy stuff on there. And now everything on that board has manifested except for Oprah. So that original board, everything but one picture has come to life. And so I think it's really important. That's why I teach people to do this work every single year, if not every six months, honestly, I think every six months.

And you know, until you really get it down, because you have to push yourself, right? And if you sat down and, and did your first board, your brain has certain limits to various things, right? And in your career specifically, that's probably the place you've pushed the limits the most. 'cause you think about it the most, right?

And so you're starting to kind of imagine, oh, you know what, if this became a syndicated talk show, what if I had books? What, you know? So you're starting to kind of see some, some possibility of where it can go. So if you can identify those, the ones that are. The most unrealistic is what I want you to go with.

Like go with the ones that you're like, I see no path to that shit. I have no idea how that's happening. Right? So because that's perfect. 'cause that means that you've stretched the limit. It's like a balloon, right? You hit the limit. But if you're around that picture and thinking about, oh, what would it be like the first day I'm filming my show and you know, like I'm in the makeup chair and the lights go on and the audience is out there and you're starting to live these moments, right?

That creates desire, that creates fire, that creates, I'm gonna start thinking about it. I'm gonna start talking about it. The opportunities are gonna start coming, right? 

[00:32:10] Hala Taha: Yeah. Wait, I wanna pause there because what you're saying, this is a big important part. You wanna actually have a story. You wanna pretend you are the movie director of your own movie and actually think about being in this situation, just not the end goal.

Like I wanna be on the Oprah Show. What's that lead up to being on the Oprah show? Like you said, getting ready, getting your makeup done, making it feel more real. Why is that so powerful? Having that story?

[00:32:36] Sarah Centrella: Oh my God, thank you so much for catching that, because it is everything. So what I teach is moments and experiences over things.

So old school vision boards would have, you know, a picture of a mansion, picture of a sports car or whatever, right? Random stuff. I don't care about that. I want you to build the whole life out, right? Because as soon as you start imagining a moment, Our natural brain begins to get emotion attached to it, right.

And begins to get desire and want and all of, all of the emotions you need to get this whole thing moving. Right. And if you just have a random picture of something, it does not do that at all. Or even if you just have the written goal. I want a talk show, let's say, and I have no idea if this is your goal, I'm just kind of making it up, right?

But let's say that is, and you've written it down, that's a very different, it's very static, right? It's just, it's a sentence basically. Right? But as soon as you start walking through moments and taking the time to create moments and really thinking about, okay, if I just signed a deal for a talk show, what would be happening in my life today?

My phone would be ringing off the hook. I'd be working with wardrobe, I'd be working with, you know, Producers to figure out what guests are gonna be on. You know, what shows would I be going on to talk about that? So literally, your life changes. People don't think about any of this stuff, right? They just say, I want this goal.

I wanna check this goal. You have to really start building it as a day in the life. Almost soon as you start to do that, you'll know immediately if that dream's for you or not, right? Because if you can walk through what it would be like to be the host of a nationally syndicated talk show, let's say in your head, and by the time you've walked through the whole day you're on fire and you're like, oh my God cannot wait, I see the whole thing.

I'm just super excited. Or you're like, man, that just is not gonna be my jam. I wanna go a different way. Maybe I wanna write a book. Right? So there's a beautiful thing that happens when you can construct any dream. Into a moment, into a visual. It helps you from day one, custom build it truly. 

[00:34:49] Hala Taha: Yeah. So let's stick on, you know, building the perfect future board and kind of the do's and don'ts.

And first of all, why don't you talk about the difference between a traditional vision board? 'cause I think everybody has heard of that and a future board. What's the difference there? 

[00:35:04] Sarah Centrella: Yeah, so there's so many, but one of the biggest, biggest ones is vision boards. The way that they've been done for 40 years hasn't really changed that much, right?

Until, until future boards 

[00:35:17] Hala Taha: you just like cut out some magazine pictures and put it up. That's pretty much it. 

[00:35:21] Sarah Centrella: Yeah. That's what, so if you think about that from a logical perspective, and you know what you want in your head, right? You have some dreams identified in your head, and let's say you went to Barnes and Noble and you bought out every single magazine on the stand and you spent 500 bucks on magazines.

What is the chance that your dreams. Your life that you've created in your head is gonna show up on those pages for you to cut out like zero. Right. You know, that's basically like turning our dreams over to editors and magazines. That's insane. So how we teach feature boards is Pinterest is the largest photography search engine library on the planet.

And what I love about Pinterest pictures is that for the most part, they um, or you can definitely find them anyway, they convey a moment, they convey an emotion, they convey an action. And so let's say I wanna manifest the love of my life and I wanna get married or something, right? Again, rather than just writing those words down where it stays very static, I wanna start thinking.

What does love look like to me? What are some visuals that I think of when I think of actually being in the relationship and how love is expressed on a day-to-day basis? So I go on Pinterest and I'm like couple holding hands photography, which is the big trick right there. And you start to see all of these images that are starting to click with your brain, right?

Because your brain had it first. And so what your brain is looking for on the screen is its match. It's almost like memory match, right? And you'll know it when you see it and when you do, you're like, ah, that's my moment. That's the one I'd take a picture of if I was living it right? It expresses the feeling.

And so it changes everything. I mean, that right there alone is so vastly different than anything we were doing 40 years ago with vision boards. So if every picture on there conveys a moment you wanna live, that is authentic to who you are, that you know is aligned with your happiness, And that is the biggest version of your dream.

Then you wind up with a visual that, that, you know, mine is behind me, as you can see here, that you're surrounded with all day long, that has a constant reminder of what you're working towards. This is the life you're building. This is why it matters, and it just changes everything. It custom creates your life, and it brings these moments and these experiences into your life in the most magical and surprising ways as you're working towards your dreams.

[00:37:57] Hala Taha: And so I know that you also divide everything up into like five categories, right? And, and you've got other do's and notes, like don't use quotes and things like that. So talk to us about some of those things.

[00:38:08] Sarah Centrella: So the five categories are really important. This is kind of how I know when people are tagging me on, on social, if it's actually a future board, if they're following the rules or not, because, um, I believe that we actually can live a balanced life.

I believe that we can have it all, and I believe that we should, but it doesn't just happen. It's like everything else. It has to be intentional and we have to first decide what it is we want. So, you know, one of the categories is mind and body. What are my, um, goals and aspirations around how I physically look and take care of myself?

Also, how am I feeding my brain? How am I relaxing my brain? Those things are equally as important. They hold the same weight as our career category, um, which is where you can put all of your ambitions. So that's a great place to put like cover of magazine or whatever some of your goals are. And then our wealth and abundance is much more about when money is absolutely no object, how do I spend that money?

So I'm looking at it top down versus I want, I want, I want. So we're looking at it from abundance mindset and saying, how does that abundance show up for me? Which is different for every single person. Right? And let's see, we have passions and joys, which is one that most people don't spend any time really focusing on, but is super important for stress relief, for practicing happiness.

And that's all about doing the little things that, you know, a lot of times we wouldn't put weight behind. For me it's photography or cooking or riding a horse or whatever. So it's kind of what we used to maybe call hobbies in the old days. But this is, these are the things that you actually enjoy that serve a really important purpose in our life.

So yeah, you you'll wanna. Define best case scenario in every one of those categories on your board. 

[00:40:03] Hala Taha: What's really interesting to me when talking to you about manifestation is that, like you haven't said like the word universe. Yeah. One time. And I'm like, you don't really talk about it in spiritual terms.

Like it's, it's really about inspiring you yourself. 

[00:40:17] Sarah Centrella: Yeah. In fact, I have to say like after that first board came to life, then I started kind of looking around and seeing what was out there. And I did not resonate with, with any of the stuff out there. I was like, what the, like I'm not a new agey person.

I'm not into, you know, kind of all of that stuff. And I didn't see anybody kind of breaking it down in real terms, like, how does a real person do this? And so for me it's always been really important 'cause I don't think it's. Mystical. Honestly, I think it's a formula for success that's been around since the dawn of time that every successful person I've ever met does these things.

They've figured out how to do these things and they do them naturally, but guess what? If you've never done any of them, you can get the formula, follow it step by step, and you'll get those same results. So that was really important to me to be able to like break it down in a normal way that like a five-year-old could get it and you just start applying it and it freaking works.

Like it works crazy. So, yeah. 

[00:41:30] Hala Taha: I'd love to hear like what's the craziest thing that you've manifested so far that like you can't believe that, like you thought of it, you put it on your future board and it came true. What's an example of like a crazy thing that happened?

[00:41:43] Sarah Centrella: Oh my God. So, so, so many. Um, I'll give you just a couple of the highlights and then I'll, I'll finish with a very special one right now. So, I would say most farfetched one, if you will, was flying on a private jet. I put that on my second or third board because at that point I had run outta things, you know, however, we're talking about dreaming big.

I, I had pushed the, I, like I had popped the balloon. I didn't know where else to go. I was like, man, I literally can't think of anything else. 'cause so much manifested, I manifested three boards in about two and a half years. So like, my life was dramatically different. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna put the one thing that I truly think will never happen on my board, and if this happens, then I know.

I'm kind of a magic worker, you know, and that happened probably less than a year, I wanna say like eight or nine months after I put it on there. Wow. Yeah. Had my first flight on a private jet. But I mean, everything from getting two traditional book deals, I mean, my latest book was in Targets nationwide and you know, was published by Simon and Schuster.

Those are all things that I was a girl who taught myself to read at 15 years old and, you know, had this blog that was full of misspellings and all kinds of stuff, you know, so something as crazy as that, that everyone said, there's no way you're gonna get that. Um, that was a big one, but one that's really, really special to me is my son manifesting his ultimate, uh, dream.

I started taking him to Oregon Duck Games. We live in Oregon when he was six years old and he has had his room covered in organ duck stuff since. He was six years old and on Saturday I moved him down to Eugene and he is playing football for the Oregon Ducks. Wow. And yesterday he was sharing all the pictures of the first time he walked through the tunnel and onto this.

Yeah. And I have, I have a video of him at seven years old, you know, standing by the tunnel, watching the players walk through, and there's a locker in the U of O duck locker room with his name on it. So, I mean, that's honestly the one that means the most. 'cause you know, it's, it's amazing to manifest your own stuff, but to, to watch your kid, um, manifest their ultimate dream is there's nothing like it.

[00:44:06] Hala Taha: That's amazing. That makes me feel like crying. I don't know why. It's just a beautiful story. 

[00:44:10] Sarah Centrella: I've been crying for three days. Trust me. 

[00:44:12] Hala Taha: I dunno why, why that made me so emotional. But it's so great. You know, I think, I think the real lesson in here is that like, there's nothing called luck. It's like luck is just.

Like you create your own luck. And I think the whole talk about manifestation and saying things out loud and, and looking at it, it's just getting yourself a little bit more clear to the things that you ultimately want. And then when the opportunities come your way or obstacles come your way. You see the opportunities that you otherwise would be blind to.

That's how I always like amount to how I got successful. It's because I started to really believe it was possible, and every time I've honestly believed that life is limitless and that my dreams are possible, that's when I've always been successful. I've definitely had like stagnant periods in my life where I thought that all I could be is a corporate worker and that's all I did.

Like, you know, there was definitely years like that, but then as soon as I like, you know, remembered who I really was and what I really wanted and started to believe in myself, then all of a sudden all these opportunities started to pop up. And you know, it takes a lot of hustle, hard work, long hours. It's not gonna happen by accident, but it's not luck.

It's not the universe bringing it to you, you are going out and getting it right. So I think that's the difference that people need to understand. 

[00:45:34] Sarah Centrella: Absolutely. And I would say that everything that I've ever manifested that was meaningful, that was those big highlights. My son included. You have gone through a ton of disappointment to get there.

So, I mean, he had a complete a c l reconstruction surgery. His, uh, sophomore year of high school, he broke his ankle. His freshman year he was out his, you know, so he had every possible obstacle. He wound up recruiting himself, you know, like he put in insane amount of hu he transformed his own body, you know, so like, Yeah, you do not get from the place of like, oh, I wish that could happen to, you know, now I'm an organ duck.

You, there is a lot that goes into it, just like there was, you know, to writing a book just like there was for you to do your podcast. Right. But I think the difference is, is when you have that dream and you accept it, right? And you have passed the place where there's turning back and you're in, and you want it more than you want anything else, like you are in, it's called Relentless Pursuit.

And it, it kind of almost doesn't matter what the world throws at you. You're like, bitch, I'm not going down. Like, good luck. Yeah. Nobody's stopping me. It's, it's just a matter of time. Like, I'm sorry I'm not going down. You know, like I will to,

[00:46:55] Hala Taha: especially once you get that momentum, once you start hitting some of those goals, it becomes addictive to just be, and, and then the adversities start to become less of an issue because you're like, well, this has happened before and I've gotten through this.

And so I also think it's like the experience and the momentum that you get from everything it's all about,

[00:47:13] Sarah Centrella: and the confidence builds in the, in the journey. Absolutely. 100%. And all of those things are your best teacher. I mean, they're what make you more committed. They're what make your, your goal and your dream clearer.

So you have to have it. I mean, people get real frustrated and they quit in those, but it's getting through them. That gets you to the place where you could handle the success. Where you could actually shine in the success and without kind of all those lessons along the way. You know, lots of people face plan when they get their, their moment and so, you know, it helps you kind of accept the journey a little bit more.

[00:47:50] Hala Taha: 100%. I always talk about how like every single failure's kind of your little stepping stone to becoming successful and all the experience that you learned is like preparing you for like who you're supposed to be in the, in the end or like at some point in your journey. All these things that you learned, even if they were.

Fails, like failures. You learn these skills and then you bring 'em on later on and kind of use them and and do something. Wonderful. So last question I have for you before we kind of close out the show is there's definitely people out there, especially people who listen to this podcast who are manifesting their careers, but they're having trouble manifesting things like their love life and so they're really successful in one area of their life, what, whatever that is.

Maybe it's relationships, maybe it's money, maybe like they're thriving in one part of their lives and then one part of their lives just seems to always be the same story. Maybe their partners change, but it's always picking a bad partner, for example. Or like maybe they wanna get married but they never end up getting married even though they're in relationships, whatever it may be.

I would love to hear your thought on like how to break a cycle that's just keeps happening. 

[00:48:58] Sarah Centrella: Yeah. Oh my gosh. There's, there's so much, uh, that I couldn't unpack on that. But the first thing that I wanna say is that is one of the reasons why I want everybody to really focus on those five categories, because there's gonna be two categories in there that you probably never thought of.

So, you know, everybody has their career. One kind of fleshed out a little bit. They might have their relationship one, whether it's family or whatever, and then maybe have some goals around finance, but maybe they're not taking care of themselves or, you know, maybe they're super stressed out and they actually hate the life they're building.

And so it is really important to kind of look at and say, Hey, I, I wanna a full life. I want, I want every day between now and the up glow to be an enjoyable journey. Like, I want, I wanna love it from here to there. Right? I'm not waiting for anything to love it. Um, and that's a big piece of it, but I think the first piece to breaking any cycle is to get real with yourself and to start looking at your past.

Right? I call this inventory, take inventory. Like, what is it that you're doing? If you don't know what you're doing, maybe incorrectly or repetitively in a way that isn't serving you, how can you change it? You can't, right? You're, you're automatically going to. Manifest the same outcome over and over again.

So sit down and and be quiet with yourself. Get a journal, get a piece of paper and start writing it down. And let's say if it's in the relationship thing, say, let me do quick inventory on my last three relationships. Like what were the dynamics? What was their initial attraction? Where were my first red flags?

Did I listen to those red flags or not? Um, was I paying attention to my intuition or was I arguing with it and just moving forward anyway. And if you can kind of do that, even in just bullets, right, you're gonna start to see the pattern emerge and the pieces that can and should be changed, right? And a lot of times it can come down to, Hey, I saw some pretty big red flags and I intentionally ignored them.

I intentionally pushed through them. And so that teaches you, man, I'm not listening to my intuition. I better start. I. Figuring that out, I better start getting quiet and paying attention to it and acting on it because it's engineered in every single one of us humans for a reason. And it's magical. It is our internal life coach.

If we listen to it, we're gonna be so much happier and make such better decisions. But yeah, I think, I think the first step is just being really, really honest and kind of looking for those patterns, and once you find them, then you can start to put a plan together to change them. 

[00:51:41] Hala Taha: I love that advice and I think it's, it's so true.

I think also, If you're doing really well in your one part of your life, it's probably because you're thinking and you're obsessed with it. You know what I mean? Exactly. Yes. You're just obsessed with that one part of your life, so that keeps thriving. And then other parts of your life are in decline because you're not thinking about it.

You're not reflecting on that stuff, you're not thinking about that stuff, spending time on that stuff. So I think that totally makes sense, and I think it does make sense to kind of evaluate those five pillars that you said and, and really spend time on becoming a more full 

[00:52:14] Sarah Centrella: person. 

[00:52:15] Hala Taha: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. This is such a great conversation. I could talk about manifestation forever. Um, so the last question that we ask all of our guests, and this is your opportunity to throw in any sort of last gem that maybe we didn't get to talk about, is what is your secret to profiting in life? 

[00:52:35] Sarah Centrella: Whew. Uh, gosh.

I would say two things. One, identifying that you do want. Whatever it is, something better, more money, the career, the job, whatever the thing is. So getting to a place where you allow yourself to want it is really big. And then the second piece that has been really pivotable for me, especially when it comes to financial manifestations and abundance manifestations, is removing some of those limiting beliefs.

Like identifying what they are and changing them. And instead of kind of putting those into the world or lack beliefs into the world, really changing those into abundance ones. So I think kind of putting those two pieces together for me has just changed everything when it comes to, you know, profiting and, and becoming more abundant in general in all areas of my life.