Meet Stacey Minton

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stacey Minton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Stacey, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I think on some level I have always known that my purpose was to help people. I am a big believer that life happens for us not to us and I have been able to use my challenges to create a program that I know helps people subtly shift forward towards their dreams.

The world is a whole different place after 2020 and I think that people are different too. I think that many of us are looking for more but don’t necessarily know what that looks like, where to find it or how to get started. And that is where I help.

It took me almost 50 years to learn that loving myself wasn’t selfish or self serving, but it was critical to live the life I had always dreamed of. Self love doesn’t come in one flavor, it is different for everyone, and how you start down that path depends on a lot of factors. My job is to help individuals change the story they tell themselves so that they can stop getting in their own way.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I wanted more, I wanted starts, but I wasn’t always sure WHAT exactly it was that I even wanted to start. And if I did know what it was, I wasn’t sure HOW to go about it. And before I knew it, I would do one of two things. Either I would go ALL IN on the start or I would overwhelm myself with what I told myself was necessary to start, to the point where it sounded too difficult and I wouldn’t even bother starting.

If I was ALL IN, it was usually on the latest diet. I would buy a new outfit, do a big grocery shop and get all of the ingredients, I would come up with a routine and I would be so excited. So many times, I have done this and so many times my ALL IN fizzled out very quickly. And then I was left feeling bad about not seeing it through, not being consistent and wondering what was wrong with me?
Then I saw a video where the creator was talking about how she was embarking on Delusion Week. For one week she would embody the habits and characteristics of their hottest, most successful self. I thought this was the greatest thing EVER! I immediately sent it to 2 of my friends, just knowing that they would think this was as awesome as I did and when could we start??? But they did not think it was as awesome as I did, well not right away anyway. But this apparent “stop” is what birthed The Delusion Experiment.

My friends’ lack of enthusiasm got me thinking about doing it by myself, which then led to questions like, what would my habits be? Who would I want to be and how would I want to act? I knew if I was struggling with these questions, others would be as well. So, I got to work.

I felt like if I could do a little work to figure out what and who I wanted to be, maybe I could start the experiment, see it through to its natural stop and maybe learn a little something in the process.

And don’t you know, all that and more happened.

As a life coach, I have access to and have participated in, many an exercise in my day. And one result you can always count on from doing an exercise is that you are going to learn something about yourself, even if it is as simple as “I don’t like doing exercises”.

As I started to put the exercises together to help me narrow down my habits and characteristics it became clear that this was not something that could be accomplished in a day or two before starting my Delusion Week. At first I thought the exercises might be too much, but as I laid them all out and did them myself, I knew that this was a crucial part of the process.

If you are serious about getting out of your own way, reducing self sabotage and getting unstuck, the two week effort might be exactly what you have been looking for. Each exercise is designed with a specific goal in mind.

The first is to remind you what makes you happy. What gets you excited. Who you have a great time with no matter what you are doing. Next you get real about where you put in effort, and where you don’t. This exercise allows you to physically see where you have balance, where you may be over investing your time and where you might be neglectful. The third helps you envision what a week in the life for your hottest most successful looks like. Then you take everything you have done so far and lay out what habits and characteristics your future self would need to attain everything in your vision.

Each exercise feeds into the next, creating a realistic picture of what YOU want, and what it might take to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be. It’s almost as if you are writing yourself a road map. And the beauty of this experiment is that YOU get to decide how much or how little you want to incorporate into YOUR Delusion Week. You move at your own pace. Even if you decide to focus on one thing for the duration of your experiment, you have learned so much about yourself, where you are and what you want, that one thing is going to have a huge impact!

So at the end of week one, you have a list of the habits and characteristics that you are going to focus on for Delusion Week. And then you live AS IF for 7 days. Each day you get up and move throughout your day making decisions, having conversations, and deciding to or not to do the things that your future self would do. Or not, because if you get to day 2 and realize that you are not a morning person, that is OK! In fact, it’s great! Because now maybe you won’t beat yourself for not being one of those people who is at the gym at 5 am every day and maybe your hottest, most successful self would do better with a lunch time walk to get their exercise in. Pivoting mid experiment is encouraged.

I believe that I started and stopped so many times because not only did I have a clear picture of what it was that I really wanted to accomplish or even incorporate into my life, but some of the things that I DID start weren’t things that I WANTED, rather they were things that I thought I SHOULD want. Doing The Delusion Experiment gave me the permission to decide what was really best for me and gave me the opportunity to try out things in a fun, no pressure and most importantly EASY way. In my brain, I was acting for a week, one week. I could do one week, especially because there was an end date.

What I didn’t consider when embarking on this journey was that after the experiment was over, I would have developed some real habits that became a part of my daily routine without me even realizing it. I also didn’t expect that the effects of my first experiment would continue to show up for me even months down the road. This fun little experiment that was only going to last a week laid the foundation for real change, not only in me as a person, but in my life and most importantly my future.

I bet by now you are wondering if my friends ever got on board with my crazy idea? They sure did. And every single one of them loved it. Sometimes I struggle to explain how amazing this journey is and I do feel like it is better experienced than hearing about it. But what I do know is that those that have participated, saw benefits during the experiment and are still embodying some of the habits and characteristics a year later.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The first quality that I think is impactful is keeping an open mind. We are all raised with beliefs, values and ideals that were passed down from the people who were a part of our upbringing. These aren’t necessarily right or wrong, but how m any of us have just adopted them because they are all we have ever known? Stopping to ask yourself if these are truly your ideals, values and beliefs can truly change your life. And being open to hear someone else’s values, beliefs and ideals may not change yours, but it can teach you things and help you evolve.

Secondly, learning to trust myself has allowed me to do more than I ever would have. There was a point in time where I needed everyone’s opinion before I did anything. As I was learning to love myself, I started to share less because I realized that no one else’s opinion mattered but mine. If I was going to make a decision, I was going to have to live with it. And if I had made it this far in life, I needed to trust myself to make the choices that would get me to where I wanted to go. There is a freedom in choosing to trust yourself.

Lastly I think something that I learned that has been very impactful, but not necessarily a popular one, would be that my opinion of me is the only one that matters. When you start to value your own opinion over that of others, even strangers, your world opens up in a way you didn’t realize that it could and you find yourself having experiences you wouldn’t have had if you still cared what others thought.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

My ideal client knows that they are meant for more but they can’t seem to get out of their own way when it comes to making progress toward that dream. My clients are seeking clarity, motivation, and direction in their lives. They often struggle with feelings of overwhelm, self-doubt, and low self-love, which can make it hard to prioritize their goals and take action. My clients are open to investing in themselves to achieve meaningful change and they are ready to do a little work to see results. And most importantly they love the idea of inviting Delusion into their lives in a positive and fun way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.TheDelusionExperiment.com
• Instagram: DelusionExperiment
• Facebook: DelusionExperiment
• Other: TikTok: The Delusion Experiment

Image Credits

Liz Polo – My Havana Photography