Welcome back to the show. My fellow extraordinary Americans, for today’s guest We have David Corsini. David is a certified trainer and coach of Neurolinguistic programming, as well as a public speaker and business strategist. 

He’s the CEO of Activated Potential, where he helps his clients with goal setting, problem-solving, and business strategy. After years of struggling to find his identity David decided to go on a journey with one question in mind. Who am I supposed to be? Which finally led him to his purpose. He’s committed to unlocking the human code and teaching others how to access their Genius. David is an extraordinary American and we are honored and grateful to have him on the show. David, are you there? 

Yes

Hey, David, it’s amazing to have you on the show. I’m grateful you took the time to do this interview with me. So, David, I know that you are a certified NLP teacher business strategist and also like A CEO, can you tell? Me and the audience a little bit more about yourself, your background, and how you got started.

A little bit about my background, and I know this is big for you. I was born in Italy, so I am an immigrant. I was born with dual citizenship, which is pretty cool. So, I could run for President if I wanted to, that’s what that means. 

That is awesome.

My mom had gotten her citizenship before I was born. And anyway, we came here when I was 5, and my father always lived there. So every summer, I pretty much went back and forth. So, I spent the whole summer, every summer, in Italy, and then the rest of the year in the US. So, it’s almost like I was raised there. In two countries at the same time. And it was pretty cool to witness. You know, I have both cultures in my DNA, essentially. And kind of how I got into my entrepreneurial journey. I always knew I wanted to Invest in real estate.

So, I got my real estate license and early on, I was in my 20s. I felt like I was doing very well, but I realized I had kind of this void in the middle of my heart, and I was trying to fill it with Commission checks. I was filling it up with partying, with women, with alcohol, and all these things. I had a tough time staying at home. 

So, I was like, Oh, I’m just an extrovert. But when I say I, I mean if I stayed at home for more than two days at a time. I felt anxious. So essentially, what I was doing was trying to numb it out by going out and partying and distracting myself. You know, I had this whisper in my head that there’s so much more to you. Like there’s more to your potential. I kept hearing this, like, potential potential potential. And it kept getting louder and louder. And one day I ended up at A Tony Robbins event. And Tony Robbins will say potential in practically every other sentence he says.

So, he captivated me. I was like, yes, my full potential. I’m all for it. Whatever it takes. And I remember signing up for more events. And I remember being in Fiji for his life and wealth mastery. And one of my friends. When I was there, it was like, Hey David… Everything Tony says is NLP. And remember, I was leaning in, and I was like, what does that mean? So, I was like neurolinguistic programming, and I had no idea what he was talking about. Much like some of these listeners, you will probably have no idea what I’m talking about right now. But essentially, I started to research it and I were like If Tony Robbins, and for those of you that don’t know Tony Robbins, he has essentially helped 50 + 1,000,000 people in the world with mindset, business strategy, and all these things, He’s the guy president’s call when they’re in trouble. He’s the guy billionaires call, and they’re in trouble. So, I was like, there’s got to be something to this NLP thing.  

So, I did what any sane person would do, and in the thick of the pandemic in, like, June or July of 2020, I went to an in-person event to learn NLP. Within a few years, I pretty much got every certification possible in NLP. And what I realized is NLP is the language we use to program our minds? 

I divided it into three major categories, right? The words we use with ourselves are like the self-talk we have. The words we use with others and the words other people use with us can all be programs. And what I realized in learning all about this and how the mind is programmed. They teach us a lot of things in school, but they don’t teach us how to use the most powerful computer in the world, aka, our mind.

I agree with you.

As I learned all these things, I realized the deeper problem with that void I had. And once I got to the deeper problem, releasing it was pretty simple. And once it was gone, I felt this newfound fulfillment. And from that place. I found my purpose. And where before I felt like I was driven by fear or by anger, I was pushing and pushing and pushing. And maybe I would burn out. But then I’d push through some burnout and keep going and going. It felt like I was pulled away afterward. And business just became easier. 

So, I believe business is an expression of who we are. And our business can never truly exceed where we are personally. And if it does, it’s only temporary. And that’s where I see a lot of people, you know, on top. And then within a year, like, lose it all. Because their business surpassed that they were at. So normally. What I realized about myself is my business was kind of up and down because I wasn’t very grounded in where I was. Once I start to put those together, It all changes.

David, you bring up so many interesting points that I don’t even know where to begin. But one of the things that you mentioned is that the inner chatter right there is the three things you’re talking about where you have the inner chatter where you’re talking to yourself, where you’re talking to others, and then others are talking to you. 

And I know this seems like something basic and obvious, but a lot of people don’t master their minds. They don’t understand the inner child that they keep telling themselves—the negativity that they put within themselves, or whether it’s like they’re talking while they’re talking to others. They’re essentially creating a loss of self-worth, but self-worth is ultimately what you tell yourself.

So if you could tell the audience the relationship between their inner chatter and the self-worth that they have as human beings, like, well, how would they? The audience should take advantage of that and change that aspect.

So, as you dive in deep, there’s conscious inner chatter. And they’re subconscious, and they’re chattering. And well, people don’t realize if I could ever dilute personal development into two sentences. It would be that you get what you focus on, and what you focus on expands. 

So, when you have inner chatter, your mind is focusing on whatever that inner chatter is. As it focuses on that, the more inner chatter you have, that’s negative… The more you will get negative. The more inner chatter you have, that is positive… The more positive you get. Because that’s what you’re focusing on. And as you said, most people haven’t mastered their minds. I always say If you don’t master your mind. You’ll be a slave to it. Mastering your mind should be one of the things they teach us in school, along with how to use it. But as I said before, they don’t teach us… We’re not given the manual for the most powerful computer in the whole world. That was given to me at birth. It’s wild. 

So, once you understand the way the mind works, it’s like playing Monopoly and not knowing the rules, or playing Monopoly and knowing the rules and all the tricks and all the secrets. Your chances of winning greatly increase. And that’s the same thing as understanding the way the mind works and mastering it.

No, I agree 100%. But here’s the thing: A lot of people have this inner chatter, but they identify with these thoughts and their negative beliefs. So, like, it’s one of the basics I learned while I was, like, meditating. Right. 

You sit down for a long period, and then all these thoughts race through your mind. And then you’re taught to be non-attached. And just observe these thoughts, and then you realize they’re not your thoughts. You’re like the awareness behind your thoughts because most people today attach themselves to and identify with this negative chatter and the beliefs that stem from it. And you know that Identity stems from your beliefs and all the actions that come about. 

So, what would you advise somebody who is already on autopilot and is already having these negative thoughts, and how would you tell them to start altering it to change this. From your perspective.

So, I’m so glad you brought up identity. Because identity is very important. Right. One of the things when you’re changing who you are; You are essentially changing your identity. Now, if you identify as someone poor, you will always end up poor. 

One of the things I notice is people who have had addictions… the people that have a greater chance of an extended amount of sobriety are the ones that just detach from the Identity of being an addict. Or being a smoker, most people will say. You know. I’ve been sober for five years. I’ve been sober for two years. Which still means they’re holding on to the identity of being addicts. 

So, for example, I was probably an alcoholic. Back in the day. I don’t count the times I was sober. I never counted days. I will have a drink here or there. But my beingness is my identity. It’s not who I am. I’m a healthy person. So, a healthy person just naturally doesn’t drink. They don’t have to. Like, think about not drinking it just because you don’t do it because that’s who you are. 

So, one of the things I tell people is that your identity is kind of an assortment of beliefs you have. It’s an assortment of values you have. It’s an assortment of things you identify with yourself. Like associations, you have. So for example: I am Italian. I used to. I thought it was OK to be angry because I was Italian. I am associated with being Italian. 

Are Italians usually angry? I have no idea.

Hot-headed. Put it that way. We’re warmer-blooded. Right now. And that goes. With a lot of different cultures and a lot of different nationalities, we have certain associations, right? So, because I Am this, I have to be this. So, what I would tell someone is that the first step to any change is awareness. When you bring the things that are subconscious to your conscious mind, you can easily change them.

So, one of the things I started to do was realize what my true values were. Now your values are what are important to you, and you can have different values in different areas of your life, just like you can have broader life values. What you value in a career could differ greatly based on what you value in a relationship, or in health. Whatever area of life you’re looking to truly change, and maybe if it’s your entire life… Focus on life and ask yourself these questions: What is important to me about life, career, health, or relationships? And ask yourself, Like, write everything down. Normally, values are about a word, two, or three, right?

So, if you get a sentence about what’s important to you, look at that sentence. And think about the OK of that sentence. What’s important about this? And you usually come up with a word. Make a list and keep asking yourself, Make a detailed list. And then think about that area or life. What are the things I want to feel in this area? Like the feeling of emotions. And rather than saying, I don’t want to feel stressed, think about what the opposite of that is. So maybe you want to feel peace. 

So, think of the things you want to feel. And then make a list of all of those things, and you’ll probably have a good idea of what your values are. Now, one of the most important things is knowing what these values mean to you.

So, think about what those values are. Think about what they are not. Think about why they’re important, and here are two key things: How do those values get fulfilled? And how do they get crossed or violated? Because knowing how your values get fulfilled is the science of fulfillment. It’s very simple to know how to feel fulfilled when your values are being fulfilled. But we’re not taught that values are one of the most important. They’re essentially our operating systems. Right. Whatever is important to you is what you will spend time on. Now, what most people don’t realize is if they’re lacking something. It’s usually because it might be of value, but it’s not very high on their list. Especially subconsciously.  

So, if there’s something on your list, you feel like you lack something you want. Take a look at it. And notice what associations you may have with it. So normally, the three greatest results are people. People want more money. More freedom. Better health. And with better relationships, more or less, you can break down most people. Deepest wants to do one of those four things. If you’re lacking one of those things. You’ve got to realize what’s lacking in the values of that thing.

No, totally. 

Looking at the associations, when a lot of people don’t have the money they want, they have a lot of it. Trauma or negative associations with money, like maybe when they were children, their parents had a very scarcity mindset. And subconsciously, we just act like our parents. So, we learn subconsciously, well, this is what’s going on. There isn’t enough money. We can’t get enough food. We can’t do enough of this. And sometimes there’s plenty of money. But the way the Parents Act because of that money. Will have negative associations with money. 

If you have negative associations with money, you need to repair that relationship. Before you can bring it. It’s like saying women are the root of all evil. And then I wanted to call in my soul mate. It’s not going to end up well, right? So, a lot of people feel like either money is the root of all evil or you can’t get paid for doing good. It’s tough to make money then; either that or you’ve got to do ****** things to make money.

You’re so right about that. Yeah, that’s usually how a lot of people think about money, they are generally good people, but they’re associated with bad associations. And then they don’t end up getting it, even though money is an important resource, to magnify the good that You already have. 

But David, let’s say you want to change your identity, right? You have this identity that is associated with all this negativity, and then you want to have this new identity. That’s the will that will have the values necessary, the belief systems, and the values necessary to do that. 

There’s usually a transition process from this old identity to the new identity. But during this transition process, a lot of people get a lot of self-doubt. They’re like, whom are you kidding? You’re being fake it; this is not you. This is not the real You right. 

And I’m sure that when you were transitioning from the alcoholic to your new personality, you had a lot of this inner chatter where you were like, this is not you, what are you? Whom are you kidding? And all of that stuff? How would you advise somebody who wants to transform into a new identity and then has to transform from the old identity to the new identity? And how would he go about doing it?

I believe change happens in an instant. When we’re ready. So, if you’ve ever studied people who have had near-death experiences, there are a lot of them afterward, they’re like completely different people, or they act like they’re the same physical body, but they act so differently. 

It happened in the moment that it was a near-death experience. Now what’s happening from a scientific perspective and a neurological perspective is that their values have completely realigned. So many of These people have seen God or the afterlife and then come back and have a completely different perspective on life and maybe are more connected to their souls.

So, their values actually, completely change. So that identity completely changes. One of the things I help people with is alignment with their values because that’s literally like changing you’re in a snap. Now, if you don’t have those tools, you first need to become aware, so you’ve got to do that. Practice that we talked about, and you can journal some of those things. Now you realize. Who you are. I would say to look at the parts of you that you want to keep. Always, always be grateful for the parts of you that you want. The parts of you that have gotten you there Where you’re at. Maybe those parts will. Have I gotten you to where you’re at? Might not get you to the next level. So, you’re like Thank you. No longer needs you. But start to make a list of the things you want to be instead.

So, most people create goals to look at what they want to have. And then they make this whole thing about what they want to have. They look at their goal, and then they decide, okay, what do I need to do to have those things? And then they create a list—an actionable list. The whole strategy, all these actions, and then they look at who I need to be to do those things. I think that’s backward. This is why we have so many people in this country who have achieved so much success but feel so empty inside. Because they made all of those goals about having things. But ended up being the person they’re not meant to be.

So, what I say is, look at who you are now and start deciding who you want to be instead. Now, if you have no idea who you want to be, look at the things you want to have and think about why you want to have them. What do you want to feel like by owning those things or by achieving those things, do you want to feel freedom? Do you want to feel peace? Do you want to feel happy? Do you want to feel successful? Do you want to feel all these things? Now make a list of the things you want to be.

So, David, you bring up an important point, but you’re talking about identity, right? And like most people identify with all these goals, and then they’re setting them.

So, as you know, the American identity is about freedom and the relentless pursuit of happiness. But as you said, a lot of people are associating. The pursuit of happiness with all these goals like getting the House, getting the car, getting all the hot girls, and all that stuff but they’re still feeling empty inside. So, from your like to like as a continuation of what you’re already saying. Like, how would Americans realign their identity to their true path and purpose?

So, once you realize who you want to be, realize what those things are important to you. A lot of those things you want to be will be like new values. I want to be free. Well, what is free? Very arbitrary, right? What does freedom mean? Freedom is complete if you live in a concentration camp; freedom is completely different for someone who’s a billionaire. The concept of what they want as freedom. Can be completely different. No two people have the same definition of freedom. No two people have the same definition of peace. 

So, start to understand what you want to be and what those things truly mean to you. And make a list of those things. Now, as you start to create this list, you’re going to realize a lot about yourself. A lot about what’s truly important to you, and this goes back to the values thing. How do they get fulfilled? If you want to be free, how does freedom get fulfilled?

If you want to feel peace, how does peace feel? How does it get fulfilled? How do you know you have peace? Most people think about achieving freedom. And actually, I ended up owning 10 different businesses and working 80 hours a week. But if I own 10 businesses, I know I’ll be free. Well, they didn’t take the time to figure out what freedom meant to them. And how do you even achieve it? 

So, create a list. Of whom you want to be and why you want those things. And make that the most important thing. In your life. Read it every morning when you wake up and every evening when you go to sleep. 

Slowly but surely. And I do. I’ve done this. And when I Go back to the list. I’m like, Oh my God. I’m being the person I wanted to be years ago. It’s incredible. I focused on those things. Right. You get what you focus on, and what you focus on is expanse. The more you focus on the things you want to be, the more you desire to be them. The more you start to be those things, and as you are being those things, you naturally do the things that that person would do. And you start to have the things that that person would. 

If you want to be successful, and you keep telling yourself, I am successful. I am successful. I am successful. Or every road leads to success. Make sure you believe it. Every day I’m getting more and more successful. Every single day. Every single day, you’re going to focus on it more and more, and you will naturally end up having those things.

So, David, I wanted to ask you as a continuation of what you just said right now, because I think it applies to most Americans today. Like most people right now, they’re doing jobs that are not aligning with who they are, their purpose, and their passion. 

But the excuse they give themselves is that, oh, I have to pay the bills. I’ve got to do this because I have to. Because otherwise, how am I going to pay the bills and all that? But their true passion and purpose could be there. 

From your NLP standpoint, what thoughts and actions do you think Americans should take to start the transition process, like doing a job that just pays the bills for what they truly do: unleashing their true potential in a thing that they’re passionate about.

So, I’m going to sound like a broken record. And going back to your values. And if you do that little journaling exercise, you will realize how those values get fulfilled and how they get crossed. By purely doing that, you’ll notice if your job aligns with your values or not.

Thank you for giving that strategy altogether because, yeah, a lot of people do want to know how, but they don’t know how or where to start with that. 

But yeah, but David, on a different note, as I know you, you started the activated potential, right? So, can you tell the audience a little bit more about the premise of how you started this and what, like, made you start this thing to help people and clients achieve their goals and their visions?

Yeah. So. Essentially, I went through quite a bit of pain. You know, not feeling fulfilled all these things I was pretty self-destructive at times. Through all that pain, I realized once I healed myself, once I resolved those, and released those things that were holding me back. That it was my purpose to help others do so as well. I had amassed all the tools I needed to help myself. But really, I was amassing those tools to help myself and then help others. As I kept going and helped other people, I started to realize that, as I was saying before, I believe that when you get your business or career on the right path, it makes all the other areas of life easier.

So, if you’ve got a lot of money coming in at very flexible times. It is easier to have a romantic relationship. It’s easier to spend more time with family. You have more money to buy healthier foods. Groceries, healthier food, and not eating all the processed stuff. You have more money to hire a personal trainer. Get in shape and do all those things. You’ve got the time and flexibility to go on a spiritual journey for a week or two if you want.

So, for me, Career and business are the vehicles for us to experience all that life has to offer. That’s why I like the strategy between our professional and personal lives getting that aligned, and when you create from that place. Then everything else is so much easier, and you start to experience more of life. And normally, our purpose I would say most people’s purpose has something to do with their career. If you’re helping people, chances are, you’ve got to make money to help people, or you’re getting paid to help people. 

Very rarely, like, unless you’re a stay-at-home parent. And you feel like that’s your purpose, but then I’ve also noticed a lot of stay-at-home parents, once the kids leave the household, they feel completely unfulfilled because their identity has only been as stay-at-home parents. So even there if they had had a side thing to make money. That they’re passionate about. Normally, the things we’re passionate about are their things we can make money with. And that’s what I love about my career. That’s what I love about business.

So, I started to take what I had built. You know, a real estate business is another business. I was good at giving strategic advice to people, and then I learned all these tools to help them personally. And I started to put them together. And it started to, like, exponentially help people.

So, from what we talked about before, I help a lot of people with their identities. With their values. And with the strategy to implement all those things because it’s one thing to know something. It’s another to know it and implement it. And that’s where we take all the things, we align ourselves with, and then we strategize go in the direction that aligns with you.

Dude, I wanted to let you know that I will recommend my audience to definitely reach out to you if they want to change their identity because, regarding NLP, one thing I don’t think my audience knows about is that, when I was in college, I did study Neurolinguistic programming a little. It was a passion of mine. 

As I read, I came across a book called Frogs into Princess by Richard Bandler, and then I just understood how much potential there is truly in the mind, everything happens on a subconscious level, and what you focus on expands. And a lot of time, people focus on the wrong things, which is the negative stuff in their lives, because ultimately, on a subconscious level, they like to get the attention that comes from complaining.

And I don’t know if you realize this, like with a lot of people around you over your lifetime, they feed off that attention because they created their love, but ultimately that does not serve you in the long term like you have to. You have to transform your identity. You’ve transformed the inner chatter, and to my audience, I think that you’re basically what you’re teaching and what you’re doing with your clients is necessary, and I highly recommend it.

Thank you. And what you just described in NLP is called the secondary gain. So, people can have secondary gains for a problem that they have. Something that’s holding them back. And just like what you said we all have incredible potential. The only one holding us back is ourselves, and most of us have caged in our potential. And that’s why I named the business deactivated potential. To activate it, it’s not just potential. You’ve got to activate it and then unleash it.

So, dude, quick question regarding potential. 

So, you know, Americans’ identity is an immigrant entrepreneur identity, and a lot of people think it has a lot of potential. So, from your perspective, what is the potential of America? 

I’m going to come to a place I believe in. A lot of Americans are competing against one another. And we’ve been taught that competition is good. Because it leads to innovation. Now I’m going to take a quick little break. Let’s just talk about Whether you agree with it or not. Let’s talk about how Quickly, the COVID vaccine came out. Everyone thinks competition is good. Now what happens if every single pharmaceutical company in every single country collaborates? To create a COVID vaccine I believe we would have ended up with a more effective vaccine. Probably less. Less of those, you know, side effects Way quicker. Because what usually happens with competition?

If you look at it from the perspective of countries, there are two countries bordering each other that compete over the same resources. Normally, once the resources start to go down, they start to go to war. If you have 100 resources after a war, you’ll essentially have 50 resources because you were completely competing and fighting over everything, destroying stuff and all that. Now, what happens if you combine those two countries? You give them the same 100 resources, and you have them collaborate and create things together. Well, you start to multiply.

So, I believe the US has so much potential. If we took, if we Stopped competing between different races. Look, I just started to include everyone and everything. Between the different genders. People who were born here and weren’t. If we just all came together and created together, we would collaborate. We would be able to. Exponentially grow in this country. But it happens because competition comes from fear. It’s the fear that there aren’t enough resources. It’s the fear. There isn’t enough power for everyone.

So, then the ones that do keep it for themselves. It’s the fear that there isn’t enough money, so the wealthy just keep it for themselves. It’s the fear that there aren’t enough clients, so we’re going to fight over these clients. But if you notice, Thomas Edison didn’t compete against Candlestick makers. When he created the incandescent light bulb, he created something new. 

I don’t believe Elon Musk created Tesla to compete with car companies. He had created something different. That was in conjunction with Solar City. Jeff Bezos did not create Amazon to compete with eBay. He was looking to create the supply chain behind the seeds—the whole distribution Is completely different.

They created something completely new, and I’m not saying Elon Musk created the first electric car. That Elon created. The culture around it and the idea that you can have a self-sustaining home and car altogether. Because that’s his vision. Some people create, and some people compete. And what I notice is that the people who create end up with more wealth and are more fulfilled in doing so, and they help others create. Wealth as well.

David, you hit the nail right on the head. You know, yes, American identity for the longest time has been about competition, and we have to start having an identity that stems from creation, collaboration, and abundance. 

And when we as Americans do take part in co-creation, helping each other out, and then, like thinking in terms of abundance and collaboration, that’s when the extraordinariness in America will truly come about, you know, so yeah, I agree with that.

And you’ve seen it. During some of the wars, the revolution happened when everyone came together. And started, maybe not every person was on board, but enough people were creating and collaborating. They created the revolution. Pearl Harbor happened, and everyone united. Now, good, or bad, I’d like to see us unite, not in a time of war. 9/11, the same thing happened. The United States united again. Let’s do it. From a place of love and not fear, and not because of war this time.

Amen. I agree. So, David, how can the audience connect with you and get to know more about your work? And what are you doing?

So, you can follow me on Instagram at the.potentiallist. My website is The-potentiallist.com. 

And yeah, just message me. Follow me. Get some of my content. I have some good resources on my website that are completely free. I’ve got a free workshop. There are two nice little journaling prompts: one helps you get to a deeper purpose that you may have in your career, and the other can help you kind of shift your perspective on certain problems you’re having and help accelerate the solution.

So, what is the link to your website again, Devon?

The-potentiallist.com. 

Thank you so much for that, David, dear. I’m grateful that you took the time to share all this value with us in this podcast, and I’m hoping that at some point in the future, you’ll come back to the show once again. You know, because, like what you just said was mind-blowing, it is necessary and important when you change your identity. You change everything you know.

Thank you so much, Cosmos. And I would be glad to come back.

Thank you. And I want to. Conclude this show by letting my fellow extraordinary Americans know that there’s something extraordinary within every one of us, and we must awaken it and unleash it until next time. Bye for now.