We were lucky to catch up with Gigi Santiago recently and have shared our conversation below.
Gigi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you recount a time when the advice you provided to a client was really spot on? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)
I help my clients with their mindset and to realize why they think the way they do to create a change from the inside out. I had a client who was really good at what he did but was not able to get ahead even though he worked very hard for the mild success he had. But he was stressed as well. We went through a process that revealed that he had been taught by his parents’ action and their words that to make ends meet you have to work hard, which is a concept, many struggle with. My advice to him was to sit with the example gave him and see if it was relevant to his life NOW. Upon reflection, he saw that working harder was not what he wanted to do nor the example he wanted to set for his children. I invited him to dream bigger to realize the dreams he had created in him mind for himself and his family. Within six months, he surpassed what his goals a year and grew his company to double the income he had set.
Gigi, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I began this walk very early in life. I was raised to question everything and search for answers that satisfy my curiosity. I was always the person who people came up to and asked advice. Being inquisitive, I wanted to learn more about how people came to think as they do. What formed them? Why do others succeed while others fail? I began to learn about limiting beliefs, self-sabotage, etc. I observed what people say to see if it matched their actions. As I sat with more and more clients, I noticed I was intuitive and empathetic, sensing people’s struggles with self-worth and balance in their lives. In my studies, I am trained in Spiritual Direction, Mindfulness Master Practitioner and became a Certified NLP Practitioner and Elife Life Coach. helping people see the connectedness in their lives of “mind, body, and spirit” as they create balance in their lives. I help people gain clarity in what they really desire. I help over-whelmed entrepreneurs create practices of work-life balance to live the life they have dreamed of. I help them overcome limiting beliefs imprinted as a child so that they can create the success they crave.
I am proud of the success of my clients. Many come to me thinking they are stuck in where they are at, together we overcome those beliefs and they have achieved success beyond what their thoughts. I’m most proud that my really successful clients have learned to self-coach, continuing to use the practices I taught them.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
As someone who everyone came to for advice, I observed them to see if what they did was the same as what they said. Learning from my own experience that our internal language may be outdated and not relevant to who we say we are today. I was a Spiritual Director and noticed that people who wanted an experience of “God” talked about their daily lives as if they were separate. I felt I needed better listening skills to be able to help them connect on all levels of their being, mind, body, spirit. I fell into coaching because I felt a calling to help people achieve their goals in life and I’ve become fascinated in what I have discovered about how our brains work. We can change how we think and how we think of ourselves. I love helping people discover who they are meant to be. I’d never heard the term Life Coaching before 2013. I began to research and learn more about it and found a certification program which complimented my training in spiritual direction. Although I had been coaching my whole life, I officially began to coach in 2016. I am tenacious in my desire to understand people more. My resilience comes from my mission to empower entrepreneurs to take control of their lives by creating healthy habit and boundaries. In this way, they can create the success they crave without the guilt of giving too much time to business or family.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
As the only girl in a family of five children, I watched the women in my family provide for everyone around them. I noticed that the women in my world worked really hard and never acknowledged for their efforts. I began to question why things were done the way they were. Being inquisitive, I wanted to find ways to make life easier for my mother and grandmother. I learned that I did not have to give in to the stereotypes or expectations that society or culture were placing on me. This is when I realized that there was more to what I knew and grew up in. In my questioning of how people create beliefs, I came across Mindfulness and Neuro-linguist Programing; these techniques are excellent ways to become self-aware of learned behaviors and thought-processes that can be changed. I unlearned who I was supposed to be to embrace who I was created to be.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.optimalmindsetllc.com
- Instagram: @gigisantiagocom
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GigiSantiagocomCOM
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gigisantiago/
- Twitter: @gigisantiagocom
Image Credits
head shot by Joey Genoviese logo by Armen Silverbach