Climbing The Right Mountain: The Journey To An Inspired Life With Tony Martignetti

In a life that is often filled with unnecessary things, how can we create space for the most important things for us? Dolores Hirschmann talks with Tony Martignetti, the CEO of Inspired Purpose Coaching and the author of Climbing The Right Mountain: Navigating the Journey to An Inspired Life, about filling your days with things that would serve you and make you proud so that you could create the future you desire. Tony shares valuable insights about having the courage to create hard but meaningful conversations to understand ourselves more and be better. Tune in to this episode and delve into finding the right path and setting the course for a life of fulfillment you deserve.

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Climbing The Right Mountain: The Journey To An Inspired Life With Tony Martignetti

I am so excited to bring Tony as a guest. I’ve known Tony for a few years. I love his message about climbing the right mountain. Tony Martignetti is the Chief Inspiration Officer of Inspired Purpose Coaching, where he brings together practical experiences, formal training, and extreme curiosity to elevate leaders and equip them with the tools to navigate through change and unlock their true potential. I’m curious to ask Tony because I know a little bit about his story. I’ve known him for a few years. One of the things I know is that one day he found himself at the top of the wrong mountain. I want to ask him, what does it mean? What does that look like? The most important question is, how do you recover from that? I know the work that he’s doing now is impacting millions of people through the leaders that he’s guiding. I know he himself, as a fast-growing professional leader, has had to go back to basics and explore what he wanted to rebuild his career in the right path, climbing the right mountain. Make time, take notes and read my conversation with Tony. You’re going to love it.

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I’m so excited, Tony, to deep dive into this conversation. Let’s get started. Tell me your clouded journey or your confusion journey. What got you here? I know clarity is what we seek, and it’s not always what we get.

It’s funny that you say that because it started with my trials and tribulations through my journey in the corporate world. I learned a lot about the world through my emotional experience of being this ambitious leader. I was very driven and eventually, I experienced depression and burnout. I can smile now about it, but the reality is there were some dark days that I went through. What I found was as I was in those dark periods, I found my way out. I slowly but surely realize what my purpose was through that period of finding ways to cope with that darkness.

Step away from all negativity and create space for the things that are going to serve you.

Let me pause you there because there’s a little detail there. In many of these conversations, you go through the hero’s journey. I went through darkness and I came out, and then we’re going to tell a great story of what’s happening now that you’re in the light. For that person reading this right now, who’s in the dark, all they need to know, they don’t want to know the end of the story yet. What they know is what is that minute, that thing, it could be a book, a person, a moment that shifted from full darkness to gray. I don’t believe that you went from dark to light. You went to gray like a cloudy day.

I’m glad you say that because it’s so true. When you’re in that dark place, what you need is one glimmer of hope. You’ve got to hold onto hope. Part of it is realizing that giving up is the easy way out in some ways. I don’t mean to say that to diminish the feeling of what that looks like, but I had hope. I said, “I’m going to what I need for my family. I need to provide for them. I need to be there for my son. I want to see what he’s going to turn out to be and how he can thrive in this world. Holding onto the hope of what’s possible for him was what got me out of that moment of darkness.

I started to see what I need. What’s one small step I needed to take to move out of this place of real struggle? The first step was I started looking at gurus and the self-help books and reading tons of books about what life means? The answers weren’t all there. It was just a starting point. Meditation was another thing I started to do a lot of. At first, I was a naysayer. I was like, “Meditation is not going to solve my problems,” but I found that every little bit helped. It still wasn’t completely clear, but it helped.

 

Let me break it down because I think, Tony, of anything we can talk about, and there’s a lot we’re going to go deep into, I have chills in this because every speaking moment, people are sharing the joy of being on top of the mountain. I’m using that intentionally. There was a little shift that you went from looking into looking around. You went from looking into how you were in your darkness to looking around at your son and allowed curiosity to come in. The curiosity was very clear. I want to know how this boy turns out. I want to know what my baby boy turns into. What I understood is that was what began the shift. You didn’t want to not know what you had created.

I love that you bring that up because there’s this element of shifting my focus from the being on the inside and struggling with that inner turmoil to shifting outside and seeing what’s on the outside that is lighting me up, that’s providing that environment that could create a positive influence for me. What could I be curious and learn about the outside world that could bring something back into me that would help me to shift?

I love your story of you were very clear what you wanted and to realize that wasn’t what you wanted. You were clear you wanted to do to hike that tall mountain of success, get that title, get that promotion, that paycheck, that bonus, only to find when you had all of that, you were looking down at the wrong mountain. Let’s talk about a mountain. What does that mean to you?

It’s always a good time to reconnect and have those conversations that have been missing in your life.

Obviously, it means a lot to me because I, first of all, love mountains. I always have been an adventure seeker throughout my life. I’ve enjoyed climbing mountains throughout my entire life. One of the things that I have experienced is climbing the corporate life that I had was constantly struggling to get to that place where I could feel like I was on top. What I realized is when I got to this place of feeling like I had all those external feelings of reward, I didn’t feel good inside. I didn’t feel like I had accomplished what I wanted internally. That’s where that darkness came from is this feeling of like, “Yeah, I don’t feel like who I’m supposed to be.” Even though externally, I might be seen as a success or as someone who’s accomplished a lot of great things, ultimately, I felt empty.

Fast forward many years, what does the mountain mean in your work now? I know there’s something exciting that happened. Can we talk about it?

First of all, in terms of the mountain itself, what I learned is that it’s how you climb and how you set the path for what you want ultimately in life that changes who you become. That’s important. The big news is that here we are and I have this amazing news to announce. I launched my book called Climbing the Right Mountain: Navigating the Journey to An Inspired Life, which I’m excited about. This has been a year in the making. It’s been a powerful catalyst for me to understanding the story that I had inside of me about my own journey, but I also wanted to share it so that people can understand their own way to navigate their path and see that there’s a different way to look at it. That’s what is important for me when I think about the mountain.

 

Let’s talk about this climbing the mountain and let’s now shift to your work. Your book says a lot about it, and anybody reading this, you should check it out, Tony Martignetti in Amazon, Climbing the Right Mountain. It is focused on the problem that we’re facing as a society now. It’s this hunger and drive of going for more, only to find yourself at the top of a mountain. You never wanted to climb because where you found yourself in your mountain back then when you were in darkness, Tony, you found yourself at the top of loneliness mountain, the “I’m not a healthy mountain.” You also found yourself on top of, “I’m making a lot of money mountain with a lot of responsibility, but I’m not sleeping” mountain. Talk to me about how you guide leaders. It’s not about changing the world outside of you because it’s easy to quit the job or divorce your partner, but you’re going to perpetuate the problem if you don’t do the self-exploration of being your own guide through your right mountain. Talk to us about the work you do helping leaders.

I love that you say that there’s an inner landscape that needs to be reshaped before a leader can create the life that they want. I often talk about it being how your being and who do you want to be, but the reality is it’s important to understand who do I want to be in the world? Not, What title do I want to have? We talk about these external markers of success, being the CEO or the owner of a company, that’s all fine and great. It’s not about cutting those ambitions down. It’s doing it for the right reasons and setting a course of who you want to be first before you start to set up those markers of the title and all the things that come along with that. Those things will come, but only when you set the course on who you want to be.

Let’s talk very specifically because here’s what I want. I want anyone reading this to clearly understand if you can help them. What are people experiencing before they pick up the phone and schedule a consultation with you?

Giving up is the easy way out in some ways.

A lot of people coming to me are coming from a place of being accomplished. Sometimes they don’t know how accomplished they are. They’re living in this life that they’ve built themselves and discount their accomplishments. They show up and they feel like, “Life’s not what I expected. I feel a little bit stuck. I don’t know what to do next or how to create that next move for me that’s going to create a more fulfilling life for me. I want to create a more meaningful impact. Ultimately, I need someone to help me see more clearly.” One of the things that I often hear them say is I don’t know if it’s, “I need to do something in order to leave my job, or if it’s something where I need to think differently about my job,” and what I’ll do is I’ll get them to think differently by stepping away.

I often use the analogy of expanding your vision, narrow your focus because we’re all looking at this pattern that we’ve been stuck in. We’re looking at this wall, and we need to step away and look at it like, “What else is possible for me? What am I missing in my day-to-day life?” These past few years, we’ve been stuck in this rinse, wash and repeat. That’s the pattern I’m in. I need to step away and see what else is possible for me. When I do see the options available to me, I then need to get clarity on narrowing that focus and seeing what I can execute to create that next action that’s going to move me into the place where I need to be.

That person coming in and saying, “There’s nothing wrong in my life, but I’m empty.” Everything’s all I ever wanted but I’m bored. Most clients or prospect clients can’t even acknowledge that they’re bored. If you look at their calendar and their schedule, they don’t have time to be bored. This idea of bored means that you are not busy, but you can be bored and busy.

 

Bored and busy is a big conundrum. It’s something that is more common than people think. It’s so easy to fill your calendar with things that don’t serve you. You feel as though, “Where did my week go? What did I do this past week that lit me up and moved me towards a goal that is meaningful to me?” That’s where you start to get into that rut, pattern that is not serving you. Stepping away from that pattern is what’s important and saying, “What about last week am I proud of? What about next week am I excited about?” If you can’t answer those questions with a good, clear answer, then you may be in a place where you need to start thinking differently about the work you’re doing.

Let’s say that I’m feeling that. I come to you and hop on a free consultation. Before that, I get your book. One of the things we do at Masters In Clarity is I share my book with anybody that’s coming in for a consultation. I mail it as a gift. They come into a consultation knowing about our work. Let’s say that I’ve got a gift of your book, and I’m hopping on a consultation with you and I’m sharing how I’m bored, which doesn’t make any sense. If you look at my calendar, I don’t even have time to brush my teeth. You say, “We’re going to work together.” I say, “I have no time to work with you because if you look at my calendar, you would throw up.” How do you help me if I can barely make time to hop on a consultation with you?

There are many people who feel that way. Ultimately, it comes down to what is important? What are the priorities in your life? How can you create space for the things that are most meaningful to you? If you’re not able to make space for things that are going to create more meaning in your life and if that means working with a coach, other people who are going to help you to move and amplify your impact forward, then you’ve got bigger problems that you might need to be dealing with. Those priorities are so important to make clear. One of the first steps you’ve got to do is question yourself, “Is my calendar and the way it’s designed serving me? How can I step away from all of that and create space for the things that are going to serve me?”

Discover things that are meant for you, those things you haven’t taken the time to look at because you’re busy living your life.

I say, “Yes, I’m going to make time in my calendar for the things that are going to serve me.” What happens next in our journey of working with Tony?

What we’ll do is we’ll spend time understanding what it is that you value. What are the things that you have accomplished in the past? You start to play with time. I think of myself as one of these time-traveling anthropologists. I want to understand people, but I want to understand it from the perspective of where you’re coming from, where you are going to, and then what can you do right now to take action to move towards that future you want to create? It starts by looking backward, taking an inventory of all the things that you’ve created in the past to know fully who’s showing up at the door. That’s not just about me discovering it for you, but it’s you discovering it for you. You haven’t taken the time to look at because you’re living your life.

Let’s talk about what you are most proud of. You’ve accomplished so much since that day at the top of the dark mountain.

 

If I were to say the things that I’m most proud of, first of all, being able to have a family that I love and be able to support them and create a life that we can create together. I’m very proud of that. I’m proud of the fact that I was able to move past my darkest moment and move out of that dark moment into a place where I could see the light. You asked for one moment, but I’ll say a couple of moments. I’m proud I took the leap into creating a business that serves people, sees people in a way that can help them to uncover what’s truly hiding and to amplify their impact in a way that helps them to create a life that’s meaningful for them.

Looking forward, what are you most excited about in 2022?

First of all, I’m excited about the book being out. I’m looking forward to hearing what it does for people. I’m looking forward to hearing back from the people who read it, hearing what people think and then seeing what dialogue it opens up from there. I’m also looking forward to starting my next book. That’s the next thing I’m on to. My next book will be something called Campfire Lessons. It’s going to be coming from all the lessons I’ve learned through the work I’ve done with my podcast, which is called The Virtual Campfire. The last thing I’ll mention is that I’m excited about creating group programs to bring together different leaders from different industries to create an opportunity for them to amplify their impact together. It’s so powerful when you bring people together who are up to big things in the world, and you create a space for them to connect and help them raise their boats together.

It’s June 16th, 2030. What are you celebrating? What impact are you having?

I’m celebrating being here and able to say that I’ve survived my darkest days to this point. I’m celebrating the fact that I’ve been able to work with amazing people. Even if it was the slightest impact on their lives, that to me is what I’m celebrating is being able to be a part of their lives. I think that’s something that fuels me every day. My inspiration is being inspired by the people who inspire me.

First of all, a question that we ask all our readers, what is one book? I know we must not miss Climbing The Right Mountain, but short of that book, what is one book we should all tap into or resource or podcast series?

By far, this is one I’ve mentioned maybe 1,000 times is The Art of Possibility by Benjamin and Rosamund Zander. It’s a book that I read because I met Benjamin Zander. He spoke at a group I was with. He was a fascinating character, full of life and interesting stories. The book itself is one that inspired me to think there are so many ways to look at life. If you change the way you look at the world, you can create so many new possibilities. I can’t nearly summarize all of the great insights in the book because he gives you tools and different ways to think about how to create those possibilities. One of them is that how he looks at giving everyone an A. You start with an A and allow people to come from that place of having an A from the beginning and then allow them to build up to that A. It’s amazing.

I love that because basically every person that comes to your world, you receive them from a place of this human being is amazing, which for many of us who’ve been hurt, however old you are, you could be fifteen, it’s probably easy to say that you’ve been disappointed by at least one person. It’s a human experience. I am definitely going to pick it up. This idea of it doesn’t matter what filters we have, allowing people to walk in with an A, and be vulnerable to the opportunity of an amazing human being. It sets the relationship up for success.

It’s been something that I didn’t notice about myself. This is what I do in my work is that I didn’t know this about myself, but I realized after digging into my own understanding of who I am is that I see the beauty in people that they don’t see in themselves. I think when you start with that feeling of, “You’ve got a beauty. Let’s uncover that. Let’s see what it is.” Don’t see your flaws as something that you should hide. Maybe those flaws are something that are meant to be there. There’s a reason for it.

Mr. Tony, where can people find you?

The best place to find me is my website, InspiredPurposeCoach.com. If you go there, you’ll find all types of fun stuff. The other place you can find me is on LinkedIn. It’s probably the best social media spot for me. Other than that, I’m everywhere.

You should check out his podcast, Virtual Campfire. It’s very well done. You’ve been at it for a while. You’ve recorded a lot of episodes. It’s a whole vault of amazing conversations in there. Any parting words, Tony, that you want to share with our audience?

It’s always a good time to reconnect and have those conversations that have been missing in your life. One of my key taglines is that inspiration comes through honest conversation, and I’ll even take it one step further. Inspiration comes from courageous conversations too. Those conversations you’re nervous to have, find the courage because it’s worth it.

Thank you, Tony, for joining us.

Thank you.

Important Links:

• Tony Martignetti – LinkedIn
• Tony Martignetti – Twitter
• Tony Martignetti – Facebook
• Tony Martignetti – Instagram
• Tony Martignetti – Linktree
• Inspired Purpose Coaching
• Climbing the Right Mountain: Navigating the Journey to An Inspired Life
• The Virtual Campfire Podcast
• The Art of Possibility

About Tony Martignetti

Tony is the Chief Inspiration Officer of Inspired Purpose Coaching where he brings together practical experience, formal training, and extreme curiosity, to elevate leaders and equip them with the tools to navigate through change and unlock their true potential.

Before becoming a leadership development advisor, he was a finance and strategy executive with experience working with some of the world’s leading life sciences companies. Along his journey, he also managed small businesses and ran a financial consulting company.

Tony is the host of The Virtual Campfire podcast and the author of, “Climbing the Right Mountain: Navigating the Journey to An Inspired Life.”