The Life Coach School Podcast with Brooke Castillo

Episode #538: Weekly 2
Release Date: October 16, 2025

Episode Overview

In this follow-up to "Weekly Part One," Master Coach Brooke Castillo delves deep into the core principles behind her new recurring program, The Weekly, focusing on how coaching can reduce unnecessary suffering, transform self-concept, and enable individuals to achieve “impossible” goals by managing their own minds. The episode explores the motivational triad, the self-coaching model, the difference between clean and dirty pain, and Brooke’s personal journey using these tools to exceed extraordinary goals.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Nature of Suffering and Coaching’s Purpose

• Unnecessary Suffering:

  • Many people experience an extra layer of suffering that is optional and self-created.

    “The first overall concept that people who have coaching understand differently from people who don't is how optional unnecessary suffering is.” (01:07)

  • Coaching’s main goal: Help people reduce this unnecessary suffering through consciousness and mental management.

• Consciousness as Both the Problem and Solution:

  • Consciousness is what creates both suffering and joy.
  • Our brains are evolutionarily wired for survival, leading to a bias toward scanning for danger and negative experiences.

The Motivational Triad (07:08)

• Components:
  1. Seek Pleasure
  2. Avoid Pain
  3. Conserve Energy
• Modern Implications:
  • In today’s world, yielding entirely to the motivational triad traps people in cycles of misery and mediocrity.
  • To truly thrive, we must intentionally challenge this triad by embracing discomfort in service of meaningful goals.

“I suggest that what we do in a very thoughtful and very calculated way is the opposite of the motivational triad. We actually seek out pain in ways that will help us achieve our goals…” (09:45)

The False vs. True Pleasure Distinction (11:01)

• False Pleasures:
  • Created and perpetuated by consumer culture.
  • Dopamine highs with no real fulfillment (e.g., overeating, overdrinking, scrolling, shopping).
• True Pleasures:
  • Result from authenticity, growth, and meaningful effort.

The Self-Coaching Model

(13:20) Structure:

1. Circumstances: Out of your control—other people, weather, politics.
2. Thoughts: 100% within your power to choose intentionally.
3. Feelings: Bodily vibrations created by thoughts (balance of positive and negative).
4. Actions: Behaviors stemming from feelings.
5. Results: Outcomes produced by actions.

• Implication:
  • Mastery of this model enables reduction of suffering and achievement of big goals.
  • Exposure to bigger possibilities expands the scope of dreams and ambitions.

“And if you understand those five things and you understand how they all work together, you will have a key to reduce suffering. You'll have a key to achieve your goals.” (15:58)

Dreaming Bigger & The Pain of Expansion (18:09)

• Exposure Expands Desire:

  • You only dream as big as what you’ve been exposed to.
  • Coaching aims to expand what clients believe is possible.

• Why Big Dreams Hurt:

  • Claiming an “impossible” goal triggers the primitive brain’s fear response.
  • Tendencies arise to shrink back and stay small to avoid discomfort.

“The minute they [people] do [dream big], they experience pain. … Your motivational triad … is going to fire up and it's going to say this is a terrible idea, go back in the cave.” (19:06)

Questioning Thoughts and Reprogramming the Mind (24:20)

• Most People's Thoughts Are Unquestioned:
  • Default thinking comes from early programming and survival instincts.
  • Many view their thoughts as merely “the truth” or observations of reality.

“If you never questioned your own brain, you're actually going to think that your thoughts are just observations of reality.” (26:16)

• The Power of Deliberate Thought Selection:
  • Changing thoughts leads to new feelings, actions, and ultimately, new results.
  • Coaching helps people bring subconscious thoughts to awareness and choose more useful ones.

Practical Application: Example of “I’m Not Good at That” (28:03)

• The Cycle:
  • Self-limiting thought → feeling incapable → no effort → unchanged result → proof of original thought.
• Coach’s Role:
  • Point out unhelpful thoughts and help clients practice new ways of thinking, leading to positive change.

Clean Pain vs. Dirty Pain (37:11)

• Clean Pain:
  • Healthy, necessary pain from genuine loss or challenge.
• Dirty Pain:
  • Suffering from self-judgment, rumination, or self-inflicted beliefs about worth and ability.

“It's necessary … but it also showed me that there's a lot of what they call dirty pain that we don't want to be in pain over. …That's unnecessary pain.” (37:54)

The Power of Weekly Repetition (39:52)

• Transformation Through Repetition:
  • Weekly exposure to new thoughts and coaching accelerates the adoption of healthier, more empowering beliefs and actions.
  • Negative thinking feels increasingly uncomfortable—and avoidable—over time.

Brooke’s “Impossible Goal” Example (42:31)

• The $1 Million, $10 Million, $100 Million Journey:
  • Used her own self-coaching model to achieve what once seemed impossible, starting with a $1M goal and ultimately surpassing $200M.
  • Emphasizes measurable goals (like money) to demonstrate the model’s power.

“When I first made this goal, I didn't believe it at all. I thought it was impossible. …I put that in the result line. I didn't believe it and I started to apply this work to myself…And as you've probably guessed, once I made $10 million with a model, I blew my own mind.” (45:30–48:30)

• Biggest Lesson:
  • The transformation lies in the evolving identity, beliefs, and capacity, not just the result.

“It changed my self concept, it changed my view of the world. It changed what I believe. It changed what was possible for me. My capacity, my capability. I believe so much in myself, and I demonstrated it to all my students...” (51:01)

• Strategic Byproducts:
  • Achieving impossible goals confers growth in self-trust, discipline, courage, and the ability to embrace discomfort for higher aims.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On unnecessary suffering:

  “That’s my goal, is to help people, humans, reduce unnecessary suffering by using the tools of life coaching.” (02:09)

• On the motivational triad’s modern dilemma:

  “Except that when you live a life like that, especially when you're able to live a life like that because of modern day conveniences, you actually create a cycle of misery.” (09:25)

• On questioning your own thoughts:

  “If you never questioned your own brain, you're actually going to think that your thoughts are just observations of reality.” (26:16)

• On results and self-concept:

  “What it did do is it changed my identity, it changed my self concept, it changed my view of the world. …My capacity, my capability. I believe so much in myself, and I demonstrated it to all my students...” (51:01)

• On the true gift of coaching:

  “I don't just know how to teach it and coach it. I've lived it. I demonstrate it. There's a lot of people out there who want to teach you something they have never done.” (54:43)

Essential Timestamps for Major Segments

• Introduction/Recap: 00:00–01:00
• Unnecessary Suffering and Coaching’s Role: 01:07–05:50
• Motivational Triad Explained: 07:08–12:00
• True vs. False Pleasure: 11:01–13:00
• The Self-Coaching Model: 13:20–17:45
• Dreams, Exposure, and Pain of Expansion: 18:09–22:09
• Reprogramming Thoughts: 24:20–27:35
• Example: “I’m Not Good at That”: 28:03–31:10
• Practicing New Thoughts, Weekly Support: 31:15–39:50
• Clean Pain vs. Dirty Pain: 37:11–39:47
• The Impact of Repetition: 39:52–42:15
• Brooke’s Impossible Goal Journey: 42:31–56:00
• Invitation to The Weekly: 56:00–End

Conclusion

Brooke Castillo uses this episode to inspire listeners to disrupt habitual negative thinking, embrace bigger ambitions, and understand the practical tools behind massive transformation. Through her relatable breakdown of brain science, the self-coaching model, and her own life examples, she asserts that true freedom, personal power, and the achievement of impossible goals are possible for anyone—especially with supportive, ongoing weekly coaching.

To continue learning and practicing these concepts, Brooke invites listeners to join her new program, The Weekly, starting January 2026.