Episode Overview

Podcast: Your Daily Real Estate Podcast with Tristan Ahumada
Host: Tristan Ahumada
Episode: 802 – Your "Narrator" is Lying: Stop Self-Sabotaging Your Business
Date: February 9, 2026

In this episode, Tristan Ahumada shares a powerful mindset shift for real estate professionals: the internal “narrator” that shapes your self-perception and limits your business growth is often lying to you. Drawing on his decades of experience, Tristan outlines how repetitive self-doubt and negative self-talk reinforce limiting beliefs—and, more importantly, how to break free and write a new, empowering story for yourself and your business.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Internal Narrator and Self-Sabotage

• Opening Reflection: Tristan asks listeners to notice their first thoughts in the morning, highlighting common self-defeating narratives such as, “I’m just not built for this,” or “I’m so behind.”
• Personal Experience: Drawing from 22 years in real estate, Tristan asserts,

  “The story you tell yourself—that’s the life you live every single day.” (00:29)

• Origins of Limiting Narratives:
  • Many negative beliefs are not self-authored; they start as comments or judgments from parents, colleagues, or brokers, repeated until they “feel like a truth.”

2. How Limiting Stories Reinforce Themselves

• The Cycle of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy:
  • If you believe, “I’m bad at prospecting,” you’ll avoid key actions, then use your lack of results as “evidence” to reinforce the story.
• Tristan’s Insight:

  “You built a ceiling for yourself and you can’t even see it because you’re the one who put it there.” (02:07)

3. Four Steps to Rewriting Your Narrative

Step 1 – Catch the Story in Action

• Awareness Practice:
  • Write down limiting self-talk; look for phrases like “I never get the listing,” or, most dangerously, “That’s just how I am.”

“That’s just how I am. That’s the most dangerous sentence in the English language because it closes the door on growth.” (03:02)

Step 2 – Question the Story

• Critical Thinking:
  • Ask: “Is this true, or is it just familiar?”
  • Examine who benefits from you holding on to this limiting belief—it often serves to keep you “safe” from discomfort but also keeps you stuck.
  • Example: Saying “I’m not good at video” protects from criticism, but limits growth.

Step 3 – Rewrite with Intention

• Reframe Past & Present:
  • Move old limitations to the past tense: “I used to struggle with consistency.”
  • Speak your new self in the present:

    “I’m becoming someone who has hard conversations with confidence.” (05:05)

  • You don’t have to be fully transformed:

    “You just have to be becoming. That’s it.” (05:32)

Step 4 – Stack Evidence for the New Story

• Action-Based Proof:
  • Every small step or aligned action is “a vote for the person you’re becoming.”
  • Example: Making one call, recording one video, following up with one client.

“Tracking builds consistency and it compounds. Stack those wins.” (06:12)

• Self-reflection practices: End each day asking, “How did I show up as the person I’m becoming?” Write it down or record it for added reinforcement.

4. The Power of Repetition

• Repetition Created the Old Story:
  • The host invites listeners to realize that repetition—not conscious design—created their current story, and so repetition can create the new narrative.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Your Internal Story:

  “We all have this narrator in our head. And that narrator has been running the same script for years, maybe decades.” (01:05)

• The Most Dangerous Belief:

  “That’s just how I am. That’s the most dangerous sentence in the English language because it closes the door on growth.” (03:02)

• On Growth:

  “The story keeps you safe, but it also keeps you stuck. And I don’t want that for you.” (04:12)

• Encouragement to Listeners:

  “You’re not who you were yesterday. You’re not locked into some version of yourself that was written by someone completely out there, someone else years ago. You’re who you decide to be today, right now.” (07:01)

Important Timestamps

• 00:00 – 00:55: Morning self-talk and the hidden scripts we live by
• 01:05 – 01:50: Origins of internal narratives and their reinforcement
• 02:07 – 03:12: The self-fulfilling prophecy and building your own limits
• 03:12 – 04:30: Step 1: Catching and recording limiting beliefs
• 04:31 – 05:32: Step 2 & 3: Questioning and rewriting your story
• 05:33 – 06:45: Step 4: Stacking evidence and practical tips for consistency
• 07:01 – 07:38: Final mindset reframe and encouragement

Summary & Takeaways

Tristan Ahumada urges real estate professionals to become conscious of—and challenge—their self-defeating internal monologues. He provides a practical four-step process: catch the story, question it, rewrite with intention, and actively collect evidence for your new narrative. Throughout, Tristan emphasizes that true change is possible for anyone willing to challenge the “narrator” in their head and author a better, more empowering story for themselves and their business.

Closing Call to Action:

“I need you to tell a better story.” (07:35)

For agents, teams, and brokers alike, this episode is a concise, motivating masterclass in self-leadership and personal growth—offering simple, actionable steps to overcome self-imposed ceilings and accelerate business and personal success.