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🚘 The Shelby, the Stronghold, and the Story You’re Still Telling Yourself

How to shake the dust off your purpose and finally believe you’re built for more.

Author

Adam Kifer
September 02, 2025

Hello, kickers!

đŸ”„ The Kick is Here: Power Up, Strip Back, and Build What Lasts

This week’s issue is about potential you’ve buried, beliefs you didn’t realize were running the show, and the choice to stop operating like the parked version of yourself. We’re pulling you out of the garage, dusting you off, and reminding you what you were built for.

Inside the main article, we’re talking about strongholds, sabotage, and self-worth—and why most people don’t break through because they’re too busy trying to prove themselves instead of becoming who they’re called to be. It’s personal. It’s uncomfortable. And it’s exactly what most leaders need to hear.

You’ll also get a look at the Breakthrough Advertising rebrand (formerly Relentless), a win from Matt Rosalez that proves smart campaigns scale fast, the newest episode of Having It All (Episode 3 just dropped), and a book that flips your entire calendar strategy on its head—The 12 Week Year.

If you’ve been stuck, slow, or second-guessing
 this issue is your reminder that clarity is a decision—and momentum is a habit.

Let’s get to work.

📍 Scottsdale Is the Room. Are You In It?

November 7–8, 2025 | Scottsdale, AZ

You don’t need another seminar.
You need a room that challenges you, sharpens you, and hands you the systems you’ve been trying to duct tape together for years.

That’s IMPAKT Mastermind Live – Scottsdale.
Two days of real strategy, real leadership, and real momentum—delivered by people who actually build businesses.

🗓 November 7–8, 2025

📍 Scottsdale Marriott at McDowell Mountains
16770 N Perimeter Dr, Scottsdale, AZ 85260
🏹 Book Your Hotel

  • Doug Payne – Founder & CEO of OHM Fitness, a franchise built on EMS technology and smart scalability

  • Brian Bogert – Human behavior expert & performance coach helping leaders break patterns and unlock long-term growth

  • Mike Arce – Founder & CEO of Loud Rumor, the #1 marketing agency for fitness studios ready to scale

  • Brady Edwards – Former MrBeast creative producer, now founder of The Biggest Agency—master of content that commands attention

  • + More announced soon

🎟 Secure Your Ticket – $1497 includes:
✅ Two full days of workshops, strategy, and implementation
✅ One FREE month of CORE OS
✅ Access to the tools, playbooks, and frameworks you’ll actually use the minute you get home

🚹 New to IMPAKT?
Reach out to Nicole on Circle or email [email protected] for a special code to save $1000 off your ticket.

No fluff. No theory. Just next-level operators building bold businesses—with zero excuses.

The room is set. The momentum is real.
Now it’s your move.

🚘 The Shelby, the Stronghold, and the Story You’re Still Telling Yourself

How to shake the dust off your purpose and finally believe you’re built for more.

Let’s paint a picture.
You just bought a brand-new Shelby Mustang GT500.
760 horsepower. Built for power. Built for speed. Built to dominate.

You drive it into your garage.
And then you leave it there.

One year passes. Then two.
Dust collects. The tires deflate. The engine sits untouched.

Is it still powerful?
Technically—yes.
But it hasn’t done anything powerful.

Its design didn’t change. Its purpose didn’t change.
It just got buried under dust and disuse.

Now flip the metaphor: That’s you.

You were built with purpose.
You were designed for impact.
But if you’ve been sitting in the garage too long, it’s easy to forget what you’re capable of.

So today, we’re pulling you out of park.
But first—we need to talk about what’s keeping you parked.

🔒 The Strongest Lock on Your Potential: Belief

In 1962, Japanese researchers tested a group of kids who were allergic to poison ivy.

They rubbed poison ivy on one arm—but told them it was harmless.
They rubbed a harmless leaf on the other arm—but told them it was poison ivy.

Here’s what happened:
✅ Only 15% reacted to the actual poison ivy
❌ 100% broke out from the harmless leaf

Their bodies didn’t react to facts—they reacted to beliefs.

Just like you.

If you believe you’re not a leader

If you believe you’re not built for abundance

If you believe success isn’t for you

Your body, your habits, and your emotions will behave accordingly.

🧠 â€œWhat’s true for you isn’t always the truth.”

đŸ§± Understanding Strongholds

A stronghold is a thought you’ve rehearsed so many times, it built a fortress in your mind.

It sounds like truth.
It feels like reality.
But it’s just repetition.

And here’s how you usually spot it:
It’s in the area you’re constantly trying to prove something.

Feel unworthy? You’re always trying to earn love.
Feel incompetent? You’re always trying to prove your value.
Feel behind? You keep chasing “more” with no finish line in sight.

Strongholds keep you on a treadmill of proving instead of becoming.

🔄 Break the Pattern

Think back to middle school.
There was a brand, a pair of shoes, a trend you had to have to feel included.

That wasn’t about fashion. That was about validation.
And many of us never stopped running that play—we just got more sophisticated with how we cover it up.

Here’s the truth:

🧠 â€œYou don’t attract what you want—you attract what you feel worthy to keep.”

You might hit your revenue goal.
You might sign the clients.
But if you don’t feel worthy, you’ll find a way to sabotage it.

Because the stronghold wants to survive more than it wants you to grow.

✍ The 3 Proofs Exercise

Here’s your next move:

  1. Name the area where you feel inadequate or unworthy.

  2. Write down 3 proofs that challenge the lie.

    • Feel like a bad leader? List 3 times you led well.

    • Feel stuck financially? List 3 times you managed money wisely.

    • Feel like a failure? List 3 wins you dismissed too quickly.

This rewires your brain.
It gives your nervous system evidence that the stronghold is lying.

🧠 â€œStrongholds are destroyed by replacing the lie with evidence of the truth.”

🔊 Rewiring Through Declaration & Imagination

Your brain doesn’t just respond to logic—it responds to emotionally charged repetition.

You’ve already seen this in action:
Someone offends you and you reimagine the moment 10 times until you’ve built a story about how terrible they are.

Now flip the script.

Use that same power to imagine your purpose.

Try this:

Close your eyes and answer:
What is the thing I was created to do?

Now imagine yourself doing it at the highest level—impacting more people than you ever thought possible.
Feel the emotions. Let them land.

This is how you prep your mind for the next step:

Create your declaration:

Use this framework:
âžĄïž “I am [identity], created to [purpose].”
Example: “I am a leader of leaders, created to build bold, purpose-driven organizations.”

Say it every day for 60 days.
This isn’t hype. This is retraining your nervous system to believe the truth.

Final Word:

You live in the reality you accept.
But you also have the power to create the one you desire.

So ask yourself:

🔄 What do I need to receive more of?
🛑 What do I need to reject that no longer serves me?
đŸ‘„ Who do I need to stop giving access to my energy?

🧠 â€œStrategic leadership starts in your mind.
It’s not just what you build—it’s what you believe.”

The Shelby still has 760 horsepower.
So do you.
Time to dust it off and put it back on the road.

Let’s go.

🎙 New Podcast Drop: Having It All with Kelly Murray & Nicole Stratychuk

Leadership. Motherhood. Business. Real talk—no filters.

Real talk for women balancing leadership, motherhood, marriage & momentum.

Most content about “balance” is surface-level, over-polished, and disconnected from what women in business actually live every day.

That’s why Having It All exists.

Hosted by Kelly Murray and Nicole Stratychuk, this podcast is for the women who are doing it all—and refusing to apologize for it.

From running businesses and raising families to managing teams and managing energy, Having It All brings raw, real conversations to the table.

🎧 Episode 3 is live now:

💬 Inside:

  • The tension between building big and being present

  • What it really takes to manage mindset in the middle of the mess

  • The conversations women don’t always get to have—but absolutely need to

Subscribe. Share it. Send it to a woman in your life who’s doing hard things with her whole heart.

Because you can have it all—you just have to redefine what that actually means.

đŸ”„ What’s Kickin’ on Social

The Kick’s pick of the hottest headlines in social this week:

This week’s scroll wasn’t fluff—it was fuel.
From quiet billionaire habits to bold reminders about confidence, community, and what actually matters
 here’s what stopped us:

Kim Perell
Doing hard things isn’t easy—but your belief has to be louder than their doubt.
“If you have a dream, don’t let anyone else write your story.”
👉 Watch it here

Ty R Brady
Community > competition.
When one of us wins, we all move forward.
A quick post that re-centers what growth really looks like in this industry.
👉 Watch it here

The Wealthy Desk
Billionaires don’t brag about these habits—but they do them relentlessly.
Quiet moves. Daily discipline. Long-term vision.
👉 Watch it here

Beast Thinks
No one cares about your story until you win.
It’s not fair. But it’s fuel.
Get up, do the work, and let the results speak.
👉 Watch it here

Mindset Sculptor
Ten quiet truths that hit harder than any hype post.
From “small steps still count” to “rest is essential,” this one is a deep breath in a loud world.
👉 Watch it here

🧠 This week’s takeaway:
Be bold. Be grounded. Stay consistent.
Quiet moves, made daily, still build empires.

😂 Martial Memes

These memes hit home for all of us martial artists and gave us a good chuckle. Click on the image to view the original account that posted each meme. Enjoy!

Have a MEME that you want featured? Send them to us at [email protected] or tag our instagram account @thekicknewsletter.

📚 What We’re Reading: The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran & Michael Lennington

Get more done in 12 weeks than most do in 12 months.

If your goals keep rolling from one quarter to the next

If your team starts strong and loses steam by Week 3

If you’re great at planning but not following through...

Then The 12 Week Year is the wake-up call your leadership rhythm needs.

This book redefines how we think about time, focus, and execution—by compressing your year into a 12-week sprint. No fluff. No filler. Just relentless focus on what moves the needle.

💡 Key Takeaways for School Owners:
✅ Annual goals kill urgency—shorter windows drive sharper action
✅ Weekly scoreboards = accountability in real time
✅ You don’t need more time—you need better execution

📖 Grab your copy here: The 12 Week Year on Amazon

If you’re ready to lead with focus, build with urgency, and actually hit your goals—this is your playbook.

🚹 Big News: RMA Is Now Breakthrough Advertising 🚹

New name. Bigger mission. Same obsession with results.

We’re excited to announce that Relentless Media Agency has officially rebranded as Breakthrough Advertising. 🎉

Relentless was built on grit, hustle, and getting scrappy results for scrappy businesses. But we’ve grown—and so has our mission.

Breakthrough isn’t just a name.
It’s what we build for our clients—every campaign, every funnel, every week.

If you’re ready for:

  • Ads that don’t just run, but convert

  • Messaging that separates you from the noise

  • A team that thinks strategically about your business, not just “marketing” in general...

Then it’s time to book your discovery call.

👉 Book your Breakthrough Discovery Call here.
Let’s build the lead machine your business actually needs.

New name. New level. Same relentless energy—now aimed at bigger breakthroughs.

📬 Have Something That Is Kick Worthy?

We know our readers have great ideas, insights, and stories to share! If you’ve got something that’s "kick-worthy"—whether it’s a success story, a marketing tip, or something that’s helping your school thrive—submit it to us at [email protected]. Your content could be featured in an upcoming edition of The Kick and shared with martial arts school owners around the world!

đŸ”„ That’s a Wrap for This Week!

This issue wasn’t about adding more to your plate—it was about removing what no longer serves you so you can show up with clarity, confidence, and purpose.

Whether it’s outdated beliefs, reactive leadership, or playing small in rooms you were built to lead—it’s time to strip it back and step into the version of you that was always there, just waiting to be reactivated.

Remember: your power didn’t disappear. It just got dusty.

Let this be the week you clean it off, tune it up, and get back on the road.

Stay bold. Stay strategic.
And as always—stay sharp, stay relentless, and keep kicking forward. đŸ‘ŠđŸ”„