Setting zany goals and eliminating self-limiting beliefs
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As the world’s leading TV hypnotist, mentalist, and brain hacker Keith Barry has been blazing a trail across the globe for many years. His mind-blowing skills have been showcased in over forty international television shows. Keith also worked as chief mentalist and hypnotist consultant for the blockbuster movies Now You See Me 1 & 2. He has written, produced, and performed many of his live shows over the last 15 years and has sold out venues worldwide. Keith’s TED Talk is in the top twenty-five TED Talks of all time, currently boasting over twenty-five million views.
From a full house live show to an online business
Six weeks after his last live show, Keith got himself together and decided to research the possibility of going online. He did his research for ten days and then went into what he calls “super activation mode”. During this time, he focuses on the project at hand and works for 18 hours a day. It’s still essential for him to save time for his family and exercise routine during those intense days. “Super activation mode means everything else goes away. So the hobbies are gone, Netflix is gone, everything is gone until I need to do what needs to be done. And at that moment in time, the goal was to pivot online.”
He then had to figure out how to turn his backyard cabin into a virtual studio. He started with the basics of setting up WiFi strong enough to take on 1000 devices on Zoom, a backup system, props, a green screen, lights, and screens for a full gallery view. The whole process took many hours of work and effort put in by Keith, his executive assistant (and wife!) Mairead, and his technical director Joe.
There is no realism with zany goals, it’s about going as crazy as possible
Keith talks about his way of setting goals for himself, he calls them zany goals, and it’s all about going bonkers and eliminating those self-limiting beliefs. Zany goals have lead Keith to a number of successes, including his appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show in October last year, which was something that seemed unreachable since he didn’t know anyone at the organisation at the time. He first made the decision himself that he was going to appear on the show and then backtracked to the steps that would make it happen. He believes that our goals and dreams are aspirational; therefore, he talks about his goals as targets. “I see everything as a target. I write them down as targets and give myself that measurable distance to go. Then obviously, I figure out the actions required to move towards those targets.”
Keith looks up to the people that take massive action to reach their targets. He talks about people like Elon Musk or Will Smith. Keith is willing to put in tremendous hours of work to achieve his target. But at the same time, he is always conscious of spending enough quality time with his family. That is the definition of balance to him.
The days of standard webinars are gone
Zoom is the best example of the evolution of online streaming needs. A year ago, most companies wouldn’t have chosen Zoom over more secure platforms, but a significant change occurred during the pandemic. And this was due to the need for interaction; people wanted more than a person speaking to a camera. Organisations wanted to see their employees, and they needed to see each other to create a collaborative experience. To Keith, it’s all about the engagement factor.
“For my performances, at least, the engagement factor comes from everybody having their cameras on. And then I’ve got macro effects, which are effects that happen to work with all 1000 people or devices simultaneously. And then I’ve got micro effects where I pull people up at random much like I would in a live performance. “
Talking about future projects, Keith has his plate full of exciting new collaborations. He is now working on an Amazon project called Citadel, and he will be working on the movie Now You See Me 3. He is also currently pitching a new TV project to the US market.
Listen to the entire podcast above or search for ‘The Work Well Podcast’ on your preferred podcast platform. You can also watch the video of our conversation through this link.
Go to keithbarry.com to find out more about Keith and grab his free ebook, Mind Magic. You can also see more of his content and shows if you follow his Youtube channel and Instagram profile.
About Your Host
Brian Crooke is a wellbeing educator, speaker and adviser, empowering Irish organisations to promote and sustain wellbeing within their workplaces.
He is the founder of The Work Well Institute which is home to the flagship Developing a Workplace Wellness Programme that Lasts course. Brian also founded the Work Well community and is Course Director of the Postgraduate Certificate in Workplace Wellness at Tangent, Trinity College Dublin. He is the host of The Work Well Podcast.
In his spare time, Brian is bringing free resistance training to every county and community in Ireland through his parkHIIT social enterprise.
If you have any suggestions for future topics you'd like to hear on the show, email Brian directly, brian@workwellpodcast.com
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