Naphtali D. Anderson — Master Self, Master Life
Speaker · Executive Coach · Author

Master Self,
Master Life.

To master life, we have to master ourselves, so life does not control us. We take the wheel back.

What I believe → The man behind the work
Scroll

"I am not shrinking, not hiding, not trying to be accepted, not trying to be chosen. I am choosing myself."

— Naphtali D. Anderson

Peace and Power: Two Sides of the Same Coin, by Naphtali D. Anderson
Out now · The book Peace and Power: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Get the book →
What I believe

We are meant to find out who we truly are.

The version God created, not the version the world forced us to be. Learning how to live in true alignment with our deepest spirit. To live in truth, to live in love, to live authentically.

That authenticity stops the inner war. When we accept ourselves, we can walk in a greater sense of love and acceptance for other people, because it no longer dictates our value. We know who we are.

Most people are trying to get that from external things. Nothing has meaning until we give it a meaning.

The belief I think is a lie

That our value is measured by other people. Some put it on their looks. Some put it on their status or their money. Either way, somebody else gets to dictate what it is worth.

Not everyone in the world agrees on the same thing. So how do we ever find our true value that way? We cannot.

What we do on the outside never truly changes what goes on inside.

What Master Self, Master Life means

Understanding what drives me. How to listen to my spirit.

Which parts of me are the character I created to survive, and which parts are truly authentic, the parts God created. The more I understand myself, the more I can show up powerfully. The more I can speak my truth. The more forgiving, accepting and patient I am. The more I can read a situation and trust my intuition.

I

Peace

Finding centered ground no matter what the storm is bringing. An identity I rest in, and know that nothing outside of myself can change.

II

Power

The ability to make decisions. The ability to live in your truth. You will still feel fear. You will not be controlled by it. Without that peace, you are always filtered. Trying to control the situation instead of being free in it.

III

The Highest Expression

Living in that place of peace and power. Without trying to be perfect. Without trying to get anyone to agree. Without fearing judgment. I can express, speak my truth, act on the spark within me. I can dance when I want to dance, sing when I want to sing, draw what I want to draw.

"Peace and power are not opposites. They are two sides of the same coin."

The man behind the work
Naphtali Anderson

I wanted to follow my passion for creative arts.

I chose engineering instead. My family didn't have much and I decided that was the responsible thing to do. I accepted a belief very young in my life that who I actually was or wanted mattered less than what I could produce.

So I produced. Engineering, operations, enterprise sales, national talent strategy. $12M in annual project labor. $3.6M booked in a single fiscal year. I built leadership programs for the people the company had marked as its future. From the outside it looked great, inside something was missing.

I remember going to different leadership trainings and bootcamps, sitting with leaders from the global level. I'd been specially selected for it. The company was investing real money in moving me to the next level, and I was thankful for the opportunities. Yet, I would sit there and feel something wasn't right. So I asked myself why I wasn't excited about this. What did I actually want? And I got the answer I'd been avoiding under all the noise. I was fighting for someone else's picture of success. I needed to find mine again.

What followed was an inner journey, a long fight with my own worth, and years of rebuilding. Not a breakdown story. A returning story. I stopped performing a character and started leading from the one thing that was never in question. On the outside I was still taking care of everything, but on the inside everything was changing.

What shaped it

I suffered a lot of loss, a lot of abandonment, a lot of rejection. At the same time, I had acceptance, and people telling me I was destined for great things. It was much easier to relate to the negative. The positive felt like a lie. Even when opportunities were placed in front of me, it was hard to take them, because I did not see my own worth.

My life was not dictated by outside circumstances. It was shaped by my identity and what I thought I was worth. I thought I was looking at life the humble way. I was creating patterns of self-destruction, because that is all I thought I was worthy of.

On performing

I feel like I was always performing. I always knew I was trying to be good enough, but I thought that was normal. Our value is based on how much we can do for others and how much people like us. That is the only rule there is. So you do whatever you can to fit that mold.

What it cost me first was my identity. There was a question of who am I now. I did not know how to work with myself anymore, and I had nobody to teach me. The people around me did not know how to adjust either. I was not just saying yes to everything. Conversations had to be had. Relationships had to adjust.

What I got back was understanding me. I got back a lot of the value I used to outsource. I got back the freedom to think for myself.

Where I am now

I know I am valuable. I know I am powerful. I know how to step into my peace in the middle of uncomfortable circumstances. And there are still layers where the old blueprint hangs around and tries to pull me back. The work is never done. There are just higher levels.

There's one story under all of this, and one voice. It's told in full at Revolutionized Life and in the books. What changes from room to room is who's in front of me, not who I am.

Certified executive coach · Intelligent Leadership Executive Coach · Maxwell Leadership Team Member · Warrior's Way Certified Trainer
Author of Fragments of Becoming, Progression of Sight: Journey of a Soldier, and Peace and Power: Two Sides of the Same Coin
The portrait

Between my junior and senior year of high school, my coach told me that if I wanted to play more, I needed to play in the Bay State league that summer. I didn't think I'd make the team. Most of those guys were AAU and camp guys with real training. I played street ball. I tried out, and I made the team.

I came back for senior year a lot more confident, playing at a high level. Guys from my old junior high were talking about how I was playing in the scrimmages. Then the real season came around and I had no game time. When I finally got in a game, I didn't perform.

I still had the same skill I had all summer. I just didn't have the same image of myself. I saw myself as the old player. Nervous. Not good enough. I let what my coach did dictate my worth.

Don't let anybody paint the portrait of your image except you and God.

I want you to feel like you can feel better in your life. Not by changing your circumstances, but by changing how you see yourself. That changes how you show up, whether it's for work, for family, or just for you.

Take it or leave it

What I will not water down, even if it costs me people.

i
Our inner standard shapes 90% of our life.
ii
We do not need the approval, validation or acceptance of other people to feel okay.
iii
We own our reactions. We own our triggers. We own our traumas. It may not have been fair. It is still our responsibility to learn how to deal with them.
iv
That is the only way to freedom. The only way to master yourself so you can master life.
Naphtali's Notes · Free

Letters from the path, straight to your inbox.

Unfiltered. Personal. Written from where I actually am, not from a content calendar. Heart to heart, not a marketing tool.

Unfiltered Personal No pitch
Voices from the work

What people carry away.

He asked me to write down my promises. Not one of them was about me. I'm not interested in just living day to day. I'm looking to thrive.

Paris · Inner Chamber Mastery

The key takeaway from Tali's presentation for me was that, as a leader, it is acceptable to have boundaries and not be perfect. As individuals, we need to overcome our fears to have a better vision of ourselves and stop using our creative character as a shield for hiding.

Tylah B. · Speaking event

Just in the first two or three days I was able to stop myself and think of where his awareness was at versus where I was.

Tim · Inner Chamber Mastery

He spoke positivity, what it takes to be a good leader and that you don't need to be perfect to be in a leadership role. Very considerate when answering questions, and takes feedback well.

Attendee · Speaking event

It was a complete life change. I never felt less than, I never felt judged. If you can get into a course with Tali, you're going to change your life, and it's going to be a benefit to you, your family, your friends, your coworkers, but most importantly, yourself.

Brett · Inner Chamber Mastery

I appreciated that he reached out and brought me into the conversation. I have been struggling a lot with existential questions and the meaning of life. He made me feel seen.

Carlos T. · Speaking event
The door is open

Whatever brought you here,
reach out.

Coaching, speaking, leadership training, a podcast, or something else entirely. This is where it starts. Tell me what brought you here and I read it myself.