Transcription
How can you manifest success into your life? You could be one decision away from achieving the dream of your life.
I believe that your mind is already expansive, but you've been telling yourself stories that keep it contracted. Really, the question should be, "Is how do I learn to let go and truly feel my potential?" "Why can't I decide to be happy in this moment?" "Why not me?" That question really helped me kind of get clean, get on the right track, make new friends, and really start putting the pieces in place to be more successful. You are literally more powerful than you'll ever understand. For a lot of people, that power scares them more than anything. There's no future where you have a better life than the one you're living at where you're acting the exact same way you are today.
You have two years to live. What do you do with your life? You talk a lot about being a belief collector. What do you mean by that?
Belief collecting, for me, is the awareness that my mind isn't programmed the way I need it to be for me to achieve my goals. It's that simple. If it was, I'd already be achieving the things I want, because if I was a person who could create those dreams, I would have them. So, what I do is I go through the world and I interact. I read, I talk, I consume videos, content. And as I find sound bites, quotes, beliefs that I'm like, "Ooh," like this morning I heard a great one. It said, "Miracles are a shift in perception." And I wrote that down. I'm like, "Oh, that's a belief I want to believe." "Miracles are a shift in perception." We've got to change our perception of what is, and we will find miracles. That's a that's just a simple example. But everything in my life, all the the language or the questions that I use, those are part of collecting beliefs. And the more I reprogram my mind, the more I have really great achievements happen in my life. Like, the more I reprogram my mind, the more more happiness, the more fulfillment I feel, the more joy, the more capacity I have for other people. So, I just consider it like a first principle, like a first place to look to be happier, be more successful, collect beliefs, because the beliefs drive my view on the world, and my view drives my actions, and my actions drive my results. That's why I do it.
How did you reprogram your mind as a teenager?
The way I reprogrammed my mind as a teenager was first creating the space for me to have the time to reprogram it. For a long time in my teenage years, I was so busy staying busy, getting in trouble. Got in trouble with the law, had issues with drugs, you know, crime and all that stuff. Obviously, eventually rehab. It was in that place where I then had time to even think, you know, meditate, reflect. Like, "What do I believe about life?" and "What stories have I been telling myself about where I was at?" and "What this all means for the the greater aspect of the the years ahead of me?" So, that's the first step is just create some space. Sometimes it's no to people, no to opportunities, no to things you made commitments to. And then with that time, I then just started writing things down, you know, journaling, talking about my emotions. Which sounds crazy today. I mean, there was a time where I didn't want to tell anybody how I felt because, honestly, I didn't feel like anybody cared. Then I realized the more I talked about my feelings, the more I was becoming aware of what drove those feelings. And just even saying them out loud, sometimes I would see how ridiculous I was for feeling a certain way because many times I was upset for something the other person didn't even know they did, or I was worrying about something that never happened. And when I started talking about it and being able to hear myself say these words to then reflect on it, I was like, "Oh, I've been making up a whole lot of this pain, these challenges, this the the anger of my life was all self-inflicted." So, that was the beginning. And then the key thing was finding great questions to ask myself. Like, really great questions. Like, "What, what would need to be true for me to be happy?" You know, "Why can't I decide to be happy in this moment?" "Where's the beauty in this challenge?" "What's my opportunity in this setback?" "Why did that person say that?" "Is there a different version of what they said or a different reason for why they said what they said that would actually me make me feel good about what happened?" And it sounds crazy, but I just believe that questions really become the foundation of the programming language to change your view on the world.
What was the most powerful question that you asked yourself at that age?
At that age, the most powerful question I would ask myself: "Why not me?" I would see all these people, and back then it was simple. It's like the person that's, you know, valedictorian or the captain of the football team or, you know, this high-achieving person in my class. And I would just like start to go like, "Why not me?" Like, "I'm here, so we're being exposed to the same information. I'm not lazy. Like, I'm willing to do the work. Why not me?" "Why can't I be top in my class?" "Why can't I graduate with honors?" "Why can't I overcome my addiction?" "Why can't I have a great relationship with my parents?" "Why can't my brother be my best friend?" I don't know. It was just like this question. Like, "Why not?" Even where I grew up, I grew up in a small town in Eastern Canada, and I used to like think like, "Why not?" "Why not me?" Somebody else has done it. You know, for a long time, I thought I was the only crazy entrepreneur in the city. And then I would slowly see or meet or read about other people, and I was like, "Oh, there's actually three billionaires that came from, you know, the province that I grew up in." So, like, "They did it. They probably grew up in a time where there was way less resources than I have. Why not me?" That question really helped me kind of get clean, get on the right track, make new friends, and really start putting the pieces in place to be more successful.
What's the biggest mistake you see people make when trying to reprogram their mind?
To reprogram your mind, you have to disconnect from what you think people are going to think about the new beliefs. So, it's kind of counterintuitive because you want to change, and you could probably ask yourself the questions to change the beliefs to reprogram your mind. But then, well, while you're doing that, it's really easy to go, "Okay, well, if I believe this, I'd act this way in that scenario." But then, "What are people going to think about that?" "What if all of a sudden I become assertive?" "Are they going to call me a or too direct?" "What if all of a sudden I ask for what I want in life?" "Are they going to feel like I'm being selfish?" So, it's interesting. When we're reprogramming our mind and our beliefs, inherently we're going to change our actions. And your friends, the co-workers, or what, who other people have a perception of who you are, right? They're like, "Oh, this is Alice, and Alice is quiet." Or, "This is Mark, and Mark is funny." And if all of a sudden you show up because you've worked on yourself and you're different, they're going to say that. Like, "Hey man, you're different." What they're not able to say, what you should be proud of yourself for, is you've changed. That's actually impressive. Or even better is you've grown. You, you've grow. Like, that's what they should say. But they don't know this. And you need to understand, if somebody says, "You're different," or "You've changed," what they're really saying is, "You've grown." So, when you're reprogramming your mind, you got to be careful to not invert use that filter. How are they going to perceive you? Because the whole point of you changing your life is you're going to have to change who you are. There's no future where you have a better life than the one you're living at where you're acting the exact same way you are today. Because if you did, you'd have the thing you want. So, it means that you've got some bad habits, you've got some emotional situations that you over-respond to, or whatever. You've got some things about your character that have to change for you to get the things you don't have. And that will 100% require other people to think you've changed. You're different. But again, what they're really saying is, "Congrats, you've grown."
What's the biggest difference between a high-performing mindset and a low-performing mindset?
There's so many differences. Low-performance mindset, uh, blame everybody else. Low-performing mindset gets easily frustrated, angered, slighted, blames other people. Ruminate. Literally, they worry or ruminate, and they and they keep talking about a negative situation to anybody that'll listen. That's why they say misery loves company. It's because misery wants to get validation that where they're upset is okay. So they keep telling other people. And if they find another person that's like, "Yeah, you're right. I can't believe that happened. Here's what happened to me." Then you just see these groups of people forming that are just being super negative and pessimistic and frustrated with their situation. That's all low, low energy, low-performing people. They're not driven. They don't have goals. They don't have a desire to improve things. They feel like their situation is fixed, and everybody's out to get them. And, you know, they feel prisoners to their situation that they can't change. That's low-performing. High-performing is the complete opposite. First off, they have a belief that their future is brighter than their past. Right off the bat. If you don't have a belief that your future possibly could be way brighter than your past, then it's hard for you to make forward movement. Because where are you making forward movement towards? Right? What is that goal, that vision that you're after? Then it's just the understanding that you have to have patience, right? Because again, being impatient is a low-performing mindset. High performers say, "Hey, I'm willing to do the work and not see immediate responses for a while." Long periods of time. You might go go to the gym for three, four months until you finally see you got a little bit of a muscle or you got a little bit of a, you know, a bicep vein or something's going on in your body where you're like, "Oh, I'm seeing some results." It's delayed gratification. High performers are willing to do things for long periods of time, being misunderstood, and also not see results. They're able to go to a rejection to another rejection without losing momentum with a smile on their face. They, they look at it as opportunities to actually learn to improve their lives. They go, "Look, that's not a reason I'm going to fail. That's another reason I can avoid to win, right?" If somebody shuts the door on me, I'm not like, "Oh, the opportunity is gone." I go, "Cool. Now I know that path doesn't work, and I'm going to go find an open window. I'm going to find a different route to be successful." They're able to, high performers can literally communicate emotion and positivity in a way that collects other people to support them, right? The top people in the world have the ability to share about their future and their dreams and goals where other people want to support them in achieving it. It's kind of awesome to watch. You, you see it all the time where, you know, and it could, it doesn't matter if they have like strong speaking skills or they're more quiet. They just have an essence about what they're saying, their sentences, their words, the the way they describe what they believe that people just get behind. They feel what they're saying less than they hear what they're saying. And that is a high-performance trait that the best of the best do. They're willing to to be misunderstood. They're willing to grind, right? They look at the work as a reflection of their gratitude. They're not scared to show up and put it all on the line. They're risk-takers. They'd rather risk it all betting on themselves than to play safe and follow somebody else's path. And that, to me, is what makes the game changers, the world changers, the innovators, the people that create opportunities for others, some of the most important people around because they make the world a better place.
How important is routine when it comes to being a high performer?
Here's why routine has to be present. Because without routine, you don't have a process that you can tweak. If every day you wake up and you decide based on how I feel, I'm going to do this, or if in the afternoon I feel different, so I'm going to do this, and you just decide how you feel what you're going to do, then if somebody gives you a new strategy or a new idea or new habit for you to play with, because there's no foundation, there's no baseline, it's hard for you to install that into your life to see if it worked. So a routine is required so that you have a foundation to add and develop and try on new strategies to make your life better. Because if not, it kind of doesn't have any, it's got no gripping, it's got no, no, no hook. It's just, it's in your life, but it's kind of like, "Well, I don't know if that really worked." Well, it's cuz you didn't have a baseline for what was working, right? So it's kind of like, whatever you're doing now that's working, lock those in, write them down, build those habits, build that routine. Cool. Do that for ideally three months. Now you know this is what I get doing this. Let me change one thing. How did that impact my life? Whoa, completely different, better results. Cool. Let's add that one. Remove this other one. Cool. Let's do another one. Without that, you don't have that process for growth and improvement.
What's the best way to learn how to expand your mind?
The best way to learn how to expand your mind, H, it's interesting because I believe that your mind is already expansive, but you've been telling yourself stories that keep it contracted. So really, the question should be, "Is how do I learn to let go and truly feel my potential?" Because every person comes into this world with their greatness. I think that most babies have it figured out when they come in. They just see everything as beautiful and wonder and opportunity. And then they go through life and they get exposed to negative situations, and the world kind of creates friction and kind of develops their character. If they're lucky, later in their adult life, they go on a journey of personal discovery and expansion, and they come back to what they believed when they came into this world as a baby. So in many ways, it's already there. The expansive belief is there. If we remove the cloud, the judgment, the the concern. See, we all know in our heart what we want to achieve. It wouldn't even be placed there. The desire for you to want more, the belief in those moments where you feel certain to do more, but then quickly kind of fades, or you kind of sleep on it. You wake up and you kind of lose that initial spark. That's the cloud. That's the mist. That's the fog. That's the glue. That's the stickiness. And what we want to do is we want to figure out how do we remove that. The best way for me is to continue to feed your mind, continue to expose yourself to world-class information, content, words, conversations, people, energy. And the more you do that, it's kind of like the sun coming up in the morning. Even though there's been like fog all through the night because of the the mist of the the moisture in the air, the sun slowly burns off all the fog, and everything just feels rejuvenated. And that's what happens when you get around people, or you read incredible books or literature or works of art, or you know, you you listen to some really powerful messages. It kind of removes all all of that noise. It removes the cloud. It removes the uncertainty. And it allows you to just tap into who you really are. And that is pure potentiality. You are literally more powerful than you'll ever understand. And for a lot of people, that power scares them more than anything. It's not that you're not capable. It's that you're way more capable. You give yourself credit to. And if you actually knew how capable you were, you'd probably freak yourself out. And you're also a lot closer than what you think. You think it's 15 years out. It is three years out. You think it's a lifetime. It's a decade. It's right there. It could be, you could be one decision away from achieving the dream of your life. And you just have to believe it. You just have to be around people that also believe it, people that want to see you win and support you. That's, that's what's required. It's not, "How do I discover it?" It's, "How do I remember it?" Because you already had it when you were a baby. You just forgot. So, it's really about remembering who you truly are.
Why do most people never level up their lives?
I think most people don't level up their lives because they're worried that they're going to have to hold a new standard. See, if I'm not rich, but I know how to deal with what I've got, it feels safe, feels easy. There's nothing on the line. If I go out there and I level up, be more successful, get that promotion, make more money, become a millionaire, now I have something to lose. And it's a lot safer to tell ourselves a story of, "I keep trying and showing up and I do the work and I'm a hard worker," and all these things, and not have those come, than to actually do the strategy. A lot of people, I always ask this question: "What are you pretending not to know?" See, I think most people actually know what they got to go do, but they don't actually want to do it. Because if they do it and they win, now they got something to lose. Now they've got this, this new high water mark that everybody will know. If you fall from that point, you fall from grace. Your words, literally. This is what I hear. And that's why a lot of people when they have nothing, backs against the wall, and they got to fight their way out of it, they will do anything it takes to be successful. And they oftentimes find that path and they start climbing that mountain of success. Yet, half a million dollars, a million, five, it doesn't matter what number. At some point, their brain goes, "Hey, if we keep going, there's a chance we could lose it all. How about we just chill out and set up shop?" And then they stop figuring out who they could become, their next level. And it's fascinating to watch. And I see it all the time. I always ask people, "Are you the most successful person in your peer group?" The answer is yes. You stopped climbing. You got scared. You stopped leveling up. And what's funny is that, you know how to do this. You've done it before. And the thing that actually protects what you've got is not stopping the journey upwards. It's the desire to become more. The person who keeps growing every day is reducing the risk they'll lose it all because they'll be prepared. The person that sets up shop, that now becomes the big dog amongst their peer group, their friends, you know, they got all the nice stuff. I got all the stuff people want. No, you're the stuff you, your friends want. You know, there's more out there. But it's going to require you to keep developing, to keep growing, to keep expanding. And that's why people are more scared of that than doing the work or, or, or anything. They're just like, "I remember one time my ex-girlfriend's parents, they lived in this cool little house, and I was in my early 20s when I dated her. And I used to go to their house and have dinner, and they would ask me about what I do, and I would tell them about my businesses and stuff. And they were always in awe. Like, 'Wow, that's so crazy.' Yeah, we've always thought." I think one was a teacher, when the other one worked for the government. And and I could tell there was like a light inside of them that if somebody in their family could really convince them to go for it, they'd probably do it. But they didn't. Years later, 25 years later, I'm on my road bike and I'm biking by their house, and I see them in the same house, 25 years older, doing yard work. And I just think to myself, "Hmm, here's an interesting thought." They didn't go for it because I bet they were worried if they went for it and they lost it all, that people would think that they were failures. But they were living the same life that they were living today, that they would go back to if they actually tried and failed. So technically, because they didn't try, they didn't even find out what they potentially could become. And they ended up living the life that they would ended up back to anyway. It's kind of an interesting idea to think about. It's like, would you rather just never be rich, or be rich and lose it all and be the same of where you're at today? Because that's the truth. Like, that wherever you're at today is what you know how to do. Is probably what you could do. Even if you went forward and lost it all, you'd be back to where you're at. Why not swing? Why not try? Why not stretch? Why not, why not grow? Why not find out? "Well, I wouldn't want to do this to my family." "I wouldn't want to do this to, you know, whatever." What about you? Here's an, this is one of my favorite questions. You have two years to live. What do you do with your life? What do you do? Who do you spend time with? What do you try? What do you want to leave the world? Most people when I ask that question, what they're doing today is not what they would do tomorrow. If you literally knew you had two years to the day, and you could tell another soul, what would you want to do with your time? What would you want to share with people? What would you want to create? What would you want to leave the world? That is what you should be doing. That is actually what's on your soul. And you've never been given something on your heart that wasn't meant for you. Trust me. The things that I get on my heart, other people go, "That's silly. I would never want to do that." And then some of the stuff they tell me they want to do, I'm like, "Wow, I have no desire to do that." You know, somebody tells me like, "Oh, I would go on a fishing trip to Alaska." I'm like, "Cool. I would go backcountry snowboarding in Alaska." I wouldn't go on a fishing trip. And they're like, "Cool. That's your thing. That's my thing." So think about that. What is on your heart is actually uniquely gifted to you for you to go do, or you wouldn't have been gifted it. You would have never been brought that idea. Because here's a crazy idea: the thoughts you have, the first thought you didn't ask for. That first thought you just had while you're driving, in the shower, at the gym, you didn't ask for it. It came to you. Your respon, that thought is yours, but the initial thought is not. I think you're being guided. So I think most people don't want to try because they're worried that maybe it's not going to work out. And I say, "Cool. That's okay. At least you tried. At least you know. At least you're not going to, if today was your last breath, you're not going to have regrets."
How important is belief in becoming rich?
You will not achieve anything that you don't believe you can do, period. Full stop. The cool part about that is belief comes from seeing what's possible. And most possibility comes from other people. So in many ways, our role to other people that are not where we're at, or to find in other people, is the possibility of achievement. And that, that what creates the belief. And the belief also gives us clarity, right? We need to understand what we want to go do and have the belief that we can do it, or we won't take the action. I mean, if I don't believe I have a chance of winning a race, I'm not even going to train for the race. Or maybe my goal is like, "I just want to finish the race." But if I don't believe that I can even finish the race, again, I won't even sign up for the race. Belief is required. And look, I understand most people are like, "I have these moments of belief. I have these moments where I'm like, I could do this. I could become this person." And then I share them with other people, and they all, they kind of shoot it down, or they say, "You're not that kind of person," or "That's not for you," or "You don't have what those other people have." And then it kind of takes away from the belief you had in yourself. And this is where I go back to faith. I would never be given the idea to achieve a certain thing that I desire if my Creator didn't believe that I could do it. So the belief that I have, not necessarily Dan's belief, it's the belief in where I came from and who created me. And having that faith is more powerful by a factor of a bazillion than the need for me to believe in myself. Because oftentimes, I have no proof that I know how. And most the time, I don't know how I'm going to achieve the thing I want to do. I just have the belief that if I show up every day, and I have clarity, and I have a belief that I can do it, that somebody's going to do it. "Why not me?" And I do the work. That over time, it may happen. And even if it doesn't, this is a cool part. Two things: One, I get to become better. That's awesome. I would probably do it for that fact alone. And two, there's probably really cool things that are going to happen along the way. So maybe I don't achieve the goal, but along the way of trying to achieve it, I get to experience some really cool moments, or have really cool things, or meet really cool people. And that, to me, if if I'm okay with those two things, even if I never get to the finish line, then I should move forward. I should do the thing. And I should have the belief that I can do it, because it's worth it.
What's the difference between a limiting belief and a negative belief?
The difference between a limiting belief and a negative belief is both of those are subconscious in our mind as it pertains to the achievement of a goal. And if we don't address them, what'll happen is we will self-sabotage ourselves, not knowingly, and cause us to overreact or not make decisions or make decisions too quick, because in those activities, we will fail at the achievement. So it gives us a reason not to win. For example, a limiting belief is, "I don't, I'm not rich, so I can't do this," or "I'm not that smart, so I can't do this," or "I'm not that skilled, so I can't do this." Those are limiting beliefs about our abilities. Limiting beliefs around abilities. The other one is negative beliefs. Negative beliefs are actually quite fascinating. For example, I like to ask people the question, "What do you fear most about being rich?" See, most people's goals is to have something, a bigger business, uh, you know, be financially independent, or whatever. So call it rich, or whatever, even being healthy. What negative beliefs or what fears do you have around being healthy? Well, I would be worried my life wouldn't be much fun because I'm eating, you know, meal prep all the time. Or it's like, what about being rich? Well, I'd be worried that people would try to fraud me, or I'd be worried that my cousins would ask me for money, and I'd feel guilty, and I'd say no, and then they'd be mad at me. Or I'd be worried that people think I'm selfish or greedy, or whatever it is. You have fears around being rich. Those are negative beliefs. And what's crazy is sometimes when I coach people, you know, I'll ask them these questions to figure out what's the real underlying thing that's stopping them from having breakthroughs, from achieving the outcome that's kind of like acts like a an anchor, right, around their forward motion. One time I asked a guy, 'cause he was, he was really dead set on getting his health in check. He was like 50 pounds overweight, and he was really successful. And we kind of kept going at it, and asked him different questions. Eventually, he admitted that one of his fears was getting in such shape that when he travels and he's speaking on an event, that women may make passes at him that he would be able to say no to, and he wouldn't want to do that to his wife. Interesting. See, he had a fear around being fit that unexpressed would always be the reasons that he reached for the dessert when he hit a new goal, or decided to go binge eat at a buffet while he was traveling, or skip the gym for a week in a row, right? Or go on vacation and lose all his gains. Those all over the years, these were the patterns that kept repeating themselves because he had a belief that he would inadvertently make a bad decision or get in a compromising situation that would potentially ruin his marriage. So we just addressed that and said, "Is it true?" "Well, no." "What would, what need to be true for that to never happen?" "Well, I guess these scenarios would never have to." "Okay, perfect. So if you never reply to a female on social media, and you never find yourself alone with another woman when you're traveling, and and and, could those things happen?" "That would probably never happen." "Perfect, perfect. Can you agree never to do that?" "Yeah." "Awesome. So this belief is now shattered. This belief is now dissolved. This is no longer going to be the reason." And you sell, there might be other stuff that comes up, but that one's gone. And that's the whole idea between limiting and negative beliefs. If we can address them on the path to achievement, then we have a chance of getting there faster with less pain, because we self-inflict a lot of the pain, uh, in our, in our lives.
How do high performers look at time and money?
High performers look at time and money through two different lenses. One, they realize that their hour creates value. You know, if they look at their, their life on an annual basis, they're able to create value. And so, and so can you. Like, every person listening this knows what their year is worth. Just look at how much money you're making. Whatever you make, that is your belief, okay? Not the market. It's, it's actually your belief on what you think you're worth. If you thought you were worth five times more, you would probably change the conversation around compensation or the type of worker. You might say, "Hey, I got to go get some new skills so I can become more value." So you decide what you think your time is worth. And most people don't think they're worth a lot, and that's why they give it up so freely. They respond, "Got a second?" "Yeah, no problem." "Hey, could you help me out?" "Yeah, no problem." Like, they don't protect their time. High performers believe their time is worth a lot, and then they adjust, adjust their calendar through that lens. The other part is they use money to buy back more time. How do they do that? Well, instead of spending time to save money, they spend money to save time. So they understand where they could spend the least amount of money to buy back the largest swath of time, so that they can then reinvest in themselves, skills, character traits, beliefs that will make them more valuable, increase their value per hour per year, so that they get paid more. And that's what high performers do. That is the equation. They're always saying, "Like, what projects can I say yes to that's going to expand my capabilities?" Right? "What goals can I set up for me that are going to grow me?" Goals should be designed to grow you. You should decide what projects you take on next best on the opportunity for you to expand, for you to grow, for you to learn new things. If you just keep saying yes to stuff that you know how to do, then you're not going to be more valuable. You're not going to solve bigger problems. And people will pay a lot of money to solve very big problems. The size of the problem that you can solve, it's a size of your compensation. If you can install a window, that is a problem, but it's not worth a whole lot. If you can build an apartment building, that's a really big problem that people pay a lot of money to go solve. If you can develop a city and take raw land and turn it into a neighborhood, that's an even bigger problem that people will pay a lot of money to go solve. And each one of those are in the same kind of area of expertise, but solving different sized problems. And that's why people, high performers look at their time through that lens, and their money through that lens, so that they become more valuable.
What's your mindset around spending money versus saving money?
The mindset I have now is completely different than the mindset I had growing up. You know, I grew up with a dad that was always very frugal. He never wasted a penny. He'd always say, you know, "It's not what you make, it's what you save." So I spent a good part of my life trying to protect every dollar of profit because I was worried that if I wasted spent it on things that were inappropriate, that I was taking from me or my future. Then when I was in my 30s, after I sold my first company through just brute force, like literally hard work and effort, and built this company and eventually exited, and I became a millionaire, multi-millionaire, I had to go and look at my, my life and say, "Okay, well, what did I learn from that? What was easy? What was hard?" And what I discovered is that I needed to get better so that I could create the future easier. Like, at the end of the day, there's people that are able to create more than me and could do it with less, you know, friction, with less effort. I mean, some people can literally create companies from the speed of thought because they've built the relationships, communication skills, knowledge, etc. They have the resources. So that was like the second part of my life where my relationship with money was less about saving and became more about investing. Not only investing in my companies, but investing in myself. And that's where I, I kind of brute-forced it the first time by just reading books, and eventually I hired a coach. But then it was really about like, "Where do I invest in my soft skills? My communication skills? The people build the management bandwidth to the degree that I have talent around me? How quick can I identify and hire great people? Can I put them into an organization to have a system that that really helps them develop and grow and leverage their expertise? And then can I design the system so that I can retain that talent and create a scenario which is truly win-win?" To me, that was what shifted my relationship with money. Where I used to think, "Save it," and now I'm like, "Invest it." I don't want money saved on the sidelines not working. Either it's in an active investment, it's making me money, or I'm investing in myself because I know what to do with that, or I'm investing in my people so they become more, so they can do more involved in my companies. And it's really that simple. I think money should be used to make investments to generate massive ROI, return on investment. And that's what shifted. I used to be like, so scared to spend money. Now it's like, "Where can I spend the money to get a return?" Let's have these conversations.
How important is gratitude in a high performer?
Gratitude, for me, is the idea that I'm thankful for what I have because if you can't be grateful and thankful for what you have, then you won't be given more. I look at my resources, my companies, my teams, my environment, my community, my family, like all these people are there and part of my experience of life to feel fulfilled, to feel happy. And if I can't be grateful for those people, even when they do things I don't agree with, then I won't be given more people, more resources, more opportunities, a richer life. Like, it's really that simple. If all you do is complain about what you got, then nobody's going to give you more because they don't think you can handle what you got because all you do is complain about what you have. And nobody sees that they have a beautiful home and they complain it's small. They have a beautiful car and it's not good enough. They have, they have literally beautiful people in their lives and they complain about those people. Well, guess what? You'll never be given more as a as a custodian, as a steward of that, that thing, because you're demonstrating to the world you can't handle it. Whereas to me, gratitude is the acknowledgment of the appreciation, but also the desire for more. So my whole thing is that my work ethic is a reflection of my gratitude. I wake up every day ridiculously grateful. There's moments where I'm driving by myself, if a certain song comes on, a certain scenario, or the sun hits the the windshield in the right moment or in the right angle, that it'll bring me to tears where I'm just like flooded with appreciation for what I'm doing, the work I get to do, the people I get to do it with. And in that moment, I just feel like I'm giving more new and bigger opportunities. And the more grateful I am, the bigger those opportunities seem to get. And the harder I decide to work because I want to reflect and honor that I'm getting those opportunities. So great, gratitude is part of the equation.
Where do you see the biggest opportunity for most people to do more with their lives?
Most people, the biggest opportunity for them sits on the other side of the thing that scares them the most. It's really simple. I look at life as like the yin and the yang, right? The black and the white, the yes and the no, the breath in, the breath out. It's kind of crazy, but that's just the way I think of it, right? And who you are today, if it was who you needed to become to achieve your dreams and goals, then you would have those things. It's not time, it's who you are. You attract success, you don't create success. So the exercise, if you're willing to consider it, is to write down all the characteristics of who you are. You can ask your friends to give you that. "Here's who Dan is. Dan is this. Dan is this. Dan is this. Dan is this." For example, "Dan talks a lot. I just love people. I love asking questions. I'm very curious." And then you draw a line and you say, "On the other side of that, what is the opposite of who you are?" Right? This is why I say like, the thing that will give you the biggest opportunity to move forward is the thing you're scared the most of. What you don't want to do, the work you're avoiding, that's where the the results lie. So whoever you are as your default, you have to go explore the opposite. It's going to be crazy. So I talk a lot. I would go on a silent retreat. Uh, I don't exercise. I would exercise. I've never run a marathon. I run a marathon. I'm a vegan. Go eat a freaking burger. I'm that, that's how serious I am. What people say absolutely not to, I see it all day. I'm talking to somebody this morning, and they say, "I would absolutely not." Oh, the other day, one of my co-workers, I brought my dog in, and I said, "Hey, could you take care of my dog?" "Nope. I don't do dogs." That language, "I don't do X," was fascinating to me because all I hear is, "Oh, there's a part of my character that I'm not willing to budge on, that I'm not going to move." And often times, it's whatever piece of story you told yourself about that. I'm not saying it's that you become polar opposite. I'm saying that you go explore the opportunity in the opposite and figure out what lesson do you need to learn? What is it about dogs? "I just don't do dogs." Fascinating. Why? What is it? Could you do it for an hour? Or is it like a hard note? "Hard note." Interesting. I've learned that all my biggest opportunities were really reflecting or spending time in the complete opposite of who I am today, and then figuring out, it's like, "Oh, I don't want to be Mr. Braggadocious." What does that even mean? Like, "I don't want to do videos because I don't want to come off as one of those guys." What does "one of those guys" mean? Well, I don't want to be like that guy that says, like, "Here in my garage," you know, on YouTube. It's like, but what if I don't? What does shooting a video have anything to do with being that? Are there people that create videos that also produce great content and teach awesome stuff, and everybody really admires and help a lot of people? Like, then just go shoot video and figure out what part of it you like, and just, you don't have to do the stuff you don't like. It's just fascinating where people draw hard lines in the man. So I think often times the biggest opportunity for people to become high level is really confronting the stuff they say, "That's not for me." Says who? Who are you? Like, the mind can expand. You can become more. To say, "That's not for me." "Who's me?" Me is not this container of constraints of like, "This is me, and this is only ever going to be me." No, no, no, no. You can be me, and in 10 years, you could be me. So that's, that, that's where I think people should look. Is the thing that scares them the most, the the part that gets their their chest heavy, they're, they're, they're they get warm, they're like, "Oh," they get nervous speaking, video, talking to a camera. Fascinates me. Hey, pull out your phone and shoot a video. "What do I say?" "I don't know. You're talking to me. Why don't you talk to the camera?" "Yeah, but what do I say?" "What are you saying to me right now?" "Yeah, but it's easy. I'm just talking to you." "Now talk to the camera. Just pretend I can't do that." "Cool. Can't do that. Won't do that." Let's go look at that area. That's, that's the easiest. I believe the world will show you where you're not free. So anywhere that I feel emotion around something, I'm like, "Ooh, there's an opportunity for me. Ooh, there's another opportunity for me. This is good. Okay, I can work with this." Write that down. What is it about that scenario that makes me feel that way? And the more I expand, the more I grow, the more tools I have to be able to create.
What role does the subconscious mind play in becoming successful?
Cool thing about the subconscious mind is we have the superconscious, the conscious, and the subconscious. The subconscious is literally designed to keep all systems go. You didn't ask your heart to beat. You didn't ask your lungs to breathe. You didn't ask your whole biology to regulate itself based on the fact that you ate some food an hour ago or drank a glass of water. It's quite fascinating and all part of that is part of this beautiful subconscious energetic exchange of of what happens. And it, in many ways, it's what creates our future. The key is, is we got to connect with the superconscious or the universal consciousness or God, whatever word you want to use, to bring in the downloads, the opportunities, the resources into your conscious awareness to then program your subconscious to go to work to help you find and create the opportunities all around you. And it's very simple. This is backed by science. This isn't woo-woo stuff, although it is spiritual and a lot of people call it woo-woo when it's just pure spirit. But science shows that if you have a desire and you have a focus, that you, your brain will start to filter out all the information around you to find opportunities to solve problems. Most people don't ask themselves questions in a way that your brain can actually go to work to find the solution. And, and in a way, is with the constraints. "How do I create more success without working more?" See, the "without working more" now I've created constraints. Then my mind can figure out and go to work. While I'm sleeping, the subconscious can go and say, "Hey, I need to get more done. I got to create more content. I got to create more money. I got to create more opportunities for my friends without working more." Okay, "What if I call that guy I talked to last week?" I totally forgot about that conversation. Boom. Subconscious mind brought you opportunities. Brought you opportunities. And it's happening all the time. You just got to give it instruction. It's like a heat-seeking missile without a guidance system if you don't program the subconscious. But it's not in the conscious mind. The conscious mind is the person that sits down to write a book and they're writing with the words. The subconscious is the, the crazy cool ideas that come to you out of the blue that just make the whole story make sense, or the model that just brings the whole book together, or the person that you meet that you didn't expect to meet that could write a blurb that makes the book feel a lot more legitimate. It's just fascinating to watch.
How can you manifest success into your life?
How do you manifest success into your life? Manifestation requires you to have a vision for what you want to create. So step one is have 100% clarity. You need to have a clear target of what you want your life to look like. Most people don't. Here's how you know if you have it: Can you describe me your future to the same specificities you can explain me your current situation? Because if you do, you have a clear vision. If you don't, you just have ideas. "I like more money, more wealth, more success, more relationships." That doesn't give a clear vision. Then you need to have the belief. The belief that it's possible. And think about it, out of 100, 100% clarity, can you describe your future? Same level of specificity as your current situation? Can you believe it 100% of the time? Or sorry, 100% belief. 100% belief is never doubting. When you communicate, you don't use words like "should," "would," "be," "could be," "it would." You know what I mean? Like, you literally can hear somebody's language that defines if they have 100% belief. And then the third part is 100% of the time, can you believe and have clarity around the achievement you want to get after? 100% of the time. And to the degree that you can do all three of those: 100% clarity, 100% belief, 100% of the time. All three of those are required. If you can do that, that's how you pull the future into you. See, people think manifesting is like creating objects out of the blue. It's not. It's about pulling the future that's potentially there for you. All future potentials are there. Nothing's ever happened without somebody believing first in the mind. Think about that. Everything around you, your T-shirt, your clothes, your city, the building you're in, all those things first existed in the mind of people from the past. That's a crazy idea. So you can do that. And then what you do is you pull those realities into your current life. And that is manifestation. That's how you do it. A lot of people talk about vision boards, yes. Mantras, yes. You know, um, energy work, yes. Working through your own personal stories, yes. All that stuff's required. But it's really as simple as, can I have 100% clarity? 100% belief? 100% of the time? And that's how we pull and manifest into our lives.