SFR 224: An Unlikely Success...
Everything you see in me now is PRACTICED\u2026
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I \xa0want to tell you a little bit about my mindset... and how I installed some of the habits of successful people that I WASN\u2019T born with myself\u2026
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I\u2019m gonna tell you why I really am the most UNLIKELY SUCCESS\u2026 and how YOU can literally change YOUR brain and rewire yourself for success!
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ANNIE GRACE
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I recently went on yacht trip to a little island called Bimini...
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I've never seen water so clear and still. There were no waves and the ocean was like glass.
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One of the things that I wanted to share with you today is something that I learned during that trip from an amazing lady called Annie Grace.
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If you don't know who Annie Grace is, she has an entire business teaching people how to break the habits of being an alcoholic.
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The level and depth that she\u2019s studied the way the brain works to truly be effective in helping people is incredible.
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She has a MASSIVE following. Annie Grace is truly impressive.
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I want to walk you through some of the things that she taught while we were on the island because there are a lot of ties with how I've tried to behave\u2026
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It\u2019s fascinating to know WHY thing worked as well as they have, and how you can build a new brain that supports your success.
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I'm gonna to go over what I learned from Annie, and then tell you why I want to share this with you\u2026
THOUGHTS ARE LIGHT.
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#1: Thoughts are things.
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The source of thought and thoughts are things.
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#2: Thoughts are literally electricity with protein.
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The thought itself is like a blast of electricity in the brain that travels really, really fast. Thoughts are literally light (which is fascinating in itself).
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#3: Proteins build structures around your brain to guide the light.
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So when you have thoughts... and when you\u2019re experiencing a new \u201cA-ha,\u201d or whatever... there are little lightning bolts shooting around in your head.
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#4: The reason we keep having the same thought is that proteins build pathways in our brain that channel the light.
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#5: 80% of what we thought about yesterday will be what we think about today.
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#6: Repeated thoughts build protein on protein on protein\u2026 and this is literally what establishes habit.
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So if you have a habit or reoccurring thought\u2026 if you're thinking the same way over and over again, the reason is that you have a build up of protein that\u2019s occurred over time which guides the light (meaning your thoughts) in your head.
#7: These proteins actually guide your thoughts inside of your head.
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Obviously, there are pros and cons to this\u2026
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For Example:
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If you\u2019ve grown up in a family or culture were those you're hanging around continually spur the same negative thought.. or continually tell you, \u201cNo, you're never going to do this,\u201d then you\u2019ll have a negative reoccurring thought pattern to deal with.
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*THIS* is the reason why you really are the average of the top five people that you hang around with.
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If I want different thoughts, I need a different environment to help you build protein on protein to help you channel the new thoughts in your head.
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#8: The MORE protein that\u2019s have built up in certain areas the easier those thoughts are to have and keep.
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(Seriously, how interesting is this! This is really fascinating.)
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#9: Habits are literally lots of proteins paths that make it easy for the light to travel.
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So if you want different habits of thought\u2026 you need to build up different parts of your brain to make it easy for the light to easily travel.
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Here\u2019s an example Annie used (this made me laugh), she said:
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\u201cIf you keep having the same thoughts, or you develop a skill set... the amount of time the light has spent spinning around in your head means that you\u2019ll have MORE proteins built on top of each other.
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You physically have a larger part of the brain for those thoughts\u2026
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For example, The part of Stephen Larsen's brain on offer creation is huge... it\u2019s massive!
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He has a huge bulging area where offer creation exists in his brain.\u201d
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I was like, "Oh!"
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I thought it was funny.
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#10: What part of your brain is biggest indicate your biggest habits.
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(How cool is that?!)
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#11: Whatever you think about MOST will grow.
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This was one of the major things that Annie taught about... \xa0You can physically change your brain.
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Your brain is like a stamp of what you actually thinking about.
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Her argument was being happy, being unhappy... different things in our life are a result of patterned thinking.
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#12: You can completely rewire the brain starting in four days, and be completely rewired in as fast as 21 days.
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The first step to break and rebuild the thoughts inside of our head is to gain awareness of the fact that we have a thought that we don't want.
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#13: \xa0To start rewiring your brain you need to get clarity on why that thought may be wrong and then flip it. Annie calls this THE A.C.T:
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- Awareness
- Clarity
- Turnaround\xa0
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STEPHEN, HOW DO YOU\u2026?
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Anytime somebody asks me what I do I just say, "Oh, I sell stuff on the internet," because I don't want to explain. (I should probably come up with another way to say that.)
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But when I'm hanging around people who know what I do and geek out with me, a recurring theme I'm beginning to be asked is:
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"Stephen you seem to move with such ease. You set a goal, you see where you want to go, and then you just do it. You just go for it."
This has been commented on multiple times, especially in the last little bit. And I'm like, "Well, yeah."
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That's my answer.
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Why, if I know what I want, would I sit back and NOT move towards it?
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But that question is becoming a recurring theme, so I want to peel back the curtain a little bit to help you understand why I\u2019m able to move that way.
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EVERYTHING IS PRACTICED
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I've been in this game now for almost eight years. I didn't start publishing until about four years ago...
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And when I started, I sucked at it super bad. I was absolutely terrible at it (like, seriously).
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On the Sales Funnel Radio YouTube channel you can go back and watch some of the earlier videos. I haven\u2019t deleted them, but I want to. They're that bad.
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I\u2019d try to go live on Periscope\u2026
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I\u2019d wait for people to show up, but I felt I had to fill the time, so I would just start talking. I didn't even know what the hell I was talking about.
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I\u2019m 100% the least likely success story.
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- I didn't know how to talk.
- I didn't know how to think.
- I was kicked out of school.
- I'm pretty sure a massive addiction to video games in high school.
- I didn't want to speak to any adults.
- I didn't know how to study.
- I was very much overweight; I was 35% body fat. (I'm not just pulling that number out. That was the actual tests I was taking... The little pinching tests and stuff. I was fat.)
- I was lazy.
- I had no discipline.
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I am the exact opposite person today than I was back then. And I didn't start changing without a lot of just freakin' grit.
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What I'm trying to help you understand is that EVERYTHING that you see and EVERYTHING that I've done has been a result of will.
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It has not been an accident.
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There are little hacks and little tiny, I don't want to say tricks, but there are ways to speed up the process...
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BUT\u2026 there are very few real shortcuts.
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Publishing consistently is a shortcut for making up for funnel building skills or lack thereof... but there are NOT many other real shortcuts to development.
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BUSINESS GROWTH & PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
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While we were driving back from the yacht trip, (we came back into the port of Miami) \u2026 I was in the same Uber with Brent Coppieters and Natalie Hodson.
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Natalie and I were talking, (and it was really nice of her), she said, \u201cStephen, it's crazy how much you've just blown up in the last year and a half.\u201d
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I can't remember exactly what she asked, but I told her that I\u2019d realized that:
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My business does not grow beyond my personal level.
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I've danced between marketing and systems, marketing and systems.
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I have these spurts where just tons of a lot of cash comes in, but then it\u2019ll out-do my systems, and I'm like, \u201cCrap! I've got to pull back and go build more systems.\u201d
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This has been true for my business overall and my own personality/ capacity.
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There\u2019s NOT a chance I could actually be performing the way I am even four years ago.
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*I DIDN\u2019T QUALIFY* My mindset wasn\u2019t up to the challenge.
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One of the things that I've really been careful to do in this last little bit is to become conscious of how I'm thinking\u2026
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So I just want to give you a few little tips, or pieces of advice (hope that's okay)... on the things that I've done that have made a lot of difference to how I think.
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...Because (going back to Annie Grace), if your brain\u2019s literally getting fatter in the areas you think about most... that's something to be conscious about!
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That\u2019s great news! but there\u2019s also some bad news...
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BREAKING PATTERNS
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# The bad news might be that you have some really fat parts of your brain filled with unhelpful patterns that you'll have to break:
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- These may have come from your family.
- They may have come from bad advice that someone who\u2019s poor gave you that you shouldn't have listened to.
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(We've all done that stuff, right!)
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So we need to become cognizant of the beliefs inside of our head.
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The negative could be that we have learned things in our lives that are NOT actually true.
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We believe them because we\u2019ve got a crap ton of proteins built up that make it easy for the thought to spin that story inside your head over and over again.
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# The Positive of all of this (and Annie taught this), is that you can have a complete rewiring in 21 days. That's insane!
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REGENERATE YOUR BRAIN
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The body regenerates every cell every three months, (or something like that\u2026)
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You physically can become an entirely new human being every three months.
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So if you're like, \u201cOh, my gosh, I'm so tired of this in my life,\u201d or being broke... or having scarcity mentality... or being freakishly negative all the time.
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(That is draining to me. I hate being around people like that.)
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BUT\u2026
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if you're tired of being, whatever it is\u2026. You can change it!
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That's the point of this episode.
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So my answer to all these people keep walking up saying, "Stephen, how do you move so freely?"
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*IT\u2019S PRACTICED*
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There's the answer\u2026
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There's plenty of times, I wake up and I'm like:
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\u201cI don't freakin\u2019 want to do what I'm supposed to do today.\u201d
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That happens a lot. A lot. A lot. But I get up. \xa0
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I use my environment as a place to get me in state. There's no person out there who wants to be doing what they are 24/7.
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A CALLOUSED MIND
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One of my favorite guys I'm listening to a lot is David Goggins. If you\u2019re offended by swearing don't listen to him. He swears a ton, but I'm a huge fan of his mentality.
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He runs these crazy ultra marathons.
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I was listening to an interview when someone said to him, "Why do you run if you hate it so much?" And he's said something like:
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"What are you talking about? I run because I'm preparing for life. I'm not running to run. I'm running because it's hard and I hate it. I'm running because I'm developing a calloused mind."
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I believe everything single thing he's saying about that. That's exactly how I've done it. There's no other way.
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MINDSET
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When I started doing the Two Comma Club X Program, the Original 2 Comma Club Program, the One Funnel Away... all my other programs, I thought I would be teaching marketing principles\u2026
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More often than not, I don't even get to the marketing principles, strategies and cool tactics... because people can't handle them. I can't even get inside someone's business and do what I know will work... because I'm fighting their brains.
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I've got to break those proteins down... and I've got to do it faster than 4 - 21 days.
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So I've gotten really good at breaking and rebuilding people's beliefs *QUICKLY* ...or at least satiating them enough to try and install a new belief in their brain.
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So I'm trying to give you a few little tips and tricks on how I've done this. Tricks is a stupid phrase. I shouldn\u2019t say tricks. There are no tricks\u2026
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There's the path and your speed on it. That's it. There are NOT really any shortcuts.
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BORROW THE LIGHT
You've got a few options:
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- You can increase your speed.
- Don't do anything.
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Understand that\u2026
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#1: If you're having a hard time believing that any of this works... or believing you could do it\u2026 or you don't make any money with it, or whatever...
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Understand that you DON\u2019T have to be your own source of light for a while.
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If you're like, \u201cI have a hard time even thinking like that\u2026\u201d Don't try and conjure it from your own head then. Borrow it.
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I've borrowed light \xa0and motivation from other people when:
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- Life sucks
- Something is really hard
- I lose
- Something's intense
- Things are taking longer than I want, or whatever\u2026
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I listen to a ton of motivational videos. I listen to a ton of comedy. I'm trying to isolate my brain and borrow light, ideas, thoughts, and positivity.
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\u201cI really could do this because that person has and that person has, and that person has... If I haven't achieved my goal \xa0it means I'm the variable, NOT the idea.\u201d
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You understand?
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BUILDING MIND MUSCLE
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I have a playlist on YouTube. I think it's public. Anyone can listen to it. It's called Mind Muscle. \xa0
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When Annie Grace started talking about this, I was like, \u201cThat's how I think about it.\u201d It's so true.
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Mind Muscle: I'm literally trying to build up areas of my brain to have consistent thoughts about... whatever. Positive thoughts, new ideas, new things\u2026
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That's how I can look at a funnel, or at a business, and just have tons of ideas on how to could solve any problem\u2026
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I have a lot of logged hours.
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Waaay more than 21 days where I've constantly repeated thoughts trying to build up (now I know) those proteins in my head.
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So #1: What I'm trying to help you understand is that if you have a hard time being positive...
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(Not that you have to be this freakin' cheery fairy all the time, you know what I mean? I'm NOT positive all the time. I'm not.)
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BUT\u2026 if you have a hard time believing:
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- The that what I do is real?
- That you could also pull it off yourself?
- You have the ability?
- The resources?
- The capacity around you to make it happen\u2026?
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STOP acting like you're the ONLY source of the light and the ideas that can install those new beliefs in your head. *YOU\u2019RE NOT*
INSTALLING NEW BELIEFS
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Go find a ton of playlists or videos (or whatever) on YouTube. Motivational stuff that\u2019s really inspiring to you.
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Inspiration that makes you feel like:
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\u201cMan, I wanna take over the world, baby. What's up? Yeah!\u201d
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Save that, and then listen to it A LOT
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Multiple times I\u2019ve laid on the very floor with my phone above my head thinking about and listening to motivational stuff when I can't conjure it on my own.
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Every single influencer, every single leader has a support system, and they\u2019ll lean back on it when they're NOT feeling strong enough.
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Just understand that.
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I think there's this mentality sometimes like, \u201cStephen's got it all together. Russell's got it all together. All these people who are big, they've got it all together.\u201d
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That\u2019s so freaking NOT true. That is terrible crap. That is a HUGE LIE. I'm begging you NOT to believe it.
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What we've all gotten good at is knowing how to get into state.
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WHEN LIFE\u2019S NOT PERFECT
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I'll tell you, this morning I'm tired, man. I'm tired. There's a huge to-do list on my desk. It's MASSIVE. In the past, that would stress me out and I would seek dopamine releases and distractions.
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I\u2019d watch excessive TV, play video games, or seek the feel-good of dopamine, the chemical distraction.
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I\u2019d try and get myself distracted and feeling good instead of focusing on that massive list.
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This is something I've fought. \xa0I had to get over that. There's a huge to-do list on my desk. I mean it's absolutely massive.
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- I have presentation slides to finish (Actually, I haven't even started 'em. And I'm supposed to have them done in four days from now) which is like, \u201cGAH!\u201d)
- I have an internal funnel team and I need to set up a whole bunch of stuff for them so that they can do what I hired them to do.
- I need to edit a chapter for my book.
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There's a lot of stuff on my plate right now; there's a lot and it's big, big projects.
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...And when I have a lot of creativity-based things on my head, that's a heavy weight.
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However, I've got good at taking those things, breaking them down and belittling the weight. I think, \u201cAh, it's not that big of a deal.\u201d
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Really it\u2019s a HUGE. Freaking huge. It's a big deal.
I have a lot of pressure on my noggin right now, but the way I handle it is practiced, my friends.
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I could not have handled this amount of pressure even two years ago... even a year ago. It is practiced. It is practiced.
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There are protein build up in my head that shows me how to act in my various roles:
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- CEO
- Entrepreneur
- Stage speaker
- Consistent Podcaster (which takes a lot of work)
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I'm just trying to help you guys understand that there is NOT a freaking soul on this planet that wakes up one day and says, "I got it all together!"
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\u201cStephen, how do you have all these pieces together?\u201d I don't! \xa0I just have more of it together than you do (if you're asking me that question).
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So what I do is I build up a support system\u2026
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Find your inspiration outside of you. Know what inspires you. So that when you're NOT feeling it, you can plug into that. Get your little solar charge... and move on.
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So, there are a few things that I do to do that:
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- Motivational videos. I listen to these consistently.
- Comedy (even if I've heard it before). I'm trying to keep things light.
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I think it was Abraham Lincoln that said, "With all the pressures of my life, if I did not laugh, I would surely die."
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I listen to A LOT of comedy, I don't think I've told you that before... because if I didn\u2019t laugh I would surely die.
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I'm trying to change the world, but you don't get it without really wanting it.
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I'm trying to take something that I have that's very unique. That no one else has ever done, and go and change lives with it. And it\u2019s working!
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But you're not going to be successful without really, really wanting it. And I do, and so I'm gonna get it.
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So what I want you to understand is:
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- You need an outside support system.
- What motivates you.
- Be very careful of the advice you listen to.
- Be conscious of who you hang around... VERY careful.
- Make sure that you are in charge of your energy levels, even, you're not totally feeling it.
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Something that I learned from the army:
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Fake motivation is still REAL motivation.
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And so when I step out and I'm like, \u201cMan, I'm ready to rock the day,\u201d I'm not lying to myself.
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I'll have a little Debbie Downer moment where I'm going to experience my true emotions as it is:
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\u201cI don't want to do what I'm doing right now.\u201d
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I'll have a little pity party for two-three minutes, and then I'll go through the things that help me get back in state.
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- Listen to Comedy.
- Listen to motivational videos.
- Look at my goals.
- Watch where I'm trying to go and simplify it.
- I will actively oversimplify the weight of the tasks at hand. (Not to lie to myself, but just make it manageable.) Then I'll just focus on one little piece at a time.
- Put music on to drown everything out and just move.
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It's a practiced system that I've developed over the past eight years.
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I wasn't really cognizant of it until about four years ago. I really wish I had someone to guide me back in the day. I just didn't.
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I hope that you understand what I'm talking about here...
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You can literally change the makeup of your brain, but it doesn't start without your recognition of what you don't like about how you think.
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HOW TO TALK YOURSELF INTO FALSE BELIEFS
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One of the biggest beliefs I hear from people is, "Stephen, I have shiny object syndrome."
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Believing that you have that problem is literally self-manifesting the fact that you have it.
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I don't have shiny object syndrome, but I do suffer from insatiable curiosity\u2026 and I know that about myself. I'm not going to try and change that\u2026
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So I go into the playground zone... and then I get hyper-focused. I say, \u201cNO\u201d to pretty much everything that's out there. That is practiced. I used to say,\u201cYES\u201d to everything.
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I equated the number of opportunities on my desk with success and I got nothing done.
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That was a very painful period of me.
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I knew I had the power to make money, but I wasn't \xa0because I couldn't focus.
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I'm just trying to help you guys understand that there's no guru out there, no influencer, no one who has it all together... Each successful person you see had to build these habits in their brain.
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Marketing itself is the act of changing beliefs with the intent of a sale. I'm literally rewiring brains with what I do... and I've gotten good at it. But the same is true for our own brains as we move forward.
A NEW YOU?
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If you're willing to shift up, change, break yourself a little bit, and go through some pain by thinking differently... literally, in a very short amount of time, you can be a new you.
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A new life requires a new you!
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If you're like, "I want that... but I've never had it before," prepare to change, my friend.
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Get real about it.
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Be open about the fact that you're freaked out. Name it. There's nothing wrong with that. You should be honest with yourself. Don't act like your pains NOT there...
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Don't wallow in the pain. Come up with an attack plan. Figure out a way.
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Understand that a lot of successful people, just know how to recharge and replug when things get though... and that's it. That's the secret.
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I keep things simple with the thought that:
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What I get done today will determine where I am tomorrow.
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If I don't get the things I need to get done, then it\u2019s like I\u2019ve done nothing that day.
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If I'm building a project, what I get done today will determine where I am tomorrow...
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So, I better freaking build and do the things that create a real foundation... and not just fluffy dumb work.
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I only work on those things that I can build upon and progress day by day.
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So understand:
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- The whole light thoughts in the brain thing is a true thing. You create your thought patterns.
- If you want a new you\u2026 you have complete power over that. No one else will or CAN do it except for you.
- Don't expect to be able to do it on your own. None of us have, none of us will, and no one will in the future.
- Start looking outward. I've never seen anyone EVER show up with a 2 Comma Club Award who did it on their own.
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There are over 500 2 Comma Club Awards now. 500 people have made a million dollars. What other proof do you freaking need, right?
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For most of them, this is the first time they\u2019ve ever done anything really successful. It's not like they all came these successful backgrounds.
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I just laugh every time someones like, "You always have it together." Yeah, that's not true. That's not true for anybody.
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BOOM!
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Just try to tell me you didn't like that.
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Hey, whoever controls content controls the game. Want to interview me, or get interviewed yourself?
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Grab a time now at stevejlarsen.com.
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