How to Rewire Your Mind for Success: The Missing Secret from Think and Grow Rich
How to Rewire Your Mind for Success: The Missing Secret from Think and Grow Rich
Why is working hard not always enough to build serious wealth?
Having been an entrepreneur my entire life, I recognize how challenging it can be. I'm committed to teaching people to work smarter, not harder. For the first 50 years of my career, I worked extremely hard and earned around a hundred thousand dollars a year. However, it wasn't until I focused on working smarter that I was able to reach net earnings of seven figures annually.
Why is mindset more powerful than strategy for business growth?
I decided to reread Think and Grow Rich. It was probably my 20th time reading it over a two- or three-month period. That night, I read a line that said, your daily actions determine your success in each area of your life.
That hit me. I’d never heard it put so simply before. The cumulative effect of your daily actions determines your success—in your health, your marriage, and your career. And I thought, yeah, I believe that.
Then I read something that floored me: 90 to 95% of your daily thoughts and actions are unconscious. That really made me pause. I got ready for bed, but I couldn’t stop thinking about that stat—95% of your thoughts and actions are unconscious. I sat up and had what felt like an epiphany. If your daily actions determine your success, but most of those actions are unconscious, then you're not actually in control of the thing that determines your success.
So, if you want higher-level success, you need to gain control of those unconscious daily actions. That blew my mind. That’s when the full secret of Think and Grow Rich clicked: What you envision in detail—with emotion—on a daily basis is what shows up in your life.
How can business owners build a mental framework that drives automatic growth?
What that means is that you create immense clarity about your life—exactly who you want to be, exactly what you want to accomplish, and precisely how you’re going to achieve your clearly defined goals.
Then, you take that clarity and put it into a template I created. You feed that clarity to yourself every day. It takes just 12 minutes.
After about 21 days, the science kicks in. The magic happens. What you’ve been feeding yourself starts showing up automatically—in your thoughts and actions—without even thinking about it.
Why is repetition so important in changing behavior and mindset?
After 21 days, it doesn’t just magically stop. What actually happens is you become more aware of your thoughts. And when that negative inner voice shows up, I teach you to trigger a thought of gratitude—something you’ve already built into your daily template.
So when you recognize that negative voice, boom—you switch to something you’re grateful for. That’s how it works for the first two or three months. Eventually, the triggering becomes unnecessary. It just fades. You’ve reworked your mindset in a way you’ve never done before.
Now might be a good time to explain how the human mind works—because this was the game-changer for me. At 50, I went from not understanding the mind to fully grasping how it works.
Here’s the breakdown:
The conscious mind sets your intentions using logic.
The subconscious mind controls your daily actions—about 95% of them—and it can only be influenced through repetition.
Here’s an example: Let’s say you want to lose weight. Your conscious mind logically says, “I need to lose weight for my health.” But people don’t fail because they lack intention. They fail because they never influenced the part of the brain—the subconscious—that controls daily habits like eating and exercising.
That’s the disconnect: The conscious mind sets the goal, but the subconscious executes the action. And it doesn’t use logic—it just obeys. It doesn’t argue. It doesn’t say, “Well, maybe I’ll do it later.” It just does what it’s told over and over again.
And yes, logic might tell you, “Why do I need to repeat this every day? Didn’t I already tell myself this last week?” But that’s just how it works. The subconscious only responds to consistent repetition. That repetition of the right actions is what leads to doing the right actions.
How do you create success in your life?
When I ask people that one-on-one, they usually stumble through an answer. They might come up with something, but it’s clear they don’t have an actual process for creating success. And then I’ll ask a follow-up question: How’s that working for you? Usually, the answer is not so good.
The truth is, most people are just winging life. They don’t have a system. So they end up repeating the past—over and over. That was me up until I turned 50. The problem is that we’re innately wired for survival. About 75% of our thoughts are fear-based.
And here’s the second challenge: you’re mentally stuck in the recent past. When you wake up each day, your thoughts go straight to your problems and recent struggles. That creates negative feelings. And those feelings feed more negative thoughts. Before long, you’re stuck in a loop—reliving the same story.
The solution? Feed your brain a clear, daily articulation of your life:
Exactly the person you want to be
Exactly what you want to accomplish
Precisely how you’ll achieve your clearly defined goals
When you do that, you’re no longer winging it. You have a powerful force pulling you forward into the life you want. Your morning routine becomes the most important moment of your day—the moment you create the life you were meant to live.
What key traits should business owners develop for success?
I believe certain characteristics are crucial for success. First, one must see success as a necessity, not just a preference. Secondly, individuals must be introspective about their lives. Many people, particularly in American culture, dismiss the impact of mindset as trivial. However, considering that about 15% of people meditate, a core group clearly understands the importance of influencing their mindset. Lastly, individuals must be at a point in their life where they are ready for change. If someone is content with their life, the timing may not be right. But if they're seeking change, that's the opportune moment.
*This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.*
