The SECRET HABITS Millionaires Use Every Day That YOU CAN COPY! | Dean Graziosi

the world and even school teaches us in so many ways to work on our weaknesses to get stronger. And I think that's a huge flaw. I think we just get great at what we're good at. We only need to be good at one or two things and we can make an impact on the world. Everybody, welcome to Impact Theory. Our goal with this show and company is to introduce you to the people and ideas that will help you actually execute on your dreams. All right, today's guest is a ridiculously successful real estate entrepreneur who took himself from a childhood full of crippling poverty to building a mega multi-million dollar empire. He got his first taste of success while he was still a teenager, despite the fact that he had a learning disability, didn't go to college, or come from money. Instead, he started by chopping wood, rebuilding cars, and knocking on thousands of doors, literally, looking for homes to buy. By his own estimation, he isn't smarter than the average person, but he does have far better habits. Habits that have allowed him to write five books, become a multi-time New York Times best-selling author, and dominate the success, business, and real estate book sales charts for years and years, selling well over a million copies of his books. His insane work ethic, authenticity, and awe-inspiring amount of enthusiasm have not only helped him succeed in business, but they've also helped him create one of the most successful direct selling TV programs of all time. It was so successful, in fact, that it's generated hundreds of millions in sales and has been airing on television every day continuously for 17 years. Through his amazing web content, he's also reaching millions of people online and his alive event series has helped establish him as one of the foremost success coaches and real estate educators in the world. So, please help me in welcoming the dedicated philanthropist who has helped feed and house countless people who are struggling, the best-selling author of Millionaire Success Habits, Dean Graziosi. Good to be here, man. Thank you. Thank you. That guy sounded awesome you were just talking about. awesome. You're going to love him. I can't wait for you two to meet. Awesome. So, man, I want to know like it is crazy to me growing up living in a trailer park, living in a bathroom with your dad for a year. It's pretty crazy. How do you go from that while still in your teens to beginning a really and just incredible entrepreneurial journey? It's so funny, even when I was sitting in the green room waiting reading your impact theory reading your values, you know, it it's those foundational things that got me here. I just didn't know it at that time. So, if I look back at that time it's I did live in a bathroom with my dad for a year straight because he had a I say that quick on TV and people like, "What do you mean you lived in a bathroom?" Well, we had a house with no heat. There was no walls in it. So, the bathroom was enclosed enough where we could plug an electric heater. So, we drag a a bed in there at night, plug in the electric heater, and we lived in that bathroom for almost a year. But, if I look back then, my parents got married and divorced a lot, which a lot of people go through. Uh they didn't have any money, evicted from places, which other people go through. But, I remember wanting to take care of my mom. And my driver at 15, now that I look back at 13, even probably 12, was something I just want my mom not to work so hard. And if I look those things anchored me through life. Like even if you're running away from pain and that's your driver, great. Use it. Actually feel the pain more. Don't ignore it and live of of status quo or even a life of struggle because of that. In fact, let the pain sink in and let it be your driver. And then once you get a past those, then other things kick in that could be your motivator, which I hope we get to talk about today. But, I think the main driver was taking care of my mom. And I realized that at a young age I watched how much my father struggled. And he worked hard. My father wasn't lazy. He got up at 6:00. He was busting his knuckles every day on cars and working really hard and work till late and he was frustrated. I was like, "Wow, he works hard." So, that whole thing of go to school, work hard has nothing to do with success. There's no correlation. I live in Phoenix, it's 110°. I drive by, there's guys up on the roof putting a black tar roof on. They've been there all day, it's 5:00 at night. They're physically working harder than me. I I think I recognized at a young age that my dad was kind of like running on a treadmill. And then there was certain people in my town that just seemed happier, more successful, and they they just did things just a little bit differently than the norm, and it made a it made an impact. So, talk to me about the time that your dad saw a guy mowing your lawn for you. You heard that one. That that really showed the dichotomy between the the new way that you were trying to think and then the old way that you'd been brought up to think um and the different results that each path Yeah, really great question. So, um I was probably 19 or 20 years old. And by then uh I had already um I was working in a collision shop. I'd buy wrecked cars, fix them and sell them. And I had my first apartment house by then. I bought an old rundown house. I got it for no money down. And I built I built nine apartments in it, and I'd build one apartment, and I'd live in it while I remodeled it. So, I'd work on cars during the day, at night I'd work on this first apartment. I'd get it done. And then as soon as it was done and it looked nice, I'd rent it and I'd move into the crappy one and and rebuild it. And I got all nine done. And I I realized at a young age that at that time I was starting my real estate career, and by the time it was all rented, it was doing really well. It was cash flowing really well. My dad always working hard and born during the Depression was always like, you know, don't borrow money. If you could do it yourself, don't dare hire anybody else. And I knew it was fundamentally flawed cuz it wasn't working for him. So, I used to spend all day Saturdays on this apartment house. I had a monster lawn. I'd weed whack all day, I'd mow the lawn. And one day it just hit me. I said, "What my dad thinks is wrong. Like, doing this, during this time, this seven hours of mowing, I could pay the neighbor 50 bucks to do it, and I could go fix one more car, or find another piece of real estate, or flip a car and sell it for a profit. I could make maybe a couple grand today. My ROI would be monstrous. So, the first time, literally the first week, the kids mow my lawn, my dad pulls in the driveway, and he sees, and he gets out, and he goes, "You're going to pay someone to mow your lawn? This is You got bigger than your britches. You're This is it for you." And I remember just sitting there, and I hated my dad. confrontational sometime. And he got so mad at me, like furiously mad. He got in his car, and he and he It was a gravel driveway. He hit the gas so hard, it sprayed rocks all over my car. Like dented the whole side of my car. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And he left pissed. And I remember just sitting there. It was really a moment in my life, and I'm like, "Wow, his beliefs are so strong, and if you could do it yourself, you should do it, that it's compromised him in having the ability, you know, to have more freedom, have more joy." And I realized at that moment, it actually It didn't make me want to fire the kid that was mowing my lawn, but anchored in the fact that, "Wow, this is what I need to do more of." And I think I've been on a journey. I still I You're probably the same way. I still, on a quarterly basis, I still look through everything I do, and it you know, it's like an onion. You keep peeling away the onion of what you shouldn't do. And I And I still look. I'm like, "What Can I have an ROI on? What can I make several thousand dollars an hour, whatever the number is, and pay someone to do it?" So, that was That was a big tipping point in my life, because I started realizing that I didn't have to get I didn't have to do things that I could get a better ROI on. And then it it evolved even more so into stop doing things I sucked at, cuz the world, and even school, teaches you teaches us in so many ways to to to, you know, work on our weaknesses to get stronger. And um I think that's a huge flaw. I think we just get great at what we're good at. We only need to be good at one or two things, and we can make an impact on the world. How do people find those things? Well, you know, I I've been doing it for so long time that I think the best way is as archaic as this might sound is I literally will jot down now and I'll tell people whether I'm in a a high-end mastermind where people paid a hundred grand to be in the room or they paid ninety bucks to be around. I'll tell the same people is take a journal, do it in your phone in in the notes or do it on a in your journal or on a pad and write down the stuff you do on a daily basis hour by hour and then go through it and literally look at the stuff as as simple as this sounds, look at the stuff and say is everything on this list drive me towards being a better version of myself or more wealth if that's what you want or being a better dad is what I obsess on or being a better family man or being more conscious, being more spiritual. Like does it help God, the universe or bigger version of me and if it doesn't, should it really be something that's on my list and if it has to be done, can someone else do it? Can I delegate it? Can I automate it or can I just eliminate it? And and I literally do that practice at least once a quarter for the last ten years. Um, cuz we must cuz sometimes we've we evolve, we change and things that used to light us up or used to be important aren't anymore. Um, and then the other thing too is there's a there's a balance between, you know, just making money or furthering your business and also knowing internally what your definition of success is. Um, you know, it there might be something that makes you a lot of money but it robs your soul. So there's that balance and I think that doesn't happen oh that doesn't happen in your twenties and maybe not in your thirties at least it didn't for me. I was just fighting to be successful in my twenties and thirties. But at this phase I wish someone would have grabbed me at twenty-five and said you're going to make all the money you want, you'll have all the success you want. Make sure your soul is aligned with that money. Um, and every time I don't know about you, every time I align my values, my soul, my purpose, whatever it is you want to call it with uh my businesses or my profits, they always soar without having to obsess on the you know, on the on the numbers. What you just said is so important and is is the like driving force of my life. Um like you, I chase money first and foremost. That was it. I wanted to get rich, period. Yeah, when people when people I hear their story of I had this epiphany to change the world at 22, I'm like, that wasn't me. I I just wanted to be rich cuz I hated being poor. I wanted to take care of my mom. You know, I could lie. So, anyway, I didn't mean to interrupt, but I get it. Man, not at all. And I I really hope people are hearing what you're saying because it's like everything that I say beyond like align the way that you generate your wealth with what you love doing is like trappings to try to point you back at that. Because one, you'll be far more extraordinary because you care enough about it to invest the time to get great. Two, it's the thing that is going to keep you going when it gets really hard is going to be that you believe in what you're doing, that you're you're passionate about it. It gives you more energy than it takes. And if you don't have that, you're in real trouble. And I'll say that some of that though is a bit advanced class. It's getting into like you're talking about optimizing, which is so critical, unless you're so early in your development that you're like your dad, you know, peeling gravel. So, what I want to know is you understand the psychology of people and their story and how they get trapped really well. Talk to me about how people can get control of that story. You talk about um monitoring your thoughts, being aware of what you're thinking, being aware of the story you're telling yourself. You're right. And what stands between us and where we want to go is never what we think it is. It's not the economy, it's not the president, it's not that somebody already dominated the health food industry or dominated Facebook advertising or dominated TV advertising or there's no room left. It's never that. It's always the story we tell ourselves on why we can't achieve that. And and if if I want to boil it down, I would just say, what is your biggest why? What's your biggest goal that you would love? If it was a year from now and we were sitting here, you're watching this and it was a year later and it was the best year of your life, what would be the biggest thing that would have changed in your life? From money, income, family, love, intimacy, being a better dad, mom, whatever. Whatever that is, if you say to yourself, I would love that goal. Like I I'd love to have my company doing a million dollars a year in net profit so I could have freedom for my family, then just say but. And whatever that but is is usually your story. It's like I would love my company to be doing a million dollars a year, but I live in a smaller town and there's just not enough people to do it. Or the internet's so saturated, there's no room to advertise on Facebook anymore cuz everybody and their brother's on. Whatever that story is is usually your story and that's the results you get. And that story is the the thing the thing standing between you and your next level. And I know people are watching right now going, "Oh Dean, that's nice. You guys got money now, so it's easy. I don't have any money. I don't have a partner. I don't have any business experience. Uh you know, this economy's not right for what we do." And and you know, where there's where there's you know, that old saying, "Where there's a will, there's a way." If that if your story is that, that's what you'll continue to get. So, what I would say is, if I was going to boil it down, is find what that story is. Now, to you, you might be saying, "Dean, you're saying it's a belief, it's reality." And maybe it's phase three, but reality is nothing more than our perception of a situation, right? We all know that. You've read that about, you've watched it on Tom's show. You everybody has said it, but maybe it's the first time you actually think about it that that reality you think is holding you back is really just the story. So, there's two things I say is go find somebody else with that same story. Like go look at your your your evolution, where you were, on your couch, no money, right? Go look at Richard Branson's story. Look at Tony Robbins' story. Look at, you know, John Paul DeJoria or all the amazing books. Every I've read every book in there. That's amazing the people that you've got to interview and meet, but read all those stories and realize that first of all, that story you have is probably a lie, right? So, if you can find proof, like leverage, that it's a lie, that's one thing. But, then the one that would get me is I love aspiration. I love to look and say, "Look what you did, man. I I I want to get there. If he did it, I can do it." But, sometimes you need the pain as well. So, what I like to do is I like to think take that story and think it's 5 years from now and think it's 10 years from now and you're still in the same exact spot you are now. You're still worried. You still have envy. You still want more. You desire more. You want to take care of your family. You want to provide more. And think that that story, those two sentences, is the thing holding you back. Do you really want to give that story that much power? And then think it's 10 years from now and that story is still done. And all of a sudden, it like for me, I think, "Am I going to let that story stop me?" I brought my son with me today. Am I going to stop from giving him the opportunities that I didn't? I'm not raising I have two children. I'm not raising entitled kids. I want to give them massive opportunity. I don't want to leave him a trust fund. I'm going to leave him massive opportunity and train him. I'm not going to let any story get in the way of me being that dad. And if a story pops up that says, "Hey, I can't make baseball this week because of this." I'll change the damn story. I'll fist fight with that story and I'll look at the pain I'll have if I keep that story. So, I love the aspirational part of this story will stop me from my new life, but I also like, "Are you going to let that story screw you around for the next 5, 10, 15 years?" I mean, man, we're we're going to be 90 laying in a in a in a bed looking up like before we know it. And do you want to think, "I squeezed all I could out of life?" Or did I let just beliefs that other people gave me hold me back? Now, let's say that they do that. They're looking back. They understand what they would have to change to really get, you know, so they're at a future point thinking, "Okay, this is the best year of my life." They look back. They understand what they have to do to actually make that come true. They identify a limiting belief. They get the butt and then they, "Oh, okay, that cool. I got it. I'm owning that story unintentionally. Now, how do they start writing a new story without feeling like they're lying to themselves? no, that's true. So, in 10th grade, I decided I wasn't going to college. I wasn't that smart. I had dyslexia. Family didn't have money. None of my family ever went to college. I just wanted out of school. So, my dad owned a collision shop. Uh it was called uh Paul Graziose Auto Body. And uh uh he never made more than 30 grand a year. I told you he worked really hard, but not profitable, just worked hard. So, my dad said, "If you're not going to go to college, I'll make you a 25% partner in the collision shop in 11th grade if you can get out by 11:00." So, 11:00 I start uh 11th and 12th grade I took like ceramic, gym, and and and English, and I was out. I was at the collision shop. So, in 11th grade, in this little town I grew up of of 8,000 people, little town called Marble, New York, the collision shop sign he switched it, and it became Paul and Dean Auto Body. And I love it and like that was huge for me. And I I worked I I worked like my dad did. I worked I hustled. I went there at 11:00. I worked every night. And my dad was like, "Hey, our business is doing better because of you." I was better with the clients. I was better I I brought more people in. I hustled. So, now all my friends are going off to college or going into what they're doing. Like, "You're not going to college?" I'm like, "No, I got this collision shop." Like, I felt like a little sense of pride. Like, I was making movement. And by then I was giving my mom some money. I was giving my grandmother some money. And and had this evolution. I felt good. So, about 2 years out of high school, my dad goes through his fourth divorce, and it hits him really hard. And um it hit him so hard that he checked out. And he said, "Hey, I'm not going back to the collision shop. I'm not paying the rent. It's done." And I was like, I At that phase of my life, Tom, I felt I was embarrassed more than anything. Like, I remember that point cuz I was like, "I'm not going to college, but I own Paul and Dean Auto Body with my dad." And it was like in my head, not realizing I'm 20 nothing. I'm like life's over. I have no money in the bank. Life is just screwed and I started telling myself that story. And I lost the spark I'd had since I was about 12. Like since 12, I'm like I'm not the smartest, but I'm going to do this. I'm going to do it. And I lost it. And I'm going to friends like, "Hey, if your dad or anybody you know needs their car fixed, I'm doing it out of my garage." And I know my friends are like, "Uh." And then all of the sudden So this is what I'll share with you. Maybe you've had a story worse than that or maybe a story not as bad as that. But I remember being in there and saying to myself like, "What the hell am I doing telling myself this crap? Like if I feel this way, this is what I would have be my dad." And I remember at that moment I changed the story and I started thinking to myself. It didn't happen overnight. So this is what I want to encourage you. When you find the bad story, find a way to just reverse the whole thing. I'm like, "No, no, no. Because I don't have a college degree, I'm going to fight and I'm going to do this. Because I was always small, I'm going to do this. Because I have no money, I'm going to do this. Because my friends think I can't, I'm going to do this." And all of a sudden, I started changing the story not overnight, but over weeks it became my empowering story. I wasn't looking at at a deficit. I'm like, "Screw you guys. You think I'm not going to do this cuz I don't have what you have? I'm going to show I'm going to blow right past you." Whether that's a good thought or not, at the time it served me. That's not how I look at things now, but at the time it served me. Some of it was and I was able to reverse that story and that story got me through. Just like what got you from going to the couch getting changed to where you've what you've created what it's unbelievable the impact you've made on the world. But if we had the wrong story, if we had the wrong beliefs, we're screwed before we start. I'm glad that we went down this road because if one person watching today just says, "Screw this old story." and you spent the time to make that an empowering story, then I think the game changes forever. Do you have people that ask you like, "Hey, I'm rewriting my story, but it doesn't feel real." What advice do you have for them? Um rewriting my story and it doesn't feel real. Of course, it doesn't feel real because you've been living the old story so long. All change is is uh you know, all change freaks people out whether they believe that they like change or not. And I think not only been telling yourself the story so long is when you tell yourself a bad story we look for things. Do you ever Do you ever have something bug you like everybody does and you Google it and you find all the negative stuff like, "Oh my god, I got I got cancer. I have I have you know, it's I have a tumor." Right? It's the same thing with with our insides, right? When we have a story that's holding us back, we find social proof all around us that tells us it's it's the truth. Right? You talk to your aunt who says, "Yeah, that Hey, listen, rich people get to do those things. We don't. You just play it safe." And all of a sudden, subconsciously, you're like, "Oh, maybe that story is right." So, you have all these years of sometimes years, months, weeks, whatever it is, you have the story and then you only collect the data that supports the story so your subconscious can be okay with playing small. What I love in in your real life story is that it wasn't like you were saying, "Oh, this epiphany, I look up, the stars align." It was okay, you have the trouble with your dad and his um most recent divorce. Looks like everything's collapsing. You get it back. It's going in the right direction. We're winning again. This is incredible. And then you make a deal to sell your car flipping business. Yeah. And then that goes to hell. And in that moment, the the story comes rushing back of maybe everybody was right. Maybe I wasn't smart enough. Absolutely. And so, that In fact, you just posted this on your Instagram. I thought it was so brilliant. It was the life of an entrepreneur and it showed this like, "I'm winning. Everything's amazing. I screwed up. [ __ ] I really suck. I'm winning again. Yeah, I've got this figured out." And it's just like this back and forth, back and forth. How did you when you thought, "Oh, I've overcome this. I've got the empowering story." And then it all falls apart again. The inner villain, as you call it, like starts speaking up. How did you deal with it the second time around? Was it easier? Was it harder? I think it was harder. It was harder cuz it was bigger. Because so the story, just so you said I I I went I got I ended up after that I worked in that little garage. I was working on one car. My story changed. I started getting power two cars, three cars. I went to the the woman who owned the collision shop my dad had rented for her, Mrs. Mary Lepresti. She was a great old lady, uh elderly lady, and we became friends and she sold me the collision shop with no money down. Wow. So I bought the collision shop my dad lost. I named it Dean Collision Center. I took the Paul off. I was mad at my dad. So I I named it Dean Collision Center. I bought it and I started and I got Enterprise Rent-A-Car account. I got Hertz Rent-A-Car account. We went from this rinky-dink collision shop to a successful collision shop. Started buying and flipping more houses. And then in the late '90s, I wanted to teach people how I made money with cars. I used to wholesale cars. If you ever went and traded in a car and they give you a low price, I'd run ads in the classifieds. I said, "Hey, if you're getting a low offer, uh call me. I'll sell your car for you." And then I'd match buyers and sellers. I'd make money in those. So I created a course called Motor Millions and I'd watch Tony Robbins on infomercials and I had no idea what I was doing. Um I put all the money I had together, hit credit cards, and I filmed my first infomercial in 1999. And I sold the course called Motor Millions. And uh went on TV and was literally running Motor Millions, my education business, out of the collision shop. Like I had three phones on the desk and "Oh, no, that's the that's the Motor Millions phone." And uh and uh we ramped up and I had no idea what I was doing. I knocked on a lot of doors and finally rolled out on TV and probably got to a $10 million a year company, you know, the trials and error of figuring it out, right? A lot of mistakes cuz I had no idea what I was doing. And I was about 3 years into that and I wanted to teach everybody real estate. And I had somebody come in and offer to buy Motor Millions. Uh and they uh they took the company and came in like, "Hey, you're running like a mom and pop. We're going to turn it to a company." And they blew the company up. I mean, like in 9 months. Like as fast as you could blow a company up, they blew it up. And uh And I remember when they were making all these changes, I remember thinking, "Well, I'm not that smart. These guys are smarter than me. So, they're probably doing it right." Even though it didn't feel right. So, long story short, the company went belly up. But, my name was attached to it. And they didn't pay refunds to people who bought my courses and stuff. So, I went to court and literally took back the debt. And then I, over the next 2 years, I paid off 100% of the people who had bought, even though they bought through the company bought it. My bills were ridiculous, and all of a sudden cash flow was shut off immediately. And I'm fighting to take back a dead company. Like it was like I gave them a thoroughbred that was ready to grow, and they broke its legs and gave it back to me, and I had to fight and pay to take it back. Then paid off and And I thought I was going to lose it. And then those limiting beliefs at a different level came back and said, "Uh see, you didn't go to college. You didn't study enough. You weren't smart enough to own a $10 million a year company. You weren't smart enough to negotiate right. What do you think you're doing? Get this paid off. Go back to" Literally, I was saying, "Go back to Marlboro. Go back to just real estate, car business. You can make yourself 300 grand a year." Like literally, those beliefs came in all over again. And I would I I would bet to say what did it for me then was two things. Is I started thinking back of all the things that I went through. And it was just as painful when I was broke, getting my first deal done, get broke, living in in a bathroom, broke in that garage, going to the collision shop. And I realized that it doesn't matter how many zeros are at the end or how big your company is. The pain is still there. And if you have the ability to get through a death, get through a hard time, get through something horrible in your life, you have the same ability. And you would probably agree this, when your company's got, you know, three zeros or nine zeros or 10 zeros, it does like the the stress and the worry is almost the same if you look back. It's just you're just handling bigger problems. And I think I think I mean, you want to upgrade your life, upgrade your problems, right? But But I think that's what got me through is I I literally looked back and said, "Wow, I thought I was dead then. I wasn't. I thought I wasn't going to make it there. I did." And I started this mantra. If I can get through this [ __ ] I can get through anything. And I remember I would just walk and I would say it. Oh, if I can get through this, I can get through anything. This is my time. This is my purpose. This is my calling. I went from the worst time of my life to be in being empowered and motivated, and the energy just I took my team with me. They felt the energy. They felt the motivation, and and we just blew right through to another level. That's really incredible. You have this concept of protect your confidence. I've never heard anybody say it like that before. Why is that so important? Uh because I think I mean, in all the big decisions you've had to make along your way, have you ever made a good decision when your confidence was down? No. Once. Like, can you say I walked in my head was down? Your your physiology's changed. You're like a little nervous. Like, you just don't make good decisions when your confidence is down. And and and I don't think it's like we're either confident or not confident. I think it's like if if confidence is 100%, if our confidence is 95%, we play smaller. I know with me, like, big opportunities come. If I'm not in that like space, I'm like, you know what, guys? Let's just let's hold let's not like I won't make smart decisions. So, I think I think we have to do everything in our power to protect our confidence. So, that that theory of protecting your confidence has been has been a a major thing in my head always. In fact, I have a you know, we all have our own morning routines. Not maybe not everybody, but I have a morning routine that I have to do to get me to play the way I look at it is play offense for the day, not play defense with lower confidence. What does that look like? Um I've tried a lot of variations, and for me, it's if I immediately when I wake up, I can't check my phone. In fact, I put it on airplane mode and I move it. I got that from Ariana Huffington, who's amazing and she's like, "Is your phone still by your bed?" She goes, "Airplane mode, on the other side of the room, you know?" Um so that and then I just know so many people roll over and grab their phone and to me that's like Russian roulette. You put a bullet in the gun and you spin it. It's like, what if the email says the deal didn't happen, numbers are down, life's not working out. Like and immediately for me it's like you open up and and this little box is going to dictate the first couple hours or maybe the whole day by what you see. So, I've just I just won't look at my phone when I first wake up. Um so, but when I first open my eyes, this is all and I like doing things quick for me cuz I want to get to the gym cuz it's the only time of day I'll go. If I try to wait till the afternoon, it doesn't work for me. So, as soon as I wake up, I immediately try to think of something I'm grateful for, which everybody knows that and thinks about it, but I've I play this game with myself on how far I can lower the bar. Meaning, I I tried to do a gratitude journal about 3 years ago and after about 5 weeks I ran out of stuff to say. I'm like, I already wrote my kids and this and life. Like, what do I put in here? Like, I I I And then I was like, wow, 150,000 people die every single day. You can Google it, that's the number. It's like, some days I wake up and I'm just like, I'm here, awesome. And I let I feel that silly little thing like I'm here or or I'll be like, oh my god, the sheets feel softer than they've ever felt and I'll literally think to myself, these sheets are really good. Like what? A third of the world sleeps on the on a dirt floor and I have sheets and an amazing bed and look at the view I have. And that's enough just because the way I look at it is I'm just just tweaking my brain enough to be in a grateful place. It doesn't have to be this for me and you guys might have better practices. I'm not talking about a half hour gratitude meditation. I just need one little thing or I pick up a book if I'm reading one of the books that you have on the shelf, I'll pick and I'll just pick three sentences and read something empowering and I'll get that state of mind for my brain. And then I think about one win I had the day before. Because I know as entrepreneurs, as somebody searching for success, we never give ourselves credit. We never treat a friend the way we treat ourselves. It's like I know I've had days I've gone until 10:00 at night and go, "Man, I got nothing done today." It's the biggest lie. Like we beat ourselves up. We just were we're like these racehorses. We wouldn't even treat a racehorse that we owned as bad as we treat ourselves, right? So, I wake up and I'll do a quick little gratitude and I'll say, "What was one win yesterday that I accomplished?" I'm like, "Wow, you did do that yesterday." And then I'll think of one win I want to do that day. Like what I'm going to do a million things done today, but what's a must today that would be a great win? And then, for me, then I immediately go downstairs in my house and I drink I felt like I fed my my mind and then I want to feed my body. So, for me, I've been doing the same drink forever. I do apple cider vinegar, lemon, MCT oil, a scoop of green powder, and uh mix that up and I down that. And then I immediately got to go to the gym. So, reading the book, one of the things that I found interesting is you talk about money myths and some of the things that people believe that end up holding them back. What are some of the major money myths that people struggle with? I think I think some of the big ones are a certain group of people feel like if you're making too much of it, you're taking it from somebody else. I mean, that's a big uh that's a big worry. I think um the other thing is that people think money doesn't solve problems or money won't uh make me a a better person or money won't make me happy. And I think wh- however you want to classify money, but for me, I just know this. If that's a driver for you, I don't think we should drive for money. I think we should drive to be a better version of ourselves. When money was no longer a worry for me, I dove into me. And I have been ignoring and tucking down a lot of crap for a lot of years. And I was surface level. I look like the guy that had it all going on. My businesses were doing good. I have amazing children, company thriving, I live in the right neighborhood, drive the right have the right friends. Everything looked great. But it was all masked. And when money got out of the way, I was able to find dig into me and do my own personal development and my own personal growth. And really find the things that I wanted to fix so I could become a better version because I know if I'm pointing cuz my son's over there, it doesn't matter what I tell him as a parent. And if you're a parent, you know what I'm talking about. I could teach him everything. I could give him lessons. We do Sunday meetings. I could teach him lessons every He's going to become and who I am, not what I say. And I'm going to lead by example. And I want to be a better version of me. And money's allowed that. Money has not made me uh uh uh evil or done bad things. It's it's allowed me to not worry about that part so I could focus on me. And simultaneously, the more I focused on me, the more I wanted to do take my money and do better for other people. I mean, I heard somebody say once when they said they think money's evil, they said, "You haven't made enough and you haven't given enough away yet to see that it's not." So, that kind of shifted for me as like I just want to I want to fine-tune and hone my skills for making more money then I have the ability to help more people. Because that's the gift I got, right? Um so, I think I know you asked about money myths. I think I think the the whole thought of money is evil or it can't help problems or we're hurting other people by taking it. I just I don't believe in that as long as the byproduct of you making money turns you into a better person and allows you to help more people. So, if you're somebody that buys into that and you want to go on that journey, then to the very title of your book, like what are the habits that you need to cultivate in your life in order to be able to succeed at the highest level. Yeah, you know what um every one of your rules on Impact Theory what I read, I'm not kidding. Ever since that journey and starting before that with Million Dollar Millions, I realized that people are searching like and again, I I I digress sometimes, but everybody's in a vehicle, like your your wealth creation vehicle. Whether that's a job you don't like or a job you do like or a business you started or a business that's crushing or a business that's not doing great, you have this vehicle. And when this vehicle's not working we're looking out the road of all the other shiny cars. And it's like, oh man, I I tried selling stuff on Amazon, that's not working. I'm going to go in the car business, the real estate business. I'm going to go in the speaking business, the the nutrition business, the supp- and you're looking for another car to jump in. And I realized people jump from car to car to car their whole life looking for satiation, looking for satisfaction, looking to make more money. And I got to see it first hand, Tom, because I was in the business of teaching people how to make money with real estate. And when they would call into customer service, when they would send in for a refund or I'd see them at an event, they never said, ever, I tried your real estate stuff, it sucks. Never. We used to send surveys to listen and go, how come you're not making money yet? Is it job, the time, effort, energy, Dean's training sucks? 1% would pick the training sucks. And what I realized over all these years is that, and the reason I wrote Millionaire Success Habits, is you could literally give someone a business on how to sell $20 bills for five bucks. And they'd screw it up. Because of their beliefs, because of the fear of rejection, because the fear of selling, because of the fear of marketing, because other people told them they couldn't or they feel they need certain criteria, they need initials at the end of their name, like they they need all these things. And at the end of the day, what you wrote uh uh your Impact Theory, you call them beliefs? Impact Theory beliefs? It's kind of the same beliefs that are in my book, but it's also the same beliefs that are in three quarters of the books that you have in your shelf now and the incredible people you've interviewed. And I just saw that if we can give people if we can go upstream, if you can stop jumping from vehicle to vehicle, the vehicle you're in might be the right vehicle, but you don't have the right habits or the right beliefs or the right rules, whatever you want to call it. My book's habits, so I call them habits, but it's really the foundation for success so you can overcome the obstacles. You don't let negative people in your life steer you in different directions. It doesn't, you know, even people will ask me about productivity. People say, "How do How do you get so much done? How do you run a business and still coach Little League in baseball and stuff? How do you do all those things?" It's because of just simple success habits like I I just wrote something on this recently. I said, "You have to treat your decisions for productivity like binary thinking, which is X's and O's, black and black or white, yes or no. Is this moving me toward a better version of myself, a well healthier version, a happier version, or is it not?" Successful people make This doesn't serve that better version of me, I'm not doing it, right? So, there's all these little rules, and I think I think and I know this even when I met with Branson, I think people meet someone who's successful people meet you and they're like, "Okay, what is it?" Like like there's this little like okay, nobody's looking. One, it lights up and like here it is, right? And it's not the big thing. Like even when I was saying to Branson, I'm wait like I wanted to say to him, "So, what is it?" You know, but it's not. When I get done talking to him for 3 hours, he's got the same habits that you have, the same rules that you have written down on that plaque that's amazing. In my opinion, it's never the big things. It's all the little changes you can make in your life, and none of them are are dramatic at each level. It's like just following these little principles that have worked for so many years, and you start putting them in your life, and all of a sudden decisions start going easier. The money starts to change, the business starts to do good, the thoughts in your head start to project a bigger future rather than a than a than negativity. I I I think it's the I think it's the build-up of the habits or beliefs. Uh makes all the sense in the world. All right, before I ask my final question, where can these guys find you online? Um a lot of places. I'm on social media. We just started putting effort on Instagram and it's starting to explode. We You know, I've been the infomercial guy for so long, I just ignored social media, which was silly, but for the last 4 months we put uh effort on Instagram. We've already grown over 100,000 people organically and it's growing like crazy. So, find me on Instagram. You can get uh my book at Dean's Free Book. We We offer the book if people cover shipping and handling, we mail them the the hard cover. Um we just passed 320,000 books on Millionaire Success Habits. So, we're Wow. Yeah, so we're cranking. The book's on fire. It's It's going viral and if you look on Instagram, there's hundreds and hundreds of pictures. We never asked one person to take a picture, so it's The message is resonating. So, I'm really excited about that. That's incredible, man. You have sold a lot of books. Yeah. It's pretty nuts. All right, so my final question, what is the impact that you want to have on the world? Um you know, great question and I'll make it I won't go too long cuz I can be long-winded. It would have been a different answer for every every phase of my life. That's interesting. For sure, would have been a different one might have even 10 years ago it might have been to leave a legacy for my children, which is amazing, but at this phase of my life I see what an impact Impact Theory's beliefs, the strategies that are in my book, Brendon Burchard, so many other great books like I want to go upstream and I want to give people the tools so they can live a more abundant life. And even though that sounds vast, it's like I think it can be easier than you think. Like the way I wrote Millionaire Success Habits, I wanted to make it so low that goats can eat it. I wanted to make it even though if you read 100 books that gave you the same stuff, I was hoping to write it in a way where I I could do that for the first time. So, I think more and more over the next 10 years what I think you'll see is me trying to find a way to get even the the people who like are opposed to personal growth, who think it's too foo-foo, and I'm not going to go to it I'm not going to think all these great thoughts cuz I'm a realist. Like, those of you watching who are realist, I'm getting to you. I want to get you, too. I want to convert those that don't think they could be converted. So, that that would be a great impact. I love that. Appreciate it, man. Thank you so much for being on the show. That was Thanks, man. That was awesome. All right, guys. I I'm telling you right now, when you look at where he started and the mindset that he had to develop to get where he is today, and just play that interview back. The way that he talks is so relatable. Being with him before the camera started rolling, and I'm sure long after the cameras stopped rolling, he's the exact same person. He is ultra relatable. He is you, and that's the entire thing that he puts out into the world is there's no difference between who he is and who you are. So, what he has accomplished is about those habits of success, of knowing how to get a hold of his thoughts, of being aware of them, of taking control, shaping his story into something that's empowering. Go back and listen to the part where he's talking about his dad and what went down at the car shop, and how he then transforms his mindset in order to get out of that. And then, again, the next time that he has a problem, again, it's about addressing the limiting beliefs. There are few people whose story I think so incredibly embodies exactly what you need to be doing if you want to be successful. This man is the prototype. He has been absurdly successful. Hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. It is absolutely an extraordinary tale of a normal guy who did extraordinary things by putting his mind to it, protecting his confidence, going inward, asking himself why why he's doing what he's doing to find out the real motivation so that he could align his actions to that, make sure that he had the energy, the passion, and the enthusiasm to carry it through. And that's one thing that he didn't say here today, but is really a hallmark of who he is. It's not about your intelligence, it's not about your education. How enthusiastic are you? How much do you love what you're doing, and how much can you infect other people with that enthusiasm? So, go out, figure out what your why is, get your mind right, show the enthusiasm to the world that you have, and you will be shocked at the people that come around you to help you achieve what you want to achieve. All right. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe. And until next time, my friends, be legendary. Take care. Team Fearless. Thank you, my friend. Hey, everybody. Thank you so much for watching and being a part of this community. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe. You're going to get weekly videos on building a growth mindset, cultivating grit, and unlocking your full potential.