ACT 1= FOUNDATIONS What’s Wrong with This Picture?

What’s Wrong with This Picture?

It’s estimated that Americans spend $11 billion (that’s a b—billion)

a year on self-help products—everything from books to DVDs to

diet pills—while American companies spend over $400 billion a

year on professional development programs for their employees.

Personally, I think those are very low estimates; especially when

you consider all the weight-loss programs, exercise equipment,

business books, and everything else you could put in the category

of self-help.

(Yes, I know there are a lot of other, fancier terms for this: personal

growth, self-improvement, professional development, etc.

But for now, let’s just agree to call it self-help, OK?)

Actually, I call most of this information SHELF-help—because

that’s where most of it goes—on the shelf along with all the rest of

the stuff you’ve bought over the years. So let’s just say that we are

“only” spending $411 billion a year on SHELF-help products.

Now, think about this in even more concrete terms: How much

money have YOU spent on SHELF-help products in the last year,

two years, five years?

If you’re like most of the people who come to my seminars and

mentorship programs, that number is anywhere from $1,000 to

$50,000 . . . and up. (I’ve had people come up to me in my semi10

Noah St. John

nars, some in tears, and tell me that what I shared with them in

thirty minutes saved them over one million dollars.)

So heeeeeeeere’s . . .

THE #1 REASON MOST PEOPLE STRUGGLE

IN LIFE AND BUSINESS (AND NO, IT’S

NOT WHAT YOU’VE BEEN TOLD)

Why, with all this time, money, and energy being spent on selfhelp,

are so few people living the life they really want? Another way

to ask this is:

Why are millions of people who’ve spent so much time

and money trying to improve themselves still going

down the road of life with one foot on the brake?

There actually is an answer to this seemingly unanswerable

question. But like most vexing problems, to answer this question,

we must first ask a deeper question. The deeper question we need

to ask is:

WHAT CAUSES HUMAN BEHAVIOR?

While there may be many ways to answer that question, here’s what

I’ve found to be, at once, the simplest and most accurate answer to

that question. It’s a simple answer, because I’ve found (and I’m sure

you have, too) that the simplest solutions tend to create the best

and longest-lasting results.

THE SCALES OF SUCCESS

I’ve shown this picture to tens of thousands of people in my

seminars, and I call it the Scales of Success.

Picture a balance, like the scales of justice you’ve seen in one

of those courtroom TV shows. It’s an instrument for determining

weight that has a fulcrum at the center, from each end of which is

suspended a plate.

On one plate, imagine that we have something called

Your

Why-To’s. These are your internal motives or Reasons Why to

do something. On the other plate, we have your Why-Not-To’s—

your internal Reasons Why Not to do something.

Let me give you an example from your own life. Why are you

reading this book right now? The answer is very simple. You’re

reading this book because you perceive that there are more Benefits

of reading this book (another word for Why-To’s is Benefit)

than Costs of doing so (another word for Why-Not-To’s is Cost).

Your perceived Why-To’s or Benefits of reading this book might

include:

12 Noah St. John

✔ I want to learn what the world’s most successful people do,

so I can do that in my own life . . .

✔ So I can stop sabotaging myself . . .

✔ So I can make more money . . .

✔ And finally get my foot off the brake . . .

✔ And this will make me happier, because I can live the life I’ve

always wanted . . .

✔ And quit this job I hate . . .

✔ And take more vacations . . .

✔ And have better relationships . . .

✔ And lose weight . . .

✔ And find the love of my life . . .

✔ And buy a new car . . .

✔ And a new house . . .

✔ And get out of debt . . .

✔ Did I mention I’ll finally get my foot off the brake?

What about your Why-Not-To’s or Cost? Those might include:

✔ I have a million other things I could be doing right now.

✔ Who is this guy, anyway, and why should I listen to him?

✔ What if I get to the end and still haven’t learned how to get

my foot off the brake?

✔ What if it works for everyone else, but not for me?

✔ What’s he trying to sell me? I’ve been burned before and I

don’t want it to happen again.

✔ Did I mention all the other things I could be doing right

now?

Your mind is like an infinite weighing machine—every moment,

your mind is weighing your perceived Benefit against your perceived

Cost of doing any behavior or activity you can think of. Can you

see that every decision we make is built upon our Why-To’s and

Why-Not-To’s? Consider the following:

What’s Wrong with This Picture? 13

✔ Where you live

✔ What you wear

✔ What you eat (and how often you eat it)

✔ What kind of car you drive

✔ What you do for work

✔ Who you decide to marry—or not marry!

✔ What you had for breakfast this morning . . .

All of these were determined by your Why-To’s and your Why-

Not-To’s. In fact, every decision you’ve ever made in your life was

based on your internal Why-To’s and Why-Not-To’s: your reasons

why you thought you should do the thing vs. the reasons not to do

that thing.

BUT WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH SUCCESS?

“Okay, Noah,” you’re saying, “I can see that every decision I make

is based on my Why-To’s and Why-Not-To’s. But what does that

have to do with success? Are you trying to tell me, if I’m holding

myself back from success, that means I don’t want to succeed?”

I’ve had the privilege of working with countless thousands

of people in my seminars and mentorship programs—business

owners and teenagers, salespeople and accountants, employers and

employees, people who work at big companies and stay-at-home

moms; men, women, and children from all walks of life. And in all

that time, I’ve never met one person who doesn’t want to succeed.

Human beings are motivated by Success—getting,

having, and keeping the things we want.

Yet we’ve already seen that millions of people and organizations

are holding themselves back from the level of success they’re perfectly

capable of, even though, collectively, we’re spending billions

of dollars to try to fix the problem.

So, what’s going on here? There must be something hidden . . .

something deeper . . . something not visible to the casual observer.

THE HIDDEN REASON YOU’RE STUCK

Picture an iceberg. We’ve all heard that 90 to 95 percent of an iceberg

is hidden beneath the surface of the water, while only 5 to 10

percent is visible, above the surface.

Scientists at Stanford, MIT, and other esteemed institutions

have determined that the human mind operates in much the same

way. Just like an iceberg, your mind is comprised of two parts: the

part that’s visible (above the surface) and the part that’s hidden

(below the surface).

THE ICEBERG OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Instead of the water line, let’s call the line that separates the two

parts in the mind the Line of Consciousness. And we’ll call the

visible 10 percent your Conscious Mind, and call the hidden 90

percent the Subconscious Mind. Another word for conscious is

intentional, because it represents CHOICE.

According to scientific research, your Conscious Mind makes

up less than 10 percent of your total brain function. That means

that the Subconscious Mind or unintentional aspect of your mind

represents more than 90 percent of your total brain function.

Your subconscious is a vast collection of unintentional, habitual

thoughts, behaviors, and actions. Therefore, the phrase that best

describes the Subconscious Mind is NO CHOICE.

Look around the room you’re in right now. What if I came in to

the room you’re in and turned out all the lights? In fact, I removed

all the visible light from the room. Now it’s pitch dark and you

can’t see a thing.

What would happen if I then asked you to rearrange the furniture?

How successful would you be at rearranging the furniture

in a room that’s completely dark? Answer: not very. You’d bang

your shins on the coffee table, fumble around, and be incapable of

making even the simplest of changes.

Because you can’t rearrange furniture in a place where you can’t

see anything, does that mean you’re incapable of rearranging furniture?

Of course not! You are perfectly capable of rearranging

furniture—when you can see what the heck you’re doing.

Your Subconscious Mind is like that completely dark room.

We don’t know what’s in there, because we simply can’t see it—it’s

hidden beneath the surface like the bottom 90 percent of an iceberg.

And when you can’t see something, it’s awfully hard to change it.

Which brings us back to the original question . . .

Why are millions of people who’ve spent so much time

and money trying to improve themselves still stuck?

Putting together our Scales of Success and Iceberg of Consciousness,

the answer becomes stunningly simple.

Your Why-To’s of Success are held

in your Conscious Mind.

Everyone wants to succeed . . . on the conscious level. We all know

to succeed is better than the alternative! Why do you think we’re spending

all this time, money, and energy trying to be more successful? So

the Benefits or Why-To’s of Success are held in our Conscious Mind.

But have you ever stopped to think about the Cost of actually

allowing yourself to succeed?

I’ve asked this question of countless thousands of people in my

seminars, and the response I get is . . . dead silence. Followed by

the slightly anxious shuffling in the seats. I can practically hear

people’s minds whirring as they ask themselves the unexpected

question: “Gee, I’ve never thought of that before . . . What could be a

Cost of actually allowing myself to succeed?”

In other words, have you ever thought about the fact that, if your

Why-To’s of Success are held in the Conscious Mind, then . . .

Your Why-Not-To’s of Success are

held in your Subconscious Mind.

When I ask my audience members to give me some examples

of what could possibly be a Cost of Success, typical answers include:

✔ Isn’t it going to take a lot of TIME to be really successful?

✔ I’m too BUSY—look at my to-do list!

✔ I don’t want the extra RESPONSIBLITY.

✔ What if my FAMILY doesn’t approve?

✔ What if my SPOUSE is jealous of me?

✔ What if someone LAUGHS at me?

✔ What if my FRIENDS don’t like me anymore?

✔ What if I succeed and can’t SUSTAIN it?

18 Noah St. John

✔ What if I have to spend too much time AWAY from my family?

✔ What if I go for it and LOSE it all?

✔ What if people find out I’m a FRAUD?

✔ What if . . . what if . . . what if. . .

And those are just the immediate responses! (I put that last one

in there to include all ways we “what-if” ourselves.)

Did you notice something about all these Why-Not-To’s of

Success? They are all held in your Subconscious Mind. Meaning:

No one wakes up in the morning, looks out the window and says,

“Ahhh, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I feel great. I

think I’ll hold myself back from success today!”

Nor does anyone say, “I think I’ll buy this book (or go to this

seminar, or start this new coaching program) to learn how to sabotage

myself better!”

Every human being wants to

succeed—on the conscious level.

But because your Why-Not-To’s of Success are hidden in your

Subconscious Mind, it’s like you’re driving down the road of life

. . . with one foot on the brake.

WHY YOUR FOOT IS ON THE BRAKE

Let’s say you’ve been working really hard, trying to succeed. Maybe

you started a new coaching program, or went to a seminar that

really pumped you up, or read a new book that really made sense to

you. You began to make positive changes in your life. You followed

the instructions. And guess what? It starts to work.

After all your hard work, focus, and money that you spent,

you actually start to get what you were going after. You’re moving

toward the thing you want. You’re making progress, making more

money. You’re becoming more and more successful.

Then what happens? That’s when the fear sets in!

As crazy as it sounds, you actually start to feel the feeling known

as fear when you start to get what you’ve been working so hard for.

But . . .

Why would someone feel FEAR when

they start to get what they WANT?

This happened because, unbeknownst to you, your Scales of

Success started to tip. Your subconscious Why-Not-To’s of Success—

the ones you can’t see, because they’re hidden, remember?—

started silently screaming at you: “Hey, what do you think you’re

doing? You can’t handle this! What if you can’t keep this going? Why

don’t you just stop now and avoid the embarrassment later?”

So, what do you do? What anyone would do in that situation.

You do whatever it takes to stop feeling the fear. That’s because fear

is one of those emotions we humans will do just about anything

to avoid. So, rather than examining why you might be feeling that

feeling, you stop doing what was working. You slam on the brakes.

You “sabotage” yourself. Because doing that feels easier than feeling

the fear.

And then, you get to beat yourself up—because you can tell

yourself you were right! “See, I told you: I knew you couldn’t handle

it. Why even bother?”

Sound familiar? If you are nodding your head right now, this

book was written especially for you. But what went unexamined in

all this is a simple fact:

A feeling is a RESULT, not a cause.

Feelings don’t cause themselves. When you experience a feeling

or emotion, there is something going on inside of you that caused

that feeling. And what causes the so-called “fear of success” or

“foot-on-the-brake syndrome”? Your hidden, subconscious Why-

Not-To’s of Success.

Here, then, is the bottom line:

You are not holding yourself back from Success

because you don’t know “how to succeed.”

You are holding yourself back from the Success

you are perfectly capable of, because you have

more subconscious Why-Not-To’s of Success

than conscious Why-To’s of Success.

Remember all those traditional success programs we’re spending

billions of dollars on? In traditional success programs, they teach

you “how to succeed.” And that’s a good thing, right? I mean, if

you want to do something, it’s good to know how to do it.

And since we all want to succeed, all we’d need is to be told

“how to succeed,” then we’ll all be successful . . . right?

Why don’t you turn the page to see how that assumption is

working out for you . . .

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