0:00

Everybody Peter D. Mann

0:02

is here. Welcome to our

0:04

next episode of Exponential Wisdom

0:07

here with my dear friend and

0:09

co-host Dan Sullivan. And

0:11

Dan on this episode,

0:13

I'd like to continue

0:15

a conversation we started

0:17

just recently on mindsets

0:19

and in particular the

0:21

idea of scarcity and

0:24

fear versus optimism and abundance.

0:26

and confidence. Yeah. Which, you

0:28

know, optimism and abundance and

0:31

confidence most definitely come together.

0:33

You know, I often talk

0:36

to individuals, whether it's, you

0:38

know, room fills of entrepreneurs,

0:41

leaders, investors, and I ask the

0:43

question of them, and this was

0:45

a lot of the premise and

0:47

the basis for what I've been

0:50

building in the abundance 360 year

0:52

on community that I host, is

0:54

if you were to ask yourself... What

0:56

made the most successful leaders in

0:58

the world successful? Was it the

1:00

capital they had? Was it the

1:03

technology they had? Was it the

1:05

people they knew or was it

1:07

their mindset? Everybody responds, I think, the

1:09

same, saying their mindset, right? If you

1:12

took away from Elon Musk or Jeff

1:14

Bezos or Steve Jobs or Mahatma

1:16

Gandhi or, you know, Martin Luther

1:18

King, whatever you want to use

1:20

as your leader, took away those

1:23

elements, but they retained their mindset.

1:25

they would most likely regain

1:27

it. And if that's the case,

1:29

then what mindset do you

1:31

have? Where did you get

1:34

your mindset? And what mindset

1:36

do you need for the

1:38

decades ahead? So I want

1:41

to start with that open-ended

1:43

question. Thoughts? Well, I think both

1:45

of us have a story to

1:47

tell here, you know, I mean,

1:50

because you've... gone through periods of

1:52

your life where you bat on

1:54

something and you had from an

1:56

outside standpoint people looking at you,

1:58

you had no basis for being.

2:00

optimistic. And you had no basis

2:02

for being confident. It wasn't just

2:04

a guess, it was a bet.

2:07

You had invested time, money. There's

2:09

an opportunity cost to anything you

2:11

focus your mind on because there

2:13

is a limitation of the human

2:15

mind. We can't focus on more

2:17

than one thing at a time.

2:19

And if we put a lot

2:22

of actual time behind a certain

2:24

concentration, and I can remember my

2:26

second bankruptcy. First one was 78

2:28

happened the same day I had

2:30

my divorce and I arranged so

2:32

that the divorce could be first

2:34

because I could celebrate at lunch

2:37

with my credit card which I

2:39

had to pass in in the

2:41

afternoon because when you're bankrupt you

2:43

have to give up all your

2:45

credit cards and my bankruptcies were

2:47

all a result of receivables problem

2:49

where I had done the work

2:52

I had billed for it but

2:54

I got stretched out to 90

2:56

days 120 days and I I

2:58

didn't have the cushion to do

3:00

it. But I remember I had

3:02

a guaranteed loan from the bank.

3:04

And in Canada, the banks are

3:06

big. The smallest of the five

3:09

major banks has 800 branches. That's

3:11

the smallest of them. These are

3:13

really, really big operations, and they're

3:15

semi-government. They are controlled in what

3:17

they can invest in, and they're

3:19

generally solid banks, which you want

3:21

to bank to be. the banker

3:24

who is a nice guy. I

3:26

remember he was Daniel J. something

3:28

and I was Daniel J. So

3:30

I felt a kindredness with him,

3:32

you know, but he was cool.

3:34

But he says, look, he says,

3:36

you have skills, you're a writer,

3:39

you're a layout artist, when are

3:41

you going to stop this foolishness

3:43

and go out and just get

3:45

a really good job? And just

3:47

get a really good job. it

3:49

wasn't my future and I says

3:51

I'm just not smart enough yet.

3:54

So it's not that the opportunity

3:56

I'm looking at it's not. the

3:58

future I'm looking at that is

4:00

faulty is that I'm not smart

4:02

enough yet to know how to

4:04

approach it and to capitalize and

4:06

what's going to happen. So this

4:08

is about eight years after I

4:11

had gone out on my own

4:13

and you know I was for

4:15

the most part I was holding

4:17

on by my fingernails you know

4:19

I was hoping I had next

4:21

month's rent. but there was no

4:23

way I was not going to

4:26

pursue this. So I think one

4:28

mindset is that there's no alternative.

4:30

There's a lot of success that

4:32

comes when you burn your ships

4:34

and you have no other option

4:36

for sure. There's no alternative. First

4:38

of all, my resume would show

4:41

an eight-year blank. It's not good

4:43

on your resume. By the way,

4:45

I call this a moonshot mindset

4:47

when you set a big goal

4:49

and you let everybody know. and

4:51

you're now exposed to your peers

4:53

and everybody's like watching you, it

4:56

focuses the mind like nothing else.

4:58

Yeah. Yeah, and I remember people

5:00

I knew saying, you know, what

5:02

if your whole life turns out

5:04

to be a failure like you're

5:06

experiencing right now? I said, well,

5:08

it's just one human life and

5:10

there's a lot of them. It's

5:13

not like we're short of human

5:15

beings. I said, plus, it's the

5:17

only life I have direct access

5:19

to. But I'm so convinced that

5:21

it's a matter of me getting

5:23

smarter and as it turns out

5:25

the coaching that I had developed

5:28

that was about a month before

5:30

I came up with the strategy

5:32

circle as a thinking process and

5:34

within six years I had gone

5:36

from barely 25,000 a year just

5:38

barely. I wasn't even tax eligible.

5:40

I was making so little money.

5:43

That's one approach to paying low

5:45

taxes. Yeah, yeah. This is the

5:47

ultimate tax judge. Don't make any.

5:49

Anyway, but within six years I

5:51

was hitting 160,000. and dollars, you

5:53

know. But I needed a method

5:55

and I wouldn't have created the

5:58

method if I didn't have the

6:00

persistence and the dedication to the

6:02

method. And you know now I've

6:04

got hundreds of methods that have

6:06

been the children of the strategy

6:08

circle and just came up with

6:10

a new one, the triple play,

6:12

which I think is exponential. I

6:15

think this one is really going

6:17

through the roof. But the whole

6:19

point was that if failure is

6:21

a social problem for you, if

6:23

failure is a status problem, don't

6:25

become an entrepreneur. But if you

6:27

have a sense of who you

6:30

are and you have a sense

6:32

of uniqueness that this could make

6:34

a big difference for the right

6:36

checkwriter, then that's the bad I

6:38

made, you know, and I'm close

6:40

to... 50 years since I started.

6:42

You know, bankruptcy was just an

6:45

extreme form of market research. You

6:47

know, one of the things I

6:49

teach, you know, the coach members

6:51

through you and Abundance 360 is

6:53

our brains are neural nets, right?

6:55

Our brains are 100 billion neurons

6:57

and they're shaped by what we

7:00

see every day, the conversations we

7:02

have. The challenge becomes our mindsets,

7:04

again, whether we're in fear and

7:06

scarcity on one end, which, by

7:08

the way, is how we evolve.

7:10

That's the evolutionary default. You will

7:12

be in a fear and scarcity

7:15

mindset by default, unless you shift

7:17

yourself to an abundance and optimism

7:19

mindset. But the problem is that

7:21

when you're hanging out with people

7:23

who are in fear and scarcity,

7:25

they will put you in fear

7:27

and scarcity. When you're watching the

7:29

crisis and use network, and all

7:32

of the negatives on the planet,

7:34

you'll be in fear and scarcity.

7:36

And what people realize is you

7:38

enjoy being around people who are

7:40

positive-minded, who are optimistic, who have

7:42

an abundance mindset. And on your

7:44

health as well, there is a...

7:47

seven-year advantage on health span if

7:49

you've got a positive abundance mindset.

7:51

And so these are all the

7:53

things that, you know, you need

7:55

to put yourself around people. That's

7:57

why, you know, for me, one

7:59

of the greatest benefits of Abundance

8:02

360 and strategic coach is the

8:04

community that you're with, right? You're

8:06

in a community of people. And

8:08

it's a community that you've created.

8:10

Yeah. There wasn't a community that

8:12

came custom designed and was... guaranteed

8:14

by government mandate that you should

8:17

have an optimistic community around you.

8:19

It has to be created. It

8:21

has to be. And you have

8:23

to proactively create it or choose

8:25

into it. You know, for most

8:27

of human history, you didn't have

8:29

that option. It was where you

8:31

were born, the village you were

8:34

in, you know, the people that

8:36

you were related to that shaped

8:38

all that. And today, your community

8:40

can be a digital community from,

8:42

you know, smattering of countries around

8:44

the world. But that... You're paying

8:46

attention to how these people are

8:49

taking big bets, the confidence that

8:51

they have, the tools that they

8:53

have. You're watching them fail, fail,

8:55

fail succeed. And that's inspiring you

8:57

to do the same in your

8:59

life. And that's an amazing world

9:01

to be living in. Yeah, and

9:04

I think first of all you

9:06

have to have paid your dues.

9:08

I mean that there were little

9:10

tests all along that things were

9:12

getting uncomfortable. But I remember the

9:14

day that I had both my

9:16

divorce and bankruptcy, the next day,

9:19

you know, I was, you know,

9:21

it wasn't like it was a

9:23

five-star day for myself at the

9:25

end of the day. And I

9:27

got up the next morning and

9:29

I had a favorite restaurant that

9:31

had terrific breakfast and it was

9:33

sort of a hot spot in

9:36

Toronto. The movie industry came in

9:38

there. I knew all the weight

9:40

staff. I had to pay cash

9:42

that day. And I remember walking

9:44

down the streets and nobody was

9:46

particularly upset about my predicament. You

9:48

know, there was nobody who were

9:51

having an unhappy day because I

9:53

had just had two really bad

9:55

report cards the day before and

9:57

I said this is strictly my

9:59

deal you know it doesn't relate

10:01

to anyone else you know and

10:03

if you're going to turn around

10:06

you're going to do the turning.

10:08

I have a number of clients

10:10

who have been through special forces

10:12

in the military, one branch or

10:14

another. and the Navy SEALs are

10:16

famous for their hell week and

10:18

it's the first six days. They

10:21

just put you through horrendous time

10:23

pressures. At most they let you

10:25

sleep two hours out of every

10:27

24. You're not fed well enormous

10:29

amount of it. You're in the

10:31

Pacific Ocean which is cold and

10:33

the hottest day of the year.

10:35

It's a cold ocean. And I

10:38

asked him, the person who went

10:40

through it and He made it

10:42

through and he became a Navy

10:44

SEAL and I said, what gets

10:46

you through that week? And he

10:48

says, well, it's not thinking about

10:50

yourself, but thinking about the other

10:53

people who are going through the

10:55

week with you. that if you

10:57

take your focus off yourself and

10:59

you say, I want to be

11:01

a good teammate, you know, I

11:03

don't want to let anybody down,

11:05

he said, you find that the

11:08

burden is a lot lighter. And

11:10

I think it goes for entrepreneurship

11:12

is the same thing that if

11:14

your eyes aren't on yourself, but

11:16

where's the value I can create

11:18

in someone else's life? And that's

11:20

a mindset. The most advanced higher

11:23

education in the world won't teach

11:25

you to think about things from

11:27

other people's point of view. So

11:29

that's a mindset is you know

11:31

Joe Polish or dear friend for

11:33

both of us he wrote a

11:35

wonderful book and it's called it's

11:38

about them and I said yeah

11:40

I'm kind of handled you know

11:42

at my age and what I've

11:44

been through I'm kind of handled

11:46

I don't have to spend much

11:48

time thinking about Dan but I've

11:50

got three four hundred coach clients

11:52

I've got a hundred and thirty

11:55

team members in the company and

11:57

my emphasis is what do I

11:59

do to guarantee that they don't

12:01

have to worry about their jobs?

12:03

What do I have to do

12:05

to help the entrepreneurs jump to

12:07

the next level and takes the

12:10

emphasis off me? Yeah. And a

12:12

lot of people don't think of

12:14

entrepreneurism, but at the highest levels,

12:16

entrepreneurism is just pure teamwork, especially

12:18

with people who have skills greater

12:20

than yours. And in benefit to

12:22

the planet, right? I define entrepreneur

12:25

as someone who finds a great

12:27

problem and solves it. And in

12:29

fact, that's how the world gets

12:31

better and better by more and

12:33

more entrepreneurs finding and solving problems.

12:35

And I just, I would take

12:37

a second for those listening where

12:40

you're bombarded by the negative news

12:42

all the time, whether it's CNN

12:44

or Fox or whatever you happen

12:46

to be watching in a different

12:48

part of the world, that challenges

12:50

you don't hear the amazing news

12:52

going on. You don't see the

12:54

constant parade of breakthroughs going on

12:57

in AI and robotics and longevity

12:59

and so forth. But they are.

13:01

they are consistently persistently we're heading

13:03

towards a world eventually and you

13:05

know listen we're talking decades down

13:07

of a post capitalism world you

13:09

know we're heading towards a squanderable

13:12

abundance of energy right solar and

13:14

fusion that's rapidly coming so there's

13:16

a direct correlation between the GDP

13:18

of a nation and the availability

13:20

and reduced cost of energy energy

13:22

also drives help, it drives clean

13:24

water, it drives all of these

13:27

things. And the best education, the

13:29

best health care on the planet,

13:31

it's getting better across the board

13:33

and there'll be a state change

13:35

when AI comes on board online.

13:37

And so we have the potential

13:39

to create an extraordinary world. I

13:42

call it not a world of

13:44

luxury, right, but a world of

13:46

possibility where every child has access

13:48

to all the best resources. And

13:50

that's a world which I think

13:52

is going to be happier and

13:54

safer and the world that you

13:56

know I know many of the

13:59

CEO is why a mentor and

14:01

a 360 are trying to create.

14:03

So we can get there. And if we can

14:05

get there, I think that is something that

14:07

we need to be doing. But

14:09

if you're in fear, if you're watching

14:11

all the politicians and gun shootings and

14:14

all the negativism, you think the

14:16

world is going to hell in the

14:18

handbasket and you retrench and you're

14:20

in a fetal position versus, you

14:23

know, grabbing these incredible technologies and

14:25

running with them. Well, here's what

14:27

I think. I think that there's

14:29

a lot of great people in

14:32

bad systems. In other words, I

14:34

believe there's a lot of really

14:36

great teachers who are in bad

14:38

schools. Okay, and if you look

14:41

at scarcity around the world in

14:43

the 21st century, it's mainly government

14:45

engineered scarcity. In other words, there's

14:47

massively more food on the

14:50

planet to feed everybody nutritiously,

14:52

but scarcity is engineered. If they're

14:55

hungry, they don't rebel. The

14:57

statistics prove that that's when

14:59

they do rebel, when they

15:01

don't know when the food's

15:03

coming. Revolutions don't happen because

15:05

of theory. Revolutions happen because

15:07

people can't guarantee food for

15:09

their family. That's when people

15:11

really rebel. I agree. I

15:13

think if people have access

15:15

to food and health and education,

15:18

you know, life is good. If the

15:20

mom knows that our children have access

15:22

to all of these things. That's all

15:24

we want for our children and

15:27

our family and our friends. You're

15:29

going back to what

15:31

differentiates entrepreneurs from other

15:33

people. Entrepreneurs more than

15:35

I think probably any

15:37

class of people in the

15:40

marketplace bet on themselves. And

15:42

the really best entrepreneurs I

15:44

know bet on themselves more

15:46

than they bet on something

15:48

outside themselves. In other words,

15:50

they're not betting on a

15:52

particular technology, they're not betting

15:54

on a particular financial circumstance

15:56

or anything, they're betting on

15:59

themselves in such a... way that it

16:01

doesn't matter what happens, they wake

16:03

up positive in the morning and

16:05

confident about what they can do

16:07

for that day. I know a

16:09

lot of people who are in

16:11

love with people they don't know,

16:13

but they're not actually in love

16:15

with the people they do know.

16:18

So I'm very very leery of

16:20

big movements of changing the world,

16:22

especially people who can't change a

16:24

tire. We want to change the

16:26

world. I mean we all have

16:28

this own take on it and

16:30

on election day we all vote

16:33

differently, but it's the

16:35

people I actually know that I

16:37

care the most of. People

16:39

I really knew. that I didn't

16:41

care for no longer in my

16:43

life. I move on from people.

16:46

I mean, there's enough people, so

16:48

I don't need a billion. But

16:50

the big thing that I really

16:52

find, Peter, about this whole thing,

16:54

when you get up in the

16:56

morning... Are you betting on yourself or

16:59

are you betting on external circumstances?

17:01

And I think that's a very

17:03

key central mindset that optimism really

17:06

is a function of how much

17:08

that you bet on yourself. Yes,

17:10

I agree. That is one of

17:12

the major differentiators of an

17:14

entrepreneur and a belief that

17:16

you can. And again, if

17:19

you're leaning forward into it,

17:21

you're not retrenching into a

17:23

fetal position. And your mindset

17:25

matters. It's the most precious

17:27

thing you have. So guard

17:29

your mindset. You know, if

17:32

you're hanging around, depressed people

17:34

and fearful people and people

17:36

who tell you it can't

17:39

be done, you've got to

17:41

put up the roadblocks. And like

17:43

for me, I think it's

17:45

the same for you, right?

17:47

I've stopped watching television. I've

17:50

stopped watching news that I

17:52

get. through my own apps that

17:54

I built to search the world's

17:56

information for the important breakthroughs and

17:58

get it to me. Yeah. The AI changes

18:00

this as they're responding to,

18:03

so more of this and

18:05

everything else. I'm not running

18:07

the project. I have two

18:09

roles regarding technology. I always

18:12

keep a smart human between

18:14

me and the technology. I

18:16

always keep the technology between

18:18

me and stupid people. I

18:21

love that damn, that's a

18:23

fantastic. Two roles for being

18:25

cool income and a world of

18:27

technological tsunami.

18:29

Beautiful. Well, I wish

18:31

everybody the opportunity to see

18:33

the world in a compelling,

18:35

abundant, optimistic sense and realize

18:38

that the power you have

18:40

to transform your life and

18:42

the things that you care about

18:45

in life is greater than ever

18:47

before. You've got the power

18:49

that kings and queens had.

18:51

And how you see the

18:53

world, your level of optimism

18:55

and hopefulness. as a direct correlation with

18:57

your health span. So if you want

19:00

to live a long and vital life,

19:02

have a mindset that correlates with that.

19:04

All right, buddy, listen, as always, I love

19:06

spending time with you. Thank you for

19:08

your coaching. Thank you for your support.

19:10

Thanks for the collaboration. Yeah. All right,

19:13

buddy. Be well. See you next time.