Are You Secretly SABOTAGING Your Wealth? How To MANIFEST Money & Attract Abundance

Today on The School of Greatness, I dive deep into the psychology and practice of manifesting money with three incredible experts: Rhonda Byrne (creator of The Secret), Robin Sharma (leadership expert and author), and Dan Martell (successful entrepreneur and coach). We explore everything from rewriting limiting money beliefs to understanding true wealth beyond just financial success. Each guest brings powerful insights about transforming your relationship with money, developing an abundance mindset, and creating sustainable wealth while maintaining balance in life. If you've ever struggled with money blocks or want to level up your financial game while staying true to your values, this masterclass episode is a must-listen. Buy Rhonda’s card set - The Secret Manifestation CardsBuy Robin's book for yourself and a friend - The Wealth Money Can't Buy: The 8 Hidden Habits to Live Your Richest LifeBuy Dan's book for yourself and a friend – Buy Back Your Time: Get Unstuck, Reclaim Your Freedom, and Build Your EmpireIN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL LEARNWhy happiness attracts money, not the other way around - and how to flip your mindset about financial abundanceThe eight forms of wealth beyond money that create a truly rich lifeHow to identify and rewrite your limiting money stories and beliefs that are keeping you stuckThe power of becoming a "ghost" temporarily to create your life's masterworkWhy your perception of your time's value directly impacts your ability to create wealthPractical techniques for shifting from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindsetThe importance of focusing on being generous and of service while building wealthFor more information go to https://www.lewishowes.com/1685For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Rhonda Byrne – greatness.lnk.to/1561SCRobin Sharma – greatness.lnk.to/1599SCDan Martell – greatness.lnk.to/1642SC Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to this special masterclass. We've brought some of the top experts in the world to help you unlock the power of your life through this specific theme today. It's going to be powerful, so let's go ahead and dive in.

• 0:18Lewis Howes?

  Money is something that people want to attract and manifest more of. It's one of the biggest problems of divorce. It's one of the biggest pains for people. It's not feeling like they have enough, or maybe they haven't navigated their spending habits correctly and they're overspending on things they don't need to spend on, whatever the reason is. So money doesn't bring happiness, but happiness brings money. And if you, and this is the rest of the card. Again, I want everyone to go buy this because these cards are incredible, but this is the rest of the card. If you keep thinking that you need money, then you will keep attracting, needing money. You have to find a way of being happy now, of feeling good now, of being in joy

• 1:00Lewis Howes?

  now, without the money, because those great feelings are what attracts money. What else about money do you feel like people are missing when it comes to manifesting and the law of attraction?

• 1:13Rhonda Byrne?

  One of the reasons people want money, and you know, they, they say money isn't spiritual. There isn't anything that's not spiritual. You know, everything's spiritual and people think they don't deserve it. Like, for example, there is all the money that everybody needs and wants waiting there for them. And there's only one reason it's not in their lives, and that's because they're stopping it from coming into their lives.

• 1:40Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 1:41Rhonda Byrne?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:43Lewis Howes?

  How are we stopping it?

• 1:44Rhonda Byrne?

  By thinking we don't have enough.

• 1:47Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:47Rhonda Byrne?

  By thinking we don't have enough, by thinking we don't deserve it, by maybe being programmed the way you were, that my family didn't have very much, you know, I'm destined to not have very much, kind of born on the wrong side of the tracks kind of thing, or all of those thoughts, to believe that we only get money through our job.

• 2:11Rhonda Byrne?

  If you believe that that's the only way you're going to get money, that's the only way that you're going to get money. But you can get money from unbelievable, unlimited, different ways. And so you start to open up your mind that money can come from anywhere, everywhere, right? And so money can come into your life. So straight away you open up. Because law of attraction can only do what you believe. And so if you believe you only get money from your job, you see what we do. We are unlimited beings and we limit ourselves

• 2:51Rhonda Byrne?

  down to nothing, down to, we are unlimited, unlimited. The world and all of its riches and joys is all of ours. And so, but we, through our beliefs, you know, for this reason, I don't deserve it. I don't deserve it because I didn't work hard enough. I need to work harder to get this, you know, or I need to suffer. You know, I know that people, you know, have money, they had to suffer. So we have all of these limitations that we impose on this unlimited being that we are.

• 3:31Lewis Howes?

  Yes. Why does it seem like money is one of the hardest things to break through when it comes to believing we are deserving of money? And believing that it comes to us effortlessly? Why does it seem like it's so challenging for a lot of the world?

• 3:46Rhonda Byrne?

  I think, I think it is to do with our deservability that we, I just think that's ingrown into us that, um, what about all the things? You know, money doesn't grow on trees, you know? Well, you know, we, I can't afford it. I mean, I can't, I came from a really humble background. My parents could not afford, you know, weird secondhand clothes. So I had a whole lot of lack.

• 4:16Rhonda Byrne?

  Fed to me um just by my day to day living as a as a child and growing up. I didn't ever feel that, but I certainly grew up with lack because I knew when I discovered the secret, I had to turn my mindset from lack

• 4:34Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 4:35Rhonda Byrne?

  To a wealth mindset, to an abundance mindset. And so I set about to do that, and that's why I know anyone can do it, because I did it.

• 4:45Lewis Howes?

  What was that process for you of turning it from lack into abundance?

• 4:49Rhonda Byrne?

  It was all affirmations. It was all, I played affirmations, gratitude, being grateful for everything I had, affirmations to to talk about the, you know, what that um that I'm wealthy already, you know, affirming that I have plenty of money, that um I attract whatever I need and, you know, I'm I am the success with everything I touch and, you know, all those, all those kinds of affirmations. So I did those, I did gratitude, and anything that gave me a bad feeling around money, I reversed it. And one of those things was paying bills.

• 5:34Rhonda Byrne?

  Why? Because you never have enough money to pay the bills, right?

• 5:38Lewis Howes?

  So how did you reverse that? When bills would come your way, what were you doing?

• 5:41Rhonda Byrne?

  I pretended they were checks.

• 5:43Lewis Howes?

  When it was a bill? And so how, what would you think and feel when you see it?

• 5:47Rhonda Byrne?

  So back then, I would open the mail.

• 5:49Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 5:50Rhonda Byrne?

  Where it was like all these window-faced envelopes, and I would open the mail and like, oh my gosh, I didn't have any way to pay all of these bills.

• 5:57Lewis Howes?

  It was like a dread feeling.

• 5:59Rhonda Byrne?

  Oh, horrible. My stomach would just, to my knees. So for everybody, I have been there, I have done it. I know how you feel if you're struggling with money, and I can tell you, you don't have to live your life like that. You really don't. Um, and so I would just, I played games because law of attraction doesn't know if you're imagining something or if it's real. Doesn't know, doesn't care.

• 6:26Lewis Howes?

  Doesn't have an opinion.

• 6:27Rhonda Byrne?

  Doesn't have an opinion at all. And so I would play these games where I would open it up. I would, and you know, and maybe it was like twelve hundred dollars or something. And I would be like, whoa.

• 6:40Lewis Howes?

  You'd be excited.

• 6:41Rhonda Byrne?

  Oh, yeah, I'd be excited. Oh, twelve hundred dollars. And I would write it down and I'd tally up the amounts of money that I got for that day. And it got to a point where I didn't feel I was getting enough, like it wasn't a tally.

• 6:55Lewis Howes?

  Come on.

• 6:55Rhonda Byrne?

  I would add zeros.

• 6:56Lewis Howes?

  Come on.

• 6:56Rhonda Byrne?

  So the twelve hundred dollars, I would turn into twelve thousand. And then I would add zeros and then I would say, yes, a hundred and fifty thousand dollars is mine today, you know.

• 7:06Lewis Howes?

  But it was really in bills.

• 7:08Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah, they were really bills.

• 7:09Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my goodness.

• 7:10Rhonda Byrne?

  And so I would play that game so I would feel better. And then I would pay what I could. But do you know when I paid, I would do something else. I played another game.

• 7:21Lewis Howes?

  Tell me.

• 7:22Rhonda Byrne?

  When I paid, I would imagine that this money is not a bill, but I'm donating to the company. I'm making a donation because this company has been really great in supplying me with electricity. And so I'm making a donation and this money is going to help all of the people educate their children.

• 7:48Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 7:49Rhonda Byrne?

  It's going to help them buy food this week. It's going to pay their mortgage. So I would think about all of the employees that, and the difference this money would make by giving this money. And so that would cause all the resistance to go away, right? It was a total meltdown. And that's how I, that was how I did it. So I took the circumstances where I didn't feel good about money. Now, back then, we got bank statements. They were not pretty, right? But I changed that around.

• 8:23Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 8:23Rhonda Byrne?

  Just with a bit of marker.

• 8:27Rhonda Byrne?

  I was just for it. And I had credit cards because I, I, in making the secret, I kept borrowing on the credit cards to make the documentary. They were at the max. At the max. And I had two credit cards and they were at the absolute max for amounts of money that was inconceivable to me.

• 8:44Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 8:45Rhonda Byrne?

  And that I had no, absolutely no way, no way of paying.

• 8:49Lewis Howes?

  Paying it off, yeah.

• 8:50Rhonda Byrne?

  No. But, um, but what I did was I just, uh, yeah, added, I just pretended that when I got the statements, I would just pretend that I had, do you know what I did? I did zero, zero, zero, zero. And then I put, thank you, over the bill. And now I have zero, zero, zero, zero on my credit cards.

• 9:12Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 9:12Rhonda Byrne?

  But to this day, to this day, if I have a, a, a written bill or something like if somebody comes to do a service at the house and I write them a cheque and across that bill, I would write, thank you, paid. Because that is what I did with every bill I couldn't pay. I put, thank you, paid.

• 9:34Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 9:35Rhonda Byrne?

  And to this day, I still write, thank you, paid.

• 9:38Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 9:38Rhonda Byrne?

  I know.

• 9:39Lewis Howes?

  Now, for people that are watching or listening and thinking, this is a beautiful, you know, thing to try and to do, but if they still have to pay the bills and they're like, well, how far can I take this until I'm like, the money is, you know, stacking up or the bills are stacking up where I'm like, I don't go back into overwhelm or stress that I haven't paid off these bills.

• 10:00Rhonda Byrne?

  You have to pay what you can. Like what I did was I, I would play that game and then I would pay what I could. And I think even these days, companies are a lot more understanding than they were back then, you know, and they would say, if you ring us, we'll work out a payment plan with you and whatever. But I did pay those bills. I would pay the most urgent ones, like electricity, because I didn't want that to be cut off, right? And so, yeah, you, you do pay them, um, but I would just do things to feel better about money.

• 10:34Lewis Howes?

  And I think that is the thing I want people to take away from this story is the the play nature that you had with it.

• 10:41Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah.

• 10:42Lewis Howes?

  There's a lot of stress and overwhelm around money for so many people.

• 10:46Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah.

• 10:47Lewis Howes?

  But which was the same for you for a long time until you started to play.

• 10:52Rhonda Byrne?

  I did. I played all the time.

• 10:54Lewis Howes?

  And that is a huge key to the secret is being in a playful, energetic state, right?

• 11:00Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah, yeah. Like I did this list of desires. I had all these credit cards they held. I overdrafted my company. I had mortgage my mortgage my home to the Hill, all like making the documentary. And I wrote out this desire list of all of the desires that I wanted. And all of the things, it looked like I looked like a mad woman, right? Like I'm writing, you know, the car that I wanted and that house that I wanted overlooking the ocean and all of these different things, absolutely every one of those things on that list manifested. And that's something else too.

• 11:39Lewis Howes?

  It all manifested.

• 11:40Rhonda Byrne?

  Everyone.

• 11:42Lewis Howes?

  A desires list. Is there a specific way, sorry to interrupt you there, but is there a specific way to create a desires list so that they all manifest?

• 11:50Rhonda Byrne?

  Easy. Just write down the things you really, really, really want.

• 11:55Lewis Howes?

  And there's the, do you need to have a reason why you want them or is it?

• 11:58Rhonda Byrne?

  Law of attraction doesn't care what your reason is.

• 12:02Rhonda Byrne?

  Doesn't care.

• 12:03Lewis Howes?

  Is there a way to write it down of saying, I desire, I want this or just?

• 12:08Rhonda Byrne?

  I just did a list. I just did this list and I would keep adding to it. But I did a top 10 and I got everything on the list. And the last thing on the list was to go to Bora Bora in Tahiti.

• 12:21Lewis Howes?

  And you went?

• 12:22Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah, to stay in one of those things on the water, you know, one of the huts on the water. And I'd always wanted to go there and and you got a small plane, you know, light plane to go there. And I can't remember if I was going or if I was returning. No, I was going. And the plane stopped. I thought it was an unscheduled stop, but anyway, it stopped. I think I was the only person in the plane and it filled with Tahitians. And they were incredible. Suddenly, the plane just became alive and they were laughing and talking. There were all these workers and they're laughing and talking.

• 13:03Rhonda Byrne?

  And I just sat there and I just had tears

• 13:08Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 13:08Rhonda Byrne?

  of the beauty of them and the happiness from them. And then I realized this was the last desire on my list.

• 13:18Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 13:18Rhonda Byrne?

  And I'm in this plane with all of these people so happy, so joyful, saying, this is the way to live your life. Be happy because do you know, we will find a million excuses not to be happy.

• 13:33Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 13:35Rhonda Byrne?

  You know, I'll be happy when I'll be I'll be happy when I have more money. Be happy when I feel better. Be happy when I get that job. Be happy when I meet someone I'm not on my own anymore.

• 13:49Rhonda Byrne?

  And you have to be happy for.

• 13:51Lewis Howes?

  I know.

• 13:52Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah.

• 13:53Lewis Howes?

  You're just talking about joy and how much joy you had in that plane with those individuals there. Again, we're talking about the secret manifestation cards. Make sure you get a few of these decks and give them to friends. This one is about jumping for joy. It says, jump from joy. You can lift your frequency, accelerate manifestation and change your whole life with this powerful visualization technique that can be done in less than thirty seconds. Imagine that you just received your desire and see yourself jumping for joy.

• 14:24Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah.

• 14:25Lewis Howes?

  And so I love this idea of writing down your desire list, whether it's five or ten things that you really desire.

• 14:32Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah.

• 14:33Lewis Howes?

  Imagine that you just received this and see yourself jumping for joy.

• 14:38Rhonda Byrne?

  Yep.

• 14:39Lewis Howes?

  It's a beautiful way where again, I'm hearing you say the law of attraction is about what you're thinking about and desiring and how you're feeling around that experience. It's not, I want this, but I don't feel good about it because I don't have it now. It's thinking the desire and feeling the joy and excitement and being happy now.

• 15:00Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah.

• 15:01Lewis Howes?

  Is the key.

• 15:02Rhonda Byrne?

  Is the key.

• 15:03Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 15:03Rhonda Byrne?

  That's right. Yeah.

• 15:06Rhonda Byrne?

  It's just, and that is what, that is what I did. That visualization is what I did.

• 15:14Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 15:14Rhonda Byrne?

  I would imagine myself jumping for joy. I would just close my, even I can see the movie of that, even with my eyes open because I've done it so many times, and just jumping for joy, that down to the smallest things, like you go and have, you know, a test at the doctors. Like, what do you want? Like, if, if you're gonna go and have a test at the doctors, and somebody says to you, oh, how did the test, I've done this with people. Oh, how did you go with the test? I don't know yet, until it comes back.

• 15:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, then it could be anything.

• 15:52Rhonda Byrne?

  Right. You've got to say what it is. You've got to decide what it is. You've got to, down to the smallest things in life, right? Everything, everything we have to intend and say, we have to choose it, we've got to declare. We are an unlimited being. Don't limit ourselves and say, I don't know yet. Because when people say that to me, I'm like, what do you want it to be? Well, I don't know until I get the results. No, what do you want it to be? All clear, right? Like, before I go to the dentist.

• 16:26Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 16:26Rhonda Byrne?

  I always say, before I go to the dentist. Fabulous.

• 16:31Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 16:32Rhonda Byrne?

  All good, all good.

• 16:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 16:34Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah.

• 16:36Lewis Howes?

  And, and going back to the desire around money, I wanted to add one more card in here, and then I have a couple of final questions, because I could, I could speak to you for hours, Rhonda. This is amazing, but I want to be respectful of time here. When it comes to money, you have this incredible card, again, in your manifestation deck, which is, says prosperity is your birthright. And here are four simple rules to manifest money. Number one, each day, think more thoughts of abundance than thoughts of lack of money. Number two, be happy now without the money, which is probably one of the hardest things for people when they feel like they're stressed, not with money. Be happy now without the money. Number three, be truly grateful for everything you have now.

• 17:21Lewis Howes?

  Not frustrated for what you're lacking, but be grateful for what you have now. And four, give the best of yourself to others. This is huge. And I'm so glad you have that in here because a lot of us hold back the best of ourselves from our, to ourselves and to others. Why do we, why do we live in scarcity of our gifts to other people to see those gifts fully?

• 17:48Rhonda Byrne?

  I just think it's the nature of the ego. You know, the ego's second name is lack. I am ego, lack and fear. There, there is kind of middle names and, and so the ego is lack because it is completely lackful and, and it's also incredibly fearful. And so, and so that is what is sending out all of the self-talk to us. So we have to be careful of what we listen to.

• 18:24Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 18:25Rhonda Byrne?

  You know, because that voice that you have in your head, that really, that is not you. And I know you think it's you because you think it sounds like you, that voice, the thoughts, but it is not you. These are just thoughts floating by. So don't empower those thoughts. Don't, you know, don't give those, don't believe any of those thoughts because all of those thoughts are an absolute lie. You are an unlimited being.

• 18:56Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 18:57Rhonda Byrne?

  You are not lacking in any way whatsoever. As you know, you felt that you were lacking, but you now know you're not lacking, right? That was not true.

• 19:08Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 19:08Rhonda Byrne?

  Not true at all. So, yeah, just the, it's just the nature of the ego. So I would just say, please don't believe any negative thoughts about yourself because they're not true. People are so much more than they realize. It just. Oh, I get really choked up when I, when, you know, the people are just so magnificent and so brave and courageous to do this journey of being human. You know, it's just, and all of the obstacles and the difficulties that people face and, um, yeah, but magnificence is what we are.

• 19:52Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 19:53Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah.

• 19:53Lewis Howes?

  And something came to me as you were saying about this, you know, my father used to turn the, mute the commercials when any type of medication or sickness commercials would come on. So whenever we're watching a sports game and commercials would come on, he would always mute it or he'd turn the channel because he didn't want that program of sickness, disease, medication constantly running in my mind and our, in my siblings' minds. And I really thank him for that because we start to believe lies that are out there, even though it's not the truth.

• 20:27Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah.

• 20:27Lewis Howes?

  Right, but if we start to believe it, it becomes true for us.

• 20:30Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah.

• 20:31Lewis Howes?

  And it's with anything, whether we're seeing other people gossiping or talking about negative things that don't serve the moment. So it's turning the channel, it's changing the conversation, it's switching our thoughts, it's removing ourself from the situation. We need to be

• 20:45Rhonda Byrne?

  Absolutely.

• 20:46Lewis Howes?

  standing guard to our mind and our thoughts.

• 20:48Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah, no, very well put. That's exactly what we need to do. And not subject ourselves to, that's really one, I mean, I mute too.

• 20:57Lewis Howes?

  Do you? Yeah.

• 20:58Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't, and you know, the news is just, you know, who, who wants to, who wants to partake of any of that? And, you know, I know I'll hear about anything that's

• 21:10Lewis Howes?

  You'll be informed.

• 21:11Rhonda Byrne?

  I will, I'll be informed.

• 21:12Lewis Howes?

  You don't need to be entertained with fear.

• 21:14Rhonda Byrne?

  Exactly.

• 21:15Lewis Howes?

  But you can be informed with information.

• 21:17Rhonda Byrne?

  That's right.

• 21:18Lewis Howes?

  Without the, the feelings of fear and scarcity.

• 21:22Rhonda Byrne?

  Yeah, because that only makes things worse, you know, and then brings it into your life. I think in, um, in the, in the Bible in Job is, is this simple little line, what I feared the most came upon me.

• 21:38Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 21:39Rhonda Byrne?

  There's law of attraction.

• 21:40Lewis Howes?

  Yes, yes, yes.

• 21:42Rhonda Byrne?

  Right?

• 21:43Lewis Howes?

  That is true.

• 21:45Rhonda Byrne?

  So it's not worth being afraid, you know, it really isn't. And, and, and fear, you know, all of the emotions and all of the thoughts are coming from the mind. And the mind is just a program and you can change the program. And it just takes a little bit, it just takes a little bit of putting in the good thoughts and the positive thoughts. And, and as you put in the good thoughts and the positive thoughts, then you feel, then you begin to feel better. And you're like, you're feeling happier and then you're on a roll.

• 22:13Lewis Howes?

  Yes, absolutely.

• 22:19Lewis Howes?

  I want to start with this question around wealth. Cause I think that also connects to wealth. I think a lot of people want to feel wealthy and they think of financial wealth first. But you talk about these different levels of wealth in life. But I want to ask you first about the difference between what is authentic wealth versus normal wealth? If we could start there.

• 22:43Robin Sharma?

  Sure. Well, first of all, we're really happy to be helpful.

• 22:45Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 22:45Robin Sharma?

  And thanks for being so generous in what you just said. So we live in a fascinating world, Louis. We've been hypnotized and mesmerized by society to believe that winning is a large stock portfolio. Get the yacht, get the watch, get the fame, fortune and applause. And one day you'll wake up and you'll feel fantastic.

• 23:13Robin Sharma?

  And anyone who has achieved those things will tell you, and just to use the Zen proverb, wherever you go, there you are. So I think too many good souls have fallen into a trap of thinking, if I just had the right amount of money and I achieved material wealth, everything will be okay. Well, for 15 plus years, this is year 31, I've been in the personal mastery leadership field. But for 15 plus years, I've worked with many of the world's celebrity billionaires, entertainment legends and sports superstars. And I can tell you personally that some of those people, if not many of those people are cash rich, but life poor.

• 23:59Robin Sharma?

  So the wealth money can't buy is based on the eight forms of wealth. Money is one of the forms of wealth. I'm not going to sit here and say money is not important. It puts food on the family table, allows us to do amazing things for the people we love, allows to serve those in need. It allows us not to get backed into the corner to make decisions we don't want to make. But there are seven other forms of wealth that when we pursue them, we find authentic wealth, real riches versus financial fortune, where we become worldly successful but empty of heart.

• 24:37Robin Sharma?

  And I think in this social media age, there are just so many people. I mean, we're tribal. We have a neurobiological instinct to follow the crowd. We have mirror neurons, so we do what the mass of people is doing. But what's the point of climbing a mountain, spending our best years doing it, only to realize at the end of a quarter, decade, lifetime, we climbed the wrong mountain? And so what I'm trying to do is show people a map or a framework of real wealth, and it has eight forms, not just money.

• 25:14Lewis Howes?

  What is the, what do you think is the most influential form of wealth outside of money that people are missing today?

• 25:21Robin Sharma?

  I think many of, many of the seven, aside from money. I would say service is incredibly important. Before we went on, I hope you don't mind me saying, but you set an intention to be of service. And I think it's very easy to think, oh, that's some kind of a metaphysical or philosophical idea. But if you want to be a great entrepreneur, for example, be monomaniacally focused on distributing as much value as possible to human beings. Our job as an entrepreneur is to push magic into the marketplace. And when you push magic into the marketplace in a world that celebrates mediocrity, you stand out, you differentiate, create fanatical followers.

• 26:06Robin Sharma?

  But service is also remembering that in this age of polycrisis.

• 26:14Robin Sharma?

  You know, people need to be seen. Services, even listening to someone. Services, seeing someone in need and helping them in some way. Services, just being as helpful as possible. So I think service is a form of wealth. Mahatma Gandhi said it beautifully. He said, "To lose yourself in service of others is to find yourself." So we're all looking to find ourselves, to find fulfillment, happiness. And it's such a paradox, but we find that happiness, we find that wealth when we give ourselves to others. It's such an amazing paradox.

• 26:56Robin Sharma?

  If we, in the book, I talk about a conversation I had in Barcelona. I don't know why, I always befriend dormant at hotels or door people, you know. I just, and his name was Alberto. And so we were chatting and I got the sense Alberto may not have realized what a giant he was. And so I said, Alberto, it was a beautiful Barcelona day. I said, Alberto, you know, if you uplift 100 people every day by being positive and polite

• 27:36Robin Sharma?

  and give them gifts of kindness and positivity, at the end of the year, that's 3,000 plus people. At the end of a decade, it's 30,000 people. At the end of a lifetime, it's 300,000 people. I said, "You can have a huge impact." So I think service would be one. I think family is one we miss. I think adventure is one we miss. Craft is a form of wealth we can talk about. I think we miss some of those.

• 28:04Lewis Howes?

  Now, you mentioned service as one of the main forms of wealth. What would you say is the percentage of people in today's society? In general, that are missing service? It seems like a very self-centered society, or at least what you see on social media, like you mentioned sometimes. But what do you think is the percentage of people that are missing service and are more focused on self in today's world?

• 28:31Robin Sharma?

  Well, the way I'd answer that, Louis, is if we are stuck in scarcity, then we are not going to stand for generosity. You know this so well, you teach it in your books and in your methodology. But our primary relationship with ourself determines every other relationship. And that's why the first form of wealth and the wealth money can't buy is growth.

• 28:56Robin Sharma?

  To develop yourself, to build a strong character, to get to know your heroic elements, to tap into your wisdom, to know how strong you are. To know your gifts and talents, to know how loving you can be is a form of wealth. I mean intimacy with your mastery is a form of wealth. And the reason I made that the first form of wealth is the relationship with you determines every other relationship. And so if we're stuck in scarcity, and unfortunately, a lot of people are stuck in scarcity.

• 29:30Robin Sharma?

  And if you're stuck in scarcity, then you may not be of service, you may not be of use, you may not, let's say you're building an app or building a business. You might not apply what I call the 10x value obsession. Give your customers 10 times the value they have any right to expect, so they beat a path to your door. If you look at most businesses, it's

• 29:54Robin Sharma?

  how can I deliver the least amount of value and receive the most amount of money? And that's not a recipe for a global base of fanatical followers.

• 30:05Lewis Howes?

  If someone feels like they are stuck in scarcity, and I like this idea, I want to be more generous, but I don't have much to give. I feel stuck, I'm in debt, I'm stressed, I'm overwhelmed, I'm burnt out. What would you say would be the first three things they could do to turn their scarce life into an abundant life?

• 30:22Robin Sharma?

  Wow.

• 30:26Robin Sharma?

  I would say MVP. So you know, as an athlete, that means most valuable player. It's also an acronym for meditation, visualization, and prayer. And I do my best. I'm certainly no guru, and I have a lot of work to do on myself. But I've come a long way over these 25 years of deeply working on myself. And these days, I spend from 4 o'clock to 4:45 in MVP. Meditation, visualization, and prayer. And it works. You know, an insecurity you want to move through, a scarcity that's bothering you, you meditate on it, you visualize yourself being generous and brave and stronger and radiating goodness and strength in a world of emerging darkness.

• 31:11Robin Sharma?

  And then you pray. And I believe every prayer is heard. It's powerful. So that would be one tool. Another tool is remember that gift giving doesn't mean you have to do something material. I just learned this incredible job. We were talking about Japan. I just learned this incredible Japanese philosophy called Intoku, which is secret gift giving. Secret gift giving. Secret gift giving. Without someone knowing you gave it. Well, Louis, I think a gift given with the expectation of a reward isn't a gift, it's a trade. If I give you a gift and I go, hmm, I hope I get this from you, then it's not a gift. And at some level, you're gonna sense it.

• 31:55Robin Sharma?

  So the second, you asked for a tactic. The second tactic would be give secret gifts that nobody knows about. Wow. And it could be, and it doesn't have to be anything material. It could be, I'm staying in a hotel here, I'm visiting you in Los Angeles. It could be simply understanding a room cleaner is going to come into the room after I leave to come on. The school of greatness. Let me make sure the room is clean. Let me make, let me make the bed. Let me put the towels in the bathtub. Let me straighten up the room and leave a nice tip because someone's mother, father, son, or daughter is going to be cleaning this room. That's a gift.

• 32:39Robin Sharma?

  I think that's a gift. So we can, we can give gifts that way. In, in the book, I actually talk about, it's full, it's full of philosophy and tactics, but I talk about the power of thank you notes. That's not expensive, but writing a thank you note to your mentor in this world of digital, writing a thank you note to someone you meet on an airplane, or in a train, or in a, is, I mean, Lewis, a hand, writing, what I love to do when I'm on the road, I'll love to write a letter to mom and dad. My dad is going to be 87 in June. Wow. And just telling them, you know, what a force he's been in my life. Or writing a letter to my partner, or my kids, or of course, of course, my mom.

• 33:24Robin Sharma?

  So I think there's lots of things we can do to be generous, and then it's a practice. The more you practice it, the more generous we automatically become.

• 33:32Lewis Howes?

  MVP, meditation, visualization, prayer, gift giving, and gift giving in secret, and thank you notes, physical thank you notes. I think those are three inspiring and practical things that people could start to do. And if you don't have an hour a day to do the MVP, you could do five minutes a day. You can give a gift once a day. You can write a thank you note once a week. It doesn't have to be all time consuming, but I really love this process of getting outside of self and thinking of others. And I think that's a great step to turning yourself into more selfish or scarce thinking into abundance and opportunities and synchronicities into your life. So I love this, this process. And I don't think a lot of people think about this enough.

• 34:17Lewis Howes?

  I don't think they're thinking about how can I be generous in gift giving? How can I be generous in my? Acknowledgement, you know, something I love to do on this show for 11 years is acknowledge the guest in front of me and I started with acknowledgement with you. I believe we talked about the power of intention right before we got on. It's like setting an intention and acknowledging people. You mentioned people love to be seen. And if we can get out of self and think about others in some form or way, that unlocks a door to abundance. So I love this strategy and I love these steps.

• 34:48Robin Sharma?

  I would even say, Lewis, with our work, our work, a job is only a job if we see it as a job. And I think many people miss the opportunity for generosity as well as mastery. That's why it's the fourth form of wealth and the wealth money can't buy. Seeing your work as your craft, seeing your work as noble, you're a coder, you're a yoga teacher, you're an airline pilot, an astronaut, a teacher, a firefighter. And you say, I'm on a mission. I want to be B I W, best in the world at what I do. And there's a chapter in the book called Make Your Project X.

• 35:28Robin Sharma?

  I think a lot of entrepreneurs, in my observation, I say this respectfully, but they suffer from chasing every shiny toy that shows up. I think one entrepreneur in particular, every time I meet him, he has a new business he's launching, every time. It's the once in a lifetime opportunity that's consuming him and this is going to be his liquidity event.

• 35:50Lewis Howes?

  It's the newest and greatest technology.

• 35:52Robin Sharma?

  It's the newest. And what I'm talking about with the Project X concept is, in a world where we push out so much content and we rush to constantly be pushing out many things at mediocrity, I would say, be one of those rare, rare souls who takes a year or three years. Or Lewis, I talk about it in the book, the Duomo in Milan, 600 years to finish it and master it. Are you willing? Are we willing to spend 600 years on our Taj Mahal, our Eiffel Tower, our Moonlight Sonata, our Catcher in the Rye?

• 36:37Robin Sharma?

  And I think, you know, you got me on this topic of generosity. It's I just think it's so powerful. I spent a year of my life on this book. I can get into my writing process if you're interested, but I suffered, but it was a beautiful suffering, but I suffered through so many drafts, so many iterations, so many resistances, like this sentence can't be done, you can't do this, that. And I think, once we push our best out into the world through our project X, I think it's an act of, may I say it, love.

• 37:17Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 37:19Robin Sharma?

  It's certainly an act of generosity, and I think this world needs more astonishment in it, more magic.

• 37:25Lewis Howes?

  You mentioned in the book, this concept of like, becoming a ghost, or ghosting, like you just said there, where it's like, spend a year, two years, not being everywhere all at once, not putting out something every day, but actually deepening in your craft. In a world, especially with social media, where people feel like they need to be relevant constantly, they need to put out something every single day to draw in attention, how can someone have the confidence to become a ghost for six months, or a year, or two years, to work on one project and not be anywhere else, and know that it's going to succeed? What if they come back a year or two later, and the world has changed, people don't remember

• 38:09Lewis Howes?

  who they are, they don't have an audience anymore? How do they deal with that insecurity, fear, or doubt?

• 38:15Robin Sharma?

  Okay. That is, I love the question. I would say a few things.

• 38:21Lewis Howes?

  If they don't have 25 million copies sold of their books already, if they're new, they're starting out, like, how can they navigate that?

• 38:28Robin Sharma?

  Okay, there's a few things. I would say, you can be in the world, or you can do your finest work, you can't do both.

• 38:37Lewis Howes?

  You say it again?

• 38:39Robin Sharma?

  You can be in the world, or you can do your finest work, you can't do both.

• 38:42Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Okay, so what does that mean?

• 38:44Robin Sharma?

  Well, I would also say it means...

• 38:51Robin Sharma?

  Genius adores isolation.

• 38:54Robin Sharma?

  You want to get into flow state and do beautiful work. See, I would just rather be a minimalist versus a maximalist.

• 39:03Robin Sharma?

  J.D. Solinger is one of my heroes. He just published one book.

• 39:10Robin Sharma?

  Happened to be Catcher in the Rye.

• 39:13Robin Sharma?

  Vincent van Gogh. He only sold two paintings. But he's Vincent van Gogh.

• 39:21Robin Sharma?

  So. I would say it's absolutely essential to leave the world regularly.

• 39:32Robin Sharma?

  To do your best work, to get into flow state, to create your mastery, to create, to get this little, you know, a little seaside cottage. I mean. Ian Fleming of James Bond had Goldeneye. There's a chapter in the book called Find Your Personal Goldeneye. I would say to everyone, invest in a cottage, even if it's a hotel room or a motel room in your city or stacks in a library. But go ghost there. You don't have to go ghost for a year. I think it's a cool idea. Go to Tokyo, go to Colombia, go to Mexico City, go to Stockholm, go to South Africa for a year and create your masterwork and be free from social media and meditate, pray,

• 40:15Robin Sharma?

  visualize, read the classics, work on your masterwork, chat with the locals, find yourself and then come back born anew. I think that's a powerful idea. And then how do you handle it? Well, you can build a team to run your social media, of course. You can check in once a week and go ghost six days a week, of course. Or you can go all in and be a gangster. Let's call it a ghost, a ghost gangster. And just go, I'm going to get lost for a year. I'm going to get away from the noise so I can hear the signal and I'm going to create something so beautiful, so masterful, so disruptive. So special because I'm not distracted. I'm just writing or doing the screenplay or building the business.

• 41:00Robin Sharma?

  That when you come back and release it, I mean, people sniff quality a mile away and they're aching for magic. And so, let's say, a book, you just get away from the world, then you come back with this masterpiece. It's if you, people are gonna find it.

• 41:18Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm. I love, I love this concept of becoming a ghost for a period of time. I had a Christian pastor on named Michael Todd that has a couple of New York Times bestselling books and a, a big congregation, a big social media following, all these things. And he said, before he became a pastor, early on, he had a mentor that was a wiser pastor than him, that was kind of teaching him how to come up and lead a congregation and, and be a good husband and a father and all these different things. And he said, every year, take a month off. Take a month off where you're not in the church, you're not working on a book, you're not creating

• 41:58Lewis Howes?

  something, like, you're gonna be pouring your soul into service every week. Take a month to recover, rejuvenate, relax, reflect. And he had a book a couple of years ago that was a, I think it was a number one New York Times bestseller, or top on the New York Times bestseller list for like, six weeks in a row. And his, he planned his month every year in advance, right? So he has, he knows it's gonna be July, or whatever it is. And this was the six month, week mark, every week it was on the list. He was out promoting, he was marketing. And every week it hit the list, and then his time to stop promoting was up because his month of ghosting was coming up that next week.

• 42:43Lewis Howes?

  And when he came on, he said, you know, the week I stopped promoting is the week it came off the New York Times bestseller list. And I said, do you, you know, wouldn't, couldn't you just push it a little farther, like that ghosting month? Couldn't you just extend it and just keep going and ride the momentum? And he goes, I could, but then that could lead to burnout also. I scheduled this in specifically because I know greater things are to come on the other side, and I'm okay if it's not on the list that week or that month. And he said, "The reason this book was such a big success was because I got the idea from two years ago of that month off. That's when this idea came." And so he's like, "I am sacred with this time. Even if amazing things are happening,

• 43:26Lewis Howes?

  I say no during that time." And I think that takes a lot of strength or power to say no in your season of ghosting, when you're recovering, reflecting, working on your masterpiece, or just allowing ideas, the signal, as you mentioned, to come to you. So I just thought that's interesting, and I like that you have this in the book. How can someone approach becoming a ghost when they have a lot going on, or they're maybe living in scarcity, or they're month to month right now, and they're not, they don't have the resources to extend for a year in another country? How can they start to think of a ghosting season of their life?

• 44:05Robin Sharma?

  Well, first of all, I think that's the key. It's seeing work and life in a series of seasons, almost like an athlete. You have your on-season and you have your off-season. But I think that's the power of the Eight Forms of Wealth model that the book is based around. We were talking about work and masterwork, but that's only one of the eight forms of wealth. The third form of wealth is family. So we don't want, that's why I don't subscribe to the hustle and grind culture. I've, I talk about it in the book. You know, I was asked to mentor a multi-billionaire. My team and I thought about it for a few weeks, decided I was gonna do it, show up at his house, never seen anything like it. Walked

• 44:47Robin Sharma?

  by his art collection, walked by his indoor car collection, walked by his library, eventually went to this, down these stairs into this subterranean passageway. I could smell cigar smoke from a mile away. I walk in and there he is, the icon. So we talked for a few hours. He tells me, he shares his story and his, how he built the businesses.

• 45:11Lewis Howes?

  The empire.

• 45:12Robin Sharma?

  The empire. He's the emperor, emperore. And I said, he goes, "Yeah," you know, and I said, "Like, you know, tell me about your family, who you share it with."

• 45:26Robin Sharma?

  Long silence.

• 45:31Robin Sharma?

  And he said, no, I, you know, I'm all alone.

• 45:35Robin Sharma?

  So I share that because the third form of wealth is family. If you have a rich family life, we've talked about relationships in our past conversations. You know, if you have a rich partnership with your life partner, that's, that's wealth money can't buy. If you have a rich relationship with, in my case, you know, also my children, then Colby and Bianca, and my parents, I saw them in Toronto the other night, and having good friends who you enjoy being with, I mean, that is a form of wealth money can't buy.

• 46:19Robin Sharma?

  So yes, put out master work and yes, do great work, but also remember the other forms of wealth. Because, you know, what's the point of having a lot of money and ending up there alone? There's, I quote Bob Marley and he said, possessions is rich. I don't have that kind of rich, my richest life.

• 46:45Lewis Howes?

  My community, I think people that are coming to this are really going to want to understand about the three principles of building wealth first. So I'm curious with all the people you coach and work with, what are the three keys that they all have in order to build wealth sustainably? And exponentially, what would you say those three things are?

• 47:06Dan Martell?

  Yeah, I mean, the first thing I'd say is most entrepreneurs, unfortunately, because they've never been taught different, end up building companies they grow to hate. Think about that, it's not the economy that takes a business down or an entrepreneur. It's usually the fact that they wake up one day and they look around and they hit what I call the pain line, which is essentially they have opportunity to grow, but the more they grow, the more pain they're going to feel. So

• 47:30Lewis Howes?

  What is the thing they're they have the most pain around is that their teams, their customers, the clients, is it the industry they're in?

• 47:36Dan Martell?

  It's the calendar.

• 47:37Lewis Howes?

  It's their schedule.

• 47:38Dan Martell?

  Yeah, and it's maybe the way they hired where they don't have the right people or the thing they're selling is too complicated. And the more they do, the more their calendar explodes. So imagine you get an email where you could double your capacity, double your revenue, and you can't take that business on because that would mean more pain in your life. And you're already trying to get more time for the weekends for your kids or whatever it is. I mean, it's tough.

• 47:59Lewis Howes?

  And you're exhausted.

• 48:01Dan Martell?

  You're burnt out and it's not the dream that you were sold. You sold yourself a vision of a future where the bigger this gets, the more time you're going to have and the more freedom. And unfortunately, if you're not taught to do it properly, that's what ends up happening. That's what happened to me. The three things that I would say that people who've created wealth and when I think wealth, I think of like time and just like the freedom is first off is they understand the value of their time. So and and when we think about the value of the time, it's not how much you get paid for your hour. It's what do you think you're worth? So I learned a long time ago is nobody's going to get paid a penny more than they think they're worth. So if you

• 48:40Lewis Howes?

  So wait, what's the difference between how much you get paid per hour versus how much you're worth?

• 48:44Dan Martell?

  I think there's one that materializes in the minute. How much did somebody just pay me for what I just offered? And there's what do you think you're worth? What's your value?

• 48:54Lewis Howes?

  But some people might say, well, I'm worth a thousand dollars an hour.

• 48:57Dan Martell?

  Yeah.

• 48:57Lewis Howes?

  But they're not getting paid that.

• 48:59Dan Martell?

  No.

• 48:59Lewis Howes?

  And you could, is that delusional to think, oh, I'm worth this, but if the market's not willing to pay it, are you worth it?

• 49:05Dan Martell?

  Dude, such a good question. Here's why it's a great question is because there has to be a belief you're worth more than what you're currently getting paid. So you make better trades. See, if you think you're worth a thousand, but you're only getting paid a hundred, then you're going to start thinking about your time differently, where you'll say no to things that don't even look remotely close to a 200, maybe a $300 an hour opportunity. Or you might decide to spend some money. See, most people spend time to save money. I encourage them to spend money to save time.

• 49:34Lewis Howes?

  Yes, this is kind of how I grew up. You know, this is what people do. It's like, you know, we're cutting coupons. We're going to discount, we're going, waiting in line for an hour to like, save money, whatever it might be. It's like you wait, or you spend time to try to save money, but why is that the wrong way to look at it?

• 49:50Dan Martell?

  Because if we're talking about creating wealth, the only ways we can create wealth is by making that hour worth more. And this is what's interesting is, is the, so the first part is worthiness, but the second part is increasing your value. So if you think you're worth a thousand, but you're only charging a hundred, or people aren't willing to pay you more than that, then you can say, well, how can I become more valuable? For me, the three areas I always look at is the character traits that I have, right? Like, you're not valuable if you're not somebody that can deliver on the commitments you've made.

• 50:16Lewis Howes?

  Right. And so then are you worthy if you're not valuable?

• 50:19Dan Martell?

  Exactly. So I think that you have to start with the belief you're worthy, but then you got to back it up by action.

• 50:25Lewis Howes?

  And, and by creating value, what, developing skills?

• 50:29Dan Martell?

  Yeah. So it's character traits first off, right? Like just being somebody that shows up that honors their word, right? Be impeccable with your language. Um, second would be skills, like what, what skill do you currently have this creating value? And is there a way to upgrade that skill, right? Marketing, sales, et cetera. And then the third part I think is, um, belief systems, right? So.

• 50:49Lewis Howes?

  What are the, what are the belief systems that keep people bankrupt or broke?

• 50:53Dan Martell?

  Hmm. I, I always look at two things, whatever the, let's say the goal is becoming rich. There's two parts of this, there's the negative, there's this limiting beliefs you have about yourself about being rich. And then there's the negative beliefs you have about the achievement. So both of those are in the mind. So think about like limiting beliefs is like, well, I can't do this. I've never done this before. And I know the person has this belief if I hear the language and you, and you know what I'm talking about. There, this language like could, should, it'd be nice.

• 51:22Lewis Howes?

  Right. One, two, yeah, yeah.

• 51:23Dan Martell?

  Yeah, that language has the expectation of failure built into it. So, so that's the, the, the limitation beliefs. And then on the other side of the coin of the outcome is the negative belief. So what's the negative beliefs that keeps people broke? The rich people are evil. There's no chance you're going to wake up to try to be rich if you believe rich people are evil.

• 51:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 51:43Dan Martell?

  Or rich people don't pay taxes, or rich people took advantage of somebody, or rich people are unhappy.

• 51:48Lewis Howes?

  Cause if you believe rich people are evil, you don't want to become that belief of evil.

• 51:53Dan Martell?

  If I held a knife to your throat and said, step forward, you'd be like, well, I don't want to step forward because I'll hurt myself. It's like, yeah, so you'll never push for the goal if you think the outcome is negative. So until we work through those beliefs, I see, and that's what I call self sabotage. The biggest work I do with entrepreneurs is understanding what are the unconscious beliefs they have that are literally self sabotaging their progress to winning.

• 52:18Lewis Howes?

  What are the beliefs that most people have around money that are holding them back then? Is it that money's bad or people with money are takers or what is it?

• 52:26Dan Martell?

  Yeah, I think it's, it's anything negative. So, I mean, I know I had money beliefs around. I used to, I had this crazy belief that everybody had to go bankrupt.

• 52:35Lewis Howes?

  That everyone had to?

• 52:36Dan Martell?

  If you want to be successful.

• 52:38Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 52:38Dan Martell?

  It was this weird belief that I, I read Donald Trump's book and I read a bunch of other people's books. And, and when you look at the history, they all talk about like, you know, if you're really trying, you're taking risks. And at some point you'll probably go bankrupt. So get used to it. So like, well, if I have that belief, how hard am I going to push to try to be successful? If I've got a young family and I'm trying not to create pain in their life.

• 52:58Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 52:59Dan Martell?

  So that one kept me playing small for a long time.

• 53:01Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 53:02Dan Martell?

  Yeah. The other belief is, you know, what will other people in my family say?

• 53:07Lewis Howes?

  If I have money?

• 53:08Dan Martell?

  Oh my gosh.

• 53:09Lewis Howes?

  Do you ever feel guilty about the money you have?

• 53:11Dan Martell?

  I, I felt so guilty, Louis, you've known me for a long time. I didn't tell anybody I had money. I was quiet about it. I didn't allow myself to buy anything nice until I was 30. I made my first million at 27, multimillion at 28, and it wasn't until I was 36, I allowed myself to buy a McLaren.

• 53:30Lewis Howes?

  Dude, it's so funny.

• 53:30Dan Martell?

  Isn't that crazy?

• 53:31Lewis Howes?

  Well, somebody says this because I still don't really buy myself anything. I mean, I bought a nice home.

• 53:36Dan Martell?

  You bought a, yeah, you bought a beautiful.

• 53:38Lewis Howes?

  I'm buying like, you know, I'm not buying things to like show off that I have money though. Like I don't showcase my home. I'm not like taking photos of it and posting it online and like, look at me. My friend got me a Rolex for my 40th birthday last year. I think I've worn it like seven times. Cause part of me is still kind of like, should I be wearing this?

• 53:58Dan Martell?

  Talk to me about that.

• 54:00Lewis Howes?

  You know, it's, well, part of it is not my style.

• 54:02Dan Martell?

  Yeah.

• 54:02Lewis Howes?

  You know, I don't like, you know, part of it's like, I just wear the same black thing, just like you're wearing a black T-shirt.

• 54:07Dan Martell?

  Yep.

• 54:07Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. So that's part of it. The other part of this is, you know, I don't want to reject money coming my way by, by not wearing it, but it's also like, how are people going to, are they going to judge me? Are they going to want more from me? Are they going to be thinking I should be doing more? It's just like, do you also, do I want to attract some type of judgment that is unnecessary? I don't know. It's, it's kind of a lot of that.

• 54:33Dan Martell?

  Well, and that is it. So you said a few things that I just want to kind of pull up to the surface is one of them is I'm worried if they expect me to do more. A lot of people don't want to call their shot or live a bigger life because then that becomes the new floor they got to live into. So that's a fascinating one. It's like, well, I don't want to create wealth because then I have to maintain that. And if I lose, then people will visually publicly see me rise and fall.

• 54:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:59Dan Martell?

  That holds a lot of people back.

• 55:01Lewis Howes?

  I'm not afraid of the rise and fall because I've been the bottom.

• 55:03Dan Martell?

  But it's the, it's the judgment around. Yes. A hundred percent. And, and like for me, it was, what would my family say? Like, oh, you're too cool for us now? Why did you get that kind of car? I remember, dude, I got the car.

• 55:14Lewis Howes?

  Especially Canadian.

• 55:15Dan Martell?

  Oh, it was the only McLaren in the province I lived in. And they used to have to go to Montreal to get serviced.

• 55:21Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 55:22Dan Martell?

  And I remember the first time I had it for almost two weeks. I didn't want anybody to know. It was in the garage. I was, I was, I wasn't even sure how it was going to like, like be with it. That was really weird. And I remember the first time I wanted to go to the gym and drive it with my wife. We went and worked out every day. You know, Renee? And she wouldn't come with me. She took her car.

• 55:40Lewis Howes?

  Why?

• 55:40Dan Martell?

  She didn't want to have to deal with what people were going to say.

• 55:43Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 55:44Dan Martell?

  So it's fascinating that like, when people just kind of try on these, these ideas, like what would it mean to say? Even a lot of my clients, I say, can you say, I am ultra-rich?

• 55:55Lewis Howes?

  They can't say it.

• 55:55Dan Martell?

  Nope.

• 55:56Lewis Howes?

  Why not?

• 55:57Dan Martell?

  I mean, they, everybody's got a personal story, but what does that mean? Why does saying the word ultra-rich scare you, frustrate you, like you're the judgment? What is it? What is, what does it mean to you? It's just words.

• 56:11Lewis Howes?

  What do most ultra-rich people say around why they can't own that they're uber wealthy? By speaking about it?

• 56:19Dan Martell?

  I think there's a part of it that is if I acknowledge it, then I'm different than other people. And they don't want anybody to think that they think they're better.

• 56:26Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 56:27Dan Martell?

  Yeah. I mean, I'm that way, man. I don't want anybody to think that because I drive a certain car or fly around in my jet, that I think I'm better than you. Cause that's, and you're the same way. Like, we don't, right? I don't, the reason I don't wear watches is because I don't like it to get in the way. I appreciate beautiful things and design.

• 56:43Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 56:44Dan Martell?

  But yeah, I'm definitely, when I first got the McLaren, I was worried that people would treat me different. And guess what? They did.

• 56:50Lewis Howes?

  They do. They look at you differently.

• 56:51Dan Martell?

  Dude, I remember the first, it was awesome. I mean, I showed up, I went and did a talk at a rehab center. I'll tell you why. So I pull up to go, I do a lot of work with troubled youth and every kid immediately, the, the, like, they want to know what I have to say. Whereas before I'd show up in whatever car and then they'd be like, who is this guy? Isn't that fascinating? So, you know, perception is reality. But yeah, people do treat you different. And sometimes if you are comfortable with it, you can use that to fast track conversations. And if you're not okay with it, then it can be a source of a lot of pain. And I think that's, that's the mindset.

• 57:28Lewis Howes?

  Who are the wealthiest people that you know, that you respect? Based on how they live their life? And what are the things that they do that you respect the most about them?

• 57:37Dan Martell?

  Yeah, I'm gonna say Gary Vee for sure. Gary's

• 57:40Lewis Howes?

  What are the characteristics about the wealthy like Gary that you respect?

• 57:43Dan Martell?

  That he uses his money to create and to help other people. And I, and I would, and I would aspire to always be that. And that's what it is. And I think that if you truly, it's like when people say, well, I don't need to be rich. And I'm like, cool, why don't you become rich? And then if you want to do good with it, then you can. Like, why wouldn't you accumulate the resources? If you think somebody else, the government, this other entrepreneur, this CEO, isn't going to do right by having that money? Go get it. And once you got it, decide what you want to do with it. Right. That's the way I think about it. So when I watch Gary, you know, create his empire and then reinvest it into content and helping other people and running these big events and building companies, inspire entrepreneurship and

• 58:26Dan Martell?

  hell and really like help other people around them become wealthy. I mean, we've seen Gary over the years make concessions for his career for other people. Yeah. I mean, dude, even the fact that he helped build his dad's wine shop, like no, like most people don't know this. He built it to 60 million. He owned none of it. Yeah. And was paying himself maybe a hundred K a year. Dude, I don't pay my CEOs a hundred K a year if they're generating 60 million a year. Right, right, right. Dude, that's not how the math works. Sure. So he inspires me just the way he shows up. I think, you know, Alex and Leila Hermosy, friends of ours, like they, they do the same thing. They're, they're very much like, how do I use this to create more? How do I buy back my time?

• 59:06Dan Martell?

  Like, cause I really think it's about an experience and a leverage thing. Like wealth should be an opportunity to live a more fully developed life, right? Like I think the word empire subtitle of my book, I believe in empire is a life of unlimited creation. You never have to retire from. And I think everybody should want to aspire to do that. Interesting. Just be a creator. That's why I talk a lot about artists and creators in the book. The, the book's really meant for people that are starting off. Cause I don't want them to get the wrong headspace for what it means to be successful. And I try to teach them how to value their time, the math behind it, the value of it, the worthiness.

• 59:46Dan Martell?

  And then allow yourself to, if you have a desire to drive a supercar, don't tame it. If you have a desire to own a jet, don't tame it. There's nothing wrong with that. Live in a beautiful home. I think the number one thing you could ever do for somebody else is inspire them. To live a bigger life and you don't inspire people by playing small. What is the difference between inspiring people and showing off? It's the intent. Think about it. Money is an amplifier. That's it. It's not good or bad. It's like a fork. A fork can be used to hurt somebody. It could be used to nourish somebody. It's a tool. That's it. So some people buy the Rolex because they're trying to fill a hole that says I'm not enough. Maybe this will make me feel worthy of that affection.

• 1:00:31Dan Martell?

  Other people get it because they understand the history and from a engineering point of view. And a story, maybe their grandfather had one, they want to wear it as a reminder of that. Or, and it could be like, this is the cool part is that it's not necessarily the thing. It's the story behind the thing. It's not fun. Like, that's why I help people kind of rewrite their money stories. Because then if we, if we say, okay, like I had a client, he was worth like, you know, 50 million and he couldn't bring himself to, he had, he had a car he wanted to get. I think it was, it wasn't, it was like the, the new Corvette. Okay. The C8, brand new rear engine Corvette. And he, and he couldn't bring himself. Okay. Guy's worth 50 million. Car's like a hundred and some thousand.

• 1:01:13Dan Martell?

  And I said, why is that? And his mindset was always about, well, if I do that, then I'm taking away from something else I could help somebody with. And I said, cool. I totally honor that. I appreciate it. I said, but what if you got the car to help inspire other kids that were just like you? And I could see the light bulb. And he goes, oh, I said, so talk to me about what just you just, I saw the math click. And he goes, well, if I got the car, then I could use it for charity rallies and I could do it. I could go to schools and I could like go to car shows and I go, now we're talking. See, if you have a thing, a house and you don't host people there. Right. You have a, a company, but you don't allow the resources to be leveraged by your team to do good.

• 1:01:55Dan Martell?

  You have money, but you just try to hoard it and keep it in one spot and not, not use it to create experiences for yourself. That's, that's where I think people get prisoner of money. And here's, and here's the thing, and I got this from one of my friends. I really liked the way he framed it. He said, It doesn't matter how much money you have, a hundred thousand or a hundred million. He said, if money is the primary decision, you make a decision, you're a prisoner. Said, money needs to be a consideration, but it can't be the primary reason.

• 1:02:24Lewis Howes?

  How does someone identify what their current money story is from their past? And then how do you rewrite your money story to create more abundance versus scarcity?

• 1:02:35Dan Martell?

  So good. It's a great question. So what I do with people is I ask them to sit down and say, as it pertains to money, being rich, and let's call it like being rich. What are all the negative beliefs that you have around that language? And really sit with that for 15 minutes. Don't move on it. Well, and I, and I've had people say the, the craziest things. And crazy to me, but maybe obvious to a lot of people listening. The first one, I remember one time they said that rich people don't pay taxes. That's fascinating. And what?

• 1:03:08Lewis Howes?

  I've paid a lot of taxes.

• 1:03:09Dan Martell?

  I know how much I write and I want to pay taxes. The more taxes I pay, it means that I've obviously created more wealth. Like I have no problem paying, I don't want to pay one penny more than I have to, but I have no, I have zero problem. And it's funny how that belief, well, what is that? Why does that matter to you? Well, I don't want to make, I want to give a penny more to the government. I have to. Interesting. So you have an anger issue against your government that's stopping you from being wealthy because you don't want to pay more.

• 1:03:36Lewis Howes?

  So you don't want to make more because you don't want to give more.

• 1:03:38Dan Martell?

  Dude, it's so fascinating, right? When people literally say like, well, I don't want more because I might make, you know, if I'm wealthy or rich, my sister might be upset with me. Talk to me about that. Well, last time I got a raise and I told her, all of a sudden she didn't talk to me for three weeks because she thought I was better than her. That's interesting. Let's talk about that. So I always go to three questions when this stuff comes up is number one, is it true? So first off, write off all the beliefs. Write all the beliefs. On your money story. Yep. Yeah. Then for each one of them, the first question, is it true? What if they believe it's true? Well, is it really true is the follow up? Is it true, comma, is it really true? Is there a scenario where that's not true? And for most people, if I say, is it really true? They're like, well, no, it's not really true.

• 1:04:22Dan Martell?

  It's like, cool, let's start there. Second question is, what would need to be true for that not to be true? Cause that's another great question. It's like, well, I don't want to pay taxes. Like, perfect. So what if you had a tax expert that specialized in making sure that you didn't pay a penny more to the government? You had to, would that solve the problem? Cool. Cause again, it's, it's not about overcoming that they don't believe it anymore. It's resolving the belief. So if I then found a firm that I knew would help me not pay the government one penny more, then I could push harder, right? Cause again, people don't want to grow if they have a negative belief of achievement. So once we resolve that, then we move it forward. Now, the third question is, how old is that belief? How long have you been thinking about it? Or how old are you when you came up?

• 1:05:07Dan Martell?

  When did that start? You know, I'm talking about. I was seven, I was 10, I was nine. I saw, you know, I saw my dad, you know, upset and he made a comment. And that stuck with me. Or my dad, my dad used to say that it's fascinating. He used to always say to me that it's not what you make, it's what you spend. Okay. Which is a good advice. On the surface, it's not what you make, it's what you spend. So you could make a million dollars a year, but if you spend a million and one, then you're no worse off than somebody that didn't make any money. But what I took that and internalized it for my twenties, in my twenties, when I started in business was every dollar I was an expense was I was taking it away from me. So think about the concept of buying back your time.

• 1:05:52Dan Martell?

  My belief, if I spent a dollar, then I was taking away profit. So I tried to do as much as I could. To save. Save, dude. I was like, I was making like. You know, hundreds of thousands a year and instead of investing in the business, I was constraining it. I was choking it from its potential because I wouldn't, I wouldn't let a dollar go if it wasn't absolutely necessary. And the challenge is if you understand business is that it requires an investment. And what happens if you make good investments, you get a return on that investment. And if you get really good in business, then the more investments you make, like when I asked somebody like, how much you pay for a customer? Well, I pay $10 a customer. How much does that customer worth to you? $100. How quick do you get that $100 within the first

• 1:06:36Dan Martell?

  month? How many $10 bills you want to trade for a $100 bill? So what's your marketing budget? But originally they'll say, well, my budget's 10,000 a month. I go, no, it's unlimited to the degree that you get that $100 bill for every 10 that you put in. It took me six years of being in business and choking the potential of the business till I flipped the mindset of, oh, no, it's not what you make, it's not what you keep, is literally what's the return on the growth? Because the real value in a lot of businesses, yes, it's the profit, but even more importantly, it's what's the business worth to somebody else? Because to the degree that, and this is what I talk about in the book, to the degree that I can build a

• 1:07:16Dan Martell?

  business that doesn't need me to grow, and that it has predictable revenue, predictable profits, those two equations equals how much it's worth to somebody else. And for, and this is what happened to me at 28, my company got bought, my first company I sold, that was when even before that, that one, that was the one that really set me up to then do a bunch of other stuff. But that's when I learned that yes, you can't be not profitable, but at the same time, don't constrain the business from its potential growth, because if you can build a business that doesn't require you to run and is predictable profit, then it's going to be incredibly valuable to somebody else.

• 1:07:53Lewis Howes?

  I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you, if no one has told you lately, that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.

• 1:08:37Lewis Howes?

  And now it's time to go out there and do something great.