Adam Markel (speaker) argues that to improve life outcomes you must "upgrade the software" — i.e., change your mindset/default operating mode. He gives student success stories (mentions a first billionaire, training 3,000 people in Hanoi) to support that the principles are universal, and emphasizes focusing on creating success (the roots) rather than obsessing over results like money (the fruits).
Chapters
And, you know, I love the analogy, too, because you guys are from the Bay Area, so Silicon Valley. You know that the computer, it has software that runs it. If the computer is not working optimally, what do you have to do? Change the software. That's what you have to do. You have to upgrade the software. And that's what we're talking about here. Most people don't realize that there's a default mode that they're actually running on and have been for quite a while. Adam, can you give us a success story from one of your students? We love to hear that. Well, I mentioned earlier that we've got our first billionaire, but the fact of the matter is we've trained people from all over the world. So folks will often ask me, will this work for me in my situation? I grew up in a house where my dad didn't have a lot of money, or I was abused, or I don't speak English. English isn't even my first language. I've taught this program to 3,000 people at a time in Hanoi, Vietnam, in a communist country. And I can tell you it works. It's a universal principle. Everybody wants the same things. And it's just what Willie said earlier. We're all often focused on the wrong thing in life. We're focused on the end game, on the results, on the lack of financial abundance or whatever it is. And what we all need to do, and it's a constant reminder for me as well, is to focus on what it is that creates those results. Successful people, wealthy, wealthy people, they don't focus on having more money. They focus on creating greater success. And it's that from that success, the result of that success is wealth. And the roots must come first. It's what's under the ground that creates what's above the ground in nature. And we are a part of nature. So it's no different for us. That is.