Brooke Castillo: How To Change Your Thoughts To Get Rich #MindsetSeries

My friend Brooke Castillo taught me how to change my mindset to get rich. She taught me how to change the thoughts in my head to influence the emotions that I feel and the actions that I take. And if I change all of those, then I'm more likely to be in alignment with the goals that I've set and be drawn to them rather than be hustling and grinding towards an outcome that I don't believe in. Brooke runs a $50 million per year coaching business. She started as a coach making low six figures, and within a few years she was doing $10 million, then $20 million, now $50 million a year, and she won't stop until she's doing $100 million a year. How did she do it? She points it all back to the mindset that she cultivates and her process for changing your mindset so that you do the things that inevitably lead to success. We're gonna go through some of the wisest and most engaging lessons that Brooke has taught from our stage and on the capitalism.com podcast about changing your mindset to get rich. The first and most important lesson from Brooke is about how you believe things that you don't currently believe in. If you want to build a million dollar business or have $100 million net worth, which is my goal right now, and you doubt it or you don't believe it, how do you change that internal wiring so that you're doing the actions in alignment with achieving that goal rather than doubting it or worrying about it? So I asked Brooke, how do you change a belief and go from doubt to total certainty so that you're more likely to achieve what you want to achieve? I want you to tell the story.

That your goal Is to hit 100 million. You're about halfway there right now, and that's in recurring revenue or like yearly revenue. That's not have a hundred million dollar business?

Actually, the question that you asked them was like, how much do you want to sell for? I think a much better question is how much do you want to make a year with a business you love so much you don't want to sell?

Yes. And yours is 100 million.

100 million a year. Yeah.

Yeah. And I know like right now you are. I never hear you doubt it.

Never hear me doubting.

No, I never hear you doubt it. But if I remember correctly, there was a time in which you doubted it that you weren't as certain as you are now. Is that right?

Yeah, I mean, I'm really certain now. And you don't Hear me doubting. But it doesn't mean I don't doubt, right? I just do my work on all that doubt.

I don't.

Tell me what you mean.

But, like, I don't. So, like, if I start thinking, like, oh, my gosh, maybe I won't make 100 million.

I don't.

Then go start talking to people about that, right? It's not. That's not what you want to do. I do that work on myself, like that mental work to make sure I get myself back to believing before I put that out in the world. Certainly not going to talk to my friends about something like that.

Would you explain what you mean by that work? The work of.

Yeah.

So, like, if I start feeling, like, uncertain, which I'm sure all of us do, right? When we're building a business, it's like you start feeling uncertain, like, this launch isn't going to work, or I'm not going to be able to make that much money or whatever. That's normal. That's your brain that is always telling you you're about to die and nothing's going to work. And so I just basically write down those thoughts, take a look at them, recognize them for what they are, and then get back to work.

You recognize them as bullshit thoughts that you can change and play with.

Cause right now it's equally as true that I could make it or I couldn't. Those are my two options to think. Why wouldn't I think this one? There's no downside. But most of us choose to think this one because we think we have so much more evidence for it, right? And so we think it's more justified somehow. But when you think a thought like, I can make $100 million, your brain thinks at such a higher level, such a better level, creates so much more creative opportunity for you than when you think, oh, I can't do this.

Of all the thoughts in the world.

That I could be choosing right now.

That'S the one you're going with.

I'm just gonna choose the one that makes me feel shitty, right? Like, I'm just going to choose the one that makes me feel disempowered. I could choose any thought out of all of them ever created. And I'm going to hang on to this one, right? And as soon as I ask myself that question, it's like, okay, there are. There are other things I could focus on 100%.

And just because a thought is true doesn't mean you need to keep thinking about it. That's the other thing People think, oh, I have to think this because it's true. My launch didn't go well.

Who cares?

Stop thinking about that. Think about the next thing. Think about what you want. Think about what you're creating. Right. Just because it's true, that's the other really important thing.

This is such a good point. Of all the thoughts in the world, there's an infinite number of thoughts that you could choose from. Most of us choose the ones that give us fear or doubt. Brooke intentionally picks the thoughts that empower her to get closer to her goals, and then she goes and finds evidence for them. It's kind of like building a fire. You see that thought, that's like a flicker of a flame. And then you go and find evidence for that thought by throwing a log on that fire. And before long, she has a roaring fire. And that's the belief that is pulling her. It's compelling her forward towards what she wants her outcome to be. So now Brooke is going to share about the transition going from $1 million to a goal of $10 million, and how her whole brain changed to empower her on that journey.

How are you working yourself into believing the thought that you can't find evidence for?

How do you work yourself into believing it?

Yes.

Well, I mean, there is, like, when you think about the 100 million goal that I have, like, you would say, I don't have any evidence that I can make $100 million. Would you say that?

Well, when you say it, it sounds like a ridiculous thing because I just said, of all the thoughts in the world, why would I choose that one?

Right.

So I would observe that.

Exactly. And you, you would be surprised at how much evidence you with for success. So, like you're saying, so like, for example, if you have a goal of making 25 million, you'd be like, I don't have any evidence for that. But, like, when you really think about it, there's so much fucking evidence that you can make $25 million the higher level of number you're going to pick that you can believe in the higher level of thinking you're going to have. So when I went from thinking, I'm going to make the difference from a million to 10 million, my whole brain changed. Like, if I want to make $10 million, I'm going to have to be a different person than if I'm making a million dollars. And I showed up differently. I quit drinking, I talked differently. Everything changed. I was enjoying making $10 million before I ever made $10 million, when I actually made $10 million. It was like an afterthought. I was like, yeah, of course. And that's what I'm doing with $100 million right now. And it's. This isn't. I think sometimes people look at me and just think, oh, life coach, that's so cute. But it's really the actual way you get this shit done is you have to believe in yourself.

And.

Because if you think about. If you believe you're going to make. What's the difference? Like, if you believe you're going to make $10 million and then your launch doesn't work, but you still believe in your $10 million, you don't care as much. You're like, oh, I guess that's not how I get there. I'm going to do something else to get there. But if you, you know, are trying to figure out how to do it and you'll only believe in it until there's evidence, you'll probably never get there. It's like what they were talking about earlier with Persistent. Persistent, you'll just give up. You're like, oh, I guess this doesn't work. But my belief is where my loyalty is not to the craft or the. The process of getting there. It's to the belief that I will get there, and I'm willing to get there, however is presented, the options that I have.

We've had a brief conversation in the.

Past about when you believe.

When you have a goal and you don't believe it, it feels really terrible.

Feels terrible. Yeah.

And the same goal, but you believe it feels amazing. Just ecstasy.

Yeah.

It's absolutely exhilarating.

Yeah.

And that switch is so precise, like it is. So it's such a delicate edge that.

Can flip you over.

And you have practiced the actual belief of what it is that you want. But I know you've had setbacks.

Like, wait, hang on. I want to make sure we talk about this. So how do you know if you're.

Believing in your goal, if it feels good or not?

Right.

And that is really important. So if you're thinking about your business and you feel like crap all the time, you have work to do. Do not work when you feel terrible. Get to your place where you can feel good about it and be inspired with it, and then go to work so much more.

Say that again for the people in the back.

Okay.

So pay attention. So. Yeah, because what I once.

I once had a mentor, his name was Peter Schaller, who used to say, the. The only work an entrepreneur needs to do is getting into the place where work feels. Feels effortless.

And it was maintaining a state on.

Which you are absolutely focused on what.

It is that moved the needle. I heard you say it just slightly different. Yeah, you feel shitty about your business.

I don't feel like my work's effortless, but I feel good about the work I'm doing because I believe in my goal.

You feel positive about the work.

Hustle is you trying to outrun your own doubt. Like, that's why you feel like crap all the time and you're exhausted because you're hustling and you're trying to work, you know, 25 hours a day. You're trying to. All of that craziness when you believe, you think clearly, you are focused. You know exactly what you need to do. It's a very different approach to your business. And that's why I don't get burnt out.

We've all experienced those times where you just feel so dialed in and so focused. It's like you get 10 times the amount of work done than you would normally get. And then on the other side of things, there's those days when you feel crappy, when you feel down on yourself, you feel doubtful. And no matter what you do, you can just not get yourself to do effective work. What Brooke is saying in this clip is that when she's feeling the crappy grind hustle, trying to outwork her doubt, she goes and works on the belief first. And that's the switch that is the flip to going from crappy and doubtful to back and being empowered again. Because what we do is evidence of the thoughts that we believe. It's what we truly believe about ourselves that impacts the work that we do. So what Brooke is saying here is that when she feels doubtful, when she's having those crappy days, rather than trying to grind through it, she goes and maps out what it is that she's thinking and what she's believing, and she changes that. And the byproduct is that her behaviors and actions change too.

Like when I was coming up building my business from a million to 10, I was in a mastermind group with Frank Kern and a bunch of guys that were hustling, and they were just tore up all the time, exhausted workaholics. And I refused to do that because they were trying to outrun their own. I think there was insecurity. And the other thing was, is they were trying to prove something with their business, right? And so they were trying to outrun that insecurity. You gotta clean that up first. Then Go to work.

Would you explain what that process looks like?

Cleaning up.

Cleaning that up?

Yeah, it's exactly what you said. Like if you're at work and you notice that you feel doubt, you feel uncertain, you feel frustrated, Frustrated because you don't think this is going to work or you don't think you're good enough or whatever's going on for you. Stop working on that, whatever that is, and sit down and figure out what are you thinking right now? What is going through your head? What bullshit thoughts are going through your head that you're tapping into that's making you feel that way and change them. That is the most important work you'll do, I think in your business.

And when you say change them, it is about choosing a different thought and finding evidence for that and practicing that.

Yeah, I mean, and just thinking that thought and believing it and saying it all the time.

Well, I want you to expound on that because a lot of times we will choose a different thought and you don't believe it. And so you just keep pounding the same thought that you actually don't believe. And that feels even worse.

But you know, you don't believe it. Cause you still feel crappy. You have to change it. And you can't make it too big. So if you don't believe it, you'll still feel crappy. You have to inch your way up right enough so you can believe in a thought to feel good enough to.

Use that as fuel to do your work and your business.

Did you always believe positively about the a hundred million?

No, I still don't. I still have to do work on that so I can get to the place where I can then go to work. Of course, like if I already believed, I can make. If I truly was already there, I'd be there.

If you truly like believed it a hundred percent. You've said that to me several times and I don't fully understand.

It's like when your belief is full, like this is woo woo. Like when you're fully like believing something, I think it aligns with your creation and then you have it. But that's why when you actually make a hundred million dollars, it doesn't feel like you won the lottery. It feels like Tuesday. Right. Because you've been believing it all. I've been believing it all along. So then when it happens, it just is like, you know. Yeah. Like there are many days where I already feel what that is. That hundred million.

You feel the 100 million. And. And when you tap into that, do you feel like you naturally move faster towards that.

Yes.

And you feel like there's.

And easier.

There's some moments that you really feel it and some moments that you don't.

Yeah.

And what's the difference in feeling?

When I'm not feeling it, then I feel doubt and uncertainty. And my thoughts in my head are like, why even bother? You're already rich. You don't need to do this. Like, all that kind of like, my brain, you know, it. Like, it presents it to me. It's like, you don't need to do this. This is fine. Why don't you just retire? Just enjoy yourself.

Right.

It's all that kind of. It's like disguised kind of. Because if it were to. I've done so much work on my brain that if it was like, you're not good enough to do that, I would dismiss it. But it, like, sneaks in like that.

I see.

Yeah.

What does it feel like when you do believe it?

It feels awesome. It feels like a sense of amazing accomplishment. Like, my vision is to be an example of what is possible. Like, to all life coaches, to anyone, to women, to online business owners, to anyone who's been told, like, that's cute. Like, you know, you're not as good as, you know, everybody else. Like, that feels amazing to me.

So what I'm processing, the reason I asked that question is because I'm thinking about what Mickey shared this morning, like, operating from that zone, and I'm reflecting upon what that feels like, and I'm wondering if that feeling is the same.

Feeling that you have when you feel completely in alignment with the goals that you have.

And I don't know if they're exactly the same, but I'm processing them as feeling very similar and is simply unencumberedly focused on what it is your true desire is and allowing that to come out and play.

You can be motivated by a sense of lack and be running away from something, or you can be motivated by abundance and running towards something. I had a conversation with Gary Vaynerchuk last May. It was last time that I had dinner with him. And I said that I observed about him that he is not operating ever from a place of scarcity or lack. And he said, no, I'm always operating from a place of abundance. That's why I'm able to create at such a massive level. It's why I have so much energy for what it is that I'm doing.

And.

And I never burn out. Because he's operating from a full tank now, most of us as entrepreneurs got into this game because we didn't have enough money and we wanted to make more. And so we are naturally driven by scarcity to get into this game. But at some point, we have to flip that and start be running towards something rather than running away from something. And what Brooke is saying here is that when you're operating from scarcity, you might get some results, but you will burn out and you will not be able to accomplish the big goals that you've set for yourself. Most people set big goals out of trying to prove themselves worthy enough. But it is believing that you are already capable or already worthy of achieving that that gives you the peace of mind to be able to do the work on yourself and the work on your business that will lead to that big result. This next clip is about how Brooke actually gets her work done. And ironically, it's very similar to how Trevor Blake schedules his productive time. If you haven't seen the video with Trevor Blake, you can click on it here in order to watch that. He never works more than four or.

Five hours a day.

Brooke does something similar where she never works more than three days per week, and yet she has a $50 million per year company. So how does she do that? That's what we'll talk about here.

You refuse to work more than three days a week.

I like working three days a week. Yeah. And here's the greatest thing about it is people say, oh, you work three days a week, you don't work very hard.

But that's not true.

Like the three days a week that I do work, I work my ass off. But I can do that because I know I get the next day off.

So what you do like Monday, Wednesday.

Friday.

I do Monday, I take Tuesday off. They work Wednesday, Thursday, I take Friday off.

Yeah. That's really cool. I have found for me, that burnout happens when I overextend myself, obviously. But I always think that if I overextend myself, it'll be more valuable for people. Just like you said, if I go to the group coaching, it'll be less value. You turn out. It was actually more valuable.

Right.

So I have kind of the same block in times where I want to overcomplicate and give more. And what I found is that we confuse people rather than give them a clear path. And what I discovered for me was that was like some old childhood shit from, like, trying to take care of the family, like trying to take care of the people and provide everything and overextending myself.

Yeah. And.

And for me, it was the same thing with, like, my customers. Well, we'll do all this thing to make sure, and then they're just confused as hell. Right.

It totally backfires.

And I had to work on that in order to even create the boundary. Like, no, I can't overextend myself here. And then people just start showing up because they respond to that.

Yeah.

I mean, my view on burnout is.

That it doesn't have to do with how much you're working, which I know sounds weird. I think burnout is. Is caused by whatever emotion is fueling what you're doing. So you can view. Can be coming from a super abundant, excited mindset and work all day every day and be energized by that. But if you're. It sounds like what you were doing was working from a place of insecurity and worry that is going to burn.

You out every single time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I was going to say this earlier, too. I think the coolest thing about building a business from a million to, you know, 10 million, that space in between there, is that you can't work harder. There's no. There's not enough hard work in to make that happen. So that's when you really start becoming. I think that's when I started becoming a real businesswoman, like, understanding how business really works so I could work less. So me working less is as much about discipline as it is about freedom. Because I really want to be able to make sure that I'm doing my best thinking and thinking at the highest level. Because when you give yourself all week to do your work, like, think about this. If someone said to you.

You know, I did my workout today, it was eight hours. You'd be like, dude, you know you can do that in an hour, right? And it's like, oh, no, I took eight hours.

I'm really hustling and I'm really working hard. That's what we do at work, right? We're like, oh, I took eight hours.

But you could probably do most of that, like, within two if you stay really focused and do that. And then you have so much more freedom. So that's what I found for my life, too. And that is another thing that helps prevent the burnout. Because if you. If you work, burn it. I think you call it the grind, right?

Yeah.

If you grind it and grind it and grind it to a million, how are you going to get to 2 million?

Right?

There's just no grind.

It's a different set of systems that will take you from 1 to 10. And most people think that the same thing that got them to one.

Right.

You just pour gasoline on that fire and then you take it to 10. And that's. That's how you. That's how you die young.

Well, and the other thing is.

And maybe. I don't know if you've experienced this.

But I think a lot of people think once they get to a million, then everything's good and changes.

So it's wonderful.

Right. They think, oh, I've made a million dollars.

Now I've arrived. Now everything gets easy. And now I'm rich.

And now, you know, it'll just keep pouring in. Which, of course, the opposite is what happens.

What do you mean, the opposite?

Because I feel like when you get to a million, everything, if you aren't smart, everything gets more complex and more complicated because you have to start hiring people and developing new skill sets and developing systems on top of what you're already doing. Right. It's not like you're just playing with your money all day if you want to keep growing. Right.

All right, so. So what. What I'm piecing the other is you had to pivot from group. From group coaching, which took you to a million.

Yeah.

Great. Now you've got proven concepts.

Yes.

And then you started hitting another burnout.

Yes.

Point.

Yeah.

So is that when you had to learn new skills and do something different, and that when the extreme discipline became absolutely necessary.

Yes, totally.

Tell me about that.

And that's. You have to step back. I love the way Dan Sullivan talks about it. He's like, you have to put your pen down and think about it. Like, to go from a million to a million one, you just do a little bit more. Right. To go from a million to 10 million, you have to sit back and be like, okay, how do you. How do you do that? How do you do. There's no way that I can work more. How big can a group be? Like, that's when I started thinking about systems and teams and building everything. But you can still burn yourself out doing a team and system. So you have to step back. The other thing that I decided is that I wasn't in a hurry because I realized, wait a minute. It's not better here at a million than it was at six figures. It's just different.

It's fun to make a million dollars.

But it's not like your life is better.

More results does not always require more effort. It requires more value creation. It requires a higher level of thinking. It requires a different skill set, but it doesn't mean Working more. Most people think that in order to make more, they have to effort more. But Brooke has proven that this is not the case. She's had to grow. She's had to think different thoughts, she's had to have different beliefs and different skill sets. But she's working less now than when she was making 300k. Once you get to a certain point, there's no amount of effort that can make you double. It requires a different skill set. And what Brooke is saying is that that takes more mindset management and emotional management than it does about effort.

Most people, if you ask them, can you make a million dollars? They'll say no. And you'll say, why?

And they'll say, because I've never done.

It before and I don't know how.

Right.

Those are the reasons I've never done.

It before and I don't know how. And I don't know how because I've.

Never done it before.

Right.

That's what most.

Right.

Most of our students will probably say. So what makes you think you can own the Cleveland Indians? Do you know how to own them?

No.

Right.

So what makes you believe in something you don't know how to do?

I just choose to.

Right. That is huge. You're making a decision to believe in something in the future that you don't know how to do now.

What's great about not knowing how to.

Do it is you're going to try and do it this way. And that's not going to work. So it doesn't matter. You're just going to, you're still going to believe in it. You're going to try a different way. You're going to try a different way now. If you knew how, you thought you knew how to own them and you tried that one way and it didn't work, then you'd give up.

That's beautiful.

You see the difference.

So it's like you're good at this life.

You.

You believe in it no matter what.

And you may have to try 700 ways, but it's just another way that didn't work. It's okay. You're still going to own them.

I've always said that I could give the playbook to building a million dollar business to two people. And one will go on and build a multimillion dollar empire that they sell for millions of dollars and another will.

Call me a scam artist.

What's the difference between those two people? It's your mindset. It's the person that you give that to. There's infinite amount of information in the world and there's infinite number of thoughts that you can think. Most of us are unconsciously choosing the negative ones that bring us doubt and fear rather than ones that bring us closer to the life that we want. I hope you decide to subscribe to the channel and allow me to be part of your journey of building businesses and investing the profits. I'll see you next time.

If you found value in this podcast and you're ready to go Deeper, here are three resources where we can help you. One, you can grab grab my book 12 months to 1 million on audible or Amazon. It has over a thousand reviews and it's the playbook to building a seven figure business. Second, you can join our community of entrepreneurs who are following a plan to build a 1% net worth by building businesses and investing the profits. You can get plugged in@capitalism.com 1. And third, if you're looking to go deeper and build a seven figure business that you can sell, you can work closely with us inside the Capitalism incubator and you can get on the waiting list and find out what we do over at capitalism.com Inc. That's capitalism.com Inc.