Episode 577: The Invisible Brake Holding Back Your Success with Dr. Noah St. John

Welcome to the Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast, your source for actionable, real-life, practical investing advice. Each week we help you make a quantum leap somewhere in your business, your finances, and/or your life. Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and learn more at smartrealestatecoachpodcast.com. Hey, welcome back to the Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast. If you're new, we focus on 3 paydays typically, guys: cash now, monthly cash flow, and long-term wealth. Let's dive in today, but I want to make a special note here. We're going to hang out in a second with Dr. Noah St. John, and we do not do this with very few exceptions where I'm now running— if you haven't caught it, where I'm now running one solo cast a month and one special community member a month who's part of our community doing deals or doing something else great. We added a third episode for this month because Dr. St. John is So amazing. I know you're going to love it. All right, guys. So as I said, we're going to hang out with Dr. Noah St. John. He's famous for helping his clients tame the caveman in their brain. And I'm going to talk to you about what that means. I'm going to talk to him about it so you can understand it. Removing those subconscious barriers that block sales and block conversations. I'm going back to like since 1997, he's added more than $3 billion in sales for his clients. He also has a— he's a TEDx speaker. He's a number one bestselling author of 27 books published in 18 different languages. You can learn more at NoahStJohn.com. All right, Dr. Noah, welcome to the show, my friend. I'm super excited to dive in here. Me too. Great to be here. Yeah. As I said in the intro, this is unique because we're doing only special guests, frankly, and this is just such a cool treat to have you on. I want to start with just taming the caveman, right? Like, let's define it for these people first so they know what the heck we're talking about, and then we'll kind of take it a few different directions if you could.

Absolutely. So, my signature talk that I'm known for is called Tame the Caveman in Your Brain. So, the point is this is my $3 billion playbook and it's helped a lot of people make a lot of money in real estate and many other things as well. So, what are we talking about? What does that actually mean? So, We're talking about human behavior, human psychology. So, if we think about the human being, experts agree that we humans developed about 200,000 years ago on the African savanna. So, that's when Homo sapiens basically became Homo sapiens, and here we are, human beings. So, the human being is— the human brain specifically is very much like a computer. I'm sure most people have heard that, right? But, if you think about what a computer actually is, it is composed of hardware and software, So, the hardware is the actual mechanism of the machine itself. And then, of course, the software is what you put into it. So, if you think about the human brain, it was developed about 200,000 years ago, about 10,000 generations ago. Well, the hardware of the brain has really not changed very much in 200,000 years. It just hasn't. Right. So, we're basically running the same operating system as back In the caveman days. That's scary. I know, right? But, however, what are we faced with today? Well, of course, today, we're faced with all of these modern challenges, all of these modern problems that, let's face it, for most of us, the brain isn't operating so great. It just isn't. It wasn't designed to go through all these upgrades. Now, of course, one of the things that I talk about in my talks is talking about AI, artificial intelligence, and that may or may not apply. to the real estate investors listening to this program, but nevertheless, AI is everywhere. So, the point is that when I'm talking to real estate investors, when I'm talking to investors, entrepreneurs, business owners, founders, CEOs, one of the things that I'm helping people with is to, number one, understand that we're running that old hardware. We have that hardware, the human brain, as I call it, the caveman in the brain, but we have to adapt to all these modern challenges that we have today. So, that's the basic idea behind Tame the Caveman in Your Brain.

So, all right. So, let's just— I'm trying to go logically in my brain here, just curiosity questions. So, let's talk about how and where it gets in the way, right? Like, how is this stopping them or hindering them or slowing them down? Does that make sense?

Absolutely. Absolutely. Of course, that's a big part of this. Okay. So, let's go back to the African savanna. All right. So, one of the things that we had to deal with back then is the same thing we have to deal with today, which is called fear. Right? Fear is a very, very powerful emotion. Now, back in the caveman days, if you had felt that feeling of fear, it probably came from something that was going to kill you, right? You know, a saber-toothed tiger is going to eat you. A woolly mammoth is going to stomp you. You know, it's pretty bad. It's pretty serious. Well, we still have those same fears, but there's not a lot of woolly mammoths or saber-toothed tigers running around. But nevertheless, we still feel that fear. So how does that show up? Well, for a real estate, a typical real estate investor, They think about taking an action. They've taken lots of training. They've gone to lots of seminars, read all the books, watching all the videos on YouTube, but they're still stuck. They're still hesitant. They're still afraid. And so, what do they do? They keep watching YouTube videos. They keep studying. And we'd like to call that paralysis by analysis, right? And so, the point is that there gets to a point where you have enough information and you have to take action. But nevertheless, you're always going to feel that fear. For most people, they let the fear stop them. And that is precisely why they're not making the progress that they want. They're not launching their business. They're not scaling. They're not growing. So, that's one of the things that I help people with. One of the reasons I've helped my clients make billions of dollars over the last 30 years is because, number one, we help them to identify the fears, what's really going on. And then, of course, we help them to take action by installing the systems That actually do the work for you.

This is really cool because you don't say any of my filming unless you dug into it hours and hours before this, but I scream about this all the time because there's just a boatload of people, more info, more info, more info. They don't need more info. They don't need more info. So, this is great. That's right. I've also seen and heard you talk about different types. Now, we're going deeper of caveman, right? I think it was 3 or 4. 4. Can you talk about that?

Absolutely, yes. There are 4 distinct types that I've identified, 4 types of caveman. I'm going I'm going to go pretty quickly here. So, the first type is called the Chief. All right? So, the Chief is exactly what it sounds like, the take charge, let's dominate, let's move. So, the typical avatar for the Chief type would be like a Steve Jobs, right? Steve Jobs, of course, a visionary known for taking huge action, not so known for his patience or empathy or delegation, right? Not so nice. We've heard tons of stories about that. So, listen, and by the way, when I go through these 4 types, you'll notice that everybody has pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses, right? Yeah. In fact, you can go to my website when you go to the link that you're going to provide people with, and you can actually take the free Caveman Quiz right on my website. All right? So, it's right there. Take the Caveman Quiz, see which of these 4 types you are. But anyway, so the first type is called the Chief, which is that take-charge kind of person. The second type is called the Spark. All right? The Spark is that great energy, like sparking. It's probably the first person to discover fire. Hey, look at this, guys. Look at all that. Woo! It's exciting. The kind of person that can sell to an Eskimo. We all know somebody like that. Great personality, life of the party. That's their strengths. But the weaknesses is they start a million projects and they finish none of them, right? That follow-through is not so hot for the spark type. The third type is called the keeper. Now, the keeper is like the keeper of the flame, the keeper of the hearth, right? Making sure that everybody is safe, right? So, their strength is connection, right? So, that's a really, really strong personality type in terms of connection and making sure that everybody is heard. The problem or a possible weakness for the keeper type is maybe they don't speak up for themselves. They're letting other people talk for them. And they're just as smart as everybody else, but they tend to be a wallflower, tend to stay in the background. And so, one of the things we help the keepers with is to speak up, say your opinion. Your opinion is just as valuable as anybody else. And then, the 4th type is called the watcher. So, the watcher type is the one that studies. I was talking about this a moment ago, paralysis by analysis. So, oh, we need another spreadsheet. Oh, I don't know enough. I got to read another book. I got to go to another course. You've probably gone to enough courses. You probably have enough right now. So, that's the paralysis by analysis. So, the keeper, the watcher type, the avatar for that would be like a Warren Buffett. Warren Buffett, of course, is famous for data-driven decisions. Get the data. not driven by emotions, like the spark would be, hey, let's go do this. But the opposite of that, which would be, all right, let's make the data-driven decisions. But of course, Warren Buffett has overcome that weakness. And we all know Warren Buffett, right? So, the point is that everybody has their strengths and weaknesses. So, if you think about this, imagine you're back in the savanna and you see a mastodon over there and you haven't eaten for a while, right? The tribe hasn't eaten. And that represents food for a month. So, what's the chief do? The chief just charges right in, takes the spear, and like, I'm going to go get him. I'll do it myself. I'm not going to wait for anybody. Boom. Okay. That's the chief type. The spark is, hey, let's all go do it together. Right? And the keeper says, hey, we got to make sure that the women and children are safe. We got to make sure everything's okay. And meanwhile, the watcher is studying the migration periods, the migration patterns for 3 months. And that's the first spreadsheets were actually the drawings on the cave walls. Those drawings, those were the watchers, right? Drawing. Those were the first spreadsheets. My point is that everybody's different. Everybody has their strengths and weaknesses. Go to the website, see which type you are, and then you've got to understand your strengths, your weaknesses, and also your blind spots, which can be a real problem for people. So, we help people, of course, overcome their blind spots.

I want to make sure I give them that link because I'm in my head going, okay, now that everyone's going to want to dive into, great, how do I work with us? So, guys, go to, for the smart listeners here, go to smartrealestatecoach.com/caveman. Super simple. smartrealestatecoach.com/caveman. And dive into that quiz and then dive into obviously immersing yourself into Dr. Noah's info. You know, it doesn't matter if you're brand new to real estate or if you've been doing this for several years or a whole bunch of years. I learned the hard way back during the crash that doing creative deals is much better. It's a much better path in real estate in general than let's call it the old way, getting paid once, using banks, signing personally. 3 paydays, getting paid 3 times on a deal, guys. It's better 3 ways, not one. Money now, money over time, and money long term. And I don't care if you're in an up, down, sideways market, it doesn't matter. You can and should operate with the utmost confidence. There's literally nothing I love more than helping people create systems and simple systems and processes to become massively successful with our 3 Payday System. In doing so, in literally any market and doing it geographically, literally anywhere. So if you've been learning and learning and listening and studying and not taking action, I'm telling you, after going through it myself, It's costing you tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, by not taking action on the 3 paydays the way you should be getting paid. Many of the people that were brand new, just like you, that joined our community have fast-tracked their startup. Now, I mean, wouldn't that be ideal if you said, okay, should I go fast or slow? Should I take action now or later? It's costing you too much money to wait. Each one of you are at a point in your life, I'm sure, where you want things to be easier, you want things to be better for you and your family. You probably realize that you not only want more, but you deserve more in this life. So, to be able to give your family everything they want, build a legacy for you personally too, and to have time freedom to start enjoying life, frankly, whatever else you're seeking. And for some of you, now's the time, for example, to just focus on security. Maybe it's building a big solid bank account for retirement. We take these things super, super seriously. And it's my life's biggest reward to help you achieve them. I want to give you a free discovery session with our team. It's free. It's 15 or 20 minutes. You have zero to lose and everything to gain. And to understand how you might fit into the 3 Payday System that we've done now in over 80 markets as of this filming, go to smartrealestatecoachpodcast.com/discovery for a free call with our team. smartrealestatecoachpodcast.com/discovery. Because it's not whether or not you can do it or whether or not you fit. You can do it. It's whether or not you'll take action and do what it takes. And we can guide you through that process. smartrealestatecoachpodcast.com/discovery. We'll see you soon. You see me looking down, Dr. Now? I got all kinds of things here I jotted down. One of them was a quote, release the invisible brake. Is that tied to the 4 types or is that— No, it's not. Is that different?

Oh, well, everything I do is a synthesis, right? So, you could probably guess that I'm a watcher type, right? I'm one of those synthesizers. I mean, I've got too many spreadsheets, really. My team teases me all the time, not another spreadsheet. I'm like, I know. I don't want anymore, believe me, but we got to have this one. Anyway, but my point is that being a watcher, I've done this for many, many years and everything is synthesized together. So, for talking about the invisible break, all right? So, for everyone listening to the program, I want you to think about your goals. What are your goals? Now, you've heard this a million times. You got to set your goals. We've all heard that a million times. The problem is what we haven't heard enough about is what happens after you set the goal, right? So, let's say you have a goal of, you know, I want to leave my job and I want to become a real estate investor. Let's say you're already a real estate investor and you want to scale up your business. You know, you want to go from, you know, $100K to $1 million or $1 million to $5 million, $5 million to $10 million, whatever number you're at. It doesn't really matter the number, but, you know, knowing that you have that goal is what's important. But see, that's where everyone stops. They say, oh, set a goal. Okay, well, but that's not good enough. Because what happens after you set the goal is actually way more important than the goal itself. And here's what I mean. Most people, they set a goal, right? But then they immediately tell themselves all the reasons they can't do it. Mm-hmm. Well, you know, Noah, I'm too busy. I don't really have the time. I can't afford it. I don't really have the money right now to invest. And meanwhile, I can come in and show you, number one, how to save 1 to 3 hours per day. So, we get rid of that time excuse. Number 2, I can show you all the ways that you're really wasting money on things that you don't really need. And so, we can actually— I show you how to get more of what you want from what you already have, right? Get more of what you want by leveraging what you already have. So, those are the types of systems we install. So, what does that mean, the invisible brake? Well, what I mean by that is your goal is a destination. That's exactly what it is. It's like going down the road. to a grocery store to pick up some milk and eggs, right? That's your goal. That's your destination. But what happens is most people, as I've studied this for many, many years now and help people make a lot of money, is that most people are unknowingly, unconsciously driving down the road of life with one foot on the brake.

Mm-hmm.

Right? So that goes back to the fears that I was talking about, these unconscious fears that they, people really don't know they have. That's one reason to take the Caveman Quiz so you can actually find these types of things out, right? But the point is that the invisible brake, what it's doing is it's actually causing you to drive down the road of life with one foot on the brake. That means you're spending a lot of time, money, and effort trying to reach your goal. You have your foot on the gas, but what happens is you unknowingly have your other foot on the brake. And that brake is fear, procrastination. You don't believe in yourself. You haven't given yourself permission to succeed, and many, many other things like that. So, that's really a big, big part. of the reason that I've helped my clients make so much money. I'll give you a quick example.

Yeah.

I was speaking at a seminar for 1,000 entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. And I just finished speaking. I was walking off the stage. A man came up to me and he said, Noah, I want to hire you as my coach. You are the coach I've been looking for. Now, I didn't know this man from Adam. Ironically, his name was Adam. True story. You can see his video and many, many others on my website. But anyway, he said, Noah, I own this company and we got to 7 figures, but we've been stuck at the same level for the past 4 years. He said, 4 years we've been stuck. And he said, as soon as I heard you speak about everything you just said about the invisible brake and habits and everything you just said, he said, I knew you were the coach I've been looking for. So, he literally hired me on the spot. That's why I love working with high achievers, right? Because they make decisions quickly and firmly. Anyway, so I coached him and his leadership team for 18 months. And do you know that in that 18 months, we were able to get his company that had been stuck for the previous 4 years? to over $20 million in revenues, a 600% increase, literally hockey stick growth. And it was literally because of what I'm saying right now. Number one, identifying where the brake was, and number two, installing the systems to release the invisible brake. So that's how the caveman and the invisible brake, you know, worked together.

That's awesome. 'Cause everything you rattled off, we do what we call deal labs here in our classroom. And it, I get all that. Like, I just, I could write a book on how many I, I will win. I can't because it just goes on and on and on. This is, this is very, very applicable.

Yes. And this is what I've been doing for, you know, 3 decades now. And, you know, you made a great point because one of the things that I talk about is that most people have had enough of what I call outer game training, right? So, you're training them how to invest in real estate, you know, like Adam, the client I was just talking about, you know, he'd got to 7 figures by doing all the outer game stuff, but no one had shown him how to actually master his inner game until I taught him how to do that and installed the inner game systems. Yeah. And, that's what caused that hockey stick growth. So, that's how it works for most people is installing the inner game systems, boom, hockey stick.

You and I got to talk more off air because I told them, look, go to my YouTube videos. You can watch 600 videos. That skill set, you don't need more of that. You need all the stuff here. So, this is perfect. This is probably appropriately placed here then too. I'm looking down at my notes. So, talk about how you help people compress, I'll call it compressing 12 weeks to make more than they did, say, the last 12 months. And some of it came out right there, but can you elaborate on that a little bit?

Yeah, absolutely. So, one of the things that I'm known for is helping people make more in just 12 weeks than they did in the previous 12 months while actually winning their lives back at the same time. Because what we hear out there from the hustle bros, as I call them, well, listen, if you want to make more money, just work 10 times harder, work 10 times longer. Don't take breaks. Don't see your family. Don't go to ballet recitals. Don't go to Soccer games. And I'm like, what planet are you on? I mean, who wants that? That is idiotic. Now, look, I'm not against hard work. I'm not saying that the hustle is wrong per se, but what I'm saying is that that is not sustainable, right? That's not a system. That's just you working your face off and then your face is off. So great. What now? What do I do? You see what I mean? That's not installing systems. We want the systems to work hard for you so you don't have to work so hard. That's the precise point. So, the point is one of the things that we do to get people there is one of the things, what I was just talking about, we call it inner game and outer game systems. If you think about 2 circles that come together like a Venn diagram, because I'm the nerdiest nerd in the industry, I love Venn diagrams. All my books have tons of Venn diagrams in them. But anyway, this Venn diagram is the simplest one you can imagine, inner game and outer game. All right? So, inner game is everything that happens between your ears that you can't see directly, but it affects everything that you do. You can't see a belief. You can only see the effects of a belief, right? And that's affecting every part of your life, your health, your wealth, your finances, your business, your career, your relationships, everything. But you can't see a belief, right? And that's why you can be doing well in one area, but maybe you're stuck or struggling in another, right? Maybe your health is really good, but you're not making the money you want, or vice versa. Maybe you're making good money, but your health is suffering and your relationships are suffering. You see what I mean? So, it's a very bespoke, customized approach for every person, for every individual. It's not cookie cutter, one size fits all. It's very bespoke, customized for everybody because everybody's different, right? So anyway, that's the inner game. And then you have the outer game, right? So that's what I was just talking about, right? Most people have had lots of outer game training, which is great, and you need to do it, right? You have to have the outer game. But because most people just haven't been taught how to master their inner game, they're plateaued. They're hitting that, as I call it, the revenue ceiling. Okay? So, That's another great reason to take the Caveman Quiz. But also, we have something called the Revenue Engine, and we have a link for that too.

Nice.

And that's where you can actually look at your business and walk through it. There's 18 questions and actually see where the leaks are. And then we can start to plug the leaks. So, that's really what happens. We take the inner game and the outer game approach, and that's how we help our clients not only make a lot more money. Which you've had a lot of examples, I mean, thousands of examples of that, but also to win their lives back. And to me, that's even more important than the money.

Well, okay. So this leads me to sort of my wrap-up, but then I want to ask you just generally, because I'm sure there's more you want to share. I just, so that the smart listeners know, I probably took hours and hours and hours of Dr. Noah's material and said, okay, we got 25 minutes. Let's do this. So I want you guys to make sure you visit his site, immerse yourself because it's super important. And hopefully you'll see more of Dr. Noah in the community. Because we went lifestyle-wise here, can you talk a little bit about the Freedom Lifestyle Formula as much as you can, 10,000-foot level?

Yeah, absolutely. So, going back to my earlier point, what is the point of making all this money if you don't have a life? I mean, I don't get that. I'm sure there's people that that's all they care about is money, but I'm like, well, then go to that guy because I don't get that. Of course, we all want money, no kidding, and we want a lot of money. I don't know about you, but I would like a life too. I mean, duh, sounds kind of obvious, but a lot of people don't see it that way. Anyway, so one of the things that I teach my clients is what I call my Freedom Lifestyle Formula, which has 4 elements, the 4 elements of a freedom lifestyle. And remember, this comes from helping people make billions of dollars and win their lives back, is time, energy, relationships, and money. All right? So, if you think, here's another Venn diagram and it's right in my books, you can see it in my trainings. Yeah. So, there's 4 circles and they meet in the middle. So, you have time, energy, relationships, and money. And where they meet in the middle, that's what I call the freedom lifestyle. So, think about where, for everyone listening, you can actually literally give yourself a checkup right now. How am I doing in the area of time? Do I feel like I have too much to do in too little time? Like scale of 1 to 10, right? 1 means I have too much to do, too little time. 10 means, yeah, I got all the time in the world. Scale of 1 to 10. That's time. Then energy. How are you doing on energy? Scale of 1 to 10. Energy means how you go through your day. And of course, you can go through your day positive or negative, right? Positive, joyful, happy, grateful, relaxed, and just gratitude, right? That would be like a 10, right? And then, of course, a 1 is you're angry, frustrated, depressed, whatever. That would be your energy. Then relationships. How are you doing on a scale of 1 to 10 on relationships? And remember, we have personal relationships and professional relationships. So, it's talking about both, right? Yeah. So, remember, you can be doing well in one and maybe not so great in the other. Maybe your personal life is great, but your business is suffering or vice versa, et cetera. So, scale of 1 to 10 on relationships. And finally, money, right? Money is in there, right? Money is freaking important. I grew up poor in a rich neighborhood, so I know what it's like to live in poverty. And poverty sucks. There is nothing good about it, right? And I lived it. So, believe me, I know. And it's just when I say it sucks, and I mean it literally, it sucks the life out of you. The joy out of living. There's nothing good about poverty. So, I am a huge believer that money gives you options. The person who has money has options. When you don't have money, you don't have options. And that is not a good way to go through life. So, scale of 1 to 10, time, energy, relationships, and money, give yourself a rating from— so, you can score 4 on the lowest end and 40 on the highest end. So, for everyone listening, if you scored 25 or below, we need to get you some help. This is like going to the doctor, right? What's the first thing the doctor does? They take your temperature, right? Well, this is taking your freedom temperature. I just gave you the tool to actually take your freedom temperature in 30 seconds. So, take your temperature. If you're 25 or below, let's get you some help. Go to the website, take the quiz, let's get you some help. And, we've got all the help you could possibly need.

It's awesome. It's simply awesome. I'm always blunt, but you guys, there's nobody listening to this, I don't care what stage of life you're at, where you wouldn't want to go take advantage of some of this stuff. I did give your site at the beginning, noahstjohn.com. Are there any other special links or they should get everything in there anyway? And plus the link.

Yeah, it's all there at noahstjohn.com. By the way, if you want to book me to speak, we also have a link for that. I think it's smartrealestatecoach.com/booknoah or booknoah.com. But if you want to bring me in to speak to your team, your organization, your group, I do keynote speeches both live And virtually, literally around the world. So, you can have me speak there. But we have training, we have courses. Look, my job is to help people to live that freedom lifestyle I just talked about. That's my job here on planet Earth. And I'm very fortunate that I get to do it every day and meet great people like you, Chris. So, this is really beautiful.

We're going to talk a little bit off air because I want to make sure you're around the community more. Anything last minute that I'm— well, this is open-ended. Is there any one or two things you want to share with them before we jump? Because I know there's a whole bunch you could, but that'll be when they dive into your stuff. Yeah.

Well, listen, I look forward to more, right, to our next visit and to being in the community and adding as much value as I possibly can. But it really is a pleasure and, you know, a privilege to do what I do. So happy to help.

I love it. Thanks for being on. I really, really appreciate it. And thanks for condensing for us and doing your best there. And look forward to chapter 2, Dr. Noah.

Thanks.

All right, guys, if this helped you in any way, and I know there were nuggets galore here, make sure you're subscribed. You don't want to miss an episode. And if you're serious about doing deals right now, Head over to smartrealestatecoach.com. We'll help you out. Hey guys, are you simply sick of juggling a dozen different software tools for your real estate business? I know I was, and I know I'm not a tech person, so it was frustrating. A subscription for this, you get a subscription for that, and they don't even work together out of the box. That's very frustrating, especially in the real estate world where your best time spent is going to be out in the field or on the phone with sellers. And now you're stuck hiring a tech guru just to make all that sync up. So let's ditch the chaos and let REI BlackBook handle everything. Automate your lead follow-up, track every deal, analyze things quickly for you, make offers all in one platform. In fact, with the Wicked Smart platform, we now have access, if you're in the Wicked Smart community, to all the other associates' properties. Can you imagine that? So you're brand new in the business perhaps, and your seller looks on your website and sees 20, 30, 40 properties, instant credibility. So you're going to get everything on REI Black Book from our custom workflows for lead generation all the way to closing. It has it covered. Try it today for just a buck. $1, guys. Visit smartrealestatecoach.com/reibb-dd. smartrealestatecoach.com/reibb-dd. All right. Thanks for tuning in to the Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast. If you got value from today's episode, guys, be sure to subscribe so you never miss a future episode. It literally takes one nugget to access some of the things we're doing. And when you're talking the amount of the size rather of the paydays, it's an opportunity cost that you can't let go. So don't miss an episode. And for goodness sake, share it with someone who needs to hear it. If you're ready to find your best path for getting started on your real estate investing journey in general, head over to smartrealestatecoach.com. We're going to help you take the guesswork out of your next steps. See you in the next episode.