The FIRST Thing You Should Master

If your confidence gets dinged a little bit and you question yourself just a little bit, then you hesitate just a little bit. And there's people out there that go by you 100 miles an hour and you'll turn around, you'll be 80 years old and go, what the hell did I do? Why did I hesitate? Why did I wait? Welcome to the Dean Graziosi show. All success starts right here.

The people watching right now, they're learning, they're watching videos like this, they're reading the self development books. And they might be thinking, okay, what's all this for? Where is this all going? Like, how do I know this is gonna pay off one day? And so they're like, I have this self development I'm going to seminars for. What was that?

Great, great question. So here's the thing. If you trust wisdom, right? I think information turns to knowledge, knowledge turns to wisdom over time. And the only thing I can say is I'm 51, I've been self employed since I was 17. So I got, what, 33 years of being an entrepreneur. So if you wanna just take a little bit of wisdom, I'll tell you that in my 20s, I would say I was 100%. Give me the tactics, give me the strategy. Is it shopify? Is it real estate? Is it be in the knowledge business? Do I run masterminds? Do I sell widgets? Just give me the fucking thing, I'm ready to go. I always thought it was the tactics. Like for me it was like, is it cars, is it real estate? Then in my 30s, it started to adjust. By my 40s, I realized the tactic, the strategy, the tool was maybe 25%. Now going into my 50s, it's 5%. To me, it's all mindset. What allows me to be successful. Clark is not the. I'm a multiple New York Times best selling author. I was successful with a collision shop, successful in my firewood business, successful auto sales, massively successful in real estate. I bought and sold thousands of houses, speaking live events, right? I launched the course Knowledge Business Blueprint with Tony Robbins, the biggest launch in Internet history. I can't say that that was all tactics or I got lucky. It's because I got this rock solid, unbreakable mindset that took me a long time to get. And I wish I focused on it earlier.

So that's the thing I wanted to ask you about. I know we're jumping ahead and we'll get back to your story, but this is really important. I was asking, I was talking to our friend Brian. And I'm like, I'm so fascinated by how Dean's had success in so many different industries. What's the first thing he really mastered? Because I know once you master that first thing, it carries over.

Yeah.

And that's what people watching, they're like, okay, I'm learning, I'm acquiring. But how do I use this? What's that first thing? Would you say it's the mindset as high income skill?

Yeah. I mean, it's the reason I wrote Millionaire Success Habits. It's like I want to ethically bribe people to go set a foundation for success. Because people aren't gonna believe in you. The rug's gonna get pulled out from underneath you. You're gonna have self doubt and be like, shit, I should just settle and get that job and do what everybody says. You're gonna think about satisfying your parents, a boyfriend, a girlfriend and friends and go take in that status quo job. All the things you think could go wrong are gonna go wrong and probably twice as much. So even if, and this is a silly analogy I've been using forever, even if Clark and I were here today and said, oh my God, I figured out this thing for you guys, I'm going to show you how to sell $20 bills for 10 bucks. Think about that. Your old job is you get a stack of $20 bills and you go around selling for 10. Most people would still screw that up. They'd be like, I don't know if that's for real. I don't know if it can work where I live. Hey, where I live, people don't like $20 bills. They're more into $100 bills. Like our mindset triggers us and throws us off in different directions. Doubts ourselves and, and we play. This is what I say. If your confidence gets dinged a little bit while you're in this shopify, real estate, starting a mastermind, writing a book, fitness world. If your confidence gets dinged a little bit and you question yourself just a little bit, then you hesitate just a little bit. And there's people out there that are going to go by you 100 miles an hour and you'll turn around, you'll be 80 years old and go, what the hell did I do? Why did I hesitate? Why did I wait? So the reason I speak from mountaintops, the reason I wrote Millionaire Success Habits and my new book, I Underdog advantage, because I want people to have that fearless foundation. No matter what you want in life, it's attainable, it's achievable. But I believe mindset and foundation and personal growth is 90% of it. You get that dialed in, man. Plug in anything. Like I said, I've been blessed to do real estate and cars and sell firewood and books and live events and courses.

What was the first million dollars you made for people curious about that?

Real estate.

Real estate.

Real estate. So back to my story. I know I can go all over the place and you can tell I'm passionate about this. So sorry, just. If you got ADD like me, just listen to this two or three times and you can extract the wisdom. And the other thing I'll say is, take what serves you from this conversation and throw the rest away. You don't have to learn a million things, but if there's one or two that hit your heart, take it and go implement it. Act on it fast. But back to the story real quick. I'm doing cars and real estate. I start buying subdivided land. And just like I would bet to say you guys here, my family and friends told me I was nuts even when I got into real estate. Nevertheless, in the information business, oh, my God. When I was gonna shoot an infomercial, my sister had a sit down with me, like an intervention, telling me, like, you're crazy, you're gonna lose everything. You're going past your knowledge and your skillset and, you know, it was like I was on drugs, but I was trying to be an entrepreneur, right? But when I start in real estate, everybody thought I was crazy. And I bought this plot of land, didn't even have the money. I borrowed from one person, put some on credit cards, and it was in my 20s that I subdivided that, sold off pieces of it, and then built houses. And I made a million bucks at 20. Probably 26, 25 or 26. I made a million bucks on that piece of property. But around the same time, I pause.

You, what did that feel like? People listening, that's their dream. It's like if I can hit a million dollars, what is that feeling? Then I'll be happy. Then I'll have everything.

Okay, so I'll tell you what happened. I hit a million bucks. My chakras aligned, the sky parted. I heard the heavens speak. No, none of that shit happened. I went to work the next day. Nothing changes. Listen, I've hit. I dreamed someday I could make 1,000 bucks a week. And when I passed. 1,000 bucks a week. I don't remember that day. I dreamed someday I could do 100 grand a year. I passed that. I didn't know what happened. I Dreamed my company could do a million dollars in a year. I blew past that, never even thought about it. I dreamed 10 million, 50 million. My brand and my company had years doing over 100 million a year. Never stopped, never paused, Got back up to me. And I don't know any successful person where they're like, oh my God, you should celebrate the wins. There's different ways to celebrate the wins. But when you're an accomplishment based entrepreneur, when you're an impact based entrepreneur, when you always want to grow and become a better version of yourself, all the things you think are your thresholds really aren't. Do you know the things I remember? I remember when I got to a point where I could do what I want, when I want to do it, how I want to do it. I raised my kids to. Today at 3 o' clock wouldn't matter if you were here offering me a billion dollar campaign. At 2:40 I will leave this building. Brian's sitting here, I'll leave this building. Nothing in the world could stop me. Because at 2:55 I'll be outside my kid's classroom when they come out of class, they come see their dad and I'm there. And I'll be there until they tell me I can't be anymore. Tonight, when my son plays his baseball game at 6:45, I'll be there at 6:00 clock practice warming him up for pitching because he's pitching in the championship game and every time he throws a strike and looks over he's going to see his dad smiling at him. That I remember that shit. I don't remember my first million. I don't remember when a buddy of mine bought me a $75,000 watch. I don't even wear it, but I remember those things. And when you evolve and listen, there's nothing wrong with wanting the fancy cars and the watches and it's all awesome. But I promise you it's a phase. Even I see you sitting here, you look amazing dressed to a t. Dude, you're 10 years away from T shirts. I'll tell you right now, I hope so. I'm telling you right now, I'm early.

Enough to wear a T shirt.

You'll get to a point where you'll realize when you're success cause you're growing and you're doing amazing. You'll get to a point where, and maybe not maybe this is the way you love to dress. What I should say is you're 10 years away from realizing that it's not the money, it's the ability to do what you want when you want to do it. I want to raise my kids, dress the way. I have a hundred of these T shirts. That's all I freaking wear. It's not because I want you to wear a T shirt or you. It's what I want to do. And today, when I want to pick up my kids, I want to. And when I want to go away in the middle of summer and take a month off so I can be with my kids before they go off to college, I want to do that. And I will fight for that. I will die for that. So I know we're kind of all over on this, but through that evolution, I remember that first million, but it didn't really shift me. And the biggest shifts in my life. So just know that evolution. My teachers, family thought I was nuts. Just probably like you feel. I felt like a massive underdog. I thought that was the thing holding me back. Now at this phase of my life, I realize being an underdog was actually my gift. And we'll talk more about that later. It was my blessing. It was creating the grit, the knowledge, the wisdom to be successful in all these different things. But when your life will change, and this is just my opinion, when your life will change will not be when you have a million dollars in the bank. I don't think you'll remember that day. Some people might be obsessed on it, but I've never met a successful person that has. The day your life will change is when you realize that you've gone through the shit you've overcome. When people told you you couldn't, you found another level of yourself. You tapped into your full potential and you're still growing. And you get to make the decisions and the choices you want to make when you want to make it. Nobody tells you what to do anymore. I know a phase in my life when I stopped, I used to think I had to go to the fancy parties when I was invited. I don't anymore. The fancy fundraisers, I'll send a check, but I don't go. I don't care about being seen at the most fancy place. I just bought a pickup truck because I haven't had a pickup truck in 20 years. I bought a pickup truck because I wanted to F150, put some big tires on it. I love it. I love it. Right? I guess it's just. This is when you don't have to make decisions because of anyone else. I remember that. And I also remember that I've messed up in relationships. I'VE messed up friendships, I've messed up in business. I still had old lingering beliefs that my parents gave me that didn't serve them, but they were handed down to me and it took me years to get them out. When I got money out of the way and I was able to focus on me and obsess more on personal growth and myself and being a better dad and hiring consultants to be a better husband, a better dad and all those things, I got to figure out who I was and I stopped running away from the old me and I became the best version of me. And I think those are the things that if you're going to fight for something because if you fight for the watch, if you fight for the car, the tough days, you're going to turn back. If you fight for a better version of you, the that can serve your family, can serve your future children or children you have, can serve your spouse at the highest level. So you can look at the end of your life and go, I love the man I became or the woman I became. I love the values that I hold. I love the culture I created in my house. That's worth fighting for. That's worth listening to this, watching this video. That's worth trying the business. That's worth going to masterminds, that's worth reading the books. That's worth staying up late at night. It is worth it 1,000 times over. I had a bleeding ulcer in my 20s. So worried about all the things I was trying to get away from. I, I've stressed, I've stayed up all night. I mean, and all of it was worth it 100% because I have a whole bunch of friends and you probably do, too, Clark, that are living someone else's life. They're told when to show up to work, they're told when they can go on vacation. They're told what outfit uniform they have to wear at work. They're told if they can't pick up their kids from school because they get off before, that's worth fighting for. That's worth watching videos, that's worth getting into personal growth. And that's why I'm so passionate about it.

If you like today's podcast, then you're going to love being a part of my texting community. What's that mean? You could text me right now at 480-400-9019 or it should be below right here. And it comes directly to my phone. Doesn't go to my team. It comes to me. I've been absolutely loving the interaction. I send out some cool things about once a week. I text nothing but things to get your week going, to get your mind thinking. And when we have new videos and things like that, I always text my community first. It has absolutely been a blast and I'd love for you to do it right now. Text me 480-40-0990 19 do it. Text me.