Dean Graziosi grew up with dyslexia, poverty, and homelessness but credits his escape to changing his thoughts and habits, not his circumstances. He challenges you to track your recurring thoughts for a week and compare them to the life area you want to improve, then ask yourself if you'd give that same advice to a close friend.
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Weekly Wisdom. I'm Dean Graziosi. It's a pleasure and an honor to have you back week after week. We've been doing this for over seven years now. So if you're new, great to have you here. If you're one of my DG family members, thanks for coming back. Okay, today I want to share something that I talked about earlier today. I did a great interview today and it had me thinking that the gentleman asked some really great questions. And it had me thinking about you guys always. I'm always looking for places I can grab ideas, thoughts, wisdom capabilities, success secrets, habits, recipes, whatever I can give you to take your life to that next level, to give you that faster path. And this made me think of you guys. When I was in seventh grade, I was in special reading. I struggled so far. It wasn't even just a little bit. I had trouble reading. If there was days where I had to speak in front of the class or read something, I'd bail and I'd make an excuse not to go to school. And then I had Mrs. Thompson in seventh grade. And Mrs. Thompson was the first person to ever call me stupid. She used to say, just sound it out. Can't you understand? Now that I'm older, I realize I had dyslexia and reading was really tough for me. I know I've shared that many times with you guys and thank you, Ms. Thompson. I don't think she's with us anymore, but that inspired me in some way. Life happens for us, not to us. So with that said, what I realized is 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th grade. 11th grade. I just thought I was dumb. I thought I had to work on my weaknesses. And reading was so tough. I knew I didn't have money. School seemed so hard and I was judged by without realizing then, an outdated scorecard. And I was insecure and it lacked. It killed my confidence. If you have my winning state of mind, course that's why confidence I share is so important how to find it. But here's what the reason I'm sharing this with you and I'm going to give you an exercise for this week is 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th grade. I didn't get any better at reading. I didn't hit the lotto. We were still broke. I was homeless for a while with my dad in ninth grade. We lived in a bathroom, didn't have any heat, didn't have food. I'd go to school many weeks or days and didn't have a dollar for lunch. I made my dad drop Me off down the street from the old pickup truck he had with the door tied shut. I mean, that's where I was, right? So I didn't go to college. I didn't have money. I couldn't read. And I just figured I was too dumb to go to school. Here's the crazy part. None of that changed. But around 11th, 12th grade, I started realizing that I couldn't read good, but I could watch somebody drive a bulldozer and drive it in two minutes. I could watch somebody paint the side of a car, and I could paint a car. I could watch somebody take an engine apart. I could take an engine apart by watching. I could never read a manual to do it. I couldn't comprehend it. Made me feel dumb. But all of a sudden, I realized, man, I could watch somebody do it, and I could do it almost as good as them immediately and with the help of my dad, hands down, he gave me a lot of the power. When I wanted to learn to drive a car when I was 12, he threw me the keys, said, go drive. When I wanted to learn standard. When I wanted to learn how to be an electrician or paint a car or weld. When I was a little kid, my dad would say, the welder's right over there. That's how you turn it on. So all of a sudden, in like, 11th, 12th grade, I started finding confidence and a different belief in myself that I could be more, that I could do more. Maybe I wasn't good at reading, but I'd be great at something, and I didn't know what it was. Okay, so why am I telling you this story? Some of you already know this is because what I realized looking back at this age, nothing changed. I didn't find money. I didn't hit lotto. I didn't get smarter. I didn't learn how to read better. I didn't go to college. All those things were the same. Do you know what changed? My belief that was it. The only thing that changed is my thoughts, my habits, and my beliefs. So if you're stuck someplace, and it doesn't mean you're stuck in a rut, but wherever you are, if you want that next level, I promise you, it boils down to your beliefs, your thoughts, and your habits. So here's my challenge for you this week. I want you to write down all week some of the common thoughts that go on in your head. Just jot them down some of the common beliefs you had. Even if you're not recognizing good, bad, or otherwise, just write down the Beliefs. You know, when your boss walks in the room, how do you believe? Or your employees walk into room, or your business partner or your spouse, what do you believe? What are habits that you do on a regular basis? How do you act when certain things happen? And just start writing them down. And here's the assignment. Write them down and then look in the area of your life that you're struggling the most or if you're not struggling, you want the greatest improvement in, whether it's your relationships, your income, your health, love, intimacy, passion, whatever it is. And I want you to look at the habits and then bounce them up against that one section. Then I want you to do this. I want you to look at this like you're talking to your best friend in the world, trying to give him advice or her advice. And I want you to look at those thoughts and those beliefs and those patterns you have, those habits. And I bet you if you look at it as a third party, like you're doing it for a friend, you'll see clearly the habits, the thoughts, or the beliefs that are keeping you where you are from, breaking through and taking whatever area of your life you want to the next level, or all of them. You'll see it's what you believe, it's what you think, or it's the habits you do each day. And all I encourage you is look in the mirror like you're talking to a best friend and alter those habits, tweak those beliefs, change those thoughts, and nothing can stop you from breaking free. I look back on my life, it was nothing more than determination and a change in beliefs and a change in habits and a change in thoughts. But here's the process, guys. Those thoughts, beliefs that got you where you are in your life sometimes need to be broken. And a whole new set has to be incorporated into your life to take you to that next level. I'm Dean Graziosi. Thanks so much for watching this weekly Wisdom. If you don't have my free books, you can go to deansfreebook.com deansfreebook. Com. It says book, but you actually get two. My personal development book, New York Times bestseller. Also my latest real estate book. You can get them both for free download, grab them and stay engaged. And I look forward to talking to you next week.
