How to Shift Your Mindset for Massive Success by Noah St. John Ft. Dr. Douglas James Cottrell

A man that I admire just by reading his bio and some of his background, as you've heard Paul give an introduction. You know, it's, it sounds like the classical rags-to-riches story. And just hearing how you were going in one direction in life, and suddenly this wake-up call got you on another path, and you were able to achieve great success, and you were able to hang on to that success. You've written more than 20 books, and your journey spiritually, financially, intellectually, and through life's experiences, the ups and downs that we all go through— rather amazing story. So as, as we start the interview, could you please give our listeners an overview of how your journey sort of got started? And I mean, everybody's just dying to know, how did you do it? Because they want to do it.

Well, absolutely, Douglas. It's great to be here today. And, uh, yes, I'm absolutely happy, uh, you know, to be able to share these secrets and methods that I share with my clients, both, you know, one-on-one clients and, uh, group coaching clients, as well as in my keynote presentations as a keynote speaker. But yeah, my, my story is, uh, started from very humble beginnings. I grew up poor in a rich neighborhood. And I know that's a total cliché, but it's totally true. I grew up in this little town called Kennebunkport, Maine, which happens to be one of the wealthiest communities in New England. But my family was dirt poor. And I mean that literally because we lived at the bottom of a dirt road in a drafty, unfinished house that my parents ended up losing to foreclosure when I was just 15 years old. So, from a very young age, I was painfully exposed to the gap The chasm between the haves and the have-nots. The haves was everyone else in the community, and the have-nots was my family. And so there's many times you hear speakers like motivational speakers or what have you, and they'll be on stage and they'll say, "Well, you know, we were poor, but we were happy. We didn't know we were poor." Well, in my family, we freaking knew we were poor because my mother, you know, my mother, bless her heart, reminded us every day that we were poor and miserable. So no, it wasn't happy.

happy.

It was very unhappy.

Wow.

And so, from a very young age, I hated being poor. I hated that life of poverty and fear and lack and not enoughness. That's what I grew up with. But I saw that right down the street, there's great wealth and abundance. So, from the time I was a little kid, I literally said, how the heck do I get from here to there? And of course, there was no one to help me. You know, there was no internet back then and certainly no coaches or mentors who could help me. So, I did the only thing that I could think of to do to answer that question, which is I went to the library and I just read every book that I could on self-help. I just immersed myself in the world of personal growth and success and self-help, all of the classics that we all know and love, you know, Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Stephen Covey, all the classics. And I just read every book that I could in the self-help section. And I really, really worked very hard and I tried to get it to work. The problem was, as hard as I worked, as hard as I tried, I couldn't get it to work. And so at the age of 25, I found myself broke and frustrated. And, you know, my girlfriend had just left me. It was like a country song, you know, but it was really tough.

Talk about being at the bottom. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

And I was living in Los Angeles at the time. So I decided at the age of 25 to take my own life, to commit suicide.

Oh, gosh, no, no.

And I made that decision. And I tell that story in my books. But at the very last moment, after I had made that decision and went to do it, at the very last moment, my life was spared. And I didn't know why at the time. I just knew that, okay, I guess I'm not supposed to take my own life, but gosh darn it, I don't know why. I don't know why I'm here. I don't know what I'm doing here on planet Earth. I've got to find— that's when I decided I've got to find my purpose. I felt like I was just floating along with no purpose, no direction, and no real reason for even being here. So I did the only thing I could think of to do, which is I went back to the library and I read more books. This time I went to the spiritual growth section.

Ah.

You know, and the first journey that I was on was more of an outer journey, trying to create outer success. And that I really, I failed. But this second time I went back and it was more of an inner journey to find my purpose. And fast forward many years later in 1997, I actually had several epiphanies that really enabled me to see what was actually missing in all those books that I'd spent all those years reading. And I knew that I had just stumbled upon something very different, very unique in this world of self-help and personal growth. And I knew that that was my purpose. I had just— I finally found my purpose. And so I decided to write my first book based on these nuances, these differences that I had discovered, that I'd stumbled upon. And so I wrote my first book. It was called Permission to Succeed. And then I was actually discovered by Jack Canfield from Chicken Soup for the Soul. And he actually took my book my book, which was called Permission to Succeed, which was self-published at the time back in 1998. And he sent it to the Chicken Soup for the Soul publisher. And lo and behold, I got a publishing contract from the Chicken Soup people. They published my first book in 1999. And now more than 20 books later, my books are in over 18 languages all around the world. And we've helped our clients add over $3 billion in new revenues using my methods. That means we've helped people add 6 figures, multiple 6, 7 figures, and even 8 figures, you know, using my methods.

Wow.

And this has come after most people who hire me to coach them, whether one-on-one or group coaching, after they've already gone to so many of the gurus and all the, you know, big name guys out there. And yet they're still hitting that income ceiling. They're still stuck. Um, and so they, they work with me and I show them and I help them, and then they're able to literally double, triple, or even quadruple their income in a very short amount of time. So really, that's how it all started, and that's, that's how we got here.

Well, you know, everybody needs a mentor, everybody needs a teacher, everybody needs a pathfinder, somebody that's been down the path. But here you are, or were back there ready to check out of this, uh, this, this world.

Yes.

And you had perhaps a divine intervention, let's call it, or some, some motivation or some wake-up. I like to call wake-up, but everybody's divine moments. And then as I'm listening to your story, Noah, I'm listening, wait a minute, he was learning all these steps in an experiential way rather than an esoteric way. And there you were. And the thing that I admire in listening to what you just said now— I've had similar situations in my life— is that you never gave up. You got down to the bottom, you know, that dobe on the ash pile kind of story.

Yes.

And whatever the turnaround was, you went back to the library. And then again, as you continued on, that's when your mentor showed up, and that's when you had this opportunity to publish your book. But you already had the book. published. You didn't wait. You weren't waiting till somebody came along. You were— you did it. You acted. You took action. I like your, your comment here in reading, your affirmations don't work, afformations work. I love that. Tell us about that. That's a fantastic cliché or story or comment.

Thank you. Well, that was one of the things that I discovered back in 1997. And it turned into this teaching, this training called Afformations. And this is my book from Hay House now called The Book of Afformations. And I just want folks to realize that, yes, I'm saying a new word, a different word, right, than you're used to.

Point to it.

So, it's A-F-F-O-R-M-A-T-I-O-N-S, Afformations. All right? So, you can Google that and you can just go to afformations.com and learn more about my Afformations method. But so, how was it different from the old way. So, as a keynote speaker, as I mentioned earlier, you know, I get to speak to groups, teams, organizations, corporations all around the country and around the world, whether live or virtually. And one of the things I like to do in my keynote presentations is I'll play a little game with my audience. And so I'll say, all right, everybody, now we're going to do this fun exercise. Now I want everybody to say an affirmation just like The gurus have been teaching us for decades. So everybody say this classic affirmation and everybody say, I am rich, right? So, and then everybody goes and says, I am rich. And you know what happens next? Everyone starts laughing.

Goes through one ear and out the other.

Right, exactly. They just, they just start laughing. And so I say, well, what are you laughing at? And they say, well, I'm not rich. And then I say, but you just said you were. And they go, yeah, but I don't believe it, Noah. There you go. See, now isn't that the way that we've been taught, right? We've literally been taught to say these positive statements over and over and over again. And even though most of the time we don't believe it, the gurus say, well, just keep saying it over and over again and someday you'll believe it someday. And it's like, oh my God, did you know— and this is true— did you know that a scientific study was actually done and showed that 75% of the people that use the old affirmations method, the one we've been taught for decades, 75% actually end up more frustrated than before. Can you believe it? 3 out of 4. So imagine if you had a phone, a smartphone that didn't work 3 out of the 4 times you went to use the phone.

There you go.

You'd probably get a new phone, right?

I love it.

Well, that's what I did.

Maybe toss that one for sure.

That's right. Well, I invented a new phone. I invented a new phone for the brain, right? More than 25 years ago. So in April 1997, I was actually in the shower when I discovered this. And in my books, you can read that. I call it the shower that changed everything.

Wow.

Right? Because we all have those aha moments in the shower, don't we? You know, or you're in the bathtub, you're in the shower, whatever, that eureka moment, right? This goes back to the ancient Greeks. And so this was my shower moment 26 years ago now. And I realized that we've been taught to do to, to change our beliefs with only one way, only one method, which is to change your statements. Now, if that worked, it would be fine. But for millions and millions of us, it didn't work at all. And it never works, no matter how often you do it, how many times you do it.

Mm-hmm.

But the gurus just keep telling us, do this one thing. And so I was in the shower, April 1997. I said, why? There's gotta be another way. Right? This never works. I mean, I've been doing it for years. You know, I've been doing it for years and years and years. I never got anything, you know, and I had all these stickers. I did everything they said, right? Put these statements, you know, Post-it notes, and I'm happy, I'm rich, I'm successful. And the truth was, no, I'm not. I'm broke, unhappy, and miserable.

Right?

So I said, there's got to be a better way. What is it? And so I realized that we're talking about Beliefs, right? We're talking about changing your beliefs to change your life, right? That's what millions of us want to do. And so I said, well, what is a belief? A belief is just a thought. Well, what's thought? And the more that I thought about that question, what is human thought, I realized that human thought is the process of asking and searching for answers to questions.

True.

So I said, wait a second. If human thought is the process of asking and searching for answers to questions, why are we going around making statements that we don't believe? Why don't we just cut out the middleman? And I said, well, what would that look like? Well, let's see, you've got the statement or affirmation, I am rich, and your brain goes, yeah, right. So I said, if that's the statement, then what would the question be? And then I said, Why am I so rich? Why am I so rich? Now, when you ask that question, what immediately starts to happen in your brain? You start to search for the answer, right? And so I said, wait a minute, this goes back to the law of sowing and reaping. As you sow, so shall you reap. This is an ancient law. It's been taught for centuries. And yet, do you know what we're doing? We're sowing seeds of thought. However, do you know what most people are doing? Sowing lousy thought seeds. Why am I so— Right, why am I so stupid? Why am I so fat? Why can't I lose weight? Why isn't my business growing? Why can't I get a date on Friday night? Why is there more month left at the end of the money? And when you ask lousy questions, you get lousy answers, and that creates a lousy life. So I said, wait a second, what if we flip the whole thing on its head? And instead of asking lousy questions that lead to lousy answers and create a lousy life, just start asking empowering questions that lead to phenomenal answers and create a wonderful life. And as I was standing there in the shower, April 24th, 1997, I said, I just invented something. And so I had to give it a name. And the name that I gave it was Afformations. Again, you can just Google that. Google Noah St. John Afformations, A-F-F-O-R-M-A-T-I-O-N-S, or go to afformations.com and learn about my now iconic and legendary now Afformations Method. And the reason I say that is because now we have over 2 million Afformers all around the world. That's what we call ourselves, people who are, you know, clued into my method. And it's incredible because once you start using my Afformations Method, you realize, wait a second, I've been forming my very life with these questions my whole life. And yet I've been doing it in all the wrong ways. And so just flipping it on its head and you can change. And we have incredible real-life stories of people who have doubled, tripled their income, who have found their dream job, found their dream spouse, you know, found and married their soulmates, saved marriages. Kids love Afformations, by the way. We've got kids using Afformations to improve their grades and get better self-confidence, higher self-esteem, you know, graduate when they didn't think they could. And just the stories are just incredible. These are all real stories, real people. And that is what makes me so excited and happy to see people using my Afformations method to change their lives.

Well, when I, when I read in your information in your media kit and I saw the word Afformations, uh, that triggered in my mind, uh, you can have good thoughts, you can invent things in your mind, you can have wonderful plans, but unless you take them down from that sort of mental world down to the physical world and form them into real things, form a plan and then take action, They're just in the ethers. And that's why I say thoughts go, you know, I'm rich, and in your mind you're going, no, I'm not, right? So your, your prayers are being defeated all the time. So you've, you've answered several of my questions here that I was going to ask already. So, you know, we're in sync here.

Oh, good.

Telepathically, intuitively. But, you know, I have come across people in my life who— and everybody, I think, who attempts to be successful is willing to take risks, willing to succeed, willing to fail. You can't succeed unless you take— you can't succeed greatly unless you're willing to take great risks. And so Afformations, and, and I'm not just playing on it a little bit, is forming a plan. But when people are stuck and they're in that darkness, they're in that point where, you know, you're going, what the heck, I could just— I don't want— I just don't have that energy. I don't have any. And I like to direct people to finding enthusiasm when they don't have any. So how do you, uh, How would it be to our listeners, no matter where they are in the world and what language they're speaking, and is there where you were in that dark place that night and say, listen, I can help you. I've helped— well, of course you have a track record, you have thousands of people who have been successful. What's the one thing to get somebody to turn around at that point, Noah?

Well, when you look at your goals, all right, and everybody listening to this program, right, we all have goals, right? We all want things in our lives, right? We want, you know, more money. We want to maybe start a business. You want to grow your business. You might even want to, you know, if you're in business, maybe you want to sell your business, right? Or maybe you want a promotion at work. You want to have a happy marriage. You want to find that special person. You want to, you know, lose weight, get in shape. So, it's not just talking about money. We're talking about your whole life. But so, what happens is everybody says, you know, Noah, you know, well, I want this and I want that and these are my goals. But what happens is, and one of the big problems for many people, is the very next thing that they think or say is, well, I want this, but I don't think I can do it because— see, they, they have the goal, but then the very next thought that they think is, I can't do it because— and then dot, dot, dot. You just You just fill in the blank right after, you know, I can't do it because— and here's the tricky part— is that everything that comes after the word because is what you believe and what you will defend to the death.

Good point.

So what's ironic about that is that, you know, when we look at our goals, that's what I call— or, you know, people ask me all the time, well, you know, what's holding me back from reaching my goals? Because I've had these goals. Probably for a while. You know, the people that I coach, whether it's one-on-one or group coaching, you know, they come to me and they've had their goals for a while. So it's not like it just came out yesterday or, you know, a couple days ago. They might have had these goals for years even. So why aren't they reaching them? Well, one of the main reasons is what I've been teaching for more than 25 years, which is this, this phenomenon that I call head trash. So head trash is the voice in your head that says, I can't do it because—

Wow.

And then whatever comes after that word because is what you believe and will defend to the death. So here's an example. Well, Noah, this is what, you know, my clients say to me. Well, Noah, I want to make more money, but I can't do it because I don't have the time. Or Noah, you know, I want to write a book like you've done. You know, you've written all these books. I want to write a book. but I can't do it because I don't know where to start. Or I want to do X, but I can't do it because I don't have the time, or I can't afford it, or my spouse won't let me, or, you know, I don't have the right connections, or whatever it might be, right? And this is the amazing thing, is whatever you say after the word because, you always make yourself right. You always make yourself right. And we humans have an infinite capacity to make ourselves right. And this is one point, this is one area of your life. I always tell my clients this. This is one area of your life where you don't want to be right. You want to open your mind to the possibility that you're saying, I can't do it because, is the very thing that is keeping you stuck. Let me give you an example. I'll give you a real-life example. Now, I was talking with one of my clients. His name's Charles. Now, he had, you know, read my books and he contacted me on our website. And he, you know, wanted me to coach him because he'd heard the amazing, you know, real-life stories of how I've helped people double, triple, quadruple their income in record time, literally doubling their income and doubling their time off at the same time. You know, not— it's not about working harder. It's about working smarter, right? Getting these systems in place anyway. So he had, you know, read the stories, and he's like, I want that too, right? I want you to coach me, Noah. So I asked him, I said, Charles, how much do you think it's costing you right now? How much do you think it's going to cost you? If we don't take out your head trash in the next 12 months? How much do you think it's going to cost you over the next 12 months? Now, without skipping a beat, he said, $1 million. I'm easily going to lose $1 million, Noah, if, if we don't fix this problem, if we don't get this fixed. Now, so what I said was, first of all, I hear this every day. I mean, literally every day people contact me on our website or, you know, reach out to me on social media. Or email me and they say, "No, you know, Noah, if I don't take out my head trash, I'm easily going to lose ten thousand dollars, fifty thousand dollars, a hundred thousand dollars a month. You know, that's six seven figures a year. That's a lot of money that you're missing out on, right? If you don't fix this one problem." So I said, "You know, it's very common, right?" So that's number one. And so I said, "Number two, I tell you what, just give me ten percent of that million dollars, and I will find you a million." dollars in the next 12 months. In other words, if you give me $1 and I give you $10 back, is that a good deal? He said, well, yeah, that's a very good deal. So he did that. He paid me 10% of $1 million, which is $100,000. He paid me $100K, you know, to coach him one-on-one for 12 months. Now, so I coached him. I walked him through, you know, my processes, my formulas, my fill-in-the-blanks, checklists, and everything like that. Gave him all these resources and, you know, really helped him one-on-one. Well, as it turns out, I didn't find him $1 million in the next 12 months. Instead, I found him $1.8 million in just 10 months. Exactly. So, this dollar, I gave him $18 back.

Wow.

Is that a good deal? No, that's a great deal. So, and guess what? He actually just sent me an email recently, said, guess where I am, Noah? I'm on a 7-week vacation with my wife. We just bought a new RV with all this money we've got now, right? We bought a new RV. And we're taking a 7-week vacation in our new RV. We're driving around the Southeast. So not only do I have more money than ever before because of what you taught me, now I have more time than I've ever had before. So I said, you're welcome. So anyway, it was pretty amazing.

Okay. So did you have to— did he give you the other 0.8?

Oh, no, no. That's not how it works. I mean, I was fine. That was our deal. And it was fine. I mean, he paid me upfront. So I mean, I, it was really nice. But yeah, he got a great deal. Let's just, let's face it, he got a great deal on that one. But hey, I love overdelivering. That's what I do.

First of all, you had the confidence that you were going to help him. He had the confidence in you. He made a huge commitment.

Yes.

To pay upfront.

Yes.

People, you know, you say to people in a class, how many, if I, if I were to, I can make you $1 million, who wants to make a million? Everybody put their hand up. So okay, I'm gonna charge $100,000. Their hands come Down, right? And you go, I just told you I could make a million, and now you don't even want to try. So they're not willing to make that commitment. And when I'm listening to you, these are people who have got to that aha moment, or they've made that shift because they can see that success in you, because you were on the same path. So they believe you.

Yes. Well, and let's face it, I have 25 years of thousands of case studies to prove it. And I just want to— Doug, if I may, I just want to jump off on that point because one of the things that I see here in this industry, I'm talking about the personal and business growth industry, which has happened over the last few years, is a disturbing trend. And I call it having personality-driven success versus system-driven success. Now, what I mean by that is whenever we're, you know, you go on social media and you see all these gurus and all they're doing is they're showing, you know, look how cool I am and here's my boat and here's my helicopter and here's my private jet and aren't I amazing? And yeah, you're amazing, but have you helped anyone else make any money? Or have you helped anyone else reach their goals?

What's in it for me? I can see what's in it for you. You're charging me a big fee. What are you going to do for me? The question exactly today is I'm going to do it for you.

I love it. Right. And see, that's the difference between personality-driven success and system-driven success. So what I teach that's different is a system. And the reason that you know it's a system is because it works for anybody. That's why, you know, when you go to my website, whether you go to noahstjohn.com or breakthroughwithnoah.com, that's another of our sites where you can actually see, you know, dozens of these case studies. I'd rather brag about my clients than me because if I'm only bragging about me, then it's like, well, great, you know, you've made a lot of money, who cares, right? No, it's the point is that it's a system. Once you just follow the steps, it's plug and play, fill in the blank, paint by numbers. That means anybody can do it, and that's why the system works so you don't have to work so hard.

Makes perfect sense to me. Uh, in my life, uh, I'm 70-plus years old now, uh, I found that people have a lot of good ideas. They're hardworking. They want to succeed. They get past the, the because part. You know, this is what's holding me back. They, they kind of deal with that. But to get to that point, and I think you're addressing a little bit, and what you offer them is to help reduce the fear of success.

Absolutely. And that was what I was facing, you know, when I discovered this. That's why my first book was called Permission to Succeed. It wasn't How to Succeed, because one of the epiphanies that I had was I realized that, you know what, We don't need more how-to-succeed books or how-to-succeed training. We've had a million gajillion of those. But what's missing for most people is something they don't even know they're missing, and that is no one has actually showed them how to give themselves permission to succeed, like to allow yourself to succeed. So that's one thing that makes my coaching different from everybody else, because they're teaching the how-tos, and there's nothing wrong with how-tos. I mean, if you want to do something, you need to know how to do it, right? But here's the problem. So many people have spent tens of thousands of dollars on all the how-tos of success. And yet they're still hitting that, as I call it, their income ceiling. They keep bashing their head on that income ceiling. And no matter how hard they work, they're still hitting their head on the ceiling. Let me get, if I may, I'll give you another quick example of that. So, I was speaking at an event in Los Angeles to about 1,000 entrepreneurs. And these are, you know, multiple 6, 7, and 8-figure earners, you know, very successful people, men and women. And I was, you know, teaching really what I'm sharing right now, right on this program. So, I just finished speaking. I was walking off the stage and a man came up to me out of the audience and he said, Noah, I want you to coach me. You are the coach that I've been looking for. He said that. Now, I didn't know this man from Adam. Ironically, his name was Adam. And so, I said, okay, well, what's going on? He said, Noah, you know, my company, I'm the CEO of this company. I own this company. And we are at 7 figures in income. But we've been stuck at 7 figures for the last 4 years. And he said, I have thrown so much money at this problem to try to grow the business, you know, to get over that income ceiling. Because, and he said, as soon as I heard you speak, as soon as I heard you talk about Afformations and, you know, head trash and everything you just said, He said, I knew that you were the coach I've been looking for. So, he literally hired me on the spot.

Wow.

You know, basically like Charles did. I mean, so that's why I love working with high achievers because they make decisions, you know, quickly and firmly. They don't dilly-dally. They don't mess around. They just make the decision and they take action, right? So anyway, I coached him for also about a year and a half, was Adam. Well, in that year and a half, his company went from being stuck at 7 figures for the previous 4 years to over $20 million. in sales, a 600% increase in less than 2 years. And it was all because I showed him the things that those guys didn't show him, you know, that he'd spent all that money on. And that story has repeated itself 1,000 times. You know, people come to me after they've gone to all the gurus only to find out they can't teach their way out of a paperback. You know, there's nothing there. And it's like, ah, so that's where I was and that's where so many people find themselves. So You know, I help people who are in that exact situation, who are tired of hitting their income ceiling and tired of frankly going to gurus who really don't have anything to say.

Yeah, I, I, I don't mean to be, you know, condescending, but some of those gurus are regurgitating the same old, same old, same old. And to hear you talk today, it's refreshing.

Oh, thank you.

I love the word of formations where you're forming a plan.

That's right.

But also you're motivating these people from your own background, I guess. But when you, when you, when you have somebody, when you're, you know, uh, let me say assessing where they are, you must be able to see that they're making a few basic mistakes that are just oblivious to them. They're just like standout mistakes. Could you give us an example of, of something that somebody could absolutely say in their life? Like, you know, every time I come with a good idea, for example, I go and I tell my best friends and they all tell me it'll never work. And then 6 months later, somebody else is doing what I came up with.

That's right.

What have you got to say about that?

Well, I have always said, you know, to my clients that when you have an idea, you know, let's say for a book or for a new business or a product or service, that idea is like an egg. Okay, and an egg is very fragile, right? And so is your new idea. And so you don't want to take your egg and just toss it to anybody, and you don't even know if they're going to be able to catch it, let alone take care of it. So you've got to be very protective of your egg, of your idea.

Okay.

And so the point is, you've got to find a supportive mentor or coach Someone who believes in you, number one, and number two, is willing to offer you honest feedback. Now, in my case, you know, I have 25 years of experience, you know, making every mistake in the book. You know, I've made millions and I've lost millions. So I've made every mistake and I've got, I've got the arrows in my back to prove it. You know, there's that old saying, pioneers get all the arrows. Well, I've got all the arrows in my back to prove it. And so, you know, I'll give you an example. Now, we have a group coaching program called the 12-Week Breakthrough, where I help people literally make more in just 12 weeks than they did in the previous 12 months while actually winning their lives back, winning back 1 to 3 hours per day and 4 to 8 weeks per year.

Wow.

And by the way, you can learn more about that at breakthroughwithnoah.com. And you can learn how I do that at breakthroughwithnoah.com and actually even schedule a breakthrough consultation with me or one of my coaches. They're at breakthroughwithnoah.com. Now, one of my clients that I'm working with currently right now, actually, her name's Catherine, and she is an entrepreneur in Pennsylvania. And so she came to me and she was very frustrated because she'd spent all this money on all the gurus. You know, it's the same story we hear every single time. And, you know, she heard me on a program like this or a friend recommended me to her. You know, she was referred by a friend. And so she joined my 12-week breakthrough. And at first, you know, it was like kind of breaking through the ice because she'd had a lot of, you know, negative experiences like most of us. And, uh, but she did it. She did the homework, you know, she did her work. She, she followed my instructions and just, you know, kept filling in the blanks and following the checklist. Well, in week 7, right, so 7 weeks, uh, she— I got an email from her and it said Guess what, Noah? Using your methods, I just raised over $185,000 in private money in one day.

Wow.

In one day, I raised $185,000. And she said, now, because you believed in me, now I believe in me for the first time. Isn't that a wonderful story? Oh, that's great. So, $185,000 in one day. I mean, hello, that's called 10x return on her investment and more. Wow.

You know, this is amazing to hear these stories about people who come from a dark place. Arrows in your back, stripes on your back, I would call it.

But yeah, it hurt, man.

It hurt.

It wasn't any fun, believe me. And I wish it would have gone a lot faster. But, you know, now, I mean, what I always say to my clients is my pain is your gain.

Well, you know, the world's not a nice place. Part of that, I'm sure, coaching, if I can call it that, or your revelations to people is, you know, to— when somebody knocks you down, how to get up. You know, your friends might turn into friendly enemies. You might be betrayed. You might— somebody might steal from you.

Yes.

Those are all the let's say, the little rocks and pitfalls along the same path. But, you know, I always encourage people to go ahead from my perspective. From your perspective, as people take these steps, do you, do you like say watch out? Or do you say like, you know, like when you get to these points, this is how you go around the problem? You don't try to, you know, let the problem stop you? I am just thinking of my own personal life. Sometimes in the past, it seems like when you have a really good idea, You're the force of light and the force of darkness, you know, this push-pull back and forth. I would think that would be something that you, uh, would address, uh, and that your clients would learn how to, you know, go around it rather than to confront it.

Well, here's how I have been teaching it for, for a long time. And what I— one of the things that I say to my clients is when you allow yourself to succeed to a higher level than you've ever done before, It is inevitable that people are gonna criticize you.

Yes.

It is absolutely gonna happen. So one of the things that stops many people from allowing themselves to succeed is the fear of criticism, right? Oh, what if I do this? And then, you know, people criticize me, people don't like it, or they call me names or whatever that might be. And so here's what I say to my clients is, I don't want you to be afraid of criticism, and I don't want you to let the fear of criticism stop you. And the reason for that is because it's an absolute guarantee that you'll get criticized. So it's like being afraid of the sun coming up tomorrow. It's going to happen, right? So let's not be afraid of it. Let's just accept it. Now, that doesn't mean it's any fun. It's always going to be painful, right? Criticism is never fun. Criticism always hurts, especially, you know, like you mentioned, when it's from a friend or a so-called friend, somebody that was close to you and now they're either talking behind your back or because of social media, now people don't even bother to talk behind your back. They do it right in front of your face or to your face on social media.

Yeah.

There actually is a term for that, which is called the online disinhibition effect. So the online disinhibition effect, I just was actually writing about this in one of my upcoming books, is that that's what it does is, you know, in other words, if you're face-to-face with somebody, they're probably not going to be that jerky and mean to you. But because they are behind this wall of so-called anonymity called the internet, they just start writing whatever the heck they want without fear of reprisal. And so one of the things that I coach my clients through is saying, hey, you know what? That's absolutely going to happen. And this is the other thing is that we all have heard the phrase that we are the average of the 5 people that we spend the most time with. So when you, let's say you join my 12-week breakthrough program, you're going to be with me and with, you know, a group of supportive people who are supporting you on your journey to, you know, whatever your growth looks like. So like with Catherine, my client I was just telling you about, you know, making over $185,000 in one day. There's some people who would not be able to handle that emotionally. In fact, most people wouldn't. Because they are also still in poverty consciousness. So one of the things that I'm helping people do is to transform and transcend that poverty consciousness into an abundance consciousness. But let's face it, most of the world is stuck in poverty consciousness. I mean, and I know that very well. I grew up in poverty consciousness. That's why I share my story. So I want people to realize I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. We didn't even have a spoon, for God's sakes. So, I mean, you know, I was eating macaroni and cheese for most of my childhood. That was our meal. It was macaroni and cheese, and we were lucky to get that. So, you know, my point being is that, you know, it took years and years of hard work on myself, and I didn't have anybody helping me. That's why it took me so long. So now that's one of the reasons that I can help people get there so much faster than I did, because I had to do it all by myself. And when you're You know, when you're trying to climb Mount Everest by yourself, it's pretty hard. That's why you want to have a Sherpa, somebody who's been to the to the top before and can show you the ways, the things to avoid. Like don't go over there because you could fall and break your neck. You know, this is a shortcut, and it's a heck of a lot easier if you go this way.

Lovely stories. This is fantastic. You know, I had a couple other questions I was going to ask you, but as I said earlier, I'm looking over to ask you, and you answer the question. We got we got some.

Simpatico.

Yeah, there we go. So I love your stories. Uh, you know, people, uh, as we get near the end of our time, uh, you know, there are people who have great success and then they give it away or they can't keep it.

That's right.

I, I think as you, you lose friends along the way because as you're going up the ladder, your friends—

That's right.

And so if you don't keep on keeping on, you'll fall back into that same—

That's right.

Dilemma. That's exactly right. As people keep going and they take your advice, I, I— everything you've said today, I've had personal experiences that I can relate to. And I think it's a matter that, as you said, this is the way. Once you find the ceiling, once you find the weaknesses, or you have somebody like yourself who is an obviously because of your experiences yourself. I was thinking earlier, I digress a little, when you're on this side of the tracks and the people are on the other side of the tracks and you're the have-not and they're the haves, I mean, that's darn hard, right? I mean, you know, but you didn't get bitter. You didn't get, you know, like, you didn't get vengeful. You thought like, I want to be there, right?

Right.

That's, that's part of that people saying, I don't have and it's somebody else's fault. You know, I I'm poor, so I'm gonna, you know, be mean. You know, the regular— what did you call it? Mind trash. I love that term. I'm not gonna publish it, but I'm gonna tell people about it to say this is a fantastic term.

Well, I have a book specifically for that. It's called Get Rid of Your Head Trash. I got a book for everything, Douglas. So anyway, and this is right on our website. I won't hold up all 20+ of my books, but anyway, please do. I have a book on that.

I, I just love you. I think you're, uh, you're a guru yourself. You're, uh, you're a blessed man because you, you didn't give up. And that's the one thing I encourage people— don't give up. Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, you know, in his accent, you know, life is going to knock you down, the success is to be able to get up.

That's right.

Other people have said that as well, and you've said it today in several different ways. But again, because you're you know, your hands-on gain this wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge plus experience. And so with having 20 books out there, having lots of successful clients, I'm pleased to, uh, you know, refer people, uh, you know, people listening to my program, go buy this book or a couple of books because this man has it. He's got the keys to success. So as we, as we go through this, the last thing is, uh, you know, people who Feel they, they feel guilty about their success. You have any comments for people who might feel that way? I hope they don't because—

Oh no, this is very common. This is something I've been helping my clients with for over 20 years. It's very, very common. And one of the reasons that I help people double their income and double their time off and literally make more in 12 weeks than they did in the last 12 months while winning their lives back is I help them with their inner game and their outer game. Now, inner game is everything that happens between your ears that you can't see directly. But it affects everything that you do. It affects every aspect of your life. But here's the interesting thing. You can't see a belief. You can only see the effects of a belief. So, that's your inner game. And then I also help people with their outer game. And that's all of the things you can see, right? That's the systems, strategies, you know, the offers, funnels, traffic, all of the marketing and sales stuff that everybody spent or most people spent, you know, Lots and lots of time and money on. But here's the interesting thing is that of that more than $3 billion that I've helped my clients make over the last 20-plus years, 95% of it came when I taught them their inner game, when I helped them master their inner game. So yes, you have to do both. You have to do the inner game and the outer game, because what happens is if you only do the inner game without the outer game, you're going to be what I call a highly evolved broke person. You're gonna, you're gonna be like emotionally involved in everything, but you don't have any money, right? But if you only do the outer game without the inner game, then you're gonna be either— let's say you made a lot of money, you're gonna sabotage it because nobody taught you how to master your inner game. Okay? So a great example of that would be Chris Farley, right? I'm sure most of us remember the, the wonderful comedian Chris Farley back in the '90s. And just like before him, John Belushi. Right? So they both sadly died at the exact same age, age 33. Now both of them, you know, were enormously successful, rich and famous, but they were both dead at the same— at the age of 33. How about Elvis Presley? Same exact thing. So I can go on and on. I mean, we can all think of, you know, dozens of examples like that. But the reason that happens, the very reason, is the thing that I fixed 25 years ago. And that's your inner game. So, you know, for the folks listening who are saying, well, you know, I'm not rich and famous. Well, that's fine. I mean, you know, it doesn't matter. The point is everybody, I believe, knows when they're stuck. Everybody knows when they're hitting their income ceiling. You might be hitting your income ceiling, you know, at 6 figures or multiple 6 figures or even 7 figures, you know, like Adam that I talked about earlier. I mean, his income ceiling was 7 figures. So it doesn't really matter how much money or you're making or not making right now, you know when you're stuck and when you're not reaching your capabilities. And so that's what I fixed 25 years ago. And that's what I, you know, now continue to help my clients with and fix every single day, you know, using my inner game and outer game system. So you have to do both. But what's awesome is I've made it so much faster and easier for people. I mean, so much faster and easier than it was for me, like I said, because I had to figure it out From zero. And that's why it took me way too long, you know, much, much longer than I would have liked. But now I'm able to pass that on to my clients, and they're able to get that hockey stick growth in record amounts of time.

Well, I just love it. It's, uh, you know, your pathway. You're a pathfinder, and you've been able to, to, uh, say, come on everybody, follow me, this is the path. And for those people who are willing to take the path, Yes. Great success is obviously there. I mean, you have the books that are written, and, uh, and you'll continue to write more books. Uh, what do you think— this is our last question for, for today. I highly recommend, uh, to everybody, uh, to us as following us and who have been on our radio, uh, programs, the Global Village Radio Show, and here we are on the Zoom Global Village— look at this man. He's talking the truth. And he has the proof, so to speak, right there for you to listen. So, I mean, basically, people buy your books, they can go to your library, read all the books like you did, and maybe succeed on their own. But with the way the world's going and AI and, you know, the technological improvements, the world is vastly different than when I was 25 or 30.

Mm-hmm.

How do you see that, you know, the population with all this social media and the, let's call it the loving and unloving people that are out there, you've addressed some of it. Where do you see this going in the next 5 or 10 years?

Well, AI, of course, has changed everything, as you mentioned. I look at AI as a wonderful tool. I used it, you know, pretty much as soon as it came out. And I got it on day one, you know, people are, they still ask me, you know, well, no, I don't get it. And I still see this every day on social media. I'm like, I got it on day one. I mean, I don't know. I didn't even know what people were— what the big deal was because I'm like, oh, this is easy. You know, and people still have a lot of trouble with it. But I'm like, man, this is awesome. It's just a wonderful tool to help you bring your thoughts out into the world. You know, which is something I've been doing, yes, for 25 years plus. But I look at ChatGPT as an example of AI. And of course, there's, you know, a million of them now. But it's just a way to take what's in your mind and just be able to get it out much, much faster and cheaper, meaning, you know, you don't need to have a big staff, you know, you don't have to have 30 people on your payroll or what have you, in order to bring these things out. So it really, to me, has leveled the playing field, you know, from the big boys to, to, you know, the little guy. And I like it. So I mean, I love it. I've been, I've embraced it, you know, from the very beginning. And, you know, I certainly hope to continue to do that. But, but nevertheless, I do want, you know, for people who might be nervous or scared of it or whatever, the point is everything always comes down to, are you adding value to human beings? You must add value to human beings in order to make that thing called money. And in order to do that, you have to master your inner game and master your outer game. There's no way around those 2 things. So that's, you know, that's what I'm fortunate to do. So I don't think I'm gonna be out of a job anytime soon. I don't think so. Because what I, what I provide, I, I don't see AI being able to do. So that's where you want to go is, but I highly encourage people to embrace it because it ain't going away.

Okay, my guest today has been Dr. Noah St. John. He has 20 books out there right now. His 20th book is The 7-Figure Life: How to Leverage the 4 Focus Factors for More Wealth and Happiness. And I like that inner journey and that outer journey. And I like the term not affirmations but a-formations.