In this motivational monologue, Marcel Fernandes addresses people who feel trapped by poverty, hopelessness, or learned helplessness. He shares his own upbringing in a third‑world country where his parents worked low‑wage jobs, explains the classic dog experiment that illustrates learned helplessness, and argues that the brain’s belief in powerlessness is a false narrative that can be rewired. Drawing on his personal study of psychology and his faith, Marcel urges listeners to adopt a "learned optimism" mindset, redefine their identity from victim to responsible creator, and take concrete steps such as setting specific income goals, acquiring new skills, seeking multiple mentors, and practicing daily positive self‑talk. He reinforces his message with biblical references, examples like Colonel Sanders, and a call to action for listeners to reflect, reframe limiting beliefs, and pursue a purpose‑driven, financially better life, regardless of age or current circumstance.
Chapters
This message is for the people that joined this program, maybe feeling a little bit hopeless, maybe feeling a little bit like you've tried it all, maybe feeling a little bit like there's no way out anymore, feeling like only the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. And you can't leave your situation because your entire experience in life proved to you that you can't leave this situation. This message is for those people. There's still a way out, man. There's still a frickin' way out. This is important to me because I think one of the purpose that I was given by God is to be able to share my message, share a positive message of where I've come from. I've come from a poor family, born in a poor country, third world country. My dad was a Domino's Pizza delivery boy, my mom was a maid, and I was able to make it out. Everybody, every single person in my surroundings said that it wasn't possible. And I'm so passionate about this because I made it out, and I know it's possible, and I understand now why you think it's not possible, why your brain tells you that it's not possible because of all your past experiences. Let me tell you a quick, very interesting scientific study that was done in the late 1960s. So they took various dogs, right? And this is a controversial study nowadays, right? But the um, back in the day, it proved something very important that I wanna— it's a very important point that I want to make today. So they took various dogs, right, and they put them in like these square boxes with a, um, a low like fence that they could clearly jump out of, right? But then every time they would try to jump out, they were shocked. right? But then after a while— no, sorry, I messed up the thing. They were first in a box with a high fence, and so every time they tried to leave, they were shocked, right? And then they did that until, you know, they stopped trying to leave, and then this is what they did. They lowered the barrier, the fence, right, and removed the shock factor so they could jump and they wouldn't be shocked. So they clearly now have a solution. The barrier is now low enough that they can jump out of it, and they would just stay there even without getting shocked. They would not even try anymore to leave. And that scientific study showed something very, very important in the human brain, which is called learned helplessness. And if I can get this message across, I think this is going to be a transforming message for you because I know so many people, man, are in situations where they don't see a way out anymore. They think that because of their past experience, because of what they lived, because of what they've been taught, because of what they've been told, because of all their past failures, they can't make it out anymore. But that's a lie. Your brain is conditioned to feel helpless. It's called learned helplessness. Your brain learned to feel helpless, and now Your brain is a very interesting thing, you know. I've spent years studying the brain and psychology and human behavior because I wanted to understand how to get out of the situation I was in. And your brain doesn't want to tell you that you're wrong, right? That's why it's so freaking difficult to change your life and to break these limiting beliefs, these beliefs, these things that you believe that limit your potential. Because your brain inherently doesn't want to let you know that you're wrong because it's painful and it doesn't want to feel pain. But you need to understand that the situation you're in isn't the situation you're destined to be in. There's something greater for you. God put you on this earth not to just scratch by paycheck after paycheck, right? Living paycheck after paycheck. God put you on this earth for this, for something greater. God put you on this earth to bring the kingdom of heavens onto earth. God put you on this earth for a purpose, for something greater than you might think. And if I was born in a poor world, third world country, to poor parents, and I made it out Anybody can do it. There's so many stories of people that made it out from horrible situations, even worse than the one I was in. And if they can do it, anybody can do it. You need to start adapting your brain and changing your brain to think that you can. Do it. Because once you start changing your identity and thinking you can do it rather than I can't do anything, right? It's the identity of the victim versus the identity of the person that's in charge and takes full responsibility for their life and does what it takes. And You can change your identity to instead of learned helplessness, change it to learned optimism. That I can change and I will do what it takes. I'm gonna study this course. I'm grateful for Marcel to, you know, put out this information here for me to study. And I'm gonna give it my all. I'm gonna do my best. I might be in a tough situation. You know, you might be a single mom working 2, 3, 4 jobs just to scratch by. And that's why I'm so passionate about this subject of helping people to change their lives, because I'm a father myself, and so I can only imagine the pain that single moms must go through. And to be able to help people, help single mothers, help anybody to develop new skills, develop a better philosophy, break limiting beliefs you know, achieve the potential that you never even dreamed possible in your life. Now, not everybody can become a trillionaire, a billionaire, a millionaire. That's true. But everybody can develop more skills to make a little bit more money. You don't need to become a billionaire, but you can make 6 figures. You can make $100,000. You can make $80,000. You can make a few extra thousand dollars a month. You know, and I just want to let you know that it's possible. From the bottom of my heart, it's possible. And I'm grateful that you chose me to be your mentor. And of course, don't just stop there. You know, it's like the Bible says, make war with a multitude of counselors. Don't just speak to me as your counselor, but have more mentors and counselors as well. From the bottom of my heart, I want to help you change. And I'm— one of the first things you need to start doing is to change that mindset. Change the learned helplessness that you've accumulated over your lifetime. You can change. You're not a victim, man. There's still a way out. The road ahead might be tough. In fact, it probably will be tough and it will be painful. But what's more painful? The pain of staying where you are and staying the same for another 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years, however long you have left to live, or the pain of changing and the potential of something greater on the other side? You know, it's like Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all things will be added unto you. And seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness means for you to aim up, look up at the stars and see how far— how far you can aim Look up at the stars and see how far your mind takes you. Every time you get a thought that says, "No, you can't do that," change it. Say, "I can and I will." Don't listen to it. Don't listen to your brain telling you you can't do something. Don't listen to anybody telling you you can't do something. When you aim up and you look at the stars and you say, wow, what are all the things that I can possibly do with my life? I'm 45, I'm 54, I'm 67, I'm 25. Can I still change my life? The answer is yes. The answer is yes. You know, Colonel Sanders, he became a billionaire after 65, struggling his whole life. So it's possible no matter where you are to still change your life. And I want you to understand that the situation you're in is a situation that was— that your brain is telling you that you can't get out of, but that's a lie. That's a complete lie. You can get out of it. And I want you to stick that to your forehead, you know. You can change. You're not a victim. There's still a way out. Look up at the stars and see how far you can go. Just, just, just, just think. Like, forget every single thought of I can't, or I won't, or, you know, people like me don't do that. Like, you know, people like, you know, that comes from where I come from, we don't do that type of stuff. No, eliminate all of that. If you could have what it is you wanted, what would it be? You know, if you could, like, if you could, what would it be? Right? Maybe for you now it's just a couple extra thousand dollars a month. Maybe for you it's, you know, you're working too hard in your business and you want a new type of business to make maybe the same amount of money but work less, or maybe make more money and work the same amount. Or you want to, you want to do something that you can do from home and be able to spend more time with your family. You want to make $10,000 a month, you want to make $15,000, $20,000, you want to make $100,000, $1,000 a month, you know, it doesn't matter how big or small your goal is. Just try to figure out the next step in your life. Like, think if you could have what you want, what would it be? And don't listen to all the thoughts that are gonna come to your mind saying that you can't do it, because you can. So what I want you to do after this lesson, I want you to reflect on this lesson. It's very important, very, very important. This can be something that will change your life forever because most people are stuck in this loop, and I was, I was stuck in this loop. But by the grace of God and his wisdom, I was able to leave that. I was able to leave my generational poverty of my family. I was able to leave my poor country. I'm able to help my family, friends, help the poor. Help the church. I'm able to help people through my money, through my charities, through my, you know, wisdom, through my knowledge and sharing content. And if I can do it, anybody can do it. That's the attitude that you need to have. You know, Marcel can do it, I can do it. If he can read it, I can read it. If he can get it done, I can get it done. If he can change his life, I can change my life. If he can, you know, build businesses, I can build businesses. If he can make more money, I can make more money. If he you know, coming where he came from can change his life, anybody can do it. There isn't anybody that can't do it. So what I want you to do starting now is I want you to start changing your philosophy, start changing your view of yourself. That's the most important thing is your identity. You've been assigned an identity depending on how old you are. The older you get, the stronger it gets. You know, it's like Warren Buffett said, the shackles of habit are too light to be felt until they're too heavy to be broken. And so the older you are, the more your identity is ingrained in you. Maybe you have an identity of victimhood, of I can't change, I can't do anything about my life. But that's not true. That's not true. That's a lie. You can change and you will change. Believe in yourself. Stop being a victim and start changing your identity little by little. Every single day, say to yourself, I'm prosperous, I'm rich, I can change my life, I can achieve anything I want. If anybody can do it, I can do it. Start saying these positive things to yourself because that's quite literally how we rewire our brain. You know, for some— so many decades of negative wiring, the only way you can rewire your brain is to start saying these new positive beliefs and identity to yourself. That's literally how you do it. So remember, you're not a victim. You got this. I love you. You're a chen— you're a child of God. You're valuable. You have a purpose on this earth. You were made in the image of light and likeness of God. Keep on going, even if it seems impossible, even if it seems like you're not gonna make it. Keep on going.
