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Transcript – 10 Steps to Creating an Abundance Mindset

Shawn:      Hello BioTrust Nation. We are back for another episode of BioTrust Radio, and we’ve got a really good one in store for you today. I’m pretty pumped about it. It’s the scarcity versus abundance mindset. And it can be a game-changer for you because I think we all lean towards this scarcity mindset. It’s kind of a survival instinct, if you will, especially in a negative world.

But I think an abundance mindset can really change, shift your view on life and really open up your world and put you in contact with good people, good things. It’s the power of positive thinking. It’s The Secret, if you will, or whatever it was a decade ago that was popular. Having things come to you that when you put out that positive mindset. So, the abundance mindset. But first, we have Tim is going to tell us about the review and question.

Tim:          Hello gang, how’s it going? Tim here, along with my man, Shawn Wells. And this abundance mindset is awesome. Actually, Dr. Lynn Marie mentioned the scarcity mindset.

Shawn:      Yeah.

Tim:          In that interview, great interview we did with her. So I’m going to make sure to link that in the show notes.

Shawn:      Yes, absolutely.

Tim:          That was super-duper. We love Lynn Marie. So, review from iTunes. Guys, this is a super awesome way to help out the show. And not only that, Shawn and I we love hearing from you guys. And this means more to us than anything else. So, if you have a moment, head over to iTunes and leave an honest review and rating. And if we read your review on the show, we’ll send you a free product. If you just email us at [email protected]. And today’s review comes from DangerousDan32.

Shawn:      Cool name.

Tim:          Yeah, it’s dangerously awesome, Dan. And DangerousDan left us a 5-star review titled Great. And it says, “Great information. Love how these guys cite the research and don’t just give their opinion if something works or not. Also love how they will say they don’t really know enough about something and how it still needs to be researched more. The main thing is you can trust what they are saying and know it’s not BS, like so many other people in the health industry. And I love the BioTrust products too.”

Shawn:      You know that means a lot. I actually have heard that a lot. It’s not something that I think we consciously do, like go out of our way to do. I think it’s just built into us and how we approach these shows. We’re just tired of the BS, too. I think Tim and I are just, we’re pretty pragmatic when it comes to science. And I think science is supposed to be very open-minded. It’s not supposed to be a religious thing. It’s not supposed to be full of zealotry and followership, like a lot of the stuff on YouTube might make you think. Science, I think, is like an open-minded search, and I’ve talked about this before.

Quite frankly, most of the time you don’t have the full answers, but it’s about the search, and it’s about trying to put some pieces together that don’t always fit. I mean, there isn’t always a clear path. But it’s about that search and trying to apply it to your life as best you can. And then more data becomes available, the more people you talk to, give you more information, and you just have to be open-minded to things changing.

If someone, let’s say, sets out on their scientific career as a scientists and they’re thinking the same way they did at 20 or 30 as they do when they’re 60 or 70, there’s a problem. There is an absolute problem. Nothing stays the same in science. And people like talking about scientific laws and facts, and I’ve said it before, like when people say “fact” or “proof” or things that, I always feel like that’s marketing and it’s not science. I don’t believe science has room for that and I think science is very open and things change constantly, and that’s how you should approach science.

Tim:          Yeah, and I think when you actually read beyond the abstract in studies [chuckles] you’ll also see that the researchers, for the most part, that are involved in the investigation make those types of statements at the end of the paper. And it’s like yeah, this demonstrates such and such a result in this population over this time period, with these variables; but, more research needs to be done in this area and this area. So, this is an exciting suggestion or finding, but to basically add another piece of the puzzle we need to take this next step. And that’s what science is all about.

Shawn:      Totally.

Tim:          Putting pieces of the puzzle together. And I really appreciate this from DangerousDan, also, who Dan please email us at [email protected] to get a free product. But another reason I appreciate this is because a lot of people, even in the “evidence-based” crowd, and I’ve been guilty of this in the past. We get really excited about science and we tend to cherry-pick what we’re talking about. And being a true evidence-based practitioner involves looking at the totality of the evidence and provide, basically presenting it in a way that matters and that’s honest.

Shawn:      And there is no one-size-fits-all.

Tim:          Right.

Shawn:      And when we, as practitioners, as scientists, have to approach things that way, that even if something we’re in favor of, something that we do. For example I do keto. I’m in favor of keto, I’ve talked about keto. But I’m not a keto zealot. I don’t say everyone should be doing keto. I don’t push that on anyone. For me, it’s about what works for you if you’re healthy, or to get you healthy. That’s where I focus. So, yeah, that really means a lot. I really appreciate Dan saying that. So, that means that we’re doing our job the right way, that people can trust us to give the full picture. And they can follow up and see if what we’re saying is true by looking at our citations. So, that means a lot. It really means a lot. Thank you so much.

Tim:          So, next segment of the show is to answer a question from the VIP group. So, if you head over to BioTrust.com/VIP you can join or engage in our supportive community. And we take questions from the VIP members and answer them here on the podcast. And if we answer your question here on the show, we’ll also make sure you get hooked up with a free product.

So, today’s question comes from Susan Hall. And one reason I wanted to choose Susan’s question is because Susan has been a very good regular member, and I want to give Susan a shout-out. She asks great questions. She’s working a tail off to achieve her goals. So, Susan, we’re proud of you and we appreciate all that you do to encourage others in the group. And Susan’s question says, “Is there a concern to losing weight too fast?” And she goes on to say, “I’ve never lost 7 pounds in 8 days without being sick. How do I rid the fear of maintenance? I have never been able to stay at a low point once I get there.”

And so, there’s a couple different questions there. And I think that the question here is more about maintaining weight loss. And we do have a good blog on that that we’ve written. So, Susan, we’ll make sure you get that one. But I think the big point here is that basically approaching maintenance in a similar way that you approach the weight loss, and that’s with a lifestyle approach, right? [chuckles]

Shawn:      Right. Totally.

Tim:          What you do once you get there is really similar to what you did the whole time that you were on that journey, right? So you don’t abandon ship. And that’s the reason why a lot of people regain lost weight is because they revert to previous habits. We’ve talked about this before, whether you choose a keto lifestyle or a Mediterranean style lifestyle, or a paleo lifestyle, or whatever type of diet, it’s always a lifestyle. And we’ve talked about how paleo, for instance, that hunter-gatherer fitness regimen fits in with that. And fitness and activity and all those things are a part of that lifestyle. And this is why diets, specifically, often fail is because we’re looking at them—basically, once you use that word, “diet,” you’ve already ingrained in your head that it’s a short-term approach.

Shawn:      Agreed.

Tim:          And so the mindset, which we talk about all the time, needs to be that this is something for the long-haul. And this is why for a lot of people a behavior-based modification type of system works well. Where maybe focusing on changing one thing at a time. We talked about how multitasking is inefficient and doesn’t really work well for most people. Well, that same approach applies to improving lifestyle. So, maybe it’s focusing on five minutes of activity here and there, or maybe it’s focusing on eating more fruits and vegetables, or getting rid of this or that. And so that tends to work for the long-haul.

But I guess the idea here is that maintenance is basically a mirror image of whatever it took to get you there. And so if you’re doing extreme things to get there, for a lot of people that is probably going to set you up for failure.

Shawn:      Right. And that’s why she’s saying I’ve lost a ton of weight, initially, and then I have trouble keeping it off, and it does kind of set the stage for what you’re saying, Tim, and I would think the same thing right off the bat is I would be less concerned about how much weight you lose at the beginning, or how much weight you’re even going to lose, and just focus on can I do healthy habits that put myself in a position to be healthier in the long-run. Because I don’t care if I lose 10 pounds over a week or I lose 10 pounds over 10 weeks. I’m going to stick to this because it’s what’s best for me. And I’m going to do it long-run because that’s what’s best.

It’s not even just what’s healthiest for you. It’s not healthy to crash and lose weight and then gain the weight back. What’s healthiest is to do something that doesn’t feel like it’s a diet, that doesn’t feel stressful, that you want to do that is a part of your life. This isn’t about, “God, I hate myself. I feel ugly. I want to lose weight. How can I lose weight as quickly as possible?” Is that mindset maintainable or healthy, whether you lose the weight or not? No. There’s some insecurity there. There’s some self-hatred there that you have to address. What you should be thinking is, “I love myself. I care about my well-being. I’m going to do habits that are healthy for me. I’m going to institute one of these healthy habits at a time and make sure I stick to them, and then continue to add. I have a list here of things that I know are healthy for me. But I’m going to do one at a time and I’m going to approach them in a healthy manner, and a scientific manner, to see whether these healthy habits that I’ve read about are in fact healthy for me, and fit into my lifestyle. The only way I can tell that is if I do one at a time and I care about myself and I love myself.

And if as a byproduct I happen to lose weight, as a byproduct other good things happen, great. But I know these are things I should be doing so I’m going to do them because I care about the body I have. I only have one body. I only have one life. I’m going to do what’s best.” I mean, that should be the way you approach this, but most people are, “Yeah, I’m ugly. I hate myself. I look like crap in this bathing suit or shirt, or whatever.” And it can’t be about that. I mean, I know that that creeps into our mind, but it has to be different than that, especially if you want to do this long-run. And you can’t be beating yourself up. That’s just where I’m coming from.

Tim:          That’s awesome. That’s perfect, Shawn. That’s awesome. Thank you for that.

Shawn:      Yeah, cool. Well, we appreciate the questions and we appreciate the reviews. And let’s roll into our 10 Steps to Develop an Abundant Mindset, and it’s by Nicolette Stinson, and we’ll link the article. That’s from Chopra.com. I believe Deepak Chopra, who is very famous for this. And Stephen Covey has written about this quite a bit in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that’s one of the most famous books of all time. Certainly in business, but it transcended business, and Stephen Covey ended up just becoming an absolute phenomenon at the university level, at business powerpoints, [chuckles] and just, I can’t even say how massive of an impact this guy had. It was huge.

But getting into it, just reading from this article, “Fostering an abundance mindset has become widely recognized as a beneficial endeavor in personal and spiritual development. The prevailing belief is that creating an abundance mindset allows you to live an unlimited full and satisfying life, exude happiness despite circumstance…” and we talked about that a lot, that reframing, right? “…give and receive affections and items of high value with ease, feel plentiful creative and inspired, take full advantage of and enjoy new opportunities that come your way, create memorable and meaningful life experiences, feel secure and confident in your life endeavors, and create successful outcomes.”

I don’t know about you, [laughs] but that obviously sounds good. And going back to the question earlier, I mean, it seems like she could use some of this in her life, too, as she approaches “dieting” or eating. I just want to say just eating healthy.

Tim:          Yeah.

Shawn:      And then taking it another step further, there’s a nice side-by-side of a little matrix that has Acarcity and Abundance side-by-side in these columns. And it has Point of View, and in scarcity it says, “You’re a victim, a bully, or simply checked out.” And Point of View for Abundance is, “You’re in the driver’s seat.” For Physical Energy, under Scarcity it says, “Contracted body, tense shoulders, clenched jaw, short of breath. Abundance: Relaxed and alert, expansive posture, rooted and balanced, present, breathing deeply and evenly.” And I know, I actually battle this a lot. I get a hypertonic body related to some of my autoimmune stuff; my stress. I push very hard in life and this is something like I’m reading and I need to be aware of. I have the tense shoulders, I have the clenched jaw, I do get shortness of breath sometimes. So, this is clearly something that I need to be aware of.

And it’s interesting with body language too, that when you close your body down, like when you cross your arms, you’re literally protecting your core. You’re protecting your body, right? And sometimes we even slump over and we cross our arms and we put our head down, and then it’s the whole thing, right? We’re literally protecting the core, where our vital organs are.

And when you look at anyone who wins an event, even blind people, when they win at something they raise their arms, right? They open their body. Now their body’s completely wide open, completely exposed. And what does that mean? That’s a winner’s mindset. That’s an openness, that’s an acceptance. And there is some physiological things that happen when you cross your arms or when you open your arms, or even raise and open your arms. There’s physiological things that are tied to that.

Like the whole fake it till you make it, with a smile versus the frown. If you frown, there’s some body processes that go into place. There’s neurotransmitter changes when you frown, even if you don’t frown as a result of sadness. And the same that happens when you smile, and the same that happens when you cross your arms. Same that happens when you raise your arms. So, if you want to feel better in the morning, do that morning stretch and raise your arms and open your body. So, I think that’s an important thing to think about that just our body language can change our mindset and our well-being.

The next one after physical energy is emotional energy, and under Scarcity it says, “Draining energy in the room and your interactions. Feeling frustrated, impatient, anxious, afraid, angry, overwhelmed, and powerless. Giving power to groupthink and pressure.” That’s a powerful word, “groupthink.” And then under Abundance, “Feeling empowered, engaged positive, like you’re working on something bigger than yourself. You energize and inspire others. You’re excited about the challenges and growth ahead.” Now tell me, tell me. You know, we talked about science earlier. I mean, this is science. I mean, you may think, “Oh, this sounds woowoo for me,” but emotional energy, tell me you haven’t felt this, like the weight of someone in the room that’s just that they are frustrated, that they’re impatient, that they’re anxious, that they’re angry, that they’re overwhelmed, and that isn’t impacting you and you’re not feeling that. Trust me, you’ve been that person [chuckles] in the room sometimes. You probably quickly think of someone else, but trust me, you’ve been that person sometimes.

And you know when you felt positive, when you felt excited, when you felt energized, and you’re smiling and you’re giving, and you’re dreaming. People are attracted to you. Again, it’s The Secret, The Law of Attraction. People are like, “Whoa! I want to be a part of that.” Some people call it visionary, like Steve Jobs or this person or that person. I want to be a part of their vision because they just see something that’s bigger, as it says, bigger than themselves. And that is something that you can feel and you want to be a part of. And that’s that abundance mindset versus a scarcity mindset.

The last one is, “Mental energy. Confused, disorganized, narrow in your thinking. Only focusing on what’s not working. Typical thought pattern: I have no choice,” and that’s the scarcity. The Abundance is, “Feeling of clarity, the ability to perceive multiple angles, listen actively, and notice what others are not seeing. Flexible and adaptable. Typical thought pattern: I always have a choice. If I were to notice something new, what would it be? Creative agency, non-judgmental, beginner’s mind.”

I love “the beginner’s mind” and I know you love to talk about your daughter that the beginner’s mind approaches something with awe and wonder, and that means you’re open-minded. And when you’re open-minded, you are neuroplastic, you can learn. It’s that fluid intelligence versus the crystallized intelligence, where you’re neuroplastic and you can take on new tasks and learn them, it’s because you’re open‑minded and you’re approaching something like a child would, right?

Tim:          Yeah, definitely.

Shawn:      Yeah, I love when you talk about your daughter, [chuckles] actually because it’s great. Because I love to talk about evolution and kind of looking back at that stuff. And then it’s kind of similar to me because you’re going through all the stuff with your daughter and seeing her grow and seeing her learn, and so much of it is applicable to us. We’ve lost track of the child side of us.

Tim:          Right, absolutely. I mean, it’s a phenomenal process. It’s just eye-opening. The curiosity and that raw just zest for life. But like I’ve talked about before, too, that scarcity mindset comes into play early on because we shut that down, shut it down. Because we know, we have experiences in life, and we have an agenda as parents, as coworkers, whatever it is. We have a schedule that we are trying to abide to. My daughter, Parker, doesn’t have a schedule in her mind. It’s just wake up and explore the day. And she has to tag along for my schedule, which means, “No, don’t do this, no, don’t do this. Time to do this.” And so you can kind of see how the scarcity mindset gets developed at a young age. And I think it’s, if you don’t mind, I want to go back to defining the terms just a little bit here.

Shawn:      Yeah, definitely.

Tim:          Because I think scarcity and abundance, maybe people think about money and physical things.

Shawn:      Yeah.

Tim:          Maybe that’s where my mind went to first, but it goes way beyond that. So just to make some definitions and draw some lines here.

Shawn:      Yeah, definitely.

Tim:          Stephen Covey, which you mentioned already, defined abundance mindset, or the abundance mentality as, “A concept in which a person believes there are enough resources and successes to share with others.” And on the other side, the scarcity mindset says, “It’s founded on the idea that if someone else wins or is successful in a situation, that means you lose, and you don’t consider the possibility of all parties winning in some way or another in a given situation.” So, I thought it was interesting just to have some definitions.

Shawn:      Yeah.

Tim:          This matrix, which we’ll share in the blog post here in the show notes, is super. It just really does a great job of delineating these two mindsets. And one of the things that you talked about was the breathing aspect of things, and that’s something that I’ve been working on myself, just a breathing practice. And it’s been tremendously eye‑opening on how much of an effect that has on resiliency.

Shawn:      Is it Buteyko breathing?

Tim:          Actually, I was doing more of a Wim Hof type of a breathing method.

Shawn:      Maybe we can link those Buteyko and Wim Hoff. Those are two very popular in the biohacking sphere.

Tim:          You don’t even necessarily need a method. You just need to start breathing. [laughs]

Shawn:      Right.

Tim:          [chuckles] Take a deep breath in and blow it out.

Shawn:      Right.

Tim:          And take time to do that and you’ll notice that your posture improves, that you’ll lose some of that tenseness. On top of that, you’ll even have a better attitude, you’ll have better energy. So, the breathing thing really stood out to me.

Shawn:      Yes, so just going back to it, I always again talk about our evolutionary like why do we do the things we do. I always think that’s fascinating. So, there is a hardwired connection a lot of times. There is a crystallized intelligence, psychosomatic connections that make processes faster in the body. So I was talking about before, when you frown or when you smile, when you’re a baby there wasn’t the hardwired connections. As you get older, there’s more physiologic connections to make things faster, more efficient. And so, as we age, these things happen. And when you take shallow breaths, that means you’re stressed. Or when you’re stressed, you take shallow breaths. As we age, it doesn’t matter which order it comes in or the consequence, right?

Tim:          Right.

Shawn:      They become hardwired to one another. So if you want to de-stress yourself, you can change your breathing. And if you want to stress yourself without even a stressor being present, you can have short, shallow breaths. It literally happens like this. So, I want people to be aware of the power of what I’m talking about. You can change how you feel by simply smiling, opening up your arms, and changing your breathing. You don’t need to take a drug, you don’t need to meet this amazing person. You don’t need to have the best meal, you don’t have to have a $1,000 in your pocket. You literally can just smile, think of something that you’re grateful for, open up your arms and stretch, and take a long deep breath, and you’ll feel great.

One of the things I’ve talked about before that I get super stressed before I go up on stage. I’ve talked on stage [chuckles] a hundred times now and I still get stressed. And one of the things I do is I smile and I even try and make myself laugh before I go on stage. And we’ve talked about I like to look at the one person who’s super engaged or whatever, and focus on that person a little extra. And see if they’re if they’re looking back at me, that means a lot, that I’m connecting with them and they’re appreciating my material. All those things, it helps. So that would be some advice I’d give that there’s some super simple things that you can do to radically change your health, your well-being, your mindset that just take seconds.

Tim:          Yeah. And maybe we’ll get into this, but another thing that stood out to me there, along those same lines, and you’ve talked about this before too, Shawn, is the idea of working on something bigger than yourself. Literally going in with the mindset how can I serve others today? How can I bring value to someone else’s life? How can I bring energy to someone else?

Shawn:      100%

Tim:          When you envelope that mindset, it changes the game completely. But I love how you just talked about that. Even to me, the visualization of doing something positive is energizing. [laughs] It’s just crazy. I flew up here today, from Austin to Dallas, and got up here this morning. And I just felt good. In fact, the whole plane ride I was just working on these breathing techniques. And I was like this is good time to just basically meditate or whatever you want to call it. I got off the plane and I felt great. I literally wanted to start clapping and cheer everybody up in the airport. And just the thought of doing something like that made me feel great and ready to attack this day. And I was think about how can we serve others today on this show. I just want to say I’m grateful to be here with you and it just brought me a lot of energy to think that way. And I think that changing the mindset again is an important step in the process.

Shawn:      I’ve actually tried changing the way I finish a communication, especially an email or some direct message or whatever, electronically, where I say “let me know how I can be of service to you or how it can help you” instead of “hey, talk to you soon” or even the “have a great day.” I like to leave it with find a way that you can use me because if we are connected, I want to be helpful to you. I want to be of service to you. I don’t want our connection to be one where I use you and that’s the only reason we’re connected. I get my worth out of helping you, not taking from you.

Tim:          Right.

Shawn:      So yeah, I’ve tried to shift that in how I interact with people is having that giving mentality. And I think that’s how you can head down that path of the abundance mindset. But there’s ten items here that we’ll go through. And the first one is Become aware of your thoughts. “Cultivating mindfulness can help decipher when your thoughts are creating a mindset of scarcity or of abundance. By taking time to notice what type of thoughts are circulating in your head, you can begin to make a conscious effort to shift your thoughts towards abundance. Action: If you find you are getting less than amazing results in any area of life, ask yourself are my thoughts about this based in fear and scarcity? If so, then ask what do I need to do to shift my mindset to abundance. Write them down or share them with a friend for accountability.”

Obviously your thoughts are powerful and we’ve talked about this on a number of shows where, I mean, as your thoughts go so you go. And reality, as we call it, is based on our perception. Everyone’s reality is different. Not to get to quantum realm on this, but we all do have a different reality and you need to be aware of your thoughts. Your thoughts can be destructive or constructive. And a lot of times our personal thoughts we’re trying to drown them out with music, with TV, with friends, with driving as fast as we can, with talking to people at work, or whatever because our own thoughts are so horrible, so destructive, so negative.

That’s why you need to practice what we’ll get into with the next one, gratitude. But also daily affirmation type speaking and all those kinds of things where you talk positively to yourself. Certainly put yourself around people that are talking positive to you, but you need to talk positive to you. You can’t be saying, “I’m so stupid. I’m so fat. I’m so ugly. I’m so this and that.” It’s bad enough when you say it to yourself quietly, but I know a lot of people even vocalize it, which is lending a lot of power to that, and you need to be cognizant of that. So, becoming aware of your thoughts is super important. And that’s why I think doing journaling can be helpful, or talking to a coach. Because now you’re aware of your thoughts, and you can shift your thoughts.

Tim:          Yeah, 100%, Shawn. Awareness is a powerful step in change, in general. And you mentioned this before, when you were talking the matrix, that non-judgmental. Talk about a non-judgmental beginner’s mind, but this non-judgmental awareness. Like don’t judge yourself because you’re talking to yourself this way, or don’t judge yourself. All this first step is, is just becoming aware and getting off the autopilot. So dude, just listen to yourself. Take a step outside of Shawn Wells’ body for a minute and just listen how you talk to yourself, and just make note of things. Don’t feel bad about it. Don’t say you’re a bad person for having this thought or saying this thing about yourself. Just document it. Like you said, journal it. There you go. Now you’re aware of it. Now you’re prepared to start making change. So, awareness is a huge step in the process.

Shawn:      Super awesome point. And we do have conditioning, and we’ve been conditioned to feel guilt and shame about a lot of things that really aren’t real. A lot of things that we feel or that we are the result of our environment or the result of just the way we are as a person. It’s a human thing that we have certain thoughts. It’s a human thing that we experience these emotions. It’s human. It’s not a thing to have guilt or shame over. It’s things that you can recognize, you can receive, you can be aware of. Take time and say I am feeling this way, like you were saying, and then okay, now I’m going to move on. What am I going to do about it?

But it’s not bad that you feel this way. It’s not shameful. You shouldn’t have guilt that you feel this way. There are reasons that have been set into motion that you feel this way. Now what are you going to do about it? And that’s how you move forward. Stop shaming yourself, stop feeling guilty. That’s not constructive. That’s not positive. And it’s okay to feel however you’re feeling. And it’s time to just address it, be aware of it and then move on.

So, No. 2, Practice gratitude. Tim and I love this one. [chuckles] I think it’s an incredibly powerful tool. We’re going to have a whole show on practicing gratitude, so you can look forward to that. But it says, “Practicing gratitude is one of the most powerful and widely-recognized tools for creating abundance and happiness. There are numerous studies on the power of gratitude and well-being. According to Oprah Winfrey, if you look at what you have in life, you will always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you will never have enough.” That’s a powerful thought. She’s amazing. In the same vein, Tony Robbins, who’s another amazing person is quoted for saying “When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.”

So you can see how powerful gratitude is, right? Being thankful. And it says, “Action: Keep a gratitude journal and write down what you’re genuinely grateful for every day. Aim to record at least 10 items. If you get stuck, remember to list simple things that often get overlooked such as the bed you sleep in, a hot shower, the clean air you breathe, or just the chance to live another day.”

Those are great. Just feeling the sunshine on your skin, the smell of chocolate chip cookies. [Tim laughs] The fact that, we talked about this, that the elevator worked, that the plane you flew in, Tim, went up in the air [chuckles] and landed safely. I mean that is a miracle, an absolute mind‑blowing miracle that I’ve talked about on other shows. I’ll never stop being in of. You’re in this little tin can [Tim chuckles] zooming through the sky. It is a crazy, crazy thing. And we can get to and fro in this thing, where the birds are, above the birds, above the clouds. What?

Tim:          Those crazy Wright brothers.

Shawn:      You should you should certainly have gratitude for this. And there’s just so many things that we have in our lives that we should be thankful for. I mean, you’re walking. I mean, hopefully most people that listen to this, if you are walking, that is a huge blessing. There’s people that cannot walk. There’s people that are bed-bound, there’s people in wheelchairs, and you’re walking. I mean, there’s just so much to be thankful for.

Tim:          Yeah, and this quote from Oprah’s is spot-on because it’s basically saying that gratitude equals abundance, right? Because when we’re thinking about what we don’t have, that equals scarcity. So, literally, you shift from—if we’re talking about scarcity versus abundance mindset—you’re literally shifting the mindset just by practicing gratitude. If you take nothing else away from this article or from this podcast, this is it: practice gratitude.

One other thing I’ll mention. We talk a lot about gratitude journaling, which I think is awesome because it’s a very internal focus thing where we can develop that, articulate that abundance mindset. But my other suggestion would be to share gratitude.

Shawn:      Yes.

Tim:          In one way or another, say thank you to someone else. Whether it’s through an email, whether it’s through a phone call, whether it’s through a text message, or even better, through a face-to-face communication. Genuine gratitude can not only make you feel good in your heart about that, that other person is going to be very touched, especially if it’s unexpected.

Shawn:      I got a task for everyone listening, and please write me if you do this, and please do this. Email or call one person a day. Take ten minutes. One person a day and tell them what you think is amazing about them and what you’re thankful for. You can do it on Facebook Messenger, you can do it on Instagram Direct Message, you can send it by email, you can leave a voice memo on WhatsApp. Whatever way you want to do it, do it. But just tell someone why you appreciate them and what makes them great. And watch how much in 30 days your world changes. Watch how much comes back to you. And I’m going to do this, too. Will you commit to this with me, Tim?

Tim:          I’m doing it.

Shawn:      Okay. So we’re going to do this together. This is completely off the cuff, but I think it’s kind of cool for the holidays.

Tim:          30-day Gratitude Challenge.

Shawn:      30-day Gratitude Challenge. We’re going to do it and we’re going to see how much our worlds change and we’re going to report back and we’re going to do a show on it. And it would be really awesome if we get feedback from you guys. And maybe you can put this in the VIP forum.

Tim:          Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Shawn:      Okay, cool. And hopefully we can get some feedback on it. So, I’m kind of excited about that now. So, 3. Recognize the unlimited possibilities. “The enemy of abundance is contracted awareness. One fun Harvard study found that when people focus intently on one particular thing, other possibilities right in front of them go completely unnoticed. It is vital to loosen the mind’s focus and create an expanded awareness that fosters the abundance mentality. Action: Maintain a regular meditation practice or take a few minutes each day just to be somewhere quiet and peaceful and have an intention to clear your mind and allow new abundant possibilities to come into light.”

I need this one completely. I am somebody who’s very busy minded, very driven, and I take very little time to just relax, and like you said, breathe deeply and not focus, and let things just come into my mind and just relax the mind. We say, “Oh, I need to relax,” and you sit on the couch and you’re watching violence and all these things and you’re hyper‑stimulated from your 4k HDR-enhanced TV. And there’s lights and colors, and sound, and yelling, and screaming. Is that relaxing? Really? Relaxing, even when you’re in a car and the music’s turned up in the boom boom boom boom boom, is that relaxing? I mean really relaxing is unplugging, is deep breathing, is quiet, is solitude. And you may think that I don’t have access to those things. Yu can make time for five minutes of that a day, somewhere in your day. So, I would encourage you to do that.

Tim:          When you were reading this, Shawn, it reminded me of a point guard in basketball, and how a point guard has a play in mind that he wants to execute. But he sees the floor. He sees what the defense is giving him. He sees the movement of his teammates, and he’s going to find, a really good point guard’s going to find the best way to get something done. And he’s going to improvise if he needs to, but he’s going to see all the possibilities. And so my takeaway there [chuckles] is kind of be the point guard of your life and see all the possibilities around you.

Now we’ve talked about, on many occasions, the importance of focusing on one task at a time. So, we don’t want to lose that in like how multitasking can be very distracting and a myth, and things that. So we don’t want to lose the idea of focusing on one thing at a time, necessarily. But the idea here is to be open to possibilities. Be open‑minded, right? Like we talked about, that non-judgmental beginner’s mind.

Shawn:      A scientific mind, as I’m arguing.

Tim:         Right. Exactly. That’s a tremendous point. The scientific mind is an open mind. One way that that I think this could be expanded is with talks about meditation, which I think is great. And there’s many different ways to meditate. You don’t have to be a Buddhist monk or anything that, but is cold therapy. It’s very, [chuckles] very distracting in the moment. I’m talking about a cold shower or a contrast shower.

Shawn:      Right.

Tim:          Or a cold plunge. But in the acute immediate setting it’s distracting, right? Cold is distracting. You’re pretty much trying to not focus on being cold. But what happens afterwards, for many people, is this open-mindedness and this clairvoyance of being able to take in multiple inputs and things that. So, for me, cold therapy has become a form of meditation, as well. So that would be my point there, is that there’s different types of meditation, and I think that cold therapy, something as simple as finishing your shower 30 seconds cold or a minute cold can have a profound effect on your mindset.

Shawn:      It’s really interesting, scientifically. I love that, Tim. It kind of reminds me of a trigger point, which I do on people sometimes. Super effective. So, trigger point, if people know massage, is let’s say I use my thumb on Tim. He has a knot. Like a lot of times people have in their trapezium, like in their shoulder, because their head is forward over their computers and they don’t sleep right. There’s usually a rock-sized knot that’s in your shoulders. And I’ll just stick my thumb in it as hard as I can, pushing down on it. And I’ll leave it there for a good minute or two. And you can feel it, and you can feel it, and people’s even say, “This is painful. This hurts so much.” And you’re pushing all the blood out of it. And then you pull your thumb off and all of a sudden nutrients just flood in, and the whole thing just lets go. And it just kind of reminds me of what you’re talking about, [laughs] it’s a similar metaphor, if you will. When you take away that cold that all of a sudden all these things flood in.

Tim:          Well, now that you mentioned that, an interesting physiological phenomenon with cold therapy is that it’s a stress response. Because that cold, that thermal stress is a stress on the body, and it’s going to initiate the sympathetic nervous system. But with repeated exposure, what happens is that sympathetic nervous system spike is lessened. And subsequently, the parasympathetic nervous system is heightened. And so that’s the parasympathetic system is compensatory. The sympathetic is known as your fight-or-flight, parasympathetic known as your rest-and-digest. But don’t confuse that with you’re going to pass out and fall asleep. It’s just that you have this calm, focused attention about you when that parasympathetic nervous system kicks in. So that’s why the breathing, the meditation, cold therapy, and Shawn pushing down as hard as he can for two minutes could be helpful. [chuckles]

Shawn:      Well, the ideal is the balance right?

Tim:          Right.

Shawn:      So, yeah, having the sympathetic and parasympathetic balance. One of the things I love about green tea is that it’s the ultimate formulation.

Tim:          It’s nature’s balance.

Shawn:      It really is. So it has EGCG, which just promotes health. So if I picture the seesaw, that one is an awesome antioxidant. It’s also helps with blood flow, vasodilation. I put that one in the middle. And then over on the sympathetic side is the caffeine content in the green tea, which is sympathetic. And then on the parasympathetic side is the theanine, which is relaxing and calming. And so you have this ultimate formulation in green tea of these compounds that kind of keep you balanced and in the middle. And it’s kind of a cool thing. As a formulator, I’m like, “Ah, nature formulated this one.” [laughs]

Tim:          Yeah, exactly.

Shawn:      It’s kind of cool. So that’s one of the reasons why green tea has literally been the most amazing beverage since the beginning of time. I mean, way before there was wine and some of these other things, coffee even, there was green tea in Asian cultures and it’s an incredible beverage for your health. So, moving on. And by the way, I love how they give action for each of these points. That’s a really cool thing. So I want to acknowledge that and have gratitude for that.

So, No. 4, Cultivate and Share your Passions and Purpose. “Understanding and creating confidence in the things you are both great at and love to do is an excellent way to foster belief in yourself. Learn how to share your gifts and provide value by serving those who would benefit most. Confidently share what you do through a personal brand presence online or in person.” And it says download this free checklist and it gives the exact steps to creating an abundant personal brand. “Take consistent action on the steps provided in order to share unique value to the world.”

I can tell you that I am known as the world’s greatest formulator. I’m a humble person and I have a hard time every time I say that, almost asking for forgiveness when I say it. Like I’m being cocky and I’ve actually achieved financial success and career success. And a lot of times I feel awkward when I talk about these things. And that’s not operating from an abundance mindset. Even though I feel like I’m doing it to make myself easier on others to take. But I need to be confident about the things I’m great at. The way that I can make it easier for others is I can talk about all their strengths and why I’m thankful for them, and how they have helped me become this amazing thing that I’m great at. Because I didn’t do it on my own. No one does it on their own.

And usually your gifts to be great have to be shared on top of that. If I’m the world’s greatest formulator, that would be super lame if I’m just—we talked about this on another show—like Bruno Mars and Adele, they have to share their gifts, right? I’m sharing my gift. I’m working on these things for people and helping them with their formulations, helping them become healthier, educating them on the science. So it’s a shared gift and I shouldn’t have fear to talk about my strengths, my abilities. And I should be confident and I should reinforce those things, and I should feel proud of myself. Like, “Hey man, I’m really good at some things.” There’s some things I’m not great at and that’s fine.

And I think about we’ve talked about that quote with Einstein about the fish feeling stupid because it can’t climb up the tree, and that’s what it’s been asked to do. And the fish needs to swim and the squirrel or whatever needs to climb the tree. The squirrel can’t swim that well and the fish can’t climb the tree that well, but we all have genius. We all have brilliance. We all have things that we do amazingly well. I don’t care who it is. I’ve seen people play video games better than if I sat down and played the rest of my life, I couldn’t play the video game as well. If I played ping pong the rest of my life, I couldn’t play ping pong as well. There’s people that their passion and their abilities, it’s so apparent that they’ve become really good at something, and I to recognize that, no matter what form it is. No matter what form, because there’s all kinds of things in this world that can amaze you, if you let it. And I love recognizing people’s genius.

And when you say “every single person has genius,” and here’s another challenge for you, maybe over the next 30 days. Look at each person in your life and say what’s their area of genius? Because every single person has an area of genius. Every single person. It’ll change the way you think about people and you’ll start feeling better about yourself and feeling more confident about your areas of genius when you recognize it’s not cocky to talk about genius. That everyone has brilliance, including you.

Tim:          That is brilliant, Shawn Wells. Yeah, that’s awesome. It’s beautiful. And when you think about a scarcity mindset, it’s like a hoarder mindset, to a degree. And what this kind of made me think about is how a lot of people either don’t want to share their passion or don’t want to take the time to teach someone else how to do things, especially within the workplace. Or even in the case as a parent. I may not want to take the time to teach my daughter how to do this, “I’ll just do it for you. It’ll be faster.” And that happens in the workplace as well. And it’s so empowering when you teach someone else to do something.

And I had to look up this quote because this is what it reminds me of. You say, “Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. You teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” And that’s the abundance mindset, is really empowering someone else to fend for themselves, to strive for success in their own way. And that’s what this is about. Sharing your passion and sharing these gifts you have is not selfish. It’s very giving. It’s loving and sharing your heart. That’s what this is about is sharing what’s important to you, sharing what you’ve learned with others, sharing your expertise, sharing your talents.

There are so many things that I wish I would have learned at a younger age so that I would have known how to do these things now. But it’s that curious mindset, we still want to learn to do those things. But ask questions. Ask people how they got to where they are. Ask people those things. But on the other end, share. Be a sharer. [chuckles] It’s not your information. You were blessed with a set of gifts and talents, with knowledge, and that’s meant to share. It’s meant to endow to others.

Shawn:      Love that, Tim. I love when you share with me, man. That’s so good.

Tim:          It’s a sharing environment.

Shawn:      Yeah, you’re the best. You’re the best. So, 5. Develop Mastery Experiences. “The best way to create self-efficacy, which is the deep knowledge that you create whatever you want in life and live abundantly, is to consciously create mastery experiences. Mastery experiences are the past experiences of success that create mastery in one area. For example, if you get 1% better at something each day, then a year later you’ll be 365% better.” I don’t know that that’s mathematically correct, actually.

Tim:          [laughs]

Shawn:      But I get what they’re saying.

Tim:          Compound interest, man. [chuckles]

Shawn:      Yeah. “And we’ll have created a mastery experience. Action: Think of a big goal that you want to achieve. Now write a list of all the small actions you need to take to get there. Focus on the small achievable steps in the process and soon you will have successfully reached your goal.” Totally true and we’ve talked about how it’s just if you look at how daunting it is to become a master at something, then it can be overwhelming. It’s like how does LeBron James do that? How does Arnold Schwarzenegger do that? How does Tiger Woods do that? I don’t know. I don’t know. Like how does Einstein or da Vinci, how do they do that?

But if you start breaking things down, I mean I can’t promise that you’ll become those exact people, and we’ve talked about how you shouldn’t want to. You should want to be the best version of yourself, not become other people. But you can use them as an inspiration. And you think about how you can get there with small achievable steps. And if you listen to people like Arnold Schwarzenegger, he talks about all the steps that he took, all the sacrifice that he had, and he thought about it being rungs on the ladder. And he was willing to climb that ladder over time; that tall ladder with all the little rungs that he had to reach for, and the sacrifice that it needed. And it’s not glorious when you take these small steps. But it does break things down. It makes them bite-size, makes them achievable, makes them something that you can do when you take one step forward, then another step forward, then another step forward, then another step forward.

And we talked about the connecting the dots, Steve Jobs quote, “It’s only when you look back that you can connect the dots.” So now, turn around and look at all the steps you’ve taken, and it’s kind of impressive where you are now versus where you were then. Maybe becoming the master shredder on the guitar isn’t so easy, but you know what? Over the next year, you can learn your chords, you can take some lessons, you can become better than someone who has never picked up a guitar. And just give that to yourself. Give that gift to yourself. You don’t need to beat yourself up to be a master, but you can take steps towards mastery.

Tim:          Yeah, 100%, Shawn. I love this because basically what it boils down to me is that you’re saying that this is a practice that you’re committed to. And practice is going to involve “mistakes,” learning experiences, or however you want to look at it. But it’s not just point A to point B. There’s A1, A2, A3, A4, whatever it is, to get to where ultimately you want to be. And I think it was Steven K. Scott who maybe mentioned it in his book, The Richest Man Who Ever Lived. I think that’s the book. But it talked about breaking down larger goals and chunking them into smaller milestones along the way. So you have things to celebrate, too, but you also know where you’re going.

But I love the idea of practice and two other words that come to mind to me are “diligence” and “persistence.” And so this is great. If it was really 1% improvement every day, that would be awesome. But sometimes it’s not going to be linear all the time. But even when things don’t seem like it’s a 1% improvement, you learned something that day, if you’re committed to your practice. And so, I love the idea of just looking at it that way and I just think this is a super prominent point to say break that big goal down into smaller steps.

Because like you talked about LeBron, he knows that man I gotta work on this shot. This is the shot I need to work on. Right now this is my weakness. And I bet he’s spending, I bet he’s taken that shot 500 times today in order to get better. Or he knows that this defenders going to guard him this way, so he needs to work on this move. He just knows exactly what he needs to work on.

Shawn:      You’re awesome, Tim. By the way, we’re going to go a little long on this episode and I want your feedback on that. Because I don’t want to cut this episode up and I want to just keep going, so you tell me if it’s okay that we go a little long sometimes. And instead of trying to keep things to 40 minutes or worrying about going over an hour, we’re going to go over an hour and we’re just going to do an awesome episode. So, we just want to hear your feedback on that. Because sometimes when we get rolling, we just keep rolling, and I feel that serves you best, the listeners. So, let us know if you agree with that.

But Concentrate on Growth is No. 7. “The concept of a growth mindset was developed by psychologist, Carol Dweck, and popularized in her book, Mindset: the New Psychology of Success. Dweck writes, ‘In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. Brains and talent are just the starting point.'” This view is kind of what you were just talking about, Tim. “This view creates a love of learning and resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. A growth mindset is directly related to an abundance mindset.” That’s a great point. “Action: Become curious about other people and their experiences. Have an intention to ask someone every day about their life, what their goals are and how they plan to achieve them. Practice simply listening to their answers and learning from what they have to say instead of talking about your own life or offering your own advice. Then reflect on your own beliefs about your ability and the abilities of others around you to change and grow.”

We can add this to our 30-day challenge. So I’ve got a couple layers to it now, [Tim laughs] that you can tell someone what they’re great at, you can tell someone or recognize their genius in something. I mean, I guess the first step was being grateful to them. Second is recognizing their genius in something. And then third is asking if you can help them in any way. If you can be of service to them, even by listening. And I’m interested to know more about you.

Can everyone do this? Can you reach out to one person a day, “I’m grateful to you for _____. I think you’re a genius at ______, and I want to know more about you and how I can serve you and create a deeper relationship with you. How do I do that?” That would be really cool if you do those three things to one person a day. It’s not going to take much time, and I’m really curious to know what comes back to you. So yes, Tim. [laughs]

Tim:          I think we missed number six. [laughs]

Shawn:      Did we? Oh, yes we did.

Tim:          But real quick. That great book on the mindset. There’s a really good article on our blog about mental fortitude that talks about the difference between growth versus fixed mindset. So, a fixed mindset would be the counter of a growth mindset. And growth mindset is basically what we’ve talked about before is that there’s no such thing as a failure. Those are just learning experiences. But a fixed mindset looks at that as a failure in life, like I’m not going to get better, I’m not going to improve, and things that. And so these are plastic. These are changeable. You don’t really have a fixed mindset, but we often are groomed that way. That this is our ceiling. This is our limit. This is all we got. But the growth mindset is that there’s no limit. And that obviously goes in line with the abundance mindset.

Shawn:      Awesome points.

Tim:          It’s a great book.

Shawn:      Awesome points. All right, well then going back, 6. Watch What You Say. This is great. This is a huge one. “The language you use, as well as what you tell yourself and others, shapes your reality.” This is literally what we were talking about before. “Are you telling stories of scarcity or telling stories of abundance? Action: When you are engaged in conversation with a friend or the universe, notice what you are saying about your experience and beliefs. When you find yourself talking about something you can’t have, be or do, even though it’s what you actually desire, stop yourself and have the courage to say thank you for listening to me but I actually want to take that statement back. Because that is a scarcity mentality and I am creating an abundance mentality. Then say something that is possible from an abundance mentality.”

I would love if someone said something that to me, because we’re saying stuff all the time. And, again it’s just reality. We can’t be perfect. We can’t be Mr. Abundance 24/7. [laughs]. It’s reality that we have scarcity mindset and we have scarcity things that we say. But I would love if someone catches themselves and says, “You know what? Even though I just said that, I’m sorry Tim. That’s a scarcity mentality and I am someone that’s trying to create an abundance mentality, and here’s what I should be saying.” Wouldn’t you be deeply impressed with that person?

Tim:          Yeah.

Shawn:      I think that’s super cool.

Tim:          It also reminds me of those people, when a bunch you throw anything at them, and they’re just like, “Yep, we can make that happen,” no matter what. And then on the other hand you have the people you throw something at them that’s unexpected and they say, “That’s not going to work.” This is something that I have to work on because I feel even body language-wise when something deviates from the plan a little bit I’m thinking, “We can make it work but…” Even if you’re the type of person that says we can make work but, get rid of the “but” and just say, “We can make it work.” Then maybe go on say, “These are the things we’re going to have to do to get there.” But make things work. Make it work, if it’s something you really want.

Shawn:      I love that. Oh, here we go right here. We talked about this earlier with your daughter. No. 8, Think Like A Beginner. “An abundance mentality craves learning and growth, requiring an underlying knowledge that you don’t know everything, even about topics you may have mastered.” And we’ve talked about this on the imposter syndrome episode that sometimes on the things you master, it’s those areas you start almost feeling more insecure because now you know so much about that area that you realize all the things that you don’t know. And that’s kind of an interesting phenomenon.

But, “The beginner’s mindset is about having the ability to maintain an attitude of openness and enthusiasm, along with the willingness to override existing preconceptions just as a true beginner would, no matter how learned or experienced you may be. Action: Decide to learn something new that places you into an uncomfortable state of not knowing. It may be learning a new hobby, language, or even starting a passion project. Anything that sounds interesting and forces you to learn.”

And of course I love this. Again, that’s having the open mind, the excited mind, the creative and curious mind, and that’s when you learn things. When you’re closed down, when you know it all, when you aren’t curious, you will not learn. You’re resisting. Your brain is literally resistant to learning. You’re going to hear the things and deflect those things. And it’s you’re a filter and you’re pushing it away. The only way to truly learn to be neuroplastic, to have an inquisitive soul is to have that curiosity, to have that burning passion to be the beginner, and recognize that there’s so much you don’t know.

Tim:          Yeah, no, that’s awesome, Shawn. I like this one, too. It kind of reminds me of, like you said, we talked about in the imposter syndrome. I think it’s called the learning paradox. As we’ve learned more about our mastery experience, we realize the less we know.

Shawn:      Right.

Tim:          Whereas 10-15 years ago we probably thought we knew everything. Or at least I did. I was like, “Yeah, I know that. I know all that.”

Shawn:      Yeah.

Tim:          The other aspect of this, too, is not only cultivating that curiosity within yourself, but encouraging and promoting curiosity within others. And I say that, like we talk to ourselves often. I say that as a parent. But I also say it as a co-worker and sharing information, sharing knowledge with others, and in people within our trade or our field, or with your loved ones at home. You know, something that I do is if we talk about something that you blow my mind every time we’re talking. And so I go home and I talked to my wife, Amy, about it, and I share that with her. Not only is it exciting to me, but I know that I’m cultivating that curious mind within her. So when you learn something new, be excited to share it with other people and cultivate that curiosity. Not everyone’s going to bite the bait, but there might be someone who does and maybe someone who even knows even more about that topic that can feed your curiosity in turn.

Shawn:      Exactly. If they see that you’re someone who loves to learn and loves new things, they’ll bring you new things.

Tim:          Yeah, exactly.

Shawn:      Because they’re going to see your enthusiasm when they bring you new items of knowledge.

Tim:          Yeah.

Shawn:      And how exciting is that to share? No. 9, Focus on What is Going Right. “Humans have a tendency to notice what’s bad more easily than what’s good. It’s not your fault. Your brain is actually wired that way, thanks to evolution.” Of course, I love this stuff. “Ancestors who were quick to see threats were more likely to survive and pass along their DNA than those who weren’t. But optimists rely on an abundance mindset and lead better, longer lives.” And this is a great point. We’re not in that fight-or-flight scenario that often. So even though, to their point, it serves us when we’re in these kind of environments and it served us through evolution. Now we will live better lives with an abundance mindset.

So the action is, “The next time you have a perceived problem or something doesn’t seem to be going right, look at the problem from a larger more holistic perspective. Instead of focusing on what is going wrong and trying to fix the problem, focus instead on what is actually going right as it relates to the topic and brainstorm ways to support that even further.” It’s cool stuff. So, focus on what is going right. I mean, this is kind of gratitude and certainly fits into everything we’ve talked about up until now.

Tim:          It’s actually part of the growth mindset also.

Shawn:      Yeah.

Tim:          So, they’re basically just saying a tendency to focus on the things that are going wrong and the bad things. And what we like to talk about sometimes in coaching is highlight the bright spots. So, if someone’s trying to improve their nutrition, they might focus on a cheat or something that they had, something they ate. But maybe they ate 80% of the right stuff, and so focus on that or focusing on what you’re doing well can really put you in a better mindset and can help you continue to move forward. Again, it’s a daily practice. It’s about progress, not perfection, as cliché as that sounds.

Shawn:      So that goes back to those small steps forward towards your mastery, right?

Tim:          Yes, yes.

Shawn:      You’re trying to master your life, and if you break it down and you’re focusing on it. And when you do break it down in those small steps, if being a master guitar player is your goal, then that can be overwhelming. And if that’s your own only step is I’m horrible or I’m a master guitar player, [Tim laughs] then you’ll have no wins, right? You’ll have no wins. But if you break things down into small steps, not only is it more achievable, but you get to celebrate all these wins, these milestones along the way.

Tim:          Right, absolutely. That’s awesome.

Shawn:      So, 10. Create Abundance Affirmations. And this is the final one, so we’re wrapping, people. [laughs] “Research from Carnegie Mellon University suggests that the use of positive affirmations can improve your problem-solving skills and decrease signs of stress. Using affirmations can help to shift your mentality from scarcity to abundance. Action: Make a list of any fears that you have in regards to a particular problem or about life in general, that may be coming from scarcity mentality. Write down what you think is going to happen from your voice of fear or scarcity, and then write down the opposite of what your fears are and what you deeply desire. Use the second list as your own personal list of daily affirmations. While it may not be completely natural at first, anyone can begin to create an abundance mindset and live in a meaningful and fulfilling life by taking consistent action. You can make the decision to starting a life of healthy abundance today as you begin to expand your awareness and notice any scarcity mentality that might arise. Using these action steps, you’ll be well on your way to towards creating an abundance mindset.”

I like the action of—this is pretty powerful. I know there’s gratitude journals, but this Abundance/Actioning journaling, it’s cool that you write down okay what is your ultimate fear, what’s the worst‑case scenario. Because you know that’s 99.9% of the time not going to happen, right? And then write down the opposite of that, like what’s the dream scenario, and now tell yourself those words back to yourself. That can be so enthralling and you want to talk about a growth mindset, like, well how do we get there? Talking about that mastery thing. Well, I have this set of dreams now, this incredible, like what’s the best-case scenario? How do we get there? How we take steps towards that? And the worst thing that’s going to happen is you get closer to amazing.

Tim:          Yeah. [laughs]

Shawn:      Is that so bad? [laughs] And I love the application of the abundance mindset.

Tim:          Yeah, you tied that one up tight.

Shawn:      [laughs] All right, well thank you everyone for listening. We’re going to put out this this 30-day challenge. I’m excited to have you guys do that. It’ll be in the VIP Facebook group at BioTrust.com/VIP. So remember, the next 30 days, whenever you’re listening to this, whenever you’re listening to this. And if you can write us about it, it would be great, after your 30 days. But take 30 days, one person a day, tell them what you’re thankful to them for tell, them what they’re a genius at, and tell them if there’s any way that you can help them, listen to them, or deepen your relationship with them and be of service to them. And that takes a couple minutes.

Tim:          Yeah.

Shawn:      And watch what happens to you over the next 30 days. So, I’m excited to do that myself. I’m excited for Tim to do it, and I’m excited for all of you to do it. And love you guys and appreciate you guys.

Tim:          Cheers.