The core theme is that achieving significant wealth and success, as exemplified by the top 1%, is not primarily driven by luck, intelligence, or hard work, but by adopting a distinct set of mental principles that fundamentally alter how one approaches challenges, decisions, and resource management.
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Your brain is keeping you stuck. Not
because you're lazy or untalented, but
because you're thinking like everyone
else, and everyone else is making bad
financial decisions. I've spent hundreds
of hours around billionaires, and I grew
up around people with nothing. The
difference [music] between them has
nothing to do with luck or intelligence
or even work ethic. It's how they think.
And the 1% think in a way that
completely flips the rules of money to
their advantage. So, here are the
[music] six mental principles the top 1%
use to think differently about
everything and how you can use them to
build real sustainable wealth no matter
where you're starting from. When faced
with stress, [music] setbacks, or drama,
the 1% asks one question that changes
everything. You see, every time a deal
falls apart or key person quits, pause
[music] and ask yourself, will this even
matter in 5 years? This might seem
simple, but it is crazy how 99% of the
time the answer is no. And having
[music] that perspective is so important
because it keeps you focused [music] on
what compounds, not what distracts.
Recently on a Thursday, I had just
wrapped up an entire day of one-on- ons,
backtoback meetings with my team
members. And I get a late night text
from one of my team members who says, "I
need to talk to you." So, of course, I
[music] pick up the phone, give her a
call, and she lets me know that one of
our favorite team members is resigning
and he's no longer going to be with us
after two weeks. And after a day that
wasn't the most awesome [music] day, it
could have been super easy to be upset,
be frustrated, freak out, go into all of
this chaos [music] about what it's going
to look like for us to have to retrain
somebody, much less get over the fact
that the person that we really enjoy
working with is no longer to work with
us. But [music] instead of any of that
happening, she and I just had a very
calm conversation and [music] I used
this framework then thinking about in
five years from now will I even remember
that this bad news took place? Because
the reality of the situation is in 5
years from now I'm going to be really
excited about what I'm building, what
she's building, and what he's building.
And so having these moments of stress
and drama and friction, they're never
worth it because you're not even going
to remember that the situation happened.
You're going to remember how you handled
it. And if [music] you are a stressed
out person, you will always respond with
stress. If you are a calm, confident
person who can work through problems,
you are going to always remember that
your life was filled [music] with fun,
exciting moments and different twists
and turns and excitement. You see, most
people confuse urgency with importance.
Just because something feels urgent
doesn't mean it's actually important [music]
[music]
and that you have to stress out about
it. The 1% are able to separate the two
by applying [music] a long-term
perspective. Now, this doesn't mean that
you should ignore all of your problems.
They're real problems, but you should
triage them correctly. [music]
So, next time something goes wrong, just
pause before you react and ask yourself,
will this matter in [music] 5 years? If
not, handle it with minimal energy. If
it will, then give your full strategic
attention to it and solve the problem.
So instead of freaking out, we were able
to make a game plan and [music] get
clear on who would need to replace him
in order for the team to continue to
thrive. And one thing that I have
mastered after [music] having
interviewed thousands of people is an
interview process. And if you're
interested in the process that I've used
to hire thousands of people, go to
Instagram, [music] check me out, Natalie
Dawson, and send me a direct message
that says interview, and I will send my
process over to [music] you right now.
Now, the next principle is something
that goes against what most people think
about when getting rich. Don't focus on
hard work. Focus on [music] patterns.
When I kept seeing top performers
burning out after hitting their first
million dollars [music] in revenue, I
realized that this was a pattern
problem. Over the last 10 years, I've
had the opportunity to study thousands
of businesses. And [music] I get to see
the difference between business owners
who operate a million-doll business
versus a $10 million business versus
[music] a $50 million business. And the
majority of businesses never get over
this million-doll mark. And it made me
really look into [music] what is
actually happening at this million-doll
mark inside any business. And what's
happening is the business owner isn't
able to see that they are the problem
and that they are unable [music] to
train other people effectively. So, I
stopped having the same conversation
over and over because I realized that me
solving one business owner's problem
individually [music]
over and over again was actually the
same problem that they were running
into. [music] So, I didn't take the
approach of continuing to solve one-off
problems. And instead, I built a system
which is in my book called Teamwork,
[music] which is an end toend people
framework that teaches founders exactly
how to break through the $1 million
ceiling. [music]
The way I like to look at this is if I
have to solve the same problem two or
three times, it's not a coincidence.
[music] This is a system issue. And the
1% are able to zoom out and see these
cycles that keep repeating. Cycles could
be people cycles, cash flow cycles,
operational cycles, and they use that
insight [music] to make smarter and
faster processes, smarter and faster
systems because hard work just makes you
busy. But pattern [music] recognition,
when you're able to tie a solution to
it, allows you to become rich. So look
at the last three problems that you've
solved [music] and ask yourself, are
they actually the same problem wearing
different masks? If you're solving the
same type of issue repeatedly, stop
doing that. [music]
Instead, build a system around the
problem. Then you can document that
system once you have the solution in
place and it gets [music] implemented
forever. That is how you scale.
Principle number three is something that
completely changed how I make decisions.
It's called one level up thinking. When
my team brings me problems, I don't just
jump in with answers anymore. I [music]
ask myself, if I were on the board, how
would I handle this? What advice would I
give? You see, this allows me to no
longer react emotionally and forces me
to think structurally. It also prevents
me from jumping in and solving the
problem. And this is one of the lessons
that I actually learned for my husband a
handful of years ago early on in our
business. There was a massive
fulfillment problem that we were about
to run into. And it was going to require
hundreds of hours of [music] rework on
projects that were already mid-stream
that clients were expecting to be
delivered. And this area of the business
was my responsibility. But instead of
him hopping in to help me solve these
problems, he refused to get involved. He
let me figure out how to solve this
problem because it was my [music] job to
figure this out. It wasn't his job. And
that was invaluable to me because it
[music] was actually difficult for him
to not jump in. It wasn't something that
was easy as if he was just giving me
work and [music] didn't want to do it.
No, he wanted to solve the problem, but
he didn't allow himself to get derailed
from what his job was. So when you
remove the emotion, you set your team up
and the structure up for success.
Because if you keep hopping in and
solving the problem, the team never gets
better. The system never gets better.
You just keep getting sucked into doing
the same thing over and over [music]
again. And this is how I went from being
an operator to an architect. From doing
the work to learning how to design the
machine, the 1% [music] constantly zoom
out of their current level to think at
the next one. And that is how you start
acting like a CEO long before you get
the title. So next time you face a
decision, pause and ask yourself, how
would someone a level above me handle
the situation? What would they see that
I'm not seeing? What would they
prioritize that I might be ignoring?
This will instantly upgrade your
decision-m. Principle number four might
be the hardest one to master, but it is
also the most powerful. Emotionless
decision-m equals freedom. When I fired
my executive vice president, [music] it
wasn't emotional. It was math. And the
numbers told the story before the drama
ever did. You see, when [music] somebody
comes into your environment and you
actually look at the numbers, you look
at whatever it is that that role is
supposed to drive, [music] and you see
that the numbers before them were
growing, maybe [music] like this or
maybe they were at least flat. But when
they come into the environment, you can
[music] actually plot this person joined
at this point. And you watch what
happens with the graph. And if the graph
starts to go like this in a variety, if
not all of the metrics [music] that that
person is responsible for, you do not
need to use any motion when firing the
person [music] because it's just math.
And that math is tied to the results
that they weren't able to create inside
the organization. So, it [music] can get
really emotional and you can use emotion
and start pointing fingers and having
all sorts of drama around it. It is
simply [music] can a person in my life
do the job that they're supposed to do?
And the only way that you know if
somebody is doing the job they're
supposed to do is if your stats in life
get [music] better and anyone inside
your environment where your life gets
worse around [music] them means that
they are not fulfilling the role that
they have in your life. So, they have to
go. I used to second guessess tough
calls and take things very personally.
[music] But now I treat my emotions like
background noise. I can acknowledge
them, but I make decisions based off of
[music] the data. And that discipline
gives me peace and it gives me
precision. Because [music] the elite do
not make decisions based off of their
emotions. They make decisions based off
of datadriven bets. [music] They
separate their feelings from true facts.
Emotions slow down execution where
clarity [music] actually compounds with
wealth. So, next time you face a tough
decision, write down the facts that
separate from [music] your feelings.
What does the data actually say? What do
your emotions say and [music] separate
the two? Make the decision from the data
column, not the emotion column. You
don't fire somebody [music] because you
don't like them. You fire somebody
because they can't do the job. And when
you start to do this, you'll start
making faster and better decisions, and
you'll sleep better at night. The next
[music] principle is about the one
resource you can never get backed.
Protect your time like it is your
capital. I used to feel like I didn't
[music] have enough time or energy to do
everything that I need to do until I
started saying no to quick calls and
[music] things that just added up that
ended up costing me 2 hours of context
switching. So by cutting off these
little things that I said yes to, I
bought back time and energy for the
strategy and the team development that
is [music] a requirement of my role. I
learned this lesson very early on in
college. You see, one of my close
[music] friends was always busy. She
said yes to [music] every person who
wanted to get coffee with her, grab
lunch, go out to dinner. She was very
popular but incredibly stressed. and she
was [music] never able to spend time on
her grades. Whereas I rarely said
[music] yes to people. I like to do my
own thing. I had a very small group of
friends [music] and I wanted to get my
work done. So by the end of the
semester, even though she looked like
she was busy and she felt like [music]
she was busy, she didn't actually get
the results that she wanted. The
acquaintances that she was saying yes to
weren't actually helping her get closer
to her goals and she wasn't doing very
well in school. Whereas I [music] still
did feel like I was busy, but I was busy
focused on getting the grades that I
wanted to get and spending time with
just a handful of people who I loved
being around. [music] And this lesson
really taught me that you can say yes to
a million things and everybody's going
to feel like they're busy. But if you're
not saying yes [music] to the right
things and to the things that are
getting you closer to where you want to
go, it's wasted [music] time. And I've
pulled this lesson forward to where
today my calendar gets audited like it's
a financial [music] statement. If it
doesn't create leverage or generate
momentum, it's not getting scheduled.
That one shift made [music] me more
effective than any other productivity
hack ever could. Because average people
trade [music] time for money. The elite
treat time as capital, as an [music]
asset that can compound or can be
wasted. and they audit their calendar as
if it's a profit and loss [music]
statement. They cut low yield
activities, outsource anything that
creates friction and reinvest hours
[music] into high return thinking and
relationships. They don't manage time.
They allocate [music] their time like
they're an investor. So this week, audit
your calendar like it's a financial
statement. For every meeting or [music]
every appointment that you have, ask,
"What is the return on this investment
for this hour?" Cancel, delegate, or
shorten anything that doesn't create
true value. And then reinvest that time
into high return [music] activities,
strategy, relationship building, skill
building. Your calendar today [music] is
actually your future. So allocate it
like your goals depend on it. The last
principle is one that most people
ignore, but it might be the most
important. You see, a curated
environment equals curated thinking. I
used to think that I could be successful
despite my environment. It didn't matter
that my house was a mess [music] or that
I had friends who were a little
unaccountable or that I had a bunch of
unfinished cycles because I wanted to go
change the world. And what I realized is
if I couldn't get control of my own
environment, meaning the type of food
that I eat, [music] how I move my body
every single day, the friends that I
hang out with, the problems that I'm
solving. If I can't handle me and my
environment, how am I going to be able
[music] to impact other people? Because
why should they listen to me about me
helping change their [music] environment
when I can't even get control and change
my environment? So, when I started
[music] to look at this, I really had to
take a honest look at my environment.
What were the state of my possessions?
Were things banged up, messy, [music]
dirty, or were they organized and neat?
And was there order in place? [music]
When it came to my relationships, were
those people doing well? Were they
having wins in life? [music] Were they
successful? Or were they struggling and
dealing with a whole bunch of problems
and a whole bunch of issues that were
then being placed on me? Was my [music]
income actually growing or was it
staying stagnant? And what I found when
I really looked at my income [music] is
I was so focused on solving other
people's problems that I never took the
time to solve problems that I cared
about, that I could control. and I just
wasted my time solving everybody else's
problems. And so your environment and
curating your environment has to be the
first step in order to ever become elite
at anything. If your environment doesn't
challenge your operating system, you
will end up defending mediocrity instead
of truly evolving. And today I am
ruthless about curating who I'm around
because I know it will directly shape
how I think. I just actually watched
[music] this with my husband recently.
We are no longer spending time with a
particular individual. And my husband is
five times happier than he used to be.
He is happier in the mornings. He is
happier at dinner. He is happier
throughout the day and will send me
random text [music] messages. And I can
trace it back to the fact that this one
person who is in his ear is no [music]
longer in his ear. That is the power of
the people who you spend time around.
And the 1% know this. So they [music]
only spend time around people who
stretch their standards, who challenge
their thinking, and ultimately who
sharpen their world view. This is how
they keep moving forward. So look at the
five people that you spend the most
amount of time with. Are they truly
stretching your thinking or are they
reinforcing your limitations? [music] If
your environment isn't challenging you,
just change it. You can join
communities, masterminds, or groups
where you are the [music] least
successful person in the room. That
discomfort is growth. Your thinking will
never outpace your environment. So
curate it like your future depends on
it. If you act on these six principles,
you will think differently from 99% of
people. And that is [music] how wealth
is built. If you like this video and
want to learn how to communicate like
the 1% [music]
so that people actually listen when you
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