The Growth Mindset Book Podcast: Mindset Mastery Chapter by Chapter

Journey from Anxiety to Confidence with Subconscious Mastery

• Michael Fox • Season 1 • Episode 3

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What if the key to unlocking your hidden potential lies in mastering your subconscious mind? Join me on a journey where personal growth takes center stage, and discover how legends like Beethoven and Caruso conquered their fears to achieve greatness. Through my own experiences, I share the challenges of negative self-talk and the power of positive subconscious messaging to overcome life's obstacles, from law school jitters to everyday anxieties.

You'll uncover how consciously choosing your focus can transform fear into empowerment. Learn how to silence the 'little me'—that nagging voice of self-doubt—and unleash the 'big me,' that vast reservoir of untapped potential within us all. Through compelling stories and real-life examples, you’ll see how the struggle to control our thoughts can lead to remarkable outcomes, just as Caruso did with his stage fright. This journey isn't just about eliminating fear; it's about embracing the confidence that changes everything.

Join me as I explore how the conscious mind influences the subconscious, planting seeds of success, happiness, and peace through the power of positive affirmations. Visualizing goals as already achieved, we challenge the notion of honesty in self-talk, instead creating a vivid mental blueprint of our desires. With consistent practice, you too can reprogram your subconscious, change your life, and embrace the incredible power within. Don't miss this opportunity to share your experiences and stories next week—because your journey is as important as the legends we celebrate.

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Speaker 1:

We're back for podcast episode three and I got another couple pieces of feedback. I appreciate the feedback. Please provide more feedback so that we can make this learning session better and better every time. We want this podcast to be one of the best that's out there when it comes to learning about personal development books. That said, the feedback that I received was the following Make sure to provide some examples from my own life and I love this one and I want to make it abundantly clear that this is the case that I am far from perfect.

Speaker 1:

While I'm reading this book, while I study this book, while I speak and teach on it, I certainly am not at perfection level. I have a long way to go, but I certainly try to improve every single day. So just know that, no matter where you are in the journey, you're at the perfect place in your journey and, like we've said before, just keep trying to get 1% better every single day. If you do that, you'll be extremely far in a short period of time. So we're going to go back to the book and again, we are in Power of the Subconscious Mind. The chapter is the Treasury House Within you, page 25. And, of course, the text is right here on the screen as well.

Speaker 1:

Most of the great scientists, artists, poets, singers, writers and inventors have a deep understanding of the workings of the conscious and subconscious mind. Let's go to some commentary. Beethoven was deaf and taught himself how to play the piano. Now, there must be a higher power that he tapped into. If you're going to play the piano and you're going to learn how to get it normally, you would need to be able to hear it so you know when you're off or you're on. And he became one of the best ever. And he didn't have his ability to hear. So he had to tap into a source. And if there's a source that is responsible for everything we know, that's our subconscious mind, and my belief is that's exactly what he tapped into. So what does that tell all of us? It tells all of us that we have this incredible power within that, anytime we think we might not be able to do something in our life, we can remember Beethoven and we can say, if he could do it, I can essentially do it. There's always a way to get something done. And if we tap into that power of our subconscious mind which again we're going to get into as we move, uh, further into the book, we'll be able to do that and you'll be able to do that, and you'll be able to get better results in your life. And you'll be able to get better results in your life. Back to the book.

Speaker 1:

One time Caruso, the great operatic tenor, was struck with stage fright. He said his throat was paralyzed due to spasms caused by intense fear which constricted the muscles of his throat. Perspiration poured copiously down his face. He was ashamed because in a few minutes he had to go out onto the stage. Yet he was shaking with fear and trepidation. He said they'll laugh at me. I can't sing. Then he shouted in the presence of those behind the stage the little me wants to strangle the big me within. By the big me he meant the limitless power and wisdom of his subconscious mind and began to shout get out, get out. The big me is going to sing. Let's go to some commentary.

Speaker 1:

I remember when I was in law school, I was preparing for my second year. It was the very first day of the second year and we had a bunch of cases that we had to read and prepare. So I prepared all the cases except for one, which was the first case, and everyone is worried that they're going to be called on, because when you get called on, you have to stand up in front of the entire group and you're not asked questions just to see if you can remember something. You're asked questions to see if you can apply what you learned in different situations. So there I was. I'm in class. I know I've got all cases prepared except for the first one. It's the first day. Who do you think the first person to get called on in a class of 300 was? That was me.

Speaker 1:

He called on me. I stood up and I immediately started to sweat. In my mind all I kept saying is I'm screwed, I'm going to screw this up. I didn't do it. I can't believe this. I'm so embarrassed. I see everyone's eyes looking at me and I am telling you my heart was racing so fast. I could see the shirt literally moving. I could see my heart beating, which is not a fun place to be.

Speaker 1:

So he proceeded to ask some questions and if you read the case, you would know that the plaintiff in the case was a judge and he asked a very simple question. He said tell me about the plaintiff in the case. I couldn't answer the question, so he immediately knew I wasn't prepared, and that's when he began to torment me in front of everyone. When I say torment me, he was ripping on me. He said well, was he the plaintiff, a farmer? Was he a clown? And all the people in the background are laughing, not at me but out of uncomfortableness. But of course I heard it as they were laughing at me, and after that point I was so embarrassed and so damaged that it was really difficult for me to stand up in front of a group of people again, because I was so embarrassed that it had a lasting effect on me. However, there were other times where I had to get up and I had to speak in front of a group, and the difference here was when I was in that situation and he called on me.

Speaker 1:

When I was in that situation and he called on me, my mind started saying all the negative things that it could. I'm screwed, I'm going to mess this up. Oh my God, people are going to laugh at me. Even if I didn't know what I was doing at that time, had I given my subconscious mind a different message, like message like hey, mike, relax, take a deep breath, everything is going to work out, everything's going to be fine. Do the best you can. Just stay cool and calm and collected.

Speaker 1:

Now, if I gave that to my subconscious mind, what do you think might happen with my results? I still may not have known what I was talking about in that specific case. However, I would have been way more calm, way more cool, way more collected and potentially been able to answer some of the questions, but at the time he asked the question, I had completely given up and that was the end of that. So what I learned from that was for the next time, when I was feeling nervous which I was I just took some deep breaths, I spoke slowly and all I kept saying in my mind is I've got this. I'm here to share something with people. I'm going to have a great conversation with everyone. I'm going to help people, and by doing that and communicating that with my subconscious, I'm going to have a great conversation with everyone. I'm going to help people, and by doing that and communicating that with my subconscious, my results were completely different, and here in this story that we just read from the book, it's the exact same thing.

Speaker 1:

Here's a guy that was completely afraid, and instead of giving into the fear, he essentially shouted out loud and said no. He said this little me is trying to get the best of this big me. And he said no, that is not going to happen. And he communicated that to his subconscious mind. And now, if we go back to the book, by the big me he meant the limitless power and wisdom of his subconscious mind and began to shout get out, get out. The big me is going to sing. And his subconscious mind responded, releasing the vital forces within him. When the call came, he walked out onto the stage and sang gloriously and majestically, enthralling the audience.

Speaker 1:

Commentary how many times have you been nervous about something and you let that little me take over for you, for you? What if you can do just like he did here? And he essentially said that little me is gone, the big me is here and that big me is going to step up and do the best that I can. If we can do that, if we can deliver that message to our subconscious mind, every single thing that happens as we move forward will look completely different. The thing is, we have a choice, and our choice is we can give in to the fear or we can give a message to our subconscious mind and we can say exactly how we want this next thing to go. And we step up and we breathe and we just trust that this incredible force that exists inside of us will be able to deliver what we need to have happen, because we requested it, instead of requesting the negative, which would be I'm going to screw this up, and then your subconscious mind would say yes, you will. Congratulations, this is going to go terrible for you. So we have a choice, and now what we want to start doing is become aware of this choice, especially when we're feeling a negative emotion, and then be able to put our power, our thoughts, the thoughts that we want, into our subconscious mind, so that we'll get a result that we want versus the result that we don't want.

Speaker 1:

Back to the book. It is obvious to you now that Caruso must have understood the two levels of his mind the conscious, or the rational, and the subconscious or irrational level. Your subconscious mind is reactive and responds to the nature of your thoughts. Commentary your subconscious mind is reactive and reacts to the nature of your conscious thoughts. Imagine this power that we all have inside of us. We didn't realize that we had this power before, but now we're starting to realize that if we just can control our thoughts and we can plant the seeds of what we want, then what's going to start to happen is we're going to start to get more of the things that we want, all by turning it over to the subconscious mind, by requesting what it is that we want and then moving forward, knowing that the subconscious mind will deliver the rest to us. It is with that belief and a belief is just a thought that we think over and over again, which is I have this power within me and I know that it always has my back and will always take care of me, and when I plant the appropriate seeds, it's always going to take care of me, just like it's taking care of all the systems in my body.

Speaker 1:

Back to the book. When your conscious mind, the little me, is full of fear, worry and anxiety, the negative emotions engendered in your subconscious mind, the big me, are released and flood the conscious mind with a sense of panic, foreboding and despair. When this happens foreboding and despair when this happens you can, like Caruso, speak affirmatively and with a deep sense of authority to the irrational emotion generated in your deeper mind as follows be still, be quiet. I am in control. You must obey me. You are subject to my command. You cannot intrude where you do not belong. Commentary Think for a moment If you really had this power to say be still, be quiet, I'm in control. You must obey me. You are subject to my command. You cannot intrude where you do not belong. If you had that power which you do and you drew upon that power when you were feeling worry, when you're feeling doubt, when you're feeling fear, when you're feeling anxiety, and you make that statement be still, be quiet, I am in control. You must obey me. You are subject to my command. You cannot intrude where you do not belong.

Speaker 1:

If you delivered that message and you did that on a consistent basis, instead of giving into the fear, what might your life look like? Does that seem like it's a hard thing to do? Is that doable? Could you potentially become aware of when you start feeling in a certain way and then make that statement to yourself? Think those thoughts to yourself, speak those thoughts outside, speak those thoughts out loud, because when we speak those thoughts out loud or we think them inside, they're extremely powerful and our subconscious mind will go to work and deliver to us exactly what it is that we're asking for. And again, most of us, unfortunately, are asking by default for the negative thing that we really don't want. So let's become aware, let's use this power, let's use our thoughts, let's use our words to plant the seeds in the subconscious so that we get what we want in our life. Back to the book. It is fascinating and intensely interesting to observe how you can speak authoritatively and with conviction to the irrational movement of your deeper self and bringing silence, harmony and peace to your mind.

Speaker 1:

The subconscious is subject to the conscious mind. The subconscious is subject to the conscious mind and that is why it's called the subconscious or subjective mind. When I'm meeting one-on-one with clients, I'll sometimes ask them, especially in our initial meetings tell me a little bit about how life has been going for you. And I'll hear things like it's tough, I'm stressed, I'm overwhelmed, I'm feeling frustrated. And when they say those words, and when we say those words, and when you say those words, what you're doing is you're planting the seed in your subconscious mind. And you're saying the seed in your subconscious mind and you're saying I'm frustrated, I'm depressed, I'm not feeling good. And it's going to say your wish is my command and it will give you more and more of the same.

Speaker 1:

If you just did this one thing, if you just started paying attention to your words and you just started to, immediately upon either thinking the negative thoughts or speaking the negative words, you just flip the script and you say something positive, something upbeat. Now, what some people have said to me, mike, that's lying, that's not telling the truth. I'm not really feeling that way, but don't we do that with the negative. All the time. We lie to ourselves a lot. We say I'm not good enough, I'm not smart enough, I'm not strong enough, I can't do this. That's not true. You can do anything you set your mind to, and you've proven that to yourself over time. I am positive that, if you look in your life, there is something that you did that you never thought you would be able to do, but you did it. So, again, we've proven that we can do these things.

Speaker 1:

So let's use our voice and let's use our thoughts to plant the seeds that we want. Again, I know that I'm repeating this over and over and over again, but we need to repeat it over and over and over again so that it gets into your subconscious mind, so that the next time you hear someone speak negatively, you say to yourself hey, I do that too. Maybe I need to correct that within myself and I can make a suggestion to the other person, potentially too, and teach them a little bit about I've learned and maybe they can start applying that in their life as well. So let's use our power, our strength, our ability to plant what we need to plant into our subconscious mind, and eventually, what the subconscious mind will know is that whatever we say because now we're saying things from a positive point of view we will get. It already knows that, but it's used to you saying negative things. So now we're flipping the script and instead we're going to say positive things, things that we want, as if we already have them, and that's a very important distinction.

Speaker 1:

When we speak about something that we want, we don't say it and put it out into the future. We say it as if we have it right now. I am an incredible speaker. I have hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars, coming to me easily and effortlessly. Now again, you could say why would I say that, mike? That's not true.

Speaker 1:

Here's the thing when you go to build a house and we've probably spoken about this before you go to build a house, you must create a picture of what you want. So in other words, you must create that picture of the house so that you can tell the architect this is exactly what I want the house to look like. We have to do the same thing in our mind. First, we have to create the picture of what it is that we want. I want this amount of money. Being very specific, I want happiness, I want peace in my life, I want freedom, I want success, and this is what it looks like. I've got to be able to give that picture to the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is our architect. But if we deliver, I want more money in my life. And then the subconscious says okay, here's $10 more and we're a little bit frustrated about that. That's only because we're not asking for what we truly want. The architect in our mind doesn't know exactly what it is that we're looking for.

Speaker 1:

Let's go back to the book Outstanding Differences and Modes of Operation. You will perceive the main differences by the following illustration. The conscious mind is like the navigator or captain at the bridge of a ship. He directs the ship and signals orders to the men in the engine room who control all the boilers, instruments, gauges, etc. The men in the engine room do not know where they are going. They follow orders. They would go on the rocks if the man on the bridge issued faulty or wrong instructions based on his findings with the compass or other instruments. The men in the engine room obey him because he is in charge and issues the orders, which are automatically obeyed. Members of the crew do not talk back to the captain, they simply carry out the orders.

Speaker 1:

Commentary your subconscious mind does not talk back to the thoughts or voice that we speak, to the thoughts or voice that we speak. It just goes about taking us on the course to where we just thought or asked to go. That's exactly where it's going to take us. So we can run onto the rocks too if we give negative suggestions consistently. I'm going to screw this up. I'm not smart enough to be able to do that. I don't know enough to run a business. The subconscious says you're right, crash right into the rocks.

Speaker 1:

You're in control, you have the power and the power that you have the only thing that makes you different than all the animals, all the birds, anything else besides a human being, the only difference that they don't have. That we do have is our ability to think. All animals are instinctual. They have instincts. They know what they should be doing. It's built into them. We have certain instincts, but we have the ability to think. So we are using that power our ability to think and that power will allow us to program our subconscious mind so that we get the results that we want in life. Back to the book the captain is the master of a ship and his decrees are carried out. Likewise, your conscious mind is the captain and the master of your ship, which represents your body, environment and all your affairs. Your subconscious mind takes the orders you give it, based upon what your conscious mind believes and accepts as true.

Speaker 1:

Commentary what do you believe and accept is true in your relationships? Do you believe you're never going to find someone? Do you believe that all relationships end in a very bad way? Do you believe that no marriage can ever last because there's so many divorces? Do you believe that I can never make that kind of money? I don't have the skills that that person has? Do you believe that you can't do that job, you can't have that career, you can't move up into management? Do you believe I can never have that body, I can never be in great shape, I can never eat healthy food. What else do you believe? These beliefs are in charge of everything. These beliefs are in charge of everything.

Speaker 1:

And do you know where a belief comes from? A belief is a thought that you've thought over and over again. So, for example, if I think I can never make that kind of money, I can never make that kind of money, and I repeat that I can never make that kind of money and I repeat, I can never make that kind of money, and I repeat, I can never make that kind of money, when I repeat it enough, the repeated thought becomes a belief and it becomes accepted as true. And once that is accepted as true, guess what? Anytime moving forward you go to make money, that belief will step in and say you can't do that, you don't have the ability to make that money because you have that belief inside of you. Incredibly, all of these beliefs were programmed by other people, right. In other words, when we were growing up, we may have heard money doesn't grow on trees. You're not smart enough, you're not good enough to do that.

Speaker 1:

All the things that we heard over and over again. We heard them from our parents, we heard them from our friends, we heard it from our family. We heard it from TV, we heard it in songs, we heard it from friends, we heard it from coaches, we heard it from teachers All those things that were repeated over and over. They are accepted. If we don't pay attention and question them, they're accepted as the truth and those beliefs will affect our subconscious mind, because that's where they are, these beliefs. And going forward, we will act and the subconscious will act. From these beliefs that were installed Again, a thought that is thought over and over again gets programmed into the subconscious mind as a belief.

Speaker 1:

And now, once it's in there, it's in there and we need to start doing the reprogramming by saying the things that we want over and over and over again, as if we already have them, over and over and over again, and then what we're going to start to see is a shift in our subconscious. Our subconscious will say, oh, okay, yeah, you can make that kind of money, you deserve that, you are worthy, you are good enough, you can do all the things that you want to, because it's heard the message over and over. The subconscious will never argue with you, it will be your best friend and accept everything that you tell it. Well, that's good if you're telling it good things, but if you're not telling it good things, it can work very much so against us. So we want to create it and make it our friend and give it all the support and love that we can, because in turn, that's what we're going to see in the outside world. Back to the book. When you repeatedly say to people I can't afford it, then your subconscious mind takes you at your word and sees to it that you will not be in the position to purchase what you want. As long as you persist in saying I cannot afford the car, that trip to Europe, that home, that fur coat, you can rest assured that your subconscious mind will follow your orders and you will go through life experiencing the lack of all of All of these things.

Speaker 1:

Commentary when the basketball player Steph Curry, who shoots three-pointer after three-pointer after three-pointer with no issue when he goes into a game, what do you think he's telling his subconscious mind before the game? What do you think he's visualizing? What do you think he's saying? What do you think he's visualizing? What do you think he's saying? What do you think he's thinking before the game? Do you think he's thinking I'm never going to make that shot? I mean, I made them before, but I don't know if I can keep up this streak of making shots, thousands and thousands of these shots. And I've got this. I know that. I've got the flow. I know the feel. I'm just going to get up there and I'm going to throw the basket. I'm going to throw the ball, it's going to go into the basket and I'm going to make the shot, and that's that.

Speaker 1:

Which way is he showing up to the game? Who is he choosing to be? Is he choosing to be the person that's going to show up and be afraid, or is he showing up as being the person who's confident, knowing? I've practiced this over and over and I can absolutely do this. This is how we must show up to life. Don't worry, you're not expected that tomorrow you're going to be able to do all of this, but you know what you can do. Like we said, he was on the last episode or the episode before we can run one mailbox at a time, one step at a time. If you take one step towards what you want and take another one tomorrow and then the next day. You're going to be pretty far in a short period of time. We just have to take the steps. We have to take the steps to pay attention, be aware, notice what I'm thinking, notice what I'm speaking out loud and if we're saying things that we don't want, we shift it and we plant the seeds of what we do want, not what we don't want. Back to the book what we do want, not what we don't want. Back to the book.

Speaker 1:

Last Christmas Eve, a beautiful young university student looked at an attractive and rather expensive traveling bag in a store window. She was going home to Buffalo, new York, for the holidays. She was about to say I can't afford that bag, when she recalled something she had heard at one of my lectures, which was never finish a negative statement, reverse it immediately and wonders will happen in your life. Commentary. I want to pound this sentence in your head, in my head, in everyone's head Never finish a negative statement, reverse it immediately and wonders will happen in your life. So when you start to say that negative statement, catch yourself and reverse it to something positive. If you ask yourself have I done this before? I'm guessing that most of you haven't. It's not your fault. No one taught you this before. But what we need to start practicing is this very skill. I'm going to notice when I'm saying that thing that's negative and I'm going to catch it and I'm going to reverse it. And if you do that consistently you will notice huge results in your life. If you do that consistently you will notice huge results in your life.

Speaker 1:

Back to the book. She said that bag is mine, it's for sale, I accept it mentally and my subconscious sees to it that I will receive it. At eight o'clock on Christmas Eve, her fiance presented her with a bag exactly as the same as the one she had looked at and mentally identified herself with. At 10 o'clock the same morning, she had filled her mind with the thought of expectancy and released the whole thing to her deeper mind, which has the know-how of accomplishment Commentary. She said and asked for what she wanted. She saw it in her mind. She expected that it was going to happen. The reason she can expect that it's going to happen is because if you truly start to believe in the power of your subconscious mind, you will realize how powerful you are. And again, if you need to borrow that power, borrow it from yourself and from all the systems that are operating in your body, like we talked about your heart, your lungs, your kidneys, your pancreas, your eyes, everything that's operating. It's happening miraculously and so if it can handle that, it can handle the tasks that we want in our life, if we believe it's possible. See if, in this case, the woman said, oh I see, that bag, it's mine. And then two seconds later she walks away, she probably says you know what? The chances of that happening are slim. I can't see that really happening. What do you think is going to happen to her at that point? Obviously she's not going to get the bag. It's not going to happen. So she catches herself before she says something negative and flips it to the positive, and we're going to leave today's episode on that note.

Speaker 1:

This week, between now and the next episode that comes out, I want you to do the following Pay attention, notice when you're speaking and notice when you're thinking a negative thought, when you start to think it or when you start to say it, just flip it to something positive. That's all you have to do. I want you to practice that this week. Do you have to do it for everything? You say no If you do it one time a day. That's great. Then the next day, maybe you'll do two and three, and four and five, and you just keep stacking and you keep practicing more and more.

Speaker 1:

The point is, you're going to start to become aware of the words that are coming out of your mouth and the thoughts that you're allowing yourself to think about, and when you start to flip that, your life will completely change. Earl Nightingale had a great recording which was called the Greatest Secret, and the Greatest Secret was the following we become what we think about. We become what we think about. You will become what you think about on a consistent basis. So you have the power no one else does. You have the power, so use the power. Start applying it in your life. The power so use the power. Start applying it in your life.

Speaker 1:

And then next week I'd look forward to seeing and hearing you all online and hopefully you'll leave me some feedback and tell me some of the good things that came to you through doing this process, because I'd love to share that here on the show. Finally, I want to give a shout out to Nick Sacalaros. He bought me a cup of coffee and supported the show, and that's how this goes on. I take time to do this. I'm not asking for anything other than spread the word to others and, potentially, look at the link below and buy me a cup of coffee. Other than that, I wish you an incredible week ahead and just keep practicing, using the power that already exists right inside of you. You are so strong. You are so powerful and you're going to actually start believing that soon, if you don't already have a wonderful day.

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Michael Fox

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