Think & Grow Rich: The $5 Million Secret… and an AI Algorithm to Apply It with John Mitchell

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like The Ops Authority. Today, we'll be breaking down how to think and grow rich, and we're talking about the missing secrets. To drop these value bombs, I brought to John Mitchell in the EO Fire studios. At 50, John caused his income to go up by 25 times from figuring out the full secret, the missing secret of the book Think and Grow Rich in a 12-minute-a-day technique to apply it. In today's information, we'll talk about that 12-minute daily technique.

0:39We'll talk about the AI algorithm. We'll talk about Think and Grow Rich. We'll talk about intention, focus, purpose, and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to John and our sponsors. Success Story, hosted by Scott D. Clary, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Success Story features Q &A sessions with successful business leaders, keynote presentations, and conversations on sales, marketing, business, startups, and entrepreneurship. A recent episode discussing the billion-dollar health secret with the founder and CEO of Whoop is a must-listen.

1:16Listen to success story wherever you get your podcasts. The new year is here, and there's no better time to just start. And with Shopify, your first sale is closer than you think. Established in 2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash on fire, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash on fire to start selling with Shopify today. Shopify.com slash on fire. John, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. You know, that is a great question. And I would say that the key to success is creating clarity, immense clarity.

2:06And, you know, I think most people today live their life pretty shallowly and don't really get down to really clarity about who they want to be and what they want to accomplish and how they're going to do it. And that if they don't have that, then I think they're playing at a disadvantage. age. Fire Nation, we're talking to a repeat guest. He was on back in 2018 where John simply rocked the mic. And we're bringing him back because, man, we had a great conversation then about Think and Grow Rich. And we're going to really dive even deeper today about the missing secrets. But John, it has been, I mean, what is this now?

2:47Over six years. So let's get back with Fire Nation and kind of rejog the memory about your story because it's a fascinating one. So I would love the overview. Great, great. Well, when I turned 50, I just wasn't as successful as I thought I should be. And of course, I'd been an entrepreneur since I was 30. But, you know, when I hit 50, hey, I just did the math. And I know this sounds materialistic, but I realized I had to start netting over a million dollars a year. The 200 to 300 ,000 a year I'd been making each of the prior 20 years just wasn't going to cut it if I wanted to have that, you know, that exceptional life I always dreamed of.

3:29But, you know, how to change things. And then, John, truly a pearl of wisdom comes to me like, I don't know, three months after I turn 50. Find the top book in the world on success and apply that book literally word for word to my life. So I do a little research and discovered there's one book that's been read by over 100 million people. It's the top book in the world on success by a factor of 10. And as you well know, that book is Sink and Grow Rich. And once I realized that the book was the top book in the world on success by a factor of 10, I'm thinking, this is perfect. So I buy the book, read the book, and then I discover the problem.

4:14them. The book says there's a secret for success, but the author only gives us half of the secret. It's on the reader to figure out the other half. And so I'm bummed out and I mope around probably for two or three weeks. And then one day I just wake up and go, John, man up, figure out the damn secret. And so I immersed myself in the book over like two or three months and probably read it 20 times. And then I figure out the full secret, the missing secret, and a 12-minute-a-day technique to apply it. And I start applying it to a new business I started in the reverse mortgage field. And, John, quickly my income starts doubling and doubling and doubling to where four years later I'm making 25 times the$200 ,000 to$300 ,000 a year I was making the prior 20 years.

5:09I was making$5 million plus a year. And I felt so incredibly blessed. But John, what was particularly cool was I could see why it was all happening. I would just plan the game of life at a higher level. And I was focused only on what moves the needle. All distractions fell by the wayside. I tripled my discipline. And I just had like new ideas coming to my head that were never coming in before. and overall I had a level of control over myself beyond what I'd ever experienced before and I just became fascinated by the fact that you could take two key scientific principles and apply them to your life and so materially impact your results.

5:55And so to make a long story short, after I had enough money to not have to work, I sold my company and decided I'd share what I created with the world. And a couple months later, I met the former chancellor and president here at the University of Texas. And he says, hey, you got to teach this at the University of Texas. And why don't we teach it together? And then that led to being introduced to the athletic director, who, by the way, just won top athletic director in the country award. And he says to me, hey, I want to learn this 12-minute-a-day technique. So I teach it to him. and that led to becoming the mental coach for the 18 head coaches here at the University of Texas.

6:37And now I'm teaching my methodology to the 550 athletes at the University of Texas, as well as to entrepreneurs. Fire Nation, this is an inspiring story just on its own. But for me, it's really extra inspiring because it takes me back to 2011. I remember this so clearly. I've been an officer in the US Army until 2010, eight years specifically, four years active, four years in the reserves. After that, I tried law school, corporate finance, real estate. These things weren't working for me. And I had a similar epiphany as John, not exactly, but similar where I said, man, I gotta start learning about entrepreneurship and business.

7:17I gotta start learning from the brilliant minds of generations past. And so I did my own little Google searching and came up with probably about 15 books. And I'll never forget this, John. I ordered them all paperback on Amazon because I wanted the physical copies for just various reasons. I just wanted to be able to hold these books, write in them. I wanted to smell them. I wanted to flip the paper. I bought some of them used, by the way, because listen, this is back in 2011. I'm so kind of like a struggling, you know, my late 20s at this point. And I remember the box showed up at my parents' house And my dad's like, what the heck is this thing?

7:54It's just a huge box. And all those books were in there. And of course, one of the 15 was Think and Grow Rich. And that was the first one of those 15 that I read. And it was awesome. I read the other 14 as well. And it led me to, less than a year later, launch Entrepreneurs on Fire. So what a direct correlation. I mean, within, actually, I think it was seven months from receiving that box, I had hired a mentor, joined a mastermind, and launched Entrepreneurs on Fire. And of course, those are some huge things that are talked about in Think and Grow Rich. And then fast forward a few years from there, and John, you and I have talked about this, and Fire Nation knows this to a large degree as well.

8:36I was in the movie Think and Grow Rich, which is just such an amazing full circle moment. It's such a really well done movie too. So fantastic. So fun to be a part of that. And it's still, you know, it was just getting views, you know, by the hundreds and thousands every day to this day, as we're speaking, it's just a great legacy that's being left. And I'm actually, you know, I have an eight month old son now, like, I'm really excited to show him that movie at some point, because, you know, it's just such a powerful thing. And so, John, we're talking about this full secret of Think and Grow Rich, which, you know, you had to discover on your own.

9:12And of course, now you've done amazing things sharing this with other people. So let's talk about that. Let's talk about using an AI algorithm to customize a template to each person's unique life. Give us this full breakdown. Let me explain the secret and sort of how I discovered it. And then you'll see how the AI algorithm fits into it, if that's okay. Okay. So, you know, at 50, you know, candidly, there was a little bit more going on with me than just feeling the scarcity of time. And I don't think I ever told you this, but, and if you don't mind, let me share something really personal with you and your audience.

9:53So my mom was dying of pancreatic cancer as I turned 50. And so, John, every day after work, you know, I'd go see her. I'd go hold her hand and just love on her. And then I'd go in the cold, dark hospital parking lot and just cry my eyes out. And I'm like crying my eyes out like for 45 minutes every night. This is going on for like eight weeks. Well, obviously, I'm feeling the impending loss of my mom. But I realized there was something deeper going on. And what I came to realize was that I was letting my mom down with my life. My mom and dad gave me everything. They sent me to Jesuit High School in Dallas when they really didn't have the money, and they sent me to the University of Texas and paid for everything.

10:44And all I had to show for my life was an average life. and John, I hated the average life because I just knew I was capable of so much more but I came to realize that that intense feeling of letting my mom down was like rocket fuel and causing me to go deeper than any person on the planet ever had to figure out the full secret of thinking grow rich and John, if I can, let me now share with you basically what the full secret is and how I discovered it um so and i remember the night i discovered it vividly um and this particular night was it was snowing in in dallas and uh i don't know if you know much about dallas but it doesn't snow very often so it's just it just like in puerto rico right sure so it just feels different so i go see my mom in the hospital go into the parking lot cry my eyes out as usual for 45 minutes and As I'm driving home, I see the big snowflakes hitting my windshield.

11:51Again, things just felt different this night. I get home and I decide to start reading Think and Grow Rich. Probably this is the 20th time I've read it. This particular night, I read two things that are particularly interesting. First, your actions determine your success in each area of your life. Well, I never thought about it quite like that, but I buy that. And then secondly, the vast majority of your daily actions are unconscious. Literally 95 % of your daily actions are unconscious. Hmm. Well, by now I'm tired and I'm ready to go to bed. So I wash my face and brush my teeth and get in bed.

12:33But John, I can't stop thinking about what I read that 95 % of my daily actions are unconscious. And then I started to connect the dots. If your daily actions determine your success and 95 % of them are unconscious, hey, you don't control the very thing that determines your success. Therefore, to have a higher level of success, you have to gain control over those unconscious daily actions. You have to take control of your subconscious mind and autopilot. Now, as I come to realize this, I sit up in bed, and I realize this is a profound epiphany for me. And I look out in my backyard, and, John, I see the glistening snowflakes hitting the ground.

13:21And as I continue to ponder this, the full secret of Think and Grow Rich comes to me. And the full secret is what you envision in detail with emotion on a daily basis is what shows up in your life. And let me say that again. What you envision in detail with emotion on a daily basis is what shows up in your life. And John, what that means is you create immense clarity about your life. Exactly the person you want to be, exactly what you want to accomplish, and precisely how you're going to achieve your clearly defined goals. And once you establish that clarity, then you put it on the template and feed that yourself each day.

14:09And that takes 12 minutes a day. And then after approximately 21 days, the science kicks in and the magic happens. And what you're feeding yourself starts showing up in your thoughts and actions automatically without thinking. and you have this powerful force pulling you forward to your desired life with an immense sense of control over your life. And again, it only takes 12 minutes a day. Fire Nation, I hope this is hitting you at the core because you need to be thinking to yourself, what am I doing with this time? What am I doing with my visions, with my thoughts, with my conscious, with my subconscious?

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17:43Established in 2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Sign up for your$1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash onfire, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash onfire to start selling with Shopify today. Shopify.com slash onfire. John, we're back. And listen, I know you've already connected with the soul, with the core of a lot of people listening right now, Fire Nation, they're leaning in, they're paying attention, they want to know what's next. So, what's next? Well, you know, the cool thing, and this is different than when I last visited with you, I created a template that it's a template that's been 20 years in development, but I've also created an AI algorithm where you answer 35 questions and then you press a button, and then the algorithm customizes the template to your unique life.

18:46And it's such a game changer and it's so cool. It's, you know, this is all about creating clarity. And, but John, one of the things I see is that, you know, you say to people, well, you need to create clarity and they don't know exactly what that means fully. They sort of know, but they don't know. And that's the cool thing about this template and the algorithm is it walks them through what clarity in each area of their life because we're impacting not only your income, but we're impacting your health and your romantic relationship. And, you know, it's just a powerful way to create that clarity very easily.

19:29Now, one of those 15 books that I mentioned obviously was Thick and Grow Rich. Another one was The Compound Effect. I loved that book so much. In fact, I went back and found out more about the author. And I learned that he had been mentored by Jeff Olson, who wrote The Slight Edge. And I read that book as well. And that book is so fantastic, too. Like, I love both of those. Now, who's the author of The Compact Effect? Well, it's Darren Hardy. He was one of the main figures with Success Magazine for many, many years. In fact, I had a lot of conversations with him because Success Magazine featured entrepreneurs on fire in one of their podcasting features.

20:10And that was a great experience. I got to just have a great conversation with this person offline many, many years after I was so inspired by his writing The Compound Effect. And then, of course, I've interviewed him multiple times for his other books that he's written as well. You showed this methodology to Darren Hardy, who's such a stud. Tell us that story. And this is like five years ago. I'm thinking, you know, if I'm going to devote my life to what I've created, I want to know if there's any flaws in it, anything similar to it. I'm thinking I'm going to go find the top expert in the world on success, whoever that is, him or her.

20:47And I want to show it to you. And so, you know, I write a big check and fly out to California and to La Jolla. And I bring my wife, Ginger. And so, you know, the moment comes where we sit down and I join the template and he looks at it and he goes, well, this is good. And then he looks at it closer and goes, wow, this is this is really good. He says, John, people aren't going to spend 12 minutes a day on this. And I'm like, Darren, how the heck can that be? at 25x my income time magazine did a cover story on the science behind my methodology and we're applying the central concept of the top book the world on success to people's lives what do you mean they're not going to spend 12 minutes a day on this he says john you know he says the dirty little secret of the success in human achievement field is that more success is merely a preference, merely a preference for most people, for 98 % of the people.

21:56And he says, what you've got is only for people that are highly driven, for the 2 % that where more success is a necessity. And you know, I think this so relates to your audience because your audience is full of the two percenters. Don't you agree? 100 % Fire Nation, you're a two percenter. Absolutely. And, and, you know, but that was, and, you know, of course, at the time he, he told me all this, I'm like, well, Darren, you know, I find this hard to believe. But this was five years ago, and he was so right. And I was so wrong. I thought it was for everybody. I thought everybody wants to be more successful.

22:38Well, he was right. I was wrong. And so now I'm like, I'm only pitching this and explaining this to the 2%. Why waste my time on the rest? One thing that I realized that was a big mindset shift for me and pretty shocking too, is everybody thinks they have a fear of failure, which a lot of people do. It's scary to fail. But so many people have a subconscious fear of success. They're literally fearful of succeeding. And they don't even have that as a conscious thought sometimes, but they self-sabotage as a result. And I want to move into intention, focus, purpose. I mean, focus, John, has always been one of my favorite words.

23:19It's an acronym in my mind for follow one course until success. So intention, focus, purpose. These are things we talk about on Entrepreneurs on Fire, all the time. But sadly, most people, as we've been talking about, they're just winging life one day at a time. What may come, may come. They're always reacting. They're not being proactive. So talk to us about taking these 12 minutes a day to impact a lot of areas of our life. We're talking income, health, marriage, all at the same time. Well, you know, you said it. You know, most people are winging life. You know, they get up every day. They don't have a way of doing life.

23:57They're just, you know, their eyes open, they're doing the best they can. And of course, I'm not going to throw them under the bus too much because that was me until I turned 50. But they have nothing pulling them forward to their desired life. And the effect of this is they keep on recreating their life. And, you know, I learned something from Dr. Joe Dispenza. He talks about how, you know, We're oriented to the recent past. And of course, I know that, and I know you know this, that we're all innately wired for survival. And that causes like 70 % of our thoughts to be fear-based. And we're reactive rather than proactive on our agenda.

24:43But what that all means is that when you open your eyes each morning, you're thinking about your problems. And again, most of this is going on at a subconscious level since 95 % of your thoughts are unconscious. But so you're thinking about some of it's conscious though, and you're thinking about your problems and recent slights. And then you have sort of negative feelings that generates more negative thoughts. And you get this in this continual negative loop about your problems. and you have nothing pulling you forward to your desired life. And, you know, to me, the solution is easy. Well, just create immense clarity about your life, exactly the person you want to be, exactly what you want to accomplish, and precisely how you're going to achieve your clearly defined goals.

25:36Feed that to yourself as your new morning routine. And within 21 days, the right actions start happening and the right mindset sets in for you to achieve your goals. Let's bring this home, brother. I am fired up about this. I know you are too. I mean, you've seen it work in your life and in countless others as well, as people that will just understand and accept and then apply this methodology. So what's the next step for Fire Nation? People are listening right now that are like, okay, listen, if JLD and John are talking about how A, impactful this book, Think and Grow Rich, was in their lives.

26:15B, how important applying this type of methodology is to their success. Here I am talking, running a seven-figure-plus business for over 12 years now, having done what you've done since the age of 50. They're bought in. What's the next step for them? Well, two things. I now have a new book coming out, the missing secret of the legendary book, Think and Grow Rich, where I explain the full secret and how to apply it. I provide the template and the algorithm, and it comes out. In fact, it comes out today in honor of you because of your history with Think and Grow Rich. I'm like, when would be the perfect time to launch the book on Amazon?

27:03And I'm like, well, how about the day that our episode launches. So, you know, you can go to Amazon and get it. But I have something else, and I did this not too long ago for your audience. I created a nine-minute video that fully explains the secret and the science behind it and shows you in video how all this works. And so if your audience will send me an email to john at thinkitbeit.com. I'll send them that nine minute video. Fire Nation, this is the type of action that you want to take. That nine minute video. I mean, again, some people won't take 12 minutes a day to achieve massive success in their goals.

27:50Take a minute, send John an email, take nine more minutes, watch this video, take these steps. If you're listening to this podcast, be an action taker. We already know you're in the top 2%. Let's get you in the top 2 % of this 2%. So John, one more time. What's that email? John at thinkitbeit.com. And if I could, you know, you mentioned something a minute ago about, you know, how it impacts, you know, the different areas of your life. Can I just give you a quick example? Please do. So this is all about leveraging yourself through science. and this this particularly thing this happened uh a few years ago a couple years ago one of my clients lived in portland and he came to san antonio uh with his girlfriend and wanted my wife and i to join him for for dinner and san antonio is about an hour away so it's a friday uh ginger is out and about and i just tell her hey meet me at starbucks at two o 'clock and we'll pop down to San Antonio.

28:54Well, it's around Christmas time. I get there a little early and decide to have a brownie. Now, one of the things I affirmed to myself in my 12 minute a day technique is that I'm aware of everything I put in my mouth. So John, I have that brownie. I started eating the brownie. I'm aware of it. I'm aware it doesn't taste very good, but that doesn't stop me from finishing it. And so I finish it. The gin shows up. We pop in my car and I'm like, babe, you know, I don't feel very good. I've sort of lost my appetite. So anyway, we go to San Antonio and come back that night and I go and change in my life GPS template one word.