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You're listening to the Transform Your Life from the Inside Out podcast. This episode is titled Best Unheard Encore Episode Ever. Now I've not run an Encore Episode in quite some time, probably even two years. And, you know, I'm, I'm fully transparent. I just didn't know what I wanted to do today. I've been really busy closing out the Transformational Coaching Program, which we start next week. And I was sitting around today and I said, you know, A lot of people have talked about over the years, an episode that I did with my good friend, James Wedmore. So my team wanted to use that episode for different things. And I thought, you know what? That episode has been downloaded. And listen to by hundreds of thousands of people. And I've never shared it with you guys. So what I'm going to do here, obviously this is the introduction I'm going to share episode 114, that I did of James Wedmore back. And I believe September of 2017, as a matter of fact, September the 3rd of 2017.

And, you know, sometimes when you do something in life, You do it. And you're like, wow, that really flowed. That was just magical. Well, this episode was that for me and a lot of people this episode, even today, five years later, many people are still talking about this episode. And candidly, I don't know why. I mean I do, but I don't even, I listened to it afterwards and I'm like, dang, that's a really good episode. Again, At this. Just what I thought when I listened to it. But anyway, I wanted to share this with you guys and about my friend, James Wedmore. We're really good friends now. And I wouldn't be doing this podcast if it were not for James Wedmore. So I have a huge debt of gratitude for James. And if you're an online entrepreneur, you definitely want to know who James is. He literally is a giant in the digital marketing space. And his program is called business by design. If you are wanting to build an online business, then no matter what you do. You're going to want to start following James Wedmore and his podcast is called the same thing. Well, actually it's called mind your business. So go listen to James as well. Enjoy this episode and share it with your friends. Thanks for listening and I'll be back next week with another brand new original episode. Enjoy the episode.

Hi, I'm Jim Fortin, and you're about to start Transforming your Life from the Inside Out with this podcast. I'm widely considered the leader in Subconscious Transformation, and I've coached super achievers all around the world for over 25 years. Here, you're going to find no rah-rah motivation, and no hype. Because this podcast is a combination of Brain Science, Transformational Psychology, and Ancient Wisdom, all rolled into one to take your life to levels, you've never thought possible. If you're wanting a lot more in life, to feel better, to heal, to have peace of mind, to feel powerful and alive, and to bring more abundance and prosperity into your life. And this podcast is for you. Because you're going to start learning how to master your mind and evolve your consciousness. And when you do that, anything you want, then becomes possible for you. I'm glad you're here.

James Wedmore: All right, ladies and gentlemen, I am here with none other than Jim Fortin. Jim, how you are doing.

Jim Fortin: I'm doing great. Thank you for the invite today. I appreciate it.

James Wedmore: Absolutely. I am so excited for the stuff that we are about to get into. You know, guys, we do like a little pre-prep work and just the topics and the conversations, the inquiries that we're gonna have, I'm super pumped and we'll probably have to talk a little bit about at some point, like how we connected. But let's give a big overview like what's on the agenda today? What, what do you want to talk about.

Jim Fortin: Specifically, me? I'd like to talk about how people can get out of their ruts and how they can actually start performing at a very high level on subconscious autopilot. How to break bad habits, how to work from a completely different level of being so that we're getting the results that we want in life.

James Wedmore: And this, a lot of this falls under this word that, you know, we talk a lot about on the podcast mindset, and more and more people keep coming to me like, yes, I know this is a mindset thing, or I'd like to change my mindset, or I need a adopt a different mindset. Yeah, maybe that's a good jumping off place. So, like what do we even mean? Or what does someone mean when they say, I need to change my mindset and here's the million dollar question, . Why? When we say that 9 times outta 10, we don't.

Jim Fortin: Okay, so I tend to take off and I just go, so if I don't answer your whole question, just write it down and bring me back to it.

James Wedmore: You got it.

Jim Fortin: Okay. So first and foremost, I've done this for 25 years. My responsibility, first and foremost is the people that I serve, not my colleagues, not other people who write books or speakers or trainers. So what I'm going to say today will actually flip many people's thought processes upside down about personal development. The industry itself is a broken industry, though it's a multi-billion dollar industry. But James, you've seen over the years that people read all these books and I mean, people could have hundreds of books on mindset and personal development and success, and they go right back to their old habits again. You've seen that before, right?

James Wedmore: I've seen it in myself, not just others. Yeah.

Jim Fortin: Yeah, all of us. Okay, well this is not, we're not gonna spend rah-rah time together. This isn't, you can win everybody listening, you can win, you can achieve, I believe in you. It's none of that. So you'd mentioned the word mindset, and that's a big buzzword right now. Well, it's been for years. You gotta change your mindset and you, you see that all the time on Facebook. You gotta change your mind set by all the motivational speakers. Well, here's the thing. If you could literally just change your mindset, and if you knew how, which we can talk about today, you would say, for example, on Monday, I'm gonna start working out again because my old mindset is not to work out. And I'm gonna start, you know, I'm gonna stop eating carbs, or I'm gonna go into work and I'm gonna prospect and I'm gonna have a great day to day. And so, we're all rah rah about it. And we actually do that Monday and Tuesday. And then by Friday we're back in the old patterns. You may be familiar with that. Right?

James Wedmore: Sometimes it's before Friday .

Jim Fortin: Exactly. Most people, it's about Wednesday. Yeah. But here's what happens when we say, for example, I'm gonna change my mindset. That is a left-brain analytical thought. But research has demonstrated that 95% of all habits and everything that we do is subconsciously driven, which is right brain. So we use the 5% of left brain saying, I'm not gonna have any carbs on Monday. But when it comes to habits and subconscious identity, the identity says, no, you are gonna eat sugar today because that's what you've done for 30 years. So we use the smallest part of the brain, the 5% analytical part of the brain to try to change our habits at a core level. And it doesn't work that way. Most of us actually work backwards. We try to work from the outside in instead of the inside out. So that's why changing your mindset doesn't work and we find ourselves right back on our old patterns just a couple of days later.

James Wedmore: Well, let me ask you a question here is, is it that changing your mindset is what needs to happen? It's just that we're doing it the wrong. .

Jim Fortin: That's a great question and a great way to put it. It is what needs to happen, but we need to change it at a core level. . Now lemme show what that means. There's a concept, I'm an also an NLP master practitioner and all that kind of good stuff. There was what's called the logical level created by Gregory Bateson. It's a psychological model created to back in 1957 or so. And if everyone listening right now, you can just visually imagine this like a triangle. And at the bottom of the triangle, we're gonna start with identity. Now there is a deeper level, which we call source or whatever, but it's like a ladder. At the bottom of the triangle is what we call identity. And then you go one rung up, and then that's beliefs, and then one rung higher, and that's capabilities one rung higher and that's behavior. And then the final rung is environment, which our environments are external world around. what we do, let's say New Year's resolutions. People say, for example, you know what the New Year's rolling around, I'm going to get in shape this year. And James, what percentage of people do you think fall off track end into month one? ? I would say it's very high. Like yeah, it's like 90% or something.

James Wedmore: Yeah, that makes sense.

Jim Fortin: But if somebody drew this triangle out for you and they went from, again, from identity to beliefs to capabilities to behavior to environment like rungs on a ladder, what they try to do is they try to change their behavior, but their behavior is driven by their capabilities, their beliefs below that and their identity. So no matter how many times or how much we try to change our behavior, if what we're trying to create in their behavior is not consistent with their identity, the behavior will not stick. I mean, it might last for a day or two, it might even last a month, but it will not stick. So we have to actually change what I call, you had actually mentioned the word mindset. I call it brain. Because this happens automatically in the brain and we do what we are.,

James Wedmore: Wait a second. That was huge. We do what we are.

Jim Fortin: Yep. So, we do what we are.

James Wedmore: And we are what we think we are, which is our identity at the unconscious level.

Jim Fortin: And it's not even, we don't even think it. It's completely unconscious. For example, James, did you buy cigarettes this morning?

James Wedmore: No.

Jim Fortin: How come?

James Wedmore: I'm not a smoker. . , okay. .

Jim Fortin: So, did you get up this morning and say, hmm, I wonder if I should buy cigarettes today? I wonder if I'm a smoker today. No. You know, I wonder if I like cigarettes today. I mean, I like them yesterday, but it's Wednesday today, so I might No, absolutely not. What people do is they go into the automatic behavior of being the identity of a smoker. It just happens automatically with no analytical thought. So if I am a smoker at my unconscious level, There's no analytical thought. That is what I will automatically do. Yeah, that's why, for example, let's tie this to the audience. I know that you're followed by entrepreneurs. I know you've heard of the book, think and Grow Rich. Might?

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: Okay. And now a lot of us have read that book and it's a classic and it's sold like 15 million copies. But follow me here. If you could literally read a book, think and Grow Rich, and Become Rich, then how come everyone reading the book is not becoming rich,

James Wedmore: right?

Jim Fortin: We do what we are and what we are in our identity if we're actually poor in our physical environment, which is top of the pyramid. If you go to your Wells Fargo account, or Chase or wherever you bank and you type in for everybody listening, you type in, you know your password, and you look at your balance and you consistently have no money. James, what is it that most people try to do when they have no money? What do most people do.

James Wedmore: After they've been complaining about it??

Jim Fortin: Well, you know what? Hell, I've got no money in my bank account. I've gotta go, what do I go do?

James Wedmore: You know, you could be asking people for money or getting a job or trying to find work.

Jim Fortin: Right or I've got a prospect, right or I've gotta get that funnel up or I've gotta lead generate.

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: That's where almost everyone starts. However, almost what no one asked is who am I the person that created that in the first place? Ah, love it. Right. So you've been to Landmark Forum, right?

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: And you understand the concept of BE DO HAVE and HAVE DO BE. Right. Familiar with that?

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: Okay. Everybody starts with HAVE DO BE. If I had more money, then I could do more things and I could be successful. That's a broken model. As you know, we have to start with BE DO HAVE who am I being that will affect my doing? That will affect my outcome.

James Wedmore: But is, who am I being is that the identity or is there something before being that is the identity?

Jim Fortin: No, being is identity.

James Wedmore: Okay. Being is identity. Go it.

Jim Fortin: Yeah. Being is identity. Who am I being? You know, my coach actually taught me that. And actually you've heard of her before Dr. Laurie Emery.

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: Right. Yeah. She's amazing. And basically, we were talking about this a while back and people never look at what she told me one time is that most people think they have to do things, but you're doing is only as effective as the being doing the doing. So, success,

James Wedmore: can you actually matter? Wait, wait. Can you say that again because I got that and I wanna make sure people ..

Jim Fortin: Yeah And that's an important point. Yeah. Is that when we wanna create change, most of us go out and we try to do things, which is, if you look at the logical level again, that's up higher on the ladder. We have to be what we want to create because who we're being and how we're being will affect how we do. And how we do will affect what we have, which is the outcome. And the being always goes back to characteristics and identity, which is a place that most people never start.

James Wedmore: Ugh. I love that.

Jim Fortin: So, the example here, James, lemme, let's go back to Thinking Grow rich.

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: Okay. So a person can say, I want to do something. I want to read this book because I want to be rich. But let's say that we grew up poor, which I grew up very working class, and it took me a long time to figure this out. So you guys pay attention here and I'll tell you how to become wealthy, is that I grew up poor. So I learned, what do you think I heard from my father and my mother in my early. Money doesn't grow on trees. Right. And we don't have it. And we're not like your cousins and we're not rich. And money's hard to come by. And you have to struggle for it. Yes. Now, what do you think I learned? That's what I learned. That's what I learned the world was. So until I was in my thirties, I mean, I went to college, a good private school, blah, blah, blah. And I was made money and lost it. Made money and lost it. Made money and lost it. Why? Because we always revert back to our identity. And that is what drives us. So all of you people that are entrepreneurs are selling professionals. That's why you can do things all day long. Like you can do Facebook ads and you can do YouTube, and you can do this, and you can do that. But the end result is always going to be your identity, not you’re doing. Yeah. Doesn't make it make sense, James.

James Wedmore: Oh, it makes so much sense. So, I have so many questions around this. The first is, is there a, like a universal identity that we should be adopting that really makes everything that we want more feasible? Or is it like, , you know, creating an identity just like the bee do have. It's like, I wanna be loving or I wanna be this or that. That matches every result that we're after.

Jim Fortin: You ask an interesting question and only somebody like you would ask that question. And it's a good one, by the way. Yeah. Most people are looking for what I call 3D identity. I am a millionaire. Something in this world. I mean, I am a millionaire, I am rich, I'm whatever. Yes. And that's also a concept in Landmark Forum, is that the identity is I'm pure potential. and that's where we work from because everything starts with potential. So a place that I work from and that I don't know where the call was gonna go, but where I work from is that I'm a cosmic being, having a human experience. And that being said, I'm part of the universe I'm not gonna attract anything and create anything. Yeah. Maybe a little out there for some people, but that's where I work from, is that I can call forth the universe to serve me.

James Wedmore: Not on this show. It's not too far out there. So you are made from the same stuff that creates worlds.

Jim Fortin: We all are. Yeah. Consciousness. Yeah. Right. And you know, I don't, like I said, I don't know where this is gonna go, but there's three levels of thinking and most people get trapped. The three levels of thinking are from higher to lower, are from consciousness to mind to thought. Three levels. Consciousness is highest, mind is next. And thought is below that. Most people get caught in thought, I have no money. I'm not healthy, I don't have this, I don't have that. The world is this, or the world is that. The higher place to work from is that I'm pure consciousness and every thought that I have is an absolute illusion, which it is. We get trapped an illusion all day long. Everything that you think and everyone listening right now, everything you're even thinking about me saying right now, or James asking, or us dialoguing, is all simply thought. And then people have thoughts and they get trapped in their thoughts. And this is a bit Zen, but we're the thinker of our thoughts. We're the ones. And people always get trapped in thought, never recognizing that, hey, I'm the machine, I'm the being, I'm the organism creating the thought. So I don't like the thought, why not create new thoughts?

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: That makes sense, right?

James Wedmore: Yes. It's almost as if like, if you let the machine go on autopilot, it'll start creating its own thoughts, but at any time you can take back over.

Jim Fortin: Well, it creates what it learns at identity level.

James Wedmore: Wow.

Jim Fortin: So the thought would be re recreated over and over. If I'm poor, then the machine just creates that thought over and over and over again. Yeah, that's spot on.

James Wedmore: Yeah. So really for you, you had to go from an identity of poor, probably like, you know, I'm poor and I have to survive out in the tough world to, I'm a cosmic being with infinite potential.

Jim Fortin: I had to go where I went from intangible terms to make this real for everybody. Where I had to go from is a life of struggle, meaning I learned that to make money, you have to struggle. I watched my dad work hard and he struggled, and I was always taught that you, if you're gonna make money, then you know what, you've gotta work hard for that.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: The thing is, this money doesn't come from effort. Almost everybody thinks, and all the motivational speakers and people online, they all think money comes from effort. Money doesn't come from effort because effort is a finite resource. And if you believe that money comes from effort, then you've actually trapped yourself. Have you ever noticed, James, and then we'll finish the loop that you opened. Have you ever noticed that the people who need the money the most have the least?

James Wedmore: Gosh, yes.

Jim Fortin: Right. Money doesn't go to people who earn it. Money does not go to effort. Money goes to conscious vibration. We vibrate money. You probably believe some sense of that or some form of that, right?

James Wedmore: Absolutely. Yeah, without a doubt. And in fact, it's me constantly. I think the work that I've done, which is really what started this podcast, is that, you know, same thing my dad is the money doesn't grow in trees. The harder you work, the more successful you'll be, and it's been years of me finding ways to shed that identity and adopt a new one. So I still today find like remnants of it. Like it's still in there. You know, it's like, man, I'm, why am I working so hard today? Like, take a break. Yeah. You know, it's fascinating. So hopefully we'll get into like how we can, you know, flop identities cause we can't do it. Obviously we can't do it from the left brain.

Jim Fortin: Okay. And two things here. Let's go back and Yes, we will. So, I went from struggle. That's how you make things in the world. Yeah. To I believe that I'm a magnet and that my thoughts are magnetic. Yeah. And you see this stuff in the law of attraction, but I also sent you a book about a year ago called The Kybalion. Yes. Yeah. And the Kybalion and the Kybalion is thousands of years old. No one knows who wrote it. They believe Hermes Trismegisto wrote it. But the first cosmic law is that everything is universal mind. Everything is consciousness. So, I had to go from, okay, I've gotta work hard and I gotta bust my ass and I gotta struggle and I gotta work till my eyeballs bleed. As somebody says out there right now, that's pretty popular. To moving from that to, you know what, I'm the one that's actually stopping. The money's everywhere. The world is full of money. I'm the one through my consciousness stopping it coming from me. So I had to move from a world, an identity of struggle to someone who attracts money very, very easily. And this day and age, it comes to me because I trust and actually what I call formalist intelligence to bring it to me. So hopefully that answers that question. That's my polarity. That's where I went from. From believing on one side of the scale, everything is struggle to the other side of the scale, that I let formalist intelligence bring it to me. Other people could use the word God, universe, divine intelligence, consciousness, whatever you want.

James Wedmore: Yeah. Wow. But making that switch in identity. What is that process like? Because I think when someone's listening to this, I think a few things have to happen, right? They may not know what their subconscious identity is because it's in, they're thinking it subconsciously, but then we have to find a way to put on, well, maybe we even have to, someone listening has to like to let go of the left brain enough to even believe what you're saying.

Jim Fortin: Yeah.

James Wedmore: Before the you guys, you know, you Yeah, you,

Jim Fortin: you opened some big cans right there. I know. So, I'm give you some examples here. as somebody, people will say things like, Jim, if all of my beliefs and my identity are unconscious, then how would I know what it is? Which is what you alluded to, right?

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: Okay. He wrote, I may mangle this. I haven't recited this in years. James, I'll come to me in a minute. He wrote as a man, thinketh Dunno if you've heard of the book before. Yes. Mind is a master power that molds and makes man is mind and evermore he takes, he thinks in secret, and it comes to pass that his environment is just his looking glass. So, if you wanna know what you think subconsciously, look at your environment. How many times have you been married? How many relationships have you been in? What kind of relationships do you have? What is your physical health? How much money do you have in the bank? Where is your business? Because see, that is an external reflection. All those things are your beliefs, objectified. So, if you wanna know what you think and what you hold subconsciously, look at all those external things and that will tell you exactly what you believe subconsciously.

James Wedmore: Wow.

Jim Fortin: Does that make sense?

James Wedmore: It makes sense. But that I know because you know, we, people that are on the, you know, same prescribed exactly what you're saying, have had that experience. Where's a tough pill to swallow? You basically are just like punching people in the face.. Well, they're,

Jim Fortin: I don't mean to guys, but you know what the truth, you know, James knows this, other people don't, and James even having had a conversation is my brother-in-law's a Yaki shaman. He's a spiritual master of, some people would call, other people would call him different things. But I've worked with him for 20 years, 21 years now. And these are things that are just universal cosmic principles that I've learned is that life is a reflection of us. Yeah. And I even posted a little line on Facebook last week and just a simple sentence is that your life is an exact reflection of you. And that really sucks for a lot of us. But that is the truth. Your life and you look around outside of your life, it is a reflection of the being that you are. Which is identity.

James Wedmore: Wow. And that is, that's, that is a tough pill to swallow, because if there are things in your life that you don't like, there's a moment in time where if you keep going down this path, you're gonna have to accept full responsibility for all of it.

Jim Fortin: Yeah. And only add something there. So, what most people do is crap, I don't like my life. I don't like this. I don't like that. But again, I never go back to what we said earlier. Who am I the being who's created this? Right? Where they go to automatically is, let me go do more things. I'm not making enough money. Let me go do something. Let me go prospect. Not even going back one step further saying, but who is the person who created that lack of revenue in the first place? That's where we start.

James Wedmore: Yeah. So, if I come up with that answer, right? So, you know, if I were to put this into steps, you know Jim's magic formula here. Step one is to take a good, hard look. An assessment of your life as it is right now. Step number two is going to this inquiry about who was I being, or who am I being that created this? The good and the bad, all of it. Step three would be to choose,

Jim Fortin: I'll make it simpler for you. Sure. Lemme make it simple and break it down. I have a program that teaches people how to reprogram themselves. I've spent a lot of years doing this, but there's one sentence in the program and you know, people are always looking for formulas and steps and all this kind of stuff. And let me go back and answer your question first. You said, well, how do we start creating change? Okay. I was at my acupuncturist about a year ago, and when he puts the pens in me, he leaves. I was lying on the table and halfway through I noticed that my mind had darted to a possibly probably a hundred different thoughts in the course of maybe 10 minutes. What I'm gonna give you here is the first thing. Okay. It's part of the equation. Then I'll go back to that sentence or that formula I wanted to give you.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: I learned this from my brother-in-law 20 years ago, and it took me a lot of years to really understand this, and I won't mention his name here, but my brother-in-law, you've heard of Wayne Dyer before, right?

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: And, and many people have. He is very famous when he is on the planet. Wayne Dyer once told me, I will go anywhere, anytime, anyplace to meet your brother-in-law because he constantly quotes my brother-in-law's work that was ghost written for him. Wow. Six words that will change your life and you can apply these in any way that you want. But if you actually take and you ponder, what am I going to give you here? This will change your life. And the words are this. Six words. You are where your attention is. You are where your attention is. Now let's take that and make that practical, James. When people are broke, where's your attention?

James Wedmore: The lack of what they don't have.

Jim Fortin: Right? And so therefore they were.

James Wedmore: Broke,

Jim Fortin: Broke people that are wealthy, where is their attention?

James Wedmore: Growth, abundance, money.

Jim Fortin: Yeah, exactly. People that are overweight, where's their attention many times. Food. Yeah. Yeah. Are lying on the couch or eating Cheetos and Doritos and Hohos and Ding dongs and all that kind of good stuff.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: And drinking, you know, Coke, which has got eight teaspoons of sugar per soda or whatever. So, if, if you really get that, I know it's so easy that we hear things and we're like, Hmm, that's really good. And we forget about it. You get that. People get that you are where your attention is. And if you look at your external life, your external life is actually a reflection of your attention.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: Right? Yeah. Okay, everyone writes this down. I'm gonna give you a formula right now that's taken me a long time to come up with. So, people are always wondering, when I teach them self-hypnosis, which we can talk about, they're like, Jim, okay, so I can reprogram my unconscious mind with self-hypnosis, but what do I reprogram it with? And then people get very general, here's what I want you to write down everyone, James Olands, you'll see what's in this. Who would I be first part of the sentence, who would I be? what would I do and how would I feel if I already had blank? Who would I be, what would I do? How would I feel if I already had blank? Meaning, who would I be? What would I do? How would I feel if I already made a million dollars a year? You work from net formula and that becomes like a laser guidance system to actually focus your attention because think it, let's take this apart, James. So, with you, you've gone from, as I understand, bartender, right? Years ago.

James Wedmore: Yep.

Jim Fortin: In your former life, so to speak, to now a very successful internet entrepreneur and, and a mover and an influencer and everything else, do you feel, do you think, and do you act like you did 10 years ago?

James Wedmore: No.

Jim Fortin: Not at all.

James Wedmore: Not at all.

Jim Fortin: Not at all. So, you're actually being a different person today, right?

James Wedmore: Completely.

Jim Fortin: Okay. You're actually doing different things today, right?

James Wedmore: Yes. Yes.

Jim Fortin: You're actually feeling different things, which means you have something different. Okay. So, people have to work from that formula. And our good buddy Brandon said something that I thought he might have got from you or gotten from you is that most people, the reason most people fail in achieving their goals or creating change is most people work from where they are to where they want to be. That's a backward strategy. You have to work from the strategy as if it's already done for you.

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: You understand that, right?

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: Like even Steven Covey starting with the end in mind.

James Wedmore: Yep.

Jim Fortin: Right.

James Wedmore: Second habit. And there's another quote I love. It's live your life like the ball's already in the cup.

Jim Fortin: Exactly. And it's the same principle. Now let me ask you, James, a little curveball question here. There's an operative word in what I gave you. Who would I be, what would I do and what would I have if I already had 10 million or already the top producer or already in perfect health? Yeah. There's one word in that sentence, that long sentence. That's the operative word already. What do you think already?

James Wedmore: Already? Yeah.

Jim Fortin: Now that's neurological. And the reason why is this is because the unconscious mind. Does not know the difference between real and imagined. Yeah. And the more you imagine something to be true, even if it's not, the more the subconscious mind does not know that it's not true. Therefore, it responds to it well.

James Wedmore: And I also think it removes uncertainty a bit in this daydreaming example of, of imagining it's, you know, a lot of times it's like if you just ask someone like, well, what's your plan to 10 x your business? Like, they're gonna go into all these questions and fear and the, the answer's gonna come from some sort of doubt, some sort of uncertainty. This is like assuming it's done, like you've already done it, what happened?

Jim Fortin: And you know what it looks like.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: Yeah. You know what it looks like. Now notice I've covered all the bases. Who would you be? Yeah, so James and I have my students write this out on the program that I have is, so what characteristics, let's say for example, somebody that's 10 x their business. Let's start with being first. What characteristics would they have?

James Wedmore: I think the first one would be a leader or a great leader.

Jim Fortin: Okay, that could be one that's yours. And that could be maybe not one for somebody else, but yes. That's one. What's another characteristic?

James Wedmore: Visionary?

Jim Fortin: Yes. That's okay. Gimme two more.

James Wedmore: Man. That's getting hard. Maybe a risk taker.

Jim Fortin: Okay. That's a way of being. Yeah. Let me give you two and lemme tell you, and this will make perfect sense to you, coaching the thousands of people that you have. And so, people say, I'm gonna take all this training, I read this book, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna hire this coach and I'm gonna 10 x my business. But two ways, two characteristics, ways of being that you didn't mention. Number one is commitment. Because if I'm not committed, doesn't matter what I do. Because guess what, subconsciously guys, I'm transparent. My dad was also an alcoholic and I learned that I never saw my father finish anything James. He would always start projects and never finish. What do you think he taught me as a small.,

James Wedmore: I don't know, maybe you didn't have to finish.

Jim Fortin: That's exactly, it's okay not to finish things. It's okay to start and not finish, therefore, and when we finish things, we're committed. So therefore, what did I learn about commitment?

James Wedmore: It doesn't mean very much.

Jim Fortin: Okay. And then I can go out and I've got a lot of high-powered friends now in the world. People that, some people that, you know, Brandon might have mentioned, et cetera, blah, blah. I can go out and try to do things all day long, but if I go back to that inner child of non-commitment, what are my results? If I show up and I'm not committed to getting something done, what are my results?

James Wedmore: Yeah. I don't think you would have any results,.

Jim Fortin: Exactly, exactly. So, the formula that I gave you is what people have. The first place they have to look is who am I being? Yeah. And two of the most important things, and I know this will resonate with you or a couple of the most important, number one, is I must be committed to the outcome that I want. Secondly is I must be responsible for the outcome that I want.

James Wedmore: Oh yeah. I love it.

Jim Fortin: Right?

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: Yeah. So that's a way of being. But if I, if right now, before this call, people listening, if they were gonna try to do something different in their business to get a different outcome, most people would never think about, okay, what are the characteristics that I need to actually make this successful? That will filter into my doing next is doing, this is where everybody starts, but let's say we want a 10 x our business. Now we have to look at, we've already looked at who you know, who would I have to be next would be, what do I have to do? And those are practical things. Most people go to specific instead of foundational, one of the ways that we have to be is organized. Right?

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: And there would be prioritize, right? So those are two ways, and now we've covered our being. We've covered part of our doing. Then how would you have to feel if you want a 10 extra business? Most people feel from though it hasn't been done yet. If I've already done it, how would I feel? Then you bring that feeling into it. Now you've got your being, you're doing and your feeling, and then you act as if you already have that done, because the mind doesn't know the difference, unconscious between real and imagined. Now you do that every day for a couple times a day for 10 days. Now you're affecting the way that you're programming your brain.

James Wedmore: So that's a key point too, is that you're not just like, all right, we're gonna start a project for the year and answer this once, you know, shove it in a drawer and never go back. Like this becomes like your morning routine.

Jim Fortin: This comes where you, you must work from this place. Yeah. If you do not work from this place, I have, I only have two stickies or three in my office and one's right in front of me right now. You've heard it a thousand times, but it may make more sense in people listening. It may make more sense now that I've explained it this way, is see things as you want them to be, not as they are. Hmm. Yes. But what do all of us do? I mean, people, they get hell, I don't have any money. So, I look at my Wells Fargo account, number one, where's my attention and where do I keep my attention on where things are, not where I want them to be? Therefore, I keep recreating that over and over and I keep reinforcing the identity over and over and over again, right?

James Wedmore: Yes. I love it.

Jim Fortin: And lemme give people one more takeaway here. James, I'm sorry to talk so much.

James Wedmore: Please.

Jim Fortin: I told you once I hop on, I just go,

James Wedmore: do not apologize.

Jim Fortin: Here's what we do, an underlying thing. So let's say for example, we buy all the books in the world and go to all the seminars and all the coaches and rah, rah, rah, and. What happens is it all goes back to being so a diet book can tell you how to lose weight. Right? And there's like 10,000 diet books. Yes. Or a success book. But let's say for example, somebody that I know that you know of, he's been around for 25 years, is Brian Tracy. Right?

James Wedmore: Yep.

Jim Fortin: And he's phenomenal. I've loved Brian Tracy for years. Phenomenal. But how about this? What if I am already at my unconscious level? What if I have the unconscious paradigm that I'm not a committed human being? Now I try to do something and pick up a Brian Tracy book and finish it, but what's gonna happen to my doing? Because in my unconscious mind, I'm already an uncommitted person.

James Wedmore: You won't even finish the book.

Jim Fortin: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So that's what we don't look at in life. We always look at what's right in front of our eyeballs and things like, well, I'm gonna change my life today and I'm gonna get this book and go to that seminar and do this webinar. Not even realizing that our unconscious characteristics and traits are driving us and actually affecting what will happen with what we do.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: And no one starts at that level. Everyone always says, here's my book. Go read my book and you're gonna become blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, you're gonna become what your identity says you're gonna become regardless of what you read, which means you're just gonna stay what you've been, you're gonna just stay. That's why you can look on your bookshelf. And you even said, and I've been there, and we've all been there, at least I know it is, that you can read a book all day long about becoming X, Y, Z, but you don't become it. Why? Because it's not consistent with your identity.

James Wedmore: Wow. Well, and even going back to these two, I mean, this is what you would call, part of your identity is being committed and responsible.

Jim Fortin: Yeah. Those are actually characteristics, ways of being that must must be part of your identity. Yeah. Well, if they're not, you're not gonna get the end result that you want. What I, it will not happen.

James Wedmore: What I love that is, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, of course, these are things that anyone has the ability to do.

Jim Fortin: Yeah. James, when I used to do hypnosis in New York, I don't do hypnotherapy. People would come to me, my office is on Wall Street, and all the time people would say, I want you to hypnotize me and my unconscious mind to become a millionaire. And people can make a lot of money on Wall Street. Yeah. What I tell people is this, and even with people that I teach now, and the program that I have, the first-place people gravitate to is things that they want. The car, the home, the lake house, the million bucks, whatever. And where I tell 'em to start using your hypnosis is ways of being, because without the ways of being, you will not get what you want. Mm. you have, I know a little bit about you by watching you and our mutual friend and watching some of your videos and stuff like that. When I look at you, I think it's very, well, actually, I've observed some of your behavior, and it's very easy for you that once you get involved on a project, you put your head down and you go, yeah, you got blinders on.

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: Right?

James Wedmore: Absolutely.

Jim Fortin: Okay, so if I ask you, James, how do you know what being committed means? How would you answer that?

James Wedmore: Uh, I would have to say I know what commit, which is what's really funny, by the way. That's why I didn't answer that, because I feel like it's a very natural way of being. For me, it's almost like it becomes subconscious part of your identity. It's like, oh, yeah, you gotta be committed. But I would say the answer to that is like, because I know what the finish line looks like.

Jim Fortin: Okay. But see, you already know what committed means to you.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: Because what happens, I've watched your behavior is you’d. From the external world, you put your head down and you go, oh yeah, no, that's, so you're demonstrating commitment right there. But now, let's say, and then this applies to everyone listening. So, you've become what people consider to be very successful. You've not become successful because of what you've done. Primarily, you've become successful because of the person you've been being that affected what you did. Yes. Because you could do the same things over and over and over again. But let's say that you grew up and you didn't even know what commitment was, and most people don't in discipline. So, if those are not part of your identity, you would not be where you are today.

James Wedmore: Wow, that's so true.

Jim Fortin: Yeah. But that applies. So, we're helping people here. That applies. That's why so many of you, 90% of you and James, I know that you work with entrepreneurs. I have two. We live in a country where 70% of our population has zero money for.. Yeah. Now the government's overextended by like a hundred trillion dollars with entitlement programs and blah, blah, blah. But there's opportunity to make money everywhere in this world. But we live in a world where most people are broke. Something like 40% of people live paycheck to paycheck. Why? They're identities. And that's why every one of you listening, you know what? All of you, I know why they listen to, do you know why people listen to your podcast? No. You tell me. They want to create, so they, they want to do something by listening to create some kind of higher state or higher outcome in their life.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: But let's say for example, I listened to James, and I love James Wedmore, and I listen to him, and you guys, should I listen to him all because he is a great model, role model for this. So, I listen to James, but you know, I cannot get my business up and rolling. And every time I try, I fail. Why? We have to look at characteristics of self. Am I committed? Am I disciplined? Do I have the vision? Do I have the self-integrity? And that's a big one. Do you know what's self-integrity is actually? Do we keep our word to ourselves?

James Wedmore: Absolutely. Yep.

Jim Fortin: Yeah, that's huge. You know, James, I grew up and tell me if you know I'm off track or anything. I grew up a small town, Texas Farm boy, we had three rules, do not lie, do not cheat, and do not steal. Those were the rules and everything else was negotiable. But do not lie, do not cheat. So, my entire life, and literally till about four or five years ago, I grew up thinking, you know what? I'm a very integral person. I really am. Then that's very valuable. That's part of my identity. That's who I am. That's how I show up in business. I'll take a loss before you because I'm just integral. I want people to have what they want. But one morning I rolled over in bed, and I said, gonna go to the gym that morning. And I didn't go. And in that moment, I realized, you know what? For all of my life I thought I was an integral guy, and I am to the external world, but I'm not integral to myself because when I say I'm going to do things and I don't do them, then I'm lacking self-integrity.

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: Right.

James Wedmore: Ugh. Yes.

Jim Fortin: And trust me, I've got my lessons just like everybody else on this planet and I've got areas that I'm working on, so where everybody's gonna take what they're gonna take from this. But my brother-in-law was over one night for dinner, the Shaman, and we were talking very briefly, he was talking about the Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.

James Wedmore: Great book.

Jim Fortin: And you know, don't take anything personally. And there's a couple of more, I read the book a lot of years ago, but my brother-in-law was saying, he goes, the most important agreement is the first agreement. And that, and which I've seen him do, I've never seen him violate his word even to himself. He goes, the most important agreement is self-integrity and to keep our word to ourself. Yeah. So, for everyone listening, these are part of the identity. These are ways of being. And if we can't keep our word to ourselves, then how do we expect, I'm gonna go prospect today, that's what I'm gonna do because I need to do something to grow my business. But then if we can't be self-integral, which is a way of being, the doing will never happen. This is why people fail. This is why there's a thousand books when you actually walk into Barnes and Noble or 10,000 when you go to Amazon because they're all about doing never about the ways of being or the identity that drives the ways of being.

James Wedmore: Oh, it's so huge, man. And it's so funny, all this stuff you're saying, first of all, integrity is actually our number one core value within our company, cause we've seen how important it is. But this distinction of personal integrity, self-integrity is so important because it really is like this jumping off point. You know, if you can have that much discipline for yourself when like there is no one else to hold you accountable. Like it's your own monologue in your head of what you say. You know, you didn't have to tell anybody else whether you're going to the gym or not. So, it was only like you holding yourself accountable, which means it's very easy for you to have gotten away with that. No one would ever.

Jim Fortin: Absolutely. And a couple of stories from my brother-in-law when he was a kid, and this is in one of the books. All the boy, they were like late teens and they all, this is in Mexico. And they all said that they were gonna go, they were gonna go drinking one night and they were gonna meet at five o'clock the next morning to go fishing. And my brother-in-law, who was a kid back then recounts that. He told his mentor that who was a shaman, and he is like, but I'm not gonna go because they're all gonna be hungover and they're not gonna show up. And my brother-in-law's mentor said to him, it doesn't matter whether or not they show up, what matters is that you said you were gonna go and if you're gonna go then honor your word, whether or not they show up. Geronimo true story, back when he lived in Oklahoma in the 18 hundreds or whenever it was, he would go, he, he'd ride his horse for two hours to go sit with a biographer or a writer, whoever it was. And he committed to going every two weeks or whatever time that it was. And one morning he rode his horse two hours in the snow with the flu or pneumonia or whatever. He had to tell the biographer that he couldn't be there that morning. and the biographer said, why did you ride your horse here to tell me that you're not gonna be here? And he goes, because I gave you my word that I would be here.

James Wedmore: Yeah. Gosh. Right. So good. So, Warner Erhardt, who created Est, which became EST landmark, I saw him speak recently about a year ago. He talks about integrity being a mountain without a top, and that when he started practicing this level of integrity that you're describing, it was so beautiful. He said, I am started to imagine that every time I was out of integrity or every time that I didn't honor or keep my word, I would lose a finger.

Jim Fortin: Whoa.

James Wedmore: I mean, he wouldn't actually do that, but like, that's what he imagined, that that's what's on the line. You know, he said it was about two or three fingers before you're like, okay, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna take this more seriously. What do you think he means by it being a mountain without a top? Like, do you feel like you're always coming short? Like, that's how I interpret it. It's like you're never really fully, always in integrity.

Jim Fortin: I think, okay, let me add there is we're all human beings. And trust me, I've got my lessons just like everyone else. There are so many people on Facebook that try to be perfect to the world and create that identity with their jets and their fancy cars, and we can all have those things or whatever we can rent jets and so many people try to be things, dude, I got my lessons just like everyone else has. But to answer your question, none of us are perfect. There's no such thing as perfect. We're always learning. I'm out of integrity at times. The key is to know when we're out of integrity and cleaning that up and getting back into integrity. What most of us do is we collapse, we fall out of integrity, and we stay out of integrity. There's no integrity in that. We want to get back on the horse and keep riding again.

James Wedmore: Oh man. Right. That, that's really important. That it's not about maintaining it, like having almost like this perfect, flawless record where you don't make mistakes,

Jim Fortin: Right? Correct.

James Wedmore: But the moment you see that you're out of it, that you do something about it.

Jim Fortin: Yeah. You know, and integrity and commitment and responsibility. One of my clients is a, well, he was a friend actually, and I helped him with some things. A four-time Olympic athlete. He was a diver, and he's the only American that's been to the Olympics four times for diving. And he told me in 2012 when they went to Beijing, he goes, Jim, he goes, we left DF W on Saturday and then we flew to China. We crossed international date line. So technically we got to China on Monday. He goes, technically, I lost two days of practice that I had to make up because I told myself that I'd practice every single day. And even though because of the date line, I missed that practice. And on that metaphorical day, I had to make it up because I said that I would. Yeah. And there's a reason he's a four-time Olympic diver. That's one of the reasons right there.

James Wedmore: Wow. I love it.

Jim Fortin: That's powerful. I mean, I was like, wow. I mean, that's inspirational to me. I didn't think of it that way, but that's his commitment to himself. But let's take this to business really quick. There was a Harvard, I believe it was a Harvard psychologist, couple of years ago. studied selling professionals and what they discovered is that when we actually give our word to ourselves in business and the characteristics that our productivity will go up anywhere between one to 400% over the course of a year with no additional productivity input, simply from keeping our word to ourselves self-integrity. That is the increased output that we get from one to 400%,

James Wedmore: I believe it. They actually did a study Warner's organization, and they had a corporation increase their productivity by 500% in one year because they adopted integrity as their core philosophy and you know, I guess company identity.

Jim Fortin: Yeah, and let me add something else, here. Yeah. And that's this Harvard psychologist did this. That's right. Is what I've learned is, and I'm slowly learning and getting much better at, is it's okay to not do so. What's not okay is to say you're gonna do it and don't do it. So, if you're not gonna do it, then don't say you're gonna do it to yourself. If you're not gonna go to the gym, don't even speak those words. And that goes even further too, is that we actually speak our life in new existence. So, if we keep telling ourselves we're gonna do it and we do it, then we train ourselves that it will get done. If we keep telling ourselves we're gonna do it and we don't, then we train ourself that we don't even believe in our own word.

James Wedmore: Yes. That is what I was gonna bring up is their own, I just wanna play a little devil's advocate to this.

Jim Fortin: Sure.

James Wedmore: Like is there almost a, well, I'm just not gonna say anything.

Jim Fortin: People do get into that. Yeah. I've had, I've had clients before that would make no commitments, which was actually hurting them because they were fearful of breaking their commitment. So, they didn't even recognize that they wouldn't commit to anything outta fear of breaking the commitment. Therefore, they committed to nothing, and they were actually going backwards. Yes. People can do that as well. Yeah. And the key is awareness,

James Wedmore: right? Yes. And yeah, I get that. That really makes sense, man, this is so amazing. Okay. And any tips and advice on how we adopt. Integrity to our identity because it's like, you know, I love how Werner said it. Where for him, he said like, look, I had to make it like I'm gonna lose a finger., even though he didn't really cut his fingers, but that's not what you're gonna suggest to us. Like, look, if you,

Jim Fortin: I'm not, I'm not suggesting I lose my fingers, so I'm not gonna suggest that, but if that worked for him, then that worked for him. What we have to look at also is there's so many trainers and coaches and speakers who try the one size fits all. We're all very different and unique organisms. You know, what works for me might not work for you. However, it's the matter of awareness of am I being self-integral or not What I tie mine to, and again, two of my biggest life lessons are a hundred percent committed and a hundred percent self-integral. Now, I work from, as you just said, I don't think there's no such thing as perfection. There's excellence, but not perfection. So, I'm working on these as well, and I have to be very mindful, but I work only for me. My model is I'm not being a spiritual warrior when I give my word and I'm not integral with it. But somebody else might say, I'm losing money, or somebody else might say, I'm losing a finger. But if you don't draw a baseline and you allow the behavior to continue, you will actually perpetuate the behavior.

James Wedmore: Yeah. Well let me ask you this as well. I'm, because man, this stuff is so fascinating to me. I love this. Everything you're saying is extraordinary, but is there something behind that? Like there's some desire there. Like in other words, you know, and I hope this isn't inappropriate, but like if we gave this, you know, if your dad were to listen to what you're saying now, like well if this person is, you know, cause it just, it sounds like my dad at times, , but like if there's an, they can hear this information you're talking about, about integrity and commitment, but be like, well I don't care. Like there still has to be something behind that, that's drive, like there is a desire for you to be in integrity.

Jim Fortin: Great question that you bring up. That's an excellent question and that a lot of people, lemme segue here for a second. Get into a concept. You've seen women before or seen stories of women that are in relationships, and they get beat and they get out and they go right back in the relationships where they're beat again.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: Right? Okay. What we have to look at is there's a concept called learned helplessness that was, I think coined back in the late 1960s where they'd put dogs in a crate and shock them gently, and then dogs would try to jump out. But dogs learned they couldn't jump out, so they'd stop trying to jump out.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: I think people, many times in our culture and in our world, get so, so lost even in themselves. Most of us don't even know ourselves. We get so lost that we don't even recognize that, you know what? There's even a reason that I should be committed or have self-integrity. Wow. So, I think there's a much deeper answer, and I, there's no way I can validate this. But every new year, when my brother-in-law's over and the family hangs out, he hugs me and he says, every year he says, I hope you get to know yourself better this year than last year. Hmm. And he said that every year to me for 21 years. And that comes down to know yourself. And that's like so off the radar for most people. And when we say know ourselves, if we post it on Facebook right now, what does know yourself mean? You would have 21,000 different opinions of what knowing yourself means., you've heard before, James, and I didn't expect this question, but you've heard before that, and I don't know what people's different levels of beliefs are and even beliefs are archaic beliefs keep people trapped. But you've heard before that the phrase that we're not human beings first. We're spiritual beings having a human experience.

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: Right. Okay. I take it one step further because people turn spirituality in religion, so it's the same thing as saying a Baptist or Christian or a Catholic or whatever. The place that I work from is that we're cosmic beings having a spiritual experience. Now, let me give you a metaphor there, and this may help answer your question and a roundabout way. Are you ever been on vacation before, James?

James Wedmore: Oh yes.

Jim Fortin: You ever rented the car?

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: Okay. So, when you are ready to leave your vacation, what do you do with that?

James Wedmore: Well, we have to return it.

Jim Fortin: Right. And you fly home, right?

James Wedmore: Yep.

Jim Fortin: That's the way that I approach life is that this body that we're in, we come to the planet, we're going on vacation, we come to the planet, we hop into this body, which is our rental car. We drive it around for as long as we're here. We are doing it, we dent it, we actually turn it back in and we go home. So, the place that I work from, or attempt to work from or are, have been taught over the years and practiced, is that these bodies are nothing more than rental cars. So, what I'm always looking for is how can I live from a higher consciousness? How can I live from a higher place? Because when you live from that place, nothing matters. All these little things on the planet that we make matter don't matter. Yeah. So, I always ask myself, how can I be, I'm James. Before I called it, I sat down for 10 minutes prior and I have a meditation room in my house, and I just sat down and said, how may I. How may I serve? Let it come through me. And when we actually, I think, work from that position, so many of the little things that we're talking about fall away because we're working from a higher vibration and a higher level of energy.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: Hopefully that's in the ballpark, but that's where I work from.

James Wedmore: No, that's great. Now to repeat that, you said, cosmic being, having a spiritual experience or No.

Jim Fortin: Human. Human. Okay. We're cosmic beings having human experiences. Human experiences. Wow.

James Wedmore: Yep. Oh, I love that. This has been so amazing. Okay, I wanna, I think there's one other question I wanna ask and then I wanna see if there's anything else that you feel like we've left out. Cause I'm curious, going back to the identity, which is such a huge piece, I wanna see if you have any insight into like when and where those identities are created.

Jim Fortin: Absolutely. And then there's years of research done on this, however, is it happens actually before we even actually exit the womb.

James Wedmore: Oh wow.

Jim Fortin: Babies. Infants can hear in the. So, and there's all kinds of research on this now, but you know, if parents are fighting and screaming all day long in the later stages of pregnancy., the infant hears that. The infant picks it up. And that's the kind of world that an infant's been born into. But we learn our minds, even though we don't recognize it as human beings and adults, the second we pop out of the womb and our eyeballs open and our ears open, we become video cameras and we absorb everything around us. There was a German psychologist and Aristotle said something similar, but a German psychologist said, give me a child until the age of eight and I will own him for a lifetime. Why? Because we become who we are in our very formative years, watching gender roles, watching our parents. I want to be like daddy. I wanna be like mommy. These are all the things we're taught as very small infants. We have a mutual friend, Brandon. Yeah. And Brandon's, you know, a new father, his son's, you know, three now. And I even texted him recently, he was sending me some pictures of he and his son having a good time. And I said, you're teaching your son how to be in the world. So, we learned this at a very early age. That's why, for example, those of us, for the most part, not entirely, but generally speaking, those of us that are Democrats had parents that were Democrats, those that were Republicans, had parents that Republicans, those of us are poor, had parents that were poor, and those that are rich had parents that were rich.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: We learned to perpetuate what we learn, which becomes our self-identity very early. The first action, they say the first three years of life, our identity is pretty much already set in stone. Now most people live their entire lifetime with that identity, never realizing they can change it through unconscious or subconscious, whichever word you choose. Reprogramming, you change the programming and the outcome on the outside changes. But most of us bitch about our outcomes. Cause we don't know any differently. Our world is bad and I wanna change my world. Not realizing that it comes from the subconscious programming.

James Wedmore: I get that, and I want, I wanna hear a little bit more about the subconscious reprogramming the moment, but I'm curious too, like what about, don't these experiences, like if you talk about. Know, your experience with growing up in a more like, you know, lower working class doesn't that also, is that where maybe a desire was born within, or that you gave you an experience of contrast to actually want something different? Like, is there even an argument that like, something like integrity is so important to you because you saw the opposite?

Jim Fortin: I think now, let me add there again, it's very, it's very, very subjective because see we have families, fourth generations of family living on welfare. That's what they learn. Yeah. And people who don't know any differently judge them saying, oh, they need to do this, they need to do that. Well, you can't do what you don't know that you can do.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: So that's the first thing. But in my case, James, I like you. I always wanted something different. I always wanted a different life. Now I make, I mean, tons more than my father ever thought about making and I've made over the years and live in a different way and nice cars and a nice house. Whereas that's not the way that I grew up. But even my fathers as growing up, used to criticize me and tell me that I needed to be realistic. And I needed, this is my lot life and everything else. I never bought it. Why? I don't know, maybe it's even karma. I don't know. But many people actually just fall back into that loop of poverty or wealth or whatever it is. And many of us become very much like our parents, not even knowing it. Plain and simple. We learn it through observation and experience at a very early age.

James Wedmore: Yeah. Now I'm gonna say this, even though I know you would say it, but hey, I remember the first time I started like hearing what you're talking about and like this connection of this identity that we created at such a young age. And I think it's very easy to go and then blame our parents and make them wrong.

Jim Fortin: Yep.

James Wedmore: And that's where we have to realize if we pull back enough, we realize, well, they're just doing what they learned from their parents.

Jim Fortin: Absolutely. As I've watched my parents, and there's a big speaker out there, and I've heard it different ways, and Wayne Dyer said it, and there's a dozen speakers. If you're gonna blame your parents for everything that's wrong, blame them for everything That's right. As well. Right? And neurolinguistics, there's a phrase, as any person does, all they can do in that moment with the given resources they had. So even though my parents didn't get the outcomes that they wanted in their life, or I don't know if they did or didn't, I don't assume they did. It doesn't mean they're bad parents, you know, that was just the level of capability and consciousness they had. My brother actually still lives in that consciousness. I think he makes 12 bucks an hour as a ranch hand. He's a four time, he's got had four DUIs. I live the complete opposite life. Why? I don't know where that came from, but I agree a 100% if you're gonna blame your parents for the bad, then actually give them credit for the good.

James Wedmore: Yeah. Now, I'm just curious is did you struggle at all with like, as you know, you started to change your identity, that you had a desire to, you know, want to impact your brother in some way and couldn't? Or was that ever present for you?

Jim Fortin: No, my parents got divorced earlier on when I was in, well, when I was in college, not earlier on. My brother was already on his path. I was already in college. My family's a type where my dad told me, I went to a private school and he said to me one day, he said, if you want to go to college, I don't know how you're gonna pay for it. Cause I'm not gonna help you and you have to go in the army. Well, I said, I'm not going in the army. I'm going to college. So, I had the desire, which is a great word you brought up earlier to do it. But we're already on such different paths and we have been for so many years that James, I don't attach to people, even my father. People say, you have to love your mother and your father. My father was toxic. I mean toxic alcoholic. Why would you choose to keep toxic waste in your living room? Yeah. Now some people might disagree with that, but that's worked for me. Why would you choose to keep somebody in your living room who beats you up every single day? Right. So, for me, I had to admit that part of my life and you know, I was looking at Facebook this year for Father's Day, all these people saying they had great fathers. You know what? I wish I had that same father, but I don't. But you know what, it is what it is. That's just the way it's, I look at it as my life lessons. That's my karma.

James Wedmore: Got it. Well, I think I do struggle with that attachment. I keep seeing the more I'm evolving or growing that, you know, I want to help others in my family or close friends. For a while, man, it was just like, it's like trying to drive a car with the emergency brake on a lot of wasted effort. Like so much energy. Yes. I was telling them all the things to do, to do, do this, do this, do this, do this and this,

Jim Fortin: And it wouldn't do it. Yeah. Yeah. I work my best. Where I work from is our friend Brandon was asking me recently when I was out visiting him last, if I had one tagline or one U S P for my life, it would be helping people free themself from themself. Yeah. Because people don't even, don't even know what's, and I want everybody to have everything. I want them to have an amazing life and money and comfort and health. But you know what? I've learned that I can't want more for you than what you want for yourself. Because if I do, I'm gonna beat my head against a wall forever. Trying to get you to move when you don't wanna move.

James Wedmore: That's a lesson I'm learning.

Jim Fortin: You're learning. Yeah. And that comes down to identities also. So, James, I have to ask myself and everyone listening, why do I do what I do? So, when I even do that for other people, I'm like, why do I keep trying to help them and they don't want to get helped? What does that say about me and my identity? I'm the helper. You're the helper. Brandon's the helper. But you can't help people that don't want to be helped. And so, for everyone listening to bring this story back to you is you're gonna go out in the world and you're gonna do what you are unconsciously. Please get that. Stop trying to change who you are actually to do things, to get different outcomes. Work at the core unconscious level, and everything happens automatically. That's why we started this call, because those people that perform at top levels automatically do it because that's who they are subconsciously.

James Wedmore: Yes. And I, by the way, side note, I, I see so many examples of how that plays out. Here's a great example is we run a high-level mastermind. So there's like super amazing successful people in the room and you know, we do live events, we have a retreat next week and there's a lot of times where I'm talking, I'm up there talking, I'm teaching, I'm, you know, sharing things and just like, it's like a live format of this podcast sometimes. And I notice how little they listen to what I say yet how much they notice what I do.

Jim Fortin: Yeah.

James Wedmore: Like they're modeling me a bit and my actions, and my behaviors far more than they are listening to the words that come out of my mouth,

Jim Fortin: And James, that that's helped me and hurt me tremendously as a professional. Brandon and I have talked about that before, and it really doesn't matter what people read in books or what we say to them. What they do is they watch what they see.

James Wedmore: Yep.

Jim Fortin: So, I can be like, all the other speakers out there, rah, blah, blah, do this, do that, do this, do that. People don't look at that. So, I don't put myself out there as much because people only listen to what they wanna listen to anyway and what's consistent with their paradigms.

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: But you are very correct. You have to actually watch the most effective leadership is leadership that demonstrates leadership, not leaders who talk about leadership. Yes. Very true. The point that you made.

James Wedmore: Well, it's, and it's just so funny, I, I wasn't gonna mention it, but I've been, one of the episodes I've been feeling like, I don't know if it was inspired or like almost frustrated to create, was an episode I was just gonna call blah, blah, blah, and it was literally like, yeah, I'm just blah, blah, blah on this podcast for an hour. And you wonder like, how much is everything you're saying is like, how much of the words you're saying actually have an impact until we, you know, find a way to go deeper, which is,

Jim Fortin: Well, hang on there. Number one is that sounds like Jerry Seinfeld's episodes about nothing.

James Wedmore: Oh, yeah.

Jim Fortin: You ever It's about nothing.

James Wedmore: It's about nothing. Yes.

Jim Fortin: Here's the thing, everyone listening to this, everyone. What they've done is they've filtered out a good 80 to 90% of what I've said.? Why? Because they're doing eight different things right now. Number one, they're checking Facebook, they're tweeting, they're doing different things, they're driving in the car. Plus, we can't hear what's not part of our context. So, if your context, meaning your identity, is that I'm poor, no matter how much I tell you, you can be wealthy, you will not hear that. You'll hear it analytically, but you filter it out and then you go into all the reasons that it can work for me but can't work for you.

James Wedmore: Context is almost like the environment in which our identity.

Jim Fortin: Close context is what I call the box.

James Wedmore: Okay.

Jim Fortin: Yeah. The box that you put all the content in. Mm-hmm. So, context is the filters, the beliefs, and the identity. Yeah. So, what we do all day long is we filter out content, meaning other speakers and listening to them and people even listening. And I'm not actually suggesting they filter out; I'm suggesting they actually filter in and let it sink in a little bit. Cause I've given you several, I think pearls in our time together, hopefully. But we just filter out the world and we live in a world you've heard of the name, an old friend of mine, Rich Schefren. And he wrote a doctrine years ago called the Attention AIDS Deficit or something like that. We live in a world where most people are not even centered or not mindful. The world gets a hold of him, woof, first thing in the morning, grab their cell phone, and they're caught up in the world and the world runs them instead of them being centered and them running their own lives.

James Wedmore: So true. And that was years ago. And social media today has probably made that way worse than it was even five, seven years ago.

Jim Fortin: Yeah, and I was talking about brain stuff, mind and brain. There was an episode, and these are things because it's in my world of professionalism, subconscious influence and selling. And I teach, I teach subconscious selling influence and performance. But there was an episode on 60 Minutes about a month ago or two months ago, and I think they called it Race to the Brainstem, how Twitter and Instagram, and especially Facebook, yeah. They do things to hook the reptilian part of the brain. To make it a habit to use Instagram and to use Facebook. Yeah. So that's why, for example, somebody can like your post, but what they will do based upon all their algorithms, if you've got 10 likes, they won't give 'em to you like by, like they let 'em build up. So, when you open up your Facebook, now you've got 10 likes which releases more endorphins in the brain, which actually conditions the brain to, likes Facebook even more. Therefore, you see their ads more often and they make more money.

James Wedmore: I love that, and I hate. I love it.

Jim Fortin: I know,

James Wedmore: I love it because I run Facebook ads.

Jim Fortin: I know, I know, I know. I'm with you on that. I get it. But this is stuff, and this is all, which we didn't go into today. A lot of this is mental and thought, but a lot of it, which we didn't go into today is, lemme share a couple of nuggets with you, and I don't know how long we have, but I wanna share one or two neurological nuggets please. Have you ever noticed that it's really hard to change a habit?

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: Especially a bad habit, right?

James Wedmore: Yes, absolutely.

Jim Fortin: Okay. See, what most people try to do is they try to use the left-hand side of the brain and analyze and rationalize, you know what? Smoking is a bad habit. I don't wanna do it anymore. I've got grandkids or kids or whatever, and I wanna set a good example. So, I wanna stop smoking yet, smoking is a habit. Here's what most people don't get. They try to analyze and rationalize. Which is prefrontal cortex, which is a thinking part of the brain when the habit comes from the older part of the brain, the most primal part of the brain called the reptilian part of the brain. So, they're actually trying to think their way, which is prefrontal cortex, to changing a habit which is reptilian part of the brain. So, they've got two parts of the brain literally working against each other to change a habit. Does that make sense so far?

James Wedmore: Yes, it does.

Jim Fortin: Okay. Then what happens is we get into a habit battle. Now, here's something most people don't know, and this will be like really eye-opening. Have you ever had, and I don't wanna embarrass you, but have you ever had a habit that you want to quit the habit, but it's just really hard to quit the habit?

James Wedmore: Yeah.

Jim Fortin: Anything? Okay, good. The reason why it is so damn. To quit bad habits is because the reptilian part of the brain, the way that it operates is that every habit that we have is a survival mechanism. Smoking nail biting, 20 cans of Coke a day, diet coke, eating healthy, working out whatever habits we have, the reptilian part of the brain codes, any habit that we have as a survival mechanism. And because it's a survival mechanism, the brain doesn't want to eliminate the habit. So even if you're a smoker every day, and we can analytically say that's a really bad habit, the reptilian part of the brain, which maintains the habit, says, no way are we gonna eliminate smoking, because that is a survival mechanism.

James Wedmore: Wow. Even if it logically isn't.

Jim Fortin: Well, it's logically not right. But that's what the, that's how the reptilian part of the brain works, because that's where the habits come from, is the reptilian part of the brain. Yeah. So, then what happens is people think, and you see people who don't know what they're talking about online. You gotta use your willpower. Well, actually willpower is a finite fixed resource. So, then what happens is we do the habit, which is reptilian brain, which is primal brain. Then the prefrontal cortex says, no, no, no, you're not gonna do that habit. Then we get into the habit battle. Do it, don't do it. Do it. Don't do it. And then what normally happens, James, the reptilian wins. Wins always. Why? Because emotions are also housed in the right-hand side of the brain. So, it brings in the emotions. And the emotions will always win. Overthinking. Yeah. Which is left brain analytical. Therefore, what we do is we fall back into the old habit, then the ha what I call the habit talk habit brain pops up and says, see, I told you couldn't do it anyway. And the cycle starts all over again. And that's why people stay trapped.

James Wedmore: Yeah. Man, this is so good. Jim, this is amazing. So, wait, a, you mentioned the unconscious or subconscious programming. This is something I would love to go deeper on. Do you have a course or program that does this specifically?

Jim Fortin: I've got a program that actually is foolproof, and the reason why is, go back to what we said earlier. I'll make this very short, but, so somebody says, I want Jim's program. I wanna learn how to reprogram myself. But guess what? If they actually at the unconscious level aren't committed, then what happens to my program?.

James Wedmore: It doesn't seep in, or it doesn't stay.

Jim Fortin: It'll use it. They don't do what I tell them to do.

James Wedmore: Yeah,

Jim Fortin: So, what I've done is I've built the program that takes into account neurology as well as Psychology for habits, which we just talked about. Then the subconscious programming, and then actually taking the subconscious programming and making it a habit, and then tracking the habit and then actually showing your you on a daily basis, I'm on track or I'm not on track, because guess what, if day seven you're not on track, that already tells you that you don't have commitment or self-integrity, and that's where you need to be working.

James Wedmore: Yes.

Jim Fortin: Right.

James Wedmore: I love that.

Jim Fortin: Yeah. I have a program on my website. It will walk you step by step how to actually literally with no willpower. Cause willpower is a left-brain function and the more you try to use willpower, the more you will fail. How to actually change your habits without willpower. How to start reprogramming yourself and then how to actually make programming yourself a habit and tracking it.

James Wedmore: Jim, I'm gonna go through this because I'm very excited. I've always been fascinated in whether it was like, you know, self-hypnosis or subconscious programming and like, I have to say, you broke this down so eloquently and so incredibly just like, man, it was on point. So, I'm

Jim Fortin: Thank you.

James Wedmore: I'm so grateful for that. It has me like so excited and reinspired because it's, man, it's so true.

Jim Fortin: Well, we have James, we, everyone listening, and James, we have to work from here. And if you think that something's gonna just happen from the outside, you know, Newton's all, what's it called? First law, motion. Everything stays in a what? A constant state of motion or a state of rest until acted upon by an out outside force. For every one of you listening, if you think your life is gonna change just because something's gonna happen or you're gonna do something that is self-deception and you're fooling yourself. So, the takeaway is this, for you listening, is that you can only do what you are. And if you don't have what you want, it's because you're not that person. And the only way to be that person is to become that person at an identity level. There is no way around that as iron clad.

James Wedmore: It's amazing. It's amazing. Jim, thank you so much for, you know, taking the time and absolutely sharing Absolutely. So freely. And really I want to acknowledge you too, for like opening up and sharing some personal stuff as well, because you know, there's gonna be a ton of people listening, so I really appreciate all of it. All of it.

Jim Fortin: Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you for the invite and thank every one of you for your time and staying with us today. And again, go back and you know, James, on the final comment, it's go back and listen to this, not to hear me, but go back and listen to this several times so that it sinks in for you because you'll pick up things you missed the first time through. Because if I gave you a thought, you're off on a tangent thinking about it. The next thing I said, you missed. Go back and listen to these three or four times and then start applying what James and I gave you today. Oh, James, thank you so much my brother.

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