Jim Fortin (00:00.107) 
You’re listening to the transform your life from the inside out podcast. This episode is titled a vital trait for success that most people haven’t recognized. When I was thinking about doing this episode and I was thinking about what I want to share with you today, I actually Googled it. What I did is I Googled what are the 20 most important traits for success. Now, when I say success, I mean, external three success. 
 
which we live on the planet. We all deserve that. But I Googled the top 20 traits or the most important traits and all the lists that came up this trait never by the word that I’m going to share with you ever came up and not having this trait is exactly what keeps people sick and lonely and broke and struggling. And I’ll tell you what this trade is in the episode. And if I had to bet money, 
 
And I would bet money on this because I can just look out on the world and see this. Many people have not developed, recognized or discovered this trait. It’s not a predominant trait in their life. And I’m not judging because I’ve been there before, but I also used to not have this trait and my life never got to where I wanted it to be until I developed this trait. Keep listening. 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, 
 
feel powerful and alive and to bring more abundance and prosperity into your life, then 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. Okay. So this trait, this nebulous trait that I’m talking about, the clandestine trait, what is it? And as I said in the introduction, 
 
Jim Fortin (02:25.807) 
Most of us don’t have this trait. And really you hear very few people talking about this trait. And I couldn’t tell you why, but before I tell you what the trait is, and I think you’ll, you may figure it out as I’m talking about it. I want to go back to, believe 1992, three, four, five, six thereabouts. It was a Tom Hanks movie called cast away. If you haven’t seen it, he’s stranded on an Island by himself. 
 
And he’s got to get off the island and in the movie, well, I’m I’m not going to tell you what happened in case you haven’t watched it. It’s a pretty good movie in my opinion, but he wanted to get off the island so badly and he kept doing things to get off from the island. But the question is, and I guess I spoiled a movie if you, if you haven’t seen it, what got him off the island, not him trying to get off the island, but what got him off? 
 
the island. Now, love him, hate him, doesn’t matter. I’m just using it as an example. Back and around, and I’ve been in the business world since the late 1980s, and the big news in 92 or so was that Donald Trump could not get financing for his casinos. He couldn’t get banks to lend him money. I think that’s, if I’m not mistaken, and I could be, that’s when he went to the Russians and started Russian banking relationships, perhaps. But the question is this, I’m talking about the psychology, not the behavior and the actions. 
 
But the psychology, what helped him get the money that he needed to keep his casinos and his business afloat? You think back to, I believe, 2021. Tesla, if I remember correctly, was on the verge of bankruptcy. Tesla was not making it before it took off like it is now. He was not making it. And this is right around or right after COVID. How did he survive? 
 
I did a podcast back in 2022 with a good friend of mine. name is Shama Heider. She’s an old friend. I’ve known Shama now for probably 20 something years, 22, three, four, five years. And she, when she was in her twenties, was selected by Businessweek and a few other magazines, entrepreneur, I think Fortune or Forbes as one of the top 20 entrepreneurs in the United States under 20. When she was in her thirties, these same companies 
 
Jim Fortin (04:48.355) 
picked her as like the top 30 under 30. When she was in her forties, she got picked again, top 40 under 40. She’s built a multimillion dollar company. She’s got, I think, 60 employees. And she and I were having a conversation, which I believe was in the last episode. And I agree with her a thousand percent. She said, when most people hit a wall, they stop. When most people hit a wall, they 
 
stop, look in your own life. How often, I, and TCP, we tell people when people say, I don’t know, we say that’s not acceptable. And they already know the rules. That is not acceptable because for you to say, I don’t know what you’re also saying is I’m too lazy to figure it out. I don’t know. I don’t know where to get the answer. And I’m not going to figure it out. So anytime that you hit a wall and you stay there, 
 
you’re not demonstrating this trait that I’m going to talk about. When you say, I can’t have, I can’t be, I can’t do, what you have done in that moment is you’re working from victim mentality and you have not discovered or awakened this trait within you. And what you continue doing is you can’t continue living and you’re same old, same old, same old. So what is this trait that you hear very few people talking about? 
 
This trait is the concept of resourcefulness. You’ve heard it before. We’ve all heard about being resourceful, but many people confuse resources with resourcefulness. The definition of resourcefulness is, according to the dictionary, I went to look it up this morning, is the ability to find clever ways to overcome obstacles and solve problems. 
 
especially when faced with limited resources or difficult situations. There is a good percentage of you listening right now that you’re faced with obstacles, whether it be relationships, money, or health. And then what most people do, I’m not judging. I had been there before for literally the first half of my life. I was not resourceful, but I didn’t know that I wasn’t being resourceful. 
 
Jim Fortin (07:14.416) 
And so what I would do is constantly resigned to my circumstances. I was constantly resigned to, well, this is all I have. Metaphorically speaking, you want five bucks out of me, but I’ve only got five bucks. So that’s all I’ve got this day and age. If you want something for five bucks, you want five bucks for me. And I don’t have it metaphorically speaking, because I’ve got a hell of a lot more than $5. I’m going to figure it out. I’m going to figure out, I’m going to be resourceful. 
 
And I’m going to figure out how to get what I need because what you have is what I need. And that’ll get me to the next level. So you have to recognize this, please. Anytime that you want something. I’ve been here anytime that you want to go to a higher level of life. You want more money, better health, better relationships. If you resign yourself to not having it, which is working from your circumstances. 
 
You’re not going to have it. Number one. And secondly, you are not being resourceful. I talked about resources and resourcefulness. Many people been there, done that. They want the resources, but what they will not do is they will not be resourceful to create the resources. Now for many of us, resources would mean it translates into money. 
 
We want money. And by the way, I just had a whole money program on that. I’ve done it every year, twice a year for the last seven, eight years. And as I said, in that program, money needs us more than we need money. That’s a whole different topic, not going to go there right now. But we say, I want more money. But then in that moment, without even recognizing it, we will not be, because we’re living in our circumstances, we will not be resourced. 
 
full enough to create the resources. You know, a great example of that would be, you ever seen a company? I know you have, we’ve seen tons of them, especially after the 1990s with all the dot-coms and all that, and now that’s the world that we live in. You ever seen a company that they enter the marketplace, a new company, and they’ve got a lot of money behind them? I mean, they’re loaded with money. 
 
Jim Fortin (09:39.718) 
We’ve seen it before. A specific company doesn’t come to mind, but I’m a hundred percent certain because I’ve seen them before they’re out there. They come with a lot of resources, but soon they’re broke. They, the company is not making it anymore. And one of the reasons is, because they haven’t become resource full on the flip side. We’ve all seen this as well. And I’ll give you some examples. Think about a company for a moment that 
 
didn’t have any money when they started and they became extraordinarily successful. Let me give you a couple of examples and you know every one of these. One, Subway sandwiches. Subway literally started with a $1,000 loan. They didn’t have a lot of resources. Look at other companies that start and they’ve got a lot of money and they still go under. Subway did not have a lot of money. had a thousand, the guy borrowed a thousand dollars. 
 
And look what he turned it into a multi-billion dollar brand. Now, one that you might be less familiar with, H. Ross Perot, he’s not on the planet anymore, the Texas billionaire. When he started the EDS, Electronic Data Systems, he started that back in the 1960s with $1,000. Now adjusted for inflation, that 1,000 would be like 10,000 today. I don’t know about you, but $10,000 is not a lot of money to start a company on this day and age. 
 
So basically he started with very limited resources. And I think he sold his company to GM back in the nineties eighties for like $3.4 billion. Another one you all know, you might even be actually using one of their products right now. Apple, Apple was started in a garage and the founders, which were Wozniak and jobs only had 1300 bucks to their name when they started Apple. Look at Apple today. 
 
Look at Apple when they were crashing back in 1990s and Steve Jobs wasn’t a part of them anymore. They weren’t being resourceful. They brought him back and look where Apple is today. I think it’s the second most valued company in the world right after the media. Michael Dell started Dell computers and his dorm room on a thousand dollar budget. Here’s a big one. Amazon. When Bezos started Amazon, he had $10,000 of his own money and he borrowed $250,000 from his parents. 
 
Jim Fortin (12:07.3) 
The two fifties, a nice chunk, but $10,000 was not a lot of money back in 1990. And very quickly, I’m to do an episode next couple of weeks or so on missed opportunities. When it comes to Amazon, one of my clients in New York city, I think back about missed opportunities. He was a billionaire and he said to me one day, Jim, if you got any extra money, put a thousand dollars into Amazon. And this was back in 1999 or 2000. And I thought to myself, why would I want to buy part of a 
 
online book company. Well, I think that stock today had, a thousand dollars would be worth like $8 million. Here’s another one. What about ring? The guy that founded ring went to shark tank. All the sharks on shark tank turned him down and told him why it would not work. The guy became resourceful. He got money. And I think today I believe if I’m correct and I could be wrong and maybe wrong. 
 
I think Amazon bought Ring and now it’s a multi-billion dollar company. Another friend of mine, personal friend, her name is Susie Batees. Susie, according to Fortune Magazine, is one of the top 100 wealthiest self-made women in the United States, meaning she started the company and she’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars now. Susie is the chairman, founder, creator of Poo-Pourri. It’s the toilet spray that you use to kill the smell in the bathroom. 
 
I remember when Susie was telling me about this, when it was just an idea on the drawing board. And I remember her telling me about different fragrances and oils and essential oils and all this as she was doing it. And I even recall why she said she was starting it. Anyway, Susie did not have a lot of money. She grew up a poor Arkansas farm girl. She was married. She was an interior designer when I met her, but not a lot of money. And 
 
Today she’s one of the hundred wealthiest self-made women in the United States. Resourcefulness. So the thing about resourcefulness, and I’m going to say this candidly, you’ve got to develop it. And what prevents you from developing it is that you, I’ve been there, done that. So when I say you and you and you, I’m pointing the finger at myself 25 years ago and earlier. I’ve been there. understand this very well. Excuse my. 
 
Jim Fortin (14:29.988) 
my emphatic language, you have to fucking get out of your fear. You’ve got to get out of the fear, but the fear prevents us from even being resourceful. And as long as you stay in your fear, well, your fear is going to control you. So you have to choose because everything’s about choices. Do I choose to get out of my fear and become more resourceful? And what you’ll find is the inverse relationship. Once you get out of your fear, 
 
and you become more resourceful, the worry and the insecure thinking, they fall away and they stop because you recognize that when you are resourceful, you have no need because you’re generating revenue or whatever you want. You have no need to go into the insecure fear and worry. I’ve often told people that worry and fear are insecure thinking. The reason why is when a person is in worry and fear, what they are literally saying 
 
overt or covertly is I’m a victim. I can’t figure it out. I don’t know how to make this happen. I don’t know who to talk to. I don’t know what to do. And so therefore, because I don’t know what’s going to happen next, I have no power over my future. I’m going to just sit here and I’m going to worry. There’s no resourcefulness in that equation. So you have to ask yourself, okay, this is where I am in life today and I can stay here or what are my options? 
 
And my options are stay in my current circumstances or become resourceful. And then in this moment, what many of us do is we think, well, okay, I’m going to live by my circumstances. I want to do X, Y, Z, but I can’t afford it. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to make a choice. Even though I don’t know that I’m making a choice, I’m going to make the choice to do nothing. I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing, which by the way is a choice. And you know, when I ask people, 
 
Well, if you do nothing different and you become nothing different, where do you think that’s going to leave you in a year? And many people will say, well, I’m going to be in the exact same place. No, you’re not going to be in the exact same place. You’re going to be backwards. Why? Because you’ve lost a year of opportunity gain. You’ve lost a year of growth. You’ve lost a year of time of building what it is that you actually want to build in life. And I’ve said this many times. 
 
Jim Fortin (16:54.97) 
Many years ago, I was broke as hell. And I’ve literally, you know, I had to dig in the backseat of my car for change. had to figure out how to eat. There was one time I was riding the bus after college. I had no car. lost my car. I had to figure out how to get a car. I had to figure out how to pay for my car insurance. Not only that, had it not been for, and I have good friends, had it not been for a friend of mine, 
 
I would have been homeless. I didn’t have anywhere to live other than moving back home with my mom and dad. And that was not an option for me. I didn’t have anything, but back then I was in a place that many people are in the victim mentality. Poor me. Why is this happening to me? This shit always happens to me. Why can’t I get out of this? And I know there’s some people listening now in fairness to them. Maybe there’s some single moms listening and I’m sure that there are. 
 
In fairness to people that really have you, maybe you’re working three jobs. Well, the truth is you can get out of it, which you’ve got to be resourceful. But what I want to share to give you a little consolation, Maria Shriver did a documentary about 10 years ago called Paycheck to Paycheck. And what she discovered in this documentary is that when we literally work three jobs, like a single mom, we’re exhausted. And what we do is we run down our brain power. 
 
I can explain it scientifically, I’ll just keep it simple. So we run down our brain power because our brain is like a battery. Now we don’t have the power to be resourceful because our brain power is run down. So what I would do in that case is I would say, okay, how can I be resourceful to get off this merry-go-round? I’m on this fricking merry-go-round, it sucks, it’s not healthy, I hate being on it. How do I get off this merry-go-round? 
 
So to go to the next step in life, to get off the merry-go-round, first and foremost, you have to, and I’m gonna use this word intentionally, you have to stop agreeing to and settling for your life as it is now. I’m going to repeat that. You have to stop agreeing to and settling for where your life is today. The reason your life is where it is today is because you have settled for it and you have agreed to it. 
 
Jim Fortin (19:19.95) 
Now consciously you could say, Jim, that’s a bunch of crap. I don’t agree to being poor. Well, you do agree by not being resourceful because guess what? No matter where you are in life, no matter what you want in life, you want a new jet, figure it. If you can’t afford it yet, but you know you’re, getting there, figure it out. You want a new car, figure it out. Notice this notice when you air quote, think that you have to, you will figure it out. Why? Because you have to figure it out. 
 
Most of us live, this is a bit of a very brutal statement, yet I love the statement. And I read this probably 20 years ago. It was a passage by Aleister Crowley. He was an 1880s occultist. And he said that most, and he used the word men instead of people, just different times. He said, most men live their lives as a beast of burden, meaning we live our life. 
 
metaphorically, you know, look at countries, you know, agrarian countries, look at North Korea, they have oxen plowing their fields. These are beasts of burden. Yet what we don’t recognize as many human beings, if you’re scratching out a living, if you’re struggling, if you’re trying to figure out what you’re going to do to pay your bills, you’re living as a beast of burden. And his point was, as humans were not put on the planet with the abilities they have, 
 
to settle for being a beast of burden. So you might be thinking right now, okay, Jim, I get it, I hear you, but what do I do? Well, do what I do is connect with divine mind, connect with your subconscious mind. And I teach this in, know, TCP in different courses that I conduct. Actually, TCP is not a course. TCP is an immersion experience. 
 
But in TCP, we talk about a bit and the inner circle beyond TCP. We talk about engaging the subconscious mind and using the subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind is a problem solver. This is where the old wives tale came from. Let me sleep on it. And when you’re sleeping, you’re literally unfettered consciousness and you’re merging with the universe. So what I would do and I have done before, when I go to bed, I say, mind. 
 
Jim Fortin (21:39.394) 
I need an answer for blank, whatever it is, business partner, money, home, whatever it might be. Hey, sub, call it sub subconscious mind. Hey, sub, I need an answer. I need guidance. I need direction. I need an epiphany. I need awareness for XYZ outcome. Bring this to me, please. Thank you. And I the universe do its job. It’s the job of the universe to bring it to me. So if you feel trapped right now, you’re never trapped. You’re never stuck. 
 
You’re simply not being resourceful and even using the power of your own subconscious mind. So from this point forward, you listening to this episode, never, and I mean, never again say that you cannot be do or have something. Never again say that you cannot be do or have something. Where I work from is I know this about myself. 
 
is I can create anything that I want in life. And that’s a foundational belief. Now it’s a whole different bowl of wax. Do I know how to create it? No. But guess what? I’m going to be resourceful or well, I’m to be resourceful and figure it out. Or I’m going to pay someone to show me how to figure it out and how to help me with it. And if I can’t afford to pay that person, I’m going to be resourceful to pay that person. 
 
And that could be, which doesn’t pan out a lot of times because a lot of people don’t honor their agreements, but that could be bartering. Or maybe I have a service and I’m not talking this day and age, I’m talking many years ago, but I’m giving you some examples. If you’ve got something I need and I know that I need it to build my business so I can help more people and let’s say I couldn’t afford it, you can bet your ass I’m going to figure out how to afford it. I’m going to figure out how to get what I need. 
 
Can we barter? Can we exchange? Can I do a training for you? Can I do this? Can I do that? Sooner or later, I’m going to find something they need. Now I get what I need, they get what they need, but make no mistake. And I think it’s clear by now, I am, and I will figure it out. And like I said, toss it to dream time. And where I was going a bit ago, Churchill, Winston Churchill said before, never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever give up. 
 
Jim Fortin (24:04.026) 
And he might’ve said, surrender. don’t know. But I think when I read it, had seven nevers before it and they were fighting Hitler. Never, never, never, never, never, never, never give up. So when we give up, most of us give up after the first never me personally, like I said, I am going to figure it out in the early two thousands. I wanted to go to a weekend training seminar coaching weekend. The cost of that was over $10,000. I had the money. 
 
that money was tied for me. think I just moved into a new home at that point and I was cash tied in that moment. But I knew that that person that was conducting that three day event, I knew at my core level that they had what I needed. I knew they could get me to where I wanted to be if I did the work. So what I did is I bit the bullet and I invested the over $10,000 into this event. 
 
And to date, that $10,000 investment has brought over $20 million in income to me. I can say with 100 % certainty, had I not gotten resourceful and what I had to do is move some money around in different ways. I had to sell some things, I had to liquidate some stock. Most people will say, well, no, I don’t want to do any of that. I just don’t have it. I’m not going to do anything. I said, okay, how do I make this happen? And if I didn’t have the money, I would have borrowed the money. 
 
because I knew I needed what that person had. And as I said, I knew they could get me to where I wanted to be. And as a result of working with that person, I’ve added an additional $20 million to my bottom line and my revenue because they brought what I needed and I got out of my circumstances to work with them to bring that in my life. So what I’m telling you, and I think it’s very clear, and I’ve said it a bazillion times before, stop working from your circumstances. 
 
When you work from circumstances, you are in resignation. When you are in resignation, you are not being resourceful. Figure it out. Decide what you want and then ask what resources do I need and then be resourceful to create those resources. So when I started this episode, I talked about Tom Hanks and movie castaway. Hanks wanted all from that Island badly and he was resourceful enough. 
 
Jim Fortin (26:30.434) 
He was resourceful as if his life depended on it and it did. And that’s when I’ve got something that I want to do and I’m driven. I will act as if my life depends on it. Why? Because if I do XYZ, it will get me to the next level. And in the opening statement, I said in the introduction, I said a vital trait for success and most people haven’t awakened or they’re not aware of. And think about your own life as I’m sharing this. 
 
Do not feel bad about it. Do not feel judgmental about it in any way. Just simply ask yourself, Hey, do I have what I want in life? Am I creating what I want? Am I going where I want to go? And if I’m not, am I being resourceful? Have the courage to own that answer. I know the answer. You already know the answer, but have the courage to actually admit because that’s when you start awakening. And when you start awakening and you start having awareness, that’s when you change. 
 
Many years ago, as you know, growing up on a farm, if I wanted something badly enough, I had to figure it out, plain and simple, as I mentioned before. I had to figure out how to go to college. When I wanted Nikes, I had to figure out how to buy them. My parents wouldn’t buy them for me. They were too expensive. When I wanted my first polo shirt in high school, I had to figure out how to pay for it. When I wanted my first car, I had to figure it out. I had to figure out things. And what I recognized back then is if I choose not to figure it out, then guess what? I don’t want it badly enough. 
 
And I’m fine being in resignation. And when you’re in resignation, you are in agreement. I used that word earlier. So if you’re not going to be resourceful, you are in agreement with not being resourceful. If you’re not going to be resourceful and you’re not going to do it, then you’re in agreement with the outcomes that you get, even though that you don’t like them. That stings. tell you, but that is the truth. So we often want more, but we won’t be resourceful to create more. 
 
And so what many of us do is we complain, realize this, if you want more, you’ve got to be more resourceful to get it. On the secret podcast, I’m going to talk about a time when I had to be resourceful or get left behind. And it’s beyond what I shared earlier, but there was one time in my life working of Don Javier and he didn’t charge any money at all. Nothing, not a dime. But if I wasn’t resourceful, I never would have worked with him like I have. And if I never would have worked with him like I have over the past 30 years, 
 
Jim Fortin (28:55.49) 
I never never want to become who I am and I wouldn’t be able to help you in the ways that I am. So to hear that secret, then into the podcast, go to Jim Fortin.com slash insiders, Jim Fortin.com slash insiders. Your transformational takeaway is this resourcefulness is more important than resources. If you want more in your life, you must become resourceful. And if you don’t want more in your life, 
 
If you won’t become resourceful, then just own the fact that you are in agreement to not have everything you want. No complaining, no victim mentality. Just accept the fact that if you will not become more resourceful to find the tools, the people, resources, whatever it is you need, if you won’t be more resourceful, you are then in agreement with exactly where you are today. And as shitty as that is, you got to own it. 
 
There’s no way we’re going to change unless we do that. Thanks for listening and I’ll catch you over on the secret podcast or another episode. Bye bye.