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“95% of the decisions you make, 95% of the thoughts that you have, are made in your subconscious. Part of that's keeping you alive, but the other part, it's based on programming.” — Robert Peterson
This episode taken from our longer interview with Robert Peterson, which you can find here.
Curt Mercadante interviews Robert Peterson, author of the new book, The Entrepreneur Mindset Shift: Growth Characteristics of Success.
Robert also is the host of the Add Value 2 Entrepreneurs Podcast and co-founder of Add Value 2 Life Coaching. He helps entrepreneurs shift their mindset and reach their dreams.
Robert started out in Christian Ministry as a church planter, pastor, and mentor. He began his own entrepreneurial journey after 20 years in ministry and aimed to help individuals use the tools he’d gathered.
With over 20 years of coaching leaders, Robert offers a unique perspective guiding professionals to get out of their own way as he helps them see what is written on the instructions outside the box that they’re sitting in.
FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THIS EPISODE:
Curt:
One thing you write about in the book that goes directly to the heart of this and really the heart of everything we've talked about quite honestly, but it becomes hard to allow and surrender due to our body's own survival capabilities and you go in deep on the reticular activating system in the book. And a lot of people have no idea what this is. And it's designed to be our best friend, but it can also be our greatest enemy. Right? And hold us for. So can you explain what the RAS is and how entrepreneurs, really anyone can begin to retrain it, to utilize it as a tool and a weapon for their own good instead of keeping them trapped on that moving walkway?
Robert Peterson:
Absolutely. Well, so the first thing is recognition that our brain is a slow evolving machine. It's the greatest machine in the history of humanity so far. There's no other, nothing we've created is better than the human brain, right? So all of the computers and everything else still can't match what the human brain does. But the human brain's number one job is to keep us alive. And so it's still in survival mode. The brain, in some ways still thinks that we're inside a cave and there's a lion outside and anything we do to step outside that cave, the lion's going to eat us. And so the brain has this system designed to keep you alive. And part of that's called the comfort zone. The brain wants to keep you in the things that you know really good. And keep you from doing things that are different than you've done before.
Robert Peterson:
That's part of that because as far as the brain's concerned, if you do something different than you've done before, there's a lion outside the door, waiting to eat you. And so recognizing that 95% of the decisions you make, 95% of the thoughts that you have are made in your subconscious. And you don't have control over that. Those all happen without you taking any control or responsibility. 95% of the things that your brain is doing, it's doing without you. Part of that's keeping you alive, your heart beating, your breathing. All of those things that are necessary to keep you alive. But the other part, it's based on programming, most likely that was planted by people of authority in your life, your parent, your teachers, these ideas about money, these ideas about yourself, these ideas about the world and how the world works. All of these ideas.
Robert Peterson:
So quick example, when you get an idea, you get a million-dollar idea or the idea that you could double your income one month to the next. And the first thing your brain says is, "You, how could you do that?" And the brain challenges that idea and the brain's like, "No, no, no, no, no, no. That doesn't fit our beliefs." So that's out, right? So the reticular activating system is our spam filter. It's like this incredible tool the brain uses to filter out everything that's going on around us. Our eyes are taking in as much information as a 60-megapixel camera every second. Our ears are taking in all the sounds that are happening around us. Our skin is this giant touch surface that can feel wind and breezes and temperature and all of these things. And all of this sensory information is being gathered millions of bits at a time.
Robert Peterson:
Well, our conscious brain can only handle like 48K, like 48 bits of information per second. That's the part where you and I are thinking and talking, and we hear ourselves, the voice in our head kind of talks at that level. But the subconscious can process tens of thousands, 50,000 bits of information all at once. And it doesn't filter it. It doesn't know whether it's real or imagined, if it fits these three categories, it'll let it in. And so the three categories are basically, is it true for you? Does it match my belief systems is the most powerful one. And so does it match my belief system? So that idea that you could double your income, if your brain doesn't believe you can double your income or you're capable of it or worthy of it, or your brain's like, "No. Those ideas don't get in."
Robert Peterson:
Is it my responsibility? Is it something I'm responsible for? Boom never gets in. And is it important? Boom never gets in. Those are the three categories. Now, there's certain things that the RSA always lets in. Your name, somebody says your name, boom, no matter where you are, boom your brain hears it, reacts to it. Sexual innuendo from your partner or a sexual advance from your partner, your brain, like that's the part of ... The brain is designed to keep us alive and keep us reproducing. The brain responds to that because that's the survival instinct. That's how we perpetuate ourselves on the planet. Boom like, "Whoo, oh yeah, I'm all in."
Robert Peterson:
And so this reticular activating system, what's really cool about the subconscious is it doesn't know the difference between something I've really experienced, jumping out of an airplane, skydiving, "Whoo, did that once." But now I can do it in my imagination. And I can truly imagine it and feel it and do all of these things. And my brain doesn't know the difference, whether I've once or jumped a hundred times because I can imagine it over and over again.
Robert Peterson:
But I can do the same thing with my money beliefs. And I can start programming my reticular activating system to understand that, "Hey, these ideas about money, those are important. Oh, these ideas about money, that's my responsibility." And, "Oh, I believe that I can double my income." And now if I've programmed myself to believe all three of those things, guess what my reticular activating system does? It says, "Oh, there's a money idea. Hey, well, there's another money idea. Let me show it to Robert." "Oh, there's another investment opportunity. Let me show it to Robert." So it's kind of like I mentioned in the book, a red Jeep, if you like red Jeeps and we start planning this scene about red Jeeps. In fact, I'm going to tell you right now, don't look for red Jeeps this afternoon.
Curt:
And I'll see red Jeeps.
Robert Peterson:
All-day long. And so we think when you go buy a new car, you think, "Oh, nobody else has this car. This is great." And you start driving around. You're like, "Wait a minute, now they're all over the place." So that's what's happened is you've sent a message to your reticular activating system saying, "Hey, this car is important." And now it just opens up and says, "Oh, there's one, oh, there's one". They were there all along but your brain was telling you that they weren't important and they weren't your responsibility. And so there's these really cool times in the morning and in the evening that are really prime times for programming your reticular activating system. That's why Napoleon Hill said do the six steps, read it every morning and read it every night before you go to bed until you have it memorized until you're using it, keeping it in your mind.
Robert Peterson:
And I think the biggest difference between people that read, think, and grow rich and go, "Ah, that won't work for me." And the people that take action and apply the six steps in their life and do some of the stuff. And yeah, it was written a hundred years ago. Yeah, the language is kind of funky, but if you still figure out how to make the language work for you and your brain, those things are powerful. And so I think the power of starting your day and finishing your day with what you want in the world. I add gratitude to mine because gratitude helps me stay in that place you're talking about. That humility place where it isn't really about me and being grateful for the things that I have and being grateful for the opportunities just keeps it out of me, it's not me. It's this combination of the universe and God and me making a bigger impact together. Right?
Curt:
Yeah.
Robert Peterson:
It's about God and I are working together for the good of the world. That's pretty cool. But gratitude is what keeps me humble. And so having gratitude keeps my mind in the right place, my attitude in the right place. But then it allows me to plant those programs of, I'm worthy of success, I'm worthy of and I can do great things with this money. And having a plan for the money, if you don't know what you're going to do with the money, why would God give you any more?
Curt:
Right. Yeah.
Robert Peterson:
Like we talked about earlier, the parable of talents. If you're not taking care of the money that you've got, why would God give you any more? And that's why in the money chapter, I say, it's simple, live on a budget, spend less than you make. That's the first step.
Curt:
It's interesting that this interview today and you're Christian, we interviewed last night, Jason Gregory, who is an Eastern philosopher. And we even talked about Hinduism and Buddhism and a little bit about Christianity. But when you really get down to it, and you mentioned Napoleon Hill a hundred years ago. Well, heck 2000 years ago, 2500 years, whether it's the gospel, whether it's the Tao-te Ching, whether it's the teachings of Buddha. [crosstalk 00:09:18] One thing we looked at is when you actually read it, you're saying the same thing that if I have a Buddhist on here saying. When you really get down to the spirituality and take some of the people out of it, right. And the programming and the people that we've talked about, they would say, "Money's bad."
Curt:
You realize that the notion and the principle of surrender, and let go, and let God, and opening up and understanding that obsession is where money is not the root of all evil. It didn't say that. It said the love of money, the obsession, becoming attached is key. And you mentioned gratitude. So I'd love to finish up by just saying I'm very grateful that you're here. I'm grateful that you had me on your show, that we crossed paths. Now, we're friends, connected on social media. And I would be very grateful if anyone watching or listening, went picked up, The Entrepreneur Mindset Shift. Also, went to Robert's website, which is we're going to put it in the show notes. But what's your website?
Robert Peterson:
Addvalue, the number 2 life.com, addvalue2life.com.
Curt:
Go there. Learn about Robert. I know he is got masterminds. He's got a lot of great stuff. Robert Peterson, thank you so much for joining us today.
Robert Peterson:
Curt, thank you for a great conversation, man. I can't wait till we're just rocking somewhere in Sedona together and just hanging out.
Curt:
Come on down.