Are your thoughts your superpower or your secret weakness? Every single thought you have is a potent ingredient, actively shaping the chemistry of your body, your health, and the physical outcomes in your life. This isn’t just self-help theory—it’s a fundamental truth.
In this deep dive, Jeffrey Saad explores the profound connection between your inner dialogue and your outer reality. Discover the powerful daily practices—from morning mantras to the Art of Kaizen—that allow you to rewire your brain for success, joy, and fulfillment. Learn how to apply the principles of The Reduction (Personal Constitution, Circle of Control, and eliminating harmful Storytelling) to clear the ‘impurities’ from your life and concentrate the essence of what truly makes you thrive.
Stop being a passive participant in your own life. It’s time to realize you are the choreographer, the author, and the casting agent. What ingredients are you using in the recipe of your life? If you’re ready to master your mindset and see those positive thoughts translate into tangible results, don’t miss this episode.
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What Are Your Thoughts And How Are They Translating In Your Life?
Power Of Thoughts & Energy
What are your thoughts? The power of your thoughts. Every thought you think produces corresponding chemistry equal to that thought. You change your body, health, physical outcomes, everything. That, I have written down and saved and I look at it all the time. It’s from Becoming Supernatural by Joe Dispenza. I believe it so deeply. It is so important to be careful about what you think or what you say because you’ll hear it, but your thoughts matter.
I know we’ve hit on some of this before and we’ll circle back. I start every single day with saying this out loud to myself, “We’re doing it again, making millions, debt-free, loving life, physically fit and healthy. Bringing joy to all we encounter. Inspiring our children and enjoying incredible family time. Watching and guiding our children to fulfill their dreams. Traveling the world, learning, overflowing with vigor for life, and most importantly being present in every moment. I happen to live. On my worst day, I’m still the luckiest guy I know. Ride the wave. Empathy is the ability to step into the shoes of another person aiming to understand his or her feelings and point of view and to use that understanding to guide our actions. The size of a person is determined by the size of the things that bother them.”
I’m not kidding you when I say it’s been decades that I’ve been saying this. It’s gotten slightly tweaked. I believe so fully that you have a choice. As we’ve talked about many times, what you put in your brain, how you start your day is going to affect the entire day and your interactions with everybody you come can run into. I’m more than ever as somebody who’s in real estate and doing the speaking, coaching and the book we have coming out, which I’ll get to in a minute.
I’m realizing more than ever that everything in life happens because of the energy you put out. All the energy you’re putting out is based on your thoughts. If you wake up and think it’s going to be the best day of your life, which is what I say to myself every day. That’s going to be a very different day than if you wake up going, “Crap. Here we go again. I don’t want to deal with this so and so and this thing and that thing.” You start scrolling and seeing all the terrible stuff that’s happening out there. You’re going to go down so fast.
Daily Practices To Rewire The Brain
Think about a mantra, if you’re into it or something that you can read every morning to start your day with the right thoughts. As I’ve said a million times, don’t turn on that phone. If you can leave the phone off, start with five minutes if that’s what it takes and work up to an hour. Not having my phone for those first couple hours when I’m awake has been the greatest gift. I was doing a presentation and I was talking to this group. I reminded everyone that this is years in the making. I’m not one to sit here and say, “I’m going to change your life overnight. Do this and everything will be great.” It’s a process. It’s one little step at a time.
The Art of Kaizen, 1% better every day. If you do it, what’s happening is you’re rewiring your brain. You truly are then you become your thoughts .Which is much better than the other thoughts. I finish every night with this. Before I go to bed or sometimes close to that. I say this to myself or out loud, depending if my wife’s right next to me and she’s like, “Be quiet. I’m trying to sleep.”
Everything in life happens as a result of the energy you put out. Share on XI say, “I am present in every moment. Thus, I am very aware of what matters. I solve every challenge that presents itself turning it into a win for my clients and my family. I’m patient. I let things pass by. I control my response. I am always in the right place at the right time, which is why all my dreams come true. I am blessed with an amazing family that thrives, is happy and close. I cherish my wife and children. They cherish me. We always take care of each other. I have more money than I need. I’m so wealthy, I’m able to use it to do so much good. I am healthy, strong, full of life, happy and grateful.”
I close my eyes and fade away because I read a long time ago, the last thing you do or the last thing you’re thinking about is what sinks into your brain. If you’re going to sleep, watch an action thriller, which I’ve done. That’s going to be very different than if you go to sleep after having studied your French or reading something like this or writing something like this or saying this. I’ve got these memorized now. I just say them without having to look at it.
Mindset & Choice: How Energy Shapes Your Day
If you start to do something like this, it’s going to change the outcomes in your life. We are nothing but energy. That’s what we are. When you show up in a room, it’s your energy that’s screaming. You don’t have to say a word. You’re either somebody that people want to be around, believe in, trust and do things with or you’re somebody that makes people uneasy or somewhere in between. It’s always your energy.
As we’ve talked about many times, you are the choreographer. Congrats. You’re the author, the writer, or the casting agent. You are everything in your life. You control this. I ask you, what are the ingredients you’re using? Think of every thought as an ingredient in the recipe of your life. What pantry are you tapping into? How does your life reflect those thoughts? Think about it now. How was your day? How was your week? How does it compare to your thoughts? If you’ve had bad interactions and bad things happening. Can you say that, “That’s so weird because all I’ve done every day is be joyful and think about what’s going well, how I want to make a difference in the world and if things are going to be okay.”
I’m guessing there’s a correlation. Think about that and remember your life is a reflection of those thoughts. As we talked about the past episode too, thinking is dangerous. As funny as that sounds, don’t think. Have a thought and then act on it. The second you start thinking, you become the ruminator and then you’re spiraling out as well. That’s something to think about. More than ever, this political situation. Again, I respect the whole spectrum of people reading, but it’s crazy what’s going on.
If you just read, watch and listen to all this, you are going to go insane. The irony is we think we’re so good because we care so much and we’re becoming experts on misery and on all the terrible things ISIS is doing and everything else. The reality is, all you’re doing is hurting yourself and the people around you because it’s affecting you. It’s going to weigh you down. I made the mistake of watching one video. I regretted it because that was in my brain then and that’s not what I want in there.
My goal Is to spread joy everywhere I go on a 20-foot radius and if I can slowly get other people to do the same, sooner or later, our 20-foot radiuses are going to overlap and we’ll be in a better place because we won’t want to do these bad things because we care about each other. We respect each other. We’re more interested in bringing joy and having things be good. Remember, the thoughts that you have are based on a lot of the inputs. They just come from you, but it’s based on the inputs you’re taking in.
As much as I’m all for these lawsuits happening like social media companies. Yes, they need to take responsibility and like anything, there’s a tipping point and it’s time that we figure this out. These companies need to be held accountable where appropriate and you are your algorithm. You do get to choose. Somebody won’t like me for saying this, but don’t be the victim that everything’s wrong in your life because of an algorithm or because of what social media is doing to you or because of what the world is doing to you.
You have a choice. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my Instagram feed is full of great poets of history, motivational speakers, awesome motorcycle races, martial arts and French and all the things that I love and focus on. That’s what’s in my feed. I don’t get politics in my feed. I don’t get these over the top things that make me feel less than. I don’t get any of that because I choose to click. Remember, your Clique is a vote. It’s a vote for the life you want. It’s a vote for everything that’s going on in the world.
Choose what you click. Your click is a vote—for the life you want and for everything happening in the world. Share on XI was talking to my daughter about this and she’s so amazing. We had such a deep, wonderful conversation. It’s like, you got to remember that whatever you click on is a vote. For me, if I see a dramatic headline, I will not click on it no matter what because I’m not going to support that clickbait or that drama. When people are making exclamation points and exaggerated adjectives, “The end of or the biggest ever or the beginning of the end.” All these dramatic headlines, I just won’t click. If none of us clicked, then guess what? These companies wouldn’t hire the people that write those articles because they’re not being well received. They wouldn’t post that stuff. They wouldn’t publish that stuff.
As a group, we do have an effect and do get to determine what’s out there. Again, I respect everybody. I’m down the middle. I’m very balanced. If I just say and anyone else who agrees with me, we’re not going to click, acknowledge, address or interact with anything that’s not in the middle that we believe in. It would change because nobody can make any money if nobody’s clicking on these things. They’re going to have to adjust what they publish and what they put out there. Think about your personal responsibility at minimum to yourself on what you choose to support. Whether you think you’re supporting it or not.
Remember too, it’s not helpful to support the extremes either. Even if it’s something I believe in. If I keep clicking on it and doubling down on it, that’s good but not if it’s an extreme. All you’re doing then is fueling the divide and the extremes. Where all this is coming from with me is my excitement over the Reduction. That is the name of the book that my co-authors Steve Shull and I have written. It is done. It is at the publisher. It will be out in the Spring.
I am so excited and I’m excited for one simple reason because the journey of doing it was amazing. The thought that it could help anybody is amazing. I’m not caught up at all in whether we sell a bunch of copies or it’s a number one bestseller or it makes me rich. None of that is of interest to me. It’s nice. We all love money and success, but the journey is what’s exciting to me. I want to make a difference and I think this is material that is going to help a lot of people.
It’s interesting. I’ve always said this. My take on it is new, but this is not new information. I will never pretend to be the originator of the circle of control, a stoic philosophy or any of these things. Everything’s been said at some point. Even as a chef, I always joke I’ve probably never created a unique recipe even though I think I have. Everything’s been done in some version, but the beauty is a few things. One is making it your own and doing it in your version. Two is packaging it in a way that it resonates with more people because that’s the key. We all know that.
It’s not necessarily the best singer that hits the top of the charts. It’s the one that has the best branding and the best overall vibe and identity that you resonate with. It’s about aligning with people with what your message is. I’m proud and you’ll correct me if I’m wrong, that this book accomplishes that. It’s called the Reduction. It’s made up of three parts, the personal constitution, the circle of control and storytelling. As a quick side note, any of you reading, we’re doing a retreat on the personal constitution in March. Four nights in the desert in California, down in the desert Palm Springs, and we’re going to walk people through creating their personal constitution.
It’s very exciting. We’ve got a few spots left. It’s mostly filled, but if somebody happens to be reading and that appeals to you. We’d love to have you reach out and let me know. The Reduction as a recap, what is it? The idea behind the Reduction started when I was a young chef and learning to cook. Everything that was delicious had been reduced. The culinary world is just boiling down. You start with a big old stock pot of bones, celery, carrots, onion and water. It tastes like nothing or it tastes blah. As it boils and simmers, all the impurities rise to the surface and foam up. You skim those off just like life.
First, you got to figure out what those impurities are and things that you don’t want in your life. You start to skim them off. As it simmers, all the water evaporates and the solids concentrate and you’re left with this delicious stock bone broth if you will, which most people are aware of now. That’s what makes all these dishes taste so great. That’s the main reason a risotto at a restaurant tastes so much better. It’s stock that they’re using. We use it like water in the restaurants. It’s so flavorful.
The Reduction & Personal Constitution
Steve, my co-author helped me realize that we need to put this into a book. I’ve been doing a reduction my whole life because I don’t want to sacrifice quality time with my family. I don’t want to sacrifice my personal passions. The only way to do everything is to reduce it down to the bare bones of what’s necessary and what’s impactful and work. Which we’ve talked about is a big one of those. Work will fill the space you give it. The most obvious reduction is choosing to guarantee yourself X amount of days off. That’s a reduction because now the days left, you have to be more impactful to not have to work more to make up for it.
The only way to do everything is to reduce it to the bare bones of what’s necessary, impactful, and effective. Share on XThe more you reduce, the more you can take things out of your life that aren’t impactful the better. I challenge you to think about everything in your life for a minute or an hour or whatever it takes. Think about the things in your life that you’re spending a decent amount of time on, but you aren’t getting a result or at least not the result you think you should get. Now you have to ask yourself if you’re confident just like this rewiring I’m talking about. The payoff is going to come in. It’s a process, then great. Keep with it if you’re happy and you like it. If you’re doing things that aren’t giving you the return, think about cutting those out or cutting those down. Every step you can eliminate, everything you can not say yes to is a reduction.
Circle Of Control & Storytelling
The second thing is the personal constitution and this is what we’re doing the retreat on. This is your internal compass. I’ve talked about this before. I think I’ve read my personal constitution to you folks and I’m happy to send it to anybody that reaches out. It’s no secret. It will be in the book, but that is your internal compass. It’s a decision of how you’re going to live your life and what you want your life to look like. Once you put that personal constitution down, all of a sudden, you have so much clarity. Not if you frame it, put it on the wall or put it under your desk drawer or have it in a google docs and never look at it again.
If you interact with it and read it daily, it becomes part of your soul. It becomes part of who you are. All of a sudden, you start lining up with those things in your life. There is no right answer. Be very clear. The personal constitution, if you’re single and your internal compass motivation is to be a billionaire. That’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with that but then just make sure everything aligns with that. Your constitution is going to say, “I will never let my family get in the way of me making money. I will never let friendships get in the way of me making money.”
I’m exaggerating but the idea is to be in line with how you’re living your life. A lot of people say, “X is important to me,” but then if you look at their life it doesn’t seem to be reflected in that. One of my things in my personal constitution is I can die any day and my last words will be thank you with a smile. That is important to me. To live a life that is about the journey and the present moment because that’s all we ever have. If that’s good then I’m good. I don’t need to achieve X in my life or to be with X person or to have X thing to be joyful and to feel fulfilled.
My constitution starts off with, “Gratitude and joy are my lifeblood. Better every day for myself and those around me. Do the right thing. Bring joy.” That’s the first thing I read in my constitution after meditating and reading what I read to you earlier. That’s what I start with and that is how the constitution starts. What’s the tagline for your life like what’s the cliff notes for the life you want to live. That is how I like to start the constitution with a few sentences that just define what is the theme song of your life. What’s the alma mater of who you are and want to be?
Living Your Best Life & Continuous Growth
If you write down everything you want your life to be looking like and again, this is to be written in the present tense because it’s not a goal or a future maybe. It’s who you are now. You might not fully be there yet and that’s okay. That’s normal. You want to write these down in the present tense and read them and live them as if you’re already there. That is the key. What I’ve written down in mine and it’s been there forever is, work will fill the space given. I will only give it the amount of time that allows me to enjoy my life, pursue my passions and give more than I take.
That has been with me for decades. When I started as a new realtor many years ago, I didn’t work weekends. I got a voicemail on Friday that said I’ll be checking messages and getting back to you on Sunday and people were shocked. “You can’t do that as a realtor,” but I did and we’ve had a phenomenal career. You can do what you choose to do, but you have to have the courage to say, “This is who I am and this is how I’m going to live my life. Whatever the outcome is, is automatically good.”
For me, the richest person in the world and my wife always say this, is, somebody can wake up and just say I love my life. If you love your life and it’s just like another day in paradise and it’s how you want to be. This isn’t Pollyanna. This is real for me but it didn’t start that way, as many of you may know from my history and my story. If you can say that, you’ve got a beautiful life. That’s the thing about this constitution. When you write it, you can read it and take your time. Have it be something you do over the course of a month, maybe.
Every day, spend five simple minutes reading it. If it resonates with you and you go, “That’s me. That’s my life.” Another one is that my wife, the woman of my dreams and mother of my children, will always feel like the most special woman in the world. I will always love her for who she is, not for who I want her to be. That’s good for me because there’s plenty of times I’m like, “Why doesn’t she do this or why won’t she do that?” I immediately snap back and go, “I fell in love with her for who she was. I adore her for who she is. She doesn’t need to do things on my timeline or the way I do them to be the most amazing woman in the world.”
By reading that every day, it makes our relationship way better because that’s how I honor her. That’s what’s important to me and I believe that’s important to her. As a result, we win. The next thing the Reduction is made up of, is the concept and the process. The constitution is the first step because if you know who you are, what your internal compass is and how you want to live your life, it’s a lot easier to reduce. You’ll say, “If this is me, then I have to say no to that.”
The next thing is the circle of control, which is the name of the show and we’ve talked about endlessly. As I always say, it’s not about, “I know the circle. I can stop reading now.” You can stop reading just for other reasons.” Assuming you believe in it. Unless you’re living it and it’s become part of your DNA, it is worth reading again and again because that repetition is the key. From Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett to the greatest athletes, they all say the same thing. “Excellence is doing the minute new boring mundane things over and over.”
Excellence is doing the small, boring, mundane things over and over. Share on XIt’s never fantastical. It’s rarely a massive tipping point, even though it can be. You have to be willing to consistently do the same things that you believe in. All of a sudden, the compound effect creates a great life. With all that said, remember the circle of control is the most important thing. It’s a very simple stroke philosophy, what can I have an impact on and what can I not have an impact on? You should only be focusing on what you can have an impact on.
Say when something comes up, especially if it’s bothering you or if it feels heavy like all the political stuff. What can or what will I do about it? If the answer is nothing, then you have to let it go and stay in your circle of control. What you can do is in your circle control. I can choose to behave a certain way to treat people a certain way. I can choose to go do X if I want to bring something to fruition but mostly actions. I think that’s what happens a lot.
The circle of control is the things that are actionable by you. Outside the circle are things that aren’t actionable by you. With politics, for example. You can start raising money. You can create a movement and gather people and build it. If you’re going to do that, then it becomes something that is in your circle because you’re willing to do what it takes to affect it. If you’re not, then you’re complaining and worrying and that’s weighing you down.
The last thing is storytelling and that’s one more than ever my son who I would die for. He is a big storyteller. Many of us are. It’s a very normal human way to be. I almost want to dig in and find out where that comes from, but we all have this incessant need to keep repeating the same things, especially when they’re not even true. My son was going to go to this party and he’s like, “Why did they invite me? What if I go alone? I’m going to feel awkward. What if I look silly? What if I don’t go? What are they going to think of me if I don’t show up?” All this dialogue.
I get it. I don’t judge him because he’s a great human with a big heart. For him, it’s very real. When he goes through that, I watch him spiral out and there’s nothing good that comes from it. We all do that. Pick an example in your life. It doesn’t matter what it is. Your friend did something to you. You didn’t like it and instead of addressing it and being at peace with it. You keep retelling the story to everybody who will listen over and over. What does that do? It’s the opposite of reduction because it takes your time.
It creates negative energy almost always. I promise you, the listener is not as excited to be listening as you think they are. It’s weighing them down. Try to always remind yourself. The way to catch yourself is, if you say it once, you’re human, you’re venting, you’re communicating or whatever it is that is in your head. The second you say it twice, it’s becoming a story. It’s now a story. The more you repeat it, the more you make it come to life. I love that idea of disease. The body is nothing more than a reflection of the mind and your energy.
The life you’re living is all the reflection of the storytelling and the thoughts you’re having. Think about that. Think if you have any interest. Check out the book when it comes out. I’ll be plugging it a gazillion times between now and when it comes out. Think about for now that personal constitution. Are you living the best life you can live? I always say, who could you be if you weren’t who you thought you were? We all dive into life but are you living the life you want to live? Are you being the person you want to be? If not, I challenge you to do these things slowly. Don’t be yourself up and don’t think it’s going to change overnight, but just start slowly shifting. What is the life you want to lead and how are you going to start doing that? Thank you so much.