Episode 113 – This Will Fix 98% of Your Mindset Problems

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Note: This blog post serves as an accompaniment to the corresponding podcast episode of A Changed Mind, where we’ll distill down the core ideas of this week’s theme, along with additional distinctions and insights. If you haven’t listened to the episode yet, you can go here to do so.  Enjoy.

I woke up this morning, scrolled through my YouTube comments like I always do, and saw one that stopped me in my tracks.

“David, I’ve watched all your videos. Your early stuff was great, but now it just sounds like you’re repeating yourself. You’ve plateaued.”

Now, I could’ve brushed that off. But the truth is, this comment highlights the exact reason why so many people never create real change in their lives. They’re always looking for something new—a fresh strategy, a different perspective, the next big idea—when, in reality, mastery is about deepening, not expanding.

The people who transform their lives aren’t the ones constantly seeking novelty. They’re the ones who take a simple, powerful idea and apply it over and over until it becomes who they are.  That’s what we’re diving into today—why repetition, not information overload, is the key to real, lasting change.

The Illusion of Needing Something New

I get it. We live in a world that constantly bombards us with new ideas, new strategies, and new solutions. The next big thing is always one click away. But let me tell you something that might go against everything you’ve been conditioned to believe: You don’t need something new. You need to go deeper with what already works.

This reminds me of a story a friend once told me. He’s a Taekwondo practitioner, training under a true master. One day, frustrated with his progress, he asked his teacher, “Can you show me some new moves?” His teacher shook his head and replied, “You don’t need new moves. You need to master the ones you already know.”

Then he shared a quote that has stuck with me ever since:

“I don’t fear the man who knows 10,000 different punches. I fear the man who has practiced one punch 10,000 times.”

This is where most people get it wrong in personal growth, business, and even life. They jump from one thing to another—books, courses, strategies—never staying long enough to achieve mastery. But real transformation isn’t about consuming more information. It’s about internalizing and applying a few key principles until they become second nature.

Why Simple Truths Are Hard to Live By

If transformation were as easy as knowing what to do, we’d all be fit, wealthy, and living our dream lives. But it’s not. The truth is, the hardest part isn’t learning—it’s doing. Over and over again.

Think about it. If someone wants to lose weight, the formula is simple: Eat healthier, move your body, get enough sleep. If someone wants to quit drinking, it’s straightforward: Stop picking up the bottle. If you want to build wealth, spend less than you make and invest wisely. None of this is complicated. But just because something is simple doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Imagine going to the doctor for a check-up. He looks at your bloodwork and says, “You have diabetes. You need to stop eating sugar.” A year later, you’re back in his office. Your numbers haven’t changed. He gives you the same advice: “Stop eating sugar.” But instead of following it, you roll your eyes and say, “Come on, Doc. Tell me something new.”

This is exactly how most people approach personal growth. They hear the same fundamental truths—“Stop thinking negative thoughts. Focus on what you want. Train your mind.”—but instead of integrating them, they dismiss them as repetitive. In reality, repetition is the very thing that leads to mastery.

Mastering the Art of Directing Your Thoughts

So if we know what to do, why don’t we do it? Why is it so hard to just stop thinking negative thoughts, stop self-sabotaging, stop making choices that pull us away from the life we want?

Because the brain doesn’t work like a light switch. You can’t just turn off a thought. Try it right now—don’t think about a pink elephant. What happened? You thought about a pink elephant.

That’s why when people hear, “Just stop thinking negative thoughts,” they get frustrated. “I try, but I can’t!” That’s because you don’t stop thoughts by resisting them—you stop them by redirecting them. Instead of trying to silence negativity, shift your attention to something else.

Think of it like changing the channel on a radio. If a song comes on that you don’t like, you don’t sit there yelling at the radio to stop playing it. You just change the station. Your thoughts work the same way. If your mind is stuck on a station of doubt, fear, or frustration, don’t fight it. Shift your focus to something better.

This is the work. This is mastery. It’s not about never having a negative thought—it’s about training yourself, day by day, to stop feeding them and start focusing on what you actually want.

The Power of Imagination and the Fourth Dimension

Here’s where things get really interesting. You don’t need to know how your life is going to change before it happens. In fact, trying to figure out the how is exactly what keeps most people stuck.

Let’s say you want to make more money. You’re clear on the desire—you’d love to bring in an extra $10,000 a month. But immediately, your mind jumps to How? and since you don’t have an answer, you start doubting yourself. You think, I don’t know how to do this. Maybe I’m not smart enough. Maybe something’s wrong with me. And just like that, you’ve trapped yourself in a cycle of scarcity and frustration.

But here’s the truth: You don’t need to know how yet. You just need to hold the vision.

A Harvard study in 2009 found that when pianists played music, certain areas of their brain lit up. But when they simply imagined playing, the same parts of their brain activated. In other words, the brain doesn’t distinguish between real and imagined experiences.

This means you can train your mind to believe in a reality that hasn’t materialized yet. You can install memories of a future that doesn’t exist yet—and when you do, the how will begin to reveal itself. But it only works if you stop doubting and start trusting in the process.

Breaking Free from Old Patterns

If simply holding a vision were enough, wouldn’t everyone already be living their dream life? So why doesn’t it work for most people? Because your nervous system is still wired to your past.

Let’s say you wake up every morning feeling anxious about money. It’s not because of your current bank balance—it’s because your nervous system has been conditioned to expect scarcity. When you were growing up, maybe money was tight, and that experience left an imprint. So now, even when you logically understand that abundance is possible, your body still reacts as if survival is on the line.

That’s why breaking free from negative cycles isn’t just about thinking differently—it’s about training your nervous system to feel safe in a new reality.

The first step? Awareness. Next time you catch yourself spiraling into fear, pause. Notice the pattern. Instead of believing the thought, recognize it as an old habit. Say to yourself, Oh, this isn’t truth—this is just a conditioned response.

Then, shift. Redirect your focus back to what you want. Imagine the future where you feel secure, abundant, and in control. Over time, with repetition, your nervous system will adapt. You’ll start to feel different, and once that happens, your reality will follow.

Repetition Is the Key to Rewiring Your Mind

If you’ve ever tried to break a habit, you know that change doesn’t happen overnight. You don’t go to the gym once and suddenly become fit. You don’t meditate for a day and reach enlightenment. Transformation happens through repetition.

I learned this firsthand in my recovery journey. When I first started a 12-step program, I couldn’t go 24 hours without relapsing. I’d pick up my white chip, the token given when you break sobriety, over and over again. Each time, I told myself, This is the last time. And each time, my mind found a new excuse to pull me back in.

One day, it was stress. The next, it was celebration. The trigger didn’t matter—what mattered was that my mind was running the same self-sabotaging patterns. But each time I relapsed, I learned. I became more aware of the specific thoughts and emotions that led me down that path. And little by little, I started replacing the bad plays with better ones.

Eventually, I strung together one day. Then two. Then a week. Then a month. And before I knew it, I had picked up my one-year chip. That’s the power of repetition. You don’t need a new strategy—you need to keep practicing the right one until it sticks.

Mastery in Business, Fitness, and Life

This isn’t just about personal growth—it applies to everything. Business, fitness, relationships… the people who succeed aren’t necessarily the smartest or the most talented. They’re the ones who commit to mastering the fundamentals.

Take business, for example. Success doesn’t come from constantly chasing the newest marketing hack or the latest social media trend. It comes from executing a handful of key strategies consistently. Finding an audience. Building trust. Making offers. Serving clients. That’s it. Yet, most entrepreneurs get bored and jump to something new before they’ve truly mastered the basics.

Same with fitness. Strength training isn’t complicated—squat, press, pull, repeat. But most people don’t get results because they’re always looking for a shortcut instead of showing up and doing the work.

One of my favorite stories is about a Major League Baseball player who won the Golden Glove award three years in a row—meaning he was the best fielder in the league. The day after winning, he was back on the field, practicing the same ground balls he had fielded thousands of times before. A reporter asked, “Why are you still practicing? You just won!” His response? “How do you think I became the best?”

That’s mastery. That’s what separates the great from the average—the willingness to go deep rather than chasing something new.

Do You Want More, or Do You Want to Go Deeper?

This is the question you have to ask yourself. Do you want more information, more strategies, more quick fixes? Or do you want to go deeper into the few things that actually create transformation?

Because here’s the truth: If you keep searching for something new, you’ll stay exactly where you are. Growth doesn’t come from novelty—it comes from depth. From repetition. From committing to the fundamentals until they become second nature.

People give up too soon. They try something for a week, a month, maybe even a year, and when they don’t see massive results, they assume it’s not working. But the people who actually change their lives—who build successful businesses, strong relationships, unshakable confidence—they aren’t looking for the next thing. They’re mastering the few things that matter most.

So if you want more, go follow someone else. There are plenty of people selling the next big breakthrough. But if you want to master your mindset, your habits, and your results—if you want to go deeper—I invite you to commit. Pick one thing that you know will change your life. And instead of looking for the next thing, practice it. Over and over. Until it becomes who you are.

That’s mastery. And that’s how you change your life.