Unpacked with Ron Harvey
People Always Matter. Join Ron as he unpacks leadership with his guests.
Unpacked with Ron Harvey
From Average to Aligned: A 12‑Minute Method to Rewire Success with John Mitchell
We share how a painful season led to decoding a missing half of a classic success book and building a 12‑minute daily method to program the subconscious for consistent, right action. The result is a practical way to move beyond intentions, gain control, and make success inevitable.
• the turning point at age fifty and the scarcity of time
• grief as fuel for clarity and commitment
• the gap in Think and Grow Rich and the secret revealed
• daily actions as the true driver of results
• the 95% unconscious problem and how repetition solves it
• the 12‑minute daily template for vision and execution
• confidence and control emerging after 21 days
• deep thinking twice weekly: structure and outcomes
• tools, book, and AI template to personalize the method
• a reminder that life is precious, so stop winging it
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Just Make A Difference: Leading Under Pressure by Ron Harvey
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Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organization or entity. The information provided in this podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners should consult with their own professional advisors before implementing any suggestions or recommendations made in this podcast. The speakers and guests are not responsible for any actions taken by listeners based on the information presented in this podcast. The podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or services. The speakers and guests make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this ...
Welcome to Unpack Podcast with your host, Leadership Consultant, Ron Harvey of Global Core Strategies and Consulting. Ron believes that leadership is the fundamental driver towards making a difference. So now, to find out more of what it means to unpack leadership, here's your host, Ron Harvey.
SPEAKER_01:Well, good morning. This is Ron Harvey, the Vice President, Chief Operating Officer for Global Core Strategies and Consulting. We're a leadership development firm based out of Columbia, South Carolina, where we spend all of our time helping leaders be really effective at taking care of the people that they're responsible for. We love doing it. My wife and I have a background with the military, 21 years each. But we we found another way to give back to our community and help leaders out of all the stuff we learned in our military experiences. And we love it. So uh, but I'm here today with another phenomenal guest coming in from Texas to share their experiences, to unpack some things that he's done well. And we know what we do. We don't know what we're gonna ask, but we're gonna talk about leadership, we're gonna have fun, and we're gonna let you behind the curtain. So I'm gonna you know bring John in and let him introduce himself. He can share whatever he wishes to share. And I do that for every guest. Um, they can share what they want to, talk about what they want to. We promote books, we promote businesses, we promote some the things that people are really doing. We use this as an opportunity to share with you what we have. So, John, let me get out of your way, man, and give you the microphone um as we dive into the podcast itself.
SPEAKER_00:Ron, thank you. I'm I'm glad to be here. And I I love what you're doing with your with your podcast. Uh, and I think that your audience is a lot of your audience is gonna find what we're gonna talk about very interesting, but some of them will find it life-changing. So thank you for this opportunity.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yes. Appreciate it. Thank you for being here because we wouldn't be able to do it without our guests. That's sign up and join and want to be a part of it. So I want this to be beneficial for the both of us, but I also want it to be beneficial for the people that listen. Our goal is just to add value and make a difference for someone. So I want it to be life-changing. So let me hand you the microphone as you think about the work you're doing and the story that you want to share with us. Where would you start at how you got into what you're doing? What take us on a journey?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I just give you my basic story. Um, when I was 50, I just wasn't as successful as I thought I should be. And I started my career as a CPA, and by the time I got to be 30, I decided I didn't want to be an accountant all my life. And so I became an entrepreneur and was in seven different businesses in my 30s and 40s. But but Ron, when I hit 50, just not as successful as I thought I should be. And I had really two goals in my life to make enough money so I didn't have to work and to find the woman in my dreams. And on the money, I always did pretty well as an entrepreneur, made a couple hundred grand a year. But uh, and I know this sounds materialistic, but when I turned 50, I just did the math and realized to have the exceptional life I always dreamed of, I had to start netting a million dollars a year. And then on the girl at 50, I'd never been married. Uh, although I did a lot of interviewing. I gotta say, I did a lot of interviewing. And uh, and so, but at 50, I'm like, well, okay, how am I gonna change things? And a pearl of wisdom comes to me maybe three months after I turned 50, and it was find the top book in the world on success and apply that book literally word for word to my life. I'm like, okay, that's a pretty good idea. So I jump out of bed, do a little research, and I find to my surprise that there's one book that's been read by 150 million people, and that book is Think and Grow Rich. It's the top book of the world on success by a factor of 10. And so I'm like, wow, this is this is perfect. I mean, I had no idea that it this was going to be so clear that this is the top book, and so off I go to apply it word for word in my life, and so I buy the book and uh dig into it, and then I discover the problem, Ron. It says there's a secret for success, but the author only gives us half of the secret. It's on the reader to figure out the other half, and so I'm bummed out and I mope around for about three weeks, and finally, Ron, one day I wake up and go, John, just man up and figure out the damn secret. And and so I immerse myself in the book and probably read it 20 times over a two-month period of time, and uh ultimately figure out the secret and a 12-minute-a-day technique to apply it. And so I start applying it to a new business I was starting in the reverse mortgage field, and quickly my income starts doubling and doubling and doubling to where four years later I was making 25 times the 200 grand a year I was making the prior 20 years. And but but Ron, what was so cool was I could see exactly why it was happening. I was just playing the game of life at a higher level, and I could I could do things I could never do before, and I had this level of control over my life I'd never experienced before. And and so I just became fascinated that you could take two key scientific principles and apply them to your life and so materially impact your success. And so about 10 years ago, I finally had enough money so I didn't have to work, and I uh decided I was gonna share this with the world. And I don't know, maybe maybe two months after I sold my company, I met the former chancellor and president here at the University of Texas, and I told him my story, and he says, Hey, you got to teach this at Texas, and why don't we teach it together? And then that evolved to him introducing me to the athletic director who said, I want to learn this 12-minute a day technique. And that led to then becoming the mental coach for the 18 head coaches. So that's that's basically my story.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, wow. So a lot to unpack. Thank you for sharing the story, but a lot to unpack. I want to go back for you, if I can, John. You know, you you decide, you know, for for our listeners and for me, you know, you work really hard and you had this thing. I by 50, I want I got to 50 and realized I wasn't where I thought I should be, or as successful as I should be. Right. And you knew that you wanted enough money and you wanted to you wanted to have the woman of your dreams. And everybody has these dreams of where they should be at at a certain age. How do you overcome that immediately once you wake up at 50 and realize you're not there? How do you do it without getting caught up in the noise or feeling like a failure? What motivated you at 50 to say, Let me do something different?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'll I'll give you a little uh uh backstory on that and you'll you'll understand this. So, of course, at 50 I'm feeling the scarcity of time, right? Yes, but there's a little something else going on with me. Uh my mom was dying of pancreatic cancer, and so every day after work I would go and I would uh go to the hospital, love on her, hold her hand, and Ron, it was everything I could do just to hold it together when I was with her, and then I'd go in the cold dark hospital parking lot and cry my eyes out. And I mean, like for 45 minutes, an hour every night, and this is going on for like uh eight weeks, and of course, I realized I was losing my mom and and her life was was leaving, and but I I knew there was something deeper uh going on, and what I realized um maybe not at the time, but subsequently, was that I felt like I was letting my mom down with my life. I mean, my parents gave me everything, they sent me to Jesuit High School in in Dallas and sent me to the University of Texas, paid for everything. And so I have all the advantages, but at 50, all I have is an average life, and I hated the average life because I knew I was capable of so much more. And and so I I realized that what was going on was I was coming to grips with with my own mortality as my mom was was leaving this world, and also saw that I was letting really my mom and and dad down with this average life I had. And and you know, in retrospect, that was like rocket fuel and causing me to go deeper into thinking real rich than any other person on the planet, and that's why I was able to figure out the secret when maybe other people couldn't. Does that make sense? Well, go ahead, go keep continue, John. Phenomenal. And so um I I'm sure what your audience wants to know well, what is the secret? What is the secret, right?
SPEAKER_01:Well, yeah, yeah, don't give it to them yet, though, because I mean you're saying something that's really, really important. You've taken a situation where you were you were every night for about eight weeks going through this transition with your mother, really struggling and and really being really, really critical of yourself, but you turned it into something positive. And and I want the listeners to understand sometimes, I always tell people, sometimes in your darkest moment is where the answer shows up at. Right. Yeah. It really is true. I mean, like you get hit rock bottom, then all of a sudden this this thing shows up that helps you realize that okay, I gotta do something, I can't stay here.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_01:So you turned it into some really positive energy. Get there, you realize, okay, I wake up in the morning, I said, what do I got to do? And it gives you this book, Think and Grow Rich. And you get the book and you begin to read it, but it wasn't the it wasn't all the answers in that book. What was the challenge for you at that moment? Like, I read this book, everybody's read it. This many people, the best-selling book for it for figure it out, but the answers weren't there. How did you get to to become self-aware that okay, I gotta do something else? I got the book, but I'm not really implementing it and using it. What did you do?
SPEAKER_00:Well, the the fact that the book says there's a secret for success, but he only gives you half of the secret, yeah, was a tip-off to me that I had to figure out the secret. And yeah, and I'll tell you, Ron, this is something I I bet you see the same thing. Um, oftentimes when I I meet people, and and let's do this with your audience. Let me ask them a key question. How do you create success in your life? Just just think about that. How do you create success in your life? And when I'm in person with people, they'll stumble around uh to give me an answer, and and then I will repeat back whatever they said. And and oftentimes it becomes obvious to me and to them, they don't really have a way of of creating success. And so the more pertinent question then is, well, how's that working for you? Well, not so good, usually. And and what I see is that most people are just winging life, they don't have a way of doing life, they just get up every day and do the best they can, and that's a problem because we all have two fundamental problems that we have to overcome as human beings. The first one is that we are innately wired for survival, which causes 75% of our thoughts to be fear-based and we're reactive rather than proactive on our important agenda. But then the second one is is also critically important in that 95% of your daily thoughts and actions are unconscious. And just think about that. Your your actions determine your success in life, yet 95% of them are unconscious. And so when you combine that with being wired for survival, the effect is that when when our eyes open up each morning, we're innately wired to be fear-based and reactive, and we're largely on autopilot uh most of the day. And so the effect of that is you think as soon as you get up, you start thinking about your problems. Now, a lot of this again is going on unconsciously, but you think about your problems that that causes you to have negative feelings. Those negative feelings create more negative thoughts, and you get this in this continual negative loop, and you have nothing pulling you forward to your desired life, and therefore you recreate um your past over and over again, and that's the effect of just winging life. And so, what I have created is a 12-minute-a-day way of doing life. Wow.
SPEAKER_01:Awesome! So, you know, we we've kept them in suspense a little while long, you know, which is good, and I want them to be in suspense because I want people to know the backdrop of it, you know, the unpacking of how did we get here, what were the steps, and because someone listening to the show is in that exact same position. They're they're they've turned 50 and or they're struggling, you know, or someone in the family that's real close to them that they feel like they've let somebody down, whether it's the spouse or whether it's the kids or whether it's your parents or your community, and you're trying to figure this thing out, and you're struggling at it. You haven't achieved what you thought you ought to achieve. So, John, I would love for you to start dropping in. What is this 12-minute-a-day secret?
SPEAKER_00:Well, and and you know, thank you for not letting me uh reveal the secret too too quickly because I think you're right, it's you got to set it up a little bit, and and uh, but I'll I'll uh share with you the secret. And and it it pertains to back that that time when I was uh going to the hospital every day and crying my eyes out. And I remember one night in particular, um I go to the hospital, see my mom, go in the hospital, cry my eyes out for 45 minutes. But for some reason, this this night felt different. It was snowing in Dallas, which doesn't happen very often. And so I I get in my car and uh uh start to drive home, and the big snowflakes are hitting the the windshield, and so I but I get home and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna get in my comfy chair and read uh Think and Girl Rich again. And again, this is probably the 20th time I've done that. And so this particular night I read that your success in life comes down to your daily actions, the cumulative effect of your daily actions determines your success in each area of your life. And I'm like, okay, I buy that. I never thought of it that simply, but I certainly buy that. And then, Ron, I I read something that really surprises me. Uh, the book says essentially that 95% of your daily thoughts and actions are unconscious. I'm like, huh, that's interesting. And and you know, by now I'm I'm tired, I'm ready to go to bed, so I wash my face and brush my teeth and put my little head on the pillow, and and I'm laying there running, and I can't stop thinking about what I just read that that 95% of your daily thoughts and actions are unconscious. And I'm like, whoa, wait a minute. If your daily actions determine your success and 95% of them are unconscious, then you don't control the very thing that determines your success. And if you want a higher level of success, you're gonna have to gain control over those unconscious daily actions. And that was like an epiphany. I mean, I remember sitting up in bed and going, whoa, this this is this is what I've been looking for. Now, I didn't at that moment didn't fully understand how to do that, but I'm like, well, it's obvious you got to gain control of those unconscious daily actions. And then, you know, it sort of comes to me. The the full secret of thinking grow rich came to me, and that secret is what you envision in detail with emotion on a daily basis is what shows up in your life. And let me say that again. What you envision in detail with emotion on a daily basis is what shows up in your life, and what that means, Ron, is that you take your life and you create immense clarity. Exactly the person you want to be, exactly what you want to accomplish, and precisely how you're going to achieve your clearly defined goals. And so you create that that clarity and you put it on a template that I created, which is now 20 years in development, but uh, and that this template helps you create that clarity, and then you feed that to yourself each day, either reading it or listening to it. And after approximately 21 days, the science kicks in, and what you're feeding yourself starts showing up automatically without thinking. And three things essentially happen. First, you feel immense control over your life. Well, of course you would. You're feeding the succinct articulation of your desired life to yourself. Of course, you'd feel control. Then the second thing you experience is confidence, which is a direct result of the control. And then the the third thing you experience after 21 days is the right actions start happening automatically without thinking, and that's essentially how it works.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, I love it because you know one of the things I love to unpack all the time is as you do it and you see it, and there's proof of concept. Like this was the answer for me when I went to Think and Grow Rich, and I woke up and I had to figure out the other part of it because the reader told you you're only going to get half the answer. Right. And leads you down the path of okay, if that's I gave you half, how do you determine and figure out this the second half of it, which you've put spent, like you said, 20 years in the making of figuring out how do you become successful over time and what does that look like and what's required of you? Um, most I had no idea that 95% of the things that we do are very unconscious, which which begs the difference how we don't become successful because we're just reacting to life versus you know being proactive for life. What did you learn on the journey about about your journey? So, mom, you know, mom transitions, you you get some answers, you get some clarity. What was the most difficult thing for you as you go through these steps that to implement? Because it's easy to say, but I'm sure it wasn't easy to implement. What was the hardest for you to really be become more intentional about doing the things that's required?
SPEAKER_00:Well, you know, let me hit on something that you just said, if you don't mind. So you you you said that you didn't know that 95% of a person's daily thoughts and actions are unconscious, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I see that this all the time. Now, that is the most significant thing I ever learned. And oftentimes I've I I see that people intellectually can understand it, but they don't do anything about it because they're not fully connecting the dots. And I think that the reason is is that I had the benefit of reading that night that my daily actions determine my success. And then I shortly thereafter read that 95% of them are unconscious. Well, to me, it's so easy to connect the dots that that clearly your subconscious mind controls your life. If if it's controlling 95% of the actions which are determining your success, this is we're not splitting uh atoms here. You know, you just got to gain control of the subconscious mind. And and what's interesting is here's how the human mind works conscious mind sets your intentions and it's influenced by logic. Subconscious mind controls your daily actions, or 95% of them, and it's only influenced by repetition. And and an example is losing weight. Well, people set the intention to lose weight based on the logic of the health benefits. That's all conscious mind. But the reason they fail to lose weight is because they're not influencing the part of their brain that controls their daily actions, the subconscious mind, and it only responds to repetition. So if they're not affirming to themselves, here's my plan for eating and here's my plan for exercising, those intentions just stay intentions. And so that's why that's the power of feeding the succinct articulation of your desired life to yourself each day, which includes taking the right actions. That's what causes the subconscious mind to then cause you to take the required actions to be successful in your career, in your marriage, and in your health. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01:It makes a lot of sense. And you know, it kind of takes me back to the phrase, and I've you know, probably have I've read it several times in different books where they say intentions don't change behavior, actions do. Um so it kind of takes me back to that phrase of I think a lot of people will die with great intentions because they never took action to make it become reality.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Well, and and here's what I find interesting. So I'm in the success and human achievement field, and I see that there is a huge gap in the in the industry, in that there are so many great strategies and ideas on how to be successful, uh, that I I have a lot of respect for. But we don't need another great strategy. We need to make great strategies show up in our thoughts and actions automatically. And nobody in the success field is teaching what I'm teaching. Uh, and I feel blessed that that I can open people's minds that hey, the problem is not your intentions, it's it's taking the actions associated with those intentions. That's the problem, and this is the solution. Wow. Yeah, love it.
SPEAKER_01:So so when you think about the work that you're doing, how successfully you've done, and it, and it's and it's and then you benefited from it. And so you retired and then you're back in and you're doing work and you're helping other athletes and and and coaches across the different departments. What did you what did you find as you help these individuals, the one of the two things that they can implement today? What's what are two things or three things that you would share, John, that that our audience can go start doing now to move away from just this intention of the next strategy? What would you talk about?
SPEAKER_00:Well, well, first of all, you know, I I teach this to to students and athletes, but also the other part of my life is is I license my methodology to business coaches. Um, and so uh, but uh but I'll give you an example of one of the the things that I teach uh anyone that that learns my methodology that is so foundational. I teach them this idea of deep thinking two times a week, this idea to just set aside time to think two times a week. And of course, this is a technique the top entrepreneurs in the world do, people like Elon Musk and Bill Gates. And and the way it works is I have a three-step process where where you know you you find your nice, comfy place that you're gonna do it two times a week, and you need to do it in the morning when you're fresh. And so the first 10 or 15 minutes of the thinking session is you just write whatever's come comes into your head. Then the second part is you ask yourself a question, usually around whatever your biggest challenge at the moment is, and that's critical because it makes the your thinking go deeper. And then the third component is you just recap what you you uh came up with and and also note your action steps uh that are coming from it. But and and these say thinking sessions are about 30 minutes long, but this is like the the opening to proactively influence the subconscious mind, which is what thinking grow rich is all about. It's all about proactively and with intention manipulating the subconscious mind, and this is the the opening way to do it.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, awesome, awesome, and phenomenal information. Love it, you know. And for all our listeners, I'm sure they're walking away, you know, to be able to shift that, which is how do you really put everything into action, you know, versus this intention? I I love that. So, people that are listening and watching, if they're interested in figuring out the model and learning more from you, what's the best way to reach out to you? And is there a website or something they can get to to see more and learn more about you? How do we reach you and how do we learn more about you? I love what you're talking about, and you got a program in place.
SPEAKER_00:Right, right. Well, I have a special guest uh gift for your audience. Uh just go to www.themisingsecret.org. The missingsecret.org. And I've got a nine-minute video that fully explains the secret of thinking grow rich and how to apply it. And and so um you can get it that way. And and I also have a book that that came out earlier this this year in January, which explains all this methodology. It's called the missing secret. And what's particularly powerful is I have created an AI algorithm that where a person, if they want to apply this to their lives, they just uh uh engage my algorithm, they answer approximately 50 questions, and then press a button, and 10 seconds later, my template is customized to their unique life. And the power of it is most people like the idea of oh, I'm gonna create the succinct articulation of my desired life and feed it to myself each day. They like conceptually that, but they don't really know well, what do what does he mean exactly the person I want to be, exactly what I want to accomplish, and precisely how I'm gonna achieve my goals. I'm not sure I understand that level of clarity in each area of my life. No problem. You you just answer my questions on the on the algorithm, and it does it for you. It creates that clarity for you.
unknown:Wow.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, thank you. So a gift, as always, I love when the guests come on and they share something with the audience as far as you know, oftentimes, you know, what do you help to get people started? So you know, going to the website, going look at the book, being able to take, you know, he has uh opportunity for you to answer 50 questions to figure out what specifically uh will address and help you go through this process. So not only is he walking you through it and answering questions, he's telling you that hey, there's more after this. If you want to dig a little deeper, go a little deeper, be better connected with John, please reach out to him. What's the best way to reach out to you, John? Uh make contact with you if they want to be more involved and engage with you.
SPEAKER_00:Uh my well, my email is john at uh thinkitbeit.com. My company is thinkitbeit. So John at thinkitbeit.com.
SPEAKER_01:Awesome, awesome. Thank you. Any last words that you want to share? Anything that I haven't asked that we haven't really discussed in the time we have remaining that you want to share with the audience?
SPEAKER_00:You know, yeah, I thank you for that. I uh here's something to think about. This are are you do you got kids or grandkids?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, I got both.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Okay, well, you'll you'll appreciate this, Ron. And this just happened uh two or three years ago. So uh I become a grandfather for the first time, and we go over to uh my uh stepdaughter's house a day after the little baby is is born, and we go over there, and I I had coerced my stepdaughter to name the new baby after my wife Ginger, and so we go over there, we're all excited, and and and there's a lot of ooing and awing about the baby, and for some reason they hand me the baby and they walk away, and so I'm holding this precious little. Little girl and this perfect you know specimen of life. And Ron, I start crying my eyes out. Totally unexpected, but I'm I'm realizing how precious this life is. This this perfect little girl. And I feel the warmth of her body in my arms. And and I am just crying. And and what I'm realizing is just how precious her life is, and how how her success in life and her enjoyment of life is gonna come down to the thoughts going on in her head most of the time. And I just pledged at that moment that I am going to impact her thoughts the rest of my life. I'm gonna I'm gonna develop my methodology for to evolve a kid as they grow up, and then when they're adults, they'll do my full methodology. But the the message I think for your audience is that your life is precious. Just think about it. Your life is precious, and think about that when you put your head on the pillow tonight. And if you're gonna have the exceptional life, you can't be winging life. There's a way to do life, and why not you know follow what the top book of the world on success uh says to do? So, you know, just appreciate how precious your life is.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yes. Thanks, John. I love it, I love it, and I love say, hey, don't wing it. Like, don't don't wing life, and most of us do. So thank you for all the information that you share, and for all of our guests and for everyone that listens to the podcast all the time, thank you for joining us. Thank you for spending a couple of minutes with John and I as we walk through different things that we bring every single week. Another guest that adds a lot of value to you, you know, from content to books to links to offering their services to you. I hope you take advantage of that at the end of the day. We're business owners, it's an ecosystem, but we truly care about helping you. So this is not about, you know, let us get rich off of what we do here. It's about how do we add value and give back to the community. So I love that, you know, we we're transparent. We don't know what we're gonna unpack here. It's pretty candid. So as we go through with every guest, we do exactly what John did today. We have a story to share with you, John. Any last-minute word, we'll let you close out for us um for anybody. Anything you want to say as we say goodbye to the audience today?
SPEAKER_00:No, just just when you put your little head on the pillow tonight, think how precious your life is.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Thank you. And until next time on the next podcast, Unpack with Ron Harvey. You guys have a wonderful day. Thank you for joining us. As always, um, we ask that you share it with someone you think that can use the information that we're sharing. Y'all have a wonderful day and enjoy the rest of your week.
SPEAKER_02:Well, we hope you enjoy this edition of Unpack Podcast with leadership consultant Ron Harvey. Remember to join us every Monday as Ron Unpacks Sound Advice, providing real answers for real leadership challenges. Until next time, remember to add value and make a difference where you are for the people you serve. Because people always matter.
