Here is the full transcript and summary of Preston Pugmire’s talk titled “Mindset Is More Important Than Strategy” at TEDxRexburg conference.
In this TEDx talk, podcaster Preston Pugmire emphasizes the importance of mindset over strategy when it comes to achieving goals. Using the metaphor of a tree, he explains that strong roots represent a positive mindset, which must be established before success can be achieved. He introduces three stages of mindset: belief in someone else’s success, belief in one’s own success but with uncertainty, and belief in one’s own success as inevitable.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
Two years ago I was basically broke and unhappy. Now I pretended that I wasn’t, but I knew that something had to change. Who in here tonight has anything in their life that they want to change? I get it.
I get it. I went from being financially and emotionally struggling to launching a podcast that debuted at number one in the world in my category and becoming a successful entrepreneur mindset coach. You guys want to know how I did it? Everybody does. They want to know the steps. They want to know the strategy. How did you do that? Here’s the thing.
If information was all that was necessary, we would all be millionaires with six pack abs right now. So have you ever had all the information or all the strategy that you needed and then not accomplish your goal? How come? It’s because mindset is more important than strategy.
Now the process of goal setting is represented by this tree. The top of it, the part that’s visible, the part that we can see, the branches in the trunk. This is the strategy. This is the how. This is the steps. But the part that’s below that gives it the structure, the size, and the stability, that’s the root system. We can’t see that, but that represents the mindset, the beliefs, and the thoughts.
Now a tree has to grow downward first, establish the roots before it shoots branches upward. And in the same way, we got to get our mindset right first in order to be successful. Now on my journey, I have identified three stages of mindset. Now as we go through this, think about the thing that you said you wanted to change, your goal. And see where you’re at in these stages so that you can really realize that mindset is more important than strategy.
The first stage of mindset is, it’s possible for someone else. The second stage, it’s possible for me, but how? And the third stage, it’s inevitable for me. Now let’s go find the steps. So for you, as you think about this, go through an inventory about where you are at. In these stages, you’ll be able to get to the only stage that matters. It’s inevitable for me.
Now I spent a lot of time at this first stage. It’s possible for someone else. And that’s why it’s so easy for me to recognize it in other people. Now I was emceeing a large event and they introduced me, they talked about my bio, what I’ve done in podcasting. And this young man came up to me afterwards and said, did you really launch a number one podcast? How did you do that? I’ve been interested in doing that. I would love to learn how to do that.
And so I decided to figure out where he was at in these stages. And I said, if I gave you all the steps, all the strategies, laid it out for you, do you think that you would be able to do that? And he said, oh, me? Nah, probably not.
And in the kindest way possible, I said to him, if you don’t believe that you can, strategy doesn’t matter. And to his credit, he looked at me and he said, oh yeah, I guess you’re right. And he walked away.
So when you think about your goals, I say the same thing to you. If you don’t believe that you can, then the strategy doesn’t matter. So as I was in this first stage of it’s possible for somebody else, I would just want it so bad, right?
I’d be like listening to podcasts, watching YouTube videos, watching TED talks, and all the while thinking, what would it be like to be somebody who it’s possible for? And I was stuck there for a long time until one day, my wife came home with tears in her eyes because we couldn’t afford groceries. And that jolted me into the stage of it’s possible for me. It has to be possible for me.
But how? In your life, you think about what is it going to take? What’s the catalyst? What’s the trigger for you to jolt you into this second stage of it’s possible for me? Because you don’t have to hit rock bottom, but you do have to stop explaining away other people’s success just because you think that they have some sort of circumstance or set of qualities that you have decided is out of your reach.
Now, after that day, I spent a lot of time focusing on the how, right? That was a step in the right direction, but it was out of order. This is mindset before strategy. When you focus on the how, when you focus on the strategy, then what you’re saying is that your success is based on something outside of yourself, something external.
Now, New York Times bestselling author David Allen says, the brain has a search function just like a computer’s, but it’s more phenomenal than a computer’s because it is programmed by what we focus on. Now, what does that mean? A programmable search function in our brain?
I’ll illustrate it like this. Think about the last car that you bought.
Everybody, picture the last car that you bought. The color, the year, the make, the model. I want you to picture yourself getting in that car, shutting it, turn it on, drive away from wherever you bought it. And as you’re driving down the road, all of a sudden, every single person in your town seems to have bought the same car, same color, same make, same model, on the same day. It’s a nerve. Why?
Why did this happen to you? It’s not magic. It’s something called our brain’s reticular activating system. Now, the brain’s reticular activating system is a formation of neurons that stretches from the upper part of the midbrain to the lower part of the medulla oblongata.
Now, I learned about this from tens of minutes of research on the internet. It goes up into the cerebral cortex and down into the spinal cord. Bottom line, it’s all up in your brain. And what it does is it controls, among other things, habituation, and it decides what stimuli is important and what can be discarded.
The best thing about this is that you get to decide what it decides is important. That’s why if you focus on your goals being possible only for somebody else, you will see evidence of it everywhere. And if you focus on your goals being inevitable for you, you will see evidence of it everywhere. It’s science.
Your belief that your goals are inevitable activates this system in your brain, and you start to suddenly see it reveals resources, opportunities, options that you didn’t even notice were there. But they were all along, just like the cars on the road were already there before you started noticing them.
So what do we do with this? Well, it is now your goal to get from it’s possible for me but how to it’s inevitable for me now. Let’s go find the steps. So how do we do this? Well, I have created a four-step process. Now, I understand the irony of me telling you to not focus on the how and then giving you a set of steps to do it, but you got to start somewhere.
So this is what we’re going to do. I’ll give you an acronym to get to it’s inevitable for me now. Let’s go find the steps because it is a fact that if you get there, then you will be able to accomplish your goals.
The F stands for focus on your wins. I engaged my reticular activating system to work in my favor by writing down a list of 35 wins because all of a sudden, I started to see them everywhere. Now, it was different for me. It was unfamiliar for me to look at my life in this way because I was so used to focusing on the Grand Canyon-sized gap that was between where I was and where I wanted to be.
But I challenge you, go home and actually write a list of your wins because when you focus on them, it will engage and open up parts of your brain that are absolutely amazing. The F stands for focus on the wins. The F stands for what? Boom.
The A stands for ask useful questions. When we ask our brain a question, it comes up with an answer. What color underwear are you wearing right now? Did you think of an answer? What color underwear is the person next to you wearing? What are you thinking of? When you ask your brain a question, it answers it. So if you sit there and you’re like, man, why do I keep messing up? Why can’t I lose the weight? Why do I always do this? Why does she have to change in order to make me happy? Why is that guy not merging? Merge!
Merge! Do you see? It’s what we are focusing on. We’re asking ourselves different questions. So ask yourself, what resources do I have available to me that I’m not using? If you think, oh, I can’t do this, and you think, unless I could, what would it look like if I could? What can I control in this moment? You get different, different answers. So the A stands for ask useful questions. The A stands for what? Boom.
Next is C, coach. Get one. Next is C, coach. Get one. It’s an acronym. If you don’t get a coach for what you want to improve, then you are doing it on your own. And when you do it by yourself, you are choosing the slowest, most painful way to do it. Get a coach for improving your golf game, building your business, learning a language, learning an instrument, in your relationship, in anything. Olympians have coaches, and they’re the best in the world at what they do.
Get a coach. Simplify it. Find somebody who’s done what you want to do, and then work with them. C stands for coach. Get one. C stands for what? Coach. Get one.
Awesome. T stands for take things off of your plate. So often, progress is not about adding. Progress is about subtracting things from your life that no longer serve you. You get to remove routines, thought processes, tasks, and all the different, maybe physical objects in your life. Take things off of your plate. I want you to be successful, and you just got to get rid of all the things that aren’t serving you. T stands for take things off of your plate.
T stands for what? Take things off your plate. Boom. It is a fact that if you can get to inevitability, you will accomplish your goals. Focus on your wins. Ask useful questions. Get a coach. Take things off your plate.
Mindset is more important than strategy, because when you hit a roadblock, and you’re focused on the hows, then that’ll stop you. But if you’re focused on inevitability, when you hit that roadblock, you will simply find another how. And that is why mindset is more important than strategy. Thank you so much.
SUMMARY OF THIS TALK:
Preston Pugmire’s talk “Mindset Is More Important Than Strategy” emphasizes the crucial role of mindset in achieving success, using his personal journey from financial and emotional struggles to becoming a successful entrepreneur and mindset coach. Here’s a summary of the key takeaways from his talk:
1. The Limitation of Strategy Alone: Pugmire opens by highlighting a common misconception: that knowing the right steps or strategies is sufficient for success. He argues that if this were true, everyone would be highly successful. This leads to his central thesis: mindset is more important than strategy.
2. Analogy of a Tree: He uses a tree as a metaphor to explain the relationship between mindset and strategy. The visible parts of the tree (branches and trunk) represent strategy, while the roots, which provide stability and nourishment, symbolize mindset. This analogy underlines the importance of a strong, positive mindset as a foundation for successful strategies.
3. Three Stages of Mindset: Pugmire identifies three stages in the evolution of mindset:
– Stage 1: Belief that success is possible for others, but not oneself.
– Stage 2: Acknowledgment that success is possible for oneself, but uncertainty about how to achieve it.
– Stage 3: Conviction that success is inevitable for oneself, leading to a proactive search for strategies.
4. The Importance of Belief: He stresses that without the belief in one’s ability to succeed, strategies are futile. This point is illustrated with a personal story about interacting with a young man interested in podcasting, highlighting the necessity of self-belief for success.
5. Reticular Activating System (RAS): Pugmire explains how the brain’s reticular activating system filters information and influences perception based on what we focus on. He argues that by believing in the inevitability of one’s goals, the RAS can reveal opportunities and resources that were always present but previously unnoticed.
6. Four-Step Process to Achieve ‘Inevitability’:
– **F**ocus on Your Wins: Recognizing and appreciating small victories to condition the brain to see more opportunities for success.
– **A**sk Useful Questions: Posing constructive questions to oneself to find resourceful answers and shift focus from limitations to possibilities.
– **C**oach: The importance of getting a coach or mentor to accelerate the journey towards success.
– **T**ake Things off Your Plate: Emphasizing the need to eliminate non-essential tasks or beliefs that do not contribute to one’s goals.
7. Overcoming Roadblocks with Mindset: Pugmire concludes by reinforcing that a strategy-focused approach can falter at roadblocks, whereas a mindset-oriented approach enables one to find alternative strategies, underlining his belief that mindset is more crucial than strategy for achieving goals.
Pugmire’s talk is a blend of personal anecdotes, psychological insights, and practical advice, all aimed at demonstrating the transformative power of a positive and determined mindset in achieving personal and professional goals.