Un-Gatekeeping the Secrets of Human Behavior 

Summary

Slay The Gatekeeper — Episode Summary

Episode: Un-Gatekeeping the Secrets of Human Behavior

Host: Courtney Johnson
Guest: Zach Paul (hypnosis and behavior change expert)
Date: September 16, 2025

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Main Theme

This episode is all about “un-gatekeeping” the hidden mechanisms behind human behavior and transformation. Host Courtney Johnson and guest Zach Paul dive deep into the cheat codes of mindset, marketing, personal branding, self-growth, programming, hypnosis, manipulation for good, the limitations of traditional therapy, and why the most successful people quietly use these tools.

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Key Discussion Points and Cheat Codes

1. Manipulation and “Programming” Are Always Occurring

• [04:06 – 05:22]
• Zach reveals that we go in and out of “hypnosis” 7-9 times per day naturally: autopilot during driving, scrolling, waking up, etc.
• “Our brains literally go in and out of hypnosis seven to nine times a day, if not more... because we want to. Our brain wants to conserve energy. And thinking is super expensive.” — Zach [04:09]
• Both Courtney and Zach stress that “programming” is happening constantly, whether intentionally or passively.
• “As long as you're consuming, you're being programmed.” — Courtney [05:22]

2. You Are Who You Surround Yourself With (Digitally Too)

• [05:35 – 07:50]
• The “five people” rule isn't just physical — watching or following someone online “injects” parts of their worldview directly into you.
• “...watching a show or social media or a movie is kind of the equivalent of, like, taking a syringe of that person's beliefs and personality and injecting that into your own brain…” — Zach [05:35]
• Both hosts give practical tips on curating social feeds and media intake for positive “brainwashing.”
• “There is a way to change your feed... it could be a positive experience or, like, brainwash you positively 100%.” — Courtney [07:50]

3. Manipulation & Brainwashing Aren’t Always Bad

• [07:50 – 09:26]
• Zach reframes “manipulation” as “to handle skillfully,” giving the example of using high-level manipulation to help a friend leave an abusive relationship.
• “Manipulation just means to handle skillfully. Right. A doctor manipulates a scalpel to do life saving surgery…” — Zach [07:50]
• “It's never the tool. It's always the intent of the user.” — Zach [08:11]
• Zach shares about forcibly removing negative influences from his own social feeds for mental clarity.

4. Music, Language, and Social Groups Affect Mindset

• [09:26 – 11:22]
• Both discuss how negative music or friends reinforce unhelpful beliefs.
• “If you're wondering why you keep getting your heart broken...You're listening to Fudgeing, like Taylor Swift breakup songs all the time. Stop.” — Courtney [09:52]
• Zach shares the importance of distancing from toxic mindsets, both male and female.

5. Business Problems Are Practically Never About Business

• [11:22 – 15:33]
• Most “problems” are programming and limiting beliefs — not lack of information or technical skill.
• “It's not that you can't do it or, no, you don't know how to do it. It's that you've got some sort of programming in the way preventing you from doing it.” — Zach [12:49]
• The root programming is often about familiarity and safety, not actual desire or goals.

6. The Biggest Block Is Thinking 'I’m Special'

• [16:19 – 18:50]
• The “special snowflake” belief keeps people stuck more than any technical challenges.
• “The most dangerous belief that keeps people stuck is the belief of I'm special.” — Zach [16:19]
• Zach walks through denial, anger, sadness, and negotiation as emotional defenses against change.

7. Group Dynamics and Sales Psychology

• [19:16 – 21:03]
• Courtney links the ‘I’m different’ psychology to sales objections; people want to be exceptions.
• Both discuss the use of group identification and subtle suggestion in sales and hypnosis.

8. You Are Not Your Patterns

• [21:03 – 22:52]
• Zach introduces the idea of the “observer” within — you can step outside your patterns and rewrite your behaviors, starting with awareness.
• “You're not your patterns, you're not your behaviors, you're not your thoughts. None of it is you.” — Zach [22:08]

9. It Never Ends... and That's Good

• [23:19 – 23:34]
• Growth and peeling back layers is a lifelong process, not a destination.
• Both joke about spiritual “looping” and consciousness.

10. Traditional Therapy Keeps You Stuck (Controversial Take)

• [24:24 – 28:29]
• Zach details the origins of therapy, its business model roots, and why it's not designed for actual resolution but recurring business.
• “Traditional therapy was developed as a business model by Sigmund Freud... My therapy will require about 300 sessions to complete...” — Zach [24:29]
• Repeatedly talking about your issues reinforces them neurologically.
• “If you want to talk about your problems, go to a therapist. If you want to fix it, come to me. I'm a lot more expensive and a lot faster.” — Zach [26:48]
• Discussion of alternative modalities (EMDR, hypnosis) and somatic approaches.

11. Psychedelic Therapy for Veterans and Beyond

• [32:15 – 35:45]
• Psychedelics (ibogaine, bufo) have been transformative for severe PTSD and brain injuries—sometimes more than mainstream therapy or meds.
• “I went down to Mexico and did two of the world's most powerful psychedelics... and it was life changing in so many different ways.” — Zach [32:30]
• Cautions about chasing “the next insight” without integrating change.

12. Action vs. Knowledge — Real Change is Somatic

• [36:47 – 39:08]
• “Knowledge is power” is a myth. Implementation is the bottleneck; integrated, embodied skills are what count.
• “The difference between knowledge or here's an academic study on it versus can you do it... If you can't actually change somebody's brain in a matter of minutes, sorry, you're not doing it.” — Zach [38:15]

13. The "Elite" Secret: Hypnosis for High Performance

• [39:27 – 45:51]
• Mike Tyson, LeBron James, and other top performers regularly use hypnosis to gain an edge.
• “Hypnosis is a tool that's used by the elite, the 1%. It's that thing that gives you the slight edge...” — Zach [40:13]
• Why hypnosis gets bad PR: threat to status quo, mistaken for magic, media mockery.
• “It's the skill of the hypnotist... There's only two types of people [it doesn’t work on]: schizophrenics and people with IQs below 80.” — Zach [43:24]
• Hypnosis is simply skillful communication with your unconscious, not mind control.

14. Conspiracy Corner: Keeping the Masses in "Slave Mode"

• [45:55 – 48:00]
• Both speculate that societal myths about the difficulty of change are perpetuated to keep people constrained and obedient.
• “If people knew how easy it was to actually change their minds and actually get what they want and knew that you could have it now... that probably threatens the, the power structures.” — Zach [47:08]
• The hardest thing is accepting how easy change can be.

15. Gatekeeping in Work and Society

• [48:00 – 51:52]
• Courtney shares that even top tech founders keep information from employees to maintain control.
• Major institutions (schools, workplaces) are outlined as gatekeepers—limiting awareness, skills, and self-actualization.
• “I want to go after the public school system... designed to train people to just be completely obedient, completely subservient to authority.” — Zach [49:12]
• School trains out collaboration, experimentation, and creativity in favor of compliance.

16. Rewriting The Narrative for Kids & Money

• [53:18 – 54:50]
• Discussion of radical alternative schools (“Alpha School”) where entrepreneurship and real projects are the standard.
• Call out the myth that money is scarce and building wealth is hard — “Luck is engineered.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It's never the tool. It's always the intent of the user.” — Zach [08:11]
• “As long as you're consuming, you're being programmed.” — Courtney [05:22]
• “The most dangerous belief that keeps people stuck is the belief of 'I'm special.'” — Zach [16:19]
• “Hypnosis is a tool that's used by the elite, the 1%. It's that thing that gives you the slight edge…” — Zach [40:13]
• “If people knew how easy it was to actually change their minds and actually get what they want… that threatens the power structures.” — Zach [47:08]
• “I want to go after the public school system... Bars on the windows. And this is a nice neighborhood.” — Zach [49:11]
• “Luck is engineered.” — Zach [56:57]
• “I created this podcast because there are gatekeepers...” — Courtney [48:00]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro / Manipulation in Marketing: [00:24 – 01:47]
• How Hypnosis Actually Works: [02:58 – 04:29]
• You Are Always Being Programmed: [05:22 – 06:55]
• Curating Your Inputs: [06:55 – 09:26]
• Social Circles and Mindset: [09:26 – 11:22]
• Business Problems = Mindset Problems: [11:22 – 15:33]
• Belief That “I’m Special” Is the Biggest Stuck Point: [16:19 – 18:50]
• Sales, Suggestion, and the Power of Grouping: [19:41 – 21:31]
• Awareness & True Change: [21:32 – 22:52]
• Reframing Therapy & Somatic Approaches: [24:24 – 29:39]
• Psychedelic Healing for Vets/Trauma: [32:15 – 35:45]
• Action Over Information: [36:47 – 39:08]
• Elite Hypnosis & Bad PR: [39:27 – 45:51]
• Conspiracies & Society’s Programming: [45:55 – 48:00]
• Gatekeepers in Corporate and School Systems: [48:00 – 54:50]
• Money Is Not Scarce / Engineering Luck: [54:50 – 57:24]

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Tone

The conversation is frank, playful, sometimes irreverent and always focused on practical self-empowerment. Zach delivers plenty of “spicy” (his word) takes, cutting through conventional wisdom, while Courtney maintains a curious, open, and encouraging presence. The mood is equal parts actionable and subversive.

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Resources & How to Connect

• Zach Paul’s Instagram: @iamzachpaul | LinkedIn: Zach David Paul
• For resources and free hypnosis audios, DM Zach mentioning this podcast.
• Zach’s behavior profiling/training: salesteam6.com

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Closing

The episode is a call to awareness, action, and deprogramming — slaying internal and external “gatekeepers” that keep people from their potential. It’s full of insight, anecdotes, and practical tactics for anyone interested in using mindset, communication, and hypnosis to “level up” in life and business.

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“All change starts with awareness.” — Zach [22:52]

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Welcome to Slay the Gatekeeper. I'm your host, Courtney Johnson, and I am here to un. Gatekeep the gatekeep. Thank you so much for being here. Enjoy. Hello, Zach.

[A]

Hello, Courtney.

[B]

Welcome to Slay the Gatekeeper.

[A]

I'm so excited to be here. Thank you.

[B]

I'm so excited you're here.

[A]

Who are we slaying?

[B]

We're slaying the gatekeeper of hypnotherapy.

[A]

All right.

[B]

And dare I say manipulation. Ooh, I love the word manipulation because it seems quite sneaky, but it can actually be for love. But before we get started, you're a level up on LinkedIn alumni.

[A]

Oh, yeah?

[B]

Yeah. What do you think about level up on LinkedIn?

[A]

I think that you are the cause. I've done other LinkedIn courses.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I've, you know, paid some money to some, some gurus.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And a Lotus. Now, you had the best way of thinking about it and the best way of approaching marketing, not just from like a bro marketing standpoint of like how to do that, but how to actually like resonate, connect with your audience, how to communicate with people. And I met some cool ass people in the, in the cohort and it was a great community and I actually learned really good stuff. And best of all, the other cool thing about that though is even if you get, I always think like with things like that, even if you just get one useful nugget. Yeah, that can be the thing that changes everything. And for me, aside from I probably got a dozen or so useful nuggets out of that. But also, here we are. Yeah, right. It's Monday. I think we're shooting a podcast.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

We're sitting in here and it's like you just get to, you know, it's like you knock on the door and you do things and you never know what door's open. And that's, I think, one of the biggest reasons to do it. And the community you built, everyone was cool. So.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, it's a really great program. And I think of LevelUp on LinkedIn like as this Trojan horse where I kind of manipulate people for good. Right. Like, it's very rooted in like culty manipulation because it doesn't matter how often or how much I tell people, how much information I give people. The implementation is the whole point. Right. So like, you come into level up on LinkedIn, you think you're just learning to optimize your LinkedIn and post, and that is part of it. And you do leave with that. And also you get to uncover some Things about yourself that are like a really deeper desire or dream. Like, so many people go through it and they're like, quit their jobs. They totally transform what they're doing and bring people into deeper purpose. Is, like, truly the reason why I do it. Like, I could give two fucks about LinkedIn or I want to bring you into deeper purpose and make you actually do the things. And we're here to talk about some sneaky shit. So you're good at a lot of things. You're an expert in hypnotherapy. Do you like to call it hypnotherapy or hypnosis?

[A]

I call it hypnosis for. And here's why. Hypnotherapy has a lot of connotations with it. As in, it's like, there's something broken. You got to fix something. And no hate on hypnotherapists and people that went traditionally. I just found there were a lot. A lot of those schools would take a long time to teach a very incomplete part of the skill set with that had a lot of limiting beliefs baked into it. Yeah, very similar to how a lot of doctors go to medical school to learn how to prescribe drugs as opposed to how to treat the actual root causes of things. So I found. Personally, I found the hypnotherapy to be one facet of it, but not a lot. So I call it hypnosis. And everyone thinks, you know, so. So many people think they can't be hypnotized. Oh, that doesn't work on me. I can't be hypnotized. Which, first of all, those are actually the easiest people to hypnotize because it's like, if you have. It's almost like if they've got their. It's almost like they don't believe it's even possible. It leaves a. Like a Trojan horse. It leaves, like, just this back door wide open. And while they're like, you can't hypnotize me. I can just literally go right in the side door if I wanted to. These days. You know, when I was younger and I had something to prove, I would. These days, if someone's like, I can't be hypnotized, I'd be like, that sucks. Okay, have fun with that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But, yeah, everyone, our brains literally go in and out of hypnosis seven to nine times a day, if not more, because we want to. Our brain wants to conserve energy. And thinking is super expensive. So your brain's always looking for shortcuts to Just go on autopilot.

[B]

And this is like when you're scrolling or when you're falling asleep, when you're doing things where our brain is, like, turning off.

[A]

Yeah. If you think of it, like when your computer, if you haven't used it for a little bit, it goes into sleep mode. And I actually use the word sleep with hypnosis a lot. And it's not that it's turned off, it's just. It's kind of the interactive part is shut down temporarily. And so when you're scrolling and all of a sudden you snap out of it, you are in trance. If you're, you know, I think everyone's had the experience where you're driving home and all of a sudden you're like, whoa, how did I get home? I don't remember the drive. You were literally in a state of hypnosis where your brain just turns off, goes on autopilot, and does things it already has to do. Because we have scripts, we have programs, we have all these things running. You don't need to think about breathing. Right. When's the last time you're like, oh, I better remember to breathe? Like, I'm very forgetful. I would be. I'd be dead. So our brains are always doing it. We're just doing it intentionally, as opposed to being done passively or maliciously by certain companies and organizations out there.

[B]

Yeah, this. This brings us to our first cheat code, which is you are always being programmed. Like it does. Like, as long as you're consuming, you're being programmed. What does this mean?

[A]

There's the. We've all heard the adage, you're the five people you spend the most time with. Right. And we always think that means the people you're physically spending time with. But your brain doesn't know the difference between being with someone in person and seeing someone on a screen. Well, so spending even, like, five minutes watching a show or social media or a movie is kind of the equivalent of, like, taking a syringe of that person's beliefs and personality and injecting that into your own brain. Well, which is why I won't watch horror movies anymore. I won't watch movies about, like, bad people doing bad things. I try to stab social media as much as I can. I'm not immune to it. It gets me more than I'd care to admit. So we're always being shaped by the environment that we're in. You know, if you hang out with a bunch of broke alcoholics, you're probably going to be One of them getting out, a bunch of millionaires doing philanthropy work, you're probably gonna be one of them. So the environment is, is critical and we're always just absorbing it passively without, you know, it's a lot of just being installed without your consent, without your permission. It's just happening. And then if on top of that, if we factor in social media, the news, the like YouTube and everything, like everything out there, there's so many forces that have been engineered to hijack our attention and program our brains. And so if it's not being done intentionally, it's being done passively.

[B]

Yeah, interesting. So I think with social media it can be positive. Like if you're following people that are all. For example, when I made the decision of like, I'm tired of being broke, I'm going to do something about it, I didn't have people in my circle that were making money, so I made a new Twitter account and I only followed like female entrepreneurs, like people that had a similar path to me that looked like me. And I brainwashed myself by just consuming that. And that was my only social media. I also had this ghostwriting client one time who was an ultra successful entrepreneur. And the first time I started managing a social media, I logged into his Instagram account and every single post was just like positive motivating. Positive motivating. And I feel like there is a way to like change your feed. So if you are on social media, it could be a positive experience or like brainwash you positively 100%.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. And use the word. You know, we think of these words like brainwashing or manipulation and they've got kind of a negative connotation and they've certainly been used that way. But manipulation just means to handle skillfully. Right. A doctor manipulates a scalpel to do life saving surgery to someone's mom so that their family can stay together. Is that manipulation? Absolutely. But it's for good.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So to me, it's always, it's never the tool. Right. It's always the, the intent of the user. So, you know, I told you a story before we came on about a friend who's being physically abused by a guy. I used some very, very high level, CIA level manipulation tools to help her make a decision to actually leave that guy. Right. I manipulated her to probably save her life.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. So it's not the, it's not that same. Same with brainwashing, if you think of brainwashing. And one of my mentors literally used to do brainwashing for the Government for some kind of crazy stuff. But it's just a lot of it's through repetition. So if you're on your social media all day and you're watching positive, uplifting things that are inspiring and motivational, that's getting in your brain, whether you know it or not. It's getting imprinted in there. Everything you watch and vice versa. So I spent a long time and now I finally got it to crack, purging my feed of like, angry, insightful news designed to make you hate people. I had to go the only fans, girls off of there. Had to get all that stuff out of there. That was like putting the wrong things in my brain. And so these days, most of my. My Instagram feed a lot looks like business things, inspirational things, and a lot of dogs and animals is that I'm a dog. I have dogs. That's a dog person.

[B]

So I miss my dogs. They're at puppy school right now.

[A]

I'm gonna go to puppy school.

[B]

Yeah, it's. It's crazy. It's. It's day one and they're already walking on the leash. They're going for two weeks. They stay there.

[A]

Really?

[B]

I really miss them already. It's been like four hours and I miss them.

[A]

Get it? Mine are in San Diego because I've had a bunch of back. I've three months of like a ton of back and forth traveling side. I'm with you.

[B]

Sweet.

[A]

Korea. Dogless.

[B]

Okay. Anyways, dog. Yeah, Music too. Like, stop. Listen. Don't if you're wondering why you keep getting your heart broken. You're listening to Fudgeing, like Taylor Swift breakup songs all the time. Stop if you're wondering why, like, you. Your dates suck and you keep, like, listening to music about how, like, we all hate men. Like, stop. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. And also stop if you're single and you want to, like, stop listening to your single friends that are hating. Like, if you. Yeah. If you're a woman and you want to meet a good man, stop listening to your single friends that like, man eat shit.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

All that. And same with guys. If you ever, like, I will. I will not hang out with guys. And I have been a total piece of crap in the past. Right. If you met me in my military days, I was not a good person. I was not a nice person. I was just selfish and in it for me. So I'm not sitting here. You know, if you dig far enough my past, you're going to find, well, Internet wasn't as much back then, but, you know, this is A crafted version. But these days, when I hear guys, like, use words like bitch and things like that to describe women, I'm just, like, not into it, because aside from the fact that I have a lot of women friends and, like, that's, you know, I wouldn't be able to bring them around. I don't need that getting in my brain. I don't need that. Because, again, I'm. Yeah, it's all getting absorbed passively. Even just five minutes, you're getting that in there.

[B]

Yeah. It's almost like if you've had the experience of going on a trip with your friend and, like, they have a slight accent or they use a certain phrase, and by, like, day two, you're using that phrase and you have that intonation in your voice and you're like, what the fuck?

[A]

Yep.

[B]

You really mirror.

[A]

It happens like that.

[B]

It happens so fast. Wow. Okay, next cheat code. Business problems are never about business. Whoa. I've definitely experienced this. I'm dealing with this right now. I'm like, oh, I have this big business problem. I was talking to a friend today that's also a coach, and she was like, courtney, this is not a business problem. This is a. This is your control problem.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah. So everything is. You know, most people are running on autopilot. And you see most people in the world, they're kind of caged in, following the crowd, doing what they think they're supposed to do, and not really. Not even really thinking for themselves. Right? And it's really easy to be judgmental or, you know, kind of look down on that. But the reality is that happens to everybody at some times. And what's really going on is we've got programming, right? We've got subconscious programming in our brains that's making almost this algorithm of how to make decisions, how to do things. And that programming came from, you know, most people know, it came from childhood. It really came as strategies of how to get friends and social connections, how to achieve safety and how to get rewarded. Right? And so that's going to look different for everybody. What that really gives you is an operating system, how to do these things. And, you know, it's 2025. All the information's out there, right? There's no, like, I don't know how to do a business. Like, you can learn. Everything's free on YouTube.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So it's not that you can't do it or, no, you don't know how to do it. It's that you've got some sort of programming in the way preventing you from doing it. Right. A lot of people call it limiting beliefs. I think that's probably a good term word that a lot of people are familiar with. But here's a, here's a really common one. For example, I see this with a lot of kind of my mid level clients is they've reached a certain income level but they can't quite break through to that next level. And for whatever reason they've got a strategy to reach one level, but there's whatever reason there's something holding them back from the next level. And if we, I'm not a big fan of like going back and let's figure out it all. Like let's go back to your child. Like I don't really care. Like that sounds mean, but like I don't care about your problems. I don't care about what happened in your childhood because it's in the past and we can't do anything about it. Let's figure out what's going on right now and let's just fix that. Right? So whenever people come to me like, here's my problems, I'm like, I don't care. What do you want? I want this. Cool. It's done. Whoa. Yeah, right. So that's like how I like to do it personally. That's not. Some people like to talk about it, I just like to fix it. But if we're looking at what's stopping somebody from getting their results, there's usually some sort of programming in there. So let's say somebody wants to make more money, but when they were a kid, they heard mom and dad pull up next to a, you know, a Mercedes or BMW or something that's, you know, nice car for middle, middle level. And they go, that person must have been an, that person must have screwed people over. And now a little kid forms a belief that says, oh, to make money to be rich, you have to screw people over. I'm not going to do that because I'm a good person, therefore I'm not going to reach that level. And that belief gets in the way. So again we can go back and like decode it and relive the experience and do all that or we can literally just change the belief and just make it go away. So that's. And this is true for everything. Another piece of this is we're always seeking. The brain is always seeking what's familiar rather than what's wanted.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So it's, you know, because what's familiar is safe because I know how to navigate it. So somebody might go back to an abusive relationship or go back to drugs and alcohol, because even though they know that pattern sucks, they know how to navigate it because I've been doing it for a long time. And this is where you'll get people. Oh, hyper vigilant. Oh, I can tell. I can see things before they happen. Because you developed a sixth sense for it. To know when somebody's about to get violent. And that's familiar. And then peace feels uncomfortable and weird and foreign. So I better go back to that. So we're always seeking what's familiar and following those scripts that we've developed. And most people aren't aware of it. It's just running in the background. And until people actually just snap out of it and realize that that's just programming, it's just scripts. Most people go in circles forever trying to break out of it and never do.

[B]

Sad. Because there is some sort of level of awareness that you. That is a requirement to even do this work. Because there will be a lot of people listening to this. That's like, well, I'm stuck. Like, you don't get it. Like, I'm just stuck. I don't know what to do. I don't. Like, they have a story that, like, almost. They feel comfortable in the stuckness. Like, it feels really good to them and comfy, cozy. So, yeah, I just. What are your thoughts on that? Like, what are your thoughts on even bringing people to the awareness, to where they can see, Even the block or they can see? Because also, like, our ego hides it from us. Our ego hides our blind spots. Like, that's why they're blind spots, but that's why it's in our shadow. Yeah. So how do you even get to that awareness? Like, again, especially if you're the people that are listening that are just like. But you don't get it. Like, I'm stuck.

[A]

Yep. The most dangerous belief that keeps people stuck is the belief of I'm special.

[B]

Whoa.

[A]

Sorry. You're not. I'm not. And don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean people aren't unique and have their own gifts and abilities and things about them. But this idea of, oh, I'm special, I'm different. No, you're not.

[B]

There's different. No one understands.

[A]

Nobody understands me. Nobody else has this problem. I'm sorry. Your problems are not special. You're not special. And I know this sounds harsh. I'm the military guy that, you know, I'm definitely not for everyone. That belief of as soon as you think I'm special. I'm a special little animal. I'm different than everyone else. One, like you said, that's a massive ego. Yeah. And that belief right there is the reason why. And yeah. Know, I think for a lot of people, it's. A lot of people, it's like you don't even realize that it's happening. Right. Or it's not. It's not happening, or it's not that big a deal. Or maybe just like that disbelief of not even seeing it. Right. And then once it really just starts to just creep in a little more. I think anybody with a brain would just feel completely frustrated and just get really, really mad sometimes at themselves or the things that they've done or the other people or maybe just at the situation. And, you know, that anger is really, really normal. And a lot of people get that. And then there turns this. Almost like that anger turns into negotiating of like, well, maybe if I just wait a little longer, it'll change. Or if I had done something different then, or if I just, you know, maybe something different will happen if I just try this one thing. And we almost, like, look for a way, any way to just avoid actually confronting the thing, the reality that's right there. And then at some point that just. It gives in and there's just this sadness or this hopelessness. And maybe you never think it's never going to change. And, you know, it's heavy, it's dark, it's. It's a tough, tough period.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Then finally, though, the clouds part, a little bit of sunlight starts to come through, and you realize that there is light at the end of the tunnel. And things can change very, very quickly. And you can start to think about how different would it be if the same thing started looking now like it wouldn't change if nothing else really did. And it's one of those moments where you can just let go, move forward and just actually start to see things shift. And sometimes people need to have all the information in their brain and make it make sense. Other people, they feel something in their body that lets them know that a change has happened. And the funny thing about change is it happens almost before you actually realize that it's happened. And maybe it already started or maybe it's already begun, but that's really what I've seen.

[B]

Yeah, I find that, like, ego conversation of I'm special is really interesting because that's something I see a lot in sales. It's like people almost want to be the exception that this thing doesn't work. For them, even though it's worked for so many other people because. Yeah, because they're so special and unique. Like, it could be like, well, working out just doesn't work for me. It's like working out works for everybody. You know, you want to be special. Like, you want to make it not work for you so you can have this, like, be the odd one out.

[A]

Yeah. Well, that's where I think people. You know, I think there's people listening to this right now. And there's some people, like you said, they're gonna be like, that's. That I'm different, I'm special. That's not me. And there's gonna be other people. And those people will go in circles and miss out on opportunities and experiences and connections. And, you know, there's a. There's a need to be right. A lot of people hold to the back is the need to be right rather than getting what they want. Wow. And yeah, this is.

[B]

Is this. A layer of hypnosis is, like, identifying the groups and, like, calling out people of what group they want to be assigned to. Like, you're saying there's going to be people who A, people who B, and people who C. Don't you want to be part of the A group? I guess that's kind of like a sales tactic, too.

[A]

It's. I mean, I think anything. I love that you're thinking about it like that.

[B]

Yeah. I'm. Like, your language is like. Like it's naturally integrated into your language, I think.

[A]

Yeah. Well, this is why, you know, people want to know that this script, right? Everyone's like, what's the script? What's the technique? And there's a technique. There's a name for everything, right? There's being. They're saying please and thank you. There's a name for that technique, right? It's called being polite. Right? So there's all these. There's a name for any technique, and if you look to, you know, if you start looking for it, you start to see these. But as you build, to me, it's just communication skills.

[B]

It's.

[A]

How do we communicate with people? If you listen to, like, a really good salesperson, they're not doing techniques. That's just who they are and how they communicate. So a big mistake that I think with a lot of this stuff is people always want the magic script or the Harry Potter spell. What's the five magic words that'll make anybody open their wallet and give you cash or make anybody say yes to a date with you or Whatever. People want that, because it's nice to think that things are that simple. But who you are is infinitely more important than anything you say.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I think it's. You know, and I guess if. To. To answer your question, though, I think I always like to. I think probably the reason I communicate that way is because I always like to remind people that your actions and your behaviors are not you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. And there can be a moment, any moment, where you just decide to do something different and realize that you can change your patterns and still be you and just do things differently. And it all starts with awareness.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All right. So I think hopefully, you know, maybe there's some people listening to this, that they've had, like, this little light bulb moment or maybe just started to drift away from. From that pattern. And I think the biggest thing is people, you know, we're taught that that's just you are you. Right? That you're just. You're just Courtney. Right. That's all you are. But there's different parts, right? There's a part of you that wants, you know, your hopes and dreams and goals and success. And you're recently engaged, which. Congratulations, by the way. Beautiful ring.

[B]

Yeah, it doesn't fit on my ring finger, but we're. We're working on it.

[A]

Yeah. So there's a part of you, right, that wants all that. And for anybody, there's a part of them that wants their goals, and then there's a part of you that gets in your own way, and there's a part of you that doubts yourself, and that's. I have it. We all have it. And I think the biggest mistake is thinking that you're just this one monolithic person without realizing that you're not your patterns, you're not your behaviors, you're not your thoughts. None of it is you. But there's some observer in there, Right. If you think about, like, taking a shower this morning, right. You're. Why did you see that in third person? That there's always an observer there watching things happen. And most people are just aren't aware that it's there or don't use it in the right way. But when we can just zoom out from that and look at yourself from a different perspective, you can start to see these things. And all change starts with awareness.

[B]

Yeah. That's so beautiful. Yeah. And in my content club, I paint that as, like, the cringe monster. This isn't you. There's nothing wrong with you. It's a cringe monster making you feel cringe or the cringe monster is having you overanalyze or going into perfectionism or procrastination, like the true essence of you. And I guess all of this is just. Yeah. Peeling back the layers of awareness to get more. More and more to your. Your true essence.

[A]

Exactly. I mean, never ends.

[B]

And it never ends. And it's forever.

[A]

It's. It's forever until what a blessing. Till the day you die. And even then, you know, I don't know what happens after. Yeah. Probably we do this again. Yeah.

[B]

We're back here on this podcast.

[A]

Right. How many times have we done this podcast?

[B]

We've done this before, right. Maybe infinity.

[A]

Maybe could just be in a. You know, there's a. There's one. I can't remember the name of it, but there's a theory that the universe is just looping.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Or just infinitely. And, like, I don't know.

[B]

In my first mushroom trip, I just, like, looped for all of eternity. And I was like, this is so scary.

[A]

Are you sure you're out of it?

[B]

No, I'm probably still in it.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah, I definitely could be in it sometimes. Like. Well, for a while, I would go back into the same trip, like, anytime I did yoga or, like, meditated. So I could still be there.

[A]

So I could.

[B]

Or we could be inside a different mushroom. A mushroom trip inside another mushroom.

[A]

So. Wow, that's so inception level.

[B]

Inception level. Inside a dream, inside God's dream.

[A]

I don't even know if I'm real anymore. Now who's hypnotizing who?

[B]

Okay, we get a new. A new cheat code. New cheat code.

[A]

New cheat code.

[B]

Traditional therapy keeps you stuck. This is spicy.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Traditional therapy. So, okay, here's. Here's what nobody tells you about traditional therapy. Traditional therapy was developed as a business model. It was developed as a business model by Sigmund Freud, who literally said two things. He said, one, my therapy will not be for the poor, and my therapy will require about 300 sessions to complete. It was always intended to be a business model. And if you look at the way that it's done now, I want to say this with a caveat, because there's probably some therapists out there start beginning an angry email or angry dm, which. That's fine.

[B]

Love you. I actually went to school to be a therapist.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I love you. And then I decided not to.

[A]

Yeah. Well, so here's the thing. Every people that get into therapy have the best of intentions.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. So it's never the person. I think it's the system. Very much in the same way that a lot of doctors got into medicine to. With the intention to help people and were trained by a system to manage symptoms with drugs rather than treat root causes.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. And so people just get kind of plugged into these little matrix systems and are trained what to think and what to do. You can go to three different doctors and get three different diagnoses and three different drugs. How's that? Right. So it's not. It's never the person. So any therapists or fans of therapy or. Here's another one. I love my therapist. I just get to go talk about my problem. Great. If you like your therapist. I'm not hating on your therapist. I'm not even hating on therapy. However, it's not designed to actually fix problems.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's designed to keep you coming back and paying enough every week to feel, create this illusion of progress. Right. And because we get what we think about and the thoughts that we think reinforce the neurons. And I'm trying to avoid, like, super scientific, nerdy intellectual language, because basically, the thoughts that you think increases the likelihood that you'll think those thoughts again because you just strengthen those. It's kind of like carving a pathway in the snow and then driving down a thousand times. So when you go to therapy, it's like, oh, talk about your problems. How does that make you feel? Oh, where do you think that came from? Oh, what did your parent do in childhood? Cool. You just dug that trench a lot deeper and you get these little insights. Oh, now I know why I'm fucked up. Great. What are you gonna do about it? I'm gonna come back next week and talk about it more.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So now there are a small percentage of very skilled therapists that I believe have a different skill set aside from traditional therapy training. And again, if you like your therapist, if you like talking about it, or you just like feeling like shit all the time, knock yourself out. Right. So I always tell people, if you want to talk about your problems, go to a therapist. If you want to fix it, come to me. I'm a lot more expensive and a lot faster. So just which one, which one do you want?

[B]

Have you done EMDR therapy?

[A]

Not personally. I have a hypnotic process that kind of uses the same principle.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is it effective? I think EMDR is effective for a lot of people. You know, skill level. How much skill does it take to go like this? Not a whole lot. So I have a hypnotic thing that I do that kind of came off from World War I that would help veterans actually get rid of PTSD. We basically build out this movie theater. One of the things I do with people with hypnosis is we build out all these, like, places in your mind you can go control your physiology and delete memories and add beliefs and do all this crazy stuff. There's a room, there's a movie theater where we can take memories and we can just make the emotion, make the trauma just go away. And then you're like, oh, it doesn't bother me anymore. It's gone. And it uses a similar back and forth type of process. So I haven't done it myself, but from what I've heard, it is effective.

[B]

I've done it. It's. Yeah, it's not as effective as other modalities, but it was effective. It was the most effective form of therapy I tried. Cause it is somatic.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that is. If you go super into it, like, it can be helpful. It actually gave me, like, seizures for a little bit.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

Like, not bad seizures, but, like, release, like trauma.

[A]

Oh, neurogenic tremors.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tremors, not seizures.

[A]

I do that with. That's one of the things I do with clients as well. We can intentionally induce them because it not only humans are the only animals that, like, hold on to trauma. Right. All zebra. There's no, like, zebra support group for zebras that got attacked by a lot. Like, you know, I was at the watering hole and it came and it almost got me. And it was like, that doesn't exist. That doesn't. Like, they just shake it off, and then they're good. Yeah, we hold us. And dogs are the only animals that hold onto it. But we can stimulator. We can have it go. The other cool thing that it does is it takes. Because it's unconscious, Right. Your body's doing it. You're not doing it intentionally. It takes. Anytime you learn something, it connects everything to your spinal cord and actually just injects that learning and that knowledge, like, deeper and deeper into your nervous system. So anytime I have, like, a really big, like, a seminar or a training or something where I'm like, I want to remember that I'll do tremors for 15, 20 minutes. Is. It stores it in my spinal cord, which is the people. I was like, where's the bottom of your brain? Nope. It's. It's all the way down. It's your spinal cord. It's all the base of the brain. And the deeper in your nervous system you can get knowledge and wisdom, the less you have to actually remember it. Up here So I don't want to keep information here. I want to keep it down there.

[B]

Whoa, that's crazy. I get it. You want to create content, but you're stuck. You feel like you start creating content and then you stop, you push and then you pull back. You create this big strategy and you don't actually implement it. And I know you, I know that you have a million content ideas in your notes app that you just haven't actually started to create. This is exactly why I created Content Club. I created Content Club to be a place where you can come and bring all of those ideas and we guide you through the content creation. So what, what is Content Club? We meet every single morning at 8am Central Time. My team and I give you a prompt, we give you brainstorming, we give you coaching support. We all create the content together and we all post together and like and comment and engage on each other's posts. So if you are desiring a community and a container that can help support your content creation and bring you into being a extraordinary and results driven and consistent, consistent content creator, I will see you tomorrow morning, 8am Central on Zoom In Content Club. Wow. I love this hot take. Yeah, I spicy. This is so spicy. Yeah. I minored in psych in school and I was like, should I go to grad school and be a therapist? And I just didn't want to hold people's like, deep trauma, to be honest. I love helping people with their trauma. But it's, it's what you're saying, like, I don't want to. My modality is not necessarily to like, relive memories. The modality that I prefer is more in like, words and, and reframing. I think the time that therapy can help is if you're actively in crisis and you need support in getting a game plan to get out of crisis or through crisis. But I agree, like, other than that, it's not, it's not helpful.

[A]

I think. Then there's a different conversation about efficacy of therapy for men versus women.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

And you know, if we look at the. My background, which is military therapy is very, very promoted, very, very pushed. And 22 guys still kill themselves every single day. So sometime during the recording of this podcast, some veteran out there put a gun to his head, probably, and pulled the trigger. He was probably in therapy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I know, like, what more proof do you need that it's not an effective modality? And yet we keep going, oh, get therapy, get therapy.

[B]

I don't know. How do we, how do we fix that for vets.

[A]

We mushrooms. Yeah. Actually the answer to everything. So I was so. I always thought psychedelics were for like unemployed hippies and like crystal wielding housewives.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then I was on the verge of killing myself after a brain injury in the military. I tried everything I tried there. I tried the meds, I tried the drugs, I tried talking about it, I tried toughing it out. None of it worked. So then my mentor connected me with a veterans retreat for veterans with brain injuries. And I went down to Mexico and did two of the world's most powerful psychedelics, which was ibogaine and bufo. AKA it's a psychedelic toad poison that you smoke through like a medical grade crack pipe basically. And it was life changing in so many different ways and it really opened this window. I think the mistake a lot of people make with psychedelics is, you know, they go from one journey to the next to the next, thinking that the, it's this like magic pill that's going to fix everything. It's the magic medicine that's going to do it. Oh, you know, I'm just, I'm so excited for my next ayahuasca retreat. You know, the first 25 didn't work, but maybe number 26 will do it. So I think there's a different conversation about the providers, practitioners and actually like what you actually do with it. But generally speaking, I've seen hundreds and hundreds of veterans with severe PTSD brain injuries. Guys who got bin Laden, like high level people have these transformations coming out of it. And not only that, but we have Stanford medical studies that literally show with hard data that dead brain tissue from blast injuries and concussions can be regrown through this one plant. And It's a Schedule 1 controlled substance which according to the government means high potential for abuse and zero medical benefit.

[B]

So crazy you can't also like how the would you abuse bufo? Like it kicks you out.

[A]

Not only that, but like you come out of that if you know it. I don't want to do it again.

[B]

I know. It's like that Same with ibog.

[A]

I did ibogaine. I'm like, I'm so glad I did that. But I am good. Yeah, I am totally good.

[B]

Yeah, it's, it's, it is weird. Like, I do wonder why people go from ceremony to ceremony because I'm like, does it, is it not telling you to stop? It always tells me when to stop.

[A]

I call them psychedelic drug addicts. I think there's some people that just like the, like escape. Yeah, the escape. The. Or, you know, there's a lot of people also that, like the. I call them like, the chasers or the discoverers, where they actually like the insight. The little dopamine hit of. I figured it out. They like that more than they actually want to get the results, which. If that's what you want, then that's. That's great. Right. So you get this, like, oh, I had the most introspective journey, and I just had a. You know, this. This insight. I just figured it all out. I'm like, cool. Yeah. Did you change it? No. I figured it out, though. Like, okay, like. And so I. I don't know. These days, I'm very much like, you know, you can't save the whole world. Maybe not with that attitude. At least maybe I'll change my mind at some point. But my whole thing is, like, there's people that are ready. Some people are more than happy to be plugged into the matrix. There's a lot of people that are really happy to eat at McDonald's. I'm not here to tell them not to. If that's for you, then great. My whole thing is I'm more here for the people that kind of feel that calling of knowing that maybe the traditional methods aren't quite working right, that older paradigm, and there's some sort of shift happening. I think there's something for everyone. You know, you can go to McDonald's, or you can go to J. Carver's, which. What do you prefer?

[B]

Yeah. I actually have a theory about the people that go from, like, ceremony to ceremony is. I think it's like. It's like being a business professor when you've never created a business. So you theorize about the thing, you're theorizing about life, you're theorizing about the universe or consciousness or the nature of reality without actually playing the game of it, just observing the game again. In the same way a business professor that's never started a business is, you know, theorizing about business and teaching business without actually doing it. And it comes in the doing.

[A]

Yeah. It's the guy, you know, go to. Go to any bar during a UFC fight.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And you'll see plenty of people there that have a lot of opinions. Oh, I would do this. I would do this. Cool, man. Until you're actually in a fight. That sounds great. When you get punched in the face or you're twisted up in a pretzel and some dude's beating the shit out of you, it's a very different story. So it's cool that you talk a big game from here in the bar where you're safe. And so I think it's very, very similar. Is just this, you know, there's a myth out there. One of the sayings that got promoted to us as kids was like, knowledge is power. Yeah, that is.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I like. And I don't mean people with disabilities way. I mean like the definition to stunt and to stunt growth. That's what that actually means. I like the word. I don't care. Come at me, cancel me, whatever. It literally means canceled her podcast over. No, it literally means to slow development and stunt growth. There's nothing to do with that. It's so. I think that's a belief that's actually slowed development and stunted growth because we've convinced people that knowledge and information is the thing that's valued. And now I know I need to know more. You probably see this as well.

[B]

I do it all the time.

[A]

I just need to know a little more, then I'll be ready first. You're never going to be ready. If you feel ready, you waited way too long. You're passing the anniversary of your death every single year and you don't even know when it's there. And we spend so many time. People spend so much time just waiting until I feel ready. But the you feel. You never feel ready. You just do it anyways. And that's where that comes from. And I think people spend so much like I need a little more knowledge, a little more information. That really is. That knowledge is useless. It's skills that actually does anything right. So I don't care. You know, can I name like. It's kind of like, you know, I. One of the things I came up with when in my journey was, uh, when I was recovering from a brain injury. You know, you kept hearing this budge word of this buzzword of rewire your brain, Rewire your brain, Rewire your brain. It became this like sexy buzzword. I'm like, cool, how do you do it? I was like, oh, you just think thoughts. And here's a study that shows that drones can grow up cool. How do you do it? Oh, well, it's just, you know, it's the use different thing like which so nobody could explain to me how to do it. So that's ended up how I've got into hypnosis and some of the other people pieces that I use. So it's the difference between knowledge or here's an academic study on it versus can you do it? And there's so many experts out there. This drives me crazy. There's so many experts that you'll hear them, have asked them a question like, yeah, let me, let me put together a plan, let me think about it, I'll get back to you. That's not an expert. Yeah, if you cannot do it on the spot, you're not an expert. I challenge a lot of hypnotists, a lot of behavior profilers, a lot of these experts, they can't do it on the spot. Right. And so if you can talk about rewiring your brain and how to think the thoughts, if you can't actually change somebody's brain in a matter of minutes, sorry, you're not doing it. So I think this whole knowledge of need more knowledge, need more information is really, really dangerous and keeps people stuck in this dopamine chasing loop of. I just need the next course, the next ayahuasca journey as opposed to the hard skills to actually be able to get anything done.

[B]

That's wild and so powerful. Yeah, it's like true knowledge is like somatic. It's like integrated. It's like in your fucking body. Okay, I have one more cheat code. All right, this is a good one. I saw this on one of your LinkedIn posts.

[A]

I'm amazed that you have all these notes. I was like, I saw on the calendar it's like five cheek. I was like, oh, what am I going to talk about?

[B]

Yeah, no, I got, I got. I come prepared.

[A]

That's good. I did not stressing out on the drive over, I was like, what am I going to talk about?

[B]

Okay, so last cheat code and this is slay the gatekeeper and we do un gatekeep and I feel like this is super gate kept that Mike Tyson and LeBron James and all of these like greatest athletes of all time are being hypnotized on the reg sometimes up to like two times per day. And we see them and we're like, they're so amazing. They're talented, they're strong, they're whatever. And when it comes to training physically, they're training similar to a lot of other people that haven't been able to crack that. Greatest of all time. They're good, they're awesome. Do you think it's the hypnosis that's the differentiator?

[A]

Yes. Yeah, I think that hypnosis is a tool that's used by the elite, the 1%. It's that thing that gives you the slight edge because you can, can you can you rewire belief over time and with repetition and intensity and willpower. Yeah. Depends how long you want it to take. Right. But if we can go in and you know, if I'm actually working with a fighter right now. Don't you mention that. Or maybe that's. You did your homework. I'm working with a fighter right now who literally what we're doing is we're making like we've changed the way his. And what hypnosis. There's a lot of myths about hypnosis, right. People think you're going to go unconscious or you can get stuck in it because. Or, you know, I'm taking control of your mind. Which none of which is true. It's. You're always in control. You remember it, you hear me the whole time. It's just. We're just giving you access to an unconscious power and unconscious intelligence that we can't normally access with the noisy part of the mind getting in the way. So there's been a lot. And anytime I look at something where the media is trying to make it look bad or dangerous, I always ask like, why are they trying to discredit that and make it look bad? So I think hypnosis is a incredibly powerful tool. Yeah.

[B]

Why do they try to make that bad?

[A]

Why do they do that?

[B]

Why does it have bad pr.

[A]

Why does it get bad pr? Nothing. And if you.

[B]

No, meditation doesn't.

[A]

No, meditation doesn't. How many. How many people do you know that have like truly changed their lives and created life tri life changing results with meditation?

[B]

Not a lot.

[A]

A lot.

[B]

It's. It takes just so long. It takes like multiple hours a day for multiple years.

[A]

Like Joe Dispen. It was like Joe Dispenza. Like Joe Dispenza meditated like 12 hours a day every single day for months on end or longer if you got that kind of time and commitment, all the power to you. Yeah, right. And my. And don't get me wrong, I have a ton of respect for him. I've read all his books. My whole thing is like, I don't have that much time to. I don't want to do that. How can we do it faster?

[B]

Also his meditations are hypnosis. Like they're not just sitting down. Isn't. Doesn't he do like hypno. Hypnotherapy, guided or something?

[A]

It's all. Well, that's the thing about to hypno. Like hypnosis is a name. You know, you call it trance.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You could call it. Meditation is a form of it. It's just the thing is, when you're doing it with people, talk about self hypnosis, which is not a thing, because if you're self hypnotizing when you're. When you're in hypnosis, the cortex, the noisy part of the brain, is turned off. And so if you're trying to guide yourself into meditation, then you can't turn it off because who's guiding it? Yeah, so when I'm doing it with people is you're in charge, you're still in control. I can't, like, I'm just. I'm sitting in the drive. You're in the driver's seat. I'm just in the passenger seat giving, like turn by turn directions to a place that you maybe knew was there but didn't know quite how to get to. And I can do that, but I can't do it to myself. People. I was like, oh, who? I'm like, I. I can't do it myself for that exact reason. But to answer, to answer your question, you know, I think it's gotten a lot of bad press, a lot of priority, and also it's been kind of made a mockery of in a lot of ways by entertainers. So a really common thing I hear is, oh, the hypnotist at the fair couldn't hypnotize my aunt Sally because he works at the fair. No shit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Or we had a high school hypnotist that made people cluck like a chicken. I hate that. Yeah, I. I despise that because that, first of all, it's entertainment. That's not hypnosis. So we do is actually science based. And you can see the changes on an MRI scan. You can actually see people's brains changing when we do this. So I think there's been a lot of misuse of it. But people always ask, does it work? It's like, that's like asking, does surgery work? It's not does it work or not? It's the skill of the surgeon or the skill of the hypnotist. There's only two types of people. Actually, there's two types of people that hypnosis doesn't work on is schizophrenics and people with IQs below 80.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Anybody else?

[B]

Why I get schizophrenics, but why, like, dumb people?

[A]

I think it's because there's just. I don't have a good. I don't have a good answer for this. Or I can speculate, I don't know for I don't know. For certain. My guess is there's just not enough brain activity to really do anything. And we can. Because a lot. A lot of what I'm doing with hypnosis is really just directing chemistry, chemicals, and electricity. And I think with dumb people, there's just a lower amount of brain activity, and their brains are just kind of like, almost just, like, mushy. Not really doing a whole lot. And so to be able to, like, you know, change perceptions and change metaphors. You know, I have a friend I was telling you about last night is a lawyer who had panic attacks and all these, you know, anxiety. And all we did was we just changed because her brain was always, like, expecting something bad to happen. She was like, I'm sitting on the couch just in anxiety, waiting for something bad to happen. So all we did, it took five minutes. We just took her down at the trans and changed the way that her brain received that signal. So now, instead of being this scary monster, it's a cute little bunny that makes her laugh.

[B]

Aw.

[A]

And she hasn't had an anxiety attack in but three years.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

So we're not, like, doing anything crazy. We're just changing the way people perceive things. And you can change the way it feels. We're talking about business success. You know, if someone feels like they can't make a lot of money, then they can't. Somebody feels like they can't get on camera, then they can't. So people are like, I know I shouldn't think that. I'm like, yeah, but you feel it's true, so it's true for you. Yeah, I always tell people, I'm like, look, how you feel is how you feel, and that's. That's your reality. So just because you know, logically that it's not a big deal, you feel like it is, and so it is in your. In your reality. We can change those feelings very, very quickly. So that's why I like hypnosis as a toolset. Again, the greats. The greats use it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, I could go down conspiracy theory, tinfoil hat route for a second.

[B]

Yeah. Do it.

[A]

You know, if we want to.

[B]

I love a conspiracy.

[A]

Oh, I'll.

[B]

Is it to. You can wait. Can I guess your conspiracy? Is it bad PR to keep people in, like, slave mode?

[A]

Yeah, I think, you know, we've been told that change takes a long time. Yeah, We've been told that change is hard, that you have to work for it or better, you know, you got what you got, and you got what you got. Be happy, be Grateful for what you have, which is true, don't get me wrong. Being grateful for what you have is a huge, huge, huge piece of this while also being like aggressively dissatisfied with it at the same time. And it's this weird paradigm that doesn't make sense to a lot of people. But you both. Two things can be true. You can be grateful for what you have and still want more at the same time. So I think there's been this.

[B]

You.

[A]

Know, this movement to try to keep people from realizing what's even possible out there. Because everybody live their dreams and do what they want. Who's gonna, who's gonna plow the fields? Who's gonna do that type of work? And I, you know, get go, like way into conspiracy theory land, which I'd just be making stuff up. I don't know for sure.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But I do, you know, I do think there's. If people knew how easy it was to actually change their minds and actually get what they want and knew that you could have it now instead of having to grind, hustle and suffer and sacrifice, that's another myth. People like, oh, you can't have it all. Says who?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Why? Why can't. Why not?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What is it all? Health, wealth, love, relationships, perpet. Like who? Why? Like, why not? You can't have it all if you're distracted with other stuff. You can't have it all if you're wasting your time doing things that don't matter. But like, who says you can't have it all? So I think that's one of the biggest myths that we've been sold and lied to about. And if we knew, if people knew how easy it was, I think one of the hardest things about it is realizing how easy it is. And if people knew how easy it was, then I think that probably threatens the, the power structures.

[B]

This is literally why I created this podcast. Because there are gatekeepers. There are gatekeepers that don't want this information. I've met a lot of these gatekeepers. I know a lot of these gatekeepers. I've been in rooms with a lot of these gatekeepers. And it's very clear that like even just the, like a, let's say like a tech founder of like a really successful billion dollar tech unicorn. And then all of the employees, there are things that that founder, that leader is keeping from the employees because if they were to give the employees that information, they would leave. They would see what's possible for them and they would leave. They would do their own thing and it would. It it threatens, like, every single structure we have. And that is literally why I created this, because there's these topics that people aren't talking about that are being gay cats. And we're slaying a motherfucking gatekeeper.

[A]

Who are we killing next?

[B]

Yeah, who are.

[A]

I got.

[B]

Oh, later. We have a cancer podcast, so that's going to be good.

[A]

I like that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I have a sword in. I have a tomahawk in my car. Yeah, I'm ready. I. I've taken this podcast name, too, literally.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, we will. We will kill. Yeah, We're. We're slaying.

[A]

Can we. Can we. Can we slay a big one right now here? That. Let's. Let's. I want to go after the public school system.

[B]

Okay. Slay. I want to slay the public school system.

[A]

Teabag.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

You know, whatever. Unedited. This is me. Hi. All right. So the. One of the things I think that is the most nefarious. I think this is actually criminal. I think this should be criminal. At least they mean the opposite. Criminal, of course. But the most criminal thing I think that they've done is. And I went through it. I've seen it from both sides. I went. Actually, I went back and visited my old high school last time I was in town, and I'm going back to my hometown tomorrow to see my parents. And I drove. I just, you know, on. A driver was driving around. I was like, let me go check out the school. It's like, wow, this place literally has the architecture of a prison.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Bars on the windows. And this is a nice neighborhood. This is not a dangerous place. Bars, Concrete, muted colors. And it's been. It was designed to train people to just be completely obedient, completely subservient to authority. Right. Though. You separate people by age so that they're not mixing with anybody else. They're trained that you have to raise your hand and ask permission to do anything, including use the bathroom, which is a biological function. You can't collaborate. You can't talk with other people. You have to memorize. You can't look things up. That's not how real life works.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I. You know, this didn't. I was a terrible student, which now I'm actually very proud of. And I would have even gotten kicked out of college if they'd figure out what I did, which is I basically didn't want to do my homework. You have to take this class. I'm like, I don't want to. They're like, you have to. I'M like, fine, I don't want to do my homework. So, hey, uh, let's split the homework. You do the first half, I'll do the second half, and then we'll trade answers. Yeah, okay, cool. And then I go over to her, and I'm like, hey, let's split the homework. I'll do the first half, you do the second half, and we'll trade answers. And then, you know, do a little swappy swap.

[B]

And so sneaky.

[A]

I did the thing. And again. So in real life, that's like. That's entrepreneurial. That's genius thinking.

[B]

It's kosher.

[A]

In school, they would expel you for that and, like, make you be this bad person and try to throw this shame. And I just think it's amazing. They teach us, like, oh, you can't collaborate. You can't work with people. You can't look things up. You have to memorize it. And it's been designed to just, you know, you take these kids that want to be outside and playing, especially boys. Like, we want to be outside and adventuring and exploring and feeling that sense of wonder and discovering things for the first time. And we say, nope, you can't do that. You have to sit down and shut up and memorize things. And we just suck the creativity and suck the life out of these kids. And it's like, oh, he has trouble sitting down and focusing for eight hours a day. Must be something wrong with him. Let's give him drugs. And now you've got him. He's hooked on meth, essentially, AKA Adderall, which is super bad for you. Based in my experience, um, I was.

[B]

Addicted for many years.

[A]

Yeah, it's.

[B]

It's really bad for you.

[A]

It's super bad for. It's literally one. I'm gonna say something that sounds smart, but I don't understand it. So I'm actually not that smart. But Adderall is one methyl group away from being meth.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I don't know if that actually means chemically. It means probably a couple other things in there, but it. Basically, it's molecular. It's very close to meth.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so. But yeah, we just. That's like. That's the way it's been designed. Right away from your parents, and you go home, you have more home homework.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You to go. You. Like, there's. So there's. It's designed to keep you busy. And I've studied cult psychology a lot. The number one thing cults do is one, they disrupt your environment. They occupy all of your time, they punish you for breaking the rules. Right. What does school do? Oh, because, like, in real life, how do we learn? Oh, we make mistakes and we learn from it. Right. But in school, you do. Oh, you got a wrong answer. You're ashamed in front of the group. You're ashamed in front of the class. There's something wrong with you. Sit down, dummy. Like, we train people to fear that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it's absolutely crazy. So if I were to ever, you know, when I. My friend asked. My friend Marina asked me the other day. Hi, Marina, if you're listening.

[B]

Hey, Marina.

[A]

She asked me. Just know Marina.

[B]

No.

[A]

Okay. She's cool. She asked me the other day. She's like. She's like, do you want to get married and have kids? I'm like, I want to meet the woman who makes like, I want to meet the woman who I want to get married and have kids with.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So it's like a slightly nuanced to that goal, but part of that's going to be like, oh, cool, you fell down. Awesome. Cool. You fell down. You messed up. You good. You're like, nothing's broken. Awesome. What'd you learn? Good job.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, I want to, like, train that attitude into more people of, like, making mistakes is okay. People are so afraid to make a mistake and so afraid to screw up. It's like, I do it literally all the time. It's fine. Like, you're still here, you're still standing. So I think that's just another thing that I think that's gate kept in that sense is like, mistakes are bad, right? And screwing up is bad as opposed to. No, it's awesome. You just found a way that doesn't work. What'd you learn? Cool. Try it out again. Try again, Try again.

[B]

So beautiful. Yeah, I'm. Do you know about the Alpha School?

[A]

The what?

[B]

Alpha school.

[A]

Uh, no.

[B]

Well, this is one of my dream podcast guests. I'm gonna get her on the founder on my pod school. Yeah, Alpha school. You're coming on the pod.

[A]

Coming on.

[B]

You're coming to my bed.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Um, it's like an entrepreneurial school for, like, it's. I think it's like fifth grade through high school, and they just. They. They do, like, online tutoring, like, their math and all that for two hours a day. And the rest of the day, they have to do a project, and the project needs to get, like, a million something. So it's like, all throughout high school, they have to start a business that has to make a million dollars or they have to get, like a million users on their app or. I think the million is, like, unreasonable. I think it's just like a stretch goal. But, like, they'll literally be like, okay, kids, now you all have to go start a food truck and make $10,000 this weekend. Like, shit like that. Like, figure out the permits, figure out the food. I know, it's so cool. Like, I'm going to send my kids there one day.

[A]

Nice. Yeah. I love that.

[B]

It's really controversial.

[A]

Why?

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

Oh, why? Because. Oh. Imagine if kids learn hard skills that are actually useful. Imagine if kids were to think big.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How can I make. Because, right. To most people, making $10,000 in a month is a lot of money or is impossible. Right? So to do that in a day is, like, outside people don't even believe it's possible. Yeah, right. And I kind of forget that sometimes, right. In business you have like, you know, up periods and down periods and, you know, like, anything I. I just bounced out of a down period or like this last week actually, and was in the down period. I like. So one of my friends reminded me, I was saying, like, talking about some numbers, one of my friends, you're like, you guys, that's, like, more money than most people make in a long period of time. I'm like, yeah, thanks for, like, the reminder. So it's like you get so, like, your. The lens gets so skewed depending on the environment you're in, right? But if I'm hanging out with people that are, you know, I'm like the brokest, lowest person in my social circle, right? Which is awesome in a lot of ways, the best thing, right? Because you kind of get like, you know, you can have all these people that, you know, they're doing just crazy numbers. It's like, whoa, how is that even possible? And to them, they're not doing a lot. They're mentors. So it's like this just very different paradigm. But I think, you know, just people don't realize and I think another gatekeeper slay maybe is just this illusion of money. Money is a scarce, finite resource. And, you know, it's hard to make. It's not. It's not. If you have, like, I always tell people, like, you could go out and make if you had. You gotta have a skill, right? I think the biggest thing I see with people are, like, struggling in business is like, not having a skill. And sometimes that skill is marketing, right? There's different, which is like, where you come in and this is the year that I build my skill of marketing as well. But I think a lot of people don't realize that, like, you know, you gotta have a skill. You gotta have something that you can do that helps people. But you could go out and you could bump into somebody and you find the right person that matches your skill set. You could make more money than you've ever made in your life today if you just met. Met the right person. Where would I do that? I don't know where. Who's that person? Yeah, where do they hang out? What do they need? Go there, talk to them. Wow. You get so lucky. Luck is engineered.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

People think luck is this, like, mystical thing. I. I think it can be engineered.

[B]

Yeah. I. This guy came and cleaned my car. He came to my house to clean my car. It was 250 bucks. He does that four times a day, every day a month. That's 30 grand. By cleaning cars. He just, like, brings a little vacuum and some, like, soap and a host that he. Yeah, like, you can make money doing anything. In fact, that's a good post. I'm going to post about that.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. Zach, we have slayed a lot of gatekeepers. If people want to work with you, they want to follow you, they want to see your stuff, maybe come to one of your events, workshops. Where can they find you?

[A]

You can find me on Instagram, which is. I am Zach Paul with an H. You can find me on LinkedIn, which is Zach David Paul. And I'm going to assume you'll just put the links to these in the show notes. If you want a really cool resource and some hypnosis audios as well, hit me up on any of those. I have a bunch of. I basically like to give away a lot of my best stuff for free. And that took me a while to get there because I'm like, no, I have to gate keep my own best things. And then I had some really good mentors that told me how stupid that is. So if you hit me up on Instagram, LinkedIn, my behavior profiling website, is salesteam6.com you can hit me up, Zach Sales Team 6. If you want to see some cool behavior people reading wizard stuff, hit me up in any of those and be like, oh, I heard you on Slay the Gatekeeper, or saw you on Courtney's, I will literally send you just a dump of hypnosis audios. That'll pretty much fix anything you've got. So one of my clients last week was having money things, money issues. We did literally a 10 minute hypnosis. And she's done 15k in the last week since then. So I've got stuff for everything, and again, I give it away for free. You can have it. It'll change your life. And then the people that actually want to, like, do more customized personal stuff that's there. I don't sell people shit. My whole thing is if I have to sell somebody, then that's like convincing someone to do something that maybe they don't want to do. So I don't sell shit. I'm like, here it is. If it's for you, you'll feel called to it. If you don't, then that's totally cool. One more too. If you have a community or a. A team or anything like that, I do a lot of work on the corporate side with sales teams. If you're a community or a team and you want me to teach some stuff, whether you want me to hypnotize them to make more money, like, I had a company, a tech company that was at 13 million two years ago, and this year they went unicorn.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Six months of working with them.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

I can't take full credit for that because they had to actually execute it. Yeah, I just taught them some stuff. So if you have that again. I do. I'll literally. If you've got like a cool, a team or a cause or something you're working on that I can support, I will literally just come do it for free and just to help, because I think, you know, for me this year, somebody asked me the other day, like, what is this year for you? This is the year of surrender into service. And how can I serve the present moment, the people in front of me? So hit me up and I'll hook you up.

[B]

Beautiful. Well, thank you, Zach.

[A]

Thank you for having me on time. Flew by.

[B]

I know. Best. Best podcast episode ever. Okay, y', all, if you like this episode, you would love, love my Patreon. Okay? You get exclusive access to me, exclusive content, tons of other resources, and a lot of juicy. Okay? So I hope to see you on my Patreon.