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[00:01]
A
I can drink a bottle of Jack, get in the car. I can change everything with one decision, right? I can make a step to invest in something. I can buy something. I can invest in myself. I can have a terrible conversation with Layla or an amazing conversation with Layla, but just one decision, and that's always giving me power. But the thing is that instead of changing our lives, we blame. When I say blame, I want you to think, give power to sources outside of our control. And this is what you. And this is what your prospects and your customers are doing. And this is why so many people are weak and powerless. And so we're going to do a fun activity today because I want you to be involved so you can learn it. We're going to do this so that, one, you can help decisions to help yourself with whatever decisions you're facing. Two, you can use these frameworks to help prospects help themselves. And then, three, become more powerful. But rather than keep this hypothetical, I need you to visualize the decision that you need to make. All right? Can you do that for me? Fantastic. And this is why I want you to actually think through a decision together, because this is a statement from Confucius I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do, and I understand. So my goal here isn't for you to take screenshots of every picture of every slide. That's not my point here. Because the thing is, when you do that, and you kind of. I mean, this is why I do it. I take pictures so that I don't have to remember it. But I don't want you to remember it. I want you to understand it. If you understand it, you won't have to go back to your notes, because, let's be real, half the time, you're not even going to open these notes up again. You're here now with me. Try and understand. If you do that, it can change your life. Because what we're going to do is not going to be some scripts that you have to understand, but the logic behind the arguments that people will give you as to why they are not choosing to become more powerful. If you can unlock that, people will feel more powerful talking to you, and they will want to buy from you because of the feeling they have. Does that make sense? And so that's when you're using logic to create an emotion. So here's an easy one for you. Anyone here presented with a decision in the last 24 hours? Yes. Right. Fantastic. So who thinks a decision could change your life? For the better, great. For the worse, who knows? All right, let's go. So here's my goal. I want to show you as though you were prospect how to think through a decision and help others using these frameworks, right? What you want, what you don't want. Maximize the left, minimize the right. So here's what this is translated to. If you decide to buy the offer, you feel more certain about your decision. If you decided not to buy the offer, you feel fucking certain about the decision. And if you're undecided, you make a fucking decision, all right? And you feel good that it's the one that has the highest likelihood of getting you closer to where you want to go. And this is what we have to walk through with our prospects. When you're looking at them, you have to be like, I don't want you to buy. I want you to decide for you, not for me. I'll be the same either way, right? You're like, I'm going to be ripped and in shape. It's not going to change me. That's not going to change. But it will change for you, right? So quick note on sales ethics and then we'll dive in. Helping someone make a decision to help themselves does not mean buying from you. That's a reiteration. You have to keep their goals at the center of the decision. And you should be happy. I mean this, because if you can shift this, truly, if you can be happy when someone decides to own the power and not work with you, then the pressure around sales disappears. It evaporates. There's no stake. The stake is, did I help them? Does that make sense? And that means that you can win every sale because you change the metric you're measuring yourself by. That's the superpower. Like, and that's where you do make the most sales. Because you don't care about the sale, because you care about the person. And the people pay. The people who pay the most attention. So I call it paying attention. They pay for it. They pay for you to pay attention rather than talking about yourself. Right? Because they don't care about you. Because they're thinking about a hundred other things. And this is why, most importantly, make high stakes decisions to help your prospects in order to best serve them. Okay, so I told you earlier I was going to talk about the difference between obstacles and objections. A couple of you guys raised your hands. But the differences, I'm not going to ask. I'll tell you what it is. Obstacle is a thing that blocks one's way or prevents or hinders progress. When you disagree with them, that is an obstacle. This happens before you solicit the sale. Someone says some bullshit before you even get to the sale. That's an obstacle. A simple example I hear all the time, hey, why'd you hop on the call today? Hey, why'd you walk in the gym today? Whatever it is, right? Them. I just wanted to find out a little bit more about the program. First 10 seconds. Obstacle. You're not here to find out more about the program here because you're fat, but they gotta say it. So you're like, oh. So you're finding out like, do you do this all the time? Do you go to lots of different programs to find out information or is there a problem you're trying to solve? They're like, oh, well, you know, I'm trying to lose weight. Like, oh, got it. So you're not just hopping on 100 calls a day? Because I was like, that would be a very weird existence, right? You just hop on for information all day. Ha ha, ha, ha ha. Great. Fantastic. I've had this conversation before, right? So it's an obstacle, right? And the thing is, it's easy. Confront and destroy obstacles before you ask for the sale. Once you've asked for the sale, you switch to objections. Objections is when they disagree with you. So it's much easier to be on the other side disagreeing and helping them break their beliefs before the stake has been presented. After. After the. After you're in the red zone, it's all closing. It's all objection overcomes, right? Example of that is like, I don't want to buy right now. And you're like, totally understand. What are the main criteria you're thinking through? Which is always funny because people are like, I need to think about it. I've never had someone like, leave because they need to think about it. I'm like, cool, what are you thinking about? They're like, oh, I'm still here. So learning how to talk through these high stakes decisions with yourself or others is the purpose of presentation. And as a result, you'll become more powerful. Okay, so before I dive into each of these arguments, I have to make this one statement is that the person must really want the goal and believe three things. One, which you'll get to. There we go. The product will get them the goal, comma, the way they want to get there. And I learned that second half the hard way, because we found out in gym launch that people would say no sometimes to buying memberships, right? Or buying challenges or whatever. But when we offered them the ability to come back the next day, help them for free. We'd sell them $400 of supplements and they just said no to a hundred dollar down service thing. I'm like, what the fuck? It's because they want to lose weight, but they want to lose weight their way. And so that's when I started learning, like, oh, not only do we have to make sure that they want the goal and they believe that the product's gonna get them there, it has to get them there the way they want to get there. This gives you ammo for the questions that you're gonna ask. Does this make sense? Okay, the second thing is that you and others will support them. But, like, are you telling me the truth? Is this really what's going to happen? Will other people around me support this decision? And the third is that it will work for them and not just everyone else. Sure, I've seen the people who step on the stage, but they're different than me. I'm a snowflake. I have metabolic, thyroid, keto, osis, right, whatever. I have zero influence, oligar, whatever, you know what I mean? Like, I have no following gifts. Itis, right. Whatever it is, right, Whatever bullshit you tell yourself. And what you have to do in this situation is you have to provide proof so that it'd be more unreasonable not to believe than to believe. And this is a logical close. This is not an emotional close. This is when you look at someone and say, how many people would you need to see for it to be more unreasonable for you not to believe than to believe? At what point Is it 10? Is it 50? Well, here's a thousand. Tell me when to stop. Okay? Okay. Okay, great. So that's not the real reason. And then you can confront the real shit. All right, so otherwise, if they're unsure of those things, if they don't actually want to lose weight, if you don't actually want to make money doing online fitness, then it doesn't matter what Jason says. You don't want to make money doing online fitness. You're not going to buy, right? If you do want to make money doing online fitness, then you go down the train, the train tracks make sense. Okay, again, this is why you expect no at first, because if people could make the decision, they would have already made it. All right, now to the main course. Richard Feynman. Besides Charlie, one of my favorite thinkers of all time. He was like the second guy on the atom bomb. Sounds negative. Brilliant teacher. He's known for this. Understand, don't memorize Learn principles, not formulas. And that's what the rest of this presentation is about, is the principles behind overcoming these distortions that people have. And so this is me asking you, for your own sake, don't. Don't take pictures of the slides. It's because all the stuff's gonna be in the recordings. But you are here now. So be here now so you can understand it. Okay? So there are three sources. This is a huge breakthrough for me, so I'm share it with you. The first time I shared it live. There are three sources that we cast our power to, okay? And it took me a very long time to get through this because I looked at Grant and he had his, you know, you got stall, decision maker money. Then you talk to Barry, who owns Sage. She's like, you got time, fit, money, fear, shame, right? Those are hers. And then Jordan Belfort's got his. So everybody's got, like, these are the only overcomes, right? I was like, there has to be an actual truth here. Like, there has to be something that's true, that's unquestioned. And so, trying to figure this out, I actually went back to Dr. Albert Ellis. Anybody who knew who he is. No one? Great. Who here knows what cognitive behavioral therapy is? Cbt. He invented it. Smart dude. And so what he noticed is that he originally had 11 distortions of reality. Then he dropped it to nine, then to seven, and then he came to three, and the three stuck. And the three are what I'm about to share with you. And you're like, why is he talking about this, about sales? Because the objections that people offer you, where they cast their power to, are distortions of reality. They are the things we use to upset ourselves. These are the three circumstances. And this is the irrational statement that people make. I must get what I want when I want it. I must not get what I don't want. If I don't get what I want, I can't stand it. That's when people blame their emotional disturbances on emotional disturbances, on circumstances. Two others. Other people must treat me fairly and kindly. And if they don't, they are no good and deserve to be condemned and punished. It's like your animal brain, right? 3 self, I must do well or else I am no good. These are the three core distortions that upset people. This is like mental illness, right? And so I'm not saying anyone has mental illness if they don't agree with you. It's more so that these are distortions that are not real. And if you can understand, not memorize, if you can understand this, then you can have these high stakes conversations, understanding exactly which distortion, the suffering from. And I'll show you how to overcome them. Okay? And so I like to consider like the onion of blame people. This is like one of the bigger breakthroughs I had. They start with the outside. They blame circumstances, time, money, other shit. And then the step next to that, they start to blame other people. My spouse, my kids, my employees. And then finally they say, like, it's me, it's my fault. And so you might have to overcome multiple layers as you peel back and based on the objection they give you, you can know where you're at, you know how close you are. If someone just says, I have to think about, then you're like, great. I'm talking to the person who's in power and the decision maker, and I just need to get them to say yes. If they're like, I don't have, they're casting the power away. And some of you guys are probably casting your power away on decisions you need to make, which is why I'm making this presentation.

Summary6 min read

Podcast Summary: The Game with Alex Hormozi

Episode: One High-Stakes Decision Changes Everything | Ep 992

Date: August 14, 2026
Host: Alex Hormozi

Episode Overview

In this insightful episode, Alex Hormozi tackles the profound impact that a single, high-stakes decision can have on one’s life and business. Framed through the lens of entrepreneurship, personal development, and sales psychology, Hormozi explores why people often feel powerless and outlines frameworks to help both individuals and sales prospects reclaim their power through decisive action. The episode blends personal anecdotes, actionable mental models, and philosophical insights to empower listeners and improve decision-making skills for both personal growth and in sales conversations.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power of One Decision

Alex opens by illustrating how a singular decision—positive or negative—can fundamentally shift one’s trajectory, whether it’s investing in oneself or having a significant conversation.
- “I can change everything with one decision, right?... just one decision, and that's always giving me power.” (00:00)
He encourages listeners to visualize an important decision they're currently facing and stresses the importance of understanding the implications rather than merely memorizing steps.

2. Blame and Powerlessness

Alex criticizes the tendency to “blame,” or give power to outside circumstances, which leads to weakness and inaction.
- “Instead of changing our lives, we blame. When I say blame, I want you to think, give power to sources outside of our control. And this is what you...and your prospects and customers are doing.” (~00:45)
He promises an activity to help the audience internalize frameworks for making powerful decisions—not just for themselves, but also for prospects and customers.

3. Understanding vs. Memorization

Drawing from Confucius (“I do, and I understand”), Alex pushes listeners to internalize the underlying logic of good decision-making, rather than rely on scripts or notes.
- “If you understand it, you won’t have to go back to your notes, because, let's be real, half the time, you're not even going to open these notes up again… Try and understand. If you do that, it can change your life.” (~02:06)

4. Framework for Evaluating Decisions

What you want vs. what you don’t want: Maximize what you want, minimize what you don’t.
Certainty in Decision-Making: Whether prospects buy, don’t buy, or are undecided, the goal is to help them feel good about making the decision that best serves their goals.
- “I don't want you to buy. I want you to decide for you, not for me. I'll be the same either way…” (~04:00)
Sales Ethics: True empowerment in sales comes from detaching personal success from whether the sale is made, and instead focusing on the prospect’s best interest.

5. Obstacles vs. Objections

Obstacles: Issues that arise before the sale is presented (e.g., a prospect claiming to just want information, not to buy).
- Example: “I just wanted to find out a little bit more about the program.” (~06:12)
Objections: Disagreements that surface after making the offer (e.g., “I need to think about it”).
- “It’s much easier to be on the other side disagreeing and helping them break their beliefs before the stake has been presented. After you're in the red zone, it's all closing. It's all objection overcomes, right?” (~07:25)
Handling Both: The episode stresses the importance of dissolving obstacles before presenting an offer, then deftly navigating objections afterward.

6. Three Core Beliefs Necessary for Action

For a person to decisively pursue a goal (e.g., buying a service or making life changes), they must believe:

The product/service will get them to their goal, in the way they want to get there.
- Vital insight: People need the process to align with their personal preferences—not just the outcome.
  - “It's because they want to lose weight, but they want to lose weight their way.” (~09:55)
Themselves and others will support the journey.
- There must be belief in honesty and external support.
It will work personally for them—not just for others.
- Listeners must confront their own excuses or unique circumstances as obstacles to belief.
- “Sure, I've seen the people who step on the stage, but they're different than me. I'm a snowflake… whatever bullshit you tell yourself.” (~11:00)

7. The Expectation of "No" and the True Metric for Success

Self-motivation: If a prospect (or you) could make the decision easily, they would have already done so. Expect initial resistance as normal.
Redefining the Win: “You change the metric you’re measuring yourself by. That's the superpower. And that's where you do make the most sales, because you don't care about the sale, because you care about the person.” (~04:50)

8. Principles Over Formulas (Richard Feynman Reference)

Emulates Feynman's focus on fundamentals: “Understand, don't memorize. Learn principles, not formulas.” (~13:30)
The true skill is in grasping the underlying human dynamics of objection and decision, not just running scripts.

9. Root Sources of Powerlessness (Cognitive Distortions, Dr. Albert Ellis/Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)

Alex teaches that most objections are manifestations of common “distortions of reality”—concepts drawn from CBT’s core irrational beliefs:
- Circumstances: “I must get what I want when I want it… If I don’t get what I want, I can’t stand it.”
- Others: “Other people must treat me fairly and kindly. And if they don't, they are no good and deserve to be condemned and punished.”
- Self: “I must do well or else I am no good.”
- “These are the three core distortions that upset people. This is like mental illness, right?...these are distortions that are not real.” (~16:00)
Onion of Blame: People often peel away layers, first blaming circumstances (time, money), then others (family, colleagues), and finally themselves. The closer the objection is to self-accountability, the closer one is to reclaiming their power.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Decisions and Power:
- “But just one decision, and that's always giving me power.” (00:14)
On Sales and Ethics:
- “Helping someone make a decision to help themselves does not mean buying from you… If you can be happy when someone decides to own the power and not work with you, then the pressure around sales disappears. It evaporates.” (~04:45)
On Objections and Reality:
- “The objections that people offer you, where they cast their power to, are distortions of reality. They are the things we use to upset ourselves.” (~15:20)
On True Service in Sales:
- “Because you don't care about the sale, because you care about the person. And the people who pay the most attention. So I call it paying attention. They pay for it. They pay for you to pay attention rather than talking about yourself.” (~05:10)
Feynman Principle:
- “Understand, don't memorize. Learn principles, not formulas.” (~13:30)

Timestamps for Important Segments

00:00–01:15 — The power of a single decision and its impact
02:00–04:00 — Visualization exercise and difference between understanding and memorization
04:00–05:45 — Detaching self-worth from sales outcomes; service-based sales ethics
06:10–08:10 — Obstacles vs. objections in sales conversations
09:45–11:20 — The three beliefs required for decisive action
13:30–15:20 — Feynman and learning principles over scripts
15:25–17:45 — Cognitive distortions (CBT) and the “onion of blame” in decision making

Conclusion

This packed episode provides a rare intersection of sales, psychology, and self-improvement, emphasizing that understanding the root of indecision—within ourselves and others—is the key to unlocking personal and business growth. Alex Hormozi offers both deep insight and practical frameworks, empowering listeners to make high-stakes decisions with clarity and to help their prospects do the same. Ultimately, the episode isn't about “closing” more sales, but about reclaiming—and teaching others to reclaim—their power through ownership and understanding rather than blame and avoidance.

Recommended for:
Entrepreneurs, sales professionals, coaches, and anyone seeking to improve their decision-making skills and empower others through conversations that transcend mere transactions.

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Transcript1 lines

[00:01]
A
I can drink a bottle of Jack, get in the car. I can change everything with one decision, right? I can make a step to invest in something. I can buy something. I can invest in myself. I can have a terrible conversation with Layla or an amazing conversation with Layla, but just one decision, and that's always giving me power. But the thing is that instead of changing our lives, we blame. When I say blame, I want you to think, give power to sources outside of our control. And this is what you. And this is what your prospects and your customers are doing. And this is why so many people are weak and powerless. And so we're going to do a fun activity today because I want you to be involved so you can learn it. We're going to do this so that, one, you can help decisions to help yourself with whatever decisions you're facing. Two, you can use these frameworks to help prospects help themselves. And then, three, become more powerful. But rather than keep this hypothetical, I need you to visualize the decision that you need to make. All right? Can you do that for me? Fantastic. And this is why I want you to actually think through a decision together, because this is a statement from Confucius I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do, and I understand. So my goal here isn't for you to take screenshots of every picture of every slide. That's not my point here. Because the thing is, when you do that, and you kind of. I mean, this is why I do it. I take pictures so that I don't have to remember it. But I don't want you to remember it. I want you to understand it. If you understand it, you won't have to go back to your notes, because, let's be real, half the time, you're not even going to open these notes up again. You're here now with me. Try and understand. If you do that, it can change your life. Because what we're going to do is not going to be some scripts that you have to understand, but the logic behind the arguments that people will give you as to why they are not choosing to become more powerful. If you can unlock that, people will feel more powerful talking to you, and they will want to buy from you because of the feeling they have. Does that make sense? And so that's when you're using logic to create an emotion. So here's an easy one for you. Anyone here presented with a decision in the last 24 hours? Yes. Right. Fantastic. So who thinks a decision could change your life? For the better, great. For the worse, who knows? All right, let's go. So here's my goal. I want to show you as though you were prospect how to think through a decision and help others using these frameworks, right? What you want, what you don't want. Maximize the left, minimize the right. So here's what this is translated to. If you decide to buy the offer, you feel more certain about your decision. If you decided not to buy the offer, you feel fucking certain about the decision. And if you're undecided, you make a fucking decision, all right? And you feel good that it's the one that has the highest likelihood of getting you closer to where you want to go. And this is what we have to walk through with our prospects. When you're looking at them, you have to be like, I don't want you to buy. I want you to decide for you, not for me. I'll be the same either way, right? You're like, I'm going to be ripped and in shape. It's not going to change me. That's not going to change. But it will change for you, right? So quick note on sales ethics and then we'll dive in. Helping someone make a decision to help themselves does not mean buying from you. That's a reiteration. You have to keep their goals at the center of the decision. And you should be happy. I mean this, because if you can shift this, truly, if you can be happy when someone decides to own the power and not work with you, then the pressure around sales disappears. It evaporates. There's no stake. The stake is, did I help them? Does that make sense? And that means that you can win every sale because you change the metric you're measuring yourself by. That's the superpower. Like, and that's where you do make the most sales. Because you don't care about the sale, because you care about the person. And the people pay. The people who pay the most attention. So I call it paying attention. They pay for it. They pay for you to pay attention rather than talking about yourself. Right? Because they don't care about you. Because they're thinking about a hundred other things. And this is why, most importantly, make high stakes decisions to help your prospects in order to best serve them. Okay, so I told you earlier I was going to talk about the difference between obstacles and objections. A couple of you guys raised your hands. But the differences, I'm not going to ask. I'll tell you what it is. Obstacle is a thing that blocks one's way or prevents or hinders progress. When you disagree with them, that is an obstacle. This happens before you solicit the sale. Someone says some bullshit before you even get to the sale. That's an obstacle. A simple example I hear all the time, hey, why'd you hop on the call today? Hey, why'd you walk in the gym today? Whatever it is, right? Them. I just wanted to find out a little bit more about the program. First 10 seconds. Obstacle. You're not here to find out more about the program here because you're fat, but they gotta say it. So you're like, oh. So you're finding out like, do you do this all the time? Do you go to lots of different programs to find out information or is there a problem you're trying to solve? They're like, oh, well, you know, I'm trying to lose weight. Like, oh, got it. So you're not just hopping on 100 calls a day? Because I was like, that would be a very weird existence, right? You just hop on for information all day. Ha ha, ha, ha ha. Great. Fantastic. I've had this conversation before, right? So it's an obstacle, right? And the thing is, it's easy. Confront and destroy obstacles before you ask for the sale. Once you've asked for the sale, you switch to objections. Objections is when they disagree with you. So it's much easier to be on the other side disagreeing and helping them break their beliefs before the stake has been presented. After. After the. After you're in the red zone, it's all closing. It's all objection overcomes, right? Example of that is like, I don't want to buy right now. And you're like, totally understand. What are the main criteria you're thinking through? Which is always funny because people are like, I need to think about it. I've never had someone like, leave because they need to think about it. I'm like, cool, what are you thinking about? They're like, oh, I'm still here. So learning how to talk through these high stakes decisions with yourself or others is the purpose of presentation. And as a result, you'll become more powerful. Okay, so before I dive into each of these arguments, I have to make this one statement is that the person must really want the goal and believe three things. One, which you'll get to. There we go. The product will get them the goal, comma, the way they want to get there. And I learned that second half the hard way, because we found out in gym launch that people would say no sometimes to buying memberships, right? Or buying challenges or whatever. But when we offered them the ability to come back the next day, help them for free. We'd sell them $400 of supplements and they just said no to a hundred dollar down service thing. I'm like, what the fuck? It's because they want to lose weight, but they want to lose weight their way. And so that's when I started learning, like, oh, not only do we have to make sure that they want the goal and they believe that the product's gonna get them there, it has to get them there the way they want to get there. This gives you ammo for the questions that you're gonna ask. Does this make sense? Okay, the second thing is that you and others will support them. But, like, are you telling me the truth? Is this really what's going to happen? Will other people around me support this decision? And the third is that it will work for them and not just everyone else. Sure, I've seen the people who step on the stage, but they're different than me. I'm a snowflake. I have metabolic, thyroid, keto, osis, right, whatever. I have zero influence, oligar, whatever, you know what I mean? Like, I have no following gifts. Itis, right. Whatever it is, right, Whatever bullshit you tell yourself. And what you have to do in this situation is you have to provide proof so that it'd be more unreasonable not to believe than to believe. And this is a logical close. This is not an emotional close. This is when you look at someone and say, how many people would you need to see for it to be more unreasonable for you not to believe than to believe? At what point Is it 10? Is it 50? Well, here's a thousand. Tell me when to stop. Okay? Okay. Okay, great. So that's not the real reason. And then you can confront the real shit. All right, so otherwise, if they're unsure of those things, if they don't actually want to lose weight, if you don't actually want to make money doing online fitness, then it doesn't matter what Jason says. You don't want to make money doing online fitness. You're not going to buy, right? If you do want to make money doing online fitness, then you go down the train, the train tracks make sense. Okay, again, this is why you expect no at first, because if people could make the decision, they would have already made it. All right, now to the main course. Richard Feynman. Besides Charlie, one of my favorite thinkers of all time. He was like the second guy on the atom bomb. Sounds negative. Brilliant teacher. He's known for this. Understand, don't memorize Learn principles, not formulas. And that's what the rest of this presentation is about, is the principles behind overcoming these distortions that people have. And so this is me asking you, for your own sake, don't. Don't take pictures of the slides. It's because all the stuff's gonna be in the recordings. But you are here now. So be here now so you can understand it. Okay? So there are three sources. This is a huge breakthrough for me, so I'm share it with you. The first time I shared it live. There are three sources that we cast our power to, okay? And it took me a very long time to get through this because I looked at Grant and he had his, you know, you got stall, decision maker money. Then you talk to Barry, who owns Sage. She's like, you got time, fit, money, fear, shame, right? Those are hers. And then Jordan Belfort's got his. So everybody's got, like, these are the only overcomes, right? I was like, there has to be an actual truth here. Like, there has to be something that's true, that's unquestioned. And so, trying to figure this out, I actually went back to Dr. Albert Ellis. Anybody who knew who he is. No one? Great. Who here knows what cognitive behavioral therapy is? Cbt. He invented it. Smart dude. And so what he noticed is that he originally had 11 distortions of reality. Then he dropped it to nine, then to seven, and then he came to three, and the three stuck. And the three are what I'm about to share with you. And you're like, why is he talking about this, about sales? Because the objections that people offer you, where they cast their power to, are distortions of reality. They are the things we use to upset ourselves. These are the three circumstances. And this is the irrational statement that people make. I must get what I want when I want it. I must not get what I don't want. If I don't get what I want, I can't stand it. That's when people blame their emotional disturbances on emotional disturbances, on circumstances. Two others. Other people must treat me fairly and kindly. And if they don't, they are no good and deserve to be condemned and punished. It's like your animal brain, right? 3 self, I must do well or else I am no good. These are the three core distortions that upset people. This is like mental illness, right? And so I'm not saying anyone has mental illness if they don't agree with you. It's more so that these are distortions that are not real. And if you can understand, not memorize, if you can understand this, then you can have these high stakes conversations, understanding exactly which distortion, the suffering from. And I'll show you how to overcome them. Okay? And so I like to consider like the onion of blame people. This is like one of the bigger breakthroughs I had. They start with the outside. They blame circumstances, time, money, other shit. And then the step next to that, they start to blame other people. My spouse, my kids, my employees. And then finally they say, like, it's me, it's my fault. And so you might have to overcome multiple layers as you peel back and based on the objection they give you, you can know where you're at, you know how close you are. If someone just says, I have to think about, then you're like, great. I'm talking to the person who's in power and the decision maker, and I just need to get them to say yes. If they're like, I don't have, they're casting the power away. And some of you guys are probably casting your power away on decisions you need to make, which is why I'm making this presentation.