
This insightful episode with master hypnotherapist Jim Curtis reveals how to break free from self-created "mind traps" like negativity bias and confirmation bias through practical self-hypnosis techniques. Learn how shifting focus from limitation to possibility can transform physical pain and emotional blocks while reconnecting with your true self through simple daily practices that bypass the critical mind.
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Lewis Howes
I have a brand new book called Make Money Easy. And if you are looking to create more financial freedom in your life, you want abundance in your life and you want to stop making money hard in your life, but you want to make it easier, you want to make it flow, you want to feel abundant, then make sure to go to make moneyeasybook.com right now and get yourself a copy. I really think this is going to help you transform your relationship with money. This moment moving forward. We have some big guests and content coming up. Make sure you're following and stay tuned to this episode on the School of Greatness. It's a beautiful day right now to be with you, sharing this moment with you. And I'm so blessed and grateful that you're listening to this right now and in Los Angeles at the recording of this right now. It's, it's cloudy. It's been raining over the last couple nights. It's cloudy during the day the last couple days. And sometimes we go through seasons where the weather is bad, literally in life, but also our life is going through bad weather where it just feels a little gloomy, it feels a little cloudy, it feels a little like not as so much sunshine in our internal world. And sometimes the external world can reflect that for us. But whenever I see the clouds, I actually feel peace. And I know that it's cleansing something. It's creating awareness for me, okay, where is there in my life, in my internal world that I get to clean up? And it also makes me reflect on all the growth I've had. We just had the first quarter of the year. We, you know, I got married. I had a beautiful celebration with friends and family. We had a boy book come out, make Money Easy, that hit the New York Times bestseller list. We got to do a tour and see so many people around the country. And there's so much good that's happening. That doesn't mean that there's not things to clean up that we don't still have to cleanse things in our internal world or in our external world. I'm going through transitions. I just moved offices. There's a lot of junk in the office that we have to get rid of and clean up and organize. And it's not all perfect right now. It's not all smooth. There's a lot of hurry up and wait. And sometimes it's just nice when there are clouds because it makes me reflect and say, okay, I've done a lot of things right now. It's time to reflect and cleanse, clean up and start organizing my life internally so that my environment externally matches. And if you feel like something's off right now, I just want to let you know that it's all, all going to be good. And I want you to start reflecting more, breathing more and being more. A lot of times we're trying to do, do, do to get the results we want in life and we're trying to just act, act, act, which there's a season for that. But if you're not taking moments every day to be, to reflect, to breathe, then it can feel like burnout is just overwhelming you and you could feel exhausted. Your nervous system is going to feel drained. And today's episode is all about how to really develop the powerful insights on breaking free from the mind traps in our life, like the negativity bias and the confirmation bias that holds us back from peace and abundance. Because you are abundant, you are peace, you are love. And sometimes we need the clouds to cleanse, to reflect, to remind us that we are out of alignment in some places or that some things just need cleaning up. You know, my office is a little messy right now and it's taking the time, taking a couple hours every week to organize, to clean, to, to process things, to integrate the new space. And wherever you're at in your life, whatever you're going through, if it's a sunny day, if it's a cold day or cloudy day, I want you to pause, reflect and be grateful. I want you to be grateful for where you're at. I want you to be grateful for getting yourself to this moment, getting yourself to this space. It doesn't mean it's a perfect space. It doesn't mean it doesn't have opportunity for growth. But sometimes we just need to pause to reflect. And I want to acknowledge you for being here today. And I'm so grateful for you. I'm grateful for you of being a part of this journey with me on the School of Greatness. I'm grateful for you listening and showing up on a consistent basis for yourself. I'm grateful for you growing on this journey of life the way that I'm trying to constantly grow myself. And I feel like the moment I stop learning is the moment I start to slowly fade off and I feel more frustrated at life. I. I'm always going to be learning and I appreciate you being here on the journey with me. Today we've got a powerful episode with Jim Curtis, who's going to be talking about the practical techniques for a simple self hypnosis that anyone can Use daily to quiet the Critical Mind program and start building positive beliefs so that you can access deeper states of consciousness where true healing become becomes possible. I'm so excited for this episode. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for being on the journey and let's go ahead and dive in Good News Spring Savings Are Back at the Home Depot the Home Depot has everything you need for that spring project you spent all winter planning. Save on Top brand cordless power like mowers, leaf blowers, trimmers and more that you'll need to get started. And yes, you can use the same battery to power them all and you can find them at the Home Depot. Whether you've got big plans for your backyard or you want to get patio ready with colorful flowers, planters and outdoor lighting, the Home Depot has you covered. Shop Spring Savings now at the Home Depot. The School of Greatness is proudly sponsored by Amica Insurance. As Amica says, empathy is our best policy. That's why they'll go above and beyond to tailor your insurance coverage to best fit your needs. Whether you're on the road at home or traveling along life's journey, their friendly and knowledgeable representatives will work with you to ensure you have the right coverage. Amica will provide you with peace of mind. Go to amica.com and get a quote.
Jim Curtis
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Lewis Howes
Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guests. We have the inspiring Jim Curtis in the house who is a master hypnotherapist, NLP trainer and coach. To Many thanks so much for being here.
Jim Curtis
I'm so happy to be here.
Lewis Howes
Very excited about this. I'm already feeling the energy of our superpowers combining to really how we can be of service to the maximum amount of people watching and listening right now. And there's something we're talking about beforehand that I really liked that I wanted to ask you about first and it's mind traps. The world is A lot of people in the world are suffering. A lot of people are suffering financially, physically, emotionally and in relationships. And you mentioned something really interesting that I thought might help people to get started with. And it's one the mind traps that people are stuck in. So I want to ask you about what are mind traps and how to get. How people can get out of them to create more abundance and peace and freedom in their lives. Part two of this question is how can we use directives versus questions to serve us in our life better? So what are the mind traps that hold us back from peace and abundance?
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
And how can we use directives over questions to set us free?
Jim Curtis
Those are good questions. I mean, so first of all, we believe that we're in this reality. We believe that everything that we're doing up until now is real and it's based on all of our programming. So we've created and built up this reality, all the programming to it, to create our beliefs that then allow us to see the world in the way that we see it. When we've learned that. So if we build up programming to see the world in the way that we see it, it is possible that we could have had different programming from different people that would allow us to see the world in a different way and that it would be a different reality. And therefore, it is possible that we have multiple realities. Everybody's in a separate reality for the way that they see things, feel things, or are affected by things. Right. So, and everybody that feels as though they're trapped in this one predicament, this one space, this one reality, just has to realize that they can break up because they created it, they can change it. But there are some mind traps that stop people from doing this. And one particular mind trap is called the negativity bias. And you've seen this negativity bias we all have. So on social media, you get a thousand really positive comments, and then you have one really negative comment. And which ones do you obsess about?
Lewis Howes
Most people focus on the negative.
Jim Curtis
Yes. So you start obsessing about the negative comment, and it's our negativity bias that keeps us trapped in saying, oh, this is an issue in this world that I can't overcome. And when we start to become aware of that one, we start to focus on the positive, everything changes. Another one is our confirmation bias. So if we can become aware that we have a reticular, activating system that is out there confirming all of our beliefs based on these programming. So you just have to say, what results am I creating in my life?
Lewis Howes
What's a big confirmation bias that most people in the world today are stuck in or that's holding them back around money or Relationships.
Jim Curtis
Yeah. Really great confirmation bias around relationships is I'm not good enough. I'm not lovable. All right. And what happens, you find people that.
Lewis Howes
Continue to confirm that you're not lovable.
Jim Curtis
Exactly. Right. You get the breadcrumbs, you go on a date and the guy goes to you again, you go on the date and the guy has. Doesn't want to commit to a relationship. Or the woman is texting all sorts of different men or they are inconsistent, hot and cold. And you're like, why can't I just find a great person that really loves me and pays attention to me? But when you do find that, they become boring. Right.
Lewis Howes
Interesting.
Jim Curtis
Yeah. Yeah.
Lewis Howes
You have to reprogram yourself that boring is not boring. Right. It's like it's not boring if there's. If it's healthy.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
You know, just because it's up and down, hot and cold doesn't mean it's good for you. Yeah.
Jim Curtis
If you're like me. It came from a really crazy childhood. Right. Where everybody's yelling and.
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
Jim Curtis
Making up. Right. And so like if I was just even kill.
Lewis Howes
Peaceful.
Jim Curtis
Peaceful. If there was no. There was no sexual passion. Yeah. I needed. I need peaks and valleys.
Lewis Howes
Need chaos.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
Uncertainty.
Jim Curtis
Yeah. I need.
Lewis Howes
You needed your nervous system to be completely out of whack. Unhealthy for you to feel like this is love.
Jim Curtis
Yeah, totally. That's my passion. That's my passion. I want makeup sex. That's like, that's what it was.
Lewis Howes
But that makes people sick.
Jim Curtis
That's why people are miserable in the long run. Because they don't realize that, oh, it's your programming that something that's consistent and safe and like, follows up and calls and all those things isn't boring, it's beautiful. And that's when you can be vulnerable and that's when you're allowed to be vulnerable, that you can have a real true connection.
Lewis Howes
Well, the thing with that also is, like, you can actually expand. You can create true abundance from that place. When you're in constant. Hot, cold, like you said, or your nervous system is on edge constantly because you don't know what the person's going to do or if they're going to give you the silent treatment or if they're going to be love bombing you all day or if you're somewhere in between.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
You can't expand from that place.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
For two decades I was in different relationships where it's just like. Just seemed chaotic.
Jim Curtis
Right.
Lewis Howes
In a lot of them. And I'm not blaming the Other people. It's like I was part of the problem too, but wasn't until I was able to start healing my nervous system to create more stability in a relationship where I felt like I was able to expand everything around me because internally I was expanding and healing. And I think a lot of people get stuck in not healing their body, their mind, their nervous system, around their programming. Like you said, your programming equals your reality. You're just going to stay stuck in that loop that's going to keep you feeling trapped, suffering. Like, why isn't this working in that type of relationship? So I like that you said that.
Jim Curtis
Another mind trap. That's another one of the mind traps.
Lewis Howes
So that's the. We got negativity bias. We got confirmation bias.
Jim Curtis
I love the sunk cost fallacy. Familiar with that? You may have heard it from your business. Go ahead. The sunk cost fallacy says, I've invested so much in this, I can't possibly let it go now. People, you know, but we've been together for two years. Business. But I put a million dollars into it, and you can't let it go.
Lewis Howes
Let me just keep suffering and like in pain in this process, trying to.
Jim Curtis
Make it work, throwing more good time after bad, more money, more good money after bad. Then before you know it, another two, three years goes by and you're like, boy, I wish I got out earlier. Really got out earlier. So it takes a lot of, like, it takes a lot to be able to break free from that.
Lewis Howes
Yes.
Jim Curtis
And. And to just change. Right. So that's another one.
Lewis Howes
Is there any more mind tracks?
Jim Curtis
Yeah, there's so many of them. There's this self awareness is what really allows you to recognize it. When you start to look at the results of your life, then you can understand what your traps are. Cause sometimes you look at results and say, oh, I'm really good at that. I must have programming that's really good. And so I'm confirming every day that I can make money or that I'm worthy or that I'm lovable, and that's why I have this beautiful relationship. And then other results in your life that are like, poor. You're like, okay, what are my traps here? That I have one really great one. Oh, One that I really love. One really great one is the backfire effect.
Lewis Howes
What's that?
Jim Curtis
And the backfire effect is part of your identity. So if you believe something is true, even if it's not, even if there's maybe another reality to it, another truth to it, and I challenge you with either a Correct version or a different version, and you double down and you're like, all of a sudden, you're believing in yours even more because you have to fight for it. Because if you let it go, then some part of your identity or your reality crumbles and you. You double down. It's the backfire effect. That's a really good one.
Lewis Howes
Wow. Yeah. And you stay stuck in that. Now, what's. I mean, as a master hypnotist. Hypnotherapist.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
What have you learned over the last few years that you realize you were in the backfire effect for yourself for a long time? You were believing something to be true. You were programming yourself that this was a. A true way of being. That in the last few years, you had to wake up and question and start seeing it differently.
Jim Curtis
The two giant things for myself, one, I was always in business. I've started some really successful businesses and run some businesses, always under the thumb of some private equity or venture capital firm. And I realized that I was saying that this is the only way that I could make a lot of money. This is the only way that I could be successful. This is the only way that I could feel as though I was worthy in life. And I was like, oh, but I'm really unhappy, and I'm working 80 hours a week, and I'm sick, like, out of shape, and I'm all these things. And so I realized that I was doubling down and saying this had to be true. And when someone else was doing it differently, I would see them succeeding. I would say, but that's not me, really. They have something that I don't, or they're really good at this. I'd make an excuse until I had to snap out of it. What I call is these hypno realizations. Really. Yeah. I can tell you a little bit more about that. The second thing, though, is my own health. Like, I. You know, when everybody else was healing, when everybody else, like, had these miraculous breakthroughs at Joe Dispenza or wherever else, and I was like, no, they don't have what I have.
Lewis Howes
They don't have the pain that I have.
Jim Curtis
They don't have the pain that I have. They don't have the condition. They don't have what I went through. They don't have all those things. They're different. And then I had that snap. I was like, oh, actually, that's not true.
Lewis Howes
And what was the pain or the condition that you had that was holding you down physically?
Jim Curtis
So when I had a lesion on my Spinal cord, and it created damage to the nerves on my spinal cord. So for a while I was in a wheelchair. I was in tons of pain. Physically, I was stiff, I had muscle spasms. I still walk with a limp, but I was, you know, it caused me not to exercise, not to date, not to do any of those things. I was in a, just in a place of like, this is, this is my life. Really?
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
Jim Curtis
I went from an athlete to that and then I went downhill.
Lewis Howes
Did you have a physical injury or an accident that caused this or was it just over time this manifested?
Jim Curtis
I wish that I did. So I was undiagnosed for a really long period of time.
Lewis Howes
So you just had like pain in your back and you were just kind of like sore for a while?
Jim Curtis
Quicker than that. And anybody that's undiagnosed will understand this because it's almost like you want, when you're undiagnosed with an illness, you're looking so hard for the cancer. You want to put your finger on.
Lewis Howes
It, tell me what it is, tell.
Jim Curtis
Me, give it a name. Because when you give it a name, you can heal it. When it's undiagnosed, you're like, okay, every day is anxiety. I'm searching, I'm searching, I'm searching. So just I woke up one day and I went into the shower and I couldn't feel my left foot and it began to move up my leg and I went to get an mri. And when I got that mri, it showed that I had a tumor or lesion on my spinal cord and I didn't know where it was from. And then slowly it got worse. It started moving up to my waist. And then the numbness. The numbness. Oh wow. And then my legs started to get weaker and then the pain set in.
Lewis Howes
So first it was like tingling, numbness, then it became pain. Yes, within like weeks, months, years?
Jim Curtis
Within a year. Uh huh. And then it, and then it kept going downward after that.
Lewis Howes
And then the pain is just like, you start slouching, you start like, you don't want to walk, you're stiff, kind of all those symptoms that come with it.
Jim Curtis
Yeah, it was nerve pain because you know, we have this intricate wiring in our body and so the nerves were obstructed. So it's nerve pain. And then all of a sudden you're walking differently. And so like now you're, now you're thrown off. And so it's like back pain.
Lewis Howes
Now you're out of alignment in your joint.
Jim Curtis
Yeah, yeah. So. And then there's the you know what I realized, and this is what really got me into hypnosis, is that some things would make the pain go away altogether.
Lewis Howes
Like what?
Jim Curtis
Happiness, Joy.
Lewis Howes
What a concept, huh?
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
Gratitude.
Jim Curtis
Laughter. Laughter. So, like, all of a sudden, these oxytocins would be flooding your body, and I wouldn't feel the pain, and I wouldn't have to take a drug. I'd be like, oh, okay. Or I'd go to, like, a retreat, and for a week, I would focus on, like, connection to a higher power, connection to spirit, connection to my true self, which hopefully we get into. And I'd be like, boy, at the end of this, I can walk almost perfectly and I have no pain. That's really interesting. So how do I speak to that part of myself that's controlling that? And so the closest thing that I could find besides, you know, prayer, was like hypnosis. So you can get in there in a theta state, which is a state which is a trance state, which is a state that you can connect to the quantum itself, if you believe in that. So how do I start to make changes to my subconscious, to those parts of me that's clearly controlling things that I don't even know?
Lewis Howes
Mm.
Jim Curtis
And so that's. That's what really got me excited about it.
Lewis Howes
Is the mind controlling or influencing the nervous system?
Jim Curtis
100%.
Lewis Howes
So is the pain that you had in your body or the condition you had in your body, the nerve pain, the tumor, do you think that was caused from the way you were thinking your entire life, or was that just some freak thing that happened over time based on environment or conditions or chance?
Jim Curtis
Yeah. I don't know. There is a real part of me that believes that illness builds up through emotional stagnation, through a difficult childhood, even, some people say through lifetimes. If we can believe that our spirit, our energy, never ceases to exist and that we come back and that in previous lifetimes, which Dolores Cannon and others like Brian Weiss, many lives, many masters focus on past life. Hypnosis, regression. Wow. So if you believe that whatever you're carrying with you karmically is manifesting as illness today. And then one environmental trigger, and it's like, okay, what is this? So you see miraculous recovery with people just by changing and releasing stuff through their energetic and mental body. And so when I could release all my pain through releasing my sorrow, releasing my sadness and forgiveness, then things really started to heat up.
Lewis Howes
So how old were you when this started to happen?
Jim Curtis
20.
Lewis Howes
20. And so for 20 plus years, you're in pain, but you're also building businesses, you're making money, you're grinding 60, 80 hours.
Jim Curtis
Hyper successful.
Lewis Howes
Yeah. You're like accomplish, accomplish, win, ignore, ignore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just stuff the pain. Yeah. Keep thriving so I can feel some type of validation or.
Jim Curtis
Yeah, I'm not good enough. I'm. I'm bad in some way, therefore, that's why my body's broken. My word broken would come up a lot. So what am I good at? Okay, let's focus over here. Yeah.
Lewis Howes
All my attention, all my attention. Put all my worth into this success.
Jim Curtis
Right. So much so where I wouldn't go to physical therapy. Right, right. And so that was my mind trap because I needed an identity that was worthy. So I figured out the easiest way to be worthy.
Lewis Howes
Yeah. I think a lot of people can relate to that. If you can, feel free to leave a comment below and let me know how that shows up in your life or where you've been trapped emotionally or physically. By putting all your attention in one area where good things happen and trying to stuff or, or hide the other areas that you've been afraid of or ashamed of or whatever, you don't feel good enough. So when you started learning hypnotherapy and really diving into it deeper, what was the thing that was a big aha moment for you that gave you more healing and freedom in your body and in your mind.
Jim Curtis
Yeah. With the hypnotherapy, the hypnosis, the big aha moment was that we can get into a state that we allow our critical mind to be quieted. This critical mind that's always analyzing, analyzing, analyzing, and we can start to reframe different experiences in our lives. We can either even relive events in our lives in a completely different way. Because our subconscious mind and our energy body doesn't know time and space, space and time, doesn't know reality and fantasy, doesn't know those differences. We can actually reframe Quantum leap all the way back and change experiences that we've had by experiencing that emotion under hypnosis and have profound effects for the future and current version of yourself. That's kind of mind blowing to you. Excited that. But that's one of the huge things. So I started to do that with myself, with my own therapist, with my own people that would go to hypnosis and I learned self hypnosis and I would start to do that with myself. So I don't meditate anymore. I go into self hypnosis.
Lewis Howes
If someone has never experienced hypnosis or therapeutic hypnosis to support their minds and their body, get into an energetic state of peace and calm and quieting the critical mind into the more, I guess, positive mind or into a more way of being that serves the mind and body for expansion and abundance. And if someone wanted to tap into a method or a mantra or a process that would allow them to do this for a minute, a day of self hypnosis, and they wanted to simplify it, what would that 30 second one minute self hypnosis technique look like for them?
Jim Curtis
Yeah. All right, well, good, we'll do a minute. We'll do a minute. And so all we have to do, right, I just take a really deep breath and look directly up into your forehead and hold your breath and then release it. And look, close your eyes gently and take another one and look all the way up into your forehead, looking up and close it and release your eyes all the way down. Take another really deep breath and look all the way up into your forehead already and release it. And now all you have to do is focus on my voice. And also, if you're doing this yourself, just notice all the things that you can hear at once. And then start to notice your right hand. And with your eyes closed, you can just notice your right hand. And if your fingertips start to tingle on your right hand, and as your fingertips start to tingle on your right hand, start to notice whether you can make the fingertips tingle on the left hand. Good. Now, as your fingertips tingle on both hands, noticing the energy that's so prevalent in your body, you can just begin to count down from five, knowing that you'll go a little bit deeper every number that you take. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And here is your state of relaxation, deepness, complete trance, where you can rejuvenate and just tell yourself something. The most empowering thing that you can possibly tell yourself, the most empowering thing that you can tell yourself starts with the I am. I am is the spell of creation. It is divinity itself. It is creation. And so whatever you want now, here, down here, you can just mention I am, whatever it is. Good. You're completely rejuvenated, completely empowered, feeling the energy of the universe almost flowing through you, the creation itself. And you can just start to come back up. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Eyes wide open and awake. Right back with us.
Lewis Howes
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Jim Curtis
It's like taking a little bit of a Valium, right?
Lewis Howes
It's really relaxing.
Jim Curtis
Yeah. But it also starts to tell yourself, like, oh, I can emotionally regulate. And then I can start to code into my system exactly who I really, truly am. Yeah, I am.
Lewis Howes
Yeah. Yeah. The first three I ams that I thought of are I am loved, I am whole, I am peace.
Jim Curtis
Yeah. Yeah. And so if you do that technique from looking up into your head, which is a natural hypnotic trance state, and then releasing the breath, counting backwards, counting down, and getting to a place where you can actually speak to yourself, it's incredibly powerful.
Lewis Howes
Because the critical mind keeps us in what type of state? If we're always in criticizing, not evaluating, more information.
Jim Curtis
Let me see where the issue is. Let me project the future. Let me make sure I'm safe. Let me test this and see if I need it. Right. It's ego, it's critical, it's safety. And the truth is, when we release all that is I am, what is it? What is the feeling when you release fear and planning and purpose and you release all that? The one thing that's left is I am.
Lewis Howes
I am what?
Jim Curtis
What is it for you when you release fear, when you release planning, when you release anxiety, when you release sadness? If none of that was there, what would be there?
Lewis Howes
The first thing that came to mind is I'm enough. Yeah, but I am love, I'm joy, I'm abundance, I'm expansion. All these things here.
Jim Curtis
Yeah, It's I am love, I am expansion, I am joy. It's all these uplifting, powerful things that are, you know, like, we've been programmed, we've been given, and that all these other parts of us kind of cloud.
Lewis Howes
But if we're in the critical mind consistently throughout the day or for many hours, it's going to put us into a more state of stress, it sounds like, or more state of concern or. I don't know if lack is the right word. But less of an abundant, joyful, playful state.
Jim Curtis
100%. 100%. Now, we need the critical mind, right? We have so much information coming that we need to process. We need to create. You know, it's part of the human experience. But when it becomes too hyperactive, when we're not getting into, you know, kind of our subconscious, when we're letting our subconscious rule us, instead of, you know, people ask me, is hypnosis mind control? Right? And most people say, no, hypnosis is not mind control. I say, absolutely, it's mind control. Yes, it's mind control. It's your own ability to control your mind. Now, someone like me will help guide you so that you can control your mind. Change your subconscious mind so that you can control it so it doesn't control you. And that's the most powerful part of it. You start to have. Instead of manifestations, you start to have real realizations, like realizing that I am not separate from all this, that I am not just the wave, I am the ocean, right? And that I can actually have what it is, this person, this thing, this activity. I don't need to feel anxious. I don't need to feel separateness. I can feel as though I'm one with it. And that's the true feeling of wholeness and abundance.
Lewis Howes
What would you say, then, is the most powerful law of the universe to support individuals in creating the reality of their dreams?
Jim Curtis
Yes, that's such a good question. And it is I am. So. Just the words I am. So Neville Goddard, way back when, he found in the Bible this saying, I am that I am, right? And if you've ever listened to Deepak Chopra, he talks about I am a lot of Buddhist, Vedic, all sorts of different philosophies about I am. But it is the spell that is cast that will manifest. If it's I am bad, you guaranteed you will. What you will get if you can start to say I am and listening to you, the words that you use and starting to feel I am is the creation. It is the thought that the universe is experiencing us itself, through us. And therefore, when we say I am, we create because what we, our identity believes that we are, we have. So what I believe I am, I have in life. Not what I want. What I want, I'm constantly searching for out here, out here, out here. What I believe that I am, I get every time.
Lewis Howes
It's interesting because when I think back in my childhood, I used to think internally or say to myself internally and say externally, a lot of I am negative sentences. I Am Horrible student. I'm bad. I'm this. I'm dumb, I'm stupid, whatever it might be. I'm not good enough. All that stuff and things. Or I'm slow. I'm, you know, I'm a slow learner, or I can't do that, or whatever this is. These. I guess you'd say spells or, you know. Yeah. Mantras that I would say either consciously or unconsciously. I was then creating. So what you're saying, what you're thinking, you're starting to create.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
It doesn't mean it's your. It's who you are, but it's what you're manifesting.
Jim Curtis
It really is. It really is. And our identity is based in. I am this. Right. And we. Our identity is based in beliefs of what you are and your beliefs. And identity is what you create and what you manifest. It's. It's that easy. What you see around you.
Lewis Howes
What was the I am mantras that you would say? Growing up?
Jim Curtis
You know, growing up, I was always, I am not good at this. You know, I'm not good at math. You know, when I, you know, there was. I. I think I was diagnosed by a teacher in school or I was held back in the first grade because I was diagnosed that I had, like, slight dyslexia or something like that. And so I would say stuff like that, like, I have slight dyslexia. That wasn't true at all. That has had no impact on my life. So there's a lot of I ams, and it goes both ways. You can see what you're good at, and you can say, oh, I have a great program. I have a great I am for that.
Lewis Howes
What would you say then is the difference between the law of attraction versus the law of assumption?
Jim Curtis
Yes. So the law of assumptions are what you assume to be true about yourself. And so I believe that the law of attraction will never really work for you until you start to recognize what you're assuming to be true about yourself. Then you'll just be consciously trying to attract something by wanting it and feeling it. But really, your operating system, what you assume to be true. Right. Those things that you assume you're capable of, that you assume that you can have, are the blocks in the way of that. That's the truth. The truth that you believe. And then you're like, okay, I have this operating system that I'm not looking at, but it has all these assumptions, and now I'm going to go out and try to attract something. Why isn't it Coming. It's because your operating system has assumptions you haven't looked at yet.
Lewis Howes
Let us say I really struggled in school. Right. And all of my confirmations proved that I struggled in school based on the test results, based on how long it took for me to study every single night and still not understand the concepts all through, you know, kindergarten, until college. And so let's say that all I saw was evidence that I was a slow learner and I struggled in school.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
It was an assumption. Right? It was an assumption. But I was like, but it might be true. You know, there's some truth to it because of the results I'm getting as well.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
How do I not lie to myself and say, actually I'm a great learner and I'm. This is easy for me. How do I start to reprogram myself without lying based on evidence that's shown? Actually, you haven't been good at this, or you have been in bad relationship after relationship, or all these guys did leave you, all these girls did screw you over, whatever it is.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
How do you not lie to yourself with a false assumption, but start to be of greater service to yourself with an empowering assumption so that you can remove the blocks to manifest more?
Jim Curtis
That's interesting, because are there really any truths or any lies? Meaning, like, perhaps there was a truth that in that way of learning, that you didn't resonate with that way of learning. But would there have been a different way of learning that would say that you picked it up really quickly or did you learn other things really quickly? Meaning, like, was there plays on the football field?
Lewis Howes
Of course.
Jim Curtis
That you were like, oh, I'm a better learner at this. And therefore the truth could be that you're an excellent learner. And so we start to think that, like, oh, I'm not doing something in a way that is an expectation, and therefore it creates a belief about this, an assumption. And that if I go against that, go against that empirical evidence, then it's a lie. And how do I be practical and real and breaking free in what I do with people is like, oh, the truth is there is no reality. There is no lie, and there's no truth. It's the matrix. There's no spoon. Right. The truth is that you can see even money. Take money to a desert island, it has worthlessness. It's worthless. So the truth is you're probably a fantastic learner. And so anybody that's. Or the truth is like, you're probably incredibly dateable or incredibly lovable and that you Just need to see it from a different reality, which is when you find the person that resonates with you, or when you find the modality of learning, or when you find X instead of the empirical evidence says. Because there's no real evidence. Yeah.
Lewis Howes
What would you say then is the biggest thing that blocks people from manifesting more?
Jim Curtis
So blocks them manifesting more is their belief that they need to go down a particular avenue to get it right. So if I believe that I need to do it this way to have more money. But listen, perhaps you don't have to be in finance. I worked in finance. I worked on the floor of the American Stock Exchange. And is it true that I would never have made much money on the floor of the American Stock Exchange? Yes. And so I recognized that, but it didn't mean that I wasn't capable of making money. I was able to. I just had to find the right avenue to do it. And so you can have more love, you can have more money. Realizing that there's no one reality. It's all subjective.
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
Jim Curtis
You can have whatever reality you want.
Lewis Howes
What do you think is the biggest thing that blocks you from attracting more, manifesting more, and raising your frequency every single day in this moment?
Jim Curtis
That's a great question. What is it that is blocking me? I think that what. What the. What I'm still working on myself, and the parts of me that I'm still working on that's blocking me is my clarity. Right. Or my real.
Lewis Howes
Like on where you're headed or what you want or.
Jim Curtis
No, about. I'll take on too many things. I'll take on too many things. And then I'm like, okay, I'm going to be able to do all these things, and now I'm gonna have to find people to help me. And so I think what blocks me is that, okay, I'm gonna commit to this one thing and go all for it. And even if I think I can help someone over here or here, I'm just gonna commit to this thing, this one thing, and do it. And so by not doing that, I think that I spread myself too thin.
Lewis Howes
So you put yourself into focusing on one thing and you feel like you can't help more people or more projects at once. Or you feel like by taking on so much, it all suffers.
Jim Curtis
I think by taking on so much that I'm splintering my focus. It all suffers.
Lewis Howes
Yeah. Your energy is spread thin. It's interesting because I was at a mastermind years ago in Fiji with Tony Robbins. It was like a week long Thing with Tony Robbins.
Jim Curtis
Business mastery?
Lewis Howes
No, it's like a 20 person private mastermind with him, not a business mastery thing. It was in 2018 or 2019. I think it was 2019. And we all went around and we're like in his private resort, right, with like the ocean behind us and we're like sitting out and barefoot, you know, with like Hawaiian shirt typ vibe, like just a little hanging out, like full day with Tony and, and my buddy Dean Graciosi. They were putting on this mastermind and you know, there's 20 of us and everyone's got a hundred million dollar exit somewhere or something else or a big influencer or whatever. And everyone went around and like asked a question and I think I was the last person to ask or one of the last couple people. So I got to see everyone's kind of questions and there were a lot of breakthroughs and realizations. So it's kind of like they all, you know, they all kind of ask something maybe I would have asked. So something came to me for whatever reason, because I kind of prided myself as a. I used to be a decathlete in track and field. I was an all American decathlete, which is 10 events as a one event thing in track and field.
Jim Curtis
Yeah, right.
Lewis Howes
It's like I wasn't great at one event, but I was good at 10, which allowed me to be great at the event of the decathlon.
Jim Curtis
I mean, that's kind of amazing.
Lewis Howes
It was cool, right, because I wouldn't have been able to accomplish my dream of being an all American athlete in one event. But I was good enough at everything that I can excel in that event of decathlon. And so I kind of like took that into life and business where I was like, okay, I'm going to be great at everything. I'm going to be good at everything, right? I'm going to try all these different products and revenue streams and all these different things at once and try to accumulate them all to get to where I want to be. But I found myself energetically drained, trying to whack a mole every product and project and thing that I was doing at once to try to get them all to excel in being great. And so I was talking, my question was something around, like, how do I manage all these things? How do I make all these things better? I'm doing like 10 or 12 different things and I feel like I'm like a seven out of a 10 on everything.
Jim Curtis
It's pretty good, you know what I mean?
Lewis Howes
I was like, it's pretty good, but it's like, I feel like I'm been like a 7 out of 10 for the last decade.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
And he goes, do you want to be a 7 out of a 10 type of guy, or do you want to be a 10 out of a 10? Yeah, I think I want to be more of a 10 out of 10. He's like, you got to learn to focus your energy on, like, a couple of things, you know, and really, until you get the process and the people in place to accelerate those things, then you could take on something else. Unless you like being a 7 out of a 10. And I was like, no, I just don't like that.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
So it was a few years of eliminating certain big revenue streams that brought in a lot of cash, but kind of drained me energetically or just pulled away, and I started going all in on more of just the show being the main thing. And everything started to grow and the impact started to grow as well in that few year transition. So it's not like it all happened overnight. And it was like this effortless thing. There was pain, there was loss, there was grief. There was like a letting go of an old identity, but. But an emerging new identity stepping forward, which has its challenges. So it's interesting to think about. But that's the way you're at now. You're getting this audience growth and awareness, and so you have more opportunities coming your way.
Jim Curtis
I have more opportunities, and I can't help everyone, although I want to, of course. And what will help the most amount of people. But there's two things that came up. Whether you said it like, I've had a chance to work with Tony and Sage, and there's no one in my better. He's great. So that question he asked you was nlp because it made you think of really the decision and the avenue that you wanted to go down. And so that's a really powerful use of allowing your mind to kind of direct itself with just one simple question.
Lewis Howes
And what's the difference between questions and directives?
Jim Curtis
Yeah, directives. If he was to say to you specifically a question that was if. If you. If you weren't to splinter your energy over there, when, what would you accomplish? Yeah, something like that. Right?
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
Jim Curtis
Instead, he could have just said, don't splinter your. Don't splinter your energy. Do this, Louis. And you say, okay, well, it's Tony Robbins.
Lewis Howes
Yeah, I'm doing what he tells me to do.
Jim Curtis
But all of a sudden, you empowered yourself by thinking like, oh, my God, what could possibly be Possible if I didn't do that. Right. That's why with compliments it's the same thing. Sometimes people can't take a compliment like, you look so beautiful, your hair is so wonderful.
Lewis Howes
Why is it so hard for people to receive compliments?
Jim Curtis
Because they have that inner voice that says, ah, they're lying. That's not true. I'm not good enough. I looked at myself in the mirror today and I actually hate my hair, whatever it is. But if you say something like, I wonder if you know how good your hair looks today. Oh, I wonder if that is true. Okay, all right, I'm thinking about that. Yeah. You know what? I think it does. It has much more of an impact.
Lewis Howes
So as opposed to saying, I love the way your hair looks, you have great hair today. As opposed to like directing, you have great hair today or you have great energy today. If someone's not feeling that, they're not going to believe it right away. If they have a critical mind, if they have a clear mind and they're open to receiving it, they might say, oh, thank you so much, I appreciate it.
Jim Curtis
Or they have a belief that their energy is good.
Lewis Howes
Yeah. They're going to say, thank you so much, I appreciate you acknowledging that and you look great too, or whatever it is. But if they're critical, which is probably a majority of people, they are going to deflect or say, ah, no, I'm just kind of having a bad day. But thanks or whatever, they're going to be dismissive of it first.
Jim Curtis
Yeah. Or they're going to say thank you and feel awkward that they got the compliment. Or they won't really believe it because.
Lewis Howes
They don't believe it. Yeah, but if we compliment someone by saying, I wonder if you realize how good this looks or how your energy is or that you've got a great smile today, or whatever.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
Then it allows someone to reflect on the compliment in a listeners. NerdWallet wants you to let them do the work for you. Looking for auto insurance, the nerds will match you with top providers in your area in just a few questions. So getting the right rate for you is simple as going to nerdwallet.com after all, letting NerdWallet do the work is more than smart, it's genius. Not all applicants will qualify for the lowest monthly payments. NerdWallet Insurance Services Incorporated, CA resident license number OK 92033.
Jim Curtis
Yes. It allows the subconscious mind to actually subconscious mind loves questions. So it answers questions good and bad. So it will allow it to answer, oh, I wonder. And then. Yeah, and then you added the positive aspect of it. So it's like, oh, I wonder, I wonder why that is. Oh, it must be true. And so that's, it's an NLP tactic, Neuro linguistic programming. But it's super effective to get below the critical mind into the subconscious to actually have someone receive something and start to change. That's what Tony did with you. That's so powerful.
Lewis Howes
What's another way that someone could compliment besides I wonder, what's another like entryway to complimenting with a question?
Jim Curtis
Did you know? Start with a preposition like perhaps. So start with something that has the mind thinking before you ask the compliment and be specific, be specific about what they're wearing. So if you're going on a date and instead of, you know, with a beautiful person, man or woman, that probably gets a lot of compliments or perhaps will the alarms will go up if they feel like they're being love bombed with compliments or something like that. So you know, find something specific and compliment it. Like, you know, did you know how amazing it is that you came on time? Wow. Did you know how amazing, did you know how amazing it is that you wore that dress? I love that color. You're like, oh my God. Yeah, that's, that's an interesting like loophole to get into someone's, to allow them to really accept, you know, a compliment.
Lewis Howes
That's cool. Yeah. Because most people are stuck going to stress and anxiety mode pretty consistently with what's going on in their lives or what they're consuming the content or they're judging and assessing or they're in criticism mode or they're in envy mode or they're in self loathing mode. So if someone is feeling stressed and anxious consistently, what's a way that they can raise their frequency to start to feel better on a daily basis?
Jim Curtis
Yeah, yeah. We're constantly in this high delta, beta, scroll, scroll, compare, compare. So we're constantly. You can start to raise your energy just by emotional regulation. And so when you emotionally regulate, you realize that I'm here now in the present moment. And by the way, this really helps with this realization or this manifestation that when we start to emotionally regulate that I'm here now in this present moment that we relax and there's so much more that it's capable of. And so we start to ask ourselves two things. What's true? Meaning is that really true or is it a thought? Could there be another truth to it? Is there any other way that's a truth Meaning if I was to cut your body open and look within your brain and your organs, is that truth in there? And if not, then it's in our thoughts and beliefs. And if that's true, then there's 50 truths depending on 50 different people who look at it the same way. And the second part is, a lot of people just kind of feel like they're doing it wrong. And I say this a lot, and I say it after every meditation, after every hypnosis, after every coaching, you know, like, you're doing it exactly right. This is the school of life, no pun intended, and the curriculum is difficult. And to think that you're doing it wrong, it's not true. It's not true. You're doing it exactly right. All these troubles, all these circumstances, all these things you're meant to experience in some way because the consciousness says that it's not happening to us, it's happening through us, for us, as us. As your consciousness rises and it's possible to raise your consciousness, grow your consciousness from victims. Happening to me. Why this boy, this man, this woman, this job, this person, this life, this illness to. It's happening for through. And as it's like, oh, okay, that kind of changes. That even opens up my chest a little bit.
Lewis Howes
Why is something challenging or bad happening for us?
Jim Curtis
Perhaps it's a lesson. Perhaps if you believe in something greater than yourself, maybe it's a karmic lesson. Maybe it's a lesson that will help us get to a higher elevation of mind and spirit. Maybe it was meant to happen so you could help someone else. Maybe it was. For me, this illness was incredibly difficult. The stress at work was incredibly difficult. All the things that I've dealt with in my life have been really difficult. But I would not be in this moment here across the table from you if everything didn't happen. And so I'm insanely grateful for it.
Lewis Howes
How old are you, Jim?
Jim Curtis
49.
Lewis Howes
49. So almost three decades of pain or a challenge that you've been working to overcome and get back into wholeness and healing, it sounds like, right?
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
And it's a lot of pain. Like, every day. I'm assuming you woke up with pain and you struggled to walk and you had doubts or challenges, at least in the first couple decades. It sounds like in the last 10 years, it sounds like you've really transformed your thinking and your energy and you started to really heal and create wholeness.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
From the inside out. Right. But that's. That's hard when you have chronic pain like that. Specifically in your back.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
It feels, like, debilitating.
Jim Curtis
Right.
Lewis Howes
It just feels like you can only. You're limited to what you can do physically, emotionally, you can only move at a certain speed. It feels limiting. Right. Would you take it back?
Jim Curtis
No, really, I. I know what people feel like when they wake up in the morning and they're like, excuse my language. Like, they wake up in the morning and they're just, like, getting out of bed is hard because their. Their body hurts. And then it's like, immediately your mind hurts.
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
Jim Curtis
Right. Because inflammation of the mind inflames the body even more. So vice versa, it's working against each other. And then you're like, okay, now I'm. Now I have this pain and it's like zapping my energy. And. And I have this physical condition that's making me different from people, and I don't know what it is. And so now I'm obsessing about it. Now I'm unworthy and all those things. So that's an incredibly. Now try to date. Yeah, that's incredibly painful place. That's why I know people so well, because I've been there. But there is relief on the other side because of the mind, body connection, when you can start to realize, okay, this isn't happening because I'm a bad person and there are things I can do to get out of this pain, that the mind is miraculous and the body is too. And if we are actually a projection of something bigger, meaning, like, there is more. We are not our bodies, we are not our jobs, we are not our clothes, we are not our bank accounts. There's something actually bigger, the awareness of all of that. Above it all, we can all kind of like say, what is that voice in my head that's asking these questions that doesn't feel pain, and definitely not subconscious about the way it walks. Right. That is love. And when you can start to tap into that, I've had a couple of these epiphanies that I would just break down in tears of relief because I tapped into this. Oh, oh, that's relief. And that relief is love. And when you can tap into that through some of these techniques that we've been talking about today, everything gets easier. The pain goes away. And there have been so many actual clinical studies that using hypnosis, meditation, other things that people with chronic pain, it eliminates. Eliminates the need for opioids, self hypnosis, self hypnosis, different forms of tm, transcendental meditation, and other forms that gets into the subconscious. Mind in such a way that the mind, body connection, you start to alleviate the inflammation that causes a lot of this pain.
Lewis Howes
Because in a sense, I mean, it's your, it's your mind interpreting the pain of the body, isn't that correct? Like the pain is really just the mind or the brain sending a signal of like, oh, there is pain in this joint or this muscle or this bone area, whatever it might be, this part of your body. It's the mind that's perceiving that. Correct?
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
And so if you can calm the mind and almost get out of your body or above your body or through that pain, with calm mind, you almost don't feel the pain anymore.
Jim Curtis
Yeah. I mean there's the physical and the energetic. So one, we have the biggest pharmacy in the world in our bodies. All the best drugs that pharmaceutical companies.
Lewis Howes
Make can't replace it.
Jim Curtis
Right, right. And they just enhance what's in our body. So like the dopioid receptors and the opioid receptors and all those drugs are just being blocked so that we don't feel pain. So if an outside drug can do that and it's releasing drugs within our body or creating changes, then our body can do it.
Lewis Howes
Yes.
Jim Curtis
In fact there have been. I love the story of this mountain climber. He was climbing, climbing, climbing and he got into a predicament where he was going to fall and he reached up and he held onto part of the mountain or a stick or just something that was sticking out and he felt no pain and an overwhelming calmness. And then he was able to pull himself up and he climbed over and leaned himself against the wall rock and he had like a out of body euphoria experience. Right. And all that was was his mind releasing dmt, all the opioids, all the oxytocin so that he could have a painless death.
Lewis Howes
Really?
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
That's where he died.
Jim Curtis
No, he didn't.
Lewis Howes
Okay. But he said in case he would, it would be a. Yeah.
Jim Curtis
And so he had a complete euphoria. So if we can get, if we are capable of that through deep trance states, we can recreate it and we can eliminate this fear and this pain. And then there's this energetic state that when you grow the energy and Joe Dispenza talks a lot about this. I know he's been on here and I love him. You can start to grow the energy within your body and your meridians. Some miraculous things happen. I've seen some totally miraculous things happen.
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
Jim Curtis
So for those people who are like suffering physically because they've had a breakup or suffering physically because they're unhappy or they have pain in their body, there's hope.
Lewis Howes
But again, a lot of people live in pain and then they stress and have anxiety around having the pain and trying to find solutions to get out of it, which causes more stress or more sense of control or consuming energy around what do I do to get out of this? Or I'm not good enough, I'm not lovable enough. So how do we tell the difference between our intuition and our anxiety speaking to us?
Jim Curtis
That's a great point. Especially that vicious cycle of I need to do, like, how do I get out of this? Right? And you can step back and say this, listen, I'm not wrong for having this. I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm not wrong. And I can also find a path forward, right? So like stepping out of the weeds for a second just to say, I'm gonna, this is happening and it's okay. And now let's find a pass through. And so then the next question, what was the next question?
Lewis Howes
The difference between understanding your intuition or your anxiety. Speaking to us.
Jim Curtis
Yes. So often. And we can talk about muscle testing and kind of how you feel it in your body too, because intuition is expansive and you usually feel it in your body and it doesn't create a lot of thought. It's a knowing, like, it's kind of a. Maybe you get a little voice or you just kind of feel this expansiveness in your body and you're like, that's the right one. If you walk into an apartment, you're with a person, you feel that energy, it resonates with anxiety. Or it starts to feel it in your stomach or in your chest. And then you start to think obsessive. Like you start to find all the avenues. The algorithm runs and you're trying to figure out, figure out, figure it out. But the intuition really tells you and you can start to. So the other day, I'm swimming and I'm in the pool and I'm doing my typical workout and I start to think about all the things I have to do. And I started to think about, oh, God, I don't have the right resources to get these done. And then I was like, oh. And I didn't respond to these five people who are waiting. And I literally was getting slower and slower until I just stood up in the middle of the pool and I like, I just found myself standing up in the middle of the pool and I was like, oh, I have to really practice what I preach and so what I started to think about, I have a 17 year old son who's amazing. I got this dog that I love. I got all these awesome things happening with work and community. I got my family, all these amazing things. I started to think about the sunset that I really love. And I started to swim again, more powerfully, stronger than I ever did before. And I started to say, okay, when you focus on the positive and the outcomes that you want, your body responds and you can actually do muscle testing.
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
Jim Curtis
Have you ever done it?
Lewis Howes
Yeah, of course. It's so interesting you say that because I remember my senior year playing college football, the second game of the season. My dad left to go on a vacation with his girlfriend at the time. My parents were divorced many years before then. And he got into a car accident that left him in a coma for almost three months in New Zealand. So I'm in Ohio, In Columbus, Ohio, 22, I'm a senior. And he gets into this car accident and I get a call at like 10 or 11 o'clock a night before a game on Saturday morning. So Friday night before the game and we don't know if my dad is alive or dead. We just know like he was in an accident, he's in a coma and it's all the way on the other side of the world. This is in 2005. And so it was a lot of uncertainty and anxiety. The next day I'm like, do I play in this game? Do I like get on a plane and go to New Zealand right now, which is going to take 24 hours to get there. Like, what do I do?
Jim Curtis
Right?
Lewis Howes
Is my dad alive? Is he dead? It was just this uncertainty and it was a lot of stress getting going to that game. The second to last play of the game, I break three ribs.
Jim Curtis
Oh my God.
Lewis Howes
We lose the game in the last minute, I break three ribs and I feel like, oh, my season's over. I don't know if my dad's alive or dead right now. And this is really sad. All of this is sad because it was my dream to play professionally and I broke three ribs and I'd broken the same three ribs the year before in a football game.
Jim Curtis
Oh my God.
Lewis Howes
So I was out for the whole season the year before recovering from these broken ribs. It took me like months to recover. And the same three broke again. Someone hit me from the side as I caught a ball and speared me and I could hear the cracks. And so I'm just all this pain and stress and anxiety and overwhelm is in my mind right now of, like, my. My season is over again. I don't know if my dad is alive or dead. What am I going to do? And my sisters ended up going to New Zealand. I stayed back because this pain was, like, throbbing. And to get on a flight for 24 hours with, like, broken ribs, I was like, I need to wait anyways if I'm going to do this. So I stayed back, and they got there, and he's in a coma for this first week while I'm in pain. And I just made a decision. I go, I'm going to heal my body. I'm going to come back, and I'm going to play the rest of this season, whatever it takes, and I'm going to do it in service of my father. And energetically, I'm going to send him love and inspiration while he's in a coma. I get chills thinking about it, because within two weeks, I heal my ribs. It's kind of like this miraculous thing now. I put a pad over it so I'm not just like, all right, keep hitting it over and over. I put a pad over it. But I'm able to run, jump, catch, everything, move how I need to, and I get back on the field. I miss two games, and I come back, and every day in practice and every game, I would put tape around my wrists and on my cleats and just put for dad, and I put his name. So I was playing for something bigger than myself. I was playing to send energy so that he would heal or recover or get out of this coma. And by playing for something bigger than me, I felt like it made me heal faster. It made me stronger. And the crazy thing, Thanksgiving week, he woke up. So a couple months later, he woke up now. He had a very long. He never fully recovered. And he struggled for 17 years after that until he passed. But it was a powerful way to think beyond the pain and beyond the brokenness, physically or spiritually, that I was experiencing with my father where he was. I wasn't sure if he was going to live or not. And it gave me a sense of energy to get out of myself something greater than the sadness I was facing, the anxiety, the worry that I was facing, the loss that I might be facing. And it allowed me to put my energy and attention towards healing and sending love through the journey of how I'm gonna show up every single day, how I'm gonna practice with love and joy, how I'm gonna, you know, come back and do my best to help the Team win. And I had the best season of my life, missing two games with three broken ribs.
Jim Curtis
Wow, that gave me chills.
Lewis Howes
Yeah, it was powerful, but it was, you know, I could have easily gone into, why did this happen to me? My dream is over. All these things are over. And it did do that for a few days until I made a decision. And a lot of it was just directing myself like you said, and creating new mantras, new beliefs and reprogramming. No, I am going to create a healing for myself. I am going to show up every single day in appreciation and gratitude even though I may have lost my dad. And I'm going to do the best that I can do. It was a powerful 2, 3 month journey while there was so much uncertainty if he was going to live or die and if I could play. But it was powerful for me for that season of life when I was 22. Just trying to figure out what to do with my life at that time.
Jim Curtis
Yeah. And some people may be listening to that and be like, yes, but you know, my, my sadness is too overwhelming. I can't do that. And that's a mind trap of the.
Lewis Howes
Backfire, if I get it.
Jim Curtis
And, and, and it's completely possible. But it's also because you had a mission and a vision. Right. So if we don't figure out what our mission and vision is, life or something greater than us that like, you know, make money, have a fancy car, then we will stay stuck in ruts longer because we don't have like that greater something compelling you.
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
Jim Curtis
And to have a real mission and vision, you got to figure out what, you know, a little bit of what you want and say, what is that driving force that is going to drive me and my vision so when things get tough, I can be resilient.
Lewis Howes
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Jim Curtis
So achievable.
Lewis Howes
Yeah. Something in a season timeline.
Jim Curtis
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
I got a couple final questions for you, Dan. One of them is what's the difference between creating results by focusing on the outcome you want versus the outcomes you don't want.
Jim Curtis
All right, well, you're going to create whatever you focus on. So constantly we start to focus on what's missing or what we don't want, meaning. So I had these terrible pains in my stomach, terrible pains in my stomach. And I was like, oh, geez, this. Something's wrong. This is. This is not. I didn't need something bad. This is an issue. And so I tried to ignore it. And finally I went to the emergency room in Manhattan near my house, which is, you know, very crowded. And it's. It is near a methadone clinic. It's a very difficult place. People are detoxing, people are very ill. It's very crowded. So they admit me. They put me on a gurney. I'm in a hallway. There's no room. You're just in a hallway. I have a gurney. And I had maybe two years earlier been to the emergency room, spent like 13 hours in there. And so I went in at like 7pm and so all I'm thinking about is this is a major issue. This. I'm going to be here all night. Who's going to take care of my dog? I have things to do. Maybe I have to like stay overnight. And it's like, they're never going to get to me. And so I'm laying on the gurney, I start to really freak out and stress about the things that I don't want. And the pain is getting worse, worse and worse and worse. The more I think about it, the more I stress that the pain is getting worse. And so the nurse comes over, I was like, how long is this going to take? And she's like, expect to be here for hours. And so it's getting so bad that I'm laying on this gurney in the middle of people detoxing. I'm in the middle of the wing, it's a mess. And I start to think to myself, I need to again practice what I preach. What is the outcome I want? What is the real outcome I want? I want this pain to go away. Okay, what does that feel like? That feels like joy, that feels relief, that feels like excitement. What else do I want? I want the doctor to come and say, there's no problem, you can leave. Okay, what else do I want? I want to be out of here by 9:30. I want to be out by 9:30. Literally. This is a two and a half hour experience. Experience for me. I want in and out. And so the nurse comes over again. I said, listen, what's the next steps here? And she's like, well, you're gonna get this imaging. We're pretty backed up. It's like an hour. Okay, so, like, let's. Something's gonna happen here where the woman comes out and says, you're ready. We're ready for you. Literally in 15 minutes, the woman came out and said, we're ready for you. And as soon as she said, we're ready to take an imaging, my pain went, like, from a 10 to a 7. I was like, okay, this is good. We're getting somewhere. I like that. And so I get the imaging. It's very quick. I come back, I say, how long do results usually take? Oh, about an hour or two, because we're backed up. I started to think, okay, what's the best result here? Okay, they come back quickly with quick imaging. And within 20 minutes, they came back and they said, we got bad news. You have appendicitis. I was like, this is not. This is not the outcome I want. Man, how did I do all this work and still get a really difficult outcome? Because they have to do surgery on that, right?
Lewis Howes
Is it like an appendix? They take your appendix out or something else?
Jim Curtis
That's surgery. That's emergency surgery.
Lewis Howes
Right then.
Jim Curtis
Right then. So I started to say, okay, that's not the outcome.
Lewis Howes
That's not good.
Jim Curtis
But I'm still not gonna go there.
Lewis Howes
Really?
Jim Curtis
I'm still not gonna go there. I'm gonna continue to focus on the outcome that I want. And I said I'd be out of here by 9:30. And the surgeon's gonna come down and say that there was a mistake or something, but what's the outcome that I want? The feeling that I want. And I started to focus on this expansion, this feeling that I want. And it's like, this is not happening to me. This is not my reality. I'm focusing only on the outcome that I want. And that's ease and joy and me walking out of here with relief at 9:30pm and so the surgeon does come down and he's like, listen, we don't really do surgery that much anymore for appendicitis unless it's about to burst. In fact, we could probably give you some antibiotics now. And. And if it flares up again, you go see a surgeon on your own time, and you get it taken out quickly. Really? And here's a surgeon's name that is associated with the hospital. I'm like, so I can leave? And they're like, yeah, you just get this like a bag of IV of antibiotics. And she puts it in. She's really quick about it. And it goes in about 10 minutes. And I'm like, holy, can't believe this is happening. Then I'm just like, I get up, I said, that's it. I can go, I'm going to sign these papers. I go, I walk out the door and I'm like, let me just check. I would go reach in my phone. I check. 9:32. Wow. 9:32.
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Jim Curtis
So when you focus on the outcomes that you want instead of the outcomes that I don't want. Oh, my God, this is painful. This is terrible. All these life gets easier. You manifest what you want and also your pain goes down. I was walking out of there and the antibiotics shouldn't have been. Didn't take effect that quickly, but my pain had gone from a 10 to a 3.
Lewis Howes
Yeah, you struggle walking some days, but you are skipping out of there. You're like jumping out of it.
Jim Curtis
I'm literally walking so easily out of there. So, like, when you focus on the outcomes that you want, you get the outcomes when you want. When you focus on the outcomes that you don't want, you get the outcomes you don't want.
Lewis Howes
What are your favorite affirmations for abundance then that people can say to themselves every single day?
Jim Curtis
Yeah, So I really love studying the I am frequency that's of creation wholeness, that you are not the separate wave. You are the ocean. And so I use I am. And so like I am money. Like I am the energy of money. I am the frequency of money. I am abundance itself. I, you know, money flows to me easily. The I am. Oftentimes when you just repeat the mantra I am, it's like the message to the universe that you are whole, one incomplete. And so I don't say anything. I feel my energy expand. And I did it to prepare for this interview today. I did it to prepare for everything. It's such miraculous things because when you're not separate, you're one with everything that you want. And so the I am mantra, just sitting in a quiet place, feeling your energy expand with I am. Positive thoughts about what you want. I am. I am. I am that I am.
Lewis Howes
And just repeating that at any moment throughout the day.
Jim Curtis
Yeah. And then with your affirmations, you can put what you want at the end of I am. And then using the question format, right. Even start to say, how is it that I am? How is it that I am so worthy of money?
Lewis Howes
So, I mean, show me universe is what you're saying.
Jim Curtis
Yeah, yeah. So like the questions before that we were asking the subconscious mind, the nlp, you can start to use questions within your affirmations, like, how is it that I am so good at making money? Right. And the subconscious mind isn't going to say, no, you're not good at making money. That's not its job. The subconscious mind is to say, answer that question. How is it that I'm so good at making money? Remember? Well, you're industrious. When you were 10, you had a paper route, how to do it.
Lewis Howes
Yeah. You're resourceful, you're this, you're that. You got this job, you did this thing when you showed up this way. So keep doing more of that.
Jim Curtis
Exactly. Right.
Lewis Howes
You've got great content on social media. Jim Curtis one. I believe it is. Right. On Instagram and Jim Curtis one. Jim Curtis one Everywhere. And there was a video you talked about, which are the top four signs. Someone is living in a high vibrational state. Can you share what those four signs are?
Jim Curtis
I love the sign. Yeah. If you notice, like, animals are like, coming over to you. All right.
Lewis Howes
Calmly and just, like, loving. Yeah, yeah.
Jim Curtis
I was at a friend's house the other day. She's like, boy, my dog hate, you know, is always growling and biting people. And this dog is like, in my face, like, wanting me to pet it. So, you know, cats are always at your legs. The dog that no one likes is kind of like trying to get your attention. Animals like you, friends and family members are asking your advice. They want your counsel. They're interested in kind of your point of view. Do you ever have that kind of baby that is just always staring at you? You walk by babies and they're kind of caught up in your aura. They're like staring at you.
Lewis Howes
Yeah. If it was an adult, it'd be a creep. But since it's a cute baby, you're like, ah, I keep staring for like five minutes into my soul.
Jim Curtis
Yeah. And you're staring back. Yeah. Those are some really easy ways to.
Lewis Howes
Tell that if it was an adult, you'd be in jail, you know? But if it's a baby, it's different. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jim Curtis
Those are some ways just to show that, like, you have a higher frequency, that you're, you're resonating at a higher frequency.
Lewis Howes
So if animals like you, friends, family, ask for your counsel, babies stare at.
Jim Curtis
You, staring at you, Things just seem to go your way.
Lewis Howes
It's like you have luck all the time.
Jim Curtis
Not all the time, but it Seems.
Lewis Howes
Like things go your way. That's good. And why do you think animals and babies or people can intuitively sense when someone is in a high energy state? Like, what is that? What is that energy, that aura, that essence? Is it a belief that someone is living within? Is it a calm? Is it a relaxed state? Is it, you know, can you trick them? Can you trick animals or babies to like, hey, I'm this charismatic, like, human, but really be negative inside?
Jim Curtis
Yeah, Especially horses. They know.
Lewis Howes
They feel it.
Jim Curtis
Yeah, they feel it. So that is our true essence. That's our truth. Right. We have this ability to sense things. And that's why I always say when we're about to do a session that has trance or hypnosis work, like, lock up your babies, lock up your dogs and cats. I say it jokingly because as soon as you get into that theta state, they're like, oh, you're here too. What are you doing here? And then they jump on you. But we all have this innate wisdom to be able to sense the vibration and energy. And it's just our mind's so loud. We don't. We second guess it, but we're all feeling it. We're feeling the energy of each other in the first second. Feeling it from when we walk in the room. If the person's in another room, you can just feel it. And when you quiet down your mind, you know, we all have.
Lewis Howes
It's so interesting because I feel like I've always, you know, I struggled with not feeling like I had the smarts or the skills from school to be useful for people in life because I was in the bottom of my class all through school. So I had this belief like, I'm not good in school. Can I be useful in life? But as I started to play sports and I started to learn human dynamics of teamwork, of being coachable, of coaching others, of just like, in a dynamic of we're setting up for a goal, we're practicing, we're going through challenges and overcoming them together, and we're accomplishing goals or we're failing at them, but we're learning lessons together. And kind of enduring this season of sports, I started to understand people better. And I said, oh, okay, maybe I don't have skills or smarts here from school subjects and, like, memorizing stuff for tests. But when it comes to sports and mobilizing a goal and trying to accomplish that within a groups of people, I can excel. And I'm actually really good. And I'm very talented in this. In this side of life. But I remember going into, you know, after my sports career was over, and I was like, how do I make money? Like, and everyone's asking about your resume and about the college degree and, like, what was your GPA? This is back in, like, 2007. 8. Like, I can't show them any of those things because I didn't have any skills from that world. But I don't know if this sports stuff would translate into a career or business. So I was really concerned about it. I was like, will I ever make money? I have no idea. And early on, I started attending these kind of, like, social media meetups. And I just went in there with, like, curiosity and joy. And so I was just going in for fun. I was meeting people, I was asking questions. I was like, man, what you're doing is so cool over here. And I was just curious the whole time. And by doing that and asking questions and kind of bringing that energy, people just wanted to help me. And so I always. So I started to go to a lot of events and I started to build relationships, and I just brought energy and joy and positivity to these events, knowing that I couldn't bring, like, some skill from a work career because I didn't have a work career. But I had energy, I had passion, I had curiosity, I had, like, a sense of, like, wonder and love for what people were doing and what they overcame. And I always found that people just wanted me to, like, they wanted to invite me to the next thing, and they wanted to introduce me to this person. And that led to something, because you.
Jim Curtis
Made them feel in a different way. They don't feel. No, it's how you feel.
Lewis Howes
That's it. That's it. And so I just really leaned into that. And anytime I felt self conscious, like, man, I have nothing to offer these individuals. Like, everyone here is smarter than me, way more talented. I was like, but when I enter this room, I can stand up a little taller, I can smile, and I can ask questions and be curious, and I can bring joy to what people are talking about. And I felt like that was one of the greatest skills that I brought for many years and probably still bring, because I still don't feel like I'm the smartest person ever in any room. But I can bring positive energy and joy and curiosity, and I think people are craving that. So you got to look at what are the resources you can bring to a situation that raises your frequency and raises the energy in any room to be of service to those individuals.
Jim Curtis
Yeah, I think that's an amazing point. How do you think you learned that? How do you. How did you know?
Lewis Howes
Survival. Survival. Because I was like, you know, the, you know, the housing market crashed and the economy was down at this time. And I was like, how do I get the job? I don't know. I was living on my sister's couch for a year and a half.
Jim Curtis
Someone else might have gone a different route. How did you know that you were going to go with Curiosity?
Lewis Howes
I think because I didn't have the skill from school. I didn't have like a, you know, a high GPA or like skills from school. So it was survival. It was like, how do I get into a room? How do I get a seat at the table? How do I meet these people? Let me show up at the event and let me ask questions. Because I can't say something like I know what I'm talking about. So I just didn't speak about anything I knew. I just asked questions and said, what do you know?
Jim Curtis
And guess what? People like to be asked questions.
Lewis Howes
They love it. They love it. And they're like, I would ask questions, I wouldn't say anything about myself. And at the end of the night, people are like, this is the most interesting guy in the room. And no one knew anything about me.
Jim Curtis
Right? Yeah.
Lewis Howes
But I was just like, fascinated with people. I was like, man, how'd you do this, man? Tell me more. This is incredible. And people are like, I like this guy. I'll meet this person. Oh, you know, I'm curious.
Jim Curtis
That's. I mean, anybody listening to this in their business or dating life, like, find some authentic curious questions to ask. Absolutely.
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
Jim Curtis
People like to be listened to.
Lewis Howes
That's it, man. Jim, I appreciate this. I got three final questions for you. Two final questions for you. Before I do, I. I want people to follow you. Jim Curtis on social media. Jim Curtis one on social media. Give a website too, what people can go to. Jim Curtis1 Jim Curtis1.com. Yeah, they can check it out there.
Jim Curtis
Cool.
Lewis Howes
But you've got a lot of great content if people are looking for affirmations and mantras and just great inspiration to serve you if getting out of anxiety or stress. Check you out on social media. A lot of great content there. And I want to acknowledge you, Jim, for, you know, all that you've endured and overcome for three decades of pain. Because I know how challenging life can be when you feel constant pain, fatigue, stress in your body. It can feel daunting. It can feel like it's so hard to overcome. Like Is there ever going to be a relief? Am I going to be stuck like this for the rest of my life? It can feel like the biggest weight in the world holding you down. So I want to acknowledge you for not letting that weight define you, but redefining who you are and continually evolving your identity to be of service to humanity by learning new skills, by learning new resources, by finding new skills to serve your mind and your body, to be whole and free again. And being a messenger of hope for other people who might be experiencing something in their life, physically or mentally, that's holding them back. So I want to acknowledge you for the journey you're on and the process of you continually showing up and being of service. I appreciate you doing that.
Jim Curtis
Thanks. I appreciate that.
Lewis Howes
This is a question I ask everyone towards the end. It's called the Three Truths. So imagine, hypothetically, you get to live as long as you want, but it's your last day on earth and many years in the future. And on this last day, you have accomplished everything you want in your life. You've experienced life to the fullest, and you've seen all your dreams come to reality. Physically, spiritually, materially, everything. But it's the last day. And on the last day in this hypothetical world, you've got to take all of your work with you. Your content, your message, your book, this video, anything you've ever shared with the world. It's got to go with you to the next place when you pass. So we don't have access to your content anymore, but you do get to leave behind three things that you know to be true. Three lessons from all of your experience. And we do get to keep that. What would be those three lessons or three truths for you that you would leave behind?
Jim Curtis
Ah, that's amazing. We are not defined by our pain or our body. We are greater than our pain in our body. We are not defined by it all. People, all of us, every one of us, are at our core, our very, very core need that drives everything else that we possibly do in life is love. That's our core need, our core desire, our core everything. We want to be loved and to love something, someone. And the third is we are in our reality, our current outer reality is always shaped by our inner reality. And both of those are mutable, meaning we can change them, we can craft them, we can affect them.
Lewis Howes
I love those. And final question. What's your definition of greatness?
Jim Curtis
A definition of greatness is your contribution to the world. Not what you have, but who you can actually impact.
Lewis Howes
Yeah, Jim Curtis thanks for being here man. Appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important important links and if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally as well as ad free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our greatness+channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great. Your best hotel in Bethesda has every guest raving. How do you make every hotel like your best hotel? Your best plant In Atlanta employs 4,500 people. How do you get 4,500 people working at peak efficiency? Your best data center in Redmond has optimized every drop of water. How do you make every data center the pinnacle of sustainability? The answer is Ecolab. Ecolab bringing out the best in your business.
Jim Curtis
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Podcast Summary: The School of Greatness
Episode: Master Hypnotist Reveals The Manifestation Formula That’s MORE Powerful Than The Law of Attraction | Jim Curtis
Host: Lewis Howes
Guest: Jim Curtis
Release Date: April 7, 2025
In this compelling episode of The School of Greatness, Lewis Howes welcomes Jim Curtis, a master hypnotherapist, NLP trainer, and coach. Jim shares his transformative journey from chronic pain and personal struggles to achieving wholeness and helping others unlock their inner greatness through powerful manifestation techniques.
Jim Curtis opens up about his profound personal challenges. Diagnosed with a lesion on his spinal cord at the age of 20, Jim endured years of chronic pain, muscle spasms, and limited mobility. This physical suffering was compounded by emotional turmoil, stemming from a turbulent childhood. Jim explains how his unresolved pain hindered his relationships and overall well-being.
Notable Quote:
“All of us, every one of us, are at our core, our very, very core need that drives everything else that we possibly do in life is love.” — [25:30]
The conversation delves into common mind traps that hinder personal growth and abundance. Jim identifies several key biases:
Negativity Bias: The tendency to focus on negative comments or experiences over positive ones. Jim emphasizes the importance of shifting focus to the positive to break free from this trap.
Confirmation Bias: The inclination to seek out information that confirms existing beliefs. Jim discusses how this bias affects relationships, often leading individuals to feel unlovable and perpetuating unhealthy relationship patterns.
Sunk Cost Fallacy: The belief that one must continue investing in a failing endeavor because of the resources already committed. Jim highlights how this prevents people from making necessary changes to improve their lives.
Backfire Effect: The resistance to changing one’s beliefs even when presented with contradictory evidence, as it threatens one’s identity.
Notable Quote:
“These mind traps stop people from creating more abundance and peace in their lives.” — [09:41]
Jim introduces his audience to the practical applications of hypnosis in rewiring the subconscious mind. He explains how self-hypnosis can quiet the critical mind and foster positive beliefs, enabling deeper states of consciousness for true healing.
Self-Hypnosis Technique:
Notable Quote:
“The most empowering thing that you can possibly tell yourself starts with the I am. I am is the spell of creation.” — [26:14]
Jim distinguishes between the Law of Attraction and the Law of Assumption. While the Law of Attraction focuses on desires and feelings to attract outcomes, the Law of Assumption emphasizes the beliefs and assumptions one holds about themselves, which fundamentally shape their reality.
Key Insight:
“The Law of Attraction will never really work for you until you start to recognize what you're assuming to be true about yourself.” — [38:28]
Jim shares powerful anecdotes illustrating how changing his internal beliefs led to significant physical and emotional healing. He recounts moments where focusing on positive outcomes, rather than negative fears, resulted in miraculous recoveries and personal breakthroughs.
Notable Story: Lewis recounts a pivotal moment in his football career where he overcame severe pain and anxiety by focusing on positive intentions, leading to a miraculous healing that allowed him to continue playing and support his ailing father.
Notable Quote:
“When you focus on the outcomes that you want instead of the outcomes that you don't want, you manifest what you want and also your pain goes down.” — [79:58]
Jim emphasizes the importance of daily affirmations in cultivating a high vibrational state. He advocates for using "I am" statements to align one’s identity with their desires, thereby facilitating the manifestation of abundance and peace.
Favorite Affirmations:
Notable Quote:
“The 'I am' mantra is the creation. It is the thought that the universe is experiencing us itself, through us.” — [35:28]
Jim outlines four signs that indicate someone is living in a high vibrational state:
Notable Quote:
“When you quiet down your mind, you know, we all have this innate wisdom to be able to sense the vibration and energy.” — [84:00]
Towards the end of the episode, Jim shares three profound truths based on his life experiences:
Additionally, Jim defines greatness as:
“Greatness is your contribution to the world. Not what you have, but who you can actually impact.” — [94:23]
This episode offers listeners a deep dive into the mind-body connection and the transformative power of self-hypnosis and positive affirmations. Jim Curtis’s journey from chronic pain to personal empowerment serves as an inspiring testament to the potential for inner healing and the creation of a fulfilling, abundant life.
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Key Takeaways:
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