Aloha Inspired Money Maker. Thanks for joining me today. If this is your first time here, welcome. If you're a returning viewer or listener, welcome back. I'm so excited about this episode. If you've ever had or if you've set financial goals, maybe you want to save more, invest wisely or build long term wealth. But you found that life got in the way. You get busy, bills pile up, unexpected expenses pop up, and before you know it, your your financial dreams take a backseat.
That's why so many people are not saving enough for retirement, lack an emergency fund, or struggle to take control of their financial future. But what if I told you that there's a simple tool that top performers, athletes and business leaders swear by? Something that helps you to stay focused, motivated and on track. It's called a vision board. Also known as a dream board. A vision board is a visual representation of your goals made up of images, affirmations and words
that remind you of where you want to go. By seeing your financial goals every day, you're reinforcing them in your mind, training your brain to recognize opportunities and increasing the likelihood of making them reality. Even some of the most successful people in the world use them. Oprah Winfrey, Jim Carrey, Steve Harvey, entrepreneur Sarah Blakely who founded Spanx. They've all
talked about the power of visualization in their success. So today I hope to cover things like the science behind visualization and why it works, how to create a vision board that actually drives results, how to overcome limiting beliefs that hold you back, the missing link between vision and action, and how to build wealth with purpose and impact. If you're ready to train your brain for financial success, you don't want to miss this conversation before we
get started. This episode is brought to you by my financial advisory firm, Runnymede Capital Management. I want to invite you to take advantage of our three minute financial plan. Head over to InspiredMoney.fm/GetPlan. You'll go through some questions. It just takes three minutes and you'll get a personalized snapshot to help kick off your financial journey. So a little planning goes a long way. Check it out and afterwards I'm happy to set up a call with you to discuss it.
Let's bring in our panelists. I'm so excited that they're here. Let's start with John Assaraf. He is a leading mindset and behavioral expert, CEO of NeuroGym and two time New York Times best selling author known for helping individuals in businesses unlock their fullest potential using neuroscience based Training. He's built five multimillion dollar companies, appeared on Larry King Live, Anderson Cooper and the Ellen DeGeneres show, and has been featured in eight films including the Secret.
John, welcome to Inspired Money. Andy, great to be with you. And I hear that you have a goal of wanting to touch a billion people's lives in a positive way. Yes, positively impact as many people as I can while I'm alive and maybe even after I'm transitioned into the other phase of life. So you're no stranger to big goals. I look forward to this discussion. We have Dr. Srini Pillay in the house.
He's a Harvard trained psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and CEO of Neuro Business Group specializing in the science of mindset, visualization and goal achievement. A sought after speaker, author and consultant to Fortune 500 companies, he translates complex brain research into actionable strategies for personal and financial success. He's the author of several books including Tinker Dabble Doodle, Unlock the power of the unfocused mind. Dr. Srini,
welcome. Thanks for having me, Andy. It's lovely to be here. And rounding out our panel, we have Ellen Rogin, CPA, CFP. She's a money expert in financial intuitive who helps people reshape their relationships with money to greater abundance and joy. She's a New York Times bestselling author. One of her books is Picture your prosperity. And her insights have been featured on cnbc, abc, npr, Time, and Oprah magazine. Ellen, I'm so glad that you're here. I am
so glad to be here with you all. I'm so excited about this topic. It's one of my favorite ones. Well, I'm excited for many, many reasons. I understand that John and Srini are good friends going way back. And then you mentioned something about your book. Yeah, we quote one of shrinking of our book talking about the science behind the power of visualization. I love it. I love the connections. Or as Serena, you said, they're happy coincidences. Yep. Meaningful
coincidences. Meaningful coincidences. Okay. Well, I'm so excited about this episode. We're going to be talking about vision boards. We're going to be talking about goals manifesting abundance. Let's go straight into segment one. The brain naturally prioritizes information based on what feels important. This filtering process influences decision making, making people more aware of opportunities that support their goals. When financial success is visualized consistently, the brain adjusts,
reinforcing focus and motivation. This is why vision boards can be powerful tools. They serve as daily reminders that keep financial aspirations front and center. Studies show that imagining a goal repeatedly strengthens neural pathways, making individuals more likely to take actions that support it. By including specific images and words that represent financial milestones, vision boards help clarify objectives.
Whether it's saving a set amount, increasing income, or investing wisely, regularly engaging with these visuals reinforces habits that drive progress. For the best results, vision boards should be reviewed often and paired with concrete actions. Visualization alone isn't enough. Combining it with intentional steps turns financial success from a vision into reality. John, get us started, because you're a living example of this. I
know that you've studied how visualization reshapes the brain. Can you share your experience at age 19, after dropping out of high school? What's happened neurologically since then, since you've repeatedly focused on your future vision? Sure. So when I was 19, I had a wonderful mentor who was a student of Napoleon Hill's book Think and Grow rich. And at 19, he asked me
what I wanted to achieve. And I wrote down the amount of money I wanted to make, what I wanted to retire, by, what kind of lifestyle I wanted to live. And he then asked me, you know, did I have the identity to achieve those things? And the answer was clearly no. And I almost didn't even know what he meant by identity. And he said, you will never earn more than your identity will allow you to earn or your hidden self image.
And so every day, he would have me look at my goals that were in writing of how much money I wanted to achieve when I
want to retire, by who I want to help, et cetera. And in addition to looking at my goals, I started to create these visual representations, whether it's a car, a home, traveling, and every day I would sit there and I would look at it, I would read my goals, I would run my fingers across the paper that I had that was laminated at the time, I would close my eyes and I would see myself in the car, in the home, making the money that I
want to make, making a difference in the world. And he shared with me back then that astronauts were visualizing to prepare themselves for missions to the moon. He said Navy SEALs were visualizing, Olympic athletes were visualizing. And he said, visualization is a mental and emotional
simulation. And I later found out that, you know, those neurons that we fire when we visualize and emotionalize, and back by action, they wire together and formulate these new pathways or new software programming of the brain, which then obviously can affect behavior. And when you repeat that now, you start to upgrade your identity, your beliefs, and your
habits for achieving those goals. So it's a combination of visualization plus affirmations plus images plus doing the right actions consistently. Very powerful. Big changes in your life, no doubt. Big, huge changes. You know, I started off, you know, making $1.65 an hour working in a shipping department when I was 19, to making tens of thousands of dollars a month in my early 20s to making millions of dollars a year by time I was in my late
20s. All because I followed this process of what I call today is inner sizing and priming my brain daily to focus on what I want to achieve versus what I didn't want to achieve or the obstacles in the way. Srini, you have a client that found a spouse. So vision boards can cover all aspects of one's life. How important is specificity when creating a vision board?
Well, I think specificity is especially important, and relevance is also important, because when you feel like you truly want something, then the image centers in the brain are actually fed by what is going on in your brain when you're excited. So, firstly, at a general level, there is a condition known as aphantasia, which is when people cannot actually generate an image at all. And if you look in their brains, what you actually see is that the image
center is activated. But the areas that are responsible for integrating sensations are not telling us how important integrating those sensations are to the final vision. In that particular instance, I had a client who was in his mid-60s who decided that he wanted to get remarried. And he didn't know where to start, but he actually, he put out a challenge to our relationship and said, somehow something that we're doing needs to lead to
my finding a wife in one year. And I said, well, you know, there's not a lot of time to date. What are we talking about? He said, well, it doesn't matter. I don't want to fall. I don't want to do anything conventional. I want to find someone who I definitely want to marry. And what he started to. So we actually started doing a pretty concrete visualization exercise together. And then he would leave it for a while and then come back to it. And you need these unfocused times.
As I pointed out in my book Tinker Dabble Doodle, Try, having these unfocused times is important because it allows the brain to go search for little pieces of information that can contribute to that vision. Well, the short story is that before the end of that year, he actually found someone he fell in love with and got mad. And I think that really used to be A very sort of practical person who was like, well, you know, I don't want to try this.
And so I said to him, well, why don't you try it? There is a biology behind this that there's a lot of evidence to show, especially from athletes, that envisioning can impact success. And there are particular tips that you can actually employ. So, for example, if you're not feeling confident, having an image of coming from behind so that you're overcoming some
obstacle can actually be helpful. So we worked on the imagery in a pretty detailed way, and within the year, he was married, so he's now a complete believer and always goes back to these seemingly more esoteric ideas whenever he's facing a challenge in his life. So can the biology part explain to somebody who wants a rational explanation? Because some people may say that just looks like an art project. I don't. I don't have time to do that. Yes.
So. So. So the idea is, well, how does. What does the image do? Well, you have 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion connections in the human brain, which means that at any one time, there's a lot of chaos that's going on there. So any kind of clarity that the brain can get so that you are articulating to it what your blueprint is can actually help you navigate toward that blueprint. And the blueprint, in the case of the brain, is not just a diagram.
It's not just visual. Even though imagery sounds like it's just visual, there are inputs from a number of other centers in the brain. For example, the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain can contribute toward that. These sensory integrators can contribute toward that. And so the final image that is created is really a little bit like a felt movie. And now think about this. If you say to the brain, yeah, I want to make $100 million, your brain is like, yeah,
well, whatever. That's cool. But if you say to your brain, I want to make $100 million so that I can live in a house that looks like that, so that I can have a lifestyle that is like that, your brain will start to get more excited and more activated. But I think, as you're going to be pointing out, there are a lot of obstacles that can stand in the way of that, like just being cynical about it or having limiting beliefs about your own possibilities.
Because the vision does need to be unleashed to be the full blueprint that it is. And I think, as John pointed out, John actually has the ability. The interesting thing about John is That he's so articulate and clear. But when you're in his presence, you immediately get a sense of the transcendence of his own consciousness. He's connected to some other zone of consciousness that I think is. It comes from a willingness to surrender because he
believes in something greater. And so one of the things I will often say to people is that, is that imagery is not just about imagining something. It is about noticing a pattern that could apply to you. That reality doesn't only work in logical ways. You don't just say, I have a goal, and then you have a strategy. Most business strategies fail. Just because you have a linear strategy doesn't mean that something's going to work out. You're human and your
brain responds to powerful stimuli and. And blueprints like imagery. Thank you. Anybody who has experience knows that the path to success is not a straight line. It's a very crooked and wavy line. So you have to embrace that process. Ellen, in picture your prosperity, you emphasize financial visioning with a prosperity picture. What key elements make a vision board truly powerful for manifesting wealth? What we designed is a picture, prosperity picture, which is a vision board with a little bit
more structure than sometimes people use. So on the top part of the board, it's for images that represent goals that require money. And the bottom part of the board are for things that you want to have happen in your life that don't require money. And the left side of the board is for goals you want to see sooner, maybe five years or less, and the right side for goals you want to
see. And what I'd like to think about is images that would go on the top part of your board would be almost like creating a visual financial plan for yourself. And so I was a former financial advisor. I encourage people, advisors that are using these, this tool with their clients to have them bring their boards in, because what I found. So I'm a certified financial planner, and we learn, as you well know, Andy, the things that people typically look at with their money. When should I
retire? How do I send my kids to college? All those more typical financial things. And when people create a vision board, a prosperity picture, it taps into goals that aren't necessarily ones they have, that they're thinking of logically, but ones that evoke more emotion or more excitement for them. As Srini was saying, this is so important to achieve the goals that we want to achieve. That is great. Let's go into segment two. We're going to
talk about actually crafting a vision board. A vision board Serves as a visual blueprint for financial success. Carefully selecting meaningful images, words and symbols can present a constant reminder of their financial aspirations. Begin by defining clear, specific financial goals. Whether it's saving for a home, paying off debt or building wealth. Assign measurable targets and realistic timelines to track
progress. Cut out images from magazines, print online visuals or use personal photos that represent desired goals and outcomes. Quotes and affirmations strengthen a positive financial mindset. Choose a format that suits your preference. A physical board using poster board or a corkboard offers a hands on experience while a digital version allows for easy updates. Place the vision board where you can see it daily. Regularly reviewing and updating it ensures alignment
with evolving financial objectives. With consistent engagement, a vision board becomes a powerful tool for financial clarity and success. If we can just quickly go around the panel, what are the essential elements every financial vision board should include? John, Love it. Instead of talking about it, maybe I can show you. On my desk I have something called John Ashraf's Exceptional Life Blueprint. In it you'll see I have family pictures just to
connect me to some of the important things in my life. I have a body over here of this guy in his 70s that I used on my vision board to get myself from £243 to 193 that I am now. I have different things that I want to achieve, places that I want to go. That car that I put in here during COVID is in my garage. Now I've traveled to most of the places that I want on this world except
for seeing the moon from the earth. But I have pictures for health and wealth and relationship, career and business and experiences in this literally 45 page book that doesn't just have the images and my reasons why I want to achieve them, but as Srini said before, it allows me to focus on what it is that I want to trade my life for every day and give my brain the clarity to go from that chaos of those hundred billion brain cells and trillions of connections, you know,
into having a laser focused understanding of what is it that I want. My brain, which I believe is a hundred billion dollar bio computer that is able to help me navigate towards what it is that I want. But also it gives my brain the instruction of don't pay attention to all the noise that's out there in this distracted world that we live in. And so I also think there's another element to it and we're talking about the physicalness of all of this. Create a vision board and create
your goals. But we're all part of something so much bigger. If we are made up of energy and thoughts produce some energy and emotions produce some energy, my behavior produces some energy. And I'm in this field of intelligence and energy. Is it possible that somehow when I am focused that I am tapping into, you know, the, the wave functions of a greater
reality? I believe it is true. We may not have all the evidence for it, but I think there's so much more than just, you know, my vision board and my focusing on my vision board. And then as Srini in his awesome book talks about also allowing unfocused time to allow the wisdom of, you know, our, our being to
be able to help us navigate towards what we want. So I focus on health, wealth, relationships, career, business experiences, contribution all goes into my vision board and I review it for about 5 minutes every single day. 45 pages. Essential elements to a vision board or, or even helping those struggling with clarity. Like any tips for defining specific financial goals for a vision board? I love the idea of leaning into things that
are very important to you that you value. When I think about my prosperity picture, there's contribution things on there, giving back goals. Because what I found with my own goal achievement and the people that I work with, when there's a really important why and how it impacts other people, a generosity component, if you will, it helps drive the actions necessary. In your video it talked about not just having a numbers goal, but like what that could
do for people. And I would add beyond that and how it impacts not only your life, but the life of others. And I echo that, having your board somewhere where you can see it all the time. So I have one in my office, I have it on my phone. And yeah, I think it's really important to keep these in front of us. So then we're motivated to take inspired action to turn that vision into a reality. SRINI Neuroscience shows
that novelty enhances memory. How can people structure vision boards so they remain neurologically stimulating over time so that you can look at it every day for years? Well, there's a, there's a quote that I thought I'd share with you from Esther Hicks when she says it makes no difference whether you want the specifics of it or not. It is the vibrational essence of the subject of your attention that is
attractive. That which you really, really want, you get, and that which you really, really do not want, you get. And I think what this quote teaches us is that to put together some of what both. But both of the previous speakers have spoken about is There's a. The vibrational essence of the board needs to feel exciting to you. And from a neurologic perspective, it relates to what I said about integrating those sensations that become part of whatever the
movie is that you're making. If you integrate those sensations because the vibrational energy is good to you, it matters. For example, one person's idea of wealth may be to live in a beautiful mansion and to try privately, and that's it. Someone else who thinks about their wealth may be thinking about the freedom of their kids. So choose what feels relevant to you, because in the brain, relevance actually matters. And you also want to keep your motivation high when you're
interacting with your vision board. And if you look at some of the neurological theories around motivation, one of the key factors is autonomy. And so feeling like there's a vibrational essence and like you have an independent relationship with this vision can actually turn this image
on. There's another quote which I thought I'd share with you, which also relates to something that John talked about, and I think something that Ellen talked about as well, from Maxwell Maltz, which is that a human being always acts and feels and performs in accordance with what he imagines to be true about himself and his environment. For imagination sets the goal picture which our automatic mechanisms work on. We act or fail to act, not because of will, as it is so commonly believed, but
because of imagination. Now, what this relates to is in order to be wealthier, you actually have to have the ability to think like a wealthy person. And to do that, a lot of people still remain poorer. But try to think as if. Try to think about the wealth they want.
So there's a concept that I labeled called psychological Halloweenism, which essentially is based on a study that showed that if you take the same person and you ask them to solve a creative problem, if they think of themselves as a rigid librarian, they are statistically significantly less likely to solve that problem than if they solve it as an eccentric poet. Because in one state, as the rigid librarian, their creative processes are not kicked
off. In the other state, as someone who's an eccentric poet, they suddenly have the permission to reach their goals. So on a vision board, I think it's really important to have things that align with who you are and to allow yourself to elevate from your current position into the position of the person you're imagining. Paradoxically, it's not about waiting until you become that person. You become that person now, and then you act like that person, and you realize what that person would realize.
John, I'VE heard you talk about. You have to choose the identity that you need to be to achieve the things that you've set as your goals on your vision board. Can you talk a little bit about how do you structure your exceptional life blueprint that you showed us? How do you engage both the conscious and the subconscious mind? Yeah. So a couple things that I want to mention as well that's important on a vision board is inside. My vision board is also inclusive of an
accomplished board. So I put images and or things that I've already achieved so that when I'm actually looking at my vision board, I remind myself of who I was before I achieved them to give myself the self confidence, self image and identity of a achiever, a goal achiever. So I remind myself, before I had those images up there, before I had those goals, I didn't have maybe the knowledge, the skills, the self belief to
achieve those goals. But I metamorphosized into the type of person that was able to achieve those goals. But one of the ways that I do this as well is you'll see there's something over here called the story of my life. And so it's two pages long, and I write the story as if I was writing a Hollywood script. And so if I was a Hollywood script writer, I'd write the script, I'd hand it over to an actor, and the actor would memorize the script and feel the script so that he or she could perform the
script without the actual script. So you write the story. And then every day, you know, I read the story of what I've achieved, what I've accomplished, how I feel, who I've helped, how I've overcome the hurdles, and I've become the person capable of overcoming obstacles and challenges to achieve the vision, the goals. And I'm smart enough and good enough and worthy enough. And my personal belief, you know, is that we weren't born with a self image.
We weren't born with fears, we weren't born with beliefs. Those are just reinforced neural patterns in my brain like software. And so when I see and feel and visualize and take action, I am activating and reinforcing new patterns
deliberately. So in essence, I am deliberately and consciously evolving myself every day, every week, every month to match up the identity and the beliefs and the behaviors that are required to actually really create the goal achievement part versus the vision board, which is more of a goal setting part. Anybody else want to follow that? Well, I was just thinking when John was speaking that that part of this is also Attentional training,
right? So if you have, let's say you have 10 units of attention in your brain, if you spend no time envisioning what you want, then you're not training your attention to look for what you want. Whereas when you actually start to think, well, this is my vision board. And even if every day you spend five minutes you're training your attention to look for that. And many times in life we miss out on opportunities and we miss out on financial opportunities because we
don't see them. And so what a vision board does is it reminds you to notice what you want. Ellen, that's the beauty or the value of having a financial plan too, right? It's keeping a longer term view so that you're not distracted by your day to day life getting in the way. Well, and I love coupling a solid financial plan with a vision board because it adds
the juiciness to it. And I find that most of the time some people are super motivated by the numbers and the charts and the graphs, but often they don't even make sense to
people. And when you can have images behind it, your why, what drives you, and as Srini said, like to have that focus be there, it adds more excitement, more meaning, and frankly a lot more fun because financial planning can be boring for some people and it adds some juiciness to the whole process that I think will help people move their goals
ahead much more quickly. In your experience, is this something for a more visual learner versus the person who just likes numbers or have you found that most people should try this practice? I think it taps into a part of us that if we're only thinking about the numbers, part gets lost. I remember doing a workshop soon after picture your prosperity came out and there was someone in the audience who said, you know, I've only been thinking
about retirement, what I need to do to get there. It didn't occur to me why or what I was going to do afterwards. So I think that having these visions, these images moves people ahead in a much more meaningful way. And I also believe that it can help them communicate with their advisors. I believe people should have financial advisors to help them get where they want to go. And it makes the conversation a lot more
meaningful and customized. And most advisors say we customize financial plans for our clients, but truly if you were able to share a vision board with an advisor, it would be so helpful. And I think back about a client who, when I was working with individuals doing planning, she came in and said, I really want to be retired at age 50. 4 and she was 50
and with not even close to enough money. And I didn't want to throw her goal out because I believe that, you know, when we can envision things and have a positive outlook, it could be helpful. And what happened over the next four years? Look at her tactical financial plan. There was no way she was going to do it. She'd have to save $300,000 a year and she didn't make close to that. She ended up inheriting money she didn't expect to inherit. I
don't think a man is a plan. But she met this great guy and that ended up bringing additional wealth to her situation. And by age 54 she was able to retire. She chose not to because she wanted to find work that was more meaningful. But this process has magic to it. You know, as John said, we can tap into some forces that are not able to be seen. And I love that. I love the magic that can come with the practical planning. Could I add something, Andy?
Please. You know, if we, if we look at the mechanics, right, the neuro mechanics as like to call it said the vision board gives you like the what? The bullseye? No differently than when you're in an airplane leading from one city to another, there's a destination. So the vision board gives you kind of like the destination of here's what I would like to be, here's what I'd like to do. The thing that Alan said around why gives you the emotional capital to get going.
The financial planning, if we think about is there more than enough money in the world? Of course there is. There's more than enough for everybody. But we have to know how are you going to achieve it? So we want to know the what, we want to know the why. We need to know the how because our brain wants to know what, why, how. We need to know when, like when would you like to arrive there? And then if we say, okay, what tools and resources can we use to make that a reality?
Now we're giving our brain the picture of what we want, the emotional capital we need, the step by step direction. And not a lot of people, you know, understand financial planning. Not a lot of people understand the numbers. Not a lot of people understand, you know, how to create a strategic, you know, plan that's a linear strategy. And so our brain needs that or if we don't have that, then we have doubt, fear, worry, uncertainty. And that means that we're not going to take the
actions required to actually move forward. And so we want to almost like, you know, when A rocket ship's about to take off. It's like they do these checks and they go, check, check, check, checked, and now we can have the ability to take off. Our brain does the exact same thing. If all systems are not go, we're in a state of stress and fear. And a stress and fearful brain that's not trained will not take action. Thank you for
that. That is the perfect segue to the next segment. Overcoming limiting beliefs Limiting beliefs about money can block financial progress, shaping attitudes toward earning, saving and investing. These beliefs, often formed early in life, influence financial decisions in ways that may not serve long term success. Common limiting beliefs include thoughts like money is hard to make or wealth is only for a select few. Identifying these patterns allows individuals to
replace them with more constructive perspectives. Reprogramming techniques can shift financial mindsets. Positive affirmations such as I am capable of financial success reinforce confidence. Gratitude practices help redirect focus toward progress rather than scarcity. Visualization and meditation can rewire subconscious patterns, making financial goals feel more attainable. Financial literacy and understanding money management reduces fear and uncertainty, empowering individuals to
make better financial choices. By replacing negative beliefs with empowering ones and applying practical financial knowledge, individuals can break mental barriers and cultivate lasting financial abundance. Srini what happens in the brain when someone tries to override a limiting financial belief? Well, I'll tell you a brain study that I think addresses this area quite nicely. There was a study in which people were given a neutral paste and but in three different tubes and each tube was labeled
differently. The first was labeled lidocaine for pain relief. The second was labeled capsaicin, which is the active ingredient in Chile. And the third was labeled neutral. And what they found was that if somebody got the neutral pace that was labeled lidocaine because they expected something good to happen. The reward center in the brain was actually stimulated. When they expected the active ingredient of chili to sting a little, they actually said wow, the
stings a little. And the pain centers in the brain were activated. And in the neutral, in the neutral pace, nothing happened. What this teaches us is that in the brain, when you have limited beliefs, the brain actually will respond accordingly. Whereas when you think in terms of possibility rather than probability, I always tell people that if you want an exceptional life, by definition, an exception is low probability. High probability is having the same amount of money as
anyone else. If you want a large amount of money, you're going to be in a minority. So using probabilistic thinking throughout is probably something that won't work. Rather, living into a sense of possibility. And activating this default mode network in the brain, which does really amazing things, can actually help. So when you do spend time in possibility thinking, you activate the default mode network, which is the dmn, which we used to think of as
the do mostly nothing network. We used to think, you know, there's nothing. This only comes on when you unfocus. However, when your mind is wandering and you're thinking about amazing ways in which you could spend this money that you're making, this network is turned on. And it is the only network in the brain that can properly process abstraction and properly process complexity. And it's also known as the crystal ball of the human brain because it
can predict things better than anything else. If you stay stuck in your logical brain, which is like, I don't have enough money, I can't find a way to actually make this money and so I might as well do nothing, then the part of your brain that is wired to process complexity, abstraction, and see into the future is turned off. For that reason, it's super important to be able to start with a sense of possibility, Start with what if I could, and then outline what that is. And you
talk about a cognitive rhythm too. You can't just spend all your time doing the tasks on your to do list. You need to take a walk so that you're, you have this thinking, exercising a different part of your brain. Absolutely. And also thinking strategically about your day. You know, there's a, there's a video online of Jeff Bezos who talks about how he spends his day. And one of the things he says is when he gets up, he's generally just looking, reading the
newspaper, hanging out. And then he sets all his high intensity meetings that require a lot of brain energy. At times when he knows his energy is greatest. And for meetings that don't require that much energy, he schedules them when his energy is lowest. But he makes a point that he spends a lot of time during the day just simply basically allowing this complex circuit in his brain to come together, presumably to be able to come up with ideas that his logical brain could never come up with.
John, how does fear of success, rather than fear of failure sometimes block people from financial abundance? Sure. The fear circuit in the brain, whether it's fear of success or fear of failure, or fear of being embarrassed or shamed or ridiculed or judged, is a fear circuit. And responds by sending the, the, the neurochemicals associated with fear, whether it's cortisol, epinephrine, adrenaline, etc. And in most Cases, it puts the brakes on motive for action or motivation. We're wired
for safety and security. We're wired to avoid any pain or discomfort. And so if we have a fear reaction and we don't know how to turn the fear into fuel, because the neurochemicals of fear are actually very, very powerful. But what happens with a lot of people is if they're afraid of failing or succeeding or being embarrassed or ashamed or ridiculed or judged, they want to move away from
those feelings. And in most cases, it means that they're going to retract back into their habitual zone, their familiar zone, because they feel safe there. And so fear, when you understand that you're usually not afraid of what you think you're afraid of, you can use that as a way to become aware that something is triggering my fear circuit. And what I teach in my book, Inner Size and also my app, Innersize, is how do I become more aware when my fear circuit is activated, and
how do I turn it off so I can tap back into. And behind me you can see I've got Frankie's monster on one side and Einstein on the other side. Usually when my fear circuits activated, my Frankie's monster is activated, and Frankie's monster is going, well, what if you fail? What if you succeed and nobody loves you anymore? What if you're abandoned? What if you're embarrassed, ashamed, ridiculed? You're judged? Well, taking a few slow, deep breaths in through your nose and slowly, slowly,
slowly out through your mouth, I call that take six. Calm the circuits. You want to calm that sympathetic nervous system that's firing off those electrical and neurochemical releases in our body. And we want to turn back on our Einstein brain, you know, which is our CEO, executive director, part of our brain. So we say, okay, what's causing this fear of success? Like, what is it about achieving success that I'm actually wanting to, like, not go there? And now we can start to become
more aware. And in that awareness, we say, oh, I'm afraid of being alone or abandoned or being taken advantage of. And now we can start to have a healthy inner dialogue with us and saying, is that really true? And what can I do about that so that it does not happen? And we can start to have a healthy understanding that our brain wants to protect us, keep us safe, keep us away from real or imagined pain. But we can override that natural circuit firing around that
topic with a little bit of inner size, right? Strengthening key parts of our brain so we can take action and achieve the goals that we actually want to achieve. Ellen, your thoughts? I want to focus specifically on fear around money. So I talk to money, money talks back to me. And one of the things that I know from what I hear and when I work with people is that people have so much fear around money. Fear they're not going to have it. Fear they're going to lose
it. I've worked with people with hundreds of millions of dollars and people with, with very, very limited means. And I think people with less money think, well, if I had tons of money,
why would I ever fear it? But it's just not the case. I think that more often than not there's this level of anxiety and it is crucial to be able to deal with that because when we are freaked out about money, In a book called Scarcity, the researchers found that your IQ actually drops when your back is up against the wall with money. Well, how can you possibly make a good decision in if you're freaked out? And so it's no small matter to be able to deal
with our fears around money. There's I, I believe that most of the problems in the world are from people focusing on lack versus abundance. And there's ways, like John was saying with taking deep breaths and the video talked about with gratitude and generosity that are beautiful ways for us to lower stress that we have around losing what we have or not having enough or making bad decisions with money.
Thank you. Let's go to segment four. Turning financial aspirations into reality requires more than visualization. It takes strategic planning and consistent action. A clear roadmap bridges the gap between ambition and tangible results. The SMART framework helps structure goals, set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. Instead of saying I want to save money, define a concrete target like I will save
$5,000 within 12 months. By setting aside $417 per month, automation simplifies progress. Setting up automatic transfers to savings or investment accounts builds consistency and removes the temptation to spend. Breaking goals into smaller steps, like reducing discretionary expenses or exploring additional income streams, keeps momentum going. Tracking progress and reviewing financial goals regularly helps maintain accountability and allows for necessary adjustments.
Financial success isn't just about setting intentions. It's about following through with actionable steps. By combining visualization with execution, financial goals move from ideas to reality. John, you emphasize action in your work. What's your best advice for translating visualization into measurable results? So I think it depends on who you are. And I don't agree with some of the smart goal setting because part of Setting big goals allows your brain to tap into how could I achieve those big
goals? But if you don't know how to manage your self, talk and manage the emotions of doubt, fear, anxiety, stress, etc. By setting big goals, then you shouldn't set big goals, set small goals and build a path towards those. So it depends on who you are. And if we're dealing with beliefs that are limiting you self image, that's limiting you fears that are holding you hostage. So we want to understand what is in the way of achieving a
financial goal. And I personally believe that most of us can achieve just about whatever financial goal we want. Not everybody, but not everybody understands how to develop the beliefs and the habits and the behaviors that are consistent to achieve the goal.
So depending on who you are and what your experience is with achieving goals versus setting goals, because a lot of people set goals, but that is an exercise in our conscious mind of what I'd like to do in our imagination and our hope center in our brain. But if we don't understand the other pieces of
it, then it's just pie in the sky stuff. And people will not achieve their goals unless they figure out, as I mentioned before, what do you want to achieve, how do you want to achieve it, when do you want to achieve it by how are you going to achieve it, what are the obstacles, what are your counter strategies, and then what tools and resources are you going to
use? For example, like AI, which we can use right now, in less than 60 seconds, I could have a plan to achieve any financial goal that I want in any of the five pillars of earn, manage, invest, protect or get out of debt fast, or use debt as leverage. So we have never been at a precipice of a moment in history like we are right now with AI at our fingertips, with an IQ of 120, 140 right now, going to 400, going to 1,000 in the next couple of years. So
I don't really believe in smart goals. So AI can help you achieve your goals or to put a plan together. Faster in 60 seconds or less. I shared with all of our students have programs that we coach people on this and people that are in their 60s, 70s,
80s, are like, oh my God, I didn't know how to do this. Here is my minute by minute, morning by afternoon, by evening plan based on what I want to do or don't want to do, based on what I understand and don't understand, where we can give them some realistic hope that there is a path is if somebody doesn't have hope that there is a path for me, then they live in a state of stress and fear. And that's not a good place to come from.
Even though fear can be a great motivator, it's not a good place for most people to consistently be under that stress or fear to achieve their financial goals. Srini, share with us an experience that you've had with your client who is able to really see or make drastic changes and become more successful. Yeah, you know, so I had a client who was, he had everything that he needed to make a lot of money. But there were issues around his self image and issues around his own fear of being
free that he hadn't, that he hadn't addressed. And he was making a couple hundred thousand dollars a year, which was helpful for him and his family. But he eventually evolved within three years to having a net worth of more than $50 million. And it's still increasing. And part of what I think he addressed is this phenomenon that Kierkegaard pointed out, which is that one of the things that stands in the way of our goal setting when we want to become wealthier is fear and anxiety.
And what Kierkegaard said was that anxiety is the dizziness of fear, freedom. We say we want to be free, but to actually be free is really frightening. So if you actually sort of say to yourself, you know, I want to have a lot of money and I want to be free to do whatever I want to do, well, then what's going to happen to my family? And what if I want to
do my own thing? So, so a lot of things that I think stopped him were, were the fear that with a lot of wealth his lifestyle would change, that somehow at the, at the bottom of it all, he would lose his family life. But he found as he went on that he would, there were ways in which he could apply this to his family life. Now, it's not the only factor, but I think that fear does
actually get in people's ways. And one thing I like to share with people when it comes to managing fear is what actually decreases the impact of fear on the brain. It's a five step process. The first, it's Cirque, defined by the mnemonic circa. The first C is to chunk things down, which is something that he did, which is, okay, what's my goal now? What's my goal in six months? What's my
goal in 12 months? To ruthlessly prioritize so that you pay attention to the things that make you money and to delegate things that are unnecessary. The eye is for ignore mental chatter, which is essentially mindfulness. Sitting back in a chair for even five minutes a day, paying attention to your breath. And if your mind races, just bringing your attention slowly back to your breath. The R is for reality check, which is when something horrible
happens, learning to say this too shall pass. It's a form of self talk. The second C is control check. How do I focus on what I can control rather than waste my brain space with stuff I cannot control? And the last thing is A or attention shift. How do I shift from the problem to the solution? And this is, I think, something that he did sometimes in deliberate ways and sometimes in non deliberate ways to free his brain up to be able to accommodate this large goal that he had and still has. Thank
you, Ellen. How can the vision board, you talked about combining it with a financial plan. So can you talk about, are you advocating for doing them side by side to support one another? A great way to turn your vision into reality? Because what's been mentioned, but I want to double click on, is having a vision board and just staring at it and not doing anything is not usually a way that you're going to get your goals. I once had
someone say to me, oh, vision boards don't work. And I think she was just anticipating, like I put these pictures, pretty pictures on a board and I put it on the wall and I don't take any action. And by combining it with a financial plan, it will help you know some of the steps you need to take, especially for financial goals. Some of the goals you have might be ones that don't require any money, but maybe require time. And I love a good financial plan that builds in
really all parts of your life. So your time, your family, your giving goals, your financial goals. And so doing them in lockstep, I think is a wonderful way to turn some of those goals into a reality. I also wanted to just mention when John was talking about these limiting beliefs we may have, I think back about years ago when I was doing a business plan with my coach at the time, I realized that as I was writing my goals, I had a belief that was, oh, I never reach my business goals.
And so I think these beliefs that we can have are just like they're the water we swim in. We don't even know we have them. And when you have a partner, like a financial advisor, like a good coach, it can be helpful to help identify with some of those goals that are, excuse me, beliefs that are limiting our progress actually are. Thank you so much. Let's wrap it. Let's bring it home with our last
segment. Financial success becomes more meaningful when it aligns with ethical values and contributes positively to society. Balancing wealth creation with purpose fosters long term prosperity while making a difference. Shifting from a scarcity mindset to an abundance perspective encourages collaboration and generosity. Viewing financial opportunities as limitless rather than a competition opens doors for sustainable success. Ethical wealth creation takes many
forms. Impact investing channels capital into ventures that generate both financial returns and positive social or environmental impact. Businesses that adopt corporate social responsibility practices such as fair labor policies and sustainability initiatives. Incentives enhance both profitability and social impact. Philanthropy plays a key role in purposeful wealth management. Allocating resources to charitable causes strengthens communities and reinforces the idea that financial
success can benefit more than just the individual. By integrating ethical principles into financial decisions, wealth becomes a tool for positive change. Foreign I'm going to go to Sereni to see if we can get one more answer out of you. Before you have to go, can you comment on the importance of meaning, purpose and virtue? Oh, you're muted. Sorry. I think meaning and purpose are incredibly important as they relate to motivating
factors. Because when someone has meaning and purpose and feels aligned with their vision, the intrinsic motivation is actually increased and then your ability to execute on that action matters. I think virtue is incredible, but I think along with virtue should come self compassion. Studies on coaching have shown that goal oriented coaching is actually less effective than
compassion oriented coaching. And that's in part because if you're only focused on your goals constantly and you want to remain a certain way, you know, virtuous in a sense, you will, you will stop being forgiving towards yourself and your sympathetic nervous system is in overdrive. So from time to time I like to say to people that, that when it comes to our virtues, I think we all have these light sides, but we also have darker sides
to ourselves. And learning to accept, understand and work with those things is as important as the virtues that you're speaking about. And thank you so much for having me on. I'm sorry that I have to drop up, but it's lovely seeing you and interacting with John and Ellen as well. Lovely to have you. Thank you for joining. Srini. Thank you. Ellen, you did talk about the importance of giving
earlier. How can people balance wealth creation with social responsibility so that they don't feel like they have to sacrifice one over the other? First, I want to say that generosity precedes prosperity. It really is the engine. I get a little frustrated sometimes when I'll hear people Say, oh, when I have more money, I'll give back, give forward. It loosens your grip on money and really helps more flow in. It reduces
our stress level. There's something called subjective wealth that when we give money to charity, we actually feel like we're wealthier. And so in terms of building it into a plan, I think it should be part of your plan. I love the idea of giving a percentage of your money away because then as your income rises, you proportionately give
more. If your income goes down, you give less. If you're working with an advisor to talk about what's important to you and how do you actually build that into your plan? And it can, of course, from a tactical standpoint, bring tax benefits, help you in lots of ways financially as well. But it's one of my favorite tools for stress reduction and prosperity creation is being generous. So there are benefits on many levels.
John, what's your take? You talked about how charity in giving is an important part of your vision board and your goals. What's your take on trying to align your financial success with personal values? Yeah, for me, it's right up there with oxygen. And I love what Ellen said. I just wrote a gift forward. Think about energy. You know, we are energy, our thoughts are energy, our behaviors are energy. And when you're in a scarcity mindset, right, we can either be in scarcity,
security, success, or significance. When you're in a scarcity mindset and you're holding on as if there's not enough, I personally believe now this is going to be a little bit off of off topic, but I believe that the universe matches our emotional state and our beliefs. So if we believe I need to hold on, then the universe holds on. But when we release, when we release give forward, the universe matches. Almost like we sending out a boomerang that keeps coming back
to you. We cannot out give the universe. So I think there's different ways to give. One is, you know, how can we give mentally by being positive, how can we give emotionally, how can we give physically, and how can we give financially? And when we believe that there's an abundance, then the well is never, ever, ever dry. But if we hold on, then what are we really believing? Do we believe that there's more than enough? Do we believe that there's not enough?
So, you know, our company gives 1% of our gross revenues and my wife and I and children give a percentage of our income every month as a way of believing and behaving in alignment with abundance. And that creates a mindset it creates an emotional state. It creates this ripple effect that I believe, you know, this tithing mindset is critical for success and it has served me well, it served our family well. And I believe you've got to be a go giver and a go
getter. And I've always taught my children, you know, use some of your money for your well being and fun. Save some of it and give some of it away and you'll always have more than enough. And both my kids in their late 20s have more than enough. I love that balanced approach to life. Ellen, any closing thought before you have to go? My closing thought is I love Andy, that you're having this
conversation. You know, I started in financial services many years ago and you would not have had a vision board conversation from someone with your credentialed background. You would not have had a conversation about our belief system. And still it's not being had enough. So I just want to thank you for the work that you're doing in the world and thank you for inviting me to be on the show with you. Thank you, Ellen. Thank you for joining today. John, any final
thought from you? Listen, my final thoughts. I'm going to echo what Ellen said. It's great to meet Ellen and to
connect with my buddy Srini. There's more than enough for all of us and when we can get some of the tools in place, right, and use this $100 billion bio computer that we have by giving it the vision board for the visuals and the emotions, the planning that's required to take care of another part of our brain that needs to know, well, how am I going to make enough money or manage my money better and invest it so that at a certain point in my life I have this financial and emotional freedom and
choice freedom. When we combine the different facets of our brain with the right behaviors, we have a lot of hope in us that we can actually achieve the goals, the vision, the life that we want. And I believe that everybody has the ability to make measurable progress when they have the right tools, the right environment and the right
team. Thank you, John. This has been an incredible conversation and as Ellen alluded to a little bit of a crazy topic for a financial advisor, maybe unexpected, but I think if there's one takeaway from today's discussion is that a vision board isn't just a collage of pretty pictures. It is very much a tool to train your brain to focus your energy to take
action toward financial success. So a huge thank you to John Srini and Ellen who highlighted the science behind visualization, the power of belief, how to bridge the gap between dreaming and doing, taking action. But here's the thing. A vision board only works if you use it. So my challenge for you this week is to take 10 minutes of your own finance. Well, take 10
minutes to start your own financial vision board. Grab a piece of paper, open a digital board, create a simple list of images and words that represent your goals and just start because clarity leads to action. And then share your progress with progress with me. Tag me on LinkedIn or social media, send me a message. I'd love to hear what you're working on and how it's working out. A shout out to the
Inspired Money team. We're small but mighty. Excellent segment edits by Bradley John, Eagle Feather and Graphic graphic animations by Chad Lawrence. Thanks to our amazing panelists. One more time. Be sure to follow them and learn more about them. You can find John Asaraf, known as the brain whisperer. He's CEO of myneurogym.com a couple, well, several books. Very well known for the answer Having it All. I have to mention the complete Vision Board kit since that was our subject today in
Inner Size, which is both a book and an app. You can find him at www.johnasseraf.com. John did you want to share any other websites or anything? Yeah, I mean if anybody wants to literally train their brain on the stuff that we've talked about. I've got an Amazon number one best selling book that called Inner Size. But I have an app with over 600 brain training inner size that use visualization and mindfulness and affirmations for money and
wealth and leadership and self confidence. And so check out the app either in the App store or at innersize.com. Perfect. Thank you John. You can find Dr. Srini Pillay. He has several books too. Check out Tinker Dabble Doodle Try: Unlock the power of the unfocused mind. He also has Life Unlocked. Check that out. You can find him at www.drsrinipillayy.com or also his Neuro Business Group which is nbgcorporate.com and Ellen Rogin, money expert, financial intuitive. You can find her at
www.ellenrogin.com. A couple of books, Messages From Money and Picture Your Prosperity. Thank you everyone for joining us. I thank you. Inspired Money Maker. The next Inspired Money episode will be Retirement income maximizing returns for financial freedom. That's scheduled for next week, Wednesday, March 19th. I look forward to seeing you. Then, until next time, do something that scares you. Because that's where the magic happens. Thanks, everyone.