Mark Lack Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Mark Lack
Mark Lack is our guest today, joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots free podcast interview.
This is a man who lives his life by two rules.
And these are two rules that by and large most people will try to keep away from, and then they wonder why they haven’t got their dream life.
He believes that
You can’t be afraid to take a risk.
You absolutely MUST have a plan.
And then if you know anything about him, he adds to the mix a huge belief in himself, a flexing hustle muscle that he demonstrates everyday, and an easy going nature that helps him reach out to the movers and shakers across the globe.
As a young man, he had a burning passion to become a professional paintballer, and upon getting his first gun from his parents set out to achieve his aim.
And it seems that what Mark Lack wants to do, he makes sure that he does.
Its within four years he had travelled the world shooting capsules of paint at people winning $300,000 dollars in the process.
Even gaining the top prize of $160,000 in just one weekend.
But at his core burned a question.
A question that had occurred to him several years earlier, and had remain within him.
Gnawing away.
How The Dots Joined Up For Mark
He asked himself “If people can come from nothing and create insane amounts of wealth in one lifetime, then shouldn’t someone like myself coming from a middle class family who has the support from their family and lives in “The Land of Opportunity” be able to easily do the same thing?”
Wow, for a fourteen year old kid that shows awareness beyond his years.
He realised at any early age that comfort creates mediocrity, and pain motives change.
And now after investing over $500,000 of his own money on self development, and spending time with the likes of Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield and even Arnold Schwarzenegger he is taking those personal skills and sharing them with the world with his Peak Performance Club.
But how does someone at the age of 14 start thinking in such an advanced way, especially when it appears he didn’t have anything to force him to think that way?
And where does he find the greatest need within the people that he coaches and inspires across the world?
Well let’s bring onto the show to start joining up dots, as we discuss the words of Steve Jobs with the one and only Mr Mark Lack.
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Mark Lack such as:
How we all have the ability to be Batman in real life, as long as we have belief, loads of money, and the desire to develop all aspects of ourselves.
How once we realise that the word Fear stands for “False Evidence Appearing Real” we are in a great position to push on and grasp the dreams of our lives.
Why Mark believes that he has been hungry three times, but not hungry for food, hungry for the next stage of his life
Why blind faith is important in life, and we should operate as if we are following a food recipe sometimes. Doing the right things in the right order and believing it will come good in the end
And lastly……
If you are interested in something you will give up, but if you are committed then you are in it for the long haul. Find the thing that you cant get enough of doing, and then go for it!
Mark Lack Books
How To Connect With Mark Lack
Return To The Top Of Mark Lack
If you enjoyed this episode With Mark Lack then why not listen to some of our favourite podcast episodes such as Simon T Bailey, Dan Martell, Dan Lok or the amazing Noah Kagan
Or if you prefer just pop over to our podcast archive for thousands of amazing episodes to choose from.
Audio Transcription Of Mark Lack Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK, David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:26]
Yes, hello there. It’s Episode 196 of it Join Up Dots, all the listeners out there across the world. Welcome to another powerhouse episode. And it is going to be an absolute amazing one today because the chap on the other end of the line is a guest who basically lives his life by two rules. And these are two rules that by and large, most people will try to keep away from and then they wonder why they haven’t got their dream life. He believes you can’t be afraid to take a risk and you absolutely must have a plan. And then if you know anything could be hear me add to the mix a huge belief in himself flexing hustle muscle that he demonstrates every day, and an easygoing nature that helps him reach out to the movers and shakers across the globe. Now, as a young man, he had a burning passion to become a professional paint bowler, I didn’t even know that you could be a professional paint bowler, and upon getting his first gun from his parents set out to achieve the same and it seems that what he wants to do he make sure that he does it as within four years, he travelled the world shooting capsules of paint a people winning 300 grand in the process, even gaining a top prize of 160,000 in just one weekend. Nice work if you can get it. But his core burned a question a question that occurred to him several years earlier and I had remained with him gnawing away he asked himself if people can come from nothing and create insane amounts of wealth in one lifetime. But shouldn’t someone like myself coming from a middle class family, who has the support from their family and lives in the land of opportunity unity, be able to do easily the same thing? Wow. For a 14 year old kid that shows awareness beyond the years, he realised that an early age back comfort creates mediocrity and pain, motives change. And now after investing over 500,000 of his own money on self development and spending time with the likes of Bob Proctor Jack Canfield, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger, he is taking those personal skills and sharing them with the world with his peak performance club. But how does someone at the age of 14 start thinking in such an advanced way, especially when it appears? He didn’t really have anything to force him to think that way? And where does he find the greatest need within the people that he coaches and inspires across the world? Well, let’s find out as we bring on to the show to start Join Up Dots. The one and only Mr. Mark Lack. How are you Mark?
Mark Lack [2:48]
I am fantastic and absolutely blown away by that introduction that was hands down. One of the best introductions I’ve had and I do dozens of interviews.
David Ralph [2:58]
Come on you could have said it was the best one.
Mark Lack [3:00]
Know what? No one’s listening. Hands down, hands down the best one day. Oh, there
David Ralph [3:03]
you go. And it’s not like I tried to drag that out of you. It was just it was it’s from the heart, wasn’t it? That statement mouth
Mark Lack [3:10]
100% from the heart, David, you are the man,
David Ralph [3:13]
you have got an amazing life having you on. I like to do a little bit of a preamble. But with you, I’m going to steam straight into it. Because even where you’re contacting me from today is kind of, quote unquote, dream life. You are a California guy. You’re based down in Marina Del Rey, it’s probably Sunny, beautiful women running around all around you. You’re drinking the hand. It’s perfect.
Mark Lack [3:40]
Well,
you’re pretty close, you’re pretty close
David Ralph [3:44]
to an accurate guest. Have you got a beautiful woman in the hand? Is that different than the drink?
Mark Lack [3:49]
Uh, I’m not going to answer that question, David.
David Ralph [3:53]
You don’t have to? I know, just because you haven’t answered what the answer is. It’s out there now. We know. But no, you do live in a remarkable place. Have you always been a California?
Mark Lack [4:05]
i? Fortunately, I guess you could say Fortunately, I have always been in California. But however, I have been privileged with the opportunity to travel the world and experience the wonders of all the different cultures.
David Ralph [4:17]
And what is the culture if you weren’t living in California, because I people always say to me, if you could live in America, and I generally would, if I wasn’t in the United Kingdom, I’d live in America, there’s something about it that I love. But I particularly like two areas. I like Cape Cod, because it’s kind of windy and desolate, and you just kind of you’ve got the four dramatic seasons, and you’ve got California, so you actually live in the place that I would like to live. But if I took you from there to one of the cultures that you’ve experienced, what would be the place that you would go for?
Mark Lack [4:51]
That’s a good question. And it’s maybe a little bit difficult to answer because I have not yet experienced everything that I want to around the world. But from my experience thus far, I would probably say somewhere in Europe, or maybe even Australia, I’ve got lots of friends and clients out in those locations. And there, you know, in my experience, and you’re just validating it, most of the people I’ve met in Europe and Australia and different areas like that have all been such amazing individuals. And so I would probably reside somewhere over there.
David Ralph [5:19]
Do you know the two words that since since we’ve been talking, I thought to myself about since interesting. Number one, you say that you have been privileged to travel the world where a lot of people will say, No, he’s got off his backside and made it happen. And we emphasise is that you are aware of different cultures and its ability to take those cultures and become one and sort of be global? Well suppose is the word I’m thinking about? Did you feel that you are a global entity, that you are somebody that is the centre of things, because I know you have clients all across the world does it sort of blow your mind, but you put yourself in that position.
Mark Lack [5:58]
Um, you know, I have no clue a nation or delusions that I am the person that can, you know, make an impact in every person’s life so that I can have this, you know, the answers to everybody and add value to everybody. But I do pride myself on consistently developing and sharpening my skills so that I can add value to more people’s lives. And so, you know, I’m just coming from a place of gratitude and appreciation. And, you know, it’s it’s an honour to be able to serve people all over the world. Did you feel that strongly
David Ralph [6:26]
that the ability to serve is the ultimate state to be because it seems most people if not all of them, that have been on my show, pretty much had become successful by providing value?
Mark Lack [6:40]
You know, I’m glad that you brought that up, because there’s a quote that always guides me. And that is that the income that you you make in life will be in direct proportion to the quantity, quality and consistency of the value that you create for others. So yes, if you get into an area of your life, where you your mindset, and your purpose in life, is to become the best version of yourself possible meaning to you literally just grow and grow and invest in personal growth and professional growth, then what that’s going to do is it’s going to allow you to contribute more into the world, the more you grow, the more you can contribute and, and direct proportion to that meaning, the value that you can then add to others will be in perfect proportion to the amount of money that you make, you know, money is a byproduct of value creation. So yes, serving is definitely the key to success.
David Ralph [7:29]
Why do you think know that people don’t buy into that successful people seem to just know that, and the more that I give away, the more they seem to get back. But if you speak to the sort of a man on the street, who is on a path that isn’t really fulfilling him, he will basically try to get the majority of it and keep it himself. And you know, for years and years and years, I was that kind of person, I was the kind of person but if I earned it, I would keep it. And occasionally somebody would rattle a bucket in front of me or throw in a couple of coins. But it wasn’t the kind of charitable side of my character to sort of come out. Now it’s very different. And just because I’m surrounded by people like you and all the other ones, I can see it’s the way forward but the main industry doesn’t. Why do you think that is?
Mark Lack [8:15]
You know, one of my mentors taught me a long time ago that the secret to living is giving and I know that may sound, you know, like a simple saying that’s overplayed and doesn’t really have a lot of validity to it. But it really is the secret to living is giving. And I mean, honestly, you know, for those of you listening right now, does it feel better to give something to somebody? Or does it feel better to receive it, at least my belief is that from giving so much in my life, whether it’s my time, my energy, my resources, my capital, whatever it may be, when you give to somebody else, at least for me, the best days, the most fulfilling days that I have, or the days that I’ve personally grown more by studying or whatever that may be. And then by giving and contributing to others that may or may not be less fortunate than me. But it’s the point of contributing and giving to another person that really makes a difference not only in your fulfilment in life, but if you believe that what goes out comes back, then the more that you give, the more that you will end up receiving. So my philosophy on life is, the more you if you want to live the highest quality of life, then you need to give at the highest level of possibility for yourself. But in order to give more, you have to also grow more. So with this fine balance of personal growth and contribution that I think that if you can master that, then you’ll have everything you want in life.
David Ralph [9:30]
But let’s for the listeners, let’s frame what you do at the moment. And then we’re going to take you back in time, which is what we do on Join Up Dots. So you’ve got the peak performance club, for people who haven’t heard of that give us a flavour of what it’s about.
Mark Lack [9:44]
Awesome. So actually, I’m glad you brought it up. So it’s interesting, my company is actually going through a rebranding stage right now. So my company originally was, and still is the peak performance club, because my philosophy on life is achieving peak performance in any area requires constant and never ending improvement. But at the same time, we see people all around the world that have this money, right, maybe you could say they’ve achieved peak performance and, and financial security, or whatever you want to call it, or maybe they’ve got great relationships, but what we tend to see most commonly is that people will have mastered one area of their life. But in order to do that, they’ve had to give up attention and focus on other areas, maybe it’s their relationship with their wife, or their friends or their family or their kids, maybe it’s a lack of focus and energy and commitment to working on their health and really focusing on that, whatever it may be, we see it around us all the time. And if you don’t, maybe you’re just not looking hard enough. But it’s very rare that you see somebody who seems you know, at the surface level, and at the core to really have it all going, they’re spiritually fulfilled. They have amazing relationships with everyone around them. They have fantastic health regardless of their age, and they have the financial security to live the lifestyle that they truly desire for themselves and for their family. And they also are making the amount of money that allows them to contribute in the ways that they’d like to do. And so, you know, for me, personally, there’s, there’s a lot of different things that I could add value to for the listening audience. But I think, again, circling back, you know, my, my philosophy is really personal growth and contribution is definitely going to be the biggest key to success.
David Ralph [11:18]
So so you’re rebranding? Is it going to remain the peak performance club? Is the name going to stay the same? Or is it just a sort of that the ethos of the whole thing?
Mark Lack [11:27]
Well, yeah, so the peak performance club was my philosophy, again, because I was talking about achieving peak performance in every area of your life. But what we’re rebranding to now is the title of my best selling book, which is shorten the gap shortcuts to success and happiness. And so I’m rebranding my company from the peak performance club to shorten the gap. Because we’re coming up with this massive product line of shorten the gap, everything right, shorten the gap, close, shorten the gap. And it’s basically shorten the gap to the outcome and transformation that a person would desire, shorten the gap to better grades, shorten the gap to a better marriage, shorten the gap, to better find mantra success and freedom, whatever it may be. And, of course, I’m not writing about all of these books, it’s going to be very similar to a Chicken Soup for the Soul concept where individuals can come together and co authored books with me, and different things like that. And so shorten the gap, I believe is the perfect title, because it represents what I think we all want in today’s era, which is how can we get from our present moment and our present state that we’re currently in and shorten the gap as quickly and efficiently as possible to the results we desire in our life, whether that’s my present moment, I want to lose weight and get healthier, I want to have a better relationship, I want to get into a relationship, I want to make money, I want to move somewhere, we all are in our present moment. And we all have desires, wants and needs that we want in our near future. And so my philosophy is how can we shorten the gap to those results as fast as possible with a strategy proven strategies and action steps and the mindset necessary to shorten the gap to those desired outcomes that we want. So that’s why I’m rebranding my company. But in the meantime, for the listening audience, if they want to look us up, it is still the peak performance club. com. And if you go to that, it may or may not depending on when you look it up, redirect you to our new website as Tg three.com, which is just the acronym for shorten the gap. So really cool, exciting process. But, you know, sometimes you got to go through the rebranding stages like this, and I’m emotionally attached to my clients, not my business. Because my business is simply the vehicle that allows me to get to creating the outcomes and breakthroughs that I want for my clients. So rebranding and changing the name that I originally created is not an issue for me, I noticed for some clients as I also consult for businesses, but it’s really exciting to go through this process and looking forward to you know, being able to serve others in a larger way with our shorten the gap brand.
David Ralph [13:40]
It’s an interesting concept. But isn’t it shorten the gap, because most people will talk about life is a journey. And I think I talk about it the same way. And you have to do one step after another as if you know, you if you don’t put a spade working, you’re not going to get the results. But you feel that by having a plane and being able to take a risk that suppose that goes out the window to a point and you can actually make much quicker inroads where you want to be
Mark Lack [14:07]
Yeah, you know, there’s, there’s working hard, and then there’s working smart. And I think that most people don’t know the distinction between the two. Because most people are constantly taught and fed this, you know, ideology that you need to work hard to achieve things in life. And let me tell you, nobody wants to work hard, right? We all want things. Now, we don’t like to practice delayed gratification, although in most situations, it is the most rewarding of all, we all want instant gratification. I do too. And it’s something that I try to practice every day is delayed gratification. But at the end of the day, we all want to shorten the gap as quick as possible to the things we want in life. And so that’s again, why my company is all about quickly and efficiently coming up with strategies, game plans, tactics, action steps that are going to allow you to get to the things you want in life as fast as possible.
David Ralph [14:56]
So if we take you back in time, right down to solder, the D, little mouse running around the yard in California, maybe hitting a ball around and all that kind of stuff. Was there something that you really fancy being at that stage, because one of the things we talked about on this show and is the tagline is connecting our past to build our future. And when we talk about finding your passion, more often than not, it’s the passion you had as a small child, but you kind of forget somewhere along the journey. Are you close to that small child were the things that you liked as a very, you know, between the ages of six and 10 Is that the kind of things that mark likes today.
Mark Lack [15:36]
You know, I’ve always kind of been, as a young kid, I always liked taking risks, getting into trouble. And just having a good time and having fun and really being around people that I enjoyed being around. And so you could say that that has really carried through, you know, like most kids, depending on what age you want to call it. But at a young age, you know, of course, I wanted to be Superman and Batman and things like that, which, to some degree a little bit ridiculous because it’s based on a fictional character. But at the same time, I can be a superman in another person’s life, if I’ve helped them, you know, shorten the gap to what they want, whether that’s, you know, overcoming a horrible trauma or adversity that they faced, or whether that’s simply helping somebody achieve the financial success or relationships or health that they want to live the life. And, you know, I always say, make your life a masterpiece. And so I’m in I’m in the business, which I’m honoured to be in, where I help people make their business or their personal life a masterpiece. And so, you know, I don’t know if that’s what I thought I was going to be doing when I was a kid. But, you know, I didn’t go through that paintball phase. And so I was allowed to follow through on that. But, you know, it’s, uh, I’m in a good place right now. And I’m happy to be here. So,
David Ralph [16:44]
but but you could, I’ve had this argument in a pub, many, many times. Of all the superheroes, majority of them have got something weird about them, or they’ve been hit by radioactive spiders or something weird is happening. Batman is the only one that we could all be if you’ve got enough money, and I hope that you could actually be Batman, you could go out, you could buy the stuff you could learn to fight and do a passable job of being Batman, can you?
Mark Lack [17:15]
Or Iron Man or Iron Man?
David Ralph [17:17]
Yeah, there’s another one. Yeah, man as well. I think Batman is more logical because most of the time he doesn’t fly. He just kind of drops. And then yeah.
Mark Lack [17:25]
And I think Elon Musk has the Iron Man label down. I think he’s been given that award.
The modern day Iron Man,
David Ralph [17:32]
did you look at Elon Musk and think to yourself, Wow, that is a man who is just beyond anything out there? Because it’s astonishing, isn’t it? what he’s doing is a total different mindset to even the most successful movers and shakers. Elon Musk is like beyond where he’s up in the cloud somewhere. But what he’s coming out with is amazing, isn’t it?
Mark Lack [17:54]
It really is. Yeah, he’s definitely an inspiration.
David Ralph [17:57]
Well, what is it about him but you would go with Wow, that that’s almost that’s almost madness, that he’s breaking away.
Mark Lack [18:06]
I think it goes back to what you were mentioning earlier, which is why one of my main rules is taking risks. You know, Ilan has been somebody that has taken massive risks, and and creating new it new, you know, new niches, new industries. He’s one of the first people to really pioneer luxury cars at the level of which he’s done, and creating a whole new pathway for people to choose and still live the lifestyle they want, but in a more healthy, sustainable way for the earth. And then at the same time, he’s taking these massive leaps in space exploration that I think most people will be so terrified to go after. And he’s just creating such an amazing platform for people to really get involved with. And it’s going to really be he’s going to be one of the pioneers that really breaks open like a Thomas Edison or something that really breaks open a whole new pathway for the evolution of human consciousness and progression, it’s going to be really exciting to see what happens in the future.
David Ralph [18:57]
Now, you you obviously, as we said, in the intro, you’re going who likes to take a risk, you used to like taking a risk as a small child, and you still do it now. But when you think about the risks that Elon Musk is taking, does that scare you? Did you get those same kinds of fears that we have normal people have about taking risks? Or do you look at that and actually go, yeah, I could bite that I could I could take that on and chew and spit it out and become successful in the same way? He is.
Mark Lack [19:24]
Definitely Yeah, and I don’t say that, from a prideful standpoint, I actually say in the most humble way I possibly could. It’s really just because I spent so much time studying fear. And the philosophy behind, you know, I mean, first of all, the acronym for fear is false evidence appearing real. And so what you can get really good at is breaking down anytime you’re feeling fear. And here’s a little lesson I don’t mean to go into a coaching session now, but just a little gold nugget is anytime you feel fear, assess, is it truly danger and harmful to you? And if so, in what ways really break down? What ways? Could it be harmful to you? And will it lead to your ultimate demise or death or biggest fears in the world? Or is it just something that you know, your unconscious reptilian brain is conditioning you from your past conditioning, which is be afraid and stay in survival mode, rather than transitioning into a mindset focused and oriented around thriving, we’re back, you know, our brains are conditioned to survive, not to thrive. And so whenever I’m feeling afraid, and I want to stay in my comfort zone, I simply remind myself that that’s my unconscious conditioning from my past the human evolution of the way the brain works, which is part of the reptilian brain. And as we evolved, we’ve got a logical and emotional brain that really, you know, has, I guess, you could say, become more concrete. And we, we focus more on our logical and our emotional brains than we do our reptilian. But that’s why so many people don’t have control over their fear. Because you can’t really control fear, until you’ve learned how to really understand what fear is, and break it down to the level that most people don’t, they just feel fear. And they go, Wait a minute, I’m afraid right now I need to stay in survival mode, versus thrive on mode, which is breaking through that short term, or long term, little brick wall of fear breaking through that and pushing to the things that you really desire most in life. And so for me, you know, I have a belief system that keeps me so faithful and humble and confident and certain, and what I know I will have in my own life, President or after, and, you know, fear is something that I do deal with on a daily basis, as I’m sure most of us do. But at the same time, I have a process that I guide myself through on mental conditioning every day that really allows me to break down these barriers and perceived limitations of what we would call fear that would hold us back from becoming an Elon Musk or achieving, you know, the things that we really desire most in our life.
David Ralph [21:42]
Well, I’m going to ask you what that strategy that that tasks that you do on a daily basis, but I’m going to play some words of gentlemen, who really came to the forum recently, although he’s been around for years and years, but he said something is hugely powerful. This is Jim Carrey,
Jim Carrey [21:57]
my father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t leave that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
David Ralph [22:24]
So what he’s really saying bear in those that is powerful words is that he’s dead, didn’t believe in himself, and was ultimately scared. And we’re all the same way, we are all the same. I had a huge amount of fear this afternoon, I just felt it come over me and there was no reason for it, I ever, I just thought I was all going to go badly wrong. And if you listen back to the shows, I’ve done 200 of them. Now, I probably mentioned this every 25 shows. As the show gets bigger and bigger and bigger, my fear seems to increase. And then I kind of get used to it. And I feel comfortable for about 10 shows. And then it goes up again. And I cancel a break free from that. So how have you managed to train yourself and overcome those self limiting thoughts that that fear as we’re talking about, but Jim Carrey is saying you got to take a risk, you got to do the things you love? How are you doing that part?
Mark Lack [23:13]
You know, this is a great question that you bring up. And it’s really in order to get truly deep down. One of the things that I will say is anytime somebody asks a question similar to that, basically, the more context I have, because we all have limitations and fears in different areas of our life. So from a contextual standpoint, my answer will be sort of ambiguous, because I don’t have context. Like it’s not a relationship that you’re afraid of, or a business aspect, but fear in general, just it’s all encompassing aspects. I will say this, if you’re if you’re only going to, and this is back to what I did in paintball, right, I The reason why I became one of the best in the world so quickly, is not because when a situation would happen on the field, like, like, Oh, it’s two on five, right, two players versus five players, or whatever they were down on. If you wait to practice and break through fear when it’s happening, you will unless you’re constantly putting yourself in situations of fear most of us are not because we’re in survival mode. Most of us are constantly trying to avoid anything that could potentially equal pain and and try to go after things that will equal pleasure, because those are our two biggest motivating factors, avoiding pain and gaining pleasure or a combination of the two. But you really need to practice the situations, that will maybe not happen for a while, maybe it’s a couple months, or a couple years that this happens. Unless again, like you’re consistently pushing through it, what you need to do is you need to practice you need to condition yourself in situations that may arise in the future. Let me think of what the old saying is, right? It’s a luck, luck is opportunity and preparation with the crossroads. And one of the things is, if you’re not prepared for the opportunity, when it arises, then guess what, somebody who is prepared for the opportunity, who’s been practising and conditioning themselves is going to beat you every single time. And so if you’re not practising and conditioning yourself to break through fear and overcome fear, and have a confident mindset, and you’re not doing this every single day, well guess what, you have absolutely no excuse for why you’re afraid and for why you don’t have the things you want in your life. It’s so funny people come to me all the time, because I’m in the business of helping solve people’s problems. And again, I don’t solve all people’s problems, I have no delusion that I can do that. But I do have specific problems that I’m, you know, an expert at solving. And one of them is is helping people overcome perceived limitations and patterns that are holding them back from really achieving what they want in the different areas of their life. And so people come to me and they say, Mark, you know, I’m afraid of this, or mark, I’m struggling in this, you know, my relationship isn’t as good as it could be, or not making the money I could be or, you know, I didn’t get the promotion. And I always ask people, whenever they come to me with a problem, I say this, how many hours a day, every day, every week, every month, every year? Are you spending your time energy and resources, capital, everything you have, how many times a day are you spending your focus and energy on solving or educating yourself on how to properly solve that problem that you’ve come to me with, and most people go?
Not at all, they just spend most most of their time and energy focused on what they don’t have, and why they can’t have it and how, you know, all the fear and limitations that they have in their life. And Oh, woe is me, and I don’t have this and I don’t have, they don’t focus on what they can do. They focus on what they can’t do, and what’s holding them back. And so, so many times, it’s not even that I am going to give you the solution, right? Although I have lots of strategies and different things that I can guide people through to help them achieve what they want in life or break through a limiting pattern. But most of the time, it’s just helping people realise what they already know. But they’re not applying. And it’s a great thing that I always remind people of which is common sense, is not always common practice. So many of the times as a successful coach, I don’t need to tell people something they don’t know, I just need to help people remind themselves of what they do know, and then give them a powerful reason to take action on it. So for anyone who’s listening right now who’s afraid of something, or is worried about something and have a perceived limitation, or you’re stuck in a pattern, a pattern, a physiology, focus or language that’s holding you back right now from having what you really want. ask yourself that question. How many times a day? How many hours? Are you truly focused daily, weekly, monthly, annually on achieving this dream life that you desire so badly to have? And if your answer is not a ridiculously high, one hour, two hour, five hours, 10 hours? Well, guess what, there’s the first thing you need to start working on. So although again, I could go way deeper on strategies that will help people but ultimately, it comes down to conditioning and practice. Most people don’t condition themselves in practice, how to build a masterful life. Instead, we get stuck, you know, doing things, trivial activities that we don’t really want. And we’re afraid of taking the next leap forward. And we’re afraid of losing the things we don’t even really want in life. So if you’re afraid, start conditioning yourself, start breaking yourself out of your comfort zone. My big mentor, Tony Robbins always says, life begins at the end of your comfort zone. If you’re I always do this, I start you know, what really makes a difference in a person’s life is what they associate pain and pleasure to. And if you associate pleasure to being comfortable, well then guess what your life is going to stay the same, you’re going to be like the average person who has a 3% increase in their and their income each year, if you’re lucky. And guess what, you’re always going to be stuck in the lifestyle and the problems that you currently have, because of fear, because of the lack of conditioning and practice. Find a mentor, find someone who’s already achieved what you want go after it helps people that are less fortunate than you. If you’re growing and you’re contributing at the highest level possible, you will not have fear.
David Ralph [28:44]
It’s interesting, isn’t it? You obviously are talking from experience, knowledge, passion. But even at your level, you have mentors and mentors have mentors, you can never stop helping yourself, can you to develop?
Mark Lack [29:00]
exactly the best coaches and the best mentors have coaches and mentors?
David Ralph [29:05]
Well, what does a mentor give you because it’s this is another thing that’s come up a lot. If you speak to older people who are quote, unquote, successful, I don’t like to use that word, because it’s very much a defines your own personal belief in what successes. But for the people who have got lifestyles and images that we look at, and go, yes, that’s what we want. One of the things that they always seem to have is a mentor. The other one that they seem to have is the ability to have quiet time, whether meditate, or just just walk around with no distractions around them, where the majority of people are constantly on their phone, on Facebook, trying to get to the train, trying to get to work coming home, all my TV programmes going to start in half hour. But the it seems to be the people that have mastered it, have got those two things, they’ve got the mentors, and they’ve got that ability to separate themselves and reflect. Do you have that same in your life?
Mark Lack [30:01]
Of course, you know, there’s people always ask what is the key to success. And there’s so many keys imagine like a janitors keys, right? There’s a tonne of keys, anyone who tells you otherwise is, is guiding you in incorrectly, there are so many keys to success, there is not one simple recipe, although you could boil it down to a sentence or a paragraph of what achieve what it takes to achieve success. But at the end of the day, there’s a lot of things that it takes to be successful, but one of them is passion, enthusiasm, you’ve got to be hungry, if you’re not hungry, you’re not going to do what it takes, you’re just going to be interested, you’re not going to be committed, you’ve got to have amazing mentors that have already walked the path that you want to follow, it makes it way easier. The most successful people I know, have either taken decades to get there. Or you can follow my path, which is you can do it in a few years. If you just surround yourself with the people, the mentors, the advisors, that can guide you and support you, when you’re afraid they can turn it around when you’re questionable. They can give you answers. Whatever it is, you’ve got to surround yourself with people, a successful company has amazing team members. And any successful individual has amazing partners and team members and friends and family in their life. If you don’t have them, then you need to start getting them and looking for them. Get involved in organisations that can support you get in get involved in private Facebook groups that are you know, empowering. Surround yourself with people that are smarter than you. And inevitably, you will start to learn new things. If you’re hanging out with people that are just as smart as you How are you ever going to grow. And especially if you’re hanging out with people that are dumber than you to make you feel better about yourself, you’re never going to grow, you’ve got to be the dumbest person in the room. That’s the kind of room you want to be in. And I know people are thinking, Well, Mark, what about you? Yeah, I always try to surround myself with people that are smarter than me, that’s my most of my friends are 5060 and 70 years old, and they’re extremely successful. And they’ve paved the path in a way that I want to follow. And so, again, there’s so many keys, I can say, but I’m this specific topic, you’ve got to surround yourself with people that are living the lifestyle and following the path that you want to be on or that you’re currently on. And they will help you get there much faster.
David Ralph [32:10]
So when did you get hungry that that word jumped out at me, you’ve got to be hungry to wanted to want it. Because you know, at the age of 14, you had that that question? And I can’t imagine why you had that question. Because I certainly wouldn’t have done I was just like living life at that age. But when did that realisation that if people can come from nothing and create insane amounts of wealth in one lifetime? Why shouldn’t you had the opportunities and the middle class upbringing? Why shouldn’t you do great stuff? Were you hungry before then, or was that when hunger hit you?
Mark Lack [32:45]
You know, actually, I’ve sort of evolved through three different stages of hunger and human needs psychology and all these different things talks about life stages, we go through and as you go through different life stages, you’re going to be hungry for different things and the evolution of my hunger and sort of been at age 14, I was hungry to become one of the best paintball players in the world. And within three, approximately three to four years, I was one of the highest paid best professional paintball players in the world, on the best team in the world, travelling the world with all of the people that at age 14, when I first convinced my parents to get me in and painted in this picture, that picture became a reality within three to four years because I was hungry to become the best in the world. And I ended up doing just that by following, you know, the principles that I’ve shared with you, surrounding myself with the best people so that I could get beaten down every week at practice, and become better from it. And so although you do get better from winning, because you need that winning mindset, you learn a lot more from your failures. And so, first stage was 14, hunger, then when I got sort of like, towards my end of my career, in paintball around 1819, I hit a new stage of hunger. And that was, I’d already won everything there was to win in paintball, I needed to evolve to a new level. And so for me, I stepped out and I got into a new world, the entrepreneurial world. And while going to college, I just got so hungry for personal development. And I think that everybody goes through the stage is that personal development for most people, it’s like an evolutionary process, it starts everybody in my belief, you start in personal development for yourself to become a better version for you, and it’s about you, and create a better world for you. That’s why we started personal development, right? I want to have better things in my life. And then that’s why I really started. And then now where I’m at after half a decade, is I’ve evolved to a third level of hunger. And that is that my personal development is no longer for me, it’s for others. And so I always tell people that I used to turn pages in books, because I was hungry for myself to be better. And now I turned pages in books, because I’m hungry for other people to become better. And so I’m studying a full book, a full, whatever DVD, audio tapes, seminar, whatever, right? Oh, y’all even hire consultants to teach me things that I don’t need in my life. But I know my clients do. And so I’ll pay lots of money to learn the things that my clients need. And so you know, I’m at that stage of evolution. Now, with my hunger where I’m hungry to make a difference in other people’s lives, I’m living the life that I want to live, I just want to do everything I’m doing on a bigger scale. So my hunger now my why my emotional anchor for wanting to be as hungry as I am every day and work at you know, 18 hours a day, seven days a week, and then be able to take a month off, or weeks off, when I can do whatever I want, is because my hunger is oriented around personal growth and contribution, although I keep bringing it back to that because I want to drive that home. Those are the two needs of the Spirit, if you focus on personal growth, and then contributing to others, your whole life will change everything in life becomes better when you step into the best version of yourself possible, which is a journey that I call self mastery, which you actually never achieve self mastery. It’s a never ending process.
David Ralph [35:50]
I think what you were saying there, which is quite relevant to so many people, and it’s relevant to me, as you were saying it, I was thinking, David, you’ve got to do this, because, but basically, you’re driving yourself into the ground, is you will work incredibly hard. But then you will take a consistent amount of time off, you will recharge your batteries. And I think one of the things that people in the entrepreneurial spirit have is a kind of when we go back to Superman, again, that Superman vibe, they can do everything. And now you can run it from the top to the bottom. And by have got more energy than everybody else until it starts failing, boom. So you actually take, I suppose many retirements and you will actually work work work because you know, you’ve got a month off, that you can do whatever you want and recharge ready to go again.
Mark Lack [36:37]
Exactly. And you actually bring up some good points, you know, most of the time we here and we’re taught from a young age to have a well balanced diet, but rarely, or if ever are we taught to have a well balanced lifestyle. And so that’s one of the things that I teach a lot of people that I work with is how to create a well balanced lifestyle. Again, back to peak performance in every area of your life. Right. If you want to know one of the biggest if you could see janitor key set, right one of the biggest keys on that set for success and happiness and fulfilment in life is constant and never ending improvement in every area of your life. If you just focus 510 15 2030 minutes a day, on one or more of the areas of your life. And every day you give a little attention to your relationships, a little attention to your health, a little attention to your emotional fitness and mastery a little attention to your finances and focusing on highest yielding income activities. If you just focus on all the little areas of your life, and making small little improvements every day, every week, every month, every year, when you get to three years, five years, 10 years down the road and you look back, every area of your life will be a beautiful, amazing garden, the seed will just flourish. And you can think of it like bamboo if you’re not seeing results right off the bat. And you’re like, well Mark really lied to me. Well guess what, think of it like bamboo, sometimes you planted bam, you plant the bamboo shoot underground. And for three years, it never comes above the ground. And then once it finally sprouts above the ground, within just months, it’s sprouts up three feet, five feet, six feet. And then within a few years, it’s this massive, tall piece of bamboo. But for the first three years, it never even came out of the ground. And so some of the times not all the times, but in some areas of your life, it may be like bamboo, you may be working and working and working. And you may not see results, and then boom, all the sudden, like bamboo, when it finally hits, it’s just shooting up to the top. And that’s kind of how I was. And it’s an old saying that I learned again, from what my mentors, Tony, is what I practice in private, I’ll be rewarded for in public. And I was sort of like a recluse I studied for five years in the closet really, and not really met metaphorically in the closet. Like I would just study, study, study, study, study, study, study. And it was like not really my own life amazing results internally, but externally, nothing was really, my world was changing, but like monetarily and everything like that. But now, you know, I’m on track to be doing, you know, a lot of money, which, again, sort of like, my income is literally doubling by the month, it’s in saying, and like that’s like the bamboo concept, right? Like I was making nothing, and a paint ball. But like, when I started my business, I was making nothing. And then really quickly, we’re at a point now where our income from my business is doubling on a monthly basis. And that’s because we’re creating so much value out into the world. But um, but you must,
David Ralph [39:18]
you must have that perseverance, you must have that belief. You know, when I when I started this job, I said that I will work for two years. And I gave myself that figure, I will work for two years with no money coming into this because I had a total belief that I had to put in the foundations, I had to build the audience to get to the point where I wanted to be. And so if you’re reading books for three years, whatever, most people would give up one day, that’s the thing, you’ve got that perseverance to just keep on going now is it perseverance or is it in a belief that you’ve got,
Mark Lack [39:53]
you know, it’s all the above, again, it goes back to being interested or being committed. And the difference is, if you’re interested in you’ll do, you’ll do what it takes when it’s convenient. If you’re committed, you’ll do whatever it takes right now. And you will not give up or stop until you have it. And so again, if you’re interested, you’ll give up maybe three years, five years, you’ll give up, it doesn’t matter, you’ll get that if you’re committed, you will never stop until you die. And so that’s really the difference is if you’re truly truly committed to creating the life that you want for yourself. If you’re truly committed to creating the life that you want for your family, and you’re truly committed to having all the wonders of the world that you want to experience and that you deserve, then you’ve got to be committed. And if you’re if you don’t have those things, and you’re not on the path to getting them, it’s just because at some level, you might be committed, but maybe your approach is wrong. Here’s a simple equation to remember for success, you got to do the right thing at the right time in the right order. Think of it like a recipe book in the kitchen. If you don’t follow that recipe and do the right thing at the right time in the wrong order you the egg and the flour and then you put it in the oven, you take it out and then you put the sugar in it. And then you put this that what right if you don’t do it at the right time in the right order, you’re going to do it wrong, it’s not going to come out the way it’s supposed to. So some of you may be going yeah, but mark, I’m so committed, I’m working so hard. You’re not working smart. You haven’t found a proven process, you’re not following mentors that have paved the path before you. It’s a simple little, you know, visualisation here, it’s like a fly going into a window that we’ve all seen before, right? The Fly keeps hitting the window, hitting the window hitting the wind up, it sees where it wants to go. It’s trying as hard as it can to get there. But it can’t make any progress. It’s wondering what the heck’s going on, it’s about to give up. That’s because with even less energy, the fly can just redirect itself and go out the window, which is right next to the window, go out the open window versus the closed window. But it’s been it sees where it wants to go. But it’s hitting this window, they call it in business, the financial glass ceiling, which be most people hit right with less energy by working smarter and redirecting them energy. And that hard work, you can have everything in life come to you more effortlessly. But you’ve got to work smart.
David Ralph [42:07]
So you’re pretty much going with the the sort of the flow of water that will always find the easiest path through.
Mark Lack [42:15]
Exactly. And again, it’s not necessarily the easiest path, but it’s the proven path.
David Ralph [42:21]
How do people get that though? Because this is the key thing. We’ve got the listeners out there, and they’re listening to you. And they’re going, Yeah, okay, it’s all right for Mark, because he’s got through it. And this is one of the things that holds so many people back, they will look at you and go, it’s all right for him. They haven’t seen the effort you put in, they haven’t seen the amount you’ve invested, they haven’t seen the hustle, you put it, they just go. It’s all right for you. So what is the first kind of thing that they need to do if they’re in a crappy job, and they’re sitting there and I’m thinking I really need to do something. And I went to leaving do last night. And literally every person that came up to me about I used to work with had a moan and groan, storey and I kind of listened. And I nodded. And I sort of said, you know, where you can do other things, and it’s up to you, and don’t be a victim and all that kind of stuff. But every single one of them was almost embracing the fact that they were unhappy. So how do people break free from that when they are trapped?
Mark Lack [43:19]
I love it. I love it. Let me ask you a question, David. If somebody put a gun to your head, and said, whatever it is, right, let’s say it’s you better turn your relationship with your wife around in the next month, or you’re dead, or you better lose the weight, David, in a month, or in a year or you’re dead, you better make the money that you want or achieve the goals you said or make a million dollars in a year or you’re dead? Do you think that you would come up with the most creative ways ever? And do you think that you’d wake up early? And do you think that you go to bed later? And do you think that you put in harder work, more creative work, more smart work, more investments than you’ve ever done in your entire life to achieve those things? And what do you think, David,
David Ralph [43:57]
I agree with you totally, of course you would.
Mark Lack [44:00]
So most people would rather. And again, everything in some way, shape or form from your thoughts, your beliefs and your behaviours, it all serves you, it may serve you in a negative way. It may serve you in a positive way. It may serve you in a neutral way. But everything you do serves you in some way, shape or form, even if it’s sabotaging you what most people would rather do because it’s easier to complain about what you don’t have than to go after something that you really want and fail and fail and fail and learn. Every time I’m saying fail actually you’re learning fail and learn fail and learn tweak and improve, fail and learn tweak and improve Oh, and then you get it. Eventually you get what you want. But if it was that easy, everyone would have what they want. But you know, it’s easier. It’s easier to live a mediocre life and complain about all the reasons we all have them. We all have reasons why we can’t have what we really want in life. It’s just what do you choose to focus on? And what are you truly committed to? And so for anyone out there who’s, you know, oh, what was me? I don’t have this. I don’t have that. Let me me just ask you. How many times a day? How many hours do you spend? We have a mark, I gotta go to work from eight to five or six or seven. Okay, what are you doing from seven to 2am? What are you doing after work? What are you doing before work? What are your morning rituals? What are your lunchtime rituals? What are your break rituals? What are your, you know, before bed rituals, what are your rituals and your habits, because those will determine the outcomes you have in your life amongst many other things. But ultimately, your habits, your rituals, your values, and your purpose is going to be the reason why you have the results that you currently have in your life. There is no excuses too many people suffer from the disease called excuse itis where they’re just so focused on making as many excuses as possible. And they just, you know, take this drug called hope Iam where they’re just hoping that things will change their life, but they don’t actually have to do anything for it. So for anyone out there listening, look at your life, take responsibility for what you currently have. And then if you’re ready, and you’re committed to taking your life to the next level, which is terrible, fine. Because when you truly understand and believe that you can have everything you want in life, if you’re just committed to it, that’s a level of responsibility most people don’t want to go to because it hurts a lot more. To know deep down in your core. You can have everything you want in life, but you’re too lazy, you’re too weak, you’re not strong enough mentally, physically, emotionally to go out and get it. Most people don’t want to take that level of responsibility because it hurts way more to know you can have it but you’re just too weak to go get it. It’s a lot easier to complain about why you can’t have things based on the excuses and the circumstances in your life.
David Ralph [46:36]
Did you ever have a moan up? Did you ever sit there moaning and groaning? I mean, you can hang on? Hang on. I’m Mark lack. I shouldn’t be doing this. Do you ever catch yourself having a moan?
Mark Lack [46:46]
I catch myself having moans occasionally. But again, from my conditioning. I mitigate and lower the amount of moans that I have every day, every week, every month every year, because there’s no reason at all, one of the things that you got to understand it is where you put your focus will determine how you feel and how you feel will determine how you behave and how you behave will determine the results you get in your life. And the results you get in your life will ultimately lead to your destiny. So if you reverse engineer that, and you want to take control of your destiny, you got to take control of your focus every single second of the day. If you’re focused on what was me and you’re focused on the moaning and groaning, then guess what that’s going to determine how you feel how you behave and the results you get and your destiny, reverse engineer it start controlling your focus. But Mark, how do I control my focus, you change it in three ways. One is actually ultimately the two most powerful I’ll share with you right now. You change your focus one by rapidly changing your physiology and your posture and your movement. Motion equals emotion, change your motion, you’ll change your emotional state. Another way is to change your focus by asking questions, not just normal questions, but quality questions. If you change your focus, you will change your destiny. It’s that simple. Most people are focused on what they don’t have, why they can’t achieve success, and focused on all the things that they don’t have. make excuses for why they can’t have the things they really want in life, change your focus, get creative, get hungry, and take the level of responsibility I previously mentioned that it takes to really be committed to going after what you want in life. And guess what everything will eventually all take care of itself. commitment and hunger and following a proven process is going to be you know, ultimately, the the pathway to leading you to all the things you want in your life.
David Ralph [48:27]
Do you believe that is a pathway? Or is there something that is out there for us to follow? If we find the right thing, always it’s something that we have to struggle with to find it?
Mark Lack [48:41]
You know what, ultimately? And that’s kind of a question that I don’t know, I don’t want to waste time getting more contextual about that. But ultimately, what I’ll say for that, is basically all you need to find. And there’s a lot of things you need to find, again, I don’t want to be like some people where they say, well, there’s one thing you need to know about success, there’s one thing you need to find know everyone’s a little a bit different. I’m very unbiased, I know that my strategies may not work for somebody. And that’s what I try to study as many strategies as possible. Because, you know, this, you know, diagnostic without, you know, or prescription without diagnostic is malpractice. And so, in order to have a lot of prescriptions, I have to have more strategy so that once I’ve diagnosed somebody, I can figure out what strategy will work best for them. The more strategies you have, the more vocabulary you have, the better, you’re going to be able to make an impact in another person’s life because you’re not limited. And so I’m content looking for ways to better people’s lives. But what I will stay to address your question is that ultimately, the biggest difference in somebody’s life is going to come down to their emotional fitness. And what they believe their ultimate purpose in life is. It’s so funny, when you ask somebody who’s successful, what their purpose is, they usually have an answer. When you ask somebody who’s broke and miserable and depressed and sad, and unsuccessful, whatever that means, financially, what to say, they typically don’t have a purpose. And if you don’t have a purpose, what the hell is motivating you to be driven and hungry.
David Ralph [49:56]
So somebody said, The key thing that somebody needs to look at, they need to have a purpose, they need to have that commitment towards a purpose.
Mark Lack [50:05]
If you don’t have a reason to wake up in the morning, or another word for a reason, if you don’t have a purpose to wake up in the morning, then what are you doing, if you don’t have a purpose to study and turn the page in the book to learn and educate yourself? then yeah, you’re gonna get bored, right? What’s so funny is we don’t actually even have a purpose for watching our favourite TV show, or we only have a purpose for eating the unhealthy foods, we just unconsciously do it because it feels good. But what you need to have is you need to have a purpose to push through the short term pain that’s necessary to get the things you want in life, pushing through the short term pain of going to the gym, pushing through the short term pain of studying and learning how to really build a successful relationship. You know, the divorce rate is highest than it’s ever been here in the United States. And it’s so funny because, again, they don’t teach people how to have good relationships. So how are we supposed to know how to have a good relationship, when they’ve never taught it to us? It’s so ridiculous. There’s so many things they don’t teach in school, which is why my passion is helping young people learn the things they don’t teach in school, so you can really have the things you want in life. But again, sit down right now, if you’re listening and figure out intuitively, what is your purpose in life, and it’s like, well, that’s kind of hard to figure out is it? Is it because mine is just personal growth and contribution at the highest level I can, I took a level of responsibility in my life. And that is that I have to be committed to becoming the best version of myself possible. So I can contribute and make a bigger impact in people’s lives. And as a result, everything I’ll be able to experience everything I want in life, if I’m the best version of myself, and I’m helping people all over the world. Just you know, I’m living the life I am right now. Because my purpose is personal growth and contribution. And everything else takes care of itself, when you focus on becoming the best version of yourself possible. So if you want the gimme, gimme is your purpose should be and could be supplemented with something else you may have. But your purpose should be my recommendation is to become the best version of yourself possible. That is why I believe we are all here is to live on this earth and experience the wonders of it and the beauty of it and have everything we want, right? Ask and you shall receive. But in order to get that you got to be the best version of yourself possible. Or else there is no excuse for why you don’t have what you want, you’ve never committed to it. Well, just before we
David Ralph [52:19]
play the words of Steve Jobs, which is the theme to the show, I’ve been looking at the Skype screen, but a whole hour now. And there’s there’s a phrase on there, and it seems to tie up with what you’re saying. And it’s someone that you’ve said, You will never outperform the identity of the person in the mirror. What you actually mean by that mark?
Mark Lack [52:39]
I’m glad you brought that up. So one of the most potent needs in the human personality is to maintain congruency and our behaviour and our beliefs and our spoken word, to have our congruency of what we do in life and our behaviour to be absolutely congruent with the identity we hold for ourselves, if you believe this is why a and most therapists and most things like that don’t work, because they never change the core ultimate thing that makes a difference. And this is why most people fall back is are you to fall off the waggon let everyone to call it right, it’s because they never change their identity, they only try to change the surface problem, they put a bandaid on the on the wound, they never change the actual core issue, which is the identity. If you believe you’re a fat person, then you’re never going to commit to eating a healthy diet. Why? Because you’re constantly struggling to behave in a way that’s in can ruin your identity. If you believe you’re stupid and broke, and can never have the things you truly desire, when someone drives buying a nice car and you go, I wish I could have that. But my identity is not congruent to driving a car like that I could only ever hope to have that. And I’ll make excuses for why I don’t. If your identity is literally taken assessment right after this, you’re listening, look at your identity, really break it down, maybe even write down the labels that you’ve been given through society or that you’ve given yourself and accepted to be true. And figure out your identity. And every way your relationships, everything of your identity, really break it down. And then look at the results you have in your life, I would be astonished, if your identity is not absolutely congruent with the way you behave. And again, the way you behave will determine the results you get in life. So that quote, you’ll never outperform the identity of the person in the mirror, is because you will never achieve something in life. If you’re if it’s not congruent with your identity, a loser doesn’t become a winner, because he believes he’s a loser. A Winner is a winner because he thinks and believes he’s a winner. And he behaves and acts concurrently that he works harder, he works smarter he puts into practice. He’s the first one on the field and the last one off the field, because he believes he’s a winner, and therefore he behaves concurrently to that identity.
David Ralph [54:55]
Oh, there’s so many areas I could go into. And we’re, we’re be into episode one 7198. If I asked the question is going through my head. So I’m going to I’m going to hold back and I’m going to play the words of Steve Jobs because they are the theme of the show. And I’d be fascinated to see if they have any resonance to you visit Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs [55:11]
course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leaves you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [55:45]
Now I’m not sure that you’re off the well worn path you want to pamper, so many people have tried before, but you’re on a path that you have created yourself, it’s your own path, did those words sort of resonate with you, when you look back over your life can use connect the dots to see where you are now,
Mark Lack [56:02]
of course, and without going too deep into really like my storey about how the looking back and how the dots have connected in moving forward with the belief that the dots will eventually connect, you know, obviously, Steve’s words are coming from a place of true wisdom. And I resonate heavily with those words, because they ring so true in my life, and so many other people’s lives. And that, you know, it’s you just you gotta move forward with blind faith, although that may not be the best type of strategy. But ultimately, you can only predict what will happen in the future by following a proven process, right? If you if you follow a recipe book, you have at some level blind faith and certainty and confidence that something like what’s in the picture is going to come out of the oven based on following the recipe. And so that although that is still blind faith, to some degree, because you don’t really know what’s going to come out of the oven once we even if you follow the recipe, right? You just have to have that blind faith that this is a proven process that has worked before. And here’s the picture, or here’s the vision, here’s the outcomes that should be a result of following this recipe. And as a result, you know, you should inevitably experience the things you want in your life. And if you don’t go back, tweak the recipe, figure out why the formula didn’t achieve the results you thought it would. And they or didn’t achieve it in the time frame you thought it would maybe it did. But it took longer, right? Sometimes that’s what happens, we achieve our goals, it just took a lot longer. So go back and figure out what could I have done to improve it. So next time moving forward, or next time somebody else tries to follow this process, I can guide them in a way that will help them achieve it in a more realistic time frame so that they don’t miss some of the things I did, and they can do it in a more efficient, effective fashion. So again, yeah, Steve Jobs, a very wise and you know, amazing man. And those words are very powerful for anybody who hears them and kind of supplementing it with what I just said.
David Ralph [57:49]
So So would that that question you asked when he was 14, would that be your big.or? Would that bs simplistic?
Mark Lack [57:58]
You know, that was just the start of I really think that ultimately, the question that changed my life was looking at the cards, metaphorically speaking, looking at the card that I was dealt in life, and about 18 or 19, switching from being a you know, and I don’t want to overplay this and make it seem like I’m some bad kid because I wasn’t, but I was just, you know, I was like, I was like I like to be like the class clown. I like to have fun. I like to like, you know, take some risks, get in a little trouble, have a little fun. And so, you know, at around 18 or 19, it really just hit me and I went with and it started because of you know, my mentors, john ashcroft, Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins, Evan, pagan, the amazing men that have taken me under their wing, either physically in real life now, from studying them to being friends and partners with them, or whether it’s just still to this day, just studying them and relentlessly following their, you know, ideologies and principles for success. But, you know, at the end of the day, the question that really changed my life was, why not me?
David Ralph [59:00]
Why not?
Mark Lack [59:01]
Why not me? Why can’t I go out and have all these things? I mean, Oprah Winfrey raped multiple times at age 13. If you were to label her right there at age 13, and have a kid and all of this stuff, that horrible trauma at that age, you wouldn’t you would probably not paint the picture that the current reality of which Oprah is living now what most people What do you think, David?
David Ralph [59:21]
So sorry, I lost and I was thinking about Oprah Winfrey invite. Yeah.
Mark Lack [59:24]
So I don’t think most people don’t know. But for those of you who do or don’t now, you know, Oprah Winfrey was raped and abused many times as as a young teenager, and child. And if you were to know that, and in before, of course, going back in time, at that time frame, like, wow, that just happened to a young 1314 year old girl, she’s done like her life’s over, you would never guess that a woman, a girl like that would transform into the amazing leader that Oprah Winfrey is today. And so there is no excuses, go out and study the people that have changed their lives and had them way worse struggles than you and it doesn’t matter. That’s it. That’s one of the things that’s why I keep saying contribution, go out and help people less fortunate than you. And you’ll realise you have no excuses, there is nothing for you to complain about. There’s people way worse off than you, and you can go out and help them. And there’s people way worse off than you that have now have way more than you, there’s people that started with way less than you and now they have way more than you there is never an excuse. If you’re not if you don’t have the things you want your life and you don’t feel amazing every day. It’s because of two things. And I keep mentioning them. And that’s because if you take anything away from this interview, it’s you need to grow more, and you need to contribute more. And as a result, your whole life will change and everything will just manifest itself into your reality.
David Ralph [1:00:42]
I lost my train of thought without Oprah Winfrey storey because I was so shocked, because I’ve never heard about I knew she came from pretty humble beginnings. But I never heard about her unfortunate situation when she was a 13 year old. So did you think really and I just before we send you back in time, which is the end of the show, but do you think that everyone has equal opportunities van, and it’s not the people that have absolutely hit rock bottom, that then take creative risks, because they’ve got nothing to lose? Are they more likely to achieve than the people that have hit that middle ground, and they’re middle management, and they’ve got a nice car and a nice job, and it may not be what they want, but they don’t want to lose what they’ve got? Is that easier to sort of break free from all the one who’s got nothing.
Mark Lack [1:01:31]
You know, that’s sort of like a tree, you just opened up so many branches of conversation, but I’ll laser focus in on one really driving home. You know, psychology has proven that people are more motivated by pain, we’re more we’re more motivated, not to gain something. But we’re more motivated to avoid the pain of something. One of the reasons why the insurance company has insurance industry has been so successful because they paint a picture of, you know, possible pain in the future. And you’ll pay them a monthly, you know, fee every month to avoid the pain. Because if it does happen, then you’ll get this pleasure of our support, and everything will be okay. So basically, you know, more psychology again, as I said, it’s been proven that we’re more motivated to avoid pain. And that is why so many first time millionaires and billionaires have come from a standpoint of pain, right? Most people most first time millionaires and billionaires they have this storey, right I was raped I and I’m I’m saying this in the most, you know, endearing way possible because I respect them so much and admire them for their turnaround in their life. And but again, we’re more motivated to achieve from to avoid the pain of our life. And that is why so many people in the self help and personal development industry or moguls and leaders that we look up to have come from so much pain, because they were they literally if you if you study a lot of people that I’m talking about the Oprah is the Tonys, that whoever’s right, they’ll say, I wanted to do anything possible to get out of my current reality. The normal person in the middle class says, I’m fine, I’m comfortable, I don’t need to work harder, I hate working hard. I’m good, my life is set, I just want to improve it a little bit and have the average 3% annual increase in my income each year, and maybe work a little bit harder than most people. So I can become slightly above average. But the people in pain are hungry, the people in pain will do anything to change their circumstances and the people in pain are committed to change because they will not go back. That’s the difference. And so to address your question, you know, for those of you who are listening, if you’re in that situation of pain, if you’re not in pain, you better put yourself in pain. The reason why I’m so hungry to move forward in life is because I look back at the pain, I’m trying to avoid the pain of being average, the pain of being mediocre, the pain of looking at something, whether it’s a jet, a yacht, a travel, vacation, changing somebody’s life in any way, I don’t want to look at something and not be able to have it or make an impact on it knowing because I don’t have the financial ability to do that. Or I don’t have the skills to do that, or whatever my excuse, maybe I want to avoid the pain of that so much that I’m so driven to achieve everything I want in my life. And that I want for my future and my family and my friends and the people I care about and want to support and help is that I’m so focused on avoiding the pain of all the things I just said being average, that I’ll do anything to gain the pleasure of becoming the best version of myself so that I can have all the things I truly desire in my life. So for you, if you’re listening, if you’re comfortable, change it, you got to start changing your focus on to why you’re in pain, because otherwise you’ll never stay committed, it’s a lot easier to go after pleasure of watching TV and relaxing and after work, just taking a drink and just, you know, winding down and not doing anything with your life and doing trivial activities than it is to be like get out of work and be like, Ah, I’m hungry, I am pissed, I hate my job. Or I just I would not want to be at my job, I’d rather be at another job. If you’re not in that type of mindset, then Good luck, you know, you’re going to continue on the hamster wheel and the treadmill that you’re currently on. You’ve got to be hungry, you’ve got to be in pain, even if your life’s not painful. That doesn’t mean you’re not appreciative and grateful, but you’re hungry for something better. That’s the difference. And most people in pain are a lot hungrier than most people that are not but most people that are privileged and comfortable. They take advantage of what they have. And they go in and out of rehab, and they waste their life away. And they just end up having a mediocre life that may go down the toilet, if they don’t take care of it and just curate and manage it and maintain a comfortable lifestyle they’re in where somebody who’s hungry and is in pain, they may not have the same circumstances and educational background as another person. But if you’re hungry enough, you’ll get creative enough and you will find a way to overcome any challenge and struggle. And that is why there’s so many storeys that people that have come here with a nickel in their pocket and become a billionaire self made millionaire in one lifetime.
David Ralph [1:05:58]
You on fire my Anya, I’m gonna get somebody to throw a bucket of water over you
Mark Lack [1:06:04]
got you open the doorway of my passion, David. That’s what this
David Ralph [1:06:07]
show is all about. And what I’m going to do now mark, I’m going to send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And I would be fascinated to hear what advice you would give your younger self, you know, is it is it a similar kind of thing, but you would think today, or did that young kid need a kickstart? Well, we’re gonna find out, because I’m gonna play the tune. And when it fades you up, this is the Sermon on the mic.
Unknown Speaker [1:06:37]
The show.
Mark Lack [1:06:52]
Alright, so I’m sitting down across the table from my younger self. And what I want to share with you is that first off, everything is going to be okay. And just know that any struggle or challenge or frustration or self doubt you have in your life right now is meaningless because the destiny that is waiting for you is so much bigger than anything that you could ever even fathom right now in your current reality. So just know that everything is going to be okay. And that your future reality waiting for you is so much bigger, and that eventually you will step into a new identity that’s going to take you to that reality. And that you need to focus on what you’re grateful for in life, but be hungry for things that you desire in life and stay committed to following a proven process with mentors and guidance that’s going to get you there. And spend a little bit more time being appreciative of mom and dad. Because without them, you wouldn’t be here. And without them. You wouldn’t have the future reality that’s waiting for you.
David Ralph [1:08:06]
I love that. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard mom and dad get a big up. So Mr. Mark Lack, you’ve done a good job. Yes, son, Mark Lack, how can our audience connect with you sir?
Mark Lack [1:08:18]
There’s a variety of ways One would be on social media, I’ll give you two different ways to get get in touch with me. And that is go to facebook.com forward slash Mark Lack ma rk la ck. And then you can do 777 or 949. And that’ll take you to my personal one where you can shoot me a friend request and then message if you want. Or you can go to my fan page, which So Mark Lack 777 or Mark Black 949. And then if you’d like to go to our website and get more information about what we’re doing, you can go to the peak performance club. com again, that’s the peak performance club com.
David Ralph [1:08:54]
Do you know Mark Lack just before I say goodbye to you, I’m still looking at that phrase, you will never outperform the identity of the person in your in the mirror. And I think you will I think your identity is changing all the time, and you just seem a man on fire, you seem like a man who’s found his place. But it’s not enough for you, you want to give more and more and more. And I think your identity is I do think you’re going to beat your identity, you’re going to be the first man in on earth to be the identity.
Mark Lack [1:09:24]
Well, I think I think another way of saying that, and I really appreciate that. It’s humbling. But I agree with you in some regard. And another way of saying that is really that I think my identity is constantly evolving. And as a result, my behaviour and results will be congruent to my evolving identity. And so that’s, you know, humbling humbling to hear that I appreciate the kind words. Well, I wish you the best of that.
David Ralph [1:09:48]
Thank you so much for spending time with us today. joining those dots, Mark. And please come back again, when you do have more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Mr. Mark Lack, thank you so much.
Mark Lack [1:10:02]
Thank you, David. It’s my privilege. Thank you so much.
David Ralph [1:10:08]
Thanks so much for listening to another episode of Join Up Dots. It’s been an absolute roller coaster to get the show where it is at the moment at the top of the charts. And I’ll be honest with you, I have loved every second it’s been exhausting, but still an amazing thrill to create this for you. But listener now the show has truly grown exponentially. And whilst it’s been a labour of love to get it to the top of the charts, I now know my heart of hearts, but it’s too big for me to run my own, I need help to push it to the next level so I can move on with the exciting plans for growth which I want to achieve, leading to all of us getting the lives we deserve. It’s as simple as that. If I can provide the most I can for you, then we will all win big time. So if you believe in my mission and feel that the value in this shows is there for you. I would be so grateful and humbled if you’d consider donating to the show by going to Join Up Dots and clicking the donate button and play to what ever you can and I promise work even harder to make this not just a show, but a community where we can achieve the dreams that we long for every day. Thanks so much for your help. And please keep on listening. Thanks guys. Bye bye
