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If You Want To MANIFEST Wealth & Abundance, WATCH THIS!| Bob Proctor

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Bob ProctorguestLewis Howeshost

May 6, 20201h 3mWatch on YouTube

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Transcript

55 min read · 10,605 words

0:00 – 4:39
Controlling the Inside When You Can't Control Circumstances
1. BPBob Proctor
  The great lesson is don't let what's going on program you. In fact, it's a good point to bring out right now because of this pandemic that's going on. We must not let this program us. [upbeat music]
2. LHLewis Howes
  Welcome back, everyone, to the School of Greatness Podcast. We have the legendary, the inspirational Bob Proctor in the house. Bob, thank you so much, sir, for giving us your time today. Appreciate you.
3. BPBob Proctor
  Lewis, a pleasure to be here. Always.
4. LHLewis Howes
  The last time we, the last time we had you on, I think it was a few years ago, but we were talking beforehand, it felt like a few months ago, because we had such a great conversation. People are still talking about it, sharing it like crazy all over the internet. And, uh, I'm just so grateful for the years of experience. I won't give your age, but the decades of wisdom that is inside your heart and your mind and your way of being, and I'm just so grateful for all that you do for humanity by constantly lifting the consciousness up, by lifting people's awareness, their insights, their capability to think abundantly as opposed to scarcely. And I think people are in a place of uncertainty, fear, worry, anxiety, uh, right now more than ever. And how have you been-
5. BPBob Proctor
  It's too bad and-
6. LHLewis Howes
  I, I know. And how have you been coaching and supporting and educating people during a time of scarcity or, uh, fearful times for people? How do you get people to start getting back to a place of abundance thinking when-
7. BPBob Proctor
  Well, we do a broadcast. We're, we're very fortunate here. We've, we built our own studio about four years ago, and we can broadcast all over the world from here. And so I've been doing the odd broadcast at least once a week, Good News by Bob Proctor.
8. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
9. BPBob Proctor
  And trying to help people become aware that although you cannot change conditions or circumstance, you don't have to let them control you.
10. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
11. BPBob Proctor
  We can't control what's going on outside, but we can control what's going on inside, you know? And unfortunately, I don't think many of us have been raised to really understand that.
12. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
13. BPBob Proctor
  And it's a lack of understanding that's causing all our problems, you know?
14. LHLewis Howes
  But how, I mean, how, how can you say that to someone who's like, "Well, I don't feel like I have control on the inside," when it seems like everything has power over me? What's something that could start to shift?
15. BPBob Proctor
  Well, you know, you see, the truth is, for, for that person, that would be true.
16. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
17. BPBob Proctor
  That they're being controlled by outside. We... [laughs] Look at it this way. We are the only creature on the planet that's totally disoriented in our environment.
18. LHLewis Howes
  [laughs]
19. BPBob Proctor
  All the little squirrels, the birds, the every, all the animals are completely at home in their environment. They blend in.
20. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
21. BPBob Proctor
  You and I are totally disoriented in our environment. We've been given the mental faculties to create our own environment. However, we go right through school, and we've never learned that. We have higher faculties, and the average person has no knowledge of how to operate with them, how to develop them. We have perception, the will, reason, imagination, memory, and intuition. Now, those mental faculties, they're not just words. They're actually mental faculties that we can use to take control over our world and to create the environment that we want. But unfortunately, we grow up, we don't know that. We've been raised to live through by what we see, hear, smell, taste, and touch, our physical senses. And we're, we've been raised to be controlled by what's going on outside. As little kids, "Will you listen to what I'm telling you? Will you look at this?" You know, and so it's all outside. Um, we get our report card, and that tells us what kind of student we are, but it really tells us where our mind was at for a few minutes three weeks ago.
22. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
23. BPBob Proctor
  Got nothing to do with who we are.
24. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
25. BPBob Proctor
  So I think we're, we're raised in ignorance, actually. There's a very small percentage of the population that have a reasonably clear understanding of who they are and what they're capable of doing. But the ones that do are in the minority.
26. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
27. BPBob Proctor
  Our whole company has been dedicated to teaching that to people for the last 50-some years.
28. LHLewis Howes
  Powerful. You, you talked about the five faculties, the five mental faculties, and I know you touched on this briefly in our, in our previous interview.
29. BPBob Proctor
  Yeah.
30. LHLewis Howes
  But I'm curious. I have a new question for you.
4:39 – 7:04
Reason, Thinking, and the Pull of Bad News
1. LHLewis Howes
  Which of the faculties typically is the hardest to, I guess, master or, you know, become efficient in, to use to your advantage in a positive way? And which is the one that you feel like, um, hurts us the most when we don't master it?
2. BPBob Proctor
  Well, I think reason is probably-
3. LHLewis Howes
  [laughs]
4. BPBob Proctor
  ... it's the one that's spoken about by almost all the great leaders.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
6. BPBob Proctor
  Um, they've all been complete unanimous agreement that we become what we think about. It's our reasoning factor that enables us to think. Um, Ford says, "Thinking's the hardest work there is," which is the probable reason so few people engage in it.
7. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
8. BPBob Proctor
  Dr. Ken McFarland, uh, who's gone for a long time now, but he was a great educator down in Kentucky, he one time said, "2% of the people think, 3% think they think, and 95% would actually rather die than think."
9. LHLewis Howes
  [laughs]
10. BPBob Proctor
  Now, you know, that sounds cute, but it's true. If you stop and listen to what most people are saying, it's gonna be fairly obvious they're not thinking.
11. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
12. BPBob Proctor
  If you stand back and watch what most people are doing, it's fairly obvious they're not thinking, or they would never say or do what they're doing. Most people today have their television on the news- And they're just soaking up all the stuff that's going on that's dominating the media right now. So they've become a play thing for what's going on outside.
13. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
14. BPBob Proctor
  And that's why they're living in such fear.
15. LHLewis Howes
  By consuming the media of whether it's true or accurate or not true, you're, you're being manipulated-
16. BPBob Proctor
  Absolutely
17. LHLewis Howes
  ... in a sense. Yeah.
18. BPBob Proctor
  It's not a matter of whether it's true or not. Is this how you wanna spend your life, just listening to that?
19. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
20. BPBob Proctor
  Um, that doesn't mean you should deny it. It doesn't mean that you should say, "Well, that's all false." Um, I don't know whether it's true or false. It's just bad news. I don't wanna be involved in it.
21. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
22. BPBob Proctor
  Am I aware that it's there? Well, you'd almost have to be dead not to be aware that it's there. But that doesn't mean you have to spend your time thinking on that.
23. LHLewis Howes
  Mm. What's-
24. BPBob Proctor
  I would much rather-
25. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah
26. BPBob Proctor
  ... activate some of my creative faculties and do something that's constructive. Creative.
7:04 – 11:43
Adapting, Embracing Technology, and Age
1. LHLewis Howes
  In a time, in a time un- under crisis a- and, uh, worry and, and fear for a lot of people, what should we be thinking about? How should we be, uh, using our imagination in different ways as opposed to fixating on the bad news?
2. BPBob Proctor
  Well, I think a good idea right now would be spend some time thinking about how are we going to adapt-
3. LHLewis Howes
  Mm
4. BPBob Proctor
  ... when this is gone.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
6. BPBob Proctor
  Because we're liv- we're gonna live in a different world. We're not gonna be in the same world when this is, um, all blown over than we're in right now. It's gonna be quite different.
7. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
8. BPBob Proctor
  People are not gonna be rushing out to big events where there's a lot of people. They're not gonna be rushing to restaurants. I think they're gonna be very careful about what they do, where they think, and where they're going. I was listening to Sinick and he said, "If you're a public speaker, don't look for a stage for a little while because you're not gonna have one."
9. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
10. BPBob Proctor
  Now, this also presents great opportunities. It's, um, for us, for my company, we're, um, going online, you know, full speed ahead. Now fortunately, we built the studio-
11. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm
12. BPBob Proctor
  ... four or five years ago, so.
13. LHLewis Howes
  You're prepared.
14. BPBob Proctor
  We're eq- we're equipped and we're ready.
15. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
16. BPBob Proctor
  We can, um, we can broadcast. We were, we had a training class going in here, um, just last week with about 300 of our consultants from all over the world. We had a three-day training program for them, and it was very effective.
17. LHLewis Howes
  Online.
18. BPBob Proctor
  We didn't have to come together.
19. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah, yeah.
20. BPBob Proctor
  We did it from right here.
21. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah. I mean, you, you're known for doing these powerful transformational workshops in person.
22. BPBob Proctor
  Yeah.
23. LHLewis Howes
  So for someone, I mean, it's, it's very inspiring for me for someone at your age where would be the excuse of most people your age to say, "Well, I don't understand this technology thing, and I've been doing this, this way of business for so long. It's always worked this way, and I'm not going to try to reinvent or evolve and pivot and grow in this way." So it's really inspiring to see someone your age with your, your level of experience to say, "You know what? I'm embracing it. Maybe I don't like it." Maybe you do like it, but you're embracing it and making the most of it as opposed to resisting. Because what happens when we start to resist in our life? Wh- what truly happens?
24. BPBob Proctor
  Well, when we resist it, we create it in our mind. That's all we think about. Um, you see, [laughs] I guess my age really has nothing to do with it, but it, I formed that attitude a long time ago.
25. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
26. BPBob Proctor
  I didn't like the idea that when you've lived for so long, you've gotta cut out, you gotta stop. I thought, "Hell, I don't like that idea at all." Um, first of all, I think we're, we're, I believe we're here to do God's work. God's work is creation. You know?
27. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
28. BPBob Proctor
  Uh, expansion, fuller expression, greater goodness. Um, and if we're gonna do that, we're gonna be working at it all the time we're here on this planet. We never stop. So age should have no bearing on it.
29. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
30. BPBob Proctor
  Um, I had a couple-
11:43 – 14:20
Faith Over Fear and Using the Crisis to Your Advantage
1. LHLewis Howes
  What should we be thinking about the most right now, in your mind? If thinking is the most important thing.
2. BPBob Proctor
  I think we should be thinking about our future. I think we should be thinking about the, uh, the greatness, like it's, uh, the school of greatness. I think we ought to be thinking about the greatness that we've got lo- got locked up within us-
3. LHLewis Howes
  Mm
4. BPBob Proctor
  ... and bring it to the surface. Everyone has deep reservoirs of talent and ability within them, and they can bring it to the surface to accomplish anything they want. Now, to sit in fear, um, and wonder what's gonna happen-
5. LHLewis Howes
  Mm
6. BPBob Proctor
  ... that is a dumb waste of your talent and your time.
7. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
8. BPBob Proctor
  And unfortunately, that's what most of the media is, uh, promoting right now. To believe in fear is to believe in something you can't see. To believe in faith is to believe in something you can't see. Well, if you have a choice, I think I'd choose faith over fear.
9. LHLewis Howes
  Mm, absolutely.
10. BPBob Proctor
  I think I believe where I can really see something happen. I believe we're gonna have a phenomenal year in our company.
11. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
12. BPBob Proctor
  In fact, our, um, I have a business partner, Sandy Gallagher, and, a very bright lady, was a securities attorney prior to joining us, she ran a program this morning for, um, our entire company. We have about 70 people i- in the company. She was teaching masterminding to them all-
13. LHLewis Howes
  Mm
14. BPBob Proctor
  ... and saying how this is important, that every one of us get involved in this, that we learn the basics of masterminding, that Napoleon Hill, uh, brought to the world, let's say, way back in the '30s.
15. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
16. BPBob Proctor
  Now, I think that's what we should be teaching people. Uh, Sandy was on the right track there. So I think we ought to be thinking about what we're gonna build, how big are we gonna do it, where are we gonna do it, when are we gonna start? Our goals have not changed. They're very big, they're very ambitious, and we're not letting this virus slow us down one bit.
17. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
18. BPBob Proctor
  As a matter of fact, we're trying to figure out how can we use this to speed it up?
19. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm. There you go.
20. BPBob Proctor
  Since it's here and you can't, you can't get rid of it, use it to your advantage.
21. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
22. BPBob Proctor
  There is a way we can use it to our advantage. People are more dependent upon the phone. Uh, I've got a computer here. They're dependent on their phone, their computer more than they've ever been. We can reach them anywhere in the world through those mediums.
23. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm. Yeah, use them to your advantage.
14:20 – 18:27
How Fear Develops and the Law of Opposites
1. LHLewis Howes
  You talk- you talked about fear for a second. I'm curious, when we live in a state of fear, what does that do to us? And when we, the second part to this, when we feel that fear and we become aware of it, what should we be thinking or doing or acting on in order to shift into a more positive s- state?
2. BPBob Proctor
  Do you know, that is one hell of a good question.
3. LHLewis Howes
  [laughs]
4. BPBob Proctor
  And it's a question most people are not able to answer.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
6. BPBob Proctor
  First of all, the cause of fear is ignorance. That is the cause of fear. And so if you follow the ignorance, it doesn't start out as fear. The ignorance starts out in a conscious level as doubt and worry.
7. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
8. BPBob Proctor
  That's on a conscious level. We're doubting or we're worrying. Then we take whatever image comes into our consciousness of the doubt and the worry, and we turn it over to our emotional mind. That's what causes the fear. Well, that fear then has to be expressed through the body-
9. LHLewis Howes
  Mm
10. BPBob Proctor
  ... through the only instrument it can be expressed through, our physical body. It sets up a vibration known as anxiety.
11. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
12. BPBob Proctor
  Anxiety is not expressed. Anxiety becomes suppressed.
13. LHLewis Howes
  Ooh.
14. BPBob Proctor
  We suppress it, and the suppression then turns to depression, which turns to disease, which turns to decay. You see, you're talking about a track a person gets on, it's a very negative track. It's ignorance, don't worry, fear, anxiety, suppression, depression, disease, disintegration. Now, the polar opposite of all that, the opposite of ignorance, is knowledge.
15. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
16. BPBob Proctor
  There's only one way to get to knowledge, and that is to study.
17. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
18. BPBob Proctor
  Now, unfortunately, um, school didn't do the job that it was designed to do for most of us.
19. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
20. BPBob Proctor
  School should teach us to love to study.
21. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
22. BPBob Proctor
  That's really what it-
23. LHLewis Howes
  Not to, not to, not to dread studying and homework-
24. BPBob Proctor
  No
25. LHLewis Howes
  ... and tests. [laughs]
26. BPBob Proctor
  They should teach us to love it-
27. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah
28. BPBob Proctor
  ... because study leads to the opposite of don't worry, which is understanding. See, it's study that leads to understanding. We understand how to handle the fear.
29. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
30. BPBob Proctor
  It's understanding come... that enables us to, cause us to understand where the fear starts. The understanding, then, we wanna say what do we understand? We wanna understand this whole universe operates by law.
18:27 – 20:09
Why People Buy Bad News
1. LHLewis Howes
  Why do we do that as people? Why do we feed people more of what scares them, as opposed to what you and I do, which is try to be solutions?
2. BPBob Proctor
  Because that's what people want.
3. LHLewis Howes
  Why?
4. BPBob Proctor
  That's what they buy.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Why?
6. BPBob Proctor
  People don't buy good news. People buy bad news.
7. LHLewis Howes
  Why, though?
8. BPBob Proctor
  Can you imagine if everybody that tunes in to CNN tuned in to the School of, tuned in to the School of Greatness every week?
9. LHLewis Howes
  It'd be amazing.
10. BPBob Proctor
  Can you imagine if everybody that tunes in to Fox s- tuned in to your School of Greatness every week? Have you any idea the impact you could have on the world?
11. LHLewis Howes
  That's what we're trying to do.
12. BPBob Proctor
  It'd be enormous.
13. LHLewis Howes
  [laughs]
14. BPBob Proctor
  It'd be enormous.
15. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
16. BPBob Proctor
  People want bad news. It resonates with the way their mind is programmed. They're programmed with negative information.
17. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
18. BPBob Proctor
  Their paradigm is all bad news. It's what we're programmed with. Now, is everybody? No. There's a small select group of people that don't fall into that category, and they are always working diligently, trying to lift everybody up. It's not an easy thing to do, but every now and then, oh well, a Lewis Howes will come along and start a School of Greatness, and he'll call in different people that feed into that concept, that are in harmony with that, that resonate with that. And so, it makes it interesting for the listener, and then... And that's how it goes.
19. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
20. BPBob Proctor
  And that's what you're doing, and that's what I'm doing.
21. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
22. BPBob Proctor
  And it's not a losing battle. It just appears like it is.
23. LHLewis Howes
  [laughs] It just-
24. BPBob Proctor
  I'm winning.
25. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
26. BPBob Proctor
  I think you're winning. Now, we're not, we're not drawing the numbers that CNN's drawing, but the ones we draw are saying, "Absolutely."
27. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm. Yeah.
28. BPBob Proctor
  "You got it."
29. LHLewis Howes
  You got it. We're making an impact on them, for sure. I'm curious-
30. BPBob Proctor
  We are.
20:09 – 24:36
Overcoming Self-Doubt Through Self-Understanding
1. LHLewis Howes
  I wanna ask you more about self-doubt, 'cause this is something I've been fascinated with for the last few years, as I, I spent most of my life dealing with trying to understand how to overcome doubting myself and achieve the sports goals, business goals, relationship goals that I had throughout my younger years. And I became obsessed with learning how to eliminate doubt, and I've been researching this more, and just trying to learn from people like yourself on how you have dealt with self-doubt over the years, and how you think anyone who feels like they're doubting themselves, what can they do to go from doubt into confidence? What do you think is the path?
2. BPBob Proctor
  Okay, that's a good question. It ties in with the previous question you asked.
3. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
4. BPBob Proctor
  What do we do with fear? S- Fear comes from the doubt. So, the doubt becomes the cause of the fear-
5. LHLewis Howes
  Mm
6. BPBob Proctor
  ... which is the cause of the anxiety, et cetera. The doubt is the cause. Fear is the effect. What is the polar opposite to doubt? Understanding.
7. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
8. BPBob Proctor
  It's understanding. That's the opposite of doubt. So, what is it we wanna understand? Well, if it's me that's entertaining doubt, why am I entertaining doubt? If I were to find out who I really am-
9. LHLewis Howes
  Mm
10. BPBob Proctor
  ... and I believe everything that's been taught down through the centuries, I would have no doubt. I would be realizing that I could do anything. And the only thing that's causing the doubt is a lack of understanding. So, I'm gonna keep studying and I'll gain a better understanding. I don't doubt myself. I don't doubt what I can do. Um, does that mean that I can do everything? No. When doubt appears, I'll eliminate it, and I'll eliminate it fast, 'cause I'm gonna figure out how to do whatever it is I'm doubting.
11. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
12. BPBob Proctor
  And you see, if it's me that I'm doubting, it's because I don't understand me well enough.
13. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
14. BPBob Proctor
  I did a broadcast the other day, it was all over the place, we had thousands into it, on self-image. And we've got to get a better image of ourself. We have to get a true image of ourself, understand who we are, how our mind functions, realize this physical instrument we're living in is nothing but an instrument. It's the instrument of the mind, and the mind expresses itself with and through this thing we call our body. Well, let's understand that better. This thing, you got enough power in your one hand to light up that building you're in for probably a month.
15. LHLewis Howes
  Mm. Wow.
16. BPBob Proctor
  There's about 11 million kilowatt hours per pound potential energy locked up in the electrons in the atoms of the body. Well, that's the invisible power that's in me. I wanna understand that better. How, what... That's the physical side. What's the higher side? Higher side is my intellectual side, and that is the intellectual factors that I ran through earlier, perception, will, reason, imagination, memory, and intuition. There's six of them. And, um, as I understand those more, as I understand my intellectual factors, I'm using the things, and I'm utilizing and developing the things that separate me from all the rest of the animal kingdom, of which I'm a part.
17. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
18. BPBob Proctor
  Then I can tap into the spiritual essence of who I am, because we're spiritual beings, and that's where the greatness lies.
19. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm. Mm.
20. BPBob Proctor
  It lies in understanding the spiritual essence of who we are. You see, our spiritual DNA is perfect. It requires no improvement. It requires no modification. Our spiritual essence is perfect, and that perfection is within us. So, the trick is figuring out how to express it in a greater way.
21. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah, and not get trapped into a different type of expression through bad news, or friends, or parents' beliefs, or whatever it is that-
22. BPBob Proctor
  Exactly
23. LHLewis Howes
  ... tries to shut us down, correct?
24. BPBob Proctor
  Exactly.
25. LHLewis Howes
  So, it's-
26. BPBob Proctor
  And they will try and shut us down, because we're coming up and we're saying, "I'm gonna do this." They'll say, "You gotta be out of your mind. You're gonna quit that good job? Are you crazy?" We gotta be strong enough to say, "I'm gonna follow my dream."
27. LHLewis Howes
  Mm. Amen to that. I'm a big believer in this.
28. BPBob Proctor
  Like Martin Luther King, "I have a dream." He didn't say, "I have a plan." He didn't say, "I have a bank account." He didn't say, you know, "I have a dream. I have a image in my mind. I have a g- beautiful picture that I wanna execute in my life."
24:36 – 30:05
Reshaping Self-Image and Finding a Mentor
1. LHLewis Howes
  Self-image. Uh, I love this topic about self-image. How do we reshape our self-image to serve us as opposed to bring us down?
2. BPBob Proctor
  Well, it's interesting. Maltz, Maxwell Maltz, actually discovered self-image as we know it today. He was a cosmetic surgeon, and he found if he operated on a person, maybe they had a distasteful scar on their face, and he removed the scar, he said sometimes there was a phenomenal change in the person's personality. But he said other times they'd remove the scar, it was very successful, no change in their personality. That led him to postulate that we not only have this physical image that reflects back from the mirror-
3. LHLewis Howes
  Hmm
4. BPBob Proctor
  ... we have an inner image of ourself. It's how we see ourself.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Right.
6. BPBob Proctor
  Now, that inner image is an idea, and that idea is generally planted in our little life when we're infants, and it's planted by virtue of the, the environment that we're surrounded by, how we're raised. If a child's raised with praise, they're gonna grow up very confident individuals. If a child's raised with criticism, they're gonna grow up very insecure. So you see, this image that we have, it's a picture of how we see ourself, but most of us, that image was planted by people that didn't know what the hell was going on. They didn't know the war was over, and they were planting... They were developing a little mind. It was a mind. They were shaping it like fresh clay.
7. LHLewis Howes
  Hmm.
8. BPBob Proctor
  They didn't understand that. It was a kid, they're looking after him, we feed him, we keep him warm. What the hell? You know, that's our responsibility. No, it was a mind, and they were developing that mind. And if they didn't understand, what were they gonna put in? Well, the... all they could give to the child is the insecurities that they had themselves. So that was the picture that the kid grows up of themself.
9. LHLewis Howes
  Hmm.
10. BPBob Proctor
  Now, I grew up very insecure. I was born during the Depression. When I first went to school, the Second World War had just broken out, so everybody's rationed for everything. It was hard times. All the men were away fighting in Europe or South Pacific. There was no men doing anything. The women that were there were driving the trucks. They were cops. They did everything.
11. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
12. BPBob Proctor
  So there wasn't a whole lot of time used for developing a little mind. So I just grew up and picked up what I could, and I grew up very insecure. It wasn't until I met a man that gave me this book and gave me some damn good instruction, that I started to pay attention to who I was. And I have never stopped being fascinated with studying me.
13. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
14. BPBob Proctor
  I, I am the most fascinating subject that I've ever come across, and I have found out that you and I are exactly the same. We only appear to be different. Our physical body looks different. We choose different vocations. Some earns more or less than the other. But our potential's exactly the same.
15. LHLewis Howes
  Hmm.
16. BPBob Proctor
  We both live in a physical body. We both have these higher mental faculties. We're both spiritual beings. We both draw on an infinite source of supply. We're the same. So the trick, I think, for the person that has insecurities, that hasn't got the strongest image they want, they should find a damn good mentor. That's what changed my life. That's what the School of Greatness is for doing for people that are tuning into it on a regular basis. Because I don't think you have any slacks on here. I don't think you have people coming on here who don't know what the hell they're talking about. I don't think you have c- people come on here just to make a noise. I think you come on to pick the best of their mind. You're gonna pick their mind for your listening audience.
17. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
18. BPBob Proctor
  You've got a big name out there, so, uh, you know, it's... A lot of people listen to you, pay attention. So... And that's why, because you're giving them the right information. So as we start to gather this information about ourself, our image starts to change, and I start to see I'm not this skinny kid that doesn't know what the hell's happening, that did poorly-
19. LHLewis Howes
  Hmm
20. BPBob Proctor
  ... in school. I'm a spiritual being. I have a marvelous mind. I can think. If I can imagine it, I can hold it in my hand. I can do anything that I want. I've got a little book here. This is a little book I've been studying.
21. LHLewis Howes
  What's that called?
22. BPBob Proctor
  This is the book The Secret was based on.
23. LHLewis Howes
  Hmm.
24. BPBob Proctor
  This is the original.
25. LHLewis Howes
  What's it called?
26. BPBob Proctor
  Science of Getting Rich.
27. LHLewis Howes
  Huh.
28. BPBob Proctor
  Science of Getting Rich, Wallace D. Wattles. In fact, we're gonna be teaching that online. Um, I think starts the first of May. We have hundreds of people registered, and we're gonna be teaching it online. Science of Getting Rich, it's a wonderful book. I will have it sent. I'll have a book sent to you.
29. LHLewis Howes
  Oh, thank you, sir.
30. BPBob Proctor
  Sent.
30:05 – 35:13
Choosing Goals You Don't Know How to Reach
1. LHLewis Howes
  what's the thing that you wanna learn and understand, that you feel like, "You know what? I haven't fully grasped this concept or idea"-
2. BPBob Proctor
  Oh, wow
3. LHLewis Howes
  ... "and I really wanna get, uh, to another level"?
4. BPBob Proctor
  Well, I'm always wanting to get to another level. Hopefully, I'm at a higher level today than I was yesterday. I, uh, I'm in here around 5:30 every morning studying.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
6. BPBob Proctor
  Um, that's how I start my day here. Well- You see, there is no end to the growth. You, you always want to grow. So you're created in God's image. Now, there's a problem with this. Because we're raised on our physical senses, we grow up and what we've done is had God created in our image, in our mind. Not that we're creating God's image. We're taught that we created God in our image.
7. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
8. BPBob Proctor
  So now we're trying to figure out how can the man be omnipresent? How can that person be everywhere? And because we're locked in on a physical level, we get lost. When we understand that you have infinite potential, there is no top. There's no beginning, no end. See, when it comes to school of greatness, there's no finish line.
9. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
10. BPBob Proctor
  When it comes to personal development, there is no finish line. So how can you tell how well you're doing? By the results you're getting. By their fruits, by their fruits you'll know them.
11. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm. Mm.
12. BPBob Proctor
  By the results they're getting. If they're not getting the results, they don't know. So if you're going to get a mentor, get somebody that's getting the results.
13. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
14. BPBob Proctor
  Or you don't want them.
15. LHLewis Howes
  Right. [laughs] What's the area of your life you feel like you still want to grow more? Maybe it's not getting the-
16. BPBob Proctor
  All of them.
17. LHLewis Howes
  [laughs]
18. BPBob Proctor
  All the areas. All the areas. I want to grow in all areas of my life.
19. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah. [laughs]
20. BPBob Proctor
  I n- I never sto- I never want to stop growing.
21. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
22. BPBob Proctor
  I never want to stop learning.
23. LHLewis Howes
  Is there a specific area for you that you feel like you, you need more work on than others? Obviously, all areas, but is there one?
24. BPBob Proctor
  Well, well, there's... W- well, all of them, because my company's nowhere near where I want it. We have... I picked up a pen way back in 1973. I was living in Glenview, Illinois. I had just left the Nightingale-Conant Corporation. I worked with Earl Nightingale and Lloyd Conant for five years. And I sat down and I said, "I'm gonna build a company that operates all over the world."
25. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
26. BPBob Proctor
  I'd absolutely no idea how I was gonna do that, but I knew if I could think it, I could do it, because that's what all the great leaders have agreed on. They've disagreed and virtually everything else. We operate today, the Proctor Gallagher Institute operates in 88 different countries.
27. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
28. BPBob Proctor
  We have consultants that operate, that teach our material, that represent us in 88 different countries. When we stream a program, we go into around 115 countries. Now, if you'd asked me, "How are you gonna do that?" when I started, no idea. But I did know this: if you set a goal and you know how to do it, the goal probably isn't any good.
29. LHLewis Howes
  Ooh.
30. BPBob Proctor
  It probably isn't any good.
35:13 – 41:50
Bob's Five Books, Mentors, and Getting Help
1. LHLewis Howes
  if you could only recom- if you could only recommend five books that the world, no other books would ever exist except these five books, for people to read for the rest of eternity, and there would be no other books, hypothetical question, what five books would you recommend for people?
2. BPBob Proctor
  Think and Grow Rich.
3. LHLewis Howes
  Uh-huh.
4. BPBob Proctor
  Um, As a Man Thinketh by James Allen. I'd recommend my own book, You Were Born Rich.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
6. BPBob Proctor
  Um, everybody's born rich. Most people are a little [laughs] short of money, that's all.
7. LHLewis Howes
  Ooh.
8. BPBob Proctor
  Um, well, they, they should get into this, The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science. And then I'm gonna give you one that's a long ways away from that, You Square by Price Pritchett.
9. LHLewis Howes
  Huh. Okay.
10. BPBob Proctor
  It's a little tiny book. Price Pritchett's a, um, is a, um, consultant over in Dallas. He's written a little book, You Square. It's on quantum physics, quantum leaps. It's one of the best books I've ever read.
11. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
12. BPBob Proctor
  These books are incredible. And it's funny- Troward taught me, he said, "If you come to a point where you can't learn anything from somebody, you go inside." He says, "Go to the font set to rigor. Go to the fountain and source. Go inside." Now, I mean this, in, in all humility, I've been studying this longer than anybody I know.
13. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
14. BPBob Proctor
  There's probably people studying longer than me, but I'm studying for 59 years, and I study it every day. I don't know anybody that teaches what we teach like we teach it. I've had absolutely incredible, um, teachers. So I don't go running around looking for teachers. I've got Troward. What he's written is so rich in truth. He's probably one of the greatest authors of the last 500 years.
15. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
16. BPBob Proctor
  But the trick, though, Lewis, is you gotta keep studying.
17. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
18. BPBob Proctor
  And you only will keep studying if you're going after something you have no idea how to get there, but you know you can get there. The way there will be shown as you go after it.
19. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
20. BPBob Proctor
  Step by step, it will come to you.
21. LHLewis Howes
  Why isn't it shown to us before we start going after it? Why, why does it take us-
22. BPBob Proctor
  You wouldn't understand it.
23. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
24. BPBob Proctor
  You wouldn't understand it. See, the purpose of a goal is not to get, it's not to reach the goal. It's the awareness that you develop as you go after it. You're learning who you are. It's becoming aware of who you are.
25. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
26. BPBob Proctor
  I was in a seminar years and years ago, and, um, there was this speaker, Bill Gove. Bill Gove was considered the Frank Sinatra of public speakers. He was incredible. He had a handheld mic, and he's looking at the audience, and he said, "If I wanna be free, I've gotta be me."
27. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
28. BPBob Proctor
  "Not the me I think you think I should be. Not the me I think my kids think I should be. Not the me I think my wife thinks I should be. If I wanna be free, I've gotta be me."
29. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
30. BPBob Proctor
  He said, "I better know who me is."
41:50 – 46:16
Lessons from World War II: Don't Let Events Program You
1. LHLewis Howes
  You said you grew up during the Second World War. Uh, what was the lesson you learned in the Second World War, that time, that people should know about today during this time? Two different crises.
2. BPBob Proctor
  Well, it's only in retrospect that I learned these things, 'cause you go back, and I have to go back, and we were all, everything was rationed. So people were getting, uh, accustomed to live on lack and limitation.
3. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
4. BPBob Proctor
  It was part of the programming. And th- what, w- w- in looking back, the great lesson is, don't let what's going on program you. In fact, it's a good point to bring out right now, because of this pandemic that's going on. We must not let this program us.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
6. BPBob Proctor
  This does not have to define us, doesn't have to dictate where we're gonna go. It's got nothing to do with our destiny. As a kid, everything was rationed. I remember gum, chewing gum was rationed. There's, in fact, there's a good story. I'm gonna take the time to tell you about it.
7. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
8. BPBob Proctor
  We would go to the store. Our father was in Europe fighting, and we would send care packages every now and then. They would mail them, and they would get through, and we'd have pictures, you know, of the family and all the stuff. And we'd put a package of gum in sometimes. We would be at the store, and if somebody, if they put a package of gum out, it would just be one little box. It would be gone like that.
9. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
10. BPBob Proctor
  Because you couldn't buy gum during the war. Wrigley's did not make gum during the war. They couldn't. And one of us would hold the gum while the other one went home, see if there was enough money to buy it.
11. LHLewis Howes
  [laughs] Yeah.
12. BPBob Proctor
  'Cause there might not have been enough money. We'd have to put it back. During the Second World War, Wrigley's could not make gum. Gu- the, the basic ingredient, apparently, for making gum comes from the Philippine islands. The Japanese, who were in charge of the Philippine islands, they had occupied the Philippine islands, you couldn't get in to get the gum. Wrigley seemed to know that the war would be over, they'd be able to get the stuff, we'd win the war, and he'd get the stuff to build the gum. He never stopped advertising, "Buy Wrigley's Spearmint Gum," all during the Second World War, even though they couldn't make it. A great lesson in there about advertising. People wouldn't believe, that lived through the Second World War, wouldn't believe that they couldn't make gum then.
13. LHLewis Howes
  [clears throat]
14. BPBob Proctor
  Because he just kept enough and he'd leak a little bit out every now and then to different places.
15. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
16. BPBob Proctor
  Great lesson in advertising there.
17. LHLewis Howes
  Wow. It's kind of like, uh, yeah-
18. BPBob Proctor
  But I think the, the greatest lesson that I've learned, or, is looking back. M- my mother, God bless her, she was a special woman. Um, she did not let that control her. And I think any really good qualities I've got for growing and building came from her. She raised three of us on her own, and God only knows how she did it. She was like a magician.
19. LHLewis Howes
  Hmm.
20. BPBob Proctor
  Because she sure didn't have any help. But she did it.
21. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
22. BPBob Proctor
  And she instilled us that, if you want it, you can get it.
23. LHLewis Howes
  Hmm.
24. BPBob Proctor
  You know?
25. LHLewis Howes
  That's beautiful.
26. BPBob Proctor
  But, yeah.
27. LHLewis Howes
  It sounds like, it sounds like the, uh, you were, you know, holding Wrigley's gum back then, just like people are doing with the hand sanitizer right now. So that was the, this... [laughs]
28. BPBob Proctor
  Yeah, but you see, people are permitting this to program them right now.
29. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
30. BPBob Proctor
  If you're not thinking, this stuff's going right into your subconscious mind.
46:16 – 49:34
Writing, Repetition, and Daily Habits
1. LHLewis Howes
  How important in your mind is writing down things like ap- affirmations, gratitude, dreams? How important is the act of writing what we think down on a daily basis? Is it important?
2. BPBob Proctor
  Hold on.
3. LHLewis Howes
  We're on another treasure hu- hunt. I love it. [laughs]
4. BPBob Proctor
  See this page?
5. LHLewis Howes
  Yep.
6. BPBob Proctor
  Well, at the top of it, today I am grateful for... There's 10 spaces. That'll be done tomorrow morning. Today was 333 days I've done that.
7. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
8. BPBob Proctor
  Every day. Not only that, but then I have a statement here. I am so happy and grateful now that I realize my spiritual DNA is perfect and that perfection is within me. I begin each day looking for areas of my life where I want to see that perfection expressed habitually. I write that statement out every day with my left hand, and I'm not left-handed.
9. LHLewis Howes
  Huh.
10. BPBob Proctor
  I'm programming myself. I've been doing that for 333 days now. I'm changing the way I do something. I want to gain an understanding of just how powerful that paradigm is. I want to go to this hand 'cause I can do it fast. It's very awkward, but I've been doing it for 333 days. I'll do it for 365 days. But I have here, written down, 10 things I'm grateful for. That's the first thing I do every morning at 5:30.
11. LHLewis Howes
  Wow. So you believe it's very important.
12. BPBob Proctor
  Very important.
13. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
14. BPBob Proctor
  See, the repetition of all good material is very important. It's extremely important. Repetition is how you fix the ideas or the information in your subconscious mind. It's the ideas that are fixed in the subconscious mind that control our behavior. That's the paradigm. You don't think and then do. When you get up in the morning, you automatically move into action. You're programmed. It's your paradigm in your subconscious mind. What people hear on The School of Greatness, when they tune into this, they're gonna hear great ideas, most of which they probably don't do.
15. LHLewis Howes
  [laughs]
16. BPBob Proctor
  If they would hear one and say, "That is one hell of a good idea. I am gonna do that" They should write it down and then write it out as an affirmation, "I'm so happy and grateful now that I," and do it every day. Write it out every day until you see yourself automatically doing it. See, you're not gonna do... They're not gonna do everything they hear on here, but if every day they listen, they get one idea-
17. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm
18. BPBob Proctor
  ... and say, "I'm gonna turn that into a habitual part of my personality," they're gonna end up really a big winner. That's where greatness comes from.
19. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
20. BPBob Proctor
  I think I might have told you last time I was with you that Robert Russell was a great author. He said, "There's no secret to greatness." He said, "It's simply doing little things in a great way every day." I love that. That's the school of greatness.
21. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
22. BPBob Proctor
  It's doing little things in a great way every day.
49:34 – 54:19
Learning from Proven Results and Earning by Helping Others
1. LHLewis Howes
  What's the thing that you wish you would've started doing sooner, that habitual habit, uh, you know, 10 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago, that you just started doing in the last five years, that you're like, "Man, I wish I would've done this as my routine 10, 20, 30 years ago"?
2. BPBob Proctor
  I wished I had got really good financial guidance and listened to it-
3. LHLewis Howes
  [laughs]
4. BPBob Proctor
  ... when I first started.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah. Did you make some bad choices?
6. BPBob Proctor
  I didn't do that.
7. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
8. BPBob Proctor
  You see, there's no sin in not knowing how to do something. The sin is in keep doing it wrong. Don't follow people's advice. I think the trick is to go to people that have demonstrated by results they n- really know what they're doing.
9. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
10. BPBob Proctor
  Then do exactly what they tell you. I'll give you a good example. I was doing a seminar for Prudential way back in the '70s, and I did seminars for that whole company at one time, and the f- one of the first groups we had was at the Hillside Holiday Inn in Chicago. I had 450 of their agents in the room. The Prudential give out a president's trophy to the number-one anything, number-one vice president, number-one manager, number-one salesperson. Ron Semprane was the number-one agent out of 20,000 agents that year, and I found out he was in the room. So at one point in the seminar, I said, "Ron, I'd like to ask you a question." I said, "How many people in the last year have asked you if they could take you out for breakfast or lunch with a half a dozen well-prepared questions, and asked you, 'How did you become number one?'"
11. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
12. BPBob Proctor
  Not one. No one had done that.
13. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
14. BPBob Proctor
  And I thought, "Wow." Well, you know, I use that as an example.
15. LHLewis Howes
  Hmm.
16. BPBob Proctor
  I think I was guilty of that for a long time.
17. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
18. BPBob Proctor
  I was really guilty, 'cause I kept losing. I did nothing right. I couldn't go anywhere or do anything. And then I met a man who gave me Think and Grow Rich, Ray Stanford. He always... Guy, I didn't know him well, but he always had money, a lot of money.
19. LHLewis Howes
  [laughs]
20. BPBob Proctor
  On him. I never had any. I-
21. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah
22. BPBob Proctor
  ... I mean, I was always broke. I was, I was unhappy. I had dumb jobs. I was going nowhere. Left school, two months high school. And he said, "If you do exactly what I'm telling you, you can have anything you want."
23. LHLewis Howes
  Hmm.
24. BPBob Proctor
  Of course, I didn't believe that. Here I am, I'm in debt. You know, nothing was going right, and you could have anything you want? I don't know why, but I listened to him.
25. LHLewis Howes
  Hmm.
26. BPBob Proctor
  I think the key was he said, "Listen, your way's not working. Why don't you try mine?" I think that's what got me. I started doing exactly what he said. My income went from 4,000 a year to 14,500 a month in a year.
27. LHLewis Howes
  Hmm.
28. BPBob Proctor
  I've earned millions of dollars. I found earning money is one of the simplest things in the world to do, but if you don't know that, you won't believe that.
29. LHLewis Howes
  It's the hardest thing to do, yeah. [laughs]
30. BPBob Proctor
  That, most people think it's the hardest.
54:19 – 1:03:02
Resources, the Three-Step Approach, and the Six Faculties Recap
1. LHLewis Howes
  How, how can, how can everyone watching and listening right now get more mentorship from you? What's the program they can be a part of? Where can they listen, follow?
2. BPBob Proctor
  Well, we've got-
3. LHLewis Howes
  Because people need to listen to you more
4. BPBob Proctor
  ... we've got all kinds of... Yeah, we've got all kinds of programs, Lewis. Um, first of all, if they go on our site, go to proctorgallagher.com, they can download, download the book You Were Born Rich. It's free. We'll give it away. And I wrote that in 1984.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
6. BPBob Proctor
  What I did, I sat down and I broke down into parts how I'd got to where I was then. I was doing very well in 1984, and had been for a number of years. And so I broke it all down and I put it in a book, and the book's in many different languages now and there's millions of them out there. We give it away. And we have, um, Six Minutes to Success.
7. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
8. BPBob Proctor
  I think it costs about $25 a month or something like that, where I'll send you a video every morning.
9. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
10. BPBob Proctor
  Every morning. Um, we have coaching programs. If they just leave... We, we will even do... We've got all kinds of people in our company. We'll do a half-hour coaching program for nothing. All a person does is go to proctorgallagher.com and just leave your name and say, "I'd like to be coached for an hour, half hour."
11. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
12. BPBob Proctor
  We'll do it for nothing. What people need to realize, that there, there, there is a simple way out of their dilemma. They don't have to look at a black wall, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not a train coming at them, you know? [laughs] They've gotta get, they've gotta get the idea that there is a better way, and there's places where you can get help. We give help. That's what our company's all about. We have thousands of people, as I say, in 88 countries. So it doesn't matter where a person is in the world, we can help them, and that's what we're all about. That's all we want to do. That's what my whole life's about.
13. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
14. BPBob Proctor
  And that's what the people in our company, it's all about.
15. LHLewis Howes
  I think everyone needs to be mentored by you. I wanna, I wanna find a way where I can call you once a month or once every couple months, Bob, and just chat on the phone and-
16. BPBob Proctor
  I will have-
17. LHLewis Howes
  ... get, get more mentorship too
18. BPBob Proctor
  ... listen, you have my phone number. You can call me anytime you want.
19. LHLewis Howes
  [laughs] I will. I appreciate it. Uh-
20. BPBob Proctor
  I will see you get my phone. Now, I'll give you my cell number, and you can call me anytime you want. Listen-
21. LHLewis Howes
  Perfect
22. BPBob Proctor
  ... I've got a lot of respect for what you're doing.
23. LHLewis Howes
  Thank you.
24. BPBob Proctor
  And, um, I think the audience should know you're one of the biggest in the game. You're one of the biggest names out there. And to be on your, on your program is quite an honor. I was humbled that you even wanted me to be on in the first place. And but you do, you do really good work.
25. LHLewis Howes
  Mm, thank you.
26. BPBob Proctor
  And I would encourage everybody that comes into your show, they get other people to come on. You've gotta lead more people to this kind of information, because you're not hearing it every day.
27. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
28. BPBob Proctor
  And you're not hearing it at all on television anymore.
29. LHLewis Howes
  [laughs]
30. BPBob Proctor
  And you're not getting it in a newspaper. But this good news is out there, and there is a better way. I don't care how desperate things look, it can get better. Ralph Waldo Trine wrote a great book, In Tune With the Infinite, and in that book, he said, "Nothing is good or bad, except our thinking makes it so." Everything just is. We make it good or bad through our thinking.