Marketing Secrets with Russell Brunson - Faith Vs Fear: Moving With Definitive Purpose

Episode Date: April 21, 2021

One of my favorite principles from a book called “Outwitting The Devil” by Napoleon Hill Hit me up on IG! @russellbrunson Text Me! 208-231-3797 Join my newsletter at marketingsecrets.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, what's up everybody? This is Russell Brunson. Welcome back to the Marketing Secrets Podcast. Today I want to talk about one of my new favorite books and something cool I learned in it that I'm doodling for a book that I'm writing and I just got to brain dump it. So hopefully you don't mind. I'm going to share some cool stuff with you right now. So the big question is this. How are entrepreneurs like us who didn't cheat and take on venture capital, who are spending money from our own pockets. How do we market in a way that lets us get our products and our services and the things that we believe in out to the world, and yet still remain profitable? That is the question, and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Russell Brunson, and welcome to Marketing Secrets.

All right, so the name of the book is Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill. And if you have not read this book yet, it is insane. Kind of the story behind it, Napoleon Hill wrote this back in 1930s, and it was about a conversation he had with the devil about how he can tempt people and get them to fail in life, which is really, really fascinating. And we don't know if it's a true conversation or just something he made up, but either way, the book is insanely good. So he finishes it in 1930s, like a year after he wrote Think and Grow Rich. And then he didn't feel like he should publish it. He was scared. In fact, in the book,

it talks about why, you know, the devil's like, this is why you shouldn't publish it, why you're not going to publish it and all these things, which is kind of crazy. So he never published it. Then he passed away and then his wife got it and she read it. She's like, I'm not publishing this. So she didn't publish it. Then when she passed away, it went into the hands of the Napoleon Hill Foundation. And a couple of years ago, somebody found it and read it and was like, this is really, really good. And so they called up Sharon Lechner, who I had a chance just recently to talk to her and get to know her, which was really cool. Sharon is the one who was kind of like the co-author and the CEO for a long time of the Rich Dad Poor Dad brand. So

if you've heard her name before, it's because she's like on every one of those books, it says co-authored by Sharon Lechner. So anyway, so when I found the book, she's the one who put this whole book together. So I had a call with her last week and she told me that they called her up and said, we have this manuscript, you should check it out. And she's like, I was the fourth person to ever read it. I'm like, what? This is the craziest thing in the world. So she read it and they decided to publish it. She put together, you know, put all the work in to get it a manuscript live and they launched it. Now, I believe it's in 40 languages, she said, which is really cool. But for some reason, I never read it and I wish I would have a long time ago. But it's amazing. And so in the book,

it starts off with Napoleon Hill kind of telling the story about how he got to this certain spot in his life before this conversation with the devil. And the first couple chapters are kind of slow because it seemed to tell the story. They're really good, but it's all like leading up to this conversation. And a lot of things he talks about earlier were essential for the conversation to actually make any sense. He meets the devil. He's in this courtroom with him and he has this chance to interrogate him, and the devil has to tell him anything he asks. And so he starts asking all these things,

and it is so fascinating. So my brain works in doodles. So as I'm reading this book, I'm doodling out the concepts and the principles and how they fit and where they tie together. Anyway, I'm going to be having a chapter in my new book that goes deep into this. So you guys will have a chance to see my doodle someday.

But for now, I want you to visualize a doodle. Basically, there's this person at the very top and there's two choices they make, either faith or fear, right? Every time something happens to us in our life, we can either choose faith and just move forward with faith or we can have fear. And those are two opposite things, right? And those are the two choices. So everything's tied to either faith or to fear. And so I have a little arrow going left to faith and right to fear, kind of diagonal. And in the book, the devil says his goal is to get everybody to become what he calls drifters. He says that right now he controls 98% of the

population of man and they're all drifters, right? So a drifter is somebody who is not, you know, not pursuing things, not doing the right things. And the other side, the 2% of the people are people who have what he calls definitive purpose. They have a purpose, they have thought, they know what they want to do, and they're executing, trying to achieve that thing. Okay. So those are the two things there's, um, if you, if you follow fear, you become a drifter, like 98% of the people, or if you follow faith, uh, then you, uh, one of the 2% who follow definitive purpose, definitive purpose is like, you have a goal, right? I want to do this thing. I want to accomplish this thing I'm going towards. I'm going, I'm trying to get, I'm trying to achieve it. I'm trying to do this thing.

So that's the direction. And it's interesting. When somebody does have definitive purpose, when the 2% in the book starts talking about here's the things he does to get somebody from this thing where they have definitive purpose, where they are using faith, how do I get them to become a drifter? He has all these tools.

One of the tools is when someone's got definitive purpose and they build a business and they make money, first thing I'm going to have them do is eat a whole bunch of food because they eat a bunch of food, they get tired, they're less likely to work hard. And it's very easy at that point to get somebody to become a drifter. It's also like one example. He has a whole bunch of different examples of things he uses to get somebody from the side of faith to the side of fear, which was really fascinating. Okay. Then on the fear side, he talks about all these different things he does to get people into fear, right?

And so it's interesting. He says there's the six most effective ways to get somebody to have fear. He said the fear of poverty, the fear of criticism, the fear of ill health. Number four is the fear of loss of love. Number five is the fear of old age. And number six is the fear of death. He said that the two most powerful tools he has to get somebody to have fear are poverty and death. If you can get somebody to be afraid of poverty, then you can control it. If you can get them afraid of death, you can control it.

But then the two things that are most powerful in actually controlling people and keeping them in fear is number one is poverty. So if I can keep people broke and poor, then I can control them because now there's so many fears like, oh, I can't do this, I can't do that. Because when you're in poverty, you don't have the ability to go and do a lot of things, right? So it keeps you in a state of fear. And the other one is ill health. If you're not healthy, then you're in a state of fear all the time too, cause you're not sure how your body's going to function and you're going to be able to do things and stuff like that. So those are the two ways he actually controls people and keeps them in fears through poverty and ill health, the two most powerful things he has. And if

Neri talks about the habits he creates and like, it's really cool, but all these things he does to get somebody to first off initially make the decision of fear. And then from there, how he ties those things and locks you in. So you'd be stay, so you stay a drifter, um, for the rest of your life. And that's kind of the premise of this book, right? It's like you got two choices, have faith and pursue things with definitive purpose or have fear and become a drifter. Right. And like I said, um, in the book, um, the devil says that 98% of the people he has control of, they become dr drifter, right? And like I said, in the book, the devil says that 98% of the people he has control of, they become drifters, which is crazy.

And so that's kind of interesting as I diagram that and start mapping out, like, well, for me, what are the things I need to make sure that I'm not acting in fear? How do I act in faith? How do I make the correct decision, right? And as I started looking at this graph,

it's like, here's all the things that he's trying to do to get me into fear, to make me become a drifter. Let me look at the opposite side. How do I act in faith? How do I make sure I have definitive purpose? How do I, when I do have success, how do I not make sure I don't slide back over and become a drifter? How do I keep pursuing, keep progressing and things like that? It's really fascinating. And then in the book, it shows, it talks about this thing that, that ties the universes together and he

calls it hypnotic rhythm. And this is where people get into say, when you get into hypnotic rhythm, it's hard to get out. And so the bottom of this this graph, I kind of drew it, it looks like a big whirlpool. It says hypnotic rhythm that's working to keep you where you're at. And he said the hypnotic rhythm works on both sides. He said if you're someone who has definitive purpose, hypnotic rhythm, that becomes your routines and your habits and your things that after you've got those things in place in your life, they become hypnotic rhythm. And typically you'll stay there, right? Or if he can get you to become a drifter over there, they become a hypnotic rhythm and typically you'll stay there, right? Or if he can get you to become a drifter over there, he can create a hypnotic rhythm that's

going to keep you there. So hypnotic rhythm serves both sides. It's just, what are the habits you have? You have habits that are keeping you unhealthy, that are helping you struggle, they're making you, you know, all these things make you become more of a drifter. Those habits will become hypnotic rhythm and you'll stay in that whirlpool for forever. Or the opposite is true as well, where if you act in faith, if you have definitive purpose and you're doing these things, that hypnotic rhythm will stay with you and it's easier to stay there as well. Anyway, it's super fascinating. I can't wait. When my next book comes out, you guys, you have a chance to go deep and see my doodles. But for right now, I'd highly, highly recommend going

reading Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill. It's just an amazing book. And I would recommend if you do listen to the audio book, because in the audio book, the guy who plays the devil, his voice is really, really cool. And you have a chance to hear him debating back and forth Napoleon Hill. And it's pretty cool. Anyway, so that's kind of what one of my fun things I'm working on right now is just diagramming this concept and these principles, uh, to be able to include in, in my next book. But, um, it's amazing. So I went in the devil's awesome. Um, I know a lot of you guys are listeners who have read CS Lewis. I have not read CS Lewis's books yet, but I know that there's, um, there's a whole book, uh, I think a couple of books actually like the screw tape letters where, um, it's kind of a similar premise

where, um, where it's it's like how these devils, how they try to convince people to do what's wrong. And it's kind of that same perception, perceptive, or perspective. Sorry, the same perspective. It's opposed to like, here's all things to do right. It's like, well, what does Satan, what does the devil, what's he trying to get you to do, right? And anyway, it's just fascinating.

So I love the book. Highly recommend it. If it's something good to read, read that book. But look at it through that lens of like, okay, I want to learn how to protect myself, right? How do I keep acting in faith and stop acting in fear? How do I focus on definitive purpose? How do I move forward until I've gotten the spot where I'm in hypnotic rhythm, where I'm not going to break free from it?

And what are all the tools that devil's going to use to try to get me to become a drifter? And if I'm a drifter right now, what things do I need to prepare myself? How do I break free from this fear and these things and get back to a state of faith? Get back to a state of faith. Get back to a state where you're focusing and you're moving with definitive purpose. Anyway, super fascinating.

And I hope that you guys enjoy it. In fact, Josh Forty is gonna be coming out next weekend. We're gonna do a podcast interview on this. And so I'll probably go a lot deeper into it. But this will be the preface for you guys. And you have a chance. I'm sure we'll post the Outwitting the Devil podcast here in a couple of weeks.

You have a chance to hear me and Josh dive even deeper. So you got a little window now between you hearing this and that next interview to go and read the book so we can come back and we have an intelligent conversation about it, have some fun. So with that said, go read the book and then in a couple episodes from now,

you'll have a chance to hear me and Josh go deep on this concept. So there you go, guys. Appreciate you all. Hope you have an amazing day. And we'll talk to you all again soon. Hey, everybody. This is Russell again.

And really quick, I just opened up a texting community, which means you can text me your questions. And right now I'm spending anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes every single day answering questions through text message to people who are on the podcast. And so I wanted you to stop everything you're doing, pull your phone out and actually text me a message. Okay.

And the phone number you need to text is 208-231-3797. Once again, it's 208-231-3797. When you text me, just say hello. And then what's going to happen is I'll add you to my phone and then they'll send you back a message where you can add me to your phone, and then we can start having conversations. On top of that, through this texting community is where I'm going to be giving out free swag, giving away free copies of my book, let you know about book signings,

about times I'm coming to your local area, and a whole bunch more. I just want to make sure you are on this list. On top of that, every single day I'm sending out my favorite quotes, my favorite frameworks, and things you can get for free only through my texting platform. So what you need to do right now is pull out your phone and text me at area code 208-231-3797. One more time, that's 208-231-3797. I can't wait to hear from you right now.