I’ve got a buddy who’s a fellow trader in the markets. He’ll laugh when he reads this, but he often catches himself saying things like…

“I always pull out on a trade too soon.”
“I knew I should have made that trade - the price took off this morning.”

The problem is he gets caught in a loop of second-guessing himself, despite having the tools, the knowledge, and the skill to be successful.

The biggest tell?

“I always…”
“I should have…”

It’s not that he doesn’t know what to do.

It’s that the moment he’s in the trade, the old fear whispers: “What if you’re wrong… again?”

We all have our own version of these sneaky little sentences that keep us safe and small.

You can find yours simply by becoming aware of how you talk about your problems and challenges.

Especially those things you’ve repeated so many times that you hardly notice them when they come out of your mouth.

The old “scripts.”

They’re not your fault. They’ve been installed by your childhood, your past, your parents, society, the people around you…

And they’re simply proof that your mind has been trying to protect you.

But they give us an illusion of control. An illusion of “knowing our limits.”

Your brain/nervous system tag those early lessons as “safe” for you, even if they’re outdated.

So when you start to try to expand beyond them, your automatic programming steps in to pull you back to familiar territory.

The problem is, when you repeat whatever flavor of “I always…” or “I should…” or “this is hard” or “I can’t” often enough, your brain doesn’t just believe it…

It builds your entire identity around it.

And that’s why you end up in that exhale of frustration when you realize you’ve “done it again.” When you’ve backed out. Hesitated. Overthought.

So, what’s that quiet story that’s been undermining your success?

What are your “always,” “should,” “need to,” and “can’t” stories?

Once you see the patterns… you really can’t unsee them.

And then you can start to change them.

That’s where your real leverage for change lives, in catching the stories before they catch you.

But the switch isn’t just in the way you talk about your challenges…

When you set an intention for success in just about anything, you can pretty much bet on a hidden counter-intention running underneath it.

A safety program put in place by your nervous system.

Don’t worry - this is 100% normal.

Earlier this year, I set the intention to “become the fittest me I’ve ever been.”

I’ve done it before. Easy, right?

But my hidden safety programs?

“What if I miss out on pleasure from food?”
“What if I lose connection with other people?”

Which led to me chasing my feelings with food… and putting on 15 pounds over the summer, sabotaging my goal.

Your “subconscious programming” isn’t trying to ruin your goals.

It’s trying to keep you within the boundaries that feel “normal.”

And that programming is there to help you “survive” not “thrive.”

You can spot yours by asking yourself: What part of me thinks this change/goal/outcome might cost me something I love?

When you resolve the tug-of-war between what you want and what’s familiar and safe to you, you stop the leak of energy and progress finally sticks.

So, being a hypnotist, I’ve learned that if I just deal with the counter-intention, then there’s nothing stopping me from success.

Now, a little over a month later, I’m down 12 pounds, full of energy… and not feeling like I’m missing out on any of the pleasure life (and food) have to offer.

Once you’ve seen how your counter-intentions operate, you can stop wasting your energy trying to fight them.

The next step?

Using them to transform every “why I can’t” into your “why I will.”

You ever find yourself in an argument with someone and thinking about them, “Damn, do you want to defend your rightness or do you want to actually move forward?”

If you’re stuck in the “I can’t” loop, you’re doing the exact same thing.

But with yourself.

Yes, you have challenges to face.

Yes, you have things that have held you back from success.

And you know what? That’s OK - you’ve been carrying those stories for years because they helped you survive along the way.

But if you hold onto your identity around your limitations, then you’ll never know what you’re actually capable of.

And big hint: You’re capable of a lot.

So, what if that thing that used to limit you in the past… now becomes your “because”?

What if that same weight that held you down now becomes the thing that takes you to the next level?

No one taught me how to save and manage my money…

…which became the exact reason I decided to learn how to read stock charts and become an active trader.

“Poor chronic health” runs in my family…

…which is precisely why I decided to focus on learning the skill of nourishing my body and keeping my mobility.

I grew up around a lot of harsh criticism and pessimism and a negative view of myself as a result…

…which became my “because” that drove me to understand thought and language patterns, change them, build confidence, and completely change my trajectory in life (and then find my passion in helping others do the same)!

Every “because” reprograms a little more of your identity.

And the hidden switch?

It’s not in trying harder but in deciding who you want to be next and how you let your “limitations” define you.

And the switch from self-doubt to self-belief?

It happens as the new stories start to feel truer than the old ones.

Every “because” you create stacks more onto your new identity. And these subtle shifts chip away at the old way of being and chisel your future into something new.

The future YOU want to create.

If you really want to change a habit, a thought, a feeling, a reaction, a behavior…

You’ve got to chisel your new identity.

To choose to identify as the you that you want to become.

The you that you’re becoming.

The hidden switch is in one quiet decision, made again and again, to belong to your next self more than your past one.

And if you’re ready to meet the version of you who already believes, let’s have a chat about how we’ll get you there.