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What’s the Most Effective Mind-hack Thomas Knows? (Holiday Special)

HOSTS Adam & Thomas|15 October, 2021

As it was the school holidays, the guys recorded a special episode where they dive into Thomas’ career as a ghost-writer to see if there’s one power-up technique all his clients would recommend.

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Remember, if you have comments on the show, A question for Thomas or Adam? Just want to send some appreciative thoughts their way? Go ahead and send them to cve@equitymates.com

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Adam: [00:00:27] Hello and welcome to Comedian versus Economist. We demystify the world of money and help you get a handle on the bigger picture. My name's Adam, and we're joined, as always, by my little older brother and real life economist Thomas. Hi, Thomas. 

Thomas: [00:00:40] Yeah, good, Adam. How am 

Adam: [00:00:42] I doing? Pretty good. Thank you. Hey. Something a bit different on the show this week. If you're a regular listener to the show, you know that we often cover off the big stories from the world of finance and beyond. Each week, but this week it's school holidays. So yeah, haven't had a chance to unpack all the big stories, but I thought maybe this week instead, what we would do is just pull it back a bit, pull it up a level. And I wanted to ask you, Thomas, with all the research and the ghost writing that you do for your clients. If there's one thing that all your clients would recommend for success, what would it be? 

Thomas: [00:01:15] Mm yeah, good question. Good question. I think the answer's affirmations, right? 

Adam: [00:01:22] Very good. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. What's an affirmation? Is that like a New Year's resolution? 

Thomas: [00:01:30] No, no, no, no. That's it. That's a different kettle of fish. Now in affirmations a statement of belief in something particularly about yourself. So I don't know if people will realise why I am very qualified to talk about this 

Adam: [00:01:42] topic, but I'm kind of curious that I want to subject, to be honest, like I thought you were, 

Adam: [00:01:50] you're an economist, right? It's in the title. It's in the title of the show. That's, I think, how most people would think of you and know you. So if you just to launch into affirmations seems a little bit kind of on a no magic fair kind of territory rather than. 

Adam: [00:02:06] Yeah. 

Thomas: [00:02:07] So I do a lot of writing for my clients, a lot of that sort of market analysis, but I also get into a bit of success psychology for them. So I sort of lace a bit of sort of like, I can't all just be dry. Economics needs to lace it in with a bit of success, psychology, sort of personal growth and development, kind of riffing, right what I do. So in that I tend to read a lot of the all the Tony Robbins and Brendan, Brendan Bityard and those kind of characters 

Adam: [00:02:34] where where if we landed here? Tony Robbins is 

Adam: [00:02:38] that way we're starting.

Thomas: [00:02:39] Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Adam: [00:02:40] OK, well, lift. Lift me up, Tony. Let's go. Do I mean, do I need to start clapping? Because I that actually do we all clap together? Yeah, it is. And burpees get get, get the energy flowing, OK? 

Thomas: [00:02:53] Affirmations, affirmations. So is a simple statement that starts to shift your belief patterns. And the thing you telling yourself, the sort of scripts that you're running the scripts is sort of the language, right? So, for example, you might believe that you're ugly, for example, that might be a self belief that you have. I could see you shaking your head, but you know, just 

Adam: [00:03:17] to go with me, I assume you're looking at someone else, just looking at my own mirror. 

Thomas: [00:03:25] Well, yes, stretches often. Imagine that you have that script that you believe that's true. You can shift that by running an affirmation that runs counter that that. So I am very beautiful and I am a handsome man, for example, right? And you run that, you run. You just repeat that to yourself. Maybe like, you know, and you need to repeat it. So it's maybe like 12 times a day for three months, something like that.

Adam: [00:03:48] And that's it that you just say the words to yourself. And that's that's it. You need to have to do it in a mirror. Do you need candles 

Adam: [00:03:57] to draw a pentagram on the ground? Is there is some sort of ceremony because with this affirmation? 

Thomas: [00:04:06] No, no, no, no. It's really simple. And it's is sort of why like if I had to nominate one that I've seen one, that one, that it comes up again and again and one that it's it's the return on investment is probably the biggest bang for buck. You get out of all the techniques that I've that I've come across. So it really is just as simple as repeating that those words to yourself, you don't even really you don't even have to believe it at the time. That's that's also not really that important. The more you know, the more you feel into it and the more you create a felt affirmation like tapping into that felt experience of the body seems to sort of increase its power. But yeah, you just just need change. 

Adam: [00:04:46] You're changing your beliefs like you can't sort of it's not like a grant me three wishes type scenario where, you know, I can't I can't just wake up and do my morning. Affirmations of my investments will perform to outperform the market today and say that 12 times a day and my investments like I can't control my investments through my affirmations. 

Adam: [00:05:09] So, yeah, well, I believe they will. 

Thomas: [00:05:12] Yeah, there's this. There's a question there. So like, definitely like you can't. This is there's two schools of thought with affirmations like one is that you can't change your physical reality, like if you get up and say, I am a border collie. 

Adam: [00:05:26] Difficult times a day that's not

Thomas: [00:05:29] going to change the reality, you know, 

Adam: [00:05:31] what's good, it's going to have an impact on your reality, but you're not going to become a border collie.

Thomas: [00:05:36] Right? And but you can change your beliefs that you have about yourself just purely like it's just the internal scripts that you're running. So the and that then changes your experience of life and the things that happen to you because you're now different being relating to the world in a different way.

Adam: [00:05:54] Right.

Thomas: [00:05:55] That's the a one school of thought. Like it's just it's just like a confidence exercise. If you just become more confident, you start engaging, engaging with the world in different in a different way and you start getting different results just because you're more confident. That's sort of that's sort of one school of thought, and that's where I feel very comfortable with. There's a second school of thought which then takes this idea further, which is then like, if you're carrying this belief, then the universe itself starts interacting with you in a different way. So you say you could run a line like my investments will outperform the market today or this year or something, and then the universe will change in order to meet your expectations. This this is the second school of thought and is probably more on the woo-woo spectrum, right?

Adam: [00:06:42] Yeah, I'm I'm amazed there is

Adam: [00:06:43] more than one school, to be honest. None of this sounds like it comes out of a school. Yeah. Well, if you'd got the U12, you'd see that's what 

Thomas: [00:06:57] most of the 12 was 

Adam: [00:06:58] about. Yeah. Yeah. Didn't made it Thomas. I didn't say it. I'd learnt everything I needed by the end of year 11. I said that I'm good now. I'm ready to take on the world.

Adam: [00:07:11] Yeah, right. So I mean, that's a bit that's a bit like you hear these people say, you know, everything happens for a reason. Yeah. And yeah, I just think it's that's by definition true, but it's not what you mean. 

Adam: [00:07:25] Usually there is a reason it it's nothing to do with you. Yeah. If your reason is quantum physics, yeah, pretty sure that's what they mean by that line. Yeah.

Thomas: [00:07:41] Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I think I mean, I think that that that there's a particularly narcissistic, self-centred school of American New Age thinking right where that has that idea has taken root that the entire universe is geared to provide you with lessons and opportunities. Hmm. Yeah, I don't. I think I think I think that's a dangerous line of thought to get into or to place too much belief in 

Adam: [00:08:07] what kind of Shakespeare it's shirks your your responsibility or your accountability to some extent is still a guy. You start then taking that a bit further and go, Wow, you know what? I'm just going to do whatever. And if it's meant to be, then it's meant to be. And that's that's probably not the best way of of controlling your

Adam: [00:08:29] outcomes or control. You know, like if

Adam: [00:08:31] you if you want certain things in your life and you want success and you want whatever it is, then just sort of throwing it out to the universe and assuming the universe will guide and shape your destiny in some way, in a positive way,

Adam: [00:08:44] because every time the universe is going to go, yeah, I was really thinking about you a whole lot. We are often just let you just fall to the wayside.

Thomas: [00:08:52] Yeah, we you actually just hate you. 

Adam: [00:08:56] That's a cruel, vindictive universe. Yeah, yeah. 

Adam: [00:08:59] All right. Like, let's just pause there for a second. We'll grab a quick break and a word from our sponsors and be back with more comedian versus economist right after this. Welcome back here on Canadian vs. economists, don't forget you can always send us an email CV at Equity Mates dot com or on the website Equity Mates dot com forward slash CV a why not come and join us on Facebook and Instagram at CBC podcast. We'd love to hear from you. Thomas, we're talking about affirmations. I'm still sceptical. I've got to be honest. Tell me. Tell me more. 

Thomas: [00:09:35] Yeah. So let's just leave the woo-woo side aside. For the moment, it would come back like, I think I think why this a big character said something that comes back because I think it can powerfully shift if the scripts that you're telling yourself, which is just the stories that you're telling yourself. So for example, if you if you're running a story that is like, I'm not good with people and people find me awkward and I put people off when I meet them. And if that's an idea that you're carrying, then that's going to affect the way you interact with people because you're on the defensive and you're going to be interacting, you're going to be awkward and you're in your interaction because you've prime yourself for that. But if you're confident and comfortable with Salah and you're running a story in your mind like, I'm good with people, I'm comfortable, I'm warm, people like me, people will respond well to me. They want to help me with my endeavours. Then when you meet people, then that's that's the vibe you're bringing, and that's the reality you're going to create. Not in a magical way, but just like that's that's what you're bringing to that interaction. And that's that's the flavour that's going to emerge from it. And that's that's so that's sort of the idea. And that's where I think it can have an impact that if you're if you're running a story in your mind, if you have an idea about yourself that is limiting, then you can shift that that idea.

Adam: [00:10:56] So that has a lot of application, then obviously like that's you know, whether it's social situations, whether it's in your business life, in your professional life. And I see a lot of people like, you know, probably myself included, you know, often think like, you often look at a CEO, right? Like, say, I pick anyone and you think I often wonder where they come from because I I don't think I could ever be a CEO of a company like of a successful company like, I don't know how you make that leap from kind of just working for the company to then being appointed as a CEO, I guess, or being, you know, making that journey from worker bee through to a CEO of the company. Like, and I always feel like there's this some there's like a CEO school somewhere that just pumps out CEOs. 

Adam: [00:11:47] And I didn't go there.

Adam: [00:11:49] And so it's it's never going to I'm never going to be a CEO, and I'm okay with that because I'm not. I'm not sure that I want to be one. 

Thomas: [00:11:57] Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think this is what this is. What Tony, what Tony Robbins would say to you, Adam, is the that's just that's just a story that you're running, that you're not CEO material, that you don't have the right training, you haven't been prime for it. That's just the story. And the only difference between you and Matt Commonness at CommBank is that you're just running a different story. He genuinely believes that he's ready to be CEO and can be a CEO and can be a very successful CEO. And that's that's that's how he's rolling.

Adam: [00:12:26] He also genuinely believes that he was 

Adam: [00:12:28] university educated in 30 years experience in the finance sector. Yeah, he's got that going for it as well. I think we should. I think we should underplay why I'm not qualified to be CEO coming back. You just run an affirmation. I have 30 years experience in the financial sector. 

Adam: [00:12:47] Yeah, that's what I mean. I like that and maybe this is my problem. The affirmations are only going to take you so far. You can't hear, you 

Thomas: [00:12:55] know, like it's not, you know, it's not. It's not a magical pill was not a magic bean that's going to transform you, but there are definitely people like you. Definitely cases I've experienced in my own life where I recognise that I'm just running a script. You know, I recognise, I recognise in my 20s that when I enter a party, I have this strong moment of anxiety as soon as I entered, you know, like. And it's a common thing you entering into a room, you don't know everyone in the party. It's a social situation. All that sort of social dynamics is in play. It's like, Oh my God. And like, I came into it defensively, like, I was like, People are going to judge me. People are looking at me. I'm I'm going to be weird. I'm not dressed rah rah rah rah rah. And that was and I entered as an unconfident being and had a, you know, I hadn't had an anxious time. So I started running in affirmations I and like, I'm a fun guy. Everyone loves me. Everyone loves having me at a party.

Adam: [00:13:50] Is this while you were studying economics? Yeah, because that's pretty powerful. Yeah, right? If an economist walks into a party assuming everyone thinks he's a fun guy, I solved it. With the pre-party, which is where me and just a select few mates, we'll get together, knock back a few for us. You know, have just a little party 

Adam: [00:14:21] before we made our way to the party and then same effect,

Thomas: [00:14:25] the same event. Yeah. 

Adam: [00:14:27] Well, yeah, I'm thinking feeling good. Yeah. Just got a nice glow. We'll get in the car and little handguns that people have poo poo. What's up? What's up? Stumbling into the kitchen? Sorry. Is this the wrong house? I apologise, Mrs Barker. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, it's

Thomas: [00:14:53] yeah, it's the same effect. But like, but just that lucky, it was a story. Either way, I think this is where affirmations work. It's when it's a story. Either way, so I can run a story that I'm awkward and I'm unconfident and people are going to judge me is there's no truth in it. It's just a story. So I can run that story or I can run an alternative story, which is I'm confident and fun and everyone likes hanging out with me. There's there's no more basis of truth in that, but it's just the story. But but that second story creates a better outcome for me. I actually have more fun. I enjoy what I'm doing a lot more. I have a lot more fun. People react to me as a confident guy, which is, has its has a lot of benefits. So I think this is where affirmations can really work is when, when it's just a story, you can choose which story you want to run. And since you can choose what story you want to run, why not choose the one that is more fun, which creates a better outcome? And I think that's where that's where affirmations can can have a powerful impact. 

Adam: [00:15:50] The old fake it till you make it. Yeah, I guess in a way, you know, like let you go like you might think to yourself, I'm not a confident, fun guy, but if I tell myself I am enough and then and then if I go to the party and I lie almost like, pretend that I am, you know, like, you know, I mean, lies that you tell yourself first, then you get there and you're like, Hey, I love being at parties. I'd much rather be here than sitting at home watching Netflix. Like this. This is me. Then eventually, you probably will. 

Thomas: [00:16:18] Well, yeah, yeah. 

Adam: [00:16:19] If if you don't, if you never take that step, then you know, 

Thomas: [00:16:23] yeah, I think there is a bit of fake it till you make it this kind of related to this. But I also think it's kind of different because I think you're actually I think what you're doing is hacking into your ego, you're hacking into the mental conception you have of yourself. Mm hmm. And this is I remember, like the ego is the way is the mental picture that we have of ourselves that we then manipulate in our imaginations to help us navigate through a complex world. So you can imagine, you know, you have a picture of yourself and you can imagine going up to someone and saying something, and you can imagine how they're going to react and the kind of outcomes you're going to get the mental picture that you have. That's that's what some people call the ego. And that's sort of a composite of all these sort of different ideas that you have of yourself. And look, it works in a sort of a material way, like if you're walking towards a doorway, you can you can know well ahead of whether you went before you pass through the doorway. Whether that doorway is tall enough to let you through without stooping depends 

Adam: [00:17:20] if you've been to the pre-party.

Adam: [00:17:26] But yeah, I know you're right. Yeah. 

Thomas: [00:17:29] So you've got this idea of of you have a mental picture of yourself and how tall you are and you use that to navigate through the doorway. And it's the same story, but with because we live in a complex world and we're a complex social animals, that picture we have of ourselves includes a lot more than our physical reality, includes all of our qualities about, you know, how talented, how fast a runner I am. I like physical aptitude. But then also you have ideas about how talented I am, how good looking I am, how popular I am, how good with money I am. They're all just ideas that we pick up along the way that we then use to help us navigate a complex world. But a lot of them are just are just stories and left unchecked. They can become limiting stories. 

Adam: [00:18:14] Yeah. And I think especially if you're talking about, you know, and and the Equity Mates guys did really well at this and same with your own good company sort of breaking down the barriers to entry into, say, investing, you know, like. Because a lot of people, I reckon you would ask, they would have those limiting sentiments in their ego already that say, there's no way I could understand how to invest money in the share market. There's no way that, you know, that's just not for me. It's not something I could get my head around. And that's where I think some of you know you're in good company and Get Started Investing feed podcasts are really good because they're kind of doing that for you. In a way, they're taking what could be an affirmation, which is, I can understand this. I can. I can be good at this and I can do it. And they're kind of providing that for you. So there's value in it, for sure. And then if you can take that, the knowledge. All the the information that you're you're being given. And then you can use that as a basis for fuelling your own view of yourself and going, well, yeah, I can do that. I can understand that if I buy an ASX 200 ETF, that's not really very hard. And that is investing in the share market, you know, whether that works out for you or not is in on the story. But it's an easy way you can get in. So yeah, yeah, I think I get it. 

Thomas: [00:19:32] But yeah, I mean to look for a lot of my clients. So this is why this is why I like with all like development processes or investing kind of journeys. There's a lot there. Use a lot of like examples in case studies of other students and a lot of like, look at these, these students, they started just like you without knowing a lot and they went on this journey. And now here they are. And so you see that and you go like, Oh, they did it, therefore, I can do it. And it's kind of like a mini affirmation in that sense. Hmm. 

Adam: [00:20:02] But I think the bad for investors book is full of them. Like, I read that, you know, and that's just full of of stories of, you know, single mom with three kids and you're struggling. And then and then her journey through setting up the buckets and whatever and. Mm. 

Thomas: [00:20:18] Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I think but I think so. I think, you know, when you you can choose that you can focus in on yourself. And then I think with affirmations, you can shift that mental picture of your self very quickly. You know, it's not, you know, it's not a it's not going to magically transform you. But like if you if you're just running a negative script, if you're running a limiting story, you can just you can just stop that. You can turn that off for, you know, as little as two minutes a day for three months. And you know, it's to do with that again.

Adam: [00:20:45] So I'm a busy man a day for how long? Right? Maybe. Not even that 

Adam: [00:20:57] much. That's affirmations you just tell yourself. Something every day is similar to like convincing yourself to like certain foods. Like, apparently, if you if you have something 12 times, then you like it. Um, you know, I did it when I was giving up, I was going to get rid of Sugar Adam a diet as much as I could, and I stopped adding sugar into my coffee. And I'd always loved coffee and I love my morning coffee. And then I was, you know, drinking way too much coffee. And I totally try to take sugar out of my diet and I'm like, Oh God, I don't like coffee at all. 

Adam: [00:21:29] It's like it's literally like sugar. But then I tried 

Adam: [00:21:35] it because the people saying, now, if you if you drink coffee for 12 days without sugar, eventually by the end of the 12th day, every day you will be used to having it without sugar. And I don't reckon it took 12 days, but it took. But I did get there. And now, now I don't drink sugar. I don't have sugar in my coffee. And I like it to the point that if I put sugar in there, I don't. I don't think it'll be too sweet. Yeah.

Thomas: [00:22:00] So, yeah, that doesn't sound anything like affirmations. 

Adam: [00:22:04] Well, it's the similar process, though.

Thomas: [00:22:06] No, that's acclimatisation. That's a that's a whole different, different lever. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, because it's not a story you guys like. If you if you, you know, if you're running a told a story that you can't 

Adam: [00:22:20] control 

Adam: [00:22:20] myself, I don't like coffee. I don't like sugar. 

Thomas: [00:22:24] Yeah, but yeah, and no more physical reality again, I reckon. Hmm.

Adam: [00:22:31] Well, it's I have to say I've learnt nothing this episode. 

Adam: [00:22:33] I think we started in in the karaoke land where I suspected you might have had too many mushrooms on your camping trip and we went with me learning nothing. So hopefully you got something out of it. If you're listening out there, you can

Adam: [00:22:50] of course, send us an email CVE at Equity Mates dot com or on the website at Equity Mates dot com forward slash CVE. And if you've made it this far, we do thank you very much for listening. We'd love it if you went and left us a review on iTunes and tell us what you think of the show. We'll be back. May be back on track next week, too. We'll see how we go, but do do tell us if you enjoyed this, this type of content. You know, it's a bit of a departure from what we're normally bringing each week. If you found it interesting, if you got something out of it, if you want to know more than you know, Thomas has got it, he does have a wealth of information about this kind of thing. So so be sure to let us know. Otherwise, thanks for joining us, and we'll talk to you again next week. See you later!

More About

Meet your hosts

  • Adam

    Adam

    Adam is the funniest and most successful comedian in his family. He broke onto the comedy scene as a RAW comedy national finalist before selling out solo shows at two Adelaide Fringe festivals. He’s performed stand-up to crowds all over Australia as well as enjoying stints on radio with SAFM and most recently as a host of the Ice Bath on Triple M. Father of two and owner of pets, he may finally be an adult… almost.
  • Thomas

    Thomas

    Thomas, the economist, is the brains of the outfit. He studied economics and game-theory at the University of Queensland and cut his teeth as an economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia. He now runs his own economics consultancy, with a particular focus on the property market. He lives with his wife and two kids in the hills outside Byron Bay.

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