George Wright III opens this episode of The Daily Mastermind with a deceptively simple idea that most people spend their entire lives getting backwards: money is not a goal. It is a result. The same is true for your health, your relationships, your happiness, and the success of your business. Once you shift your focus from the outcome to the cause that produces it, everything changes.
This is a foundational mindset shift, and George breaks it down through real-world examples, lessons from T. Harv Eker, and the 12 Prosperity Pillars that have shaped his 25 years in personal development.
Why the Purpose of Business Is Not to Make Money
George starts with a question worth sitting with: what is the purpose of your business? Most people answer profit, revenue, or making money. George argues that all of those answers are wrong.
The true purpose of business is to serve the needs of your customer. When you fill that need better than anyone else, in a world-class way, profit follows naturally. Profit is not the goal; it is the byproduct of excellent service.
"The purpose of business is not to make a profit. The purpose of business is to serve the need of your customer. It's to fill a need better than anyone else."
This reframe applies directly to your personal life as well. You are not chasing money, weight loss, or a great relationship as ends in themselves. Those are results. The real question is: what are you doing every day to build the cause that produces them?
What the Money Thermostat Actually Means
One of the most powerful concepts George shares is the idea of an internal thermostat. Every person has a set point, a level of success their internal beliefs and habits keep returning them to. You might push past it temporarily, but just like a thermostat set to 72 degrees, your life will keep snapping back to that default level until you change the setting.
George credits T. Harv Eker with a phrase that helped him break through his own ceiling:
"If you want to change the fruits, you've got to change the roots."
Your results are the fruit. Your inner world, your beliefs, your subconscious programming, and your daily rituals are the roots. You can obsess over the fruit all you want. Until the roots change, the fruit will not.
How Your Inner World Controls Your Outer Results
George makes a striking claim: your inner game is controlled roughly 80% by your subconscious mind, your habits, and your rituals. That means the majority of your results in life are not a product of conscious effort alone. They are a product of what is running beneath the surface.
Your weight is a result. Your income is a result. Your happiness is a result. Your health is a result. All of them are outputs of your inner world: your beliefs, your thoughts, and the actions those beliefs generate. Focusing on the output without addressing the input is like watering the fruit instead of the soil.
The Difference Between Focusing on Results and Focusing on the Cause
There is nothing wrong with having a clear vision. Dream boards, goals, and clarity about what you want are all valuable tools. But George is emphatic: visualization alone, without a shift in focus toward the cause, will not get you there.
When you are so fixated on the result that you are not attending to the cause that creates it, you stall. You push. You grind. But the thermostat keeps pulling you back.
The shift is this: identify what daily actions, habits, and beliefs produce the outcome you want. Then pour your energy into those, consistently, day after day. The results will follow as a natural byproduct.
The Quote That Ties It Together
George opens the episode with a quote from Goldemeier: "You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist." He connects it directly to the concept of attraction. If you are grinding and pushing with both hands clenched tight, you are not leaving room to receive. You cannot attract what you are not creating space for.
"You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist."
This is the tension at the heart of the episode. Action is essential. But relentless, white-knuckled effort without space for attraction, without attention to your inner world, keeps you locked at the level you are already at.
The 12 Prosperity Pillars as a Daily Foundation
George also walks through his 12 Prosperity Pillars, which he describes as daily affirmations built from 25 years of mentorship and personal development work. These pillars are designed to serve as a foundation for your day, your week, and your life. They include taking personal responsibility, acting in spite of your mood, surrounding yourself with positive people, focusing on solutions, and creating an attitude of abundance.
These are not just inspirational phrases. They are the cause. Living these pillars daily is exactly the kind of internal work that shifts your thermostat up and creates the conditions for the results you want.
Action Steps
- Identify one area of your life where you are focused on the result (income, weight, relationship) instead of the cause. Write down three daily actions that address the root cause directly.
- Study your daily rituals. Are they producing the inner conditions, the beliefs, focus, and energy, that lead to your desired results? Adjust where needed.
- Revisit the 12 Prosperity Pillars. Choose one to actively practice this week and observe how your perspective shifts.
- When you feel stuck at a ceiling in any area of life, ask: what is my thermostat set to here, and what belief or habit is keeping it there?
- Create space in your day for attraction, not just action. Leave margin for reflection and receptivity alongside your effort.
The message is clear: the results you want in life are waiting on the other side of the causes you choose to build. Focus on your roots, your inner game, and your daily rituals, and the fruit will come. It's never too late to start living the life you were meant to live.
