In 2018, I sat down with Bob Proctor in the garden of his home in Toronto, Canada, for a conversation about goals, faith, belief and what happens when you make a genuine commitment to changing your life.

I had already spent years studying with Bob and applying what he taught me, both personally and in my business, but one of the things I loved most about spending time with him was that there was always something more to learn. He had an extraordinary ability to take an idea you thought you understood and explain it in a way that made you see it completely differently.

This conversation was one of those occasions.

We began by talking about growth and why, regardless of how successful someone has become, there is always another level available to them. Bob believed that growth was inherent in life itself, and as he looked around his garden at the trees, vines and grass, he pointed out that everything in nature continues to grow and expand.

The difference, he explained, is that we have the ability to choose the direction of our growth.

That distinction matters enormously when you’re running a business, leading people or working towards a goal that requires you to move beyond what you’ve already achieved.

The Difference Between Wishing and Believing

At one point during our conversation, Bob picked up his well-worn copy of Think and Grow Rich and showed me a passage he had highlighted more than 50 years earlier.

It was about the difference between wishing for something and being ready to receive it.

Bob explained that wishing alone isn’t enough, because you can consciously want a particular result while still holding subconscious beliefs that tell you it isn’t possible for you.

He knew this from personal experience.

When Bob was 26, he was broke, unhappy and convinced that his limited education explained why he wasn’t achieving more. Then a man named Ray Stanford introduced him to a different way of thinking and challenged him to reconsider what he was capable of.

Bob made a decision to follow Ray’s guidance, even though doing what someone else told him was completely out of character at the time.

That decision changed the direction of his life.

Years later, Bob came to understand that the transformation hadn’t simply been about learning how to earn money. He had begun to reevaluate who he was, and as his belief about himself changed, so did the results he was capable of creating.

Choosing Faith Over Fear

One of my favourite moments in this interview is when Bob begins exploring faith.

He describes faith as the ability to see something that hasn’t happened yet and believe in a possibility that your present circumstances cannot confirm.

Think about what that means for a business owner who has a goal significantly beyond their current results.

You might know exactly what you want to create, but if you continually look to your present finances, experience, resources or past performance to determine whether it’s possible, you’ll find plenty of reasons to question yourself.

Bob taught me to approach a goal differently.

Rather than allowing the circumstances around you to determine what you believe, you begin with the result you want and develop your ability to hold that picture in your mind, even before you have evidence of how it will happen.

Faith is a decision to believe in the possibility of something beyond what you can presently see.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be challenges or that you won’t need to develop new skills, make difficult decisions and take action. It means you stop allowing your current circumstances to be the final authority on what’s possible for you.

What Happens When You Begin to See Yourself Differently

During our conversation, I shared an email I’d received from a client the night before.

She and her husband had just turned over a million dollars in their business, and she wanted to tell me because when we’d originally set that goal together, she genuinely couldn’t imagine how they would achieve it.

What excited me most wasn’t simply that she’d reached the financial milestone. It was what she told me next. She had already set another goal, one that was so much bigger than anything she would previously have imagined for herself.

Her understanding of what was possible had changed.

This is one of the most rewarding parts of the work I do. People often begin coaching because they want to grow their business, improve their finances or create more time and freedom, but as they study and apply the material, they begin to recognise capabilities within themselves that they hadn’t previously considered.

Their goals change because their belief about who they are and what they’re capable of begins to change.

The Best Investment You’ll Ever Make

Towards the end of our conversation, Bob spoke directly to the people watching and encouraged them to invest in their own development.

He reminded us that business owners regularly invest in buildings, systems, equipment and other resources, yet the people making the decisions and creating the results are the most valuable part of any business.

I remember telling him that I’d made a decision years earlier never to stop investing in my own growth, and that I would continue studying and applying this material for the rest of my life.

It’s a decision I’ve honoured ever since.

I also made a commitment when I began working with Bob that I would become a product of what I was teaching. I wanted to know this material through experience, not simply through reading books or attending seminars, and I wanted my clients to have the confidence that I would never ask them to do something I hadn’t been willing to do myself.

That commitment has shaped the way I’ve worked with clients for more than two decades.

As you watch this conversation, I’d encourage you to think about the goal you’re currently pursuing and whether you’re approaching it from what you’ve already achieved or from what you genuinely believe you could become capable of.

Perhaps you’ve already created an extraordinary level of success, but there’s another result you want that still feels beyond your reach.

What might change if you made the decision to believe in that possibility before you could see the evidence of it?

I hope you enjoy this conversation with Bob as much as I enjoyed having it. It’s a very special piece of my history with him, and I’m grateful to be able to continue sharing his wisdom.

Watch my conversation with Bob Proctor →

What’s Next?

At ELEVATE 2027 this February, Brian and Cory Proctor will be joining me in person as we continue sharing and building upon the work Bob dedicated his life to. I’d love you to be in the room with us. Secure your ELEVATE 2027 tickets here