The Thrive Weekly - Why Your Goals Keep Ghosting You (And What Actually Works)
Hey there,
Two years ago, if you'd told me I'd be sending you a newsletter about "becoming your future self" and "reprogramming your subconscious," I would have checked my calendar to make sure it wasn't April Fools' Day.
I'm a CFO. I deal in spreadsheets, not chakras. My idea of meditation was staring at an Excel pivot table until the numbers made sense.
But here's the thing: I tried it anyway. Not as a believer—as an experimenter. And what I discovered wasn't mystical. It was mechanical. And it changed everything.
The Problem With Your Goals (And Mine)
You know that goal you set last January? The one that felt so real for about three weeks before quietly dying in the corner while you weren't looking.
Here's what happened: You tried to change your behavior while your identity stayed the same.
Your conscious mind (the part reading this email right now) set the goal. But your subconscious mind (the autopilot running 95% of your daily patterns) said, "LOL, nice try."
Traditional goal-setting is like typing commands into a computer while someone else holds the mouse. You can be as motivated as you want, but if the operating system isn't aligned, you're fighting yourself. Every. Single. Time.
The Alternative: Change the Operating System First
What if instead of trying harder, you changed who you are?
Not in a fluffy, "believe in yourself" kind of way. I mean literally rewiring your neural pathways so the behaviors you want become automatic. So they feel natural instead of forced.
That's what The Thrive Framework does.
It's five steps that take you from "I want this" to "I am this"—from conscious intention to subconscious embodiment. And it works because it leverages actual neuroscience, not wishful thinking.
(Jim Carrey, Oprah, and Michael Phelps all used versions of this. They just didn't explain the mechanism. I did that here.)
Here's the Real Secret (That Nobody Tells You)
But before you get excited and start visualizing your dream life while eating a sandwich (Carrey's words, not mine), you need to know the missing ingredient:
You still have to take massive aligned action.
Visualization without action is daydreaming. Action without visualization is grinding uphill against your own programming.
Together? That's when transformation becomes inevitable.
The five steps reprogram your autopilot. But you still have to drive the car.
The Framework (In 60 Seconds)
Think From the End – Imagine your desired reality as already accomplished
Harmonize Your Energy – Get your nervous system on board (no resistance allowed)
Rehearse the Vision – Access alpha brain state and install the new programming
Integrate the Identity – Make daily choices aligned with who you're becoming
Embody the Reality – Become the person who naturally lives that life
Each step builds on the previous one. Each one has actual neuroscience behind it. (I break down all of it in the full article.)
Your Move
If you're skeptical—good. I was, too. But I'd invite you to approach this as an experiment rather than a belief system.
Pick one outcome you actually want. Spend 10-15 minutes daily visualizing it as already real. Then ask yourself throughout the day: "What would the version of me who already has this choose to do right now?"
And then actually do that thing.
Small aligned choices, repeated daily, reprogram your identity. The visualization gives you the blueprint. The action makes it real.
Try it for 30 days and see what happens. Because thriving isn't about chasing external achievements. It's about becoming the person who naturally lives the life you want—then taking the daily actions that make that transformation real.
The person you're becoming already exists.
You just need to step into it.
Read the full framework here →
Michael
P.S. – Yes, I brought my A1c to 5.5 after 40+ years of type 1 diabetes using these exact principles. Neuroscience + massive aligned action = results you can measure. That's my kind of transformation. Read here about it.
