10 Spy Tricks That Boost Confidence, Productivity & Success

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They train in secrecy. You can use the same tools. 10 spy tricks that elite operatives swear by — now revealed for everyday life  #SpyLifeHacks   #SecretToSuccess   #ConfidenceSecrets   #ProductivityHacks   #MindsetMastery   #EliteHabits   #UndercoverWisdom   #SpyMindset   #BeyondLimits   #LifeUpgrade   #LevelUpNow   #DailyPowerMoves   #InnerStrength   #HustleSmart   #SuccessBlueprint    Want to see all 10 spy tricks in action? Watch full video now.

Transcript

00:00So I spent the week with two former CIA officers and they kind of blew my mind. I was texting one

00:05of them. Actually we're on Signal because I'm part of the Cool Kids Club and that's where the

00:09government can't track you apparently. But they were fascinating and they taught me things that

00:13I in business have never learned before. And so I thought I might share some of that with you

00:18today. One of the first things that they shared with me that was kind of astounding was the

00:22unofficial CIA motto. It's a, and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

00:28And so I remember sitting there like my mouth's wide open. I'm just listening like a 10 year

00:33old at the feet of a man and a woman who had danced in the shadows for decades. And they

00:37were friends of mine who came to our conference. We did a whole segment for them, no pictures,

00:41no names, and yet they were willing to share because now they're in the light, but only

00:46after mastering a bit of the dark. And you know, I thought about there's this mystery wrapped

00:51around those who apply secrets for living, right? And I wanted to unravel them, to unravel

00:55what it means to make decisions on the verge of life or death. But before I tell you what I learned

01:01from them, I got to start with something else, which is that these people would blush from head

01:06to toe if they watched this piece. They are quiet, unassuming, quick to let anyone but themselves

01:11take the spotlight. And so if I tell you anything that's wrong or incorrect, it's on me and not

01:16them.

01:17I think we're fascinated as a society with those who do the deeds we have neither the courage nor the

01:36fortitude to do ourselves. And I sat listening to my two friends called Brooke and Jay, and I

01:42researched the mottos and the unofficial creeds of the infamous three-letter agency that has graced so

01:46many Hollywood films. I stumbled across something kind of cool. I don't know if you guys have ever

01:50heard of challenge coins, but I'll explain them to you. And these three quotes came out. They were

01:54so golden. One, we accomplish what others cannot accomplish and go where others cannot go. The

02:00second one was nowhere to hide. The third, we shall reap what ye have sown. I kind of got chills. Did you

02:07get chills? And the reason is these challenge coins actually have a special place in the military

02:12since World War I, whether it be in special forces like my husband or the agencies. They're shown as

02:17a mark of a group within a group, a mission, a gift. When you lay a challenge coin on the bar,

02:22it's like a knock on the doors of a members-only establishment. I've seen it done to my husband

02:27only on one occasion, actually. And the story actually goes that during World War I, there was a

02:32wealthy lieutenant and he ordered bronze medallions for his squadron. One pilot wore his in a pouch around

02:38his neck and he was wearing it when he was shot down behind enemy lines. He escaped, but he had no

02:44ID except for a squadron coin. The coin saved his life. He showed it to the people on his side of the

02:50line and they let him through. So they thought they should wear these coins at all times. And to ensure

02:55that they would wear them, they did what the military does best and they created a drinking game. If you

02:59couldn't produce a coin, you were on the hook for the challenger. If you could produce the coin, the other

03:03guy had to buy you a drink. The practice continues to this day. So the lessons I'm about to share are

03:08snippets, small borrowed ideas from those to who we owe debts for things done that we'll never hear

03:13about. They're from behind enemy lines. And here's the first lesson. The more you know of another, the

03:19more they'll like you. Now we've heard this before. Dale Carnegie said, talk to someone about themselves,

03:23they'll listen for hours. When I first met Jay, I was amazed by many things, but one item I was

03:27fascinated by. He did his homework on me. He just wove a story and left brudclurums that I gobbled up like a

03:36starving bird. He mentioned my favorite book, Ayn Rand. It's actually back there. He highlighted

03:40my time in Mexico in tandem with, you know, his time working in a plant down south. He questioned

03:45me on my background. And I kind of, you know, I'm a former journalist, so I watched a bit from above

03:50on the conversation and I was amazed to see something unfurl, a three-letter agency officer in

03:55action. After all, when you meet me, I cannot help but pepper people with questions as I'm a journalist,

04:00a former sneaky sneaky, you know, you can't help it. Within 60 minutes of our meeting,

04:05I'd agreed to, one, seriously consider investing in his company, two, have dinner with him and his

04:10wife that week with my husband, and three, invited him to our conference for free. And that is the

04:15power of understanding another that cannot be underestimated. We went from strangers to friends

04:21like this. And the question for you is, can any human really resist that alluring temptation

04:27of someone who knows them and finds them worth knowing? How can we cultivate that? The second

04:33lesson I learned from him is that Jay was undercover for most of his career, which was fascinating,

04:38how you can keep up with two lives. And I asked him, like, how did you keep up with all the lies?

04:43And he chuckled and said, I never really lied. I just didn't speak when I couldn't and I let others

04:49fill in the rest. And I thought about it for a minute. How do you even know if someone is lying?

04:55Well, they give you too much detail. They overshare. They just can't let it sit. And my father always said,

05:00just tell the truth. It's easier to remember. You just don't have to tell all of it.

05:05Number three, control the frame. Always. He told me this story about they were speeding

05:10down a Middle Eastern highway, men from two worlds brought together by war. They picked up an asset,

05:16and as they always did, they put the asset in the back with them and started to talk. But this day,

05:21the asset looked sick to his stomach, almost nauseous with fear. So they continued their debrief,

05:27but the man continued to grow increasingly sweaty and slick with it. There was no doubt the

05:33conversation they were having was not for the faint of heart. If anyone in his country would

05:37have heard it, he would have been executed and so would his family. Finally, Jay asked after he had

05:41gotten all the information he needed, you okay, man? And the man tore his eyes away from the road for

05:46just a moment and said, yes, I'm just really uncomfortable, you know, driving on the wrong side of the road.

05:53Jay's eyes widened as did the drivers because they had no idea they were barreling down highways at

05:58record speeds into largely oncoming traffic. And of course, Jay then said, I do believe we're about

06:03done with driving on the wrong side of the road and we can pull off now. And he said to me, he who

06:09controls the frame can control just about any decision. Number four came from Brooke. This one was

06:15simple. Speak less. When I was listening to her, she said to me, I always regretted saying too much. I rarely

06:22regretted saying too little. Brooke told the crowd this lesson while she was tucking sort of an errant

06:27blonde hair behind her ear. And that statement seemed odd to me kind of given how brilliant she was.

06:33And then she said, you have to allow mystery to make you look smarter than you seem. The chatty ones, they lose.

06:41So speak less. Number five was that presence isn't just for yogis. She had this statement that I loved.

06:47She said, the white zone is dangerous. Stay in the yellow. I, of course, asked what the white

06:53zone. The white zone is you walking while on a podcast, not paying attention, being on autopilot.

06:58In their line of work, there's nothing more dangerous than not paying attention. It turns

07:02out in life, in doing deals and investing and hiring, the same is kind of true. The devil's in

07:06the details. The devil is the details. The problem is staying in the yellow zone requires energy and

07:12presence is draining. So you have to train your brain to recall where the focus needs to be and

07:18where your autopilot can kick in. How leads to point number six. It's not by knowing what's off.

07:24It's by knowing what's normal. So she said she likes to play a game. She looks down at her street

07:30and every single day she'll ask her daughter, do you know the cars that are usually in front of your

07:34neighbor's house? Whose car is that? Whose van is that? And would it seem off to you if your neighbor's

07:39dog who's normally quiet starts to bark or the opposite of one who barks all the time and has

07:44been silent? We spend on average 10 hours a day at home. But do we train ourselves to know what to see?

07:49Her statement is that it's all about baseline versus deviation. You look for what is normal and only

07:55then can you know what is different. Abnormality becomes easy. Why? Because you know what normal is.

08:02In deal making, you can't get good at a deal until you've had a bad one. In life, you can't know a bad

08:07employee until you have a great one. Contrast in all things. The number seven was kind of interesting

08:12too. She said your brain can trick you but your gut won't. Trust evolution. Trust the multi-generational

08:19gut that has been built. As a woman in particular this resonated with me because she said if something

08:23looks off in a person, cross the street. People these days might say that might be prejudice but if

08:28you feel it in your gut, do not subdue the gut. Or if you feel weird in a situation, don't worry about it.

08:34Your brain is trying to tell you something as is your gut. For Brooke, when she gets spooked,

08:39she leaves. When it feels wrong, they skip the drop. Gut is greater than need. Too often we know

08:44someone is not a fit but we hire a partner with them anyway. We forget that evolution has given us

08:49a hundred trillion, that's right, trillion, micro bacteria that make up our gut. Maybe they know a

08:54thing or two. Number eight is home field advantage. Choose the time and place of your engagement.

09:00In sports, you have a 52.6% likelihood to win at your home field all else being equal. But do we

09:06apply that in life? When I do a deal, I almost always do it on my schedule in a place I know

09:10where I've been comfortable after I've done a workout and never after eating. That's when you

09:15get sleepy. Because place is a power play. And the last one is get off the ex. She plays a game with

09:21her kids and they jump up and down and they ask to play get off the ex. Which basically means if your

09:26brother or sister is running right at you, what do you do? You get off the ex. The kids, they shout,

09:31they run away. In a weird situation, she asks them, what do you do? Get off the ex, they shout. That

09:36means always moving, never expected and learn to run, not freeze. And it turns out we have a 27%

09:42likelihood of freezing in any given situation and about a 50% likelihood of delaying. So not staying

09:49frozen, but freezing for a moment. It's a default mechanism. And it kind of made me think of,

09:54do you guys remember Entourage? I always remember wishing I could be like Ari with his ridiculous,

09:59fast-witted responses. Eric, do not fear. I got my top lieutenants meeting me in the war room in 10

10:04minutes. Ari, I'm getting killed over here. Vince isn't happy. Of course he's not happy. Nobody's

10:08happy in this town except for the losers. Look at me, I'm miserable. That's why I'm rich.

10:12Most of us instead say nothing, panic, then spend the next 24 hours obsessing about why we should have

10:17said X or Y or Z. So now apply that to life or death. And the last lesson I learned is that you should

10:24hire ex-CIA people because life is all about rhythms and ripples. And if you can find people

10:30that see those for a living, you just may solve some problems. I hope you liked this segment today.

10:36We're toying around with this thing about contrarian thinking and taking a bit deeper

10:40of a glance into the way we do things in the world around us. So hit that follow button if you liked it.

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