Think This Not That 12 Mindshifts To Breakthrough Limiting Beliefs And Become Your Best Self

SKILL.md

---
displayName: "Think This, Not That"
summary: "Josh Axe's 12-mindshift framework for breaking through limiting beliefs and unlocking your full potential. Drawing from his journey from a 2.3 GPA high school graduate told he'd never be a doctor to a functional medicine physician and multimillion-dollar entrepreneur, Axe shows how replacing limiting beliefs with empowering truths transforms every area of life."
tags:
  - mindset
  - personal-development
  - self-help
  - limiting-beliefs
  - growth-mindset
  - leadership
  - psychology
  - motivation
  - resilience
  - success
---

# Think This, Not That

**Author:** Josh Axe  
**Language:** Default to English when ambiguous, translate only when source language is clearly different and the user explicitly requests a specific language.

## Introduction

Your mindset is the ultimate catalyst for change — and the ultimate barrier to it. Josh Axe, a functional medicine physician and entrepreneur, spent a decade studying how beliefs shape outcomes. His conclusion: "Nothing could match the transformative impact of mindset medicine."

Axe's own story proves it. His freshman English teacher laughed when he said he wanted to become a doctor. He graduated with a 2.3 GPA. He was diagnosed with ADHD. Every piece of evidence told him he wasn't smart enough. But a single encouraging comment from a college teacher — "You got an A+, the highest grade in the class" — sparked what Axe calls a "memory transplant." That one moment replaced a limiting belief with an unlimited one. He went on to earn a doctorate, build multiple multimillion-dollar businesses (Ancient Nutrition, leaders.com), and write seven books.

Research cited in the book: the average person has 50,000 thoughts per day, and 95 percent are on repeat (Wharton School). Most of those repeating thoughts are lies we've been told or have told ourselves. Axe provides twelve specific mindshifts to replace those lies with empowering truths.

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## Key Principles

### 1. Unlimited Beliefs Create Unlimited Results

A belief is a mental certainty that something is true. Beliefs are like tabletops supported by "legs" — events, experiences, and opinions that reinforce them. The more legs, the stronger the belief. Limiting beliefs cap your potential; unlimited beliefs expand it.

**Case — The memory transplant:** Axe's high school teacher Mrs. Nobel laughed at his dream of becoming a doctor. Her words, combined with his 2.3 GPA and ADHD diagnosis, created a powerful limiting belief. Years later, college teacher Mrs. Williams gave him an A+ on his first paper and said, "Have you ever thought about becoming a writer?" Axe calls this a "memory transplant" — consciously replacing a false narrative with a true one. He put the A+ paper on his bathroom mirror so he saw it every day. After the summer program, he finished with a 3.5 GPA, got accepted into the University of Kentucky, and maintained high grades throughout undergrad.

**Case — The nocebo effect (cited in the book):** A 1970s patient was diagnosed with end-stage liver cancer and told he had months to live. He died within the predicted time frame. The autopsy revealed only a small, localized tumor that was not life-threatening. Doctors had been wrong, but his belief that he was dying killed him anyway. Axe also describes a patient in his clinic who was wheelchair-bound with what doctors said was multiple sclerosis. He discovered she actually had mold toxicity. Within days of the correct diagnosis, she walked again. Her new belief acted as medicine for the mind.

**Case — Jamie Kern Lima (IT Cosmetics):** One potential investor told Lima that "no one would want to buy makeup from someone who looked like her." She chose to believe otherwise. In 2016, L'Oréal bought IT Cosmetics for $1.2 billion. Lima became the first female CEO in L'Oréal's 108-year history.

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### 2. Success Is Becoming, Not Accomplishing

Most people measure success by external markers: money, status, titles, possessions. These are temporary. Real success is who you become in the process — the character built, the virtues cultivated. An accomplishing mindset focuses on things; a becoming mindset focuses on character.

**Case — Grandfather Howard's funeral:** Axe's 96-year-old grandfather had no wealth, no social media presence, no Forbes listing. At his funeral, person after person called him "my best friend." "Howard gave me money when I lost my job." "Howard showed me what a great father looked like." Axe realized: "I needed to reexamine my definition of success." He developed the formula: Success = maximizing your unique skill for the good of others.

**Case — Lance Armstrong:** The most influential athlete in America in 2010 — until the doping scandal cost him his career, sponsorships, reputation, and personal relationships. Axe's point: "When you accumulate accomplishments while ignoring your character, it's like building a house on sand."

**Case — Steve Jobs' regrets:** Jobs left behind a $10.2 billion fortune and world-changing innovations, but told his biographer: "I wanted my kids to know me. I wasn't always there for them." Research cited: a *Journal of Research in Personality* study tracked 147 college graduates; those who valued material goals over relationships had less life satisfaction.

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### 3. Self-Awareness Reveals What You Cannot See

You cannot change what you do not see. Axe identifies four barriers to self-awareness: pride (believing you know it all), busyness (constant motion prevents reflection), character sabotage (vices create blinders), and entertainment addiction (dopamine replaces growth). He cites Tasha Eurich's *Harvard Business Review* research: 90 percent of people believe they are self-aware, but only 10-15 percent actually are.

**Case — The Batman Effect study:** Four- and six-year-olds were given a project with the option of taking a break to play a video game. Group 1 acted naturally. Group 2 thought in third person. Group 3 took on a superhero identity. Group 1 had poorest performance. Group 2 (self-aware) had 13 percent improvement. Group 3 (Batman/Disney princess) had 23 percent improvement.

**Case — Axe's Ethiopia trip:** Visiting a landfill where hundreds lived and worked, Axe saw children scavenging for food. The experience "unlocked more than sympathy; it developed a deep awareness that suffering was real and unjust." He came home weeping. It transformed his perspective: he became more intentional about serving others.

**Case — SWOT analysis (applied to personal growth):** Axe adapted the Stanford business tool — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats — for personal development across five areas (faith, fitness, finances/work, family, free time). The exercise is designed to be uncomfortable. "Pride is the first casualty of honest self-assessment."

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### 4. Purpose Sustains Through Hardship

Without a compelling why, motivation fades when things get hard. Purpose converts work from obligation to mission. Axe introduces the Japanese concept of ikigai — where what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what brings reward intersect.

**Case — Axe's mother's cancer:** When his mom was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer at age 41, it crystallized Axe's purpose: to use food as medicine. After a mastectomy and four cycles of chemotherapy, his mother adopted a holistic protocol — dietary changes, supplements, gratitude, prayer. Her tumors shrank 52 percent in four months. At age 68, she still water-skis. She later became a guide for other cancer patients.

**Case — The STARS goal method:** Axe created this framework — Specific, Trackable, Accountable, Realistic, Significant — for pursuing purpose. His own purpose evolved with life stages: from healing patients one-on-one, to building the #1 natural health website, to founding Ancient Nutrition, to leadership development with leaders.com.

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### 5. Rewrite Your Role in the Story (Victim → Hero → Guide)

Most people live as victims — "it's not my fault," "I'm stuck," "nothing I can do changes this." The hero's journey requires taking ownership and acting. Axe adapts Joseph Campbell's 17 stages into 8: Comfort, Awaken, Assemble a Team, Quest, Trials, Transformation, Triumph, Return with Wisdom.

**Case — Harriet Tubman:** Born into slavery in 1820, beaten as a child, suffering head injuries that caused lifelong seizures. She escaped but returned to help approximately 70 others to freedom via the Underground Railroad. Later led an armed Civil War expedition freeing 700+ slaves. "Tubman had every right to remain a victim. She became a hero because she kept saying yes to the cycle of action."

**Case — Axe's failed business:** After moving to Florida and pouring everything into a business that failed "costing him every penny of savings," Axe had two months of savings left. He sought counsel, found a mentor who introduced him to a community of greatness, and relaunched. He went on to build Ancient Nutrition, a top supplement company. "That opportunity-turned-failure was one of my greatest teachers."

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### 6. Build Identity and Virtues on Principles, Not Opinions

Axe identifies three foundations for identity: modern (self-focused, based on feelings and culture — building on sand), traditional (based on family, duty, heritage — building on soil), and divine (based on higher power and unchanging principles — building on stone). He then introduces the seven divine virtues (wisdom, justice, self-control, courage, faith, hope, love) and the opposite seven vices (pride, envy, wrath, greed, lust, gluttony, sloth).

**Case — Virtue-building practice:** Axe identified encouragement as a virtue he lacked. He made an index card with "encouragement" on one side and Bible verses and quotes on the other. He practiced saying encouraging words in every conversation. "At first, it was uncomfortable." After a few months, multiple people told him he "seemed like a different person." The virtue became a habit.

**Case — Financial principles learned from Dave Ramsey and Jordan Rubin:** After losing his savings, Axe sought advice from financially wise mentors. The principles: get out of debt, give 10 percent, invest 10 percent into real estate or stocks. Simple but profound.

**Case — Warren Buffett and Michael Burry:** Axe cites Buffett who ignores media hype and invests based on simple principles. Burry recognized in 2008 that basic economic principles were being violated; his principled analysis grew his investors' wealth by $700 million.

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### 7. Flip Fear, Visualize, Persevere Positively

Fear is not the enemy — letting it stop you is. Axe differentiates fear-based mindset (threatened by others' success, sees failure as the end) from flourishing mindset (grows from failure, prioritizes process over perfection). He then introduces "positive perseverance": a fusion of hope (Snyder's three components: goals, pathways, agency), grit (Angela Duckworth's research), and gratitude (UC San Diego heart study showing gratitude improves health outcomes).

**Case — Axe's spinal infection:** After a stem cell procedure went wrong, Axe was diagnosed with a spinal infection causing osteomyelitis. He couldn't walk. Doctors said he might never fully recover, could be permanently disabled, or could die. He spent a year learning to walk again — crawling first, then shuffling with a walker, then walking. He lost 40 pounds. He chose hope, grit, and gratitude. "Instead of feeling pity for myself, I strove to rise above my feelings."

**Case — Sara Blakely (Spanx):** Her father encouraged her to celebrate failures. When she came home with a D, he asked: "What did you learn?" This reframe allowed her to persist through constant rejection and build a billion-dollar company. She credits visualization as "a top determining factor of SPANX's success."

**Case — Carol Dweck's fifth graders (cited in the book):** Children praised for effort outperformed those praised for intelligence on difficult problems. The effort-praised group saw failure as motivation. This is the essence of the flourishing mindset.

**Case — Deion Sanders:** Two-time Super Bowl champion who attempted suicide at the height of his success. After surviving, he turned to coaching — teaching young men character, honor, and responsibility at the University of Colorado. His message: "You send us a boy, we'll send you back a man."

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## Watermark

This skill contains insights from Josh Axe's *Think This, Not That*. Use it to identify and replace the limiting beliefs that are capping your potential. The next time you catch yourself thinking "I can't because," pause and ask: "What would I believe if I chose to think differently?" Your beliefs shape your reality. Choose them wisely.

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**Action:** Identify one limiting belief you hold right now. Write down where it came from — the specific event, conversation, or experience. Use the memory transplant technique: write the opposite empowering belief. Find one piece of evidence that supports it. Put it where you'll see it every day.

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**Listen and Execute.**

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## Recall Triggers

✅ You feel stuck in self-doubt or limiting beliefs  
✅ You want to redefine success beyond money and status  
✅ You need to find clarity on your purpose and direction  
✅ You're recovering from a failure or setback  
✅ You want to build an unshakable sense of identity  
✅ You need to overcome fear of taking a big step  
✅ You want to build virtues instead of fighting vices  
✅ You're building a community of greatness around your vision  
✅ You need to develop resilience and positive perseverance  
✅ You want to practice the memory transplant technique