What separates those who achieve lasting success from those who constantly chase quick fixes? The answer lies in understanding two fundamentally different approaches to goal achievement: the lottery ticket mindset versus the blueprint mindset.
Most of us have fallen prey to the allure of overnight success—wishing to drop 20 pounds instantly, hoping a single social media post will make our business explode, or wanting financial security without the discipline of consistent planning. This lottery ticket thinking feels good momentarily, delivering dopamine hits similar to gambling wins, but ultimately leaves us stuck in cycles of temporary progress followed by regression.
The blueprint mindset, by contrast, embraces the unsexy reality of sustainable achievement. It's about strategizing your controllable inputs, establishing meaningful checkpoints, and committing to consistent action regardless of how you feel on any given day. The horizon you choose fundamentally filters your behavior—when you adopt a long-term perspective, you naturally prioritize durability and commitment over quick fixes. As the saying goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither are you." Your results won't materialize overnight, but through the compounding effect of small, deliberate actions taken consistently over time. The blueprint approach may not always be exciting or fun, but as you strengthen your ability to follow through on commitments to yourself, you build an unshakable foundation for lasting transformation in any area of your life.
Ready to shift from wishing for lottery-ticket outcomes to creating your success blueprint? Start by identifying one small, repeatable habit you can commit to for the next 30 days that aligns with your larger goals. Share this episode with a friend who might benefit from this mindset shift—after all, we all level up faster when surrounded by others committed to sustainable growth.
Thanks for listening & being part of the Mindset Cafe Community.
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Episode Transcript
Yeah, it's mindset cafe.
We's your boy, devin gonzalez.
And today I wanted to talkabout on this solo episode, um,
(00:31):
the two mindsets, right, theblueprint mindset versus the
lottery ticket mindset, andwe'll dive into what those
things mean.
Um, but one thing I do want tosay in the beginning.
I know I said it towards theend normally, but if these
podcasts help at all, make sureyou guys share this episode or
any of the episodes with afriend, because, honestly, that
does help.
(00:51):
You know, get the show outthere and, you know, get your
friends on board and help themlevel up their circle and their
life, because, again, you arewho you hang out with.
So if your friends are levelingup and your family's leveling
up, then you're going to levelup in turn, right?
So make sure you guys sharethat episode, this episode or
any of our episodes with afriend.
If it's helped you out.
(01:12):
It's a, you know, small littlefee to help us, because we hope
that we help you, right.
But diving into the lotteryticket mindset, the blueprint
mindset, the lottery ticketmindset, kind of goes into the
fact that and I know we've allbeen guilty of this at some
point or another of we just wantthat success or that result.
(01:35):
Now, we don't want to wait, wedon't want to put in the effort,
we just want a.
You know buy the ticket, youwin the numbers.
Boom, you're rich, right.
So that, versus the blueprintmindset of strategizing and
executing and taking time tomake sure that you're following
all the steps and you knowputting the effort in.
(01:56):
And then you know reaching yourgoal in a year, two years, five
years, whatever it may be.
And so realizing that with theblueprint mindset, right, you're
planning the controllables,you're creating inputs, you're
creating checkpoints, you'recreating, you know, a system to
(02:18):
help you achieve your goal,whereas with the lottery ticket
mindset, you're just hoping andpraying.
Right, so, for example, likefitness, right, you're hoping to
drop 20 pounds fast, versus sothat's lottery ticket, right,
and with you know whether it's aweight loss pill or, you know,
drug or whatever the case may be.
Versus setting up your macros,right, your proteins, your carbs
(02:41):
, your fats.
You know putting together aworkout plan how many days are
you going to go to the week,what are you going to work out,
so forth.
And you know making sure thatyou're just moving more on a
daily basis.
Right, and sticking to that,for you know however long it
takes, and then havingcheckpoints in where you're
weighing, in checking your bodyfat percentage and so forth,
(03:01):
right, adjusting your macros.
Those are the differences rightthere in business.
Right, praying that you knowyou're real for your business,
you know, or Instagram real, orTikTok goes viral and your
business blows up, versus, youknow, maybe, making three posts
a week.
Right, giving some value,giving some content.
You know, sending some Dms andhaving your business growth be
(03:23):
sustainable.
And actually, you know, um,what's the word?
I guess not sustainable, butlike stronger.
Right, I can't think of thewords, not from the top of my
head right now.
But realize that that hope, thathope and pray and, and you know
(03:44):
, purchase and wish it doesn'twork.
Right, yeah, there's the oneperson that wins, but realize
the odds are better by, you know, you getting struck by
lightning.
Right, um, in life.
Right, waiting to talk aboutthe right, waiting for the right
mood or the right time to talkabout finances, let's say,
(04:07):
because the right mood, theright time is never going to
come, versus setting up amonthly meeting, have a
45-minute little finance moneymeeting with your significant
other.
Rip the bandaid off the firsttime and it gets easier.
For nutrition, I need to dropweight fast.
(04:28):
All of a sudden I'm just notgoing to eat, versus.
Let me just talk to a coach orsomeone and figure out what do I
need to eat?
What things am I currentlyeating that maybe aren't
suitable for my goals?
Realize that the reason a lot ofus have the lottery ticket
mindset is it gives you, whenyou do achieve something, where
(04:50):
it's like a purchase and winkind of deal, where it's just
overnight, there's that dopaminehit right.
There's that rush that you getand you want another one.
It doesn't satisfy anythingright.
It's like like gambling.
You go to the blackjack table,boom, you hit blackjack.
You, you don't walk away.
At that point you play anotherhand right.
(05:13):
Versus realizing that with theblueprint you're not going to
get those dopamine hits but youare going to get something
that's sustainable andlife-changing because it's not
based off of your emotion, it'snot based off of any dopamine,
it's not based off of any youknow feeling.
(05:34):
It's something that you'rechanging your lifestyle habits
with and realize that thehorizon you choose starts to
filter your behavior.
Realize that the horizon youchoose starts to filter your
behavior.
What I mean by that isessentially short shortcuts and
you know fast things, you know.
Reward that dopamine right, butthe longer horizon, the longer
(05:57):
goals, right, prioritizedurability, prioritize.
You know patience, commitment,you know internal motivation
right, and those things start tobuild.
So sometimes we have to changeour, our checkpoints, right, are
you giving yourself like, maybeyour goal is a long term goal,
(06:19):
right, but maybe yourcheckpoints are too small,
meaning that, like, every weekyou're giving yourself a reward
because you lost a pound?
Right, and it's like, yes,that's awesome, high five, great
job.
But maybe in the beginning thatworked, but now let's do it
every two weeks.
Then try to do it every monthRight, try to expand the time
(06:41):
frame before you look for thatcheckpoint so that you're not
looking for the reward, you'renot looking for the dopamine hit
of.
You know I'm doing good, right,trust the process, stick to the
plan and it will create a moredoable and a more rewarding and
(07:03):
healthy mental state as you'regoing through the process.
Because what happens when youdon't hit one of the weekly
check-ins right?
Now, all of a sudden, you feellike crap, and now, the next day
you want to weigh in again, andthe next day you want to weigh
in again, and the next day youwant to until you all of a
sudden get the result you'relooking for, right, and that I
mean.
That happens a lot of times atthe gym.
We'll have a member weigh in orsomething and they didn't like
(07:27):
their weigh-in, so then theywant to step on the scale again
and say, okay, step on the scaleagain.
Boom, the results are exactlythe same.
It's like I don't know what youthink is going to change, right
?
Oh, I did.
Well, I held my breath thistime.
It's like that's not how thisworks.
Right, we'll kind of weigh intomorrow.
Yeah, go for it.
(07:49):
Unless they did something toaffect the weigh in, meaning
that maybe they drank the nightbefore, maybe they didn't drink
enough water the day before,they took a laxative, something
of that nature.
Like, obviously it's gonnathrow misread.
Otherwise, it's like that's theresult, like that's a result of
the combination of work you putin for the last week, the last
two weeks, the last.
You can't be upset at theresult if you didn't put in the
(08:10):
effort or if you try to shortcutyour, your, your effort, Right,
um, so realize that pushingthose out, like for even for our
11 week challenge, we have afour week check-in, not a not
weekly check-ins, but a fourweek check-in and an eight week
check-in and then basicallyfinal check-in, right?
So check-ins are a month out sothat it gives enough time yet
(08:34):
people can check in in betweenand to get advice and stuff like
that.
But, like the official,check-ins are four weeks apart
so that people aren't trying tostep on the scale every single
day because that createsunhealthy habits.
Right?
People that weigh themselvesevery morning, that's not super
healthy because all of a suddenyou gain a pound, you freak out
every morning.
That's not super healthyBecause all of a sudden you gain
(08:55):
a pound, you freak out.
It's like, dude, just go take adump, right.
But it's like those kind ofthings start to throw off the
rest of your day.
Now you're upset because youdidn't get the dopamine hit you
wanted, so now you're gonna tryto, you know, find a dopamine
hit somewhere else, because yourbody craves that reward, craves
that dopamine or craves thatrush, right.
So another thing I would say,like doing that right.
(09:19):
We have the 11-week challenge,for example, for fitness is
people will do the challengeright.
There's some gyms that will doa six-week challenge.
I'm not going to name any namesbecause there's a handful of
them, but let's say they do afour or six or eight-week
challenge I haven't really seeneight weeks, but four or six
week challenges and then memberswill sign up for it.
They do it and then all of asudden the challenge ends and
(09:41):
then the member falls off, right, they don't sign up for
memberships, they just wait tillthe next challenge.
And then when's the nextchallenge?
I want to sign up for that.
It's like that.
It's like that's not durability,that's not long term.
You're going for these crashdiets, you're going for these
ups and downs, this rollercoaster and this yo-yo of your
results.
Realize that, even for us, thereason why we have the 11-week
(10:04):
challenge only twice throughoutthe year is it's supposed to
give you a jump start and giveyou that boost, but then you got
to continue after that.
So if you have amazing resultsafter the weeks, like you got to
continue, there's not another11 week challenge till the end
of the year, right?
So it's like that's the wholepoint of of doing something that
(10:24):
can give you a jumpstart is notto realize that it's.
It's something to yo-yo backand forth, right?
So instead of focusing on likea six week shred and then you're
super on it, you're, you know,dieting super hard for six weeks
and then, after the six weeks,you know.
Now what do I do, right, versus,like, setting up a plan for the
next 12 months, like I'm goingto focus on my strength, or I'm
(10:47):
going to focus on weight lossfor the first three months, then
I'm going to focus on buildingsome strength, then I'm going to
focus on building some strength, then I'm going to build, you
know, and you create littleblocks throughout, right, and
yes, your, your blueprint canchange as you go, it can adapt,
and that's the whole thing, evenwith the business, right.
I've mentioned this on otherpodcasts or other episodes.
Before you have a business plan, when you start a business,
(11:08):
right, it's not, hey, we'regoing to open the doors and you
know they will come, build it,they will come.
Fuck, no, that's not how thatworks.
Tell you right now build it,they may come, they may not come
, right, but you strategize, youput together a plan and then
(11:30):
you execute the plan and,depending on how the plan is
going, you adapt the plan.
That's the whole point of ablueprint.
It's an adaptable blueprint.
It's not set in stone, right,it's not written on, it's not
carved in a stone.
That you can't.
You know that shit's written onan expo board.
Erase it and write the nextstep again, right?
(11:50):
But the main thing is you try,you test and you keep trying,
you, right.
But the main thing is you try,you test and you keep trying and
testing.
And the main thing is you ifyou fall down, you get up.
You fall down, you get up.
It doesn't work out this week,perfect.
Now you know what doesn't work.
Next week, let's try somethingnew.
Right?
And that's what the whole gameis about Realizing that you are
compounding the small changesand the small incremental steps
(12:13):
so that in a month, in sixmonths, in a year, you've
compounded all those little winsand those little changes.
And now there's a huge resultthat people are like dang, how
did you do that?
And now they're looking fortheir fast fix to get to where
you got in 12 months and theywant it in a month.
That's just not how it works,right?
If it's taking, you know you'venever had a six pack before and
(12:36):
you have 50% body fat you'renot going to get a six pack in a
month.
It's just not going to happen,right?
Rome wasn't built in a day.
Neither are you.
You're not going to get yourresults in a day either.
Right, it takes time.
But also, we want to make surethat you are building the
healthy mental state as you'reon the journey to achieve your
goals, right?
(12:57):
Um, and I mean, one of thethings that can help too is
realizing, like you know, planit out on your calendar, right,
you know?
Plan it out on your calendar,right.
Build a, build a cadence, builda, build up, basically, a
rhythm, right.
Lock in blocks of time forcertain things, right.
(13:19):
If you are set to work out threetimes a week, okay, well, what
days are you gonna work out?
If you don't work out on thisday, which other day can you
switch it to as a plan b?
Because sometimes it doesn't,the day doesn't work out as you
want it to.
Shit happens, right, that'sjust.
That's just how the day goes.
(13:40):
Sometimes you don't know whatthe day has in store for you.
But you need to adapt, youdon't?
You're not able to do it todayor in the morning.
Okay, do it tonight, Right?
Yesterday I thought I was goingto work out at noon.
Didn noon, didn't happen,worked out at 8 pm.
Main thing is, I told myself Iwas gonna work out, I worked out
.
You keep the truths you tell toyourself.
(14:01):
You tell yourself you're gonnado something.
Follow through with it.
Otherwise, when you tellyourself you're gonna do
something, you tell yourselfyou're gonna achieve something.
Your body doesn't know if it'struth or if it's a lie, right,
the subconscious doesn't know.
Um, but build the scheduleright.
Are you going to do this?
You know monday, wednesday,fridays in the morning and the
(14:21):
evening.
Don't leave it up to chance.
I'm gonna do it.
Just do it monday, wednesdayand friday, okay, when, like,
lock in specific times, havespecific.
You know notes for for howyou're going to accomplish it.
Otherwise, you leave too manyvariables up to chance and I
guarantee you're leaving toomany holes in your boat that
your boat's just going to sinkon this journey to success.
(14:43):
And now you're trying to patchthe holes as you're in the ocean
.
So realize that you're, ifyou're doing things for the, for
that dopamine hit sometimes.
(15:03):
You got to give yourself thatthat little reality check, right
.
You have to first understandwhy do I want to do this?
Why am I doing this?
Find out your reasons, why,right, and they have to be real
reasons.
I want to look good.
It's like okay, well, shit.
Everyone wants to look good.
Why do you want to look good?
Is it going to help you improveyour confidence?
(15:24):
Is it going to, you know, areyou doing it to be a role model
for your kids?
Like, find that deeper meaning,because that's going to help
you push you on the days thatyou don't want to do it right.
You telling the, you tellingyourself you're going to do
something and you followingthrough with it, essentially is
is almost like building a moat,right?
Like a castle of a moat aroundyour, your essentially skill of
(15:52):
doing it even though you don'twant to do it.
Right.
You want to build a strong moatso that, regardless of what's
going on in life, regardless ofhow you feel, a strong moat so
that, regardless of what's goingon in life, regardless of how
you feel you're going to end updoing it, it's, it's inevitable,
right?
Because your body already knowsthat if you tell yourself
you're going to do something,you accomplish it Right.
One question I want you to askyourself is what is at least one
(16:16):
of, or what's a small,repeatable habit that you can
commit to for the next 30 daysthat aligns with you achieving
your goal, right?
So I'll say it again what is asmall habit that you can repeat
daily for 30 days that wouldalign with you achieving your
goal, and how are you going totrack it Right?
(16:38):
Are you going to give yourselfa little check mark on a
calendar?
Are you going to have anaccountability partner?
How are you going to track youachieving your goals and see if
you actually stuck to it?
Realize that the blueprintmindset can be boring, it can be
(17:01):
mundane, but no one told youthat achieving your goals was
going to be fun.
Right, whether it's fitness,whether it's business, whether
it's, you know, marriage.
Right, the relationship that noone promised you that this shit
was going to be fun.
But they did promise you itwould be worth it and I can tell
you it's worth it.
But you have to come out on theother side.
(17:24):
You have to be forged by thefire, and the fire being doing
everything you need to do,regardless of how you feel on
the days you don't feel likedoing it.
That's being forged by the fire.
You have to do hard things toget the results you want to get,
because most people don't dothe hard things.
(17:45):
They don't do that stuff thatis needed and that's what
separates and that's whatcreates the gap of the people
that have the result that youwant and people that don't.
But I hope this does help.
I hope it kind of changes yourmindset on at least maybe one
goal that you have right now,that you're doing it with the
(18:05):
lottery ticket mindset, and Ihope, hopefully, you can start
to adapt and maybe expand yourtime horizon and set bigger
goals and less checkpoints sothat you're strengthening the
moat around your durability,around your commitment, around
your self-motivation, yourself-drive.
But, with that being said, Iappreciate you guys, I love you
(18:28):
all and if you guys ever needanything, feel free to DM me on
my Instagram or even on theMindset Cafe Instagram, always
happy to help.
Make sure you guys follow theMindset Cafe community on
Instagram, but we'll see youguys on the next one.
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