This episode breaks down the Five Levels of Impossible framework from Coach T (Trevor McGregor) and Dr. Ben Hardy, tracing the progression from “things are impossible” to “things are inevitable.” The framework explains why most people plateau at “improbable” (taking some action but full of excuses) while high performers operate at “probable” or “inevitable” (ultimate self-belief paired with data-driven adjustment). Examples span land investing, athletic performance, and entrepreneurship to show how mindset level directly determines results.
Key Takeaways:
- The Improbable Trap Costs Real Money Small land deals ($5K purchases) often require more work than $50K deals because you can’t leverage motivated realtors or title companies, forcing you to handle deeds and dispo personally while barely making profit.
- Inevitable Mindset Requires Humility, Not Hubris True inevitability differs from reckless overconfidence by requiring constant data analysis and course correction, solving problems systematically rather than assuming success without adjustment.
- Problems Are Soluble If Physics Allows It Theoretical physicist David Deutsch’s principle applies directly to business: if something doesn’t break the laws of physics, it can be solved with expanded knowledge and persistence.
- Seven Years From Inconsistent to Inevitable The dunking progression with trainer Joel demonstrates how inevitability works in practice: initial progress, body breakdowns and setbacks, training adjustments based on data, then reliable results at age 36.
Hear the full breakdown of each mindset level with specific examples of how operators sabotage themselves by staying stuck at “improbable” when bigger opportunities require the same effort.
(Podcast transcript below)
Welcome to Get Serious. We’re at Serious Land Capital. We have successfully funded over $6 million worth of land deals with industry leading 41 % operating margins. So today I would like to jump into some more mindset reflection. One of the more helpful pathways that I’ve kind of followed in utilizing some tangible examples similar to like Hormozi doesn’t
I’m not much from like the deeper affirmation side or the secret type of stuff. I want to know, I believe so much is related to the mindset in terms of how you might structure your thoughts, but only if it relates to how do you take practical action in order to realize where you’re directing your thoughts in the first place here. So I always like to preface that, but that being said,
some of the mindset coaching that I’ve received, you know, especially over the past few years, roughly. I think it’s just directly attributed to, you know, the position that, you know, our, business is in right now as well as, know, just overall life. I gotta say, I don’t know who might be, you know, quote unquote successful, without having, you know, a more reliably,
optimistic mindset in order to realize their dreams. I’m sure they might be out there, but, and would you rather take the, less probable, pathways or the, the more likely ones, to, to lead to the result that, that you’re looking for. So I would always prefer to choose a ladder. especially when it comes to, how do you orient your thoughts here? So, you know, one of my,
you know, core kind of mindset coaches is coach T Trevor McGregor used to be, Tony Robbins, right-hand man. and he also is, or, you know, personal coach to one of my other core mentors, Andrew Li, he’s also in the land investing space and, has just helped coach me up. so, so much over these coming years and we’re going to be at a mastermind, coming up this year as well too. So.
I wanted to share a framework when I was meeting with Coach T more recently. And he has also had some collaborations with Dr. Ben Hardy, who’s written a number of books alongside Dan Sullivan and the who, not how type setup or 10X is easier than 2X, which has gained a ton of notoriety.
especially over the past few years here. So, hopefully this particular framework amongst many, will be more of interest, to, to you here. So, and this is just one that’s kind of sunk in for me more recently since I’ve met with coach T and especially with this mindset stuff, like I like to let the concepts breathe a little bit and see which ones I’m returning to.
more consistently or which like my subconscious is kind of floating up for me to, uh, sit with, prior to just like, oh yeah, cool new framework, but then it’s something that kind of fades away. Um, you know, a week later, maybe it’s just not, you know, the right timing for that one. And it comes up and becomes more valuable later. So that that’s, uh, just the way I kind of think about this. Um, but yeah, this one I’ve
had in my mind, like almost daily, for at least the past month here. And, this one again, credit to Ben Hardy and coach T, the five levels of impossible. so at the base level and unfortunately where, you know, so many, so many members of, the human population live or, you know, often live, you you can kind of fluctuate between these five levels. perhaps depending on the day, your mood, whatever.
is that things are just impossible. To me, this is just perhaps the saddest state of being. You might think archetypically of someone suffering from depression and just stuck in a dark spiral. I can empathize, definitely been there in my life. I think a lot of folks…
might, tickle that sensation if not spend a lot of time there, at least at some part within their life. you know, just given, how many things can go wrong and then I would go wrong for every human being. so I, I definitely understand what it feels like when, you know, things just feel impossible and, yeah, I don’t even think it necessarily needs to be tied purely to like a clinical depression or something. Some folks can just feel.
that their lot in life or wherever their socioeconomic status, their ethnicity, their gender, and anything that you can attribute to them, their specific environment, whatever, just makes it impossible for them to achieve whatever they might be hoping to even have a goal on. And so maybe goals just
fall out the window because they just don’t even think that it’s possible to achieve them. So I’m sure you can all think of within your own life, somebody who sits within that impossible stage or it’s just, know.
like a complaint about about everything. So, you know, makes me even sad just thinking about it here. But you know, that’s the base level where unfortunately, a lot of folks, you know, live on a daily basis. The next level up is possible, at least it’s a little bit better. Like you can have some level of optimism that there might be better things in store. But do you see them potentially happening to you?
Not necessarily. You know, you might like again, see that maybe maybe other folks in your situation have gotten out of where you’re at. So you see, it’s possible. But do you believe it about yourself? Not necessarily. And, know, it still keeps people down in a situation like that. You know.
can they find that ability to get over that next threshold where they can start taking more action for themselves beyond just thinking, oh yeah, this might be possible, like that this is a flight of fancy kind of in a daydreaming mode. So to me, it’s like the difference between impossible and possible, again, people can have their own definitions, but like impossible is like, it’s just a black cloud amongst everything. You just can’t even see the hope or, you
any route out for these people in their own situation or others in a similar situation possible at least. Yeah, maybe you can live in the clouds. I might think, yes, some folks who, almost like sitting in like a metaverse type thing, like a virtual reality, talking to some AI bots and so forth again, that this is like real.
the direction that our society is heading into where it’s like, yeah, I can kind of hope for things. But, you know, is it actually translating into action? No, not necessarily. But, you know, at least they believe that it is possible that things aren’t just completely static. Next level up is that you start to think that certain outcomes are improbable.
so this might be an area where they actually start taking some action to achieve certain results. but. know, these folks will come up with every excuse why it won’t happen to them. Again, this is like, you should be able to think of, you know, folks in your own life who, resemble this. And again, you might’ve embodied this yourself. Like I think out of, out of all, you know, five, these levels and I’ll get to you.
you know, I, I’ve certainly felt, myself in, in each of them, at certain periods of time, or sometimes like I’ve been at a different level in one part of my life and a different level in a, in a different part, like, other part of my life, like physically, mentally, whatever job relationship, any of that, like humans are complex creatures, right? Like you can have different levels of optimism and hope for certain parts of your life, versus others here. So.
It’s tough to like be fully integrated, self-actualized as a human being across all parts of your life. If you meet somebody like that, love an introduction. But, you know, so far I have not. I’m not sure if I over will. But, you know, that’s the name of the game here, right? We always have a goal to shoot for. So again, and like the improbable…
level of operating. Like to me that this might be somebody who, you know, buys a lottery ticket for instance. so it’s like, yeah, I can actually take action to actually think that it’s going to work out. it’s improbable, right? but, you know, they, they, actually think that, you know, something could change their life circumstances and are taking certain types of action or, you know, maybe they.
Um, you know, I might think of, uh, like a younger, um, uh, individual like late, late teen or something, you know, trying to apply for colleges and, you know, maybe they have some real promise to them, but like, they don’t quite believe in themselves and that they just applied to their, their, uh, you know, safety schools or backup schools for instance. Um, because they, they just think it’s too improbable to shoot for, um,
the higher level institutions, even though they might have a lot going for them that could give them a real shot. if you don’t try to kick in that door, you’re never going to achieve those results in the first place. again, how many young folks and humans in general, like the dating game and relationships, we know it’s absolute disaster. been reported all over the place.
I was like, uh, yeah, it’s just improbable that, um, you’re going to find somebody who is going to love you or you can go on a date with you. Like I think that, especially from young men, that’s a, uh, a massive, massive issue in society right now. And you’re just stuck in this, you know, improbable position. Um, if not even just like the possible or impossible, unfortunately, like there’s probably a lot of folks stuck in the impossible, just dark cloud perspective. Um, but that that’s another area where I think, yes, some of these negative.
levels are tamping down the overarching potential that we have as a society here. Or even we can apply it to the land businesses here too. So I like to give multiple examples. Improbable, where it’s like how many folks might have the potential to go after larger deals in the first place, but they don’t think they have what it takes even though
Uh, more often than not, um, you know, the total amount of work required to successfully, um, you know, turn over a smaller value property, you know, like a 5k, you $5,000 purchase property compared to like a $50,000 one is oftentimes about the same. Um, if not even more so on the 5k, cause a lot of the time for those, like you’re not going to find motivated realtors. You might not even have.
room to work with a title company, you’re gonna have to handle the dispo on your own and like drafting deeds and so forth to send in personally to count. Like I’ve done all that. it is, you you barely are making any profit, but it’s way more work to have to do that. So again, I can totally relate to that side. And, know, again, in 2020 retrospect, like my partners and I, yeah, we should have gone after some bigger deals.
you know, much quicker when we got in the industry here. but, we were stuck in kind of like that improbable, just risk aversion before, trying to jump up our game. So, that’s another one, to look at here. the next stage up stage four is, you know, as you can probably guess probable. So when it comes to being probable, this is where your confidence really starts to soar. and I think.
You know, a lot of folks can become extremely successful, especially in relation to the average person, especially the average person around the world, let alone in the U S. if, if they start embracing a mindset where they, really believe, that good things are ahead of them in a probable, state of mind, we’re just on average, you’re just more optimistic and
You understand that the actions that you are taking, you know, while not all the time will tend to lead to good results. so you get rewarded by the good results that you’re getting, and then it becomes, you know, even more likely that you’re going to achieve those probable results. so this might be the business owner who starts going after bigger deals, you know, earlier than, than some other operators because they’re like, okay, we found some success with a couple smaller deals here.
If we can do it there, it’s more likely that we’re going to be able to do the bigger ones too. We’ll solve some issues along the way, but what we’ll be able to figure it out. Or again, like from an interpersonal relationship side of things. Maybe the earlier career,
some folks who are earlier on their career side of things, know, difficult job environment, especially across a lot of, you know, white collar industries at the moment. But it’s like, okay, maybe, you know, some interviews didn’t, you know, land you a particular job, but you know, kept getting good feedback, you’re having more interviews along the way, and you just continue to push through it because you’re like, okay, I know, I have the
Wherewithal in order to get a job somebody will hire me If I keep doing this long enough or at least it’s very likely that that I will or on the relationship side of things same thing Maybe some early dates don’t go out or don’t go that well or maybe they only last for You know a few weeks or a few months here for for certain folks, but Believe hey, I’m trending in the right direction here. It is probable that I will find somebody that
you know, it is going to be a fit for being a lifetime partner if I keep after this. So again, you can probably think of other folks in your life or other areas in your own life where you live more on the probable side of things. You know, I feel like I’ve been in that particular state of mind for a good chunk of like when I’m talking through this, like, yeah, just I think a lot of entrepreneurs like you have to be
kind of a consistent optimist, right? Like when you’re constantly getting your teeth kicked in and the market is just, you know, a ruthless mirror shining back at you. you know, there’s, you know, you’re getting feedback that, you know, you may not like very, very quickly here. And, you know, it doesn’t really matter what your ego is telling you, either make money or you don’t. So,
you know, as an entrepreneur, like, just have to, I think embrace that, Hey, my success is right around the corner. if I keep after this and you kind of have to keep that probable mentality. so the next step, beyond that is, you know, that the highest level and that is inevitable. so what does it, what does it mean to, be, inevitable?
Well, I always think back, mean, those of you who might have ever seen the Avengers movie, Thanos, sounds like a super villain, right? But, you know, where he was just saying, I am inevitable. Got a famous line from that movie. So we don’t want to take it into like a super villain mentality here, but I think it speaks to the power of that phrasing in relation to…
just the ultimate level of self belief that you need to maintain in your own capabilities and understanding that no matter how many hardships get thrown in your way, no matter how long it takes, your success is guaranteed. So, again, I think if a line between true inevitability versus, you know,
reckless overconfidence can be thin. And you have to be very careful about that. But ultimately, results are all that matter. So those that are just too overconfident and are not able to utilize the data in front of them to inform their decisions better and correct their actions along the way, they’re not going to become inevitable. They’re going to burn themselves out or collapse or destroy their reputation or what have you. Whereas the folks who are truly inevitable,
You know, those are the individuals and groups of individuals because, you know, groups can be inevitable as well. That’s even a preference. You can just build a culture of inevitability. mean, what is more powerful than that? You know, I think you could, there’s a lot of political items you could say about that, but I think there’s a number of times in US history where it was just like this sense of inevitability that
you know, we as a country can just achieve, you know, whatever we imagine in, in, front of us. And, know, whether you tie that to patriotism or not, I think it’s just a really powerful ideal and something that, that I embrace, personally here. You could even, even, you know, throw in a more local, perspective to that too. yeah, again, just, just to throw out a handful of these ideas, but, know, again, the, the true
inevitability that folks can achieve does require certain humility in order to adjust your game plan and be able to deal realistically with the inevitable hardships that come up because the longer you’re around and the more actions you take, there was always going to be problems to solve. But like David Deutsch, the theoretical physicist in Great Britain always remarks is that problems are soluble.
So long as there is nothing that breaks the laws of physics, problems can be solved, in which case it is inevitable that they will be solved so long as you continue to expand your knowledge base or your culture’s knowledge base, group’s knowledge base, whatever. So this is the mindset that I’ve just had, this word inevitable kind of going back and forth with me.
personally a lot and I think it’s just coming into play much more often in terms of okay, what type of results am I starting to see? And we’ve been in this business now for almost six years, almost exactly, since we’ve had at least like a formal entity going after various deals here and just starting to really
You know, um, Embrace the fact that, especially since, since I’ve come back, you know, to a hundred percent focus on serious land capital and, you know, let go of the day to day operations of land Pricer. And so I like focus is, is, you know, pretty much purely, uh, from a professional standpoint on, on SLC and the, you know, 50 plus year vision there. It’s like, okay, if I keep having these conversations with these particular operators, with these particular capital providers, um,
And I continue to show up to underwrite deals with a, you know, beginner’s mindset and, you know, eyes wide open, curious, understanding that, there’s, there’s always more to be learned. And we translate that over to the team working for us, continue to invest into AI and workflows that keep us at the forefront of capabilities as a, know, smaller, more agile company at the moment.
Like it is inevitable that we are going to succeed. And that is just the mindset that we have been embracing here and I think is panning out just when we’re looking at, actual hard results and what we can put.
Uhhh…
you know, what we can hang our hat on at the end of the day. So that’s something that I’ve been embracing a lot more recently here. you know, inevitable again, it has to go within, you know, certain breaks of the game are just, you know, going to come your way sometimes. So like, I don’t know if I got a brain tumor or just like, you know, got hit by a bus. Yeah. That’s going to change things pretty dramatically.
But you just have to account for like those black swan events that can happen. So I don’t think there’s anything that is, you know, preordained. Like that to me that would be a different definition compared to inevitable. Like to me, it’s like the inevitable. If you are following this pathway with these steps and nothing takes you out during that, that you just can’t predict.
Uh, or it’s like some, something so unusual, like assuming a normal, relatively normal, uh, uh, life, um, cycle that you get to work with, then yes, you will achieve this inevitable result. Um, so that, that’s like what I put out there. Uh, again, you can relate this in any parts of your life. mean, from a athletic standpoint, sometimes you get faster feedback loops compared to, uh, you know, business. Um, or, you know, when I’ve been
was trying to dunk for a long time, you more of a lanky kind of jumper type athlete. And, you know, for a good chunk of my life, it’s like, yeah, I can’t figure out the training or more reliably dunk. But I just kept after it and been working with a particular trainer out in Ohio. Hey, Joel, for around seven years at this at this point.
And there were a number of times like over the first, you know, four at three to fourish years that we’re working together where I would like, you know, be able to dunk a bit, but then, know, I’d falter back down and like body was starting to break down. It’s like, is really going on here? But we just had to stick with the program and adapt the training to fit my body specific needs and know, age and so forth. in order to, you know, build myself up to, know,
remove those, higher injury risks and body breakdowns and just be able to dunk on a much more consistent clip and still get gains, you know, at 36 years old. because we had a sense of inevitability where it’s like, okay, this type of training is working. We’re going to have some setbacks occasionally here. some adjustments that we might need to do some stuff’s going to work better than than others, but we were gaining more and more data.
where we are trending in the right direction and it is inevitable that you’re going to be able to dunk and do that reliably. Again, some crazy injury happens, what have you get taken out? It is what it is. Nothing’s preordained, but it is inevitable. So where can you introduce the mindset of inevitability in your own life? What steps do you need to take to do that? And this is one of the most powerful
mindset shifts and frameworks that I’ve encountered over the past several weeks here. Wanted to pass this along with a lot of concrete examples on what it actually looks like. So it’s not just a bunch of woo nonsense, which I’m not a fan of. So hopefully this resonates with you. SeriousLand.Capital for any of your funding needs, 50K minimum purchase price. Subscribe and share. Looking forward to next time, everybody. Take care.
