Why You Are Not More Successful – Your Intelligence Is Not Choosing Your Actions
From The Missing Secret Podcast by John Mitchell and Kelly Hatfield
June 4, 2026 · 21 min · Season 2 · Episode 86
About this episode
John and Kelly discuss how unconscious actions impact success and the importance of self-leadership.
In this episode of The Missing Secret Podcast , John and Kelly talk about the concept that the reason you’re not more successful than you are is because your intelligence and intellect is not choosing your actions. John mentions in this podcast that he is writing a new book called advanced leadership of self. He’s establishing the academic discipline of the emerging field advanced leadership of self. With the intention of making the University of Texas the global leader in advanced leadership of self. John mentions that he is writing the book in conjunction with AI. It’s a fascinating process. But in the podcast John mentions the most profound thing he ever learned is that up to 95% of his daily actions are unconscious. And since they are unconscious, his conscious mind intelligence and intellect is not controlling his daily actions. Yet those daily actions are the very thing that determines his success. In the podcast John talks about University of California researcher Benjamin Libit. And the experiment he did in the 1980s that proved that a person takes an action first and then a few milliseconds later becomes conscious of it. The implications of that for a driven person…
People in this episode
Hosts: John Mitchell, Kelly Hatfield
Topics covered
- success
- intelligence
- unconscious actions
- leadership
- self-awareness
Keywords
- success
- intelligence
- unconscious actions
- leadership
- self-awareness
- Benjamin Libit
- advanced leadership of self
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: University of Texas, University of California
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- Encore: Creating Success in Your Career – This Will Be Eye-Opening! · May 14, 2026 · 32 min
- Taking Our 12 Minute a Day Advanced Leadership Of Self Methodology To The Next Level – Using AI · May 7, 2026 · 31 min
- Encore: The Mind Thrives on Order · April 30, 2026 · 22 min
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