From Extreme Poverty to Multi-Millionaire

Actor Jim Carrey grew up so poor that at one time, his entire family lived in a trailer on a relative’s lawn. By the tenth grade, he was trying to juggle eight-hour night shifts at a factory while attending school during the day to help support his family. He was so exhausted that he couldn’t understand what his teachers were talking about.

He didn’t have any friends at school and feared that anyone getting close might find discover his embarrassing poverty. With little learning and no relationships, he felt that school was getting him nowhere. His childhood was so difficult that he dropped out of high school, and at age 21 moved to Hollywood with the dream of escaping his life of poverty and building a

successful career as a comedian and performer.

One night after arriving in Hollywood, Carrey made a critical decision that affected the

course of his life, a decision that would bring laughter to hundreds of millions of people

worldwide. He drove his run-down Toyota up to the Hollywood Hills and parked where he

could see the glittering lights of Tinseltown stretched before him like a blanket of dreams. In his mind, he saw himself entertaining the world through TV and movies. And because he

wanted a physical reminder of his success, he wrote it down.

Editorial content 123

He took out his checkbook and wrote a check to himself for 10 million dollars, dating it ten

years in the future. In the memo field, he wrote, “For acting services rendered.” He kept the

check in his wallet as a constant reminder of his goal. In the years to come, each time he

pulled out his wallet to pay for something, there was the check, serving as a visual repetition. As he struggled through failed sitcoms and bad sets at Yuk Yuks, there was the check. As he took small supporting parts in movies, there was the check. And as his career began to finally take off in the 1990’s, there was the check.

There is nothing mysterious about the fact that a constant reminder of your goal will make

you more likely to achieve it. Through that constant repetition of the check, Carrey stayed

focused on his goal of becoming a successful entertainer, through the inevitable ups and

downs of a Hollywood career. As it turns out, though, Jim Carrey did not exactly achieve his

goal.

Success

Ten years later, he was not earning 10 million dollars per film; he was earning 20 million dollars per film. It is estimated that his net worth is $150 million. He is a multi-award winning actor/comedian and was initiated into the ‘Canadian Walk of Fame’, for his contribution to the field of cinema.

Carrey’s success technique was what we might call a reminder repetition: writing your positive loops somewhere you will see them regularly, like your wallet. Now it’s your turn. The word “re-mind,” in fact, literally means bringing it back to mind. You are responsible for creating these reminders for yourself!

Based on Part 3 from the book “Mind Hacking” by Sir John Hargrave.