The Code of the Extraordinary Mind: 10 Unconventional Laws to Redefine Your Life and Succeed On Your Own Terms

by Vishen Lakhiani

Law 1: Transcend the culturescape. Extraordinary minds are good at seeing the culturescape and are able to selectively choose the rules and conditions to follow versus those to question or ignore. Therefore, they tend to take the path less traveled and innovate on the idea of what it means to truly live.

The dips contain amazing learnings and wisdom that lead to sharper rises in the quality of life afterward. But you will need to brave the momentary pain of these dips.

Wow, this sucks! I can’t wait to see what I’m going to learn here!

In the culturescape all the ideas we hold dear—our identity, our religion, our nationality, our beliefs about the world—are nothing more than mental constructs we’ve chosen to believe. And like all mental constructs, many are merely opinions we believe because they were drilled into us as children and accepted by the culture we grew up in.

Rather than generating and “having” beliefs, emotions, and behaviours, social contagion research suggests that, in some very real sense, those beliefs, emotions, and behaviours “have” us….

Law 2: Question the Brules. Extraordinary minds question the Brules when they feel those Brules are out of alignment with their dreams and desires. They recognize that much of the way the world works is due to people blindly following Brules that have long passed their expiration date.

The great gift of being human is our capacity to see the world anew, invent new solutions—and then use what we know to transform our lives and change our world.

Computational thinking trains you to look at problems from all angles—to break down problems into processes and parts (decomposition), spot patterns (pattern recognition), and solve them in a very logical, linear fashion (algorithms).

But while your beliefs make you, your beliefs are NOT you. You can use consciousness engineering to swap out old beliefs, swap in new ones, and take on new understandings of the world that might serve you better.

Our models of reality make us who we are. The problem is, as we saw in Chapter 2, that many of them weren’t taken on by rational choice but rather by imitation. Our beliefs about life, love, work, parenting, our bodies, our self-worth—are often a result of our innate tendency to imitate the people and practices around us. What you think and believe about the world shapes who you are and your experience of the world around you. Change your accepted models of reality, and dramatic changes will happen in your world.

Your habits, or systems for living, are how you put your models of reality into practice. If models of reality are the hardware of the human “machine,” systems for living are the software. They’re your activities and daily habits—for example, how you eat (based on your beliefs about nutrition), how you work (based on your beliefs about what kind of career and work behaviors are acceptable), and how you deal with money (based on your beliefs about the ease of acquiring money or the guilt or honor of having lots of it).

Law 3: Practice consciousness engineering. Extraordinary minds understand that their growth depends on two things: their models of reality and their systems for living. They carefully curate the most empowering models and systems and frequently update themselves.

Consciousness engineering primes you to learn and grow much faster than before because it creates a mental map in your brain. Elon Musk was once asked in a Reddit.com Q&A: “How do you learn so fast?” He replied: “It is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree—make sure you understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.”

Everything you study in personal growth will either be a model (a new belief about money, for example) or a system (say, a new exercise or diet routine). These things cling to the two big branches.

I’ve found that by keeping this idea in mind, I can learn and grow faster than ever before. Once you internalize consciousness engineering, every time you pick up a book to read on personal growth or health, or an autobiography of a great leader, you start to look for model upgrades that you can swap in and new systems you can adopt.

Most of us never set a vision for our life. Most people make life up as they go along, with no sense of what their life is about, no sense of personal meaning or their own identity. And that is what limits them. Most people make decisions about what they want by reacting to their immediate circumstances. It doesn’t come from deep down in their heart. It doesn’t come from a place of creation. Rather, most people’s visions come from the collective voices of their culturescape—their parents, peers, teachers, and preachers. And even if they set a vision, they don’t bother to look holistically. Rather, most people pay an overwhelming focus on career and money.

Ready to start your adventure in consciousness engineering? Here goes: When you think of your life and where you want to grow, think holistically. Too many people live lives lacking in balance. They may have great wealth but lousy relationships with their family. Or they may be incredibly fit and healthy but struggle with debt. Or they may have a career filled with achievements but feel heartbroken and lonely. An extraordinary life is balanced on all levels. Thinking holistically will help you make sure you don’t end up winning in one area but losing in another.

For each category below, rate your life on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being “very weak” and 10 being “extraordinary.” If you have a pen handy, write your rating next to each category now. Don’t think about each item for too long. Often the first impulse—your gut check—is the most accurate. 1. YOUR LOVE RELATIONSHIP. This is the measure of how happy you are in your current state of relationship—whether you’re single and loving it, in a relationship, or desiring one. Your rating: _________ 2. YOUR FRIENDSHIPS. This is the measure of how strong a support network you have. Do you have at least five people who you know have your back and whom you love being around? Your rating: _________ 3. YOUR FINANCES. How much financial freedom do you have to travel, experience the world, and do things that open you to new experiences and excitement? Your rating: _________ 4. YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE. This is the quality of your experiences, your home, your car, your workspace, the hotels you get to stay in when your travel. How often are you surrounded by beauty and luxury? Your rating: _________ 5. YOUR HEALTH AND FITNESS. How would you rate your health, given your age, and any physical conditions? Your rating: _________ 6. YOUR INTELLECTUAL LIFE. How much and how fast are you growing and learning? How many books do you read? How many seminars or courses do you take yearly? Education should not stop after you graduate from college. Your rating: _________ 7. YOUR EMOTIONAL LIFE. How do you fee...

YOUR CHARACTER. Who are you deeply as a person? How easily do you get influenced by others? How persistent are you with living your values? Your rating: _________ 11. YOUR FAMILY & PARENTING LIFE. Do you love coming home to your family after a hard day’s work? If you’re not married or a parent, define your family as your parents and siblings. Your rating: _________ 12. YOUR LIFE VISION. Are you crystal clear on where you’re GOING in life? Do you have a clear vision for the person you want to become and the life you really want to live? Your rating:

LESSON 1: Our models of reality lie below the surface. Often we do not realize we have them until some intervention or contemplative practice makes us aware.

When a model of reality changes, the way you operate in the world changes, too.

LESSON 2: We often carry disempowering models of reality that we inherited as far back as childhood.

the biggest ailment afflicting human beings is the idea of “I am not enough.” This childhood belief carries well into adulthood and becomes the root cause of a lot of our problems. As we had breakfast and discussed her work, I asked Marisa if she could hypnotize me.

LESSON 3: When you replace disempowering models of reality with empowering ones, tremendous changes can occur in your life at a very rapid pace.

Law 4: Rewrite your models of reality. Extraordinary minds have models of reality that empower them to feel good about themselves and powerful in shifting the world to match the visions in their minds.

Exercise: The Gratitude Exercise Take a few minutes and think of three to five things you’re grateful for today:

Exercise: The “What I Love about Myself” Exercise Think about a quality or an action of yours that made you proud today. Maybe nobody else told you that they appreciated it, but it’s time that you affirmed it for yourself. Think about what it is about you as a human being that you can love.

Human beings can function as logical beings and as intuitive beings. When we use both capabilities, we’re priming ourselves for extraordinary results.

Creative visualization is a practice of shifting beliefs by meditating and then visualizing your life as you want it to evolve. It’s based on the idea that the subconscious mind cannot differentiate between a real and imagined experience.

Essentially this process trains the subconscious mind to develop a new belief—in my case, my skin is becoming beautiful.

Work, I believe, should be something that inspires you to jump out of bed each morning. From the start at Mindvalley, we embraced the idea that “happiness is the new productivity.”

Humanism is the idea that we do not need religion in order to be good. It differs from atheism in the sense that humanists believe that there is a “God,” but He’s certainly not the judgmental, angry being that many religious texts make Him out to be. Instead, to a humanist, “God” might be the universe, or the connectedness of life on Earth, or spirit. Humanism is opening up a new spiritual path for people who want to reject the Brules of religion but who don’t embrace atheism. One billion humanists now exist on the planet, and their numbers are growing.

Bad models can evaporate through sudden realizations—sometimes spontaneous ones (such as I had in the hot tub)—or through meditation, inspirational reading, or other mindfulness practices, including just sitting in a room by yourself, reflecting on your life, and asking yourself, Where did I come up with this particular world view?

Is your model of reality absolute truth or relative truth? If you have a model that isn’t scientifically validated, feel free to challenge it. This is certainly true of religious beliefs. One reason why as a kid I questioned my culture’s rules on eating beef was that I noticed that millions of people all around the world could enjoy eating beef. Why couldn’t I?

It’s all about finding and hiring people smarter than you, getting them to join your business and giving them good work, then getting out of the way and trusting them. You have to get out of the way so you can focus on the bigger vision. That’s important, but here is the main thing: You must make them see their work as a mission.

Too many of us are so busy doing that we never step back and think about how we’re doing. Or why we’re doing it. I call this the do-do trap. You’re so busy doing what needs to be done, you don’t really know whether your systems for living might be obsolete, or even (pun intended) absolute crap.

For example, once a month I might actually skip going to the gym one day and instead read about new workout routines, buy a new fitness app, or study a new fitness method to optimize my gym time. This is what I mean by the discovery process. You step back from what you’re doing and seek to discover new ways to do it better.

At Mindvalley we used to bypass the do-do trap through a technique called Learn Day. On the first Friday of every month, nobody works (unless it’s something crucial). Instead, everyone focuses on learning about how to work better. Customer support agents may research the art of writing personalized replies or review customer feedback for ideas on improving our products. A programmer may experiment with a new coding language. People are allowed to sit and read all day, provided it’s a book related to their career. Through this process, new ideas form, new systems emerge, and new ways of working are born.

Extraordinary minds consistently spend time discovering, upgrading, and measuring new systems for living applied to life, work, heart, and soul. They are in a perpetual state of growth and self-innovation.

We’ve created a society where it’s considered normal to wake up with feelings of stress, anxiety, fear, and worry. But it isn’t. These feelings aren’t meant to be constant states. They’re alarm systems, evolved to alert us to things we need to deal with, not just live with. You’re not supposed to hate your work or dread your day. “Happy hour” shouldn’t be the drinks you have on Friday to celebrate getting through another week.

As you practice consciousness engineering—and slowly unwrap the models of reality you hold in your mind while becoming conscious of the systems for living you have in place—something beautiful starts to happen. As you gain a new sense of power and freedom from Brules that no longer hold you back, your growth starts to accelerate. At this point a great yearning often starts building in you. You want to do more, be more, contribute more.

Have big goals—but don’t tie your happiness to your goals. You must be happy before you attain them.

When you’re bending reality, your vision is continuously pulling you forward—but it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like a game, a game you love to play. But at the same time, your happiness does not seem to be tied to that future vision. You’re feeling elated and happy right now, in this moment. You’re happy as you pursue your vision, not only when you attain it. You’re thus grounded in the present.

BENDING REALITY. This is the ideal state where you’re happy in the now, and you have a vision for the future that drives you. Your vision pulls you forward, but you’re happy now—despite not having yet attained that vision. When you’re in this state, there’s a feeling of growth and enjoyment. It’s about the journey as well as the destination. An interesting observation about this state is that it often seems as if the universe “has your back.” Call it what you want—but it starts to feel as if you’re lucky. The right opportunities, ideas, and people seem to gravitate to you. It’s as if your happiness is rocket fuel moving you toward your vision.

We shouldn’t do things so we can be happy. We should be happy so we can do things.

The best thing you can do to meet your goals is to find a life balance that allows you to be happy now. Integrate practices into your daily routines that allow you to feel content and focus on the journey, not the destination. That’s how you’ll break free of stress and anxiety and be in the best position to fulfill your vision.

Law 6: Bend reality. Extraordinary minds are able to bend reality. They have bold and exciting visions for the future, yet their happiness is not tied to these visions. They are happy in the now. This balance allows them to move toward their visions at a much faster rate while having a ton of fun along the way. To outsiders, they seem “lucky.”

When things go wrong, I don’t worry at all. I just know something good is on the horizon.