Let’s Go Seven Levels Deep

I want to share this paragraph from the book “Millionaire Success Habits” by Dean Graziosi. The chapter, entitled “Let’s Go Seven Levels Deep”, presents, in an instructive way, how we can self-apply the 7 why technique to the root reason of a goal we wish to set.

I will be very happy to know, through your comments, the level of feasibility of this approach in our current environment.

Good reading.

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Let’s Go Seven Levels Deep

About eight years ago I hired a consultant named Joe Stump to help

me get my students and my readers more engaged in what I do and what I

teach. Joe was incredible at what he does and it wasn’t cheap to hire him,

but I knew it was well worth it for my students and my clients. So I was

going to pay him a big fat check to help me out, but at the last minute he

said, “Why don’t I consult with you on your questions and your goals in the

morning and then you consult with me in the afternoon?” I was totally on

board with that and ready to absorb newfound knowledge and wisdom

from Joe. I remember the meeting like it was yesterday. Joe Stump, my

good buddy, Joe Polish, who had made the introduction, and a few team

members and I were sitting at an outside table at my old house in

Scottsdale, Arizona. I loved this outdoor space! It had big, hand-carved

wood chairs that were so high that the backs on them were two feet over

my head. <ey had soft, yellow cushions and they surrounded a beautiful,

large, and long Tuscan table. It was a 75-degree Phoenix afternoon, and

the perfect sort of day for an outdoor meeting. <ese may seem like

mundane details, but there’s a reason they remain so vivid in my memory;

my life would never be the same after this meeting.

As we sat around the table I remember Joe Stump said to me, “Why

do you want me here Dean? What’s the main reason?” I responded by

saying, “Because I know I provide proven strategies for success and wealth

to people, but I can’t always get them to take action. I not only want them

to get my books and trainings, but I want them to use the information, get

engaged, and then stick to it, so more of them can see the results of their

actions. I’ve even been doing a weekly wisdom (check it out at

www.weeklywisdom.com) for my students for many years now to help

them on their journey to success. I do all I can to try to get them engaged,

but so many of my students are sucked back into their old routines. <ey

seem to hope something changes, rather than making something change. I

just need them to stay in the game long enough to make those little shifts

and stay passionate about their goals. And once they get a glimpse, I know

there will be no turning back for them.”

He looked at me and said, “Wow, Dean, that was powerful. Have you

ever done the seven levels deep?” I remember saying, “I don’t know what

that is.” He said, “It’s the most profound thing that I’ve ever done and it can

massively transform the life of the people you teach and make them stay

engaged and motivated longer than ever before. It will actually keep them

engaged for life.” I was like, “Okay, amazing! Give it to me, let me have it!”

<en Joe said, “Sorry Dean, but no. I want to put you through the full

experience Arst.” I said, “Joe, come on, man. I want to get there quick, I’m a

fast learner. I want this seven levels deep thing and I want to give it to my

students and my readers ASAP.” <en, even more committed, he said,

“Nope, the only way you’re going to get it, is if you go through it.” I Anally

gave in and said, “Ane.”

Now, as you read the next few paragraphs, I want you to picture

yourself doing this exercise with someone else. Whether with a spouse, a

colleague, or a friend, imagine doing this exercise together. As you’ll see,

when Joe asked a question, the answer I gave him would be the basis for

the next question, and we would repeat this seven more times. For example,

if he asked, “Why do you want me here” and I answered by saying, “I want

to learn how to help my students” he would then ask, “why do you want to

help your students?”

<is exercise is called, Seven Levels Deep, because you move

progressively deeper into answers by asking “why” questions seven times—

each question is based on the previous answer. I’m not sure why seven is the

magical number that gets you where you need to go, but it is always the

right number.

Joe sat down in front of me with a piece of paper—he was right in my

face. He said, “I asked you why you wanted me here earlier and you

basically said because you want to get your clients, your readers, and your

customers more engaged so you can help change their lives for the better,

even more than you have. I think that’s a great answer, Dean. Very noble!

Now let me ask you this, WHY is it important to you to get more of your

students engaged, to understand more, to overcome obstacles, to take

action, and to see that next level of life?”

I remember thinking about it for a second and answering, “Because so

many people get stuck in the routine of mediocrity, and I know I’m giving

them good strategies, but not all are using them. I don’t want to be the sales

or infomercial guy who just sold them a book, I want to be the person who

opened their eyes to a new way of life by using what I’ve discovered. And at

the end of the day, I want to create a legacy that my family can be proud

of.”

Joe responded, “<at’s great stuff. Now, I Arst asked you why you hired

me. You then said it was to help your students get more engaged. <en

when asked why that was important, you basically said you want to leave a

legacy for your family. Both are great reasons and great answers. So, Dean,

why is it important for you to create a legacy?” I remember thinking for a

second and saying, “Because, in this business, a lot of people write crap and

teach crap and I want to set a new standard. I want to set a standard so

high that others in the industry will either step up or step out. And, don’t

get me wrong, I love the great people in this industry. Some of my dearest

friends and teachers like Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Eckhart Tolle,

Brendon Burchard, David Bach, and many others have had a huge positive

impact on my life and millions of others through this type of industry. I

wouldn’t be the man I am without those and other incredible inCuences.

But we all know there’s also a ton of crap out there. And I want those

people to either raise their standards or get out.” As I was sharing this, I

wasn’t even sure where the answers were coming from, but I was digging

deeper and deeper into my “why”.

<en he said to me, “Dean, that’s wonderful. I asked you why you

hired me and you said to get deeper and to help your students more. I asked

you why that was important and you said you want to create a legacy that

you and your family can be proud of. <en I asked you why that was

important and you said you want to have the standards raised in this

industry. All those are great answers.”

What I didn’t realize at that time was that while yes, these were all

good and true answers, they came from my head. And as he asked me the

same question a couple more times I continued to give him answers from

my head. <ey were all well thought out, but I wasn’t even close to the real

“why”.

When there were three levels left to go, he said, “Why is that

important?” to my previous and now forgotten answer.

What came out of my mouth next shocked even me. I said, “I never

want to go backwards”, and for some reason I got emotional. With

hindsight, I realized the most important thing that happens when you ask

yourself “why” 7 times is that you switch from answers coming from your

head to pulling the answers from your heart and soul. My heart was

speaking and I could feel it. I remember I started sitting differently,

speaking with a different tone, because physically my body started to feel

different. I was working hard to stop the tears from streaming out of my

eyes because my staff was watching. <en Joe, who I had just met for the

Arst time, was staring directly into my eyes, only a foot away. He asked,

“Why is it important that you don’t want to go backwards?”

And here’s what I meant, and here’s what my heart was trying to

express. I know what it’s like to be broke and grow up with no money. I

know what it’s like to wear hand-me-downs. I know what it’s like not

having food in the refrigerator. I know what it’s like to be basically

homeless as a kid because I experienced it with my dad. I remember when I

was 11 years old, I moved in with my dad and we literally lived and slept in

a small bathroom inside a house my Dad was trying to Ax up. Because there

was no heat anywhere, and the bathroom was the smallest room to keep

warm, that’s where we slept. And growing up in upstate New York, we had

some brutal winters. We had an electric heater and took the doorknob out

of the bathroom door and put the cord through the hole. We plugged in the

electric heater and dragged in a small mattress and slept on that together.

I’d get a ride to school in a car that had no heat and with doors tied on by

rope. I remember making my dad drop me off down the street so no one

would see just how poor I was. I was in a steady state of feeling insecure

and feeling inadequate and that was a place to which I never wanted to

return.

<is is my story, and I’m not suggesting that you and others haven’t

had it worse. But I remember my mom struggling before I helped her

retire. I remember my dad always struggling before I helped him retire. I

remember what it felt like not to be able to help other people or even

myself. And I know for a fact that I don’t ever want to go backwards to

where I was as a kid.

After I explained all of this, Joe could see that I was getting emotional.

And at that time I was thinking to myself, “Well, I found my why!” But

there were two more questions left for me to answer. Joe looked at me and

asked, “Dean, why don’t you want to go backwards?” At that point, I

couldn’t hold the tears back; they were streaming down my face. <e Arst

things that came to my heart were my children. I said, “I think I know it, I

think I know my “why.” I want to give my kids the choices and the options

that I never had when I was a kid.”

I want my daughter and my son to be able to choose where they want

to go in life and have the ability to become their best selves. I want them to

have lives without the worry of money choking them. I want them to know

that they’re Anancially secure, so if they want to be teachers, or astronauts,

or be in rock bands, or yoga teachers, or anything else, they can. I want

them to have the freedom I never felt like I had growing up. I’m not saying

I want to raise two entitled brats. I work very hard to make sure that never

happens. I’m talking about choices to be who they want to be, not spoiling

them so they don’t have to make any choices at all. And the more I thought

about it, the more emotional I got. I said to Joe, “I know my “why!” It’s my

children.” But then he said to me “I bet you started working really hard

before you had children, didn’t you Dean?” And he was right, and I had one

more “why” left to answer.

“Dean,” he said, “thank you for sharing this, but I have to ask you, why

is it important that your children have choices?” And my true “why”

emerged like a miracle; it just Cew out of my mouth.

I said, “Because I want to be in control.”

Before that moment, I’d never thought or talked about wanting to be

in control. And I’d never felt that surge of passion run through me to my

core. I realized at that very moment what my whole life was about. I Anally

realized why I wanted to go to the next level, why I got into business, why I

started cutting Arewood and Axing wrecked cars when I was a teenager,

why I knocked on a million doors and did my Arst real estate deal before I

was 20. It all made sense now. It was all because I wanted to be in control.

Not a control freak, but, rather, in control.

You see, my parents were married nine times between them. In fact, as

I write this book, my dad is engaged to a great lady and it will soon be an

even 10. Also, growing up I moved a lot. I moved 20 times by the time I

was 19 years old. Over the years of my childhood, I would have new

stepbrothers, stepsisters, and step-grandparents that I loved, and then I’d be

uprooted and have to move without any say in the matter. I always felt

totally out of control. We would And an apartment I loved, couldn’t pay the

rent, and would get evicted. I’d move into my grandma’s house and love it,

and then within the year I would have to move and go someplace else with

a new dad or a new mom and with new siblings that in some cases hated

me for intruding. I would move to a new school, And new friends, and then

we’d pick up and have to relocate again.

It was an epiphany, this seventh “why.” I don’t want anybody to tell me

how to dress, where to live, or even how to raise my kids. I don’t want

anybody to tell me where I can eat, how I can function, what I can do with

my time, or how much money I can make. I want to be in control so I can

make the decisions that empower me, bring me joy, and make me feel alive!

And at that very moment, I realized I didn’t want anybody to take that

away from me in any area of my life. I had Anally found my true “why”, and

my mission had never seemed clearer.