Executive TLDR
Success starts with fixing your thinking.
Excitement is a decision and fuels attraction.
Half-commitment blocks breakthrough growth.
Resentment and unforgiveness silently sabotage leadership.
Character is built through disciplined daily habits.
Replace bad habits with intentional routines.
Fear is false evidence appearing real.
Growth comes through adversity, not avoidance.
Faith is the antidote to fear.
Get up early and build productive structure.
Seek accountability and coaching.
Make a firm decision and act immediately.
Personal responsibility separates winners from average performers.
Video Summary
In this high-impact message, Paul Catanzarite challenges leaders within Primerica to break internal chains that prevent growth. He identifies five major roadblocks to success: lack of excitement, weak commitment, resentment and unforgiveness, destructive habits, and fear. He explains that mindset determines momentum, and excitement is a daily decision. True breakthrough requires full commitment, disciplined routines, forgiveness, and accountability through coaching. Fear, described as false evidence appearing real, must be replaced with faith and decisive action. Success emerges through adversity, and leaders must embrace discomfort, self-improvement, and personal responsibility to unlock their next level of performance and leadership.
FAQs
What are the main obstacles to success discussed in Breaking the Chains by Paul Catanzarite?
The five key obstacles are lack of excitement, lack of commitment, resentment and unforgiveness, bad habits, and fear. These internal barriers limit growth more than external circumstances.
How does fear affect success in business?
Fear creates hesitation, prevents action, and magnifies rejection or failure. When leaders allow fear to dictate decisions, they delay growth. Replacing fear with faith and decisive action leads to breakthrough results.
Why is commitment critical for breakthrough performance?
Half-commitment produces inconsistent effort and weak results. Full commitment changes posture, confidence, and how others respond to you. Once a decision is made, energy and momentum shift.
How do daily habits impact leadership growth?
Daily habits build character and discipline. Waking early, self-improvement, structured routines, and accountability create consistency. Long-term success is the result of repeated disciplined actions.
Why is forgiveness important in leadership and team building?
Resentment damages culture and decision-making. Leaders in a people business must operate from freedom, not bitterness. Forgiveness removes emotional weight and improves influence and attraction.
Glossary
Breakthrough – A major shift in mindset or performance that leads to the next level of success.
Commitment Decision – A firm internal choice to pursue success without retreat or hesitation.
Excitement Principle – The belief that enthusiasm is a decision and a catalyst for influence.
Fear (False Evidence Appearing Real) – Perceived threats that prevent action despite limited factual basis.
Faith-Based Action – Moving forward despite uncertainty, trusting process and growth.
Accountability Coaching – Partnering with a leader or mentor for structure, correction, and growth.
Self-Improvement Discipline – Intentional daily growth habits such as reading, training, and physical health routines.
Character in the Dark – Integrity and discipline demonstrated when no one is watching.
Adversity Growth Model – The concept that pressure and struggle produce strength and capability.
Personal Responsibility Mindset – Ownership of outcomes through effort, decisions, and daily action.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
It is awesome. Awesome. Listen, I appreciate so much this team, just the congratulations and some of us have family. It’s just been exciting. And then our team, thundercats Nation is here, which is exciting. So listen, I want to get into your mindset a little bit. I heard growing up in the business and in life, everything is about the way you think. Everything is about the way you think. And I realize that whenever we need to break through and get to the next level, it’s just because my thinking is stinking. Anyone with me? Absolutely. So, you know, I wanted to talk about breaking the chain, right? There’s something holding you back right now. There’s a breakthrough that you need to get through in order to get to that next level. And it’s not just in business. It’s in every area of your life.
Speaker 1
You understand by winning here, you’re going to become the person you always wanted to become anyway. So let’s talk about breaking the chain. So what are the five roadblocks, I believe that are important, right, to get to the next level? Well, here’s the first one. There we go. Not being excited about your opportunity. You know, ART Williams said 90% of winning is always being excited. Let me tell you, excitement is a decision. You know, you could be excited in any circumstance. You could have joy in the midst of chaos. Did you know that? See, it’s a decision. You see, if you come and ask me, I’m always excited about life. Number one, because it’s a decision. Number two, because I know who holds my tomorrow. So you understand that it’s just a decision. See, you’re always a decision away from winning.
Speaker 1
In order to be that, you need to be excited, right? It’s attractive. It creates enthusiasm. Man, there’s nothing more exciting than some of our new people coming to the office and seeing the business and the possibility that life has to offer and that Primerica could deliver that for them in the office. Nothing more exciting, right? So the first thing is, that’s the first roadblock. Not being excited. The second one is a lack of commitment, right? Think about this. The whole world is filled with half committed people that live life and wander around with no passion or purpose. Man, that’s never what I wanted to be. Whenever you come talk to me, when I, when my lights go out, as they say, I want you to say, man, that guy was passionate about what he did, right?
Speaker 1
That person, whenever I talk to them, they lived with purpose. You see, I tell our new people when we’re meeting with them the first time, right? Pat, you want to beat 95% of people, just do what you say you’re going to do. Because most people aren’t people of their word. They may be good intentioned, but they don’t follow through on their word, right? So you gotta make sure that you are committed. When were a schoolteacher, you know, we leaving a six figure income to come here and every time Mike Hubenek would say, hey, this is the year, right? This is the year. And I’d say, oh yeah, this is the year. And the reality was that wasn’t the year. Because it wasn’t a decision in my own head that I was going to come. Well, let me tell you what happened.
Speaker 1
I lived half committed. You see, I wasn’t convinced. And in order to be convinced, right, convincing, you got to be convinced. Until we made that decision to leave teaching, put in that recognition. It’s amazing. All of a sudden people responded to me differently. Why? Because I was committed. We made the decision that were going to live or die here. The third is resentment and unforgiveness. Man, I just think that this is like a silent killer. Resentment and unforgiveness. You know, a lot of times we think we’re fooling people, but the reality is people could see it on you. John Maxwell says unforgiveness is like drinking poison, but expecting the other person to die. See, forgiveness doesn’t make it or them right. It just makes you free, understand how could you hate people and be in the people business? Doesn’t make sense, does it?
Speaker 1
See, if you’re going to attract people, you got to love people. Now, you don’t got to like people. There’s a difference. You know that. But you got to understand that you cannot have a seed of bitterness in your heart because people will sniff that out. Because you make decisions that are in your best interest and not in the best interest of other people. Because people understand that you’re not in it for them, you’re in it for you. And I’m just letting you know, right? I’m not here to preach at you, but I am. Well, we’re going to leave it there. Amen. Number four. Here we go. I don’t know where my presentation went. There we go. Next one. This is. Keith stole my presentation, by the way. I just. No, more than likely I definitely stole his presentation. Bad habits, right? Bad habits.
Speaker 1
Let me tell you, true character is built in the dark, man. It’s when no one’s watching that your character is built. All of us could put on a show when we’re in front of the room, all of us could put on a show when people are watching, but it’s who you are when no one’s watching. And it’s those habits you build that make you successful. See what’s holding you back, right? Laziness. Keith talked about procrastination, right? Technology and social media addictions, negative thinking and self talk, lack of discipline. You know, there was an area in my life, you know, we need to get our health in order because I was about three or four pounds overweight. That wasn’t a joke. Actually, I needed to get that area in. So of course, let me tell you what you do.
Speaker 1
You make a decision, you get a coach. That’s how you do it, right? You make a decision, you get a coach. I love. I was talking with one of our teammates. We drove up on the way and he was telling us a story about being disciplined. He was talking about Warren Buffett and Warren Buffett, it’s amazing. Do you know he every morning he eats at McDonald’s and he gets an egg McMuffin at McDonald’s. He actually takes the cash and his wife takes the cash out for him that he can buy his McDonald’s every morning. If his portfolio doesn’t do well the day before, he only buys the Egg McMuffin. If his portfolio dough is well, he adds some hash browns to that. Talk about discipline. Talk about discipline. I got. I got a long way to go. Anyone else? Just two of you.
Speaker 1
All right. How many people love their mother? Excellent. There you go. Good. So we’re back to forgiveness. Just so you know, in case you wonder. All right, number five, here we go. All right. Fear, Fear, right? False evidence appearing real. Fear of rejection or fear of failure. Fear of adversity. By the way, success comes out of adversity, growth comes out of adversity. You all know the story about the baby bird. I think it’s wonderful how God designs nature, right? To inform us of how to do things in our life. You know, a baby bird, when they’re trying to crack out of the egg, you know, if you help a baby bird get out of that egg, that baby bird can’t survive. It’s the process of them fighting through that eggshell that allows them to survive in the real world.
Speaker 1
You see, you need to not fear adversity. You need to take adversity on and understand that on the other side is the breakthrough. On the other side is the breakthrough. The antidote of fear is faith. You see, before Peter could walk on water he had to step out of the boat right before David could slay the giant. He had to step out on the battlefield, whatever it is right now. You can’t allow fear to keep you to talk to the next person. You can’t allow fear of even success like he talked about to get you to the next level. You got to take on fear with faith. You see everything that happened with the decision. It literally is just you deciding that you’re going to go get this thing done. There’s not anybody in this room that’s any better than anybody else.
Speaker 1
It’s just that some people are willing to put in the work that the rest of us aren’t. That’s all this business is. We just got spanked by the Naranjos in our RVP meeting and you just realize, man, we gotta start fishing in a bigger pond, huh? It is absolutely unbelievable. See, if nothing changes. One of my favorite things I’ve ever heard. So here’s some agents of change get up early and get up at the same time every day. One of the adjustments we had to make, right, you don’t just get fit by doing nothing, right. Eating is part of it. But we had to decide that, hey, we’re going to get up it 5:30 every day, get out to the gym, right? Get out, play racquetball, meet some new people. It’s amazing how that works, right?
Speaker 1
Yeah, I stay for all three sessions so I can meet all different people there, right? You got to get up early. Now these are things we all know we’ve heard, but are we doing it? See, I wasn’t doing it. It’s amazing when we start to make that decision, how life starts to change. We self improve, right? Our leader was a big self improvement. The do it now mentality. Five second rule, if you’ve ever heard of that. Replacing one bad habit with a good habit. Don’t just take away, but add something in. Make sure you’re always accountable to somebody. That’s why we need a coach and have a real, not a fake one, a real merger. With your upline. I leave you with this in Psalms right here. Let’s break the chains that hold us back and throw off the ropes that tie us down.
Speaker 1
Amen. Hey guys, have an unbelievable school. I’ll see you guys at the top.
