Executive TLDR
Mental toughness is the foundation of sustainable business growth.
Discipline outperforms motivation over time.
Leaders control emotions and stay steady under pressure.
Growth requires resilience through setbacks and adversity.
Long-term success favors consistency over intensity.
Video Summary
Fueling Growth With Mental Toughness In Business
Jim Hicks delivers a powerful message centered on the role of mental strength in achieving success within Primerica.
His core premise is simple:
Business growth is less about talent and more about toughness.
The individuals who rise are not always the most gifted — they are the most disciplined and emotionally controlled.
Mental Toughness Defined
Mental toughness is the ability to:
Stay focused during adversity
Maintain standards despite setbacks
Control emotional reactions
Continue executing when motivation fades
It is not about being emotionless.
It is about being emotionally regulated.
Discipline Over Motivation
Motivation is temporary.
Discipline is structural.
Jim emphasizes that successful leaders:
Execute on schedule
Keep commitments
Follow proven systems
Work whether they feel like it or not
Motivation fluctuates.
Standards should not.
Resilience Through Setbacks
Every growing business experiences:
Rejection
Turnover
Missed targets
Unexpected obstacles
The difference between stagnation and breakthrough lies in response.
Mentally tough leaders interpret setbacks as:
Feedback
Adjustment signals
Growth opportunities
Not personal attacks.
Emotional Control In Leadership
Leadership magnifies pressure.
When teams face uncertainty, leaders must provide:
Stability
Clarity
Confidence
Emotional volatility at the top creates instability throughout the organization.
Mental toughness means responding with composure, not impulse.
Consistency Compounds Growth
Short bursts of effort create temporary results.
Sustained discipline builds lasting momentum.
Jim underscores that:
Small daily standards
Repeated over months and years
Create exponential outcomes
The compounding effect favors those who endure.
Identity Drives Performance
High performance is not an act.
It is an identity.
Leaders who view themselves as:
Professionals
Builders
Standard setters
Operate differently than those who treat the business casually.
Your internal identity determines your external results.
Growth Requires Stretching Capacity
Mental toughness expands through challenge.
Comfort does not produce growth.
Leaders must:
Volunteer for responsibility
Accept accountability
Step into pressure situations
Capacity grows only when tested.
Core Lessons
Toughness beats talent.
Discipline beats motivation.
Emotional control sustains teams.
Resilience transforms setbacks into stepping stones.
Consistency compounds success.
FAQs
What is the main message of Jim Hicks’ talk?
Mental toughness is the key driver of long-term business growth.
Is motivation enough for success?
No. Discipline creates sustainable results.
How does mental toughness show up daily?
Through consistent action regardless of emotional state.
Why is emotional control important in leadership?
Because leaders set the tone for the entire organization.
What role does adversity play in growth?
Adversity strengthens resilience and expands capacity.
Can anyone develop mental toughness?
Yes, through intentional standards and repeated exposure to challenge.
Why is consistency emphasized?
Because long-term repetition creates compounding results.
What separates average performers from top leaders?
Emotional maturity and disciplined execution.
How should leaders view setbacks?
As feedback and opportunity for improvement.
Does talent guarantee success?
No. Toughness and consistency matter more.
What drives sustained performance?
Identity-based discipline rather than emotional motivation.
How does mental toughness impact teams?
It creates stability and confidence during pressure.
Glossary
Mental Toughness
The ability to remain disciplined, focused, and composed during adversity.
Discipline
Executing required actions consistently regardless of mood or circumstances.
Resilience
The capacity to recover quickly from setbacks or challenges.
Emotional Regulation
Managing emotional responses to maintain clarity and performance.
Compounding Effect
The exponential growth that results from consistent repeated action.
Performance Identity
The internal self-concept that shapes behavior and standards.
Transcript:
Hey, guys, how’s everybody doing? It’s been a while since I spoke up here. I’ll tell you what, though. The most important thing is Coach and Judy Conowitz, my upline crew, to me into the business, wonderful people. And for those of you guys that are new and you’re getting ready to start building your business, quick story. I used to drive two and a half hours on Saturday mornings to go to my op meeting. Coach and Judy were in Plattsburg, we down in Albany. And I remember calling Coach one night. It was like 12:00 because I used to work in a restaurant. I had like five jobs, but I’m working at a restaurant, I got a bunch of coffee in me. And usually I’d leave my house at four in the morning because we’d do breakfast at 630.
I call Coach at 12:00 at night and I go, hey, Coach, I’m exhausted. I just got done working. And then I go, well, I just had some coffee, so I can’t go to sleep. So I won’t be there by 430. He goes, you’re really fired up. And I go, yeah. He goes, great. Get in your car, drive to two and a half hours. Now you can sleep on my couch. I’ll wake you up at 06:00 and we’ll go to training. That’s what leadership’s about. See some of your guys will call you tomorrow. I can’t make it, dude. We’re like out in the. I’m 4 hours from here. We don’t have, like a lot of you guys can jump into somebody’s office, go do stuff. We don’t have that resource. But Ray and Carol, thank you for this morning. I appreciated it.
I wish you were a little tougher. Marine Corps reminded me of the Marine Corps. What? I want to talk to you guys about real quick retirement. I stole this from Vinny Ragusa. No, I’m just kidding. Okay. I’ll put a couple of these up here. You can take notes. Okay. When you’re talking investments and you’re talking to people about setting up residual income, it’s a recruiting tool. Every single life app you guys do, you should put one or two or three investments on it. I don’t do nearly as much life insurance as a lot of you guys, but what we do a great job of is in the investments. It’s buy term and invest. The difference. Keith did a training. It’s not, hey, whole life is better than term. Buy term and invest. The difference is better than whole life. Here’s their bottom.
If I could show you how to make an extra 3000 a month working eight to 10 hours a week. Would you give me 20 or 30 minutes of your time? That’s called prospecting. Get on. Listen. You need to get comfortable being uncomfortable. The number one thing I do with my kids is that my son, I came home the other night. He didn’t make his bed. He didn’t do his laundry. 430 we woke him up. We went for a little jog. Okay. Guess who didn’t miss that stuff the rest of the week? That guy. I can’t do that to my base shop. I wish I could, but I can’t. All right. Initial contributions. Opening new accounts. Pensions. Subsequent contributions. Pacs. Transfers. And then what I’m going to talk about is at the bottom. Quarterly trails advisor. Have an IRA again.
When you’re just talking to people, these are things that will come up. I’m sure Wilma is going to send this out to you. Right? If it didn’t cost you anything extra, why wouldn’t they switch and go through you? So you have to be here for a while. See, people want to know if this is a way of life or a phase of life. People aren’t going to change and bring over the retirement save leavings and their life insurance protection with somebody who’s going to be fly by night after you’ve been here for a while. And if you don’t believe me, if you know anybody who cuts hair, you try to get them to cut your hair for free. If you’ve been going to somebody who fixes cars, you don’t go to the guy the first week they get out of school.
But for a case of beer, you’ll try to get them to change your oil and do something else. All right. Develop two clients a week for three to five years. That’s pretty simple. Leaders. I apologize, some of you guys in the front. Two clients a week is a little light, but it does snow like nine months up there, so we don’t get out much. They’re packing three to $500, $150 a month in packs. By the end of the year, you’re making $3,800 a month if you want the same income. Okay, I had a conversation yesterday. Here’s what you got to do. Invest $1,000 a month for 20 years, you’ll have a million dollars, 5% return, 4% return. That’ll kick out 40 to 50 grand a year. Would you rather do that in 20 years? And I know they don’t have the $1,000 anyway.
Or would you rather get yourself in a situation like this? And then what can they do with the 3000 a month? They can invest it. My wife and I have invested over $10,000 a month for over 20 years. I don’t make what some of you guys make in Primerica, but we make a lot of money. We own real estate. We got a couple of houses. We do a bunch of stuff. I don’t just teach people this. I do this for both of my boys. We’ve been saving $800 a month since they were born. They’re both closing in on a million dollars and they’re 20 years old. It ain’t auto money, but Jimmy Hicks money. And do the rule of 72. If you’re sitting out there, that’s worth 30, 40, $50 million each by the time they’re 50 or 60.
And I don’t make a lot of money, okay? My wife makes a little bit more than I do. We make 5600,000 a year combined. That’s not a lot of money. But see, pay yourself first. I listen to Keith. Save yourself broke. This goes through. If you’re doing $1,000, pack over on the right hand side, as an RVP, you make $31. This is why most of you don’t do packs. This is why. Oh, I do a pack as a district. For 1000, I make $17. I don’t have time for that. No, you don’t. But look at the bottom. If you’re doing 150,000 a month in packs, you’re making 50 to 60 grand a year. I know it’s not a lot of money. Watch this, though. Teach ten people how to do the same thing. I looked online.
Number one, base shop in Primerica last month, licensed three securities people. That’s it. Some of you guys, you’re licensing for your base shop along with mine. We have ten securities licenses in the base shop. That’s awful. 56% of Primerica’s compensation is paid out through securities that does not include insurance overrides. Insurance bonuses, mutual fund. Don’t mistake this. I’m not doing investments and not doing life insurance. I’m doing these investments while I’m doing the life insurance plans. Look at that. So you do $150,000 a month for 20 years. I did a 30 year term yesterday. You know what the guy said to me? I don’t think you’re going to be here. On the back end of my 30 year. I was like, I might not even be here in the back end of a ten year, bro. But we’ll go with that’s your compensation.
Look at the growth. You got 108,000,000 in assets under management. There’s the income. $175,000 in trails. You’re making an additional $670,000 a year on the packs. That’s eight or 900 grand a year. 20 years from now. My son’s getting licensed. You know what I’m excited about? When he turns 40, my younger guy wants a Bugatti. Is it a Bugatti? I don’t even know what the hell it is, man. He was pulling stuff up online. Then I did giggle. It’s like two and a half million dollar car. I got to worry about him. The older one will be driving a Ford Taurus for the next 35 years. 40 to 70 trillion is going to be moving hands. Okay? 40 to 70 trillion. And the dude that was just here, 100 licenses. Get those guys securities, license. The bigger net, catch more people, opportunities, right?
Greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world. Baby boomers comes through these different areas. Okay? I like the conduit. Most of the money will move in the banking industry, where it’s sitting at one to 3%. Crazy wall wealth. If you capture just a percentage of it, I don’t know what 100 billion is. But, Keith, when you comes up, I got to disclose you got 8 billion in assets under management. 8 billion. It’s more than Edward Jones. Okay. Compensation down there, right? Level 13. If you got 256, you’re making a lot of money. All right? Get your license fast. It’s excuses. Oh, I don’t have time. Get up an hour or two earlier if you could get paid 800 grand. People go to their jobs. They do these things, and it’s crazy. It blows me away.
How many people don’t have their investment license? The reason you’re here is to help people get wealthy. It’s called financial independence for a reason. Nick Murray, I’m not going to read this to you, but here’s the deal. When I go meet with a client, I don’t talk about my portfolio. This, that. Here’s my job, to keep you from making common investor mistakes. I got a buddy of mine. Here’s what he says to me. Hicksie. Yeah, I got the. Do this. He goes, when nobody’s looking, I slip it in. I go, slip it in. He goes, yeah, I put it in the market. And then what do you do? Then I pull out. I go, so you slip it in, and then you pull out. I go, how do you know when to slip it in? And how do you know when to pull out.
And he kind of looks at me and I go, bro, that’s the biggest mistake people make. You want to keep it in the whole time. You never want to pull out. And he’s like, well, what do you mean, man? And I go, I don’t know. And he’s got the same last name as Tony. True story. I used to work for him. I cut grass for the dude. Okay, and I’ll leave you with this. I’m going to wrap up like I said, you guys, there it is right there. Sorry, Keith, it’s 8 billion. I cut you off by 6 billion. I suck. All right, but listen to this. It because I have the greatest wife in the world. And she told me today, she goes, hey, sometimes when you speak, you’re mean. She get up at 530 this morning to share this with me.
So I’ve been waiting for, like, 9 hours over here. And I go, what do you mean? She goes, I don’t know. You used to get really mean when you spoke. I go, honey, that’s because were broke. I go, don’t you miss getting to the end of the month and not being able to pay our bills? I go, don’t you miss that? Like, we had to make a guy a smoker write an extra policy, right? Hey, your kid’s almost 18. I can write that. Write New York. By the time they issue, it’ll be 18. We’re good to go. I need the commission. We had all that stuff. I used to drive two and a half hours in an Ares K car to Coach’s office. I had no heat. I had a Yankee candle in the window.
I’m driving to the right guy, pulls me over doing 80, he goes, you know how fast you’re going? I go, yeah, bro, 80. He goes, nobody admits that. I go, bro, if I don’t do 80, the wheels aren’t aligned, the car shakes like hell. There you go. But if you got a partner or spouse, be your spouse’s biggest encourager, not critic. Be the one who wipes away your tears, not creates them. Love. You guys love being in business with you.
