240. Lottery Ticket vs. Blueprint: How Patience, Strategy, and Compounding Beat “Overnight Success”

What separates those who achieve lasting success from those who constantly chase quick fixes? The answer lies in understanding two fundamentally different approaches to goal achievement: the lottery ticket mindset versus the blueprint mindset.

Most of us have fallen prey to the allure of overnight success—wishing to drop 20 pounds instantly, hoping a single social media post will make our business explode, or wanting financial security without the discipline of consistent planning. This lottery ticket thinking feels good momentarily, delivering dopamine hits similar to gambling wins, but ultimately leaves us stuck in cycles of temporary progress followed by regression.

The blueprint mindset, by contrast, embraces the unsexy reality of sustainable achievement. It's about strategizing your controllable inputs, establishing meaningful checkpoints, and committing to consistent action regardless of how you feel on any given day. The horizon you choose fundamentally filters your behavior—when you adopt a long-term perspective, you naturally prioritize durability and commitment over quick fixes. As the saying goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither are you." Your results won't materialize overnight, but through the compounding effect of small, deliberate actions taken consistently over time. The blueprint approach may not always be exciting or fun, but as you strengthen your ability to follow through on commitments to yourself, you build an unshakable foundation for lasting transformation in any area of your life.

Ready to shift from wishing for lottery-ticket outcomes to creating your success blueprint? Start by identifying one small, repeatable habit you can commit to for the next 30 days that aligns with your larger goals. Share this episode with a friend who might benefit from this mindset shift—after all, we all level up faster when surrounded by others committed to sustainable growth.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Mindset Types
• 1:20 Lottery Ticket vs. Blueprint Mindset
• 5:44 How Horizons Filter Behavior
• 9:32 Breaking the Dopamine Cycle
• 13:57 Building Your Success Blueprint
• 17:17 Creating Habits for Goal Achievement

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Yeah, it's mindset cafe. We's your boy, devin gonzalez. And today I wanted to talk about on this solo episode, um, the two mindsets, right, the blueprint mindset versus the lottery ticket mindset, and we'll dive into what those things mean. Um, but one thing I do want to say in the beginning. I know I said it towards the end normally, but if these podcasts help at all, make sure you guys share this episode or any of the episodes with a friend, because, honestly, that does help. You know, get the show out there and, you know, get your friends on board and help them level up their circle and their life, because, again, you are who you hang out with. So if your friends are leveling up and your family's leveling up, then you're going to level up in turn, right? So make sure you guys share that episode, this episode or any of our episodes with a friend. If it's helped you out. It's a, you know, small little fee to help us, because we hope that we help you, right.

Speaker 1: 1:20

But diving into the lottery ticket mindset, the blueprint mindset, the lottery ticket mindset, kind of goes into the fact that and I know we've all been guilty of this at some point or another of we just want that success or that result. Now, we don't want to wait, we don't want to put in the effort, we just want a. You know buy the ticket, you win the numbers. Boom, you're rich, right. So that, versus the blueprint mindset of strategizing and executing and taking time to make sure that you're following all the steps and you know putting the effort in. And then you know reaching your goal in a year, two years, five years, whatever it may be. And so realizing that with the blueprint mindset, right, you're planning the controllables, you're creating inputs, you're creating checkpoints, you're creating, you know, a system to help you achieve your goal, whereas with the lottery ticket mindset, you're just hoping and praying. Right, so, for example, like fitness, right, you're hoping to drop 20 pounds fast, versus so that's lottery ticket, right, and with you know whether it's a weight loss pill or, you know, drug or whatever the case may be. Versus setting up your macros, right, your proteins, your carbs, your fats. You know putting together a workout plan how many days are you going to go to the week, what are you going to work out, so forth. And you know making sure that you're just moving more on a daily basis. Right, and sticking to that, for you know however long it takes, and then having checkpoints in where you're weighing, in checking your body fat percentage and so forth, right, adjusting your macros.

Speaker 1: 3:03

Those are the differences right there in business. Right, praying that you know you're real for your business, you know, or Instagram real, or TikTok goes viral and your business blows up, versus, you know, maybe, making three posts a week. Right, giving some value, giving some content. You know, sending some Dms and having your business growth be sustainable. And actually, you know, um, what's the word? I guess not sustainable, but like stronger. Right, I can't think of the words, not from the top of my head right now.

Speaker 1: 3:40

But realize that that hope, that hope and pray and, and you know, purchase and wish it doesn't work. Right, yeah, there's the one person that wins, but realize the odds are better by, you know, you getting struck by lightning. Right, um, in life. Right, waiting to talk about the right, waiting for the right mood or the right time to talk about finances, let's say, because the right mood, the right time is never going to come, versus setting up a monthly meeting, have a 45-minute little finance money meeting with your significant other. Rip the bandaid off the first time and it gets easier. For nutrition, I need to drop weight fast. All of a sudden I'm just not going to eat, versus. Let me just talk to a coach or someone and figure out what do I need to eat? What things am I currently eating that maybe aren't suitable for my goals?

Speaker 1: 4:41

Realize that the reason a lot of us have the lottery ticket mindset is it gives you, when you do achieve something, where it's like a purchase and win kind of deal, where it's just overnight, there's that dopamine hit right. There's that rush that you get and you want another one. It doesn't satisfy anything right. It's like like gambling. You go to the blackjack table, boom, you hit blackjack. You, you don't walk away. At that point you play another hand right.

Speaker 1: 5:13

Versus realizing that with the blueprint you're not going to get those dopamine hits but you are going to get something that's sustainable and life-changing because it's not based off of your emotion, it's not based off of any dopamine, it's not based off of any you know feeling. It's something that you're changing your lifestyle habits with and realize that the horizon you choose starts to filter your behavior. Realize that the horizon you choose starts to filter your behavior. What I mean by that is essentially short shortcuts and you know fast things, you know. Reward that dopamine right, but the longer horizon, the longer goals, right, prioritize durability, prioritize. You know patience, commitment, you know internal motivation right, and those things start to build.

Speaker 1: 6:08

So sometimes we have to change our, our checkpoints, right, are you giving yourself like, maybe your goal is a long term goal, right, but maybe your checkpoints are too small, meaning that, like, every week you're giving yourself a reward because you lost a pound? Right, and it's like, yes, that's awesome, high five, great job. But maybe in the beginning that worked, but now let's do it every two weeks. Then try to do it every month Right, try to expand the time frame before you look for that checkpoint so that you're not looking for the reward, you're not looking for the dopamine hit of. You know I'm doing good, right, trust the process, stick to the plan and it will create a more doable and a more rewarding and healthy mental state as you're going through the process.

Speaker 1: 7:06

Because what happens when you don't hit one of the weekly check-ins right? Now, all of a sudden, you feel like crap, and now, the next day you want to weigh in again, and the next day you want to weigh in again, and the next day you want to until you all of a sudden get the result you're looking for, right, and that I mean. That happens a lot of times at the gym. We'll have a member weigh in or something and they didn't like their weigh-in, so then they want to step on the scale again and say, okay, step on the scale again. Boom, the results are exactly the same. It's like I don't know what you think is going to change, right? Oh, I did. Well, I held my breath this time. It's like that's not how this works. Right, we'll kind of weigh in tomorrow. Yeah, go for it.

Speaker 1: 7:49

Unless they did something to affect the weigh in, meaning that maybe they drank the night before, maybe they didn't drink enough water the day before, they took a laxative, something of that nature. Like, obviously it's gonna throw misread. Otherwise, it's like that's the result, like that's a result of the combination of work you put in for the last week, the last two weeks, the last. You can't be upset at the result if you didn't put in the effort or if you try to shortcut your, your, your effort, Right, um, so realize that pushing those out, like for even for our 11 week challenge, we have a four week check-in, not a not weekly check-ins, but a four week check-in and an eight week check-in and then basically final check-in, right? So check-ins are a month out so that it gives enough time yet people can check in in between and to get advice and stuff like that. But, like the official, check-ins are four weeks apart so that people aren't trying to step on the scale every single day because that creates unhealthy habits. Right? People that weigh themselves every morning, that's not super healthy because all of a sudden you gain a pound, you freak out every morning. That's not super healthy Because all of a sudden you gain a pound, you freak out. It's like, dude, just go take a dump, right. But it's like those kind of things start to throw off the rest of your day. Now you're upset because you didn't get the dopamine hit you wanted, so now you're gonna try to, you know, find a dopamine hit somewhere else, because your body craves that reward, craves that dopamine or craves that rush, right. So another thing I would say, like doing that right.

Speaker 1: 9:19

We have the 11-week challenge, for example, for fitness is people will do the challenge right. There's some gyms that will do a six-week challenge. I'm not going to name any names because there's a handful of them, but let's say they do a four or six or eight-week challenge I haven't really seen eight weeks, but four or six week challenges and then members will sign up for it. They do it and then all of a sudden the challenge ends and then the member falls off, right, they don't sign up for memberships, they just wait till the next challenge. And then when's the next challenge? I want to sign up for that. It's like that.

Speaker 1: 9:48

It's like that's not durability, that's not long term. You're going for these crash diets, you're going for these ups and downs, this roller coaster and this yo-yo of your results. Realize that, even for us, the reason why we have the 11-week challenge only twice throughout the year is it's supposed to give you a jump start and give you that boost, but then you got to continue after that. So if you have amazing results after the weeks, like you got to continue, there's not another 11 week challenge till the end of the year, right? So it's like that's the whole point of of doing something that can give you a jumpstart is not to realize that it's. It's something to yo-yo back and forth, right? So instead of focusing on like a six week shred and then you're super on it, you're, you know, dieting super hard for six weeks and then, after the six weeks, you know.

Speaker 1: 10:41

Now what do I do, right, versus, like, setting up a plan for the next 12 months, like I'm going to focus on my strength, or I'm going to focus on weight loss for the first three months, then I'm going to focus on building some strength, then I'm going to focus on building some strength, then I'm going to build, you know, and you create little blocks throughout, right, and yes, your, your blueprint can change as you go, it can adapt, and that's the whole thing, even with the business, right. I've mentioned this on other podcasts or other episodes. Before you have a business plan, when you start a business, right, it's not, hey, we're going to open the doors and you know they will come, build it, they will come. Fuck, no, that's not how that works. Tell you right now build it, they may come, they may not come, right, but you strategize, you put together a plan and then you execute the plan and, depending on how the plan is going, you adapt the plan. That's the whole point of a blueprint. It's an adaptable blueprint. It's not set in stone, right, it's not written on, it's not carved in a stone. That you can't. You know that shit's written on an expo board. Erase it and write the next step again, right?

Speaker 1: 11:50

But the main thing is you try, you test and you keep trying, you, right. But the main thing is you try, you test and you keep trying and testing. And the main thing is you if you fall down, you get up. You fall down, you get up. It doesn't work out this week, perfect. Now you know what doesn't work. Next week, let's try something new. Right? And that's what the whole game is about Realizing that you are compounding the small changes and the small incremental steps so that in a month, in six months, in a year, you've compounded all those little wins and those little changes.

Speaker 1: 12:21

And now there's a huge result that people are like dang, how did you do that? And now they're looking for their fast fix to get to where you got in 12 months and they want it in a month. That's just not how it works, right? If it's taking, you know you've never had a six pack before and you have 50% body fat you're not going to get a six pack in a month. It's just not going to happen, right? Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither are you. You're not going to get your results in a day either. Right, it takes time.

Speaker 1: 12:48

But also, we want to make sure that you are building the healthy mental state as you're on the journey to achieve your goals, right? Um, and I mean, one of the things that can help too is realizing, like you know, plan it out on your calendar, right, you know? Plan it out on your calendar, right. Build a, build a cadence, build a, build up, basically, a rhythm, right. Lock in blocks of time for certain things, right.

Speaker 1: 13:19

If you are set to work out three times a week, okay, well, what days are you gonna work out? If you don't work out on this day, which other day can you switch it to as a plan b? Because sometimes it doesn't, the day doesn't work out as you want it to. Shit happens, right, that's just. That's just how the day goes. Sometimes you don't know what the day has in store for you. But you need to adapt, you don't? You're not able to do it today or in the morning. Okay, do it tonight, Right? Yesterday I thought I was going to work out at noon. Didn noon, didn't happen, worked out at 8 pm. Main thing is, I told myself I was gonna work out, I worked out.

Speaker 1: 13:59

You keep the truths you tell to yourself. You tell yourself you're gonna do something. Follow through with it. Otherwise, when you tell yourself you're gonna do something, you tell yourself you're gonna achieve something. Your body doesn't know if it's truth or if it's a lie, right, the subconscious doesn't know. Um, but build the schedule right. Are you going to do this? You know monday, wednesday, fridays in the morning and the evening. Don't leave it up to chance. I'm gonna do it. Just do it monday, wednesday and friday, okay, when, like, lock in specific times, have specific. You know notes for for how you're going to accomplish it. Otherwise, you leave too many variables up to chance and I guarantee you're leaving too many holes in your boat that your boat's just going to sink on this journey to success. And now you're trying to patch the holes as you're in the ocean.

Speaker 1: 14:51

So realize that you're, if you're doing things for the, for that dopamine hit sometimes. You got to give yourself that that little reality check, right. You have to first understand why do I want to do this? Why am I doing this? Find out your reasons, why, right, and they have to be real reasons. I want to look good. It's like okay, well, shit. Everyone wants to look good. Why do you want to look good? Is it going to help you improve your confidence? Is it going to, you know, are you doing it to be a role model for your kids? Like, find that deeper meaning, because that's going to help you push you on the days that you don't want to do it right.

Speaker 1: 15:38

You telling the, you telling yourself you're going to do something and you following through with it, essentially is is almost like building a moat, right? Like a castle of a moat around your, your essentially skill of doing it even though you don't want to do it. Right. You want to build a strong moat so that, regardless of what's going on in life, regardless of how you feel, a strong moat so that, regardless of what's going on in life, regardless of how you feel you're going to end up doing it, it's, it's inevitable, right? Because your body already knows that if you tell yourself you're going to do something, you accomplish it Right.

Speaker 1: 16:12

One question I want you to ask yourself is what is at least one of, or what's a small, repeatable habit that you can commit to for the next 30 days that aligns with you achieving your goal, right? So I'll say it again what is a small habit that you can repeat daily for 30 days that would align with you achieving your goal, and how are you going to track it Right? Are you going to give yourself a little check mark on a calendar? Are you going to have an accountability partner? How are you going to track you achieving your goals and see if you actually stuck to it?

Speaker 1: 16:57

Realize that the blueprint mindset can be boring, it can be mundane, but no one told you that achieving your goals was going to be fun. Right, whether it's fitness, whether it's business, whether it's, you know, marriage. Right, the relationship that no one promised you that this shit was going to be fun. But they did promise you it would be worth it and I can tell you it's worth it. But you have to come out on the other side. You have to be forged by the fire, and the fire being doing everything you need to do, regardless of how you feel on the days you don't feel like doing it. That's being forged by the fire. You have to do hard things to get the results you want to get, because most people don't do the hard things. They don't do that stuff that is needed and that's what separates and that's what creates the gap of the people that have the result that you want and people that don't.

Speaker 1: 17:56

But I hope this does help. I hope it kind of changes your mindset on at least maybe one goal that you have right now, that you're doing it with the lottery ticket mindset, and I hope, hopefully, you can start to adapt and maybe expand your time horizon and set bigger goals and less checkpoints so that you're strengthening the moat around your durability, around your commitment, around your self-motivation, your self-drive. But, with that being said, I appreciate you guys, I love you all and if you guys ever need anything, feel free to DM me on my Instagram or even on the Mindset Cafe Instagram, always happy to help. Make sure you guys follow the Mindset Cafe community on Instagram, but we'll see you guys on the next one.