Bob Proctor: Paradigms, Goal Cards, the Terror Barrier, Videos and Programs

Q: Who were Bob Proctor's mentors?

He was inspired by Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich and worked with Earl Nightingale at Nightingale-Conant from 1968 to 1973.

Author and success coach

Bob Proctor (1934 to 2022) was a Canadian author and success coach, best known for his book You Were Born Rich and for his role in the 2006 film The Secret. Over six decades he taught millions of people how to change their paradigms, set inspiring goals and get their

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Bob Proctor (1934 to 2022) was a Canadian author and success coach, best known for his book You Were Born Rich and for his role in the 2006 film The Secret. Over six decades he taught millions of people how to change their paradigms, set inspiring goals and get their thinking in harmony with the results they want, and the Proctor Gallagher Institute carries his work on today. [1] [2]

Known forYou Were Born Rich and The Secret

Core ideaChange your paradigm and your results change

Signature toolsThe goal card, C-type goals, the six mental faculties

MentorsNapoleon Hill’s book and Earl Nightingale

Find him:Proctor Gallagher Institute Free tools YouTube

His toolsWatch 6 videos

How to Change a Paradigm | Bob ProctorProctor Gallagher Institute · 12:35Bob explains what a paradigm is and how to change one. The best place to start.

OverviewHis toolsVideos (6)Articles about him (5)Books (3)Courses & resourcesResearch & FAQs

Who is Bob Proctor?

Robert Corlett Proctor was born on 5 July 1934 and grew up during the Great Depression with his mother and two siblings, first near Owen Sound and then in Toronto. Money was scarce, and an early lesson from his mother, who gave half of her small weekly wage to a neighbouring family who could not afford coal, stayed with him for life: the power of giving. [3]

The turning point came in 1961, when he was handed Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. Inspired by the book, he opened a cleaning company with a single office in Toronto, then sold it a few years later because he felt called to teach the success formula he had used himself. [1] He listened to Earl Nightingale’s condensed recording of the book thousands of times, and from 1968 to 1973 he worked alongside Earl Nightingale at Nightingale-Conant before starting his own personal development company. [2]

His first book, You Were Born Rich, became the foundation of his teaching, and he later became one of the best-known teachers in The Secret (2006). [1] In 2006 the attorney Sandy Gallagher attended one of his three-day seminars, and the two later joined forces to create the Proctor Gallagher Institute. [2] He read Think and Grow Rich almost every day for the rest of his life. [2]

Bob Proctor died on 3 February 2022, aged 87. By then, his institute said, his teachings had reached every country in the world, and his YouTube channel had more than 1.4 million subscribers. [1] [3] His seminars, coaching and recordings are still used by people across the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Europe and India.

His approach in brief

Know what you want. Choose a goal that excites you, even if you have no idea how to reach it.
Write it down. Put it on a goal card in the present tense and read it often.
Change the paradigm. Repetition of a new idea reprograms the habits in your subconscious mind.
Keep studying. Read and re-read the same great ideas until you understand them.

Read the full guide to his tools → Our guide to the Law of Attraction →

At a glance

Work: author, speaker and success coach
Born: 5 July 1934, Ontario, Canada
Died: 3 February 2022, aged 87
First book: You Were Born Rich
Mentor: Earl Nightingale, at Nightingale-Conant 1968 to 1973

Good fit if

You like classic success teaching in the tradition of Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale, and you want simple daily habits for setting big goals and changing the way you think about yourself and money.

Our take

Write one goal on a card that starts “I am so happy and grateful now that…”, carry it with you and read it several times a day for a month. That single habit sits at the centre of Bob’s teaching. See what the research shows

The tools of Bob Proctor

Bob taught for more than 60 years, but a handful of ideas run through nearly all of his seminars, books and programs. Tap a card to read more.

MindsetParadigmsThe habits that run your results.How it works →Daily habitThe goal cardYour goal, in your pocket.How it works →GoalsC-type goals and the terror barrierGoals that scare and excite you.How it works →MindThe six mental facultiesImagination, will, perception and more.How it works →StudyStudy to understandHow Bob learned for 60 years.How it works →

Paradigms: the habits behind your results

At the centre of Bob’s teaching is the paradigm. His institute describes a paradigm as a collection of habits, stored in the subconscious mind, that determine the results you get in life. [4] It explains why people with good knowledge and ability can still repeat the same results year after year.

Bob taught that a paradigm does not change by itself: you have to change it. Because wherever you are in life reflects what you believe is possible for you, the first step is to become aware of your beliefs and examine them. [5]

His institute suggests a simple exercise. [5]

Notice a belief. Think about what you believe about people of your age, your family and how much money you can earn.
Ask where it came from. Who originated it, and is there any foundation for it?
Write the new belief. Turn it into an affirmation that begins “I am so happy and grateful now that…”.
Repeat it with feeling. Say it often, get emotionally involved with the idea, and act in ways that reinforce it.

Repetition is the key: a new idea, repeated often enough, becomes the new habit. Our self-confidence guide offers more ways to build a stronger self-image.

The goal card

The goal card is the tool most closely linked to Bob. His institute sets out five steps for using it. [6]

List what you want. Write down everything you would love to be, do or have.
Choose one goal. Pick the one that excites you most.
Write your why. Be clear about why this goal matters to you.
Make a goal card. Write the goal in the present tense, beginning “I’m so happy and grateful now that…”.
Read it daily. Carry the card, read it several times a day, and each night ask yourself for one thing you can do tomorrow to move closer.

Bob also described purpose, vision and goals as a three-legged stool: your purpose is your why, your vision is what you want, and your goals are how you get there. [7] His institute offers a free printable goal card on its tools page. [8]

C-type goals and the terror barrier

Bob urged people to set what he called a C-type goal: a goal that causes you to stretch beyond where you have ever been, that is big enough to scare and excite you at the same time, and that you have no idea how to reach, only that you will. [4]

His business partner Sandy Gallagher explains what happens next. When you act on a big goal and cannot yet see the how, you meet worry, doubt and fear. This is the terror barrier, and at that moment you can either go back to safety or push through and stay with your goal. [4]

The reason, she explains, lies in the two parts of the mind. The conscious mind can accept or reject a new idea, but the subconscious mind accepts what it is given as true. When a new idea clashes with the old paradigm, the feeling of resistance shows up. Pushing through that feeling, again and again, is how growth happens. [4] Our guide to fear has more practical ideas for moving forward when you feel stuck.

The six mental faculties

Bob taught that we have six higher mental faculties that help us create the life we want. [9]

Imagination: the ability to picture what does not yet exist.
Will: the ability to hold one idea on the screen of your mind and focus.
Perception: your point of view, which you can choose to change.
Intuition: the ability to pick up on feelings and ideas others may miss.
Reason: the ability to think, weigh ideas and make choices.
Memory: which, like a muscle, gets stronger with use.

[9] He also taught that everything is in constant motion, which he called the Law of Vibration, and that our thoughts and feelings shape the vibration we are in and how we experience life. [10] To try it, pick one faculty a week and use it on purpose: spend ten minutes imagining your goal as complete, or practise seeing a problem from a new point of view. Our visualisation guide builds on the same skill.

Study to understand

Bob’s own life changed through study, and he never stopped. He read his first book, Think and Grow Rich, at 26 and read every day from then on. [11] He returned to that same book almost daily for decades. [2]

In 1966 he interviewed Earl Nightingale and noticed a wooden book holder on his desk. Nightingale explained that he kept a book open at one idea and read it until he found himself doing it, because repetition is what changes behaviour. Bob used a book holder from that day on. [11]

A line he loved to quote sums up his approach: “If you study to remember, you will forget. If you study to understand, you will remember.” [11] Rather than racing through many books, he went back to the same great ones until the ideas became part of him.

To try it, choose one book that matters to you, read a few pages every morning, and write down one idea you will use that day. The same habit shaped his view of money: love people and use money, never the other way round. [12]

Videos with Bob Proctor

Hand-picked and checked one by one, all from the official Proctor Gallagher Institute channel.

Start here

**How to Change a Paradigm | Bob Proctor**Proctor Gallagher Institute · 12:35How to change a paradigm, in Bob’s own words.

**Having Goals & Goal Cards – Bob Proctor**Proctor Gallagher Institute · 6:15Having goals and using goal cards.

Goals and self-image

**A Habit That Will Make You Reach Your Goals | Bob Proctor**Proctor Gallagher Institute · 39:09A habit that will help you reach your goals.

**Do You Know who You Are? | Bob Proctor**Proctor Gallagher Institute · 23:07Do you know who you are? One of his most watched talks.

Go deeper

**Law of Vibration (Full Lesson) | Bob Proctor**Proctor Gallagher Institute · 50:23The Law of Vibration, a full lesson.

**You Were Born Rich • Part 1 [REMASTERED]**Proctor Gallagher Institute · 1:56:44You Were Born Rich, part one of his classic seminar.

Articles about Bob Proctor

OfficialAbout Bob ProctorHis lineage from Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale to the Proctor Gallagher Institute.Read it →OfficialHow to set the right goalsThe five steps of the goal card.Read it →OfficialThe terror barrierSandy Gallagher on C-type goals and pushing through fear.Read it →OfficialChange your paradigmA simple exercise for changing a belief.Read it →On Self Help SupermarketLaw of Attraction guideHow the ideas behind The Secret work in practice.Read it →

Bob Proctor’s books

Bob wrote and co-wrote several books, but these are the titles most readers start with.

ClassicYou Were Born RichHis first book, on the ideas and habits behind lasting prosperity. [1]See it on Amazon →ParadigmsChange Your Paradigm, Change Your LifeBob on how paradigms work and how to change them.See it on Amazon →InspirationThink and Grow RichNapoleon Hill’s classic, the book that changed Bob’s life and the one he read every day. [2]See it on Amazon →

Buy You Were Born Rich in your country: US · UK · Canada · Australia · India. His institute also offers a free digital copy of Born Rich on its tools page. [8]

Programs, coaching and free tools

FreeFree tools and downloadsA free goal card, the Born Rich e-book, a relaxation audio and free webinars such as The Science of Getting Rich.Get them →CoachingYear-Long Coaching ProgramThirteen months of interactive coaching on universal laws, self-image and accountability; normally $10,000, with a six-month option at $5,000 at the time of writing.Learn more →ProgramNew Lead the FieldA 120-day coaching program built on Earl Nightingale’s classic Lead the Field recordings.Learn more →

Prices are in USD. The programs run online, so they suit readers in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Europe and India alike, and the institute also runs a Consultant Certification for people who want to teach the material. [13]

What the Research Shows

Bob’s teaching comes from the success literature rather than the laboratory, but research supports several of the habits at its heart.

Big, specific goals. Decades of research found that specific, challenging goals lead to higher performance than vague ones. [14] This echoes his C-type goals.
Reviewing your goal. A large review found that monitoring progress toward a goal makes it more likely you will reach it, especially when progress is written down. [15] Reading a goal card daily keeps the goal in view.
Gratitude. In a set of studies, people who regularly wrote down things they were grateful for reported better wellbeing. [16] Gratitude opens every one of his goal cards.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Bob Proctor?

Bob Proctor (1934 to 2022) was a Canadian author and success coach, best known for his book You Were Born Rich and his role in the film The Secret.

What is a paradigm, according to Bob Proctor?

A collection of habits held in the subconscious mind that determine the results you get. He taught that you change it through awareness and repetition of new ideas.

What is Bob Proctor’s goal card?

A small card with your goal written in the present tense, beginning “I’m so happy and grateful now that…”. You carry it and read it several times a day.

What is a C-type goal?

A goal that stretches you beyond anything you have done, scares and excites you at once, and that you do not yet know how to reach.

What is the terror barrier?

The worry, doubt and fear you meet when you act on a big goal that clashes with your old paradigm. Bob taught that pushing through it is how you grow.

Who were Bob Proctor’s mentors?

He was inspired by Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich and worked with Earl Nightingale at Nightingale-Conant from 1968 to 1973.

Is the Proctor Gallagher Institute still running?

Yes. Co-founded by Bob and Sandy Gallagher, it still offers coaching, online programs and free tools such as a goal card and the Born Rich e-book.

Sources

By Saj Ali. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will fix it.

Bob Proctor: Transforming lives with simple steps – Self Help Supermarket

Bob Proctor’s big ideas, such as paradigms and the terror barrier, can sound grand. But the way he actually changed lives, starting with his own, came down to a handful of simple, repeatable steps: study one idea until you live it, and train the six mental faculties a little every day. [1] [2]

Our full profile explains Proctor’s story, his paradigm teaching and the goal card. This companion is a practical how-to: the exact study method he used every morning, one simple exercise for each mental faculty, and a short daily routine that brings them together.

New to Bob Proctor? Read our full Bob Proctor expert profile for his life story, best videos, books and courses.

Step 1: Find the right book

Proctor’s turning point came at 26, when he read Think and Grow Rich. “Reading and studying that book changed my life so dramatically that I’ve read every day since,” he wrote. [1]

His first study rule is to “find a book that can teach you to be, do, or have something you really want.” [1] It doesn’t need to be a new book. Proctor read Think and Grow Rich over and over from 1961 onwards, and said he valued it because it focused on mind and attitude rather than money itself. [3]

He believed lack of formal education or business experience was no barrier: “You can find everything you could ever want to know in personal development books that interest you.” [1]

Step 2: Study to understand, not to remember

A favourite quote shaped his approach: “If you study to remember, you will forget. If you study to understand, you will remember.” [1]

Proctor pointed out that the word education comes from the Latin educo, to draw out or develop from within. Studying to understand, he said, “creates awareness. You create a consciousness that you will never lose.” [1]

So he read slowly, trying “to understand the truth of what the author meant,” usually for about an hour early in the morning. [1]

Step 3: Use a book holder and repeat

In 1966 Proctor interviewed his mentor, Earl Nightingale, in his Chicago office, and noticed a wooden book holder on his desk. When he asked whether it made turning pages awkward, Nightingale said: “I don’t change the page.” [1]

Nightingale explained: “Repetition is required to change your behavior. You have to put an idea in your subconscious mind over and over and over again. So, I pick an idea on a page that I want, and I read it until I find myself doing it.” Proctor used a book holder from then on, once reading the same two paragraphs every day for six to eight months. [1]

His rule: when an idea intrigues you, read it “day after day, week after week, month after month,” even after you have memorised it, and move on only when you are applying it. [1] Habit research agrees that repetition in a consistent context is what makes behaviour automatic. [4]

Steps 4 to 9: One exercise for each mental faculty

Proctor taught that, beyond our five senses, we have six higher mental faculties: imagination, will, perception, intuition, reason and memory. Most of us use them unconsciously. [2] The Proctor Gallagher Institute suggests one simple tip for each: [2]

Imagination: daydream on purpose. Take a break each day to ask: what would a perfect day look like? What would I do if my annual income became my monthly income?
Intuition: stop and listen. Slow down each day and look inside for answers before deciding. Write down intuitive ideas straight away, as they fade quickly.
Memory: use your senses. The more senses you involve, the easier it is to remember. To remember a name, look the person in the eye, repeat the name and shake hands.
Reason: practise being unreasonable. List the ways you hold back from what you really want, then relax and write new ideas and strategies to get it.
Perception: take two photos. Photograph a room from one end, then the other. One room, two different pictures. Then view one area of your life from a new vantage point.
Will: check your focus. Ask honestly whether you spend more time on what you don’t want or on where you are going.

Step 10: Think from the inside out

The final step ties the faculties together. Proctor taught that focusing only on outside facts, what we see, hear and touch, limits us to what we have achieved before. [2]

Instead, he encouraged thinking “from the inside out”: imagining what you want, using your will to keep your attention there, listening to your intuition and “creating future memories and continually seeing and feeling like the person you want to be.” With repetition, he said, the image becomes fixed in the subconscious. [2]

Research on mental rehearsal supports the value of practising in the mind: rehearsing a task mentally has been shown to improve real performance. [5] Our visualisation guide has more techniques.

A simple 20-minute morning routine

Here is one way to combine Proctor’s steps into a short daily practice, inspired by his own early-morning study habit: [1]

Read (10 minutes). Open your chosen book to the idea you are working on and read it slowly, aloud if you like.
Imagine (5 minutes). Close your eyes and picture yourself already living that idea. [2]
Listen (2 minutes). Sit quietly and note any ideas that come. [2]
Focus (3 minutes). Write down one action for the day that moves you towards your goal.

Tracking your progress helps too. A large review found that monitoring goal progress, especially by writing it down, increases the chance of reaching the goal. [6]

A healthy relationship with money

Many people come to Proctor for financial goals, and he offered a simple principle: “Money is a servant; you are the master. And you must never reverse the two.” He added that we should “always love people and use money rather than the reverse.” [3]

He described signs that money is your servant: you use it to support your growth, circulate it happily, and know you could get back on your feet if you ever lost everything. [3]

For more practical ideas, the Proctor Gallagher Institute shares free tips and tools on its website, available worldwide. [7]

Frequently asked questions

How did Bob Proctor study?

He picked a book that taught something he wanted, studied it for about an hour each morning, read slowly to understand, and repeated favourite ideas until he was living them.

Why did Bob Proctor use a book holder?

His mentor Earl Nightingale kept a book open on one page and read it until he found himself acting on the idea. Proctor adopted the habit.

What are Bob Proctor’s six mental faculties?

Imagination, will, perception, intuition, reason and memory.

What is a simple way to start with Bob Proctor’s methods?

Choose one book, read one idea slowly every morning, picture yourself living it, and write down one action for the day.

What did Bob Proctor say about money?

That money is a servant and you are the master, and that we should love people and use money, never the reverse.

Keep exploring

Sources

By Saj Ali, founder of Self Help Supermarket.

Bob Proctor: Paradigms, Goal Cards, the Terror Barrier, Videos and Programs

Who is Bob Proctor?

His approach in brief

At a glance

Good fit if

Our take

The tools of Bob Proctor

Paradigms: the habits behind your results

The goal card

C-type goals and the terror barrier

The six mental faculties

Study to understand

Videos with Bob Proctor

Start here

Goals and self-image

Go deeper

Articles about Bob Proctor

Bob Proctor’s books

Programs, coaching and free tools

What the Research Shows

Frequently asked questions

Who was Bob Proctor?

What is a paradigm, according to Bob Proctor?

What is Bob Proctor’s goal card?

What is a C-type goal?

What is the terror barrier?

Who were Bob Proctor’s mentors?

Is the Proctor Gallagher Institute still running?

Sources

Article Preview

How Bob Proctor Transforms Lives with Simple Steps

Step 1: Find the right book

Step 2: Study to understand, not to remember

Step 3: Use a book holder and repeat

Steps 4 to 9: One exercise for each mental faculty

Step 10: Think from the inside out

A simple 20-minute morning routine

A healthy relationship with money

Frequently asked questions

How did Bob Proctor study?

Why did Bob Proctor use a book holder?

What are Bob Proctor’s six mental faculties?

What is a simple way to start with Bob Proctor’s methods?

What did Bob Proctor say about money?

Keep exploring

Sources