{"id":143849,"date":"2025-04-21T07:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T11:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=143849"},"modified":"2026-01-22T13:34:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T17:34:52","slug":"the-code-of-the-extraordinary-mind-by-vishen-lakhiani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-code-of-the-extraordinary-mind-by-vishen-lakhiani\/","title":{"rendered":"The Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani: Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you living by rules that are holding you back<\/a>? How can you break free from limiting beliefs imposed by society, culture, and your upbringing<\/a> to create an extraordinary life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In The Code of the Extraordinary Mind<\/em>, Vishen Lakhiani offers a framework for questioning inherited beliefs and redesigning your life on your own terms. He provides strategies for developing empowering beliefs<\/a>, adopting beneficial habits, and finding balance<\/a> between contentment and aspirations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on for an overview of this book from the cofounder of Mindvalley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Overview of The Code of the Extraordinary Mind<\/em> by Vishen Lakhiani<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many of us are unknowingly trapped by inherited beliefs, societal expectations<\/a>, and unquestioned rules that limit our potential. In The Code of the Extraordinary Mind<\/em><\/a>, Vishen Lakhiani provides guidelines to help you escape from those psychological and cultural restraints to actively recreate your worldview<\/a> and lifestyle. Ultimately, Lakhiani seeks to empower you to live a happy, purposeful life\u2014and to decide for yourself what such a life looks like for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lakhiani is an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, self-help expert, and a cofounder of Mindvalley<\/a>, an online education platform that helps people achieve their personal and spiritual development goals<\/a>. He earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in engineering from the University of Michigan and went to work at a Silicon Valley startup, but quickly burned out. Lakhiani then traveled the world, studying meditation<\/a> and teaching. In 2016, he published the book The Code of the Extraordinary Mind<\/em> to condense what he had learned as both a student and a teacher into a guide that anyone can use to pursue their dreams; the book quickly became a New York Times<\/em> best seller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this overview of Lakhiani’s The Code of the Extraordinary Mind<\/em>, we\u2019ll explain why redesigning your life must start with examining the beliefs and goals your upbringing imposed on you, and how to do that effectively. We\u2019ll then describe Lakhiani\u2019s two-pronged approach to self-improvement: developing more empowering beliefs, and improving your life in practical ways by adopting beneficial habits. To conclude, we\u2019ll discuss how to achieve<\/a> Lakhiani\u2019s ideal state of mind\u2014one in which you\u2019re both content with your present circumstances and <\/em>excited about future possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examining Your Past to Change Your Future<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lakhiani\u2019s first step toward building the life that\u2019s best for you is to free yourself from the societal and personal baggage that\u2019s holding you back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll start this section by discussing how your culture may have influenced your beliefs and expectations about life, and the importance of letting go of those assumptions. We\u2019ll then go over Lakhiani\u2019s process for questioning the rules you live by, so you can get rid of the rules that don\u2019t hold up to scrutiny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking Beyond Your Upbringing<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The first step toward creating your ideal life<\/a> is to recognize that many of your beliefs aren\u2019t based on objective, universal truths. Lakhiani explains that your understanding of the world has been fundamentally shaped by your culture and upbringing:<\/strong> the social practices, beliefs (religious or otherwise), and even the language that you inherited just by growing up when and where you did. For instance, in gendered languages such as Spanish (which uses the masculine \u201cel\u201d and feminine \u201cla\u201d as opposed to English\u2019s neutral \u201cthe\u201d), speakers tend to apply masculine or feminine qualities to objects accordingly. This is just one of the countless ways that cultural influences shape people\u2019s worldviews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, Lakhiani argues that most people accept whatever worldview they inherit without ever stopping to examine it. This is because, once you accept something as true, you simply see it as a fact rather than as a personal belief. Therefore, you don\u2019t tend to reconsider your inherited beliefs, in much the same way that you never \u201creconsider\u201d whether ice is actually cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, such unquestioning acceptance can limit you in ways you don\u2019t realize. <\/strong>This is <\/strong>because you won\u2019t strive for something you assume is impossible or morally wrong, without realizing that the beliefs leading you to those assumptions could be flawed themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questioning the Rules You Live By<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

After recognizing that your upbringing has left you with false, limiting beliefs, you can start the process of critically examining the rules and expectations that others have set on you. Questioning the unwritten rules you live by, and discarding the ones that don\u2019t serve you, is a major step toward reinventing your life. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lakhiani says that nearly everyone follows some harmful or limiting rules that are based on flawed, subjective ideas about the world. He refers to these as Brules<\/em>, which is a portmanteau of \u201cbulls**t rules.\u201d Such rules can manifest in almost every aspect of life, like your career choices, relationships, and goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, many people have kids simply because that\u2019s what their culture has told them to do. They follow the \u201crule\u201d that they must get married and create a family. Because they never questioned the idea that they\u2019re supposed to have children, such people end up trapped in parenting roles they never wanted. This can leave them (and often their children as well) deeply unhappy for many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that said, it\u2019s important to note that a lot of rules do have good reasons behind them. For example, many rules exist because they help people get along with each other, guide them through difficult or dangerous situations, and keep society functioning smoothly. Therefore, it\u2019s not enough to simply identify the unwritten rules that guide your actions\u2014before discarding any such rule, it\u2019s important to examine that rule carefully to see whether it still serves an important purpose.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Committing to Lifelong Personal Growth<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019ve deconstructed your limiting beliefs, you\u2019re ready to begin rebuilding your mindset and worldview in ways that better serve your happiness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this section we\u2019ll discuss how you can continuously improve your mindset and the benefits of doing so. We\u2019ll then explore what Lakhiani believes is the ideal mindset, a balance between being happy with the present and being excited about the future<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Updating Your Mind<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Lakhiani\u2014who started his career in Silicon Valley\u2014says the human mind works a lot like a computer. As such, you need regular updates in order to stay current and optimize your mental performance. He therefore proposes a continuous, lifelong process of personal development focused on two areas: your mental hardware (beliefs) and mental software<\/a> (habits).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve already discussed the first area of improvement, which are your beliefs<\/em>. Continuing the computer metaphor, Lakhiani refers to beliefs as your mental computer\u2019s hardware: What you believe determines what you can do, just like a computer\u2019s components determine which programs it\u2019s able to run.<\/strong> So, after you \u201cupgrade your hardware\u201d by overcoming a limiting assumption<\/a> or adopting an empowering belief, you\u2019ll find that you can do things you previously thought were impossible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second area of improvement is your habits<\/em>, or your mental software. This is all about finding practical ways to improve your life by overcoming bad habits and adopting good ones. The software metaphor emphasizes that improving your habits will be difficult, perhaps impossible, if the improvements you try to make go against your beliefs.<\/strong> For example, if you want to lose weight but don\u2019t believe that you\u2019re capable of cutting back on eating, you\u2019ve created a self-fulfilling prophecy: You don\u2019t believe you can eat less, so you won\u2019t eat less, so you won\u2019t lose the weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empowering Yourself<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve discussed the importance of constantly updating your beliefs and habits, but Lakhiani also says that it\u2019s important to do so in the right ways. Specifically, to update your mental models<\/a> in ways that make you feel powerful and self-assured. There are two separate categories to concern yourself with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first category, and the more obvious of the two, is how you view yourself. The author suggests that you practice self-empowerment<\/a> by taking a few minutes each day to remember what you love about yourself.<\/strong> For instance, maybe you\u2019re a hard worker, or a kind and generous person, or you have really attractive eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also think about things you\u2019re proud of doing. This could be something as impressive as winning a prestigious award, or as mundane as offering a ride to someone who needed it. In short, anything that helps you remember how great you really are will improve your self-image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second category, which is equally powerful, consists of your mental models about how the world works. However, these external models can be harder to update. This is because doing so involves thinking about what you\u2019ve observed and learned, then filtering through those observations to find useful, empowering insights. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, young people may think that you have to be wealthy or attractive to find a great romantic partner. However, by thinking rationally about the couples they\u2019ve personally seen, they\u2019d realize that people of all different economic classes and body types can and do end up in happy relationships. With that update to their worldview, they could then realize that it\u2019s also possible for them <\/em>to find such a relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evaluating Your Progress<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Lakhiani promises that your life will improve in numerous ways as you continually update your beliefs and habits. However, it\u2019s likely that some aspects of your life will improve less than others, and you may still find yourself dissatisfied in some ways. To help correct this imbalance, the author provides a rubric for assessing the various areas of your life, so that you can give extra attention to updating relevant beliefs and habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this evaluation, Lakhiani wants you to rate each of the following aspects of your life on a scale from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 10 (completely satisfied):<\/p>\n\n\n\n