In August 2006, Internet Maketing guru, Damien Senn interviewed Bruce in his Design Your Life newsletter. The interview is reproduced below.

Damien: What role does the mind play in whether or not we are successful in life?

Bruce: Quite simply, the mind has everything to do with living a successful life, whatever that may be for you. There’s a common belief that our lives are the way they are now as a result of the actions we have taken in the past. What most people don’t see is that each of our actions originated with a thought in our mind. So, if we want to transform our real world results, we have to take control of our thoughts.

Fundamentally, the only difference between a mega-successful person and the average person is the quality of their thought! If it were really that simple then, why isn’t everyone happy, wealthy and living the life of their dreams? See, most people have absolutely no control over the thoughts they think, hence they have no control over their destiny. A part of what I teach my workshop participants is how to reclaim their natural ability to effortlessly produce results by strengthening their mind, a bit like you can strengthen a muscle in the gym.

Damien: You say that most of us have had our lives hijacked by an 8 year old? How could this be possible?

Bruce: It many cases it is not – it’s actually a 6 year old! Many psychologists believe that most of our personality as we know ourselves today is formed by the time we are 8 years of age. From then on, our fundamental beliefs about ourselves and about the way life is, are cemented into our mind for the rest of our lives. The frightening thing is that most of us have never questioned these beliefs or how these beliefs are controlling our thought processes and therefore shaping our actions in every moment. As dramatic as it sounds, adults all over the world are acting out of the beliefs they inherited from their parents when they were young.

Another way of saying this is ‘You are not making choices in your life – all your choices are made automatically for you by your mind – a mind with beliefs of an 8 year old!’. Here is an example from my own life. Still to this day, every time I go to an Italian restaurant, I order the same food I ordered as a child because I learned to like that food as I was growing up. Now, at any point I could order something different from the menu, but mostly, I don’t. In a Thai restaurant, it is always Massaman curry. In a steakhouse, it is always fillet etc…

That example is harmless, but think about how your own beliefs around money, success, happiness and love are controlling your life right now! Until you can access these beliefs at their source i.e. the mind, you are powerless to change them.

Damien: Now I understand that you are an avid student of Quantum Physics. What is the latest thinking in the field and how can it lead us to living a healthier, happier more fulfilling life?

Bruce: Yes, I am fascinated by Quantum Physics and its implications to living a successful life. Very basically, Quantum Physics is the study of what ‘matter’ is made up of. Scientists discovered that atoms, which were previously thought to be solid, are in fact made only of energy. Nothing solid anywhere! In fact, atoms are 99.99% empty space. When you consider that everything in the Universe is made of atoms, the conclusions are inescapable. Everything is energy and everything is 99.99% empty space. It is the human mind that presents us with the illusion of matter appearing solid!

The part I am interested in is how the human mind can influence the energy that makes up matter. The human mind is like the gateway between the material world and the invisible Quantum world and what scientists have discovered is that our thoughts influence the matter around us! We all create our realty in a very real, physical way through our thoughts. It’s inescapable.

The problem is that most people have no idea how to use their mind. University research shows that the average person uses less than 5% of their mind. We were not taught at school and our parents sure didn’t know about the human mind, so, as a result, most people are mental cripples with little or no ability to influence their finances, their relationships, their health or the outcome of their lives.

In terms of success, without the ability to use more of ones mind, one has very limited power to be successful in life and usually these people resort to using force to make up for their lack of power. For these people, life is difficult, filled with effort, struggle and unhappiness.

Have you ever noticed how some people are just naturally lucky or successful in everything they do? These people seem to have the Midas touch. In reality, these people are not lucky at all, they just use more of their mind and therefore successfully influence the energy systems that makes up physical matter to bring about the circumstances they need in order to be successful, healthy, wealthy or whatever else…

Damien: What exactly is Blueprinting and how do you use it to help your clients?

Bruce: Your Unconscious Mind is the part of your mind that runs your life in the background. It behaves much like a giant computer and is programmed much like a computer is programmed.

This programming defines the limits of your success. For example, if you are programmed for wealth, you will just attract money like a magnet. If you are programmed for scarcity (like 95% of the population who will retire broke) you will almost certainly never be wealthy.

Blueprinting is a three hour, one on one process of programming your Unconscious Mind with whatever goal you wish to accomplish, be it a sum of money, an ideal partner, a car or literally anything. Once your Unconscious Mind is programmed with your goal, realizing that goal becomes effortless and almost guaranteed. It is like putting the accomplishment of your goals on autopilot. I know it sounds too good to be true - that’s what I thought too until I tried it! However, it has all been extensively scientifically researched. 270 people were tracked over three years. On average, after having their unconscious mind programmed, these people showed an increase in income of a staggering 270%.

Damien: What is the difference between living an effortless life and an easy life?

Bruce: Good question Damien! Effortless Living is the philosophy I teach in my Designer Life workshops.

An effortless life is not necessarily an easy life and vice versa. An effortless life is a life surrounded with synchronicity where everything you need to accomplish your goals is drawn into your experience effortlessly so that all you have to do is take the obvious action to accomplish your goals. That does not mean that you are excused from hard work, however the work you will have to do will be minimal and effortless.

See, if life is a river, most people are paddling their canoe upstream, battling to make any progress against the current of the river. An effortless life requires that you turn your boat around and stop paddling. As attractive as this proposition sounds, this can a daunting task as it means giving up a large chunk of control over how you accomplish your goals as you let the current of life carry you towards your goals.

Damien: Now I have to say you have lived an incredibly inspired life so far. Tell me what it felt like to co-write and produce a number 1 hit song in South Africa.

Bruce: AMAZING!!! In fact, this story perfectly illustrates effortless living. Jerusha and I wrote the song in just 45 minutes having just met each other one hour earlier. We just hit it off! We then spent the next 6 months recording and producing ‘Are You The One’. We worked hard together, but the work was fun and inspiring. Once we had completed the production, we handed the song to the record company and within a few months it went to no.1 and stayed there for 6 weeks! Effortless!

Damien: You also spent 6 months living as the only white guy in a South African township. What impact did this experience have on your life?

Bruce: It changed my life forever. I learned not to judge people from appearances. For the first time, I was exposed to a real community. As a white South African growing up during apartheid, we put up electric fences to keep black people out. I grew up believing (or programmed) that I should be fearful of black people. Despite apartheid having been legally destroyed, it was and is still very much alive in the minds of many South Africans, both black and white.

So, in an effort to overcome my fear of the black culture, I chose to move to the Guguletu township, outside Cape Town to experience first hand what black culture in South Africa is really all about. Within hours of being there, my fear was transformed. I was welcomed into the community with open arms.

Many black South Africans have been programmed by apartheid that they are worthless and, as a result, they believe that success is for white people and not for black people. This programming is especially evident in the poorer areas of the townships, where drugs and alcohol are rife. I lived in one of these poorer areas and I was shocked by the apathy I received from my neighbors when I offered to help them take financial control of their lives again. It was as if they had given up, having had their spirit crushed and beaten out of them by apartheid. I vowed I was going to return to Guguletu one day to teach people about overcoming their programming from the apartheid years. This was the beginning of my interest in the human mind.

For the BBC's coverage of Bruce's incredible adventure click here

Damien: You've presented your designer life workshop in South Africa, the United States and now the United Kingdom, what do people come looking for when they attend your workshops?

Bruce: Mostly, the people attending my workshops are looking for a way to live a more successful and productive life. Usually, they have a sense that there is more to life than just what we see in the material world and I give them the proof with Quantum Physics.

Damien: You have your next workshop coming up on the 19-20th of August in London. What will your students actually take away from the experience?

Bruce: Designer Life participants walk away with the ability to re-program their minds on an ongoing basis, thereby giving them the power to effortlessly accomplish their goals. Participants will have the opportunity to re-design their lives based on what they want, not based on what their past previously dictated was possible for them. Lastly, they learn how to use the latent 95% of their mind to effortlessly manifest the life of their dreams, returning them to their natural state of wealth, health and happiness.

Damien: You have been exposed to some amazing teachers over the course of your life. Which one has been most influential?

Bruce: Yes, I have been extremely fortunate in having had some incredible mentors. The most influential one has been Dr. Tony Quinn, the leading expert in utilising the power of the human mind.

Tony has done some incredible things in his life. His resume reads like a superhero comic book! He was Mr Ireland body building champion and owns a chain of gyms, yoga centres and health stores. He has trained a world champion boxer, performed surgery with no anesthesia on national television, has helped strike oil in Belize (where BP, Exxon and Texaco found nothing) and the list goes on and on!

Tony taught me about effortless living and trained me to use my mind to manifest the life of my dreams. In one sense, I have him to thank for the incredible life I now live.

Damien: Do you think anyone can live an inspired life?

Bruce: Yes, yes and yes again! All it takes is a willingness to risk moving outside your comfort zone and the balls to trust that life will support you! I think that the majority of the planet’s population are not even living their lives; they are surviving them!

An inspired life is so much easier to live than a normal, mundane life. Living an inspired life means that you never have to work another day in you entire life! Work becomes play and magic tends to surround you wherever you go.