The American Hypnotist · https://theamericanhypnotist.com/blog/mindset-monday-001-a-hypnotist-s-field-notes

Mindset Monday #001: A Hypnotist's Field Notes

Published: October 2026
Author: Edmund Zheng, The American Hypnotist

Field Notes from the World's Top Conferences

Welcome to the first Mindset Monday newsletter!

Every Monday, I send you five little hypnotic reminders I picked up that week.

You can think of these as new ways to look at life - little nuggets that may inspire you to live with intention and clarity.

Feel free to skim through and see what resonates with you!

This past month, I went to a mix of the world’s best conferences (All-In Summit, VidSummit, and Hypnosis Summit Portugal) and brainstormed how to improve the world with the top people in AI, YouTube, and hypnosis.

Here's the five stories I left with:

Nod when taking someone's picture

At the All-In Conference, I hypnotized a CMO to get rid of her fear of talking to the camera. I proposed filming her introducing her product right after the hypnosis as a way to lock the induction in, and I've got to emphasize...

Anytime you're filming someone talk to the camera, there are many micro moments when they look at your face, wondering if they're doing the right thing. It's your responsibility to keep a smile and nod as reassurance.

After we filmed the video, this CMO couldn't believe herself. She had filmed a video speaking confidently to the camera for the first time in years. One of my favorite gifts I gave at that Summit for sure.

Instagram is feminine, YouTube is masculine

Having been to Cannes Lions and VidSummit now, where the top creators in Instagram and YouTube respectively flock to, I feel that I have a good sense of the differences in growth strategy (not the platforms inherently, how people approach growth on them).

Instagram is much more ‘vibes’ based. The top creators I talk to are always mentioning terms like “personal world”, “energy”, and “casual creation”. Strategies for growing here range from having great lighting for videos to developing series of short videos to talk about your specific niche.

The world of YouTube, meanwhile, is intensely focused on analytics and actual video structure. There’s added emphasis on the title, everywhere in the video that is not the hook. It’s a whole different world from Instagram in terms of how much strategy there is. At VidSummit, there was a workshop solely dedicated to designing the perfect thumbnail that the audience will click on.

This is super simplified, and I’m sure a year from now I’ll see the complexities much clearer.

Choose your side and don’t look back.

If you look at history, the only people who have created massive change in the world are either pessimists or optimists.

Pessimists accomplish things because they are scared for the future and want to improve it. Optimists accomplish things because they are excited for the future and want to manifest it.

The main obstacle in the modern world is that most people sit in the middle and therefore won’t do anything out of the ordinary to make big change happen (because their worldview isn’t pointed far enough in either direction).

So if you feel compelled to bring something unique into this world, decide if you’re gonna be a pure pessimist or an optimist, and commit. With that internal belief will come an attitude that will lead to actual change happening.

Choose your industry wisely

Hypnosis Summit Portugal this past weekend was my first hypnosis conference ever, and boy it did not disappoint. It wasn’t some specific technique I learned or induction that I mastered, but on the flight back to New York I felt incredibly fulfilled that I chose this as my profession.

When you get to the core of it, a hypnosis conference is essentially a bunch of people meeting to figure out how to best help others reach their ideal lives. There’s no competition/comparison, no BS - and everyone has great stories and insights to share. Being the youngest person in the room was something I really appreciated, I got to learn so much about just life in general.

Work in an industry with kind-hearted, dedicated people, and everything will figure itself out.

Surround yourself with mission-focused people

I met a lot of incredibly "successful” individuals this month, at a higher clip than I have ever been around in my entire life... but the people who impressed me the most were intensely mission-focused.

Not just in what they said and their goals, but how they embodied their message. One of my favorite conversations at VidSummit was with these two women representing the #1 bilingual kids channel on YouTube (Spanish and English). Not speaking Spanish in the year 2040 is inexcusable IMO and talking with them about our hopes for America’s future kids was just brilliant. It was one of those moments where I had called an Uber but I was hoping that it wouldn’t arrive before our conversation ended!

That's all for this Monday. Until next week!

Keep killing it at life,

Edmund Zheng

The American Hypnotist 🇺🇸

Website: https://theamericanhypnotist.com/

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Facts

Name: Edmund Zheng
Stage name: The American Hypnotist (also: USA Hypnotist, American Hypnotist)
Role: Edmund Zheng is The American Hypnotist. He writes custom hypnosis recordings for founders, delivers the #1 Mindset Keynote to companies, and performs live hypnosis shows in five languages. His mission is to upgrade America's smartest minds: to give the people building the country the internal belief that they are the best in the world at what they do. The world's first polyglot hypnotist.
Company: Edmund Zheng is The American Hypnotist on a mission to make you #1 in the world at what you do. 169 Madison Ave STE 80940, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Education: Yale University, B.A. Global Affairs, Class of 2024. Spoke at the Yale graduation.
Languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Mandarin. Live hypnosis performed on stage in English, Portuguese and Spanish.
Track record: 13 presentations on 4 continents. 10,000+ people hypnotized. 350+ entrepreneurs hypnotized one on one. 56 countries traveled.
Contact: Founders: the application on https://theamericanhypnotist.com/founders. Keynotes: the booking line on https://theamericanhypnotist.com/keynote or amanda@theamericanhypnotist.com. Shows: the inquiry line on https://theamericanhypnotist.com/shows. General: edmund@theamericanhypnotist.com. Speaking and press: amanda@theamericanhypnotist.com.

Mindset Monday #001: A Hypnotist's Field Notes

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