The Slightly Delusional Mindset | #87

By Armaan Athwal

The Law of Attraction

Ilia Topuria. Two-division UFC champion.

He recently claimed his second belt in MMA. Undefeated. Confident. And borderline cocky.

But man… he keeps proving himself right.

Before the fight even happened, he was already celebrating with his team and family, like it was over. He told people he was already the champion. And he meant it. To him, the fight was just a formality. The outcome had already been decided.

Also, years before he ever touched UFC gold, he was already filming a documentary about becoming a champion, because in his mind, he already was.

That belief didn’t start recently either. As a teenager, he once asked what the highest form of success in MMA was. When he was told it was the UFC belt, he said that he was already the champion. He just needs time to show it.

Delusional? Maybe. But then again, he keeps doing what he said he was going to do.

People talk a lot about the law of attraction, visualize it, think positive thoughts, manifest your dream life. But I think there’s a little more to it.

It’s not about just thinking. It’s about believing, so deeply that it rewires how you show up in the world.

Topuria didn’t become successful because someone told him he could be. He became successful because he already believed he was. And then he started training, recovering, and competing like someone who had a belt to defend, even before he had one to wear.

And when you truly believe something about yourself, you don’t wait for proof. You embody it.

If you believe you’re a high performer, you start putting in high-performer effort. You take yourself more seriously. You protect your time. You treat small wins like momentum, not luck. And other people treat you differently too, because confidence, real confidence, reshapes your environment.

Think you’re a champion? You’ll train like it. Eat like it. Rest like it.
Think you’re a leader? You’ll start leading like it, decisively, intentionally, consistently. Think you’re a visionary? You’ll think bigger. Act bolder. Build what doesn’t yet exist.

We like to wait for permission. A degree. A job title. A compliment. A score. But the moment things actually change is the moment you stop waiting and start behaving as if what you want is already part of who you are.

Sometimes becoming the person you want to be means being just delusional enough to believe it before anyone else does.

Quote of the Day

“There's a certain delusional quality that all successful people have to have. You have to believe that something different than what has happened for the last 50 million years of history - you have to believe that something different can happen.” - Will Smith