PharmD with senior leadership experience and a strong background in scientific communication, education, and autonomous decision-making. I’ve led complex, regulated operations at scale and translated biological and pharmacologic principles into clear, evidence-based educational frameworks.

My experience includes leading a multi-site pharmacy district with $200M in annual responsibility, developing and coaching leaders, and exercising judgment under regulatory and operational pressure. More recently, I’ve focused on scientific education through live presentations and independent writing, with a clear separation between established evidence and hypothesis.

I am currently pursuing a Medical Science Liaison role in metabolic or neurological disease, where credibility, compliance-aware communication, and independent field execution are essential.

Marlon Peralta

I help 6–8 figure founders who are the bottleneck in their own business become elite operators who execute consistently, without procrastination, firefighting, or self-doubt.

I’m León Castillo (Horacio León Castillo): entrepreneur, investor, and professor. For the last decade I’ve been obsessed with one thing: peak performance as a scientific discipline, turning high‑potential people into reliable elite performers.

That obsession drove me to:

· Go from architect to Private Equity Investment Director in 30 months (2015–2018, fastest trajectory in Spain)
· Deploy $130M+ across real estate and venture capital (2017–2020)
· Teach business-building, performance, and decision-making at IE University (2020–ongoing)
· Train and coach 400+ founders across multiple industries and business levels (2020–ongoing)

Today I run Selfmastered, where we develop Execution Science: using neuroscience, performance psychology, and behavioral science to help founders think clearly, focus deeply, and execute consistently.

After working with 400+ founders, the pattern is clear: founders seldom have strategy problems; they have execution problems. They know what to do to succeed, but still can’t consistently do the work they already know they should be doing, because their brain and nervous system aren’t conditioned to operate with clarity, focus, and consistency under pressure.

So we fix it at the brain and behavior level.

Our 16‑week protocol rewires cognitive patterns, trains attention, and engineers consistent, high‑output execution. Every protocol, habit, and behavioral shift is measured through execution KPIs, so you see, week by week, how your behavior and output change.

In practice, our clients go from stuck and inconsistent to elite operators:
· 6+ hours/day of deep high‑leverage work (3x increase)
· Procrastination, self‑doubt, and overwhelm down ~90%
· Record business growth without frying their nervous system (2x revenue within 16 weeks is standard for 6-figure businesses)

If you know you’re the bottleneck and you want to become an elite operator, apply via the Selfmastered quiz on our site: https://www.selfmastered.com/quiz

Email: leon@selfmastered.com
YouTube: @leoncastillosm
Twitter: @leoncastillosm

Horacio León Castillo

So yesterday I ran the murderous Miami Marathon.

And it was an absolute masterclass in what NOT TO DO.

This isn't my first rodeo, mind you.

It's my 4th marathon. I've been here before.

The first mistake happened 3 months ago, when a friend made me sign up while I was driving to a padel tournament.

No strategy, just in-the-moment "LFGGGG" energy.

I had 90 days to train for a marathon I wasn't fully committed to.

I started training sluggishly.

Then the winter holidays came, I went back to Spain, stopped training, and put on 5kg around my waist.

Back in Miami, I did what no sane adult does: I ate only a 1000-calorie breakfast (143g protein), then fasted all day, for 3 weeks.

(All while running a business and training 6 days a week)

I thought it'd help me slim down fast.

On top of that, two weeks ago, I badly sprained my ankle.

So I barely did any training in the past 2 weeks.

The aggressive slim down worked: Lost 8kg (17 pounds) in 3 weeks.

What didn't work: I only started carb-loading 48 hours before the race so my glycogen levels were low when I started.

This was terrible news, since Miami suddenly woke up to 81°F (29°C) and 80% humidity.

That means your body overheats quickly, and you deplete glycogen and salts at an alarmingly high rate.

So I started the race with little training, low reserves, running inside an open-air oven.

Not ideal.

Even with perfect in-race nutrition (gels every 5km, water and electrolytes at every station), I hit the wall at kilometer 8 (Mile 5).

Not km 32 (Mile 20)

Dragged my feet for 34 more kilometers (21 miles), resolved not to quit.

It was probably one of the hardest things I've done.

But I finished.

In 04:14h.

My slowest marathon ever.

The most painful, too.

Here's what I learned the hard way:

Turns out you actually need to run more than 20km before attempting 42. (Who knew???)

Turns out carb-loading for 48 hours isn't enough when you've been eating 1000 calories/day for 3 weeks.

And turns out mastering your mental game isn't motivational fluff, it's the only thing standing between you and your goals when you want to tap out and quit.

Deadlines don't care that you're depleted.

My clients say this mental conditioning is what keeps them in the game when numbers don't work, morale tanks, and quitting looks easier.

When quitting is right there as an option, you need something else to convince yourself to endure 3+ hours of hell.

A strong, well-conditioned mind is that something else.

Anyway, like this post if you've ever had to drag yourself across a finish line you had no business reaching.

My depleted body (and bruised ego) will thank you.

PS: The real hero here is my wife, who picked me up at the finish line and took me home before I passed out.
PPS: Yes, she's forced me to promise her that I will never YOLO a marathon ever again. I've reluctantly agreed.

H. León Castillo

Rewiring 6–7 figure founders into elite operators who execute 3x faster, work fewer hours, and unlock 2–5x revenue within 4–6 months (we track it) | Founder, Selfmastered | Professor, IE

You don’t default to your goals or your systems; you default to your wiring.

Goals and systems are useless unless your brain is wired for them.

Dr Benjamin Hardy says setting a 10X goal accelerates your success.

James Clear says goals don't matter; only systems guarantee progress.

Both are right… but incomplete.

Training 400+ founders 1:1 over 6 years has taught me that the perfect system oriented to a 10X goal is worthless if you're not wired for it.

You can have:

• A 10x goal that lights you up
• The perfect system to achieve it
• Crystal-clear quarterly OKRs

But if you're distracted, doubtful, or burnt out when you sit down to execute, none of it matters.

I've watched brilliant founders fail with great systems.

I've watched average founders win with mediocre plans.

The difference?

Brain wiring.

How your brain operates by default in your environment.

Elite athletes don't win because they have Olympic goals.

They also don't win because they have perfect training protocols.

They win because they've trained their brain (and nervous system) to execute even when motivation is gone, even when sleep is off, even when the goal feels impossibly far away.

They've conditioned their attention, cognition, and behavior to perform on demand.

Yet business schools only teach business skills; they ignore the performance training that wires your brain for execution in your business.

Every founder is told to optimize the wrong layer.

They obsess over frameworks and funnels while their mental defaults sabotage them every morning.

They fix the strategy while ignoring the operator running it.

Your mental defaults (how you prioritize, interpret setbacks, manage attention, regulate emotion, execute under uncertainty)… these are the invisible infrastructure everything else runs on.

Train the operator first.

Then the systems actually work.

Then 10X goals are actually possible.

Otherwise, you're just trying to drive a Ferrari (system) in the F1 championship (goal) without knowing how to drive it.

Comment below if you've ever felt this: great plan, terrible execution, no idea why.

Talent is overrated. IQ is overrated. Capital is overrated. 

The best entrepreneurs are not the smartest, most connected, or best-funded.

Sure, talent, IQ, and capital help.

But the most significant predictor of success is what researchers call "grit-based mastery."

This kind of mastery isn't bestowed upon you based on your genetics or upbringing, as most like to believe, but rather, by embracing something called “deliberate practice.”

Deliberate practice is feedback-loop improved practice that physically rewires your brain for upskilling.

Think “perfect practice makes perfect” (instead of “practice makes perfect”)

A 2014 meta-analysis in Psychological Bulletin showed that deliberate practice accounts for an average of 22% of the variance in performance on complex skills.

The mechanism itself is simple: deliberate practice makes neural pathways more efficient through myelination (the fatty insulating layer that speeds up neural connections).

The more myelinated a neural connection is, the less effort it takes for the brain to perform that action in the future.

This means your brain physically changes in response to feedback-oriented reps (deliberate practice reps).

Which means that any winner, in any discipline (business, arts, sports) is just a loser who kept getting better when everyone else stopped.

In fact, if you read biographies of great founders, they all say "not quitting until successful" was the key to their success.

There’s no other way: 

· Black belts in martial arts drill the same movement for years before it becomes unconscious.
· Athletes run the same plays 10,000 times until they're unconscious.
· The best founders design their lives and business to get better exponentially faster than others (I know, because I’ve trained about 400+ of them).

So if you've hit a ceiling in your business, realize the breakthrough isn’t to: 

· Work harder without a plan.
· Start something new in hopes “it clicks”.
· "Try to 'manifest it' or any of the BS.

The solution is to:

· Identify the right bottleneck keeping you stuck.
· Deliberate practice the work that needs doing until you solve it. 

That’s it. 

The most reliable path to scale yourself (and your business) is deliberate practice on your specific constraint until you break through... while you rewire the brain for mastery.

It's also the fastest and most fun, as deliberate practice triggers flow states that can increase productivity by 500% (McKinsey, 10-year study), turning the grind into a game you're wire yourself to win.


If you're a founder doing $100K-$10M revenue and you've hit an execution ceiling you can't break through, DM me "BREAKTHROUGH" and I'll send you my Founder Ceiling Score so you can identify exactly what's blocking you.

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Has anyone ever told you to improve your execution skills? 


CFA Level 1

Excel Advanced Data Analysis

HSK III

TOEFL (115/120)

CELPE-Bras

DALF C1

Fundamentals of Digital Marketing

We use science & data to train entrepreneurs & professionals on how to operate at peak mental, physical, emotional & spiritual performance.

Est. 2020, Helped 300 + Customers and Counting.

Case Study Excerpt: 

Traktion.ai (10x Revenue in 12 Weeks).

Menhir.ai ($0-$250k in 12 weeks, bootstrapped).

LessonswithPatrick.com (2x Revenue in 12 weeks).

Nexgeon.com (4x in 11 weeks)

Gallagmedia.com (4x in 5 weeks)

Umi-Hotaru ($0 to Reaktor.Berlin)

General Peak Performance Thesis: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vElro6d2RcaU9wTGydEFva6ImIWCAqY3veBW-RWKJ2Y/edit?usp=sharing

If you are looking to aggressively scale your business using a personal performance acceleration program, please complete an application here: www.selfmastered.net/quiz

We are the Founder Performance Institute.

Business schools teach strategy. We train the performance skills that actually drive outcomes: cognitive control, deep work and flow, mental resilience, stress resilience and nervous system regulation, decision-making under pressure, and behavioral consistency.

The truth is simple: founders don’t fail because they lack knowledge; they fail because they can’t consistently do what it takes. Not from weakness, but because their brain isn’t trained to think clearly, focus deeply, and execute reliably under pressure.

Research shows:

· Founders lose 40–60% of their day to distraction
· 75% burn out at least once
· 85% battle self-doubt
· Most cannot sustain consistent execution

That’s why we apply cognitive neuroscience, performance psychology, and behavioral architecture (the same principles used by astronauts, special forces, and elite CEOs) to rewire how founders think, focus, and execute.

We don’t sell vibes; we sell KPIs. Every part of our system is trackable. In just 12 weeks, our founders typically:

· 3X their productive output
· Achieve 6+ hours of deep work per day
· Eliminate procrastination, self-doubt, overwhelm, and burnout symptoms (up to 90%)
· For early-stage founders (<$20k/month), doubling revenue is common

We don’t coach founders. We engineer elite performance and execution.




Founder & CEO

Academic Coordinator Master in Real Estate Development (MRED) and Global Master in Real Estate Development (GMRED) at the School of Architecture and Design (IE University).

The Master in Real Estate Development is designed to provide students with an understanding of the breadth and depth of the development process. We pride ourselves on providing a strong foundation in the economic, financial, strategic, and legal aspects of cutting-edge real estate development.

Academic Coordinator (2020-22) | Adjunct Professor (2022-)

Early investors in DogBuddy.com (acquired by Rover.com), Alterkeys.com (acquired by BeMate.com), HeyPlease (acquired by Up-Spain.com), Chicfy.com (acquired by Vinted.com), Genial.ly (Series A exit), reclamador.es (Series A exit), Goin.app ($8M raised to date), HitsBook.com, Dietox.com, Joinup.es, Tutellus.com, Frontity.com, Eelp.com, Lamasmona.com, Housers.com...

Civeta Investment is one of the top 10 startup VCs in Spain by activity rate (2015 VC Ranking made by Expansion) and one of the top 25 leading VCs of Spain (2016 Ranking, El Mundo).

Partner | Member of the Investment Committee

Reporting directly to the Board of Directors and CEO, my main functions within this Venture Capital Fund were :
• Day-by-day analysis of new investment opportunities, with a special focus on identifying technological startups with exponential growth capabilities.
• Frequent contact with startups, funds and institutions
• Assistance on the outline of the general strategy and restructuring of Civeta.


Dealflow Manager

Socio

Nova Talent is an international, member-curated invitation-only community of top talented young professionals and high-achieving organizations with a common desire to inspire and connect with one another.

March 2021: Selected at NOVA111 as one of the top 111 Spaniards below 35 with the most potential. I was specifically selected in the Finance vertical because of my fast-paced career (0 to Investment Director in 30 months) in Private Equity Real Estate & Venture Capital industries between the years 2015-2020.

September 2020: "Programa de Liderazgo Público y Social" Scholarship awarded by NOVA, FUNCIVA & UNIR.

NOVA111 2021 | FUNCIVA Scholarship

Startup Mentor

Advisor

- Co-Direction of the Investment Department. My responsibilities encompassed the full transaction cycle: sourcing of suitable investment opportunities, risk assessment, full due diligence conduction (w/ 3rd parties), financial modeling & presentation to the Investment Committee.

- Total projects originated: 97.

Investment Director

Along with the responsibilities I held as an Investment Manager, my role as Investment Director encompassed the following activities: 

• Direction of the Investment Department. My responsibilities encompassed the full transaction cycle: sourcing of suitable investment opportunities, risk assessment, full due diligence conduction (w/ 3rd parties), financial modelling, presentation to the Investment Committee, assistance to the legal department for the transaction negotiation & closing. Direct contact and reporting to Partners, the Board of Directors and the Advisory Board.

• Full operational organization of the Investment Department (new operational processes, research, scope of analysis, partnerships, HR, etc).

• Institutional representation of WELZ upon financial institutions, industrial & institutional partners & investors: roadshows, internal roll-ups, etc.

• Total projects prospected: 420ish. Total investments managed/underwritten: 15.


• Financial Analysis of residential and commercial real estate projects with a total GDV value of €5Bn, since WELZ (Cogress Spain) started.

Investment Manager

Special projects:
• Coordination of several departments (IT, Marketing, Real Estate) to create a new technological platform for Deloitte Financial Advisory to assist in the transaction process of NPL/REOs. Interfaces that assisted from Pre-NBO phase to transaction closing.
• Integration initiative of two Real Estate Artificial Intelligence startups within Deloitte Financial Advisory. Both contracts were signed.

Deloitte Startup Mentor:
• Research and analysis of with new technological business partners (Real Estate & Artificial Intelligence startups) suitable for Deloitte's FA.


DTTL FA RE Special Projects & Deloitte Startup Mentor

• Fully-bilingual financial advisory in the acquisition of REO and NPL portfolios (secured & unsecured) in Spain on behalf of major international PEREs.
• Participation in more than 15+ portfolios such as: Eloise & Macarena (from SAREB), Buffalo, Boston, Jaipur & Sena (from BBVA), Ocean, Lane, Gold & Tour (from Bankia) and a few others (Goya, Traveller, FAR, TAG...).
• Management, process & operational consulting projects for big clients such as the major real estate servicer platform in Spain. Pre/post NPL/REO. Workout, regional delegations management & internal reporting, etc.
• Financial modelling of real estate investment cashflows, mostly for the development of residential assets.
• Market research for new Real Estate developments in Spain’s main residential hotspots.

Financial Advisory Real Estate

Contributor

The IE Emerging Markets Club is devoted to raise awareness within IE Business School and among the community about the importance of emerging markets in today’s global business landscape. Our main goal is to organise a series of seminars to help our members learn about the intricacies of emerging markets, as long as serving as a platform where students, alumni, professors and guests can network within the events that the club will organize throughout the year.

Main achievements:

• Founded the club & selected a team of 5 coordinators for the different economic areas [EMEA: Middle East & Africa;  APAC, India & China/ASEAN;  LATAM Brazil & Hispanic America]
• General outlining of the Club's objectives
• Grew the membership base of the Club to 200+ students 
• Coordinated the APAC Region division of the Club, with special focus on China and ASEAN Economic Community. Organized of the APAC Forum on April 23rd 2015, which featured top-notch speakers that engaged in fruitful discussion with MBA students on APAC's latest trends.
• Financial controlling and planning for all club activities

President of the Emerging Markets Club

• Identified new business opportunities, mainly related to international
collaborations within a PPP (Public-Private Partnership) framework.
• Built relationships with clients, notably from China and Saudi Arabia.
• Developed re-branding strategy for the company with a new image and
a complete website renovation plan to strengthen brand value.
• Design and construction-related issues regarding two consultancy
projects in Madrid.

Business Developer | Architect

For over a year I worked as a foreign contributor, in charge of securing interviews with well-known architects to be published on the magazine. Some of the architects interviewed included Alberto Campo Baeza (Madrid), Ricardo Bofill (Barcelona) and Neri&Hu (Shanghai), among others.

Foreign correspondent

• First-ever foreign architect at this Chinese office.
• Coordinated tasks within the team that designed two big projects: New Olympic
Development in Chongming Island and Customs Facilities in Weihai. (6 architects, all Chinese)

Architect

• Firm representative at meeting with political authorities regarding the firm's Project of a new district - Spanish District - for the city of Wuhu, in Anhui.
• Full-time designer

Business Development Manager

• Worked 500+ hours in the design and construction teams involved in
the development of two projects in São Paulo and Brasilia.

• Firm representative, and salesman at Shanghai EXPO 
2010 and Guangzhou International Construction Fair 2010

• Full-time designer at the development from scratch of a new residential
complex on the Danubian Riverside in Budapest

Intern

Professor, IE University | Founder, Selfmastered | I train founders to execute like elite operators using scientific protocols and quantified tracking

Rewiring 6–7 figure founders into elite operators who execute 3x faster with 90% less procrastination, inconsistency & self‑doubt (we track it) | Founder, Selfmastered | Professor, IE University

If I were an ambitious founder stuck at the same revenue level for 3+ months, here's the exact 6-step performance upgrade I'd run:

1. Eliminate entropy. 

Audit every misaligned element in your life that is creating friction with your business. Entropy kills execution subtly, before you even notice, until you only have 2 hours worth of deep work per day.

2. Dial in the vision. 

What are you actually working towards? Without a clear, emotionally resonant destination that pulls you forward, motivation is fickle, and prioritization becomes impossible. Vague goals create vague execution that never compounds.

3. Audit your quarterly roadmap. 

What's the single constraint being addressed this quarter? Is it the real bottleneck blocking revenue, or are you optimizing around the edges? Any effort outside the bottleneck that matters is wasted.

4. Audit your execution systems. 

Are you doing the least amount of things with enough intensity? Or spreading effort across 11 priorities at 9% capacity each? Intense focus beats volume.

5. Assess personal capacity against the bottleneck. 

Do you have the skills, beliefs, and behaviors required to execute? If any of these three is missing, you’ll get stuck, regardless of the strategy's quality.

6. Rewire through systematic training. 

Upskill with precision on the specific constraint (skill, belief, behavior), then execute on the bottleneck using structured protocols. Skills and behaviors are trainable. Beliefs shift through evidence.

I run this exact protocol with founders generating $300K-$10M+ who know what they need to do but can't consistently execute and within 16 weeks they typically:

· Triple their personal output (through gamification + flow states)
· Reduce procrastination, overwhelm, and burnout to near zero (we measure it)
· Add 6 figures in new revenue (typically achieving record months)

Scaling past your current level feels impossible when you're stuck in the execution gap, but when you build the right performance infrastructure, breaking through becomes a matter of time, not luck.

Most founders stay stuck because they keep optimizing strategy when the real problem is execution capacity. 

Fix the engine, not the map. 

A good thought exercise: "If a highly capable CEO were put in charge of my business right now, what's the first thing they'd do?" 

That's both the bottleneck and the inspiration.

I used to believe 70-hour weeks were the price of success.

Then burnout taught me the opposite: the harder I pushed, the less I achieved.

Turns out the most successful founders aren't those who hustle hardest.

Hustlers start strong but fizzle out within months or years, whenever the accumulated wear and tear of running a business catches up with them.

Successful founders are elite operators: calm, strategic, and effective.

Not "calm" as in "passive."

Calm like a surgeon mid-operation: sharp, grounded, effective even when things get chaotic.

When you're dysregulated (racing negative thoughts, constant anxious feelings, waking up with shame about yesterday), your brain literally can't access the part that does strategic work.

So you default to reactive mode:

· Refreshing Slack every 3 minutes.
· Checking email instead of making decisions.
· Taking meetings instead of doing deep work.
· Putting out fires instead of building systems.

This is not laziness, a lack of focus, or a lack of discipline. 

Those are the outcomes of having a nervous system that keeps you in survival mode.

The problem is: our in-built survival mode evolved to help us avoid predators in the savanna, 100,000 BC.

But it's terrible for building a fast-growth business in 2025.

Elite operators succeed because they stay regulated, even when stress spikes, a campaign bombs, revenue dips, or a key employee quits.

Which means:

· They can think clearly when everyone else is panicking
· They make decisions instead of avoiding them
· They execute the plan instead of constantly revising it
· They stay focused on the work that matters instead of the work that feels urgent

This isn't about "having a growth mindset."

It's about training your brain the same way you'd train any other skill.

Most founders eventually figure this out, after years of burnout, therapy, and expensive mistakes.

But it doesn't have to take that long.

You can rewire your brain in weeks, not decades, and avoid decades' worth of stress, anxiety, and burnout.

In the same way, you'd learn marketing, sales, or operations.

This is the highest-leverage skill you never knew you needed.

What would change in your business if you could stay calm and effective every  day?

The human brain isn’t designed for consistent high performance.

So in business, even smart founders hit the same invisible wall: they know what to do… but they can't execute consistently.

That gap isn’t laziness, it’s default wiring: when the work matters most, your brain overloads... so you stall, overthink, procrastinate, and self-soothe with scrolling.

Over time, it turns into overwhelm, self-doubt, and burnout.

After working with 400+ founders, I mapped 15 performance gaps that quietly cap output and revenue.

Each gap has a systematic fix.

If you recognize 3+ of these, your revenue ceiling isn’t your market, it’s your personal operating system.

Upgrade that first.

Download the full breakdown below 👇
—
Enjoy this? Repost + follow H. León Castillo for protocols and frameworks to execute at the highest level and make your revenue finally match your potential.

The alternative education industry (courses, training, coaching) is getting gutted.

Here's what I believe is coming:

1. Information is worth zero

Anyone can get PhD-level knowledge at the click of a button.

The shift is toward high-ticket programs with skin in the game that train implementation, not just deliver tactics that don't get implemented

As much as this hurts (I spent 4 years collecting the most obscure performance knowledge to build the ultimate program), there's no going back.

2. Agency is now the only moat that matters

The only leverage left is agency: the ability to execute consistently without being distracted, doubtful, or burned out.

Today, a clear, focused, consistent operator with AI outperforms 10+ distracted people

10 years ago, the "10X engineer" was a coveted hire for any fast-growing startup; now everybody wants a "1000x engineer": someone who leverages their performance to orchestrate near-infinite leverage through AI tools.

3. Agency is trained, not bestowed by genetics or upbringing

This is the thesis I've built my company on since 2020: agency isn't a genetic gift, but a trained capacity.

Elite performers (athletes, operators, founders) are trained through systems and protocols, not born that way.

The smartest founders are now training their performance skills (clarity, focus, emotional regulation) to maximize their leverage.

If you can't ship consistently now, AI makes you 1000x better at not shipping.

AI gives you infinite leverage, but leverage without agency just means you fail faster at scale.

4. The human influencer era is over

2015-2025 was built on hype, status signaling, and shiny toys with little substance, driven by influencers who mostly showcased banality.

That model is collapsing because anyone can spin out an AI-influencer that does just the same.

Clients no longer base their purchase decisions on "proof-of-lifestyle"; they want "proof-of-results."

Revenue screenshots and Lambos no longer build trust. Quite the opposite (only kids and losers buy based on perceived wealth, anyway).

Clients want methodology docs, systems, and frameworks they can test before committing. KPIs, not vibes, drive decisions.

5. The "coach" label becomes radioactive

Generic coaching is dead.

The market is bifurcating: commoditized accountability ($200/month) or specialized execution systems with measurable results ($15K+). The middle ground collapses entirely.

Winners will rebrand as domain-specific operators with clear proprietary methodologies.

6. "Just copy me" model stops working

Personal success ≠ ability to transfer that success.

Most successful founders are terrible educators because they can't deconstruct their own expertise or systematize their intuition.

The new winners aren't people who got lucky once and reverse-engineered a course.

They're people who engineered repeatable systems FIRST and then proved the methodology works independent of their personal genius.

What am I missing?

After training 400+ founders, I've found 6 moments that reveal who's ready to scale and who isn't.

The gap is never IQ, work ethic, talent, or experience.

The gap is mental: a brain that defaults to clarity and execution instead of avoidance and overwhelm.

Bad news: our brains' factory settings are wired for avoidance and overwhelm.

Terrible news: most founders never learn that the brain can be rewired, so they waste years and millions fighting their own wiring instead of the market.

Good news: it's 100% trainable with the right protocols.

Most business courses set you up for failure.

Our average client has bought 4 courses in the last 3 years.

Implemented 2.

Made some money.

But never got the "10X GrOwTh" they were promised.

And when their frameworks didn't work, gurus blamed them.

"You didn't execute hard enough."

"You didn't want it badly enough."

Wrong.

Business courses solve nothing if the bottleneck isn't knowledge, but execution capacity.

Elon Musk could walk into my office with the perfect strategy to build a rocket to Mars.

It would be useless because I lack the belief, focus, and intrinsic motivation to execute on it.

So I'd fail at it.

Big time.

If you've ever failed to execute on any business course, the same thing is happening to you.

You bought the outbound course.

Learned the framework.

Sat down to execute.

Your brain flagged it as a threat.

You procrastinated instead.

The guru blamed your discipline.

But nobody told you your brain's factory settings are wired for survival, not performance.

Until you rewire them, executing on hard tasks is unnecessarily hard.

Elite athletes don't just train in their sport.

They train focus, decision-making under pressure, and emotional regulation.

But founders?

They're told to hustle hard, push through the pain, work 996.

When they crumble, it's because "they don't want it enough."

BS.

Founders are athletes.

Business is the hardest sport: performed 12h/day, thought of 24/7, with baseline stress beyond most people's comprehension.

Athletes train their performance as hard as their sport.

Founders should, too.

Case in point: a client came to me after investing $40K in marketing courses.

He was brilliant at generating demand… for his boss.

But he couldn't execute on his own business.

When his 9-5 was over, he'd procrastinate, get distracted, and drown in self-doubt.

He told me: "I'm sick of courses. I'm probably going to fail with yours, too."

I said, "This isn't a course. This is performance training."

Three months later, he hit $10K/month and quit his job.

Seven months later, $100K/month.

The irony is that he always had the skills to build a $100K/month business.

He just didn't have the execution capacity to pull it off.

Once we trained his performance, he executed with focus and consistency.

And made more money in 1 year than in the previous 5.

Think about what changes when you can actually execute:

The outreach you've been avoiding? Done in 90 minutes.

The content you keep "meaning to start"? Shipped consistently.

The hiring decision that's paralyzing you? Made clearly.

The courses you already own start working.

Not because they got better, but because you did.

You've seen glimpses of this, those weeks where everything clicked.

Imagine how your life would change if every week were systematically engineered for consistent performance. 

The founder who succeeds isn't the hardest worker, but the best performer.

Train what matters.

I've trained 400+ founders 1:1 over 6+ years.

100% of them had been told they needed better strategy to break their revenue plateau.

New channels. New funnels. New positioning. Etc.

Wrong.

They needed better execution on what they were already doing, without stress, distraction, or doubt.

Your brain is default-wired for comfort and survival, not consistent execution.

Scaling a business under stress is biologically unnatural.

It requires rewiring your brain so you can execute under pressure instead of freezing, panicking, or burning out.

You can't willpower your way through negative beliefs.

You can't motivation-hack your way out of burnout.

You can't do deep work or enter flow states when cortisol is spiking.

The fastest way to scale isn't hustling frantically, hoping things work out, but systematically training 9 core performance skills that let you execute fast 
without losing your time and sanity.

Your business scales as your brain does.

The gap between ambition and reality doesn’t close by luck. It closes by training

taplio

The Battle

Marlon Peralta

Horacio León Castillo

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Performance ScoreHoracio León Castillo's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Marlon Peralta

Horacio León Castillo

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Horacio León Castillo's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreHoracio León Castillo's LinkedIn Performance