Fire. The wheel. Anesthesia. Penicillin. Braille. The traffic light.

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” Plato wrote. Such was the case with many objects, ideas and technologies that make our lives better, including the aforementioned list.

Such was the case, too, for entrepreneur and business owner Sam Lucci ’69. He found himself broke and divorced many years ago, and he realized it was up to him to find his way to a happy life. But, how?

During his more than 50 years in business, Lucci, a student of self-help programs, has spent thousands of dollars and amassed a collection of 150 different programs that tell people what to do, but, unfortunately, not how to do it.

“They all offered the same thing,” Lucci said. “You get excited, try them; they don’t work.”

Why? What was missing? He started his own research to answer those questions. Over decades of trial and error in the real-world laboratory of his own businesses, he ultimately discovered that the answer lies in the way emotions and intellect interact – or don’t. Through that understanding, he developed the B-Code™ and Breakout™, which are promoted through the nonprofit The Think More – React Less Educational Initiative.

“Training is a waste of time unless emotion cooperates, and it almost never does,” Lucci states on thinkmore-reactless.com. “The paradigm shifts because we change behavior at the emotional level. Our program begins by teaching emotion and intellect to work together.”

Lucci wants to share the proprietary B-Code™ and Breakout™ process with any individuals interested in personal and professional development. He’s offering The Think More – React Less Personal Development Program through the website.

Why do this?

“I was obsessed to find this answer and a way to change that so that we, as people, can stop acting out of stupidity and get continual progress in our lives, Lucci said. “People can use this to build the lives that they want, to take control of their minds to produce the life of their choosing. Life is a thing of beauty to behold, not an event to be cursed.”

The B-Code™ – or behavior code – says behaviors that don’t serve us are reactionary, driven by negative emotion. The goal is to identify the cause of a certain behavior and to eliminate that cause, which produces a truthful result. At the heart of it all is the truth.

“There is truth and there is not-truth,” Lucci said.“Beliefs, opinions and lies are synonyms.”

That statement sounds extreme, but the B-Code™ teaches separation of information into facts and lies. The lies, having been embedded in our subconscious at a young age without our consent or knowledge, are what we tell ourselves. They block us from reaching a goal. By categorizing it as a lie, it can more easily be cast off, enabling a person to make a decision.

“When you think, you’re making a choice; when you react, you’re not,” Lucci said.

He knows the process works. He uses it, he teaches others to use it, and – decades after he lost everything – it’s part of the sales team’s training at the successful companies he and partner Frank Witkowski own: Cabinet World Kitchen and Bath Design Center, and Bath Fitter of Pittsburgh. In 2021, the companies reported record sales of more than $21 million.

“It’s all in your mind,” he said. “Your mind controls everything. It is the cause, and it is the solution.”