Kind: captions
Language: en
it's about our internal resources and
what I'm saying is optimizing our
environment optimizing our behaviors our
capabilities our beliefs and our values
and our identity so we're not Waiting
for Superman or Batman or Wonder Woman
it's like you are Wonder Woman you are
Batman you are Superman it's just we we
have to commit ourselves and someone's
on a mission and they and they're then
they they know what to do but it's just
hard sometimes to just do it because
you're exhausted I mean you know how you
feel on one night's sleep the next you
know lack of sleep the next day in terms
of thinking your focus your ability to
tackle your wherewithal you know it's
hard and so I I I'm becomes very very
sensitive to things sensitive to
light sensitive Sirens or sounds
sensitive to negative you know people
are around me because you know I don't
have layers of protection or resilience
because of the lack of energy a long
story but just kind of paint a picture
you know for motivation I I never
there's never been a day that I haven't
done what I've done for 28 years never a
day that I took a pause for this even if
I'm on vacation somewhere I'm still
doing this because it's it's who I it's
who I am and I feel like there's a
formula because a lot of people they're
like we're on motivation getting myself
to do this every single day for 28 years
and calling Motivation call it drive you
know and it's it's a little bit
semantics but it's true like motivation
most people is a loaded word right it's
getting really excited in the moment you
go to a seminar you dance and you're
like I'm gonna make all these changes
these resolutions the next day we know
nothing nothing changes and so I I found
a formula that works for me a three-part
formula for sustainable motivation like
when people hear Limitless a lot of
people think about the movie right um
Bradley Cooper Robert De Niro Bradley it
goes from Zero to Hero by taking a pill
all of a sudden it's incredible Focus he
wrote his book in a few days he had this
eidetic memory right and he he became
man he had a surge of motivation but
after that pill wore off you know 24
hours later he just went back to you
know Baseline right and I feel like
there's a three-part formula for
motivation and I'm curious if you agree
with with this right sustainable
motivation for me is three parts it's p
times e times S3 P times e times s 3
will get you there meaning that if you
are procrastinating putting things off
think about anything right and also when
we're talking about lies of learning the
seven lies there's also lies around
motivation like I think one of the lies
limited ideas that we entertain is that
we have to enjoy the action like the
only proof in evidence somebody's
motivated is they're doing something to
get progressed towards that goal right
if they're not doing it they're not
motivated so we could that sets obvious
physical you could observe that right
it's you know like objectively now one
of the lies that I I feel like I I
learned also from from you is that you
have to enjoy that thing that you're
motivated to do like I know because I I
follow you on Instagram very closely
that you're you know you're working out
and you get up early and you do it but I
asked you one time do you enjoy it and
and the response you gave me was like
you hated it now I don't know if you
feel about that like that now currently
but this was a couple years ago but you
still do it you know so nobody could
question motivation because you're still
doing that early in the morning when you
dislike it so it's a lie that you have
to enjoy that thing like every morning I
take cold showers I take ice bath every
freaking morning right without fail and
I never ever miss it right I'll go cold
then I'll go warm and cold and warm I'll
go people watch me Instagram I'll do
five minutes in a full ice bath and I
hate it I hate every moment of it I grew
up in the Northeast I hate it but I I do
it because I have a reason so the p in
this formula is purpose like I believe
that like and it's not just intellectual
reason for for doing something it's
feeling it in in your in in your whole
self right and I have a reason to do it
because
I'm on this mission right and this
purpose right I want I want I want to in
fact positively impact one billion
brains right no brain left behind so I'm
very very clear so the my motive my
reason is there and it's not just
intellectual and it's not it's not just
pleasurable I I feel like the pain of
who I would let down if I don't do this
like I feel it because I'm that person
like I still feel like I'm speaking
right now on this video to that 18 year
old version of myself or that 13 year
old version myself you know like that 12
year old that was being bullied that was
called you know like names because they
they weren't you know like it was weird
like in in school also there's only one
other Asian and that he was one year
ahead of me and he was valedictorian he
was head of the debate team he he messed
one question on his SATs he was so upset
and he retook it to get a perfect score
and then I'm coming in after that and
I'm like the opposite side of the bell
curve right and you know and then
pressure from family and
self-expectations you know but I'm
driven so I have my reasons pleasurable
and and painful that drive me every
single day and after you do it for so
long you just don't know any other way
but that's the p in the formula and then
what I did was like scientific method if
I was going to build the ultimate human
being who's motivated all the time
without fail is reason enough like if
per someone has a deep enough reason are
they always going to be motivated is
there any exceptions and I was like yes
the E is missing they could be missing
energy meaning that a lot of people
could have be so tuned into their reason
and know why it's important to to work
out every day or to to read every day or
you name it right but they ate a lot of
you know crappy food and they're in a
food coma that might keep them from
working out or they didn't sleep the
night before not having the proper level
of Vitality physical and mental Vitality
could keep you from from being motivated
and then I went in back into my you know
thought experiment okay the person has
deep reasons they feel it for for
wanting to do build this business or
have that great relationship or that
that great body they have unlimited
energy are they 100 every single time
going to be motivated and I was like no
there's an exception here there's
something missing S3 because and I'll
tell you what S3 is in a moment but they
could have that thing too big in their
head like oh I'm gonna I'm gonna build
an entertainment company and then but
they're not motivated because it's too
big right you know and or it's it's
confusing right and so a confused mind
doesn't do anything so S3 stands for a
small simple step you know I realized
that somebody's not motivated they have
the reason they have the energy but if
they can't break it down into something
actionable because it's this big model
with a perfect relationship I want to
have I want to meet my soul mate and
just live happily ever after right I
want to have the perfect body I want to
build this this million dollar company
then that could be too intimidating or
are too confusing or unclear and people
never take the action so a small simple
step and breaking it down into how do
you what's the what's the smallest task
you could do right now where you can't
fail that's going to make give you
progress and it's all about energy
management because think about
motivation it's Energy Management it's
having a purpose and a reason gives you
Clarity gives you energy you know the
things I talk about in the whole chapter
of the book on how to optimize sleep and
the optimal brain diet and lowering
stress because chronic stress saps your
energy right it shrinks your brain right
now with all the fear going on this this
pandemic it's not just a physical
pandemic and people have their physical
hygiene wash your hands and social
distancing people have no no strategies
for mental hygiene right and this
chronic fear is like it it we express
havoc on our immune system right this
whole area of psycho neuro Immunology
how our thoughts could affect our body
you know stress levels and cortisol and
adrenaline not only does it shrink the
brain but you're right it shuts off big
portions of your critical thinking and
and you talked about it yesterday also
on the live there are parts of your
brain that determine how to feel about
something right so you lose your
autonomy because then you just react to
things and again you gave away your
power but for me and I know this is
field tested not only uh worth working
with clients but also myself you know
when I have no sleep doesn't matter what
you eat right it doesn't it doesn't
matter if you're working out or not like
that's like the master energy control
center so for me I would always lean in
to my practices because it forced me to
double down now I think there's a gift I
don't know if it's true enough it's been
my experience where when people go
through struggles that there's a gift in
this like whether there's a gift of
what's going on right now true or false
I choose to believe it because then I'll
operate from that from that point of
view in that perspective meaning what's
the gift of me having learning
challenges and fearful of public
speaking well I got really damn good at
learning and public speaking because
that's all I do now for for a living
right what was the advantage that came
out of this sleep deprivation experiment
for 10 years now now it's much better is
I could tell you two things immediately
it forced me to double down on
everything I teach because I'm just I'm
just documenting and telling people what
I do right otherwise I won't be able to
perform at the level that I do you and
then number two it's forced me also to
be very selective in the things I say
yes to like right now there's no one
nowhere I'd rather be no one I'd rather
be talking to right now because as we've
heard like like I'm so clear because
when you have a finite amount of energy
and wherewithal you know and vitality or
bandwidth you don't say yes to a lot of
things right and so for me I just focus
on the things that that I feel like this
I'm completely here and wherever I am
I'm completely there
yeah I mean that's extraordinarily good
advice for anybody and I think that in
an age of distraction one distraction
can just sort of sap people's energy in
a way that they're
probably not thinking about because it's
just sort of slowly draining their time
like I think that everybody feels this
overwhelming sense of oh I don't have a
lot of time but in reality they're
either struggling with motivation like
you're talking about they don't have
their purpose I'm not sure why they're
doing this so they're they're not
because I think energy comes in two
forms one I'm really glad in the book
and and what you just detailed there is
at a biological level and I think that
people in our space particularly can can
really drift into like the universe and
energy like as some sort of mystical
thing but the reality is that energy is
ATP it is generated by the mitochondria
in your cells and if you don't do things
to keep them functioning well then
you're literally not going to have the
energy that you need
the other one is sort of a psychic
energy which is I'm [ __ ] excited and
so I get out of bed like people often
will ask me you know how I'm able
because I sleep probably on an average
six hours a night roughly and
I I've sustained that for years I don't
set an alarm so what is it that gets me
out of bed one of two things stress or
excitement that's it like those and
admittedly sometimes it's stress and it
isn't something oh like I'm really
excited to go and attack the day but a
lot of times it's just I'm [ __ ] amped
up about what I'm doing I have that
psychic energy of I'm looking forward to
something and that's something that
nature has leveraged is the reward
systems in your brain to get you to take
action so we seek delicious food right
because the to Keep Us Alive things that
are calorically dense like the the brain
compels us to seek that out to remember
where we found it so it's you know
people can really get excited about a
bag of Doritos or something you know
that that has been engineered to trigger
all of those psychological reward
mechanisms to drive you towards that
Shameless sex right it's things that
nature has made intensely pleasurable to
make sure that you do it now you can
build that into your life with things
that are ideas you know telling stories
for me that the idea that you can tell a
story to somebody that would help them
shape their own identity which will then
change their behaviors which will then
give them a better life than they would
have had had they not encountered that
idea again I won't give away your Skype
name but your Skype name is a reference
to a specific character and a character
type and it's like exactly you know
those kinds of things seep into people's
subconscious and
they become a part of who they view
themselves as and wrapping things in
that bundle of excitement is exactly
what moves people forward
um so I I'm really glad that you've
talked about that and people need to
nail down their motivation if they're
going to take the kind of action that
they want because you're wasting a lot
of time with distraction which you're
not even thinking about you don't even
necessarily have that sense of loss
because you're not so [ __ ] excited to
make something come true that you're
going to push through whatever you have
to push through to make it real
I I agree you know and then that's part
of it because once you have the
motivation you need to know you don't
need the right mindset because somebody
could be incredibly motivated and they
can even have the methods to be able to
know what to do but I think that they're
gonna when I talk about mindset for me
functionally it's this set of
assumptions and attitudes we have about
something right it would fall underneath
mindset would be uh what we believe is
possible what fall under mindset is what
we believe we are capable of what would
fall under mindset is what we believe we
deserve even somebody could be very
motivated they can even have the right
methods but they're going to bump up to
a psychological ceiling of of what they
think they're worth financially or that
or maybe they'll sell even self-sabotage
potentially go go into that one for me
so this is something that I find really
interesting for a long time I didn't
believe it was real
and now I I really do think it is real
how and why do people self-sabotage
and that notion of like I think I'm
worth this how does that come about how
do people identify it and how do they
get rid of it
so so let's take relationships right
like if you had this meme or this belief
that you weren't worthy of being in a
relationship with Lisa or having this
this wonderful marriage right it would
affect our Behavior because then all the
behavior is is coming from that one
belief and we would act accordingly just
like if people believe that
um you know that let's take another area
in terms of our health if they or their
memory if people believe they just had a
horrible memory they could be very
motivated and they even can know what to
do but if they feel like they're stupid
or they're not they're too old or
they're never there's there's they're
not smart enough that will affect them
taking action or even if they do the
action that belief like that four minute
mile that they feel like that that's
real they'll never be able to exceed it
until that belief gets changed right and
so I do believe at some level so the
framework and if this is an explanatory
schema that also liberates people if you
imagine three circles a mindset
motivation and methods it's kind of it's
a Venn diagram right three intersecting
circles we have and you need all three
because what I what I wanted to do here
and then I'm gonna say answer your
question is the book initially was all
methodology and I wrote it you know
cover to cover and it was all the
tactics that I teach on focused on
memory on speed reading on critical
thinking skills on study skills and then
when I when I read it I felt like this
is a great self-help manual you know
this is a great textbook on learning how
to learn and our people can get results
with it very small percentage I feel
like will and that's hard to say out
loud because what's lacking there and
what I added to it it's really three
books in one was the mindset and the
motivation Parts meaning that if you
have the mindset of what's possible and
you have motivation where that crosses
over you have inspiration and their mind
people that speak on mindset there's a
great book I highly recommend called
mindset right they're people that that
speak on motivation or books on
motivation and maybe where it crosses
over you have this inspiration you have
inspirational speakers you have
inspirational movies and then books now
where mindset crosses over with methods
you have have this thing called ideation
meaning mindset is what you believe is
possible what you believe that you
deserve it's all going on the mind and
methods are are how to do things you
know technically how to do something so
that's ideation right but without
motivation you're not doing any of those
things it just ideates right and
everything we know that ideas are are
free and they're out there and that I
mean really hardly anything what what
can mean more is where motivation
crosses over with methods because of
course there's a third eye not just
inspiration and ideation third eye is
implementation You're motivated and you
know what to do methods so that you're
an area of of implementation but the
goal is you're still stuck in that box
like I say this box because people feel
like now they're in a box they're in a
cocoon they're in a cage right and this
cage is 3D it's three-dimensional and
what keeps us in that box are these
three forces of mindset motivation and
methods because you could have the
greatest mindset everything is possible
and be motivated but using poor crappy
methods of marketing or they can be old
Antiquated way just like with diamond
right like if if they don't upgrade
their their skills and their
competencies then they're going to be
Antiquated right because everything is
being disrupted so if you use like for
in the book I focus on accelerated
learning because that that's my field so
old ways of learning all old ways of
studying wrote repetitions of vocal you
know all those things that we learned
all those methods this didn't have to be
upgraded but people again you need all
you need all three because if you have
the mindset and the motivation and
you're not using the methods like you're
building a business right like the old
businesses they have the mindset that
you know these big corporations and
everything is possible they're kind of a
motivated team that's very it's very
sustainable their energy and their
purpose but they could be using like old
television commercials or or billboard
advertise or whatever they're using
they're not they're not current methods
and so where all three of them combined
is that fourth I which is integration
that I talked talked about in the
beginning integration is just like
you're fully aligned and that that for
me is a limitless State and what this
model allows you to do it allows you to
to have an explanatory schema of where
you're where you're we where you are
limited where you have placed a barrier
or a border around what is possible so
the limitation when you're not getting
the results you want in business or in
your relationship or in your body you
could say okay where where is where am I
being held back is it the mindset of
what's possible what I believe I deserve
is it an area of motivation am I not
connected to the purpose or the reason
I'm doing these things or is it by lack
of energy or do I need to chunk it down
into small steps or the method which is
really the whole process and the whole
strategy and it also becomes so it
allows you to pinpoint the area where of
constraint so you could get rid of that
bottleneck and upgrade your skills in
those three areas and it also becomes a
role modeling framework meaning that if
somebody is very successful in an area
and and you want to have a mentor like
you offer in Impact Theory University
right like real mentorship from people
who have done this stuff then you could
map over this framework and saying oh
what is their current belief system that
allows them to produce this result in
terms of their mindset what do they
believe is possible what do they believe
about the world how has their Paradigm
or or their lens that they're looking
through that makes this possible or you
can dissect their motivation how how
let's list the reasons that get them out
of bed doing these things or how are
they framing it in a way that that that
Taps into a pain or a pleasure or what
are they doing to optimize their energy
so they just will not will not stop or
what are the small simple steps that
they're taking or methodology you know
what are they doing for marketing for
leadership for negotiation for building
you know a mass a mass movement right
and so it becomes a role modeling tool
also also well to dissect and look at
the world uh a blueprint if you will
so talking about methodology there's a
story that you tell in the book I
actually don't think you told it in
terms of methodology but when you're
talking it triggered in my head
um about Bruce Lee man you want to talk
about somebody so when I was a kid I was
[ __ ] obsessed with Bruce Lee I read
the Dow of G Kune doe I was obsessed
with dragon the Bruce Lee Story
um that that to me is super powerful I
was really excited to see him in the
book and the story that you tell about
him
um
winning so in fact walk people through
so he ends up coming back to or coming
back technically to America because he
was born here uh comes back to America
starts teaching to people that aren't
Chinese which is like massively frowned
upon and then he has to fight what was
that whole thing about and and what was
the outcome of that fight
so so Bruce um and I I is wonderful
because we had his daughter Shannon Lee
speak at one of our our conferences
recently on his her father's approach
towards Mastery and learning and how he
had the you know all the books and he
was always you know always everything
was deep deep practice deep work but um
you know culturally when he came here he
um he was not a hundred percent Asian so
there was some biases with with you know
the Asian culture was he a mixed race
uh I buy a small part yes on one on one
on one of his parents side and so so so
being accepted there teaching in uh in
America he wanted to teach everybody who
wanted to be able to learn and the
elders there in that Community basically
said you're not allowed to pass on this
information this is sacred should only
be taught you know in in our in our in
our culture and our community and he was
like screw that I'll teach anybody who
wants to learn right and and there they
they gave him an ultimatum basically
saying well if you want to if you do
that then then you know then there has
to be that they they challenged him to a
battle where they bring in a martial
artist deep in uh in in kung fu to be
able to fight him and the basically the
stakes were that if Bruce uh won he
could teach whoever he wanted but if he
lost he has to close down shop and in
that battle his and I've heard this you
know having dim sum with with his wife
Linda is that he actually he end up
winning it took him about three minutes
to get the guy to give up and uh but he
realized out of that that his current
techniques and methodology wasn't enough
that that fight three minutes is a long
time to to be to be added as you know he
thought in every bone in his body
selling his body that that should have
been a real knockdown like Fast fight
and so it made him reevaluate his
systems and his process and he formed
this his training called JKD uh Jeet
kundo which was an integration of the
things that worked it's kind of the
approach where he's not emotionally
attached to uh to ideology or one
methodology he would create an
integrated mixed martial arts approach
and he would take you know techniques
and tools from fencing in Western boxing
and Wing Chung because all he cared
about about was what got the results not
with rules and and trophies but like
real results on on the street and he
built it from there for kids growing up
today this is and look I am not a
martial arts historian by any stretch of
the imagination but I have enough
context to say this is really radical
this is pre-mma like MMA for anybody
that knows the the early days of the UFC
like UFC one if you get a chance watch
that [ __ ] it was so crazy because you
had people that were still purists you
had the guy that won I think the first
year trained or maybe second year
trained in Ninjutsu
um I know that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
obviously ended up dominating for years
and years and years until people figure
that out but you had a lot of purists
people that fought in a single style and
it wasn't really mixed martial arts for
a long time and so Bruce Lee's coming in
when it was like Ultra dogmatic like you
were karate for instance to get your
black belt you weren't fighting in you
know a Mortal Kombat style you were
memorizing set routines and you would
show that you knew the routines and the
positions and things like that and so
for him to come along and say this
doesn't make any sense like in the book
you tell the story he wins he beats this
guy spends most of the time just chasing
him around the ring trying to get him to
[ __ ] fight takes him three minutes
which is less than a UFC round and yet
in the end of it Linda comes in and
finds him with his head in his hands and
she's like how are you negative about
this like you just won you you've earned
the right to you know teach and he was
like because my style is still so
limited that the fight drug on way
longer might I think the quote you get
in the book is my preparation hadn't
prepared me for this type of fight and I
thought that's so [ __ ] brilliant and
so for a guy like that you want to talk
about intoxication of certainty like to
be so certain that what you're doing is
right to teach other people to redefine
the very notion of martial arts not
around forms and tradition which of
course like yo at that time like
tradition was everything for him to Buck
that and ji kundo translates Loosely I
guess from and this this is from reading
the dial of Jeet Kune doe is he said it
translates to defend by attacking and I
always thought that's [ __ ] genius and
he was like always trying to minimize
the number of moves it took to beat
somebody and so he was like well instead
of blocking you know a punch or a kick
what if you kicked it like if you were
to kick somebody's hand away or kick
their foot away and he was like now
you're doing damage in defending
yourself and I just thought whoa this is
so smart and I even as a little kid I
was captivated it by somebody who so
believed in what they were doing that
they could tell everybody else no
because that was where I really
struggled like I wanted to fit in I
wanted to be liked I wanted to follow
the rules and be a good boy I am by
Nature a rural follower and so for me to
become an entrepreneur one of the first
things I had to do was like break out of
the notion that we have to follow these
rules and and I found myself Intoxicated
by people like Bruce Lee who were like
[ __ ] that the rules don't apply to me
I'm gonna do what works and an obsession
with efficiency man if you want to win
to to be obsessed with what works is the
only Obsession to have the truth is
hitting your career goals is not easy
you have to be willing to go the extra
mile to stand out and do hard things
better than anybody else but there are
10 steps I want to take you through that
will 100x your efficiency so you can
crush your goals and get back more time
into your day you'll not only get
control of your time you'll learn how to
use that momentum to take on your next
big goal to help you do this I've
created a list of the 10 most impactful
things that any High achiever needs to
dominate and you can download it for
free by clicking the link in today's
description alright my friend back to
today's episode and also freeing
yourself and liberating yourself from
the critics and expectations and the old
Dogma because you know if we just if we
buy into those kind of opinions we just
fuel fuel that and you know you'll lose
your drive if you're being fueled by
other people's expectations and and
opinions and you know there's so freeing
yourself from the concern of others I
think you know I talk about the lies and
frame yourself from from other people's
you know like looking bad and and
failure is a mistake or it's the
opposite of success as opposed to it
being part of part of success right so I
don't want to talk at a class but
um I want to have dim sum with Linda Lee
what what is she like like I'm intrigued
by the type of person again and this is
what in the 60s I think when they got
together
um interracial couple would not have
been I mean assuming that dragon the
Bruce Lee Story is in any way remotely
factual uh her family did not want her
dating him so she's also somebody that
doesn't mind going against trends like
what what does she like
yeah so absolutely remarkable as you I
mean I've so I've had dim some like
sorry I've had I've had dinner or some
kind of personal kind with her a few
times she and Shannon actually on his
70th birthday took me to San Francisco
and we actually went into the in
Chinatown into the hospital uh room that
Bruce was actually born and it was their
very first time ever visiting it uh
because the a few years later they
actually tore down the the hospital and
so it was kind of a very very special
moment but she is absolutely she's
absolutely remarkable individual to be
able to to
you know I mean her story in in dragon
is is pretty powerful for people who
have seen it um one documentary I like
it's called I Am Bruce Lee and uh Kobe's
in it and all these other people that
are in it
how they were inspired uh by by this
band you know who really set reset the
people's definitions of what was what
was possible by his very existence of
what he could demonstrate you know both
on camera and and off but Linda is a
kindest individual she uh her and her
daughter run the Bruce Lee foundation so
we've talked about opening up like a
Bruce Lee Museum same with the Stan Lee
Foundation which I'm active in can you
imagine Stan Lee Museum where you could
go and all the things that he is you
know has accumulated over time you know
from all the props from all the Avengers
and then and the X-Men and everything
else but very kind individual very wise
um and she's she's a good good martial
arts she studied with Bruce and that's
how they actually met that's right I
forgot about that part that that's
really interesting man I am so hungry to
do a story so I've been trying and
trying and trying to and with every like
angle that I can to pitch them an idea
for a comic of course that I want to
turn into a movie but to do a comic book
with them they've they've licensed the
Bruce Lee name out some other Comics I
have not exactly been amazing uh so I'm
sure that's part of their hesitancy
um but oh my God like somebody I'm
shocked that I haven't seen that
documentary because as a kid like you
want to talk about somebody that I
wanted to be oh my God like that guy
there's just something about
so I don't I don't know that you and I
have ever really talked about I was
really hardcore into taoism so I for a
long time I identified the way most kids
would say I'm Christian I was like I'm a
Dallas and I read the [ __ ] out of the
Dao Beijing I was obsessed with that
yeah like that that was my whole thing
so what ends up happening is and you
know for people that follow my story in
terms of what we're trying to build
they'll under begin to understand why so
I watched Star Wars and this character
Yoda like just [ __ ] with me like
there's something about what he talks
about that hits me in a way you know I
mean part of it is that he's a you know
[ __ ] puppet and so that's cool
already for a kid
um but just the the wisdom I never would
have used that word as a kid but it just
it really landed with me for some reason
and like do or do not there is no try
you want to talk about something that
from the moment I heard it right to the
power of your ability to speak in sound
bites it's like Yoda was the ultimate
[ __ ] sound soundbite machine and that
one just really stuck with me so he
plants because basically Yoda is
[Music]
um
God I'm going to mispronounce his name
terribly loud Zoo the guy that wrote the
Dao Beijing so basically talks like him
if you've read it you'll like the first
time I read the doubting I was like
George I see you I see where this is all
coming from So reading that I was like
yo this reminds me of Yoda which then
immediately made me like internalize
everything I get way hardcore into the
teachings the philosophies
because it was sort of mindset before
mindset had a name you know talking
about how to think and how to be in
moments of stress and pressure and be
like water right and literally Bruce Lee
quoting the doubting and so then you mix
in Bruce Lee and just like that whole
era of my life is
um is about that that
sort of Martial philosophy and the irony
of irony so I actually studied martial
arts really briefly in college but I was
so emotionally weak dude the first time
I got hurt I just quit I was like whoa
like this is real you could really
[ __ ] get injured and I'm so so so sad
that I didn't stick with it because it
was a period in my life where um
it would have just been perfect because
it you know I'm there I'm on campus it's
College you like walk 10 feet and you're
you know in the place where you're um
studying and I was just too weak man
it's it's a sadness I've thought about
doing it do you know who um for us as a
hobby is
no all right so do you know George St
Pierre I don't know if you follow MMA at
all so George St-Pierre one of the
greatest fighters ever to live so
um his trainer is a guy named Jordan uh
for us a hobby and I went and trained
for exactly one session with faras for
us is one of the most extraordinary
humans I've ever met he is a modern day
Bruce Lee this guy is a [ __ ]
philosopher extreme yeah [ __ ]
incredible this guy anyway I trained
with him one time
it was
amazing and of course I got injured
again and I was like [ __ ] like just the
so I asked myself this was incredible
but am I really willing to put the time
and energy into fighting like figuring
out what's wrong with my physiology
muscle weaknesses whatever like it's all
my fault right so I know that there's no
one to blame but myself so I haven't
done the things that I needed to do to
get my body ready that I could go and
train and take it seriously and then
looking at the amount of time that it
would take and it's weird it's one of
the few things in my life where I'm just
conflicted because part of me really
wants to do it and then part of me is
like [ __ ] does it really line up with
the bigger goals that I have in my life
I'm actually not sure what the answer is
it might be better it might be a better
life for me if I did go and study and
train but there's that like there's
there's something there man and I I
still find myself drawn to the way that
Bruce Lee talked and the fact that he
was such a [ __ ] badass it's
there's something there man there's
something to what do you think about
fighting I think about fighting a lot as
a guy that can't fight I I I think about
it a lot it's interesting where do you
come down on that yeah
um I'm mixed it like literally split
because the the truth is that I'm I I
watch the UFC and I watch occasionally
boxing and I watch all the you know I
grew up watching Sunday Kung Fu theater
so I have this affinity for that and
then I also know the damage that it
could cause because I'm I'm a brain
health Advocate at the at the same time
but I love people competing and I think
the physicality of learning something
you know though the discipline the you
know the honor the flexibility I feel
like getting it into your body you learn
things at a totally different level it's
not a logical thing I think what made
Bruce like fully integrated and you know
this amazing specimen of a fighter and a
philosopher I feel like the physical
mechanics of him doing things you know
drove in like a lot of the philosophy
you know of water and everything else
that he talked about when he talked
about limits and not to put limits on
any area of your life because if you put
a limit on one area of your life it's
going to pervade all the other areas of
your life I feel like martial arts was a
training ground for a lot of that and
the physicality I think is important but
you know I also agree that you know if
you're going to do something you want to
do it you know world class and having
somebody coming over to the house a few
times a week it might not get you there
and then is it going to divert energy
and attention into Focus off of this you
know this Enterprise and this Empire
that you want to build but I I'm I'm I
have experimented with martial arts you
know as you know the Taekwondo classes
as a child I did years and years of a
keto in college and and post I did a
year of JKD
um because I was so enamored it was hard
with my travel schedule to keep up in
classes because you know when you're on
planes and living in hotel rooms it's it
it interrupts that that routine but I'm
fascinated by it because I think it's a
great metaphor
for for life that if you're ground
fighting and you know things like
Leverage you know
conserving energy you know focal points
what's going to give you the most return
you know the Elegance that that Bruce
had in his in his in his style you know
in terms of optimizing his energy and
the the impact you know that that those
are all strategies got to be mapped out
in in business or in relationships or in
anything else but I think the
physicality is is is important and so
but you know knowing that we have a
constraint of 24 hours in a day and what
we choose to put our our time and talent
and our mind behind you know there's
there's definitely opportunity cost for
sure but I I still watch fighting for
big fights and because I like seeing
people who are absolutely world class
compete and and do amazing things
there's another side to it that I find
myself incredibly drawn to which is this
sort of Jordan
petersonian
notion of a person should not be
harmless a person should be capable of
great violence and yet keep that in
check and it's it's one of those things
that like I don't feel like I am capable
as capable of violence as I would like
to be I am yeah I mean look I've kept my
strength up I work out and so I I
definitely have a modicum of strength
but when you look at guys that are
trained Fighters like if I see a guy
with cauliflower ear I'm like yeah I'm
not [ __ ] with that guy like there is
something to that the the ability to to
be
violent and going back to for us a hobby
um I had him on inside Quest and he said
you know one of the reasons that I am a
trained fighter is I want to know if I
am showing someone Grace if they're you
know [ __ ] with me or whatever and I
give them the grace to calm down walk
away that it that it's a choice and that
I'm not doing it because I couldn't hold
my own and I was like [ __ ] like that is
such an indictment of myself right that
like man there are things that I let
slide that I'm sure I let slide because
I'm like uh I don't know how I would
fare in this altercation and as like
when I worked out that was a huge focus
of mine was just being [ __ ] strong
enough to defend my wife like that was
how in the early days that was how I got
in and I showed up and I [ __ ] pushed
hard was like I just it's not okay to be
as weak as I was when I started working
out
and that notion of like making some
things not okay like it's not okay to be
weak and uh I think it's super important
I think that people Overlook it and so
yeah like I'm I'm actually really into
the UFC I [ __ ] love watching people
fight I love martial arts movies Jim
like your kung fu theater I was all
about ninja movies the only thing I've
ever dressed up for Halloween more than
once and I probably did it five times
was a ninja I always wanted to be a
ninja like that was my [ __ ] Jam Dude
any movie with a ninja in it I was like
sign me up the 80s was like ninja
[ __ ] Central that was about all of it
yeah you pretty much just gave away my
Skype name and this and this whole thing
it's I'm I'm the same I did um
there there's a there's a great teacher
a friend of mine named Tim Larkin and
he's out in Vegas and he created
something hard to call Target focus
training and you know it's controversial
because he talks about not only the
physicality of protecting yourself and
loved ones you know because he's he's
world-class Hall of Fame copper Black
Belt Magazine as you know instructor but
you know but it could cause real
physical harm or even you know extended
harm or or death and it's controversial
because it's he talks about the
psychology of violence and how how
people predators don't follow the same
social norms and I remember watching
videos with him where these the people
the Predators they don't abide by the
same the same social norms as we do and
they take advantage of those and there's
I remember watching this video that just
horrified me it was um the uh it was a
police officer cam you know uh a police
a woman she pulls over this guy and you
can see the cam from her car and you
know she's going there and she's
approaching the car and in there is the
is the is the man a suspect and and his
little girl and his little girl like
like very you know you know and she was
you could tell she was having cons you
know restraint because she didn't want
to you know break any kind of social
rules in front of her you know his
daughter and and and and this man just
beat her and beat her you know because
she had that that you know those those
rules you know and another another book
like the good the gift of fear uh the
background if you're familiar with that
book talks about about especially for
women to be able to trust their
instincts like fear is actually a
trigger that that part of you some
unconscious is picking up but sometimes
men or women we resuppress it and we
don't trust that fear because we're
picking up something that our conscious
mind is not picking up and we you know
we feel like something is there and then
something happens and it's it's a whole
um great book called The Gift of fear
where you actually fear is actually a
resource for you and a signal to prepare
or um and so uh some some great
resources there and I would love to
connect you with the with these
individuals like like Tim it'll it'll
change your framework about because he
really gets into the again the
psychology and the drive of protecting
yourself and the consequences uh
consequence of not being able to do so
you know I remember I did six months
straight of Prague right you know what
they trained like Israel like Army to be
able to do and after six months I just
couldn't do it I think it was very very
effective but you would have to put
yourself in this angry like for me it
was maybe the way I learned it in this
angry state where you're just destroying
whatever's in front of you but I you
know for me I needed to self-experiment
with it so I train in various
methodologies I'm not world-class in any
of them but I needed to feel what what
what feels right for me that a lot of
people are just trying to change a lot
of times like I just did a podcast on
habits right how to be able to adopt new
habits and also delete and get rid of
you know break bad habits right and so a
lot of people always want to make it
usually make a change on Behavior they
want to get themselves to work out they
want to get themselves to meditate they
want to get themselves to read more each
day they want to get themselves to X
right or they want to stop some Behavior
they want to stop smoking they want to
stop eating this food they want to stop
I always tell people stop checking your
phone the first hour of the day I love
that and I and I just that's like sacred
time for me you know because I for me
that's for I think that if you want to
be an elite mental performer or you know
real life superhero you don't want to
start off by checking the phone we
talked about this in the past because
you're training yourself to be reactive
right you're getting your dopamine
you're frying your nervous system with
all these like shares comments and
everything else like that
um that you said if I'm not mistaken you
sell your sovereignty if you start by
checking in your phone I love that so
much because you're reacting and
firefighting to everyone's like well
everything everyone wants so you're not
really setting you're not living you
know that it's you've heard this many
times right if you want to you you win
the first hour of the day to win the
rest you know when they win the day
right and so anything you want to stop
so let's say you want to stop checking
your phone right in the morning then
there's certain like that's a behavior
right but there's so many other elements
to be able to change because some most
behaviors don't stick right and so like
what I'm thinking about when I want to
transform or transcend or make a real
positive change I'm looking at all the
other areas of herself so I'm looking at
for example our environment are are
people setting up their environment to
win at a you know so so change doesn't
just happen at this level of behavior
but what you have to change the
environment so for example if you want
to stop eating a certain food it helps
to be able to have not that not have
that food in your home right so you
change the environment if you want to
read more it helps to help set up your
environment where you have the books
readily available where you're going to
read it because they perform you know
how I how I approach habit change is
this air area of motivation and this
trigger right you want to trigger to
help remind you to do the behavior right
so are you setting up the environment in
a way that triggers the behavior that
you want but not only the the the the
environments like the when and the where
um but it's also a behavior is also the
capabilities because a lot of people
want to change a behavior but they're
not training in the abilities what I
love a lot about your work and your
passion is the area I'll be able to like
ability those acquisition new abilities
for yourself and also that could also
benefit the rest of the world but most
people aren't training those habits and
those capabilities but also another
level of change that we need to address
let's say everyone someone's watching
this they have a thing that something
they want to change and it's not it's
not sticking then maybe it's not it's
the environment maybe you could check
about your habits but maybe it's your
beliefs and your values some people will
not get themselves to read every day
because they don't value reading every
single day right some people won't they
say the behavior they want to change is
you know we did a podcast on how to
remember names I could teach them step
by step on how to remember the name of
my with people that they meet yet they
won't do it because they don't value it
or because that's not important to them
or they don't believe that they can
right just like we talked about earlier
saying your brain is like a super
computer and you know your self-talk as
a programmer runs if you tell yourself
not go to remember names you will not
remember the name of the next person you
meet because your program is super
confused or not to they don't have a
belief that enables that so when I say
all behaviors belief driven if you want
to do this Behavior whatever it is
Journal whatever it is then you need a
belief that allows that to happen
because you that's the program that
allows so how do you get that belief
because you're going to feel like you're
faking it right that's where most people
stop right they think okay I get it I
hear what Jim is saying that if I am
able to shift my belief that I can get a
different Behavior but I don't believe
it so now I'm just sort of Faking It how
do you help people overcome that what is
up my friend Tom bilyu here and I have a
big question to ask you how would you
rate your level of personal discipline
on a scale of one to ten if your answer
is anything less than a 10. I've got
something cool for you and let me tell
you right now discipline by its very
nature means compelling yourself to do
difficult things that are stressful
boring which is what kills most people
or possibly scary or even painful now
here is the thing achieving huge goals
and stretching to reach your potential
requires you to do those challenging
stressful things and to stick with them
even when it gets boring and it will get
boring building your levels of personal
discipline is not easy but let me tell
you it pays off in fact I will tell you
you're never going to achieve anything
meaningful unless you develop discipline
right I've just released a class from
Impact Theory university called how to
build Ironclad discipline that teaches
you the process of building yourself up
in this area so that you can push
yourself to do the hard things that
greatness is going to require of you
right click the link on the screen
register for this class right now and
let's get to work I will see you inside
this Workshop from Impact Theory
University until then my friends be
legendary peace out right and so you I
mean so some people approach it like
they you know this quote where they fake
it so they make it right
um so my my thing with belief is
like when I do trainings in groups or
are online my my favorite way of
changing a belief is getting them to do
something they never thought they could
do because it opens up another
possibility right so so for example in
in 1954 Roger Bannister he broke the
four minute mile right and so which is
amazing right throughout human history
nobody can run a mile in less than four
minutes now if you if you look into it
how he was able to do it is he would
visualize himself crossing the Finish
Line looking at the clock and it says
359 because he knew that success is an
inside out process that first it had to
happen in here in order for afternoon
out there right um Dr Wayne Dyer has has
this famous phrase where it's not oh
I'll believe it when I see it it's like
I'll see it when I believe it because
it's the opposite right and so I I
always liked modeling the outliers where
most people kind of just like kind of
dismissed them I was like well what's
going on there that allows this person
to get this kind of results right and so
with Roger Bannister he saw it in here
be able to produce it out outside just
like any innovator or inventor or writer
or any Creator right but what's
interesting is after that what happened
nobody could do it from the beginning of
humanity all of a sudden one person does
it what happens after that everybody
yeah everyone starts doing it and so
that's the thing now what what happened
was there a big change that year and you
know training methodology and nutrition
or no it was a change of belief right
because the belief back then was if you
ran a mile less than four minutes Not
only would you die it was your heart
would explode in your chest and like
think about like that would and I'm a
runner right that would keep me not just
running that won't keep me from running
for me that would keep me from running
period right right and so my thing is
like that was a change of a reference I
was just they shook up a belief so my
goal with people when it comes to
learning is get themselves to do
something they never thought they could
do and then it opens up another
possibility it literally opens up their
their nervous system for something what
else could be possible now I would also
say that it all plays together where
it's not easy necessarily just change a
belief overnight now that could be a
belief because it's like a meta belief
about what beliefs are but people
there's there's Technologies like
Inception right like a dream of a dream
or dream
um but I do believe that we have more we
have more power to influence our
thoughts and our beliefs and so there
are a lot of tools and techniques out
there that are resources like when I
grew up I you know we didn't have any we
had no money right I had no education
because I was a very learning challenge
I didn't know any anybody right so I
feel like it's not when people are
that's where they'll go though when they
when they when there's a gap stop gap
between where they are and where they
want to be they'll say oh I don't have
the money or I don't have the education
or all the intelligence out of the
network or anything else like that and
you know what what you know as for all
incredible success you've had and the
value you've created for the world is
that it's not about resources right
because we know a lot of people who who
didn't have any resources that were able
to impact the world it's about our
internal resources and what I'm saying
is optimizing our environment optimize
advising our behaviors our capabilities
our beliefs and our values and our
identity right that at the highest level
our identity because you can't just
change your belief or your values or
your behavior even if you don't believe
you're that kind of person you know
that's why I kind of always go to the
superhero Mythos because I I want people
that get to claim that identity I call
it the superhero you that version of
ourselves that we're not Waiting for
Superman or Batman or Wonder Woman it's
like you are Wonder Woman you are Batman
you are Superman it's just we we have to
commit ourselves to be able to unleash
dude I'm a huge believer in identity
driving behaviors
um I have a hard time explaining to
people though how to adopt a new
identity how do you how have you done it
in your own life I think that's the best
yeah I mean my identity I mean obviously
this is a work in progress right I would
say that I would start with the they
call it the two smallest World words in
the English language but they're their
two most powerful words in the English
language it's I am right I am because
whatever you put after that determines
your destination or your your destiny
right and I think in your identity is
who you believe you are and I feel like
when we're talking about playing to the
edge of our limits and really playing
there and living in that place where
we're stretching you know I do believe
and I get inspired every time I see your
instant story like it's like 4 30 and
you're working out you're doing your
your work but that's who you are right
you don't have to fight it because you
can't imagine yourself not doing that
and that's the level of that I that I
think is what's most important important
so I would think about going through an
exercise and I've done this with friends
I've had them sit or in groups we do
these conferences and such and I find I
have people pair up with someone they
don't know and what they're going to do
is they're going to do an exercise I am
and they're going to talk about they're
literally going to fill in the blanks
for three minutes until I call time so
you have to go like and you can do this
right now like if you were to fill in I
am blank like I would say you know I am
a student I am a teacher I am a son I'm
a you know all this and but eventually
I'll get to a point where I don't know
what else to say and that's what the
real interesting answers come out of
right because it's a great way for
networking and knowing somebody else but
it also shows us this really big
tapestry of our life to the point with
the content right now where we could I
relate to these aspects of ourselves and
I think it's a nice exercise when we
talk about self-awareness being a
superpower really knowing who we think
we are because if we don't believe that
we're our public speaker or we're a
great parent or we're a great learner or
a genius then we'll never be able to
reach our full potential because that
will always be the ceiling that we bump
up against and also you know when I'm
talking to individuals and I'm
interviewing them on our podcast or just
talking to individuals like this I would
be thinking about especially high
performance I think that Genius Leaves
Clues and I believe that it can be
replicated if you're willing to put in
the the work and the learning and the
discipline to be able to do that then I
want to know really I want to know their
beliefs I want to know what they value
because if I don't know that if I'm just
working on step-by-step hacks and
everything else it won't stick because
it is missing a huge part so I want to
model like their behaviors their values
their beliefs and also who they think
they are that allows them to do those
accomplish those amazing things in their
life and what are some of the clues that
Genius Leaves so it's interesting when
I'm talking about these levels of change
right the identity level is the who
right you know all the five W's and the
H we learned back in school the identity
is who somebody is when we're talking
about beliefs and values that's the why
why they do what they do when we're
talking about capabilities that's the
how right that's the Habit right the
skill acquisition when we're talking the
behavior that's the what the what
they're doing right and then when we're
talking about environment that's really
the where and the when right so I'm
always going back with I want to create
change create a new habit create a new
level of learning for somebody I'm
addressing those different levels and if
I if I ignore one with somebody else or
myself then it's not going to stick
right because you're not going to have
that congruency where it's going to
affect where it becomes second nature
and so going back to this I think if I'm
modeling genius and Genius Leaves Clues
I'm thinking about okay where are they
and when are they doing these things so
certain people are early birds some
people are night owls so I could teach
people like I teach people how to read
one book a week I really think leaders
are readers that in order to stay
competitive in today's day and age if
somebody has Decades of experience and
they put it into a book and you can sit
down and read that in a few days
download decades into days I mean
I'm preaching to the choir for everyone
that's watching but that that's that's a
superpower right that's a huge advantage
and so I'm thinking about but some
people when I'm telling them to practice
and I get these Real Results in 30 and
you know about four or five weeks where
it's permanent where they could read 300
faster with the same but better
comprehension potentially something in
20 minutes it takes normally takes the
normal people an hour but the reason why
but you have to practice but some people
will practice at inopportune times of
the day and they won't get the same
results so part of it as a
self-awareness knowing your what they
call your chronotype when's the optimal
time to do this like for depending on
your body type there's certain times of
the day it's better to work out there's
better times a day to be able to make
love they're better times of the day to
be able to read to check email to ask
for a raise so I would think about like
if Geniuses found find their element
their sweet spot and they set up their
routines and their rituals throughout
the day to be able to align with their
time when they're most productive right
if they're not if they don't have a lot
of energy in the morning working out is
probably not as good as doing some other
time so the when and the where and
setting up your environment for Success
because all your triggers are there that
allow allow them so I think Geniuses set
themselves up so for example they have
their laptop but they only use their
laptop for work and it's anchored that's
part of their environment it's anchored
to get them into flow states to be able
to write or be productive they don't use
their laptop to watch binge on Netflix
right they have a very they have an iPad
that they use when they do that because
that's the state that they want to
anchor for that and they don't use that
iPad to do work you know setting up your
environment like your bedroom like we
just did a whole episode on sleep hacks
and how to optimize your sleep because
that's a big you know personal challenge
for me for many years because I had
suffered from sleep apnea it was a
breathing disorder I stopped breathing
200 times at night for at least 10
seconds which is the equivalent of
somebody coming in and just choking
stuff can you 200 times a night and so I
would actually the reason why I'm so
adamant about productivity and learning
hacks is because for the longest time
for literally five years straight and
you know this I've slept about 90
minutes to two hours a night total and
you know how you feel when you get like
one bad night's of sleep and how like
where your focus is your energy level
and your how to get these horrible
migraines and it's forced me to double
down in my practices you know in terms
of like I have a limited amount of time
I have to focus on the things that
really matter resources and stuff but
anyway going back to like my bedroom is
Sacred Space right it's I don't do work
in there I keep it because that's my
trigger to be able to rest going to
parasympathetic space I set up my
environment so I have my blackout
curtains on my grounding pads so to
optimize my restful sleep that I do get
so environment so Genius Leaves Clues
they set up genius environments for
themselves and then the behaviors most
people who knows they're intuitive you
know these people are are investing
themselves there's they're investing in
self-care I always tell people that
self-love and self-care is not selfish a
lot of people you know they're they're
for their friends and their family and
their clients and everybody else but
they're not refilling their their cup so
I think that we have to be you know grow
givers meaning we have to we grow so we
have more to give to other people so we
have more impact with other individuals
so the behaviors are reading each day
and putting together your to-do list and
you're I think having your not to-do
list is so important having being sleep
deprived for so many years you know I
think a lot of people I'm super
sensitized to it but I think one of the
success rituals people should have is
just going through and keeping it
consistent not to-do list and I think
the most successful genius level
individual is one of the clues that they
leave is they're not to-do list is
bigger than their to-do list right they
don't check their phone in the morning
they don't take in you know everything
is hell yes or it's hell no right that's
their filter system they don't you know
they say no to good so they can say yes
yes degrade so the behaviors then you
have the habits which and then you have
the beliefs and the values and beliefs
and the values you know because I watch
this is one of the reasons why I watch
your show because I'm just hearing all
the time you're listening these amazing
beliefs and value from Achievers in all
every area I mean it's amazing I mean
you have Wyclef there and you're not in
like melon you have all these amazing
individuals but you see that there's a
pattern that's there right and there's
an art and but there's a science to it
there and there's an art to it and how
they express themselves and then I also
do believe that some of those successful
Geniuses and I say genius is not just
I'm not about IQ right I'm talking about
an incredible you know artist I'm
talking about an athlete I'm talking an
advocate you know in some area
um is they haven't they're they're clear
about their identity about who they are
and who they are to the to the world and
so but I know what they what they do
commit is they do the work and they're
committed to lifelong learning and I
feel like that learning I always tell
people and we've taught this we've had
this conversation that if knowledge is
power then learning is your superpower
and I think it's a superpower that we
all have it's just that we're not taught
like recently we had uh Quincy Jones in
our audience and I had to pull him on
stage right and I was just like I was
like I have to ask you you know we are
the world and Michael Jackson and about
Oprah like you know what did you how do
you overcome these challenges that you
know these problems that you had to be
able to create this you know this Legacy
and he looked at me he's like Jim he's
like I don't have any problems I'm like
what do you mean I'm like you're 84 you
have no problems and she's like no I
have puzzles
and I was like wow like that little
shift of vocabulary changed everything
for me yeah because puzzles are like
riddles they can you could you could
solve you could solve them right there's
answers for it and it was a change in
perspective and that was the thing about
growing up with superheroes reading
these comic books late at night when it
was so impressionable is for me a
superhero more than anything represents
hope do you know what I mean that one
person can make a difference and a lot
of superheroes go through a lot of
challenges right when you think about
the most popular superheroes they're all
orphans like Wonder Woman Batman
Superman Iron Man Spider-Man they all
lost their parents you know and they all
through these big challenges but through
it they've they found their their Dharma
they found their mission and I find that
if someone's watching this and they
haven't found it quite yet maybe I have
a belief that that their mission and
that people's Mission their purpose and
their patent is looking for them also
but most of us aren't sensitized to it
you know because it's coming in
different forms and we're not open to it
as much and so my my thing when it comes
to success rituals and high performance
and making an impact is that we all have
that sovereignty we all have that power
and whenever we put it out there and
give it out to somebody else like we're
a thermometer right the metaphor I
always talk about it's like we're either
thermometers or we're thermostats and a
thermometer you think about the
functionality of it it just reflects
what the environment is giving it right
it just reflects the temperature and
stuff but a thermostat is different it
sets it a standard it sets a goal it
sets of vision and the environment
changes along with it and I feel like
our happiness our joy our level of
fulfillment our success is all dependent
on where we put the locus of control and
I feel like we have more power than we
realize in these cases and it's hard
because we have to fight media we have
to fight marketing that's always telling
us about all the things that are going
on in the world but we live in an
abundant Universe right I mean we talk
about the Matrix you know which pillow
people are going to take and that
determines everything and every single
morning you determine what color pill
you're going to take
I have to say it is fascinating to watch
you deal with the Sleep issue
because going into it
I wondered how your beliefs were going
to play right so
a lot of times the belief will kick in
and when the problem is solved
relatively easily the belief is intact
and everything is right with the
universe
but dude you had to push for years and
years and years like you were saying 400
things that you tried to overcome that
how did you stay focused committed like
how do you push through the dark times
that's really my question because your
entire life is like
yeah a story of grit and pushing through
like the darkest of times and I would
say what keeps me going is I have a
belief that everything can get better
like that's my self-talk when it comes
down to what my primary belief is is I
feel that that things can get better
because otherwise if I didn't then I
would just give up right and I have too
many examples of friends and family and
just people I don't know which are just
friends of my mind that have superseded
much more difficult situations than I
have the other thing it's helped me to
do is really focus on the rituals and
the routines the habits the abilities
that really matter you know the 80 20
rule because when I have a certain
amount of energy I can only do a certain
amount of things and I need to get more
back and I'm still doing the job quote
unquote of most you know three or four
people you know going on stage and
traveling to buy you know like the kind
of things that we do but it forces me to
focus on things that's going to get
maximum return and we know and I think
we do teach the things that we need to
learn the most I think the best teachers
are the best students and I know going
through this like I had surgery recently
to correct this and so my sleep has
jumped up from 90 minutes to two hours
to about four hours which doesn't sound
like a lot it's not perfect but it's
progress and that's my standard like I'm
just I'm never looking for Perfection
because I don't think that the standard
exists I'm just looking to make
incremental progress you know when I
wake up in the morning I have my daily
routine and it's so fine-tuned because I
think a lot of people suffer from
decision making fatigue right that and
this is very strong research saying that
you could only make a certain amount of
good decisions a day and after that is
spent you can anymore and that's really
been fine-tuned in the in the medical
field with surgeons and such in terms of
seeing their you know where they're
making their errors and stuff with with
early on in the day or later in their
days and stuff like that but we all as
entrepreneurs or as employees and
executives are as parents we all can
make a certain amount of decisions and
that's why you know people like Mark
Zuckerberg or Tony Shea they wear the
same t-shirts and and sweatshirts all
the time because they don't want to
spend you know use up one of their
decisions thinking oh what am I going to
wear today right right and so my goal is
to streamline my my life put the
routines the first hour of the day and
the last hour of the day I really
micromanage to the point where it's
habitual I don't even have to think
about it and then because those are the
times of the day where I could really
have the most impact because later on in
the middle of the day you know team
members need this there's firefighting
this client needs that but the first
hour the last hour I really want to
control so all this really helped
develop grit and resilience you know in
my body so I could have the ability to
persevere and also I stand guard to my
brain all the time what goes in you know
I don't watch like a lot of the negative
news and all the unmarking I really
focus like you know I I watch and I
listen to your show and maybe a handful
of little of things I read each day
because I need to keep it positive I
want hope and I'm looking for help I'm
looking for inspiration and also
instructions
skill set having like it has utility
it's it is meant to be like this
it lets you do things like I I [ __ ] man
I really come up empty when I try to
find a more powerful way to say it but
skills let you do things and that is
powerful and that's like if I really
stop and think about what's the one of
the ideas that I really want to plant in
the cultural subconscious it's that it's
go out and learn something and that
thing that you learn lets you do things
that are meaningful to you right and
right so architecture becomes the most
obvious example you can build a [ __ ]
house you can build a building you can
build a bridge and you know the
metaphors sort of make themselves with
actually being able to build a bridge
but that stuff doesn't happen by
accident but that you you have to set
like this High degree of intention and
then go about doing it but I'm beyond
obsessed with that and that to me is
power so this is a whole long way of
saying I think that when I talk about
power it turns some people off but then
in that in fact this is you talk about
this a lot about forgetting why do you
think because this to me is a key
example of that moment where you
actually need to let go of your
preconceived notions around what power
is
in order to actually claim power in your
life
it's that that is very powerful and and
I know in a world full of uh short form
social media and sound bites people you
know sometimes who are trained even even
as you know writers or bloggers or
putting people putting out content and
we have stuff rehearsed one of the
reasons why I could appreciate this show
is just you you throw people off tilts
and they have to go raw and it becomes
real I definitely am guilty of using
alliteration and mnemonic devices to
simplify Concepts so there's people
could could hold on to it because I feel
like if people can't get their attention
around it but then I also want them to
go deep because if they don't do that
actual digging in the actual work you
know that's what really ingrains it into
their their being into their nervous
system you know through repetition but
people don't want to hear that they they
get they they get thick I know that
already you know they get bored of the
fundamentals they want the next thing
that's super sexy like Tom really
seriously really what what did it take
to build that company or build that your
your social media and people don't want
to know that it was like sacrifice that
it was deep work that it was time like
you know when people see all the glory
and and and everything else they don't
see that below that proverbial meme
Iceberg of of habits and skill
development and everything else and and
so it's it's for me it's always kind of
you know treading that line but I'm glad
in this conversation and I apologize for
the
happen to be in the middle of Manhattan
who has this time we're having this
conversation it's an opportunity to have
even more focus and and we're training
under real conditions for sure
that's actually a concept that I find
really interesting I was talking to
somebody about this yesterday I forget
right now oh I'm forgetting around you
actually I always feel a little guilty
when I forget [ __ ] around you uh so the
the notion of don't think of things as
performance think of them as an
opportunity to practice and so I'll do
this a lot especially in Impact Theory
University when we're filming that what
people don't see is around the [ __ ]
camera people are like scrambling
especially in the beginning we had a lot
of technological hurdles that we were
trying to overcome and so the [ __ ]
team is going mad right they're putting
things up on a screen but they don't
they're not sure how it's working so
things are like flashing up and
disappearing the person running the
teleprompters never done it before so
it's like moving up and down and then
I've got people like walking around
because something like went out and I'm
like I'm gonna keep doing this [ __ ] like
nothing is happening around me and it's
such a powerful moment if you flip
because most people like [ __ ] this is
performance because we do them live so
there's people here watching live I've
only got one shot we don't edit this
[ __ ] so like [ __ ] they start pan making
and their performance actually goes down
but if you switch out of this isn't
performance this is just practice I'm
going to do hundreds of these things so
none of them are sort of the final one
I'm going to just practice like how how
Zen can I be with like all this chaos
around and then it becomes fun but it's
like when you're thinking [ __ ] I've got
to nail this right here right now that's
when people spiral that's when your
performance goes down because there's
like this huge chunk of your brain is
panicking basically you're kicking in to
anxiety you're in fight or flight mode
um so like you said performing into real
world conditions and not looking at it
is like oh this is my one chance to do
something it's really powerful
yeah even even writing or having this
conversation would be right before we
got on I was like you know I was I'm I
was saying to your your team like I
don't use Skype this is not something
that's new it's I you know I always uh
use zoom and I was it wasn't loading on
my main computer and I was telling you
that intelligence is context dependent
you know I could do do really well in
some areas and in some areas I have not
developed that skill set but um do you
feel like when you are on like right now
right this is the recording do you feel
like you've built that skill set
um well so I on this thing in particular
the ability to stay focused and to let
go I am I am constantly practicing but
yeah I think that I am pretty good at it
I'm pretty good at it though because I
do things in my life all the time that I
look at as practice and one that I'll
give people that that this is
you want to talk about something that's
overlooked and a big part of this is
because
um I failed to turn Siri off so uh that
in my bad so she may every time I say
h-e-y she's gonna pop up
um so growing up in the 80s Video Games
Were frowned upon parents are like
you're gonna rot your brain and all this
stuff and then of course we watched you
know people generate enormous fortunes
it eclipsed the film industry it's just
it it has become a beast of such Untold
proportions I don't think people
understand really how big video games
are and part of the reason is there's
there's real neurological training
that's going on so I play first person
shooters or I should say I play a first
person shooter called Destiny 2. [ __ ]
love it man it is so much fun I have a
ton of fun with Lisa and my sister and
we're a fire team it's amazing so
there's that right the family bonding
but the part that I use all the time is
I know on the other end of that is a 14
year old kid in Ohio that wants to kill
me and then teabag my body and that is
so frustrating and it's so obnoxious and
it [ __ ] literally lights a fire so in
those moments I I'm like this is a
perfect time because if you elevate like
if you click into fight or flight if you
let yourself get panicky then your
performance goes down so it's like
literally every weekend for three hours
a day I'm in this mode of I'm practicing
staying calm and what could be a sort of
fight or flight moment the cool thing
about video games is like I'm constantly
asking myself okay if this whole
practice idea how do you get the stakes
up because when there's no Stakes then
you don't have the real emotional
reaction that you would and it's
actually dealing with the emotional
reaction is the very [ __ ] thing you
need to practice so video games are A
rad way of you you have this completely
false sense that there's actually
something that matters here that there
are real Stakes that I'm you know I'm
trying to win I'm trying to avoid that
14 year old you know just mopping the
floor with me and because I treat it as
practice I get this like real world
meditative thing over and over of when I
most every impulse in my being is the
heighten is the tensions or to tenses to
clench I actually practice Letting Go
relaxing being more effortless finding
flow and it's been huge so in moments
being on stage it is literally I'll
think about playing video games as I'm
walking on to speak to you know three
thousand four thousand people and it's
like ah relax expand it's uh it's that's
interesting
because I was going to ask you the
question can you see that map out into
other contexts the training that you're
doing on the couch playing that first
person shooter shows up on stage it
shows up on video and
it does it shows up everywhere do you um
so I know in the book you talk about
flow
how do you instigate flow how do you
trigger that is that something that you
think about or is that just you've got
so many hours now that it just happens
for certain things completely when I go
on stage I get butterflies and I really
still I can't believe I'm actually
asking you that because people think
that about me but I'm actually surprised
you are
so at ease on stage yeah so you know
what it is is as soon as I get on stage
I get triggered because I put my focus
on service because I can't I can't feel
fear and focus on on them at the same
time and also those Stakes are very high
like in your video game whether they're
real or they're imagined my Stakes are I
remember being in that audience 25 plus
years ago and how a speaker changed my
life and and I'm talking to that person
and I put my mind in there even before
going on stage to put my my mind at ease
I'll go around and sit in various chairs
if I have permission and time to do that
so I could see it from their point of
view and I actually go through like a
video game in my mind like this little
mental rehearsal as if that I would see
myself performing from their point of
view and I don't know what it does but
it it paints uh an environment for me
when I'm on stage to be able to see it
from their perspective and hopefully be
a better teacher because of it
um see from different points of view but
I I am nervous right before I go on to
the point where sometimes I want to
throw up and this could be this could be
even and these are just triggers and I
know this is something I'm personally
working on but it I feel a moral
obligation based I swear to God in
deepness of my soul I'm thinking like
shame on me if I don't go out there and
do the best that I can and I let these
people down who paid good money who pay
you know are investing their time to be
there and maybe there's one person
that's really their life depends on
something that uh that I'm gonna say
whether that's true or not I put the
stakes up there much like a 14 year old
kid that I might be playing video games
on and I want to level up so but it is
much like a video game I I grew up
playing video games as a kid
um I I had a lot of escapism you know
because I I felt like I was deficient in
so many ways
um and so comic books I would Escape
video games but not video games like
today I honestly haven't embraced and
anything in this generation because the
one time I did with my nephew it was
just I couldn't keep up I just couldn't
and but I grew up playing video games
and right after high school taking the
bus to Nathan's Hot Dogs and putting in
you know quarters upon quarters growing
up on like Atari and ColecoVision and
playing Zelda and solving those problems
because it would take me out of my world
and that was more real for me even the
metaphor of Dungeons and Dragons I don't
know if you ever indulge in it it's not
a video game it was just like this
imaginary role-playing game but I had a
piece of paper and I had like attributes
like this is your strength on you know
numbers one to twenty this is my
dexterity one to twenty or 18 or this is
my intelligence my wisdom and I I found
by going on these quests that by getting
experience I could level up and the
dungeon master who managed it would give
me an extra point here a point there and
I would be seeking treasure
um to be able to have that power in that
imagine Aries setting in that World
um but it's it's interesting that if I
can map that out and turn the world into
a game and occasionally I'll treat it
like that where this is I'm getting
experience points here for going on
stage or every single time I take a cold
shower or every time I do something
that's difficult for myself and I force
myself and I don't back down you know I
built my career on that it wasn't always
easy when I got started because there
was no internet I would I would
literally rent space in a church or
somewhere put flyers go door to
door-to-door to be able to do that but I
I but it was just same the same
methodology and mindset it was just how
do I serve this person here this person
here and it's just I want to go back so
you said um that you were sitting in uh
the theater or whatever at one point and
the speaker says something that changed
your life what was that who was it yeah
so it's it's interesting because there's
this there's this this is Asian dude I
honestly don't even know who the speaker
was
um but I was there and for some reason I
just I just got it it was just it wasn't
even it was what they said but it was
also how they were presenting now this
is over 25 years years ago and I was
just this you know this Punk kid that
didn't know anything for anything but I
would um you know I was going to a state
school and on the weekends I would get a
bunch of my friends together at college
and instead of going out drinking and
doing everything else we put money in to
rent a car to drive two and a half hours
to go to uh like a seminar and at this
seminar there was some guy that was just
speaking and for some reason I just got
that I had responsibility meaning that I
think some of the greatest speakers they
can inspire you that's one thing but if
you could identify with something that
they're saying and know that on that
cause I think that that's a fundamental
like core belief that I have that I
created my whole life that that mid
through the choices or some some some
way I am responsible and that was the
the message is that I'm at cause I love
that so we were doing an Instagram live
the other day you and I you actually
asked a really cool question which was
if you could plant one idea in people's
mind what idea would you plan and you
said that that you're responsible for
your own life which I think is
extraordinarily important
extraordinarily important maybe one of
the most important ideas that somebody
can have why do you think that matters
and why do you think most people don't
do it well I think having these Global
ideas
um are these I talk about in the book
like seven lies and it's it basically
these these false beliefs these ideas
lie again it's an acronym it's an easy
thing to remember you say you got to
give people the acronym man come on I do
because it's because sometimes I only
have you know five minutes with somebody
um or something but alive they really do
work so my beef with stuff like that is
only that it's so facile that that
people then begin to discount it it's
[ __ ] important right things that
rhyme which is just one example things
that Ryan appear something like three
times more true or I mean some absurd
stat where it's like the human brain is
so hungry for a mnemonic device of some
kind something uh that it it looks for
those patterns and when there's a
pattern it it retains the information so
I'm trust me I'm not denigrating I'm
[ __ ] use an acronym wherever I get
one yeah and so anyway lie is an acronym
you're using the book what does it stand
for
and it stands for limited idea entertain
and it's not necessarily true it's just
that something that we're giving energy
to or giving attention we're deciding in
that moment that this is something that
that is true the other thing about
acronyms and mnemonics is they're easy
to spread and my goal is for to teach
you know a mother so that they could
teach their spouse or they could teach
their kids because it's easy to be able
to repeat and it becomes memetic kind of
like this virus of of the mind if you
will and it goes goes on and on and on
but um going back to these Global
beliefs I think that if you change some
of these core beliefs there's a ripple
effect meaning that if you believe that
you are solely responsible for your life
that you are not a victim that you are
creating your reality then that changes
all these sub beliefs like for example
that if you uh aren't making the money
that you that you want to make or that
your your relationship is you feel like
there's turmoil there or you have some
health challenges or whatever if I take
responsibility it changes all these like
singular beliefs about who's at fault or
what I could do in that moment to
improve my health it gives me at least
my my my my agency back you know we
talked about it in an early episode of
impact Theory or or inside west we
talked about like your sovereignty right
I feel like a lot of people give away
their power to their family to their
friends based on their expectations or
their opinions of you how you're going
to look and how about failure is
interpreted you know as and it slows us
down you know and so This Global belief
that I am responsible is a nice way of
since I've had that for so long then
it's just like I'm responsible and I
know I'm not responsible for the economy
of what's going on right now but by me
claiming it then I feel like I have some
power over it
dude now now you're into a zone I'm so
passionate about this and it is I can't
fathom that this is a con um
I keep wanting to say conversational
that is not the word controversial wow
it's it's a controversial idea I can't
fathom that that's true but when I first
started like becoming uh I'm gonna start
putting my ideas out of the world I
started blogging and I wrote a Blog that
I thought you can't imagine how excited
I was to write this Vlog I was like oh
my God if I had known this back in my
early 20s it would have sped my life up
so much I'm like okay what's the best
way to explain this and so I write this
article called it's all your fault and
I'm writing about like okay imagine you
get hit by a drunk driver and I like do
this whole thing and the punch line was
you decided to get in a car because I
had paint this whole picture of you stop
at a stoplight uh you pull in between
two cars there's a car in front of you
cars on either side your car breaks down
your horn stops working you see somebody
barreling behind you they crash into you
whose fault is that and I was like no
one is gonna say it's your fault not the
insurance company none of your friends
your parents nobody is going to say it's
your fault but I'm here to tell you it's
all your all and I was like man I'm
empowering you this is the most amazing
piece like of information ever like this
is so great because it means you could
have done something differently or you
can do something differently in the
future I'm not saying beat yourself up
I'm not saying you're a bad person I'm
just saying like you said retain your
agency people flipped the [ __ ] out
people wrote in you're victim blaming
what the [ __ ] like I can't believe this
is horrible this is disgusting I was
like whoa that this to me is exactly
where people get stuck in their [ __ ]
life it is emotionally difficult to take
ownership of everything in your life
like you said covid-19 it's not my fault
but if I retain agency in that and go
okay what can I do now to make a change
to go in a different direction now all
of a sudden I remain active I'm in
problem solving mode I'm not beating
myself up over it in fact if I were to
say the thing that is really allowed me
to progress in my life is I can look
nakedly at my inadequacies my fail
failures my mistakes without feeling
badly about myself
If people could do that like if you can
understand oh it's all my fault that
doesn't make me a bad person it just
means I'm still in control right I've
got agency in this situation
um that would change everything but most
people immediately go to well if this is
my fault or if I'm in control or if this
is my responsibility or whatever then
somehow I'm a bad person
right and so how do you deal with when
you're because I've seen you on stage
and not many people have the impetus to
be able to say ask me anything and you
just you're dealing with their issue
right at that in that moment it some
people feel very vulnerable because they
don't know what's coming you know I
don't ask like before we had this
conversation and I didn't I didn't say
like Tom can you feed me the questions
because there's a certain level of
expertise where you go through it and if
it's not there then you're you're
learning something and you'll be able to
progress how do you but it's hard for
somebody who's been who has been
identified as victimized this happened
to them right somebody came and they
they murdered somebody or they where
they did something to them and I'm not
saying that that it's not acknowledging
and saying that person is right in any
way but it's again giving you your power
so that you could decide what to focus
on you can decide what things mean you
could decide you know how to how to feel
about something because what's the
alternative what's it that you're just
at the effect of everything and maybe
because I grew up with these kind of
challenges and I was isolated and I was
kind of marginalized that I was always
searching for what we started with you
know like uh some from from some
monochrome of power because I felt
powerless I felt extremely limited but
do you believe in then when what do
people ask you online or on your show do
you believe in luck then
so I I do and I think that acknowledging
so my thing is I I want to deal with the
messiness of reality so I'm gonna I'm
gonna talk in sound bites whenever I can
I'm actually [ __ ] terrible at that
that if I had one criticism of me as
like a personality I am God awful at
giving short super succinct answers but
the thing that I'm really good at is
existing in the world of nuance so I'm
going to speak in like Global
um very clear punctuated language it's
all your fault right even though I know
the truth is no of course it's not but
what I'm trying to get at is I want
people to take the principle away but
without speaking in definitive language
people get mired in nuanced so my thing
is let the Nuance be the advanced class
so I'm more than willing to say luck is
real 100 very easy to look in my life
and say oh yeah there's if I hadn't met
this person like my wife
[ __ ] if you boil down to how I ended up
meeting my wife because she grew up in
England
I met her because a friend of hers
happened to give her a brochure for the
school that I was teaching at in America
now if that whoever put that flyer down
hadn't put the flyer down or if the
friend hadn't seen it or if Lisa hadn't
been complaining and saying she wanted
more technical skills any any piece of
that chain breaks down and I'm either
not married or I'm married to somebody
else and my life could be radically
different that was luck I didn't do [ __ ]
about that but at the same time
I was prepared and everything after that
right all the energy that I put in from
the time I was an early teenager into
being a high-level Communicator that
could have a good relationship I
literally thought about that my
nightmare at the age of 14 was being in
a Loveless marriage so I was constantly
researching communication like how do
you do this how do you have a
functioning relationship like all of
that was really important to me so I'm
putting in you know my 10 000 hours
around relationships around
communication around understanding
myself like all of that so yes this
moment of luck happens my wife happens
to cross my path but in that moment I
was prepared to make the most of it so
my thing is yeah sure luck exists yes
bad fortune exists yes [ __ ] is going to
happen to you yes kova 19 who the [ __ ]
would have thought the number of people
Jim that are going to go the [ __ ] out of
business because of covid-19 is crazy
now I as a business owner I could be
thinking about that like whoa like this
is going to be a level of disruption or
somebody that has money tied up in
economic Financial Vehicles what the
[ __ ] going to happen to all that right
am I about to go broke it's like cool I
could spend my time fretting over that
or I could say
oh Jim one thing I know is if I keep my
mind in the right place and I'm looking
for the opportunity then I'll take
advantage of the opportunity so one
person sees covid-19 as lucky oh my God
can you believe
um I Heard Noah Kagan talking about hey
boys and girls right now there's going
to be a wealth transfer the people that
understand how to leverage covid-19 will
win and their [ __ ] fortunes will be
made other people are going to panic
they won't see the opportunities and
this is going to destroy them who's
lucky right is it really unlocked or is
it yes circumstances are are random
there's so many things that we can't
control but if you've prepared right if
you come as I say seeking power right
the ability to close your eyes imagine a
better World open your eyes get the
skills you need to execute against it if
you have the skill set to deal with
something like this luck becomes
irrelevant it really becomes a question
of skill set
um the best thing I heard about luck
and forget the guy's name who said this
but he said luck is like a bus and
another one is always coming along but
you have to have the fair to be able to
get on and the fair is your skill set
I love that because right now with all
those businesses that you mentioned that
went out of business it doesn't matter
doesn't mean there was a bad leadership
or that that entrepreneur didn't have
you know amazing skill sets it's just
who could have predicted this happening
at this at this time and at the same
time taking you know control and
responsibility because it's not about
truth it's what we decide in that moment
that either is going to empower us to be
able to move forward or make us shrink
and just kind of curl up and what do you
mean I just thought about truth because
that that is something I think I agree
with violently yes so I believe that
when we're going back to luck again that
it's yes there's some these people maybe
are unlucky all these businesses that
are going out of business but it doesn't
mean that they weren't they didn't have
great skills set as a leader or as a
business individual but maybe you know
through circumstance who could have
predicted what what happened right and
so is it true that that I could have an
infinite memory the truth is I don't
know but I choose to believe that I have
that potential so that way I could you
know I'll do the things necessary to be
able to show up show up that way is it
true that is it absolutely positive that
me and my and my significant other she
and I are going to be together forever
like I choose to believe that's the
truth
um because I'll work towards it it's not
that you know like even having
this is a little cell promo but even
having Will Smith on the cover like of
promoting the book with his endorsement
I had to work as if he was going to do
it otherwise I went to operate it as if
he he would say yes and his team win his
lawyers would say yes to that but it
wasn't true but I operated as if yes of
course he'd want to be able to do that
to support it otherwise I believe that
that wasn't a truth I would never have
done the things in the level of
intensity and the follow-through if if
it wasn't so I chose to believe that and
am I disappointed sometimes when doing
things don't work out yes for the moment
but then I always feel like I choose to
believe that in some way this is serving
me you know and that's my choice to
believe what happens to be true at that
moment
yeah I'm obsessed with that that concept
and the reason I'm obsessed with it is
your actions and your behaviors are
going to follow what you believe and so
it's like yeah do I know that we're all
limited of course I know that we're all
limited but the odds of you
making a mistake in your life because
you believe you're capable of less than
you actually are is basically a hundred
percent the odds that you'll make some
mistake because you believe you're
capable of more than you are are very
very low so most people stop themselves
they don't overextend now race car
drivers might find themselves where they
think they can you know get a gap at 250
miles an hour that they can't they crash
okay fair enough but for the most part
that's not where people are playing most
people they don't even go down the path
of getting better at something because
they just tell themselves that they
can't
um so like your book being called
Limitless okay I I will say it is pretty
clear that humans have limitations
but they're so far away from where I
feel like I'm at now that I just don't
waste any time thinking about where I'm
limited I try to put my time and energy
into just okay what do I care enough
about that I'm going to put in the
energy to get better and I do think
that's a fair question like are there
things that you want to be good at but
you just acknowledge I'm not willing to
work at it to get good and that and
that's that's the perfect statement
because it's really about about choice
you know whether we're going to be
dedicated to do that
um I feel like at some level Maybe
physical things are sometimes difficult
for me and they've been like that since
I was a kid I was never the first one
picked to be on a team for something and
so maybe I was imprinted with the you
know that kind of inadequacy where I
felt like I wasn't physically capable of
certain things
um you know taking uh people to dance or
to be able to do like a martial arts for
some reason I didn't get it like other
people get it and I'm very conscious of
like watching other people and thinking
in my mind like I did when I was when I
couldn't read I was like wow that person
is doing it so much better and I really
and I know stuff and I practice but the
effort isn't getting the same kind of
reward as maybe the people around me but
they're definitely areas I mean there
are certainly limits I mean some people
can't bench they get really really
strong but eventually they can't bench
press a car right so there's some kind
of physical their physics that that are
involved but I agree that most people
error on the other side where they are
on you know on less than what they're
capable of you know when you have your
your interviews with David goggin and
this has been pretty pretty well
established that there's always another
I believe that Limitless is not about
being perfect I believe the idea of
Limitless is that we could progress and
Advance beyond what we currently believe
is possible in ourselves with the right
commitment and dedication and discipline
and work ethic to to that point the
thing that um shocked me the most ever
I'm going to look this up here
um is push-ups what do you think the
push-up world record is
for the number of push-ups in a minute
or consecutive push-ups yeah God I can't
believe I was right about this so the
number of push-ups without stopping
without getting out of the push-up
position so I think he could rest you
know in in that position but uh number
of consecutive push-ups
would you believe 500
I would I would believe more just
because of the nature of the
conversation I mean for me to think
about doing 500 push-ups how about 5 000
would that be just absurd that would be
it yeah uh to me when I was like no
literally no one could do more than a
thousand push-ups I wouldn't have
believed it and the fact that it isn't 5
000 it's ten thousand five hundred is so
startling I I it's like so in Limitless
you talk about the Roger Bannister
effect where it was like everybody
believed the four minute mile but then
he ends up breaking the form in a mile
and and people didn't think it was
humanly possible and then once he does
it within a year or some un like just
ridiculous number of people end up doing
it I think a year later three people
break the four minute mile in the same
race this is a record that had stood for
all of human history so it's like okay
that's crazy one person shows that it's
possible and then all of a sudden
hearing that a guy could do 10 500
push-ups like huh
that that's so crazy to me that it
really does show you that it's crazy to
me and I would never have been able to
do it because I just had a belief that I
I didn't even think I had a belief it
just seemed so self-evidently true that
you couldn't do 10 000 push-ups and it's
just so and I can map out for people who
are watching this in in the areas of
what they feel like is possible to bake
in turn you know in income or in their
health or Can people really have this
level of depth and a relationship I
would imagine that it shows up in
different places you know I believe I
have a core belief that the the most
infinite resource like on planet Earth
is is human potential you know when
we're talking about the minds I can't
see a limit on people's creativity I
can't see a limit on people's
determination I can't see a set limit on
their on their imagination and I feel
like part of that I mean having to do
when we're talking about the power of
the mind I feel like we haven't even
begun to explore the possibilities of
what people create like I remember you
know years ago when you were talking
about about your your comic right and
then I was like it was very very early
stages and but there was you speak with
such certainty that you just like I'm
like it's undeniable I'm like yes this
is this is obviously there's no way I
would bet against this guy because of
certainty and then you know over time
through just the you know forced effort
and and called will call it whatever
that have horses of skill development
and dedication that it you take that you
exert your power I suffered and
struggled I had the brain injury when I
was five years old and I suffered all
through Elementary School all through
Middle School all through high school
and um and so it was like a good 14
years of and a lot of it was
um you know this thing where it's even
as a young age and maybe I've I was
pretending that everything was fine and
I'd be struggling it's kind of like that
metaphor of a of a duck on a pond and
you see it's like all calm and relaxed
but underneath it's just like hustling
really really fast and people don't
always see what's below the iceberg but
for me I struggle privately and my
parents because I grew up with these
challenges and um I didn't have a lot of
people to talk to because when you have
feel like yet you're broken you don't
connect with a lot of people so on top
of everything I was also painfully shy I
was introverted but I was also shy and
very preserved and I would always sit in
the corner and I honestly I've never
I've never talk about this publicly but
I ask everybody you know what their
superpower is and I feel like that my
superpower growing up as an insecure kid
who felt like he was broken and taught
that by adults that that my superpower
was being invisible whoa like I didn't
want to be seen I mean I ultimately did
want to be seen and I want to be heard
like most of us and accepted and
acknowledged but I didn't want the
spotlight like I would do for example
um my parents instilled like this work
ethic about working working hard and so
I would do a book report and even though
it was more difficult for me and to the
point where I'd be like okay I have it I
was done and but if a teacher asked me
in high school to present it in front of
a class I would actually lie and say I
didn't do it and I would take a zero and
because I was so terrified of being in
front of a group of people and um and I
would throw it out on the way out of
class and it was really scary but my
parents always held that there was there
was there was more that there was
purpose that was that there's a reason
that I was going through these
challenges I mean my mother actually
went into
um became a special ed teacher because
she just really wanted to to help
because that nobody because of what you
went because of what I went through and
so because so they were very caring like
that but the challenge is we don't know
what we don't know and um and they did
the best they could to be able to help
me but what they did instill in me was
that there was a reason you know that
through going through struggles just
like when they came to this country
um all of us go through struggles right
in our health or relationship whatever
it is but through struggles come come
strengths and people don't didn't talk
about this as much and you know I
probably have a post-traumatic you know
stress from it going through brain
injury after brain injury there's also
post-traumatic growth which which you
know like a lot of the it's not as
widely talked about but there's some
people that go through immense amount of
trauma and difficulty and challenge but
they come out of it actually more
empowered that they when they say to
themselves that because of going through
this I found a new Strength I found my
superpowers I found a new meaning in my
life I thought a new level of commitment
I found a strength a mission if you will
and they went and just a lot of them the
test that they wouldn't trade that
experience no matter how painful it was
at the time for for anything and I and I
find that growing up with reading
challenges and you know I couldn't read
for an extra three years I pretended how
to read
um you know and it's it's like um it's
like the Imposter syndrome it's like
they have this image of how they want to
be projected to the world and then they
have this image of what they fear they
are and then they have their real who
they are but I think a lot of people are
suffering and overloaded and overwhelmed
and they're depleted because they're
trying to hold these images in place you
know and and and then be themselves also
as well in different contexts so that's
why I love you because you are the same
on camera and off and there's there's a
congruency there's an authenticity
that's there um and I feel like a lot of
people expend unnecessary amounts of
energy trying to hold up this image of
their ideal self to the world and then
they have this image of that they fear
so it's going to be revealed to somebody
else and so growing up as a kid who
couldn't read I would pretend I
understood things like teachers would
explain things and I didn't want to be
the only one who didn't understand and I
would pretend but in private I was
really suffering and struggling and so
um you know it's one of those things
where you wonder why like my two biggest
challenges growing up were learning and
public speaking which is the universe
has a weird sense of humor because
that's what I do for right my mission
now and um so it's interesting how
things are how did you push through that
because so as somebody who's seen you
speak publicly you're so good at it like
you have so much energy and enthusiasm
and projected confidence
um even if you're like secretly
overcoming something how how do you go
through the dark time of feeling like
you've been identified as the kid with a
broken brain really struggling truly
like how do you get yourself taught
going in a positive direction like
everything would be pushing back against
you yeah I think um so it's even I even
get nervous with doing things like this
and you know that right you know even
being on camera or having my picture
taken or there's still this residual I
always get butterflies incredible
amounts of butterflies before I go on
stage every single time how I get
through it I mean we talked about
um we've talked about previously about
mindset and about the importance of
having a growth mindset and I always
talk about the second G for me is is
grid and these are the three G's of the
superhero right yeah and I think so I
think having a powerful mindset being
Unstoppable
um or just having the ability to go and
and succeed whatever success is for you
you have do you have to always you have
to be growing because if you're not
growing then you're just you're you're
backsliding right but you also need a
level of grid and I think grid just like
growth is a muscle it's something that
you need to sharpen through challenge
because through the challenge you get
all the change that comes from it I
would say that if I'm if I'm effective
having an impact on stage and we all
have a stage of our life whether it's on
a physical stage or you know just going
through our day that I challenge my my
grid and my my ability to persist I feel
like that the most successful people on
the planet that that having the level of
impact that they want to have to go
through challenges and they it's a
matter you know just like the hero's
journey that we've talked about many
times and and so how I get myself
through it I'm on monitor myself talk
because I think that's important I feel
like
with a name like quick you know you have
to be a runner right and so I had to be
a runner back in school and to be
careful getting speeding tickets and
everything else like that but I was
remember I was reading a book years ago
on uh preparing for a marathon and one
of the chapters again was on the
psychology of it and it said this
verbatim you know because I'm the memory
expert it said you're my your your brain
is like a super computer and your
self-talk is a program it will run so if
you tell yourself you're not good at
remembering names you will not remember
the name of the next person you meet
because you program your super computer
not to and I always tell people that um
and and now I I don't I don't think the
brain is like a super computer it's I
think it's a it's a weak metaphor for
for uh for what it is because you know
this is like a living computer that
could do so much more and has different
um capabilities but I would say that
your self-talk is important and it is
the program that we will run and I
always tell people to keep it positive
keep it empowering because your mind is
always eavesdropping on your self-talk
right and you have to be careful what
you say to yourself because it's the
same conscious command so I would be
very careful like when I'm getting when
I get nervous or I feel like I'm I think
some of the most successful people live
at the edge of their limits you know and
they and they play there also as well
and so whenever I feel in my nervous
system I feel like I can't do it then I
feel like I really must do it because I
feel like How We Do Anything Is How We
Do Everything when did you have that
realization that you could overcome some
of the fears by knowing what your
motives were you've had many guests and
address this and I really do feel
and congratulations on with Mal and
Simon those videos are like you know
hundreds of millions of people watch it
um and I feel like I was having this
conversation I did a talk in Silicon
Valley and afterwards Bill Gates comes
up to me and I asked him what superpower
he could read one and he's like the
ability to read faster and I was like oh
I can totally help with that and and I I
believe in reading and I know you're an
avid Avid Reader and we share that
commonality uh the leaders or readers um
but we're talking about the future
education and I was taking the approach
from Adult Learning Theory and brain
science and he was approaching it for
more technology and scale and somebody
who was listening asked the question
saying is there anything missing you
know what's missing Epson Theory and and
technology and we were talking about it
and we came to the conclusion is
understanding human motivation like that
because motive matters right and what
drives us I always tell people that
there's a success formula I subscribe to
it I call it h Cube that it goes from
your head to your heart to your hands
especially in the personal development
space or what they teach about goal
setting you could affirm things in your
head or or think things in your head or
visualize things in your head but if
you're not acting with your hands
there's there's something that's missing
right there's an incongruency there and
I what I tell people is like you know
check in with the second age which is
your heart which is the symbol of like
emotion the energy of motion and so I
feel like that's the fuel that fuels the
car that gets you to take action for
something and I do believe what got me
through it is figuring out what my why
was right I don't want people to suffer
the way I did if I could do anything
about it for me it's like no brain left
behind right because I I live with that
identity for so long and my my message
to people whether it's on stage or on
the podcast or anything is that you know
we are more than what we're
demonstrating that we've been sold this
lie that people are taught through
school like when I do these demos and I
unstage memorize 100 names and words and
numbers forwards and backwards and it
appears effortlessly I always tell
people I don't do this impress you I
just express to you what's really
possible because the truth is everyone
can do this too and so much more apply
towards creativity and focus and flow
and problem solving and thinking and and
really overcoming the biggest challenges
of their life and maybe even the world
the challenges we were taught a lie we
were taught a lie that somehow our
intelligence our potential our learning
our memory somehow is fixed or
creativity is fixed or thinking is fixed
like our shoe size and what we've
discovered you know as you know more on
a human about brain science in the past
two decades we've discovered more than
the previous 2000 years and what we know
is that we're grossly underestimating
it's past our own capacity to be able to
grow to be able to contribute to improve
our intelligence and our influence and
our impact and I'm really I want to kind
of pull the veil behind and just say hey
this is about transcending you know this
is about ending the trance ending the
trance that you're that we're not good
enough you know that we're not smart
enough that we're not this genius and
telling the truth and and the truth is
people could we're faster and we're
smarter than we think and not just to be
able to wrote memorize things but be
able to really solve significant
challenges and maybe that these
challenges that we're going through are
the lessons that we need to to learn the
most and then some people who learn
those lessons feel compelled to be able
to share that voice with other people so
it's not just one candle you know we
just could set things Ablaze you know so
what are some of the the key problems
that you personally want to solve that
you think we face as a society like what
are those major movements
um so a lot of these conversations you
and I we've had with our mutual friend
Peter diamandis over at xprize I was at
the very early stages of their education
literacy prize when they first launched
it and um and so I think for for me
um my my platform is is education and I
feel like that growing up if anyone
who's watching this feels like they're
overloaded overwhelmed and they can't
keep up I always tell people that I
don't think it's completely their fault
it's just we all grew up with a 20th
century education that prepared us for
20th century World which at the turn of
the century was working in factories and
farms and assembly line and our
education system was married to that it
was assembly line one size fits all
Cookie Cutter approach towards education
teaching us things about what to learn
math History Science Spanish but all
things we could find online nowadays
right so what do you need to be able to
regurgitate that information for but it
wasn't it was about what to learn but
not how to learn and you know how to
think for yourself how to solve problems
how to be creative all the things that
you can't Outsource to you know to Intel
like automated or technology or you
can't Outsource to Asia you know our
value in this world is really our build
our creativity right because that's not
something that's easily outsourced our
ability to create value be creators take
our vision and turn them into reality
take the invisible and make it visible
but where are the classes on that right
on how to be able to live your your best
version of yourself that's why I love
this and the conversations that we have
and the conversations that you're
bringing out to the world because
nowadays you know we live in this see
here's the thing
um I get to work you mentioned with
SpaceX and Elon and such and and we're
rocket scientists and all these I mean
they're think about that we're living in
a world of autonomous electric cars and
spaceships that are going to Mars Bar
vehicle Choice when it comes to learning
it's like we're choosing like a horse
and buggy right that's our choice and
that we wonder why wow this is taking so
long this is so hard this is so
difficult but it's not our fault we just
weren't prepared for this world that
we're living in right now they say that
um that if Rip Van Winkle you know the
gentleman who'd slept for decades of
Slumber right if he woke up today the
only thing he would recognize is our
schools and that's not a slight against
teachers like my mother's a school
teacher my my my aunts is a college
professor I love those individuals
because they're some of the most
hard-working individuals that I know and
I get to train a lot of them but it's a
systemic issue just like like many
challenges you know it doesn't grow and
it hasn't evolved as much as the rest of
the world has but I love this because
right now classrooms you know they don't
have four walls I mean how many how many
people are watching this from how many
different countries right now and you
never know who's listening on the other
side and that motivates inspires the
heck out of me because what if someone
right now is watching this on their
smart device and they you know they're
in the middle of some like a third world
country and they become the next Malala
or Elon Musk or what have you and that's
that's what really juices me and so
education I feel like a lot of people
feel like that when they graduate school
their their learning is done they in
fact the two big dips and cognitive
performance is usually when people
graduate school and the second one is
when they retire from work so often when
people retire you know their mind you
know they feel like you know their body
is not too far behind either right
because of that connection
don't spend so much time trying to
suppress negative thoughts if you need
trauma therapy pursue that with a
professional but if you have negative
thoughts just remember I can also
introduce positive thoughts the same way
I can control running around the block
positive thoughts are the equivalent of
forward physical action