Kind: captions
Language: en
Majors Cooley and welcome back to the
show Tom thank you for having me again
I'm stoked man so why is it that people
that are hyper successful are so
obsessed with getting their morning
routine right and what should everybody
watching this right now do to make
theirs crispy
because that's a really good question I
think the morning routine
is something that will set anybody up
for Success right because when you wake
up and I wake up and the next guy wakes
up we all have about the same number of
time
actually exactly the same number of time
and so since we know that that means
what you do versus what I do matters and
so if I'm screen sucking the moment I
get up I'm looking at social media
what's going on Facebook who's talking
about what on Instagram and you're like
hey I've got this GSD list I call it the
get [ __ ] done list and the GSD list is
you're just going to wake up and
dominate your day like my morning
routine is wake up never hit the snooze
button we've talked about this on your
show previously drink my 30 ounces of
water because
Sean Stevenson said so and then take a
shower and then end up downstairs with
my protein shake and my coffee and more
water and work off my GSD list like that
sets me up to win checking in on social
media is not part of my morning routine
because all of a sudden something on
social media might trigger me to feel
like I'm missing out might trigger me to
feel like I should have been at an event
might trigger me to feel like
sense of guilt a sense of Shame a sense
of whatever and any of those things any
of those feelings and emotions are not
things that I would take into the Battle
of business and I'm in the Battle of
business because of when I make money I
can have a greater sense of meaning with
it and and so I cannot take emotions and
feelings and thoughts that I got from
social media especially in the morning
to the battlefield of business where I
do most of my heavy work in the morning
so that morning routine sets me up to
win and soon as I'm done with my GSD
list by about 9 A.M like you can set
your clock to me I go right to the gym
work out intentionally put my phone in
my cubby at the gym and because again
I'm susceptible to looking at the screen
and if I'm doing that all of a sudden my
workout is less than Stellar yeah which
means I feel like a failure and now I'm
more likely to compound failure
throughout the day so that's how I look
at it so conversely if I slept in hit
the snooze button didn't drink 30 ounces
of water just took a sip of water now
I'm going to be late to work I feel
rushed the subconscious mind is telling
me that I'm a loser I'm a failure I'm an
imposter how you can go lead a
international franchise or a supplement
company or a or write another book when
you're a loser dude right the
subconscious mind speaks to us that's
the inner critic and so to shut down the
inner critic and give voice to the inner
advocate
a strong morning routine sets you up to
win the day you win the day you win the
week
and then off you go you've won a year
and then a decade it's so crazy to me
how much that matters like you can get
off by just a little and your efficiency
starts to be off and then the day just
isn't as
um useful as it could have been and it
really it really does start with the
morning like getting people to
understand if you get the morning right
then the rest of your day you're going
to be able to be far more productive and
when you start stacking those things
that really is the difference between
somebody that accomplishes a lot and
somebody that doesn't look I don't want
to deny the intellect plays a big role
education plays a big role but
if you are inefficient to your point
about okay we all have the same number
of hours so it comes down to how are you
spending your time but there's something
like I find myself wanting to say more
words because there's something
ineffable that I'm not capturing yet
which is
there is a really subtle difference
between a high performance day and a
mediocre day and when I think about
certainly the thing that has been my
superpower is I'm able to generate
momentum so I can go from standing still
nobody knows who I am nobody believes in
what I'm trying to do uh we don't have a
company incorporated like all of that
and then ah you know those Furs like
getting the machine moving is so hard
that's what I can do and whether that's
a new project whether that's a whole
company whatever I can get those early
things going
every day feels like that and on the
days where I am battered and beaten
psychologically and I what I I call
hiding in bed and I'm hiding in bed and
you just even if I just miss getting out
of bed because I give myself 10 minutes
if I get out of bed in 11 minutes I'm
like uh I know where this goes there's
something I'm pushing against that is
stop either I didn't go to bed on time I
didn't sleep well I'm stressed whatever
but there's something going on that made
getting up unusually hard that day and
then it just Spirals and so getting
people to understand how important it is
to do the most important things first
do them efficiently get the
psychological momentum going so that you
can believe in yourself you have that
credibility you get going it really
makes a big difference but it's hard to
explain it is hard to explain but
sometimes you don't need an explanation
for example if you just watch What
winners do and do what they do odds are
you will eventually have a similar
outcome great example is
I believed I believe you may have shared
this at either fleischman's elevator
nights when we all spoke there or it
might have been on when uh you were kind
enough to come and do my podcast but you
said
if I wake up within correct me if I'm
wrong if I wake up within 20 minutes of
my alarm going off I don't go back to
sleep I just get up I'm like I'm
adopting that I'm adopting that now if
it was some crackhead who robs Banks
says that I may not adopt that but
you're someone I respect that I want to
be like and emulate you know what I'm
going to add that to my repertoire like
I don't know why Sean wrote in his book
that you need to drink third ounce of
water in the morning I don't care why I
trust him and I trust that he's a great
scientist and he's all about human
optimization I'm going to do that I
trust you as an entrepreneur and so when
I look up to in this category of life
I'm going to do that and so I just start
adopting things and I think there's a
gift to just being
for lack of a better term ignorant like
you know ignorance is bliss yeah so much
of My Success has just been because no
one told me that I couldn't fly no one
said those you don't have wings and so I
was like watch this and I flew yeah I
mean I created a software company with
no software background or franchise
without any without a dropped out of
college in 32 days bro out of junior
college right they're like well you
don't have a lot of green you don't
pause on that why did you drop out I I
just felt like I didn't belong I I was
constantly just like high school I felt
constantly behind and I figured all
right I'm gonna go to Junior College and
see if I can get on track because you
know they say go to college where you're
new to like I would be the first family
member
to graduate college because remember we
escaped Soviet Union came here when I
was six and so it was a big deal I felt
that pressure on me and I truly wanted
to have a college degree just to say
I've done this right
but just like high school it felt like I
didn't belong it felt like I would have
to study three or four or five times
harder than everyone else and I remember
in call in high school the the foil
method remember foil first inner outer
last nope see that no one does never
heard that but it was part of algebra or
something oh God I cheated my way
through all the mathematics I have no
idea God bless you I was so bad at it
that I remember showing my answer and
the teacher going but that's you're not
going to get credit because you didn't
do foil and this is the only thing I
remember about high school because she
like chastised me so much she says you
didn't do the first inner out or last
you didn't show your work you got the
answer I remember thinking
I'm gonna be an entrepreneur man I'm
going to produce the results I I knew
that I was going to be my own boss wow
I'm Gonna Be My Own Boss I need to
produce an outcome and people are going
to prove some outcomes for me I don't
care how they produce it don't produce
it unethically don't produce it by
cheating someone killing someone but
produced outcome I want and I will
actually reward you
for producing it faster instead of doing
this amount of work if you can do this
amount of work and produce the outcome
our industry rewards that the education
system doesn't and so the same thing
happened in college so like 31 32 days
in I'm like all right I'm out I'm
falling behind I feel like a dumb ass
I'm having to study three four times as
much to remember things that I feel are
irrelevant to where my path in life and
so I moved on was like all right
full-lane entrepreneurship any of that
chip away at your belief that you could
do the entrepreneurship thing or you
just knew uh this isn't going to matter
I felt that I was so unemployable in
terms of like every job I had gotten
fired from also right except for
Disneyland I worked at Disneyland for
six and a half years I didn't get fired
I quit every other job I got fired from
the bagel store on by Balboa Island
Adventure City
um you name it every place and so I was
like I'm unemployable no one wants to
employ me I know I can be a better boss
like and and have people like me who are
I don't know maybe a bit of Misfits uh
free thinkers outcome producers without
showing the work work for me and I'll
create my own little tribe I've always
known I was a black sheep and so school
and not doing well in school did not
deter me from being an entrepreneur in
fact all it did was say this is your
only path dude no one's going to employ
you you're unemployable you're going to
lose every job you have
um and it was because of the conflict
that I have I always questioned
Authority and I think that's a great
Behavior to have but know that if you
constantly question authority you're
probably not employable right the whole
idea of having a boss is there your
source of authority and so I always
questioned Authority I questioned
education system and so I knew that I
had to beat my own path so all it did is
solidify my resolve
yeah it's interesting the idea of
questioning authorities so that's always
been my problem I've always had a
problem with authority I'm not even sure
so I mean look 50 of us is hardwired so
I'll say that for whatever reason I've
just always had an issue with that uh so
yeah that's definitely but I'm very
employable I was an amazing employee so
it's weird it's like this bizarre
conflict of I hate it I hate people
being able to tell me what to do which
is why I was so hell-bent to become My
Own Boss
um but I would silently conform so it's
really interesting and bucking out of
that is difficult I actually want to
talk about that there's going to I think
a huge part of this conversation will
end up being about that but first I want
to talk about imperfect action yes so
we've got our moaning routine we know we
need to be hyper efficient I still think
I failed to convey like that that real
subtle Nuance of what a big difference
but if people can just like you said
model the behavior great so people have
that on lock but they're going to most
people are diminished by the failures by
not being good at school by whatever
they've been kicked in the teeth enough
in life so they convince themselves
they're not going to be able to do it
and the number of people no matter how
many times I say because I talk a lot
about you need to learn right so
whatever you're going to do you're going
to learn about it but then people end up
in the death Loop of like I'm going to
learn from nine years because I don't
think I understand and I'm like no no if
you learn something in the morning you
start using it in the afternoon so like
you have to go right away otherwise it's
it's all going to be
um
book knowledge is not going to be
practical right it's going to be
theoretical it's not going to be applied
so what is imperfect action and how have
you mustered the courage to actually do
it when you know that failure is so
possible
so I'll start with the idea of failure
first and I learned from Napoleon Hills
book outwitting The Devil
that there is no such thing as failure I
have reframed it in my head as I will
experience temporary defeat many times
in my life but I will never experience
failure and once you accept that why
what's failure and why won't you expect
failure is a choice and so if you choose
not to like if you choose not to drink
any more water from that cup no matter
how much I make you you choose not to
drink it it's not going to happen so
it's failure when you actually stop
trying it's when you stop trying it's a
choice to stay down right and it's okay
to stay down and gather your wits and
then get back up hence making it
temporary defeat the moment you choose
to stay down by because of not trying
you have given up so let's just say
giving up instead of failure failure
shouldn't even exist it's temporary
defeat so once I know that then I'm like
well there's no such thing as failure
because I choose not to accept it or
acknowledge it therefore I will only see
temporary defeats in life and the more
things that I attempt to do that are new
the higher the probability of having
temporary defeats however each one of
those defeats are a lesson that I could
learn from and improve because the human
mind the psyche and body are very
adaptable playing ping pong against one
of your guys here was different than
playing against Lisa your wife who's a
beast at it and so I had to adopt the
body is so adaptable so knowing that if
I learn something first thing in the
morning I want to be able to use it as
soon as possible I don't want to wait
till it's perfect I don't want to wait
till we have a trademark or the
copyright like I was the one out the
gate launching Fit Body Boot Camp before
was trademarking my attorney was like
stop I will always lean into imperfect
action because I do know that the
universe will collude with me will
conspire with me when I am leaning into
imperfect action
I can always course correct as I go see
people always we're so black and white
bro we are so black and white and I was
the king of black and white like if I do
this and if it doesn't work out then I
will fail oh [ __ ]
oh [ __ ] with that mindset and if that's
the only outcome you choose to accept
that's scary that it's it's either going
to be a win or a fail
what if it's somewhere in the middle
that there's a temporary defeat and
therefore you can back up the car and go
down the next Road and then temporary
defeat back up the car again go down the
next road so imperfect action tells me
that the person the universe the
universe will reward the person who acts
the quickest that's just how the
universal Collective Consciousness works
if we know that to be true
then I will take an idea that I learned
I will launch it immediately and I will
course correct as I go and the universe
will reward me because of that and again
these people who say the universe a
you're a man of Faith right
I am a man of faith that there's a God a
higher power the book that you gave me
my friend
um
the power of myth Joseph Campbell really
talks about Consciousness and our human
animal we are Consciousness writing in
this meat sack that's a human animal
that has impulsively wants to eat and
lean into comfort and convenience and
greed and you know if this was the only
cup of water left and the few hours went
by one of us are going to want to attack
it that's what the human animal wants to
do Consciousness goes I'm just going to
look through
these windows call the eyes I'm going to
control my human animal most people are
they're light their inner Radiance are
so stifled
the way I show it at the project and
we'll probably get into the project
later but imagine this light bulb
and it glows bright within that's our
Radiance we are connected to the source
to God
and all of our Consciousness together is
the universe and so if I take that bulb
and I put a black blanket over it and
another layer of black blanket and
another black blanket soon you barely
see the glow
most people their Radiance has been
stifled because they put
food drugs alcohol infidelity
pornography laziness binge watching
television
all these layers of distraction over
their Radiance they're supposed to go so
bright
that if you were able to remove all that
everyone's got that great Consciousness
but all those blankets on top of your
light
stifles it and therefore you become more
of a human animal because you've stifled
Consciousness and so the word greatest
work we can ever do in our life is the
work we do on ourselves which is really
removing all of those layers of blankets
so that the light can shine bright and
then you know this you walk into
somewhere and people are magnetically
attracted to you it's not for any other
reason other than you've done the self
work your Tom 2.0 3.0 4.0 just like on
Pedro's 2.0 3.0 4.0 and therefore people
are like man there's something about
this person that's the universal
connection we all have Consciousness
their human animal can see that this
person
is glowing brighter and they're
attracted to that and it's our job then
to go let me help you expose your
Radiance as well so how do you how do
you start pulling those napkins the
black cloth how do you peel those off
self-awareness right self-awareness
first
um
Until you realize that you are a human
animal I realized that I was a human
animal meaning you have impulses
impulsive
that you're emotional that you react on
emotion and not logic that you make
decisions on feelings and sometimes
those are somewhat permanent decisions
based on temporary feelings and we've
all made those I'm not pointing fingers
I was the king of making bad decisions
on temporary feelings that later led to
regret
but 11 years ago I had this massive
panic attack and I talked about that in
my book
and thank God man for that panic attack
because I was 37 years old I thought I
was having a heart attack I'm like I'm
at the peak of my Prime Fit Body Boot
Camp starting to thrive like just
blowing up it's becoming this
International brand we got recognition
from Ink magazine an entrepreneur
magazine
um yet my marriage was starting to fall
apart my babies at the time they're 14
and or 15 and 17 now they wouldn't come
running to me when I come into the house
because I gave off this tense energy
right and I would impulsively just
emotionally eat when I get home bagels
and cream cheese because I needed the
dopamine hits yet I was running a
Fitness franchise so I was incongruent
with
the fitness industry that I'm supposed
to be in I'm making videos at the time
on YouTube from the chin up because I
didn't really want to show the pouring
out of shape that I was in
and so I share all this with you because
that panic attack led me to realize uh
okay one it wasn't a heart attack
thankfully the doctor did the EKG test
and was like hey you're good but how's
your life I'm like well I'm stressed I'm
like drinking NyQuil to fall asleep
every night and taking Vicodin to fall
asleep and um I would wake up and take
adderall and drink a whole bunch of
coffee to then you know kick that foggy
headedness from the drugs the night
before
and so I was always behind on schedule
felt like an imposter because I would
expect something from my employees that
I wouldn't even do myself I share all
this with you because that panic attack
which felt like a heart attack led me to
start doing some self work the self work
started with a therapist because I read
I didn't want to take um they gave me
Xanax dude I was on Xanax for four days
and I don't know if you've ever taken
Xanax but for me it felt like someone
turned off my creativity switch like if
we have all these different switches
someone just like a dimmer switch
brought it down to like one and so all
right I don't feel anxious
but I also don't feel like trying
anything stuff just chill out at home
like four days in I'm like this is how I
lose it all so I went back to the doctor
I'm like dude I can't take this stuff he
goes well to manage your your Stress and
Anxiety have you thought about talking
to a therapist
like oh that's for crazy people right
but um reluctantly I found a good
therapist Dr Kevin Downing in Brea
California
and um
and we spent the next like 15 months
every Monday after work I'd drive to
Brea and I'd sit on his couch and some
Mondays I was like Kevin could I just
can I just curl up on the couch pay you
to just let me sleep here just take a
nap I'm just drained and he would just
have lighter conversations with me those
days still charge me for a lighter
conversation and then there was days
where we did the heavy work where I just
felt like I was just walking to my car
in this parking lot like I was just
walking through molasses like we peeled
away a lot of scars from childhood
trauma like being molested as a kid in
Armenia by two older boys to just being
bullied when we came here but all this
to say
Kevin brought to surface self-awareness
for me and I realized that dude I shield
and I soothe the ego is a real thing and
it is there to protect us
but the ego will help us shield and
soothe so if I make a lot of money I can
surround myself with yes people then yes
people are going to be good to me
they're gonna they're gonna do it so of
course I wanted to make a lot of money
all this to say self-awareness comes
from self-work
once you do the self-work you become
self-aware you're like oh my God I am
flawed Tom I'm a horrible friend when
you're like hey how's it going and I'm
like what do you mean by that that's
because I'm reacting to some weird
feelings that I haven't processed
through that may have happened as a kid
man just because the way you said
something I gets triggered it triggers
me right and so I started to do the
self-work it was ugly it was not fun
um I had weeks at a time where
he had to process about what happened to
me as a kid man do I tell my parents who
are in their 80s no there's no point in
telling them they're just gonna
feel this guilt and why don't you tell
us sooner and they're going to die with
that memory like so like keep it to
yourself you know so those are real
things that the process do I share this
publicly well I feel like I'm supposed
to serve humanity and the selfish most
selfish thing I do is each time I serve
Humanity I serve myself so all right I'm
going to try and talk about this
on stage one time and one day it came
out on stage I could see the whole
audience squirming in their seats
because who the hell wants to hear that
hey look if you've been molested or
sexually or physically emotionally
abused you probably have trauma and you
carry this
Shield
and you're either shielding or soothing
soothing with drugs alcohol infidelity
whatever or shielding as in not letting
people win
and so how is that showing up with your
kids with your friendships business
Partnerships your wife yours your
husband
um and so the more I talk about it and
so I very quickly realized that oh my
God talking about this allows me to have
more aha moments more aha moments lead
me to taking off yet another layer of
that blanket and the blight gets
brighter and brighter and the brighter
the lights light gets the more people
want to hear from me and talk to me and
do business with me and stay around me
and and I realized this is how we make
impact we all want to serve Humanity we
all know that we're on this planet for a
reason we have a higher level of purpose
and so we feel the gnawing in our gut
like I want to impact legs I want to
change lives I want to inspire people
cool
start with fixing victim number one
before you go fix everybody else you
know talk to me about the light so
there's two ideas in here there's uh the
universe is conspiring with you I'd
definitely love to know more about that
and then there's the idea of the light
is sort of already on but you've covered
it up and you just have to peel it away
yeah how much of it is the light itself
even if you didn't have it covered up do
you is there a way to make that brighter
like whatever that thing is or do you
feel like no we're born perfect and the
life diminishes us
I do believe and again I've got no signs
to back this up you've probably had far
smarter people sitting here at this
table who could back this up with some
kind of science but I again I'm so
convicted of my beliefs and how about
this maybe I'm absolutely all wrong but
just because I believe in this so much
that I make it so if that alone
makes me successful and happy in life
and feeling like I've had some sense of
meaning and significance I'm good to go
man it's interesting you actually said
something earlier and I wanted to say
you know how crazy you sound right now
right but it's so effective that
um I so here's another idea I don't know
how to get people to embody this but so
what you said that made you sound crazy
but to me I'm totally with you is uh you
were talking about the failure and
you're like I refuse to acknowledge it
yeah
foreign
you both and you talked about this but
you both have to look at it assess what
went wrong look at the data learn from
it so that you can do something more
effective next time and at the same time
you have to completely ignore whatever
Temptation you have to believe that that
means that you're not going to succeed
in the future and that this is somehow a
commentary on your capabilities it's
this really weird
Schism of you have to look at both
things so yeah you're right and and I
think that it's true what you're saying
so I'm not a believer in the universe is
conspiring I think the universe could
give a [ __ ] like it just it it is
there's obviously something that we
don't understand so whatever there is
some sort of
god-ish thing there's something I don't
understand right why is there something
instead of nothing
it's arguably the most profound question
that you can ever ask
I won't derail us on that but so there's
obviously something yeah there's
obviously something that I don't
understand but I don't think it's
working for me I think that there are a
set of rules the world Works a certain
way 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 iron 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
and so when you were talking about human
as animal that resonates with me we I'm
I have told uh my the people in Impact
Theory University like a dozen times if
there's going to be an Epitaph on my
Tombstone I would like it to read you're
having a biological experience meaning
even if there is a God that God has
given you a set of physics chemistry
biology and they work a certain way and
if you try to fight them your life will
be miserable because you will be unable
to predict the outcome of your behaviors
if you can't predict the outcome of your
behaviors you won't be able to take
right action meaning the action that
moves you most efficiently towards your
goals
so I don't think it's working with me
but I still think everything you said is
true in that if I align myself with the
way things actually work I'll make rapid
progress so why does the world I think
the exact word you said where the
universe will conspire with the person
who acts fastest
I think that's true I just don't think
the universe is it's not the language I
would use sure so but it is so in
alignment with the first person to act
will learn faster than the next person
they're obviously not afraid to fail if
they can lower their ego enough to take
in the lesson of whatever failure they
get by moving first then they can
improve and keep going it's the action
Improvement and continuing to move
that's the conspiring but whether you
believe that it's God that's going to
work with you the universe is going to
work with you because you do it or you
just [ __ ] do it whatever as long as
you're on that path you're going to win
so I think we might be saying the same
thing bro 100 yeah there's no doubt
because you just said
that on your Tombstone if there's going
to be anything it's going to say that
you're having a biological experience
and this biological experience set by
God or whoever else whatever else right
um there's rules to the game this is
kind of what you're implied and that if
you play by the rules
that you're gonna win if you don't play
by the rules if you don't understand the
game you're it's going to be a painful
life a painful Human Experience right we
can agree to that and so the way I look
at it is is just that the
Source Universe all of our Collective
Consciousness together is like we've all
agreed subconsciously these are the
rules
every person knows that they got to lean
into imperfect action do they I doubt
that they do if you take out the layers
bro take out the players
it is a lot of work this is why we all
start off as some level of Radiance like
you look at a child so pure going back
to the question you asked like is that
light just on I believe we all have I
don't know anything about electricity so
I'm going to say whatever let's say this
is a 20 watt light light bulb right
we're all born with a 20 watt light bulb
and it's nothing's covering it ah this
is beautiful baby and we hold it and ah
there it is and then
mom and dad are like oh you're chunky oh
you're clumsy now that you're starting
to walk around these are layers being
put on now they plant you in front of
the TV a lot and now because Mom and Dad
want to go on date nights and they don't
they can't afford a nanny
they're going to slap the iPad in front
of you on date night so now your
screen's sucking and now you're just
seeing all this more blankets are being
put on this light the light the source
your Radiance is being stifled soon you
become addicted to watching television
it becomes your thing and you don't
connect and you don't know how to build
rapport now you're a teenager and you're
awkward and you're strange and you don't
know and you're not playing video games
instead of socializing and I share all
this with you because that Radiance
layer by layer from food to names like
oh you're clumsy you're chunky uh we're
all our family everyone in our family's
fat you know how many times I heard that
in my life so I was like okay I'm gonna
be fat strong and so when I made this
like big proclamation in 2010 like [ __ ]
it I'm gonna train for six weeks and run
a marathon
like my inner voice was like bro you're
a fat dude that just lifts weights you
power lift like but now I'm gonna run a
marathon you just watch so literally the
inner critic and the inner Advocate are
fighting Within Me
and that was the first time I allowed
the inner Advocate to win and I hired a
running coach
and I and I said make me a running
program I'm gonna run the San Diego Rock
and Roll Marathon my wife at the time
ran marathons like three a year and look
what a freaking hypocrite I was here Tom
jokingly I told my wife
many years before we got married
we're still dating I was like hey you
know if you marry me I'll run a marathon
right just jokingly
but again
subconsciously deep down inside there's
some truth to this that was me testing
whether she's going to say yes or no
right we're still dating we're new with
this whole relationship so she's like
fine I will right so then let's say
three years later or four years later we
got married
bro was nine years in and she ran three
marathons a year
so almost 30 marathons later I had yet
whoa what a liar I was what a hypocrite
I was now one could say well I just
jokingly said that I didn't really mean
it at the time I'm like lifting all
these weights I'm dead lifting I'm
squatting I'm benching I'm a big boy
lifting big weights God's made me to
lift weights you can justify it any way
you want then you can always find
evidence to back it up right look at my
traps look at my shoulders at the time
right so I share this with you because
one day she's like hey I'm gonna run the
Rock and Roll Marathon and I was like
cool awesome have a great time I then
left on a trip that day
to uh to run one of my masterminds the
time I surrounded my masterminds in uh
Miami San Diego Las Vegas we're in Las
Vegas and there's like 40 50 of my
coaching clients and Craig Valentine is
there as well I invited Craig to help
coach this group with me he was the
guest speaker and Craig's telling one of
the people who was complaining about
procrastinating yeah I just keep
procrastinating and I just keep doing
all these things because I don't want to
launch my products I don't want to face
the rejection of it potentially whatever
right new entrepreneur
and so Craig very curmudgeon he goes uh
you know what you need to do you know
cut that deadline you need to cut your
deadline in half again and then he just
starts lacing into this person and I'm
sitting here I'm like oh my God he's
speaking to me right now here I am nine
years later almost 30 marathons I've yet
to make good on my promise so I text my
wife under the table I'm like what did
you say that Marathon was she goes in
like eight weeks I'm like great sign me
up for it right
so she goes I'll sign you up for the
half every Marathon has a half marathon
I'm like that's [ __ ] sign me up for
the full Marathon because I'm also all
in on everything I do which is great
thing unless you're like going to do
cocaine or heroin but always make sure
my addictions are good these days these
days these days full disclosure these
days I am pretty obsessive and I think
that is a gift but it could also be very
damaging like under the right
circumstances you would find me dead in
a gutter
um and so I have to be vigilant and
militant in my schedule and the people
that I surround myself with my thought
patterns all of it um
going back to Diana and the marathon so
she books me for the Rock and Roll
Marathon I find a running coach in How
the Universe colludes with us my friend
you ready for this in that group in that
coaching group
was a woman named Joe Brewer her website
I [ __ ] you not run with jill.com she's a
running coach
so at lunch I'm telling her about it not
even connecting the dots like hey I just
signed up for a marathon I'm a bit
nervous because I could deadlift I could
squat I could bench but Ron I've never
had to run right
she goes do you need a running program
I'm like well yeah yeah I'm gonna find
me a running coach she goes that's what
I do run with jill.com like oh my God
she makes me a running program lo and
behold I trained for six weeks run the
marathon everything's fine
I broke through some glass ceiling some
limiting belief that I was only made to
do this and so
when we were born we had this Radiance
this light and families Meanwhile your
aunts your uncles your moms your dads
but soon they call you chunky and fat
and clumsy and all this and you begin to
buy all those things and your Radiance
goes away your light dims and you're
just like this robot living other
people's stories or narrative that they
put on you until one day you decide to
do the self-work and peel back painfully
the layers to expose your Radiance of
your whopping 20 watts then
you could do even deeper work and raise
the wattage like a dimmer switch to
whatever I don't know what the level is
because I'm still a work in progress if
you ever have me back 10 years from now
there might be a higher version of
myself
um but that's where I am today is
Raising that wattage yeah it's really
it's a very interesting metaphor and I
think that as people learn about the way
the mind works and they realize that you
have to be really thoughtful about what
you allow yourself to think
um I'm a big believer that you you are
what you repeat and so whatever you
allow yourself to repeat you're going to
become and even so the negative stuff no
matter how absurd if you repeated enough
you'll actually start to believe it and
the positive stuff no matter how absurd
at first it seems you'll start to
believe it if you allow yourself to
repeat it there's a really great book
called feeling great by David D Burns
and entity talks about pattern
interrupting like you have to pattern
interrupt your negative thoughts and
that was something that really served me
in the beginning I was so prone to
believe negative things about myself
that I just had to learn I I had to make
a rule in my life I don't allow myself
to repeat negative things about myself
even if I think they're true because
it's not going to serve me how do you
interrupt your patterns I literally say
I don't allow myself to think that no
stop like whatever I'll sometimes even
say it out loud also I have found if
people ever find me making this face
that face breaks negativity I can't hold
that look on my face and feel negative
it puts me in an aggressive move forward
posture now also I find that I'm gonna
have that those lines
etched into my face because I do that so
often but it really makes me feel
powerful and so doing little things like
that no I don't do that overwhelm is one
I don't do overwhelm and so I say that
to myself all the time because I feel
myself getting overwhelmed and so I'm
always trying to tell people when I say
I don't do overwhelm I don't mean that
in like a cool way that like oh I'm so
tough I I just don't allow myself to go
down that path and because to your point
about self-awareness I've spent so much
time identifying why I feel a certain
way without judgment oh that's
insecurity it's emotional weakness
whatever not not in any way shape or
form trying to be cool about it just
okay I feel that way because I'm
insecure about this thing cool
but because I have that level of
self-awareness and because I force
myself to do things that take my
emotional awareness I'm feeling a thing
to being able to articulate what thing I
am feeling and then why I'm feeling it
when I feel to me it feels like my brain
is revving up that's what overwhelm
feels like my brain is moving faster and
faster and faster and faster to the
point where it's not it's not a level of
efficiency it's overwhelm it's just it's
too much it's revving too fast it's like
being in first gear and stamping on yes
that's exactly what I pictured in my
mind's eye too A Car in park yet
stepping on the gas you hear all this
rev but it's not any place where it's
going to get momentum correct that was a
very interesting analogy that that is
exactly what overwhelm feels like to me
so when I hear that I'm like nope I
don't do overwhelm stop and just by
saying that
breathing from my diaphragm it's like
you can change the neurochemistry you're
having a biological experience so I'm
reminding myself
even going back to what you were saying
you're having a panic attack you think
you're having a heart attack you go
outside I happen to I've heard the story
so I know you feel the Sunshine on your
face you get some fresh air you take
some deep breaths oh whoa okay it's
passed even if it was a heart attack and
so changing your state you know just
stealing directly from Tony Robbins the
ability to change your state will change
your life but you have to get control of
that and so getting people this all goes
back to this you have this glowing orb
inside of you
you have to understand I think that your
point about you can raise that up over
time that's the area to focus whether
you have it or not when you're born to
me whatever our job is to uncover it and
then to raise that dimmer so that it's
it's really kicking off some wattage but
to do that you have to think right
bro what if the whole meaning of life
was
like we're all born with
that orb or light
lit
fully covered with dozens of layers
maybe you have 20 I have 18 he's got 32
meaning of life is uncover it and when
you don't you will suffer with
depression anxiety stress overwhelm
which is consciousness
telling you
you're not doing what you should be
you're shielding you're soothing you're
distracting you're doing all these
things instead of working on self
because when you take off that last
layer
like potential has been achieved but
well before taking off that last layer
maybe five layers six layers in now
you're hitting your stride in life like
I feel like the last
you know the soul 11 years ago was when
I had that panic attack anxiety attack
that led me to Dr Kevin uh that led me
to so much self-work a decade of
self-work but about I'd say about five
years years in so I started feeling like
this Rhythm like all right man like I'm
really doing it the body hockey sticks
and more businesses and more
opportunities and I get in the best
shape of my life and
it's not even like you have to take off
that last layer to achieve Bliss maybe
that's like your Peak State and whether
we all get there or not I don't know but
I think what if that was it you just
nailed it all the meaning of life is
there's your orb congratulations it's
covered with a [ __ ] ton of Gunk your job
is to take the layers off and in the
process of taking those layers off
that's the self-work that's doing the
Deep work
how boring would life be if we're like
yeah I'm not what I'm supposed to do
it's interesting so I think that the
that is so close to how I would define
the meaning of life the way I've always
thought of it in my head is the first of
all whatever life only has a meaning
that you give it I don't think there is
any truly intrinsic meaning but I think
everybody should have an answer
my answer is the meaning of life the
reason we're all here is to see how much
of your potential you can turn into
skill set and so if pushing the metaphor
and I'm not sure this is entirely what
you meant but if that glowing orb is
it's you now have something that's
useful that lights the way that allows
you to move forward in the way that you
want
that that feels really close to to what
I think people ought to be doing
it seems to me
and I've been on this path like
intentionally
and in a very focused way like in a
ruthlessly focused way the last decade
that for me again that is the meaning of
my life to just keep removing the layers
what is Pedro's 2.0 10.0 going to look
like and again but I'm also so convicted
by my belief system that I can I also
know I could will
things into being so like I can will the
universe to work
collude with me right conspire with me
which also I goes back to like your
rules like I also believe the universe
has rules and it's like hey man you
thought of something yeah every second
that passes says the universe to me in
my mind every second that passes I'm
gonna make it less achievable so you
thought of something you just learned a
new skill do it [ __ ] do it yeah
but it's not gonna be right Mr Universe
I know it's not but you could either
wait to get it down correctly but you're
going to be so in the deficit because
all the number of minutes and hours and
months that go by that
I've struck you know all these strikes
against you or if you do it now take
imperfect action you just learned it
deploy it you can course correct like
the universe is testing you like do I
want to keep rewarding this guy for this
idea I'm like oh my God I did it it's
scary is it going to work it's like well
it kind of worked okay well great but
can you fix it yes I can I'm going to
keep fixing it it's this cool thing
where whether to call it the rules call
it the Universe I really believe that
the self-work and the rules and taking
that orb that's glowing and trying to
raise its Radiance the more we do we do
develop these skill sets like these
skill sets exist
but we uncover them unearth them and
then we could use it to make money have
meaning leave an impact have
significance create a legacy I suppose
we could also use it for evil but that
goes back to
character core values and all that other
[ __ ] right yeah that that's a whole
another conversation because I think
most people that from the outside we go
that person's evil they they never think
they're evil no but there's something
you said that I want to um go deeper on
so I am reading this book called The
Evolution of everything by Matt Ridley
and he talks about because you were
saying like you need to take imperfect
action the universe conspires with you
if you're the first person that it's
going to get harder the longer you wait
and in the book he's talking about the a
potential explanation for why that
really is and his theory is that because
everything evolves literally everything
that
um electricity gets invented and the
light bulb is going to be invented
necessarily after electricity but that
it will be a certain period of time
after electricity that you get the light
bulb based on what kind of filaments are
there can you blow glass like there's
all these things that have to come
together right so uh and he points out
that like we think of these moments of
um that inventions are these moments of
genius and that it's this one person
that sort of propelled us forward in
this great leap and he said he doesn't
think that the world actually works that
way that what's happening is things are
evolving and things will happen at a
given point based on that Evolution and
that they're uh there are like eight
different people that have been credited
with the invention of the light bulb and
it's only because we're in the west that
we think of Thomas Edison but in reality
in different countries almost at exactly
the same time other people came up with
a light bulb and that there was the same
thing I forget another really famous
invention I'm forgetting it was a
telephone or the phonograph whatever but
it was like they the the patent was
filed in the patent office on the same
day
and it's a really interesting idea and
uh Michael Jackson said the same thing
he called I think it was Quincy Jones in
the middle of the night and he's like
Quincy I just had an idea for a song and
we have to record it and he's like why
do we have to record it right now Mike
it's like three in the morning he said
because if we don't record it right now
Prince is going to and he was like but
it's just a random [ __ ] idea that
you've had what are you talking about
how would Prince know he's like no like
once it's out there it's out there the
ethers of the universe yeah and I think
what he was really getting is gives me
the chills what he's getting at is
there's all this [ __ ] going on in the
world and it all comes together and it
it we're all the product of our time
this really freaks me out as somebody
trying to have a second
um like Arc in his entrepreneurial
career it's like I got it so right with
Quest and now I'm trying to do something
totally different in a totally different
field and I'm like oh there's really
something to am I am I of the moment
because a kid growing up now they're
they're just of the moment they're not
thinking like I didn't think about quest
Quest was me and look it was me and my
partners don't get me wrong it was this
Confluence of three people but just to
keep it about the part of me that was me
I was reacting against being an
entrepreneur chasing money uh I was like
this is so gross I just want to be
myself
this idea uh wanting authenticity
wanting to build community all of this
but I had it as a as a I was moving away
from all the [ __ ] that I saw that I
didn't like about building businesses
and it happened to coincide right with
social media now I was on the bleeding
edge of social media not because I was
clever because I was having a big
emotional reaction and I decided to
pursue it and so I was of that moment
and so all of those things that happened
to coincide right as social media was
coming boom Quest hockey sticks it goes
crazy and like if you think about what
you built if that had been in 2019 it
would be a very different story right
right and so all this idea of like it's
out there sort of in The Ether and are
we able to have the balls to move when
it strikes us because it's out there for
everybody well said you know what there
is something to
you know being in that moment right and
so
are you saying then
that you
feel
like in the second Arc
you feel differently than you did the
first time around like you know too much
are you too not that I know too much
it's that I really had to so I spent
about a million dollars launching a
comic book
and it was a financial waste because I
was making comics for when I was reading
comics and I was reading comics in the
late 80s early 90s and so then my
instinct was to make films like the
films that I had when I was a kid but
that's done man it's dead and gone like
kids don't e