Kind: captions
Language: en
hey everybody welcome to another rousing
edition of AMA I am your host tom bill
you and I'm here to answer your
questions so by the way do put your
questions into the comment box we have
none other than chase himself going
through those right now he's pulling
them out looking for gold so drop him in
and we will get to as many as we can now
we do you normally look for stuff that's
on theme is that your goal all right so
the more on theme your question the more
likely your question is to be asked also
the shorter more concise and to the
point your question is the more likely
it is to be asked and as always thank
you guys for submitting the questions
that's what makes this whole engine go
so I really am very grateful for that
all right our first question comes via
an e Cowden and this is from the connect
inbox which is another way did you
escape and make it in another way that
you can submit your questions and here
goes this one book after book speaker
after speaker talks about the importance
of who you surround yourself with having
a huge influence on you I am extremely
positive and have my goals written
routines etc etc but I do not honestly
know anybody with the same motivation
and drive as me I'm willing and ready to
be around people who are more motivated
than me and doing harder work than me I
don't know where to find such a crowd
did you experience this do you have any
advice so no that really was never my
experience I found that there was always
somebody around me that knew more than
me there was always somebody around me
that was at least as motivated than me I
won't say that I was always able to find
people that are more motivated but this
really comes down to now that the
internet exists there is always a way to
find people that are more motivated
farther ahead of you farther ahead than
you so even if you're only able to spend
that time with them online that's still
a massive advantage and I always tell
people that you're not only the average
of the five people that you spend the
most time with you the average of the
five ideas that you spend the most time
with and this is where people can really
leapfrog themselves even if they're in a
remote village somewhere you can
surround your
with powerful ideas from authors from
people online there's just no shortage
of amazing ideas that the vast majority
of the planet has access to if you have
access to books or the internet you
should be able to surround yourself with
people that are thinking on a level that
will be very very beneficial to you so
that would be my advice if you don't
have them around you but assuming that
you live even remotely close to a major
city
you just haven't done the right work if
you're not able to find people that are
farther ahead they are all out there
they're doing meetups they are trying to
build an audience we live in such an
amazing time where people are pouring
their heart and soul into not only
content over the internet but usually
people doing content on the Internet are
also doing meetups in real life so go be
a part of those and you should be able
to surround yourself with some pretty
amazing people also do entrepreneurial
meetups that's another great place or
industry meetups depending on what
industry you're in doesn't have to be
entrepreneurial but you'll find people
that are really trying to put themselves
out there meet people and progress and
so that'd be a great way all right next
question is from Daniel Brees a fan
favorite in the house this one is from
Facebook how do you create the steps for
executing on a goal that you've set it
would be nice to hear a breakdown of the
steps in an example for example the book
you're writing haha what is the ultra
specific goal and what are the steps to
execution okay well if you're going to
bring up the dreaded book actually no
I'm not gonna do that one I'm gonna do
the comic book that is far more fun for
me to talk about all right so here's how
it goes so ultimately the comic book is
meant to be sold to a studio it's meant
to be turned into either a TV show or a
film so that's really really important
for me to understand and then going a
level even beyond that the real goal of
anything that we put out is to help hold
people out of the matrix okay so I've
got my very specific goal now what do I
mean by the matrix I mean that we all
have a set of limiting beliefs that
holds holds us back from really doing
and becoming what we have the potential
to do and become so I know that just
from what the idea has to be it has to
be empowering just to put a nice really
simple
word to it so all right I've got
something that's meant to pull people
out of the matrix which means it has to
be empowering and if I want to reach a
mass audience in the way that I think
about it is how can I reach people that
are even antagonistic to the idea of
change okay so I know that it's going to
be a mass medium because I want it to
reach as many people as possible people
that are not seeking out empowerment and
I also know that if they're not seeking
out the empowerment that the empowerment
has to be a layer below the
entertainment I think you have to
entertain people before you have the
right to quote/unquote educate them and
I also know that if you're entertaining
people and this goes back to Joseph
Campbell and the power of myth that you
can put into the very entertaining story
the emotionally engaging story a lesson
for a lack of a better word and that
really is a hateful word and I don't
think of it like that but you can put
characters that they look up to that
embody principles that if anybody
embodied in their real life that it
would move them forward so and literally
I'm this is exactly what I'm doing in my
mind to work backwards okay
then because you've really got to think
about like and let's to use me as an
example well I have credibility in the
realm of being an entrepreneur I don't
yet have credibility in the world of
creating comic books and so this is
actually creating a lot of frustration
behind the scenes boys and girls because
with my charm and my reach I'm able to
get to people but the question they ask
themselves is if I could go write or be
an artist for one of the major
publishers then why would I come be a
writer or an artist for you you're an
unproven commodity in this so there are
a few ways around this one to make sure
that you have clarity of vision - and
this is really important to partner with
people that do have that credibility so
I'm out there meeting with people that
are major publishers in the industry
people that also have credibility on the
film and TV side so that people see I
have partnerships and relationships in
the comic book world but I also have
partnerships and relationships in the TV
and film world so when I say that I'm
gonna take this property all the way
through I've got the meaningful
relationships with very credible players
all throughout that space
then keep going back so then you have to
solidify those get the contracts in
place dealing with lawyers and all that
which by the way not too long after I
end this broadcast I will be doing
exactly that and so making sure that you
have the things in place to make good on
the promises that you're making I worry
that I'm getting too granular but
hopefully you're seeing like how you
start with the end goal what exactly it
is at the highest level and then just
getting more and more and more concrete
until it ends with call this person
convince them of this and that once
you're there and once it's things are
super concrete action is being taken you
have dates and deliverables that's super
critical then you'll actually
potentially get across the finish line
and then the rest is nuance right so if
I'm unable to convince a writer of a
certain stature then you go to somebody
who's less proven who might be more in
the realm that I am where I have to have
the ability to recognize their talent
much like I'm asking other people to
recognize that my talents transfer from
the entrepreneurial arena to the
creative arena and so finding that
person that's an undiscovered talent
while not easy may become exactly the
thing that I need to do alright so I
could keep going but hopefully at
without getting into like the deep like
tactical level of what I'm doing
specifically hopefully that answers your
question
all right Alexandr evergreen this is
from Facebook and remember guys if you
have a question drop it in and we're
trying to do a better job now of letting
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up this is in real time so if you're
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questions all right how long did it take
you to listen to books at 3x did you
just start right away at that speed or
did you have to ramp up over a period of
time I had to ramp up over a period of
time I started at 1.5 and then when that
sounded normal and I literally thought
that I had accidentally set it back to 1
then I bumped it up to 2 and then when
that started to sound normal and I
thought that maybe I'd bump that back
down then I bumped it up to 3 now you
can actually train yourself even better
because YouTube will let you go in much
small
increments so you can go one one point
one point two point three point four or
so on and so forth all the way up to I
think the sound actually shuts off at at
something like 4x or something like that
so you can go faster and faster
depending on how quickly the person
speaks
I find that natural language for me taps
out around two point three so if
somebody's talking in their normal
cadence like I'm doing now that I'm
probably gonna tap out around two to two
point three depending on how fast they
talk on an audible book because they
intentionally speak very slowly and
clearly I find that I could speed it all
the way up to three and there are
certain narrators that I want to go
above that but audible doesn't let you
but you do have to work your way up to
that all right next question is from
Gagen rayet this is from Facebook also
how did you even have the audacity to
start to create a protein bar in 2010
when there were so many around weren't
you scared what was it that kept you
going was it your self belief did you
find something that wasn't part of the
current lot did you know you would make
a billion dollar empire thanks okay so
don't scroll off there's a lot of
questions here all right how did I have
the audacity so by the point by the time
that we started quest I had been in the
entrepreneurial game for almost a decade
I had won and lost and just knew that at
the end of the day the only thing that
was guaranteed was the struggle the
success was not so I wanted to do
something that I was really passionate
about that I could believe in even if we
never ended up having success and so for
three very different reasons because
there were three of us that founded the
company for three very different reasons
we decided to go into the health space
for me I grew up in a morbidly obese
family so it was very easy to stay
focused and push when I just had to
think about the people that I loved that
I knew I was gonna lose literally lose
to death if I didn't find a way to solve
that problem so it was deeply personal
and easy to keep that energy going I
wasn't doing it because I thought that
it was going to be a billion-dollar
business although we did understand that
the market potential was massive and
honestly we we when we set out we set
out with the aim of becoming one of the
largest food companies in the world
which of course would naturally make it
a billion-dollar Empire but we thought
it would take a lot longer to get there
than it
really did which was really fascinating
and obviously wonderful but a total
surprise so the reason that we had the
audacity to do it even though there were
so many other people out there was not
only do we have experiences
entrepreneurs and know how to build
things and feel like we could at least
get to the point of profitability there
wasn't a single bar in the market that
we would eat so we knew that there was
at least a market of three people and we
had a gut instinct that there's going to
be a lot bigger than that and then a lot
of things colluded just at the same time
the birth of social media and we were
entirely social marketers we were
focused on building a community we
became her own manufacturer right as
people were really becoming hyper aware
of ingredients and what they eat and all
of that stuff so it's just really really
good timing self-belief yes was a huge
part of it and I think that's all of
them all right next question is from
Daniel bro Dan bro fitness when you
started building your team how did you
start to find the best people for the
job I know it's trial and error but
would love to understand your process
okay so we're literally hiring right now
so by the way if you're in Los Angeles
and you're interested in being an
administrative assistant or even an
executive assistant do hit me up on
LinkedIn we have an active ad right now
so go there and apply and the way that I
do this now is literally it's so
straightforward
first of all I tell people that I know
in respect that I'm looking in case they
might know somebody and then I post an
ad on LinkedIn super simple now the hard
part begins how do you know what you're
looking for so one of the things that I
look for is how do they describe
themselves so if you're applying for a
job and your self description doesn't
match the job that you're applying for
that's an immediate no-go for me
next how long do you stay at the
companies that you stay with if you're
like four months nine months six months
absolutely [ __ ] not I don't want to
have to like rehire every six to nine
months so that that would be a total
nightmare also I'm really honest in the
description about what kind of company
are we are what we're looking for
very detailed breakdown of what the job
is exactly so that people don't think
it's going to be one thing only to find
that it's another then the real nuance
begins which is I then
and jump on a phone call with them and
try to whenever possible be on a
videophone call cuz I think that people
give away a lot more through their body
language their facial expressions then
you're gonna be able to pick up on a
phone call and I want to know who they
really are
so I don't want to know who they're
posturing to be I actually want to know
who they are and I think that that's the
secret to long-term relationships is
really understanding who each person is
what their are strengths what their
weaknesses are and then being able to
match them in a role that really suits
their abilities I find that that's mean
there's certain things that are easy to
identify in an interview and certain
things that are brutally difficult so I
find it relatively easy to identify
whether the person is collaborative in
nature whether they're egocentric
whether they like to be on the team
whether they're compassionate empathetic
those things are actually pretty easy to
figure out now whether or not they're
wildly ambitious and most terrifying
because it's so hard to identify in an
interview is Drive do they actually have
the drive to see it through
now I didn't used to look at resumes
literally at all and now that I'm more
in need of professional managers I find
that I look at them much more so because
I need to know like what have you done
historically have you shown grit
perseverance have you been able to move
up in an organization in the same
organization ideally and not just bounce
from company to company which is super
common these days but holds very little
interest to me and I'm really looking
for long-term relationships also in the
interview process I bring up the
principles so that people have to be
very comfortable with hearing the raw
naked truth and understand that here at
impact Theory the best idea wins and
that that means that you have to have an
unending pursuit of truth so yeah those
are the things and I find that there's
no way short of working with somebody to
know if they have grit and perseverance
you can get a hint of it from their
resume but at the end of the day that's
the one thing I feel almost completely
incapable of really identifying in an
interview and it's one of the most
important things and I look for three
things in an employee by the way I look
for grand ambition Drive and compassion
and you can get a whiff of the ambition
most people tell you that they're
ambitious whether they're or not I think
that most of the time you're totally
blind to drive but compassion you can
really understand and then you can just
see do they pass the layover test are
they fun to be around when you lower
their anxiety because interviews like
literally seem like they are designed
from the ground up to trigger every
amount of anxiety that person has so
trying to help them relax and really
just display who they are and then
reveal who I am alright I could keep
going but I'll stop Michael kiss-ass
question you mentioned in your last AMA
about skills that are necessary to
survival and mention being able to read
faster what are three additional skills
you feel are necessary to get great in
order to not only be happy but increase
one's odds becoming successful well
there's really only one skill that I
would say is necessary for becoming
successful and that is the ability to
learn now there are other things around
that that I won't necessarily say our
skills being deeply inquisitive that's
super important because if you want to
read you're gonna read a lot more than
somebody that does it only because they
think they have to in order to get ahead
so I'm Fanning the flames of your
natural inquisitive nasai think is
really really important that curiosity
pursuing something that is an area of
deep cultivated passion so that you're
really on fire for that thing you're
going hard to learn about I think that
that's really important that's going to
give you the energy to keep pushing to
do the things you need to do to really
get great and then what you build your
self-esteem around really matters
because you need to be focused on being
the learner
that's really and I this all keeps
coming back to that like I'm the things
that are important to succeeding in life
for all the things that optimize for
learning and so getting your ego out of
the way not worrying about whether
you're good smart right worthy any of
that put all of that aside and think
obsessively about being the learner
building your pride around that your
willingness to learn your willingness to
admit when you're wrong your willingness
to sit as somebody else's feet and
humbly beseech them for their knowledge
all of that is just really really
important and I
there's few things to hold you back
faster than thinking that you're a
master there's an amazing quote I cannot
believe I'm forgetting who that it's by
right now but it's you can't learn that
which you already think you know and
that's like let that hit you you cannot
learn what you already think you know
like people will just shut down I think
they've already got it and that's why
it's rarely the master that goes on to
create the disruptive company it's
usually the person too stupid to realize
that they don't know what they're doing
they go in and think totally originally
and as long as they've got that belief
to keep going and they're excited those
are the people I'd bet everything on
every time so if you look at my
successes historically I started out in
software which I knew absolutely nothing
about it went from filmmaking to
software then I went from software to
nutrition then I went from nutrition to
filmmaking so you can see the people I
hope that this continues to be true for
me the people that have the most passion
willingness to learn and the just raw
naivete to not understand how big the
problem is that they're facing those are
the people that go on to do something
and I try to remind myself every day to
not let myself get overwhelmed by the
enormity of what we're trying to do
which is build the next Disney now on a
similar timeline don't plan to do that
in the next ten years but it's a good
thing that I don't know all the problems
that are coming for me I will just say
that all right next up Michelle Blum
Michelle Blum all right what is your
strategy for engaging a constructive
contemplation it's easy to sit there for
too long and get stuck in rumination
rather than adequately reviewing your
life and formulating plans or goals you
know it's interesting I was just
thinking about this today so here's
something that I do I don't just sit and
ruminate I am always looking for
something to write down I want to create
a list of action items and once I have a
list of action items that I can begin
immediately
executing against then I start to feel
good and there is something for me this
is just my process maybe it is a crazy
process but it goes like this
a asleep all that is much not all the
time as much as I can so that I'm
cognitively optimized I work out in the
gym first and foremost and then
immediately after that I meditate and in
that meditation you're getting your mind
to a calm creative
I literally just wrote a newsletter
about this so sign up for the newsletter
if you want more on that but you're in
quieting your mind I think and I have
nothing to back this up other than
intuition I think that you're basically
creating the ability for your
subconscious to speak to your conscious
mind because you've quieted the
conscious mind to the point where it can
hear the little whispers of the
subconscious which is always how it's
it's just a slight feeling it's a mild
sense of intuition it's not like loud
and pronounced so once you're there then
I open my computer I have a sitting on
my lap and my sole goal in the universe
is to come up with things that I can
write down that are executable so my
mind knows that that's its task I don't
just sit there and stare out a window I
have that computer and by the way I and
I find this really helpful I put on the
app calm and I play they're what they
call scenes so it's like meadow at dawn
or the ocean at sunset you know it's all
kinds of different things
there's something about those natural
sounds that really lock me in I don't
hear anything else there are no
distractions and I do think that it has
something to do with that it's the
sounds of nature that really put me in
an amazing place to hear those whispers
of my subconscious so that I can
translate my biggest business problems
into action items so when there's
something that I'm stuck on and I'm just
like huh you know what am I gonna do to
solve this I'm literally sitting there
staring at the screen which very rarely
is blank and so I've got my list as a
living document I'm changing it all the
time pretty much every day and so
there's none of that weight of a blank
page but I'm just looking at those
things that I'm already supposed to be
doing and I'm really asking myself are
these gonna be the things that actually
do it and then I do that no [ __ ]
what would it take so no [ __ ] what
would it take and a lot of times like it
the answer is something that I know
other people aren't thinking of because
they're conflicted about their goals
quite frankly so they're conflicted
about like give you a great example this
is a real story by the way so somebody
that I know someone who may be listening
right
now they they're in the film business
and they were being blackmailed which I
can't believe is real like who the [ __ ]
does this crazy to me but anyway they
were being blackmailed and so they were
asking my advice what do I do and my
advice was very simple what's your goal
now act in accordance with your goal and
their goal was they wanted to get the
film that they were working on done
period and that was the most important
thing to them and the fact that somebody
else was going to get some of their
money that was the quite frankly in the
hierarchy of their desires was a lesser
desire than their desire to get the goal
so there you have it move forward so
once you're not conflicted about your
goals then you can really start to see
what the real path is to that so paying
people just to answer your questions
while maybe you shouldn't have to and
maybe they should do it out of kindness
or maybe they should do it because
you've done things for them in the past
like that's somebody who's conflicted
I'm not conflicted so if I've got to pay
somebody who I've spent a thousand hours
doing [ __ ] for free and I need to pay
them $1,000 a month to you know answer
two or three questions I'll do it
because those two or three questions I
may be able to turn into hundreds of
millions of dollars so that to me like
just understanding what you want and
having absolute clarity about what's
important what's going to get you there
and then executing against it so that's
how I avoid just sort of ruminating and
I certainly don't waste time sitting in
the past all right this next person is
Greek or I will eat my shoes all right
let's see I'm gonna butcher this and
this is weird I should be good at these
names apostolos Theo fanaa poloz that is
almost certainly really [ __ ] close
all right if you could choose two of
your favorite authors to write a book
together who would they be
and what would you like them to write
about what an amazing question okay I'm
gonna go with Tony Robbins and Ray Dalio
that's a [ __ ] book that I would
read now Tony Robbins interviewed Ray
Dalio so that was interesting and I
highly encourage you all to watch that
but then writing a book together would
be off the charts no question I would
read the [ __ ] out of that all right
thank you for that that was so much fun
that was a really enjoyable mental
exercise I'm very grateful for that one
all right kela Herrera hey Tom I have
been following your content for a little
while now and I love that you're a super
aunt that you are super honest about how
you used to be the late used to be Lacey
I still am do you have any advice on how
to consistently overcome that indeed I
do I have days where I'm busy and
actually getting what I need done but
then I have days where I'm lazy and I
want to limit those days even more and
be more active in doing what I need to
do which is mostly studying for Law
School
all right here is just the hard hard
reality the only thing that I found as
ways around this is identity so I really
want to be a certain kind of person and
I get a massive amount of chemical joy
joy I am a heroin addict a cocaine
addict for being the kind of person I
want to be acting in accordance with
that being tough doing the work grinding
it out pushing forward having a goal
going after it developing myself being
the learner like seeing how much
potential I can actually wring out of
myself I can't tell you like all the
[ __ ] that I say in these AMAs and when I
do interviews up they are so real to the
core of my being good [ __ ] luck
catching me out because this is what I
do because because of that neurochemical
rush that I get every time where and
don't let Chase hear this but like when
I'm up and I'm working at 4 a.m. and I
know all my employees are sleeping all
my competitors are sleeping and I'm
[ __ ] grinding it out and when I got
up at 4 a.m. and I was working my ass
off and then at literally 8:45 knowing
that I will be in bed and fit I will be
asleep in 15 minutes I'm still working
now the other part because you're
wasting your life if you do all of that
for something that you don't care about
and this is where it gets terrifying
you've got to be excited about the
future that you're building that is the
key you've got to be really amped up
about it it's got to give you energy
when you think about doing that thing
it's got a really amp you up and if it
doesn't then dear God
what are you doing there's no moral
obligation to go hard and live your life
like I live mine but man let me tell you
right now if you're not doing things
that excite you if there's nothing in
your life that you have built into this
incredible pyre of excitement you were
really missing out that literally to me
is what life has to offer we are this
creature that is immeasurably excitable
but you have to create that you've got
to decide that something's gonna become
an excitement for you and that you're
going to feed into like for instance I
have not yet seen altered carbon chase
have you no one has all that unless it's
already come out but it comes out today
at some point and I'm over the moon
excited about it now it could be a total
disaster but I decided that I was going
to get myself excited about this thing
so that I would be literally chomping at
the bit to sit down and watch this thing
which I am now and literally just
because I've decided that I'm going to
get excited i fanned the flames and why
am i excited about this i love things
that deal with the future oh that's so
cool I know the imagery is gonna be
badass I watched the trailer I talked to
KC about it all the time Casey and I are
feeding off of each other but that was
all super conscious on my part I
literally saw Casey mention it she said
oh there's this new show coming out
called alter carbon I think you might be
into it
I went I watched the trailer and I said
you know what I'm gonna get excited
about this [ __ ] thing I have no idea
if it's gonna be any good but I'm going
to get excited now deciding about that
Fanning the flames doing all the things
that I just went through that makes this
thing legitimately exciting for me and I
do the same thing about my business
goals my marriage my friendships like
you can literally decide that you're
going to get excited about it and if
it's real if there's a nugget of
something real like I can't get excited
about going to the dentist there's
virtually nothing it's so funny my
[ __ ] mind even now I'm like you could
get excited about going to the dentist
about leaning into the pain and like
proving to yourself you tough so anyway
that's a sickness but you can like do
this with things that are legitimately
interesting to you you can fan those
flames until they become full-blown
excitement so if law school is your
stick you've got to find a way to fan
those flames to get excited about
school about what it represents about
what its gonna allow you to do whatever
that is even if law school is your
version of going to the dentist
hopefully you're doing it because
there's something on the other end of
getting that law degree that you care
about deeply and that does excite you
when you think about it and if it
doesn't and you don't think that you can
breathe that excitement into it in an
authentic way change gears literally go
in today and quit if that's what you
need to do but don't waste your life
doing things you don't give a [ __ ] about
all right next up Ruth Preston this is
face book how do you deal with people
giving criticism about the way you do
things how do you know how much to take
in and apply to your life and how much
you to just let go of basically how much
is true and how much is them all right
so first of all I whenever someone gives
me criticism I try to ask myself
regardless of how its presented
regardless if it's clearly meant as an
attack I'll say is there any truth in
this now why do I do that I do that
because if somebody can point out a
blind spot even if in yourself even if
that hurts
once you're no longer blind to it you
can address it by acquiring a skill once
you have that skill that skill has
real-world implications and this is
where I think people fall down the like
they want to acquire skills either to
please their parents or to pacify their
boss or whatever it is they're not
thinking about this skill is actually
going to let me do something that I
couldn't otherwise do and once I can do
that thing it's a form of power I can
leverage it and I can go where I want to
go so when you start thinking about it
like that then all of a sudden it's like
no matter why the criticism is being
laid on you you want to see if it's true
you want to immediately scan the
realities of your life and say if what
they're telling me will actually let me
go to my goal faster more efficiently
then I'm going to adopt it even if it
was meant as an insult even if they're
trying to hurt my feelings even if
they're crazy out of their [ __ ] minds
this is some another thing that drives
me crazy people looking for reasons not
to listen to somebody else don't ever
look for a reason to not listen to
somebody they may be totally crazy they
may be literally crazy like actual
mental illness crazy and I will still
ask if what they're saying to me has
potential merit have
been able somehow through all the
madness been able to give me a nugget
that I can use in my life and to meet
that with gratitude man I'm just telling
you that that is like one of those
secret sauces there's so many people
that waste [ __ ] time on the internet
are arguing with people which I will
never understand every minute you spend
arguing is a minute you don't spend
deploying the skills that you have so
regardless of how something is meant
regardless of how much it hurts ask only
one question will taking this advice
move me towards my goals or not if it
does do it if it doesn't ignore it all
right you've got to get good at that
there's no question you've got to get
good at assessing that but where most
people get tripped up is the emotion so
get over that one all right next up is
seat see car coos salve shilly man it's
not a lot that really like [ __ ]
stumble me up but I think seat C is
pretty close all right hi Tom I'm
curious how should we go through times
when our goal is not clear and we're
lost there are so many things that I'm
interested in I'm not sure which which
path I should choose all right you're
gonna think I'm being cheeky and how
brief this answer is gonna be I don't
want everyone if that question resonated
with you lean the [ __ ] in pick one and
go that's it don't [ __ ] debate just
pick one and go and if ten steps down
the path you like [ __ ] I really should
have picked the other one then go pick
the other one and run down that path if
you find yourself do that more than
three times you're just being
wishy-washy pick one and go and don't
stop even when you get that pang of oh I
should be doing something else see it
all the way through set yourself a goal
whether that's you know running a
marathon or if you got there's so many
things you think you want to be a
professional dancer go sign up for a
dance class and see that all the way
through to the end like pick some length
of time that no matter what even if you
hate it you're gonna see it through but
that that's where people fall down they
don't just pick one and go nothing is
ever gonna seem right so pick one go
develop it into a passion alright next
up is three Rhino media if you could
choose two historical figures not living
to do an episode of impact there
together who would they be and why Matt
we got a real thing for togethers today
not living I'm gonna go with Einstein
which if you guys haven't watched that
episode of genius or the the season of
genius that shows his life really really
amazing and then God who would be
fascinating to pair with him this is
super random and and this may I may want
to tear my own hair out but I'm gonna
say Steve Jobs so it would be really
interesting to put those two together
especially because I know the Steve Jobs
admired Einstein they'd both been
written about by Isaac Walter Isaacson I
always want to say his name backwards so
that that would be really fascinating
and I don't have a great wife for you
I'd really have to sit down my gut is
those are two people that I am
immeasurably fascinated by that are both
dead and yeah they've got enough things
like connecting them that I think that
we could weave a pretty fascinating
narrative about how they achieved and
accomplished tying in all the things
that Walter Isaacson wrote about yeah
that would be a [ __ ] good episode man
now I'm just sad thanks 3r I know media
that will never have it all right
Lindsay shoots hey Tom how can I be
authentic at work when my office
constantly thrives on gossip and
subplots that's an interesting way to
say that I've been here for almost six
years and desperately want to leave but
don't have a skill set to get me away
from this industry so I'm miserable and
it's hard to hide what I'm feeling how
can I cope here while I build up other
skills thank you what would I really do
I have the cheap cheesy answer which I'm
gonna give you really fast and then I'm
gonna we're all gonna give me like seven
seconds to just sit blankly and think my
cheap and cheesy answer is that I would
start looking for what's the ideal
industry that I want to be in and I
would identify that and I would then say
okay like vision boarded hanging
the fridge whatever like I want to get
into this world I'm really excited about
deep deeper passionate and then I would
start nights and weekends working to
acquire the skills and I would set
myself a goal and honestly a year is
plenty of time a year is plenty of time
for you to get enough skills that you
could go into an interview and convince
him that you know what you're talking
about and it's worth taking a shot on
you even if that means taking a pay cut
all right so that's kind of answer that
we've heard for me a thousand times it's
very true very real and that may be
exactly what I would do but I really
want to think about this for a second so
I'm fascinated by how much of the
culture can you change from within and I
think it's hard as hell I think it's one
of the most difficult things that anyone
can undertake which is really trying to
flip people but I really want to know
like if you couldn't leave like it for
five years you had to just grind it out
to get the skill set that you wanted to
acquire what would it look like to find
a path to happiness inside the company
here's what I would do I am utterly
convinced that people will recognize you
if you get good enough and I would start
getting so [ __ ] good at my job
that people would want to steal my ideas
so that would be step one I would want
to put myself in a position where my
managers are stealing all my ideas
because now they're gonna have fear of
loss whether they say it or not if
you're the one actually generating the
ideas are gonna have fear of loss also
if you can execute against that then
they're really going to be afraid to
lose you now that puts you in a position
of power second of all and that power is
gonna feel good right so you're gonna be
progressing you're gonna be getting
better that's gonna be feeding your your
confidence your self-esteem which is
very very helpful when you're dealing in
a difficult environment then I'm also
going to never ever ever engage in
gossip or anything like that and I might
now I'm not sure I would have to really
read the situation because you don't
want to come across as a total douche
but one thing I might start doing let's
go the next time somebody's like being
really gossipy about somebody I would
say you know it's really interesting I'm
practicing the saying I heard this piece
of advice on this random guy's web
series and he said you get what you
focus on it's really interesting so
while that may be true about that person
I've I'm trying this new method of
flipping my criticisms into compliments
and I don't know you guys might think
I'm crazy but what do you think about
this and then I would
compliment that person or just get the
[ __ ] out of that conversation but if I
thought I could pull it off without
being a douche and I thought I might be
able to begin swaying people's ways of
being and I'd trust me I know that that
would take a very long time because
humans are prone to gossip it is by the
way one of the ways we transmit ideas so
you may not ever be able to stop the
gossip and we may not even want to as a
species stop the gossip but 80/20 right
80% of the time should be about the
things we're excited about cheering
people on totally amped up super excited
for them
so because I'm such a huge believer in
the principles which is only talking
truth not saying things behind
somebody's back that you wouldn't be
willing to say to the face I would just
start implementing that in my own life
and I would walk people through I would
tell them why I'm doing it
I really could go on and on about that
and I'd be so interested to see if that
would really work in real life but I
don't think that you have to choose
between those two so I know that on the
other hand nights and weekends getting
the skills to get out that you can do
and also honestly what I would do is cut
your expenses to the quick so that you
don't need as much money so that you can
leave sooner in turn for somebody nights
and weekends if you can go part-time do
it and then start interning for the
industry that you want to be in on the
day or days that you're able to free up
or go be a freelancer I don't know
industry or in so I don't know how easy
would be to freelance but that would be
incredible but I would get out of the
toxic environment as much as as rapidly
as possible all right thank you for
being indulgent letting me think out
loud on that one I'm really fascinated
by that all right next question is from
Edwin Doug Aldo how do you engage
employees after layoffs how do you
engage yourself I'm going to make the
assumption that you mean how do you
engage the remaining employees after
you've done a round of layoffs and I
think that this is where radical
transparency comes in if people really
deeply understand why you're doing what
they're doing and you're doing it for a
sound reason I think that you can get
people back on board especially because
they're the ones that survived explain
to them why they survived explain to
them how they're going to be able to
contribute explain to them what your
vision is for getting the company going
in a positive direction again if all of
those things make sense and they can
really follow your logic and they buy
into
that that is gonna make it a lot easier
now how do I engage myself because I
haven't been an employee for now north
of 15 years I might be a little
delusional on this one so for me it's
all about I I need to believe in the
vision before I can move on it for
anybody else and every day I'm trying to
sharpen where we're going how we're
gonna get there I'm constantly
communicating that to myself in fact we
had to institute weekly meetings so that
I could communicate that to the rest of
the team because I find that my own
vision of where we're going and how
we're going to get there is changing in
exciting ways all the time and that that
changes so rapidly because I think about
it so much that if I don't weekly stop
to take time to tell the team that when
I do say hey here's where we're going it
feels very jarring so that's a long way
of saying you should always be refining
that within yourself always believe in
it always be excited about it and if
you're unable to do that you need to
find somebody that can and you may need
to own and this was really interesting
in the episode that I did with Tucker
max where he said I'm not the right
person to be the CEO for the company and
I know that and even though I founded it
I hired another CEO and even though he
offered to take the president role let
me keep the CEO role I knew that didn't
make sense and so he got his own ego out
of the way and he hired somebody else so
I would do that all right next up is
violet zdenka this is from YouTube hey
Tom I'm super excited to know more about
your comic book project what are
requirements the artist needs to meet to
get a chance to be a part of the project
thank you all right violet here is the
hard hard hard answer and I don't want
this to be true because I love this
community so much and you can't imagine
it is like shoving bamboo shoots under
my fingernails
every time somebody from the community
submits something and I'm like it's just
not where I need it to be the honest
answer is you've got to be unreasonably
talented you've got to be unreasonably
talented at telling stories and I also
find that most artists are really good
at cover art and really bad at
sequential art so that is that is that's
been one of the frustrations but I want
to be
proven wrong by you that would be
amazing and we are working right now and
I've really slowed down in this because
the submissions that we were getting
were not where we needed them to be but
my original vision for all of this was
we were gonna have a submission process
where we sent you a document and said
this is what you can expect if we which
I guess is an artist it really doesn't
matter in fact as an artist this becomes
much easier send me a link to your
portfolio I will look at it if it is
amazing I will reach out to you but it's
gotta be amazing so and like if it's not
amazing it doesn't mean you're a bad
person doesn't mean you're bad artists
it just means you got to keep
progressing so thank you for your
excitement I really want your portfolio
to be amazing send it in anybody else is
listening that would be incredible yeah
so I'm excited for this to become more
and more real so that people can see
what we're really up to behind the
scenes that's gonna be a lot of fun all
right Jake
oh this said yep hey Tom and impact
Theory team with your content and the
guests you have had on your show I found
stoicism nice what is your feeling on
stoicism and other philosophies okay so
my reading of that question was super
[ __ ] awkward and I apologize
stoicism as interpreted by Ryan Holliday
is amazing I couldn't get through the
original stoic text so maybe bad on me
maybe that's a weakness that I have but
I found Ryan's books to be unbridled a
for anybody that isn't now I found his
books to be unbelievably powerful and so
the obstacle is the way daily stoic ego
is the enemy all of them were amazing so
I highly highly encourage you to read
that and it's basically like extreme
ownership everything's my fault what's
the opportunity in this bad thing this
supposed bad thing and I just think
that's the way to live other
philosophies the only other philosophy
that I'll say that I understand well
enough to really like plant a flag in it
would be Taoism I spent many a years
actually in my youth referring to myself
as a Taoist which I don't anymore but
that was that was I went hard for that
Taoist cake way into that
and I think that there are a lot of
similarities to Taoism and Stowe ISM
stoicism there we go in that you're
looking at you're trying to identify the
truth of the situation get the ego out
of the way and really understand how you
can move towards your goal whatever your
goal may be so those are the only two
that I can speak with any degree of
certainty
all right frivolous TV YouTube Tom
what's your interpretation of people
that constantly say I'm stuck my
interpretation is that they're not
excited about what they're trying to
accomplish
when you're excited like when you really
want something or as Tony Robbins would
say once your want becomes a crushing
need in your life you will find a way
most the time people are stuck it's like
they're just unhappy enough to be
complaining but they're not unhappy
enough to do something about it
or maybe even more terrifyingly they've
let that unhappiness become a chronic
state and because it's neurological they
don't see the way out of it and because
they don't see a way out of it they
don't try because humans lead with
belief and you have to believe that you
can get to the other side of it before
you will start putting action in place
because you have to believe that your
actions will be rewarded with progress
in order to take that first step
so being stuck is basically the thing
I've dedicated my life to and the whole
idea of getting people a growth mindset
and doing it through a studio that
creates content is the content that
you're hearing right now is content for
the choir right so I'm preaching to the
choir right now the stuff that we're
doing on the traditional narrative side
the comic books TV shows movies that's
all for people that are antagonistic to
change that they actively don't want a
growth mindset I think even those people
hopefully can be flipped but it isn't
gonna be through talking to them and it
probably isn't going to be like a full
transformation I think of it more
generationally so rather than maybe a
better way to say it would be maybe I
can't save that person but I can save
their family so their progeny the their
lineage and so multi-generational the
first person maybe gets that hope for
their kids that like hey things could be
better for you and this is how you
should think and these are the
characters you should look up to and
then their kids just take it for granted
that that's the way the world should be
and then their kids obviously don't know
anything
that's my fantasy and we'll see how true
that is
over time all right Robbie gutless is
that really your last name or is that
that's from YouTube so my guess is
that's fake Robbie I've got a whole
thing about usernames you got to be real
careful with those usernames mr. bill
you I was on my way to Australia on a
work visa for a physical job for a
physical job but I ruptured my Achilles
tendon this is the biggest setback I
have ever had how would you deal with
the downtime so nobody has better advice
on this topic than Kobe Bryant him
specifically for sure and then there are
probably countless other athletes that
have talked about this in fact Jay
Williams who was on impact theory he
talked about all the down time and what
he did with it he's got a book I forget
the title of the book oh god what is it
it's a cool title as well I'm very upset
but Jay Williams look him up he's talked
a lot about it Kobe talks a lot about it
about how you have to just [ __ ] get
over the like frustration of it just
start putting in the work to do the
physical therapy to get better to know
that on the other side of this you're
going to be stronger than ever and also
the down time take the time to
strengthen your mind and I think that
that's critically important and it is
sort of it sucks but it's gonna free up
some of your time if you put that time
into learning to growing more excited
about what you're going to be doing to
diversifying like maybe you realize that
whoa the body has a shelf life and man
do I ever wish that wasn't true but the
body at least as of today has a shelf
life and so what are things that I could
do to diversify my potential careers
like are there things that I could begin
investing in now while I still do have
years left of my career where I'm doing
something to set myself up for the next
phase and ironically enough Kobe I am
NOT a sports guy at all but I saw Kobe
speak and dude what he's doing on the
media side is rad and I think his short
film farewell to basketball I think it's
called or my letter to basketball anyway
something like that I think it was
nominated for an Academy Award and it is
unbelievably good and he said he started
working on that before he'd even retired
from
basketball because he knew obviously I'm
gonna be retiring and it's gonna be
relatively soon so I need to start
thinking about what that next phase is
so take the time to do that all right
Mike
Percy chilly hi Tom I'm almost finished
reading the power of habit and it talks
about a keystone habit that acts as a
lead domino for everything else in your
life to fall into place could you
identify yours learning in no uncertain
terms every day I am reading I read
obsessively I am constantly trying to
get more information to improve myself
to become capable of more than I was the
day before that like just read read read
read read making sure that that is a
part of my daily [ __ ] routine that is
for sure my lead domino the fact that I
spend a lot of my time also reading
about the mind that's huge so mindset is
also another part of that those who are
very much intertwined for me all right
Nikhil wada YouTube hi Tom I'm trying to
understand myself doing that by
journaling thinking about how I feel
about various things remembering where I
come from helps me be happy how do I
understand myself better you've already
laid out some pretty good things so the
other I would say is when you have an
emotion begin to recognize oh I'm having
a strong emotion what is causing that
emotion and then what is the underlying
cause of that so I I'm having an emotion
and my emotion is anger and my anger is
based on my girlfriend asked me to stop
reading so much and then I realized that
that makes me angry because I'm insecure
about my ability to provide for her okay
well cool now we've identified what's
really going on and we have an
insecurity around being able to provide
maybe we have an insecurity about a role
as a man whatever the case may be it's
like oK you've identified it now now
it's not gonna have much hold on you and
that process of I'm having an emotion
cool what's driving the emotion got it
and then what's the underlying cause of
that driver that that's really really
critical and that's gonna help you
continue to identify those emotional
things that drive you and I find that
most people are driven by their emotions
but they never take the time to figure
out why at their most petty insecure
just basest human level what's actually
driving that emotion and if you can
identify that then you can deal with it
all right next up is from me Lavoie hey
Tom would you rather have the excitement
and joy of a growth mindset and be broke
living in poverty and never get out or
would you rather be a billionaire but be
the billionaire you are for the record
I'm not a billionaire but have received
it by inheritance or the lottery with no
growth mindset that is not even
difficult I would much rather have a
growth mindset I'm telling you right now
the only thing the only thing that
matters is how you think about yourself
when you're all alone that's it
so that is like hands down 100% money is
amazing and I am super honored that are
I've been honored I'm super grateful
that I've made the kind of money that
I've made in my life but boy oh boy let
me tell you that the thing that I'm
proud of the thing that is the backbone
of my joy my happiness my fulfillment is
my willingness to stare at my
inadequacies and work to become someone
that I'm immeasurably proud of that's it
it is my willingness to become my
willingness to become it isn't that I am
that I have none of that my willingness
to become that is entirely a growth
mindset so yeah that my my entire
universe of pride joy and fulfillment is
centered around that and I think that
that's humans by nature growth progress
those are fundamental drivers of
fulfillment so that's it all right next
question Jeremy Stickney what sentence
would you want on your tombstone to say
about you when you're gone this is all
my fault because I didn't solve the
death problem that's actually what I
think about death I would just be pissed
that it I banked on other people solving
a pretty important problem in my life
and they didn't solve it and I died so
yeah this is all my fault there it is
all right Linda Roy can you comment on
learning from reading versus watching
documentaries and etc online reading
reading touches one part of your brain
and video another is one better
or not I don't think that one's better
and whatever you learn from that's
incredibly powerful now I find that
books have a much deeper density of
information it's the same reason I don't
listen to as many podcasts as I read
books and by the way it is the reason
that I stopped doing AMA is in a more
conversational style and I move to me
trying to give answers as rapidly as
humanly possible I'm trying to make the
density of information in this the most
density rich or information rich podcast
ever so that's why I while I love
documentaries and I love filmmaking the
density of information is just not there
so that's for people that need that
emotional ride and quite frankly the
other thing that storytelling gives you
is the metaphor with which to hold on to
in your life to come back to I think
it's far easier to remember that stuff
so you've got memory because it's
triggering emotions making it really
visceral characters that you can
identify with situations that you can
use to explain something to other people
or even to yourself and then you've got
just the density of information that
comes in books and great books obviously
a lot of times we'll use stories and
analogies and things to try to
capitalize and some of that other stuff
so yeah I don't think that one is better
than the other I think that both serve
different functions but I spend the
majority of my learning time in books
just for the pure density of information
okay next up Justin James from YouTube
what do you believe why do you believe
people are so attached to money so much
that it affects all other areas of their
lives all right are you ready for this
one I really want people to listen to
this money is real money is real money
is the great facilitator it will change
your life
not necessarily forever cuz you could
lose it but it will change your life
profoundly Bill Gates is going to end
malaria and he's gonna do it because he
has access to the resources so money in
and of itself is inert it is not going
to make you happy it will not change how
you feel about yourself in any way shape
or form but people will chase it for
ever and ever and ever because it is
real and it allows you to do things and
you are able to facilitate your greatest
dreams whatever they may be
because you have money now if you don't
understand money if you don't understand
that money won't change how you feel
about yourself if you don't understand
how transient money is and that you can
spend it and then it is all gone and if
you don't understand how you will feel
about that because Society will judge
you it's actually harder to deal with
having made a lot of money only to lose
it in terms of public perception than to
never have made it at all
people don't necessarily feel sorry for
the person that's making forty-five
thousand dollars a year but they like
literally like there's a mixture of like
heartbreak and cynicism to the person
that made forty five million and then
lost it so that is you got to be real
careful you got to know who you are like
the the most interesting thing that
happened to me in getting wealthy was
realizing that the money did not in any
way shape or form change who I felt
about myself I thought it would because
I looked up to people that had money I
thought oh my god they're amazing
they've accomplished all this stuff like
I thought they were so cool that I just
thought well if I am one of them if I
have the outwardly affectation z' that
they have that I would feel that way
about myself that's not how it works at
all so do the work to become the person
that you want to be to believe in
yourself to love yourself all of that
regardless of whether or not you have
money because the money taint gonna
change anything but it will let you
facilitate your dreams and that is so
intoxicating that people will chase it
forever so all right we're at the end
here alright last question
magic glamour photography this is from
YouTube hey Tom knowing that the brain
is designed for survival what strategy
would you recommend to bend the
evolutionary curve towards happiness
rather than survival i I don't think
this is really a question of bifurcating
them because I think happiness is the
pleasure that Nature has given us to
make sure that we do the things that
ensure the survival of our progeny and
that's very important to differentiate
so nature isn't so worried about you
nature is worried about making sure that
you are able to raise children long
enough that they get to the point where
they will have kids who will then
survive so on and so forth but just like
nature incentivizes sex through pleasure
to make sure that you have kids I think
that nature incentivizes co-op
raishin team work by making fulfilment
the longest-lasting most stable
neurochemical state so sex is amazing
but it comes and goes right it's a very
brief experience whereas fulfillment
knowing that I have a skill set that I
worked my ass off for and this skill set
has real-world implications to people
other than myself it's able to serve
other people and that is what brings
human beings the deepest sense of
fulfillment and I think once people
begin to understand that building that
skill said that it's hard to acquire
that serves other people is the key to
fulfillment then I think that you can
literally leverage what nature has
already given us to have that deep and
lasting fulfillment I just think that
there's enough weirdnesses in modern
society and all that that that doesn't
happen automatically anymore and so
that's what may make it feel like oh we
have to totally bend the curve away from
something that is how we survive as a
group as a collective to make sure that
our children live on is to protect that
group around us so do things not just
for yourself but for other people and I
think that you will find a deep and
lasting sense of fulfillment awaits you
alright that's it for today guys thank
you so much for joining me as always
thank you so much for submitting your
questions absolutely amazing by the way
I can't believe I forgot to mention this
today's episode is brought to you by do
the work go to shop impact eerie calm
right now get yours all about self
signaling you guys know my obsession
with self signaling you try to tell the
world something about yourself but you
end up telling yourself even more so go
get it there's a bunch of other really
cool ideological things get those remind
yourself empower yourself to become the
person that you want to become alright
guys if you haven't already be sure to
subscribe and until next time my friends
be legendary
take care
you