Kind: captions
Language: en
what is up everybody welcome to a very
special edition of AMA where you guys
get to ask me anything and as my wife
destroys the set just off-camera we're
kicking things off we have a live studio
audience today which is why we were back
on the other set so that we've got more
room and for those of you that don't
know my boy Daniel D Piazza aka rich
20-something you're about to he's done
content with this before he was a part
of the 24-hour live an amazing dude one
of the earliest supporters of impact
Theory super stoked to have him in his
mastermind group here alive with us
today so they're going to kick us off
with the first question so without
further ado boys and girls Daniel D
Piazza oh what a build-up I don't know
how I follow okay let's let's kick this
off with something about mindset I know
this is one of your favorite areas to
talk about from where you were you know
maybe 10 years ago as a copywriter and
kind of in the in the grind in the [ __ ]
as you would say what was the biggest
mindset shift that you felt either
happened to you or that you had to force
upon yourself to free up some of that
mental clutter and kind of break free
from the matrix like you often referred
to the biggest thing for me without
question the single biggest realization
of my life and the only thing that's
ever felt like an epiphany has been when
I realized that I could choose what I
built my self-esteem around and I found
myself as I'm sure we've all encountered
people that are arguing for dumb ideas
just because they're theirs I was that
guy and it's because I was building my
self-esteem around being right being
good being smart being worthy those were
all the things my self-esteem was
wrapped up in and they're ultimately
very fragile and they're ultimately
things and make you make really stupid
decisions and the reason they're fragile
is you're inevitably going to meet
people who are smarter better faster
stronger than you are and that's going
to hit your self-esteem which then
there's this whole thing called the
psychological immune system which is
going to kick in and the psychological
immune system is not only real it's
amazing and people that delude
themselves more aggressively are asked
actually happier like let that sink in
for a second so the psychological immune
system is gonna lie to you it's gonna
tell you that you're fine everybody else
is wrong and it's gonna feel great and
it's actually going to improve the
quality of your life which is really
distressing because if you have goals
and you're trying to attain those goals
like for real not bullshitting yourself
but actually like actually wanting to
make your dreams come true and this is
something that I think separates a lot
of people you know I'll talk more about
later most people want to play at
achieving their goals and their real
goal is to feel good about themselves
and in one lightning-rod moment I was
arguing with my partners who were 10
years ahead of me on their
entrepreneurial journey they were just
smarter than me and by that I just mean
they can process raw data faster than me
so IQ north of something like a hundred
and twenty no longer correlates to your
potential success it all comes down to
like hard work perseverance so it didn't
really matter that they were smarter
than me other than the fact that I
prided myself on being smart so now here
I am in this environment where I'm
constantly reminded I'm not the smartest
person in the room which then hurts it
makes me feel badly about myself makes
me want to get out of that situation or
it makes me want to do things like argue
for my idea just to win and so I found
myself doing that and I was arguing
about something that I knew was wrong
and if you've ever been and this happens
in relationships a lot where you know
you're wrong
B can't stop yourself so you just keep
[ __ ] arguing and there's a little
voice in your head saying like you know
you're wrong stop at any moment now just
stop stop stop and you keep going and so
I was having the business equivalent of
that and the voice in my head wasn't
small nor was it quiet it was outright
screaming you're wrong and you know
you're wrong so what are you doing and
then to make matters worse at the end of
it actually convinced them that I was
right and so they decided okay yeah we
should do it that way and I thought what
have I just done like literally my
stated goal at the time was to get rich
and I had convinced them of an idea that
I knew was going to move us away from
that goal so in that moment I said okay
I need to be honest with myself about
what I actually want because if what I
want is just to feel good about myself
then I'm in the wrong environment
because I feel badly about myself
Dean Lee because they're so smart and so
much farther ahead of me
so if what I want is just a few
good about myself I should get myself
out of this in fact and this is this was
actually what I was singing myself there
was that level of like clarity and I was
like okay it's okay like no judgment on
myself if what I just want to do is go
feel good and be a big fish in a small
pond yeah but if I actually want to get
rich and I'm not actually playing at it
and I really want to do it then I've got
to stop worrying about feeling good
about myself and the thought of that of
not feeling good about myself anymore
was so horrifying that I just sat there
and was like neither of those work like
neither of them returnable once you're
aware that you're just trying to be a
big fish in a small pond you feel
douchey and then once you realize like I
just want to pretend that I'm chasing my
dreams and I'm not really you also you
feel like a liar quite frankly and so
there's like this disharmony in yourself
and so I was like God like I need to
feel good about myself so the only thing
I could think of was to build my
self-esteem around something that I
didn't have the word anti fragile but
ultimately after reading the same
Phillips book of the same name I
realized that's what I was looking for
was like what was that thing that I
could pride myself on that also moved me
towards my goals so that's what I was
thinking of like what could I be proud
of and feel good about that was moving
me towards my goals always like by
default its very nature yeah was to move
me towards my goals and the only thing
that I could think of was to be the
learner so okay well if I'm not the
smartest guy then stop taking pride in
that start taking pride in learning
start taking pride in and this is maybe
even more important than the idea of the
learner start taking pride in your
willingness to admit that you were wrong
and so that was like a real big thing
because I thought well if I mentally
congratulate myself for saying you know
I could have been 30 seconds ago arguing
vehemently for something because I
believed it but then immediately go you
know what actually I'm wrong you're
right your idea is better and like I'm
gonna get all over that and because
other people when whenever somebody goes
dude you know what you've convinced me I
was wrong you always think that guy is
amazing like I can't believe that so but
yet when it's yourself you just want to
double down you want
be right and so I thought I'm gonna
totally let go of that and even though
it doesn't feel real I'm gonna remember
how I feel about people every time they
say that they're wrong
Wow but I'm like wow man like good on
you like to be able to have that clarity
and suddenly you feel connected and they
feel like above something right it's
like wow like they're not held back by
the ego or whatever all the things that
we struggle with so I started doing that
and that ended up being the the
breakthrough that allowed me to ascend
in the company one because my ego wasn't
getting in the way anymore and then two
I was building an even bigger ego than
I'd had before but it wasn't fragile
because I could encounter somebody
smarter than me I could encounter a
better idea
but I would just keep repeating to
myself you're valuable because you
learned you're valuable because you
admit when you're wrong and because of
that like the more I was like I'm wrong
I would actually look for opportunities
to to like I'm constantly checking like
am I wrong here because if I'm wrong I
get that really cool know that were like
yeah you were right and then I started
putting all the energy behind the right
idea and in doing that people wanted to
bring their ideas to me because I would
breathe life into them and I would say
hey this is Daniel's idea it's not my
idea but I really believe in it and so
that just it changed everything
Wow idea meritocracy that's yeah well
idea meritocracy that's a whole nother
thing yeah which I assume you've read
Ray Dalio book which is it's a whole
other thing I'd early trans that was a
great a great response thank you Tom
thanks for joining us all right our next
question comes online from Albert Wesker
this from YouTube hi Tom greetings from
Columbia what is up Columbia what is the
best way to find a mentor when you were
in your early 20s and you don't have too
much money to pay a professional coach
alright so getting a mentor it's always
the same and it goes exactly like this
go to somebody who's living your ideal
life and that's really important this is
where people fall on their faces they
don't pick somebody who's living their
ideal life they pick somebody that's
near them so you really want to find
somebody that the following magic words
that I'm going to give you will actually
make sense in your life so you identify
that person you go to them and say the
following I'm gonna work for you for
free for 90 days I'm gonna work harder
and smarter than anyone you've ever met
and at the end of that time if you'd
rather pay me than lose me
then pay me and I'll stay on staff if
not we shake hands and part ways and and
that's the end of it and then and this
is the key you're going to deliver
against that in the most extreme way
possible there is nothing that is above
you if they ask you to take out the
trash you're gonna take out the trash
better than it has ever been taken and
you're going to win people over by
delivering a crushing amount of value
you're going to anticipate their needs
you're going to understand them you're
gonna know more about them and their
business than anyone else in the company
you're gonna come in over prepared so
that you can over deliver and you're
gonna set the bar ridiculously high and
then surpass all expectations and if you
don't believe that that's true ask
yourself what it would look like if I
interned for you for 90 days if you can
feel the magic in that if you can just
in and by the way put me in an area
where I know absolutely nothing so that
I can't rely on my what I've learned
over the years so make me go be one of
those guys on a fishing boat and which I
know absolutely nothing about and all I
have in the beginning is attentiveness a
willingness to work never complaining
and always making sure that everybody's
having fun and that I'm a ball of energy
to be around and then I'm gonna learn
faster than anyone because I'm gonna put
in more time than anyone and I've done
that in my life just instead of gutting
fish I was making protein bars and I had
no idea what I was doing but I showed up
every day and there was no way I was
gonna complain I was always gonna be
upbeat I was always gonna be energetic I
was always gonna take the worst job by
the way so that I could show people this
is what it looks like to bring joy and
enthusiasm to this thing
there were times where I was waking up
in the middle of the night and my hands
were cramping closed because I would
take the hardest job and I had to like
grind the protein bars that got when
they first ran through they were too
heavy or too light you have to break
them up by hand at least in the early
days and it was brutally difficult and I
would take that job and I would make
sure that people were having fun and
that they saw the energy and all that so
you can always do that and it's always
about going in and out working and out
learning people if you do that if you
make that offer to 1015 people one of
them is gonna say yes
probably more than say no and if at the
end of that time by the way they still
can afford to pay you but you're
crushing it you're learning a lot
because you're gonna do all of this in
exchange for knowledge and connections
and that at the end of the day is far
more valuable than the money because the
money is a one-off whereas the knowledge
and connections will last forever if you
know how to leverage it all right next
question sim land our boy what is up he
says Tom if you were to put if you were
put in a similar situation as Viktor
Frankl in the Nazi concentration camps
this escalated quickly
ie inevitable pain an indefinite torture
how would you maintain a positive growth
mindset for yourself and those around
you so let me just say that I am the
absolute wrong person to answer this
question I've never gone through
anything like that I was just watching a
movie last night called 12 strong and I
thought I know that when we because
we're gonna record a piece of content
around that which by the way if you
haven't already subscribed to our
forward slash impact Theory Studios on
YouTube and you love filmmaking comic
books TV shows all that and only if go
subscribe and I know that when we do
that one of the questions we will face
is we're doing our panel on that is
would we make the same choices that
those insanely brave guys make and I
just thought I'm not the right person to
answer that question I've never been put
in that situation and so I can tell you
what I hope is true of me but until
you've really been tested like that
I think it's grossly arrogant to say
that you would or wouldn't do something
so I would like to think that I end up
in a similar place that Viktor Frankl
ended up but rather than tell you it is
what i would do i will tell you what
Viktor Frankl actually did which was to
find a reason for going through all of
that to find a meaning in his suffering
and so that's why the title of his book
is man's search for meaning and he said
that you could literally see when
somebody gave up and they no longer had
a reason to suffer the just insane and
dignities and pain and all of that they
would die within 72 hours and they would
die because they'd just given up they
just didn't have anything bigger than
themselves to keep moving and I talked a
lot about the whole notion the Greek
notion of techne which is to build a set
of skills that is unique to you
and use that set of skills in service of
other people and it's that in service of
other people that brings in fulfillment
in your life and look at the end of the
day I promise the game that you're
playing is brain chemistry it isn't
money
it isn't worldly success it is very much
how you feel about yourself when you're
all alone that's it that's the only
juice that matters because you can give
somebody all the money in the world and
if they're depressed and suicidal the
the money is of not only little
consolation it's of no consolation so
and conversely if somebody feels
fulfilled and happy and they just love
their life and love what they're doing
not having money would not be an
impediment so money is useful but it
certainly doesn't change the way that
you feel about yourself so that is and
look if I found myself tomorrow in a
concentration camp I would literally be
leaning on Victor Frankel's book which
is incredible and I think everybody
should read it and it ties in to I think
it was Nietzsche that said a man who has
a Y can survive almost any how and I
think that that is is so true and it's
very true on a much lesser level when
you're an entrepreneur so when you know
why you're doing what you're doing like
it's just easier to push through the
hard times the boredom the lack of sleep
whatever it is you're struggling with
when you really know and believe in why
you're doing it then then you've got a
chance so in a really short way I would
say that I the way to keep the growth
mindset is to it's not really about
growth so much at that point but it is
that notion of like my shirt today
everything is my fault like how can you
find a way to see that while the
circumstances are being created by
somebody else how you feel about them is
entirely on you and so you can own that
and find a way to see something positive
even if it's just sharing your humanity
with the other people that are stuck
there so finding that Y becomes
important all right next question is
from Keith Cola Tom thanks for your
inspiration what advice do you have for
a teen who struggles with reading due to
a disability he has a super attitude and
works hard but the disability also
impacts his social skills thanks so I'm
gonna pretend that this is dyslexia and
I'll let that stand in for all the other
disabilities that might have
this a similar kind of effect to what
you're talking about the reason that I
want to use dyslexia is in the beginning
when people first really started
understanding it it was just seen as
holding people back period there was
nothing advantageous about it and then
they found over time that actually the
people that are dyslexic tend to be able
to break rules and think more creatively
far more than other people and so I
forget the stat but it's something like
two thirds of all self-made and it
wasn't millionaires but it was like
north of a hundred million or something
I remember the exact number but two
thirds of them or sorry one-third of
them all had dyslexia and I thought what
the [ __ ] like that just goes to show
like the a two things are going on one
there may be an actual neurological
advantage and then two when you have to
overcome something very trying
it destroys most of the people that it
touches think of the inner cities I
think most people that grow up hard
underprivileged it eats them alive and
they're never able to get escape
velocity to get out of the circumstances
that they grew up in but the people that
do your jay-z's of the world they go on
to be just astonishing because to get
escape velocity and something where the
gravitational pull of being
underprivileged is so insanely strong
that the people that make it out of that
they're tougher and they've just had to
find some way so they're they're really
it's one of the reasons that I'm not a
parent because I know that hardship and
suffering is exactly what people need to
find their greatness but man putting
somebody in a situation like that is
brutally brutally difficult so I would
look for what is the advantage if there
is one and if there isn't one make one
up quite frankly in the disability that
you have and then two everything is your
fault so looking at how the disability
is holding you back
is totally useless and here's what I
always tell people about excuses
the reason excuses are insidious
is because they're so [ __ ] valid
having a disability yeah it it's real
and it's holding you back and things are
going to be harder for you than other
people that is just truth and now you
can either accept that or you can say
well I guess I'm gonna have to work
harder and the people that do that are
the ones that go on to do extraordinary
things so whining about it being sad
about it I get it and no one is gonna
fault you no one is gonna say that
you're bad person for doing that but I'm
gonna tell you right now you won't
achieve what you want to achieve if you
waste any time wallowing in self-pity so
only because it doesn't serve you and
look at Stephen Hawking he said when you
cough what he said when you complain
nobody wants to help you and I thought
whoa for a guy that literally he can
move one muscle in his cheek and he
doesn't complain and he's had some of
the biggest breakthroughs in physics and
he says it's because I lost the use of
my body that I've been able to have
these huge breakthroughs so he's not
only complaining but he's managed to
find a way to reframe it as one of the
most powerful things that's ever
happened so I invite you to do the same
all right why don't we take question
from our live studio audience
jump up what's up time what's up so
what's one of your most recent life
awakenings or our life understandings
that makes you excited to live today I
will go with Ray Dalio principles and
I'm glad you asked the question in such
a grand way so that people can
understand how much that book impacted
me so one of the things that I really
felt was holding me back in life was I
was really good in small groups and I
did not know how to scale it so when
companies are small men I'm your guy
like I know how to do that I know how to
lead by example I'd create a cult of
personality get everybody amped up make
sure they're feeling good making sure
everybody's moving and then as the
company scaled in a quest we had 1,400
employees before I left it was like mass
chaos and I I just didn't know how to
keep like the innate human
characteristics that we have to sweep
things under the rug to not talk openly
about things to harbor resentment like
how do you keep that from becoming a
problem
and I had things that I thought were
solutions and maybe they helped a little
but they certainly didn't get me to
where I wanted to go and reading that
book I finally realized that I had had a
failure of imagination now that is not
something that happens to me very often
I'm like I can legitimately believe in
terraforming other planets and say yeah
we can do that like it's not gonna be
easy like you really have to learn a lot
of [ __ ] but like look at Elon Musk right
I think he's actually gonna pull it off
and on a long enough timeline I think
for sure so
I never think of myself as getting
caught in the trap of failing to think
big enough and then when I read dahlias
book I realized I understood the
principles I just didn't think they can
be carried out across a big enough
organization I didn't think you could
say to somebody that if you Harbor a
resentment or a criticism and you never
say it to anybody that that's still a
crime against the company and that you
have an obligation to say that criticism
out loud to that person and I'll give
you another example of something that
Dalio does in Bridgewater which is the
largest hedge fund ever or the most
successful and they record every
conversation and make it available to
the entire company so now I want you to
think about the last time you were
chastised by your boss now think about
that being recorded and made available
to everybody just full transparency full
transparency man and I've heard people
talk about praise publicly and
criticized privately and I've that's
never sat well with me as a human being
but as a leader I thought that makes so
much sense because I've hurt people
before because they feel like ashamed in
front of the group but you're ready for
the hard answer man the [ __ ] up and
until you're ready until you eagerly
seek the truth about yourself you'll
never go anywhere so you can hide from
it and I get it and humans want to do
that and that is a default position that
I think most of us are in so I have
compassion and empathy for people who
don't want other people to see their
weaknesses but a year before I read
principles I was saying to people here I
want your aggressive or I want your
feedback aggressive and public I want it
in front of people and the reason I want
it in front of peoples I want everyone
to see the only thing that matters is
the truth because of the chills right
now
because if I can explain this man like
anybody listening right now it's gonna
have a breakthrough skills have utility
did you ever watch the movie into the
wild yes okay he dies right spoiler
alert
the reason he dies is because he doesn't
know how to cure meat and if he had
gotten better at that skill he might be
alive today so it's an example where a
skill could have saved his life in
business skills have utility when you're
actually good at something meaning you
can get more people to use your product
or service your company grows stronger
you can move up in that company you can
make more money and get stock options
you can get to the point where you can
start your own company enough real
ownership you can make a product that
actually improves people's lives you can
really solve a societal problem like the
skills have actual utility that's why
I'm obsessed with skill acquisition has
nothing to do with anything other than
this [ __ ] allows me to do things I could
not do before my very definition of
power is very simple close your eyes
imagine a world open your eyes and make
that world come true that's power when
you can do that when you can translate a
vision into reality by acquiring and
executing against your skill set that's
it like that's the juice and if people
understood that and in understanding
that all of a sudden you become a fiend
for the truth because you just need to
know I can't see myself clearly I can
see other people clearly but I don't
have that same clarity for myself truth
is the only thing that will let me get
it and so the reason that I ask people
to give it to me aggressively and
publicly is I want them all to see it is
very plausible to deal with the
emotional difficulty and I'll do it in
real time I don't know what somebody's
gonna say to me but I'll deal with it in
real time I will open myself up to
actually hear their message I'll assess
whether it's true or not and if it's
true I will adopt it fast man fast rate
of utilization because I'm so hungry for
the [ __ ] truth so that I can actually
execute at a higher level and that's
what I want people to understand then I
would say the number one reason that
people wouldn't do that is they're
hiding from a piece of themself for the
for the public confrontation they're
they're avoiding pain and there's very
little pain that's more ruthless than
having your vision of your
kicked in the dirt green right we all
create a vision of who we are and what
we're capable of and when you encounter
something that says no you're not that
you're not good at something you thought
you were good at the thing that you were
building your pride around going back to
the most important realization I've ever
had the thing you were building your
pride around you're wrong about that is
one of the most devastating things a
human being will go through outside of
losing a loved one it's not a lot that's
gonna shake you up like that and so when
you build your pride around something so
fragile you protect it and there are
evolutionary mechanisms at work to make
sure that it's easy to protect yourself
from that the psychological immune
system and basically every company
you're ever gonna go work in not only
thinks it's acceptable to hide and that
they want you to keep your criticisms to
yourself but that they foster an
environment where that's what people are
meant to do you're not meant to say
things that could be construed as mean
you shouldn't be mean by the way there's
no reason but when you're direct and you
tell somebody you're not good at that
and you handle that poorly people people
will feel attacked people on the outside
will perceive you as attacking them so
you have to build an organizational
structure from the ground up that says
it's not okay to harbor even a silent
criticism and that we prioritize the
truth above everything did you find in
the beginning that you needed to
schedule that time to have the criticism
yes we do like get together in formal
environments where people are meant to
speak up but I think if you force it to
be built into scheduled time you've
already lost and now we'll also say in
full disclosure we've only been
deploying principles here for like three
months now so ask me again in you know a
year or two years but right now doing
things like having an error log where
people have to write down their mistakes
that it's okay to make a mistake and it
is absolutely a terminable offense to
hide a mistake so building things like
that into the culture hopefully then
takes a sea change all right thank you
for your question all right next up this
is from Joe stratum on Facebook Tom
Steyer 24 and you just graduated college
with the bachelors degree in
entrepreneurship you have
50k in student loans but no idea what
you want to do in life just the idea
that you want to own your own business
and work for yourself you feel the
pressure of the loans coming down as
time passes but want to avoid falling
into the trap with the endless corporate
ladder what's the first thing you do
alright first and foremost I cut my
expenses to the absolute quick either
I'm living with my parents I'm managing
apartment complexes which is what I
actually did which allowed me to live
rent-free at one point $100 rent at
another point but you can get it like
crazy dirt cheap I'm gonna be paying
down my principal on the loan to make
sure that I'm getting out from under
that as fast as I can and then I'm going
to take a job if I don't have a company
that I want to start I'm gonna take a
job that gives me both reasonable amount
of money to live on my you know look if
I had to live with five people in a
studio apartment I would do it but
whatever I need to live but then allows
me the free time to go and experience
the things that I'm going to need to
experience in order to actually
cultivate passion for something and I
think that that process looks like this
you encounter a lot of things one of the
things that you encounter will
ultimately be an interest you engage
with that interest fan the flames of
that interest to see if it turns into a
real fascination if it turns into a
fascination then you go along the
process of actually gaining mastery at
it and in the process of gaining mastery
it either will turn into a passion or
you'll peter out lose interest and
realize you need to pivot and move on to
something else but that is what I would
do expenses down to the quick I would
not live any sort of lavish lifestyle
and as somebody who didn't party didn't
go out and forgive me for being one of
the people to cause pain to an industry
that I love very much
like when I wanted to go see a movie I
would buy one ticket and then I would
hide in the bathroom between screenings
and I would see four movies at once I
would pack a lunch I would not buy any
snacks in the theater I would wear a big
jacket and stuff things in my sleeves so
there are ways you've just got to be
willing to put your head down grind it
out I didn't date I didn't drink I
didn't go out and I ate Tina's burritos
in fact I owe a debt of gratitude to
Tina's burritos because they were three
for 99 cents and I can
a lot and then back in the day I lived
off McDonald's dollar menu I did that
for a long time man thank you for taking
me down memory lane I haven't thought
about Tina's burritos in a long time so
yeah there are ways most people just
want to live life that's way too lavish
thankfully I had absolutely no skills
with girls so because I couldn't get
laid it was very easy for me to not
waste money on trying to get laid so
MEMS is the truth but that did allow me
to work relentlessly on acquiring skills
and time invested in acquiring skills
will do you well so and then going back
to what I said earlier about finding a
mentor somebody that can really help you
also you can defer student loans by the
way so I would write to them and see how
long you can defer I think I got mine
deferred for like six months at one
point so yeah do that figure out how
much you can cut your expenses to the
quick shut your mind off to anything
luxury don't need a big house or you
know your own bedroom or anything like
that do whatever it takes man and that's
why it comes down to that why number our
boy Nietzsche if you've got a good
enough y you can survive almost any how
alright next question is from Jelena
mosa [ __ ] Facebook hey Tom if you spend
your entire life in service of other
people how do you change enough to put
yourself first but still keep the sense
of identity that empathy and compassion
brings all right so this is advanced
class [ __ ] and it goes like this at the
end of the day humans are both selfish
and selfless and you've got to get real
comfortable with both so take
selflessness to the extreme you would
never eat anything because you'd always
want to be giving it to somebody else
you need you starve to death and die
okay so once we accept that that's
really [ __ ] stupid and that's not a
smart path for anybody to take now we
can start to say what is the point of
helping other people and I'll take a
really crass approach to this and say
that nature has incentivized behavior
that it wants in order to guarantee that
you pass on progeny so that you have
kids and those kids survive so the
reason that we like helping other people
is it was good for the group it was good
to ensure our safety as a collective and
since usually in smaller groups in the
old days that collective was largely
made up of people that shared at least
some percentage of your genes so it just
made sense to protect those around you
so that's why it is really feels great
to go help other people but
at the same time man I don't think you
have any moral obligation not to do
things for yourself first I just think
that thanks to that way that we're wired
that one of the ways you can do
something for yourself is to also do
things for other people but I live in a
big fuck-off Beverly Hills mansion and I
make no apologies for it and I've made a
lot of money and I'm gonna make a lot
more and I'm not just going to give
everything away I'm going to do a lot of
cool [ __ ] for a lot of people and make
no mistake I'm gonna make my money in
service of other people so the money
that I made that allowed me to buy this
and have all these cameras in the big
house and all of that was I was trying
to end metabolic disease which i think
is a pretty noble pursuit and I was
willing to break myself in half to
actually make that real and I was
rewarded for it because I made something
that people valued more than the money
in their hand so that to me is the goal
make something that people actually
value value exchange is the only thing
that's sustainable over time but this
isn't about being a martyr I have no
interest in that this isn't about even
being Mother Teresa this is about having
a legitimate compassionate desire to
help other people because it feels
[ __ ] awesome and doing cool things
for other people is really good business
now as well so it feels great it will
make you feel good about yourself it'll
give you a deep and lasting sense of
fulfillment and I can't think of
anything that is a better marketing
vehicle than just being a great person
so you're living through what I consider
the most magical time to be an
entrepreneur not because there's no
startup cost that's also awesome but
because of social media where you will
be rewarded or punished based on the
kind of person that you are it is very
weird it has never happened before in
human history but here we are living
through it do get things from people
make products that serve and you will do
just fine all right next up Pablo gdt is
on Facebook hey Tom I found a new job
that intrigues me and I'm eager to learn
as much as possible what advice would
you give to focus fiercely over long
periods of time in order to achieve
optimal learning this is one of those
ones where the answer is so simple and
it comes down to excitement and I think
this is one of the things that has
gotten lost in the entrepreneurial
revolution where everybody wants to
start their own company is people aren't
asking themselves a simple question what
am i excited about
what gives me more energy than it takes
away so I read a lot I'm learning a lot
and the reason that I'm learning is what
I'm trying to achieve in my life really
excites me but I don't want to play at
it I don't want to pretend I want to
actually execute against my dreams and I
love right now that people think that my
dream is ridiculously big and that we're
never gonna do it and I see the looks
that people give me when I tell them
what I'm doing
and actually had one guy pulled me aside
not too long ago and he said Thomas want
you to know not everybody's inspired by
how big your dream is and I thought yeah
I get that I understand the way that
people's minds work but as I execute
against it step by step by step I'm able
to work that hard to do that because I'm
really excited about it I'm really amped
to close my eyes and envision that
future and then open my eyes and execute
against it so because I have that I have
a real hunger for that knowledge and
over time as long as I'm not losing
interest in what it is that I'm trying
to accomplish on the days where it's
boring or I'm exhausted
I just refocus on that I refocus on what
it is that I'm actually trying to
accomplish and I know that skills have a
real-world value and so the combination
of being excited about getting better
and the getting better is going towards
something that I really believe in and
it's in service of other people so it
makes me feel really good about myself
makes me feel connected to people and
you get yourself in a virtuous cycle
like that all right let us take a
question from our live studio audience
who hath won all right jump on up did I
tell them hey doing good man how about
you good really really happy to be here
nice question about time management I
was curious about how you structure your
days in your weeks to 1 get so much done
to minimize procrastination and three
basically just make everything come
together and work properly so that
you're not getting overwhelmed and burnt
out but also achieving what you need to
okay so there's a lot in there and it's
all important so if I forget any remind
me um so here's how I structure my time
I structure it right that just knowing
that you have things on a calendar that
you can look at your calendar determine
your priorities also I usually have a
high
arching thing about how I'm looking at
my schedule so 2017 was my year of yes
so it was gonna be encountering a lot of
different things a lot of different
people and it's given me great things
like getting to know Daniel you guys
being here is a direct result of 2017
was a year of yes so if somebody said
hey in fact this is actually how it
happened I was with Noah Kagan and he
said hey do you want to go meet this guy
Daniel D Piazza and I was like yes the
answer is always yes so we go we meet we
click and it's become like a real
relationship 2018 is my year of no and
you're gonna see that now in my calendar
because what ended up happening 2017 I
made a lot of awesome relationships and
they continue to echo and I'm very
grateful for them and it's not that I
won't go see people it's just that it
began to mushroom where it was taking so
much of my time that I didn't feel like
I was able to be strategic enough and
really be at a high level and just think
about [ __ ] and and depending on what
your role in the company is that can be
very valuable so for instance my wife
and I she's the co-founder of the
company my wife's job is not to think
high level about [ __ ] my wife job is to
make sure things actually happen to
execute to think through tactically
right so if I'm thinking high levels
strategically she's thinking in the
nitty-gritty tactically and you need
both so I need to be having those
strategic that time the equivalent of
you know the two hour I don't do this
but the getting myself in the zone of
the two-hour warm shower right where
it's just like there's no distractions
you almost sort of forget about your
physicality in your physical space and
you're just thinking through like how
each chest move affects another and what
the ripple effects of all this are and
to make sure that you're actually moving
forward so that's like my high level
right so because I have my high level
because I know that this year I really
need to like be getting super strategic
because now the team has gotten much
better at the tactical so that flip then
I make sure that I schedule everything
out including the time to do that
thinking so in my schedule just like as
a land grab I go through and I put huge
blocks of time two hours three hours
four hours at a time
they just say important things and so
important things are like the things
that I know that I need to move forward
in the company or I need to figure out
or whatever the case may
and then I keep a list so that I'm never
thinking what are the important things
like I've got a list I just go through
the list very simple no time loss to
thinking and then I cognitively optimize
and this is huge and that means I get as
much sleep as I need I eat right and I
exercise and if you do that your
efficiency of thought skyrockets when
you're fatigued you're gonna be slow
your thinking is gonna be slow your
ideas are gonna be worse
so I resent sleep so this is not like me
making excuses for sleep in fact there
are some times where I get so angry at
how much I'm sleeping I'll finally sleep
less just out of rage and so I'll wake
up like super early be like [ __ ] yeah
but I can't do that many days in a row
because then it starts to impact my
cognition so I sleep only because it is
necessary I have not used an alarm in
like 15 years now so I think things like
that are important I never check email
that's really important now full
disclosure my assistant does check my
email she's got a list of say 7 to 10
people that she's on the constant
lookout see if they sent me something
and if something comes in that looks
like it's a real opportunity but I
probably on average reply to less than
five emails a week so that's it like I
don't [ __ ] with email like if the reason
I don't by the way and the reason that I
implore people to be awash and shame if
they're checking email is because when
you check email you're saying somebody
else knows better what I should be doing
to grow my business than I do and that's
just it might be true by the way but
shame shame on you so you should be the
person who knows what your business
needs because you should be thinking
about it you should be able to get to
that strategic level to know what you're
trying to accomplish have work backwards
to figure out the gap and skillset and
accomplishment that you have to cross in
order to actually execute against your
dreams right so no one's gonna know that
better than you not if you're doing it
right and so what are the odds that
someone just happens to email the exact
thing that you need virtually zero so
yeah email email triggers a dopamine
loop and so it's super flex like social
media yeah so social media I think is
actually a separate beast you can use it
stupidly just like email where you go in
and I find reddit does this to me where
each one is like just cool enough that I
want to see the next one and the next
one and the next one and then all the
sudden you've lost 30 minutes crazy
social media also evens the playing
field not only does it allow you to
build a community of people who
understand and value what you're doing
it allows you to connect with people
that in any other time in human history
you'd never have been able to connect
with so that one to me comes down to I
actually spend way more time on social
than I spend in email even though at a
surface level you could level that same
criticism but if you take it a layer
deeper to see what I'm doing my entire
business rests on the back of my ability
to build a community of people who
believe in what I'm trying to accomplish
I'm gonna be a part of it so that right
becomes very different than just
traditional email yeah I mean not just
like your scrolling wasting time right
correct which email will trigger that
yeah super weird there's another part of
what you asked how do you balance not
getting burnt out but also getting what
you need done
let me address burnin impressive thrown
out to me is is very simply a question
of do you like what you're doing or not
so actually that's a lie burnout is two
things do you like what you're doing or
not does it add more energy than it
takes and then to mindset is the third
thing that you should focus on and I'm
like the mindset guy so when the mindset
guy says mindsets in third position you
should really take it seriously what's 1
& 2 & 1 & 2 are diet and exercise at a
cellular level
you were quite literally what you eat
and I don't know how many more studies
have to come out that show how exercise
impacts cognition before people realize
you just not cognitively optimized
offender the last couple of weeks
website before I work yeah yeah I wish
it weren't so because I absolutely
despise working out and not working out
for one day is is awesome and people
always like oh don't you feel lethargic
no I'm a bundle of [ __ ] energy if I
take the day off the gym but if I take a
week or two weeks then I really start to
notice whoa like I'm slowing down so
diet exercise then mindset because
you're just putting a bandaid on a much
bigger problem if you don't have diet
exercise right also the way that it
feeds into the microbiome which probably
has a way bigger impacts and everything
than we think so normally when somebody
says that they're not they're burning
out they're either doing the wrong thing
meaning you just don't care about your
industry or your product yeah
or you do but you're getting lost in the
physicality of not being able to produce
ATP yeah
that's the the sort of reality there
Coco alright thanks for you thank you
all right next up got a question from
Karla Ayala
this is on Facebook how does a person
find their drive desire or passion when
life has beaten them into reality too
early in life ok one you don't find your
drive desire or passion you cultivate
each and every one of those so it's
going to be a decision that you're
making you're going to choose even
though you feel fatigued even though you
feel beaten down even though life is
trying its best to prove to you that for
whatever reason your dreams don't get to
come true you're going to refuse to
believe that and some just downright
obstinance is government going to come
into play here and then repetition the
things that you say now in this scenario
I think you're invisible beliefs which
has become a real obsession of mine
lately you're invisible beliefs meaning
the things that you believe to be so
fundamentally true that you never stop
to ask whether they actually are true or
not you never stop to think about the
fact that they were a choice at one
point but they were probably a choice
made by your parents and it just became
your reality because everyone around you
seemed to believe the same thing there
are questions that you can ask yourself
and I'll give you a few two of them I've
stolen straight from Albert Einstein the
first one is he said the most important
decision let that sink in the most
important decision any human being will
ever make is whether they live in a
friendly or hostile universe meaning
there is no objective truth there you've
just decided either the world is working
against me or it's working for me and I
remember in the 80s everyone used to say
the same thing life's just the [ __ ] and
today is another day that's absurd and
points out a belief that if you actually
believe that that every day is going to
suck you wake up expecting it to suck
and guess what there's a saying called
the reticular activating system and it's
going to make sure that you see all the
shitty things because that's what you're
focusing on so you're gonna see all the
evidence of how life really is a [ __ ]
and out today is just another day if on
the other hand you flip that and you
decide that life is glorious it's
amazing there's so much cool [ __ ]
happening that's what you're gonna see
and that brings me to the second
question which is is everything in life
a miracle
or is nothing in life a miracle again
from Albert Einstein you get to choose
neither one of them is objectively true
you get to decide if the flower growing
is like unimaginably cool or being able
to turn lights on in the house indoor
plumbing a breeze on an otherwise
stiflingly cold day or a warm air vent
since I'm sure many people listen to
this right now or in cold-ass places
like are those miracles or not and
depending on how you look at that will
determine whether when you walk by that
warm air vent you get a rush of like joy
and like whoa this is so cool and allow
yourself to get excited and to be
childlike in that moment is going to
have a profound impact on your brain
literally the structures of your brain
because your wiring for the things you
use most so if you're forcing yourself
to focus on the joy the beauty the
miracle of everyday things then that's
the region of your brain that is going
to get myelinated which is where fatty
tissue is wrapped around the neurons
that allows electrical impulses to
travel faster so it literally becomes
more easy becomes easy
becomes easier to think in that region
because you've prioritized it and as I
say neurons that fire together wire
together and that's the wiring that
they're talking about so you get what
you focus on there are more questions
but I will leave you with just one more
which is to ask yourself are you capable
of anything that you set your mind to or
are there limits to what you can
comprehend so depending on how you
believe about that will determine a
large quality of your life so choose
wisely my friends all right so getting
beyond invisible beliefs alright next
question is from Corbin Bennett this is
one is from Facebook when people want to
be great at something they don't want to
do this stuff behind the scenes that
will get you good at what you do they
want the platform and success without
putting the work no one sees what
attributes virtues and lessons should an
aspiring entrepreneur cultivate in order
to best succeed ok so I think it's
awesome everybody should want sh