Kind: captions
Language: en
Vis those were incredibly kind words and
I can't thank you enough for that and
getting to that point where we were able
to build something was a long and
arduous Journey that I think a lot of
people are going to be able to relate to
because it started from a place of
absolute Terror and growing up I didn't
show any early signs of uh promise a
little embarrassing to put these photos
up I wish these photos were atypical but
in reality that is what I look like
pretty much all the time
uh I always had some sort of clown hat
on I actually wore my pajamas out and
about on the streets that's San
Francisco um yeah that was really where
I started
and wanting to do something with my life
I had this unending ease that I could do
more I could be more I just didn't know
how and I felt trapped but I didn't know
what I was trapped by and my own mother
who's always been my biggest cheerleader
who all but kicked me out of the house
when I was panicking and didn't want to
leave leave the state for college I was
actually the only person in my
graduating class to leave the state uh
wasn't something that people from Tacoma
Washington did you stayed you went to a
state school my mom still lives less
than three miles from the house that she
grew up in so this is not a place where
people go off and explore but my mom
always felt like if I didn't do that
that I would have a lot of the same
regrets that she had that I wouldn't see
the world that I wouldn't discover
myself and that one day I would look
back and say what if I had only tried
now what she didn't tell me at the time
but she has since confessed is that she
just assumed I was going to
fail now my mom is hilarious she's not
Jewish but you would think she is
because her whole life since kicking me
out of the nest she's been desperately
trying to claw me
back and so one day I finally asked I
said what is with that like literally
you forced me to leave and go to college
so why have you worked so hard to get me
back and that's when she said with
nothing but love in her heart I just
always thought you would
fail and that was a gift it was really a
gift because at that moment I realized
that the things that I've accomplished
in my life had nothing to do with being
given something at Birth now I felt this
unease that I was talking about that I
could do more but I was stuck and I
didn't know what I was trapped in in
1999 a movie came out called The Matrix
that movie ended up giving me the
intellectual framework to think about
what was happening in my life because
there was something limiting me there
was something that made me feel a drift
and this gave me the vernacular to think
about what it was and in the movie they
talk about taking the red pill the red
pill its only
promise its only promise is the truth
that's it it's not saying that it's
going to make things better it's simply
going to reveal the way that the world
really is and that for me was incredibly
intoxicating and I took the red pill
intellectually and what I began to
realize is that the mind is the Matrix
in of itself now there's people that'll
debate whether we actually live inside
the Matrix whether we're actually in a
simulation and it's a fun conversation
but I honestly don't care about the
answer because I can tell you right now
today in this moment I Promise You The
Matrix has
you if you guys know David Foster
Wallace's concept of this is water to a
fish water is so ubiquitous it ceases to
exist now we all have that same thing
and it's playing on us and it's keeping
us from becoming who we want to become
and that thing is our mindset it's our
belief system it is so everpresent it is
so ingrained into the fabric of who you
are and the way that you process data
you don't even notice it you don't even
know that it's real and this is the
thing that impacts your life it is your
inability to see that your mindset
controls everything that it is water in
and of itself now when I heard this from
Shakespeare I realized that once you
become aware of the water you can change
everything
that you can go from a scared lost kid
into T coma to whomever you want to
be and in understanding that things
began to become possible there's nothing
either good or bad but thinking makes it
so and if that's true then belief itself
is a construct and if belief is a
construct
belief if belief is a construct then
like any other construct it can be
manipulated and
changed and at any moment this is so
important at any moment you can choose
to believe something new about yourself
now the weird thing about belief is as
soon as you change that belief it
becomes true why that is I will never
quite understand what weird Quirk of
human evolution has left us in a space
where simply believing it makes it true
if you think you're dumb guess what
you're
dumb truly and you will act in
accordance with that belief and that
should scare the out of you because
it scared the life out of me and I saw
myself heading down a path that I did
not want to be on because I believed
that I was dumb I had a fixed mindset I
used to only apply for jobs where I knew
I'd be smarter than the person
interviewing me because I did not want
to feel badly about myself but you can
imagine the types of jobs that I
got I once lovingly referred to myself
as the king of remedial
jobs and I actually had pride in that
because what I built my sense of Pride
around was getting the job was always
being smart was being right and none of
those things were moving me towards my
goals now if you don't know this quote
live by it one can have no smaller or
greater Mastery than Mastery over
oneself that's Da Vinci Da Vinci did
amazing things with his life I wanted to
do equally amazing things with mine and
if that's the game that we're playing if
I can construct my belief system if I
can choose at any
moment to believe something that's more
empowering than I was believing the
moment
before and that that will actually find
its way into my actions allow me to do
things that I couldn't do the moment
before then it's like that moment in The
Matrix where Neo realizes he knows Kung
Fu and that's like as funny as that is
that's how I think about life to me the
very fundamental purpose of
life is to find out how many skills I
can acquire that have
utility and then put that utility to the
test in service of something greater
than
myself how many skills can I acquire
that have utility put that utility to
the test in service of something greater
than myself that is for me the purpose
of life now I don't actually want to
know Kung Fu that is not the mission
that I'm here to live but I knew that I
had to identify my mission so what was
going to be my
mission Mother Teresa is an amazing
quote nobody will act for the many but
people will act for the one
and that really struck me because I
realized they were right I was looking
at this Global pandemic of ill
health and I wasn't moving into
action but thinking about my mom and my
sister or the uncle I had who ate
himself to death when I was 12 years
old that made me want to
act now at the time I began thinking
about what my mission was my partners
and I were running a technology company
that technology company was not not
Mission based it was designed to make a
lot of money and we were making money
and we were winning Awards and we were
standing in this beautiful conference
room overlooking the Pacific Ocean and I
turned to them and I said I'm completely
miserable and there I was living the
cliche of money can't buy happiness
which is pretty ironic because I'm a guy
that actually understands the power of
money money is the great facilitator
money can make things happen it's
powerful it has true
utility so how then as it's going
through my fingers am I not able to find
fulfillment and the reason is that
fulfillment exists outside of all of
that fulfillment has to do with the last
part of what I believe the purpose of
life is and that is to exist doing
something in service of something
greater than yourself and if you're not
able to tap into that then you're never
going to get that fulfillment that you
want in your
life this is the central tenant by which
I believe everyone should live
you can create yourself in fact no one
else is going to create you but if you
forget that you're in water if you
forget that the Matrix has you if you
don't realize that everything you
believe is a
choice everything you believe is a
choice if you forget any of that stuff
then you will not be able to make
yourself in the person that you want to
be man cannot remake himself without
suffering for he is both the marble and
the sculptor that is it gives gives me
the chills even now to think about that
to know that if I want to become the
person that I want to become I am going
to pay a
price and to me the question that we all
have to ask is who do I want to be what
do I want to
become and how high of a price am I
willing to pay to get
there and I will pose to you that the
people that you most admire the people
that have achieved at a level that you
want to achieve they are no different
than
you they simply know what they want to
become and they're paying the price to
get there that's it right now between me
and the person I want to be between you
and the person you want to be there is a
gap of skill set and that's it but once
you know your mission and once you
believe that you can accomplish anything
you set your mind to then you can do the
extraordinary now for me me getting out
of that space of being lost of not
knowing what I wanted to do with my life
it all came down to needing to earn
credibility with myself in very small
incremental
ways this is me 60 pounds ago and I knew
if I was going to accomplish anything in
my life I was going to have to get
control of my mind now ironically
there's two ways to get control of your
mind way number one is directly going to
the mind which can be very scary can be
very daunting very ethereal it's emal
it's hard to grab on to it's hard to
touch but way number two is through the
body and so I decided that my Kung Fu
was going to be to get very good at
developing my body and in that process I
was going to learn about nutrition which
would allow me to help my mom and my
sister in that process I was going to
earn credibility with myself and earning
credibility with yourself is so
important do it in micro ways for me
just showing up to the gym every day was
a micro Victory I said I was going to do
it and I did it now you have to
understand I hate working out so for all
of you crazy people that get an
endorphin rush from running I hate you
all running for me is like being stuffed
into a meat grinder there is absolutely
nothing pleasurable about it whatsoever
so whatever neurological thing you guys
get that you've been blessed with I have
not been blessed with that so for me
showing up in the gym sucks eating a
bowl of ice cream is awesome and so
getting
to getting to a better place for me was
a totally different
Journey thank
you and what that was was just showing
up every day and putting in the work it
was reading about human metabolism and
understanding how what I eat impacts my
body it was earning a little bit of
discipline every day knowing that well I
did it yesterday I can do it again today
it was not eating something that I
wanted to eat and most importantly and
if you're taking notes write this
down it was about changing my
identity because at the end of the day
identity and values Drive Behavior
amen
preach identity and values Drive
Behavior so if you want to make a change
you have to change your vision of who
you are you have to begin telling
yourself a different narrative and the
narrative you tell yourself about
yourself is everything and if you tell
yourself that you're a scared
undereducated kid from Tacoma whose
family has never accomplished anything
let me tell you what you will become a
scared undereducated kid from Tacoma who
never accomplishes anything because
that's what you believe you tell
yourself that story enough and it will
become real but on the flip side you
could tell yourself a story of you're a
learner you learn faster than most
people you're willing to put in more
work than most people people you're
willing to read more books than most
people you're willing to spend an
inhuman amount of time every day
improving your mind simply by getting
new ideas into the system and that you
will admit that you're wrong faster than
anybody else that you won't let your ego
get in the way and you tell yourself
that story over and over and over so
when somebody comes and tells you how
stupid you are that you're just a dumb
kid from Tacoma you go you're right
that's amazing thank you for pointing
out that flaw because now that I'm aware
of it I can improve it because I'm the
learner
and once I switched my narrative to
being the learner it didn't matter where
I started it only mattered where I was
trying to go and as long as I had that
Clarity then I could execute because I
believed I could do anything I set my
mind to without
limitation all right there are very
concrete habits that you can use that I
have used once you get your mind in the
right place once you believe that it can
happen this is what I did I worked out
why because it helped me gain control of
my mind one it was micro credibility
with myself every day I said I was going
to do something I did it two when you're
suffering and you're willing to fight
through it you tell yourself a story
that you're willing to pay the price to
become what you want to become and also
and this may be the most important
reason each and every one of you should
start working out and it has nothing to
do with living longer because we could
get hit by a meteorite who knows so I'm
not even worried about that but I am
worried about this when you watch your
body transform you get the loudest
signal from your subconscious that you
can change that you can change anything
you want that you can change your bicep
your tricep your quad whatever it is you
want something that you literally could
not do the day before you can do
today and your mind sees that that's
true your mind sees that something you
couldn't pick up yesterday you can pick
up today and it begins to ask itself
well if that's possible then what else
is
possible
now for me finding my Center was also a
very important thing so I work out first
the next thing I do without fail is
meditate I do adjust breathe meditation
where I'm simply trying to calm my mind
then I do what I call think itating
during meditating I get into an alpha
wave state brain pattern which enhances
creativity and unique connections I'm
not worried about whether I'll ever
think a unique thought I am simply
interested in the unique connections
that I will make that no one else before
me or after me will ever make because
their circumstances are different than
mine and that to me is what makes each
of us a beautiful snowflake is we're all
going to make connections that other
people might not make and so during
think itating I take advantage of a
problem I'm trying to solve I smash it
together with my Alpha wave state and I
see what comes out of it I read I read
obsessively because I believe in one
simple math equation ideas in equal
ideas out and then I keep a list of the
most important things I'm trying to
accomplish if you're trying to become
something you need to know what that
something
is and then this is the most important
piece I execute only execution matters
burn that into your nervous system get a
tattoo do whatever you need to do to
remind yourself only execution matters
thinking about it feeling good about it
those are awesome but if you have a
vision of something you're trying to do
become whatever and you don't execute
against it and I don't need you to want
build a big business if you tell me you
want to be the greatest parent of all
time then I'm going to ask you what are
you doing to execute on that goal what
are you doing how do you define it what
are your deliverables what are the
metrics by which you're judging yourself
and by the way if you don't want a grand
goal you don't need one but then say
what I'm trying to do is get centered
I'm trying to experience happiness even
that you can begin to look at ways that
you can improve that now I very much
subscribe to the theory that the human
animal is an active species meaning it
will forever be moving forward I think
that's a good thing it's one of the most
exciting things in my life and I have
three fears one brain damage that freaks
me out two losing my wife because damn
that woman's cool and then three I don't
ever want to feel like I've hit the end
of what I can do I always want to feel
like there's something more that I can
learn and grow
into so keeping in mind execution is how
you get there no matter what your path
is all right it always starts with
having very very clear goals from there
this is the secret sauce to executing
this is the thing that you need to do
with your mind there's an entire talk
that I give on this one slide alone so
I'm going to go fast we've already
talked about um values and identity
Drive Behavior ego is a must and I know
when we talk about meditating we talk
about transcending the ego and maybe
it's possible and maybe I just haven't
been able to do it but let me tell you
how I've leveraged the ego that I have I
believe people commit suicide when they
no longer believe that they will ever
feel good about themselves again now
here's the scary part I think that's a
reasonable
reaction the only problem is it's a
lie and if you know the Buddhist
teaching there's an amazing phrase this
too shall
pass whatever you're feeling whether
you're feeling great or whether you're
feeling
terribly it's going to
pass but if truly you could never feel
good about yourself ever again why would
you want to go on even serving other
people you do it in part because of how
beautiful it
feels so helping people understand that
that will pass that there will be
something beautiful again waiting for
them but that what you build your
self-esteem around what that ego is tied
to is absolutely critical because if you
tie it to being right if you tie it to
being good if you tie it to being Pious
if you tie it to anything that is
fragile or tenuous it can go away and
then your ego is damaged and then the
psychological immune system kicks in and
then you start making really weird
choices so build your ego around
something positive build your ego around
something that is truly
antifragile something that's antifragile
is not something that's resilient
resilient things are still defined by
their Breaking Point their breaking
point just happens to be far away
antifragile is the more it's attacked
the stronger it gets I used to pride
myself on being right I used to pride
myself on being smart bad news is I'm
really not that bright and I was wrong
all the time really
and the thing Lisa Nichols are you here
oh God that woman's in this place
somewhere she gave me some of the most
powerful words I have ever heard and
they have stuck with me you do not get
to make me extraordinary as an excuse
not to
succeed when she said that I was like I
really wanted to though Lisa you're
special there's something you have that
I don't and when she said that I thought
that's so true whenever you look at
somebody that's been successful do not
allow yourself to to make them
extraordinary at your expense you're
capable of whatever it is that they're
capable of but it comes down to the
mental constructs that you're going to
have to build and leverage in your own
mind in order to do something great so I
switched my self-esteem from being right
and being smart to being the learner who
was always willing to admit that he was
wrong identify the right answer give
credit to the person who thought of it
and put more energy behind it than
anyone else and that became my driver
now what did I do with that d
driver I turned that change in Attitude
along with my co-founders at Quest
Nutrition into building as Vision said
the second fastest growing company in
North America valued at over a billion
dollars every Financial dream i' had
ever had in my life come
true but at the end of the day the only
thing that mattered had nothing to do
with the money and it had everything to
do with we set out to build a business
around value creation we set out to
actively ask one question what would we
do and love every day even if we were
failing and that for three very
different reasons ended up being
attacking the pandemic of the body
trying to help people live a more
beautiful life and there were times
where putting that Value First meant
that we did things that were less
profitable there were times where we put
that value first and it was outright
stressful to the company but that was
the driver and that was the thing that
actually allowed us to grow because
people could feel that this company was
different they could feel that we
weren't after the sale they could feel
what we wanted was to
help and in today's world leading with
that as you guys know if you're at this
conference can have tremendous rewards
the original title of my speech was
helping the world is big business or
saving the world I think saving the
world is big business but after meeting
you guys I realized we needed to talk
about something completely differently
cuz you guys know more than most it's
not about the money so what is it
about it has nothing to do with who you
are today don't worry about that I'm not
very interested in the person that I am
today I am a far cry from the person
that I can imagine and the person that I
promised myself that I will continue to
work to
become so it's not about who you
are it's about who you want to become
and the price you're willing to pay to
get there become that person change the
world change yourselves do beautiful
thank you
guys