Kind: captions
Language: en
hey everybody Welcome to impact Theory
you're here because you believe that
human potential is nearly Limitless but
you know that having potential is not
the same as actually doing something
with it so our goal with the show and
Company is to introduce you to the
people and ideas that will help you
actually make good on your potential all
right I'm really excited about today's
guest because he thinks about [ __ ]
deeply he crawls inside important ideas
like an intellectual archaeologist and
Roots around grubby fists and all until
he finds the narrative thread that makes
those ideas accessible in an era where
people will tell you the only thing that
matters is entertaining people he's
built a wildly successful YouTube
channel with roughly 1 million
subscribers that proves there's still a
huge market for depth his powerful essay
is on an absurdly wide range of topics
from Batman and Rihanna to politics and
moral issues provide viewers with the
kinds of insights that can truly shape
one's worldview recognizing his unique
gifts MSNBC snatched him up to produce
for them when he was still in his early
20s and the Discovery Channel tapped him
to write and host a show on their
digital Network Seeker daily where he
produced a horde of breakout content he
is in my opinion everything that is good
about the internet and he's proving that
creators from anywhere armed with a
simple camera and a willingness to work
their asses off can not only make a
living as content producers but they can
alter the very Direction and flow of
cultural
discourse please help me in welcoming
the man whose entirely self-made
Treasure Trove of content has been
viewed more than 48 million times by
people all over the world the creator of
the Smash Hit YouTube series the nerd
writer Evan pusack
um what an introduction dude I want that
on my Tombstone I would love it um cool
man well honestly that the intro is sort
of the the hurdle for bringing people on
the show it's like am I willing to do
enough research about the person to be
able to write that am I going to get
something out of it and researching you
was really awesome so Jason Silva put
you on my radar Jason's a great guy and
I am eternally indebted to him for that
and not being super familiar with the
essay format on YouTube it was really
really interesting to see the diverse
range of topics that you cover which of
course then led me to trying to find out
like what is the mission statement that
you guys have yeah so the concept of
cultivating worldview what exactly does
that mean well it was something that
launched the whole idea of the show and
that was that when I had graduated
college at Boston I had this very
strange sort of frustrating feel feeling
that I knew a lot of things but I I just
didn't know how they all connected and I
felt like I was constantly consuming
contradictory information um and it just
really bothered me because I felt that I
didn't have a foothold on my own
knowledge um and so worldview for me was
a kind of um organizing principle of how
do all the things that you know connect
how do you build a worldview in which
you are building bridges between the
different spheres of things that you're
learning um and so cultivating is what
you know and how those things connect um
and that's what the show is and you know
I want to show people how I built my
worldview um not so that they can adopt
it but so that there can be a template
for doing it yourself I love though that
you've said and this is actually really
interesting I want to go into this but
you said that it's okay if you want to
adopt my worldview I think that's how it
starts you steal somebody that's how I
did it so walk me through that cuz I
think seeing the way that you do it is
is maybe it's certainly as important
maybe even more important than the
actual worldview that you present which
is very coherent and very compelling um
but how how does that process look if it
starts with stealing somebody else's
while you get the you know momentum
going like how do you progress beyond
that well you have to learn how to think
I mean that's the first part of it Ralph
werson who is you know one of the early
thinkers that that really blew my mind
said that a young man rever Men of
Genius because to speak truly they are
more himself than he is and that is the
perfect sort of way to think about being
young and trying to you know trying to
build build a mindset for yourself is
that you know when you read the great
philosophers or just the great thinkers
about anything what is so um
enlightening about them is that they
knew how to say these things they
articulate them in a certain way that
when I read them and a lot of Emerson
almost all of Emerson when I'm reading
it it was like this series of
Revelations where it was like yes that
is what I was thinking about this this
is this is what I want to say about it
and so Emerson is right he was more me
than I was at that moment because he was
articulating those things so you know
you start off by adopting the beautiful
thinkers and beautiful articulators of
the past um and then with by just
applying a little bit of critical
thinking you're going to sort of carve
out your own statue you're you're going
to carve away the things that you know
don't mesh with you and you're going to
add on the things that do um and that's
a a long process of of cultivating
something that um that you can sort of
have and and use to judge all incoming
information against yeah it's
interesting because without sort of that
eloquence was sort of how I put things
together in my own head about you know
people often talk about thinking unique
thoughts right and that's like a big
Obsession it's not a unique thought
whatever and I thought wow I'm not sure
that I ever really have unique thoughts
what I'm trying to do is take in enough
information that I can make unique
connections right so what you're saying
about pairing away the sculpture until
only you remain it's actually pretty
beautiful was it Michelangelo that said
that like I don't I carve away the
pieces that aren't David or whatever
until I you know until its form is
finally revealed it's actually a really
interesting way thinking about it why do
you think cultivating a worldview is
useful I I think it's useful because it
provides a
foundation through which you can act you
know it's hard to act in the world in in
a in a intentional way um
without having a base or a foundation in
which you feel stable is stable and and
and you're comfortable with that was the
kind of Ang anxiety the cosmic anxiety
that I was feeling at that time when I
was a little bit younger was that I I
don't know how to move forward here
because I don't feel like I'm stepping
on something that's solid I feel like
I'm stepping on so many clouds you know
and it's it's sort of it was
disorienting um and so when you start
figuring out what your worldview is
which is just another way to say when
you start to figure out you know what
your morals are and what your philosophy
is as a as a individual person but also
um how that relates to the world um The
Way Forward looks a lot more clear
because it almost becomes uh inevitable
what you have to do um when you make a
moral decision you're making a decision
based on how you should it's based on
how you should act so you know once you
once you start to get a handle on it I
think the world becomes a little bit
less scary and your actions in it become
a little bit more certain and
intentional I think that's what we're
all trying to do at least that's what I
was trying to do back then really great
answer so I love that metaphor that
you're using of it feeling like you're
stepping on clouds sort of that squishy
marshy like am I about to fall through
by kind of vibe which very much I had in
my early 20s for sure do you know Pete
Carol yeah so I'm not a big Sports guy
but he happened to be the coach of USC
and then the Seahawks and being from
Tacoma and having gone to um USC made my
radar and then did you read um Angela
Duckworth's uh book grit I haven't so he
comes up and that and and she really
lays out his philosophy so he was the
coach of New England the New England
Patriots and didn't do well ends up
getting fired um goes to college
football ends up crushing it at USC and
then going on to the Seahawks and
winning Super Bowl um and people ask him
like what the hell like how did you go
from getting fired to having such a
crazy career in college and then back to
the NFL as a winning coach and he said
somebody told me you lack a life
philosophy and he said it was really
realizing that I needed a life
philosophy I needed that base that
you're you're talking about to have the
the the firmness under my feet the way
forward as you said you know like the
way forward becomes really clear and I
think when people are really thinking
about like so the question I get asked
more than anything how do I find my
passion yeah and which actually may be
sort of a s side step to what you're
really doing with your show that's a
that's a crazy silly question I think I
mean that's a question I hear a lot too
I mean and and I think that's something
that we're inculcated to think about
when we're young and in college or in
the schooling system how do you find
your passion like it's something that
you're G to find under a rock which is
not the way it's do I think the great
tragedy of modern society is that there
is no thing for every individual person
you have aptitudes like if you can draw
then you have aptitude for that and
there are certain things biologically
that you're going to be given and you'll
be lucky to have them but in terms of
finding your passion everything in
modern society because it does not it
does not push you in a certain direction
that is that's what being in a free
society means is a choice and because
it's a choice it's a tragedy it's so you
know it's so arbitrary you know and so
why do you say it's a tragedy I don't
understand it's a tragedy because you
know in a society where you know you
pushed to do a certain thing if you're
you know 300 years ago if your father
was a cobbler you were going to be a
cobbler right you you know didn't have
many prospects outside of that but you
did didn't have a chance to fail at
choosing something in your life you were
going to be a cobbler your identity was
stable from the start you know for us in
this Society where we are not only not
told what to be but we're not told how
to learn what to be which is to say
we're not told how to learn what your
passion is it only comes down to a
choice and the choice is arbitrary and I
think people and myself we there's a
there's a there's a there's a difficulty
in overcoming that fact because we want
to believe the messaging we're given is
that there is something out there
there's a passion out there for you that
you have to discover and wait for it to
a soul reveal itself like a soulmate
yeah but you but the the real truth is
that you just have to choose choosing
you know is when it's not based on
anything
is scary so okay let me follow that
logic then so get world view realize
then based on worldview that you're
going to pick a path MH that leads to
Passion yeah I mean passion will come I
think I mean if you do some you know
when you do something that you um
develop an expertise in you know did you
read cal newport's book so good they
can't ignore you I I'd haven't no I
think judging by way you're saying now
you're going to love it um but he goes
into that thing where gaining Mastery is
a fundamental part of passion and if you
don't G Mastery good luck well that's I
mean that's the whole you know Jason
Silva who we both know and who is you
know so intense and so awesome he loves
to talk about flow and you know I love
it as an idea you know when you pick a
lane for yourself you'll develop a
Mastery you'll you'll feel great about
it if you have to you course correct um
but I don't think that it reveals itself
to you like something that was waiting
for you to find it think that's the
where people go wrong you've talked
really powerfully about your own course
correction so um really cool by the way
so for those of you don't know he
literally uh he creates a video for this
thing called the kind project making
desk for these underprivileged kids in
Africa the video is just a Smash Hit
starts getting a lot of attention gets
on the news goes to MSNBC literally live
in the broadcast and woman says Hey
somebody here should basically hire you
which they then do which is incredible
but then you realize not loving this no
I didn't and you know you know MSNBC was
great to me so I have to say that first
and individual people there are
extraordinarily smart and very cool and
and all my bosses were great um and that
experience was crazy because I was you
know working as a telemarketer selling
car warranties you know just absolutely
hating my life and um and I made this
one video and lawence O Donnell the host
of of the last word which is the 10
o'clock show um saw it had me on the air
and then the next day he was in Burbank
and asked me out for lunch and was and
at that lunch asked me if I wanted to
move to New York to work for them he's
like would you like to do and I don't
know if he had the authority to do it I
don't think he did they spent like 5
months trying to build a job for me
there which I eventually
took and um you know when I got there I
thought maybe I'll like work my way
through the ranks here and find and find
that this is
what I love um and then within I'd say a
few months you know it just it just sort
of to started to rub me the wrong way
well so before we just gloss on so walk
me through the the mindset so you're
there you're not loving it a voice in
your head is very much saying this isn't
for me yeah most people will stay there
for years years and years and they leave
until someone kicks them out well I sort
of did I mean like here's the thing is
that once I checked out of the of of you
know being a good employee at the
company which is horrible to say but
that's that's the truth is I would spend
you know hours in an office hidden away
working on the nerd writer right during
work now I don't suggest that to people
because that you want to be a good
employee but you know I had a lot of
free time there and so I
was thinking I have to double down on my
own work right right and so I just
started working on that show all the
time and then I you know I had quit when
I thought that that msmc might be my you
know might be my path I sort of like
left the nerd writer for a little bit
for a few months um but then when it was
not so great I started up again and I
was like okay I renewed my passion for
this um and I worked and worked and
worked and then someone at Discovery saw
a video um they just said we're
launching a new show called secet daily
um and would you be interested in
writing the show with a co-host and um
and hosting it uh and launching it for
us and I heard that I felt the same way
I felt like this could be my path right
you know and we talk about sort of how
do how does a show scale I thought well
maybe this is the way maybe I leave the
nerd writer and and work for Discovery
where I'm like in a higher leadership
position my editorial influence is
greater you know maybe I'm the voice
behind this show and I make it exactly
what I want with the resources of
Discovery another learning experience
that wasn't the case me as soon as I
sort of checked out of there and started
phoning it in I started paying a lot
more attention to the nerd writer um
and what I really wanted to do yeah such
a it's such a fascinating thing and so
we're sort of on opposite sides of this
right so I'm an employer so I know what
it's like to have a large group of
people and have this huge um Enterprise
that can only work if you can find
people that can feel they're most alive
right and if there's one thing I promise
you it's that it works for some people
and other people [ __ ] hate it yeah
right and so you're constantly like
Jesus what do I do because you want
people to be alive and you want it to be
the thing that they want to do and you
like what I always told people is be
here for the most selfish reason ever
like don't come to work for me right
like I'll think about me I'll obsess
about me and what I'm trying to do I'll
make sure the company's fine you come
for you because when somebody's in the
room grinding it out because their
passion happens to align with what the
show needs to be successful yeah
unbelievably amazing things happen so we
talking before we came on camera about
boil things down to the physics right
and so the physics of being a human is
when you feel connected to something
when you feel passionate it makes you
feel alive you want to do it right
you're moving towards something no one
has to tell you to do it there's like
this pull through demand of this is my
calling or whatever abolutely
so it's it's [ __ ] tricky right It's
Tricky on both sides of the fence tricky
because people like you say some aren't
built for that and for me like you know
studied film and narrated film making
and I thought I was going to be a future
film director and one of the huge things
about film making that makes it so great
that I hated was that it was
collaborative right okay so know thyself
know thyself all right so when I used to
direct short films I used to give the
speech to my whole crew and I was always
the director I used to say listen I'm
going to be a dict a benevolent dictator
here right I'd love to hear what you say
but I want to make it very clear that I
have the final say on every everything
and this is my vision that we're all
helping to realize my vision if that's
not for you fine like we can get get on
to another film um but I'm such a
protective perfectionist about my own
work that I that I work best when I am
by myself doing a project and that's why
I quit film making and started writing
fiction because you do that by yourself
right and now the nerd writer is a
similar thing which is um which I only
there's nobody on the team it's just me
collaborative in my life with my
relationships right not in my work you
know in my life I let people in there's
a give and take uh I love people they
love me back it's a very you know very
integrated thing and so there's people
out there who you're never going to
convince to be a part of that larger
thing I think and that must be the most
difficult thing as a manager or a leader
of of a company cuz those people need
jobs too right you know what are they
going to do yeah I mean that that's
really fascinating it's like parents
when they think about okay well the
techniques I used on child a worked but
the techniques I used on child a don't
work on child B so now what so and that
and that was actually really interesting
so like my sister and I grew up in the
same household very different outcomes
so you know we had the same parents um
but some things work really well for me
and then some things work really well
for her and but they weren't there
wasn't like a lot of crossover it's and
that's what it's like running a company
is your Tech your natural techniques and
I think the goal of a leader has to be
to transcend your natural techniques to
find something like Pete Carol says a
life philosophy that allows you to
figure this stuff out and to tie it back
to what we were talking about with you
know cultivating a worldview um you need
a filter right you need to know what to
say yes to and what to say no to and
whether that's as a leader whether
that's as an employee whether that's as
an artist or just somebody trying to
make it through life figuring out like
what decisions to make right from a
moral standpoint of course um you need
to you need to have that filter but it
is it is really difficult to when you
start talking about a mass of people and
this is what another thing we were
talking about off camera is so I'm
looking at the nerd writer and I'm
thinking [ __ ] like this content is on
another planet like it's so good and I
could just sit there and watch out but
the the real question that you should be
asking is why do I think it's good
because it's going to be very different
for other people so for me usability is
all that matters so I'm watching the
content and I'm saying oh [ __ ] like I
can really use this piece of information
like you totally [ __ ] up my life you
changed it in the most beautiful and
amazing way with um the Hemingway quote
and the notion of what's it kagi kugi
kugi thank you yeah so I'm watching that
episode about kugi the record player of
my life skips grinds to a halt I'm like
this is unbelievable yeah and the
Hemingway quote that you threw in which
I had never heard immediately put it on
my list of like life changing quotes is
life breaks everyone and some are
stronger in the places that broke yeah I
was great quote whoa great writer walk
us through that concept that art form
what it is how it's impacted you so
interesting because that's a video that
I've probably gotten the
most um personal feedback about um and
the concept is is sort of simple um in
Japanese culture they have an art craft
art called kugi where
when uh Ceramics are broken
they they don't throw them out and buy
another or you know or create another
one from scratch they put the camic
pieces back together but the way that
they adhes them is with gold a kind of
gold adhesive
gold sparkly you know it's almost like a
mortar materal yeah it's beautiful and
so you get these these pieces that are
broken but at the cracks are are more
beautiful and I thought that is such you
know a perfect metaphor and it's not my
metaphor because it it it you know it
goes into the Buddhist concept of
wabisabi and but the idea that you know
we are going to go through trauma and
it's particularly relevant right now I
think in the in the postelection period
um we are going to go through trauma but
trauma is an opportunity to change and
to um reorganize the elements that made
up your life you know I I gave a a a
speech in um Singapore a couple weeks
ago and you know what I spoke about was
that when a person's mind is traumatized
it's like the story that they were
telling themselves has cease to be
persuasive right and when a story stops
being persuasive
um it is disorienting and that I think
is what trauma is the period between
when you when your old story breaks
apart because of this last draw on the
camel's back thing I mean we're going to
continue to tell ourselves the old
stories until it's so glaringly
contradictory that it doesn't hold up so
trauma is the period between when that
breaks down and when you from the pieces
of the old build something new um and
we'll never glorify the trauma itself
but recognize that in that period you
have a very unique opportunity that will
only come along a handful of times in
your life to reorganize the story that
you tell about yourself to yourself so
that for me is what um kugi is all about
and I think a lot of people just really
connected with that idea for sure so the
the idea behind my entire life and
certainly the idea behind this show is
is that humans are constructed right
right which is why I think Jason knew I
would resonate with you the concept of
cultivating which it it's that you say
cultivating worldview right so there's
something so active in cultivation it's
it's choices and you know you're talking
about the narrative and I've never heard
anybody say before that trauma is the
moment where your old story breaks down
you can't cling to it anymore and and
you have yet to build the new one
through kugi um that's [ __ ] beautiful
by the way and thank you for that thank
you um and I'm a big believer and you
have to open yourself up to being
changed that really changed me that's
really [ __ ] cool yeah um
so thinking about you know this notion
of I'm going to take an active role in
in rebuilding myself yeah and doing it
in a way that becomes an art form like
that's super super interesting to me so
um I'm going to wrap up really fast why
I brought that up but I want to come
back to it so I brought that up just to
talk about scalability yeah so you're
having this big impact on people um
which I think is
is important and I think that we're
living through um a revolution right now
and the revolution is that the medium is
changing so much that there are no
Gatekeepers anymore yeah and the only
gatekeeper is your ability to get my
attention
yeah that's that like when people really
understand what that means huge huge
opportunity that should not be glossed
over yeah yeah it's a parad for creators
and so you've risen up and there are
other people like I God I was born in
this era yeah for sure for those reasons
for sure then the next question becomes
so how do you scale it like and and I
ask that from the position of somebody
who wants you to touch more lives you
know scaling for me is the thing that
I'm constantly thinking about in the
business I mean 90% of my mental energy
is is you know going towards creating
the videos which is which is all I
really want to do um but now that the
business side has become is that really
all you want to do you just want to
create the videos yeah I mean I'm a I'm
a film director at heart like I'm a
Creator at heart the the impact that
comes out of it is is still very
important to me and I try to engage with
it as much as I can um but the business
side of it particularly it makes me
cringe a little bit that said I do think
about scaling the show and what's the
way forward because I want to make the
most impactful work and so when I think
of scaling I think in that way yeah it's
interesting because I think that um so
you and I look at the world in and let's
say if ven diagrams like there's 90%
overlap I was watching your content I'm
like yeah I find this interesting too
like it's amazing like this guy's dejing
my brain it was like just so much fun
and then there's like this area that
does an overlap where we see things
really differently so when I look at um
when I look at anything right the first
question I'm asking is scalability now
that speaks to my personality that
speaks to my worldview not that
objectively it's right so when I think
about Steve Jobs and Steve wnc right you
had one guy all he cared about was SC
and then you had the other guy who so
enjoyed the art of being on the
motherboard and wiring things together
that he actually asked to be a midlevel
engineer like you own the company and
you FC character even now like the
things that he sort of toils away with
to toils away are are small but you know
it's amazing we're living through a time
right now the entrepreneurial generation
yeah now to to really be an entrepreneur
to be the lead to be the alpha in an
entrepreneurial organization is it takes
a certain personality type and not
everybody's going to enjoy it and I
think a lot about my wife and I so my
wife and I co-founded the company she
puts this whole show together literally
I am the talent I'm not just saying that
like I am the talent of her show but the
show what you see like that's her and
the team yeah so but I think about our
personality type she's no interest in
leading right so she wants to follow my
vision by the way interesting very I
mean it's speak to your interest in wnc
and just the desire to really create and
the funny thing is I went to film school
so I used to want to be on set I wanted
to direct and then one day I think it
was my wife that asked me like would you
ever go back to directing I was like no
I could never do that yeah and the
reason that I couldn't go back to
directing is for me for my personality
type once you taste scale there's no
going back so like as you're talking
about nerd writer and wanting it to be
less content and more impact I'm like
[ __ ] yeah less content more impact
that's awesome so I'm put Evan on that
and then I'm going to have somebody over
here doing the daily content cuz we got
to like the algorithm is changing bro
like you got to stay on that YouTube is
changing right I I I hear that and I
might need to partner with a u type
figure in the future to you know to do
this but I so Seinfeld always says like
the relationship with the show was so
white hot that he knew he had to stop
after nine Seasons because they were
going to offer him like $100 million for
season 10 and he just knew that wow you
a little bit of too much can ruin a
whole experience so I want to make sure
that I'm doing things right um but I'm
also you know not turning away from the
opportunities that are coming at me sure
you have a lot of self-awareness if you
had to teach somebody how to be
self-aware like that what are the
steps oh god um that's a good question I
I
you have to be brutally honest with
yourself I guess I mean you know put
yourself around the people who um um
will support the journey that you're on
for me like introspection is one great
source of the content that I make you
know I you have like a um a strategy for
introspection like do you put headphones
on and listen to the sound of the rain
and like are there things that you do to
really facilitate that or no I hate the
rain no uh
love the rain but I I don't I mean for
me like there's always a conversation
happening in in your head in my mind so
it's like you know my personal belief is
that the you know the mind is you know
made up of language so I am constantly
you are constantly telling a story to
yourself about yourself and about the
world and it's got those two facets if
you just take the time you can listen to
it and make it explicit best way to do
that is to write it down right you don't
think without writing there's no thought
without language so you have to make it
explicit you know when I was when I just
graduated school you know one of the
first things I did is I read all the
philosophy that there was you know I
started from the presocratic and I went
all the way down to the 20th century and
tried to just get all the big benchmarks
and read all the books with a particular
Bend for Albert kamu if I remember
correct yeah he was he was a he was a
definitely a watershed moment but I
after that wrote this thing called a
discourse on truth right and I had I had
it bound up wow at Kinko's and it looked
really nice and I had the perfect font
and I got A4 paper and I I I made like a
100 copies of it and it was this like
very high futin kind of very pretentious
Le worded thing that went through truth
and ways to know it and things like that
and I gave it to all my family and my
friends who were like you know what is
this thing you know this looks like he
just you know so but it was so important
for me and when you when you learn how
to uh to listen to your own story and
write it down I think self-awareness is
like an inevitable byproduct of that
because you get addicted to knowing what
you think about something yeah I think
there's this weird State we all have you
know we're operating on old memories and
we're operating on things that we read
but we haven't really like retained as
soon as you start transferring that
whole messy cloudy Misty
uh area of knowledge into explicit
knowledge you're going to start seeing a
lot more in yourself and what's out
there uh and
so my advice is to write just write and
the rest will follow uh the story that
you were telling about um the journal
that you wrote is uh what was it the
truth what the discourse on Truth the
discourse on Truth at all fine
bookstores um it's actually pretty
interesting and it made me think about
how people cuzz I I know what your
family was thinking when they read it
like oh God right like it's pretentious
or what graduated from school doesn't
have a job but he's going to do this
right but here's the thing like when
people see little kids like learn how to
walk and like you know they stop peeing
the bed they're oh my God right they're
ecstatic they're over the moon yeah but
we should be thinking the same thing
about intellectual development right cuz
maybe that was like a little uh
cringeworthy or what
but what it's actually a really
important exploration so I went through
a similarly cringe worthy worthy um
thing in in my late teens in high school
when I got really into Eastern
philosophy yeah and so like I had the I
had the answer for everything right so
be like water my friend you know what I
mean like that kind of [ __ ] uh and I
remember like I was convinced I was
going to go to college get my degree is
like the safety net but then I was
moving to the Wilderness in China dude I
am so with you I had the same thing my
man I was like I got to this point where
I was like oh I have to work my body out
like I have to be a farmer I went to
work on a farm nice for like a few
months wow because I was like this is
the inevitable last step of this journey
that I have to go on so I have to do it
and then I thought well I'll probably
have to just be a monk for 10 years and
I was like considering the ways of
telling my family that I wasn't going to
be able to contact them because you know
in monk school you can't contact anyone
monk school I like that that is badass
tell me about the farm I went to
Normandy and through a a a program
called helex which was like you you know
you live in someone's farm and they feed
you and work for them um eventually I
got over that thank God but um but I'm
going to guess you actually learned some
lessons from that kind of hard ass work
yeah you do you learn to pers persevere
through you know through pain you know
cuz working working a whole day um
moving branches or moving pieces of wood
is so you know it's so exhausting and um
it I I I you know people who do that for
their whole lives I only did it for a
very short period of time but it was
very Illuminating in that way it's that
you you just have to keep working at it
and eventually you'll finish um but that
was a direct outgrowth of the philosophy
thing that we were talking about it was
like this is the path I have to take it
yeah that's really fascinating so that's
how I think of the gym by the way
for me it's I haven't mastered that yet
when I was a kid I always had to have a
job during the Summers and because I was
so insanely lazy I would take whatever
job my parents would get for me because
I didn't want to go apply for a job so
that meant it was always manual labor so
I worked in a paint factory I did um a
paint store I worked um doing literal
like hard labor there was one summer
where all I was doing was odd job so I
spent some time um smashing concrete
with uh a picka
and like just doing all this stuff that
is your mind literally is if you have a
certain personality type and I think
that we share that like your mind is
just racing get me out of here or you go
into a Zen state right and you find this
way to separate your mind from your body
so that your brain can like go explore
go Daydream be somewhere else be
creative while your body is is set to
this task but it's
actually one of those periods where um
your mind do a lot of really productive
thinking because you so want to escape
the reality of what you're doing at that
moment that the only place to go is in
and I actually found so I loved your
explanation about write it down it makes
it concrete and it takes this sort of
ephemeral mush and turns it into into
something very real I felt that way
about having manual labor to do because
my body was taken care of there were no
distractions oddly enough there were no
distractions from my physicality I was
totally engrossed in this thing right
this amount of cement has to be broken
apart this vat of paint has to be
cleaned out like whatever it is you sort
of set your body to that task do you
read Kurt vonette of course all right so
I forget which story it's in but there's
one where the people can move their body
in a direction and then send their mind
in the opposite direction they can
actually exit their body which I always
thata felt so true to me because that
was what manual labor was for me I would
send my body over here to do something
and then I would turn my mind to this
way to deal with some intellectual
Pursuit some either film idea or what
who knows but in doing that really
learning to to go deep it's why I was
asking you like what your process is in
fact one of the first questions I wrote
down that I wanted to ask you was what
is your process you've done such a good
job of taking a subject like Rihanna's
work work work work work song like
you've got a whole [ __ ] like show
about that song love that video how how
is this happening he made a show he
spent a week on this song and it's
really interesting hardcore week how how
did you train train yourself to go deep
like that um I
think when you write a lot uh it makes
it a little bit easier to uh compose a a
story right so that part of my brain is
and mind is still is you know primed for
taking information and composing it into
something that is persuasive and like a
story so you know every week or whenever
I come up with something for the nerd
writer I you know it's usually a
combination of some kind of
introspective thought process that I
want to talk about and something from
the world that I've consumed that I
think is interesting and like to talk
about and it's like oh there's a there's
a good interaction between those two
let's see what I can do there so once I
have that which is the hardest part
because ideas are just a [ __ ] um then I
research very intensely for a week or
two weeks um do you give intention to
your um subconscious at all I forget who
it was that said it maybe Einstein oh
God it was one of the like big um
scientists who said never go to sleep
without making a demand of your
subconscious I thought wow this guy's
accomplished a lot in his life so I'm
going to take that pretty seriously well
I mean there is a there is a truth in
that your mind works out problems when
you sleep so yeah a lot of times I will
be totally stuck on something um
and go to sleep and wake up the next
morning finding that I've solved that
that persuasive Problem whatever it is
that's awesome yeah all right so what's
the impact that you want to have with
your life with my life
um I don't know I mean you said earlier
in the interview that you saw something
that was in one of my videos and it sort
of stopped you in your tracks and helped
you think a different way like I've been
talking about a lot in this interview
you know for me we learn by saying not
thinking we learn by articulation and
articulation is what makes the world go
around right so the impact I want to
have is I want to articulate things in
such a way that people actually view a
different world than they viewed before
they heard what I said about it you know
because the world and our minds are made
up of language and um when you find a
new way
to you know write that language you
change the world and you change people's
minds man thank you so much for coming
on the show it's absolutely incredible
fantastic all right where can these guys
find you online uh you can go to uh the
nerd writer on YouTube if you just type
in the nerd writer in Google you'll find
it um I have a Twitter uh as well but I
mean it's all happening at the nerd
writer show so watch it subscribe all
right guys be sure to do that you're
going to want to go deep in this man's
world I promise you it doesn't matter
what you are interested in he has gone
down that rabbit hole and he has come
back with the Nuggets of gold that you
need to understand in his words to open
a new door for you and show you things
in a totally new way to help you put
unique connections between things that
you never would have imagined before the
idea of actively cultivating your world
view of building that platform and
translating it from clouds that really
feel like you're going to fall you're on
unstable ground and making it this
platform that's actually going to let
you find out what you want to do how to
move forward pivot if you're later in
your life it doesn't matter
going in and learning how to think
learning how to objectively critique
these things and really go in and
discover a truth that you don't see when
you're skipping across the surface and
what I love is he will do the profane
the profound he will go on pop music and
make you realize that there is a layer
of depth and interconnectivity that you
never could have imagined but then he'll
also break down Gotham City Through the
Ages and deal with comic books it is
[ __ ] incredible it is a whole
universe unto this man and the most
amazing thing that you're going to take
away is you're going to realize that
there is a whole universe unto you and
he is going to help you tap into that so
subscribe drink deeply of this man's
stuff it is unbelievably great Evan
thank you so much for coming on the show
man it please give it up guys you know
this is a weekly show if you haven't
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time my friends be legendary
subscribe thank you man that was awesome
fantastic a lot of fun thank you hey
everybody thanks so much for joining us
for another episode of impact theory if
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legendary my friends
[Music]