Kind: captions
Language: en
stop lying to yourself you know you have
been coasting living at an absolute
fraction of your potential all the while
that voice deep inside screaming at you
that you are meant for something more
now I know that feeling because I have
been there I was broke ashamed of myself
watching my fiance head off to work
while I laid in bed wasting my time
hours every day this is a true story but
that was the beginning not the end now I
hated feeling weak and useless so I did
something about it and if you want to
crush
2025 like I did you're going to have to
use the anger that you feel to change
the course of your life personally I
channeled all of my frustrations not
into the resentment of the world or
others but into fuel to improve every
single aspect of my life one day I
simply decided I'd had enough and I
started making rules for myself rules
that will serve you if you are trying to
make this year into something something
special rule number one once I'm awake
no matter what I get out of bed in 10
minutes or less that's a rule that I
still live by to this day and I used it
to fight my own laziness and fear and I
trained myself day after day how to win
now I'm making this video because I was
recently asked to explain what I did to
go from scaming in my couch cushions to
find enough change to put gas in my car
to building three multi-million dollar
companies including one unicorn billion
dollar business that you've definitely
heard of by the end of it this talk is
the answer to that question by the end
of it you'll either realize that you
don't want to pursue greatness or you're
going to have the blueprint that you
need to get started today now there's
nothing for sale here I would simply ask
for help and this is it now let me tell
you the answers are not what you think
they are not shiny motivational posters
or fortune cookie wisdom that stuff
feels good but it drives me nuts because
it doesn't work the steps you will have
to take are often weird they are
sometimes painful and they will demand
more of you than you can possibly
imagine right now but the results will
stagger you following the formula I'm
going to walk you through took me from
lazy nobody to transforming my physique
building three successful companies
staying married for more than two
decades generating a billion views on my
content and building a social following
of more than 10 million people and if
you walk the same path I know that some
of you will end up doing far more than
that now here's the hard truth no matter
how unfair the world is no one can save
you no one else will do the work even if
they wanted to they can't do it for you
it's all on you and as joa would say
good it means you have the power but
only if you can convince yourself to
push hard enough and if you can the
world will bend to your will as cheesy
as that sounds it is absolutely true as
Steve Jobs said the world around you was
built by people know smarter than you so
you can either stay asleep or you can
take notes and get to work because
here's the framework first you have to
Define your terms what does success mean
to you you're now on a path to gaining
personal power but you better have that
aimed at something that matters to you
now power is not a dirty word whoever
told you it was has a wildly
dysfunctional view of the world power is
simply the ability to close your eyes of
imagine a world better than this one
open your eyes and have the resilience
and balls to gain the skills necessary
to make that better World a reality now
people are going to tell you that power
is bad because those people would do bad
things if they had power but that's not
you you can point it at something truly
amazing you can uplift yourself and
those around you it's what I call having
an honorable goal you are working to do
something to elevate yourself and others
now if you recognize that you're having
a biological experience you've got a
shot but if you don't you're in trouble
you are not a computer or a God you're a
person stuck in a body and if you don't
master your biology your biology will
Master you this is one of the most
important things I'm going to talk about
today you cannot win if you're sick and
tired it's just too hard to be
successful so let's start with the
following Basics fix your sleep EX
exercise I'm talking five or six days a
week eat clean Whole Food whenever
possible get lean get strong cut out
addictions and for the love of God
control your emotions stop believing
that because you feel something you
should react with that
emotion and then maybe most importantly
nurture loving relationships in your
life now these are all lowlevel things
if you can not commit to doing these
things turn the video off right now
because nothing else is going to matter
everything I'm going to talk about is
Downstream of the cognitive optimization
that comes from the things on that list
trust me most of the things on that list
I don't enjoy doing I do because they
get my mind in the place that I need it
in order to gain the skills that I need
to build the things that I'm trying to
build in order to make the world a
better place all right assuming you've
done all of the above the next step is
to set a goal a very specific goal not
some fluffy thing like I want more money
that's super vague answer how much by
when generated from doing what if you
want $500,000 in profit by the end of
2025 from building your own YouTube
channel then say that set that as your
goal be that specific if you want to be
at 7% body fat and bench twice your body
weight by July 15th then say that goals
make demands so that you know what to do
targets give you something to aim at
which is going to guide your actions
without a hyp specific Target you will
waste energy because even if you're busy
you're not moving in a clear direction
again you're going up against the chaos
of the world and if you're going to
overcome the chaos of the World and
Achieve some very specific outcome that
you're trying to achieve you've got to
know exactly where you're trying to end
up otherwise you're going to spread your
time and energy all over the place
the next thing you have to do is take
extreme ownership no more blaming anyone
else if you fail that's on you the world
is unfair who cares your job is to win
anyway as Kobe Bryant said in one of my
all-time favorite quotes booze don't
block dunks what did you mean by that it
doesn't matter how much people hate you
doesn't matter what color your skin is
what your gender is how tall you are or
how rich your parents are it doesn't
even matter if the game is rigged
against you the fact is you can get so
good at something that people cannot
stop you the greatest athletes in the
world were paid millions of dollars to
stop Kobe Bryant from scoring and
despite that he scored 81 points in a
single game he was simply better at
playing than other people Champions do
not complain about ref's bad luck or bad
jeans they outwork they outsmart they
Outlast and they outperform everyone
you've got to own your results and if
you can bear that burden if you can bear
the fact that there's no one to blame
but you for the state of your life your
entire life then you'll stay focused on
getting better on gaining the skills
that are necessary to win against any
opponent if you're pointing the fingers
of responsibility at other people you
are going to fail because you won't stay
focused in the one thing that you can
control which is your effort now a quick
side note about excuses the most
Sinister thing about excuses is that
they're valid maybe the world really is
against you maybe you really are like
Mugsy Bogues 53 and you've got to figure
out how to win in basketball against
people who are pushing seven feet
tall but if that's the position that
you're in you either play to win given
the limitations that you have or you
accept the excuse that basketball is
just simply not for people built like
you if you take the excuse sure nobody's
going to blame you but you'll never
achieve the things that you want to
achieve so remember the way to get out
from under any excuse is not to prove
that it's wrong you probably won't be
able to it's to decide that you're going
to win anyway and once you decide then
your actions are going to follow and
then you have a chance of gaining the
skills that you need and this is a game
of skill acquisition now if this is a
game of skill acquisition ask yourself
this why don't more people win and the
answer answer is most people quit but
you have to understand why they quit so
you can avoid that trap most people quit
because they build their self-esteem
around being better faster stronger
smarter those are all extremely fragile
positions because you're always going to
find somebody who is better than you at
something and failure is the most
information Rich data stream on planet
Earth so if you want to succeed in the
long run you've got be willing to fail
in the short term in fact one of my
superpowers is that I can tolerate being
embarrassed longer than most people at
any one moment in my career you could
point at me and laugh and see that I was
doing something wrong see that I was
failing see that I wasn't generating the
momentum that I needed to generate but I
knew in all of those moments as long as
I was learning from my mistakes I could
get the skills that I needed to keep
pushing forward so I don't care if I
fail in public I know that I will learn
from the experience even if people are
laughing at me
now most people simply cannot stand that
the reason they can't stand it is their
self-esteem is built around winning so
when they're not winning their
self-esteem is damaged and they feel
badly about myself but I don't because
my self-esteem is built around being the
learner I value myself for my
willingness to stare nakedly at my
inadequacies I want to know what I suck
at I want to face the things that I'm
bad at because the more I look at what I
suck at the better I actually feel about
myself because I'm willing to do the
things that other people are not I'm
willing to do what success demands and I
have forced myself to build my
self-esteem around that thing around my
willingness to go yeah I actually am bad
at that thing that you're laughing at me
for but I'm not going to be bad at it
forever so I keep my head in the game
and I stay focused on getting better
instead of worrying about what other
people think about me because of that I
keep learning while everyone else Fades
Into Obscurity let's take a break from
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impact and now let's get back to the
show the harsh reality is failure breaks
most people emotionally it's just too
ego damaging and they haven't done what
we talked about earlier which is to get
out from under their emotions so when I
feel badly about myself I don't let it
control my day I know that Glory awaits
me if I can identify not as the winner
but instead identify as the learner
anytime you learn if that makes you feel
better about yourself then you're going
to stay focused on learning and if this
really is a game of skill acquisition if
you feel better about yourself as you're
learning and you stay in that Loop then
you're going to get better than the
other people who are worried simply
about being better faster stronger
smarter and that when you focus on
learning is how you get into an upward
spiral now most people Define themselves
by where they're at right now
that is a trap you should never value
yourself for
accomplishments value yourself for the
sincere pursuit of an honorable goal the
sincere Pursuit playing to win leaving
it all out on the field really trying to
get the skills that you need to go
farther than you've ever gone before and
honestly trying to go farther than
anyone has ever gone before this isn't
just about competing with yourself you
really are if you embark on the quest to
become great you really are competing
against other people and so this is
about being honest about what your goals
are going to demand of you now focus on
skill acquisition so you can become
capable of a championship performance
but notice I don't say focus on skill
acquisition so you can win a
championship no one can guarantee you
success I can guarantee the struggle but
when you chase growth not validation now
you've got a chance of being Unstoppable
again you get into that upward spiral of
learning every time you fail now I can
hear you guys saying Tom that's fine for
you you're somebody special you look at
my success and you write me off as
somebody that has something that you
don't but that is absolutely false when
I was young those closest to me not
strangers the people that knew me best
assumed I was going to fail my mother my
father-in-law my own best friend all of
them assumed I was destined to fail now
they weren't mean about it but none less
all of them believed and ultimately
confessed that they believed that I was
going to fail now they didn't masses me
they just didn't count on the fact that
I had the drive to get better now I'm
not asking any of you that want to do
something great to believe that you're
special you're probably not you're
almost certainly average as am I and
that's enough because the average human
is designed to get better humans are the
ultimate ad adaptation machine but
adaptation requires a Relentless drive
for
improvement now here's the catch the
secret that I have saved until now if
you want to be relentless in your
pursuit of something you have to care a
lot about what you're
pursuing in fact this whole speech could
actually be summed up in a single
sentence if you want success more than a
drowning man wants his next breath of
air you will find a way to make it
happen that's the whole
thing there's no way for me to give you
the exact ABC of what you need to do
that's why all I'm talking about is
framework because I don't know what
you're going to pursue I don't know what
challenges you're going to be faced with
I don't know how the world is going to
change but I know the question that
you're going to be asked is can you
build enough desire to fight through all
of the difficulties of becoming great
look around you for the vast majority of
humanity the answer is no they're not
willing to do the things to meet the
demands of
greatness so the question for you is are
you like everyone else because if you
are you're going to fail if you're in
the grips of your emotions you're going
to fail if you've built your self-esteem
about around being better faster
stronger smarter you're going to fail
but if you can decide and it is a
decision if you can decide to get
yourself to commit to having a mission
in your life something you really care
about and then you commit to ratcheting
up your desire then you'll have what you
need to get so good that you can't be
stopped but you can't lose sight of that
you have to build that desire and the
goal is to get so good at something that
matters to you that no one can stop you
from doing it to beat this point to
death this is a game success is a game
of skill acquisition it's not a game of
being born lucky it's not a game of
knowing the right people it's a game of
caring about something so deeply that
when people mock your failures you just
keep plowing forward and practicing and
getting better and failing your way
upwards because remember information
comes from failure you learn by trying
something seeing why it broke down why
it didn't work coming up with a better
way to do it and then trying again okay
here's another important rule for you to
embrace never and I mean never stand
still never stand still if you fail
that's fine that's information adjust
and try again but you must absolutely
never allow yourself to stand still if
it's a big decision and you really don't
know what to do fair enough give
yourself three days to think about it
but then if you have to just guess
choose randomly put things in a hat and
draw them out I don't care how you do it
but move forward and learn because
failure is the most information Rich
data stream on planet Earth that's why
the only mistake is standing still and
that is the mistake that virtually
everybody makes they are so afraid of
being made fun of they are so afraid of
looking stupid they're so afraid of that
negative emotion they feel when other
people are pointing and laughing at them
that they would rather live a small life
than face that
ridicule because of where they've tied
up their ego but if you build your
self-esteem around learning now all of a
sudden you get
better now I know that sometimes you're
going to have to take nearly random
action so the key to ensure that you're
never pretending to pursue your goals is
to use
kpis okay kpi is a key performance
indicator you're going to use these key
performance indicators to track your
progress so if you're trying to get
stronger and add muscle track your
weights set a time frame work backwards
to know how much you need to add this
week or this month in order to hit your
goal so if you set a six-month goal or a
year goal now back into okay well if I'm
going to achieve this over a year what
would I need to do in the next week the
next month and make sure that you're on
track and if you're not on track it's
time for a new strategy I don't ever
want you to fear changing strategy but I
want you to be very skeptical if you
find yourself wanting to give up and
focus on a new goal I see this a lot I
see this in Gold chasing I see this in
relationships people that like the
beginning of something when they're not
yet being forced to face their in
adequacies because they are still
building their self-esteem around being
better faster stronger smarter and when
they do that as soon as they get to that
part where it gets hard or boring they
quit and let me tell you boring kills
just as many goals as fear you've got to
be willing to push through to do the
hard boring practice to get better so if
you find yourself wanting to start over
all the time on something new that's
probably just you being weak here's a
pro tip that I've learned the hard way
if you're going to do something amazing
with your life if you're really going to
achieve greatness you've got to focus
like your life depends on it getting
good requires an ungodly amount of
effort an ungodly amount of effort the
world is hard the world is chaotic and
if you're going to force it to bend to
your will then you've got to have laser
light Focus if you're spreading your
energy across a whole bunch of different
goals each thing will have less energy
behind it I will often talk about the
Sun so you go outside it's bright sunny
day it's wonderful you can tan but if
you take out a magnifying glass you can
light something on fire because you are
focusing the energy of the sun now if
something as gigantic as the nuclear
reactor in the
sky can be diffused enough that you can
lay out in
it but Focus allows you to light
something on fire imagine how little you
can accomplish if you don't Focus your
energies like the sun if you find that
magnifying glass and you point
everything you've got at one thing you
wildly increase the likelihood that
you'll be successful and the more things
that you pursue the less likely you're
going to be to achieve any of them so
cut out anything that doesn't yield the
desired Improvement in the kpi that
you're tracking you also need to limit
distractions and you need to be ready to
sacrifice comfort for achievement
now I know a lot a lot of people are
going to have a hard time with that one
but the reality is if you want to do
something great it is going to ask you
to pay an extraordinary price I tell
people all the time it doesn't matter
who you are today what does matter is
who you want to become and the price
that you're willing to pay to get there
if you're not willing to pay the price
that your goals demand then you're never
going to make any progress all right
last but not least you've got to learn
to embrace suffering not all stress is
bad now make sure that you love love
what you're pursuing because it does not
make sense to suffer if you're not going
after something that is uplifting you
and those around you it's got to be
something that you truly believe in and
that you truly believe will make not
only you better but the world better if
it does go all in and if it doesn't
don't this is what I call fulfillment
fulfillment is the only emotional state
that can survive even grief and an
evolutionary algorithm has been placed
in your brain that goes like this you
are going to have to work hard to gain a
set of skills that allow you to make
progress towards a goal that uplifts you
and other people okay it's something
that you care about for your own private
reasons you do not need to justify it to
the world but if it is an honorable goal
that uplifts you and others pour
yourself into it because when you do
that you will be fulfilled but it
absolutely demands that you work hard
now believe this the world does not owe
you greatness and even if it did no one
is going to hand it to you and even if
they wanted to they can't this is The
Sword and the stone moment you have to
wrench that sword free by becoming a
person worthy of wielding that power it
will take bloody knuckles and pure grit
but it is possible now you can stand on
the sidelines making excuses and wasting
your potential that is your right
or you can step into the arena and fight
until you break
through if you want to leave a mark on
the world if you want your name to echo
through history you're going to have to
work you will fail you will stumble and
people will laugh on the way but let
them failure is your teacher not the
people laughing and suffering is simply
the toll that you have to pay to to
forge yourself into someone who commands
respect first from
yourself then naturally from those you
love and I beg of you to forget about
everybody
else you will get nowhere blaming the
world for being unfair even though it
obviously
is own your results relentlessly drive
to get better you now have the
blueprint so let me leave you with a
final quote from Alexis Carroll
something that you can hold on to in
your darkest hours which I guarantee are
coming man cannot remake himself without
suffering for he is both the marble and
the sculptor you can become anything you
set your mind to if you're willing to
pay the price make 2025 the greatest
year
ever if you like this conversation check
out this episode to learn more in your
pursuit of a goal that you care about
you going to end up getting in a rut in
that moment most people give up I'm
going to tell you what you need to do if
you want to be part of the 8% that
actually sees their goals through if you
struggle getting up and getting your day
started early even