Kind: captions
Language: en
everybody welcome to another episode of
after impact I am your host Tom bill you
and I am here with the legendary Agent
Smith mr. bill you what is up my man is
it going it's going very well thank you
I'm speaking again which is exciting
yeah you had that vow of silence going I
did three days were there any
interesting revelations that came about
like how Vanessa vent as though Edwards
talked about that when she does her bow
silence yes definitively not the same
ones that she had it it is surprising to
me how much I absolutely loved not
needing to talk like love do it was
amazing nice yeah
did you find that people acted
differently yes they forget that they
can talk which is pretty funny like they
will literally start texting me I'm like
you I can still hear okay also my wife
treats me like I'm sick routinely like
she'll go to kiss me on the cheek she's
like oh yeah I keep forgetting that
you're not talking cuz you're or you're
not not talking because your throat sore
you're just not talking so that's pretty
funny I feel like I kind of took
advantage of the opportunity right
themself yeah
in what way though just like I knew you
couldn't talk so I could like crack Joe
that's good all right welcome everyone
after impact this is the show where we
unpack the impact of this week's episode
with Gary Davis pre-recorded today
because of scheduling conflicts so we're
not doing it live but thank you for
joining us nonetheless and for watching
episode of impact Theory with this man
Gary Davis who is very very impressive
very interesting person I want to dive
into that a little bit but if you don't
know who he is he has a very exciting
career diverse he's was the first Native
American rapper he created his own
record label when he's done hundreds and
hundreds of shows he's also a he's an
activist he speaks at Congress a lot act
he's an activist for Native American
rights works a lot of his community what
else does he do he's an entrepreneur he
did that whole rez tour where yeah
entrepreneur that's a great point but he
did the rez tour which was the total of
driving around the earth twice and
did it in a single year without leaving
the United States it was just madness
that's crazy
your adness like addition that it's very
impressive and I've not not miles
traveled but so the whole reason that I
dressed my voice is because I do the
endless q and A's yeah right so we did
xx this all started with a 24-hour live
when I told the throat doctor that I was
on camera for 24 hours he was like I'm
sorry what he was like who does that
so we did the 24 hour live then three
days later I did a nine hour QA and then
it just like I kept being in these loops
of doing either like a whole bunch of
podcasts in a single day and then I
would have another Q&A a meet-and-greet
QA and so and the most recent Q&A the
one that I just did in Vegas was 11
hours actually 11 hours and change of
just and that was after my 45 minute
talk so it was like just it's
unrelenting madness but when I think
about him and what he did like that is
how you get ahead right so I'm in the
phase now where I I need to make a name
for myself I need to build this
community and the only way it's gonna
happen is by putting in Garry Lightfoot
levels of work like you just have to be
prepared to tour around grind it out do
more than other people and if that means
following it by you know days and days
of silence you do it in his case like
being in the car non-stop like tor tor
tor tor to add value it's it's pretty
impressive yet out there and pound the
pavement I see a lot of parallels
between the way that the two of you
think so I wanted to ask you just off
the bat would you agree with that and
what are some of what a couple of the
biggest intersections that you see so I
would agree with that and I think that
putting in the work like and always be
moving forward those were two things
that just really really resonated with
me and man if I can throw in a third
like when he couldn't get anyone to sign
him to a record deal and they said dude
that's just ridiculous
he didn't go yeah gosh I guess that is
ridiculous he created his own record
label man like but but really think
about that for a second this is before
the Internet so he's not creating a
record label and it's like I know
exactly how I'm gonna get this
distributed
he's like I'm creating a record label I
have no idea how to do that I don't know
how the record industry works I don't
know how I'm gonna get the music
actually out there but he does it anyway
and he starts learning step by step
realizing that okay I have to figure all
this out and what are the incremental
steps that I need to do in order to
execute against that how do I get the
funds that I need to make this album how
do I convince people to be on the album
with me how do I support it by touring
but just like figures every step of the
way out and he's like the the Roger
Bannister right
you can't run a four-minute mile and
then he does and then everybody starts
doing it after it's just really really
impressive when somebody's the person
that woke themselves up out of the
matrix and that's that's him like there
was no model for him to to take out of
his community anyway so like no Native
American had ever done it before him and
so not only do people not take him
seriously but he has to like invent
everything from the ground up very very
impressive it's very cool I want to talk
about how he did have to build all that
up from from nothing and really he cites
in the interview the familial and
financial instability that he
experienced when he was younger as
really being the impetus for his
decision to sort of take it upon himself
build things for both himself of what he
wanted and to support his family in his
community what would you say this is a
bit of a curveball question what would
you say to people who are in good
circumstances where they have support
have a great family they have financial
stability that have love in their life
money isn't a problem
what then here's the honest answer I I
don't think you can pull it off unless
you have a chip on your shoulder of some
kind
you've gotta have something to prove and
here's the thing it like when I talk
about the 8020 rule make no mistake if
you've got 80% of what you need to be
successful
you're light-years from actually being
successful and so all the beauty in the
world gets you to 80% that's it like all
the gratitude all the wealth all it it's
80% because why and
remember there's no moral imperative to
be quote-unquote successful to play on a
global stage right you don't need to
want that and what inevitably happens
when people have it that good is they go
why am i working this hard and and I
will ask you the same question why are
you working that hard like if you
already have the things that you want
you have a deep sense of fulfillment
like rock that out but it's when that
you're a sucking wound of a human being
that you like you you have so much in
the reserve tank to keep pushing to go
farther to do more to prove to yourself
to prove to others like and here's the
thing I love that more than I can tell
you mm-hmm
Jared I [ __ ] love that I was having
breakfast this weekend so literally
imagine I go to Vegas I do the epic
unbelievable 11-hour qat it was just
madness there was a woman in tears she
was like nope once you get out of
college nobody gives you this kind of
time and attention she was like this is
crazy she's crying I do that I get four
hours sleep but you know for me is like
even for me that's [ __ ] ridiculous
yeah I get up to an alarm which I tried
never to do I fly back I have a meeting
that morning I go to the meeting and I'm
talking to that person about what's
pushing me at this very second the
reason I'm not at home playing video
games with my beautiful beautiful wife
yes I have a chip on my shoulder like
that's what shows up for me when I'm
[ __ ] exhausted that's what shows up
for me when like I come home and I'm in
the beautiful Beverly Hills mansion and
it is it is the chip on my shoulder that
drives me to prove something to people
to prove something to myself absolutely
and I love it
there is a [ __ ] intoxication it's
that same thing I tell people like rage
has a use and it is the certainty the
clarity the intoxication that drive the
energy that that [ __ ] gives you and if
you can learn to harness it you can do
incredible things so to all of those
people out there where it is all perfect
just go enjoy it just go enjoy it
because nothing is going to show up for
you in that moment where you're
exhausted and you've got to keep
if you want to get on people's radar
like you've got to go go go and so
another one when I was doing the Q&A
there's always in my Q&A so this drives
me [ __ ] crazy there's always the
false end every time there's all right
no more questions no more questions
awesome guys thank you so much all right
let's finally sell yeah and then by the
time we finished doing the final selfie
someone's like just one more question
and then that turns into because we
thought we were done at nine hours and
then that turns into eleven hours the
false goodbye and so I was like [ __ ]
exhausted and in that like they can't
know that they can't know that like okay
I'm ready to be done now like they need
to know I'll be here as long as you need
me and in those moments dude if there
isn't something that you are beyond
hungry for it you will never make it
through
yeah actually wanted to ask you about
that so it seems like based on the
interview and hearing Gary talk about
his work and what he does it that he
really he feels a real sense of
responsibility for everything that he's
doing both
you know with his business and within
the community and it's almost like a
duty so I wanted to ask do you feel that
way about your mission with impact
theory I don't feel a sense of duty or
obligation for me like pulling people
out of the matrix is it falls into my
Beauty like that's that is the amazing
thing that is techne right that is
feeling like oh my god this skill set
that I have worked my ass off to obtain
is useful to other people like that's
really that is a gift to me that I'm so
grateful like beyond measure that that I
can touch somebody's life and bring
beauty into their life where there may
not have been any so the woman who was
crying and just like nobody nobody gives
this kind of time or the former employee
of mine was like you care more about my
success in my own mother like those are
those are beautiful things man and I
love those and I spend eighty percent of
my time there and they make me feel
so so good and I don't like if tomorrow
I was like you know what I've done
enough why I wouldn't be conflicted
about that I don't feel like I need to
save the world this is not a savior
complex this is just like wow man I am
so [ __ ] stoked that I've learned
something it was hard to learn it and
it's valuable to other people that is a
great [ __ ] feeling nice all right I
want to talk about Gary's concept of
baby steps which he lays out he talks
about it pretty in-depth in the episode
but he says you know you need to look at
what your larger dream or your big goal
is and then break it down into baby
steps and then assign those steps time
frames and then those phases so that you
can kind of really tackle them
individually right and it's so logical
and so seemingly straightforward but my
question to you is why do you think it's
so hard to do I actually don't think
it's hard to do I here's where I think
people either can't identify the steps
okay that is probably crushingly
difficult or they're just not they're
not excited enough about it to like do
those things so people get themselves
into trouble in a few ways they are
looking at the whole picture and so that
is the real danger thinking like without
doing the baby steps and why don't
people do the baby steps yeah I'm there
they're not excited enough about it it's
not a compelling vision of the future
where they really buckle down and sit
down and go okay this is where I need to
get to this is where I'm at what's that
chasm of skills and he and I talked
about this in the episode like how do
you and in fact the baby steps was his
answer to this question but but my
question lies even a layer deeper which
is how do you know what the baby steps
are and he rattled them off in in terms
of his specific baby steps and I really
is yeah and I really hope people listen
because hiding in the details is a
thought process and it's the thought
process that I don't know yet how to
articulate to people which is okay how
do you begin to identify all those
things that you actually have to do and
so he was talking about okay how many
songs are gonna have like seeing
how do I go get the singer or how do I
raise the capital for the different
parts of this and and you know know that
I'm gonna have to pay them out and and
he gives like I mean he probably rattles
off like eight to ten like really fast
things and I was like that that is the
magic right is the thought process that
leads you to be able to do that and I've
tried to and I can do a similar thing
where I can walk you through the actual
thought process that I went through with
impact Theory where how we end up as a
studio that thinks of ourselves as a
merchandising company and like why and
self signaling and I mean like I can
walk people through this the stream what
I haven't been able to do is is codify
what that stream is so that then anybody
could apply it to whatever they're doing
right so it you do the same thing we did
the same thing at Quest you do the same
thing and impact theory he did the same
thing with this life but like what is
that codification I don't know how to
give people that so I would just be
repeating myself to answer your baby
steps question it isn't hard you just
have to do it but the the the tricky
part that I don't know how to teach is
what are the baby steps like how do you
make sure that you identify the right
ones
and the the best thing I've ever heard
is what he says but this is way messy
you go you trial you fail you learn you
try again you fail you refine you learn
right so that that's it
but like that's a really messy way to
tell somebody to do this and that speaks
to the the reality that a lot of the
baby steps are hypotheses it's not like
you're on the road to entrepreneurship
you're inevitably going to have to pivot
and so you put this together this is my
hypothesis of how we're going to get
there and if we fail at one of these
steps then we have to pivot we have to
change our approach our strategy would
you agree with that Jared that's so
brilliant I love that so much
there are hypotheses that I really like
that I'm gonna steal the [ __ ] out of
that I'm just a silent trademark to you
every time that I say it but Wow
you're absolutely right the baby steps
are your hypotheses
you've got to get good at coming up with
the hypotheses that remains
tricky part but at least when you
conceptualize them is like okay this is
what I think so I'm just gonna try it
and my veil I'm gonna refine I'm in a
pivot as Gary so eloquently said then I
think you know it's it's messy and I
don't want that to be the answer but
that's really really true yeah that kind
of leads into the next question
something that I thought was really
brilliant that Gary said in this and
when he was talking about breaking down
each phase he said it was kind of like a
throwaway comment but he said you have
to figure out how much capital you need
to raise for each of those phases and I
was like wow this guy's thinking very
very detailed very strategically that's
something that I took away what do you
think entrepreneurs can take away from
his story whoa
so that's a really big question because
one thing that jumped out at you from
the interview or from his from your
answers I'm gonna give you the answer
but I'm not sure this ask you what
you're asking so please help me if I'm
not getting there
he he is he removes not succeeding as an
option and one thing that is like an
absolute must entrepreneurs have to do
and I remember so I'm living through
that right now at impact theory when I
tell people what we're doing it's so big
they can't like they've never allowed
themselves or trained themselves as the
true answer they've never trained
themselves to think that big and to have
the discipline to figure out what all
those thousand little steps are that are
gonna get you there so he does that we
went through the same thing at Quest and
when you remove failure as an option
then you're only thinking this is a
hypothesis what did I learn how do I
tweak how do I refine so I remember one
night we were we had just gotten the
equipment at Quest and it was it just
wasn't working and we'd moved backwards
so it would took us like I forget like
eight or nine hours four seven eight of
us to make 1,200 bars by hand and then
it was taking us longer with the same
number of people to do it on industrial
equipment and we had just sunk
essentially all of our investment
capital
to it so it was like like did we just
make a catastrophic error and so you're
you do that one night okay
two nights okay three nights starting to
be scary right and and I remember at
that point going
I'm not scared like I know that we will
figure this out because I have totally
removed the notion of failing as an
option now maybe we end up doing
something different and that different
thing was that we re-engineered the
equipment but it never crossed it and I
mean this sincerely it never crossed my
mind that I would quit it didn't even
cross my mind and I remember it didn't
even cross my mind that it hadn't
crossed my mind until somebody said she
ever think about quitting like when it
was really really hard and I was I know
like that was the one thing going into
all of this like I considered not
starting but once I started I never
considered quitting and that's how I
feel about my marriage I considered not
proposing but once I proposed I never
considered breaking up so it was like
people always talked about how their
wedding day is like this day of like its
tumultuous emotions and like cold feet
all that I thought wow that that was the
furthest thing from my mind
now that crossed my mind before buying
the ring mm-hmm before buying the ring I
was like do I really do this like this
is it's a big compromise and that was a
weighty moment for me but once I cross
that bridge and so that's something that
I think Gary personifies so magically is
he just like it it's not something that
weighs on his mind right and jaakko
willing talks about that discipline
equals freedom like once you remove that
you might not show up once you remove
that you might not go to the gym once
you remove that you might not do the
next leg the res tour in Gary's case
then there's no debate like you just
[ __ ] do it and I can't tell people it
is it is a weight off of your shoulders
to know that you'll never consider that
I love that all right got a couple more
questions here let's see
that occurred here's something this also
relates to entrepreneurship so he says
if you want to be if you want people to
be 100 percent excited about you and
your project then you need to be a
hundred and fifty percent excited about
it and I thought that was awesome so I
wanted to ask you can you talk about the
importance of enthusiasm when leading
people and sharing your vision I'm so I
was really really hoping you'd bring
this one up it is it is absolutely
critical and what does he say in the
episode he's like if you're gonna ask
other people to be about it you've got
to be about it and that is so true and
that is one of the SATA and bring this
up when you ask the original question
that is one of the secrets of leadership
for sure definitely one of the secrets
of entrepreneurship is you you literally
have to light up every room and you're
talking about something if you're not
the one driving a Ford it is never going
to happen you've got to be the creator
of momentum you've got to be the
generator of excitement and I don't
think like if you're if you want to be
an entrepreneur and you're not an
excitable person immediately get a
partner who's excitable like you you
must [ __ ] have that and it is it is
amazing it is one of the coolest things
about being the human animal when you're
on fire for something the way that
people gravitate towards that man
it is really [ __ ] cool it is one of
the greatest experiences of my life to
like find myself in private the chills
to find myself in private getting really
amped up about something really excited
about something and then to like start
sharing that with people and then see
the way that people come and gravitate
towards that the way that they want to
be around it like when I was doing that
QA dude I wish you could have seen it in
in Vegas in fact you'll see the footage
so it's literally I had no it we ended
up being in a hallway the whole time I
had no intention I'd made this big
announcement on stage hey everybody I'm
gonna be in this like backroom thing was
like we're like the lunch happened and
stuff I'll be in the back of that room
like come and find me and I am walking
to that room and somebody stops me hey
Tom is it really true that you'll answer
any question I was like yeah man of
course like what's what's the question
and he asked and then I'm getting into
the answer I'm you know passionate
excited about it and then another person
comes and another and another and and
then by you know I don't remember how
long
it took an hour two hours whatever
there's 70 a hundred people just bobbing
around me because of the enthusiasm like
that's how it starts like people are
just drawn to that and if you can and by
the way we did the whole 11 hours just
standing in the [ __ ] hallway because
people just as soon as they see that
right so the excitement of the crowd
like when you get one person and then
another and then another eventually like
people are far enough out on the ring
they just want to see like what's all
the excitement about right so that
you've got to be able to generate that
you have to it's awesome let's go back
to the concept of keep moving forward I
know you're big on momentum matters I
see a lot of similarities there another
curveball question what does it look
like to not have momentum or to be
stagnant how do you identify that
because you can get caught up doing the
busy work right yeah today okay so
here's what I I look for god it's
interesting this is one of those words I
wanted to find with the word itself
momentum is when there's momentum so I'm
really looking for I'm looking for
things that are taking concrete
measurable steps forward and then I'm
looking for the inevitable how I feel so
invariably there are metrics so if you
look at what we're doing with impact
Theory there's numbers right so
followership numbers engagement numbers
we look at that then there's my speaker
fee like how much can I charge for that
then there's how many people are
applying for internships how many people
stopped in if I'm giving a talk like how
many people roll up to that so those are
all things that like you can measure and
then there's the ineffable sense of like
we're going somewhere people are
reacting to me differently and that gets
it's impossible to measure but it's
little things and I won't reveal I'll
tell you off-camera but I'm not yet
ready to talk about this on camera but
somebody sent me a text yesterday and I
just sent a screenshot of that text to
my wife and I said you're not gonna
really understand why I'm so excited
about this but I can feel that this
person is now taking me
way more seriously than they did six
months ago
and because they're watching they're
just looking at what's happening in our
community and they've been around this
world long enough to go now this is
different this is this isn't like the
other people I've seen do this like
there's something happening here they
never said that but I can tell by the
way that they treat me and excuse me the
way that they treat me the the meetings
that they're lining up for us the way
they're trying to draw me deeper deeper
into their world you can just feel it
and I'd never be able to measure that
and most importantly when that's not
there
I know it's missing so if the numbers
are happening but like mmm ineffably
like I can feel like I'm moving
backwards or and I've felt this way
about the show and this is one of the
reasons that I think the show has
continued to be fresh and good is that
when we're like holding steady I am
filled with terror and unease because
that's how people get to the top and
then fall yeah because they they can't
feel that they're there flatlined
because they're not declining right so
there's like there's nothing to be
paranoid about right but in those
moments if you can train yourself and I
and I have trained myself with my
obsession over momentum to notice
moments where it's just not progressing
at the rate that it could or should be
yeah one last question
Gary he in the episode describes that
within his community he feels like
people don't really know or understand
their value and purpose and he talks
about this in relation to self-worth and
having having that in your life and why
it's so important so I wanted to ask you
if you're someone who has low self-worth
and you're around people who share that
sentiment what do you do meaning they
share that sentiment about me or about
themselves so immediately get away from
them so that's step one step two is
meaning you need to find your the
average of the five people who spend the
most time go so find people that are
optimistic upbeat whatever that are
going to be positive and value
but then to yourself you need to
immediately identify what would make me
feel good about myself and if those are
things that you can change then
immediately begin taking the steps to
change them if there are things you
cannot change I wish I were taller then
immediately discard those as
measurements they will not serve you and
there's a really cool thing it's kind of
like the prayer grandma the serenity to
change the things I can to like feel
fine about things I can to know the
difference like I'm [ __ ] butchering
that that's so famous yeah but there's
another version of that which now I'm
totally blanking on but oh I think it's
like Plato like never worry about the
things that you can change and never
worry there's two things you should
never worry about things you can change
and things you can't there we go
and 100% true right if you can change it
then go change it don't sit there and
fret about it and if you can't change it
why are you worrying about it's nothing
you can do
so immediately move your attention on to
the things you can't change so if you're
holding yourself to a metric that just
doesn't make any sense because there's
nothing you can do about it then that
stupid pick a new metric and then if
you're obsessing over something that you
can change you're beating yourself up
over it's like the only thing you should
be annoyed with is that you too [ __ ]
lazy to like attack it now figure out
why are you lazy and the answer is
universally because you don't care
enough about that thing you're not on
fire enough about it because man if
you're super on fire for it even if
you're afraid you're gonna fail chances
are you're gonna give it a shot right so
that's me like really developing that
level of interest developing that level
of excitement about something that's the
key awesome all right well I think we
gotta wrap it up there and today boys
and girls sorry that we can do this one
live I'm off to New York I'm very
excited hopefully I think this airs
after I get there so be too late but for
those of you in New York I'm excited to
see you guys it's gonna be amazing for
everybody that joined me in Vegas for
the talk and the live Q&A that was
absolutely incredible
Matt shoutout to thrive for having me
you guys put on an amazing amazing event
your community is unbelievable Cole
thank you so much that was really really
great and to Jordan Harbinger who hooked
me up with those guys the art of charm
you guys going to hear me going hard on
Jordan in the art of charm because I
that dude has done more
to help us grow than any other human
being outside of this organization
literally he is so over-the-top about
helping like even I'm like god damn like
this guy is not playing around think we
ever paid him exactly $0.00 like he's
just [ __ ] gone way way way out of his
way to help us so man if you want to do
me a solid go subscribe to the art of
charm that dude has just done so much to
help and look I know secretly in the
back of his mind it was to create
moments like this but he's done an
amazing job so Jordan thank you dude
you've become a fast friend of mine I'm
super stoked every time I get to see you
and for the intro at thrive I will
forever be grateful both onstage and off
so thank you brother
amazing amazing amazing guys if you
haven't already be sure to subscribe if
this added-value please do share it and
until next time my friends be legendary
take care
you