Kind: captions
Language: en
what is up everybody welcome to another
edition of after impact I'm your host
Tom bill you and I am here with agent
Smith who's mr. bill you putting in our
little uh our totems as it were yes
welcome thank you welcome you welcome to
our audience welcome to everybody yes
this is a special episode of after
impact has because we've had a special
episode of impact theory this week and
that is our we call it our hack show but
it's really about the top 10 brain tax
that you can use from our guests the
world's highest achievers things you can
do in your life to level up and unleash
your success as the in offense indeed so
we're going to dive into it and just a
reminder everyone this is after impact
the show where Tom and I go deep into
the episode of impact Theory answer your
questions I have questions we discuss
what was the episode about how can it be
applied and and kind of go off on
tangents from there but they're
productive tangents so that is the hope
is yeah so if you've seen this episode
or if you've seen some of the episodes
this is really a compilation and what we
did was we went through the last 30 I
think we've done 32 now 30 episodes and
said what are the most really actionable
pieces that pieces of advice from our
guests that we could give back to our
audience as a way to just remind them of
some of these techniques that they can
use and we tried to pull the best ones
out ones that will really help you tap
into a growth mindset really help you
put together an execution plan so that
you can go out and pursue your dreams
and your vision of success and I think
these ones are fantastic and I was I've
you know I reviewed the episode this
morning and I was like sum so much of
this I already forgot which scares me I
know that's scary there's just so much
content so much good content so it's
like how do you put it into action
before it slips away and which brings me
to one of my first questions yeah
so the nerd writer who we all know is
one of my favor
yes favorite episodes he says that he
says it's important to trance I just
loved his wording too it's important to
transfer cloudy knowledge into explicit
knowledge and the way that he did it was
through writing it down and he wrote
this discourse on truth which is this
very he called it a very highfalutin
thing he gave his family and friends
totally sounds like something I would
have done in college very on Brad I have
to say Evan Pugh Shaq the nerd writer is
a very on-brand choice for you yeah like
one of your favorite episodes no
question he is and he's amazing that I'm
with you on that one yeah and I just
love his idea because for me I feel like
until you write it down you don't really
engage with that information yeah so I
want to talk to you about that writing
things down I know you're taking a lot
more notes on the books you read how do
you transfer knowledge from sort of
cloudy like you kind of understand it
into something exclusive that you can
actually use in your life so I do a
little bit of writing but that that
isn't as effective for me as the series
of content that we put out this really
is my way like a lot of times so when we
do meetings I was just saying this to
you guys yesterday one of the things
that I think I'm very rightly accused of
as a leader in business is under
communication but you can't imagine what
a surprise that was for me yeah I feel
like I am talking all the time and in
that like because I like it understand I
have a high degree of suspicion of
anything that I actually enjoy doing
this is this is going to be confusing
for people
so because very often your goals demand
of you things that aren't necessarily
intrinsically fun and for so many years
my compass was exactly what are the
things that I dislike doing because
that's almost certainly what I should be
doing what's the first rule of nutrition
if it tastes good spit it out it was
like my whole life was around don't do
the things you really want to do do the
things that your goals demand now in
that hopefully people understand that
around 8:00 and after your mark I
totally broke with all of that and my
path as a entrepreneur I broke with that
I began to ask a fundamentally different
question which is what would I love
doing every day even if I were failing
but old habits die hard and because
there still is so much truth to the fact
that a lot of times your goal will
demand something that is in the micro
very painful but in the grand scheme of
things is something that absolutely has
to be done and hopefully on balance you
believe in what you're doing enough that
it you know in total is still a lot of
fun but there is forever going to be
that friction between those two things
so because I get so much out of
articulating things out loud they say if
you want to really understand something
teach it's in that articulation process
one you're communicating back to
yourself and I've quoted this quote many
times and I really do need to look up
who said it I speak not so I can be
understood but rather so I can
understand right so when I'm verbalizing
I am going through a process of really
grasping at myself and in in doing that
it I am always surprised how much it's
becoming explicit for me in the
verbalization process so yesterday when
I was talking to the group I was saying
I feel like I'm beating a dead horse I
have thought about this so much and feel
like I've articulated it out loud and
I'm having so much fun articulating it
because it becomes more real and more
concrete in me and I'm like whoa I'm
taking this cloud and I'm making it
explicit knowledge that it feels
indulgence so I tried to check myself so
imagine for a second you go to see a
world-class nutritionist and they're
shredded just great shape they're 150
years old so like you believe every word
out of their mouth you oh my god this is
real and amazing and backed up and they
say Jared this secret like you just need
to eat more of your favorite foods in
way higher quantities drink a lot more
beer like that's the secret to longevity
and performance if you like wait a
second that's how I feel when people
like you know you haven't communicated
the vision enough because I'm like
that's what I want to do like I
to sit around and tell you guys what I'm
thinking I want to sit around and
leverage you as a sounding board to walk
you through like this is how its
evolving this is how it's changing in my
mind because in doing that it becomes so
much more concrete for me so when I get
on a rant here and I can feel like
everybody is really locked in like
they're excited they're maybe
understanding something for the first
time like that that is the most fun for
me and this is all invisible for the
community because we don't record any of
this stuff it's literally just us here
at impact house like really having a
[ __ ] moment right so the other day I
went and met with one of the one of the
highest level physicists on the planet
yeah and I had so much fun well in that
I wrote a whole [ __ ] vague newsletter
about it one day it will cease to be
bang but so I one thing I wanted to
explain to the team why a why had been
vague and then B why it was so important
to what we're doing and how it's really
going to help us differentiate and
really do something new and I was like
this moment right here with the team is
literally one of the highlights
certainly of the summer for me maybe of
the year like it was just it was I had
learned something from this physicist
which was very Grandin has massive
implications just like in in our
understanding of the physical world and
it was giving me a chance to articulate
it so that it would become more concrete
so I'll stop there but it's like I'm
saying all of that because that's my way
of doing it
Evans is very much to write it down I
don't while useful I don't get as much
joy out of that I think we have a mic
issue your arm is in the way I'm not
sure what that means is it just are we
talking about visuals are we talking
about okay so the mic is a little bit in
the way of here I'm going to call it up
and you I can see that camera
it's maybe blocking my chest it is blah
greeny green okay wow we just lost a lot
of our life to that alright so well
we'll have to yeah at the end of the day
here's the solution the mics have to be
moved to the outside but that should be
done before we start rolling we're
processing live everyone was your world
the funny thing is I thought do I say
this out loud and I thought yeah let the
community see like this is this is how I
run a business it is in mundane [ __ ] yep
he's a little sad of sometimes got to do
it yeah so it's interesting you talked
about trying to avoid the things that
bring you happiness and when they come
into conflict with your goals and
there's a couple of the hacks in the
show from our guests I think have a
theme of happiness there's one Jessica
Matthews she says she asked herself am i
happy and that's kind of a macro gut
check of where she is in life and what
she should be pursuing and maybe she
should change what she's pursuing and
then you have an S event Edwards who
talks about happy math which is micro
moments looking at your day really in
this few things that you do whether it's
drinking a hot cup of coffee or you know
talking to a friend for five minutes and
catching up she says you have to add up
these moments of happy math and then see
where are you spending your time so I
want to ask you how do you square sort
of happiness with your goals is to talk
about something as you that you avoid
but what happens when happiness like in
this instance you articulating the
vision which is happy for you and is
also actually very effective for the
company we're just starting to realize
that so that's one of those moments
where it's something that I thought was
out of alignment with my goals but I
realized oh my god some it's going to
that nutritionist and he's telling me
and I see that it's real that the answer
is eat more junk food drink more of the
like put more heavy cream in your coffee
you know exactly for what all the things
that I secretly want to do but only
don't because I think it's out of
alignment with my goal so when somebody
you realize like oh my god this actually
is an alignment like recently I've
realized that consume
more pop-culture content is now it
definitely was not so this was not a
moment where I realized oh my god I've
just been off this whole time yeah the
like planets finally aligned and now it
really does make sense and it's
something that will move us forward so
that was awesome and that felt right and
I could tell internally externally I
really looked at it and I was like okay
the moment has finally come so that was
really pleasurable for me and I'm very
excited about that
and that led into this weekend so Cindy
had primed me by saying that she was
doing a sleepover which I hope that's
not like a not talked about thing
spoiler alert I think it took uh so she
was certainly very open about it but her
and her friends we're doing a sleepover
in their 20s I thought that was so cool
and that Saturday I look over at my wife
and I realize every weekend I have a
sleepover with my best friend and it was
super cheesy as cheesy as it sounds
right now but it was such a neat
realization so it was like I was
pursuing my goals but we were watching
TV as a part of that and I'm there but
like my best friend and like I'm like I
[ __ ] loved my life so it was that was
really neat and so then this moment
where the team is saying hey like almost
sheepishly it would be really great if
you shared the vision more often which
doing that I get so caught up in the
emotion of what we're doing that we're
really going to help people that this is
actually going to make a big difference
in a lot of people's lives that we're
going to do it in a methodology that
actually is super enjoyable it's the
creative process for me is my first love
it's where I started
it's that thing I've been drawn to since
I was 12 so there's this sense of like
real homecoming returning to the base of
my strength like and and this was the so
I think in movies I think in comics like
that's just always been a thing for me
and I remember when I had that real
friction in my journey as an
entrepreneur and was like I can't hate
every day I can't and why can't I
because the reason that the the
mythology of Superman is so important to
me
it
because Superman is a normal human
unless he's in the Yellow Sun and when
you take this stuff for metaphor and you
don't take it literally and I started
saying okay what is it in my life
that's my Yellow Sun what makes me
capable of something more than anybody
else and that's passion it's tapping
into that thing that makes me feel a lot
and when I'm articulating the vision I
really do feel invincible I feel that I
feel that sense I want people to hear
the difference between when you
understand it intellectually and when
you feel it and like your mitochondria
are producing energy more efficiently
that's literally what it feels like when
you're in complete alignment with all
the things that just make you feel you
powerful alive all that and it is the
thing that aligns with your code of what
I should be doing where I should be
living in a way that facilitates my
goals I just believe that to the core of
my being so like when those two things
come together it's it's really really
extraordinary so finding the happy math
as Vanessa ven Edwards talked about I
think is is really important figuring
out what those things are that actually
triggered that in you is really
important like actually doing the math
right as she asked that I think that's
really important and what I loved is in
her breakdown of that she talks about
like sometimes it's just that amazing
cup of coffee yeah so by way of example
every morning I put a monster in the
freezer zero calorie monster in the
freezer for 20 minutes and it starts to
get like a little bit slushy
it's just starting to terrorise I'm
gonna and I drink half of it and that
half a [ __ ] monster brings me a
ridiculous amount of joy yeah just does
like that's that's a happy mass for me
right there
it's awesome so it's you know stuff big
and small little things and how about
the big things are you doing what
Jessica Matthew says which is you know
every six months or so just asking that
big question like am I happy doing this
I'm not going to answer what you just
asked but only because it reminded me of
something that I wanted to say when you
first asked the initial question onto
the big thing so how
is it smart when you're thinking happy
math - so constantly be pushing off the
things that you love and and enjoy and
here's something that I really really
want people to hear and this is one of
those things I'm going to say it going
back to over-communicating I'm going to
say it a thousand times and for whatever
reason on a thousand and one it's going
to hit somebody they're going to realize
what I'm actually saying the greatest
the greatest joy that I feel in my life
about myself the thing that brings me
the most pride so actual pleasure and
joy is my willingness to suffer for what
I want let that one sink in so in those
moments where I'm sort of emotionally
gasping for breath I think of me like
somebody doing you know like they're
training for the Olympics or whatever
and they're just pushing themselves to a
point of like you're watching they're
like vomiting in a trash can and you
think why are they doing this and
internally that person is awash in a
sense of identity pride self-respect joy
even though from the outside it doesn't
look like it that to me is framework
happiness so when I'm explaining the
vision to the team that's momentary
happiness okay it's exciting but it will
dissipate very rapidly but the fact that
I'm able to articulate that and that
it's a vision that other people
gravitate towards is because I make so
many crazy demands myself the amount of
time it's one of those things a very
secret part of me and I won't because I
think it's ultimately douchey but a very
secret part of me wants people like
wants camera so people know how [ __ ]
early I get up how disciplined I am
about the amount of work I do like the
other day I woke up at 2:00 a.m. just
woke up right I think people think I
said an alarm I don't I just [ __ ]
woke up at 2:00 a.m. but I'm so driven I
get out of bed I start the process I go
right to it
I'm meditating I'm thinking a ting I'm
taking these notes I'm reading contracts
like I'm just pushing everything
everything forward for like eight hours
before the
team gets here and I'm like this is why
like when people go I have no idea like
that's where the vision was because we
we all can't help it right the other
people in our lives cease to exist until
we open the door we see them again but
what you don't see is like I Slee
working and pushing myself and even
though from the outside it looks like
the sprinting and vomiting in the
trashcan and all that I am so proud of
being willing to do that that even
though it's giving things up even though
it's you know at times it's exhausting
even though it's there's so many things
in my life that I don't have and pushed
off or just straight decided I'm not
going to do but for me it brings deep
emotional well-being like in a way
that's untouchable no one can get under
my skin or damage my sense of myself and
that's so important no one can damage my
sense of self right you say whatever you
want in the comments you can like if I
know you and you mean something to me
you could attack me I know who I am I
know I put in the work not every day
Thursday's where I failed myself but I'm
proud of the fact that I'll be honest
about that and say and I often do this
like on a not an hourly basis but every
two or three hours there's a voice
that's like either you've made the most
of those two or three hours where you
have it and I like that I'm proud of
that
I'm not proud that like I have some
perfect record because I do not I'm
proud of the fact that I'm willing to
keep a record mmm I love it
what would you tell someone who doesn't
source their sense of well-being and
deep personal pride and joy from that
same thing that they're playing a
dangerous game because they probably get
their sense of well-being and deep
personal pride out of the fact that they
optimized those last three hours and
that's so dangerous because there's
going to be times where you don't
optimize those three hours so it's this
weird friction between I'm not going to
take pry
it's gonna feel good when I do it it
just is yeah it's like the days where
you look good you can't help but be like
alright I'm looking good right now
high five me right so like that's a real
thing of the human condition yes oh cool
enjoy but if you're building your sense
of pride and self-esteem and all that
around something that is so fragile it's
just really really dangerous so it's
like the more knowledge I accumulate the
more tempting it is to be like I
actually am smart and I know it's a trap
so I don't allow myself to reward myself
for being smart instead when a moment
shows up and I'm able to like like last
night we did that panel and I am sitting
and the funny thing is people watching
that balance you guys and watch what we
did a panel with the MOE Diaz health
team and they were here and I'm there
with some of the brightest minds in
science okay to my left is vs
Ramachandran vs [ __ ] Ramachandran and
i get it most people don't know who that
is but that's one of those people as you
start to dig in and realize what he's
done and the way in which he has been
acknowledged by the scientific community
he is going to be remembered okay vs
Ramachandran will be remembered so he's
one of those guys that right up until
the singularity like people are going to
know who he is like that give a [ __ ]
about that and he's [ __ ] to my left
and that I had enough confidence to
articulate my own sort of understanding
of the state of neurological science
right if I'm wrong he's just going to
lean into the mic be like who the [ __ ]
is this buffoon right so to get to a
point where you've done that it would be
very foolish and dangerous for me to
reward myself for actually being able to
articulate it so instead what I do is I
reward myself for it dude well done for
putting in the work because this has
been 20 years of reading books about
neuroscience knowing that I knew nothing
fumbling my way through the dark always
asking people questions when I didn't
know never being afraid to embarrass
myself and look stupid like that's what
I reward myself for right like well done
for not being afraid to look stupid so
many
that you always ask and for just being
the learner because that is anti fragile
you could you anti fragile is the more
you attack it the more you try to break
it the stronger it gets not that its
resilience or tough so once people can
switch their sense of self-esteem to
something that is truly anti-federal and
then not fall prey to the trap of
because I focused on being a learner for
so long I'm now actually good okay I'm
now actually smart but I still don't
pride myself on that so if I woke up
tomorrow and realize oh god I'm actually
way dumber than I thought which by the
way the more you learn about something
the Dumber you feel by the [ __ ] day
it is so hilarious because you begin to
realize like how big the world is and
like how much more there is so when you
can meet that with humility because
you're not having any sense of pride
around that you continue to supercharged
I can feel the more I explain this like
I'm losing more and more people as I go
but for the like six people now that are
still with me like they get it and
they're [ __ ] nodding fiendishly
because they understand the the
acceleration how it goes faster and
faster and faster the more humility you
have the more you're willing to accept
your ignorance the dumber you're willing
to look like you're the one that's
growing faster and faster and faster and
actually getting better and better and
better like you could not have positive
this is actually you couldn't have
convinced other people around me that
you know twenty years in the future that
I'd be sharing the stage with dr. Drew
Pinsky Jason dr. Jason McEwan and Doctor
vs [ __ ] Ramachandran Lee and
that they would when the cameras weren't
rolling and strike me dead anyone here
like they were like you know you're [ __ ]
so learn learn learn and so don't be
afraid to look stupid pride yourself on
that too until a quick vs Roma children
story please they're my favorite I was
cleaning out my bookshelf the other day
and I came across a book called a world
of ideas which is it was actually a text
book I use when I was in my graduate
program and teach
writing to the undergrads it was like
intro to writing so you know basic
rhetoric argumentation how to convey an
idea and the point of this book was to
expose people to different writing
styles because they're all essays and
then to just different ideas and it's
it's really like the best ideas in the
world from across every subject matter
right so it's literature its science its
philosophy like it's Machiavelli it's
all the big names and I'm flipping
through it and who do I come across vs
Ramachandran is an essay from him in the
book and I was just like I can't believe
we had this guy in the show so the vs is
he is unbelievable like he's
unbelievable and because he's like this
unassuming guy and he's not look guys at
that level don't get famous like that so
you have to be like in that world but
he's rewatched the panel right listen to
what dr. drew says I can't believe I'm
sharing the dais with vias Ramachandran
right yeah it but it's like from a vein
perspective thousand times more people
know who dr. drew is rather than know
who the S is but vs Kerry's [ __ ]
weight yeah it's awesome
really cool let's do a couple quick
shout outs International shout outs
we got people tuning in from all the
world what's up Lars von up C from New
Zealand
that's a cologne answer yes we got Tommy
Westing from Norway and Kapil Dev from
India nice so guys thanks for joining
okay so please submit your questions
we're on Facebook live right now
hopefully you watch the brain hacks
episode which is really cool it's the
best some of the best ideas from all of
our guests distilled into a 30 minute
episode you can just go in watch it a
couple times a lot of actionable
takeaways in there that you can apply to
your life immediately that's a question
I have for you Thomas are there any so
what are your favorite hacks from the
show are there any things that you
applied in your life yeah so my favorite
yes there's a lot that I've applied in
my life
from this episode and I'll give you one
what can you learn from the people you
hate the most which is one in Tim
Ferriss is one without kind of things
that I've used amazing that guys booked
for our work week changed me
fundamentally it's really supercharge me
as an entrepreneur but my favorite one
is from Naveen Jain and how to learn
something new when you're going to go
into an area how do you begin that
process of becoming an expert and I love
his notion of move into areas where
you're not the expert because you now
don't take there's nothing that you just
take for granted
so you question everything and it is
fascinating how effective that is and I
don't think it's an accident that what
we did a quest we did precisely because
we were Outsiders and we didn't know
anything about being a food manufacturer
and so we challenged every assumption
and just came up with a whole new way of
doing things and it ended up you know
being utterly transformative so I think
that that really is just super super
smart and it's something I think a lot
about like because now my my current
vision and I know better than to plant a
flag and say never but my current vision
for impact areas this is brick by brick
being built to be my forever company I
never plan to sell it I never plan to
move on to anything now again like never
say never sure but I'm really trying to
make it a platform company and it's it's
why it's the first time while I
obviously still have a partner my
current partner is literally the other
half of my existence so it's why I
didn't want to bring in outside partners
like it needed to be one clear vision
lease and I went into this and I said
the same thing that I said to you guys
which was let me be abundantly [ __ ]
clear what this is this is my vision
that we're going to be executing on here
it is if that excites you and you want
to be a part of that I need you and
can't do this without you but I'm not
going to battle for the vision so if
people are on board then awesome let's
do it so I really believe that this
could end up being my forever company
and I think so much about this notion of
not letting your knowledge calcify into
dogma because then you grow stagnant
you're not challenging things you're not
disrupting yourself and most people
aren't capable of disrupting themselves
and there's been all these studies done
and like when people that win the Nobel
Prize how old they were when they did
the work and it's like some overwhelming
like 80% of all Nobel prizes are given
to people who did their work in their
20s and 30s and so it's like do they get
less smart like what happens right and
especially because we're going into an
artistic field like when was the last
time a 55 year old musician dropped an
album that topped the charts essentially
never right so David Bowie did he topped
the charts with a new album well his
last album I think did really well he
was probably over 55 I'm not going to
hurt I think he died I think he's in his
60s yeah so I get your point what's the
internet but it's good to bring that up
so what's fascinating is AI didn't know
that which tells you to what extent he
actually sort of took over the world and
then second that there's one can you
name another because most of the time
they pop the charts it's like on the
whatever they call the contemporary
chart right which is essentially people
overboard it just it's so rare and it
really begs the question why is it
because youth culture is just so
dominant a buying force and they only
respond visually to people that look
like them I don't know but it really
really happens really so setting that
aside maybe that's controversial what's
not controversial is the Nobel Prize
thing so and then from that respond to
quote genius is a young man's game and
so it's like all those things scare me
beyond measure because I believe your
future should never be smaller than your
past so you've got to have a way where
you're going to be doing bigger things
and like for real actually doing them so
one of the ways that you can do that is
what naveen says which is constantly be
shifting into these new arenas where
you're not an established expert and
then learning as rapidly as you can as
much as humanly possible and so that
when going back to the episode I
remember when you
at onset I was like that sits at the
core of my density like always wanting
to learn more always wanting to step
outside my comfort zone always wanting
to really understand something so at
first for me it was neuroscience and I
will continue my obsession with that and
now it's really getting into the
microbiome and functional medicine and
because between my mom and my wife who
have struggled very profoundly with what
I believe are functional health issues
I've had to just own that and say these
people are suffering in my life and it's
entirely my fault we all know Ramona
showed extreme ownership and so I'm
going to become an expert I'm going to
know more than doctors and yeah I'm I I
will yeah I love I love his concept I
thought I was brilliant and even on a
tactical level it was brilliant so he
said first the first thing you do is you
have to understand the terminology in
that arena
so learn the definitions so Yugi can
just orient yourself and then he said he
uses Twitter or probably like a tweet
deck tool or something to find all of
the journals in that field and search
specifically on the keywords that he's
looking to learn more about and then he
just wakes up every morning and reads
those articles so the newest information
coming out on those very specific
subjects yeah that's brilliant it is and
it's like that didn't anything yeah 100%
awesome here's the question from Rhett
Koontz his question is top three things
that contribute to your ability to hyper
focus and learn new things rapidly kind
of touched on that a little bit yeah so
I want to give real answers I want this
to become the hallmark of my content so
we were talking a little bit about this
yesterday because I owe you we talked
about Vanessa and Edwards after impact
knowing that your language of
appreciation is acts of service and I
wanted to take something off your plate
which is to come up with a list of
mantras as I was that I use on a daily
basis as I started doing that I realize
I don't actually do that yeah and so to
give you what you asked
would be to violate my code which would
be to create sort of just fluff [ __ ]
and put it out so I was like ok what's
the real answer like what do I actually
do and in doing that it started to be
like actually quite intriguing to me the
process that I actually go through so I
want to give them that same kind of a
real answer here so what are the top
three ways that I hyper focus on
something yeah so first I think it's
important to know if I had to guess I
have some mild form of attention deficit
disorder so I find myself having to I
practice this in meditation so one it's
always going to be something to do with
practice like getting good like if you
want to hyper focus on something you
have to actually practice hyper focusing
so in meditating if I my mind wanders
very rapidly very rapidly and I think
that's actually what makes me good at
creative good at writing I've so many
ideas that are coming to me coming to me
coming to me like when I read Stephen
King's The Dark Tower and true spoiler
alert by the way so if you are in the
middle of reading the series and you
haven't finished you should stop
watching right now but he he puts
himself in the book which has caused
like this complete uproar and but I
found it fascinating because in the book
he's talking about how these ideas like
he doesn't even know where the hell
they're coming from like he just has
these ideas ideas ideas and writing them
down it's like the way for him to sort
of manage it yeah and I feel the same
like ideas ideas ideas and in one way
it's awesome and I know that impact
Theory is going to be known as the house
of ideas and like we're once we start
executing on the creative like dude my
list of just just the comics I think we
should be doing is already [ __ ]
spastically long so and it's just going
to get longer and longer longer which is
why we need to get a group of writers
and creatives in here because I want to
give them the ideas and then then they
go X amount of time to execute on them
all right so training myself to not
chase every idea as it comes through
because from a be an entrepreneur build
a business it isn't useful so what helps
me is it creative is hurting me as an
entrepreneur sure so I've had to learn
how to get control now one of the ways
was simply learning to focus on my
breath to note
that oh [ __ ] I'm not thinking about my
breath come back to the breath oh [ __ ]
I'm not thinking about my breath come
back to the breath and being able to
lengthen the period of time where you
can keep yourself focused and the tricks
that you begin to use so here's a trick
you're meditating all you're supposed to
focus on your breath how do you do that
because a lot of times you don't even
notice that your mind is wandering so
one of the things if I came up with was
to make each part of the four part
breath cycle to maximize its pleasure so
now that gave me a hook into the breath
right so let's say I'm working on a
contract and I'm going through and I
keep my mind keeps wandering my mind
keeps wandering so how do I keep it one
of the things that I've done and this is
I don't I don't have the words for this
X I've never had to articulate it to
anybody but as I'm going through a
contract and I hit a part that's
actually quite confusing like you'll get
in a contract you'll have a section that
long that's a single [ __ ] sentence
yeah which makes me want to universally
assault lawyers because it does not need
to be that way but nonetheless it is
that way and so you find yourself like
having it like [ __ ] hold these
concepts and they keep parenthetical
parenthetical parenthetical and it's
like ah like I'm trying to so what I do
literally what you see me doing now I
put myself in a position I'll sit up
more straight I will tell my brain speed
up and then I will leverage a little bit
of anger to keep me [ __ ] focus I'll
throw my brow it's just all these like
little hacks that I know I need to do to
laser focus and because I know like I'm
a tips and tricks guy right yeah we're a
hacks got to use the word like I
understand there are biological things
that I can do physical things that I can
do to maximize the secretion of certain
chemicals in my brain to get me to
whatever state that it is that I'm
trying to get to and so I'll do that
type of focus that's specifically what I
do in contracts but that - probably the
anger is one of the ways that I use to
focus on a lot of other things and then
also just really making sure like if
somebody is interesting I've never
realized that I do this quite
universally if you said I'm about to
tell you something and I really need you
to pay attention or my wife said this is
important I
would literally fully orient myself to
that person because that does something
to direct your attention I need to do
this actually
that's really [ __ ] interesting
because I would have thought it was all
invisible and I'm gonna like furrow my
brow I'm literally going to put my head
forward and I'm going to [ __ ] burrow
into their soul with my eyes so that I
can literally feel everything at my
periphery deadening and oded going black
and then in my mind I'm really following
like every concept that they're saying
to make sure that it strings together
and the [ __ ] second I don't
understand something you'll see me do it
sometimes in interviews the second I
don't understand either what they're
saying or their motive behind saying it
I'll ask ya and B I think one of the
reasons people stopped paying attention
is because they get a little bit
confused and they don't want to ask I
don't want to interrupt or whatever and
so now they don't understand and that
lack of understanding tends to
exacerbate as it goes and so now they're
just sort of hopelessly lost and they
just let it go
ya know it's great I've seen you do that
for sure and it's very effective I think
to like you said signaling to the other
person like you have my full attention
which is which is good do you listen to
music when when you're let's say needing
to be hyper focused on a contract or
working on something that requires you
know it's interesting if I were by
myself no and the reason is the only
reason I listen to music I listen to
music for two reasons if I'm low energy
and I need a pump up which music for me
is very effective for that and then to
to drown everyone else so I can't hear
other conversations because man if
people are talking around me I find
myself trying to follow their
conversation and follow what's happening
in the contract naturally terrible at it
so for that I will use music I use
different types of music depending on
what I'm doing if I'm replying to
comments which is usually sort of low
cognitive load I'll put on fun music
with lyrics like just pop music right
really like I'm there I'm in a great
mood I'm answering the questions a lot
of fun and that's sort of my reward
because I really really enjoy reading
are the comments that come in and then
if I'm doing something that is like a
contract or something like that I'll put
on music that doesn't have leer
because the lyrics themselves draw my
attention yes now the reason that if I'm
alone I don't listen to music is because
even the the musical movements will to
some degree grab my attention so I would
much prefer just like total silence this
is one of the reasons I love getting
work done at like 3:00 in the morning
it's dark which does something to me
subconsciously I sit in a dark room and
even my like the only light will be
either my computer or my phone and I'll
turn the screen down so that it's like
as dim as possible so just like my
senses are just sort of collapsing in on
themselves and I can really really go
hard
you're like the creative person that
stays up really really late to do their
creative work except you just reversed
it and you get up really really early
yeah that's 100% true and the funny
thing is I used to do my creative work
at night yep and I remember my poor wife
in fact even funnier so we had this dog
named Batman who sadly passed away and
Batman of course and he would around
probably 7:00 p.m. he would start
getting energetic by 10:00 p.m. he was
amped because he was so used to me
stopping work at like 11:00 at night
yeah so his schedule was just weird and
so because I would stop work say 11:00
or midnight and then would play with him
until like 2:00 in the morning and then
go to bed and repeat the cycle
so his entire life he was way more
nocturnal it's funny
speaking of Tim Ferriss his questions
one that I would love to ask you here is
gun to your head you can only work for
two hours a week what would you work on
so I'll ask that in a second but what's
more usable for everybody the one I
think it was you that asked me the other
day like how are we going to
differentiate we were coming back from a
meeting with a high-level comics guy and
you were saying like basically how are
we going to accelerate like what's going
to keep us from getting caught because
if you look at people in the comics
world men it is a very long slog for
them
to create IP that actually makes its way
to TV and film and you were rightly
asking like how do we avoid that fate
and I thought wow that's that is never
going to happen to us and the reason
that is never going to happen to us is
I'm asking that question 150 times a day
yeah gun to my head you have to do this
right
Peter keel talks about this in his book
like everybody has a 10-year plan but
what stops you from asking how do I take
my 10 year plan and execute it on the
next six months now I really believe the
greatest contribution I will ever make
to you as a human being you and I will
work together long enough you're going
to start doing this and it will just
stop being weird for you because it's
you've already come a long way but at
first used to think that was [ __ ]
just setting a ridiculous goal just to
like guy like here we go the stupid goal
we're never going to be able to achieve
that and but it has this way of
galvanizing people - we're going to have
to like think totally differently and
that was the point - Tim is the gun to
my head I can only work two hours a week
it forces you to like scrap every
assumption that you have and look it
doesn't matter if you actually create
make your ten-year plan come true in six
months you will be so much farther along
just because you're asking the questions
if I force you to think crazy outside
the box it's like this is why I'm always
trying to meet people that we can
potentially partner with it's why like I
remember one time this was probably 13
years ago already back then I was like
one day I'm going to write a book and
I'm going to be you know writing movies
and directing them and my thing was I
will write my own book and my friend was
like we'll do why don't you use a
ghostwriter and he was like you've got
these ideas it's the idea that's
important like and then they go off and
actually make sentences but at the end
of the day they're just articulating
your ideas I was like you're out of your
mind no way like the joy is like being
the one writing all the words and then
the same as a filmmaker I said I will
never direct something that I don't
write so I want to write it myself and
then direct it myself and then
probably three or four years ago Lisa
was like you know do you think that
you'll you still want to direct I was
like no it's not scalable and at some
point in my journey as an entrepreneur I
realized the real power behind the
throne for those of you that want to be
rich write this down
the real power behind the throne is
scale period and the person that
understands how to scale they they rule
the world they rule the world and when
you understand what I mean about scale
when you understand partnerships when
you understand leverage acceleration
like how you pull that off in a business
context the way that you have to be
willing to give up things I believe like
why are you giving that up like you have
to to get the other person excited about
what you're doing and here's the thing
this is so deeply ingrained in me I
would much rather have 10% of a billion
dollar idea then I would a hundred
percent of a million dollar idea it just
it doesn't make sense
so but people cannot from an ego
standpoint they can't do it they can't
do it and because of that they're always
going to be held back I am very
comfortable with partnerships I'm very
comfortable with other people being
equally important or more important than
me in like the hierarchy in the grant if
I'm getting what I need to move towards
my goals nothing else matters scale
let's go all right so you're not going
to answer my question about two hours a
week okay so what would I actually do if
I could only spend two hours a week so
here's the if I only had two hours I
would spend one hour thinking and one
hour mobilizing you guys around that
vision because you guys can do a lot and
when I see how much enthusiasm and
clarity I can give in an hour it's
unbelievable and every time we do it I
think earlier and often one of the
reasons that I don't actually do early
meaning involve you guys earlier and
often in the shift
the vision is I don't want you to feel
like we're all over the map right right
like there's so much power to clarity of
focus this is what we're doing go and
execute so but if I only had two hours
that's what I would have to do and then
it would honestly it would vary because
many times I would have to allocate one
of those hours to going out and meeting
somebody getting them excited I have an
absolute fetish with getting in the room
with high-level people because I'm so I
have the arrogance of belief in myself
that I have I have spent so many years I
need to memorize that [ __ ] scene from
taken because every time I go to
articulate this this is what I want to
do that moment where he's like I've
spent the last however long building a
set of skills that's a nightmare for
people like you right like I've spent
the last 20 years building a particular
set of skills that allows me to do
things at scale and when I look at huge
problems like I could actually say if my
dream were to terraform Mars that
doesn't scare me
so it'd be a lot of work and all that
but I would just chunk it up and I'd
there's the goal the vision work
backwards what are the skills that I
have to acquire in order to get there
right and just start breaking into
pieces and so that doesn't scare me
that's the superpower so if you can give
me in a room with people I will make
them believe in the vision I will
collect the people that are excuse me
that are going to be necessary for us to
get where we're going and because I've
been accumulating all this knowledge
knowledge knowledge I've yet to get in a
room with somebody who I thought was
looking at me like now this guy's an
idiot it should not happen because one I
stay in my lane I don't talk about
things that I don't know I'm always
willing to admit when I don't know
something I'm not afraid to look stupid
and people that have achieved a certain
level of success they get that they know
that it's a strategy to learn to be open
I love helping other people shine
facilitating other people looking good
and shining is what I do it is the like
if anybody wants to know why we're
growing so fast that impact Theory
socially it's because of that the guest
comes on and all I'm thinking about is
how do I put them in a position to shine
and bring value to the audience that's
it and because of that like the word of
mouth is just crazy behind the scenes
with the guests so Muslims all right
here's a question from
our audience from Corinne Davis what are
the tips and tricks you use or have used
to have such a bright line about only
doing that which moves you toward your
goals despite how you may feel I want I
want I want things in my life so badly
it's all-consuming and I fan those
flames because just like I tell people
about a passion I did not turn inward
and find that hunger I turned inward and
saw a spark of interest that seems kind
of neat and then I found those flames
and then it was I really want to get
good at this and then I rewarded myself
emotionally for being willing to push
myself and try to get good and then as I
got better I rewarded myself for being
humble enough to know that now I just
know how little I actually know and so
to feed that desire and then I reward
myself for the realization that hey like
skills shouldn't be acquired in a vacuum
like they should have a purpose and but
if they're going to have a purpose like
you should actually put them to the test
and you should really see if they work
and I reward myself for acknowledging
when they didn't work and I needed to go
back to the drawing board and build
something on that and learn more and get
actually better and retest myself and be
humble in all of that and so in that
process you're just Fanning the flames
Fanning the flames and it's becoming a
bigger thing and then saying what do I
want to achieve with all of this and
then it starts small and it's not a
mission and then you decide this is
going to be a mission and once you've
decided that it's going to be a mission
you start getting yourself more excited
about it and so when somebody writes an
assist on this content has really
changed my life and here's what I did
because of you and my life will be
fundamentally different because of you
like I really stop and I think about
that and I think about wow like putting
in the work
wanting good things for other people
willing to being willing to be of
service of people making that your
mission like and tapping into just I
think
humans like to be were a social animal
we're a tribe animal we want to be of
use to the tribe and so like really
building that up in me and providing
myself on that my willingness to serve
my desire to serve it just like it all
starts magnifying over time over time
over time so you get to the point now
where it's like I have reinforced in
myself so many times and set out loud so
many times I've gotten other people to
come on board so many times with the
knowledge of we're really going to do
something with this company we're going
to build the studio it's going to be
bigger than Disney we're going to pull
people out of the matrix oh that and by
the way one of the really cool things
about recording all of this stuff go
back and watch how I was talking back in
in October November even January when we
really started pumping out content you
won't hear the confidence in where we're
going because then you have it right so
it's yet another great example of as I
focus on this focus on this focus on
this think about it what are the steps
what do we really have to do like it
starts to get more clear you'll start to
feel that engine of confidence building
the clarity building and all that but it
was a process
it wasn't like at 12 I had this vision
and now my life has been all about
executing against it so I really hope
people see that so you build that need
that want in fact I'm going to leverage
Tony Robbins language here you don't get
what you want you get what you need so I
have taken these flickers of want and
I've turned them into a desperate need I
need I make the demand that this company
be what it's going to be and because of
that like because of that I know the
things that are coming that are going to
knock us off that are going to be hard
we've got hard times coming for us dark
days used to give that [ __ ] speech
all the time dark days are coming for
you it's just true but because I need
this to work I need this to become great
I need to be that person that can pull
that off I know that I'll recenter
myself I will get going again I will be
humble I will learn and just figure that
out and not let it knock
of course nice wrapping up here what are
some of your other favorite hacks from
this episode mention the beam are there
any others that stand out to you that
you've started applying since the
episodes J Samet idea I think is
brilliant a look at the pain points in
your own life I'm really trying to apply
that within the context of what we're
building where are those pain points
what are the traps that people are
falling into how can we avoid those
nobody wants a quarter inch drill bit
they want a quarter inch hole so like
how do we leverage that to give the
audience what they really want that
that's another huge one Emilia boons
advice everybody should take like how
you build yourself back from defeat
that's just now yeah I want to talk
about that I had a note here so I really
liked how she said well there's two
things so one is about giving yourself
time to kind of overcome the defeat
you've had morn you've talked about that
- is that something you kind of picked
up in the episode or something you've
always done and it was so interesting to
hear her say that and when I was
rewatching it I don't remember if I
actually had this impulse on set but I
almost certainly did to like say oh my
god like I do that effect right like so
but no I've thought about for more than
20 years what would I do if I became a
quadriplegic and I've always said I'd
give myself 30 days to mourn so she's
got maybe two weeks but I loved what she
said you have two weeks to be a horrible
person about this and I I guess it's
just because it's so fundamental to the
human condition that I would be a
horrible person right and I would feel
really bad to my wife during that 30-day
period trying to feel sorry for myself
I'm a whine and cry about it and just
why this happened to me and and all of
that but then at day 31 you would never
know you would never know that I just
went through those brutal 30 days and
part of why I allow myself those 30 days
is I just I'm
not arrogant enough to think that I can
escape the process of grief so I think
it's probably good to give yourself that
time to really cathartic ly let it out
I'll let it up so it just it's something
about that rings so true to me that I
don't want to try to sidestep that but
then at the end of that all the
mechanisms that I have would kick in and
the funny that irony is those mechanisms
will actually kick in right away and I
would have to like for certain things I
think something like being a
quadriplegic where it is so
transformative right there in the moment
it would be easy just I'm going to do my
30 days right now but there are other
things where I found myself I so quickly
go into all the recuperative mechanisms
and I'm so like momentum forward that I
need release valves later where I'm just
like okay you need to like if it does
sting if you're mourning the loss of a
friendship or something like that it let
that out like don't don't just try to
muscle through like when it pops up like
let that be a thing feel it and then I
get going again so it have to be
something really really extreme I can
only think one time in my life where I
thought I actually need to take time to
mourn this and take 30 days but I needed
to take time to mourn it before I
started just then I had and the other
thing she said is when you're you know
she's talking about when she came back
from her injury and the first thing she
did was just run one mile and she said
the way you do it is you don't give
yourself another option and I thought
that was really interesting it made me
think of Mel Robbins which is you kind
of start before you have time to think
about it the the five-second rule which
is another hacks in this episode and
then the notion of burning the ships to
take the shore so how do you how do you
get yourself into the mindset of just
not giving yourself another option this
is this is advanced class stuff because
you've got to be really careful there
are times where people burn the boats
unnecessarily and now it's just foolish
so for instance when we started quest we
still had the tech company and
we made sure that it had legs that we
figured out some of the like you know
rudimentary stuff before we like quit
our jobs and had no money and all that
so that's really really crucial to
understand but at the same time the feat
was not an option so like we were
committed to making it happen and there
was a time certainly for me I'd left a
year earlier than everybody else and I
was broke and Mike it's a whole nother
story but you've got to know when is the
right moment to burn the ships but I
don't think people will ever fight
through the really hard stuff if they
give themselves an out right so when I
think about what we're going to do with
the studio it's that it's all in it's a
huge financial commitment B it's just
like the time every ounce of my
existence is put into this you know when
like when people came here last night
and they're like you have a studio in
your house like and we're about to build
another set downstairs which I'm [ __ ]
excited about the show that we've gotten
development right now so it's really
really important to commit and to go all
in I think she's writing the money but
you need to be smart about when and how
one burns the ships yeah fair enough one
last question from our Facebook live
audience marcus aurelius owens which is
that for real
I'm guessing screen name guessing screen
name he just has a question where can I
find good content on scaling I've never
read any so scaling has been my life so
that was just learn by doing so I'm
going to fail you here I don't know okay
well if you come across any impact
Theory ya self-serving and if there's
anything else you or the team comes
across we'll be sure to share it at some
point cool alright I think that's it it
yes all right guys thank you so much for
joining us for this episode if you
haven't already seen the hack episode be
sure to check it out and I'm going to
have to give mad love to Courtney for
this one
Courtney crushed it led the team she'll
be the first to tell you this is a team
effort persuasion for Swayze
but just yeah she led this one was
amazing
wait we also have to give a shout out to
LC LC our marketing intern for doing a
lot of the clip pulling and I doing the
episodes so they both tag-teamed into
the magic word well done
LC figured out pick it up pick it up
right there she has headphones on yep
so thanks to the team for crushing this
one that was amazing and very grateful
to everyone who came on the show that
supplied us with these very amazing
clips hacks suggestions tips tricks all
that stuff alright guys
if this brought value please do share it
that's how we're going to build this
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subscribe and until next time my friends
we legendary take care
you