Kind: captions
Language: en
hey everybody welcome to another episode
of after impact I am here with none
other than agent Smith Mr Bilu and we're
going deep on our boy W clef Jean
hopefully you guys saw the episode man
this one was one to remember like
everybody here that was in house was
flipping out we flipped out from the
moment that we heard he was going to be
on the show Mad Love to Dr finesse is Dr
finesse is here so hopefully Dr Fess
somewhere in the house you hear my voice
uh that man is incredible he was the one
that secured us why CLE it was amazing
white literally walked in the door with
a crate of Guinness beer and uh like a
boss just the coolest guy he there's Dr
vaness Dr vanesse you got to come just
like peek aead in or something let this
audience know what's up man so this is
our boy in fact he was last night he was
at the wlef concert so if you guys are
not following it's too bad that your IG
account there he is Dr finesse himself
it's too bad that your account actually
isn't Dr finesse but it is Mr
Christopher McDonald check him out out
on Instagram he was there rocking wlef
last night I was watching so it was a
lot of fun W cleff was so cool he was so
cool I've been telling everyone about it
like he he came in he was he just
immediately started walking up to people
shaking hands introducing himself super
down to earth just wanted to hang out
yeah he was it it really was amazing man
there's some people you meet them and
you're just like I get why this person's
famous uh Michael strayan is another one
for me like that guy like you just get
it like 5 minutes in his presence you're
like all right all right I get it why is
like that like he and he was like that
when so I went to his concert in New
York um after so he invited me that day
on the show said hey I'm going to be
doing this concert to celebrate the
release of um juu which is the leadup to
Carnival 3 right exactly um and he did
this big blowout concert he ends up
having the president of Haiti there I
mean it was it was insane and I got a
chance to go backstage Maddie thank you
so much for making that happen that was
awesome uh and our boy Nick at vayer
also smashed it um and he was just like
that there as well just super cool
really nice really thoughtful warm
Embraces all around just good dude stay
tuned for the episode of red pill theory
on that yeah that drops soon right yeah
in the next week or so take you guys
backstage uh so you can actually live
that experience see what it was all
about all right should we dive into the
episode I think we should I think we
should so the one thing that really
stood out to me about this was he is a
master Storyteller white yeah he is he
is such a good Storyteller and I know
we've talked about on this show and in
Impact Theory how important it is to be
a strong Communicator in business but
how about life do you think it's
important for people to cultivate that
skill in life wow man for sure for sure
you know that's one of those things that
it is um to understand that humans have
a desire for narrative that narrative is
how they translate their own life
narrative is how they make sense of the
world like when you really stop and ask
like the fundamental question why do we
use narrative right so I think most
people agree that humans just thrive on
narrative that it is a part of our
makeup but when you really start to ask
the question why why would that be
advantageous you start going all the way
back to language and language being sort
of the first technology that we invented
that allowed us to give birth to culture
culture is the thing that allows us to
spread ideas and ideology very very
rapidly like if you want to know why
we're doing what we're doing at impact
Theory it's because when I look at the
no [ __ ] answer of what it's going to
take to make cultural change you've got
to go back to the fundamental technology
that we use to transmit culture and
that's language it's narrative it's
storytelling um and so when you really
contextualize it that way and understand
that that is what's driving um the the
obsession that we have from a sort of
neurobiological level um of narrative
it's that ability to tap into emotion
it's that ability to um help things make
sense like we use that narrative to
really
um understand right and so if narrative
is our fundamental way to understand
whether I'm trying to entertain you make
you laugh make you think or like the
real magic and and W cleff did this to a
te in the episode is you draw people in
with humor and then you hit them with
something that's really raw and really
real and you're so open to that and you
lower your defenses when you um lead
with the comedy and sort of the you know
just really down toe nature that he had
and so learning those effective things
to Prime people to be open in fact I'm
reading a book right now it'll probably
be the um so we'll have one more book
review before this but then the one
after will be on this book called
persuasion and it's all about the ways
you have to Prime people to be receptive
to your message and if you're a if you
really understand communication and
you're a great Storyteller dude you're
you're just priming people so yeah
that's a long way of saying I think
that's a super critical skill to develop
awesome and so his story uh is super
inspiring obviously I'm loving that wook
is like she is locked essentially in a
dungeon and it still sounds like she is
in this room with us and she's pissed
about something so so wcu Story I mean
it's it's the quintessential American
Dream right uh coming from nothing
immigrant uh story comes to the United
States and really just builds his entire
life off of grit hard work uh you know
perseverance all these things so I was
really struck by man this is such a
great example we talk about mindset on
the show so much this is such a great
example of a growth mindset how'd that
hit you yeah that that was the thing
that blew me away in the research and I
I really had hoped he'd be able to talk
about it which he did I mean just in
Spades um researching him though I was
thinking so many people today say that
the American dream is dead and you know
that it we just live in like this sort
of dark time and it just isn't true and
when you look at somebody like w cleff
who man read his book purpose like it
it's it's crazy so to recap he's born in
Haiti his parents leave him behind when
he's one so it's him and his little
brother they leave them behind they go
to America and for almost 9 years I
think he lives apart has no idea who his
parents are and so his aunt and
grandmother who raised him would tell
him like Hey this Christmas gift or
whatever is from your parents and he
would just assume that you know they
were making up that he didn't really
have um you know parents in America and
he kind of suspected that his aunt was
secretly his mom and um that they were
just trying to be nice to him by you
know saying oh no no no like there's
this mythical family over in America and
things will be better for you one day uh
cuz he was living in such a dirt poor
Village um so that was really
interesting and so for him to start
there then come to America grow up in
the slums and so go from you know the
rural Village to the Hard Knock Life of
the projects that he was living in in
Brooklyn and still not make excuses like
um dude like that stuff is is my drug of
choice like meeting people that have
achieved at the highest level that
really started somewhere um just you
know total Ground Zero and be able to
build up and and um you know hopefully
you'll uh you've got some more questions
on there specifically about like how we
use music to do that so I won't go into
it now but um just wow such a powerful
tale definitely uh another thing about W
cleff is you can't really put him in a
box
right super so let's talk about e
eclecticism uh is that a word yeah
eclecticism yeah dude agent Smith
bringing the knowledge like this guy
somebody fact check me on that we will
fact check for sure but even if it's not
I think it should be uh but I have to
say like I pride myself on Words and
vocab and stuff but I I come to this man
I I won't I won't lie like I think he's
got the record right Cindy you you with
me on that one and it's um the
definition is ticism
a approach that does not hold rly to a
single Paradigm or set of assumptions
but instead draws upon multiple theories
Styles or ideas to gain complimentary
insights into subject or applies
different theories in particular nice
now did you look that up or did somebody
post that you looked it up nice so it's
a word it is a word well done man all
right so see it was my background so
truth I've worked at it # truth yeah uh
um can't put him in a box it's part of
what makes him makes him unique I think
um first
off do you consider that a strength like
cultivating sort of being eclectic yeah
no question so I mean this goes back to
ideas in equal ideas out so that to me
is the most important math equation in
anybody's life um H are there unique
thoughts left to be had probably like I
actually think there are but people will
try to you know say oh there's nothing
left and I don't know if you guys know
the unibomber that was his beef did you
know that no so the unibomber like ends
up trying to kill the reason he was
targeting University people is he
thought like that there's this sweet
spot of human intellect where it's
really hard but it's
possible and if something is too easy or
too hard then like it just doesn't give
you that sense of being alive but being
able to solve a puzzle that like feels
like it's just right at your in
intellectual reach like that to him was
the purpose of being alive like to do
that to have those moments where it's
something just like it makes you feel
like oh my God I figured that out you
know what I mean and he felt like the
way that um education was going and the
way that technology was progressing and
the way that um information was
spreading there were none of those left
so he was literally trying to destroy
the higher education system because he
felt like it was robbing humans of that
moment where you could and he wrote that
whole thing and his like it's crazy
Manifesto but the the whole point for me
is that there's something so incredible
about bringing ideas together that
whether or not there are new ideas like
I it's irrelevant there are I promise
you an infinite number of new
connections to be made and because one
of the core things about making
connections has to do with the era that
you live in the moment the time the
technology where culture is all of that
like it will it will forever be fresh
and there will forever be new
connections to make because somebody
born today is going to think
fundamentally different than the way
that I think because of when I was born
and what I grew up around so like that
to me is is so interesting but the only
way to be making those connections is to
take in just like a rich world of
information as diverse as possible to
get as many differing ideas as you can
get um and and that to me is you know
God I really avoid politics but the
thing that scares me about like when
people get really divisive like when
they don't even want to hear the other
side it's like how does that can't
possibly serve you that's like it's l
literally like inbreeding it's
ideological inbreeding you're you're
just trying to reinforce the ideas that
you have and even if it weren't
dangerous and I think that it is
dangerous from just creating division
but you will stagnate and you will
become irrelevant because other people
are going to come along that are going
to have a fresh perspective and they're
going to knock you off and I've said
this before and I'm sure this is an
obsession of mine I'll say it again is
they say that genius is a young man's
game but I don't think it actually has
nothing to do with youth it just has to
do with staying fresh mentally and it
just so happens that when young you
don't know enough to have it calcify
into Dogma so it's not overly rigid the
thoughts that you have and because your
thoughts are appliable and you're just
beginning to learn and you've got this
fresh perspective culturally right
because you're you know growing up in a
time where the scientists ahead of you
didn't grow up so you're just seeing
things differently you're making these
connections that I was just talking
about so if you can find a way to stay
fresh like that you don't have to be
young right if you reinvent yourself
every 10 years so take Michael stran on
a Michael Strahan kick if you take
Michael Strahan's business partner
constant who constant Schwarz amazing
amazing human being um every 10 years
she's forced herself to reinvent so she
was like uh she worked in the NFL I
think that was her first career and she
was in the NFL for like 10 years and
then she was a music manager and U manag
Snoop and um oh who's the guy that's
that's high like 247 um snoop snoop yeah
uh Whiz Khalifa uh and she managed Whiz
Khalifa I'm having trouble with my
cables today uh she managed w
everybody wook has escaped I have no
idea how uh she can apparently pick
locks and open doors a Pomeranian it's
pandemonium God bless it it's Mayhem I
love it
uh so yeah I uh should we should we beep
that should we or or is it part of the
fun all right we'll leave it we'll leave
it welcome so staying fresh uh is
something that wuff talks about in the
episode right and he's like even though
you know I might take time off making
music it doesn't mean I you know I'm not
going to be following the hottest new
artist Kendrick Lamar um he's working
with a lot of new artists Young Thug uh
people who are up and coming and um he
said that the the way you're going to do
that is if you are truly passionate
about what you're working on you'll
never you'll always be so interested
that you're always trying to learn more
do more and just be in that space and
you will never fall out of sort of
what's current and what's relevant so is
that a good indicator for people if
they're not following whatever they
think they so let's say someone they
have a passion but they actually aren't
as up todate or they aren't following as
closely as um they you know they should
be is that an indicator that they're
really not passionate about it um I
don't know that it's an indicator that
you're not passionate about it and I
think that it's a double-edged sword I
think there's two ways so um I think you
can drink too deeply of what other
people are doing and lose your own voice
and at the same time I think that you
can not drink deeply enough and not be
relevant right and not be getting the
fresh information that you need to make
the new connections but and and I'm
speaking very specifically to an
artistic Endeavor um and so I think that
it's it it's really a a fine balance and
I think what Wu was talking about very
specifically was being a cultural sponge
and at the moment he was talking about
music he talking about hip-hop I think
to be relevant especially in hip-hop
right hip-hop is the only um form of
music that I know of there maybe others
but that's the one that I know of where
they talk about hip-hop culture right
you don't talk about pop music culture
um and you hear that notion a lot like
do it for the culture you know what I
mean so there's a real deep sense of
that meaning something either
specifically to the African-American
Community or just hip-hop at large and
so that I think to be a relevant voice
voice in that you have to know what's
going on and you'd have to be especially
as a producer you'd have to be drinking
deeply about what's hitting because and
he talked about that in the episode as
well like and look we hold ourselves to
that standard and I was talking to Lisa
about this this morning it's weird um
you know so I'm walking the show at
Magic and I'm walking by all these
garments and things it would be really
really cool and oh man I was just like
oh this is awesome and one of the
reasons that we ended up um turning
Quest apparel into Quest clothing was
when we were Quest apparel we were
trying to like high fashion things that
we thought were cool like really be
cutting edge create a trend instead of
asking ourselves what sells mhm and so
once we really put the Hat on of what
sells it was stuff that was around the
brand it was more Fitness related way
more casual and so in shifting our
mindset purely to like a market driven
like give me feedback then it was like
okay now we can move units now we're not
holding inventory that never ends up
going anywhere so if you put that back
in the musical context if y clef or
anybody else isn't paying attention to
what's moving units like what's selling
what's hot then then they're really
going to be in trouble and so from that
perspective um the reason I think he
mentioned Kendrick Lamar's mixtape is to
say I can identify Talent before it hits
right that's important for him as a
producer and so to do that I think you
just have to understand human psychology
and and music um and then two that yes
he has to understand like what's
connecting with people so that he can
give them that and I really hope that we
have a chance to go deeper on this and
if you don't have it jot this one down
but he you know talked about how you um
can really go in and mind that stuff to
create a hit but only if you know you
want a hit right so his whole thing was
know what you want like if you if you
can't be honest that what you want is a
hit record cuz he has done both right
like the the original Carnival was in
many ways a reaction to um the success
of the score he was like we sold you
know what are Jesus like 20 million 22
million albums just nuts and he was like
now I'm a pop star and I don't want to
be a pop star I'm I'm a musician right
and I want to really go back to
something that was super artistic so the
carnival becomes his reaction to that so
that was him understanding himself like
here's what's important to me musicality
right and after the carnival he goes on
to do a lot more producing work because
he showed people I'm about musicality
you know going back to what you're
saying about having eclectic interest
like being able to synthesize all that
into a totally unique and different
sound um versus the score which was
expressly meant to be a hit so the
reason they called it the score he
talked about this in the episode but the
reason they called it the score was they
felt like they were settling the score
for the people who didn't buy their
first album because they felt like their
first album was great musically but it
didn't hit commercially and so they were
coming back to settle the score with
their second album and make something
that was by definition meant to be big
from a sales perspective yeah that's
awesome I want to remind everyone we're
on Facebook live right now um you can
share this feed and you can win an
impact Theory t-shirt um and this is
after impact if you haven't seen the
episode with Y clef John highly
encourage you to go check it out on
YouTube or on our podcast uh it launched
on Tuesday and the link is in the
comments nice
nice while we're checking in with
Facebook live do we have any questions
yet we do actually let's hear it this
one comes from Michael Foster so he says
I love the our boy Michael perspective
from what is the best way to cultivate
this
mentality um so hit me up with the very
beginning I was too busy trying to
recognize Michael L the no excuses
persective no excuses yeah so what's the
best way for him to cultivate this
mentality or any for them yeah so um
question is what's the best way to
cultivate and no excuses mentality which
is something that white cleff talks
about in the episode yeah so this this
to me me um is is a great question
because it's so fundamental so
foundational so here is the very simple
truth of how you do this with anything
so how do I get more discipline how do I
um stop making excuses you start saying
I'm the type of person that doesn't make
excuses period mic drop that's it like
once you start saying that out loud you
cannot help you either have to say oh I
guess I am a person who makes excuses
and now at least you're being honest or
you actually stop making excuses and
when you say it like especially if
there's close friends or uh significant
other who will even if just to like put
it back in your face like even if
they're trying to be mean about it just
reminding you that you said it Oh I
thought you didn't make excuses you know
what I mean like oh man I wasn't going
to go running this morning but it's so
[ __ ] cold Oh I thought you didn't
make excuses then you're going to be
like oh yeah I don't make excuses I am
going to go run and for the first mile
you're going to do it like begrudgingly
you're going to be mad about it you're
going to be pissed that that person held
you to that standard but then it's going
to start to be real and you're going to
start to think wow I actually went out
and ran today like even though it's
super cold I did it or and there's
Neuroscience behind that too right oh
dude all all manner of Neuroscience so
what you're dealing with is ultimately
it comes down to myelination right so
you're going to the at the connection
points between the neurons of identity
and not making excuses or even just the
the the um connections between the
impulse to make an excuse and then
switching your mindset over to not
making excuse becomes a habit Loop right
so you're using the excuse as a trigger
to remind yourself that your new created
identity is that of somebody who doesn't
make excuses so the excuse becomes the
trigger to not make excuses which is
like one of those beautiful things it's
another one that I use is um every time
I go to criticize somebody I stop myself
and think of a compliment and that works
on two levels one it's almost always
better not always because there are
times where you if something is a real
deficiency especially in the world of
business you have to make that known um
but at the same time it's normally
better to lead with something that is
authentic and real and positive right so
to go from uh strength to strength to
help people um it's called the muscle on
muscle technique so hey there's this
thing that you crush you're amazing at
this and once we get this where you're
as good as you are there then we're
really going to be laughing um so that
is usually a much more profound way to
deliver criticism
and it also F forces you to focus on
that positive thing so now you're just
in a positive frame of mind you're
thinking of that person in a positive
way um and then from there you can have
a bit more sobriety awesome great
question uh I got another one here so
wlef talks about the importance of
knowing music theory in addition to
knowing the latest technology in music
um in order to always be relevant right
so is there an equivalent in business
to knowing music theory yeah yeah yeah
yeah and the the most obvious one is
psychology if you don't understand
people and you're trying to sell to
people like you're just dead in the
water and that's really been and that
that holds true for just sales and
marketing in general is you really
really have to have a deep understanding
of human psychology human motivation
persuasion um all of that stuff like the
brain right so and that's why and and
the Brain really became my obsession
because I was trying to get control of
myself and then I just began to
understand like how potent it was um in
business as well and that's why I ended
up in marketing so I didn't end up in
marketing for any other reason than
between film and just my desire to
understand myself I had spent so much
time thinking about psychology thinking
about neuro Anatomy thinking about
anatomy in general um with how we take
things intactly through our senses uh
that that just made me already be
thinking about okay I'm trying to sell
to this person what what do I need to
understand understand about them in
order to motivate them to make a
purchasing decision so you know that and
then man when I think about leading
people like if you don't understand
psychology you're dead in the water um
so that's that's the most fundamental
one for sure awesome want to kick it
back to Facebook live Community any
questions from our live audience so this
one comes from Ben um so his excuse when
he's working in the evening is usually I
need to sleep should he stay up later
and work harder mean sacrificing that
sleep
no so shall we shall we go why repeat
the question for our podcast audience uh
the question is uh the excuse he gives
himself when he's up late working is
that he needs to sleep so he shouldn't
be working um but should he sacrifice
sleep in order to work harder and longer
yeah and my answer is no so but here's
the the next question what's your excuse
in the morning and that's where people
people fall down right so if Ben if you
let me audit the way that you spend your
time uh from how long you probably lay
in bed in the morning to how long your
shower is to uh the waffly way that you
get ready I mean I don't know this guy
about I just like thinking about like my
own self and all the things that I've
had to deal with you know laying in bed
for too long um like the amount of time
that it takes you just to get ready all
of a sudden you're like 45 minutes like
what like what you could have done with
that time like force yourself to get
ready in 7 minutes right I look at my
wife like she's an alien because of how
long sometimes it takes her to get ready
um just because I can't bear that lapse
of time like I literally can't I would
make a horrific woman because a would
wear no makeup uh just for Speed or I
would sleep with it can you sleep like
no you're not oh well then no makeup
then because like my hair would be in a
bun or in a hat like something like
you've got to crush that stuff down so
anyway we all have the same number of
hours it's about efficiency of that I
think sleep is a huge thing if you've
got a deadline or something something
look of course like it's all got to be
what are your goals mandate but one of
my goals is to actually enjoy my life
and I find being tired all the time a
unique form of misery like that is
there's a ring of hell where all they do
is make you not get sleep right like and
think about the um military and what
they do in the Marines or sorry uh Navy
Seals sleep deprivation oh it's the
first thing you do like if you want to
really mess with somebody deprive them
of sleep and you're not going to be as
effective at whatever you're doing if
you're chronically fatigued so that to
me is just like let's rule that out um
so I get as much sleep as I need I don't
set an alarm you have to like stop
setting alarm and there will probably be
weeks or maybe even a month or more
where you sleep so much you think Tom's
crazy I can't keep doing this but that's
your body trying to catch back up and
then once you get through that phase
you'll find your natural Rhythm which
I'm going to guess is somewhere between
6 maybe 9 hours
maybe but even if it's 9 hours like your
brain will be functioning optimally and
at that point like you're just going to
make better use of the time that you
have so but you're going to have to cut
out TV you're going to have to cut out
like watching cat videos on the internet
you're going to I mean yeah I know it's
tough those dude cat videos are rad and
that's the thing like there's a million
things I want to do right but just you
have to begin to prioritize disciplined
so the Cav video's got to go prioritize
sleep there it is um all right another
question I have for you Tom um so w
cleff is a is a sponge right so he has
all these diverse musical
tastes coming from sounds he heard in
nature as a kid living in Haiti to the
rap battles in Brooklyn to the Christian
rock band Petra yeah buddy um who who's
the only man he could listen to as a
child that his dad allowed him to who
was a preacher um none of it is thrown
away he still talks about all of those
and how how they um came together to
form something greater so everything
informs who he is as an artist and he's
very self-aware about that how how did
how did that strike you in the episode
that that's amazing and honestly when
when he said in the episode like uh go
what did he say like um something had a
note I forget the first one but he was
like this has a note the bird or
whatever and then the wind has a note
and I thought what and that's when I
realized like this man's brain like
works differently than mine and that
goes back to the notion of early wins
like everybody has that thing like
there's something you're going to get
early wins on it doesn't mean you have
to pursue it but when you find a passion
for something you have an early win for
it's pretty neat and so w Cliff clearly
had early wins from a musicality
perspective and we didn't get to talk
much about the story about his drum in
the episode but like he would sneak out
in the middle of the night to go play
this drum that his church had like like
a little when I was envisioning either
like a small like Congo Conga drum or
like a tambourine with none of the you
know the jingly bits um and so I was
just like wow man I was not like that
like I was in band I had a trombone and
I did everything I could to avoid
playing that damn thing like I just
didn't have that same sense and his
Insight that the oscillator is a tone
and that music is just vibrations it's
like wow man it's it's really really
cool when somebody like happens on to
something like that and they really like
go hard for that cake yeah let's talk
about the oscillator please so that was
a big moment in the in the episode when
he talks about um you you can just read
the manual the most important tool you
have is your brain right you don't need
a $25,000 piece of equipment and he so
essentially if you've seen the episode
he reverse Engineers this very expensive
piece of equipment in order that makes
one specific tone um that he really
wanted in the album and he did it by
going into the music store and reading
the manual and then figuring out that he
could kind of hack it through some other
tools he had already at his disposable
as his
disposal I mean that that just that like
I know you were shocked in the episode
oh man I love that so much like that
that's one of those stories that like
don't you want to be like that yeah like
that's one of those I just look at
anything that you're tempted to say this
is like too hard or I don't have what I
need or whatever and then you hear
someone like that and look here's here's
the thing about not making
excuses all of your excuses the the
worst part the most Sinister part about
excuses is they're real like they're
valid and once I had that Insight that
that the excuses that I make that other
people make they're valid and you have
every right to be making them they just
don't move you towards your goals like
that was when I started saying to myself
I'm going to do and believe that which
moves me towards my goals period
and at the end of the day the way that
so you were asking like is there a
fundamental thing in business like
learning music theory and the answer is
psychology at the end of the day the
only thing humans respond to is
extraordinary performance that's it so
why' the iPod Crush because it was
amazing it was better than anything else
their marketing campaign was better than
anything else and when I say better
because from a bits and standpoint it
wasn't but it made me feel something
that the other products didn't and
that's what we judge it by that is
better better meaning I got more value
exchange out of my dollars than I would
have gotten from anything else not
necessarily that empirically speaking it
is better from a features and benefit
standpoint that I have received more
value from my purchase than I would have
with something else and so that comes
down to psychology that comes down to
really understanding that
and so once you get that once you get
that's the only thing humans respond to
is extraordinary performance then how do
your excuses help because it's only
going to be somebody like wlef who says
okay I may not have access to that but I
can't give you my album and say hey look
I couldn't afford the $25,000 piece of
equipment you know whatever like right
now if you're trying to me make music
right now you're going up against DJ
khed right let me walk you into his
recording studio it's better than yours
and like from a dollars and cense
standpoint and the artists that he has
access to they're better than yours
right like all of that but you still
have to win like you have to win you
have to beat him at that you have to be
better you have to find an angle that he
doesn't have you have to out hustle him
and then like if you don't know the
story about Jay-Z he used to literally
stalk LL Cool J do you know why no I
don't cuz he wanted to rap battle him
and he knew if I can LL Cool J was the
biggest guy had the best contract in rap
music and he said I'm better than him
and if I can like track him down he
would literally they would pull up to
him exiting out of the back of a club
they'd hit him in the parking lot just
trying to show like a few insiders in
the world of hip-hop that this guy could
be as good if not better than LL Cool J
and so that like you've got to want that
you've got to want that like you've got
to be Jay-Z like I want to Corner him in
a parking garage and take my chance
getting my ass handed to me because I
believe that I can actually outperform
right not outm market
outperform and that's when it gets
interesting so that's what blew me away
you know when Y cleff is is talking
about taking this oscillator running it
through a midi and now he can make the
oscillator make any sound he wants
because he understands vibration he
understands music theory like he can
just put it all together and now because
of his mind because of his training
because he's focused on Jazz because
he's looking at music in a totally
different way that he's able to
outperform the people that have access
to that equipment the people that
already had the ear of the music
industry like he was just able to
outperform and because of his music you
know everybody starts calling from
Destiny's Child to Michael Jackson I
mean just they start coming out of the
woodwork he starts working with Quincy
Jones but all because he
outperformed not because he gave like
some list of like all the excuses and
people thought oh man I really feel bad
for this kid doesn't work like that no
excuses no excuses the bottom line all
right I want to remind everyone we are
on Facebook live we are doing after
impact this is a show where Tom and I
sit down and go deep into the episode of
impact theory for this week which was y
clef John you can check it in the
comments if you haven't seen it yet
highly recommend it it's awesome we're
doing some giveaways you can share this
live feed for a chance to win an impact
Theory t-shirt and then I also want to
do something else I want to ask people
and this is a bit a bit of a sid step
here but we have another content series
called impact books Tom reviews
uh books that are meaningful to him that
have changed his life in some way so I
want to ask the audience what do you
think Tom should review next drop a link
into the comments this can either be
from his reading list the top 25 books
or it can be from something that you've
read and think that uh Tom should check
out as well we want to we want to hear
what you guys think nice do that and uh
you can win a book from the reading list
but yeah cool any questions from
Facebook live Cindy
so this question comes from
J why CL mentioned the pulse of the
youth how would you integrate embracing
your Youth and parir it um pair it with
knowledge and wisdom in
business hit him with that yeah can you
repeat the question I didn't quite get
it can you repeat the question repeat
the question you got it okay so he in
the episode he talks about um needing to
really have your finger on the pulse of
the youth and that youth is really what
drives um music I think he was talking
even a little more broadly but how do
you pair that with wisdom and experience
M and in business and the answer is that
goes back to what agent Smith was saying
earlier about taking in just a diverse
uh Ray of ideas and staying fresh and
being a cultural sponge and like I look
at what Millennials are doing and I
watch videos from Millennials and I read
articles about Millennials and um watch
things like Vice which is like all
Millennial all the time and uh really
getting a sense of what their worldview
is is it's it's fascinating I don't even
think of it necessarily from a business
perspective I that one in particular um
I think about it from the like where is
the the perspective migrating to like so
if you grew up when I grew up which was
primarily in the you know late' 80s
early 90s then like I know what that
perspective is right and so I can talk
to people that have that perspective hey
Facebook the world just got a little
weird for you um but Millennials grew up
hearing different things with different
kinds of parents who've been raised in
different ways and so what does their
perspective look like and I think
anybody's capable of understanding that
perspective it may not be your own but
you're able to understand it so now I'm
able to take the all the experience that
I have my own perspective look at their
perspective hold those two ideas in my
head look for the areas of friction look
for the areas of overlap and then for me
I'm looking for things that I can use
that uh move me towards my goals so if
there's a millennial Viewpoint or
something and and look I get
generalities they're never universally
true but they're helpful at a macro
level if there's something that I can
pull out extract that I think that they
see that I don't um then it helps me
move towards my goals and I'm going to
adopt it and it's it's all ideas like
it's just ideas right so even
perspective is built on beliefs and
ideas and you can adopt whatever you
need and certainly just to be able to
understand it and that's why I mean this
is I think going to become a real thing
for me is talking about the division
that's going on in the world um it
because that freaks me out and it's
people doubling down on their position
rather than opening up to another
position and just trying to see things
from a different perspective and it
doesn't like seeing something from
someone else's perspective does not mean
agreeing with them it means
understanding their perspective right so
so um I just think that that's
critically critically important to
self-empowerment like I'm not doing it
from like a we should all hold hands in
sing Kumbaya I'm just saying it's
empowering and um yeah doing things that
are empowering is always the right
answer in my mind awesome um I want to
talk about the the moment in the episode
when when white cleff says um you have
to know the entire game you have to have
a 360 degree view of everything um so
where so my question is where should
people start and how do they measure
progress along the way and I'd love to
walk through a little bit a little game
here and throw throw a uh a hobby at you
or or an interest and and see where
would you start to get good at it wow
this is cool so just you guys know this
is not pre-planned this isn't like hey
hey you know Tom real fast just so you
know I'm going to be hitting you up with
this I have no idea so I don't know
where we're going with this but sounds
very interesting cool I'm ready so why
don't we do it through the hobby I think
that'll be let's say you want to get
good at surfing okay word um so start so
the the first thing is um I'm I live in
a digital age where I know that right
now on YouTube there are thousands of
videos about um surfing so I'm going to
go watch anything that I can find I'll
drop in terms like uh learn how to surf
how to surf surfing 101 like and then
I'll just Chase those down um I'll watch
videos from some of the best people in
the world and then I'll try to find the
best teach teachers in the world which
are usually vastly different like Kelly
Slater is probably one of the best
Surfers but can he teach I have no idea
um so might not necessarily go to him
and then as rapidly as possible I'm
going to get in the water and there so I
might you know like if I decide that I'm
going to start surfing on a Tuesday
night I'll watch my videos on Tuesday
night but by Wednesday morning I'm
trying to be in the water uh because
there's just no substitute for that
experience and I'm not doing it to look
cool feel cool I'm doing it to
experience it and find out quite frankly
if I want to do it and if you remember
when we interviewed Marie for Leo um on
inside Quest she talked about that right
like there's just no substitute for
getting your ass ass in the dance class
and finding out do I actually like dance
class like do I want to be doing this um
and you know people can put things off
for for a super long time so uh step one
I'm going to digest some information
rapidly so I have context and then step
two as quickly as possible I'm going to
do the thing and then I'll be able to
better understand the information that
I'm getting um so something that I did
was magic okay and so learning magic um
which by the way I'm atrocious at I've
never seen any magic tricks yeah see and
that I really only have I have one
vanish that's pretty dope that I could
do um you like refuse no I don't refuse
to do the vanish I do the vanish for you
um but that would like I would never try
to do like my um Mr Clean three coins
across I would not I would not do that
because I would embarrass myself but um
I've taking classes at the Magic Castle
and like the whole n so it it started
exactly the same way I started by
watching videos started by trying to do
it do do do do do then you watch more
videos and that you begin oh okay yeah I
totally get now what he's trying to do
because I've tried to oh and I fumble it
there or whatever um so and then rinse
and repeat right and I would talk to as
many other people as I can that do it
and I would try to find other people
that are into it um because you
reinforce that in each other right so
you and I would be spending our mornings
like I'd try to get you amped up like
come on we got to go uh like however
many what's what's a reasonable number
of mornings to go to go surfing yeah uh
every morning okay cuz I was going to
say whatever your number is like I would
do more so like I would push you like as
long as there are waves you go perfect
so and that that to me like going all in
immerse yourself awesome so if you are
if you go in and you immerse yourself
and you decide you love this thing and
you want to become the best at it right
you want to know the entire game oh now
you're getting interesting how do you
measure progress along the way okay so
we're in surfing now so um I would put
small goals for my myself for like
immediate term and then I would have
long-term goals so if I'm really trying
to be the best in the world at this um
best in my age group or best we'll say
best in your age group okay that's a
little bit easier and I think we can
make it a little more grounded which is
admittedly a limiting belief in myself
but the amount of time and energy I'd
have to dedicate to getting better than
everybody else like I'd have to start
with like longevity [ __ ] and anyway um
so just keep it nice and grounded uh if
I'm trying to be the best in my age
group so first of all I'm going to
identify who's the best in my age group
now okay and I'm going to see what I'm
up against like what are the what are
the things that they're doing that make
them great and then okay so that's my
Grand Vision I'm going to create I would
I would actually do a vision board or a
faux vision board maybe it's the
background on my screen saver on my
phone as a constant reminder maybe I
actually pin something up on my mirror
or something so I'm seeing it all the
time do you do that now oh yeah yeah for
sure for sure um having having reminders
is just super super critical of visual
reminders yeah yeah definitely um so
that's super important and so having
that something that's going to cue me of
what I'm trying to accomplish and then
also um I pick like something that I'm
chasing like I I won't tell you who but
there are on my phone right now as I
track the metrics that are important to
us here there are people outside this
company that have similar metrics that I
can view and I obsessively check us
against them and I don't just check like
raw numbers I check growth rate yeah so
okay they're still growing but at what
rate are they grow growing and just so
you know the people that we tracking
we're growing faster so we're coming for
you guys uh so yeah I I do that kind of
thing all the time and I let it I let it
hurt me emotionally like when I see um
the numbers or you know to bring it back
to surfing if I saw someone who was
better than me I let that hurt and I
don't dwell there but that's like I need
the chip on my shoulder cuz I know it's
going to drive me when I'm really really
feeling fatigued and down and I'm
looking at the rest of my life and it's
beautiful and amazing like why keep
going so there's got to be something
that like you're angry about right so I
love that you guys have heard me talk
about it I think rage and Beauty you've
got to use them both so I'd make sure
that I have my chip on chip on my
shoulder about somebody something um and
then uh so I've got my Big Goal then I'm
going to break it down into small goal
so I'm going to guess number one for me
is dealing with the cold so I'm going to
have to get over dealing with the cold
so I'm going to be like Vim hofing it
I'm going to be spending time in the
ocean I'm going to what like literally
if I if I found that that was
distracting I would fill my bath with
ice uh and water like however many days
a week that I needed to and I would make
sure that I got good with the cold then
I'm going to guess paddling so I
probably don't have the arm strength in
that way to do it for hours and hours so
I'm going to build that Foundation um
and then I'm going to focus on getting
up on the board um and then God what
else would be useful in surfing so once
I could do that once I had the strength
to do it all the time I could deal with
the cold I was able to get up on my
board um then it's going to be um make
sure I don't develop habits which I
guess I would have started before
getting a coach somebody that can really
help me shortcircuit that so I do as
much as I can with online coaching um
but you know I'm obviously in a
fortunate position where I could hire a
coach um if I couldn't hire a coach no
excuses I would find a way to add value
I would take that person's trash out
whatever uh because you're going to
Short Circuit a lot if you can get
somebody great um to tell you and if I
really had a reason to be committed to
becoming the greatest of all time I'd
probably be living outside of um lared
Hamilton's house like taking out his
trash or something like literally and if
you think I'm kidding then you don't
understand the way that my mind works
but I would be doing something like that
uh to make sure that I had access to
absolutely worldclass coaching um you
know I yeah it would disrupt my whole
life which is what it would take right
humans only respond to extraordinary um
performance so I could keep going but I
think you get the would you would you
have a timeline would you map all this
out yeah I would I would have goals but
one thing I know about timelines you
almost never hit them but um I think the
one thing and and you guys can um a test
to this or not but uh I think the one
thing that winds people up about me is I
set such [ __ ] aggressive timelines um
but that that's important to me so like
you know I mean you guys know my lazy
goal is our ecosystems 100,000 by the
end of the year but my real goal is
500,000 so a lazy goal that first one
yeah so that's uh aggressive timelines
so if you fail at least you fail big way
that you you still you still get at
least to a certain point those are great
words but that isn't why I do it and
that's what people will tell you and
like that's a good way to
get will you let me say lesser
Mortals sure okay that's a good way to
get lesser Mortals like motivated but
that isn't why I do it the reason that I
do it is if you want to 10x your
performance not 10% Improvement but
truly 10x you have to think in a
fundamentally different way and everyone
everyone thinks linear in the beginning
and you have to think exponentially so
that's why like as I was really sitting
here thinking about it I have to move to
and live with lared Hamilton that's just
like I don't see any other way around it
um he's a standing for or lared Hamilton
or some other great you know what I mean
but like you're totally dedicating
yourself to that and that's like you
would have to and that's why it's a big
switch right you got to be careful what
you throw yourself at but don't have
faet so if I wanted to be the greatest
in the world in my age group that's what
it would take and so that's what I would
do thank you for uh playing along dude
that was fun man all right uh Facebook
live do we have any
questions
Brian his name was Robert pson I don't
know why that just triggered that neuron
in my brain so if you find yourself
having one of those days where
everything is a struggle and dark what
is your one thread to hold on to that
pulls
you that I can do anything I set my mind
to so sorry I keep answering them
without repeating the question for
audience question is it's like Jeopardy
so the the question is uh if you uh find
yourself having one of those days where
everything is a struggle how do you hang
on to a thread to pull you through the
dark time yeah and so that's my answer
that I can do anything I set my mind to
like once you realize that uh that this
is a game about learning and stop
looking at yourself as of right now
today and I think a lot of times people
think like this is sort of the this is
me I'm mean now right I wasn't mean when
I was a kid but I'm mean now now and me
is somehow Perpetual now for the rest of
my life so whatever I am now like maybe
I didn't have a fixed mindset as a kid
cuz I knew I was growing but essentially
I have a fixed mindset now because I
believe that this is the peak of my
Evolution as a human being and I just
don't see it that way so um it's like
wow my life sucks right now everything
is bad my relationship's falling apart
my business is falling apart um I'm
broke U my family has disowned me like
even my dog doesn't like me right okay
okay now this is actually how my mind
works
I start going okay all of this is my
fault this is actually what I say in my
head all of this is my fault that's
amazingly good news because that means
that I'm entirely in control I can start
making different decisions start gaining
different skills and I will get a
different result and then I would just
work backwards like what's the most
important one of those to fix first is
it family is it the business uh is it my
dog uh and then you start getting new
skills acting differently and getting a
different result like period and that
that is what what I do every time that
I'm going through a dark period And
honestly like
o it is so rare that I have a bad day
I'll have bad moments oh fory fory but I
have built so many mental mechanisms
that they kick in right so when
something horrific happens it's like I
go through the same gation as everybody
else like oh my God like it's all fun
everything is crumbling down and then
I've just gotten good at shortening that
time period so I you may look at me from
the outside and and think that it didn't
even register right because I've worked
to I mean depending on the scope I've
worked to get that to the point where
minor stuff doesn't even register on my
face catastrophic stuff is you know
let's say a a 20 minute deal with the
situation and then cool I'm ready to go
and that doesn't mean that I don't have
to keep processing you know I mean I may
be processing for a month two months but
I'm not stuck I'm not in a rut uh and
that's important so you know I may like
the reason I say I don't have a bad day
is I'll bounce in and out of positivity
even even on day one on Ground Zero I'm
I'm doing the things mentally to get
myself focused and moving forward and
does that play into cultivating that
sense of perspective in the long term or
do you use a different process for that
yeah I'm not really thinking necessarily
so longterm in that moment I'm relying
on um all of my mantras for lack of a
better word so I can learn anything I
put my mind to all of this is my fault
and so all of I say all of those things
to regain a sense of that I'm in control
and that I can change so it's not
permanent and I think that's the
important part like the and and another
one this too shall pass like no matter
how emotionally devastating I just know
this will pass like this will pass so
you know the loss of a loved one which
when it like not please don't think this
is me cheapening it it's just so I've
I've lost grandparents but honestly like
nothing hit me like losing my first um
dog that leis and I had he was like our
son and so when he died it was
devastating and I did not expect to be
um hit emotionally at all MH um and I
was super flipping about it cuz he had
like really really bad health problems
and had a heart condition and so it was
just like I always knew we were on
borrowed time with him and uh so I would
make light of it and I would joke about
it um before he passed away and thinking
like I'm just not like emotional like
that and so I'll be fine and then when
it happened I was like dude this is
brutal like I could get emotional right
now this is what two plus years later if
I let myself
and even then I was like this will pass
like the crushing sort of sense of loss
will pass and it does it always does I
mean it's just the Human Condition and
do you refer back to previous
experiences in order to remind yourself
that this will pass you know funny I do
now because I've had enough sort of big
knocks um but when I first started cuz I
it's a Buddhist concept and so when I
first read it as a Buddhist concept it
really stuck in my mind but then I
didn't have enough sort of big losses to
really think about it that way um so it
really was just I accept that really um
wise people have like banked their chips
on this you know my whole thing is you
have to open yourself up to being
changed so when you read this two shall
pass and you don't have some sentiment
in your own life that already Echoes
that you have to open yourself to being
changed by that and so I open myself to
being changed by that um I took it on
and so then it was there for me in those
moments of tremendous loss when I was
totally unprepared yeah that's great do
we have any other questions from
Facebook live before we wrap up today
yeah
um oh so this one comes from Dan bro Dan
bro Dan bro Fitness in the hzy all right
so how much do you break down your goals
if you reach your goal quickly do you
reset all your goals oh yes oh yes so
let's take I can speak to that too
yes he does
[Laughter]
absolutely welcome to the team
everybody yes uh so do you want to hit
him up with the question play Jeopardy
yeah so um do you reset your goals if
you reach them quickly is essentially
the question yeah yeah uh and I think
that's critical and so here's why we're
all going to achieve at impact Theory
because we set rediculously high goals
we're willing to shift our thinking over
into exponential thinking and fully
accept that the way that we're thinking
now is almost certainly by definition
linear so to hit this gigantic goal
rather than brush it off and and the one
thing that you know we talk a lot about
as a team is don't don't do the dismiss
Tom and he's got these crazy Big Ideas
um because that that it it will feel
good in the moment because it then it's
not scary to think that I'm going to
fire you if you don't live up to that
standard because it's not how I'm how
I'm thinking I'm setting that big goal
to force us into a new realm of thinking
but we have to believe that it's real
cuz the moment we think oh 500,000 by
the end of the year it's not real and so
that's just Tom like throwing a pie in
the sky um but and we didn't start there
so let me walk you through what we
actually did so when we started we said
we're going to have the ecosystem at
100,000 um by the end of the year now
internally I didn't want that number
because that number isn't exciting to me
because when I project out and I think
about how many people we're helping the
likelihood that we're um making
significant Revenue the likelihood that
we're able to do the things that we want
to do if we're at 100,000 like it's it's
low so that's not exciting for me but I
wanted the team to have an anchor number
so that it wouldn't just seem stupid
because especially like we in the
beginning you need you need to really
feel in your gut that we can do this
right so going back to the unibomber who
was not somebody I expected to make an
appearance later in the show uh if it's
got to feel like it's going to be hard
as hell but doable and because of the
way just that I the things that excite
me the number in my head was always
00,000 so but I didn't want to say that
out loud at first because I wanted to
give everybody an anchor number that
would be exciting for you guys you would
like you would be jazzed about it you
would feel about 100,000 the way I felt
about 500,000 you would believe that it
was going to be hard but doable the way
that I felt 500,000 was hard but doable
um and the only difference was if you
guys failed to hit your number you would
be Crest falling and I wouldn't be I
would be angry like I would be angry at
myself for having not made the right
decisions and I would feel feed that
anger because I know how much it would
serve me and the thing that was scary
and this was something um I won't name
names but somebody on our team uh used
to think of me back at Quest is like oh
you can't even talk to him and that [ __ ]
scares me right because that's like the
worst possible Universe to exist where
that person feels like somehow they're
not just a person because once I think
it people can see no matter what
somebody's accomplished like it's just
another person who may be playing better
games with their own mind
than you and so they're getting a more
effective result there's nothing they
have fundamentally that's different than
you and so what I'm trying to do is the
anger I know will scare people that's
why I brought up me you know people
thinking oh my God like he's like this
scary intimidating figure so if they saw
me get angry it was paralyzing because
they were just waiting for me to swing
that anger at them and so there's
there's nothing more hateful than
feeling like your job is tenuous like
there's nothing more more hateful and
one of the reasons that people want to
start their own company is not because
they're going to be good at it it's not
even because they want to run the
company they probably don't even know
what that entails it's actually more
terrifying when it's your company
because then yeah it's just we can go
into that some other time but it's all
on you right so um but what they want is
to feel like they can't be fired and
there's like that's so nice that feels
so good and that is a huge driver for me
I would actually rather feel like if I
[ __ ] up I lose everything but it's on me
than to feel like someone could fire me
right I mean you guys know that it's
such a shitty feeling so people don't
want to so I'm so cautious with my anger
because for me I'm never angry and out
of control okay anger is a tool it's
something that I use it's it's like
anything if you focus on it it's real so
for those moments man I'm feeling the
anger I'm not faking it right I'm
feeling the anger but I'm allowing
myself to feel it I'm using it as a tool
it's like um wielding a a flaming stick
right yes you could burn everything down
with it or you could just set it down
put some sand on it and it's out as long
as you know that you're in control of
that now it's a powerful tool so that's
how I think about anger so for me if we
miss if we miss a 100,000 I will [ __ ]
chew through the walls right because I
will we will just have failed so
catastrophically I believe
it so five if we miss 500,000 which by
the way we almost certainly will like I
know that but it it it forces me to go
the one thing I won't tolerate of myself
is that at the end of the year if I look
back and say we didn't hit this number
because I didn't take it seriously and I
didn't force myself to really like
change my thinking then I'll be then I'd
really be upset with myself because
that's just I mean that's like making
excuses that's the same way I think
about it but if we go all out and we did
everything we could and we were really
like we really tried to crush it and we
miss it yeah fine I might still use a
little bit of anger frustration to make
sure that like I kick into an even
higher gear but it's very different than
being disappointed in myself I may be
disappointed in the results but I won't
be disappointed in myself so and that's
what you know I really want everybody
here to understand is
like we should all want that right and
so like let's just do everything we can
to hit that number and understand that
none of us are going to we're going to
judge each other by how we thought like
what our thought process was how much
ownership we all took how hard we worked
but none of us are going to like be
pissed if we miss our number but feel
like dude everybody left it on the court
and likewise if if you guys check out at
month 7 because we hit the 100,000 which
we almost certainly will at the rate
that we're growing be way ahead of our
schedule and go
but we hit it dude why is he still like
why is he pushing harder we said it was
100,000 like what's going on like and we
all just want to kick back and you know
have a brew it's like that's a
fundamental misunderstanding of what
we're trying to do so it's
like once people can get their minds
around you your life I don't care if
you're employed by somebody else your
life is yours and if hitting that goal
makes you want to retire even for the
next six months then you haven't found
your passion yet you're not doing what
you were meant to do you're not
following your bliss right and that's
why it's so easy for me to get angry or
frustrated because I know what I'm
trying to do and I want to be challenged
and I want I want to find LL Cool J in a
parking lot and rap battle like that's
what I want like I want to keep pushing
I want to put in an extraordinary
performance and I want to be capable of
it so I'll learn whatever lessons I have
to learn but until I'm capable of that
extraordinary performance I won't be I
won't relax no
way so goals are important but they're
not an end point they're just a guide to
on your longer journey toward greatness
yeah I wouldn't even say it's a guide
man it's a it's a a a cattle
prod
yeah that's why you always have to move
it goals are cattle
prods Yes you heard it here first all
right everybody thank you so much for
joining us I no idea what that was like
from the outside but that was amazing
for me there at the end especially if
you guys want to know what it's like
truly behind the scenes here and what
we're trying to do from our own mindset
perspective you literally just spent um
we'll call that 10 or 15 minutes with us
just raw um impact Theory style that is
what we're all about and that's how I
think we're going to build something
special and it really felt cool to me uh
to have you guys here for that and watch
it and I'd love to know uh what you guys
thought and what you took away from that
um so yeah this community is everything
man I spent so much time in the comments
uh I hope that you guys are are there
and engaged and um yeah it's just
amazing And for those that uh wonder it
really is me I really am uh the one
commenting uh I write the content um
there are times I will be fully
transparent where Cindy will post long
after I've gone to bed uh but she's
posting things that I wrote earlier in
the day so uh we're just trying to
maximize the number of people that see
it and engage with it so guys thank you
so much for joining us for this very
special episode of after impact where we
went deep on y clef Jean and until next
time my friends be legendary take care
peace
out