Naveen Jain ON: Why Understanding Your Genes Can Greatly Improve Your Health & Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Making an Important Decision

Today, I sit down with Naveen Jain to talk about how to thrive in your work space. Naveen shares his views and thoughts on why the people you surround yourself with play an important role in your success, the importance of cultivating curiosity for learning and to find solutions, and how your actions, no matter how small or big, can significantly impact everyone else. Naveen Jain is an entrepreneur and philanthropist. Jain has a diverse business background and has founded several successful companies in different industries. Beyond his entrepreneurial endeavors, he is passionate about using technology to address global challenges. He believes in the power of innovation, entrepreneurship, and moonshot thinking to solve pressing problems in fields such as healthcare, education, and the environment. You can order my new book 8 RULES OF LOVE at 8rulesoflove.com or at a retail store near you. You can also get the chance to see me live on my first ever world tour. This is a 90 minute interactive show where I will take you on a journey of finding, keeping and even letting go of love. Head to jayshettytour.com and find out if I'll be in a city near you. Thank you so much for all your support - I hope to see you soon. What We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 00:16 The three things we need to ask ourselves in order to find different solutions to a problem 14:04 Naveen explains why you need to surround yourself with people who will push you to become better 18:41 “Your imagination is the only thing that limits what you can do.” 24:07 How can we cultivate curiosity in the young minds and make the world a better place? 37:09 This is what happens when you spend your time and energy on things that you don’t enjoy doing. 45:35 Continuous exposure many ideas open many doors for us to find our passion and learn more 56:05 Give children as many dots as they can have so someday they are able to connect these dots and create their own canvas.” Episode Resources Naveen Jain | Website Naveen Jain | Twitter Naveen Jain | Instagram Naveen Jain | Facebook Naveen Jain | Books https://www.evvy.com/ https://www.viome.com/ Want to be a Jay Shetty Certified Life Coach? Get the Digital Guide and Workbook from Jay Shetty https://jayshettypurpose.com/fb-getting-started-as-a-life-coach-podcast/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Orange Theory Fitness. One of the best investments you can make is in your own strength. The choices you make today can help shape how you feel for years to come. Orange Theory Fitness provides a one-hour workout to build strength, burn fat, and build muscle with an expert coach guiding you every step of the way. Head to orangetheory.com/onpurpose to learn more and get your first class free. Orange Theory Fitness, helping people live longer, more vibrant lives. Terms and conditions apply. See webpage and studio for details. This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to-do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised yourself you'd pick back up.

• 0:45Jay Shetty?

  It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating. And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on. AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically-backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop. AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational nutrition your body needs. And alongside a proper diet, AG1 Next Gen meets 94% of nutrient requirements and it's clinically shown to enrich the gut microbiome.

• 1:24Jay Shetty?

  For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at drinkag1.com/onpurpose. That's drinkag1.com/onpurpose. This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to-do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised yourself you'd pick back up. It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating. And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on. AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut

• 2:09Jay Shetty?

  health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop. AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational nutrition your body needs. And alongside a proper diet, AG1 Next Gen meets 94% of nutrient requirements and is clinically shown to enrich the gut microbiome. For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at drinkag1.com/OnPurpose. That's drinkag1.com/OnPurpose.

• 2:49Speaker 01

  Life never stops teaching. It is us who stop learning. The day you stop learning is the day you start dying. The bestselling author and host.

• 3:00Speaker 02

  The number one healthy wellness podcast.

• 3:02Speaker 03

  On Purpose with Jay Shetty.

• 3:05Jay Shetty?

  Hey, everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world. Thanks to each and every one of you that come back every week to become happier, healthier, and more healed, which is our mission here at On Purpose, to help you live happier, healthier, more healed lives. And today's guest is someone who's been on the show before, but someone that I always find fascinating, not just because of his insights or takeaways, but more so how he approaches problems, how he thinks about goals. I've always been really intrigued by how he can look at things from completely different angles and perspectives. I'm speaking about none other than Naveen Jain, award-winning book, Moonshots: Creating a World of Abundance.

• 3:47Jay Shetty?

  Naveen's current moonshot adventures are Viome and Moon Express. And as a serial entrepreneur, Naveen previously founded InfoSpace, Intellius, and Talentwise. And Viome's singular mission is to make illness optional, which I find so brilliant and I'm so curious about. Naveen has been the recipient of many honors for his entrepreneurial successes. These awards include Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young, and Most Creative Person by Fast Company, and Top 20 Entrepreneurs. Please welcome to the show, Naveen Jain. Naveen, it's good to have you back on On Purpose. It's good to have you back on the show.

• 4:25Speaker 01

  Well, Jeff, first of all, it's always such a pleasure to see you. It's such a pleasure to be on your show. And I think your energy and your positivity always brings such a joy to my life.

• 4:35Jay Shetty?

  Thank you. Well, you're very kind. I meant what I said, that whenever I sit down with you, you're one of the few people in the world, I genuinely believe, that approaches problems from the most unique perspectives and the questions you ask about the world and solving the world's biggest problems. I rarely, people can talk about the theory of that, but I've experienced you do it. And I think that that's a remarkable gift. And I want to start there because I want people to experience that too. When you came up with this idea of making illness optional, talk to me about a bit about how you think that way. Because most people are trying to end illness or most people are trying to avoid illness. But you talk about making it optional.

• 5:20Jay Shetty?

  So let's talk about how you create these moonshots and create these ideas.

• 5:23Speaker 01

  You know, to me, the questions you ask is the problem you solve. So fundamentally, asking the question is the most, I would say the best skill you can ever learn as an entrepreneur. But as an entrepreneur, what most people somehow think that if they do something small, it's easier to get started. And what I learned is it is so much easier to do something audacious, something that's going to change the trajectory of how humanity is going to live, something that can impact the lives of billions of people around the world. And that is so much easier to do. So every time I start a new company, I ask myself three questions. Why this? Why now? And why me? And why this is really simple.

• 6:08Speaker 01

  You start backward and say, God forbid, I am actually successful in solving this problem. Would it help a billion people live a better life? And the reason for that, it's not just because it's a philanthropic thing to do. It is really easy from a capitalistic point of view to see that if you can build any product, any service that helps a billion people live a better life, you can create a hundred billion dollar company. But you don't wake up in the morning and say, I want to create a hundred billion dollar company. What should I do? Making money is simply a by-product of doing things that improve people's life.

• 6:48Speaker 01

  So I'm gonna repeat, everything you do, ask yourself, how is it making someone else's life better? Because if you do that, they become your most loyal customer. And if you have most loyal customers, you have a great business, right? But people somehow always think, I wanna make money, rather than I wanna do something that helps people, right?

• 7:07Jay Shetty?

  Yes, yes.

• 7:08Speaker 01

  That's why this. So in the case of Wyoming, we started thinking that, you know, we as humanity are suffering through this epidemic of chronic diseases, right? We call them with different names, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, depression, anxiety. You know, call them Parkinson's, Alzheimer, or, God forbid, cancer. These are all the diseases, younger and younger people are getting them. And literally, every one of us during our lifetime is expected to have these chronic diseases. And it occurred to me that we as humans haven't evolved in the last fifty or a hundred years. It takes millennials to change human genes.

• 7:52Speaker 01

  Then why is it in the last fifty, hundred years, this epidemic is growing? And it occurred to me, if it is actually growing, there's got to be a way to actually slow it down and reverse it, right? And our thought was, what if we can understand the human body at a molecular level? And find a way to use, guess what, food as a medicine? What a new concept, right? To be able to actually understand what foods are good for you and what foods are not. People say, oh my god, such brilliant, and I tell them, that brilliant idea came twenty-five hundred years ago, when Hippocrates says, "Let food be thy medicine." So I am not inventing anything, I'm reinventing.

• 8:36Speaker 01

  And that's the, you know, the beauty of the thing. So we say, look, what if we can understand and make illness optional? And why did we say make illness optional? Because I don't think I or you or anyone has power to eradicate chronic diseases. But each one of us has a power to do something about ourselves. That means being healthy is a choice and that means being sick is a choice. And that's how you make it optional, by empowering each person to know what they should be doing and what they should not be doing, right? So now the second part of the moonshot puzzle is, why now? Why now is very interesting in a sense that you have to ask yourself

• 9:19Speaker 01

  what had changed in the last couple of years? But more importantly, what do you expect to change in the next three to five years? That will allow you to solve this problem at scale in three to five years. And more importantly, this problem couldn't have been solved five years ago. Because when something could have been done five years ago, that means the technology already existed for someone to solve it. And the fact it's not being solved is a very different problem, right? So you say, can I intercept tomorrow's technologies to solve tomorrow's problem? Rather than use yesterday's technology to solve tomorrow's problem? And then the most important question in my mind is, why me? And why me goes back to the question you asked.

• 10:03Speaker 01

  What question am I asking that is different from what everyone else in the industry is asking? Because as I said, the questions you ask is the problem you solve. So I want to give it a couple of framework here because that to me is a crux of why people fail. So in my previous company, Moon Express, we were, our mission is to go to the moon and settle on the moon. And someday we can talk about why do that? But every time I say that we're going to go become a multi-planetary society, everyone will ask the same question, which is, how are you going to grow the food on the moon? And to me, that question is generally a good question, except the wrong question. Because when you ask a question, how to grow the food on the moon, the only solution is to find a way to grow the food.

• 10:48Speaker 01

  And what if you ask a slightly different question that says, why do we eat food? Just by asking, why do we eat food? We say, oh, only reason we need food is for energy and for nutrition. What are the different ways can we get energy? Plants get energy from photosynthesis. Lot of bacteria who grow in radioactive nuclear waste, they get from radiation, they get energy. The point is now you have many more ways of solving a problem than simply growing the food that are different. So by asking slightly different question, you end up finding solution that no expert would have ever thought about. Because that was not the problem they were solving, right?

• 11:28Jay Shetty?

  Yes.

• 11:29Speaker 01

  Uh, coming back to Vio. The problem we were trying to solve was finding the way to make illness optional or finding the way to solve the chronic diseases. We noticed that every expert was asking the same question. They wanna know about what's in my DNA or my genes. And somehow if I know your DNA, your genes, we can solve the problem. Now, I am not a doctor or a scientist. It occurred to me, like anyone else will tell you, your DNA never changes. So I am born with my DNA that I get from my mom and dad. Now imagine somebody did my DNA test and told me, here is what you should be eating. God forbid I gain two hundred pounds. My DNA is still the same. Should I keep eating the same thing? Probably not.

• 12:14Speaker 01

  Now I get diabetes. My DNA is still the same. Should I change my diet? One would say, hope so, but DNA hasn't changed. Now I get heart disease. My DNA hasn't changed and then I die. And you were to look at my DNA ten years after I die, it's still the same. You can look at the DNA of a dinosaur, right? So if DNA can't even tell you you're dead or alive, how will it ever tell you you're healthy or sick? But what's always changing is not your genes, but your gene expression called RNA or mRNA. And we thought, wow, why can't we measure RNA? We didn't know how to do it. We didn't even know it could be done. But simply asking the question, we're now gonna look at genes, we're gonna look at your gene expression. Allowed us to look at the problem so differently.

• 12:58Speaker 01

  And the second part that was very interesting to me was, I read a lot, just like you. Just like our friend Jim Quick or others, we just read a lot. Yeah. And I was reading all the scientific papers and it turns out every single disease is connected to something called microbiome. And for life of me, I don't understand what this microbiome was. And you can Google by the way Parkinson's and microbiome, cancer and microbiome, Alzheimer and microbiome, diabetes and microbiome. Anything you want is connected to microbiome. And I'm thinking, very sad. If everyone believes that diseases are caused or somehow impacted by microbiome. And that ten companies doing microbiome testing, then why is this problem not getting solved? Hmm.

• 13:39Speaker 01

  So it's not a Euroc a movement. I'm thinking, Naveen, you are a moron. This can't be a problem. Yeah. And then it occurred to me to go back to the first principle. What question are they asking? Well, it turns out Jay, to date, every single company that looks at your microbiome is asking the same question. What organisms are in Jay's gut? What organisms are in Naveen's gut? And they somehow thought that will help you solve problem. Now, not being an expert, it occurred to me, I don't know what these organisms are. They're probably like a tiny human beings in my mind, right? Yeah. And I thought, wow, what if the ten thousand different organism could be producing the same thing that's making me sick? So it's not about who they are, but what they are doing. Or the same organism can produce something good in your gut environment?

• 14:22Speaker 01

  And the same organism can produce something bad in my bad gut environment? So take a person and put them in a good environment, good behavior, put them in a bad environment, bad behavior. So our thought was, what if we can find out what they are doing? And how to changing our human gene expression, we can solve this problem, right? So punish the sin, not the sinner, as Gandhi said. Yes, yes. So idea was, you know, focus on what is it they're doing that's wrong and then focus on that, right? And that literally was the concept behind Vio.

• 14:54Speaker 01

  Well, it turns out all this story that we didn't know how to do RNA testing and no one has ever done it. In fact, no one does it today other than Wyoming. Because we found the technology at Los Alamos National Lab, where they were doing a bio defense project. And this was, one of the project was to find out if we're going to protect our country against bioterrorism. When the organisms are there, what they are producing, that's how they can create antidote for it. And they had developed the technology, so we licensed the technology, hired the people and built this thing to help humanity live better. And that's the only reason they gave me the license, because they realized I am not simply building a company to make money. I'm doing it for the benefit of humanity.

• 15:36Speaker 01

  And since our taxpayer dollars were to be spent, and they say, that is a perfectly good application of that.

• 15:42Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And I'm so glad, I mean, I've done the test myself, and it was, the results were fantastic as well. Very useful, very insightful.

• 15:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, and you know, I mean, we tell you what's happening in your body, Jay, right? So we tell you what's your biological age, what's your immune health? And I don't know if you did the test recently, it tells you your heart health, it tells you your cognitive health, it tells you your oral health, your dental health, your gum health, and it tells you everything that's happening in your body. And then, as you know, it tells you, don't eat these foods, and here is why. So for me, don't eat broccoli and Brussels sprout, even though everyone thinks it's healthy. And we say, no, your sulfide production is too high, don't eat it, right? Or don't eat spinach, because your oxalate production is not good, right? Now, you can tell, here are the foods you should not eat and why. Here are the foods you should eat and why.

• 16:36Speaker 01

  And then we go step further. Don't take vitamin B3, because your uric acid production is too high. Or don't take curcumin, because your bile acid is too high. But you do need 22 mg of Lycopin. You do need 11 mg of Berberine. You do need 27 mg of Amylase. And we go through every vitamin, mineral, herbs, digestive enzyme, amino acid, probiotic and prebiotic. And guess what? We built a robotic compounding pharmacy. Where we make these capsule with only the ingredients in the doses that you need. On the spot for each individual and ship them to every month. Now, six months later, they can do a retest. So it's no longer, is it working or it's not working?

• 17:20Speaker 01

  It's no longer based on faith, it's based on fact, right? And so you can see the progress you're making. And I think to me, what satisfies me, Jay, most is. We have now analyzed over five hundred thousand people. And there is not a day goes by where we don't get, you know, emails or messages from people. That you changed my life. I, I sleep better. I have lost weight. I no longer have brain fog. I have more energy, right? I no longer have, you know, things like depression, anxiety, all the things, or even better skin. People who had acne or eczema. And to me, not being a doctor and watching changes people's life.

• 18:03Speaker 01

  Is what allows us to do hard work every day. And just like you, I think, Jay, I get up every single day at four AM in my, every day. Seven days a week, I get up at four AM. And I jump out of the bed every day. Because I believe, if I may use the word, I think I'm doing God's work. It gives me joy. It brings me that pleasure, that things I am doing is making people's life better.

• 18:31Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, it's unbelievable. No, it's, it's really special. And I know that. That's always been your mission. And I want to go backwards for people because. I think when people hear about these incredible ideas and that idea that you told us about now, the idea of. Asking the question of. Why do we need to eat? Like, why do we need food? That's such a unique, rare way of thinking. Were you always like that in school? Was that a way of thinking you developed and built over time? Like, let's go backwards a little bit. Because I think the way you approach problems is so different. And hence why you're saying that most people would ask, like, how can you live on the moon?

• 19:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:09Jay Shetty?

  So how did you develop that ability? Was it something that was God given? You were born with it? Is it something you developed? And where did you start to develop it and when?

• 19:17Speaker 01

  Well, the interesting thing is, every one of us has this idea that we are born with certain things. And then it's easy to blame someone else for all your problems. I am like this because it's in my genes. This is what I was dealt with the bad cards, right? That is an excuse. Because remember, your genes are not your destiny. Like we talked about in your health, it is your gene expression. You get to control your gene expression by changing your environment. Your environment controls your gene expression. Even though people say like, oh, I'm born with these genes. And there are mutations that may cause Alzheimer. Now, think about it for a second.

• 20:02Speaker 01

  There are very, very few diseases that are genetic diseases and never want to undermine them. They have a special name. They call rare genetic diseases. And the reason they call rare genetic diseases is because they are rare. Most other diseases are not genetic diseases. So when someone tells you you have a gene that is going to cause you Alzheimer, I ask them a simple question, am I born with that? Yes. So this gene is I am born with. It sits in my body for sixty years, seventy years. One day it wakes up and say, I think I completely forgot to wipe out your memory. I'm going to do that right now. It can't possibly happen. It has to change expression of it.

• 20:44Speaker 01

  That means there has to be a trigger that causes it to do something. And if you can't take the trigger away, does it matter what genes you have?

• 20:52Jay Shetty?

  Right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 20:52Speaker 01

  So the point is, don't blame anyone except yourself. Including, I think I learned from you. Don't tell someone, my wife makes me angry or someone else makes me angry. Only you have that power to make yourself angry, right? So coming back to answer your question. Nurturing or the environment changes who you become. And most people wanna know, is there a particular event that happened that made you different? Right? But as you and I both know, life is full of experiences. Every interaction we have changes who we become.

• 21:35Speaker 01

  People think it's the last straw that broke the camel back. And we all know it's the straws before that that broke the camel back. Yeah. So my point I'm trying to make is that in a simple words, that every day, the people you surround yourself with changes the way you think. So the most important thing you can do is to find the people who uplift you. People who believe in you, people who inspire you to be better, not simply tell you you're good. They push you to be even better. Right? Every day, ask yourself, am I better intellectually today than I was yesterday? Am I emotionally better than I was yesterday?

• 22:18Speaker 01

  Am I spiritually better than today than I was yesterday? And grow every day.

• 22:25Jay Shetty?

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• 23:09Jay Shetty?

  That's indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. This episode is brought to you by Vinted. Value can be found anywhere, even in the clothes sitting untouched in our closets. That's where Vinted comes in. Vinted is a secondhand marketplace app where you can sell clothes you no longer want and get more value out of them. Whether you're running out of space, moving, or simply updating your wardrobe. Listing items is a quick and simple process, and once something sells, Vinted creates a prepaid shipping label for you. And the best part, there are no seller fees, so you keep what you earn. It's a simple way to clear out your closet, be less wasteful,

• 23:52Jay Shetty?

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• 24:05Speaker 04

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• 24:34Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, and I couldn't agree with you more. I'm really glad, though, how you answered that question from a gene point of view. I didn't, I didn't expect to go down that road. And I really like that context of how to think about who we are and who we're becoming. And, and you are right that it's not one event that transforms our life, or it's not one moment, but it's a collection of thoughts and a collection of people and a collection of ideas. When you were young, what did you think big? Did you always have these lofty goals? Or did you have to learn to do that? I guess is what I'm getting is because, and, and who were you exposed to? Like when I grew up, I always said that in my area,

• 25:18Jay Shetty?

  I didn't really grow up around anyone who inspired or motivated me in my field of people I met. But my dad would give me the biographies of people like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and people like that. And those people became the people that inspired me. So most of the people that inspired me were in books. Yes. They weren't anywhere else. Who were those people for you? Where did you interact with them? How did you connect with them? And how did they change the way you thought?

• 25:47Speaker 01

  You know, obviously, as you know, I grew up in India. We were very poor. We didn't have, you know, food to eat. We didn't have place to stay. But the thing that none of us lack really is imagination. And it's really let your imagination run wild while everybody's trying to contain you into what, who you are and define you who you are and trying to protect you by telling you what you can't do. Right? Everyone will say, oh, you are born in a poor family. Your destiny is pre-written. You can at the most become an accountant and go find a government job that'll actually be there for the rest of your life. Anything you're trying other than that

• 26:32Speaker 01

  is you're going down the wrong path. And out of purely a good intention to protect you, they actually want to contain you to say, that is not possible for you. So they're limiting your belief. And what really interesting I found was, my mom just wasn't, you know, she's alive. She just unbelievable amount of faith in me. So my dad will say, you know, you will never go anywhere. So why are you trying here? Just go get the damn degree in accounting or something so you can have a job. And my mom says, no, no, no. He's very smart. He can do anything he wants. And then she would say, sky is the limit.

• 27:16Speaker 01

  And later I realized in my life that a sky doesn't exist. A sky is simply a figment of our imagination. And what she was telling me was, in her own way, your imagination is the only thing that limits to what you can do. We create our own sky. Like when you go from here to the moon, you don't say, Mom, I just passed the sky. There is no sky. So point is, we create these imaginary boundaries for ourselves. I come from this background, so I, this is my sky. I'm a woman, this is my sky. I'm a brown person, this is my sky. And everyone creates the sky. Until you get there and you realize that was all in my mind. It never existed, right?

• 28:00Speaker 01

  So when I was young, I would look at the moon. And what really interesting to me was, I am looking at the same object that the richest person in the world, and he doesn't look at it any different than I can. So I am that richest person in the world because I have the same power that they do. And in my mind, it was about, there is nothing that I am sitting here when I look at that star that anyone else can do any differently than I can. In fact, I can look at them better because I am sitting in a darkness and the sky is so much more beautiful than in a city with under the light. You can't even see the stars, right?

• 28:39Speaker 01

  As I came to the United States and then I started to meet and learn from different people. And as I continued to grow, I started to surround myself with people who had, you know, even bigger. I thought I was a big fish in the small pond. Until I realized there was a big pond out there and I was a small fish. And then I started to grow again, right? And I think, you know, a lot of the people that have, you know, inspired each one of us have been the people who have gone on to change the industry. Now, obviously, you know, today you and I probably know most of them and we met them. But when I actually were being inspired, I I knew their name, but I had never met them. Now we get to meet with them.

• 29:22Speaker 01

  And now you can at least look at them and see how much they change your life. But I can tell you that the biggest inspiration for me or biggest mentor for me has been my own life. Life never stops teaching. It is us who stop learning. So just every experience we have.

• 29:44Speaker 01

  If we keep an open mind, we can learn from every single person we meet. Even that homeless person, if you can give him five minutes of your time, he will tell you about his life story, what got him into where he is. And maybe hopefully you won't make that mistake.

• 30:01Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's. I've often thought that the people that are always learning in any situation naturally succeed in in whatever endeavor they have. And when I'm hearing you speak about these ideas, which which resonate with me completely, like very strongly, I start thinking like today, the challenges that we're not always choosing effectively and curating carefully, who influences us.

• 30:31Speaker 01

  Definitely.

• 30:31Jay Shetty?

  Because there's just so much influence. I was reading a study the other day that said, the average human is exposed to seventy four gigabytes of information every day. The average iPhone is two hundred and fifty six gigabytes and a fancy iPhone is one terabyte.

• 30:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:48Jay Shetty?

  Which means that seventy four gigabytes a day, you know, give it like less than four days and you're already at a full storage of an iPhone.

• 30:57Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 30:57Jay Shetty?

  That's a lot of information and it's hard to know what's useful, what's useless, what's a waste, what's an investment, because we're just inundated. How could you recommend to people to learn to filter?

• 31:11Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 31:11Jay Shetty?

  And choose what to give, I'll give you, and I'll give you a common example, like, you know, a couple of years ago, it's like, everyone's like, you have to be in N F Ts. You have to do this, you have to like, you know, and then everyone's like, oh, you have to invest in the stock market because now it's this and like, then it's like, oh, you have to be an entrepreneur. And it's like, everyone's getting, oh, now you have to hustle, we're in hustle culture. And so you see this like messaging.

• 31:33Speaker 01

  Fat, fat message.

• 31:34Jay Shetty?

  Fat messaging that just constantly pushes people.

• 31:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:37Jay Shetty?

  And because people don't know their own values and they're not sure about what they really want from life, it becomes very easy to get distracted. How would you guide people into not getting distracted and knowing what is right to focus on?

• 31:50Speaker 01

  Well, I think you go back and saying. Why am I doing it? Let's assume whether it's pick anything you want, whether it's a NFT or a crypto or whatever. How is that what I'm going to do is going to improve someone else's life? Would it improve a billion people's life because I bought NFT? If the answer is no, then why are you wasting your time? Right? So to me, the biggest thing to learn in life is curiosity. If you ask me, there is one gift you could give someone you love the most, and I hate to say that the biggest love I have for anyone in this world, probably be your children. I mean, anyone, I think, right? Is but your children are the one that, you know,

• 32:33Speaker 01

  they give you unconditional love and you give them unconditional love. And the biggest gift you can give them is that. So our job as a parent is not to take them to the water and make them drink. Our job is to make them thirsty. How do you make them thirsty? Is make them intellectually curious. Once you give the curiosity to the children, guess what? They will never stop learning. They will always be learning. They'll always find their water and they'll always be drinking. And that's your goal is to make them curious. And what makes them curious is to constantly think about what is possible, not what is not possible. What if it was possible?

• 33:16Speaker 01

  And the two most beautiful word in English language are imagine and what if? Imagine if this was possible. What if I could do it? Right? And that's it. And then they'll constantly and become like a child. Why? Why? Why it can't be done? Why? Why it couldn't be done before? Right? And asking why makes you curious and that's how allows you to dig deeper and deeper and deeper. If I may continue on that chart, Jay. Yeah. I want to talk about, you know, as I said, I have three children and I want to talk about them for many reasons. One is to show people what really matters in life.

• 33:57Speaker 01

  It's not just simply about leaving the better world for our children. It's also about leaving the better children for the world to continue to go where not only you get to push the humanity forward. You actually have trained them and made them curious enough for them to be able to continue to push the humanity forward, right? So I have three children. Our oldest is thirty-two. He went to Wharton. When he was seventeen, he started his first company. And that was simply about helping young entrepreneurs as a nonprofit to help young entrepreneurs find mentors for them so they can be successful.

• 34:38Speaker 01

  And his reasoning was, my dad brought me mentors and these kids did not have that opportunity, so I'm going to create it for them. Now imagine what happened. He could call anyone in the world and say, I'm, I want you to help these young kids. Nobody says no to helping someone. In the turn, he built one of the biggest network he could find of the most influential people. So when he started a for-profit company, everyone wanted to be part of this, right? In fact, just today, my son was, oldest was on CNBC and Bloomberg announcing that he's solving this problem that all his, all the kids of his were suffering from. I go, there are two problems.

• 35:22Speaker 01

  I graduate, I can get a job and generally a decent enough job where I can actually find an apartment, but I don't have the money to pay first month rent, last month rent and security deposit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he said, you know what? What if we don't have that and simply spend five dollars a month on insurance and insure the landlord so you don't have to have a deposit? And he started that company. Wow. Then he realized that everyone was complaining and say, that's great, Ankor. We keep wasting our money on a rent, we get nothing for it. Right? I got to buy a home. He started this company called Bilt, B I L T, Bilt Rewards. And just I was posting on my Instagram, he announced today, he raised hundred and fifty million at one point five billion pre-money valuation. The reason I'm talking about not the money is what he did is so phenomenal.

• 36:07Speaker 01

  He came up with a concept of a credit card where you can put a rent on a credit card with no credit card fees, no annual fee. Normally, when you put something on a credit card, you pay three and a half, two and a half, three percent. He convinced the master card to waive that fee for rent. And then he's able to now earn points on something you haven't paid anything. And you can use the point to actually buy a home, down payment for a home. Or use one to one on any airlines, on a hotel, on Expedia, on Amazon. You can use the points to earn the points on rent and with no credit cards. What's happening? Landlords love it because they are able to bill you on day one. Day two, they have the money.

• 36:50Speaker 01

  You as a renter are not paying a dime more and you're twenty one day float to pay your credit card bill. In turn, you earn the points that were completely wasted and now you can travel. Or you can use them for next month rent. Or you can use them as down payment on a home. Solving the problem that impacted all these people, in turn, he created a great company. Our daughter. That's amazing. Our daughter, Priyanka, went to Stanford. Stanford is a stamp fellow, Stanford Mayfield fellow. Only cared about women's education, women's health. First company she worked, removing gender bias from hiring using A I. Started a company called E V V Y, Women's Health Company.

• 37:36Speaker 01

  And just today, Fast Company recognized as the fastest and the most disruptive company that she started a year and a half ago. Right? So she's completely changing the idea of how women's health. What I did not realize what she told me is, until about twenty years ago, women weren't allowed to be in a clinical studies. That means every drug we have were never designed for women. They're only designed for men. And no wonder these drugs don't even work for women because they were never on a clinical trial. And she's changing that industry. Right? Our youngest went to Stanford, became a Schwartzman scholar. And now he's solving the problem of home mortgages. Right? Again, it doesn't matter.

• 38:17Speaker 01

  The point is they find the biggest problem and they realize they can go out and solve it.

• 38:24Speaker 01

  And why is it? How did that happen? And you don't have kids yet, but one day you do. I'm gonna give you some of the parenting lesson because I have thirty two years.

• 38:34Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, that would be great. I'm very open to that.

• 38:37Speaker 01

  So here's what happens. These kids were growing up on an affluent family, unlike I grew up in a poor family. We told them there our love for you is unconditional, but our approval is not. That means I'll always tell you I love you, but I will never tell you I'm proud of you. To be proud of you, you have to do things that make us proud of you. And I told them that we will be proud of you when you do things that make other people's life better. That means your success is never going to be defined by how much money you have in the bank. It'll be defined by how many lives you improve. They may, when they were young, they would say, whatever dad, but guess what?

• 39:17Speaker 01

  Every one of them remembered what dad wants and they may, they wanna make you that their dad proud. And I told them and I say, I'm proud of you and you do the things that make us proud. We told them that their self-worth doesn't come from what they own. It comes from what they create. That means you own a lot, but you haven't created anything. You're still a parasite on society, right? So don't be a parasite. An ultimate goal of the children was always for them to focus on what can they do? And make them believe nothing was impossible. So I remember when their kids were born, I was running a very successful company.

• 40:00Speaker 01

  And instead of when I retired, when I sold that company and I realized I, they were very young. I had two choices. I could sit at home to say, hey, my kids are young. I wanna spend time with my family, which is a normal thing to do. It occurred to me. What are, what would they be thinking? So imagine if I had told them it's not about money, but dad just made a lot of money and dad is now at home. When they go to school, what do they see? Dad sitting on the sofa watching CNBC. They come back from school, they see dad is still at home. And dad tells them, go to your room, work hard, finish your homework. Hard work is what it takes and money doesn't matter.

• 40:45Speaker 01

  And they say, I'll, I watch my dad sitting on the sofa. When I grow up, I want to be just like my dad. Sit on the sofa and watch TV.

• 40:56Speaker 01

  And because dad has money, he can do that. And that's what I'm going to do. Instead, what they saw was dad started a second company. Dad started a third company. Dad goes crazy, we're going to go to the moon. Dad, no private company has gone to the moon, you're crazy. Well, let me show you how that's done. Dad turns fifty eight, dad wants to start a healthcare company. We're going to make illness optional. Dad, it's time to retire. Well, I haven't showed you how it's done yet.

• 41:22Speaker 01

  Point was, they realized at the end of the day, that dad does it because he loves what he does. He doesn't care about making money. He does it because that's what brings him happiness. And anything difficult can be solved. And that's why every one of them is taking on audacious challenges. Because they see the dad do that. So why we tell our kids what to do? We never show them what to do.

• 41:51Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, yeah, I mean, congratulations, by the way. And it's amazing to hear about these incredible new companies coming into the world. So needed, so powerful and so beautiful to see so many purpose driven companies coming into the world. Especially in a world where we're constantly hearing everyone wanting to build a billion dollar company and everything, which is just.

• 42:12Speaker 01

  It's such a, it drives me nuts, right?

• 42:15Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, same, yeah.

• 42:15Speaker 01

  So but if everyone who's listening to it, if I may say, should go to Evvy, E V V Y. And if you're a woman, please sign up for Evvy. It's a women's health company using vaginal microbiome. And the reason I say that is I want her to realize that these are the problems she can solve. Her generation is the first generation that had a shot at solving problem that our generation failed at, failed women at them, and she can solve that.

• 42:40Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, yeah, no, that's incredible. Yeah, no, we'll put that, we'll put that link into the, into the show notes as well, so that people can access it. I guess when I'm listening to you right now, you raised a few points there and I was thinking that you gave the example of dad watching TV. Yeah. And I was thinking that so much of our society today has been, and actually going back again, you talked about the two most important phrases like imagine and what if. Yes. So much of our society today has become numb Yes. to curiosity and imagination because we simply watch TV. Now, TV and TV shows and movies can be incredible for imagination if we watch them in that way because the people that made them are very imaginative.

• 43:25Jay Shetty?

  The people that made them are very creative. Yes. But what's really interesting is that when we simply subject ourselves to sitting in front of a screen and let those images come to us and we don't use them creatively, we actually become numb. Yes. And I find that the majority of media makes us less creative, less curious, even though the people that made it Yes. are curious and creative. Absolutely correct. So I guess so many people feel like at the end of their workday, because they wake up, they do something. A lot of people do something they don't love. A lot of people maybe do something they kind of like. And then by the end of the workday, when they get home, they just want to switch on the TV to switch off. That's right. And it's like, switch on the TV, switch off your mind. Yes. And then that's how the next few hours pass.

• 44:09Jay Shetty?

  How do people find the the energy, the Oh my god. ability to say, actually, you know what? I'm going to use this time to be more curious, to be more creative because that's going to lead to a better world for me and for others. This episode is brought to you by Amtrak. You know that feeling when you're already tired and you haven't even gotten there yet? That's where Amtrak comes in. Leave the driving behind and settle into a comfortable seat with plenty of room to stretch out. Catch up on work with wifi, grab a snack at the cafe car, or just sit back and enjoy your favorite podcast. Choose a cellar or northeast regional and get there without the stress of getting there. Visit amtrak.com to plan your next trip.

• 44:51Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Mazda. The best habits are the ones we hardly notice, the ones that quietly shape the way we move through life, giving us the confidence to focus on what really matters. That's Mazda's approach to safety. Every Mazda is designed with proactive safety features that help keep you more aware, more connected, and more engaged with your drive, so you can stay present behind the wheel. That commitment has earned Mazda recognition as Consumer Reports' safest new car brand. And as of July 2026, Mazda has won more 2026 IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus awards than any other car brand. Visit www.iihs.org to learn more. A lot can happen when an accident doesn't. Mazda, more of what matters to you.

• 45:36Jay Shetty?

  Visit MazdaUSA.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse products or services.

• 45:42Speaker 01

  Well, first of all, no one should be doing things that they don't enjoy. So I have a very simple rule in my life. As I said, I wake up at 4:00 a.m. And the day I feel when I wake up at 4:00 a.m., I'm not jumping out of the bed, that means I'm doing things I don't enjoy. So rule number one, when you wake up in the morning and if you're not jumping out of the bed, you should quit what you're doing, because that's not your calling. When you find your true purpose, find your, you know, North Star. You can never, ever just lie down because you're so driven to solve that problem. If I may say, you know, a lot of people talk about passion. I think the passion is for hobbies.

• 46:26Speaker 01

  Passion is for losers. The true winners have obsession. Obsession to solve the problem, not obsession about things, obsession to solve the problem. When you're truly obsessed about solving a problem, you go to sleep thinking about it and you jump out of the bed wanting to do it. And that, to me, is find something that you're willing to die for and live for it. Find something that you're willing to dedicate your life to solving, and then solve it, right? And, you know, a lot of people give up because there are, anytime you do something, there are going to be the times that things are not working out exactly what you expected. And to me, that's a sign of you're alive.

• 47:09Speaker 01

  Because you're the only way you know when you're alive because you have a heartbeat. And the heartbeat goes up and down and up and down. And when it's smooth, you're dead. So if you're looking for a life that's a smooth life, you're looking for a life of a dead person. Find things when they're going up and down that tells you're alive. When you are down, just hunker down and know that the next beat is going to be up. And when you're on top of that beat, never become too arrogant. Because always remember, the winter is coming and winter shall come, right? And that is the life is that. Most people spend their life thinking they need to make money. So they do something they don't enjoy. Guess what?

• 47:54Speaker 01

  When they come home, they cannot enjoy because they wasted their life doing things they don't enjoy. And they turn the TV on, as you said, to switch off their mind. And now they're being bombarded with the most. If you're watching news, unfortunately, it's all about negativity for many reasons. Our mind are amygdalae looking for negative news. So negative news catches our attention. And that's the reason newscasters know to get your attention. If it bleeds, it leads. They want to talk about all the negative stuff. So you're bombarded and now you're even more negative than you were at work. And the thing in life is to get yourself out of that mode.

• 48:35Speaker 01

  Not only find your purpose, but truly be grateful for the life you're living in.

• 48:43Speaker 01

  Many of us have, you know, culturally or, you know, or sometime religiously. We are told before you eat, do the great, do grace or do the, you know, prayer. Why is that? The reason it is Jay is that. Your body, when it's in the fight or flight response, it stops the digestion. You cannot digest your food because remember, the reason your body used to be in fight or flight response because the tiger chasing you. And at that point, body says, you don't need to worry about digesting your food. It shuts down your immune system, by the way. Because you don't need to worry about immune system because you're going to be lunch for someone else. Or if you survive, then everything calm down and back to normal. Today, we live in this world. Where when we are at work, our boss is stressing us out.

• 49:29Speaker 01

  We come home, your spouse is stressing you out. And your constant stress mode and you're constantly in fight or flight response. And then we eat food in the flight or flight response. It doesn't get digested. Our immune system is not working, so we get more sick. And then we blame everything on the society. And all it takes is find the job you love. When you come home, be grateful for what you loving family you have. Give them the love and in turn you will receive the love. And I was just reading about the new book. Jay, you're gonna tell me about more about the book on this love. If you can go figure that out, everything changes.

• 50:10Speaker 01

  Because then when you have love, you're always in the sympathetic mode, parasympathetic mode rather than sympathetic.

• 50:17Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, that's such a great answer. I love the idea that you're saying that we're living in a constant state of flight of, fight or flight and a constant state of stress.

• 50:26Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 50:27Jay Shetty?

  And so pretty much every activity we do is in a state of stress.

• 50:31Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 50:33Jay Shetty?

  That perspective of finding what you love is so needed, yet so hard. And also different at different times. Like I remember when I was at college.

• 50:43Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 50:44Jay Shetty?

  And I work, sorry, even before college, when I was at school.

• 50:47Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 50:48Jay Shetty?

  I worked ever since I was fourteen. My parents always wanted me to get a job and I'm very grateful that they set that up. And so from the age of fourteen, I was working. I delivered newspapers. Then I worked at a grocery store. And then I worked in retail and then I was a tutor. I was always working. And I never enjoyed going to the grocery store. But I learned valuable skills there that I still use today, even though I don't work in a grocery store.

• 51:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:18Jay Shetty?

  And what I found is that I.

• 51:19Speaker 01

  What skills did you learn?

• 51:20Jay Shetty?

  Sorry?

• 51:21Speaker 01

  What skills did you learn?

• 51:22Jay Shetty?

  At a grocery store?

• 51:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:24Jay Shetty?

  I had to, part of my shift was I had to, whenever the truck would come with a delivery.

• 51:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:30Jay Shetty?

  I would have to get one of these handheld pallet pullers.

• 51:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:35Jay Shetty?

  Go into the back of the truck, put it underneath the pallets.

• 51:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:38Jay Shetty?

  Lift it back up and pull it out and then stack it. Now I hate to doing that.

• 51:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:42Jay Shetty?

  Like I absolutely hate to doing that. And I would try and avoid it at any cost. But that genuinely, I believe, gave me the skill or the ability to do things I don't enjoy doing.

• 51:53Speaker 01

  Great.

• 51:53Jay Shetty?

  For something useful.

• 51:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 51:55Jay Shetty?

  In the sense of like, I didn't enjoy doing that task. I didn't love doing it, but there are so many things that you have to do, even when you're building

• 52:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:02Jay Shetty?

  your purpose.

• 52:03Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 52:03Jay Shetty?

  That you don't want to do that specific thing.

• 52:05Speaker 01

  But you have a purpose.

• 52:06Jay Shetty?

  But you have a purpose. At the grocery store, I didn't have a purpose, but I at least learned to be able to have a discipline of when it's your turn.

• 52:13Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 52:13Jay Shetty?

  You've got to show up. You can't just tap out and say, I don't want to do it. And again, these are small skills. These are not, but I definitely knew, I pretty much knew everything in every aisle. Like I, I knew where it was.

• 52:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:26Jay Shetty?

  So if someone asked me, where do I find bread?

• 52:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:28Jay Shetty?

  I knew it was aisle twenty one. If someone knew, and that simple idea, like today, when I'm sitting down and interviewing or I have to prepare. I can pretty much sit down and memorize things fairly quickly.

• 52:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:38Jay Shetty?

  And I don't think memorization for exams is good, but memory is useful in life.

• 52:42Speaker 01

  Very useful.

• 52:43Jay Shetty?

  For so many things.

• 52:43Speaker 01

  Of course it is.

• 52:44Jay Shetty?

  And so now when I read books, I can memorize what's on a page. I can get back to that page because I feel there was a lot at that time. So I guess what I'm saying is that even if you don't love what you're doing, you can learn to love something about it.

• 52:58Speaker 01

  Love it, love it.

• 52:58Jay Shetty?

  Because you can extrapolate a skill.

• 53:01Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 53:01Jay Shetty?

  That will be useful when you find your purpose. And so I found that a lot of jobs have not been, I've worked so many jobs that I don't, today I live fully in my purpose. So it's, it's much easier, but I've lived so many jobs that weren't in my purpose, but they've all taught me something that is now useful.

• 53:18Speaker 01

  But my point, that is, isn't, I think what you said, I think I want to just a double click on that is that even the job that you're doing. Find something about that job that you fall in love with.

• 53:28Jay Shetty?

  Yes, yes, yes, yes. And I think we agree is what I'm saying.

• 53:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 53:31Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. And I just want to clarify that for people that even if you're doing something where you don't love the whole thing.

• 53:36Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 53:37Jay Shetty?

  And you may not be in a financial position or a family position to quit your job. At least for now, look for the thing about it that you love.

• 53:44Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 53:45Jay Shetty?

  Because that will always stay with you.

• 53:47Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 53:47Jay Shetty?

  And so I I love the direction in which we're going and I'm glad that we're talking about life, we're talking about curiosity, we're talking about how you set your kids up. How do you think you would have responded? Or when your kids were younger and maybe they weren't so externally successful and they they almost may have had some pushback.

• 54:08Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 54:08Jay Shetty?

  I'm wondering if the kids had any pushback.

• 54:10Speaker 01

  Well, they did, of course they did, of course they did.

• 54:11Jay Shetty?

  Because I feel like, I don't know any kid who doesn't think.

• 54:14Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 54:15Jay Shetty?

  Kids grow up thinking their parents are not cool.

• 54:16Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 54:17Jay Shetty?

  And then when they grow up, then they're like, oh, no, my parents were right. They they are much more cool than I thought they were. Can you tell us a bit about some of those moments where the kids kind of didn't agree with your philosophy or theory? And what did that look like?

• 54:30Speaker 01

  Well, you know, a lot of these times when the kids, like, for example, when we're talking about that your success is all about the number of lives you improve. I remember my oldest son said, what our dad? And then he walks, you know, he says, Dad, at the end of the day, money matters. And I told them, it only matters when you actually believe it matters. Because most of the time you don't need much for it to matter. After the basic needs are met, after that, it's all, it doesn't matter, right? He and I would a lot of discussions, say, I want to buy this pair of shoes. And I said, I don't think that makes sense for you to be owning a $200 pair of shoes at this point. And he said, Dad, I'm going to go get it and I'm going to go earn it.

• 55:14Speaker 01

  And I said, sure, if that's what you want to do, that that's what matters to you, go do it. But I would rather have you spend that time in learning new skills than trying to go do some menial job because you want a you want a pair of shoes. And that was very interesting, and I think maybe I want to just expand on that. Lot of parents. Even the successful parents would say, oh, I don't want to give my kids things to spoil them. I want them to work. I want them to go do the menial tasks so they understand what the money means to them. And I think to some extent, you know, people may disagree with that. My philosophy was very different.

• 55:57Speaker 01

  My philosophy was my job is to teach you as many things as I possibly can. And once you learn those set of skills, those are the skills you'll have for the rest of your life. That means instead of going out and earning money to pump the gas, I'd rather have you go out and take a summer courses. And I'll pay for it, right? I would rather have you go and do internship at some place where you can learn something and not focus on making money. Even if it's unpaid, but that's a skill you want to learn, go do it, even if it's unpaid. So it's always about learning, learning and learning. And the best example I can give is something I think you'll find funny. When my daughter was sixteen years old, she came to me one day and said, Dad, I know you love science and technology.

• 56:42Speaker 01

  I have found my passion and that's what I'm going to pursue. And I just don't want to do anything to do with science and technology. And at that point, most parents would say, sweetie, tell me what your passion is and I want to help you with that. My response to her was, you're too young to have a passion. Dad hasn't done his job of exposing you to everything. So you don't even know the things you don't know. How can you tell me you don't like them? So I said, so she said, Dad, what is it that you want me to do then? And I said, sweetie, what I want you to go is to go to Singularity University. I want you to learn about nanotechnology. I want you to learn about genetics. I want you to learn about artificial intelligence. I want you to learn about everything. And she rolled her eyes.

• 57:27Speaker 01

  And by the way, and that's the article I wrote on Ink Magazine. If you want to find it, it's called An Entrepreneur Versus His Eye-Rolling Teenage Daughter. That's cool. I like that. Now, she says, Dad, I just, you don't hear a word I said. I told you I don't like science and technology. And I said, sweetie. You don't know what these things are, so how can you tell me you don't like them? But here is the wor- here is what I can do for you. If you promise me that you're going to go there with a my open mind wanting to learn and wanting to like. What I would promise you is when you come back, you get to decide what you want. Because I have done my job of exposing you to things and you get to pick what you want to do. And she said, Dad, if you promise me that, I'll go there with an open mind and I'll do that.

• 58:12Speaker 01

  She goes there, comes back and the first thing she opens the door. Uh, she said, Dad, I've made up my mind. And my first words I remember was, oh, S. And she said, I've made up my mind. Tell me what, what you want. I said, Dad, I've decided I'm going to be either a geneticist or I'm going to be a neuroscientist. I shook my head and I said, sweetie, at the risk of you changing your mind, can you tell me what happened? She said, Daddy, you're so dumb. I'm in high school. I go to these classes in science. I mix things and they change color and I'm thinking, why do I care?

• 58:46Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 58:47Speaker 01

  When I went to Singularity University, what I realized was, I care about, my passion is about women's health. How can I do that if I don't even know how their body works? How can I go change women's life if I don't even know how they think? So to me, the science and technology is simply the tools in my tool chest for me to pursue the purpose I want, right? So guess what? If I had done what most parents have done, they would have, she would have never been exposed to these things. She would have never found her true love and world would have missed out on a great entrepreneur. Guess what? When she graduated, she did first company using A I to remove gender bias.

• 59:31Speaker 01

  And now she's using A I to improve women's health. This is simply because we pursued her to follow, learn rather than simply do something that she wanted to do.

• 59:44Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, I, what I like about where this is going is that. And as you were saying this, I was like, I need to talk to another guest that we've had on about this. I don't know if you know Dr. Gabor Maté. And he's an incredible Yep. expert on child trauma and illness and everything. And I now know what I'm going to ask him based on this conversation. I've always agreed with exposing yourself to as many ideas, thoughts, learning as possible. And you might disagree with that. And it's so funny that I agree with your daughter because I thought I hated science at school. Yeah. And then when I grew up and I started reading behavioral science Yes. and neuroscience. I love it. I love this. I didn't believe science was about the brain. Exactly.

• 1:00:26Jay Shetty?

  I thought science was about like photosynthesis, which I didn't find interesting. Or it was about cutting a cell open and looking at the layers, which I didn't find interesting. Exactly. And then I was like, but if I knew at fifteen or sixteen that science was about, you could learn about the brain. Oh, my God. And how the brain works and how that have, I would have been glued. Every, every girl in the school would have loved you, Jay. Everything would have changed, like everything would have changed. But I didn't know that, right? I didn't know that because the way we were taught a certain subject Yep. was so ba-, not even basic, but it was so specific, like plant. I've never found plant biology to be interesting. No, do I, by the way. But if someone told me about the brain, the human brain, I find it so interesting.

• 1:01:10Jay Shetty?

  And so I can understand, I didn't, I didn't have someone in my life who could have sent me to Singularity University. So I missed out. But, uh, but, but I can vibe with that. So I think exposing yourself to as many new ideas, more learning, rather than trying to get too fixated too quickly. That's right. Is, is a really good lesson. And that's, and also what you're saying that when people, when children are growing up. My parents encouraged me to do so many things that were uncomfortable for me. Yes. That actually turned out to be superpowers. And there were also things they encouraged me to do that were uncomfortable, that did not turn out to be superpowers, and both are okay. I I remember my parents really wanted me to go to the school that I went to, uh, high school that I went to, because it was a great high school.

• 1:01:55Jay Shetty?

  And if you asked any kid while we were in that high school.

• 1:01:58Speaker 01

  They hated it.

• 1:01:59Jay Shetty?

  We hated it. But now when I look back, I am so grateful I went to the high school because I learned so much. And now I look back and I feel so happy that my parents pushed me to do that. Even with simple things, like my parents were really scared that I was gonna be a shy kid. Uh, because I was very quiet, I was very self-contained, I was very shy. And my parents forced me to go to public speaking and drama school. I went for seven years to public speaking and drama school. Today, my whole life is public speaking. And I always think about them, like, if I didn't go, and I didn't like going, I I hated going. It was so uncomfortable to stand in front of a teacher and learn how to speak and communicate. But today, my whole life is based on communication. And I was thinking, if my parents didn't push me.

• 1:02:43Jay Shetty?

  If my parents didn't encourage me, I would never be able to do what I do today.

• 1:02:46Speaker 01

  So that's what I was, you know, I think you and I talking about that. It's not in your genes, it's the nurturing, it is what they gave you, the lessons and made you uncomfortable. And sometimes what we find in life is that if you can learn to love the discomfort, the comfort becomes very easy.

• 1:03:07Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, exactly. And and to constantly move in that direction that just because someone finds something uncomfortable, that we should, we feel, we think that if something's uncomfortable, we should avoid it. But the truth is that discomfort is where all the growth comes. And I I again encourage people to try, I think the idea of trying more things is.

• 1:03:31Speaker 01

  And being exposed to more ideas and more things. And I think that's something we lack.

• 1:03:36Jay Shetty?

  The dots more, otherwise you have no dots to connect.

• 1:03:38Speaker 01

  That's absolutely right. And I think, you know, we tend to find people who are just like us because that's what people want. But I think we learn a lot from people who are unlike us.

• 1:03:48Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely, absolutely. And and they did a study at MIT which showed that. People were more creative, innovative and productive when they knew people who didn't know each other.

• 1:04:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:04:01Jay Shetty?

  The idea that if you know people who know people who know you,

• 1:04:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:04:04Jay Shetty?

  you just create an echo chamber where you all have the same ideas and you share the same thoughts.

• 1:04:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:04:08Jay Shetty?

  Whereas if you have someone in your community who thinks differently or randomly or

• 1:04:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:04:13Jay Shetty?

  whatever it may be, it can spark so much more. I, I wonder, this is the, the last area I want to talk to you about.

• 1:04:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:04:18Jay Shetty?

  Is, I love the idea that you inculcated into your kids, the idea of improving other people's lives, Yes. doing something good for others. How do you find, have you also, were you aware also as a parent about how to help them with their personal mental health and their personal wellbeing?

• 1:04:39Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 1:04:39Jay Shetty?

  Because what we find is, at the moment, we find either or. We see people who sacrifice their own wellbeing for the wellbeing of others. And we see people who are just struggling with their own wellbeing, that they can't extend themselves to others. I wonder if you were a parent that was conscious of also mental health and wellbeing and, and personal wellbeing?

• 1:04:58Speaker 01

  Well, at the end of the day, there is no parent, at least I don't know of any parent, who don't want their kids to be happy, right? So to me, that is just part of in loving someone unconditionally, that you do anything to make them happy or anything for their happiness, right? And I'm not suggesting you sacrifice. You know, there's, you know, go slightly tangent, there's things that in life that matter the most is that unconditional love that you can receive or the unconditional love that you can give. And very few types of love that in my humble opinion that are unconditional are,

• 1:05:38Speaker 01

  you know, we may say we love our spouse unconditionally, but that is still, you know, it's not the same as the love between mom and a child or, you know, that love is just so strong. I mean, no one can ever say that. In fact, I think I last time, I think when you and I talked about, I may have shared this story that I still, to me, resonates the best. There was this kid who wanted to join the gang. And, and the, you know, gang member said, I don't think you're ready. And he said, no, I'm ready to do anything you want. And he says, if you are really that ready, what I would like you to do would be to show me that you can do anything that needs done is to go. Take your mom while she's alive. Cut her heart and bring the beating heart back to us.

• 1:06:23Speaker 01

  Then we know you can do this. The kid says, I can do this and goes there literally. Stabs her mom, takes the beating heart out and then he is walking out. He stumbles and falls down and the heart and he hears the beating heart says, son, are you okay? That unconditional love where mom says the only thing that matters to her was, are you okay? Not what you did to me. And that kind of unconditional love always brings the tears to my eye that mother didn't care. She simply wanted to make sure that my son was okay. Right? Because he stumbled and fell down, right? To me, when you want to do things for your children, sometime the children may not think it is good for them.

• 1:07:06Speaker 01

  And it is your job to be an adult and say, in the long term, it is going to be good for you. Whether it is sending you to the school or a speech, you know, or going to the public speaking. But at the same time, you wanting them to be a mini version of you is where I think parents go wrong. The kids should not be molded to be another mini me. And then mini me concept happens more often than we want. The kids of the lawyer become lawyer, the kids of the doctor become doctor, kids of the teacher become teacher because they all try to make them to be themselves. What I think you and I both agree that our job is to expose them to as many different things as possible. Give them as many dots as they can.

• 1:07:51Speaker 01

  So someday they are able to connect these dots and create their own canvas. And give them that open canvas that they get to create. And they can only create that canvas when you give them also the curiosity and imagination. So they can create whatever they want to create and give them that. Inspiration that is nothing they want to do is impossible. And the only thing that's impossible is the one they believe is not possible. That means they get to decide what is possible and what's not possible. No one else can decide. And the ideas, when they are different, it's okay to be different.

• 1:08:33Speaker 01

  Because when people tell you it's crazy idea, those are the ideas that are worth pursuing. Right? That when someone tells you it's a crazy idea, it is an audacious idea that you can go out with. Right? But what you don't want to be doing things is, is to simply live a comfortable life and live a smooth life. Right? That is, to me, the day you stop learning is the day you start dying.

• 1:09:01Jay Shetty?

  Naveen, it has been such a pleasure talking to you as always. I want to let everyone who know, everyone who's watching or listening know as well. If you want to know more about how Naveen thinks, grab his book, Moon Shots. If you're someone that wants to set goals, if you're someone that wants to set audacious goals and try and achieve them, Moon Shots is the book for you. If you want to find out more about your gut microbiome, the company is called Viome, V I O M E. We will put the link in the show notes as well. If you want to get a gut test done to understand more about everything that we just spoke about from that perspective. And the third is Evie about women's health, which we will also add into the show notes. Naveen, it has been a joy sitting down with you again, as always, my friend.

• 1:09:42Jay Shetty?

  And every time I sit with you, I definitely feel I can be a little bit more audacious. I feel that I'm always being mindful of my gut when I'm with you. And today, I'm also really, really happy that I feel the message that has really come through is, whatever we do, we have to do it to improve the world around us and continue to serve humanity a lot. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming on today. It's been a pleasure. Thank you.

• 1:10:08Speaker 01

  Well, Jay, I just say you're always been on purpose and I just love spending time with you and I hope to see you again soon.

• 1:10:15Jay Shetty?

  Me too. Thank you, Naveen. If you love this episode, you'll love my interview with Dr. Gabor Maté on understanding your trauma and how to heal emotional wounds to start moving on from the past.

• 1:10:27Speaker 05

  There's a difference between being alone and being lonely. Alone is just a fact that we can embrace and make decisions about. Loneliness.

• 1:10:38Speaker 06

  Mr. President, my company foreme of the explosion on our rig. On October 2nd. Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me. Tom Cruise is. Digger got us into this mess, and Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and The Revenant.

• 1:10:54Speaker 03

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stop, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 1:10:58Speaker 06

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:11:01Speaker 03

  I'm not the first then.

• 1:11:03Speaker 06

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a minute without parent.