108 The 3 Keys to Designing a Life You Wouldn't Trade for Anything with Jairek Robbins

"So many people are so busy being busy that they don't spend time on the foundation of their life." - Jairek Robbins If you enjoyed this interview and want more, check out the show notes at www.lewishowes.com/108. Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

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

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  This is episode number 108 with Jerick Robbins.

• 0:07Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 0:33Lewis Howes?

  What is up everyone? Thank you so much for joining me back on today on the School of Greatness podcast. Very excited about this interview. We've got my man Jerick Robbins on and he's got a new book out called Live It. Achieve Success by Living with Purpose. And the foreword is actually by a good friend of mine, Adam Braun. We actually met at the Pencils of Promise Annual Gala in New York City recently. And for those that don't know, I'm a big supporter of Pencil Promise and what they do. I'm on their advisory board. And I've built a number of schools in Guatemala to support their organization. So check out pencilpromise.org

• 1:14Lewis Howes?

  to give them a quick check out and a shout out to Adam Braun. If you guys haven't heard that episode yet, make sure to check that out after this one. I'll have that linked up in the show notes. But Jerick Robbins is an awesome individual. Was so glad to connect with him and know that a lot of his life has been about giving. And he understands the principle that the more you give, the more you receive and the more that comes into your, into your life and into your business. And Jerick is a decorated performance coach and lifestyle entrepreneur. He guides you through his proven step-by-step process for filling the gap between where you are today and where you want to be. So that's what we're going to be talking about today on this episode. A lot of his stories about his journey, some of the hard work he's been through, his travels, what he learned

• 2:00Lewis Howes?

  in third world countries, a lot of interesting things that Jerick talks about. We also go into what it was like growing up being the son of Tony Robbins and being in the personal development industry and what he's been doing to. Create his own message and deliver his own content. Aside from that, and it's been really interesting to hear. We actually just interviewed um Jerick's father, Tony Robbins, recently, and he's going to be the next episode. So we're going to be tying them up back to back episodes. Just happened to work out that way uh with Tony's new book as well. So I'm excited to put them both together and let you guys uh have some,

• 2:41Lewis Howes?

  you know, fathers. I guess it'll be the first father-son uh back-to-back podcast guests that we have on here. So it'll be pretty interesting. I'm excited. I hope you guys get a lot of value from Jerick. He's an awesome individual. We had a fun time connecting here in LA and I know you guys are gonna dig him. Make sure to check out all of his information. We'll have it linked up with the show notes. Stick around to the very end to get all that information. I know you guys are gonna love this. Let's go ahead and dive into this episode with the one and only Jerick Robbins.

• 3:20Lewis Howes?

  Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness Podcast. Got a new friend here in LA uh with me right now. His name is Mr. Jerick Robbins. What's up, brother?

• 3:31Speaker 01

  What's up, man?

• 3:32Lewis Howes?

  We met at Pencil Promise Gala after-party and uh Michael Traynor, mutual friend, introduced us and you've got a new book out that's forwarded by our buddy Adam Braun. He raised like 2.2 million dollars that night for his uh his charity.

• 3:48Speaker 01

  It was amazing.

• 3:49Lewis Howes?

  It was unbelievable. 750 people. It was like.

• 3:52Speaker 01

  To see the growth and hear about it from six people in a side room to the entire dining room laid out, packed. It was amazing.

• 4:01Lewis Howes?

  It's nuts, Sid. I'm like so impressed with what he's created with his vision. We're having a vision, making it happen, being committed to it like a maniac on a mission and uh you know, in five years, building however many 250 schools or whatever it's been. It's unbelievable, right?

• 4:17Speaker 01

  So cool. It's someone that I believe really resonates with our message of living it. That he figured out what he loved. He figured out what it's about. It was a huge risk to walk away from what he was doing, but he did it anyways. Not knowing what's gonna happen. Twenty five bucks in a bank account.

• 4:32Lewis Howes?

  Twenty five years old.

• 4:33Speaker 01

  Twenty five years old. Five years later, I mean, twenty fifty schools. It's amazing.

• 4:38Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, he's a, yeah.

• 4:39Speaker 01

  I couldn't think of anyone better to kind of lead with our book with, just someone who literally lives it. Like, he lives the message of follow your dreams, do what you love, find a way to make it work. And if you hustle and you do it with passion and purpose, it'll work.

• 4:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah, he's awesome. So, so tell me about this book. I want to dive into this. It's, it just came out. It's called Live It: Achieve Success by Living with Purpose. Why did you write this book? Why did you write it now? And what can people expect from this book?

• 5:06Speaker 01

  So I attempted to write this book probably about ten years ago. And then I attempted again to write this book probably about five years after that. And it was the right time for it to finally come out. And what had happened in the past is I would get about ninety eight pages in. And then think about what I wanted to write next and realize I haven't lived that. Like, I know it.

• 5:28Lewis Howes?

  You want to preach it and talk about it?

• 5:29Speaker 01

  Exactly. Intellectually, I understand it.

• 5:31Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 5:32Speaker 01

  I had been trained in the tools and I was able to coach people through it. And, you know, I had two hundred and fifty hours of base training and six years of coaching within a big company. And, and so I had the experience of knowing that the tool works.

• 5:44Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 5:44Speaker 01

  And it gets results. And I've helped people get results with it. Yet, it wasn't applicable in my own life to the extent that it's like, I've done this. This is, this is something that works for me, too.

• 5:54Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 5:54Speaker 01

  And it was just a tool I knew about. And so I had to wait for those moments in my life to occur. That the challenges, the upsides, the downsides, um, the, the near death stuff, the, the real raw gritty life experiences that happen.

• 6:07Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 6:07Speaker 01

  For me to look back and say, wow, I've really had to use this tool in a moment that it was not working. And it, I mean, life.

• 6:18Lewis Howes?

  Not just theorize about it.

• 6:19Speaker 01

  No, like, things were falling apart and I had to figure out how to get certain in a moment of radical uncertainty. You know, I was told I had five days left to live and it's like, well, what do you do then? And it's a moment where it seems like you, there's no future. How do you build a future in a moment where there is none? You know, you face obstacles where people tell you it's not going to work and that'll, that's stupid. Give that up, turn around, do something else. This isn't right. And they try to redirect you with their vision or their plan. You gotta figure out how in the world do you stand up against that realistically and make it through? And so all these things happened over the years. And I looked back and I said, what were the most important lessons that made me me? And if it was a book about my life and everything I've done, it'd be boring after probably about a chapter. It's like, oh, good for you.

• 7:02Lewis Howes?

  We all want to write that book, but it's boring. Yeah, yeah.

• 7:05Speaker 01

  You know, until I'm president of the world and other things, I don't think people care at this point. And it seems fun to tell the story, but it doesn't, it's like, nah, it's just my story. Everyone has a story.

• 7:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 7:15Speaker 01

  And so I thought back and I said, you know, what are the things that work for me? But more importantly, what are the things that work for a good majority of my clients consistently? That not only made a slight difference in their life, but radically transformed their life. And so I started combing through and looking for these people. And the very first thing that stood out to me was designing a life that you wouldn't trade for anything. Just a simple day to day life. And it can be a simple, complex for some people, but most people, it's just a simple day to day life. And it's like, what would that day be for you? Who would you be? Where would you go? How would you feel? What would be possible? Who would you be with? What are the emotions you feel? How much energy would you have? The simplistic things. But what would that perfect day be?

• 7:57Speaker 01

  And I remember I had a client who I had asked this question to on the very first call we ever talked. And he would refer by another client of mine. And he, at the time, he worked for one of the largest world banks. He was in charge of their entire book of business for oil and gas worldwide. And he was successful, nine years building up the ladder. He was a managing director, I think it was called. It's one level below managing partner, which is the highest place you can go in the firm. And so multiple six figure salary, seven figure bonus check every year. Like has the title, has the connections, doing business globally, running the, you know, the book of business out of London office. It's amazing. Everyone's dreaming for that position in that field. And I asked him, I said, you know, what would your perfect day be?

• 8:41Speaker 01

  And I remember him sitting back and saying, you know, if I had the day I wanted, I'd wake up in the countryside. I'd be connected to the planet and to nature. I had my family there. I would, you know, have a pet. I would go for a run, maybe on the beach or something and like just feel alive. I would have this day where I'm working on something I'm passionate about and like changing the way things are done in some industry. I would have time for yoga and meditation and connecting with life. And he just described this beautiful, simple day. Completely different than what he was doing. Radically different. Cause that was the next question. How does that compare to what you do now? And he's like, I live in central London. I'm nowhere close to nature. It's gloomy out all day. Dark all the time. He's like, I have a fiance, but it doesn't feel like, it's not what I dream of.

• 9:27Speaker 01

  He's like, I don't have a pet like that. It's like, it doesn't match. And it was fascinating because we used pretty much chapters two through 12 over the next two and a half years with him to reshape his life into that day. And I remember probably about a year, maybe a year and a half ago, him calling and we've worked together ever since. And I remember him calling one day and being like, remember the first question you asked me? And all honesty, I was like, no, it was two freaking years ago, dude. Like, I have no clue. He's like, you should take better notes. And I started laughing and he pulled it up and he goes, you asked me what my perfect day would be. And he said, I just want to let you know, I lived every single thing on that page I wrote down two years ago.

• 10:07Speaker 01

  I lived it today. I woke up in the Hamptons in my new house I just bought. I went for a run on the beach. With my dog. Yeah, with my family. I feel connected. I came home. My wife's there. I think he was just about to have his first baby. He had an office out back. He was walking around on the phone, developing a business that literally changed the way in the industry he's in is done. He's doing business with like the largest people in his industry who he would have never even thought he could have connections to in the past. Right. And I mean, he's getting ready to raise like 500 million to a billion dollars of capital for his business. Everyone's on board. It's ridiculous. Wow. And he's like, you know, I just want to say thanks. Cause if you didn't ask me that question.

• 10:50Speaker 01

  I wouldn't be here because I would never have had this vision.

• 10:53Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 10:54Speaker 01

  I'd just be grinding away, doing what I thought I was supposed to.

• 10:56Lewis Howes?

  Wow. That's interesting. That's a powerful question. It's so interesting you say that because a couple of episodes ago, episode 103, I talked about the power of clarity. And I gave people an exercise to write out their perfect day and post a picture of their perfect day on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook. So I have all these people posting their perfect day and they're telling me what's opening up for them and what they really want. And I think it's such a simple way to look at it. Like, what is it you really want? What's your perfect day look like? Obviously, it's going to shift and change from day to day. You know, because if every day was the same, it would be boring. But in spirit, what is your day, your perfect day look like? And I think that's something, you know, now that you're coming on and sharing that that's like really what should be the foundation is visualizing that.

• 11:39Lewis Howes?

  It's reinforcing what we just talked about here on the School of Greatness. So that's cool.

• 11:42Speaker 01

  The reason you start with just a day is because a perfect life is a big chunk.

• 11:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 11:50Speaker 01

  Describe the perfect 20 years.

• 11:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, right?

• 11:52Speaker 01

  You're like, well, I don't know what to do with that.

• 11:55Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 11:55Speaker 01

  But if you say, listen, just use a day.

• 11:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 11:57Speaker 01

  And if you can figure out how to turn that day into reality, what it does is create hope. And it creates a strength in the belief system that says it's possible. And once you get one day, why not two? Why not three? Why not get a variety of 10 different days that you start circulating in? Why not build it out to the perfect month and year and five, 10, 20 year plan, which is the last chapter of the book? You know, once you've gotten one day, the reality, how do you maximize and quadruple and grow that day out? So that you really get to live it in all different ways.

• 12:25Lewis Howes?

  Very cool. What, um, how long did it take you to write this book?

• 12:30Speaker 01

  I'm trying to think. We were living down in Costa Rica.

• 12:32Lewis Howes?

  You mean, we, you mean you and your wife now, right?

• 12:34Speaker 01

  Yep, me and my wife now. We were engaged at the time. We packed up our stuff. We were moving to Florida. We bought a house. Or we thought we bought a house. The week before we were about to close, the bank told us that the deal didn't come through the way we thought. So we literally took out a map and a compass and we drew a big circle around Fort Lauderdale Airport because we had all our flights booked out of that airport for the next like six months for business. And we drew a big circle and we started just. Racing out all the different cities we could live in, how much it would cost, how much the flights in and out were. And when we hit Costa Rica, there is a hundred and twenty dollar JetBlue flight, direct flight from San Jose, Costa Rica, straight to Fort Lauderdale. Hundred and twenty bucks, ninety nine bucks sometimes. And we were like, done, let's go live on the beach. Wow.

• 13:18Speaker 01

  And so we just randomly moved to Costa Rica. We got a little house in in Langosta, right outside of Tamarindo. And we lived on the beach for a few months and we rode it while we were there. How was it, living in Costa Rica? Amazing. I love, as much as I love living in the US. Yep. I love living out of the US in places that are developing and places that aren't quite as fast moving and go, go, go, go, go, more, more, more, bigger, bigger, bigger, better, better, better as the US. Places where people just enjoy life. And you know, they they work to live, not live to work. Yeah. And when you start shifting that philosophy and you get around people, it just adjusts your personal psychology of life and reminds you about what's most important.

• 13:58Speaker 01

  And a lot of people forget that. We get so caught up in what I refer to as the minors, all the things that seem like they're so important. If we don't do them right now, we're gonna die. Yeah, the small stuff. Yeah, I gotta answer that email. I gotta, I gotta post this on Instagram. I gotta, I gotta get to this real quick. I gotta get to the meeting. I gotta talk to this person. And you get to a place where things slow down. And you're like, well, talking to the person's important, but everything else can kind of wait. I don't need to just email right now. Yeah. And you start to enjoy the process. And so we got down there and it was interesting because with that slower pace of life, we actually probably doubled our ability to get things done productively because there weren't any distractions.

• 14:38Speaker 01

  There weren't fifty text messages coming in from friends. There weren't a bunch, you know, millions of things pulling our attention in every direction. Events every night or everywhere, you know. No, it was simple, but productive. And so we actually wrote the book while we were there. And it took us about maybe a month and a half. Wow, that's nice. And we also redid an entire online program of sixty modules online. We filmed them, re-edited everything. So we got a lot done while we were there in a month and a half. And you got to chill on the beach. Yeah, and we're hanging out on the beach, going surfing, hanging out, seeing the turtles. It was cool. That's really cool. And then from there, we shopped it around. And we had a few different offers and we got one that we loved with a publishing group that we believe in. Someone we think is kind of the future of publishing, at least from the research we did.

• 15:19Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 15:20Speaker 01

  We also got more no's than we could have expected and imagined. I think it's part of the business.

• 15:25Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, of course.

• 15:26Speaker 01

  You go to pitch something, it's like, no, no, no, no, maybe, no, no.

• 15:31Speaker 01

  And it was fun and we expected that, we had fun with that. We learned to enjoy the upside just as much as the downside and challenges just as much as opportunity. And it worked out and it finally came to fruition. And our main, main goal with this book is to provide a tool for people and it's a workbook. It's not a read it and oh wow, that was awesome. I'll warn you, it is not like.

• 15:52Lewis Howes?

  The cutting edge technology of life.

• 15:54Speaker 01

  Yeah. You know, if you're someone who's looking for the scientific tools to change everything, like this is not going to give you the newest research on all the most specific things you're looking for. What it will give you is a simple workbook that delivers results.

• 16:07Lewis Howes?

  But effective, yeah.

• 16:07Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 16:08Lewis Howes?

  Simple way to look at life and see what you really want and how to get it.

• 16:11Speaker 01

  Yep, and it works for people who are multimillion dollar bankers to people who are just, you know, single. And I think this one's probably more important or just as important, but it's, you know, stay at home mom.

• 16:23Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 16:24Speaker 01

  Is a freelance writer.

• 16:25Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 16:25Speaker 01

  She used it just as effective in her life as, you know, a mid-level manager in a carpet company and.

• 16:30Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 16:30Speaker 01

  You know, one of my favorite people, he's a raving, raving fan, but one of my best friends at the same time. He's a chief master sergeant in the US Navy or US Air Force. And he loves it.

• 16:41Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 16:42Speaker 01

  He, I'm so blessed, he recommends it to everyone for their morning, I think it's POs or I forget the terms, but.

• 16:48Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 16:49Speaker 01

  He like, he's recommended all the time, like use this for your training, use this for your group, use this for leadership. And it's someone who holds such a high position and manages, he's in charge of all the commentaries. So it's like billions of dollars of revenue come through all of his, his projects. And this is one of his favorite books to recommend to all of his team members to set their vision up and set their life up and have the right tools to build their character and build who they are.

• 17:12Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 17:12Speaker 01

  To get the most out of every day.

• 17:14Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, there's some really cool exercises in here. I definitely recommend checking them out and going through it. Talk about emotional stacking, which is kind of cool, these exercises. sizes here. What's your thoughts on hard work and urgency?

• 17:25Speaker 01

  Oh, I love hard work. I didn't always.

• 17:28Lewis Howes?

  Tell me about that.

• 17:29Speaker 01

  I'll give you some background. That's really interesting is one of the greatest fears my father ever had about me as a kid was not liking the work hard. And growing up in a generation that we, you know, I took offense when he said, you don't know what hard work is. And I'd be like, you know, blah, what do you mean I don't know what hard work is? I worked plenty hard, Lemuel.

• 17:50Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 17:51Speaker 01

  And I always felt like someone was harping on me and I never understood the concept. And he finally explained it one day where it made sense. And he says, I'm not saying that you don't know how to work hard. You do know how to work extremely hard at the stuff you enjoy doing. He said, stuff you don't enjoy doing, you avoid like the plague. And we have this awesome term, you know, in our generation called outsourcing, or I'll get someone else to do it. I'll outsource it. I'll, I'll hire someone for that. I'll, I'll give it to someone else. We avoid these things. And what he warned me about, and it's something I read about in the book, is there's gonna be a time and place that you're gonna have to do that stuff. And if you don't learn how to fall in love with it, you're screwed.

• 18:34Speaker 01

  And I remember hearing that and thinking about it and being like, really? I don't know. And he said, listen, why don't we give you a lesson in this to really, really, really experience this full out? And I was like, sure, I'm game. What do you got? And he said, why don't you come up to Canada, stay with my stepfamily? And my stepgrandpa, he started off as, you know, just working on a lumberyard stacking lumber to being a foreman, a manager, a co-owner, an owner, and eventually sold it and owns the land underneath it of a few lumberyards. And he said, why don't you come up here and work? And everyone on that side of the family has always worked at a lumberyard. Some hated it, some loved it, some still do it. So it's not a big thing up there. It's just everyone does it, part of the family. And so I came up and, and at the time I was

• 19:18Speaker 01

  almost probably around 20 years old, maybe. And I was a kid from California. Like I was not a kid.

• 19:25Lewis Howes?

  Beach boy.

• 19:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, I didn't know how to stack lumber and work hard. And he was right. I avoided hard. Hard work like the plague.

• 19:31Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 19:31Speaker 01

  I love doing what I love. If I love, you know, working out, training my body, I love doing that. I could work that all day long. Doing something I didn't like to do wasn't for me. You know, I had something else I had to get to. I had to.

• 19:43Lewis Howes?

  You're right, right.

• 19:44Speaker 01

  There's always an excuse of why I couldn't do it. He was spot on. And I think this generation of people, us young guys, you know, 40s, 50s even nowadays, you see people who are 47 years old, counting on mom and dad to still pay the phone bill.

• 19:56Lewis Howes?

  Of course, yeah.

• 19:57Speaker 01

  And it's not because they're not capable.

• 19:59Lewis Howes?

  They feel entitled or they feel, yeah.

• 20:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's not.

• 20:01Lewis Howes?

  They're lazy.

• 20:02Speaker 01

  They're completely capable of it.

• 20:03Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 20:03Speaker 01

  They've never learned how to do the hard work they don't like.

• 20:06Lewis Howes?

  So how does someone learn how to appreciate and be excited about working hard? Like if they've been one way their whole life, entitled or whatever, given things to or whatever, how does someone shift and say, okay, I want to work really hard now? Even at the stuff that I don't love doing. What are some things that people, is it possible that someone could shift to love doing that?

• 20:26Speaker 01

  Hundred percent. The simplest thing is shifting your mindset first and saying, you know what? I take pride in doing this. Not an external pride of like, I'm going to show the world how great I am, an internal pride. And it's progress. It's saying, listen, I'm going to look at this as making progress. And every time I can get one step further than I've ever been before, I'm going to be damn proud of myself. And when you can own that within yourself, all of a sudden, all the hustle, all the hard work, all those times and hours and effort you have to put in, becomes something you're really excited to do.

• 20:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 20:56Speaker 01

  And it meets your needs. It makes you feel fulfilled. It makes you feel excited. Shifting your mindset. I remember halfway through stacking lumber, I started getting all these thoughts of entitlement. And you hear a lot of young people in the workplace say these things to themselves nowadays, which is, I'm better than this.

• 21:10Lewis Howes?

  I should be running this.

• 21:11Speaker 01

  I should be running this. They're, you know, the people doing this are, I don't know how to say it nicely.

• 21:16Lewis Howes?

  Beneath me.

• 21:17Speaker 01

  Beneath me.

• 21:18Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 21:18Speaker 01

  You know, they're so slow. I could do this better. You know, the management should really have a meeting with me because I could teach them how to run the whole company better. On their third day of work when the company's been up for 52 years.

• 21:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, right.

• 21:29Speaker 01

  I should be getting paid more than this. I deserve more respect than this. And I heard all these thoughts in my own head while I'm stacking lumber.

• 21:36Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 21:37Speaker 01

  And I remember sitting there and thinking and hearing them and being like, whoa, he was right. I really do have these thoughts. And this being dumbfounded, being like, this is not cool. And I remember the next day having a heart to heart in the mirror with myself, just staring myself down in the mirror. And listening to every single thought of entitlement that crossed my mind and questioning it. Life owes me something? Bull.

• 22:00Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 22:00Speaker 01

  You know, if I'm alive, if there's a breath in my body, that means I owe life everything. How do I give more than I've ever received today? You know, these people owe me respect? Bull. I owe them respect. This is their full-time job and they bust their tail every day doing this. You know, wow. I kneel down and just say, I'm impressed. If you can do that for your family, the ones you love, partially because it might be in a circumstance, partially because you choose to, I'm impressed. And there was a guy who was 90, I forget how old he was, maybe not 90, he was probably 78 years old. They called him Uncle Dubai because he had stacked lumber in Dubai in 110 degree weather. He'd stacked lumber in Canada in negative, you know, I forget the Celsius, but you know, negative degrees.

• 22:40Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 22:40Speaker 01

  In the snow, in the sun, like everywhere and he keeps going. And I asked him why he did it and he says, you know, in, in the way my culture is, the oldest man of the family pays for everything. So I do this to cover all my family, my grandchildren, my children, my wife, my family. It's amazing. And I started to really appreciate and respect the fact that these people worked so fricking hard for something beyond themselves. It was amazing. And so I questioned myself, I said, you know, they, I should be getting paid more than this. I'm like, no. You know, I'm, I had this thing of, I was so valuable. And I looked around and I said, what's making me valuable?

• 23:14Lewis Howes?

  What results are you creating?

• 23:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. I said, if I want to be valuable, I gotta change the thought process. I gotta become the most valuable person here by adding more value than any person here.

• 23:22Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 23:23Speaker 01

  And everything started to rewire, everything started to shift. And all of a sudden it became a really exciting experience. Cause now I was determined to add more of me to that world to see what I could create.

• 23:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 23:35Speaker 01

  And living in a culture where everyone wants to be the chief and no one wants to be the Indian, it's silly to think that the fastest way, and it's backwards because most people don't realize it. The fastest way to become the chief is become the hardest working Indian.

• 23:46Lewis Howes?

  Right, yeah.

• 23:46Speaker 01

  It's like, if you're the first person to grab the shovel and start digging the hole, everyone follows. And you didn't, you didn't realize, you were so busy digging the hole. You didn't realize, everyone was like, whoa, look at that dude, like, let me jump in now.

• 23:56Lewis Howes?

  Exactly, yeah, it's interesting, you know, playing in sports my whole life, you know, I was never like the best player. I, I started to become one of the best players and became the most valuable players, but I was never the most talented. And I remember it was like, I'm going to, as opposed to thinking that I should be the starter and be the main guy in basketball or football is like, I'm gonna be the hardest working. I'm gonna show that I add the most value. And it may not be me scoring the most points. It may look a different way. Me, me, me scrapping around and me being the biggest hustler, me being the best defender. And when I started to shift to how can I just add the most value to the team on all these different sports I played? That's when I became the most valuable player because I added the most value. And um.

• 24:38Speaker 01

  It's a hard, I was in high school. I was on the offensive line. I don't look like it now. I was a big dude back then. I was five nine, two hundred and twenty five pounds going into high school.

• 24:45Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's crazy.

• 24:46Speaker 01

  And so.

• 24:46Lewis Howes?

  That's big.

• 24:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, I went out for football and they're like, I was like, what do you want to play? I was like, I don't know. They're like, you're a lineman. I was like, wow, okay. Didn't know what that was.

• 24:54Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 24:55Speaker 01

  Um, but it's that thought process and conversation of saying, you know, how do you realize how valuable you are when you're not the star?

• 25:01Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 25:02Speaker 01

  And you don't need to start and eventually you don't want to be the star. Like you don't want to be the spotlight, but you take so much pride in the value you deliver.

• 25:09Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 25:09Speaker 01

  You realize that you are a difference maker. You make or break that moment in the game, every game.

• 25:13Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 25:14Speaker 01

  But you gotta realize that within yourself and then you gotta take that, you know, out of sports and into life and say, how do you apply that to your day to day life? How do you become the person that loves the grind you have every day? And you love it so freaking much that you realize you're a difference maker in the lives of the people you smile at and the lives of the people you work with and the person that you helped grab their groceries for them and all the little tiny things you do consistently and the fastest way there is shifting one of two things or both. Uh, perception and procedure. How you view it?

• 25:42Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 25:42Speaker 01

  The perception you have. I talked about changing my own beliefs in my own head of life owes me something to know. If I have a breath in my body, you know, I owe life everything. And when you start to change those beliefs, the foundational beliefs about what you believe life owes you or you owe life or, or, you know, what you're grateful for, what you're excited about. All those pieces, hard work becomes fun and exciting. It becomes growing yourself as a man or woman. That kind of thing, that foundational belief, the perception shift radically changes everything first. Secondary, procedure. How you physically go about it? You can make anything fun. Um, and I learned it. I looked around at a lumberyard stacking wood all day and I was like, okay, this, this is not fun.

• 26:18Lewis Howes?

  Sucks.

• 26:20Speaker 01

  You're sore, you're tired, it hurts. It's hot, it's cold, whatever. And I had family members who took bets physically on how many days they thought I was gonna last on the lumberyard. So I remember being pissed off and trying to prove a point in the beginning. So I was fired up and I was getting up at four thirty in the morning, lifting weights, running on the treadmill, then eating breakfast. That's nuts. Then going to work all day, then coming home, going straight to the gym, working out again. Oh my god, that's nuts. And then, I mean, doing three days, basically. That's nuts. And my step grandpa on the like the third or fourth day is like, hey pal, I know you're trying to prove a point, but you might want to chill out. You're gonna hurt yourself. Yeah. And I was like, I'm fine. So I kept that literally for three months, every morning at four thirty in the morning. That's nuts. Eventually my body broke down a little again.

• 27:01Speaker 01

  But I kept it up and I was proving that point. And procedurally, though, I love to work out. So I looked around at the lumberyard. I'm like, how can I turn this into something that would actually be enjoyable physically? Cause right now it's just painful and annoying because you're moving the same piece of wood to the same spot, doing the same thing all friggin day. So what'd you do? Procedure. I looked around, I'm like, okay, how can this be a gym? I said, first off, realize you're in British Columbia, Canada in the summer. Beautiful there. It's beautiful. I looked up and took a breath. I'm like, wow, look at the view. Yeah. I'm like, I haven't seen the view in a month because I've been staring at wood, but this is amazing. Yeah. And I was like, second, what if this was a gym? You know, what if every time I squat down to grab that, it's a squat? What if every time I do this is a curl? What if every time I do that, you know, it's a press or a, or a fly? And all of a sudden, everything became sculpting my body.

• 27:47Speaker 01

  And it's something I loved. So I took something I didn't like, matched it with something I loved, and instantly it became something radically exciting. I was like, this is cool. And then, you know, that wasn't it though. Most guys I was working with didn't speak English. So imagine being by yourself doing this all day for months. The final part was how could I make this even more stimulating? And I took probably a hundred and fifty bucks I had in my bank account at the time. And I bought every single iBook I could, or audiobook I could afford, wasn't that many? And then I put it on autoplay and I listened to all of them constantly, nonstop for three months. You were learning, you were growing, you were being inspired. Exactly. And all of a sudden it met all my needs. I was learning, I was emotionally stimulated, I was inspired to show a point, I was physically pushing myself.

• 28:30Speaker 01

  I was sculpting my body in my own perception. I was adding value to these people's lives and business. I was coming up with unique ways to give to them. So it's like I'd wrap my lunch and like wrap an extra, you know, veggie burrito or something and bring it and like share it with the guys at lunch.

• 28:43Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 28:43Speaker 01

  Finding a way to give and be of value to the community I was a part of. And all of a sudden, everything became stimulating and amazing.

• 28:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 28:50Speaker 01

  It's like all those little shifts, perception, procedure, mindset, stimulation, like those little things all of a sudden brought it to life.

• 28:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's interesting. I don't know where I heard this, maybe like Zig Ziglar or something like that, but um, you know, what I heard is when you want to achieve something, the fastest way to getting there is helping others achieve what they want to achieve, something like that.

• 29:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:08Lewis Howes?

  I don't know the exact quote, but it's true. Like the more, if you want to be successful, if you want to like get to your vision, the best way of doing that is supporting others to achieve their vision and adding value to what they're up to in their life.

• 29:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:19Lewis Howes?

  I think it's so important and uh, you know, there's a lot of stuff that I didn't like doing, you know, going to class every day sucked, right? You know, in school, it's especially when I had, you know, I couldn't read and it was like just a challenge. Um, but when I shifted, I remember my senior year, I went from being very cliquey in like the sports, only hanging out with athletes to my senior year, I was like, a lot of my athlete friends had gone because I was playing at varsity when I was younger. So I was like, what am I doing? Like, I want to be friends with everyone. I want to be connected to everyone. And I started adding value to all sorts of people in the arts department and music and not just sports. And I realized, wow, there's some really amazing people here. And if I add value to them, I can learn from everyone and pick up stuff from everyone, you know, even probably even on the lumberyard, it's like, maybe you didn't think you could have learned anything from anyone, but then you probably learned some of your biggest lessons.

• 30:03Speaker 01

  Absolutely. I mean, learning the discipline to serve the ones you love.

• 30:08Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 30:09Speaker 01

  And you know, not only was there the oldest guy there who was working, but there was also a young guy like in his teens or twenties. I remember he was very young and I asked, why was he there stacking lumber? He could be doing anything.

• 30:18Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 30:19Speaker 01

  And he said, no, he said, you know, my, my dad died and I'm the oldest man of our family. So therefore it's my responsibility to show up and take care of the entire family.

• 30:27Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 30:28Speaker 01

  And I remember sitting there and being like, wow, this guy is barely 20 years old. And financially, he's in charge of his brother, his sister, his mom, everybody. And the whole household depends on him. Now, that's a different culture than I was raised in. But the amount of respect I have for that man is off the charts. Because you see someone who's challenged with something that most people will be like, wow, that's tough. And he makes it work and he just loves the process. And it was something where he worked hard and he didn't always love working. At the same time, when you talk to him about it, he was so prideful of the fact that he was able to take care of the ones he loved.

• 31:00Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm. Yeah, I like, that's interesting. I like how you have this five regrets of the dying in here. Was that from something that you learned or was that something that you discovered through interviewing people? Or was that, I forget if that was, I've seen that somewhere.

• 31:13Speaker 01

  I picked that up off an article, but I learned that firsthand.

• 31:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah.

• 31:17Speaker 01

  And, you know, my whole ideal day thing came about because I was living in a village in Uganda. I was teaching organic farming, having a blast, doing, you know, like whitewater rafting down the Nile River.

• 31:25Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 31:26Speaker 01

  Um, just having a ton of fun. And on the night I went river rafting, I'd forgot my bug net and I got stung in the face by a mosquito that night.

• 31:34Lewis Howes?

  You got malaria, right?

• 31:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, I got it. And it stacked up in my body. And I grew up in Southern California with a family who's very holistic and healing. And, you know, my mind, if my, if my mind believes that my body will heal itself, it will.

• 31:47Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 31:47Speaker 01

  And so I, I carried that mantra into a malaria infested village. And the doctor tried to get me to take this medicine. I looked at him, I'm like, no, my body will heal itself. I don't take medicine, I'm fine. And so him and I argued for about an hour. I felt bad for the other patients because him and I were arguing over malaria. Like, I don't take medicine, it's bull, I don't believe in it. And he's like, do you use sunscreen? He's like, this topical medicine, man. I was like, no, that's false. We just argued, we just argued it out. And his final statement to me was like, okay, I've got to prove this to you somehow. He says, here, let me show you some live blood of your blood. And he pulled my blood sample and he threw it up on a screen for me and he says, see this? And he pointed out a bunch of little things and he's like, that is a parasite.

• 32:27Speaker 01

  And he's like, due to, you know, our count, you have 55,000 parasites per one red blood cell right now.

• 32:33Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 32:34Speaker 01

  And he's like, every eight to 10 hours, approximately, they're going to hatch. When they hatch, they Blow it out of the cell and kill it. Then they go and feed on water, so it's going to instantly dehydrate your entire body. Then it's going to go lay eggs in all the other cells. Oh my gosh. And it's going to double. So it goes fifty five thousand, one hundred and ten, two twenty. And he said, at the rate this is doubling and the rate this is going, you have about five days. Wow. And I remember looking at him and my literal response was five days till what? Oh my gosh. A little slow. And he's like, five days till your body won't be able to sustain itself. I was like, what does that mean? Again, a little slow. And he, he looked over, he's like, five days till you die, my friend. Wow. And then he like grabbed the medicine and like slid it across the table. He's like, or you have another option. I was like, this guy's a good salesman, first off. Yeah. Death or living.

• 33:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I looked at him. And I, I just remember hearing all of my beliefs of what I was taught and what I grew up around and what I knew to be true in my own life. And thinking like, I don't know, I feel like he's wrong. So I looked at him and as stubborn as ignorant as I am in that moment, I looked at him, I was like, well, I'll see you on day six, doc. And I grabbed the medicine and walked out of the room. And I remember walking out of that room and just like my hands shaking and being like, oh my goodness. I, I'm trying to like look strong and act cool right now, but yeah, I'm freaking out. I'm on the other side of earth. I'm, I was in Uganda at the time. I'm nowhere near my family, nowhere near loved ones, nowhere near, near someone that could comfort me or be like, it's gonna be cool, man, you'll be fine. Right. None of that, no one, hardly anyone spoke English. I'm sitting there in a hospital.

• 34:04Speaker 01

  I have, you know, hydration IVs going in my hands to keep me hydrated. And I'm thinking like, what do I do? And I was like, well, call home and see what happens. And I remember I called home and got ahold of dad. He was right before he was about to go on a seminar for like thousands of people. He's like, hey pal, he's like, I heard you're sick, what's up? And I was like, yeah, this doctor just told me I have like five days to live. And he's like, what do I do? Do I take the medicine? Do I not? And I remember dad saying, you know, pal, here's what you gotta realize. The most powerful force on earth is your mind. What you believe to be true will happen. If you believe your body will heal itself, it will. If you believe that medicine will heal you, it will. Whatever you believe, do it with certainty and do it now. He's like, I love you so much, you're gonna be totally fine, I'll see you soon. And I remember hanging up and my first thought was like, that didn't help. No. Can he tell you what to do? Do it and you'll be fine. Don't do it and you'll be fine.

• 34:49Speaker 01

  I'm like, that means nothing, bah. Yeah, yeah. And I was so frustrated. It was funny. And so I was like, okay, who else can I call? Like, let me call mom. Uh, mom's only got advice in some way. So I called mom and mom, she started crying first and then her response was, "You take the darn medicine. I didn't raise you for this many, you know, stinking years for you to die in some god forbid country on the other side of the earth. And I'm on my way." And hung up the phone. Wow. I was like, uh oh, like she's not gonna be happy when she gets here. Oh my gosh. Poor mom. She'd never been out of the country. Um, this was her very first trip out of the country. Oh my gosh. Besides like driving to Mexico from California. Sure. And so she gets on a plane and she gets all her inoculations in one day from a doctor, which will make you feel sick anyways. Oh yeah.

• 35:31Speaker 01

  She gets on a plane, she flies from LA to London, London to Egypt. Uh, she gets felt up by some random guy on the plane in Egypt. So she's like, oh, this is horrible. She gets off the plane in Egypt, runs down the stairs, her bag flies in front of her and pulls her and trips her. And she lands on her hands and knees on the bottom of the stairs in Egypt. Oh. Everyone behind her cheers, thinking she's like kissing the ground because she's so happy they landed. She's like, people are rude here. Stands up, runs across the airport, gets on the plane, finally gets to Uganda. She arrives, she gets picked up by the crew that was in the organization I was with. And they're like, we can't drive. It's a four hour drive. And in the daytime, it's dangerous. At night, I mean, it's deadly. Yeah. You can't do that there. And so they said, we have to stay at a hotel. She walks into the room, there's a gigantic bullfrog in the middle of the shower. Oh man, that's funny.

• 36:15Speaker 01

  Mom, you know, the guys with machine guns guarding the gate of the hotel. She just had an experience where she finally got to me. Um, I think the kicker was my grandma had convinced her that people in Africa were bright colors. So she showed up wearing like neon yellow and orange pants. But she wasn't happy to say the least. She was happy I was alive. But at the same time, coming back to that question of those five regrets of the dying. You know, when you're lying there and told you have five days left to live, regardless if it's a scare tactic to get you to take medicine or the god honest truth. Either way, first, I don't believe anyone has the right to tell anyone that. I mean, with modern day medicine and miracles that happen, you have no clue how long someone has. I appreciate the intent, I appreciate the heart and the passion to get me to take the stupid medicine. At the same time, I don't think anyone has that right.

• 36:59Speaker 01

  And beyond that, though, when you're lying there, and I had to lie there for about 10 days by myself in a hospital with nobody around me. I did get lots of love and texts and calls from family praying for me and stuff, and I'd certainly felt that. I think that's a big part of helping heal, just knowing people cared that much. But in that moment, when you're sitting there for that many days, you start to contemplate life. What's it all about? Why are you here? What are you trying to get done? What's the point? You know, what are the things you really wish you would have done? And I talk about it where, you know, I had this bucket list and I realized like I had written this awesome list. And not a whole lot of it was done and I was pissed about that. And I was like, I need to write this down, like someone needs to create some urgency for other people and be like, don't have a bucket list.

• 37:42Speaker 01

  Like have a live it list, put some deadlines and times of when you're going to get that stuff done. Otherwise you will hit a day where you're like, oh, shoot, you know, there's a lot on my list and I'm done. And so I started like putting dates and timelines of all these cool things I wanted to accomplish now. And I said, you know, off of my bucket list, I gotta get at least like 10 a year. If I don't get 10 a year, I'm behind because if I went out this year, I need to know that I'm on track at least. I need to know I'm making progress. And so I challenged people like make a live it list, like start putting deadlines on those bucket lists because you don't know when that day is going to hit. And then the question becomes if you only had five days of live, 10 days of live, how would you live differently? How would you treat people? How would you treat every minute and every hour of your day? What would you do with every day of your life if that's all you had?

• 38:23Speaker 01

  And how would you design a day that's so rich and so fulfilling that if you went out that day, you'd be damn proud you did it? You'd be like, you know what? I lived today. Every ounce of who I am is proud of what I was and who I was today, the way I treated people, the way I treated life, the way I treated my time, the way I valued my time. What I squeezed into today, so proud of myself, so passionate, just like this was living. If I died today, got hit by a bus later this afternoon, I'd be damn proud I did it. And how do you design and live life with that kind of intention every day? And if you do, it's amazing. And in those five regrets of living, you know, it was mostly men and none of them said, I wish I would have spent more time in the office. Yeah, worked, yeah. You know, I Worked more. Yeah, that's not what they regret.

• 39:06Speaker 01

  They regret saying, I wish I would have allowed myself to do what I really wanted to do with my life. I wish I would, you know, I regret not spending more time with the ones I love. I regret losing some friendships that mattered to me. And you look at these things and think, wow, am I investing the right amount of time in the majors? The most important foundational pieces of my life. And something I always talk about with people, you know, if I came over to your brand new house that you just built and I walked in, what's the first thing I'm going to compliment you on? Thinking of majors. Most people look around, they're like, wow, what a view. Wow, incredible art and decorations, you know, wow, such great architecture. But I've never met anyone that walks in and starts like pounding on the floor and they're like, wow, what a foundation you built this on. Man, do you have a flashlight? Can I get underneath here and like, look at the setting like this foundation is rock solid.

• 39:51Speaker 01

  Like you built this house such a solid place. You don't hear that because no one even recognizes it. Sure. But it's a true same thing with your life. You know, do you set the right foundational pieces of who you are? That it's so strong and so sturdy that no matter what life tosses your way, you're rock solid because you're built on a solid, true foundation. Wow. Or do you get caught up on all the fixtures and decoration and your art and your furniture and how cool it is and the great view? But Your image. Yeah, one big storm, your house is done because you didn't build it on a solid foundation. So what are those foundational pieces of life? My thought, your health, your emotions, your family, your relationships, your intimate relationships specifically. Your profession, what you do, what you choose to trade the majority of your hours of your day for.

• 40:37Speaker 01

  Your spirituality, if you go that way. And it's thinking about it and saying, you know, if those are some of the foundational pieces, there's more or less for different people. But if those are some of the foundational pieces, how much time, effort and energy do you spend every day making progress in those areas? So many people are so busy being busy. Yeah. That they don't take time to focus on the foundation of their life. And that's like building a house with a weak foundation, hoping that when a thunderstorm comes through, it's going to be standing. And if you build it with a weak foundation, I guarantee you, you're going to lose your house. And it just happens that the metaphor says the house is your life. Right. And that's a bummer. Yeah.

• 41:13Lewis Howes?

  This is great stuff, man. What are, um, you know, what are the, who are some of the people that inspired you to get into this?

• 41:19Speaker 01

  Oh, man. There's so many. Um, obviously my dad, I mean, my heroes in this industry of personal development, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, my dad, um, who else? Carolyn Miss, Alison Armstrong. Like, I've got lists and lists and lists and lists. I've, I've probably read a few hundred books in this arena and it, it all sourced. I mean, I went to my very first personal development seminar in my mom's belly.

• 41:46Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 41:47Speaker 01

  My godfather is the co-creator of NLP, John Grinder, and, and the mom and dad were both going through his master trainer certification, or whatever it was called back in the day. And literally when I was in her belly, she was teaching people how to break through their fears by breaking bricks with their bare hand.

• 42:01Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 42:02Speaker 01

  And so I always say through osmosis, I picked something up at that point in my life. Uh, but my first fire walk was at John Denver's ranch in my dad's arms at three months old.

• 42:09Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 42:10Speaker 01

  Uh, first time walking was here in Anaheim, uh, not too far from here. And at five years old for my birthday, you know, dad held my hand. I walked across hot coals for the first time.

• 42:18Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 42:19Speaker 01

  And so growing up in that industry literally gave me that foundation where even though if I look at the notebooks of, you know, me at 10 years old at a seminar, it's like, what do you want to be with your life? Pro surfer.

• 42:30Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 42:31Speaker 01

  Pro basketball player, pro football player. Like you go down the list and it's like, yeah, all those are big lofty dreams and exciting. But if you look consistently, I was constantly being refocused, focused on the majors, focused on the more, most important in your life. Focus on your health, focus on your relationships. And at a, as a young person, I remember there was always times when it'd be like, focus on your finances. And I'm like, I don't have finances. It doesn't exist in my life right now. I don't know what to focus on in this area. And it was irritated because it's just like, I wasn't ready to focus on that moment or that piece of my life yet, that element. And

• 43:04Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Cause you're in high school or college and like, whatever, you're not making money.

• 43:07Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, obviously.

• 43:08Lewis Howes?

  A hundred bucks here and there.

• 43:09Speaker 01

  Yeah. Gary Vaynerchuk was, but uh, he's probably where my money was going at that time. Baseball cards or whatever I was up to. That thought process though of just, it was constantly re-engrained. And my hero, the person I look up to the most, not just because he's taller than me or bigger than me, is obviously my dad and him and my grandma. My grandma lives here in LA and I, she's, she's a hustler. And in all the right ways, not the old school term. Anyone older listening to this would be like, really? But the new school term where we we respect that word and we love it. And you know, she's seventy six years old and still cold calls three days a week. She does over a quarter million dollars a year in life insurance annuity sales. Wow. In her own income and she's a rock star. She's been on the cover of Newsweek magazine.

• 43:53Speaker 01

  She has the key to the city of Los Angeles. She's businesswoman of the year of LA. She has every plaque and every award from every company she's ever worked with. It's amazing. She's won every incentive trip you could imagine and she's a rock star. And dad's the same thing, you know, obviously. He's built his brand and he he's certainly grown his global empire of who he is and what he does and making a difference in people's lives. What people don't know about him is they he he mentions this, but I don't think people really believe him. You know, people know him for being a motivational speaker and that kind of stuff. People don't realize he has like twenty two other companies. It's ridiculous. Like he just picked up a couple of accounting firms last year and like stuff like that. They they don't even realize what he's up to and how much he does.

• 44:34Speaker 01

  And the common thread between both of them and why they're both, I consider my heroes are what drives them. And in my understanding of who they are and what they do, and I don't know everything about their life because I'm not there every moment of their life. But there's a consistent pattern of always working your tail off specifically to be able to support and give to others. And there's something I learned from both of them, which is life supports that which supports life. And it's the thought process that in what you do, if you find a way to support more life than just yourself, life will send more business, more productivity, more of everything into your life. Support so that it can boost you because you're causing life to grow. And you're causing life to expand because of your hard work.

• 45:20Speaker 01

  And so life looks around and says, hey, who's giving back to life? Who's supporting life, no matter how much you have or don't have? And my grandma had humble beginnings. So did dad. You know, when her and my grandpa first got together here in Los Angeles, they didn't have enough money for an apartment. So I remember a long time back, she told me, she's like, she was the cleaning lady and he was the maintenance man at a local motel here in LA just to have a place to live. Yeah. And when the kids were growing up, grandpa worked five jobs. You know, morning shift, night shift, afternoon shift, weekend shift, late shift, early shift, just to be able to support the kids and seeing that kind of effort and energy and hard work put in to support the ones they love, then give back more to the community, their grandchildren. The, I remember at one time I found a packet of receipts in grandma's office and she was paying

• 46:02Speaker 01

  for her secretary to go to college. I was like, Grandma, you know, you have grandkids, right?

• 46:08Speaker 01

  And she was laughing. She's like, it'll be fine. And I was like, why are you doing this? And she says, you know, because I want to support people in doing what they love. Right. And I remember like, you don't have to do this. You give her a job. Like, there's plenty. And she's like, no, I like to. And she's like, it's my thing. I don't tell anyone. I promised her I wouldn't tell you guys, so please don't tell anyone to listen. But it's something she loves to do. And when I looked at Dad, he does the same things. Yeah. You know, you and I were talking, I think last night, where I mentioned at 16, he was living in the back of his car, and he was saving money, well, homeless himself, basically, to feed a family on Thanksgiving. Because he had been, his family had been helped out. It made a difference in his life. And, you know, I remember him doing a speech many years ago for a really, really, really rundown school in Texas for 195 fifth graders.

• 46:53Speaker 01

  Oh, no, not 195 fifth graders. And at the end of his speech, he looked around and he's like, you know, the greatest dream in this school right now is that these kids grow up and get a job at McDonald's because it has benefits. He's like, there's got to be a bigger dream than that. He walked out of the room, he shook his head, he got frustrated, he walked back in. He's like, you know what? I'm just gonna do it. He said, listen, we're gonna create some good citizen rules. You're a good kid, be average, community service, don't go to jail, don't do drugs, you know, don't get pregnant until you're old enough to handle it and all that other stuff. And he just, good citizen rules. And he says, if you follow these, I'll sign a contract with you. He's like, I know you're in fifth grade, so you're not old enough to sign it, but I'll sign it and you sign it and I'll stick to it. And he said, if you stick to these rules all throughout school, I'll pay for every one of your college educations. Wow.

• 47:39Speaker 01

  95 of them. Most people try to figure out, one, their own. Second, you know, how do you get my kid through school? When you promise 95 kids, you're gonna send them through college, you walk out of the room and you get a call from your accountant and lawyer saying, you know how much money you just promised these kids? Right, right. He said, I don't care, I'll figure it out. Wow. And most people see him, you know, launch a company and make 400 million bucks and, you know, stock in a day. And they're like, wow, look at how big he's going. And they don't realize, like, he just promised 95 kids he's gonna pay for their college. What's insane and amazing is 14 of them made it all the way through school. Four of them got their masters and one got her PhD and he paid for all of it. Oh my gosh. And they don't see that side of what causes all the growth, all the support he gets from life and people in community is like, he's doing that silently on the side that

• 48:24Speaker 01

  no one sees. But it's causing life to throw so much more onto his plate so he can keep distributing it in the best way as possible to support as many people as possible. And so I looked at that and that became something that I do. And, you know, in the moments where it's scary, I remember being in college and having like 50 bucks left in my bank account and then getting a phone bill for 200 bucks and being like, dang, like, I don't know, that doesn't compute right. Right. You know, no money, big bill. Huh. Like, that's food money for the week. I don't know what I'm gonna do. And sitting there and like freaking out, not being able to study and not being able to think straight. So I'm like, oh my gosh, I got this bill. I'm, oh, no, no, no, no. Just freaking out emotionally and saying, you know, what's the fastest way out of scarcity? And it's giving back, knowing you're abundant. So I was like, okay, I gotta find a way to give back. And I'm like, I can't give all

• 49:08Speaker 01

  of it. So I'm gonna give some of it. So I went online, World Vision at the time. Now I'd probably do Pencils of Promise, but World Vision at the time, I found it was like 35 bucks a year or a month to support this kid in Uganda. And it's like, gonna give him medical, school, food, shelter. I'm like, done. So I paid it. And I watched my 35 bucks go down, or my 50 bucks go, you know, drop $35. And I was like, wow, it feels really abundant because I can give back. Yeah. And then I'm like, whoa, I've got even less money now. And then I freaked out again. Right, right. And for about 10 minutes, I freaked out. And then I sat down and thought about it. I was like, you know, how funny is this? I have the abundance in my life to give someone on the other side of earth,

• 49:48Speaker 01

  shelter, food, medical, you know, all the things he needs to have a good life, at least for the month. And I'm here worried about a bill. What a silly thing to be worried about.

• 49:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 50:00Speaker 01

  You know, I'm so abundant to be able to share such a blessing with someone else, not even realizing that I have that abundance in my life. And instantly, the stress went away. Instantly, the fear went away. And then I switched around and said, okay, I gotta, still gotta pay the bill. Let's not call.

• 50:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 50:13Speaker 01

  You know, I can't call the bill company and be like, well, I gave to charity this month. So can you knock it off? That doesn't work. So the second piece became, you know, what value can I add to the community I live in to generate the money I need to pay down the bill? How do I add more value to create more value in my life to be able to handle what I need to handle?

• 50:29Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 50:29Speaker 01

  And but getting to that place of abundance first through giving, switched it. And and that inspiration comes from probably the two biggest role models in my life, besides my mom is is, you know, grandma and dad. And that giving piece of they just look for ways to add more value than other people. And in doing so, it always, the abundance always shows up in their life.

• 50:48Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 50:48Speaker 01

  Financially, emotionally, physically, spiritually, all areas.

• 50:51Lewis Howes?

  Right, right. Now, for those who know who we're talking about, your dad is Tony Robbins. But what is the, I've got a few questions left I want to ask you. What's the biggest fear you have going into this type of work, knowing that it's very similar to what your dad has been doing for thirty something years. And he's one of the best, if not the best in the world at getting results and one of the most well-known and, you know.

• 51:12Speaker 01

  People always say one of the best. I'm the biggest raving fan of him on earth. So he is the best.

• 51:16Lewis Howes?

  I mean, it's subjective, but yeah, I mean, obviously.

• 51:18Speaker 01

  I will be extremely biased in that and admit it.

• 51:20Lewis Howes?

  No, I believe he is too. But I mean, some other people may think that he's not, you know, it's it's what's effective for people the most. He's probably the most effective for the most amount of people in this work. Now, for some of the people, they may not relate to him, and it may be someone else.

• 51:32Speaker 01

  He's not the jam. I get it.

• 51:33Lewis Howes?

  And it may be a different, you know, formula.

• 51:36Speaker 01

  I will fight for him.

• 51:37Lewis Howes?

  Of course. I believe, I'm right there with you, man. I told you last night, you know, I remember the first time I saw him in person, he walked next to me. And I was like, his way of being was so moving and powerful that I was like, that is the type of being that I want to express when I, you know, do anything in my life. You know, not just this young kid.

• 51:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:54Lewis Howes?

  But I was like, that's the type of being I want to be around people. So what's, what's a big fear for you? Or what's, uh, do you have any fears?

• 52:02Speaker 01

  My fear already happened and it was the way I unconsciously went into this industry in the beginning, which was just mimicking and copying him.

• 52:09Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 52:09Speaker 01

  Meaning I would stand like him and I would talk like him and I would use the same tonality of my voice like him and like do all this jazz unconsciously.

• 52:16Lewis Howes?

  Because you're around it so much.

• 52:18Speaker 01

  I was around it, but it was also in my mind what worked.

• 52:21Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 52:21Speaker 01

  So if you're trying to make something work and you know, you're watching everyone else and you're like, well, this is what works. So I'm just going to do what works.

• 52:27Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 52:28Speaker 01

  And I, I didn't really have me, my space, who I am in my message. I had his message and I could regurgitate it like a mofo and it worked really well in the beginning. And after a while I figured out, you know, people and audiences are getting bored. They're like, you know, if I want to see Tony, I'll go see Tony. And there's truth in that. And I, I looked around, I was like, okay. And I had to dig in and be like, who the heck am I? And my fear was that I would just be a big copy of him out in the world. And that, that's kind of boring because the world doesn't need anybody else like him. They've got him.

• 52:56Lewis Howes?

  They need your gift.

• 52:57Speaker 01

  Yeah. And I figured out, I said, you know, what, what sets me apart? What's makes me me? And what's interesting is when I just started being myself, I calmed down. And I'm not as over the top, passionate and crazy as he is. I don't have the same.

• 53:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, you're very calm.

• 53:13Speaker 01

  Brah energy.

• 53:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 53:15Speaker 01

  He is extremely over the top and amazing.

• 53:18Lewis Howes?

  He is.

• 53:19Speaker 01

  Uh, it's an experience being with him because that loud, abrupt, passionate that he has is everywhere in his life. And people are like, what's, what's it like growing up with that? I'm like, well, on the good days, it's amazing. And when you get in trouble, that shit's scary.

• 53:35Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 53:36Speaker 01

  You can hear him yell from like the fucking four miles away. That'll get you. You know, 12 years old.

• 53:42Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 53:43Speaker 01

  Um, and, and I realized it's like, I gotta allow my calmness and my just centeredness of me to exist. And when I did, it was very fascinating what happened because people would come up in seminars I'd be teaching or events I'd be talking at. And they'd say, you know, I've just got to tell you something. I mean, no offenses. I've listened to your dad and I don't vibe with his message. I don't vibe with him. I don't vibe with the way he shares it. It's just not me. It's too abrupt. It's too like, he's like attacking me with his like energy. And he's like, but the way you say it, it just resonates. It lands better. Like, I get it. It makes sense. I really like hearing it from you. And it started to click in my head. I, one time, next time, next time, I started hearing it everywhere.

• 54:28Speaker 01

  As soon as I calmed down and stopped trying to be the animated version of him. And I was just myself, and I'm a very mellow, calm dude. Which is hilarious, because it's pretty much the opposite energy of my dad. Yeah. And, you know, it's something I, I heard, he was even talking about it from stage one time. And he's like, you know, I was always pissed because my kid was so fricking damn mellow. He's like, I thought something was wrong with him. And, and he's like, you know, it was one of God's greatest gifts, though, because he used to piss me off about my kid so much. He helped you chill out. Yeah, helped him chill out. Yeah, yeah. And he'd be pissed, because I'd be like, Dad, you need to learn how to chill. And he's like, F you, you need to learn how to not be lazy. He didn't say F you, I would say that, but, you know, it, it would be that energy of like, no, you need to learn how to step up. And I'm like, you need to learn how to slow down. And, yeah.

• 55:10Speaker 01

  And what happened was he finally dawned on him. He says, you know, God's greatest gifts are the, your, your kids and, and the energy they bring into your life. Because they cause you to realize there's more to life than the only way you know how to do it. And it, it became a gift to him where he looked around and said, wow, maybe I can chill out just a little. Right, a little. And he slowed down just a little. Yeah. Um, and, and we learned to appreciate each other. Where I look at him and I look at areas of my life and I say, you know, where can I take some of that passion and determination and, and boldness and, and creativeness and intensity? Where can I add that into my life? And he's been, you know, open enough and, and connected enough. He's very wise in who he is. And to look at me and say, you know, how can I add some of that calmness to my life? How can I add some of that peace, some of that centeredness?

• 55:54Speaker 01

  And I remember I just saw a spread that in a magazine, Think Fortune magazine about him. And he was meditating on the beach in it. I'm like, yeah.

• 56:02Speaker 01

  I was so fricking proud, like, big deal, he's built a house and, you know, done all this cool shit and changed millions of lives, but he's meditating, yes. He's relaxing. I'm so proud of him. I was like, yeah, that's him. Like, yeah, he got it. And it seems so stupid and silly, but as a son, you know, to see how hard he works for other people, to have some time where he just re-centers and refuels and reduces is so meaningful to me.

• 56:24Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 56:24Speaker 01

  It means he's gonna last longer and I love him. He's my hero. So knowing he's gonna be around that much longer because he knows how to refuel himself is a blessing.

• 56:32Lewis Howes?

  That's cool. I like it. Two final questions for you, and I want to make sure everyone goes and gets this book. It's called Live It: Achieve Success by Living with Purpose by Jerick Robbins. And they can go on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and the website.

• 56:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's online everywhere worldwide via Kindle audiobook. The coolest thing I was showing you is WhisperSync.

• 56:51Lewis Howes?

  I like that. That's cool.

• 56:52Speaker 01

  If you don't know about this and you're listening, you download the Kindle version and then there's an Amazon, a little upgrade for like a dollar ninety-nine. And you click it WhisperSync and what it allows you to do is while you're reading the Kindle, if at any point you get tired of reading or you have to go drive or something, you click the little tiny headphones in the bottom left corner of the app and it flips it over to the audiobook.

• 57:11Lewis Howes?

  It's really cool.

• 57:11Speaker 01

  And then it starts reading it to you on the exact page you were on.

• 57:14Lewis Howes?

  It's really interesting.

• 57:14Speaker 01

  And when you get done listening, you click it and it flips back to the page it was reading on. So you never lose your place the entire time, listening or reading and going back and forth. It's really cool.

• 57:23Lewis Howes?

  I think it's really cool. Yeah. So make sure to pick up a copy and check it out. Again, a lot of good stuff in here. I'm still going through it, but definitely great stuff. It's like a workbook, like you said.

• 57:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 57:33Lewis Howes?

  Simple exercises for you to get extraordinary results.

• 57:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, and we were blessed. We got some really, really, really kind and generous endorsements.

• 57:40Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 57:40Speaker 01

  They're not on that book physically, but if you go to the website, livitbook.com. Deepak Chopra endorsed it.

• 57:45Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 57:46Speaker 01

  We got the endorsement back. I thought it came from my best friend because the heart he put into it, just taking time to read it and share what he thought. Brian Tracy endorsed it. Adam Braun obviously wrote the foreword for us for Pencils of Promise. Big shout out there. Hopefully, go visit Pencils of Promise and help build schools with us.

• 58:01Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:02Speaker 01

  Stuart Allison, who's the Chief Master Sergeant in the US Air Force, he obviously has a position of leadership there and he endorsed it as well. And Keith Frazee, just tons of people backed it up.

• 58:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, Keith's great. Keith's a great guy. Very cool. Two final questions. What are you most grateful for recently?

• 58:19Speaker 01

  Oh, man. I'm most grateful for my wife. I would not be able to do what I do every day, and I have to say, we would not be able to do what we do every day without her. We just got married about two months ago in Fiji and it was a true blessing to have our friends and family there to celebrate with us and... Who she is, the love, the support, um, the, the time, the effort, the, the listening, the caring, the talking, the, the moments when she's there for me, there is no greater experience on earth than finding the right person to share life with. Nothing, nothing. And I've heard people say that before and I've been like, oh yeah, it sounds great, but I want to make a million dollars first and then I'll find out later. Right.

• 59:01Speaker 01

  And I, I remember at one point in my life where I had turned my ideal day into reality and I had just got done speaking to a group of professionals in London. I took the train over to Paris. I was sitting under the Eiffel Tower, eating lunch, flipping through my journal and I found the page where I dreamed up a day like that. And I was like traveling the world, helping people, giving back, taking the money I earned and donating it to charity and building schools and doing cool things in the world. I was like so proud of myself. I remember being in that same position 18 months later, same conference I went and talked at, went over to Paris, sitting in a hotel at two in the morning, just frustrated and lonely. And I was like, how am I doing everything I wanted to do with my life and not enjoying it? And I was pissed because I wasn't enjoying it. And I remember getting so frustrated, it's like you go in a, you know, down a tailspin where you're pissed that you're pissed. Right, right.

• 59:46Speaker 01

  I was so frustrated and I remember thinking like, life is not as rich as it could be without someone to share it with. And I was like, I love traveling, but after you've hit so many cities, a city becomes a city. You know, after you've climbed so many mountains, all it is is a nice view in thin air. And I looked around, I'm like, if I don't find someone to share this with, it's not going to mean much in the long run. And I looked around, I'm like, but that's a scary thing in life because you can't control another person. Like you can control business, you can control your health, you can control all kinds of stuff. When you get in a deep relationship with someone where you're counting on them and they're counting on you, it's a whole nother ballgame. And that became a five-year study of mine because I did it all wrong.

• 1:00:26Speaker 01

  You know, my version of the perfect person was a lot of what you see in LA magazines and Sure. You know, that route. And I went that route for a while and it just didn't add up. And I had to sit down and I did my homework and I spent five years studying the subject, figuring out how do you make relationships the most Rich, abundant, fulfilling, incredible experience ever. The simplest secret sauce that exists there is you have to go to a relationship to give, not to get. And you have to be so abundantly full in who you are, which is what Live It's all about. How do you fill up and fuel up? How do you handle you so that you're so overflowing with awesomeness? That the only thing you want to do in a relationship with any human being you meet is give to them.

• 1:01:09Speaker 01

  Because you have so much awesomeness built up within you that all you want to do is share it. And you've handled you so well that all you want to do is pay forward what it is you experience every day. Not to get people to do you, to get people to do them. But to feel so full and so abundant and so fulfilled and so alive that they get to experience the richness of life. And when you can get to that point yourself, now is the time to find a relationship and say, you know, the greatest gifts I have within me, how do I find someone that when I share them, those are the greatest gifts they've ever wanted to receive? They value the greatest gifts that I think are most important to share and vice versa. And you know, what I'm most grateful for is having a blessing. After five years of studying and practicing and researching and learning. And it's a lifetime, you know, study for me now.

• 1:01:54Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 1:01:55Speaker 01

  But having the ability to find that woman to share my life with is the biggest blessing ever.

• 1:02:00Lewis Howes?

  That's cool. I met her for a few moments. She seems like an awesome ball of energy and love.

• 1:02:04Speaker 01

  She's the real deal.

• 1:02:04Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's really cool. It's really cool. I want to ask you a final question before I do, I want to acknowledge you. I want to acknowledge you for being you and for stepping up into your authentic self. And letting go of the fear of having to be someone else and being true to who you are. Because I know that could be extremely challenging, you know, I stepped, you know, I wanted to mimic my father and my brother and siblings. And I acknowledge you for not taking the easy way out and for doing the work yourself. And for being true to yourself because you're giving the greatest gift to the world by being you. So I acknowledge you for that.

• 1:02:45Lewis Howes?

  And I want to ask you the final question. What's your definition of greatness?

• 1:02:51Speaker 01

  My definition greatness is I wrap it up in kind of my philosophy on life. Learn it, live it, give it. Learn what it takes to have the life of your dreams, to be who you want to be, to do what you want to do. Live it so abundantly and ferociously that your life becomes your message. You don't have to say a thing to anyone around you. They just get who you are and what you're about by how you live. And finally, take all of that experience and all of that growth and insight that you've learned yourself and pay it forward. Find a way to share it with others in a unique way that causes them to find their path and create who they are and, you know, elevate and emanate into the world and just be the best version of them. And again, it becomes that ripple effect where they learn,

• 1:03:33Speaker 01

  they live, they give. And I think if that ripple happens in the world, I would be damn proud to hopefully be someone who helped start it and kept it going.

• 1:03:41Lewis Howes?

  Jerick Robbins, thanks brother for coming on, man. Appreciate you.

• 1:03:43Speaker 01

  Thanks for having me, man.

• 1:03:50Lewis Howes?

  And there you have it, guys. I hope you enjoyed this heartfelt interview. I had so much fun connecting with Jerick. And I hope to bring him back on here sometime soon because I feel like he's got so much to give. Make sure to go back to the show notes over at lewishouse.com/108. We'll have links to Jerick's website, to his book. He's got an incredible TED Talk that he gave. I'm gonna have that embedded on the site as well. So go back to lewishouse.com/108. Leave us a comment there. Make sure to share this out with your friends. I'm meeting so many people. I've been traveling lately to New York and to Austin, and I'm meeting so many awesome individuals,

• 1:04:30Lewis Howes?

  inspiring entrepreneurs, thought leaders who come up to me and say, hey, I know you, you're that guy who's got that podcast that I listen to, School of Greatness. It's so, so much fun and I've just learned about it and I'm, you know, I'm digging into the previous episodes and thank you so much. So it's because of you guys who are sharing it out there, you're getting the word out there and it means so much to me. And I just want to continue to be able to provide value to so many more people. So if we can all work together to share this out there with your friends on Facebook, on Twitter. Leave a review over on iTunes. You have no clue the power of reviews on iTunes. It really helps rank the podcasts higher in the iTunes ranking system,

• 1:05:12Lewis Howes?

  which allows me to get more people to look at my podcast. So please leave a review, leave a comment, share it. You guys are incredible. I'm so pumped. And obviously, we've got Tony Robbins coming on the next episode, episode 109. So make sure to subscribe right now over at iTunes.com/SchoolOfGreatness. Subscribe to the podcast so you get all the episodes coming out in the future. We're doing two a week. We're going to start doing video podcasts. We're going to be blowing it up here on the School of Greatness, okay? Lots of incredible things coming your way. And you guys know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.