310 Pounds to a Nike Athlete - with Charlie Rocket

On the outside, a successful, young, MILLIONAIRE CEO, Management and Marketing Mogul... on the inside, he was battling depression, binge eating, crippling insecurities, and a brain tumor. Charlie Rocket is a Grammy-winning, million dollar music mogul, He's sold millions of records, changed the trajectory of how to market to millennials, and guided the careers of influential hip-hop artists including 2 Chainz. To everyone on the outside, he was crushing it. On the inside, he was dying. In this exclusive interview, we reveal how Charlie was able to overcome his food addiction and transform his body, mind and his life into the next best version of himself! We dive into the darkest moments of his life and shed light on his mental process and practical steps of how he was able to TAKE CONTROL OF HIS IDENTITY and CHANGE EVERYTHING... and how YOU can do the same. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 p.m. And my third day, 6:00 p.m. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it. Waiting weeks on a big bank for capital? Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  Over 20 years in business, over $12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/ed. That's cardiff.co/ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff, borrow better.

• 1:01Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company, for me, of the explosion on our rig.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  On October 2nd.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me.

• 1:11Speaker 02

  Tom Cruise is. Digger got us into this mess. And Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and The Revenant.

• 1:18Speaker 03

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

• 1:22Speaker 02

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:25Speaker 03

  I'm not the first nanny.

• 1:27Speaker 02

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

• 1:37Speaker 04

  Welcome to the Ed Mylett Show.

• 1:46Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to Max Out, everybody. I am Ed Mylett, and today is going to be a journey into business, into the mindset of a young achiever, but into a vulnerable man who's willing to tell you all the good and all the bad about his life. And man, when I started to research you, brother, I just fell in love with you. And I know we're going to help millions of people today. So this is Charlie Jabaly, also known as Charlie Rocket. So thank you for being here, Charlie.

• 2:13Speaker 05

  Thank you, man.

• 2:13Ed Mylett?

  It's good to have you here. Just so you know, guys, giving you a proper introduction. This young man's won a Grammy. He's made millions of dollars in the music business. And he's some of my favorite content on all of social media because it's real and it's vulnerable too. So, man, we get into your story, it's gonna be bananas today. And you work with artists like 2 Chainz and a bunch of other artists, very well-known people that you managed. And it's pretty amazing that a kid from Georgia rises up that quickly and makes the life that you've had. So, how, tell me to begin with, man, I'm just curious, because we're gonna get to the... I think the early part of your story is not as compelling as the right now, even though they're both incredible. But how did you get into the music business in the first place?

• 2:52Speaker 05

  Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, hip-hop is just what Atlanta is known for.

• 2:58Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 2:58Speaker 05

  I was a young entrepreneur.

• 3:00Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 3:00Speaker 05

  And I saw my friends starting to rap, and I was like, looking like, huh! Like, there's something to this hip-hop thing. Like, I'm like playing songs for my mom, and she's like, "I really don't get it." I'm like, "No, like, hip-hop is gonna be the biggest thing in the world one day."

• 3:17Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 3:18Speaker 05

  And, you know, fast forward to today.

• 3:20Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you're right.

• 3:21Speaker 05

  You know, 70%, this year, 2018, 70% of top 10 hits in America are hip-hop records. So, I put a studio in my bedroom, and we would have basketball tournaments at my house. I lived across the street from the high school. And everybody, and there would be 20 people at one song, and I picked up a camera, and I was like, "I'm gonna make music videos," and I built this website. And this website started blowing up. It was a hip-hop website for independent artists called spityourgame.com.

• 3:47Ed Mylett?

  How old are you at this time?

• 3:48Speaker 05

  Uh, like, 16, 17 years old.

• 3:50Ed Mylett?

  Okay, spityourgame.com.

• 3:52Speaker 05

  I got it from Biggie.

• 3:53Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 3:54Speaker 05

  Spit your game, talk your shit. So, Interscope Records called me one day, and was like, "We love what you're doing. We want you to go on tour with one of our new artists we just signed. His name is Soulja Boy."

• 4:09Ed Mylett?

  Mmm.

• 4:10Speaker 05

  And I was very familiar with Soulja Boy, because in Atlanta, we had the dance movement going, the spityourgame.com dance movement, and Soulja Boy was in Mississippi.

• 4:20Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 4:20Speaker 05

  So, he would always just kinda copy what we were doing, and we looked at him as an outsider, but he blew up on the internet. Interscope signed him. I'm now, first year of college, and I had to explain to my mom. So yeah, Mom, I wanna, um, I wanna drop out of college and go on tour with a rapper.

• 4:37Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 4:38Speaker 05

  And, and her, in her mind, the first thing she sees is groupies and the whole hip-hop life. And, uh, I have a history of convincing my mom to do things, even though she's a very tough lady.

• 4:51Ed Mylett?

  You've always been a persuader.

• 4:53Speaker 05

  I, I had to, because we sold vacuum cleaners, growing up.

• 4:56Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 4:56Speaker 05

  My grandfather sold vacuum cleaners, my mom sold vacuum cleaners, I sold vacuum cleaners.

• 5:00Ed Mylett?

  Probably the hardest core sales there is. That's door-to-door sales, everybody. So you're a third-generation vacuum cleaner salesman?

• 5:06Speaker 05

  That's right.

• 5:06Ed Mylett?

  Wow, from vacuum cleaner salesman to hip-hop mogul. This is gonna be, this is gonna be good. Okay, so keep going.

• 5:13Speaker 05

  So I had to convince my mom, "Listen, I wanna drop out of school and I wanna go on tour."

• 5:18Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 5:18Speaker 05

  And, um, she's a tough sell, and, uh, there's a couple times in my life before that I had to convince her of some, some crazy things.

• 5:25Ed Mylett?

  Now you're the camera guy.

• 5:26Speaker 05

  We're on tour, I'm on top of the world, my website's blowing up.

• 5:30Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 5:30Speaker 05

  But, uh, Soulja Boy, we're going across the country, and, uh, his album just came out, number-one album in the world. And the next day, we gotta go to Jimmy Kimmel.

• 5:40Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 5:41Speaker 05

  And things were starting to act a little funny. And I don't know why, but, um, I was waiting for the itinerary the next day. We're in Atlanta, we gotta fly to LA for Jimmy Kimmel, so I, I, I couldn't get in contact with anybody.

• 5:54Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 5:54Speaker 05

  So I just go to the airport the next morning, I'm gonna run into him, Delta Terminal, like we always do. And, um, nobody was answering my phone calls, never got an itinerary. And his DJ was there as well, and they were doing the same thing to him. And I realized, I realized before he did, I said, "I think we're fired."

• 6:17Speaker 05

  And, and he was mad, and I wa, I wasn't mad. I was like...

• 6:20Ed Mylett?

  You weren't mad, you dropped out of college to go do this.

• 6:23Speaker 05

  It was gonna be tough, but I was almost relieved, because it was like, I knew I was meant for something more than being a cameraman. And I went back to my mom's house and I said, "I think I'm fired." And she said, "Well, if you're not in school, you gotta pay rent." And I'm just coming off the road of six months, so I've got my, she said, "You gotta pay rent?" I'm like, "Jesus, I just got fired." And I said, "I got an idea." Out on that tour, I got to see where the money was at. I'm gonna be a manager, because managing is where the money's at.

• 6:54Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 6:54Speaker 05

  She said, "What do you know about managing rappers?"

• 6:57Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 6:57Speaker 05

  She said, "You're 18 years old." I said, "I'm gonna figure it out." Because we learned that in back in Clearfield. If we went into a home and they said, asked a question, I said, "I don't know the answer, but I'mma figure it out." And I told that to my mom, and she said, "Well, I trust you as long as you pay rent." I signed a girl group. Their name was Vistoso Bosses.

• 7:16Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 7:17Speaker 05

  And I got them a record deal within 24 hours with Interscope. Because Soulja Boy didn't like me anymore, but Interscope Records loved me.

• 7:25Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 7:25Speaker 05

  And I showed it to them, and they said, "Charlie, we believe in you. You've got the little Midas touch. Whatever you touch just seems to work." Boom. Get them on 106 and Part, get them on the radio. I'm seeing my future. I'm like, I'm about to make it.

• 7:39Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 7:41Speaker 05

  And there was one day where something got funny again. It was in Washington DC. I got them a show in Washington DC. And you know how when somebody wants to like, end something, they find stupid things to be mad at?

• 7:56Ed Mylett?

  Sure, looking for an excuse, yeah.

• 7:58Speaker 05

  They got offstage, and they said, "You didn't give us water." I'm like, "I got you a record deal." Like, what are you talking about? Like, so they're being upset about something. Come to find out, somebody got in their ear. They left me for Ciara's manager. Big industry manager. And I'm crawling right back to my mom's basement. And I said, "You know what? I need to bring back CEO Charlie." Somebody who I had created when I was a kid.

• 8:30Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 8:30Speaker 05

  Who put on a suit, who had the briefcase, was not distracted by anything, was tunnel vision. "I'm gonna be a successful businessman." And I told myself, "I would never tell somebody my age again, because everybody thought I was just this kid, and they wouldn't take me serious."

• 8:45Ed Mylett?

  But this is a guy who would wear a suit to school.

• 8:47Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah.

• 8:47Ed Mylett?

  This guy's always had this sort of entrepreneurial vibe, this... I don't know, I'd call you like a dreamer, a big thinker, an extremist. Which by the way, coming from me is a compliment. I can just picture this little 13, 14-year-old, 12-year-old boy wearing a suit to school with a briefcase. I just think that's beautiful, right? You drop out of college as a cameraman. That fails, that's a failure, right? Then you sign your first group and like a lot of managers, people in that space, you know, people don't know this, but like if you're an agent or a manager, it's like oftentimes, or even a promoter in boxing, like oftentimes when your act gets bigger, they want to dump you for the bigger one. So then there's a way of, you have to constantly sell on yourself to stay with them too. So you have that sort of setback, you bring back this character. And here's this I want to add to everybody. You have this really unique thing, I introduced you as Charlie Rocket, which is sort of your new persona.

• 9:31Ed Mylett?

  But you were CEO Charlie then. See, what you did that's really brilliant to me, man, I just want to tell you this, is like, you took control of what your identity was. You even named it, which is an extreme thing to do. But see, everybody has an identity of what they, how they see themselves. You were just conscious of it, like, you know what? I'm just gonna make this identity real, right? So you actually called it something. And maybe not everybody should be running around going, I'm publicly, I'm CEO Eddie, or I'm intense baller Dave, or... But you know what? You should be taking control privately of what you call yourself. You should be taking control privately of your identity. Because you actually became CEO Charlie as a result of almost creating like a character to do it. So go ahead and keep us going from there.

• 10:12Speaker 05

  So here I am, fired, back in my mom's basement. I put the suit back on and I said, "Tunnel vision, no hip-hop distraction." And I found this group. Their name was Travis Porter. They were on the east side of Atlanta. And I said, they were living in their mom's house. I was living in my mom's house. I said, "Listen, I will make you a star if you just stay loyal." I drove from every radio station, from Jackson, Mississippi to Washington DC.

• 10:47Speaker 05

  We didn't have a budget. It takes a lot of money to work.

• 10:50Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 10:51Speaker 05

  Records to radio.

• 10:52Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 10:52Speaker 05

  And I would go to the radio station and I would, I would come up with a system. Okay, the, the mix show DJs, they're the ones who are in the clubs and they play like the six o'clock hour and they're doing the mixes. And, and the program directors listened to those guys. So I'd go to Jackson, Mississippi. I would ask all the mix show DJs, can I take you out to lunch? Who doesn't love free food? So I'd take them out to lunch. I would talk to them. I'd show them the footage of, you know, our fan base. They really like these guys. Say, yeah, we'll give them a shot. Give them hoodies with their names on the back. Very proactive. I'd give each DJ a salute the DJ hoodie with their name, just like final pressed on the back, but they loved it. And it had Travis Porter on it. And then I said, well, what's your program director's name?

• 11:34Speaker 05

  And he was telling me so and so and so. I said, okay, I'm gonna come back tomorrow and I'm gonna talk to them. Can one of y'all set up a meeting? And a lot of times they wouldn't set up a meeting. They couldn't, you know, program directors are approached by everybody and they're only interested in getting big checks from record labels.

• 11:49Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 11:50Speaker 05

  So I would stand outside, look in the window.

• 11:54Ed Mylett?

  It's some podunk radio station somewhere even sometimes.

• 11:57Speaker 05

  I'm talking about, these radio stations are literally little boxes on the side of a two lane highway with satellites in the back with a little fence around it.

• 12:05Ed Mylett?

  And you just wait till they come get you, come out and get you.

• 12:07Speaker 05

  And once they would walk outside, they were like, what is wrong with you? And I said, well, I wanna show you something. And I said, look at this. And I'll show them a video of fans screaming, kids screaming as my group is performing. And I said, this is what's going on. I know something you don't know. You have to sell advertisement. You need good songs that people like in order to sell advertisement. I don't have a check for you, but I have a hit record for you.

• 12:36Ed Mylett?

  Man.

• 12:37Speaker 05

  And we took three records, top 20 in the nation.

• 12:41Ed Mylett?

  Crazy.

• 12:41Speaker 05

  That way.

• 12:42Ed Mylett?

  You in your basement, them in their basement, you just hu- them with great music and you hustling your ass off. But I'm picturing you, all you guys, all you people rather, out there that are in sales. I want you to picture this young man on no budget, getting in his car and just driving alone to these stations. With just the hope and the dream of getting there and then getting rejected and going to the next station, maybe getting a yes. Going to the next station, getting a no. Next station, getting a no. Next station, a no. Next station, a yes. And you just humping it up that. Because what that is, is that's the lonely journey. Yours is the perfect metaphor because it was lonely. You were in a car, you were driving. But to become successful, everybody, oftentimes it's that lonely journey where you're even probably questioning yourself sometimes when you're driving. But you just poured your damn heart into this and get...

• 13:27Ed Mylett?

  How many top tens? How many?

• 13:28Speaker 05

  Three.

• 13:28Ed Mylett?

  Three.

• 13:29Speaker 05

  That group had three top ten records.

• 13:31Ed Mylett?

  That is bananas.

• 13:32Speaker 05

  Without a record deal.

• 13:32Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, and that's just flat out having the courage, the guts to hump it up and go hustle. Every station along the East Coast, that's just... That's mind blowing. I just... I respect you because I picture that drive. Because I know what it's like when I was in my career in financial services and getting into my car and driving to another point when I've been rejected the previous five, right? And the key thing is, when you've been rejected the previous five, showing up to the sixth like you've never been rejected before. Like it's the first time you've ever said it, right? And keeping it fresh all the time. I'm picturing you on that, you know, eightieth station, saying it like it's the first time.

• 14:04Speaker 05

  That's right.

• 14:05Ed Mylett?

  So that happens. How the heck does that lead to 2 Chainz? Do they see the success that you had with this group or what happened?

• 14:11Speaker 05

  So, it kinda was crazy before we got to 2 Chainz.

• 14:15Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 14:16Speaker 05

  Because we... I didn't want to sign a record deal with Travis Porter because I didn't want their heads to blow up too fast like my previous group. But every record label in the country is calling. And I remembered, one day, P. Diddy called me. And he says, "I love your group, I want to sign them." We weren't interested in signing to P. Diddy and I had to get up the balls to tell him that. Because it's like, I'm 19 years old, I'm laying in my bed...

• 14:42Ed Mylett?

  Talking to an icon.

• 14:43Speaker 05

  Talking to an icon. And I'm in like a little, like 550 square foot, like very just small little $500 a month apartment.

• 14:52Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 14:52Speaker 05

  And I'm having to tell P. Diddy. So, fast forward, and I'm negotiating this huge record deal, 19 years old, and the record labels are like, "We want to fly you up to New York." And I'm like, "No." I'm gonna fly myself up to New York. So I can go across the street and meet with your competitor. Because if you fly me, and I was just this hard-headed kid. How do you know that at nineteen? I don't know. It just made sense. It made sense not to let somebody do you a favor. Because if they do you a favor, you can't do what you wanna do. So I wanted to be a self-made man. And I wanted to negotiate the biggest record deal going on in hip-hop. And it successfully happened. And we're in New York, and we're going around, and I've never told anybody this story. We're going around, we meet with Warner Brothers Records.

• 15:37Speaker 05

  First meeting in the morning. It was so early, my group actually fell asleep at the conference table in the meeting. And I was like, it was like a real hip-hop thing, like they're like knocked out, hi. Like, and I'm there like trying to convince Warner Brothers. And then we go over to meet with Monty and Avery Lippman, who own Universal Music Group. And they take us to Mr. Chow's. And we're just kids, we're like, whoa, like this might be the best meal we've ever had in our lives. We don't even know what this is. This is like chicken and this lettuce wrap thing. We're like, the bill had to be three thousand dollars. But we were like, order whatever you want. And then we go across the street to Jive Records. This is ends the day of the big negotiations.

• 16:21Speaker 05

  We get off the elevators, and there's Travis Porter posters everywhere. They're covering up Justin Timberlake for us. They're covering up Britney Spears for us. Travis Porter, everybody's wearing Travis Porter shirts, there's balloons everywhere. I'm like, I feel like we're like in a movie, walking in slow motion. And, and we're like, this is where we wanna sign. They care about us here. Had a great meeting. It was amazing. Everything I can ever imagine. And they offer, they were offering the big money. They came, they said, we're gonna give you the money you're asking for. And I'm like, ah. Get back to my hotel room. It's late at night, maybe like eleven o'clock. I'm in the shower, showering up, and my phone's ringing on the sink.

• 17:04Speaker 05

  And I look out the curtain, look over, P. Diddy. I'm like, I'm not answering this. Get back in the shower, rings again, P. Diddy. And after about ten calls, I pick up. He's relentless, relentless man, a lot like me when I'm at the radio station. And I answer the phone, first thing he says is,

• 17:27Speaker 05

  You're gonna come to my city and not give me the respect to be in the conversation? And I'm like, Diddy, I already told you, I was always honest with them, I was never let them, you know, on. And he said, at least show me the respect to meet with me. I'm sent in a car, I said, the fellas are going out to the club with Universal. Universal's taking them to Greenhouse, a popular club in New York. And he says, no, at least show me the respect, that's all I ask for is the respect. He wore me down.

• 17:59Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 18:00Speaker 05

  He sent the car, we go over to his penthouse, we're going up, knock on the door, and the most beautiful woman of all time opens the door, Cassie. I like almost fell off, like, um, we're in his apartment, Cassie is dragging this four-foot bottle of Moet across the floor, I mean, everything you could dream of from a movie. And here we are, not wanting to sign with them, but we're at Diddy's, we're like, we're living the life, overlooking the city. And he said, let me take them out to the club tonight. I said, I already told you, they're going out with Universal. He said, they can do two clubs in one night.

• 18:39Speaker 05

  I'm like, I'm, I'm like, I can't do it, like, I can't do that to who I've already made a commitment to. He, he said, let me talk to you for a second. Um, I go home to the, uh, to the hotel, and I go to sleep.

• 18:52Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you're at the club, dude, you don't drink.

• 18:53Speaker 05

  I don't drink. And I wake up the next morning to a friend who sent me a picture of the New York Post. And it says, Travis Porter signs with Diddy.

• 19:06Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 19:08Speaker 05

  Ended up, long story short, we signed with Jive Records.

• 19:11Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 19:12Speaker 05

  Um, and we're on top of the world, and Travis Porter is at this music video shoot with Lil Wayne. So it's, we're not, we're not big enough to work with Lil Wayne. But we're in this studio with the big white wall, psych wall, and, and Lil Wayne's a superstar. And we're like, wow. But then this guy walks in, and the atmosphere in the room changed. Everybody stops what they're doing.

• 19:41Speaker 05

  Six foot six, he looked like a Pharaoh. He was dressed perfect, changed jewelry. It was a different type of superstar just walked in. And I'm like, my business partner knew him. He did a mixtape with him one time. And that's Titty Boy. Man, he's such a star, man. Why hasn't he blown up?

• 20:05Speaker 05

  And then I thought about it. This man has everything going against him. One, his name is Titty Boy. You can't even say your name on television or the radio. He had everything going against him. But me and my business partners, we were like, we want to sign him.

• 20:19Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 20:20Speaker 05

  We took him solo. He was in a group. We got him out of this deal with Ludacris. We helped him change his name to 2 Chainz. But what's crazy is, he didn't even want us to manage him. We said, we want to manage you. He wanted this industry manager to manage him. He looked at us more of like his street team. Like, y'all go pass out CDs and stuff. And I said, no, let me show you what we can do. I took him out to this Italian restaurant, laid out a 30, 60 day, 90 day game plan. And I said, we are going to blow you up. He's like, you're a kid. He looked at my ID one time and said, under 21. He laughed at me. He's like, I've been in the game longer than you've been alive. And I said, no, let me show you how it's done nowadays.

• 21:01Ed Mylett?

  So that's how you get 2 Chainz?

• 21:03Speaker 05

  That's how we got 2 Chainz.

• 21:04Ed Mylett?

  What is you, so everyone now, now, this is where like, this is where I find you.

• 21:09Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 21:10Ed Mylett?

  Okay, so, like, the, the story of how you became successful all the way to a Grammy and millions of dollars, just from your mother's basement legitimately and literally, right? And all of the setbacks and rejections and, it's just an unreal story. But what, what makes it compelling to me is then, look, when most people get lifted up, They put out their representative. The best version of them is constantly in public. The best version of them is constantly in front of everybody. And I have this real thing I've been talking about a lot lately, which is I think one of the key emotions in life that takes the most courage is to be vulnerable. Vulnerability, if you're willing to take the risk of being vulnerable, on the other side of that is magnetized gratitude,

• 21:54Ed Mylett?

  magnetized happiness, connections, abundance, peace of mind. Freedom, what a great word. And for me, especially being so young, it's one thing for a 47-year-old guy like me to kind of arrive at the point in their life where they go, "I just don't care," right? Like, "I'm gonna be vulnerable now." It's a completely different thing for a young man in the entertainment business who's getting all of the things of life you would think you want. He's around these beautiful women. He's making all this money. He's got the best friends, the best relationships. He's in the exciting venues, getting some accolades, getting recognition. To then be vulnerable at that point, brother, that's like really courageous of you. And so where I find you is now is... Tell the story.

• 22:36Ed Mylett?

  You're at the midst of the peak of success in one area, your career and your money, but there's other parts of you that are really not doing very well at the time. So take us to that point and then what you end up doing about it.

• 22:50Speaker 05

  So as 2 Chainz's career took off, business got big and I got big. I was always overweight my entire life. But when I was eight years old, I wanted to be an athlete. That was my dream that I just buried to become CEO Charlie. And here I am getting everything I asked for. I said CEO Charlie was a real thing and I got it. We won a Grammy, we had world tours. And the darkest point happened for me shortly after we won the Grammy. I didn't even go to the Grammys. I was in L.A., didn't even want to go. It meant nothing to me. I looked at my life at 305 pounds.

• 23:31Ed Mylett?

  Hard to imagine, yeah.

• 23:33Speaker 05

  Diagnosed with a brain tumor. Pituitary tumor wrapped around my left optic nerve. The artery that goes into my brain started corroding the top of my spinal cord.

• 23:48Speaker 05

  And business and money meant nothing. It meant nothing. I was sitting on a beach in Newport. I would just like wanted to go get away from anybody and I'll just sit there with my notebook, trying to figure life out. And I, I, I saw this screen. I closed my eyes and I saw this screen and it's like I'm watching my, my life movie. And have you ever seen a movie that sucks? Like the ending is terrible? I'm like looking at my life and I'm like, that movie is terrible. That can't be it. And I said the words, I said, my story isn't over yet, comma.

• 24:28Speaker 05

  What was my dream before I started thinking about what's, was realistic in society? Big houses or cars or businesses. What was my dream? And my dream was to be an athlete. It's not something you downloaded or chose. It's automatically there. And I couldn't help that I love sports. That's just what I love. And I buried that to get into business and business had this trap.

• 24:56Speaker 05

  Where

• 24:58Speaker 05

  stress led to food.

• 25:00Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 25:01Speaker 05

  Deal making led to food. And success and celebration led to food. So all parts of my day, good, bad, or just functional.

• 25:12Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 25:13Speaker 05

  All formed an addiction, a binge eating addiction. Because here I am dieting on one hand, all the time to try to lose the weight. And on the other hand, I'm, I'm, I'm beating myself up if I mess up. So it's like I, I, I trip down one step and then push myself down the rest. And then repeat the cycle every day to be over 300 pounds.

• 25:35Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, and you're also in an industry, brother. By the way, amazing that you've lost 130 pounds. Congratulations so far. Amazing. But let's stay on this point just for a minute. Everybody listening is pretty gripped right now, right? So the first thing is I want to understand that you got heavy. You got heavy because you had the binge eating. You got heavy because of the stress and the lunches and all that. Was there any part of it though? Cause I think sometimes our challenges feed on themselves. So I'm wondering if you. You're also in this very glamorous industry. It's very looks oriented, no matter who you are, behind the scenes or in front of the scenes, right? In front of the camera. So is this part of you, like you're just watching all these people on, that are in your industry, that you're connecting with, looking great, partying, having a great time, in great shape? Would that cause you to like, stay home and eat more?

• 26:17Speaker 05

  One hundred percent.

• 26:18Ed Mylett?

  Really? I wondered that, yeah.

• 26:20Speaker 05

  Like, in my mind, I have this version of myself. I call it my shadow. And it's, it's, it's, it's, it's the memory of the darkest moment of my life. And the interesting thing about social media is what you were saying earlier. Like, people just display their avatars. We're looking at their, um, their best life, as like, popular culture would say right now. Live in my best life, and that's what people want to display. And when I wake up in the morning,

• 26:52Speaker 05

  at three hundred and five pounds, the very first thought that goes through my head is fear. Not hatred, not self-hate, no fear. I'm afraid to look at the mirror.

• 27:05Speaker 05

  I'm afraid of trying on the clothes that I know do not fit. I'd even be afraid to go to the store to buy new clothes. I'd be afraid of the first meal. I'd be afraid to walk outside, because when somebody sees you gain weight, there's this look of disappointment. They don't want to tell you, but it's this sadness that they have when they see you and you're so out of control. So everything apart about my life was fear, from the second my eyes opened, to late at night, when everybody would go out and party to the music we made.

• 27:44Speaker 05

  And I'm in my room, looking at everybody, and I would be just depressed and stuck. I never met anybody in my life who's said these words. "I'm afraid of the weekend." I was, I would Google it. Is be, is there such thing, is there a phobia of Fridays and Saturdays? Because I just wanted Monday to come back, so I could fit in normally of not having to look good, and not having to take pictures, and nobody else was partying, so there was no social pressure on me. And I just got so fed up. And when I was sitting on that beach and I saw, saw my life and I said, my story isn't over yet. I said, I have to change everything.

• 28:27Ed Mylett?

  Let's talk about how you did that. By the way, your story just grips me. I literally find myself like leaning in towards you, right? So, there's a few lessons from you I want everyone to hear. First one is that you just flat hustled.

• 28:36Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 28:37Ed Mylett?

  Second one is you're an identity controller. So you were CEO Charlie. And that seems like, oh, that's so kinda hokey or corny. Let me ask you that, to listeners. What's your identity? What do you call yourself? How do you view yourself? Does the world control it, or do you control it? Do you take control by... I don't know that you have to put that as your tagline on a business card or on your social media, but you ought to have an identity that you're taking control of, whether that's strength, or faith, or passion, or achiever, love, gratitude. You better take control of what the heck you think your identity is. Because if you don't, the world will begin to control it for you and define you. So it's a huge other lesson. Third thing, blows my mind how honest you were about the weekend. Blows my mind about the cycle of eating. I appreciate you talking about how people feel that sadness when they see you and you could sense it.

• 29:21Ed Mylett?

  Because I think that also causes people not to want to go to a gym, for example, when they're heavy, like, I'm gonna be the heavy one at the gym. Everyone's fit at the gym, right? And so, these are all things that take such courage for people to do. But the most ballistic thing to me is, and this is where it just gets juicy for me, for you. 305-pound dude, sitting on the beach, right? Lot of success financially, lot of success with friends socially, you know, your business. 305-pound dude, and by the way, how tall are you?

• 29:51Speaker 05

  5'8".

• 29:51Ed Mylett?

  5'8". So this is a big boy. And by the way, looked probably 20 years older at the time. If you look at the photos that we'll put up on the YouTube right now. For you to go, athlete, that is just ballsy as heck. For a 305-pound dude who's 5'8", who's already achieving an identity, go, I'm gonna redefine who I am, and I'm gonna become Charlie Rocket, the athlete. I'm gonna take control of that identity. That, to me, man, is like one of the coolest things I've ever heard in my... If we had a video camera of that dude, you'd go, athlete. One million out of a million people would reject that, right? So how do you do it? I want you to tell them about this one thing, and then, because I just think it's maybe one of my favorite things I've ever heard. You said that you had to change the algorithm for your life.

• 30:36Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh, is this good right here? So, how did you make, how you make this shift, but please tell them about the algorithm piece of it.

• 30:44Speaker 05

  Let's take for instance, social media.

• 30:46Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 30:47Speaker 05

  Social media is going to feed us what we like. But it also knows to sample us candy. Candy is this thing that tastes good, it's colorful and vibrant. But if we eat too much of it, we get sick. But the thing with the algorithm is, if you like something, now I'm gonna show you more of that.

• 31:12Ed Mylett?

  Everybody understands it. If you like things on social media, the algorithm tells us to send you more of that same kinda stuff.

• 31:18Speaker 05

  That's right. So, another term for it is artificial intelligence. This is what you like, so let me build this whole world around you of things like that. And in my life, I was eating all this candy. It would be the wrong things on social media, it would be the wrong things on television, it would be the wrong things just with my friends. Everything was, that I was consuming, was sweet and beautiful. But it was making me sick.

• 31:55Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 31:55Speaker 05

  So what I had to do was, I had to create a new algorithm for my life. And to create a new algorithm, it's like starting a new Instagram page. You gotta get rid of everything, you gotta unfollow everything, and you've got to now tell the computers, the artificial intelligence, that this is what I want you to bring into my life.

• 32:15Ed Mylett?

  Feed me this stuff.

• 32:16Speaker 05

  Feed me this. So I believe in the law of attraction. I studied quantum physics. Me and Andy Frisella actually talked about it a lot on his podcast. Is, creating the new algorithm for my life was law of attraction. Okay, I'm going to get rid of everything first and foremost. And I remember the conversation that I had with 2 Chainz, when I told him I was gonna retire.

• 32:39Speaker 05

  I said, I wanna walk away from the business. He said, what are you gonna do? I said, I'm gonna be an athlete.

• 32:47Ed Mylett?

  Damn, you're crazy.

• 32:49Speaker 05

  He did.

• 32:49Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you, yeah, I mean, you, you, you almost can't blame him.

• 32:55Speaker 05

  I said, my name is Charlie Rocket. I'm gonna reinvent myself. I said, I have to create a life built around me, a business that's built around me that's going to save my life. Cause right now I have a business built around me, all the algorithms around me are killing me. I have to reinvent. And the only way I can live is if I create an athlete business built around me. So, everything I do, cause I love business, I'm never gonna not do business. So, the only way to save my life is for me to be a professional athlete. How you gonna make money? I said, I don't know, but I'mma figure it out.

• 33:37Speaker 05

  I said, I'm gonna do an Ironman in New Zealand in ten months.

• 33:43Speaker 05

  I lost a hundred and thirty pounds, I did that Ironman in New Zealand. I biked across America.

• 33:49Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 33:50Speaker 05

  And I said, I want to be a Nike athlete.

• 33:55Speaker 05

  That's how I'm gonna be a professional athlete, if I can be a Nike athlete, I can actually make this thing work. And in Nike's mission statement, it reads, if you have a body, you're an athlete. And I'm like, that's me.

• 34:06Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 34:07Speaker 05

  I'm meant for this company. And my very first stock that I bought when I was eight years old was also Nike.

• 34:12Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 34:12Speaker 05

  It was like, I was, I was so fascinated by the company, I loved Michael Jordan, I loved basketball, I loved everything sports. And Nike was a motivational, inspirational sports company. I like that, I'm gonna be a Nike athlete. And that mission statement describes me, but none of their athletes are regular people. They're all these super high-performance, intense. And I'm like, I'm gonna be the one who's that common man, regular athlete. And I said, well, I believe in the law of attraction, if I wanna attract Nike into my life. Well, what do Nike athletes have? They have commercials. I said, "I need a commercial. I'm gonna make a commercial." And I titled it. The same thing when I was on that beach. I said, "My story isn't over yet."

• 34:57Speaker 05

  Comma. That was the name of that commercial. And I told my life story. And I got with a filmmaker. And it cost us like fifteen hundred dollars to make. We had a PVC pipe that connected me to him. So the camera never moved. It was always the same distance from my legs every single time. And the background would change. And we made this music that had me breathing with my steps to the beat. And we just told the story. And we put it out. And three days later, Nike called me. And they said, "We don't know who you are, but you have our entire campus in a frenzy. We have to get you up here." They flew me up to Beaverton, Oregon. And they said, "We want to support you with everything you're doing."

• 35:42Speaker 05

  I'm just blown away. Like, I'm being treated like LeBron James at Nike. The best performing stock in the Dow 30 this year. They're paying attention to me.

• 35:54Speaker 05

  Fast forward a few months. I made a commercial called "Dream Crazy." It was a fan-made Nike commercial. Called, insert Nike logo here. And I came up with this tagline about myself called "Dream Crazy."

• 36:10Speaker 05

  I got a phone call a few weeks later. Nike said, "We have a surprise for you. There's a big commercial we're working on with Colin Kaepernick, and we want you to be in it." And they titled that commercial "Dream Crazy."

• 36:25Ed Mylett?

  Come on, man.

• 36:27Speaker 05

  The most culturally pivoting commercial maybe in history.

• 36:30Ed Mylett?

  Ever. Yep.

• 36:32Speaker 05

  And I was featured in that. And I remember that day, 2 Chainz called me. He said...

• 36:39Speaker 05

  You stole my superpowers.

• 36:41Ed Mylett?

  I love that, brother. Like, y'all that are hearing this, I know what you're thinking. You're gonna be kidding me, man. So from sitting on the beach, 305 pounds, you end up in a damn Nike commercial like this. Did you hear what he said, by the way? Lost 130, Nike commercial, biked across the United States, starting to reverse the brain tumor, by the way, and is doing Ironmans. Like, the thing that's powerful is the combination of this crazy dream, dream crazy, but massive monster action. I can't stand when people tell me, "I'm so on fire for my dream. I got this crazy dream." No action, or little action. You take massive, monster, freaking action.

• 37:21Speaker 05

  I have a hack, I have a life hack for that.

• 37:23Ed Mylett?

  Give it.

• 37:24Speaker 05

  I have this philosophy where I say, "Everything's gonna be easy." Because usually, when we go into something, we're like, "Oh, man, it's gonna be hard, so we're gonna have to grind, and we're gonna have to grind." And I thought about it, I was like, grinding is like, a lot of friction, and that's hard, and if it's too hard, I might not wanna do it. But if I say something's gonna be easy, I'm probably gonna show up. And I did that with my Ironman, and I do that with my businesses. With my Ironman, I was like, okay, Ironman is a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run, a full marathon after doing all that other stuff. And I said to myself, "Give me an Ironman training program." And I looked at it, and I was like, "Oh, my goodness, this is crazy."

• 38:09Speaker 05

  Like, this many laps at this intensity, heart rate at this, and then sprint for this, I was like, "This is too much. I need something simple." How many hours a week do they work out? It said 14. I said, "That's easy, two hours a day." When I was eight, we'd ride our bikes with our friends for a couple hours, or we'd go to the pool on the weekend for a couple hours, or we'll be running around the park for a couple hours. "I'm gonna do this, Ironman, I'm gonna train like an eight-year-old, and it's gonna be easy."

• 38:35Ed Mylett?

  Wonderful.

• 38:36Speaker 05

  That was my philosophy, that's what actually got me to show up and take the step, because if I kept saying, "It's gonna be hard, it's gonna be hard, it's gonna be hard," or I could say, "It's gonna be easy," and in my mind, it's easy. Now, it took me, you know, 16 hours and 41 minutes to do the Ironman, and I came in second to last place. But if you ask me today... It was easy.

• 38:57Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, well, you're one of, uh, 1% of the humans on Earth, well, actually, 1/10 of 1% who have actually completed an Ironman. And most of them start at 305 pounds, when they're 5'8", and do it in about an 18-month window. It's bananas, right? And so, I think what, I think what it is, is what you're saying is, is that no matter what you define it as, you're gonna get what you're looking for. So if you, if you think something's easy, you're probably gonna find easier paths. What you did is you took a very complex thing, made it simple. Cause the enemy of executing is complexity. So you made it very simple. If you're looking for something that's gonna be fun, or you tell yourself it's gonna be rewarding, you tell yourself it's gonna be all kinds of things, worth it. The worst thing you could tell yourself is that it's gonna be hard, or difficult, or a grind. There's other ways to accept the fact that something is work, and not call it hard or difficult. It can be rewarding, worth it, valuable.

• 39:40Ed Mylett?

  It'll be something I'm proud of when I've done. There's all different ways to word it, other than feeding yourself that horribly negative thought of how hard something, or difficult, or tragic. You meet people all the time, like, "I'm just getting through life, I'm overcoming." Life's not just about overcoming life. Life's to be embraced. If you're constantly overcoming things, you're gonna find more things to overcome. There's always gonna be adversity coming your way. So, it's super powerful. I wanna talk about a few things about you now, that I love. One is that you admit that you're a work in progress. When you see its content, you're gonna be inspired, because it's real-life content. I told you off-camera, one of my frustrations and concerns, although I made a post about it this week, is that people will see my world. You know, that, you know, seemingly I have some insight into life, and I've got the ocean, and the beach, and the lake, and the jets, and

• 40:25Ed Mylett?

  all of that stuff, and they would think that I don't have fears, anxieties, insecurities, stresses, challenges. Because I do. I do my best to try to express that, but you do it wonderfully. So like, there are videos on your social media that have made me cry. I mean, videos of you taking your shirt off, and saying, "Hey, I'm still not comfortable doing this, but I want you to see where I really am," and you running with your shirt off, without the, all these people in the fitness space ripped, and jacked, and it's easy to take your shirt off when you're that way. It takes some real courage to be the real you. You're not using filters on all your videos, right? So I really, really admire it, cause I think you're giving people hope, and... You do this for two reasons. And I want you to talk about this, about marketing for a minute.

• 41:06Speaker 05

  For sure.

• 41:07Ed Mylett?

  So, you have this philosophy of "I am" in your marketing. I want you to explain this. So, not only is it great social media content that inspires, but you also think it's actually a business philosophy. So, talk about this. This right here, guys, is where you start writing something down big time. So, take them through your marketing, your belief about marketing and business on this.

• 41:27Speaker 05

  So, ever since I was little, I think I've had the gift of seeing around the corner of like where things should go culturally or with marketing.

• 41:36Ed Mylett?

  Obviously.

• 41:36Speaker 05

  And I love, love marketing. It is my passion. And I have this theory called the "I am you" theory. And it all started with a search. I wanted to see what the number one grossing superhero franchise was of all time. And to my surprise, it was Spider-Man. And I was like, "Why? Why Spider-Man?" And I came to the conclusion that it might be because he was the only one that didn't have a chiseled chin. He was the only one that didn't have muscles. His aunt couldn't pay the rent. He was just a regular guy. And yet, he's number one. And I said, "Okay, well, does this hold true with other things?"

• 42:21Speaker 05

  And I did a Google search. "What's the number one religion in the world as far as a number of followers?" And it came out to be Christianity. And I was like, "Why?" And then studying Jesus is, okay, carpenter, hangs out with poor people. He only had 12 followers at the time. And he probably would have had more followers if he came on a horse with the armor and the sword and "I am the great Savior." And that's what most of us are doing culturally with our marketing or with social media. And the paradigm is this. It is, "I'm so perfect and all of y'all are not.

• 43:04Speaker 05

  That's why you should follow me because I'm at the top." But then I thought about it. Does this "I am you" theory, okay, it worked for Spider-Man. It worked for Jesus. Does it work for a corporation? If it works for a corporation, this might be a real theory. So, I said, "Okay, what's the biggest corporation in the world?" Apple, first trillion dollar company. And I thought about it, its leader, Steve Jobs.

• 43:27Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 43:28Speaker 05

  The first CEO ever to take the suit off and he honestly looks like my dad.

• 43:34Ed Mylett?

  Mm-hmm.

• 43:34Speaker 05

  So, and when he passed away, everybody's crying. We've never seen this from a CEO before.

• 43:39Ed Mylett?

  Yep, yep.

• 43:39Speaker 05

  They're crying at memorials. He was us.

• 43:43Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 43:44Speaker 05

  And he even named his products, instead of Inspiron 3000, he named his product Lisa McIntosh. And, and, and his biggest hit product that blew up the company was iPod.

• 44:00Ed Mylett?

  Mm-hmm.

• 44:00Speaker 05

  iPhone. He literally wanted the products to be just like us. That he named them human names and made them us. And then I thought about it with Michael Jordan versus Kobe Bryant. Michael Jordan will catch the ball in the second quarter of a regular season game and 20,000 cameras are going off. I've never experienced, nothing against LeBron, nothing against Kobe, but that has only happened with one individual.

• 44:22Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 44:23Speaker 05

  Michael Jordan, I said, why? He had one gift, and it's not LeBron's fault.

• 44:29Ed Mylett?

  Mm-hmm.

• 44:30Speaker 05

  It's not Kobe's fault.

• 44:33Speaker 05

  But Jordan was the scrawny kid who got cut from his high school basketball team.

• 44:38Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 44:38Speaker 05

  And that's what made him us.

• 44:40Ed Mylett?

  Mm-hmm.

• 44:41Speaker 05

  That's what made the difference in, in everything that surrounded him is his story. He was us and he had the song.

• 44:49Ed Mylett?

  You like Mike?

• 44:50Speaker 05

  Sometimes I dream that he is me. I dream of all the things that I could be. Boom, boom, boom, boom. It was the I Am You song. It was where Kobe is the Black Mamba.

• 45:02Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 45:02Speaker 05

  He's alone. He's nothing like us. Where Mike in that commercial, the ball hits him in the head and he's playing with the kids.

• 45:08Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 45:09Speaker 05

  He was us. And then we think about Oprah. The biggest things in the world are not trying to be the most different as us. They're literally just like us. But in social media today, it's, I'm not like you, I'm not like you, I'm not like you. That's why you should follow me. But the biggest things in the world flip the paradigm and say, I'm just like you, I'm just like you, I'm just like you, follow me. So why aren't we marketing that way?

• 45:36Ed Mylett?

  Brilliant. And true and like one of my favorite things I've ever heard ever, ever, ever on this show. Because brother, that's a hundred million percent correct. And in fact, there's a detriment when someone is propagating the idea that they are perfect and you are not. You watch their stuff, it's like, almost like heroin. It feels good when you're watching it, but it hurts you when you're done with it. Because you can't measure up. You're not as beautiful, you're not as articulate, you can't dance like them, you don't sing like them. And you take that, bro, so like to an extreme with your content. And it's why I want more people to follow you. Because they can go on this journey with you. It also takes away the excuses many of you are feeding yourself.

• 46:19Ed Mylett?

  I'm not beautiful enough, I'm not smart enough, I'm not fit enough, I'm not, I don't have the best content. Listen, what you want to get is that people connect with you, that they think you're like them, and then they begin to root for you. More and more people are becoming successful when people are rooting for them, because you can connect with them, than they are to think that you're somehow brilliant, or different, or special than they are. I happen to think it's incredible because I do think you're brilliant. I do think you have an unusually large heart. So I just picture this little boy, man, carrying his briefcase to school with a suit on. You know, that's special, that's a little boy with heart, with a dream, dream crazy, right? And I picture you in the basement, I picture you knocking on those doors for the radio stuff. I picture that first group dropping you. And I picture you getting, you know, and then I picture this guy winning but not happy in his life.

• 47:02Ed Mylett?

  So he's eating and eating and eating, and I picture the courage of walking away when you've got this, you know, Grammy nominated and winning act and to shift gears to where you are now, to this Charlie Rocket, um, identity that you have now. What are you trying to do with it? In other words, what's the message from you? So you're in the midst of still trying to even lose more weight, right? Do you, do you still have bad days?

• 47:26Speaker 05

  Oh my God. Probably the past two weeks, I probably gained five pounds. Like I was a little frustrated coming over here, like I did an Instagram story as I was coming over here. And I was just like, Jesus, like I could tell like when my face is lean and then getting on cameras. Just it's deeply rooted stuff from my whole life, but getting on camera is hard, but um.

• 47:45Ed Mylett?

  You look great.

• 47:47Speaker 05

  Thank you.

• 47:47Ed Mylett?

  You look great, it's the first thing I told you when you got here. But so you still do, you still, you still have setbacks, you still, once in a while, eat when you shouldn't, or don't work out when you should, or you still have those setbacks.

• 47:58Speaker 05

  It's a, it's an ongoing journey and I realize that.

• 48:03Speaker 05

  I've never been the you should guy. I never tell somebody what they should do. Like, I don't feel like I'm smart enough or an expert enough to say those words. Because I might think I have something figured out and then a year or two later, I'm like, "Well, I really didn't have it figured out." So I just try to teach people through my lessons.

• 48:20Ed Mylett?

  Yes, so some hard questions.

• 48:22Speaker 05

  Alright.

• 48:23Ed Mylett?

  You slipped up and gained five pounds. How did you get yourself out of that? What's something everyone can learn from you? What are you doing to get out of it?

• 48:28Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 48:29Ed Mylett?

  Get back on track?

• 48:30Speaker 05

  The first thing I do is I gotta play offense. Like, I feel like when I'm happiest is when... My happiness doesn't come from a goal. I feel like, okay, if the universe is ever expanding, that means like it's moving that way. If I'm staying in the same spot, I'm not happy.

• 48:52Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 48:52Speaker 05

  As long as, like, I can just eat right today and I'll wake up tomorrow and be like, only like .3 pounds different, but I'm looking at a totally different person in the mirror because I'm happy. So I do this thing called, "I'm on a winning streak." And this is where I get my momentum. It'll be the simplest things. If I'm looking for wins, I'm gonna get them.

• 49:13Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 49:14Speaker 05

  I'll go to Starbucks and I'll order my little espresso shot. And they'll tell me $2.60. And I said, "All that happiness for only $2.60? I'm on a winning streak! This is great because I'm gonna be a lot happier when I drink that than when I win." So that's a win! And then I got like the last hotel room at a hotel when I was traveling. They were about to be sold out. I'm like, "I'm on a winning streak!" And when I'm looking for these winning streaks, more wins come. So a lot of times when things are crashing around us, or things are bad, we're a little bit focused, so I just do the one little trick. "I'm on a winning streak." What's a good winning streak? "I'm with you right now." Winning streak? Boom, I got the green light! Winning streak! I acknowledge the winning streaks and it just attracts so much more.

• 49:59Ed Mylett?

  Bro, you say stuff I've not heard anybody say. I mean, that's absolutely awesome. And the reason it works, I want everyone to hear this because we're going back and forth here. The reason that works is, number one, you do get what you're looking for. So when you decide, "I'm on a winning streak," here's what happens. There's that part of your brain, I talk about in my book, called the reticular activating system. This is the scientific part, but I just want you to understand, this isn't like philosophy. This is science, what he's giving you. It's where they converge. So philosophically, I know you're right. Scientifically, I really know you're right. Because there's this part of your brain called the reticular activating system, and it's a filter. It filters out everything that's not important to you. So, once you start programming and saying, "I'm on a winning streak, I'm on a winning streak." Your brain goes to work in every sensory way.

• 50:39Ed Mylett?

  Visual, kinesthetic, touch, auditory, you name it, to show you more winning streaks. And that's why the other side also happens. When you're in a slump, and you're eating bad, and you begin to beat yourself up, you will see more ways to beat yourself up, more ways to slide down that slide into the abyss of feeling terrible about yourself. So, just take... What you do well, man, is you take control of your identity by these monikers you give yourself. You've controlled the identity. You control the action you take. And then, in this case, you're controlling what you're looking for by the winning streak. That is so good, man. Like, I hope everybody hears this. I want to ask you a hard question, because you're unique.

• 51:21Ed Mylett?

  And I'm doing this as a gift to you, to just be aware of it, but a question I want you to answer in front of me. First off, he's telling you that you should be vulnerable in all of your posts and your social media. And even if you're not on social media, just in your life, vulnerability will bring you more... It's risky, because people will reject you when you're vulnerable. You'll get some hate when you're vulnerable. But the fact of the matter is, it opens you up to way more love, way more gratitude, way more connection, way more achievement, way more money, way more fitness, way more peace, way more everything. So, vulnerability is a gateway to these things, and that's what you define vulnerability to me. But, you have this identity now that you're in transition. Follow me on my journey. How do you make sure, because everyone get this,

• 52:03Ed Mylett?

  how do you make sure that that doesn't become your identity? In other words, "I'm vulnerable, watch my ups and downs, watch my downs." How does that... How do you guard against that not becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy? So that like, "I do reveal my imperfections all the time, so I better be coming up with some imperfections from time to time." Do you understand what I'm saying?

• 52:23Speaker 05

  Yeah, man.

• 52:24Ed Mylett?

  And so, sometimes, people get into these...

• 52:25Speaker 05

  I've got the answer.

• 52:26Ed Mylett?

  Okay, give it to me.

• 52:29Speaker 05

  I'm not meant to do one thing. There's gonna be chapters in my life.

• 52:35Speaker 05

  When I enter a new chapter, I'm going to face a challenge. I'm going to have another big dream, another big mission. And there will always be something that is the truth. It's not just vulnerability, it's just being truthful. I thought about a lot of the big motivators who I follow, and I won't say any names, but I hear them with their big goals and I'm like, you might not get to your goal because you never go through anything. If you truly want to transcend and be that true success that you've been working towards, you can't be perfect. If you allow us to go through something with you,

• 53:17Speaker 05

  you will transcend beyond because right now you're in a trap. You're in the motivator trap to where you can't ever contradict yourself because you've been saying you should for so long that if you go through anything, you would feel like you're letting everybody down because you're not even taking your own advice and just saying suck it up. So that's a trap. I never want to be in that trap. I never want to look like I'm having to contradict myself. But the truth is, everybody's going through something. And what they're putting on social media is an avatar. And yes, it's inspirational and there are great things that come out of it. But if you truly want, like, why aren't we studying Oprah, man? You know what's beautiful about her? She never got to the finish line.

• 54:00Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, there is a finish line.

• 54:01Speaker 05

  She's still overweight. She never got there. That's what's amazing. She tried. We watched her fail. She tried again. She's us. She's not telling people how to be so perfect. And if we want to be great, just tell the truth. That's what it comes down to.

• 54:17Ed Mylett?

  People will connect with you in a way that they can't if they just feel like you're not authentic, that you're not congruent. You know, the other thing is, like, do what you say. You know, congruency is a really powerful thing. Just like, do what you say. Like, I'm not saying you're not going to slip back on your routine, but like, be, reveal to people who you really are, which is what you mean about being truthful. Let me ask you a couple of things.

• 54:37Ed Mylett?

  First off, where do they find you? Because I know they're, I don't like to do that at the very end. So where do they find you? What's the best way to connect with you?

• 54:43Speaker 05

  @charlie on Instagram. It was super dope how I got the name.

• 54:47Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, like, this is, I, I, I'm, I'm listening to you and I'm like, I'm glad I get to interview you now before the movie comes out. No, seriously, because he's got a book coming out that you'll be hearing about soon. We can't talk about it yet today, really, but there's a great book that's going to be coming out here in the near future. So if they're following you, @charlie on Instagram, that's the best place to get you. And go on the journey with them. You know, go on the journey. It's gonna, it's gonna inspire you. It's gonna, it's gonna move you. I mean, some of this is literally going to move you when you see it. So tell me a little bit for you. Where are you at? Do you want to lose more weight? What's the future for you? What are some of your big ambitions and goals right now? What are you, what are you working towards?

• 55:23Speaker 05

  Three goals for next year. And I always make contracts to myself. Like, at the end of the year, I want to make a contract. And I'll sign it and I'll put it on my refrigerator. That's what I did when I said I want to be top 1% of athletes in the world. I want to complete an Ironman. I wrote that at the end of 2016, 2017, and 2018, I did it. So, this upcoming year, I want, for the first time, to experience looking in the mirror and loving what I see. For the first time. I want, this year is the year that I get to experience that and I'm gonna love it and I'm gonna move on. Once I experience it, I'm gonna stay there and I'm gonna move on to the next thing. That's the first thing.

• 56:06Speaker 05

  I don't want to, I don't want to have to not like the way I look. The second thing is, I want to be one of the best storytellers in the world. I feel like I was given this life. I never knew my story was interesting until this past year. All this just started in January. I told my story. I saw people's eyes light up and their hearts start singing. And I said, I want to be an amazing storyteller and I want to go at least 200 speaking engagements this year. And the third thing is the book. The Life and Death of CEO Charlie is coming out. And maybe we'll write a book about the I am you theory.

• 56:41Ed Mylett?

  By the way, you should write a book about that. I also want to tell you, I think you can checkbox two minus the 200 engagements. I think you're an incredible flipping storyteller. I really do. I, I already think you can checkbox two and I'll, I found anything I can do to help checkbox one and three. And the remainder of two, you know that I'm in. I wanna, I wanna get this, that's why we're doing this today. I want the world to know more and more about you. I feel like you're magic.

• 57:02Speaker 05

  That's a compliment right there, magic.

• 57:04Ed Mylett?

  You are magic. Your life's magic, you're magic, yet you are me. You are everybody else. And so, I think what you do is you reveal, you reveal to people that there's magic in them by being very much like you. And it's such a powerful thing. It's different when someone's words inspire than when their example and story does. And you're the combination of both. Your words are magnificent, but what's really inspirational, I told you this off camera, it's the actual true story of who you are in your life. So let's shift away from you.

• 57:35Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 57:35Ed Mylett?

  And by the way, and let's just talk for the remaining time here to other people. So, man, do a lot of people connect with you. And so, let's just take somebody, for example, right now who says, hey man, I know what it's like not to like what I look like in the mirror too. They're a man or a woman. I don't like how I feel about how I look, or I don't like me. Forget how I look, I just don't like me. And you're gonna make that your ambition for next year. Can you give me some insight as to how you're gonna make those moves and any recommendation to them to begin to, if you wanna call it self-love, okay? Is there steps towards that you're taking, you're in progress of, and anything you'd recommend to them?

• 58:11Speaker 05

  Man, I wish I had a good answer, but the only thing I've got is something I experimented with.

• 58:18Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 58:19Speaker 05

  So, Nike challenged me to do the Chicago Marathon. It's gonna be this big campaign where my heaviest weight was 305, and to qualify for the Boston Marathon is three hours and five minutes. So it was like this big thing, and I'm like, let's do it, like, I'm ready. Because when I finished my Ironman, I wasn't at my goal weight. So I didn't truly celebrate that finish line. And then when I biked across America, I crossed the finish line, and I still wasn't at my goal weight. So I said, okay, sign me up for the next big adventure, because when I run a marathon that fast, in three hours and five minutes, there's no way I'm gonna be overweight. It would be impossible.

• 59:02Speaker 05

  It's an all-out sprint for three hours and five minutes. And so, here I am, training, and I got a leg injury. I didn't have a day of training to miss, and here I have a calf injury. And I started beating myself up, and I started gaining a little bit of weight.

• 59:21Speaker 05

  The Chicago Marathon, which was my qualifying marathon, is three weeks away. I just go through the motions, get up to the distance, boom, I'm there in Chicago. And I'm depressed. And if you look back on my Instagram, I talk about it. Like, I'm just like, I'm going through something, like, whatever. I'm taking a break from Instagram for a week, I'm just trying to find myself. And I woke up that morning, and I was looking in the mirror, I was wearing a blue shirt.

• 59:49Speaker 05

  And I was like, I hate the way I look. I'm about to cross another epic finish line in my life. And I'm not at my goal. And I was beating myself up, and when you're wearing a shirt, technically, you're trying to cover up your imperfections, but then you don't look good in it. And I was just so desperate to look for some answer. And I'm like, I hate what I'm looking at. And it was so frustrating that you just wanna scream. And I said, what if I go back to the one thing I know how to do? And that's the identity.

• 1:00:23Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 1:00:26Speaker 05

  If I want to be something, let me dress up as it.

• 1:00:31Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 1:00:32Speaker 05

  And I told my best friend Scott, can you please get me a marker?

• 1:00:38Speaker 05

  And I took my shirt off, and I wrote self-love.

• 1:00:41Ed Mylett?

  You did use those words, I just used those, if you will.

• 1:00:45Speaker 05

  And when I started running the marathon, it was raining and it was cold. I took my shirt off. And within ten seconds, somebody screamed at me, self-love! And I was like, whoa, like, caught off, they're in passion. And then, next thing you know, everybody, there's hundreds of thousands, Chicago Marathon's one of the biggest marathons in the world, top ten marathons in the world, and people are screaming at me, self-love, go self-love! And they're installing all this passion into me from something that, where it's all my perfections, imperfections. I'm just like, taking my shirt off is hard. Like, as a kid, I would never take my shirt off at the pool or at the beach. If we played basketball, shirts were skins, I would drop out, I'm not ever gonna take my shirt off.

• 1:01:30Speaker 05

  So, running in front of hundreds of thousands of people is very difficult. But they installed in me something that I had never experienced before. It was my imperfections that they loved. And I was, I wrote what I wanted to be, what I needed in my life, I wrote it on me. And they gave it to me. And, and, and it, it, it made me feel so much more comfortable. It gave me the freedom to, I, I still don't love what I see.

• 1:01:59Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:00Speaker 05

  But I'm not beating myself up.

• 1:02:01Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 1:02:02Speaker 05

  Because after a hundred thousand people are telling you that what you did and what you look like encouraged them, and it gave them some sort of passion and just high fiving like, ah.

• 1:02:14Ed Mylett?

  I think that's a huge answer, man, and I think everybody should take from that too, is that you can start to control that identity. I want you to do me a favor, though, just do me this one favor. I want you to start to celebrate the wins as you go. The reason I say that to you is, and I want everyone to hear this, because we're talking back and forth, is that whole part about the winning streak, how you see more winning streaks. Okay, so you cheat yourself out of celebrating these very significant achievements in your life, and you delay that celebration until a future place that you'll never arrive there. And your brain likes the dopamine hit, you, you become more addicted to the achievements, and you need to celebrate it because it feeds your identity. Someone who's really a winner will have had previous celebrations. Okay, so please make sure that you're, because what you've done, I even watch you when we're talking.

• 1:02:55Speaker 05

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:02:56Ed Mylett?

  And I, I observe people pretty closely because I coach them, and one of the things that I observe about you is that you don't receive a compliment very well.

• 1:03:05Speaker 05

  No, never have.

• 1:03:06Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, okay. And, and so that tells me that sometimes, perhaps, even when I'm telling you the truth about you.

• 1:03:14Ed Mylett?

  See, there's, let me say something to everybody, this is gonna be a breakthrough moment. There's your version of the truth about you. There's my version of the truth about you, and then there's the truth about you. So sometimes when we think we're revealing the truth about ourselves, perhaps part of that's our truth, and part, part of that is a, an insecurity or a weakness we're projecting upon ourselves. Because I do think you're magic, I think your transformation is freaking incredible, what you've done. And I think the more you begin to acknowledge how incredible it is, you're a super good-looking dude. Like, wait, not because you weren't before. If, if, forget what you looked like before. You're a very handsome, good-looking dude. There's gonna be some DMs flying in right now your way, right? So, so I think you need to.

• 1:03:56Speaker 05

  I have a girlfriend for the first time in my life, it is, uh, so no DMs, please.

• 1:04:00Ed Mylett?

  So no DMs, by the way, she really loves you now. So, but to be very clear with you, those DMs can just be, "You look great," everybody. So, but I want to be clear with you, I want you to celebrate your victories, because you're gonna begin to find more of them when you do that. And I want you to begin to let other people tell you how wonderful you are, because it always concerns me when I see somebody making a transformation, and when I acknowledge them, because I know what it's like, because I've been this way for many years. I used to have a very hard time, in fact, when people would even give me a compliment, I would almost say, "Well, not really, let me tell you about this." Like, I wouldn't even not take it, I'd almost seldom they were wrong. And I realized, this is sort of reflective of something I actually think. And so, it's great to have humility, it's great to be humble. But it's not great not to really believe great things about yourself.

• 1:04:44Ed Mylett?

  And so, I think you're one of the most unique, incredible, young people I've ever met in my life. I think that what you're doing is taking your life story, which is magic and imperfections and real life all combined, and making a huge shift for people. I was just struck, man, like, I feel like today just flew, right? Like, it just flew, like, when I'm doing great interviews, I'm like, "I wanna go forty more minutes." There's a threshold of what I know people will listen to for an extended period of time. And so, because I want this conversation extended, I do want you all to follow Charlie. And so, that's where the conversation can become extended. You're gonna leave me and him, and you're gonna connect with him. And so, I'm handing my beautiful audience over to you, and asking them to come follow you. I'm blown away by your wisdom for a thirty-year-old man.

• 1:05:31Ed Mylett?

  I'm blown away by your truth and your vulnerability. Your ability to communicate is off the charts. My secret belief is that you have an extraordinary IQ, although I know you won't admit that. I just think there's some brilliance in there that's, it's not normal for thirty years old. One of the reasons I think you're so brilliant, though, is, and this is another lesson for everybody at the finish here, you've had a ton of experience in thirty years, right? There's no substitute for just real-life experience. You can only get so much out of listening to an interview, or, you know, reading a book. There's become a point in your life where you have to go get experience, and that's where you'll grow exponentially a hundred times-fold in getting experience. But I think you're incredible, man, and like, I'm really glad I said yes to this interview. I'm glad, I'm grateful for all of the people out there struggling with different parts of their life,

• 1:06:15Ed Mylett?

  that you're helping, and...

• 1:06:17Speaker 05

  I wanna say something to your audience.

• 1:06:21Speaker 05

  Because it's very contrasting. How you approached me in...

• 1:06:27Speaker 05

  You're one of the biggest. And I think it says something, because I'm at, I'm at a very infant stage of my career as somebody who is of inspiration.

• 1:06:37Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:38Speaker 05

  So I'm getting a first-person view of who I want to be.

• 1:06:44Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:45Speaker 05

  Like, I'm literally, like, because here are mentors or people who I look up to, and now I'm getting to interact with them, and I'm getting to see, who do I want to be? And you DM'd me. And now I'm messaging people and DMing people, and they're telling me no, or leaving me ignored. And you DM'd me, and you said, "Some people have reached out to me about you. Would you like

• 1:07:08Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:08Speaker 05

  to be on my podcast?" Like, you came to me so humbly, and so like, just, and it's like, wow, are the biggest in the world, is this how they operate?

• 1:07:16Ed Mylett?

  Yes. Because there's different ways you can do a show, frankly. You can say, "I just want to do a show where I get the most well-known people only." And obviously, you know who my friends are. There's a whole bunch of very well-known people who will probably eventually be on the show, and have been in the past, so that the show grows. Or you can really serve people with people that have the messages that can affect them the most. And so, you're both. I'm catching you like a stock on the upswing. I already know where you're going. We're gonna look, we'll look back at two years and go, Charlie was on Ed's show when he was at that stage. Now, look where he is with the book that sold four million copies, right? And so, the Netflix special that's on him, the documentary. And so, for me, it's just bringing people in that I know my audience can benefit from, that they can help, and people that I think are magic, are wonderful, or have maxed out. And so, it's not corny to me.

• 1:08:02Ed Mylett?

  I said, "This show is called Max Out." My gosh, dude, you maxed out 30 years of life so far. I mean, undoubtedly, you fit the description of maxing out. And so, it's been a pleasure and an honor to have you here. I'm grateful. I win today. My audience wins today. And I want them to continue to win by following you. I endorse this guy. I think he's incredible. And so, thank you so much for today, Charlie.

• 1:08:24Speaker 05

  Thank you, man.

• 1:08:25Ed Mylett?

  It was awesome, brother. So everyone, I know, I already know. I know you enjoyed today. I know it affected your life. I know it's emotional for you, but hopefully, you also got some strategies and some real tactics for your business and your life. From Charlie and I today. If that is the case, please make sure every single day that you are sharing the message of this show. It's the fastest growing show in the world for a reason. Spread the word on Instagram every day. I do the two-minute drill. Basically means this, I make a post within two minutes. If you make a comment with hashtag max out, you get a coaching call with me or gear or my book. Would you do a coaching call with one of our people? As many as you want. Awesome. We got two of yous gonna win a coaching call for 30 minutes with Charlie too. If you make comments every day on there, we pick a winner every single day. And if you miss the first two minutes because the notifications didn't work or whatever,

• 1:09:09Ed Mylett?

  as long as you make a comment on my feed every day when I make a post, we pick a winner at the end of the week who just commented every day at any time. So that's great. Thank you for doing that. Two's bananas. So he offered as many as I wanted, but two's fair because you're a busy guy. So thank you, everybody. God bless you and continue to max out your life.