212 The Power of Breathing to Get In the Zone with Laird Hamilton

"The zone is ultimately the now." - Laird Hamilton If you enjoyed this episode, check out shownotes and more at lewishowes.com/212. 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 212 with the legendary Laird Hamilton.

• 0:07Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a 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?

  Welcome everyone to today's episode number 212. Thank you so much for joining me. I had the pleasure of sitting down with a legend in today's sports world. His name is Laird Hamilton and at 215 pounds, at 6 foot 3 inches with an uncommon combination of balance, flexibility and strength. He is truly a larger-than-life athlete and individual. Not only is he the quintessential big wave surfer, Laird is also known as a renowned innovator and guiding genius of crossover board sports, including toe-end surfing, stand-up paddle boarding and hydrofoil boarding. He is an incredible human being. I had the pleasure of training with him at his house.

• 1:14Lewis Howes?

  And I thought we were going to be doing some extreme pool workout and some other crazy lifting. But I went on a day in the morning when they did an hour of breathing. And it was one of the most challenging hours of my workout life. I was, at the first minute, thought I was going to pass out. And then after 20, 30 minutes, I thought I could hold my breath forever and had complete calm and clarity and felt like I was in another dimension. Then went back into more pain and anxiety and stress. But the breathing all allowed me to really focus and center myself. And it was one of the most inspiring hour workouts of my life, to be honest.

• 1:55Lewis Howes?

  To witness what we were creating together as a group of about 10 guys at his house in Malibu. And we dive into the mindset of the breath and the mindset of getting in the zone and really how to optimize your life at the highest. Highest levels throughout this entire interview. Had a pleasure connecting with him, a pleasure training with him and hope to go learn some more. If he lets me come back and train at his house ever again in the future. Very excited to get you guys into this episode. Want to give a quick shout out to our sponsor over at onnit.com. If you want to achieve total human optimization, then make sure to check out onnit.com. They've got some of the best fitness foods, workout gear and supplements to take your mind and body to the next level.

• 2:39Lewis Howes?

  So if you want to achieve total human optimization, go head to onnit.com. That's O-N-N-I-T.com. And you get 10% off when you use the checkout code greatness on all supplements. So go ahead and check out onnit.com for more. I'm very excited to bring you our guest today. His name is Laird Hamilton. He's an incredible human being. So let's go ahead and dive into this episode with the one and only Laird Hamilton.

• 3:10Lewis Howes?

  Welcome everyone back to the School of Greatness Podcast. Very excited Laird Hamilton in his house. Good to see you my man.

• 3:16Laird Hamilton?

  You're welcome.

• 3:16Lewis Howes?

  Very excited about this episode because of what you just put me through. Which was an intense workout, which is really just a breathing exercise.

• 3:25Laird Hamilton?

  Yes.

• 3:25Lewis Howes?

  And I, before we get into your story, I read a quote somewhere. You probably know the quote, the real quote. Something about if you master your breath, you have the strength of 10 tigers or something like that. Is that the quote? Have you heard that before?

• 3:38Laird Hamilton?

  I'm not sure, but that sounds.

• 3:39Lewis Howes?

  There's some like Tao quote, it's like, learn to master your breath, you have the strength of 10 tigers.

• 3:44Laird Hamilton?

  It's true.

• 3:45Lewis Howes?

  Crazy, right?

• 3:46Laird Hamilton?

  It's real.

• 3:47Lewis Howes?

  Why is breathing so important in our, not a lot of entrepreneurs here, but in our existence, yes, in our lives.

• 3:53Laird Hamilton?

  I mean, you know, and I've been fortunate to be exposed to a couple of different forms of breathing. And of course, you know, when you're in the ocean or in the water. Breath is an ever important thing because your, you know, your relationship with rounding. But you know, lately I've been kind of studying under this guy Wim Hof, who does all this breath training. But the, the thing that you realize is that, that your spirit or your soul is connected to your breath. And that when, that when you, you know, like when a baby takes its first breath is when it, the spirit comes into the body, just like when the breath stops, so does the spirit leave.

• 4:38Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 4:39Laird Hamilton?

  So if you really want to get into like a kind of a little bit, you know, deeper conversation, it's a connection to your soul or your spirit. It's you have a, and, and then, and then it's, you know, obviously mandatory for life. Breath is the way we get oxygen. Oxygen is essential for living, so it's all about breathing at the end. And then, and then we know through, you know, cardiovascular activities and any kind of exertion, it's all about breathing. I mean, breathing is, is your fuel. That's your energy, that's your power. Uh, when you're not, you know, eating food and digesting and drinking water. But, and you know, oxygen is the, is the thing that ultimately fires every cell in your body. So it, that's your, you know.

• 5:22Lewis Howes?

  So have you been practicing breathing strategies or techniques or working on your breath for, since you've been surfing and swimming the ocean for your whole life? Have you been doing that or is it more in the last year? You said you started to dive in and really practice it now.

• 5:34Laird Hamilton?

  Well, it's been the last year or last year or so that I've really focused on isolation of the breath. I've been exposed to some yoga breathing and some types of yoga breathing over the years. But I haven't been so disciplined and consistent with it like I have been the last year and a half or two. And, and so, you know, that's, but I, but I indirectly have been doing it anyway.

• 6:00Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 6:01Laird Hamilton?

  Because first of all, when you swim.

• 6:02Lewis Howes?

  You have to when you're swimming.

• 6:03Laird Hamilton?

  Swimming's a breathing rhythm. Being in the water, you always have to hold your breath. Uh, you know, so you get, so you have a relationship with your breath. If you do any kind of diving or freediving, I mean, you already have established a, a, a, a a deeper relationship than normal people.

• 6:20Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 6:21Laird Hamilton?

  Because normally people are, they're. They don't even think about breathing. They're not even, you know, they're not even conscious of it.

• 6:26Lewis Howes?

  If you want to become a better swimmer or better in the water, whatever sport you're doing, you have to master your breath at some level.

• 6:32Laird Hamilton?

  Absolutely.

• 6:33Lewis Howes?

  So you're getting better just by practicing it?

• 6:35Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, it's a byproduct of your, of you doing it without even being conscious of it. And, and, and then, you know, and then when you do some heavy, you know, circuits or, or, or other types of, of, you know, intense training, you know, you know what the breath is all about. I mean, usually the breath is what, what dictates the failure. At a certain point, when you're out of breath and you're behind, you know, you look at any endurance athlete or any fighter, you know, as soon as they start mouth breathing and they like, they, oh, like everybody will say, they're, oh, they're finished.

• 7:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, their body can't keep up.

• 7:07Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, they're done. They're gonna say they're done.

• 7:09Lewis Howes?

  So what have you learned about yourself in the last two years after essentially 40 years of breathing strategies and mastering your breath now into actually diving into these new strategies? What's opened up for you? What's been available for your body, your mind, your relationships, your health, your businesses, when mastering this new way of breathing?

• 7:29Laird Hamilton?

  I think it just, I think it definitely brings a certain amount of control over your, over your system that you didn't have. You, you have a sensitivity to-

• 7:39Lewis Howes?

  You have more control now in these last two years than you did for 40 prior years studying this?

• 7:45Laird Hamilton?

  For sure.

• 7:45Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 7:46Laird Hamilton?

  For sure. Just, just because of the, well, the sequencing of breathing and the way, uh, the way the body reacts to it and, and, you know, when you get into, it's like any, uh, any form of training, you know, you, you, when you put stress on the system, then the system adapts. That's just, that's how our, that's how it works. I mean, evolution is because there's stress on the situation. So there's a, there's an adaptation and then we evolve and, and, uh, you know, so by, but when you start stressing the body through the breathing, then it adapts and becomes more efficient. And you start to get control of it. You, you find that you can, you know, you can breathe yourself into real calmness.

• 8:30Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 8:30Laird Hamilton?

  You can find you can use the energy to bring your energy up and make you more, you know, more, uh, aggressive or more powerful. You can control your lactic acid, you know, threshold. I mean, it just, it seems somewhat, uh-

• 8:45Laird Hamilton?

  You know, boundless.

• 8:46Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's crazy, man. I'll just reiterate what happened for those that obviously weren't here. There was probably 10 of us outside. I walked in, you guys were already doing the breathing.

• 8:55Laird Hamilton?

  Sure.

• 8:55Lewis Howes?

  And then you took us outside on your pool deck. We started breathing and within about 45 seconds, I thought I was gonna pass out. You're like, okay, you're gonna breathe in a certain way, and I'll have you demonstrate this for a second. You're gonna breathe a certain way. And you don't wanna hyperventilate, but close to it.

• 9:11Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 9:12Lewis Howes?

  And I remember my whole body was like tingling. We're laying on our backs.

• 9:15Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 9:15Lewis Howes?

  And my whole body was tingling. I was like, I might pass out if I push this.

• 9:19Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 9:20Lewis Howes?

  Because I was dizzy, I was lightheaded. I was like, it's early morning here. I'm like, where am I? Up in Malibu.

• 9:25Laird Hamilton?

  For sure.

• 9:26Lewis Howes?

  And it was intense. And we did it for, I was like, yeah, okay, maybe this is like a 10, 15 minute thing, warm up for the real workout.

• 9:32Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 9:32Lewis Howes?

  We did over an hour, it felt like.

• 9:34Laird Hamilton?

  For sure.

• 9:34Lewis Howes?

  Of breathing.

• 9:35Laird Hamilton?

  For sure.

• 9:35Lewis Howes?

  It was one of the most intense things I've ever done, one of the most intense workouts. And I've played, you know, high level sports and three different sports.

• 9:42Laird Hamilton?

  Absolutely.

• 9:43Lewis Howes?

  It was insane.

• 9:44Laird Hamilton?

  But that's, I guess that's really the point. The point is, is that you can, you know, you can just be not moving.

• 9:50Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm.

• 9:51Laird Hamilton?

  And put the system through an intensity.

• 9:53Lewis Howes?

  Stressing.

• 9:54Laird Hamilton?

  That is more intense than moving all the parts.

• 9:57Lewis Howes?

  Uh-huh.

• 9:57Laird Hamilton?

  And, and, and I think that's again, part of the mastery of it. Like when you know, you know, because we, you know, we're so trained in, to believe that, that working out is, is something that, you know, you bang iron and you run and you bang and you, and it's all this is hammering, and then we have to feel sore. It feel like someone punched you to feel like, that was a good workout. Oh yeah, that was a good, oh yeah, me too. You know, can you walk? Oh, I can't walk. I can't walk either. You know, like that, and that was, and, and we considered that that to be good training. When you can go into a situation where you're, you're almost sedentary, you're laying there, you know, and then maybe we do.

• 10:33Lewis Howes?

  About to pass out.

• 10:34Laird Hamilton?

  And then maybe we make you do a couple of pushups and then you just go to a whole nother.

• 10:37Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 10:37Laird Hamilton?

  Place. You know, it just, it, it, it, it kinda shines a light on really what is training? And what is working out? And what is being in shape? And what is, you know, all of that, that we, that we, we have, you know, we try to box up. We try to package and say, well, this is it. And, and we have a pretty good, you know, mindset about what we think it is. And then all of a sudden, something like that comes along and you're like, well, actually, we don't know what it is. And, but they really feed each other. Those, those systems are all, you know, they're all feeding each other. You don't, your body doesn't really know the difference. If you can implement strict breathing, it doesn't know the difference between that and you running and forcing your body to breathe hard.

• 11:21Laird Hamilton?

  At the end, your body is like, okay, well, I need oxygen. For whatever reason it is, either because I don't have it or because I'm burning it off. But at the end, it needs it, it needs it. Doesn't need to know why. And so then you have to get it. How do I get it? I got to do it through the breathing. And so you can, if you're disciplined, I mean, we learned because we were doing these altitude mask training. So we have these special masks.

• 11:44Lewis Howes?

  Training masks.

• 11:45Laird Hamilton?

  But they weren't not the restriction mask, but an actual mask that simulates altitude. And you put these resistors on it. And it's a process that they developed for Russian fighter jet pilots. Before they had pressurized cabins, they'd send these guys up and they'd fly up to, you know, 15,000 feet and all of a sudden they just burrow in. And they're like, well, what's wrong? Well, they're not acclimated to the altitude. So how do we acclimate them? How do we acclimate thousands of them in a short period of time? And so they developed this mask system with these restrictors. And what you do is you wear an oximeter that tells you where your blood levels are. So you can see where the blood level is and you're supposed to get your blood level down to like 70% oxygen. And you stay there for three minutes and then you come back out.

• 12:30Laird Hamilton?

  It takes three minutes to get there and you do that six times. And then you do that once a day. And then within a couple of months.

• 12:35Lewis Howes?

  And build up to it.

• 12:36Laird Hamilton?

  Right to 20,000 feet and you're like, no problem.

• 12:38Lewis Howes?

  You're fine.

• 12:38Laird Hamilton?

  But you realize that we can implement that same thing just by controlling your breathing and by restricting it. And you don't even need, you don't even need this thing. But it takes a discipline and it takes the time.

• 12:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it took, you know, we did an hour of it. It was like. The interesting thing was I was doing it and I realized that I wasn't focused on anything else in my life. I wasn't, you know, it came up in a couple of moments. I was like, oh, what about that thing that I was stressed about yesterday? And about this relationship issue I have and about my business. But then it was like, you're going through so much in your body. You have to be in the moment, present of your breath. That you can't stress about something else, which was so fascinating. I was like, wow, just in an hour of meditation, essentially.

• 13:18Laird Hamilton?

  Meditation, and it's actually, and that's the whole thing with, you know, when a lot of WIMs training, the Iceman's training has to do with, and this is, you know, because I've been exposed to different forms of meditation, this is a mechanical meditation system.

• 13:35Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 13:35Laird Hamilton?

  Where you, you can actually implement a process to meditate, not, not an ethereal process.

• 13:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 13:44Laird Hamilton?

  Not something where you have to kind of, you know, where you get to a swami and he tells you, go to this thing, and you know, and from my scientific, practical mindset, where I come from, it doesn't work. You got, I just, I can't get there. It's like, and I, well, you know, transcendental, and I'm all, okay, yeah, that's great, but when you tell me, breathe this many times, exhale, hold, you know, you know, breathe again, exhale, hold, you're gonna see this, you're gonna feel this.

• 14:13Lewis Howes?

  Athlete.

• 14:13Laird Hamilton?

  Athlete, that's, I'm coming from, you know, I'm coming from math. I'm coming from practical, like, you know, this does that, that does this, you know, I need that, I can't be, it can't be too ethereal for me. Some people actually excel in the ethereal, but I, I don't, I'm not, that's not the way my mind works.

• 14:29Lewis Howes?

  You need to be in your body more.

• 14:29Laird Hamilton?

  That's right.

• 14:30Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 14:30Laird Hamilton?

  And this, and this is a way to, that, that it's allowed me to, to do some meditation that, first of all, I didn't know it was possible, and I'm like, wow, that's what they're talking about when the guy, you know, I've, I've probably experienced some things that it takes somebody, you know, 10 or 15 years or more to, to, from being taught by a guy in Tibet, to even get near.

• 14:53Lewis Howes?

  But you're getting into it in three to six months, by practicing it and being in your body, not just being in your head.

• 14:59Laird Hamilton?

  No. Well, the presence, like you said, all of a sudden, you're in a spot where you aren't thinking about any, there's nothing else.

• 15:07Lewis Howes?

  You can't.

• 15:08Laird Hamilton?

  You can't. It won't allow you.

• 15:10Lewis Howes?

  Like, there were a couple of moments, I think, when we were just relaxing, you know, for like 10 seconds, so it's like.

• 15:14Laird Hamilton?

  You'll drift for a second, but we'll just bring you right back.

• 15:16Lewis Howes?

  And then you're like, okay, here's the breathing exercise. So if you can, let's maybe do like 15 to 20 seconds of what someone could practice at home in a safe environment.

• 15:25Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 15:25Lewis Howes?

  Because you were pushing us pretty hard, and maybe you weren't, but for me. As a newbie, I was like, oh, this is the real deal.

• 15:30Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, well, you need to go into it slowly. I mean, you know, you can go online and get a course from Wim. Like, he has an incredible online program. You know, basically, the the foundation of it really has to do with it. With it, and I I call it a circle breath, and I don't even, you know, I I'm an amateur. But I know, I know that the that, you know, I look at it as a circle breath in the sense of that the in and the out are similar. And then it's really, um, it's a rhythm. And it's almost like hyperventilation, but not that, because hyperventilation takes a lot of energy and you're short breathing.

• 16:01Lewis Howes?

  So what does hyperventilation look like?

• 16:02Laird Hamilton?

  Hyperventilation is more like

• 16:07Laird Hamilton?

  like that, where you start to where you'll get, you were not really getting, you're kind of, you can get a CO2 buildup, which happens, which make you, you know, I mean, you can pass out doing any kind of breathing, you know, or lack thereof. But this breathing is more like

• 16:27Laird Hamilton?

  like if you think about pumping something up, like how you pump a raft up, or how you, or you blow a balloon up, you know, you blow a balloon up like

• 16:36Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 16:37Laird Hamilton?

  So you, in that kind of a rhythm, and and it really is about oxygenation, right? It's about getting oxygen into the system in in a in a very efficient way. And and full saturation. And then from there, and you'll get, you know, you'll have all these, you know, sensations, you like you said, you feel your body tingle. You'll have weird things on your lips or ears.

• 16:56Lewis Howes?

  I was getting lightheaded, I was, I thought I was gonna pass out.

• 16:58Laird Hamilton?

  But those are totally, those are totally normal, normal things.

• 17:02Lewis Howes?

  So what's the purpose of oxygen oxygenating your body? What's that purpose? What's that do for the body once it's complete?

• 17:09Laird Hamilton?

  Well, I mean, ultimately, it it definitely will allow you to work harder. You know, so that if you implement, like, like, for example, you can do, you know, in Wim's program, you do these pushups. And you do them just with normal breathing, and then he has you sit there, and then you oxygenate your system. And you exhale and hold your breath and do pushups, and you do more pushups on an exhale. Breath hold than you did while you were breathing.

• 17:35Lewis Howes?

  Wait, so you could do more pushups, completely letting it go, and then holding it? Not taking a breath in and pushing, you can do more pushups than if you were breathing?

• 17:44Laird Hamilton?

  Yes.

• 17:44Lewis Howes?

  How is that even possible? Doesn't your muscles need the oxygen?

• 17:48Laird Hamilton?

  They do, but the fact is, is that you've saturated your system with a volume of oxygen that you normally don't get when you just normal breathe and do an activity. And that's really what it's about, right? It's about you understanding that the oxygen that you store in your system is greater than the one you're getting. And to get more, because also you have to remember, it takes energy to breathe.

• 18:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 18:16Laird Hamilton?

  So when you add an activity with breathing, then now it takes energy just to do the breathing. And because our breathing isn't very efficient, we're not absorbing enough when you compound that with the amount of energy it takes to do the activity, right? So yeah, the breathing energy, the energy it takes to do the activity, and then you're and then you're and then you're behind. And that's why you, I mean, ultimately, the muscles don't fail because they're failing. They're just not getting the oxygen they need.

• 18:41Lewis Howes?

  I mean, we were like, those of us who had shirts on, you know, we're dripping in sweat.

• 18:46Laird Hamilton?

  Absolutely.

• 18:46Lewis Howes?

  Just breathing.

• 18:47Laird Hamilton?

  Absolutely.

• 18:48Lewis Howes?

  And it's not even that hot out right now.

• 18:49Laird Hamilton?

  I know, I know, it's all, it's counterintuitive. You look at it like, oh yeah, and again, you know, to have the discipline to be able to do it and implement an hour of breathing and realize that you're really getting an incredible workout, you know, it's, that's part of, that's part of the process. I think that's part of it, is to teach you that, that, and you know, at a certain point, you know, you either have to be exposed to people that are doing it, or you have to be at a maturity level to handle it. Because, you know, in our normal mindset, you know, we just gotta grind away at stuff. And it's because that's actually an easier way to approach things.

• 19:25Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 19:25Laird Hamilton?

  It's easier just to go, I'm gonna get on my bike and I'm gonna ride for, you know, two hours straight.

• 19:29Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 19:30Laird Hamilton?

  Or I'm gonna go in here and I've got this weights and I'm just gonna bang this weights, or I'm gonna sprint back and forth across this field. It's another thing to go, okay, I'm gonna go lay down.

• 19:38Lewis Howes?

  It's more discipline to do what we did.

• 19:40Laird Hamilton?

  Exactly. Which is the irony of it, right? It almost takes more discipline to do nothing than it does to do something. But that's the irony, but that's kind of the irony of the story in a way.

• 19:48Lewis Howes?

  It's interesting because I was so grateful that you were facilitating it for us because it was my first time. I don't know if there were other guys' first time there.

• 19:55Laird Hamilton?

  Uh, yeah, a couple of the, a couple of boys. I think they've made done it once or something.

• 19:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah. And it was interesting because I was just, uh, so, I was like, you know, do we, you made it so comfortable for us.

• 20:04Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 20:05Lewis Howes?

  At least for me.

• 20:05Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 20:06Lewis Howes?

  You're like, you know, it's okay. You don't have to do the same pace as everyone else. If you need to breathe.

• 20:10Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 20:10Lewis Howes?

  You can take a break.

• 20:11Laird Hamilton?

  For sure.

• 20:12Lewis Howes?

  And I really appreciated how you were facilitating that, you know, you've become like a master of teaching it. Through doing it yourself, it sounds like.

• 20:18Laird Hamilton?

  Well, but also that's a, that's an approach that I, I think that I've already always had. I think that, that that's a little bit how I work in my, and, and it's not something that people perceive of me because of what I do. They think they're going to come and get hammered.

• 20:31Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 20:31Laird Hamilton?

  And, and that's not the way I approach things. I, um, have you read, uh, Natural Born Heroes?

• 20:36Lewis Howes?

  Not yet.

• 20:36Laird Hamilton?

  So Natural Born Heroes is a phenomenal book, but there's a big, you know, for me, it was, it was biblical. Because I, it was like of, of the philosophies of some of the guys in the book. Um, like the guys that are like a, a fitness natural that were all about training in nature. But they're also all about no competition. They were against competition because they felt like that it, it really was a restriction of elevation of everybody's individual thing. And, and I, because of my kind of lack of, um, because of my approach to competition, that I, I always feel like, you know, that, that a lot of our evolution gets held back because we protect information. Because it's really about, I'm going to try to beat you.

• 21:19Laird Hamilton?

  So if I know something that I think I can beat you with, I won't tell you because then you'd have it too. And I wouldn't be able to beat you. But if my objective is to make you be as good as you can be, and I'm going to try to be as good as I can be, I will be like, you can't believe this. Try this. And so that's more how I approach things. And I think because of, especially like in big wave riding, when we've gone out and done the things we've done, that it has to do with the fact that we've done it with camaraderie. We've done it, done it with community. And really the evolution of man, if you looked at why man survived, was because of that, that that was the way we behaved. And it was only when we became so populated and so dense, did we create competition was more out of entertainment.

• 22:01Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm.

• 22:02Laird Hamilton?

  That really competition was designed. For entertainment, that's why we have competition. And at the end, fighting and all these things that we have, they're not real fighting. Because real fighting doesn't last very long and it's very brutal. And it would be, it would never be, you wouldn't watch it on TV and it wouldn't be something that, and you wouldn't just do it unless you were planning on actually killing a person.

• 22:22Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 22:22Laird Hamilton?

  So, and there's also this thing about the, you know, that everybody being able to do it, like true arts, true fighting or true activities are meant that a child should be able to do it and an old person should be able to do it, to make it something that really is for the species.

• 22:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 22:39Laird Hamilton?

  So, again, it's, these are all kind of deep ingrained ways of approaching it. But that's how I always, I never approach it like, hey, I'm gonna hammer you. Now, if people come with the attitude like, hey, I can do this, then I might subject them to, to something, but that will be only because that's what they're asking for. If somebody comes to me with, in confidence, like, hey, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna give myself to you, take care of me, I'm, I'm always gonna do that because I think, I mean, it has to do with how I grew up and where we are in, in dealing with heavy situations.

• 23:11Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 23:11Laird Hamilton?

  The situations are heavy enough, I don't need to, we don't need to do anything. I don't need to go and see how long you can hold your breath and, because what's that gonna do? That doesn't do anything. And, and, and the bottom line is, is that you can destroy anybody. I, I don't care who you are, I can stack more weights, I can make you hold your breath longer, I can, I mean, it's like the stretch is deeper, the breath holding, everything can always be, you know, you can always create something that's undoable.

• 23:36Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 23:36Laird Hamilton?

  It's more about creating something that's doable and how high, far can we push that? How, how, you know, and, and again, individually, push your barrier, you know? And, and it's interesting because it's, that's total Wim Hof philosophy, that's total, that's total, you know, natural born heroes philosophy, like I see it and you start to see it, you know, and in a way, that's Tough Mudder's philosophy, that's Spartan Race philosophy. I mean, these are all about getting the collective through and, and ultimately, that really is the most primal system because that's how we made it. Because without each other in our evolution, what match are we against, you know, all the, the things in the, in the, you know, in the world, we're no match, but together.

• 24:21Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's kind of like, uh... Nobody wins unless we all win mentality.

• 24:26Laird Hamilton?

  Absolutely, that's right. Nobody survives unless we all survive.

• 24:28Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 24:29Laird Hamilton?

  And so, and so in a way, I mean, it's, it's, it doesn't mean I don't like healthy competition in the fun of, you know, a little paddleboard race or some bocce ball or something. And, you know, my competition concept really used to be more like, or should I say, is more related to like, okay, you know, you want to compete with me and you think you're courageous, well then we'll go to a big cliff and we'll just keep going up until one of us doesn't jump and whoever jumps higher is the winner. So I always thought that that was the real defining.

• 24:57Lewis Howes?

  Through courage.

• 24:58Laird Hamilton?

  Courage. Wow. For me, I go, that's, for me, I go, that's, I go, you want to really talk about, you know, you want true competition, we go, we have competition with courage. And that's, and I think that's part of my, the process that brought me to riding giant waves, that I thought, well, if I ride the biggest waves in the world and I ride bigger waves than anybody else has ever ridden, and in most of the waves I ride, no one wants to ride, that kind of puts me in a unique position.

• 25:20Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 25:21Laird Hamilton?

  That puts me like, you know, and, and, I mean, it's, I always love the term, the victory through attrition.

• 25:28Lewis Howes?

  Through attrition, what's that, what do you mean by that?

• 25:29Laird Hamilton?

  The last guy standing. That at the end, you don't even need to be any good.

• 25:33Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 25:33Laird Hamilton?

  If you're the last guy and everybody else is laid out.

• 25:36Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 25:37Laird Hamilton?

  You know, in the 300, where there's only one guy standing.

• 25:40Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, right.

• 25:40Laird Hamilton?

  You're the winner.

• 25:41Lewis Howes?

  It's interesting. And through that approach, you can give all your secrets away, you can give all the information away. It's still who's got the most courage.

• 25:47Laird Hamilton?

  That's right.

• 25:47Lewis Howes?

  So you can just be as good as me technically, all the information you need, but are you willing to go above and beyond?

• 25:54Laird Hamilton?

  That's right.

• 25:55Lewis Howes?

  Me.

• 25:55Laird Hamilton?

  That's right. And then it becomes a skill thing.

• 25:58Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 25:58Laird Hamilton?

  So then you add skill to that too. So that as an added element of, because you know what, there's always some crazy guy that'll do anything stupid too. So then, but then will they survive? So then, which again, that's part of the thing. But again, it's part about the survival thing where like, yeah, the guy might be able to go higher, but if you go up to a cliff and then the guy jumps higher than you and he dies.

• 26:17Lewis Howes?

  He doesn't win.

• 26:18Laird Hamilton?

  Then you still are, you're still, you went higher, right? So again, it has to do with, you know, it has to do with, you have to still have, you can't have the element of who's the craziest because there's, because.

• 26:29Lewis Howes?

  You've got a skill. Yeah.

• 26:30Laird Hamilton?

  You gotta have, there has to be, and you also have to have understanding. You have to have experience to know where the line is, where the, or your line is, where your line is, right? Because you always have somebody that's willing to be a little bit.

• 26:42Lewis Howes?

  Reckless.

• 26:43Laird Hamilton?

  crazier, but then can they do that?

• 26:47Lewis Howes?

  Can they complete it?

• 26:48Laird Hamilton?

  Year in and you out. I mean, just saying, year in and year out.

• 26:50Lewis Howes?

  Right. So what got you into big wave surfing in the first place? What got you inspired by that?

• 26:56Laird Hamilton?

  Well, environment.

• 26:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 26:57Laird Hamilton?

  I was in Hawaii.

• 26:59Lewis Howes?

  Oahu or?

• 27:00Laird Hamilton?

  I was on the North Shore of Hawaii when I was real, when I was very young and, uh, and exposed to, you know, and exposed to the biggest waves in the world. And then exposed to the greatest big wave surfers in the world. And, and then, and then having a natural, uh, kind of thing about a thrill, little like Daredevil, little thrill seeker, like I just had a thing and, you know, it's a certain, you just have, it's like a mechanism that they, I think there's some science behind, you know, that certain guys are born with like, I think they're just missing something. Like the thing about like, probably not, you know, when, where that line is of not to do or, but there's, and it's, and I think it, I think there's a certain, there's a certain amount of us that it was important that we had that. Because we needed to be able to, uh, do that.

• 27:44Laird Hamilton?

  I, I, I said yesterday in, uh, in the conversation, uh, that the, there needs to be an expendability, aspect to a certain group in the, in the, in the, in the, in, you know, in our species. We have to have that. That's part of what we needed in order to survive, like.

• 28:04Lewis Howes?

  If no one's willing to go against the tiger or whatever, then we all die. You know, if no one's willing to figure it out.

• 28:10Laird Hamilton?

  And while he's getting eaten, we can all run and maybe we can pull it off.

• 28:13Lewis Howes?

  Right, right, right.

• 28:14Laird Hamilton?

  So, and so we have that, I mean, that happens a lot with the young, you know, and that's why most of the wars are with young, young males. Young males have it, I think, and then maybe some of us have it more of it and we keep it longer. But at the end, it, it, you know, they were, um, we were talking about dolphins, how they protect themselves when they're being attacked. And, and they put the babies in the middle, the mothers around the babies, the old people around the mothers. Then the fathers and then the adolescent males are on the outside. And because they're the ones that are the most aggressive and they're the most willing to take risk. And you look and I go, well. Human species aren't too far away from that.

• 28:50Lewis Howes?

  Pretty similar, yeah.

• 28:51Laird Hamilton?

  We're the ones that are, you know, young male. And then, and then there's, then there's the ones within that group that have that, like I said, that little mechanism that, that drives you. So that's what drove me to, to, to big, big was because I had something inside of me. It was just this thing and, and, and, and you know, when you combine that with, you know, maybe you just start to have some things to prove and maybe some kind of certain family dynamics and environments of racial tension and, you know, you feed all those things into the right.

• 29:17Lewis Howes?

  The perfect storm. Yeah. And did you have all that?

• 29:20Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 29:20Lewis Howes?

  All those things?

• 29:21Laird Hamilton?

  For sure.

• 29:22Lewis Howes?

  And so what was the goal for you growing up? Was it to be the best big wave surfer? Was it to prove people wrong? Was it to?

• 29:29Laird Hamilton?

  No, well, maybe all of those. Like I, you know, like I had teachers say, you know, why I, a lot of the Hawaiians and the Japanese and other people that I grew up with were like, you know, they used to say, hey, you know, boy, you can't eat your surfboard because I'd go surfing every day and I'd just have to be like crazed about surfing and they're like, you know, you can't eat that thing like, like hey, you're going to need to work or you're going to have to survive. And, and I was like, no, I think I can eat this thing. But, but, uh, you know, or teachers telling you, you'll be nothing or, you know, or, or being in an environment where, you know, that, that you're white and everybody else isn't and you're kind of like that.

• 30:03Lewis Howes?

  The outsider.

• 30:03Laird Hamilton?

  As an outsider and, and you know that if you are great at this thing, that, that they might not need to like you, but they'll respect you.

• 30:11Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 30:11Laird Hamilton?

  You know, I have a saying like, they don't need to like me, but they need to respect me. And so that was a big part of it, you know? So, you know, that was a big, that was a big, those were, those were the things that fed me, fed the, you know, and I remember when I was a kid at one point thinking, you know, like going to bed, going wishing I would wake up as a giant Hawaiian, you know, just because you can't, you can't date girls and, you know, you just, you just had all these dynamics. It was like a nightmare and, and, but those were the things I think that also kind of cult, you know, that, those are the things that cultivated my, you know.

• 30:41Lewis Howes?

  Drive and passion.

• 30:42Laird Hamilton?

  Oh, yeah. And my relentlessness and my, and my fearlessness and all the, which I think I already had the mechanism, so it was perfect. Like I already had all the stuff and then it was, you know, what do we say? You, you can't make an eagle out of a chicken. You can only make a super chicken. But I just, I was fortunate maybe that I. I had an, you know, I had, I had an Eagles mentality and then I was in an environment for training Eagles and so I had like a good combination of all the, all the pieces that, that made it, you know, made it something that, you know, it was, it was destiny.

• 31:13Lewis Howes?

  Sure. What was the biggest adversity for like you had to go through growing up or in your young adult life?

• 31:19Laird Hamilton?

  I mean, listen, cause, cause you know, we all can have a thousand reasons why we're, you know, poor me and look what happened and I wouldn't change one thing, but you know, we were poor, poor for sure, very poor and I, and people, you know, I, it's interesting, I've had a conversation with some people that are like, you know, some, somebody from another country says, oh, you know, I wasn't raised to, you know, I was raised in a third world country and this and that. And I'm like, yeah, but did you have an outhouse? I had to explain to them what an outhouse was. I go, do you ever have cold showers? Like, do you have a tin roof on your house? Open tin roof with screen windows? Like, I mean, like this is how, and, and.

• 31:55Lewis Howes?

  Living off the land essentially.

• 31:56Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, well, no, yeah, yeah. But you live up, but you have that, I mean, the local, the Hawaiians, they lived off the land well. So I became, I got, you know, and that's, and I ate the way they ate and I worked with them and that had, I think that, that also led to cultivating my strength.

• 32:12Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 32:13Laird Hamilton?

  You know what I mean? I think that I, cause I was with the, the local people that the way they lived and, and, and, you know, I always used to say, I'm looking white, but I'm thinking brown, you know? So, and, but, but you know, the, those things, I mean, I, I know that the, the, being a Hawa'i was a, that was a, that was probably the overriding blanket of the whole thing. I mean, you know, okay, money, whatever.

• 32:35Lewis Howes?

  A Hawa'i is a white person in Hawaii. I lived in, on the big, on Oahu for three months. So, I was in, I was in the taro fields. I was making poi. I was like.

• 32:44Laird Hamilton?

  Exactly. So you know.

• 32:45Lewis Howes?

  I know.

• 32:45Laird Hamilton?

  I grew up eating taro and poi and pulling taro and.

• 32:48Lewis Howes?

  It's not that good.

• 32:48Laird Hamilton?

  Working at a big farm and yeah, yeah. So, but, so that, I think that was probably the most intense part is that ra, the racial.

• 32:55Lewis Howes?

  Really? That was the most intense?

• 32:56Laird Hamilton?

  I think so.

• 32:56Lewis Howes?

  And being in America still.

• 32:58Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, oh yeah. That didn't mean anything. America meant nothing. We're, cause Hawaii, we don't, we don't, we're not America, we're Hawaii.

• 33:03Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 33:04Laird Hamilton?

  Like when I go to Europe, people go, oh, you're from America?

• 33:07Lewis Howes?

  USA? No, Hawaii, yeah.

• 33:08Laird Hamilton?

  Hawaii.

• 33:08Lewis Howes?

  Different experience.

• 33:09Laird Hamilton?

  Isn't that America? I go, it's Hawaii.

• 33:11Lewis Howes?

  Different culture, yeah.

• 33:12Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah. But, so, so I would, but I, if I looked at any one thing, I'd probably say, you know, I'd say that that. That was probably the, you know, that was probably the most intense part of, because it's in your school, it's at your house.

• 33:25Lewis Howes?

  All the time.

• 33:26Laird Hamilton?

  All the time. Affects who you, you can't date, you can't this, you can't go. It's like, everything's affected by it.

• 33:31Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Now, do you feel like, was there a moment during a big competition where you earned everyone's respect? Or was it kind of like over time, they were like, oh, here's the holly, we respect you now for what you're creating, what you're, you're creating this pride of Hawaii, or you're making us proud. Was there a moment, or was it kind of like, it just grew over time?

• 33:50Laird Hamilton?

  No, I think it was over time. I think, I think there was, I think there were moments. I think there were moments that, that would, would kind of solidify. I mean, at a certain point, you know, you have to start within your hometown or within your neighborhood, and you earn the respect of the people most immediately touching you. And then eventually you earn a little bit more as you get more well-known and you're more out there, you earn more respect. But I, I never ever, I never think I'm not a holly. I'm not a white guy. I, I, cause I'm never not gonna be a white guy.

• 34:24Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 34:24Laird Hamilton?

  So, I don't ever have that unrealistic approach. Which means that if I go to a wrong, the wrong neighborhood or someplace where they, no one, they don't know me, I'll be back where I began. And, and so I'm realistic about that. I also know I have a lot of giant guys that would back me if I, you know, if something happened.

• 34:43Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure, sure.

• 34:44Laird Hamilton?

  But, you know, I, I, I'm, you know, I was, I'm used to kind of dealing with things on my own.

• 34:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 34:49Laird Hamilton?

  And so I, you know, but, but yeah, it's, it's, you know, that's, that's the, those are the things that shape you. I mean, those are the things that really, you know, it's the tempering that makes you what you are. And, and, you know, I have such respect for that, the culture that I was raised in. And actually, most of the time, it wasn't the Hawaiians that really, that, that were the racist. It was more of, it was a lot of the other cultures that were there, that were like brought by the missionaries to be migrant workers. You know, whether it's, you know, I mean, because you had tons of Chinese, tons of Japanese, Filipinos, Portuguese. You know, which Portuguese don't think they're white because they have black hair.

• 35:29Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 35:30Laird Hamilton?

  So, and I'm like, actually, you're whiter than I am.

• 35:32Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 35:33Laird Hamilton?

  I'm tan.

• 35:35Laird Hamilton?

  You know, but, you know, so you have a lot of those guys and the real Hawaiian Hawaiians. I mean, other than a few warriors, which, you know, which you could earn their respect. Some of these other guys, you were, you were incapable of earning their respect because they didn't even respect themselves.

• 35:50Lewis Howes?

  Right, right, yeah, exactly. It's a whole culture there, yeah. If you would have grown up in the Orange County.

• 35:57Laird Hamilton?

  Which is what people think.

• 35:58Lewis Howes?

  You're right, were they, you grew up there?

• 36:00Laird Hamilton?

  Well, no, they, people would think, they, when they look at me, I mean, because I'm from Southern California.

• 36:03Lewis Howes?

  With the blonde hair.

• 36:04Laird Hamilton?

  They think that I, you know, that I was the captain of the football team and that I.

• 36:07Lewis Howes?

  Water polo.

• 36:08Laird Hamilton?

  Oh, yeah, and had all the, I had, you know, I was homecoming king with the homecoming queen and all that stuff. And I'm like, obviously you don't know me.

• 36:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 36:16Laird Hamilton?

  And I wouldn't be who I am.

• 36:17Lewis Howes?

  You wouldn't be who you are.

• 36:18Laird Hamilton?

  I wouldn't be. No, I would be, I mean, I don't know what I would be. I, I think I still have some certain things that are, that are innate to my personality. You know, which I probably, there's a real good chance I could be incarcerated, even where I grew up. Had I not took a couple of the rights when I could have gone left, kind of thing.

• 36:36Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 36:37Laird Hamilton?

  Just because of my nature of my defiance and my, you know, not, not, not, I mean, what my friend calls me a contrarian. But I just, you know, I, I'm, what do they, what, I always throw, I always quote throw, which is, you know, disobedience is a true foundation of liberty and the obedient shall be slaves. So I'm, I'm, you know.

• 36:58Lewis Howes?

  It's a good one.

• 37:01Laird Hamilton?

  I'm from the disobedient group, so that doesn't go well in, you know, in organized society.

• 37:06Lewis Howes?

  Of course.

• 37:07Laird Hamilton?

  It's good out there on the frontier, in the front. So as long as I can stay on the frontier, I'm, I'm cool. I was so blessed to have my mom take me to Hawaii as a child.

• 37:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 37:15Laird Hamilton?

  You know, I was born in San Francisco. We moved to Hawaii when I was three months old.

• 37:18Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 37:18Laird Hamilton?

  And so it was a technicality that I wasn't born in Hawaii, which it would have been a little easier because at least I could have stood up for myself and said, I'm born here, you know.

• 37:26Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 37:27Laird Hamilton?

  But I wasn't, so I didn't even have that, which in a way, maybe that's just, again, just a little added factor to.

• 37:33Lewis Howes?

  Little chip on your shoulder.

• 37:34Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, just a little extra, little extra, you know, boost.

• 37:38Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 37:38Laird Hamilton?

  Boost in the rocket.

• 37:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah, I like it. Now I'm curious, I'm fascinated with the zone and getting in the zone and you're, you know, from the moment I met you a few hours ago, right when you're breathing, I walked in and you're breathing intensely and then walking up and I was like, okay, this guy's in the zone already, right when I met you.

• 37:55Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 37:56Lewis Howes?

  One, how do you prepare to get into the zone when you're jumping off a 200 foot cliff where you're in a, in a, in a big wave or whatever you're doing, these breathing strategies, a workout, anything you're doing, the pool stuff? How do you prepare to get into the zone? Because you can't just, I'm gonna go surf a big wave today and jump on the board and just take it lightly, I would assume, because your life is at hand.

• 38:16Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 38:17Lewis Howes?

  So what do you do to prepare for that?

• 38:19Laird Hamilton?

  Well, I, I mean, a big, I, I, a big part of it, you know, I mean, I've been doing this so long that I have the ability to kind of just go and do it.

• 38:27Lewis Howes?

  Access it, yeah.

• 38:28Laird Hamilton?

  It's kind of, it's, it's river, it's just right below the surface. It's just sitting there like the whole time.

• 38:33Lewis Howes?

  Any moment, yeah.

• 38:33Laird Hamilton?

  It can just rear its head, um, you know, which is good and bad. It's sometimes it's not something that, you know, you, you know, because you have the capacity to just do things in a way that you have to govern that because that's the kind of stuff that doesn't go over well in a, you know, in a densely populated area.

• 38:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 38:51Laird Hamilton?

  But, uh, but there, but a lot of it has to do with the preparation. You know, I'd say the, the real, the real art of, of the preparation for being in the zone is your preparation. That it's really about, you know, the, the, the way you eat, the way you sleep, the way you live, what your relationships are, all those stuff, like you're not distracted with all this and you get rid of stuff quickly. Like I get rid of stuff in a, in a, in a, uh, I have high turnover. So I get rid of, you know, if I have a problem with somebody, I go talk to them. I, I call them up, I drive right to their house. If, you know, I, I'm, I'm pretty, I'm, I wanna, I wanna, I just wanna wipe it.

• 39:30Lewis Howes?

  Get clear.

• 39:31Laird Hamilton?

  I wanna, I wanna clean. I just, I don't wanna, I don't want anything, um, I don't like any kind of looming thing and that, I just wanna, even if we just agree to disagree, you know, I wanna get.

• 39:41Lewis Howes?

  At least you're clear on the disagreement.

• 39:43Laird Hamilton?

  I'm clear.

• 39:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 39:43Laird Hamilton?

  I'm good. Like we go, we handle it. I, and a lot of times I'll say stuff to people and do things that I'm not right, but that's how I feel.

• 39:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 39:51Laird Hamilton?

  You know, and I quote Dennis Miller, the comedian, all the time, and I say, you know, this is my opinion, I could be wrong, but it's my opinion, this is how I feel. And through that process, I think that really helps me have a cleaner slate. And I think that's really a critical part of coming into being in the zone.

• 40:07Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, because you're clear energy, you're focused, you're not wondering about relationship issues.

• 40:12Laird Hamilton?

  Exactly, which are, which is a big factor in your ability to, because, because really, the zone is ultimately the now.

• 40:23Lewis Howes?

  Not holding on to the past, not worried and fearful of the future.

• 40:27Laird Hamilton?

  It's the now, it's the moment, right? And that's what, that's what surfing is about. I mean, I always tell people, the act of riding a wave really has no beginning and no end. It's just a continuation of where you left off. And so you go and you're in this thing, and it, they're really, I mean, in the, there's ends of rides and beginnings of rides, but surfing itself, of the art of, or the, or the act of riding the wave, that motion, that feeling, that's just a place where there's no, there's no time, there's no beginning and no end. That's why we seek it out. We crave it like what, you know, we are, we do meditate. There, that is a meditation, that in that moment, and you know, and for somebody who's learning, I'm jealous because they can do it on a one-foot wave. You know, the wave can be this big and they go, and then all of a sudden, they're like, it's like, you know, it's like in Star Wars when they go into hyperspace, you know, where

• 41:12Laird Hamilton?

  everything just goes, like that, well, that's what it is. And you're like, and then it ends and you're like, oh, I want to go do that again, you know, but there, but it's, it's a really unique thing and, and that, that zone or that, that's what that is. I mean, that's what, that's what that is in, in, in any sport and, and any level. And when, you know, when people are, are so skilled at something that they've done it for so many hours, it's, it's an easier place for them to be in, and they also are so familiar with it. It's that they have a unique ability to, to be in it sooner and stay in it longer. And, you know, it's just, it's not something, and it becomes, it's, it becomes very unconscious. It's not something that they really have to work towards, it's just something that they, that they, their body implements.

• 41:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah. What would you say is one of the things that you've done in your life that you're most proud of, that maybe not that many people know about you?

• 42:06Laird Hamilton?

  Oh, my gosh, well, I mean, I'm the most proud of, I mean, I'm the most proud of my family. So, you know, I mean, that's, that's, you know, I'm the most proud of, of.

• 42:19Laird Hamilton?

  Of my relationship, you know, my relationship with my wife, with Gabby, my girlfriend, my lover, and you know, my children and, and, you know, that, and then the selfish side of it, I'm, you know, I'm, first of all, I'm most proud of the fact that I'm still here, that I've survived and I'm like still breathing. Cause people, hey, how you doing? I'm like, well, air's still coming in and out of the hole right now. Pretty fantastic. So, so that's a big part of it. I did, that I've had the, you know, the fortune to be, to survive and the blessing to survive and, and, and that I'm still here. That's a, that's a big thing. And then if you want to get into, you know, what am I the most proud of, of something like, of my discipline?

• 42:58Laird Hamilton?

  Like I quit drinking like nine years ago and, and it was a thing more out of, out of my discipline than it was out of,

• 43:07Laird Hamilton?

  you know, out of like, and, and there was nothing good coming from it. And I was just, I got to a point where I was tired of telling myself, and I, you know, and all I, my favorite was red wine and I could drink a couple of bottles every night and A couple of bottles? Oh, yeah. About glasses, bottles? Yeah, well, bottles, only three glasses. Let's do that shit. But, but you know, I could have five or six, whatever glasses a night. And then do that every night and wake up at five in the morning and train for five hours and ride giant waves and run around and do all this stuff too. So I could, it was easy for me to It was easy for me to justify it. And then at a certain point, I got tired of lying to myself and, and my mom's gone now, but one of the, one of her quotes that I always use is if you can't be true to yourself, you can't be true to anybody. So I kind of, I can't be true to myself and I'm trying to tell myself I can do this, but I don't do it.

• 43:53Laird Hamilton?

  Then how deep is, are my relationships and what can I do there? And so I just, I went, okay, boom. And I, I, I just cold, I just stopped drinking. You know, I literally, I was one day and, you know, all the, I always say all the dumbest things I ever did were when I was drinking, which they are. If I look back and look at stupid things I've done, I'll be like, oh yeah, that was drunk, for sure. It says right on the bottle, impaired motor skills, you know? Those are your judgment.

• 44:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, of course, yeah. What would you say is the scariest thing or scariest encounter you've ever experienced with all the extreme things you've done? Was there a moment where you really thought more than every other moment? Wow, this is it like I'm done.

• 44:30Laird Hamilton?

  You know, I got lost at sea and it was only for the day, but a day is a long time.

• 44:35Lewis Howes?

  Only for a day?

• 44:35Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 44:36Lewis Howes?

  That's still scary.

• 44:37Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, it was scary.

• 44:38Lewis Howes?

  Wow, lost. How'd you get lost?

• 44:40Laird Hamilton?

  I was jet skiing between islands in Hawaii and the fog was really bad from the volcano, the smoke from the volcano was, the visibility was less than a mile and I went just off course, just got the unusual current and a combination of a few factors just put me out in the middle of the ocean about 60 miles north of the big island and which kind of the next stop's Alaska or something. It's a bad world because you're in the middle of the ocean anyway.

• 45:07Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 45:07Laird Hamilton?

  And, and so that was, I had a while to think about things and I was like, that was, you know, I mean, I've had other traumatic moments that were short-lived.

• 45:18Lewis Howes?

  Like two minutes there were, yeah.

• 45:19Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, you know, being held down at the bottom of the ocean by a giant wave and wondering, with boots on, wondering if you're ever going to come up and, you know, falling in glaciers. I mean, I've had a lot of pin on waterfall. I mean, there's a long list. I can just keep going, but, but the fact is that this one was like a stretched out one and.

• 45:37Lewis Howes?

  Your mind will play tricks on you.

• 45:38Laird Hamilton?

  That's right. You start, you know, when you sit with yourself for 14 hours and, you know, wonder if, you know, if you're ever going to get back again, there's, it's, you know, and I, and I can only imagine what you'd do if you went days and days. I mean, at a certain point, you start, I think, having to, you know, you have to start trying to figure out, you know, how to survive. But I was, I wasn't quite to that point yet. I was still on the, on the, you know, am I gonna, you know?

• 46:04Lewis Howes?

  You weren't that hungry yet?

• 46:05Laird Hamilton?

  No, not yet, but.

• 46:07Lewis Howes?

  Wow. So what happened? A boat came by?

• 46:09Laird Hamilton?

  I got rescued by the coast guard. They, I had an E-Perb, which I didn't know if it was working or not. You know, you just turn them on and they have a little light that beeps and, you know, you don't know what that means. It may, it could be beeping. It doesn't mean anybody's reading it or are they hearing it? And, and so that had like a C-130 flew over me. I mean, first of all, finding somebody in the ocean, even when the E-Perb is like finding a needle in a haystack, especially when you're, you know, on a jet ski.

• 46:33Lewis Howes?

  So many miles.

• 46:34Laird Hamilton?

  Miles. It's a big, big place.

• 46:36Lewis Howes?

  So what happened mentally for you or emotionally after that moment when you saw the coast guard coming up, realize?

• 46:44Laird Hamilton?

  Well, the plane flew over first.

• 46:45Lewis Howes?

  Oh, plane flew over.

• 46:46Laird Hamilton?

  Drop me.

• 46:46Lewis Howes?

  You're like.

• 46:47Laird Hamilton?

  And I was like, and I was like, well, the plane's not gonna be able to pick me up. And then, so it flew away and I was like, well, first it flew over and didn't see me. And I was like, well, that was it. That was my shot.

• 46:56Lewis Howes?

  Oh, man.

• 46:56Laird Hamilton?

  And then it came back around like 45 minutes later and was down low. And then, and then they flew over and saw me.

• 47:03Laird Hamilton?

  And then it split and I'm like, cause I was thinking, all right, the plane's here. And I'm like, well, what are they gonna do? Like, how am I gonna, I can't get, it's not gonna land.

• 47:10Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 47:10Laird Hamilton?

  And so, and then, and then about an hour after that, a chopper showed up and

• 47:17Lewis Howes?

  You knew.

• 47:17Laird Hamilton?

  And plucked me out. Yeah, they plucked me out of the water and.

• 47:20Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Also, it was a helicopter.

• 47:22Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, with a basket. Well, I mean, those big, the big red boys.

• 47:24Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure. It wasn't a boat. It was a.

• 47:26Laird Hamilton?

  No, no, no.

• 47:26Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 47:27Laird Hamilton?

  No, it was a chopper. The boat would have been, would have been, you know, probably would have been at night.

• 47:31Lewis Howes?

  So you were sitting, and you were sitting on the jet ski?

• 47:33Laird Hamilton?

  Yep. I'd been rowing for a while. I had the makeshift oar system that I had brought with me just in case of something. I don't know what I thought, in case something broke down. So I had makeshift oars and, and I actually hadn't run the jet ski out of gas because I was had the foresight to know like, hey, listen, if, if it doesn't have any gas, it's gonna, I'm in mobile.

• 47:51Lewis Howes?

  Stuck.

• 47:52Laird Hamilton?

  Where if, at least if I have a little bit, I can run away from a shark or I can go to a boat or I have some mobility. So I just.

• 47:58Lewis Howes?

  Smart.

• 47:59Laird Hamilton?

  Left, you know, like left a gallon in it, like.

• 48:02Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 48:03Laird Hamilton?

  Leave a gallon.

• 48:04Lewis Howes?

  Then what did you, I mean, was there any shift inside of you after that moment? Where you're like, okay.

• 48:08Laird Hamilton?

  Well, I said there was and then everybody else just laughed. But, but, you know, I, I definitely, you know, I, I prayed and said, you know, please, Lord, you know,

• 48:19Laird Hamilton?

  save me and, you know, I promise I'll turn from my sinful ways.

• 48:24Lewis Howes?

  And did you?

• 48:24Laird Hamilton?

  And, and I, I did. I think I did partially, you know? I mean, I, I think at a certain point, it definitely, I mean, you know, each one of those things has a, has a, has an effect on the wheel. Every spoke. You just don't know what effect what spoke has and, you know, how that played in. But I, I mean, absolutely what that, how that affected me.

• 48:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 48:48Laird Hamilton?

  Um, it was pretty heavy. And then I, and then I was working on Waterworld at the time. Uh, the movie and I was in the stunt department. And when I got there, um, the stunt guys just embraced me like, you know, like one of their lost brothers. And, I mean, it was, it was a big emotional. It was, when I got back in the Coast Guard. Helicopter and landed, there was, I had all, you know, all my family was at the airport and it was, you know, it was, it was, it was an intense emotional thing, you know, you know, I, I say that it, you know, rounded some of the corners, you know.

• 49:20Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, a little bit, a little bit.

• 49:22Laird Hamilton?

  They just filed some of the edges.

• 49:24Lewis Howes?

  I mean, when I was in Hawaii, I remember hearing the, the story of the legend Eddie Icau, who, you know, went out and sacrificed his life and it's like he was the biggest hero in Hawaii. I'm assuming one of the biggest heroes. And it's almost like you almost experienced the same thing.

• 49:37Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, I might not have got the hero part, but I definitely was experiencing the loss of sea part.

• 49:42Lewis Howes?

  The idiot part, yeah. Now, do you still do the big, extreme waves and the big, uh, extreme?

• 49:50Laird Hamilton?

  I do.

• 49:50Lewis Howes?

  You do? Is it as big as it used to be?

• 49:53Laird Hamilton?

  Well, it's as big as it'll give me.

• 49:54Lewis Howes?

  Right, as big as it gets you, yeah, but it's as big as it used to be 20 years ago?

• 49:58Laird Hamilton?

  It's as big as the ocean will give me.

• 50:00Lewis Howes?

  Oh, really? You'll go as big as you can go, still?

• 50:03Laird Hamilton?

  It's not, yeah.

• 50:05Lewis Howes?

  And does this, does it worry you now with the family and doing these extreme activities still?

• 50:10Laird Hamilton?

  I mean, it worries me because it always has worried me. So it doesn't, you know, I don't think it's, I don't think that the, I mean, the intensity of the, of the, of the fear, when it is as much as it can be, I don't think can increase.

• 50:25Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, right, it's scary.

• 50:26Laird Hamilton?

  I, I don't think that at a certain point, uh, there's only so much fear that you can, you know, that you can really muster and at the end it's, I don't think it, I mean, I mean, I, that's a commonly asked question is, you know, do you do it different because you have daughters and a family and I'm, and, and you know, and, and I continue to answer it in, in the same way I have from the beginning, which is, you know, I really want them to know me for who I am. And I'm a big wave rider, as one of the things that I do. And I want to know, I want them to see what that, how that makes me. That when I'm done doing that, what do I look like? Before I do it, what do I look like? What, you know, what is that, how, what's that effect on, on dad?

• 51:11Lewis Howes?

  What's it make you feel? Who do you become when you?

• 51:14Laird Hamilton?

  Well, you know, I have an energy that comes into me that's, you know, that it's from there. That the ocean gives me that, you know, it's that extra, it's that, you know, that superhuman power that you get to do these things that it gives you. And the ocean gives you this, this power, you know, when the surf's big, it's like, I can be wounded, hurt, and I just, it's like you just can, you can come up for it and, and, you know, and then you get the, you know, and you're frantic before you're, you know, you're in, if there's a forecast that's gonna be giant,

• 51:54Laird Hamilton?

  you know, you're, you're, you know, you're can be, you can be, you know, have an edge and be unruly in anticipation of it and, you know, and then tired right before, sometimes really just exhausted from the anticipation, but it's almost like the body has a mechanism to kinda shut the system way down before it's gonna come up, so you just kinda get that and, you know, and then, and then of course the elated, you know, either the, either the, you know, the, either the, you know, the agony of defeat or the, you know, or just the elated, you know, feeling of, and, and expression of, you know, accomplishing something unique and special and, and, you know, I continue to evolve in what, the way I do it.

• 52:37Laird Hamilton?

  So, I mean, my objectives are still the same. I don't participate in, you know, it's like I, I've shifted to another aspect of big wave, big waves because of, through my natural evolution and not for any other reason than that and, and I'm fortunate that, you know, like the last, just the last season I just had was the, you know, that was the highest, um, the highest kind of level of, of, of, uh, of what I could do that I've had so far.

• 53:07Lewis Howes?

  Really? Last season, wow.

• 53:08Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, so, and it's, you know, in a way, now... Now, at this point, I don't think I could do what I did 20 years ago, the way I did it 20 years ago. But mostly because that's not what I'm doing, not because I couldn't do it if that's what I was doing. It's just I'm not doing that and I think I have a unique, and I would like to say maybe part of it was a plan. But I think I have something unique, which is I get to keep changing it. Of course, evolving. Yeah, which allows me, first of all, to adjust the goal. Mm-hmm. So the sport changes a little bit each time, so the goal changes.

• 53:46Laird Hamilton?

  So I keep shifting and adapt, which leads me to ultimately continue contentment and avoiding, what a famous stuntman, don't let your memories be bigger than your dreams. Mm-hmm. And so my dreams continue to be bigger than my memories and as big as my memories are. And so that's a big thing. I think that's a big part of what, you know, right now, the focus is on hydrofoil surfing. And we know through the... That's what the thing underneath, or... yeah. Yeah, the board lifts up and flies above the water. A lot more dangerous. You're attached to the board, the board's like a samurai sword. But, which adds to the danger. It makes so you don't need quite as big a surf to have it be... Right.

• 54:31Laird Hamilton?

  Feel as dangerous. Yeah, interesting. Which is interesting because now it's like in less conditions you can be... It'd be like, you know, you're a motorbike racer and then now you do it naked. So you go half the speed and it's twice as scary. Yeah, yeah. So it's a little bit like that, like that kind of a situation where, and... But yet on the top end of it, we know that this is the way that we can ride the biggest waves in the world. Yeah, that's crazy. What would life be like if there were no waves? Be flat. That'd be, you'd have to have giant motors. There'd have to be a lot of pistons involved and a lot of fuel to make up for that. Okay. I mean, but if there was no waves ultimately... There's no waves for you to surf. Listen, if there was no waves, there would be no life.

• 55:13Laird Hamilton?

  That's the only thing, that's the one little catch about that one, which because if there was no waves, it'd mean that there was no storms, which means there'd be no weather, which means that there'd be, we'd have a hard time existing here. Because everything would be in chaos. So, so it's just a coincidence that the waves are an intricate part of nature and its energy and our life on earth, but, but.

• 55:40Lewis Howes?

  So we need, we need storms to thrive is what you're telling me?

• 55:42Laird Hamilton?

  We do, we do. We need for our environment to, to, to keep turning and mixing the air and, you know, creating the rain and creating the systems. I mean, that's part of our, that's an essential part of our environment.

• 55:55Lewis Howes?

  Would you say as individuals, we need storms to thrive as well?

• 55:59Laird Hamilton?

  Absolutely. It's all, it's all.

• 56:02Lewis Howes?

  Same thing, yeah.

• 56:03Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, it's symbolic. There's always.

• 56:05Lewis Howes?

  Of course, that's what I was going for.

• 56:06Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 56:07Lewis Howes?

  Well, I want to finish with a couple of questions.

• 56:09Laird Hamilton?

  Okay.

• 56:10Lewis Howes?

  Because this has been awesome. So thank you so far for sharing everything. One of the things I want to ask is, what are you most grateful for recently?

• 56:18Laird Hamilton?

  Well, I'm most, I mean, I'm most grateful, grateful for my family, for sure. I mean, it's, it's.

• 56:24Lewis Howes?

  Not just because Gabby's listening?

• 56:27Laird Hamilton?

  No, not just because Gabby's listening, but, but yeah, just love, you know, I think I'm most grateful for loving and being loved, being loved is, I mean, by your friends, you know, of course, first by your family, you know, and, and, and, and that, and that I've been able to, to do the things that I love so much and, and make a life of it. I think that that's been, you know, that's been something that's been, that's just been an amazing, it, it continues to be an amazing blessing to, to, you know. I always quote the jerk, you know, again, find your special purpose. But, you know, that's what I want my daughters to do, find their special purpose.

• 57:11Laird Hamilton?

  But to be able to find your, you know, find, find your special purpose and, and, and, and then do it. Find it young and then have, and then have a life of doing it. And when I look at my, what I've been able to do in my life, I mean, I've lived lives, many lives. And, and, and I, and I, and, uh, and, and I see, you know, I, I'm around some of the wealthiest people in the world. And, and, and, and I feel sorry for them because that they, that with all that abundance of wealth, they don't have what is the greatest gift, the greatest treasure, which is ultimately first having great relations.

• 57:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 57:52Laird Hamilton?

  But ultimately, great experiences and like, and these ones that you can't buy. You, you can't buy this stuff because you can't buy skill and you can't buy experience.

• 58:03Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 58:03Laird Hamilton?

  You have to earn it and you have to learn it. And it's, it's, uh, I mean, that's just.

• 58:10Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 58:11Laird Hamilton?

  You know.

• 58:12Lewis Howes?

  What's the key to, um, having great relationships while you go after your dream, after your big dreams? And what's the key to thriving in relationships?

• 58:22Laird Hamilton?

  You know, I mean, it's, I think there's a combination of a couple things, to be honest. I think you gotta be truthful, um, with yourself.

• 58:28Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:29Laird Hamilton?

  With the people, whoever that is, you gotta be truthful with the, with your, with, with. And again, even expressing things that are just your opinion. Again, you, and you could be wrong, chances are you might be.

• 58:41Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:42Laird Hamilton?

  A lot of times you are, admitting you're wrong.

• 58:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:44Laird Hamilton?

  That's a big part of it.

• 58:45Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:45Laird Hamilton?

  Accepting the fact that you're wrong. Saying you're sorry.

• 58:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:48Laird Hamilton?

  For sure, saying you're sorry. Um, and, and, uh, and loving, being, being just, and but loving for real. Like in a real way, being, and being somebody, and, and also being reliable.

• 59:01Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm.

• 59:01Laird Hamilton?

  Being, being reliable, like having them. You know, you need, and that all comes from truth and all these other pieces, you know, lead into, you know, people knowing they can rely on you and knowing that, you know, and sometimes I'm not good with the, with the small stuff as good, but it, but knowing that listen, when it's really, when it comes down and it gets heavy, you're the one you they want, it's like they want to call you, they, you know, they, they can, you know, my girls, I can build such confidence in them if they know that they have this rock behind, like they know that there's a big rock in the back, then they can just go out and

• 59:36Lewis Howes?

  Do anything.

• 59:36Laird Hamilton?

  rip it up and then, and then, and then, because they know that they can, you know, turn around and there's a rock there, you know, ready to, ready to be

• 59:45Lewis Howes?

  Support, yeah. What's the three things that you do every morning that you feel like is a must for you to do in order to have a successful day, in order to have the most out of your day? The three maybe habits that you have to perform, something you eat, a practice, something with your family, what are those three things to set you up to win?

• 1:00:05Laird Hamilton?

  To set me up to win, uh, well, I definitely, I mean, I, I need to shower when I wake up, like as soon as I wake up, I need to go in the water, like rinse off, be in the water, dive in the water, swim in the water, whatever, just be, just, but get like ultimately like

• 1:00:20Lewis Howes?

  Pool, water.

• 1:00:21Laird Hamilton?

  Shower first, like out of the bed, going straight to the shower.

• 1:00:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:24Laird Hamilton?

  You know, that just

• 1:00:25Lewis Howes?

  Cold, hot?

• 1:00:26Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, cold, hot, but, but you normally cold, always at the end, if, if I go hot, otherwise just straight, you know, stand in the cold shower.

• 1:00:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:33Laird Hamilton?

  Um, gotta have that, that's just like, that, that gets me rolling in the beginning. Then, then from there we go to, um, fuel up, you know, whatever, it's a combination of a little morning rituals, whether it's sea salt, water, lemon, you know, some mushroom powder, some raw eggs, you know, and then I'm gonna, of course, I'm gonna, I'm gonna caffeinate.

• 1:00:57Lewis Howes?

  Raw eggs?

• 1:00:57Laird Hamilton?

  I'm gonna caffeinate.

• 1:00:58Lewis Howes?

  Raw eggs?

• 1:00:58Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:00:59Lewis Howes?

  Are you rocky?

• 1:01:00Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:01Lewis Howes?

  I like it.

• 1:01:02Laird Hamilton?

  In a way, there's a rocky aspect of it.

• 1:01:04Lewis Howes?

  How many raw eggs do you have?

• 1:01:05Laird Hamilton?

  Couple, couple of raw eggs every day. So I make it easy. You poke a hole in them and you just suck them out of the egg. It doesn't, but it doesn't have that same effect. You don't gag on them. No gag reflex. But, um, and then, and then, you know, and then, and then fuel like caffeine up, caffeinate that. So that's all part of that morning ritual, like the, the, the fueling. And then, and then it's, and then ultimately it's the, the girls, contact with the girls.

• 1:01:29Lewis Howes?

  That's great.

• 1:01:29Laird Hamilton?

  The, the, the good morning kiss, uh, from Gabby and, and, and maybe, uh, you know, uh, you know, a, a hot cocoa espresso, you know, conversation, little touch, kiss on the girls, you know, kiss, touch the girls, see the girls, and then, and then, and then we're ready to.

• 1:01:47Lewis Howes?

  Rock and roll.

• 1:01:48Laird Hamilton?

  Whatever we gotta do. Climb a hill, you know, knock a tree, whatever, whatever it is, you know. Lay around and breathe.

• 1:01:55Lewis Howes?

  I think that for an hour.

• 1:01:57Laird Hamilton?

  Whatever, whatever. Yeah.

• 1:01:58Lewis Howes?

  Sweat and then we'll pass out.

• 1:01:59Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:02:00Lewis Howes?

  What are the, if it's the, the last day of your life and you've got three truths of all the 50 lives you've lived.

• 1:02:09Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:09Lewis Howes?

  And you could boil it down to three simple truths about life to share with your family, your friends, the world, you got a piece of paper, you could write them down. And that's all they got to have of you with these three things left. What would you say are those three truths?

• 1:02:24Laird Hamilton?

  And they're, but like parables. Well, I'm gonna have to give you the one that my mom gave me, which is if you can't be true to yourself, then you can't be true to anyone. I'd, I'd, I'd have to put that right up there at the top because that's, that's just, um, mandatory.

• 1:02:39Laird Hamilton?

  And, you know, again, I'd, I'd, I'd have to go, uh, I gotta go hard ride again on this one and I'd be, you know, speed and take chances.

• 1:02:47Lewis Howes?

  Speed and take chances.

• 1:02:48Laird Hamilton?

  Speed and take chances. Absolutely. Yeah. Because that brings a focus on, that's how I, I tell people like that's my, you know, like people go, be safe, have a safe trip. I'm like, speed and take chances. Like, because in a way, that's more, you know, cautious killed, caution killed the cat, you know, it's like, you gotta be like, a little more like, you know, go into it with, you know, um, and, and, uh, I don't know. I, I mean, I, I think it's, I think it's a longer list than that, but those are the ones that just pop out right away. Can't be true to yourself, can't be true to anyone, which, um, which ultimately you need to be true to, true to everyone. And, and then, uh, what else?

• 1:03:30Lewis Howes?

  The third one?

• 1:03:30Laird Hamilton?

  The third one would be, uh, That's a pretty tough one. I'm trying to think. Maybe the third one might, I might have to give you the third one. Cause I have a couple of different ways I want to go with it.

• 1:03:40Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 1:03:40Laird Hamilton?

  But I, I don't, I feel like I'll waste what would be the most important. I'm going to croak and I gotta kinda, you know, I, I think.

• 1:03:49Lewis Howes?

  Take your time.

• 1:03:49Laird Hamilton?

  I'd have to go with love. I'd have to go, you gotta love your, you know, I got, you gotta, you gotta go first and Gabby has that. She's been saying that about being, taking the, being first, but you gotta, you, you just gotta, you know, you gotta go, you gotta go with, you gotta go with love your, you know, love your neighbors as yourself or, you know, just, I think you need, I think you need to, we need to be nice to people.

• 1:04:14Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, okay. I like those.

• 1:04:16Laird Hamilton?

  I'm going with that one.

• 1:04:16Lewis Howes?

  I like those three truths.

• 1:04:17Laird Hamilton?

  That's it.

• 1:04:18Lewis Howes?

  Uh, I have one final question for you, but before we ask it, what is, what are you working on? What are you excited about? Your businesses, you've got these, you've made this incredible coffee for me this morning. You've got, stand up paddle boards. You got, tell me, tell me everything you've got going on. Where can we connect with you online?

• 1:04:34Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah. Well, I got Laird Stand Up, which is a, a stand up paddling equipment, which obviously I was a, you know, instrumental in, in starting that sport.

• 1:04:41Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:42Laird Hamilton?

  Um, and so I, and that's a bunch of stand up equipment for flat water waves, learning, you know, experts, all that kind of stuff and some really nice equipment. So Laird Stand Up and then, and then I have an apparel line that we're just launching, um, a Laird Apparel stuff that I'm doing, which is.

• 1:04:59Lewis Howes?

  It's part of the hats apparel I saw?

• 1:05:00Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah, that's a, that's one of the parts of it. Um, and then there's, but it's a technical line, which all kinds of really like, technical, uh, you know, surf shorts and shirts that dry really quick and fitness workout stuff and stretch stuff and, you know, like a whole, like a, a, you know, things that you're going to need in, you know, in the daily life of kind of thing. Um, and, and then, and then I have this, uh, thing called the Total Wave that we're, that we're using. It's by the pool you did, that you didn't see. That's like this roller.

• 1:05:29Lewis Howes?

  That's yours?

• 1:05:30Laird Hamilton?

  That's a roller pipe. Yeah.

• 1:05:31Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:05:31Laird Hamilton?

  Gabby and I are involved in that project.

• 1:05:33Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 1:05:33Laird Hamilton?

  And it's a roller, a roller, uh, fitness device that's, uses momentum. And so you can do all these different exercises and this, it has this kind of movement. That's that's not only sports specific for any board sport or skiing or any kind of movement. But then it's then it's amazing for just agility and balance and you know it's a whole connective tissue kind of thing where you're all you use the whole body to do it. Sure, sure. So there's some cardio, some cardio aspects to that. So the total wave and then and then the golf board is exploding. That's the one right now that we're really, we have a lot of push behind as well. Sure. And the golf board is, you know, you're going to see it on a lot of the golf courses, but you can go to golfboard.com. Golfboard.com.

• 1:06:18Laird Hamilton?

  And check that out and laugh and it's an all wheel drive electric board that you play golf on. It's revolutionizing the game of golf. Really? It's gonna, it's speeding up play, it's making good players play better, it's bringing new people into it. It's allowing older people, you know, a whole new way, perspective. It's just, it's a little bit like, and I don't know if you know of stand up paddles effect on kind of water sports. But stand up paddling is the fastest growing sport in the world right now and has been for the last couple of years. And and it's because it's it's accessibility, mobility, perspective. It just changes your whole experience and that's what the golf board's doing in golf. And then and then I have layered superfood.com. You just launched this, right? Laird's Superfood or Laird? Laird. Laird, no S.

• 1:07:02Laird Hamilton?

  Laird Superfood, yeah. Laird superfood.com and that we have, well, we have some formulas like the one you tried this morning. Incredible. We have a powdered formula for powder, people that like powder better that especially if you're a coffee drinker and but it's meant to be put in tea or hot cocoa as well. And there's also some and there's also some dessert stuff that they're making with it. That's great. Then we have recipes and you can go to Laird superfood.com and they, we got a whole and then we have coffee beans on there and And then these other top fuel formula and coconut sugar and a bunch of other products that we're launching and it's, you know, that one's, I mean, all these things that I'm

• 1:07:42Laird Hamilton?

  involved in are all authentic to me. I mean, it's things that that I use naturally or I'm involved with it because that's just the nature of my approach. I think that's the only sincere thing, the way that I can do it. And then, so that, but that's, that's the, the, the, the big push are those, are those, those items right now. And then we have a, another thing called XPT, which is extreme pool training, which you didn't get to experience.

• 1:08:11Lewis Howes?

  Hopefully, hopefully I can come back and do it sometime.

• 1:08:13Laird Hamilton?

  But you got to experience the land part of it, which is

• 1:08:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:16Laird Hamilton?

  That that land stuff we implement into the water.

• 1:08:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:19Laird Hamilton?

  And but it's, it's, you know, it's, it's something a little bit different. And then, and then that's the, you know, that's, that's the, those are the, the, the main.

• 1:08:28Lewis Howes?

  Main things you're working on.

• 1:08:29Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah. And I also have a, we're in the process of shooting a documentary about foiling. So there's a lady by the name of Rory Kennedy, who's one of the Kennedys that is, but she's also a famous documentarian.

• 1:08:42Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 1:08:43Laird Hamilton?

  Director. And so we're, we're, we're doing a film about hydrofoil surfing and, and in the pursuit of trying to ride the biggest, furthest, fastest waves in the world. And so that's our, that's another one of our, our, kind of our, our thrust.

• 1:08:57Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 1:08:58Laird Hamilton?

  And, well, it's just, you know, it's.

• 1:09:00Lewis Howes?

  Lots of fun things.

• 1:09:01Laird Hamilton?

  Absolutely. It's, you know, it's, I think it's, it's, it's only natural to just keep, keep evolving. And, you know, it's, these are things I'm excited about, stuff I do, or, you know, that I, I do, I do naturally. And so it's, it's, it's, why not?

• 1:09:15Lewis Howes?

  Very cool. We'll, we'll have it all linked up below in the, the show notes as well.

• 1:09:18Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:19Lewis Howes?

  Uh, final question before I ask, I always finish with an acknowledgement of my, my guest.

• 1:09:24Laird Hamilton?

  Yes.

• 1:09:24Lewis Howes?

  So I want to acknowledge you for.

• 1:09:26Laird Hamilton?

  All right.

• 1:09:26Lewis Howes?

  I've only experienced you for a couple hours and now.

• 1:09:28Laird Hamilton?

  For sure.

• 1:09:29Lewis Howes?

  But from everything I know about you, things I've heard about you, the research, I want to acknowledge you for your. Consistency, you've been so consistent over your whole career, your whole life of being true to who you are. So I'm acknowledging you secondly for your truth.

• 1:09:45Laird Hamilton?

  Yes.

• 1:09:45Lewis Howes?

  And being unapologetically you all the time from everything I've seen and our experience together.

• 1:09:51Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:51Lewis Howes?

  And also, the third thing I want to acknowledge is your courage, your consistent courage.

• 1:09:55Laird Hamilton?

  Yes.

• 1:09:56Lewis Howes?

  To be able to sustain this over the years and how you serve so many people, you know, just the level of service and care.

• 1:10:04Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:05Lewis Howes?

  And grace that you have as a, as a manly man.

• 1:10:07Laird Hamilton?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:08Lewis Howes?

  You have so much grace about you, whether you know that or not.

• 1:10:10Laird Hamilton?

  Thank you.

• 1:10:11Lewis Howes?

  And I was experiencing that during the breathing exercises when I was about to pass out.

• 1:10:14Laird Hamilton?

  Sure, sure.

• 1:10:15Lewis Howes?

  So I want to really acknowledge you for all that you do for so many people and for your consistency, your truth and your care.

• 1:10:21Laird Hamilton?

  Thank you.

• 1:10:22Lewis Howes?

  And your courage.

• 1:10:23Laird Hamilton?

  Well, thank you.

• 1:10:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:10:24Laird Hamilton?

  Thank you for that. I appreciate that.

• 1:10:25Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, of course.

• 1:10:26Laird Hamilton?

  Thanks a lot.

• 1:10:26Lewis Howes?

  The final question.

• 1:10:27Laird Hamilton?

  Okay.

• 1:10:28Lewis Howes?

  Is what's your definition of greatness?

• 1:10:34Laird Hamilton?

  What's my definition of, it's probably long. It's a long, it's a long, but great is, is, uh, well, great is compassionate. Absolutely. And incapable of being great without being compassionate. Uh, great is, is humble. Cause you're not great unless you're humble. Um, so we got compassionate and humble.

• 1:11:00Laird Hamilton?

  Great is, is, uh, well courageous.

• 1:11:04Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:11:04Laird Hamilton?

  You gotta have, gotta be courageous.

• 1:11:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:06Laird Hamilton?

  So gotta be compassionate, gotta be humble, gotta be courageous. Um, great is loving.

• 1:11:14Laird Hamilton?

  Gotta be loving. If you're not loving, then, then you're, then you're definitely not compassionate.

• 1:11:20Laird Hamilton?

  And, uh, that, that, that's, you know, that would probably be, and, uh,

• 1:11:27Lewis Howes?

  What else?

• 1:11:29Laird Hamilton?

  I think it goes on and on, but I'll start with that.

• 1:11:32Lewis Howes?

  Awesome. Laird Hamilton, thanks for coming on, man.

• 1:11:34Laird Hamilton?

  My pleasure.

• 1:11:34Lewis Howes?

  I appreciate it so much for having me.

• 1:11:35Laird Hamilton?

  Thank you.

• 1:11:36Lewis Howes?

  You're welcome.

• 1:11:36Laird Hamilton?

  My pleasure.

• 1:11:39Lewis Howes?

  There you have it, guys. LewisHowes.com/212. Please share this with your friends. Anyone who wants to be inspired to learn more about how to optimize their body, their mind, their health, their lifestyle, make sure to share this link, LewisHowes.com, with your friends over on Facebook, and Twitter, and Google+. Again, it's LewisHowes.com/212. Big thank you, very grateful to have Laird on and share his wisdom with all of the listeners at the School of Greatness. And make sure to head back to the show notes to learn more about all that he's up to and everything he's got going on in his business, his lifestyle. Check out his websites, all of his new products.

• 1:12:19Lewis Howes?

  Make sure to go head over there and learn more over at the show notes, LewisHowes.com/212 very soon. Thank you, guys, Dan, so much. Make sure to check out LewisHowes.com/212 for more. And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.