117. Loren Ridinger: Turning Pain into Purpose – How Grief Became My Greatest Strength

What if your greatest pain could become your most powerful purpose? In this first live-audience episode, Loren Ridinger shares her deeply personal journey of transforming grief, loss, and hardship into a purposeful life. Her story is a testament to the power of mindset and importance of surrounding yourself with a supportive community during the darkest moments. Have you experienced a challenge that reshaped your life? Share your story in the comments, and let’s inspire each other to keep moving forward. Pre-Order “Scrambled or Sunny-Side Up?” Loren Ridinger’s book here: https://amzn.to/4fKJa2I Connect with Loren Ridinger: Website: https://bit.ly/3ZnKvqF Instagram: https://bit.ly/4fHeoI1 YouTube: https://bit.ly/3OpZdad Facebook: https://bit.ly/3OnLmRV X.com: https://bit.ly/3V8k8lS 00:00 ​Intro of Show and Guest 07:10 ​Getting a Job Due to Parents’ Expectations 07:55 Loren and JR’s Big Vision 13:35 ​The Belief that Pushed Loren to See Her Own Capabilities 21:30 ​From $25 Weeks to $5 Billion Company 25:00 ​JR’s Passing After the COVID Vaccine Booster 27:42 ​Turning the Grief into Purpose 33:08 ​“Scrambled or Sunny-Side Up?” 40:05 ​What Does It Take to Stay at the Top? 46:45 ​Importance of Struggle for Success 49:20 ​Taking Health Care Choices into Our Own Hands 52:53 ​What’s the Future for Loren Ridinger? 1:00:03 ​Elevating the People in Your Inner Circle 1:04:22 ​Stepping Outside the Box and Committing to Your Goals 1:05:54 ​Gary’s Impact to Loren and JR’s Lives 1:07:33 ​Final Question: What does it mean to you to be an “Ultimate Human?” GET GARY’S WEEKLY TIPS ON HEALTH AND LIFESTYLE OPTIMIZATION: https://bit.ly/4eLDbdU EIGHT SLEEP - SAVE $350 ON THE POD 4 ULTRA WITH CODE “GARY”: https://bit.ly/3WkLd6E BODY HEALTH - USE CODE “ULTIMATE20” FOR 20% OFF YOUR ORDER: http://bit.ly/4e5IjsV BAJA GOLD - 91 ESSENTIAL MINERALS PER PINCH! 10% OFF USE CODE "ULTIMATE10": https://bit.ly/3WSBqUa ELEVATE YOUR WORKOUTS WITH THE ULTIMATE HUMAN STRENGTH TRAINING EQUIPMENT: https://bit.ly/3zYwtSl THE COLD LIFE - BOOST RECOVERY & WELL-BEING WITH THE ULTIMATE HUMAN PLUNGE: https://bit.ly/4eULUKp KETTLE & FIRE - SAVE 20% ON 100% GRASS-FED BONE BROTH USE CODE "ULTIMATEHUMAN": https://bit.ly/3BaTzW5 MASA CHIPS - GET 20% OFF YOUR FIRST $50+ ORDER: https://bit.ly/40LVY4y PARKER PASTURES - GET PREMIUM GRASS-FED MEATS TODAY: https://bit.ly/4hHcbhc SHOP GARY’S TOP-RATED PRODUCTS & EXCLUSIVE DEALS: https://theultimatehuman.com/amazon-recs Watch the “Ultimate Human Podcast” every Tuesday & Thursday at 9AM EST on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3RPQYX8 Connect with Gary Brecka: Website: https://bit.ly/4eLDbdU Instagram: https://bit.ly/3RPpnFs TikTok: https://bit.ly/4coJ8fo Facebook: https://bit.ly/464VA1H X.com: https://bit.ly/3Opc8tf LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4hH7Ri2 SUBSCRIBE TO: https://www.youtube.com/@ultimatehumanpodcast https://www.youtube.com/@garybrecka Download the “Ultimate Human Podcast” on all your favorite podcast platforms: https://bit.ly/3RQftU0 Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not provide medical advice. It is not intended for diagnosing or treating any health condition. Always consult a licensed healthcare professional before making health or wellness decisions. Gary Brecka is the owner of Ultimate Human, LLC which operates The Ultimate Human podcast and promotes certain third-party products used by Gary Brecka in his personal health and wellness protocols and daily life and for which Ultimate Human LLC and / or Gary Brecka directly or indirectly holds an economic interest or receives compensation. Accordingly, statements made by Gary Brecka and others (including on The Ultimate Human podcast) may be considered promotional in nature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

• 0:00Speaker 00

  So often in my life, I've met people who said, well, I became a doctor because that's what my dad expected. And you often meet people, and I'm sure you have too, that become somebody that they never meant to be. And if I hadn't came home and told my dad I was leaving and I was going to do this thing called the internet, I would have been somebody I wasn't supposed to be.

• 0:17Gary Brecka?

  You didn't go into a pathway that was already laid for you. You didn't have a mentor guiding you through every step of the way.

• 0:24Speaker 00

  We didn't have any money.

• 0:25Gary Brecka?

  You went from $25 a week to a-

• 0:27Speaker 00

  To a billion dollar company. I would watch Jared get up on stage, you know, a little platform in front. And he would tell people, one day, people are going to buy their products online. The people in the room, they'd look at him like he was crazy. He goes, it doesn't matter what they think, Lauren. What matters is what you think. What do you think? Do you think we can do it? Do you believe what I tell you? When I tell you we can change the world, you and I? Because that's all that matters to me.

• 0:48Gary Brecka?

  I always get on your stage and I tell the people, it's because I know that we can't change the world on our own, but I'm smart enough to know that with a like-minded group of people, we can make a massive impact.

• 0:59Speaker 00

  The only thing I know that can change the world is people.

• 1:02Gary Brecka?

  Lots of people talk about the mindset that you have to have to keep going and the tenacity. What does it take when you're at the top? Because you've gotten there and stayed there.

• 1:10Speaker 00

  I'll tell you all about it. The number one thing, and Jared and I lived our life with this is-

• 1:26Gary Brecka?

  Welcome to the Ultimate Human Podcast, where we explore the stories and strategies behind extraordinary individuals who push the boundaries of human potential. And today, we're joined by my personal and close friend, the incredible Lauren Ridinger, a trailblazer in the world of e-commerce, beauty, and entrepreneurship. As the co-founder of Market America and Shop.com, Lauren has built a global empire that continues to shape how we shop and how we live. But beyond her business accomplishments, Lauren's personal journey of overcoming adversity from health challenges, personal loss, is just inspiring millions, including myself. Today, we're diving into her new book, Scrambled, or Sunny Side Up, her powerful outlook on life and what it takes to truly live your greatest life. Hey,

• 2:10Gary Brecka?

  guys, welcome back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host, human biologist Gary Brecka, where we go down the road of everything anti-aging, biohacking, and everything in between. And today, we have our first live studio audience.

• 2:26Gary Brecka?

  We're gonna try it like a game show and I am so excited to have this guest on. She is a close, personal friend of mine. I'm very close with her family. I knew her husband very, very well. He was an inspirational mentor to me, an iconic force in the health and wellness industry and built an absolutely incredible company that's changing a lot of lives. So, welcome to the podcast, Lauren.

• 2:48Speaker 00

  I am so happy to be here with you. You know how much I love you and how much Jara loved you and you are the ultimate human. The real truth of the matter is, is like, I know that people love you and they see you, but I know you on such a deeper level and your whole life is about helping other people live their best lives.

• 3:04Gary Brecka?

  Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much.

• 3:05Speaker 00

  And that is such a beautiful, come on, audience. That's such a beautiful, that is so beautiful. Like, who does that? I know, no, we have a real life, this is your first real live audience.

• 3:16Gary Brecka?

  This is my first live audience.

• 3:16Speaker 00

  They love you so much.

• 3:17Gary Brecka?

  Well, it means my mom, I mean, my daughter and my wife.

• 3:20Speaker 00

  I love, by the way, whom I love and they love us, right? I love them. But I just, I can't thank you enough for having me here because I consider this an honor for somebody who's worked with you and you've taken care of you, treated Jara and I for many years. You are a game-changing human, one of the few people I know who spend their life dedicated to making lives better.

• 3:42Gary Brecka?

  Wow, that's so kind of you. I mean, the podcast is actually supposed to be about you. So, but I really appreciate that.

• 3:48Speaker 00

  But I love you. I'm excited.

• 3:50Gary Brecka?

  I know. I'm so excited that you're here too because, you know, we've become really close, personal friends over the years. In fact, I remember the first time that I met you, I met you and JR at the same time. We came, we actually came over, I forget who introduced us, but we came over to do the blood.

• 4:05Speaker 00

  Doesn't matter. All that matters is us.

• 4:06Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 4:08Speaker 00

  It doesn't matter. I kept you out of all of them.

• 4:11Gary Brecka?

  We did the blood work and the gene testing to get you guys on the program, but, and we're going to talk about your husband on the podcast today because he's such an incredible human being and he changed so many lives and he's, he's still continuing to change lives with, you know, what people do in the dash, as he would call it. And, and I remember that we met on your boat. Beautiful, beautiful yacht.

• 4:32Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 4:33Gary Brecka?

  And I boarded your boat and your husband was, was like, immediately became my science spirit animal because I realized that he had a background in biology and he was sitting there doing, you know, sorting through research on his computer, just trying to make your supplements better and more effective. And he was looking at these pathways to get things into and out of the cell. So I struck up a conversation with him and rarely have I ever had, outside of my ultra woke biohacking community, as in-depth and inspiring a conversation with anyone as I had with your husband that day. And we became instant friends.

• 5:07Speaker 00

  Well, you made him think even bigger, if that's possible. Because I remember he was doing research that day and you started talking about the type of vitamin B and how it needed to be. It was a game changer.

• 5:21Gary Brecka?

  And I remember he got your whole team on the phone.

• 5:23Speaker 00

  He did.

• 5:24Gary Brecka?

  He was like, why do we have this type of vitamin B?

• 5:26Speaker 00

  He was like, I want this changed. And he, um, he's never really shut everything down from like listening to one person. He was like, that's it. You know, he just felt so connected to you and, and saw that your purpose was so much bigger than any one thing.

• 5:41Gary Brecka?

  Yeah. And I, you know, I like to say that I, I got to know JR in a, in a really unique way. I mean, I think so many people were inspired by his stage talks and they were, they've been, they're obviously inspired by the number of lives that you and your company have touched. And we're going to talk all about their company in a few minutes. But I got to know him in a really special way because I knew the, um, the childlike curiosity that he had, this, this intellectual curiosity where, you know, here's a guy sitting on the back of a big, beautiful yacht, running a multi-billion dollar company. And he's spending his time still so curious about what is the next thing that I could do to make this better? How can I get this nutrient into the cell in a better way? How can I actually eliminate waste from the cellular activities?

• 6:25Gary Brecka?

  And we, we had just a very inspiring conversation. And I remember leaving the boat that day and I was just struck by how childlike his level of curiosity was. It was like the first Day that he found a new toy. I'm like, you've been at this for thirty years.

• 6:39Speaker 00

  I think he wrote like ten emails to everybody this long with you on it.

• 6:43Gary Brecka?

  I was like the most hated guy in the company for a few days.

• 6:45Speaker 00

  He was so inspired and so moved and just felt like I've never met anybody like Gary before.

• 6:51Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 6:52Speaker 00

  And that was true.

• 6:53Gary Brecka?

  And you guys have such an inspiring story. You know, I spent some time looking at some of the other podcasts you've done. And I know, I know lots and lots about your story. I know your family very well. I know, you know, the, the folks that you have in your inner circle at your company.

• 7:06Speaker 00

  My community. They love you.

• 7:07Gary Brecka?

  Community. But I think there's so many things to, there's so many angles to Lauren Ridinger. Aside from the company that you built is that when you were starting, I'll say rewind the clock like thirty years.

• 7:20Speaker 00

  You got it.

• 7:20Gary Brecka?

  Right? Um, I, I found a really fascinating secret about you that you worked at Eastern Airlines.

• 7:26Speaker 00

  It's funny. It's funny. It's a game changing story actually because, you know, I was eighteen. My dad was like, you gotta go get a job. You're gonna be a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines. I was like.

• 7:39Gary Brecka?

  By the way, we're dating ourselves with Eastern Airlines. Half the audience is like, what?

• 7:42Speaker 00

  By the way, you don't worry about it, guys. Okay?

• 7:45Gary Brecka?

  Went out of business thirty years ago.

• 7:46Speaker 00

  Exactly. They went out of business when I started. No, but he was like, you got it.

• 7:50Gary Brecka?

  My mom worked for Eastern Airlines.

• 7:51Speaker 00

  Well, you get it. So my dad was like, this is what you're gonna do with your life. And I was like, I don't wanna do that. I'm afraid of fly. Don't make me do this, Dad. And he was like, you've got to be something. I was like, I just met this incredible boyfriend of mine and he says, we're gonna change the world and we're gonna start something called the World Wide Web. And it's the internet and, um, you know, Internet Explorer back then. And he was like, that's, you know, a pipe dream. You can't do that. You're gonna go get a job. And so I remember I got, uh, to the interview place and there was like three hundred people online. And back then you had to have like legs, red lipstick on, you know, the long hair. I was fitting the bill well for that position, which it would be an embarrassing thing today.

• 8:33Speaker 00

  It's a very Me Too type of treatment for women. And when I got up to the front of the line, I gave him all the wrong answers. They were like, you know, why do you want to be an Eastern Airlines flight attendant? Welcome to the friendly skies. I was like, I don't want to fly with Eastern. I don't even like Eastern Airlines. I don't, I would say anything I could not to get the job. Sure enough, I got the job. Crazy enough, I got a letter four weeks later. You've been hired, you got to go to Atlanta. You got to go through training. And here's this guy I just met six months before, who I'd fallen in love with already. He was telling me about one day, people are going to buy everything they want from their, you know, water bottles, to their vitamins, to their shoes, to their clothes online. And people thought we were crazy.

• 9:18Speaker 00

  And so, including my father.

• 9:19Gary Brecka?

  That was crazy.

• 9:20Speaker 00

  And it was crazy. That's, you know, 1989, 1990. And he said, um, I went to the training and I told my dad, I don't want to do this. And I told my mom, you got to help me get out of this. And Jared called me. And he, you know, just my boyfriend at the time, and he said, if you don't come home and tell your dad that you don't want to be an Eastern Airlines flight attendant, you're going to become a version of yourself that you never meant to be.

• 9:46Gary Brecka?

  Wow.

• 9:47Speaker 00

  That was a big moment in my life. And I, I didn't understand it then until after I lost Jared. Because so often in my life, I've met people who said, well, I became a doctor because that's what my dad expected.

• 10:01Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 10:01Speaker 00

  Or I became a teacher because that's what my mom expected. You know, or I just became a homemaker because that's what my husband expected. And you often meet people, and I'm sure you have too, that become somebody that they never meant to be. And if I had to came home and fired Eastern Airlines.

• 10:18Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 10:18Speaker 00

  And told my dad I was leaving and I was going to do this thing called the internet.

• 10:22Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 10:23Speaker 00

  I would have been somebody I wasn't supposed to be.

• 10:26Gary Brecka?

  And you know, I think that's another really inspiring part of your story is that you didn't go into a proven industry. You didn't go into a pathway that was already laid for you. You didn't have a mentor guiding you through every step of the way.

• 10:41Speaker 00

  We didn't have any money.

• 10:43Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, you had no money.

• 10:44Speaker 00

  We didn't have anything.

• 10:45Gary Brecka?

  A dream. I mean, you went from $25 a week to a billion dollar company. A $5 billion company, which is just astounding when you think of the trajectory. But I want to peel back some of the layers of that because I think there's so many people watching this right now. My, my, my audience especially that you have a dream or you have an aspiration or you have an idea. The majority of people, even in your inner circle, your father included, are going to tell you that that can't be done.

• 11:09Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 11:10Gary Brecka?

  And that there's no pathway forward for you for that. And you were not only starting to try, you didn't say, I want to build a big supplement company. That would have made sense because there's shelf space in, in, you know, in grocery stores. And you could have said, I want to get my supplement onto a shelf. You wanted to sell it into this mythical misty space.

• 11:29Speaker 00

  That didn't really exist at that time.

• 11:31Gary Brecka?

  Didn't even exist.

• 11:31Speaker 00

  I mean, it was there, but it was mostly data driven at the time. You know, you could find some data on people, not everything we can find out about you or me today.

• 11:39Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 11:40Speaker 00

  But it was information mostly. You know, the thought of somebody going to you and saying, I want to sell your product. And I want to put it online seemed preposterous at the time.

• 11:49Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 11:50Speaker 00

  And I think that, you know, even back when I think about the early meetings of our company of Shop and Market America. In 92, Jay and I would go to these, you know, not the meetings that you, not the meetings you go to with me now that you've seen that we do with thousands of people.

• 12:05Gary Brecka?

  These are stadiums full of people.

• 12:07Speaker 00

  And they love you.

• 12:08Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 12:08Speaker 00

  But back in the day, it was, you know, seven, eight, nine people.

• 12:11Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 12:11Speaker 00

  And we would drive all over the country after I quit Eastern Airlines. And, you know, I would watch Derek get up on stage and he would find a seven, eight people, you know, a little platform in front. And he would tell people, one day, people are going to buy their products online. You're going to buy their shoes, their socks, everything. And at 18 years old at the time, I would watch the people in the room. And they didn't respond well. You know, they'd look at him like he was crazy.

• 12:41Speaker 00

  And after the meeting, he would be like, that was a great meeting, wasn't it? You know, his personality, that was fantastic. Wow, we killed him. We crushed him.

• 12:48Gary Brecka?

  We crushed those seven.

• 12:49Speaker 00

  We crushed it. And, and I was like, I'm not sure.

• 12:52Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 12:53Speaker 00

  They didn't seem to think that when I saw their faces. He goes, it doesn't matter what they think, Lauren. What matters is what you think. What do you think?

• 13:01Gary Brecka?

  Wow.

• 13:02Speaker 00

  Do you think we can do it? Do you believe what I tell you? When I tell you, we can change the world, you and I? We can get people to buy things online. Do you believe? Cause that's all that matters to me. Cause if nobody else believes but you and I, and we put blinders on, we can make this happen. We didn't have any money.

• 13:19Gary Brecka?

  He's how old at the time? He's in his early twenties.

• 13:21Speaker 00

  Well, he was thirty eight, I was, uh, he was thirty six, I was eighteen.

• 13:23Gary Brecka?

  Pretty wise.

• 13:24Speaker 00

  It's pretty crazy, you know? And they, everybody thought we were crazy. Like, why are you dating this guy? I don't have any money. He's older. You know, he doesn't have anything to offer you. You can have a future in journalism, which is where I thought I was going. And I was just mad for him. He was magical. He, he was, everything he said made perfect sense. It didn't matter if he didn't have money to take me on a date. That didn't matter. I just wanted to be around him. That personality, that charismatic man who meant so much to me and cared about people like you do, actually.

• 13:55Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 13:56Speaker 00

  And I was learning. I was a child, I was eighteen. So when he said that to me, do you believe in it? I was like, yeah, he goes, improve it. You do the meeting tomorrow. Show me. I thought, how do I break up with this guy before we get to the next meeting? All I kept thinking about was like, exactly. The whole way we were driving from Dallas to San Antonio, I'll never forget. And I was like, how am I gonna break up with him? On the way, I was too afraid to speak. I'd never spoken. That's everybody's biggest fear. Would you agree?

• 14:27Gary Brecka?

  Public speaking is right up there with deep water sharks.

• 14:29Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. And dying.

• 14:30Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, and dying.

• 14:31Speaker 00

  It's like, some people may choose dying over public speaking.

• 14:34Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 14:35Speaker 00

  They that scared. And, uh, I was like, don't make me do this. I'm not really good at it. I've never spoken before. He said, you are the greatest female speaker I've ever heard.

• 14:45Gary Brecka?

  Wow.

• 14:46Speaker 00

  I was like, how is that possible? How's this guy saying, I, I'm not gonna do well. I can tell you right now. He's like, you are incredible. You just don't know it yet. One of the finest female speakers I've ever listened to. I got to San Antonio shaking, shivering, got up there in front of like 10 people. I said, hi, my name is Lauren Ashley at the time.

• 15:05Gary Brecka?

  Yep.

• 15:05Speaker 00

  I fainted in front of everybody.

• 15:07Gary Brecka?

  You fainted?

• 15:08Speaker 00

  Flat out, knocked out, on the ground. Woke up and there's people fanning me. You know, all those 10 people in jail looked at me and said, get up. They turned the AC off in here. Anyone would have fainted. You were incredible. I said, I didn't say anything. I just said, I'm Lauren Ashley. And he goes, and you said it great. And tomorrow you'll be even better when we get to Houston.

• 15:29Gary Brecka?

  Wow.

• 15:30Speaker 00

  He didn't get in the car and say, you know what? Stick to driving. You're right. He didn't get in the car and say, you know what? I still need somebody help get us. I'll do the meeting. He said, you're gonna do it again. And that type of belief changed my life.

• 15:45Gary Brecka?

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• 16:29Gary Brecka?

  That's eightsleep.com/gary and use the code GARY, G A R Y, for your discount. Transform your nights and elevate your sleep. Now let's get back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. That is so incredible. I, I've never, first of all, I've never heard that story. I'm sure some people have, but you know, I think that you have.

• 16:48Speaker 00

  A lot of people haven't actually.

• 16:49Gary Brecka?

  You have, you have the, there's a famous story about Walt Disney about, you know, how he imagined Walt Disney world. And and he designed this and he went through this structure of buying up all this land quietly in these different LLCs and assembled it all together to create this Walt Disney World. And I might be bastardizing the story, but it's very analogous that, you know, at the grand opening, one of the reporters said to one of his chief henchmen that, you know, it's I'm really sad that, you know, Walt, you know, wasn't here to see this. And he said, Walt's already seen this.

• 17:20Speaker 00

  Exactly.

• 17:21Gary Brecka?

  He's the one that's already seen it.

• 17:22Speaker 00

  Exactly. He's the one who's already seen it.

• 17:24Gary Brecka?

  And so how, at that age, I mean, how important was, yeah, was that?

• 17:30Speaker 00

  Belief.

• 17:30Gary Brecka?

  The belief and the and the visualization. Did you ever start to see yourself as a powerful speaker, as a well spoken?

• 17:38Speaker 00

  I think what happened was is that that little bit of belief, I was so used to, like many people, hearing your dad say, you're not capable. You can't do it. Why don't you just do, you know, be a flight attendant? Not that that's not an important job. It just wasn't the job I wanted. You know, most often, we don't believe in ourselves. And I think what happens is, is that a lot of that comes from home. And, you know, we raise our kids differently. We've raised our kids to believe that anything's possible, but not everybody's had that benefit. I didn't. And so for to have this man come out of nowhere and say that I was possible, it was like, is he crazy or am I?

• 18:19Speaker 00

  And I started to believe him, just enough to try again.

• 18:24Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 18:24Speaker 00

  And the more I tried, even if I was terrible, until I got to be great.

• 18:28Gary Brecka?

  Do you remember the next speaking engagement?

• 18:29Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. And I did a lot better.

• 18:32Gary Brecka?

  Did you?

• 18:32Speaker 00

  I got a lot better. I got past Lauren Ashley. I didn't fall to the ground.

• 18:36Gary Brecka?

  Stay conscious.

• 18:37Speaker 00

  I was shaking the whole time, but I did it again. And guess what? I did it probably for three or four years before I felt like I was really great.

• 18:45Gary Brecka?

  Wow.

• 18:46Speaker 00

  But that's the thing. It's like people don't believe in themselves enough to go for it, to try it, because we get so beat down by society and people and we worry about with the bandwagon things rather than the one person who's looking in the mirror says I can do it.

• 18:59Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 19:00Speaker 00

  You know, it's a game changer. That belief level changed my life.

• 19:03Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 19:04Speaker 00

  And I am, you know, I used to think when JR passed away, I used to get so many thousands of letters from people saying, oh, JR changed the way I thought and, you know, or I joined your company and even though I never stayed with it, he made an impact on my future and my life. And I realized at that time, he also made an impact on mine. And I never stopped to think about it because as we're living, we take advantage of everything else around us, the ones that we love and the ones that love us. And we're like, oh, of course, my wife's amazing. Of course, my husband's amazing. Instead of saying, thank you for changing my life.

• 19:36Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 19:36Speaker 00

  Thank you, Gary.

• 19:37Gary Brecka?

  It's, you know, I remember JR said to me one time, I said, how do you, how do you, how do you decide what you're going to say on stage? I mean, is it scripted? Do you, do you follow a script? And he said, well, you know, we, we, we set up, you know, the stage in certain ways. But he's like, I think about where I want to take the audience. And then when I get up there, I, I take them there. And a lot of what he did was very freestyle. Like it was, it was very organic and very authentic in the way he spoke. And by the way,

• 20:06Speaker 00

  He was a showman too. I mean, he was crazy.

• 20:08Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, no, he was a great showman. And he was absolutely hysterical. And he would say things that were off the cuff, maybe, maybe things in the Me Too movement that wouldn't be so kosher today.

• 20:16Speaker 00

  Some good, some crazy.

• 20:19Gary Brecka?

  But, but again, I think first he had this intellectual curiosity and then he had this vision. And, you know, in his mind, it had already occurred. And now that's translated into you.

• 20:31Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 20:31Gary Brecka?

  You, you built this incredible company. You have an, you know, some people would consider what you and I do to be competition. I don't at all.

• 20:39Speaker 00

  At all.

• 20:39Gary Brecka?

  Because you, you've built such a great scientific team. You formulate amazing products. As you know, I don't take the stage on other companies.

• 20:47Speaker 00

  I know.

• 20:47Gary Brecka?

  Stages ever. And I always get on your stage and I tell the people, it's, listen, it's important for you to know that I'm not being paid to be here. You've never paid me to be at your events. I'm there because I know that we can't change the world on our own, but I'm smart enough to know that with a like-minded group of people, we can make a massive impact.

• 21:05Speaker 00

  Powered by people. The only thing I know that can change the world is people.

• 21:10Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 21:10Speaker 00

  And I think you understand that, like JR understand it.

• 21:13Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 21:14Speaker 00

  You know, understood it. And I think it's so important. I think we can't do it on our own. You know.

• 21:19Gary Brecka?

  No, we definitely can't.

• 21:19Speaker 00

  We just can't, but we can do whatever we can to make a difference. And I think that is what you and what JR have dedicated their lives to. And I think we need more of that. It's a problem.

• 21:29Gary Brecka?

  Agreed. What was the tipping point for you? At what point, um, I mean, you're out in the grind, right? You're doing seven person meetings, 10 person meetings. At some point, they go to 25 person meetings and 50 person meetings. When did the first dollars start coming in the door? Cause I've heard you talk about $25 weeks.

• 21:47Speaker 00

  Yeah. Well, we had our big date was Wendy's back then, you know, Wendy's was our big date on Wednesday.

• 21:52Gary Brecka?

  Wednesday, Wednesdays and Monday.

• 21:53Speaker 00

  The super bar, exactly. Macaroni and the Wendy's super bar. That was our big date. And you know, he wrote me, it's true. It was like $4.99. It was all you can eat tacos at Wendy's. Okay? It's true. Some people definitely will remember that. That I'm definitely dating myself, but, and I think, you know, when I think about

• 22:15Speaker 00

  JR's background of biology, you know, being a, having a master's in biology was a game changer for us because he wanted, he had a problem swallowing pills. Himself. And he said, we need a formulation that people can take that they can get into their bloodstream right away. And so isotonic was born, of course, and it was a game changer for us in its second year of our company. And it really was. And it's still our number one product today, 32 years later, which is really says a lot for what it is. But, uh, we launched that in, in year two and it was a kind of a, it, it got better and better. But JR was never about the money. In fact, he always acted, he lived even his last day like he didn't have any.

• 22:58Speaker 00

  The funny thing is we had beautiful homes, beautiful cars, a beautiful boat, but JR lived like a very normal guy. If you told him he had money, he would never believe it. Cause he just didn't live his life that way in his mind. And his mind was, he had just the idea to help people. The way he wanted to earn money was psychically to help other people.

• 23:16Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 23:17Speaker 00

  And that's how you do it. And so I think that's why you and he hit it off so well. Because I don't know two humans who have helped more people than the two of you. You especially, you're I'm in this ultimate penthouse and you're changing lives every day.

• 23:29Gary Brecka?

  Thank you.

• 23:30Speaker 00

  I feel like I'm living a better life being here. Like, I went to the ultimate humans penthouse. I walked in, the air felt different here.

• 23:38Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 23:39Speaker 00

  How is that possible? Like, how you understand what you're doing, right? Like, I know you're interviewing me, but I just want to tell you, I walked in here. The air's different in the ultimate humans penthouse. You feel different. The water's different. Got my, I'm taking this home.

• 23:53Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 23:54Speaker 00

  But, you know.

• 23:55Gary Brecka?

  Those are props, but you can take it.

• 23:57Speaker 00

  I think you have, you know, changed a lot of the game for us too, over the last 10 years of us being friends. Because, you know, I think when you care enough about what we do put in our body. Like, JR used to say, I don't know everything. You don't know everything about products, but we can find the right people who help us get there.

• 24:14Gary Brecka?

  Yes.

• 24:15Speaker 00

  And I think that's key, and that's what you help do for so many of us.

• 24:19Gary Brecka?

  Thank you. I mean, I I've loved being, you know, associated with your organization. And I I always say that I think we should do things that serve our temple.

• 24:27Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:27Gary Brecka?

  You know, we should build this invisible fence around ourselves and try to filter things before they get to our bodies. And we let a lot of thieves into our bodies, like we were talking about. And they and they steal from us. But we let them in, you know, I mean, the processed foods, the sugary ingredients, the seed oils, things like that.

• 24:42Speaker 00

  And negative people.

• 24:44Gary Brecka?

  And negative people.

• 24:44Speaker 00

  And all of them affect our health.

• 24:46Gary Brecka?

  Yes.

• 24:46Speaker 00

  All of them. It's not just what we intake. It's also what we surround ourselves with. And I think that's one of the things that I think JR and I live by, as you know, that, you know, we kept a very tight circle.

• 24:59Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 24:59Speaker 00

  And that was really important.

• 25:00Gary Brecka?

  On the journey with you and JR, I mean, you know, sadly, before his passing, I mean, he was in some of the best condition of his life.

• 25:09Speaker 00

  You had him in the best health of his life. If it wasn't for the fact. No, no, you had his blood perfect. If it wasn't for the fact, and this is something I've never talked about publicly, is, you know. JR made the decision on his own to have that second booster that you advised him against doing.

• 25:28Gary Brecka?

  I remember we had that conversation.

• 25:29Speaker 00

  And he was like, well, Lauren, I'm gonna do it because you've had COVID four times and I haven't. And I have slept with you and I didn't get it. And he thought that was it. What he didn't realize is that you had made his immune system so strong that he didn't need it.

• 25:42Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 25:42Speaker 00

  Four weeks after he took that second booster, he died of a pulmonary embolism in his lungs, as you know. And that one moment of listening to what, you know, everybody was saying, they tested a vaccine booster for a few months. And the next thing I know, he's gone.

• 25:57Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 25:57Speaker 00

  And that's something that people aren't talking about. It's changed my life completely. It's, you know, as you know, every day on the recovery through grief of trying to get through it and it's hard.

• 26:06Gary Brecka?

  Yeah. You know, we talked about, I remember talking to you after JR passed.

• 26:11Speaker 00

  Oh, the next day I called you.

• 26:12Gary Brecka?

  Lauren, we've got to, you, you gotta focus on, on yourself and keep yourself healthy. I mean, there's, there's, you know, there's no way to stop you from grieving. There's nothing that I can give you to take away your pain, but we've got to go back to serving the temple so that you can continue the mission on his behalf.

• 26:30Speaker 00

  That was the first thing you did. I mean, I remember you calling me saying, I can't take away the pain.

• 26:34Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 26:35Speaker 00

  I can't, I'm not gonna, and, and unlike what most of the community does is that they, we suppress so many people with drugs to make them feel better, not feel, you know, all of the stuff that's happening out there that you and I both are against.

• 26:50Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 26:51Speaker 00

  That, you know, the rest of the, the medical community, just, you know, most of them put a stamp on, take this pill, you'll feel better.

• 26:58Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 26:58Speaker 00

  You know, you said, I can't do that for you, but what I can do is make you the healthiest I can do while you're going through this. And that's what you did. And, you know, 50 pounds later, off.

• 27:08Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, you look amazing. When you walked in today, I was like, holy cow. So can we give a round of applause for Lauren?

• 27:13Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 27:15Gary Brecka?

  My live studio audience.

• 27:16Speaker 00

  Healthy, healthier than ever. I mean, my cholesterol is, your team told me as an 18 year old.

• 27:22Gary Brecka?

  Perfect.

• 27:22Speaker 00

  It's crazy.

• 27:24Gary Brecka?

  Your sugars are better.

• 27:25Speaker 00

  And my sugars are normal. I'm a girl whose mom died at 42, massive heart attack. My dad died of complications of diabetes type one. I should have everything wrong with me. I should be the one gone, not JR. Because his family lived till 99 and 98. His grandmother lived till 104. You had his life extended. And one wrong decision took his life from me. And, you know, you came in and said, I'm not gonna let it happen to you.

• 27:49Gary Brecka?

  That's right.

• 27:49Speaker 00

  And that's, that was like two weeks into me losing JR.

• 27:53Gary Brecka?

  I remember that.

• 27:54Speaker 00

  You came to Connecticut, you took care of me. And here I am, just celebrated, unfortunately, two years, which I don't say celebrated, but JR's two-year anniversary of his death. And I'm the healthiest I've ever been because of you, thank God. Still going through the grief, still struggling through that, but mentally getting stronger all the time.

• 28:14Gary Brecka?

  You know, we talked a lot about, we even talked about it at your convention, about how people can take their pain and turn it into their purpose.

• 28:21Speaker 00

  Oh, you, you, you blew everybody's mind that day when you talked about your own pain. And I think it was something nobody had ever heard before, that story. But it inspired me to turn my own pain into the purpose. And, you know, I think about, you know, my whole life, I never had anybody talk to me and say, this is what grief is gonna feel like. Nobody ever said to me, you'll lose people one day and the pain will be so great that it'll be hard to keep moving. It has been a journey. You know, I've lost my mom, I lost my dad. I know grief, I'm familiar with it. I was very close to my parents. I've never felt the pain I feel losing a guy I knew longer than my own family.

• 29:05Speaker 00

  It's been a challenge, but I finally decided that I can take this pain, as you say, and turn it into a purpose. You know, I, I went to so many counselors after JR died. And by the end of four weeks, I had fired them. And the reason I fired them is they were good counselors. I wasn't good. I wasn't good. If I were honest, I wasn't right in the head. But as soon as somebody says, well, you know, you could date again, I was like, you're fired. You know, you're fired. And I wasn't ready at the time. And I'm still not ready. But here's the funny thing. Serena Williams had sent me a message one morning, like she did every day after JR passed away. And in that message was a little ad. And I clicked on the ad and it was a group counseling class here in Miami.

• 29:50Speaker 00

  And she said, I think you should go. It may change your life to hear what other people are going through and other wives who have lost their husbands.

• 29:58Gary Brecka?

  Wow.

• 29:59Speaker 00

  And when you're going through grief, Gary, you know, I don't know how familiar you are with it, but when you go through it, you think you're the worst, your pain's the worst, okay? And nobody knows what it's like to feel like you feel. So I was like, well, I didn't just lose my husband. I lost my best friend. I lost my coach. I lost my mentor. I lost my partner.

• 30:16Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 30:17Speaker 00

  The guy who coached me, the guy who trained me, everything. I've never lived alone. So mine's gotta feel worse than theirs, but I went. And when I got there, I sat in a room with 10 other women and all of them went around the room. Some loved their husband more than others.

• 30:29Gary Brecka?

  Mm hmm.

• 30:30Speaker 00

  You can expect that. Others loved them just as much as I did. Most of them didn't have them as a husband. I mean, they had a husband, but not a coach, a mentor, whatever. But they lost something I didn't. And that was their lifestyle, their life, their way to put their kids through school. A home, they couldn't afford to keep the home over their head. They couldn't afford to pay their light bills, you know, the tuition. And it was an eye opener for me. And I realized that, you know, even though we started with nothing, Jared didn't leave us with nothing.

• 31:01Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 31:01Speaker 00

  And then I would turn that pain and spend the rest of my life helping other people achieve that type of financial freedom where they wouldn't have to worry again.

• 31:09Gary Brecka?

  And I think a lot of times too, when we, when we think about those moments, you think, if that person were back just for a day and, you know, what would they tell me? Would they want me to have a memory of them in grief? Would they want me to stop moving forward? Would that person say, I want you to lay in bed and just grieve for me? I want you to wake up every day and feel the burden of my loss. I want you to stop what you're doing. I want you to quit your purpose. I want you to just turn inward and suffer. Or would they say, you know, I want you to go and carry this message to its fullest extent. Like, I want you to go out there and dominate and I want you to be happy and I want you to be booming about your purpose.

• 31:52Gary Brecka?

  I mean, I feel like, you know, J R.

• 31:55Speaker 00

  Is that what Jared would have said?

• 31:57Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, he would say, go, go, go get after it.

• 31:59Speaker 00

  I love to hear you say that.

• 32:01Gary Brecka?

  I know he would say that.

• 32:02Speaker 00

  I hear you and I'm listening to you like he's saying it to me and I feel that. And it took me a moment to feel that. It did. I think when you're going through grief, you don't know how you're supposed to feel or react. And you know, I think it also depends on who you ask. You ask your children, your grandchildren. They're like, if you ever date again, you're dead. You know, have you ever seen anybody you're dead? But you, what you realize is, is that you do things in your own time. And you take a lot of grace for yourself. And, and there's a new Lauren that's emerged from this. And I'm doing the best I can. And, and this is our first big week again that we've had volume in the company like we have when Jerry was still here. Which I'm really

• 32:44Speaker 00

  happy about because Jerry used to say to me, don't ever count dollars, Lauren. Just keep working hard. And I would do that. And he'd say, your work will never pay off till years later. I never understood that till now. Now, two years in, it's the first week that we've had that's been ultra successful. And I'm like, okay, this is what he was talking about, how it took two years of hard work. You know, this is the best of me now.

• 33:08Gary Brecka?

  Well, I'm sure it shook the foundation of the company too, not just your foundation.

• 33:11Speaker 00

  The first three months, the real foundation. Yes. Oh, yeah. Captain's gone, our general's gone, our sergeant's gone. And how is this girl gonna fill his shoes? You know how big those shoes are.

• 33:21Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 33:22Speaker 00

  And the funny thing is, I would go back and I would listen to messages he would leave me. Like, you know that you can do whatever I do, right? Better. And then all my friends and, and my, my family would come to me and say, you know, every time we'd ask Jerry, what should we do about a problem? He'd say, well, what did Lauren say?

• 33:39Gary Brecka?

  Really?

• 33:40Speaker 00

  And then I started to realize he cared about what I thought. And that's why, of course, I wrote the book Scrambled or Sunny Side Up, because every day, you know, I couldn't figure out what to name the book. At first, I was gonna do it like, what, what do you do with the dash? You know, because that was his famous thing. What are you gonna do with the dash?

• 33:58Gary Brecka?

  You know, the day you're born, the day you're born, the dash, and then the day you die.

• 34:02Speaker 00

  The line between those two dates. And he lived his life like that. Like, let's just live our life in the dash, whatever it takes. If we do a lot to help people, we've made a difference. And that was his big motto. Like, you cannot succeed without helping other people succeed. And he used to say, Lauren, we must succeed so other people can realize their dreams. Because they won't go for it. They won't believe they're possible. And so, you know, every day I've been, I was with Jer for 36 years. So every day we would wake up and he'd say, how do you want your eggs? Scrambled or sunny set up? And I'd say, I don't know, what are you in the mood for? Do you want scrambled or sunny set up? It's your stomach. I mean, what am I supposed to say?

• 34:42Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 34:42Speaker 00

  And I'd say, have scrambled today. Next day scrambled or sunny set up? Sunny set up, baby. Okay, great. This went on for years. So after you're married for 36 years, one day you wake up and you're like, I don't know, Jesus, what are you in the mood for? Do you want scrambled or sunny set up? It's your stomach.

• 34:57Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 34:57Speaker 00

  You're driving me crazy. I'm not having eggs.

• 35:00Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 35:01Speaker 00

  And I would get frustrated. And then I would realize, after he passed away, that the very thing that made me fall in love with him, that advice he wanted from me, how should I have my eggs? Is the same thing that frustrated me. And you can't let your life get twisted like that. And we do.

• 35:19Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 35:19Speaker 00

  Like, I used to love that you cared about my opinion. Now you became a pain in the ass by asking me. I couldn't just take a second and say, hey babe, have scrambled. And so I named the book Scrambled or Sunny Set Up.

• 35:30Gary Brecka?

  Wow, I didn't know that.

• 35:30Speaker 00

  Because after life, you lose the love of your life. Life gets scrambled, but you can turn it sunny set up again.

• 35:37Gary Brecka?

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• 36:22Gary Brecka?

  Head over to joinrulebreka.com right now. That's joinrulebreka.com and secure your spot and I'll see you on the inside. Now let's get back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. Yeah, I remember when I was speaking at your last convention, I was, I told the story right before we got on the podcast, but I was, I was getting ready to take the stage and they came running over to me and they're like, hey, we gotta push you back five minutes. I was like, oh, what's going on there? Like Lauren's book just hit number one on Amazon. And I'm like, I thought the book wasn't out yet. They're like, it's not.

• 36:53Speaker 00

  It's not.

• 36:56Gary Brecka?

  I didn't actually not have a book out.

• 36:57Speaker 00

  I didn't know that either. The funny thing is, there's like, there's like, I'm like, all I was focused on was because it releases, you know, Valentine's week of 2025, I mean, 2024, 2025, 20, we're in 2024. So that's how I lost 2025. And I didn't know that there was these other lists besides New York bestsellers, Amazon, Barnes and Noble. And we hit them all that same day. And I was just.

• 37:21Gary Brecka?

  Pre-orders, right?

• 37:21Speaker 00

  Pre-orders.

• 37:22Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 37:23Speaker 00

  And so, of course, our company is a great platform for that type of stuff because, you know, everybody wanted to buy the book. And, and we sold so many books outside the community, which is so amazing. But it's a beautiful story of, of lessons that I've learned that I didn't know while I was, while Jared was here.

• 37:41Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 37:42Speaker 00

  And so it opens up with, you know, he wrote me 5,000 love letters in 36 years.

• 37:47Gary Brecka?

  I remember you telling me that.

• 37:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 37:49Gary Brecka?

  5,000 love letters.

• 37:50Speaker 00

  And hand wrote long ones. And I was the one that was like, thank you, baby. I love you. You know, I didn't leave the long love letter.

• 37:57Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 37:58Speaker 00

  I wasn't good at the long love letters. And I told him all the time how much I loved him. But the book opens with a love letter from me that I should have given to him.

• 38:06Gary Brecka?

  Oh.

• 38:07Speaker 00

  And it ends with a love letter. I wish I'd left him before he left. So is a lot of healing. There's a different Lauren from chapter one to the end.

• 38:15Gary Brecka?

  Really?

• 38:15Speaker 00

  You can see that.

• 38:16Gary Brecka?

  I can't wait to read this.

• 38:17Speaker 00

  Transition of that Lauren.

• 38:19Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 38:19Speaker 00

  Then to the Lauren that you say he's saying, go be your best version of you.

• 38:24Gary Brecka?

  And I think, you know, a lot of people that are dealing with that kind of grief, I think if you just close your eyes and you imagine that person, you know, for a few minutes back in your life to give you advice, I think very few people would say, I want you to. Grieve heavily for me, rather than I want you to just get after it.

• 38:40Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. And Jared, by the way, Jared would definitely say grieve heavily for me, but go back to work.

• 38:47Speaker 00

  He would definitely say, right, Sage, he would definitely say grieve heavily for me.

• 38:51Gary Brecka?

  I wish you bawling your ass off.

• 38:52Speaker 00

  He would be like, cry your ass off and then go back to work. I mean, and it's, it's funny because you go through these crazy phases. Like when Jared first died, the company took a huge tumble at first, you know, I told you.

• 39:05Gary Brecka?

  Which has got to be like, like, that's just insult to injury.

• 39:09Speaker 00

  Well, here's the thing, in a weird way, I was like, let it happen. I wanted people to remember that we had one leader. And it was my leader, it was their leader, and that's how we became who we were. But then I was like, come on, Lauren, you got to get in there. And I decided to do exactly what you did with your own pain, with the community of why you went off on your own and, you know, didn't stay working for the government, going in the court, you know, courtroom and, you know, dying, diagnosing people after they're gone.

• 39:40Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 39:41Speaker 00

  Right? That's because that's what you did.

• 39:42Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, that's exactly what I did. Mortality.

• 39:45Speaker 00

  Yeah, mortality. And so for me, it was like, how many more people have to go before we get in and do something? And I wanted to do something and I did, and I went right to work and, you know, every day I'm working really hard at doing the best version of me and not trying to fill somebody else's shoes.

• 40:02Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 40:03Speaker 00

  But still have so much to look up to.

• 40:05Gary Brecka?

  So let's, let's, let's back up a little bit, because I, again, there's so many people, there's so many things to unpack with your journey. I mean, you know, it's, it's obviously been a journey of struggle and, but the, the pain came at the end. But before that, there's this tremendous level of success, and it's not just a tremendous level of success. You know, I, I always marvel, not just at great athletes or, or great actors or inspiring people. It's when somebody can dominate an industry for a long period of time, like, like a LeBron James.

• 40:38Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 40:38Gary Brecka?

  You know, he didn't just make a few great layups. I mean, you know, Michael Jordan or, you know, Lance Armstrong, seven back to back.

• 40:44Speaker 00

  Serena Williams.

• 40:45Gary Brecka?

  Serena Williams, you know, John Jones, who's a client of mine, he's getting ready to fight in the UFC on November 16th and never, never lost a heavyweight fight. And what, what's super inspiring to me is how some people can keep that level

• 40:59Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 41:00Gary Brecka?

  of success and commitment. Over such a long period of time and you've done it for three decades.

• 41:07Speaker 00

  Yeah, thirty two years.

• 41:08Gary Brecka?

  Thirty two years. And so, you know, it's not that all you've known is success because a lot of what you've known is not success.

• 41:16Speaker 00

  Not at all.

• 41:17Gary Brecka?

  And so, you know, lots of people talk about the mindset that you have to have to keep going and the tenacity. But what do you have? What does it take when you're at the top? I want you to talk a little bit about the people you surround yourself with, how important your inner circle is.

• 41:33Speaker 00

  Yeah, I'll tell you all about it.

• 41:34Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, because you've gotten there and stayed there.

• 41:36Speaker 00

  And I think you would agree, the number one thing, and JR and I lived our life with this, is protecting this. You know, protecting our mindset, mentally not letting people in here. Because this can either be a prison or it can set you free, right? And so, our mindset was so important and he just used to have one rule. If I would, you know, early in the early days, Lauren would, you know, I was young, eighteen years younger than JR. And, you know, I would say like, everybody thinks that you should do this with me. He's like, who's everybody? Who cares about everybody? You need to eliminate everybody, Lauren, and you need to focus on me and you.

• 42:15Speaker 00

  And not involve third party people in our life. So to have a good marriage for thirty six years, that's what we had to do.

• 42:22Gary Brecka?

  Sage and I say no light between us.

• 42:23Speaker 00

  Yeah, no light and no, you've got to have an agreement, no going to bed mad, a lot of love, forgiveness for each other. Don't hold a grudge. Grudge makes you old and makes you sick, creates disease. I don't care what anybody says, right?

• 42:37Gary Brecka?

  Yep, it's so true.

• 42:38Speaker 00

  But I think the mindset of being around the right people and who you let in your world. And they've got to, you know, they can do a million different things. They don't have to be in the same profession as you, saying, doing the same thing that you, but their mission has got to be the same. That they care about the mind and they only want positive people around them and they believe in you. And they lift you up rather than tear you down. You know, we all grow up in an environment of society that has a tendency to make us believe that we're not possible.

• 43:08Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 43:09Speaker 00

  When we are.

• 43:10Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 43:11Speaker 00

  And so he changed that for us. Our atmosphere changed.

• 43:14Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, I remember you even said one time that I do the work of twenty five people. And the way you explained it was, you know, the next twenty five people are not willing to do the difficult things, like the hard things.

• 43:27Speaker 00

  That I'm willing to do.

• 43:28Gary Brecka?

  That you're willing to do.

• 43:29Speaker 00

  Yeah, and that's true. And I think. Most people are able, most people are capable, but they're not willing to. And that's really, you know, I say, like, what are you willing to do? Because somebody is like, oh, my God, I want to be like you one day and get up there and inspire people. And I said, you can be. The question is, are you willing to do what I do to get here?

• 43:51Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, that didn't.

• 43:52Speaker 00

  That didn't happen every night. First time passed out. Five years, first time passed out, took me five years to feel like I could actually go in front of a group of a thousand people. Forget about 10, 18,000 people. You know, a lot of people, next week I'm going to, you know, Asia and speaking in front of 26,000 tickets sold when they heard I was coming out.

• 44:09Gary Brecka?

  26,000?

• 44:09Speaker 00

  Yeah, 26,000 in Taipei. But you know, are you willing to do what I do? See, the first thing I do when I get up is I do the hardest things first. That's what most people avoid.

• 44:19Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 44:19Speaker 00

  They want to put it off. They're like, well, I'm going to wait till tomorrow because that's a hard call. I want to wait till tomorrow because you know what? That takes a lot of effort and I got to be alone and lock myself up in the room. No, no, no. My room is, and my rule is, is that don't come in my room till I finish the hard stuff first.

• 44:35Gary Brecka?

  Wow.

• 44:36Speaker 00

  And, and let me get it done because I know that you're not going to do it. Somebody's got to do it. And if you'll do it, then I won't have to. But if you won't, I'm going to do it.

• 44:46Speaker 00

  And you know, we've built leaders like that around us because that's a hard thing to do, as you know. Not everybody will think like you.

• 44:52Gary Brecka?

  No doubt.

• 44:53Speaker 00

  You know, how do I get people to do the hard things first when, you know, most of the time they're putting that off? You know, and, and being a, a good leader is also being able to make a decision. And Jerry used to say, I don't care if you make the wrong decision. I just want you to make a good decision. Meaning it could be wrong, but I want you to think it through.

• 45:14Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 45:15Speaker 00

  And if you believed it was a good decision and you made a mistake and it was wrong on, it will never be wrong to me.

• 45:20Gary Brecka?

  Wow.

• 45:21Speaker 00

  We can recover from that. What we can't recover from is that you take forever to make a decision. That's called procrastination. That's the killer for most people. They put it off. You know, excuses, procrastination, something I'll never do. So I live by my decisions. I make good, quality decisions and I think them through. And I, like you, allow myself time to do that.

• 45:41Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 45:41Speaker 00

  You know, I think it through. You gave your morning yourself. I do the very same thing. It's funny.

• 45:46Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 45:46Speaker 00

  That when you told me what you did and I tell you what I did, they're the same things. Successful people do very similar things. They own their morning.

• 45:54Gary Brecka?

  Yes.

• 45:55Speaker 00

  And those hard things first have been a game changer for me because nothing comes between me and that time unless it's an emergency, unless it's a god forbid, an emergency.

• 46:05Gary Brecka?

  I just hammered the staff about it this morning.

• 46:07Speaker 00

  Yeah, like, don't bother me before 11. This is what I'm doing. This is critical thinking time. This is the time that Lauren needs to make everything go.

• 46:15Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 46:16Speaker 00

  And there's a reason why I think JR used to do the same thing. I never really said to him, like, why don't you want to take calls before 11? It just became second nature for me.

• 46:25Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 46:25Speaker 00

  I started to do the same thing. And, you know, I do those things. So then I can own the rest of my day. So if I want to go see my grandkids, go play soccer, I can do that.

• 46:35Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 46:36Speaker 00

  You know, those are the things that are really important, too. And I think that's so important. Your mindset's everything. Your attitude's everything. What you believe is possible will change your life.

• 46:46Gary Brecka?

  How important was the, how important was the struggle to your success now?

• 46:51Speaker 00

  I mean, it's everything.

• 46:53Gary Brecka?

  Critical do you think it is to have had nothing before you have everything?

• 46:59Speaker 00

  Jay and I failed so many times.

• 47:01Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 47:01Speaker 00

  We failed over and over and over again. We just never quit. And I do think that without failing, it's almost impossible to succeed.

• 47:11Gary Brecka?

  I think so many people don't want to embrace the suck.

• 47:14Speaker 00

  I know, and they've got to. That's like every time I see somebody almost, almost, they're so close, I'm like, tie a knot and hold on.

• 47:22Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 47:23Speaker 00

  Don't throw in the towel yet. You're almost there. Whether they're my business, your business, somebody, it doesn't matter. If they're a friend, I love them. And I want them to make it. And I see them this close, like, don't quit. You're there. You're almost there. You're almost there. You know, when the pain starts to happen, you're so close.

• 47:36Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 47:37Speaker 00

  And that's when people quit. You're right.

• 47:39Gary Brecka?

  Yeah. They don't want to embrace the suck. I mean, the hard conversations. I like what you're saying because I think what happens to a lot of companies, and this happened to Sage and I when we were building our company, we hadn't built anything nearly as successful as yours, but we.

• 47:50Speaker 00

  Oh, you built pretty good in the ultimate penthouse right here, baby. I gotta tell you, the ultimate human has got it going. This ultimate human penthouse I want to move into, by the way. I got the next guest room next.

• 48:02Gary Brecka?

  She walked around and like bought everything.

• 48:03Speaker 00

  No, no, I bought everything and I want to move in with Sage and that's it. I'm done. Sage and Gary, I am with you guys. I love you.

• 48:12Gary Brecka?

  Live audience, should we let Lauren move into the penthouse? What do you think?

• 48:14Speaker 00

  Yes, I get the other bedroom. I love you guys.

• 48:18Gary Brecka?

  We actually have a guest room for you.

• 48:19Speaker 00

  I love that. I can't wait.

• 48:20Gary Brecka?

  Vemi acoustic bed that can, you know, put you in a theta state.

• 48:23Speaker 00

  Well, first of all, I walked in when Sage and you showed me your bedroom and I walked in, I was in a theta state. When I walked into the whole space, the air is different here.

• 48:32Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 48:33Speaker 00

  Everything is different here. And you feel like I gained years here. I'm hydrated.

• 48:40Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 48:40Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 48:41Gary Brecka?

  You're welcome.

• 48:42Speaker 00

  Like I've actually gotten some years back and that

• 48:45Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 48:45Speaker 00

  matters. That's how much I know you care about people.

• 48:48Gary Brecka?

  Yes.

• 48:49Speaker 00

  That's why I'm here. I love you. You know, I would, I haven't talked about anything with JR at all publicly, as you know, like this, not talking about the grief, how it happened, the vaccine, the booster. This is the first time, you know, because people don't want to hear it.

• 49:02Gary Brecka?

  No, they don't want to hear it. They think you're a naysayer.

• 49:05Speaker 00

  They're like, oh, let's not talk about the booster again. Okay. Well, I'm gonna tell you what happened to me.

• 49:09Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, right. Exactly. I mean, and you know, there's people watching this right now that have, their lives have been touched like that and maybe they haven't attributed to that.

• 49:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, of course. It's a fact.

• 49:19Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, I think, you know, the blessing for me and for us, I think, has been, no matter what side of the aisle you're on from the pandemic, emerging from that pandemic, people woke up and said, I gotta take my healthcare choices into my own hands. Not my emergency care. I mean, you know, if you got pain radiating down the left side of your arm, you need to go to the emergency room, right? But, but I need to take, if I have an optimal health goal, I need to take responsibility for it myself. I can't put that in the hands of the elites or the government or modern medicine. I need to actually become my own citizen scientist and figure out how do I live to be the best version of myself?

• 49:54Speaker 00

  That's it. That's it right there. And you said something to me earlier today, which is, we've got to build this invisible fence around what gets in here.

• 50:03Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 50:04Speaker 00

  And that's so critical. And I think we overlook it. Like, we spend more money on health and anti-aging, but we buy products but forget to take care of us.

• 50:13Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 50:14Speaker 00

  And you remind us of that all the time and you're so right.

• 50:17Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, we bully things like sleep in our schedule, you know, we, we, we wonder why we're not feeling as good as we could feel or perform as well as we could perform, or why aging has been so quote unquote cruel to us. But aging hasn't been cruel to you, been cruel to yourself.

• 50:33Speaker 00

  You're right.

• 50:33Gary Brecka?

  I mean, father's time's not stealing from you.

• 50:36Speaker 00

  Father's time's not stealing, but you're robbing yourself. And I think you're right. And I think as humans, we overlook it. We don't like, I love that you have this pattern that you do, right? And I have one very similar, as I said, the other thing I do is, is if I know I'm gonna be short on sleep, I'll steal a nap.

• 50:52Gary Brecka?

  That's fine.

• 50:53Speaker 00

  Religiously.

• 50:54Gary Brecka?

  Oh, yeah.

• 50:54Speaker 00

  Like, those 20 minutes to me are everything.

• 50:57Gary Brecka?

  Lot of science behind napping.

• 50:58Speaker 00

  Lot of science behind it.

• 50:59Gary Brecka?

  Some of the successful people in the world regularly napped. I mean, some of the greatest presidents of our, you know, of our time.

• 51:04Speaker 00

  I'm one, 20 minutes a day, call the shots.

• 51:07Gary Brecka?

  It's a nice little reset.

• 51:08Speaker 00

  That's it. It's like, I gotta reset this brain, because, you know, I owe it to myself to do it.

• 51:13Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, no question. And we were talking about sleep on the way here and I was showing you the sequence of sleep scores and, and you know, it's sometimes you just need to call people's attention to it. Like, I'll say, well, tell me about your sleep routine. And they go, well, I, I go to bed. All right, well, when do you go to bed? Whenever I'm done.

• 51:31Speaker 00

  Whenever I'm done.

• 51:32Gary Brecka?

  Done my stuff, you know, when I'm done, I put the kids to bed, then I read, and then I watch some TV show and I fall asleep with the TV on. What time do you fall asleep? Whenever I fall asleep. So they have no sleep hygiene, they have no sleep routine.

• 51:43Speaker 00

  No pattern, no routine.

• 51:44Gary Brecka?

  No pattern.

• 51:45Speaker 00

  And when you explained yours to me today, now I've got a new, like, that's a new thing I'm gonna focus on is the pattern at night, because I have it in the morning.

• 51:53Gary Brecka?

  Yes.

• 51:53Speaker 00

  But at night, I gotta get better, reminding myself, turn it off.

• 51:58Gary Brecka?

  Yep.

• 51:58Speaker 00

  Just shut it all down.

• 51:59Gary Brecka?

  I'm pretty good about shutting it off. I mean, I've left many a guest sitting at my dinner table and

• 52:03Speaker 00

  You're like, sorry, goodnight.

• 52:04Gary Brecka?

  My wife will tell you.

• 52:05Speaker 00

  Sorry, Sage, you're the one. Say goodnight.

• 52:08Gary Brecka?

  Where did he go?

• 52:09Speaker 00

  Oh, well, just, yeah.

• 52:11Gary Brecka?

  Damn it, he went to sleep. Yep. I go right in, I'm like, oh, 10 o'clock.

• 52:15Speaker 00

  And now, like, they know, they know.

• 52:16Gary Brecka?

  People know where the door is, they help themselves through the food. You guys wanna chit chat about meaningless nonsense? I'll see you in the morning.

• 52:22Speaker 00

  It's about taking, and it really is about taking care of yourself, because it's like, when I think about, I didn't expect to be, to get this healthy over this last year and a half. But it was like, Lauren, I'm gonna do this with you while you're going through what you're going through.

• 52:37Gary Brecka?

  I remember that.

• 52:38Speaker 00

  Just do it. Just, here are the things I need you to do. And we did it. And look what happened.

• 52:43Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 52:43Speaker 00

  And I think that makes mentally, that's helped me get really strong again, too. And I think there's a connection, right?

• 52:52Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, very much. So now, where, where's the future for Lauren Redding?

• 52:57Speaker 00

  It's funny.

• 52:58Gary Brecka?

  You know, what's, what's changed?

• 53:00Speaker 00

  It's a lot has changed. I mean, I've changed. And I think, you know, the same rule that built us people. You know, Jerry used to say, Lauren, don't worry about all the AI and the technology. We'll do that anyway. We have to do that anyway, but let's not lose sight of why we're here. It's because of people.

• 53:17Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 53:18Speaker 00

  And we're gonna always be connected to people. And you know, it's funny, somebody played a little message. I won't say who, because he's probably not supposed to, I'm probably not supposed to say it, but somebody played a beautiful message in a meeting that they have with Warren Buffett recently to me. And the message was very much like what Jerry would say to me. It said, don't worry about all the technology that's out there. It was very recent. Don't worry about all the technology. Worry about people. As long as you, whoever takes care of their customer the best, whoever takes care of their people the best wins ultimately.

• 53:56Gary Brecka?

  Wow.

• 53:56Speaker 00

  And so for me, that's my number one goal. You know, how to make returns easier, how to make purchasing faster, how to do things for people, get what people want, you know, have the ultimate human new store somehow.

• 54:10Gary Brecka?

  We're gonna launch an ultimate human line together. Yes.

• 54:13Speaker 00

  You know, I want to do things that people want. I want to hear what they want. And I want to activate.

• 54:18Gary Brecka?

  Yes.

• 54:18Speaker 00

  And for me, that's the future for us. And, and I want to do it better than anybody. Because you know, you can, you can, there's, you know, Amazon's the biggest seller in the world, right? Everybody's buying. You can't beat that, but. What you can do is be really great at taking care of your people.

• 54:36Gary Brecka?

  Yes.

• 54:36Speaker 00

  Your customers, making sure it's easy for them. Make sure you deliver faster. Make sure the returns are easier. Make sure you have a connection. Make sure you know what they want. Make sure they can actually talk to a person. And I think we've gotten really good at that.

• 54:48Gary Brecka?

  You have.

• 54:49Speaker 00

  Over the last two years especially. You know, Jerry used to say, all of our work will catch up with us one day, and it has. And I think I'm investing a lot of time and money into making that better and being there with the people. I think that makes a big difference. You know, I did 40 cities this year in literally 64 days or something.

• 55:10Gary Brecka?

  Forty cities?

• 55:10Speaker 00

  It was crazy.

• 55:11Gary Brecka?

  In the US?

• 55:12Speaker 00

  Yes, and I'm leaving, you know, Monday for Southeast Asia and doing a tour out there. And I think I wouldn't have been able to do it unless this were right and unless I was on, you know, didn't know where I was going, and I do.

• 55:26Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 55:26Speaker 00

  And I think, you know, even in the fog of grief, my mind is clear enough to say, I know what I need to do. I still gotta do the hardest things first.

• 55:35Gary Brecka?

  Yep.

• 55:35Speaker 00

  I still need to believe that I'm possible. I still need to believe that our best days are still ahead. When at first somebody told me that, I was like, that's impossible. My best days are behind me.

• 55:45Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 55:46Speaker 00

  But there are still the best days of Lauren still ahead. And it took me a while to figure that out and accept that and be okay with that and embrace that. That doesn't mean I don't miss Jerry every moment of my day, don't wish he wasn't with me. But in order to succeed, I have to show people it's possible. And I'm rebuilding me again.

• 56:07Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 56:08Speaker 00

  And I think that when you're doing that with people and you're very vulnerable.

• 56:12Gary Brecka?

  Yes.

• 56:12Speaker 00

  And very transparent about the process of where I've been and where I'm going and how painful it's been. And that we can recover if we're transparent. Life can change for you in a positive way, and I'm learning that now.

• 56:24Gary Brecka?

  Hey, guys, let's talk about meat for a minute. Did you know that 96% of the beef sold in stores is not grass-fed? That's right. Most beef comes from cows fed a grain-based diet in feedlots, which isn't even healthy for you or the cow. And even if a label says grass-fed, that doesn't always mean what you think. It means a cow spent at least 50% of its life on grass. So now, if you're ready to eat a real nutrient-dense meat that was raised on a pasture, then let me introduce you to Parker Pastures. I love this place. The story of Parker Pastures is as inspiring as it is heartwarming. Khloe Parker, just 19 years old, took over the family business when her mom was diagnosed with cancer. Instead of backing away, Khloe stepped up to lead and turned an overwhelming challenge into a calling.

• 57:09Gary Brecka?

  Khloe says it best, "In honor of my mom and for the health of all, I guarantee Parker Pastures meat will always be flavorful, nutrient-dense, and healing for both you and the land." You can order grass-fed and grass-finished beef, lamb, bison, as well as pasture-raised pork and chicken to be delivered straight to your door next week. She delivers to all 50 states, so why settle for mystery meat from the store when you can eat meat that nourishes your body and restores the earth? Visit ParkerPastures.com today and you'll get 25 bucks off your order. That's ParkerPastures.com and get $25 off your first order. Now, let's get back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I think so too. I think you actually just inadvertently answered a question I asked you earlier about how do you stay at the top of the game, right?

• 57:54Gary Brecka?

  I mean, you built this incredibly profound company and, you know, a multi-billion dollar company from $25 a week to $5 billion company. And, you know, I'm always curious about what keeps people there. But when you start saying things like, "I could do the hard thing first."

• 58:10Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:11Gary Brecka?

  So now you're not complacent, right? I mean, there you are at the top of the game. You've got the yacht, you've got the house, you've got a beautiful company, a great family. A tight group of friends. A tight group of friends, but you're like, "My best days are still ahead. I still do the hard things first." I think there's a lot of wisdom in that, that people can actually apply in their life is that, you know, we, as human beings, we aggressively seek comfort. You know, like I was saying, aging is the aggressive pursuit of comfort. We aggressively seek comfort instead of aggressively seeking to do the hard things first. And I think if you adopted a philosophy where you did the hard things first and you truly believe that your best days were still ahead, this is how you maintain that level of excellence.

• 58:52Speaker 00

  Exactly. People get so comfortable being uncomfortable. It's like, are you kidding me? Do you not realize that in order to get... Uncomfortable, you've got to step one foot out of the box that you're in.

• 59:04Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 59:04Speaker 00

  That's all you have to do. They think it's monumental, so they don't want to do it. Rather than like, like, sitting in front of the TV is comfortable.

• 59:11Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 59:11Speaker 00

  And doing nothing.

• 59:12Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 59:13Speaker 00

  And not changing.

• 59:14Gary Brecka?

  Well, most people would rather do nothing than do something that's uncomfortable.

• 59:16Speaker 00

  Well, of course. But what they don't realize is they're actually uncomfortable.

• 59:20Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 59:20Speaker 00

  They're living a life of discomfort.

• 59:22Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 59:22Speaker 00

  They're not able to make ends meet. They're struggling to pay the bills. You know, they're not happy. They don't work on their marriage at home.

• 59:29Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 59:30Speaker 00

  You know, Jer and I had a really happy life because we constantly worked at being good partners. We had a good marriage. We had good communication. Jer used to say, what do we do every six months? We analyzed our marriage.

• 59:42Gary Brecka?

  Really?

• 59:42Speaker 00

  What do you like about me and what don't you like about me? So I can fix that. Because I love you enough to want to make sure that I make a tweak.

• 59:49Gary Brecka?

  Oh, I'm sure my wife's got a list.

• 59:51Speaker 00

  We've got a list over there. We're gonna, look at her, look at that face.

• 59:53Gary Brecka?

  She's like.

• 59:54Speaker 00

  She loves you. I said to her earlier.

• 59:56Gary Brecka?

  Knowing her, she has a Dropbox file with her.

• 59:59Speaker 00

  I told her earlier, she deserved the big trophy and you said, here I am. And so, you know, the funny thing is, is that people don't realize that when you're at home, being in a happy environment is really important.

• 1:00:13Gary Brecka?

  Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I've had both. I mean, I've had miserable.

• 1:00:16Speaker 00

  I know you have.

• 1:00:17Gary Brecka?

  And I've had just mediocre.

• 1:00:18Speaker 00

  And I know your story. And when you walk in this house, it's a happy home.

• 1:00:21Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:22Speaker 00

  And that's the difference. That can change your health, too.

• 1:00:25Gary Brecka?

  No doubt.

• 1:00:26Speaker 00

  That changes your mindset.

• 1:00:27Gary Brecka?

  Yes.

• 1:00:28Speaker 00

  And so, some days, I just ask for Lauren time.

• 1:00:33Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 1:00:33Speaker 00

  You know, without everybody coming over, I just say, you know, guys, I gotta have some me time. I'm figuring me out. You know, some days I have good days, I have bad days. But one thing for sure is like, I'm making sure who I put in my circle. And of course, you and Sage are in my circle. You, you can come on our place at any time, or I can go to your place at any time.

• 1:00:51Gary Brecka?

  You absolutely can.

• 1:00:51Speaker 00

  You want to be at that table.

• 1:00:52Gary Brecka?

  Yes.

• 1:00:53Speaker 00

  And everybody at that table wants to lift you up and elevate you, say, anything you're doing is possible. You can be or do anything you want to do. Most people don't understand that if you've been cut out of my life, you gave me the scissors.

• 1:01:06Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, you gave me the scissors.

• 1:01:08Speaker 00

  You gave me the scissors. You're the one. You're the one who cut you out of my life because I just have a certain way I'm gonna live. And I only want to live with people who believe in what I'm doing and where I'm going. You don't have to do what I'm doing, but I need you to be a cheerleader of what I'm doing. I need you to support what I'm doing.

• 1:01:26Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 1:01:26Speaker 00

  I need you to believe in me so I can believe in myself also. I don't want to have anybody around me says, "Don't try that."

• 1:01:32Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:32Speaker 00

  "Don't go for that." Oh, my God, Gary, don't you know? You cannot be transparent and honest without expecting controversy.

• 1:01:41Gary Brecka?

  I love that statement too. You're not be transparent and honest about, without expecting controversy.

• 1:01:45Speaker 00

  You're gonna have, people are so afraid to say their truth today.

• 1:01:48Gary Brecka?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:01:49Speaker 00

  People are so afraid to have an honest conversation. It's like, "Oh, my God, here she goes."

• 1:01:53Gary Brecka?

  Can't say who I'm voting for.

• 1:01:54Speaker 00

  She's blackballed. Don't say you're voting for, you can't even have a conversation about politics anymore. It's ridiculous. I just want to, what happened to have good conversation?

• 1:02:03Gary Brecka?

  It went upside down fast, too.

• 1:02:04Speaker 00

  Yeah, I just want to have good conversation.

• 1:02:06Gary Brecka?

  Yes.

• 1:02:06Speaker 00

  And so I think, you know, we have done a very good job of keeping a circle where, you know what? It's okay to agree to disagree.

• 1:02:13Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 1:02:14Speaker 00

  It's okay to say, "You know what? I don't agree with you, Lauren. I have a different opinion." And I say, "You know what? I never thought about that opinion." And keeping an open mind, because that's what real people who care about this will do.

• 1:02:26Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:26Speaker 00

  And I do think that that is the key to my health and my happiness is who I surround myself with because it helps my mindset.

• 1:02:34Gary Brecka?

  Since the day I met you, you've had the same, I mean.

• 1:02:36Speaker 00

  It's, it's so true.

• 1:02:37Gary Brecka?

  Probably for decades before we met.

• 1:02:38Speaker 00

  And I feel like people just, I'm over the, I don't want to be around anyone who prejudges.

• 1:02:43Gary Brecka?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:02:44Speaker 00

  I just don't want anybody who, who around me who wants to prejudge anyone, a situation. I don't. I want to keep an open mind.

• 1:02:51Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 1:02:51Speaker 00

  I want, I, I don't know what the future looks, people say, "Well, what's the future of the company?" I'm like, "The future of the company is amazing." I, I see us getting bigger and better all the time.

• 1:03:01Gary Brecka?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:03:02Speaker 00

  What is the future of Lauren? I'm not. I don't know yet. I'm still figuring her out. It's like I'm still getting to know this new me.

• 1:03:10Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 1:03:11Speaker 00

  I know that I'm gonna have great days ahead of me and I'm now embracing that. Do I miss the Lauren with there? Of course, I miss those days all of my life.

• 1:03:20Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 1:03:20Speaker 00

  I will, but I had that life. And that doesn't mean I lose it. And I do think that grief is just an extension of love. In many ways.

• 1:03:31Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 1:03:31Speaker 00

  And that it's by how much you loved is how much grief you will suffer.

• 1:03:35Gary Brecka?

  Yep.

• 1:03:35Speaker 00

  And I do think that doing the hard things first and waking up in the morning and saying, I'm able to do this. Um, I get to see my kids today. I get to pick up my kids from school. I get to show up for work and be a great leader. Instead of saying, I have to do this, I have to do that, I have to go to the gym. I get to go to the gym.

• 1:03:54Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:55Speaker 00

  You know, when we start to act grateful for having this life that we can have around us. And realize that you are actually uncomfortable because you haven't left that zone. Of discomfort for so long. You don't know how to get out.

• 1:04:10Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 1:04:11Speaker 00

  We get so stuck behind the big boob tube and you know.

• 1:04:16Gary Brecka?

  You're dating yourself with that term too.

• 1:04:17Speaker 00

  I am dating myself. The big, I know the boob tube, but it's true, but we get so stuck. And we don't know our way out. And yet, all we have to do is take one step outside the box. In order for our life to change.

• 1:04:30Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 1:04:31Speaker 00

  And make a commitment, like people, you know, I'm a big believer in writing down my goals. I do it all the time and I read them.

• 1:04:38Gary Brecka?

  About that.

• 1:04:39Speaker 00

  I read them. And, uh, you know, people do it all the time at, at New Year's Eve and I'm always like, I'm not doing that. Because I do it all year long.

• 1:04:48Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 1:04:49Speaker 00

  And here's what happens with your New Year's Eve resolutions for most people and you, I know you agree with this. Is that the only commitment they keep is breaking their. Commitment to themself.

• 1:04:59Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 1:05:00Speaker 00

  And by January 25th.

• 1:05:01Gary Brecka?

  I think you just slowly let yourself down. I mean, you know, sometimes when you make a promise to yourself, I tell people if you want to improve your own self-esteem, just make little promises to yourself and keep them. Say, I'm gonna go to bed at 10 o'clock and go to bed at 10 o'clock. Like, when you tell yourself you're gonna go to bed at 10 o'clock and get in bed at 1:00 in the morning, you know you broke that promise to yourself, and I think you slowly erode your confidence in yourself.

• 1:05:21Speaker 00

  When you said to me, I'll never forget it, when you first saw me for the first time and I was on the boat and you were like, I was like, I'm gonna start that diet on Monday. You're like, what's wrong with today?

• 1:05:30Gary Brecka?

  Yes, that's right.

• 1:05:32Speaker 00

  What's wrong with today? And the truth of the matter is, how many times do we hear people say, I'm gonna start next week?

• 1:05:37Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 1:05:38Speaker 00

  As if Monday starting is gonna cause you to lose more weight than starting today.

• 1:05:42Gary Brecka?

  Yeah, do it now.

• 1:05:42Speaker 00

  But we do it all the time. When we see people do it, I just don't want to do that. You don't want to do that. And I think that's the key for people to succeed, is to do exactly what you said, right now.

• 1:05:53Gary Brecka?

  Yeah. I mean, Lauren, you're amazing. And I, I hope that we can

• 1:05:59Gary Brecka?

  continue to do these podcasts. And so I love us checking back in on each other's careers. And I think, I think there is an opportunity for us to really do something special, like we talked about in the kitchen.

• 1:06:08Speaker 00

  I think you, I think you're just scratching the scratch of the surface. I don't even think you've gotten, you don't even know Gary Brecka yet. Like, as well as I know you, I don't know Gary Brecka yet. You don't know Gary. You're just, as JR used to say, Gary's just scratching the scratch on the surface.

• 1:06:26Gary Brecka?

  Wow.

• 1:06:26Speaker 00

  And you have so much more to do. The, what you have given to me and my family is life in more years. And that's a gift that you can't pay somebody back for. You know, JR used to say, Lauren, it's not about the money, it's about the people we'll help along the way. Nothing could ring truer for you.

• 1:06:46Gary Brecka?

  I really appreciate that, you know.

• 1:06:48Speaker 00

  You know, I have, we have all the right friends, the Beckhams, everybody, right? They're all the Gruntmans.

• 1:06:53Gary Brecka?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:54Speaker 00

  We all have the same circle of friends and we all feel the same way. We talk about you often.

• 1:06:59Gary Brecka?

  About them too, yeah.

• 1:07:00Speaker 00

  You know, we, we love you and how much you put into people. You really put into people like JR did. And that's what our business is about. You know, that's what Shop and Market America have become, about the people.

• 1:07:12Gary Brecka?

  Right.

• 1:07:13Speaker 00

  For you and I, I think we're just starting. I think there's so many big things that we can, it's inspiring for me because I think. Like I said, all the technology in the world will never be a Gary Brecka.

• 1:07:25Gary Brecka?

  Wow.

• 1:07:26Speaker 00

  Will never be a J R. Ridinger. And I think that's what the world needs more of.

• 1:07:30Gary Brecka?

  Thank you so much. I

• 1:07:32Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 1:07:32Gary Brecka?

  I wind every podcast down by asking my guests the same question. There's no right or wrong answer to this question. And that is, what does it mean to you to be an ultimate human?

• 1:07:41Speaker 00

  Gosh, I think at this point in my life, the ultimate human means, number one, happiness. I think happiness is so important. Health. And a clear mind.

• 1:07:53Gary Brecka?

  Wow.

• 1:07:54Speaker 00

  And owning my mind again. And I think that's what, you know, the ultimate human is for me because I want to own this again. And it gets cloudy during grief. And so for me, I always understood the value of how important it is to keep our mind sharp, but it's health, happiness and owning this again. The clear mind, it's, I think it can change the world, you know, if we're clear.

• 1:08:15Gary Brecka?

  Well, I think this is message is going to be very special and inspiring to a lot of people and I super appreciate you.

• 1:08:21Speaker 00

  I love you. And this has been such an honor for me and being in this ultimate human penthouse is so inspiring that I do not want to go. I'm going home to get my bag. But what did our audience sing today?

• 1:08:31Gary Brecka?

  What did you guys sing?

• 1:08:34Gary Brecka?

  I can't wait to see how this live audience podcast is gonna be.

• 1:08:38Speaker 00

  Podcast is, you never had this before.

• 1:08:40Gary Brecka?

  No.

• 1:08:41Speaker 00

  I mean, I love you, Tom Brady. I love you, The Rock and all the guys you interviewed on here. But this one is the first live audience.

• 1:08:49Gary Brecka?

  This is the first live audience.

• 1:08:50Speaker 00

  Me. I love you guys. Thank you, Gary. I love you.

• 1:08:53Gary Brecka?

  And as always, guys, that's just science.