Chris Paul ON: How to Create Habits for Discipline and Consistency & Empowering Yourself Through Forgiveness for Healing

This episode is for someone that is striving to go after their goals. For the person who is grieving the loss of a loved one. This episode is for anyone who wants greatness in both career and family relationships. Wow, this was one of my favorite episodes of all time to record. I had the great honor of speaking with Chris Paul also known as “The Point God” on the Phoenix Suns NBA team. Whether you are in college dreaming about your future career, in high school wanting to play on the varsity team, or you’re at your day job thinking about the business you want to create... this is an extremely important episode to listen to. We learn in this episode about how Chris studies the game of basketball, and how he preps for each game. The patterns that Chris studies can be easily applied to your everyday life! On a more personal note, Chris came with such great vulnerability and openness. He shares the challenges and trajectories that he has overcome with grace and forgiveness. Is there anything that Chris is not confident about? How do you share challenging news to your children or loved ones? Most pivotal to his life, He shares with us his experience of the tragic loss of the closest person to him, his grandfather. Today you will learn… -How to establish a strong work ethic? -How to teach our children discipline? -Have you ever feared the unknown in your career? We learn to navigate the “what if’s” -The ways that we can honor grief and those that we love -How to face life’s challenges head on and learn how to forgive? -How to learn from the people before us in order to construct our lives in a way that we want to be remembered by? -Is it possible to be successful in career AND have a balanced family life? Don’t miss this incredible journey about perseverance, hard work, and forgiveness. With Love and Gratitude, Jay Shetty Also…If you love this episode, you will really love my episode I did with Kobe Bryant linked here. What We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 00:19 When losing, not everyone can get up and restart again 04:33 Chris explains what he means to “live the game” 06:24 You need to take a break to actually live your life 07:31 Some things you pick along the way can become a habit 08:54 Even when it seems like you’re the weakest, you can become the best 10:53 If you want to do something, you have to work for it 13:20 Give your children the chance to learn the experience that shaped you 20:41 When is sacrifice necessary when you have young kids? 24:26 When things don’t work the way you expect them to but you “can’t give up” yet 26:42 How do you keep your focus around reality? 30:15 Listening to obituaries on the radio and the realization we can get from it 32:10 When was the first time you have dealt with death? 36:17 What’s the lesson you carry with you until now? 40:14 Can you both have career success and be with your family? 43:03 Close family ties and familial love in the midst of chasing success 44:57 Learning to treasure every relationship you have in your life 48:24 “People make mistakes, sometimes even bigger than others.” 54:27 Dedicating your success to the people that have the greatest impact on your life 59:13 How do you navigate the “what ifs” in your career? 01:05:11 Chris on Final Five Episode Resources Chris Paul | Twitter Chris Paul | Instagram Sixty-One: Life Lessons from Papa, On and Off the Court Want to be a Jay Shetty Certified Life Coach? Get the Digital Guide and Workbook from Jay Shetty https://jayshettypurpose.com/fb-getting-started-as-a-life-coach-podcast/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

• 0:00Jay Shetty?

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• 0:41Jay Shetty?

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• 1:26Jay Shetty?

  Subject to credit approval, terms apply. This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to-do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised yourself you'd pick back up. It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating. And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on. AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically-backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop. AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational

• 2:10Jay Shetty?

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• 2:37Speaker 01

  People are always gonna say something, always. They're gonna try to have some type of narrative, but as long as you know what's real, I think that's what can help you keep your sanity.

• 2:45Speaker 02

  The bestselling author and host.

• 2:47Speaker 03

  The number one healthy wellness podcast.

• 2:49Speaker 02

  On Purpose with Jay Shetty.

• 2:52Jay Shetty?

  Chris Paul, On Purpose, thank you for being here, man. I am so grateful to you because you just said season finished yesterday. The next game is in six, seven days, which we'll talk about. But the reason we're here is to talk about this incredible book that you've written, your memoir, An Ode to Your Grandpa, Sixty One. I read the book cover to cover. And so what I want to say to everyone who's listening and watching, whether you know Chris on the court or off the court, I felt like you were personally sitting with me, talking to me throughout the entire book. I literally felt like it was just me and you in the room. So I felt like I've already had this experience in a weird way.

• 3:36Jay Shetty?

  And what I'll say to everyone who's listening and watching, who's, you know, I hope you're all gonna go and grab a copy of the book is it is one of the most genuine memoirs that I've read. Like it felt, it really felt like it was coming from your heart. And the best thing about it is you get to understand you on a different level to just the game. And so I just want to take a moment to say, man, that I think it was really well done. It was so personal, so real. And I literally felt like I was like, this is just my friend talking to me.

• 4:08Speaker 01

  Man, it's crazy, Jay, that you say that. And first and foremost, thanks for having me. And you probably don't know this, but I think you're probably the first person that's told me that you read it from beginning to end. You know what I mean? Because it's not even out like that. And I don't really get a chance to talk to people about it too much, but um. It's crazy to know you've written books or whatnot. This is the first one. I've done children's books.

• 4:33Jay Shetty?

  Yes.

• 4:33Speaker 01

  Never anything like this. And I have a newfound appreciation for the process, for the entire process of the the different versions. And the very first time, if I be honest, the very first time when I got the first copy back, I was like, oh, no, this ain't it. This ain't it. And and it was because I had someone who was helping me with it, right? But when you're talking about your own life experiences, you wanted to sound like you. You know, so when I read the very first version, I was like, this don't sound like me, you know? And I started from scratch.

• 5:10Jay Shetty?

  I could literally see the service station. Like, I can see the places, the way you described them, like, the people, the characters. I literally felt like I was there. And and I think that's that requires all that detail and that texture. And the, you know, it's your lived experience. And so I felt like I was living that experience with you. And so every question I ask you today is me wanting to know a bit more about you from different angles, different perspectives, parts where I was like, I'm so lucky that I get to sit with you and actually ask these questions to you. So so let's dive in. I want to start off with just setting context for people. Season's just finished. You're heading it off, end of the playoffs. Like, how do you prepare at this time?

• 5:55Jay Shetty?

  It's a big year, huge start for you. You talk about hard work, work ethic in the book all the time. But how is this different? Or how do you set yourself up?

• 6:03Speaker 01

  Yes, wow. This is my 18th season, right, in the NBA? And it's been been a lot, right? A lot of good things have happened, but a lot of unfortunate, bad things have happened, losses, injuries and all of this. And it's crazy. I usually have like this dead date, right? Honestly, like, we usually have this dead date with everybody that works with me, where we'd be like, look, Chris would be doing meetings and all this stuff until this date. And then we just lock in, you know what I mean?

• 6:31Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 6:32Speaker 01

  Doing the book and everything, um, it's been cool. And getting a chance to do this is is really cool. And so when you lose at something, right? Like, one, like, group of athletes I've always thought about is Olympians, right? Like, the Olympics happen once every four years, right? And if you trip, like, in that race. That's it.

• 6:54Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 6:54Speaker 01

  You got four years till you can get ready for it again. See, for us, like when we lost last year in the playoffs, you know, you feel that heartache and it hurt and it's like,

• 7:06Speaker 01

  I can't wait till next year. And now finally, next year is here. You know, so we got five, six days to get ready for our first game, but it's nothing like it.

• 7:15Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. In the book, you said, you think the game. And when I read that, I thought that was interesting to me. I've, I've sat down with so many athletes on the show and behind the scenes as well, but I'd never really heard anyone say it that way. What does that mean today? What does that mean right now?

• 7:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, that means, I don't know, do you do anything? Do you like play cards at all?

• 7:35Jay Shetty?

  I, I used to, I mean, I used to play soccer growing up. That was like my favorite sport.

• 7:39Speaker 01

  But like even if it's soccer, if it's Connect Four, right? Like I play dominoes.

• 7:44Jay Shetty?

  Ping pong.

• 7:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, I play ping pong. I play, I play any and everything and in everything you do, you have to have a strategy. Right? Whether it's a card game or anything and you just have to think different layers. You can always play, right? Just play, but if you can think the game too. And so me, like I was up this morning, like soon as I woke up this morning and before I called my kids, I was on YouTube, like looking at clips. Like I go to YouTube and I'll look at, um, or I'll go to this website that'll show me every shot I've missed or made since I've been in the NBA. So like I'm literally always watching, trying to learn, trying to see how I can get better. So that's what I mean when I say I think the game.

• 8:23Jay Shetty?

  Wow. So you would literally go on YouTube, type in Chris Paul misses and then watch.

• 8:29Speaker 01

  Yes, this website actually called Second Spectrum.

• 8:32Jay Shetty?

  Okay.

• 8:32Speaker 01

  That you can go do that, but I can go on YouTube and look, uh, at this particular game. So we're playing the Clippers in the playoffs, right? So I can go look on YouTube, they got everything on there. I'm sure everybody know that too. But you can go look at all of my shots that I played against the Clippers this year. Yeah.

• 8:51Jay Shetty?

  And you'll just study?

• 8:52Speaker 01

  Study it. Study the game. Study who I might be guarding. Study your opponent and all this stuff. So then, in the game, of course, talent and all that stuff, but at some point, you still gotta be able to think and sort of, everybody has tendencies.

• 9:04Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 9:05Speaker 01

  We play eighty-two games, right? There are certain things that guys do on a regular basis, so if I can learn that and figure that out, the better.

• 9:12Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, I love that. And I saw that in your book too. It's like, it's almost like you're observing patterns.

• 9:16Speaker 01

  Right.

• 9:16Jay Shetty?

  Like, there's all these patterns, and that's what you're saying, like, there's patterns over eighty-two games. And when you start spotting the patterns, it's hard for people to break them, and so they're gonna keep repeating that.

• 9:26Speaker 01

  I can't imagine the things that you learned in all the experiences that you've had, right? But you know there are certain things that are a staple for people that are successful.

• 9:35Jay Shetty?

  Yes.

• 9:35Speaker 01

  Right?

• 9:36Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 9:36Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? Like, you gotta work hard. You gotta have some type of discipline, right? Or else, whatever you wanna see come into existence is just not gonna happen. It's like they always say, um, what is it? I'd rather be lucky than good, or something like that. But you, you still gotta have the work ethic to, to see it through.

• 9:58Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. What have been your, do you have like a set morning routine on game days and prep days? Or do you kind of intuitively figure it out? Like, what, what are you like? Are you that disciplined beast that's just set up to win, or do you feel it out?

• 10:12Speaker 01

  Uh, good friend of mine, JJ Reddick, uh, he, he does a podcast now. He talks, he was my teammate, but he's retired now. Uh, earlier this year, he was talking about how sometimes a routine can drive you nuts, right? And I sort of got into that mode, cuz I didn't play so long. I didn't felt like, if I don't do this particular thing, I'm not sure what's gonna happen tonight.

• 10:35Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 10:35Speaker 01

  You know, especially with how many games I play. Like, I, I, I'm serious. I used to have so much anxiety, like... Oh, man, if I didn't do this before I run out on the court, God, some injury might happen. I mean, I used to have this crazy routine for the past few years. Like, I would get up, I would eat breakfast, go to the gym, shoot around, might be at ten, I might get there at eight fifteen, do all this stretching, workout, shoot, and go home. I would get body work from like eleven fifteen, eleven thirty to like one o'clock. And then I would lay down, had to be at one, get up at three, shower, get dressed, eat, get in the car, go to the game. You know, it just made for a long day, honestly, on a game day, it was a long day.

• 11:17Speaker 01

  And so I stopped doing necessarily the body work from eleven fifteen to one, just to give me some time to live.

• 11:23Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 11:23Speaker 01

  Honestly, to just be, maybe like, watch a show for a little bit, when my kids in town, chill with them or whatnot. And it's actually been like liberating.

• 11:32Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 11:33Speaker 01

  But for so long, you just like, I gotta do this, I gotta do that, and it'll, it'll drive you nuts.

• 11:37Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, and it sounds like that's the way of it, though, right? Like, the, the reason you can take that break now, or watch that show, or catch up with your kids, is because of that investment you put in for like fifteen years, sixteen years, seventeen years.

• 11:50Speaker 01

  For sure, for sure, but you also realize that sometimes you gotta break up the monotony of that routine or whatnot, just to give yourself a break.

• 11:58Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, that, I think that's gonna help a lot of people listening, because I think there's so many people listening right now who are stuck in their routine and don't realize how much.

• 12:07Speaker 01

  It'll, it'll drive you crazy, especially in what we do now. There's certain things, like, there's certain handshakes that's gotta happen. I'm like, a few things not gonna change, right? Like, uh, when they call our name out for the starting lineups, I make sure I dap up all my teammates, then I go to the little slant board, I make sure I put my foot on that three times, I make sure I get the chalk, rub my hands together, clap them together three times, hit the back stanchion. I, I got a lot of routine stuff that I do, I like hit my chest, then I look up and, you know, say what up to Kobe, you know what I mean? And then we do the jump ball.

• 12:45Speaker 01

  And some of that stuff's not gonna change, but some of the other things or whatnot, you have to look at your situation and realize how can you be, I don't know, intentional with your time?

• 12:56Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, yeah, and do you feel like all of those things you just mentioned that aren't gonna change, there were things you picked up along the way because of wins and, like, where did those originate from?

• 13:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, so it's funny, it's funny you ask that, and being on a team for All of my life, you know, I've been on a team since I was five years old. And so when you find these little things, they sort of just happen, right? So you're out there with your teammates and you come up with a handshake and then somebody like accidentally do something. And then you're like, oh, I like that. We gonna keep doing that. We gonna keep doing that. So all these things just sort of get added along the way. You know what I mean? So like before, before I leave the locker room, I also do uh like a one, two, three. Uh, and a bunch of our team trainers, they, they yell it with me. I do one and they yell two, three, you know, so that stuff just sort of picks up and you keep doing it.

• 13:48Jay Shetty?

  That's amazing, man. Uh, uh, one of the things that comes through your book is you talk so much about hard work, confidence. You know, seeing your own potential when no one else sees it, being able to bet on yourself, having that confidence. And even today, I can tell there's, but at the same time with that confidence, there's this humility in, in your book too. Because you talk so much about the teachers and the coaches and the mentors. And you talk about this idea about how no one's really self-made. And so you have this great balance between this confidence and this humility. I wonder, what was something that you were insecure about as a kid? Was there anything in your life that you weren't confident about or things that made you doubt yourself at all?

• 14:29Speaker 01

  All types of things. I mean, I was small, right? Well, some people will still say I am, you know what I mean, in my profession.

• 14:37Jay Shetty?

  I'm small, yeah.

• 14:38Speaker 01

  In my profession, but I mean, I was a little brother, right? So I had my older brother and all his friends would pick on me. You can't do this. You can't do that. Uh, I played football. I mean, I was on my AAU basketball team. I think I talk about this in the book and everybody on my team was on varsity, except for me, right? And so I was a little bit slower, right, than some of the other guys. I mean, one of the most embarrassing things was back then, our team used to run out for warmups. And back then, like our parents had chants and all these songs they would sing. And as my teammates, we ran out to the court, everyone would run and smack the backboard, right? Everybody, pop, pop, everybody smacking the backboard. I couldn't touch the backboard.

• 15:22Speaker 01

  So I would have to run by the backboard and just get back in line. So I just had this conversation with my son the other day, because I told my son, he's gonna be vertically challenged, just like me. And so one of his biggest goals is to be able to dunk. Right, so he asked me, when did I dunk for the first time? I was a junior, I think, in high school when I dunked for the first time. So he was like, I'm gonna dunk before that, I'm gonna dunk before that. And I told him, I'm cool and fine with that. But I also want him to develop the actual skills of like, playing the game. I feel like so many times now, kids just wanna be able to dunk. Instead of learning actually, how to play the game.

• 16:02Jay Shetty?

  How did, how did you make that difference for yourself growing up? Because I feel like kids are always kids, right?

• 16:08Speaker 01

  Right.

• 16:09Jay Shetty?

  You grew up watching Jordan and you wanna, you know, so.

• 16:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:12Jay Shetty?

  I feel like everyone who grows up watching anyone, we all wanna. Stand that way, imitate, right? And so, how did you stop yourself as an athlete when you were coming up? To refocus, just as you're encouraging little Chris to do?

• 16:25Speaker 01

  It was just different. And I, and I say different because, and it may be because of my circumstances and my situation. Right, and seeing my grandfather, right? So I saw how my grandfather provided for my family in so many different ways, especially financially. And growing up the way I grew up, I always wanted more. Like, I wanted more, not just like financially, but I wanted to see things and I wanted my family to see things. And, I don't know, I've just always been very competitive. And my brother helped make me that way. But I just, uh, I mean, still to this day, like, I really don't take no for an answer.

• 17:08Speaker 01

  Right, like, there's gotta be a way, there's gotta be a solution. And if you tell me I can't do it, then we gonna see about it. You know? And so, it was, it was a drive about it and it was a drive to just wanna be better and the curi- curiosity and. I don't know, like I said, it was almost subconscious watching my grandfather work. Right, so I played football, my coaches were hard on me, you know? And I just knew, if I wanted to do something, I had to work.

• 17:38Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, that work was just obvious through your grandfather, who just lived it every day. And, um, you know, when you took the kids back to see the devastation in the space. That part of the book is, is really special. Because you reminded me, so I was. I was nine years old when my dad took me back to the home he grew up in. And my dad's home was probably as big, his home was as big as this room. Like cut off that part as well, like none of that all the way. So his whole house was this big. And it was in India where he grew up. And so he took me there and I remember like walking outside. There was a lot of like trash on the floor. There were like rats running around, there were cockroaches inside.

• 18:23Jay Shetty?

  This big bat flew on my face, like had my Batman moment. Like I was like, I was a nine year old kid and this bat flew on my face and it was disgusting. My dad put it out of my eyes and then we went in this house and it was literally this big. And I remember my dad was telling me how they shared like a toilet with like thirty families. Like he grew up in like, you know, immense poverty. And it was just one of the best experiences of my life going there as a nine year old. So when I was reading about you taking your kids back to Grandpa Service Station, the space you grew up. I was like, I know how formative that's been for me. Walk us through what what their reaction was and your reasoning, actually.

• 18:58Speaker 01

  Everything that you just said is so valid. And if I be, if I'm gonna be very honest, like when you're a kid, you only know what you know, right? And so the times that something was going on and I seen my grandfather pull that wad of money out his pocket, I used to start tripping. That's a lot of money to me, to anybody. And so like as a kid, you want things. I mean, when we was in the car and we went to McDonald's or something, right? Or say you went to Wendy's, I don't care where you went. Like if you went to Wendy's, we want the biggie sized fries, right? Like we want the extra large fries and the extra large soda. We couldn't do that. You know what I'm saying?

• 19:40Speaker 01

  Like my parents just wasn't doing it because we didn't have the the money to do it. And as a kid, I watched movies too. Did you ever see Richie Rich?

• 19:49Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, of course.

• 19:49Speaker 01

  Right, so you see Richie Rich, you see that movie, uh, what was it Blank Check?

• 19:54Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 19:54Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? Like as a kid, it's like dang, I'm trying to see what that be like.

• 19:58Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 19:59Speaker 01

  Right? And so of course you want things, you want uh, things, but.

• 20:05Speaker 01

  The biggest thing that I learned is when I got to the NBA, right? And you can get those things, they don't complete you at all, like they don't. But what you start to realize is that with the money and the finance at times, you have an opportunity to change other people's lives. So that's when the work really just sets in and it's like, all right, I want to keep working because I want to keep providing and helping others or whatnot. So when it came to my kids, they live a totally different life than me and my wife ever did, right? And so this is so crazy, like I'm picturing these real conversations that I have with my kids. Because for me and my wife, like I wanted something different from my parents, right?

• 20:47Speaker 01

  And the hardest thing is trying to figure out how to get my kids motivated because they can't get me and my wife a new house.

• 20:55Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 20:56Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? They just can't. And so it's constantly just making sure that they have their own motivation. What's going to motivate them? So I wanted them to see why I am the way I am. Because sometimes they just see mom and dad or they just see me, but they got a chance to really go see why I get mad if the trash ain't taken out. You know, because growing up, I was having to cut the grass. We were having to fold clothes, wash clothes, do all these different type things. So that's one of the challenges as a parent of how do you instill some of these things in your kids?

• 21:30Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, and throughout the book, you see just how conscious and intentional you are about the kids. And again, I think there's this healthy balance where like there's a lot of love for them and you get that, it's not their fault that they didn't have that experience.

• 21:42Speaker 01

  Right.

• 21:42Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, but at the same time, you want to help them. And I think that it's such a, it's such a hard balance to do, but it sounds like because you and Jada are taking it so thoughtfully and intentionally that I... I just see it all the time, like the amount of celebrity kids who also feel the pressure. A to be like their parents in their field, that's already a pressure. Second of all, there's a feeling, which I don't think a lot of people realize, but there's a lot of feeling of guilt. For kids to be like, well, I didn't deserve this, or my friends don't have this, or like, I didn't do it. And then on the other side, which you get is the entitlement as well. So it's such, it's so much to deal with.

• 22:23Speaker 01

  It's so much that goes into it, man. And I think the, the only thing for us. That we've always tried to do is at least communicate with them and don't make them guess or try to figure it out on their own. And even though I'm here somewhat giving advice or whatnot, or talking about my memoir, I'm always looking for advice. Some of the people that I've looked to as mentors or whatnot, most of our conversations have been on parenting. Because this thing don't come with a manual, you know, it doesn't. And I'm constantly learning, adapting, trying to adjust because. Kids, um, for sure will, will, will like test you, you know? And I think it's been the best test that I've ever had because they show you how to love unconditionally.

• 23:09Speaker 01

  And, uh, it's the, it's the, it's the best ride.

• 23:13Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, the part in the book that, that really got me was when you're, because I don't have kids yet. And me and my wife have been together for around 10 years now and we moved from London. To New York, to LA, and now we live in LA, but the last seven years have been moving around and, you know, in our own way, obviously, I'm not. Moving how you are, but, but still kind of that feeling of not having a home.

• 23:34Speaker 01

  Right.

• 23:35Jay Shetty?

  Now we know we live in LA and we, we're happy there, but I often think about like. How my kids will have a different life to the life I had, even in, so that the point I'm picking out of your book is when. You're leaving LA. And you're talking to little Chris about it and he's really upset about it like cause he's made his friends and he's gonna miss him and and and you can relate to that as a kid. Doesn't matter who your dad is.

• 24:01Speaker 01

  Right.

• 24:02Jay Shetty?

  It's like as a kid, it's like your friends are everything. You're scared about what it's gonna be like going to a new school. I think that's when you're moving from LA to Houston.

• 24:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:10Jay Shetty?

  And and you're just you're feeling this discomfort and I love what you say to him where you're like, I need you.

• 24:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:16Jay Shetty?

  And I thought that was amazing to hear a dad say like, I need you. It wasn't like you need to do this for me. Or you gotta, you know, just just fix up and be be strong and man up and how did how did you recognize that that was the conversation?

• 24:29Speaker 01

  And Jay, I'm very visual. So even as you're talking to me, like I'm envisioning when it happened. We were in my office and my house in Calabasas and I'll never forget his face ever. It was tough. And like I said, I grew up around the same friends, right? Like me and my brother got a group chat with our homies back home that we grew up with. And that is probably one of the coolest things about my childhood. Whereas I know to each his own, some people moved around a lot and it gave them the ability to uh be flexible to different cultures and this and that, but it was cool having a home base.

• 25:06Speaker 01

  And so when we left and Chris said that it was hard, it was really hard, which why, which is why we ultimately made the decision. When we went from Houston to OKC to let them stay in LA. And it's always gonna be hard. That's what you understand is that there's no perfect life. There's no perfect family because in trying to give them stability. Now, the last four years, I've been without them, you know? So I think what always ends up happening is somebody gotta sacrifice, right? And if anybody gonna sacrifice as far as my family go, I'm gonna make sure it's me, you know? And that's that's how we got to where we are now.

• 25:45Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. And how do how do you stay strong in that time? Because? I get that too, like my wife and I end up spending a bit of time apart every year as well because her family, both of our families are from London and they live in London and our niece and nephew are there, our sisters are there, so my wife misses family a lot and her family is like her her like fuel.

• 26:04Speaker 01

  Right.

• 26:05Jay Shetty?

  And so we end up spending quite a few months apart every year and I wonder, how do you stay strong? How do you kind of like, what do you work on to make sure that you're filled up as well? Because like you said, it's a sacrifice, but at the same time, you have to take, you have to be the one to take.

• 26:19Speaker 01

  I'm looking for tips and advice every day. I'm telling you, it's, it's so hard and I, and I tell you, I think that the biggest thing that I try to do is make sure that I'm not, not too emotional in front of, in front of my kids. Right? Because uh, my kids are, are special, like my, my son is so like thoughtful, you know, and my daughter is the same way and it's so different, right? My childhood was, my dad was coach and all that. My mom was a team mom, so my parents never missed anything. I think probably one of the coolest interactions was we played in LA, maybe like a week and a half, two weeks ago.

• 27:02Speaker 01

  And my family came to the game and my kids were standing outside the locker room. And I had no clue they did this, but when a few of my teammates left, they saw my daughter and they was like, Cam, we be watching your baseball games, we be watching your basketball games because, because I can't be there. I'll literally be in the locker room before a game. My iPad is set up. My wife is videoing the game and I'm doing my stretches and exercises before the game. And anybody is in the locker room, they can hear, they can hear my daughter's game going on. So to see, uh, my wife told me how much my daughter, like she just lit up knowing, you know, that I'm, I'm not there physically, but I'm always,

• 27:47Speaker 01

  you know, at least watching and trying to when I can.

• 27:49Jay Shetty?

  I feel like kids feel that presence, you know, I always felt like my parents didn't have a lot of time for me. They were both immigrants working hard. Trying to put food on the table, but I always felt their presence because when I was with them or when they did see me, there was a real connection there.

• 28:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:06Jay Shetty?

  And I didn't need like eight hours a day, 10 hours. I didn't have that luxury. They didn't have that luxury. But even if it was for those couple of hours every day.

• 28:13Speaker 01

  I say that all the time, man. I'm I'm so aware and conscious that like kids, my kids now 13 and 10. They're very smart. They're very aware that if you was to get them a gift, say you're a big time person or something. You get them a gift and somebody works for you, got them the gift, your kids, you can't fool them, you know? But they would much rather have that time. So when I'm in town or whatnot, if I get a day off and I go home, the best time for me is taking my kids to school.

• 28:41Jay Shetty?

  Hmm.

• 28:42Speaker 01

  Right? That 20, 25 minute drive to school and then even the fact that my daughter still lets me walk her in. Those I think are the most priceless moments because one thing that I learned during quarantine was that was the first year that I lived away from my family, right? I was in Oklahoma and then uh the shutdown happened and we all went home for a while. And it was just crazy because even though my kids might be doing their own thing, they felt comfort and I was like on Zoom trying to set up the bubble, right? Cause I was the union president at the time. But they felt comfort in doing their own thing, but they knew if they looked out the side of their eye that they could see me in my office.

• 29:22Jay Shetty?

  Hmm.

• 29:23Speaker 01

  Right? So just the awareness, you might not necessarily be right there next to them all the time, but just the fact that they know you're there.

• 29:30Jay Shetty?

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• 30:04Jay Shetty?

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• 30:47Jay Shetty?

  That's indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. This episode is brought to you by Mazda. The best habits are the ones we hardly notice, the ones that quietly shape the way we move through life, giving us the confidence to focus on what really matters. That's Mazda's approach to safety. Every Mazda is designed with proactive safety features that help keep you more aware, more connected, and more engaged with your drive, so you can stay present behind the wheel. That commitment has earned Mazda recognition as Consumer Reports' safest new car brand. And as of July 2026, Mazda has won more 2026 IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus awards than any other car brand.

• 31:32Jay Shetty?

  Visit www.iihs.org to learn more. A lot can happen when an accident doesn't. Mazda, more of what matters to you. Visit mazdausa.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse products or services. Yeah, yeah, well said, well said. And going back to one of your rituals, I was just thinking about this. You said you write, can't give up now

• 31:54Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 31:54Jay Shetty?

  on your shoes before you go out to play a game. And I was, I was thinking like, what is that? You know, 18 years is a long time to dedicate professionally. And then what is speak of all the prep and, and everything else that goes into it. But what does it feel like to get traded, to feel down and out, to feel like it's not going in the direction you want? And then to can't give up now?

• 32:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:17Jay Shetty?

  Like, I find that that kind of pivot.

• 32:21Jay Shetty?

  For some people, it breaks them, and for some people, it makes them. And for you, any sort of pivots have only taken you further and further and further for you to perform and pursue at a higher level. What is that? Because I think people look at you, and even when I read your book, I was just thinking, you're working really hard at basketball, you're really working hard at your family, you're working hard at being a dad. I'm like, this guy works hard on every area of his life. Like, there's not...

• 32:44Speaker 01

  Tried to.

• 32:45Jay Shetty?

  You're trying to, yeah. I, I respect that. You, you don't come across as you're perfecting it, but there's this energy of like, I'm thinking about how I'm raising my kids, and thinking about my relationship. But then, when the career part is having its hiccups and slip-ups and whatever else in the past, what did you find when you get that can't give up now? Like, where does that come from?

• 33:06Speaker 01

  So I'll tell you where that came from, was when I got traded from Houston to OKC, like, to be, I, I was mad, like, really mad, because I'd been told one thing and another thing happened. And when I went to Houston, I'm, we moved like fifteen people to Houston, right? So to not know, and to know that I was going to Oklahoma City, I was hot. I was in Augusta, Georgia, and I didn't know what that meant, right? I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know what was next. It was the first time I'd been blindsided with something like that. There's a song by Mary Mary, right? It's called, uh, Can't Give Up Now. Because like I said in the book, I grew up in church, I was in church four or five days a week, and I remember listening to that song and like getting emotional, and

• 33:50Speaker 01

  it was like, look, the trade didn't happen, ESPN, everybody talking about it or whatnot. I learned this a while ago in the league, is that ain't nobody gonna feel sorry for you. And like you said, I've learned that too in this business, that there's two different type of people. People who gonna feel bad for themselves and just sulk, and then there's other people who gonna get to work. And so that was my, that was my mindset. It was like, alright, I think I'm done. Alright, cool. I got, I put my head down and do the work. And so that was, you know, my whole energy going into that.

• 34:25Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. How, how do you differentiate between... What the media is building as a narrative versus your narrative. Like, how do you? I find like athletes, that's what makes the athlete's job a million times harder than even playing the game. Because especially now with social media where there's so much chatter, so much conversation. How do you keep your focus around this is reality and that's just noise?

• 34:47Speaker 01

  It's crazy you said that because I learned something about myself. Even a few years ago, I can't have that clutter, right? And when I played back in L A, I think I said this in the book too with the Clippers, Doc Rivers. He used to talk about getting rid of the clutter, right? So when you get home from a game, if your team lose, everybody that's with your family and all that, what they gonna do?

• 35:12Speaker 01

  If y'all lost the game, what they gonna say? It was everybody else's fault, right? Like, if you lose a game and you get home, everybody in your family going, they gonna be like, ah, this person wasn't doing that. That person wasn't doing that. They ain't never gonna say nothing about you, right? And so that's literally clutter, right? And the same thing I've learned years ago in the playoffs, like in the playoffs, you gotta win four games out of seven, right? And I don't care what anybody says about social media or whatnot, but if you win a game in the playoffs and you go on the social media and you had a great game and everybody talking about you like you the best thing since pants with pockets, then you might let your guard down, right?

• 35:54Speaker 01

  And the same thing, if you don't have a good game and you go out there and everybody's talking about how sorry you are, you might lose a little bit of confidence. So for me, I try to block out all of that noise. You know what I mean? So that's like when the playoffs start, I don't wanna see what ESPN talking about. I don't wanna see what Bleacher, I don't wanna see what none of them talking about because you gotta just stay locked in and stay focused. And as long as you know what's true, you know what I mean? People are always gonna say something, always. They gonna try to have some type of narrative or whatnot, but as long as you know what's real, I think that's what can help you keep your sanity.

• 36:30Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, and I think that's one of the hardest skills for anyone, let alone someone who a lot of people in the world are talking about. Like, that's, you know, I can imagine that affects kids today. I'm sure kids feel it at school and you see that with them at school.

• 36:44Speaker 01

  And see, this is the thing I tell you, and I'm not a parent coach or anything like that. I can only tell you my experience, but. What I've learned with social media with kids, right? And having a thirteen and a ten year old is that when I was growing up, if a girl didn't like you or something like that, you dealt with it at school. Right? Once you went home, you didn't have to deal with it. Right? You, you just saw her at school the next day. Now with phones and social media and all that, one thing I know is that these kids are dealing with things all day long. Right? It could be on Snapchat. It could be on Instagram or whatnot. And if our, us as adults, if we can't handle that mental capacity, like I said, I can't handle that.

• 37:27Speaker 01

  Like I'm on Instagram, but I'll go weeks without even looking at it. You know what I mean? Just because I feel like, you know, with our stories and stuff like that now, we ask people how, how they doing. We already know what the hell they done did for the last three weeks. You know what I mean? So that's just me.

• 37:44Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, yeah, there's, I, I wanna, I wanna shift here because there's, what I found was really special as someone who was reading your book and, and just, again, like I said, learning so much about you. It was like, you said that your grandpa, you know, used to encourage you to listen to obituaries. And when they came on and you'd, he'd, he'd tell you more about that person too. Like he had this amazing memory.

• 38:10Speaker 01

  It was weird though. I ain't gonna say. It was, it was weird and kinda strange because like it wasn't no like iPhones where the alarm went off and he knew to do it. It's like everybody would be working and my granddaddy would just be like, "Cut on the obituaries." And soon as somebody hit the little radio player, the song would be playing, mm, it's like kinda morbid. And they would just start naming off the people who had died. Right? And, I mean, everybody out there working and you might hear Mr. Ulysses or Bo or somebody say, "Oh, such and such died." You know, they didn't know. And my granddad might start talking about one of them, but cause I talk about my grandmother dying when I was seven.

• 38:52Speaker 01

  That was my first time, you know, being faced with death. And then it's crazy, it was a funeral home in our hometown called Russell's Funeral Home. Like, once every like two weeks or whatnot, they would bring their fleet of cars up to the service station, cause they had like a it's crazy to think about now, they had a business account, right, with my granddad's service station. And so, just, it was a lot, man. I, that's why I still don't deal with death well. You know what I mean? To see the, the hearse is pulling there and, I don't know, it was, it was different.

• 39:27Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, it's, it's, you said that with your grandmother's passing, you were like, I never really got over that. Like, and I think that's, that's so real for, for so many people. But like you said, like, people often say like, oh, I know how you feel, but no one can know how you feel, cause they didn't know that person, they didn't know your connection to them, that experience, like, you, you dealt with that so early on at seven. And like you said, you didn't, you never really got, got over it. Now, when you look back on it, is it something you even wanna get over? Or is it something that just stays with you and it's?

• 39:59Speaker 01

  I think, I think it just stays with me, cause um, I tell you, like, writing this book was also like therapeutic, cause some of the stuff I had never talked about. And so, might have been a week or two ago, I was talking to my parents and was just asking them. Like, I was like, Dad, I was like, when was the first time you dealt with death? Right? Because my kids are thirteen and ten, and they haven't. Right? The only person I think that they've seen pass away, knock on wood, is um, my, my wife's grandmother, right? And so, obviously, the less you have to deal with death, the better. But, I mean, as soon as I go to a funeral, right?

• 40:40Speaker 01

  All those emotions from when I was seven, you know, they they come right back. They come right back. And there's something about the closure aspect of it. And somebody not being there anymore. I'll tell you something really cool. My dad, when I grew up as a kid, videoed everything. Every one of my games was VHS, all of that. My dad, uh, found a bunch of those tapes and he had them converted into DVDs. And so recently, maybe like three weeks ago, he sent the DVDs to me. He hadn't even watched them. And I put one of the DVDs in and I was watching it. And we used to have events all the time at this place up the street from our house. And I was looking at the video and I was like, what is this?

• 41:25Speaker 01

  And I kept watching it for a while and my granddad walked in. It was actually a video from his sixtieth birthday. Right? Literally just three weeks ago came across this. Wow. And, um, it was like emotional watching it. And I started filming some of it because I hadn't heard my granddad's voice in over twenty years since since he passed away. I took a video of it and I put it in our family group chat. My mom called me. She pulled over to the side of the road and she was crying. Because you you don't think about stuff like that. You know what I mean? My kids, they know the story of my grandfather. They know all of that. But they had never heard his voice. My wife, I didn't know she had never heard his voice. Right? So to to have this footage now.

• 42:09Speaker 01

  And my brother talked, wishing him a happy birthday. And I'm anxiously watching. I'm like, man, where am I? Where am I? Because you see everybody setting up and then you see somebody say, all right, everybody be quiet. Uh, he about to walk in because it was like a surprise. And so when I heard somebody say that, I was like, oh, I must be bringing him in to surprise because we used to be together all the time. And then he walks in and then I don't see myself. And I'm like, where am I in this video? And as my brother is giving his, uh, happy birthday speech to my granddad, he says if Chris was here, he would have said the same thing. And then I like, just this whole feeling came over me

• 42:51Speaker 01

  because I wasn't there. And I called my mom. I was like, Mom, where was I? Where was I? And she was like, you had to be at an AAU tournament. And so it was crazy. Like, I was getting emotional again because I was like, damn, that's sort of been the story of my life, is missing stuff. You know what I mean? But it's crazy. Like I said, death and all this stuff, you just, you never get over it. And you're not reminded of it until you face with it again.

• 43:17Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. Thank you for sharing that story, man. I mean, that's like the who I mean, to be reminded of being absent because you're pursuing your dream, but then, you know, the stuff, like you said, sacrifice, you said something has to be sacrificed. But I can't imagine what it felt like to, you know, reconnect back with that memory through finding an amazing tape, but then

• 43:39Speaker 01

  Right.

• 43:40Jay Shetty?

  feeling like you're not there.

• 43:41Speaker 01

  Especially at this time with the book coming out to finally see that. That was, that was really cool. And I think, I mean, I got my little cousin AJ and T'Koi, who like 29 and 27, they had never heard, AJ had, but they were kids or whatever when he died. So they hadn't heard anything.

• 43:58Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, yeah. What do you think was a lesson? There's so many lessons in the book that you learned from your grandpa and that, that are, you know, I think people should read the book for it to learn the depth of it. But what's the lesson that you think you carry in your heart the most? That stays with you right now till this day that you feel lives with you?

• 44:19Speaker 01

  Man, it sounds so generic, but I say the work ethic, right? But it's crazy because I could sit here and say, you gotta work, you gotta work. It's the work ethic. But I'll also say it's the balance. Because it's the one thing that I also learned about my family and my mom said this, and I never even thought about this aspect of it, was that my grandfather worked so hard. And I think I said this in the book, that that was all he knew. So he never actually, I don't want to say enjoyed our family, but he never like went on vacation. You know what I mean? And I'm not saying you gotta go to another country or something like that. But just try to make sure that there's balance and make sure that

• 45:02Speaker 01

  Of course, you gotta work, work, work to provide. But make sure at some point you take some time to enjoy the people around you and your family. Because my mom said that the, the one time that my granddad actually went on vacation was when my grandmother was about to pass away. And so it wasn't until he seen that he was gonna lose my grandmother, that he was like, okay, I need to, to do something with her.

• 45:28Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, and you, and you talk about how like, he used to finish work at like seven AM to seven thirty, and then he started ending at six.

• 45:35Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 45:35Jay Shetty?

  And you were saying like to some people, that may not be a big thing, but to your family, that was huge.

• 45:39Speaker 01

  That was huge.

• 45:40Jay Shetty?

  Because all you saw him do was work.

• 45:41Speaker 01

  All we saw him, all we saw him do was work. And when my grandmother died is when anywhere he went, I tried to go with him. I tried to go with him and it's, it's tough, man, like I, like I keep saying, my mom is unbelievable. Cause I mean, I'll be thirty eight in a few weeks and I still got mom and dad. And it's not till I got older and I started like, I was like, man, mom, you lost mom and dad, you know, so I, I can't imagine that.

• 46:14Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, yeah, and how, how did they process it? Cause you say in the book like how, you know, we don't always do therapy, we don't always talk about it. Like, have you helped them with their grief while you help yours? Do you find it useful as a family to connect or is it?

• 46:26Speaker 01

  You know, it's crazy. I don't think my parents have read the book yet. I'm so excited for them to read it. I want them to read the book, but I also want them to listen to the audio book. Cause I did the audio book so they can actually hear my voice. And I think when they read it, they probably gonna learn some stuff about me that they probably don't know. And I know my, my family is extremely emotional and a lot of times we're all working, we're all on the move, we're all on the go. But uh, I think it's gonna be something cool to talk about once they read it.

• 46:55Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, what do you think's gonna shock them the most or surprise them the most? Or, or something you think that they're gonna be, maybe even? Is there anything that would make them uneasy? What do you think?

• 47:05Speaker 01

  I don't think anything is gonna be uneasy. Some of it probably be funny. Cause I talk about some of me and my brothers, like childhood, growing up. My parents never talking to us about sex, all this different type of stuff. But uh, it's um, it's gonna be real cool. And I think they'll probably, I mean, I try to tell my parents how much I appreciate them all the time. But hopefully they get more of a feeling of that through the book too.

• 47:28Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. Do you think, you were talking about the hard work and the balance? And it's such a, it's something that I think all of us who are ambitious or obsessed with figuring out, right? You wanna put everything into the thing you love, the thing you were born to do. And at the same time, you realize it's meaningless if the family, the relationship, the friendships aren't there, right? We always hear the term like, no one wants to be lonely at the top, or it is lonely at the top.

• 47:56Speaker 01

  Right.

• 47:56Jay Shetty?

  And so, do you think that that makes you sacrifice success? Or do you think that is success is to be able to have both?

• 48:03Speaker 01

  It depends. It depends. If you can have both, then that's probably the ultimate goal, right? To have both, to have that success and have that balance. But the thing that I'm always battling with, right? Is that 18 years of my life, I've been in the NBA. And that is a blessing, right? I wanna be there. I wanna be there for my kids' events. I want to be a dad, just like my dad was to me. Because I'm not where I'm at without my dad sort of cultivating that and being there. And then there's this other side of it too, whereas if I was to retire, right? And stop playing, knowing that I still got a lot left in the tank and still got the passion and whatnot.

• 48:48Speaker 01

  Would I be this amazing dad that I wanna be? If I gave up my own passion, right? So that's the hard decision. That's the hard decision that everyone has to make all the time. And I constantly have those conversations with my kids and my wife about it. And you know, we ultimately sort of decided that they wouldn't like the person that's at home if I stopped playing prematurely.

• 49:16Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, that's so real, man. I think that's like the.

• 49:20Jay Shetty?

  That's, that's the biggest realization of like how if you're not living your purpose, the person you become is like a figment, like a little tiny piece of who you really are.

• 49:30Speaker 01

  Right.

• 49:31Jay Shetty?

  And then everyone's getting that leftover version of you.

• 49:33Speaker 01

  Exactly. And so it's, it's crazy. You just never know is, you know, that time, you know, you, you won't get that time back. It ain't like you can stop playing and then call the NBA in four or five years, be like, yo, pick me back up.

• 49:46Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 49:46Speaker 01

  You know, but also you don't get that time back with the kids. So it's what we all trying to figure out.

• 49:52Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. If you were in that tape, if you were there at that birthday, what would you have said?

• 49:59Speaker 01

  Oh, man. I'm sure it's a tape somewhere from one of those other birthdays, but I know I would have just talked about how my granddad was my best friend, you know, and how I was happy for him to be there. And I probably would have said something about him not having his teeth in. You know, in that video, in the video that I seen of him, he didn't have his teeth in his mouth. So as soon as I seen him walk in and his whole face was closed up, I was like, where's my granddaddy teeth at? But, um, I don't know. And it was crazy for me because like I said, I'm watching this video, not knowing what it is. And then when I see it's his sixtieth birthday, knowing that he died literally the next year at sixty-one, it was, uh, it was crazy. So I would have definitely just told him, you know, how much I love and appreciate him

• 50:43Speaker 01

  and probably try to get him to move in with us again.

• 50:46Jay Shetty?

  Hmm. What, what do you think's a lesson that if he was here with us today, that he'd still want you to learn or something he'd be poking at you at for or?

• 50:54Speaker 01

  Oh, man.

• 50:56Jay Shetty?

  What do you think he'd be coaching you on right now?

• 50:58Speaker 01

  Probably all the texts that I get, my temper.

• 51:00Jay Shetty?

  Oh, yeah.

• 51:01Speaker 01

  Probably. But, um, I don't know. I think the biggest thing that my granddad would be proud of, if he was still here, was just that our family is still together. You know, I mean, I think that's the biggest thing that he'd be proud of because he had, uh, he had my mom and he had my Aunt Rhonda, right? And so the fact that even in L A, that's where my wife and kids lives, where my brother lives. That's where my Aunt Rhonda's kids, A J and Koya lives, like all the holidays. We all still get together even after all this time. And, uh, I think that's what he'd be most proud of.

• 51:37Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, I mean, you know, it's like you're, when I'm reading the book, I had the the bird's eye view note of what had happened in your experience, but then to read it and to get the the real context of the depth of your relationship with your grandpa, which then when you read about what happens, you're like, you know, that, that like, it gets, it gets you, right? Like it gets me, I wasn't close with my granddad at all.

• 52:02Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 52:03Jay Shetty?

  Um, I never, I barely met my dad's dad and I was never really that close to my mom's dad. And so I didn't, I don't have, I can't even say I know how you feel because I don't even have that context. But I felt close to your relationship with your granddad because of how you describe him. And then, I mean, there's, there's no words to describe it for it to happen just in the most tragic way that you could lose someone you love. And the way you find out, the way you rush over there, like, yeah, that, that whole moment when I'm reading it, it was like, I can't imagine how tough it is to relive that for you as you're writing it out. And why was it so important to share that piece? And why did it mean so much to you to share that piece?

• 52:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think it was important for me to share it just, um, selfishly, it was for me too, you know, to, to talk about it and also to show why I am sort of the way I am and why I'm wired the way I am. And I don't know, keep learning little things. Like throughout the book, throughout the process of writing the book, I was having to call and ask like my mom some questions, right? Like, that's how I found out my granddad's name was, uh, Chili. Like, we called him Papa Chili, but.

• 53:21Speaker 01

  Called my mom. Luckily, my granddad still has a few siblings that's still alive. And that's why it's so important to ask our grandparents and things like that questions. So we know our history. And I don't know, I think it was just great for me. Obviously, I want a lot of people to read it, but sometimes I was almost in the book just talking to my family. Because even being away from home, right? I haven't lived in Winston-Salem in eighteen years. And that's where all my family is. Like you were saying, your wife, like London or whatever, I grew up around all my family. So in some parts of this memoir is me talking to my family back home that I've been away from, from a long time. And just letting them know how much I appreciate them, how much I miss them.

• 54:08Speaker 01

  Through a lot of these experiences too, it's taught me. I really treasure the relationship that my kids have my parents and my wife's parents. Right? Because my dad, my mom and dad, they are not the same people that raised me. Right? They are not. The way they be so nice to my kids and, you know, my son in the backyard shooting basketball when he was younger. And he bricking left and right. And my mom would just yelling, "Good job, baby." No, that is, that is not what you're supposed to be doing. But there are times when my kids will do something and I get on them. And I see my dad there, I'm like, "Be easy on him." And I'm like, "You wasn't easy on me." But because of my grandfather and that relationship, I get it.

• 54:54Speaker 01

  Like, I get it. When my parents would get mad at me or I'd get my butt whooped, the first person I called was my granddad. So I'm, I'm grateful for that because those relationships are really important. And I want to make sure that my kids have that bond that I had too with my granddad.

• 55:12Jay Shetty?

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• 56:13Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, for sure. And that's, I'm so happy to hear that. I'm so happy to hear you feel that your kids have that.

• 56:18Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 56:19Jay Shetty?

  With your parents and Jada's parents because.

• 56:21Speaker 01

  Yes, because when they wake up, when my parents are in town and my kids wake up in the morning, they run in there first.

• 56:26Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 56:26Speaker 01

  They run in there first. And I see the way that my parents light up. And it's seriously like, I literally look at my parents and I think back to my granddad and how he must have felt.

• 56:37Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 56:38Speaker 01

  It's, it's so crazy. What's this, 2023? My dad is 62 now. And so when my grand, I mean, when my dad turned 61 last year, it was like crazy emotional for me. Because I was like, man, this is how old my granddad was when I lost him. And it's crazy to see like my dad.

• 56:59Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And for them to, to have him in health and.

• 57:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 57:03Jay Shetty?

  And greatness. It's a, I think the part that really blew my mind is you saying how you found a way to have empathy and a, you know, some sort of like forgiveness for the four individuals that assaulted your grandfather. And I think having to relive it again when the case gets opened up again, you know, you know, to deal with it up until 2021, I think it was like, you know, it's like that, having to go through it is the worst thing anyway. And then to have to leave, relive it again and for it to be opened up and for innocence to, to be the topic of conversation and for then again for it to close like, but you,

• 57:45Jay Shetty?

  for you to be in a place where you said it's taken you a long time, but you feel like there's a certain level of empathy. I'm like, that is.

• 57:54Jay Shetty?

  I mean, walk us through the journey, not the end, because the end is the hard part, but.

• 58:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, the journey is tough because in the immediate reaction, oh yeah, like I said in the book, I had some family members who was gonna handle it, handle it themselves. But it was, um, I don't know, it took a while, but then you start to realize, no matter what happens, he's not coming back, right? I couldn't get him back. And I don't know if it was just getting older or the way that I like, watch shows, you start learning about the prison system and all this different type of stuff. And you just start realizing that people make mistakes, sometimes bigger than others. But being incarcerated for that long of a time, you know what I mean?

• 58:45Speaker 01

  If you can show that you're remorseful and everything, that everything has happened, that's when I definitely think you need a second chance at this thing.

• 58:54Jay Shetty?

  Did you ever receive any remorse or apology or any sort of thing from them or that never happened?

• 59:00Speaker 01

  No, no, never. And what's crazy is, like I said, when that case got reopened, that was one of the first times, it was the first time that I actually started finding out details about the case.

• 59:13Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 59:14Speaker 01

  Because you think about, like I said, I was in college and my parents wouldn't let me go. They wouldn't let me go to any of the court hearings or anything like that. And over the years, I tell you, my Aunt Rhonda, she the one that be on top of everything. And it was a few times that I used to ask her, I used to be like, Auntie, show me, show me what the boys look like. You know, and she would like pull up a picture or whatnot. And that was like hard to even look at because you start questioning, asking why, like, hell, why would you do this? But. As time goes on, you just, you just try to heal.

• 59:51Jay Shetty?

  That's, that's huge, man, to, to never hear the apology and remorse and to, almost to accept an apology you never received in order to rise above. I mean, that, that's like, I mean, that's, I mean, I was gonna ask you, what do you think's the toughest thing you've ever done? I'm like, that sounds like the toughest thing anyone's ever had to do.

• 1:00:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, for sure. It's definitely one of them. Like I said, I think it was the unexpected situation as far as my granddad. And in the book, like, I really like detail. You know, when traumatic things happen, you sort of tend to remember everything down to, I remember scuffing my Jordans.

• 1:00:28Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:29Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? Uh, right there by the, by the gym. And it was crazy. It was just a whirlwind how everything happened. That went from the best day on the fourteenth, seriously, like a movie. The fourteenth signing my letter of intent to the fifteenth, that happening, you start to realize that, I don't know, like, I, I'm, I'm right here thinking about it.

• 1:00:50Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, yeah, I love that. I take your time.

• 1:00:51Speaker 01

  When people call you sometimes now or whatnot, like, you always hope for the best, but expect the worst. You know, when somebody says, yo, did this happen? You know what I mean? Even though that one situation happened, it sort of almost gets you on edge when it, whenever something happens.

• 1:01:07Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. Well, well, I think that the book is genuinely like, it's a beautiful dedication to your grandpa. Like, it is like, I can't imagine anyone in the world who wouldn't be super proud to be honored in that way. Like, it's such a beautiful honoring of a person that you loved. And I'm not, I don't think I've ever read a memoir that felt like an honoring of someone else.

• 1:01:29Speaker 01

  Man, I appreciate it.

• 1:01:31Jay Shetty?

  I really mean that. It's like, I, I was reading, I was like, you, you know, obviously you shared, you do share so much about yourself, but so much about yourself is in him.

• 1:01:40Speaker 01

  For sure.

• 1:01:40Jay Shetty?

  And from him. And so, you know, to, to read something where someone honors, like, almost offering your life as an honoring to him is to do that in a memoir is very, very special. It's like, very special.

• 1:01:53Speaker 01

  How many books have you written?

• 1:01:54Jay Shetty?

  Written, uh, two. I'm on my third, yeah.

• 1:01:56Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. This is one. And that was, that took a while because, like you said, I wanted you to be able to feel like what I was experiencing and what I was going through. And it's cool. It's really cool. It's really cool to hear that you, you read it all. That sort of made me nervous when you said that too. Cause, cause it's probably not always gonna be, um,

• 1:02:16Speaker 01

  The best or whatnot, but if somebody can draw any experience from it, right? Any experience from it, and I think then that was a win.

• 1:02:27Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, and I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted you to know, you know, I just, I feel like when I, when I started to dive into you and it, I was just like, I just needed to feel like I had a real grasp of what you'd gone through, to, to, to honor you in this way as well.

• 1:02:42Speaker 01

  Oh, for sure.

• 1:02:43Jay Shetty?

  When I sit down with someone, I feel like I'm trying to, to some degree, appreciate and honor their life because it's my ability to also capture your, you as a, as a human. And even, even the name, like, I remember when the book first came on my desk and I was trying to figure out, like, I didn't get the physical version, but the, the digital version. When it first came to me, I was like, oh, sixty-one, interesting. And I started diving into everything around it. And what it, what did it feel like when in that game you, you know, when you talk about all the feelings that rushed through your head of like, oh, that's the record of Jordan at sixty-seven and, you know? I feel like when you're in that place, so many things are flashing in between your eyes, like, walk, just, walk us through that.

• 1:03:27Speaker 01

  It was crazy, because like I said, the high school that we played against was my mom's old high school, Parkland. And the most I scored in a game up to then might have been like thirty-four or thirty-six. And I know that when death happens or things happen for me, a lot of times I get quiet, right? And a lot of times that's because I'm just trying to collect my thoughts or trying to breathe, or I don't necessarily know what I'm always thinking, but I knew that I wanted to try to honor my granddad somehow, some way. And I didn't want everybody to know. You know, I'm one of those people that just like try to get it done, right? Get it done. And

• 1:04:09Speaker 01

  when it happened and I had fifty-nine and I drove and I, I scored the sixty-first point, I think about it, that was twenty years ago, right? Twenty years ago, so I had, I couldn't foresee that I would be in the NBA, all this different type of stuff, but um. That was the highlight, right? And I just never forget being so tired and exhausted because emotionally I'd been drained, right? Had literally been drained and seeing my dad over there on the bench and my brother or whatnot just made it that much more emotional. And I knew like right then that all my family was in town or whatnot. And that's something that would always connect us for the rest of our lives.

• 1:04:51Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, I thi- I think for so many people who went through something like that 20 years ago, it's easy to, for all of us on the outside to look back now and see how incredible it is. But for so many people, that would have been a very valid reason to give up on their dream or for it to not happen because it, you know, it it derails you and it can derail your life. And that would be completely valid. But to actually look back at it now and go, this career is dedicated to this person through your lens, it's it's remarkable to think that you could find the courage to step up again and go from that.

• 1:05:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think what's even crazier for me probably at this point in my life is that I've actually been without my grandfather longer than I was with him, right? And I never think about that. You sort of just live or whatnot, but there is literally almost nothing that I can do on a daily basis that I don't think about him, you know? And what's crazy is in the book, um, I think I said something about uh, one of his favorite scriptures being Philippians 413, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." And that video I just found, when he's standing up thanking everybody for coming to um, his birthday thing, he says that. And it gave me goosebumps. He says that in the video.

• 1:06:12Speaker 01

  So one thing about it, I'm gonna tell my daddy to keep keep finding videos, cuz it's uh, it's it's really nice to have.

• 1:06:20Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, and that's not the watch though, that's a different one.

• 1:06:22Speaker 01

  No, this isn't the watch, but uh, Vasharon, right? This is a 222.

• 1:06:27Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:28Speaker 01

  I literally got this watch because it looks like the one, yeah.

• 1:06:34Jay Shetty?

  The way you described it, I was like, yeah.

• 1:06:35Speaker 01

  Yes, this watch looks like, and I mean, I think I talk about how. Strict my parents were growing up. There was no earrings, no nothing like this or whatnot, no tattoos or whatnot. But last summer, I got this, this tattoo right here with your Chevron logos.

• 1:06:52Jay Shetty?

  Hmm.

• 1:06:53Speaker 01

  Right?

• 1:06:53Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:53Speaker 01

  Uh, for my granddad.

• 1:06:55Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. I love getting to do this because I, even, even just sitting with you right now, I'm like, I'm thinking in my head, I'm so grateful that I came out today to sit with you to, to have this opportunity because, you know, it takes a lot of courage to sit with someone and it, for them to open up in this way. And obviously you have a book to do it. And I was really fortunate to have the same experience to sit down with Kobe in 2019.

• 1:07:20Speaker 01

  2019.

• 1:07:21Jay Shetty?

  2019, yeah, 2019 it would have been. It was, it was literally like two months before his tragic accident. So I got to interview him and we didn't, we didn't know each other in the same way we don't know each other. But I felt like there was a real connection. It was such a, such a gravitas and such a presence when he spoke and just his demeanor with the team and just everything. And, and even today, like, you know, I think when, when you talk about not being able to play with someone, but knowing what could have been, but you, again, even today, you were like, you look up and, you know, honor him in that way, like, how, how do you navigate what ifs in your career? I feel like that again, as an athlete is such a skill because there's so many what ifs.

• 1:08:06Jay Shetty?

  Like, what if I did that, played it that way, played with this, but like, you know, and so talk us through that because I think even in life, like that's what your whole book about. Just for everyone who's listening, Chris's whole book is about what his granddad taught him off the court, which applies on the court and then on the court lessons that apply off the court.

• 1:08:22Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:08:22Jay Shetty?

  And there's this beautiful synergy, but I think there are so many people listening and watching right now who live their life in what ifs.

• 1:08:29Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:08:29Jay Shetty?

  And you've had a lot of what ifs. That's the big one you call out in the book. How do you, how do you breathe and live through that?

• 1:08:36Speaker 01

  You know what? It's 24 chapters in my book. You know what I mean? As a tribute to Kobe, you know what I mean? And I was actually on the phone with Adam Silver yesterday and I brought up a Kobe quote, talking to him. And I actually talk to Vanessa every now and then too. Um, that's probably one of the coolest, if not the best award that I've gotten since I've been in the NBA was, um, A year before last, they started a Kobe and Gigi Award and I was able to get the uh the first one that they did. And so Kobe was just different, right? In the way he approached things, but the way we competed against each other. And I think in the book, what I keep talking about when you say um the what ifs, right?

• 1:09:19Speaker 01

  I always say if there was one thing that I could change in my entire career, it wouldn't be wins and losses. It would be how I rehab after my very first surgery. Right? So I had surgery on my meniscus back in two thousand nine, right? And I was so young, two thousand nine, two thousand ten. And I was so young at the time that it was like, alright, they did the surgery. Okay, I'm gonna be fine, right? Didn't really take rehab that serious because I was just so young. It was like, okay, they fixed it, I'm gonna be fine. Um, but because of that, I've had so many different things over my career, different hamstring things or whatnot. And me and my agent was talking about it the other day.

• 1:10:03Speaker 01

  But sort of the story of my career has been the different situations that have happened over my career, how I've learned from them.

• 1:10:12Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 1:10:12Speaker 01

  Right? So an injury that I had, right? It taught me something and I was like, okay, I'm gonna figure out how to, how this gonna make me better, right? I get traded or whatnot. Okay, they feel like I ain't performing well enough or I'm not playing enough games. How is this gonna make me better? So every time something has happened, right? You know, like I talk about in the book, the craziest thing probably, one of the craziest things in my career was that injury in Houston.

• 1:10:40Speaker 04

  Mm hmm.

• 1:10:40Speaker 01

  When I got hurt and we were a game away from going to the NBA Finals. And so had that not happened, had I not hurt my hamstring that year and then hurt it again the next year, I don't think I still would be playing in the league right now.

• 1:10:57Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 1:10:57Speaker 01

  Because all of that stuff was a wake up call to me. It was like, I gotta change something. I gotta change something, I gotta figure this out. And once all that stuff happens.

• 1:11:08Speaker 01

  Right, so if you, if you, if you sit around, and I'll tell you this, if you sit around and dwell on that what if too long, somebody gonna pass you by. You know, so if you sitting over there trying to figure out what if, somebody else over here gonna take your job. Yeah.

• 1:11:22Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, definitely. And that's, and I, and I love that idea. If this happened, what can I do better? This happened, what can I do better? That, that mentality of like, continuous improvement and rededication as opposed to.

• 1:11:35Speaker 01

  Exactly. Instead of what if, it might be what's next. You know what I mean? Cause yeah, you can sit back and chill and me and Kobe every now and then be like, man, we play together, we play together. Yeah, what not, but everybody can't do it, but I can compartmentalize that. I can talk about this what if, but I'm still, you know, I still got my eye on what's, what, what the goal is.

• 1:11:57Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, yeah. I think, I think a lot of us live in what if, but we all have to learn to live in what is. And then what's next, as you said, because that, that's what we have.

• 1:12:07Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:12:07Jay Shetty?

  And, and I love hearing, it's great, but what I appreciate is it's a nuance. It's really subtle what you just said there and I want people to appreciate it because what you're saying is I can feel this way, I can compartmentalize it and I can move on. And I think that's super healthy because I think a lot of us pretend like we don't have what ifs.

• 1:12:27Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:12:27Jay Shetty?

  Like it's easy to, and I love what you just talked about with your injury. It's a lot, it's very easy to walk around like, I've got no regrets. I have no what ifs in my life, but the truth is we all have them.

• 1:12:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:12:36Jay Shetty?

  And if you don't address them, they're gonna come up somewhere.

• 1:12:39Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:12:39Jay Shetty?

  But, but you're saying, no, you have it, compartmentalize it and then focus on what next.

• 1:12:44Speaker 01

  Cause otherwise you're gonna be sitting around telling them high school stories or whatnot that don't nobody care about no more.

• 1:12:50Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, and that, and that happens to all of us. We can all live in nostalgia and walk down memory lane. Uh, Chris, this has been such a, such an honor to sit with you. Is there something that I haven't asked you or something that's in your heart and mind right now? Before I have a couple more questions, but is there anything that I haven't asked you or something that's in your heart and mind right now that you really wanna share that you feel I haven't touched on?

• 1:13:12Speaker 01

  Nah, just the, the appreciation for this and being able to talk and tell my story through the book. And I hope people can really feel that it was, it was really about that. It was about letting people understand and know about me. And make sure that people understand that, look, my family, like anybody else has got their issues. Everybody isn't all like. Loving and all this stuff on each other at all times. I mean, extended family or whatnot, but at the end of the day, it's my family. You know, and as long as you, you know, try to work through different things with you and yours, I promise you, um, you know, you'll appreciate it in the end.

• 1:13:52Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, I love that. Well, Chris, we end every On Purpose episode with a final five. And these ones have to be answered in one word to one sentence maximum. But I always change the rules, so we'll, we'll, we'll try.

• 1:14:07Jay Shetty?

  Chris, what's the best advice? And I'm guessing it's gonna be from grandpa, but what's the best advice you've ever heard or received?

• 1:14:14Speaker 01

  Uh, never delay gratitude. That was actually from my college coach, Skip Prosser.

• 1:14:19Jay Shetty?

  Walk, walk us through that, actually, I wanna hear more.

• 1:14:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, never delay gratitude. And that means, you know, if you're grateful or thankful for anything, be sure and tell people. You know, be sure and tell people like, I don't care where I'm at, what's going on. Whenever I get off the phone with my parents, my wife, my kids or whatnot, it's always, I love you. You know, those times when you say you're gonna tell somebody something in the morning or something like that, like you just never, you absolutely never know what's gonna happen. So never delay gratitude.

• 1:14:49Jay Shetty?

  And, and that was a coach who said that to you. How did, how did that apply to sport? And why, how did, why did he introduce? Because that's so interesting to get from a, like a basketball coach.

• 1:14:58Speaker 01

  Yes, I talk about Coach Prosser a lot in the book.

• 1:15:01Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, of course, yeah.

• 1:15:01Speaker 01

  Cause he's, he's one of the most, three most influential men in my life. And he just had all of these sayings, right? Never delay gratitude. If you can't be on time, be early. Uh, don't be a two to four guy, be a four to two guy. And it was just all these different things. And the reason that never delay gratitude thing, how it related to sports was, it's hard to win a game, right? It's hard to win one game, let alone make it to the playoffs. Like our coach the other night, when we clinched to make it to the playoffs in the locker room, he just told everybody, he said, listen, I'm grateful for you guys. We always talk about gratitude. It's a lot of teams that's going home and going on vacation, but. You know, don't take it for granted that you get a chance to play in the playoffs.

• 1:15:46Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, that's awesome, man. I love that. I think a lot of young athletes who are listening, or if you have kids who are young athletes, like, that's great advice because often that kind of softer touch is missed. Like, you don't think it's there.

• 1:15:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, but when I say never delay gratitude, I also mean for like kids to your parents. Like, when I'm at my basketball camps, I always make all the kids stand up and turn around and tell their parents thanks. Because like I said in the book, my dad spent his entire 401K on me and my brother playing travel basketball. So that's where these kids, they get to go do all these camps and all this stuff and don't delay gratitude. Tell your parents thank you because every kid is not getting that opportunity.

• 1:16:24Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, actually, I want to, I want to take a side note on that because one of the things I was blown away by in your journey is just how much purpose and giving back and service is such a big part of how your, your foundation, the way it's set up, your, when you walk through the, you know, the, the murder of and the death of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter and then how you're dealing with it in the bubble and of course with your role at the time and you talk about how like you changed the messaging three times. They went from peace

• 1:16:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:16:53Jay Shetty?

  to, to, I forgot what the other one was.

• 1:16:55Speaker 01

  Say her name.

• 1:16:56Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, say.

• 1:16:56Speaker 01

  I think it was equality.

• 1:16:57Jay Shetty?

  Equality, yeah, correct. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And, and you shift through it. And I was just thinking, like, there's just so much intention in your life with all the work that you've chosen to do. Uh, what, what's been kind of like a meaningful fruit or result that you've seen that has really?

• 1:17:14Speaker 01

  It's a, it's a lot of different things and I'm fortunate to have an amazing team that works with me or whatnot because obviously I'm dealing with a lot of different things on a given, given day and trying to be the best athlete that I can be, but they're constantly bringing in different things, uh, saying, hey, would you like to support this or could you do this? And, uh, I'm always trying to as much as I can and I think the most valuable thing that I have is time. So even if it's before a game or after a game, given. A young kid, an opportunity to watch me warm up or taking a picture with him and just giving him your undivided attention for for five minutes is one of the most valuable things that you can do with anybody.

• 1:17:54Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, absolutely. And I just, I want to read this out because it's so, it's so powerful. So last March, Chris was the only athlete appointed to President Biden's Advisory Board on historically black colleges and universities. And, and that's been, I mean, that, that's incredible that you've become a spokesperson and a champion for, for that. Is there some of the work there that's resonated or some stories that you think?

• 1:18:17Speaker 01

  Oh, man.

• 1:18:18Jay Shetty?

  It's probably so many.

• 1:18:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm, well, we, we got a lot of different things. What we've done is, uh, me and my brother a few years ago, and then Carmen actually did it too, we went to this business class at Harvard with Anita Elbers, um, a BIMs class, business, education, management, sports, I think. And after going to that class at Harvard, we were like, why isn't this curriculum or course offered at HBCUs? And we got to work and Anita helped with it. And now we have that course at a few different HBCUs.

• 1:18:56Jay Shetty?

  Wow.

• 1:18:56Speaker 01

  Right? So just always trying to figure out how we can make some type of impact.

• 1:19:01Jay Shetty?

  Equality again.

• 1:19:02Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:19:03Jay Shetty?

  Equal access, yeah, equal access to education. It's incredible. I'm glad, I'm glad we went there, actually. Uh, second question, what is the worst advice you've ever heard or received?

• 1:19:12Speaker 01

  Worst advice? Uh, that cheese tastes good. Cheese is disgusting. Like, seriously, I've never had a cheeseburger. Macaroni and cheese, none of that. It's disgusting.

• 1:19:25Jay Shetty?

  I thought you do my cheeses and money.

• 1:19:27Speaker 01

  No, no, no.

• 1:19:28Jay Shetty?

  You're being literal. Yeah, you're being literal. Yeah, yeah, literal. Okay, literal. So you don't like cheese?

• 1:19:32Speaker 01

  At all.

• 1:19:33Jay Shetty?

  At all?

• 1:19:34Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:19:34Jay Shetty?

  Not even on pizza?

• 1:19:35Speaker 01

  No, no, no, no, I'm cool.

• 1:19:37Jay Shetty?

  No cheesy fries? No?

• 1:19:38Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:19:38Jay Shetty?

  Okay, all right.

• 1:19:39Speaker 01

  And my brother, when we used to get home from school, he used to go in the refrigerator and get the block of cheese. What is that? I don't even know.

• 1:19:49Jay Shetty?

  That string cheese, kind of like, I think I know what you're talking about, yeah.

• 1:19:51Speaker 01

  I don't know. He used to have to take plastic off the side and eat it. And doing nothing but putting mucus all in his body, nasty.

• 1:19:59Jay Shetty?

  Also, question number three, how would you define your current purpose?

• 1:20:04Speaker 01

  You know, basketball and that's what I do, not necessarily all of who I am, but just just trying to help make a difference in different aspects of life, whether it be HBCUs, whether it be health and wellness. I think that's been a big thing that I've become passionate about the past four or five years is trying to figure out how to make some of these health things more accessible, right? And make people more aware. Like, I'm always curious about this, that, whatever it may be. I'm so curious about water and the things that people are eating and all these different type things and trying to make sure that other people

• 1:20:46Speaker 01

  become aware like I am. And the other biggest purpose is whatever I have to do for my family, right? Whatever I have to do for my family, especially my wife and kids, is just trying to figure out how I can continue to pour into them.

• 1:21:02Jay Shetty?

  Question number four, what's your reaction to the title Point God?

• 1:21:06Speaker 01

  Oh, man. The Point God thing has been, it's crazy. I don't even know when it started. I don't even know when it started, but it's a privilege, right? Like an honor, basically, that people see you playing the game the right way. Now, it ain't some like worshipping thing or whatnot, but I get really like kind of shy and bashful when people say that or whatnot, but it's cool to be even in that consideration and playing for as long as I played.

• 1:21:40Jay Shetty?

  Fifth and final question, if you could create, we ask this to every guest who's ever been on the show, if you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be? Take your time.

• 1:21:53Speaker 01

  One law.

• 1:21:55Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:55Speaker 01

  That everybody in the world.

• 1:21:56Jay Shetty?

  Everyone in the world had to follow. What would it be in Take Your Time? There's no.

• 1:21:59Speaker 01

  Oh, that's everybody got to get them guns up, man. Everybody, everybody come turn them in. Everybody come turn them in. Everybody. So we got some beef or something like that, or somebody got to do something. You got to fight it out. You got to fight it out. I don't know. That was the first thing came in my head.

• 1:22:16Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, that's awesome. Thank you, Chris Paul, everyone. Chris, incredible memoir, Sixty One. Make sure you go and grab it. We're going to put the link and the comments and the captions across the board. Want you to go read this book. If you're already a fan of Chris, you're going to love it. If you're learning about Chris through this, you're going to love it even more because it's it's truly a remarkable story of love, of sacrifice, of connection, of generations passing on beautiful lessons. You've got like four or five generations in the book being talked about. So I hope you go and grab a copy of Sixty One, Chris Paul. It's been a pleasure and honesty.

• 1:22:49Speaker 01

  I appreciate you, man.

• 1:22:51Jay Shetty?

  You're, you're, you're, you're a real one, man. This is like, this has been one of my favorite interviews, honestly, because you're so present. When I was sitting with your book, it felt that way. And to sit with you and to watch you thinking and to watch you visualize it and to watch you telling it from memory. And then for you to share that story about finding that tape or your father finding that tape, I mean, just really grateful, man. Thank you for this.

• 1:23:12Speaker 01

  Man, I appreciate you, Jay. Thank you.

• 1:23:13Jay Shetty?

  Thank you. Thank you, man. If you love this episode, you will love my interview with Kobe Bryant on how to be strategic and obsessive to find your purpose.

• 1:23:23Kobe Bryant?

  Our children have become less imaginative about how to problem solve and parents and coaches have become more directive and trying to tell them how to behave versus teaching them how to behave.

• 1:23:33Speaker 03

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

• 1:23:50Jay Shetty?

  What would happen if I stopped growing? You starved, you freeze in there. That's what.

• 1:23:54Kobe Bryant?

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:23:57Speaker 03

  I'm not the first then.

• 1:23:58Kobe Bryant?

  Digger, see the trailer online, only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R, under seventeen, not a minute without parent.