Adam Goldston ON: Productivity, Time Management & How To Make Better Decisions

Do you want to meditate daily with me? Go to go.calm.com/onpurpose to get 40% off a Calm Premium Membership. Experience the Daily Jay. Only on Calm Jay Shetty sits down with Adam Goldston to talk about his entrepreneurial journey. It started with what was then considered a wild idea from two 22-year olds and has ended with a brand that has been revolutionized with technology for maximum comfort and performance. Adam’s story is one that truly is inspirational for he isn’t just a businessman but a person who has learned to turn negativity into opportunities and creativity. Adam Goldston, together with his brother Ryan, founded Athletic Propulsion Labs (APL) at the age of 22. As former two sport collegiate athletes, playing both basketball and football at the University of Southern California, Adam and Ryan created APL with a vision to make revolutionary products symbolizing the intersection of luxury and performance. Today APL is globally recognized as a world leader in Men’s and Women’s athletic footwear and apparel. 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/ What to Listen For: 00:00 Intro 04:24 You always focus on where you want to be 11:27 Changing your environment when you believe you need to 16:31 Hearing important things at the right moment and then doing it 23:17 Exposure to footwear technology since childhood 28:34 Embracing the negative and turning it into a positive 33:04 When faced with negative emotions, embrace and process it 35:55 When making decisions, anchor them in clear deliverables 42:56 Doing things that we don't truthfully believe in 46:29 Three things to do to successfully turn an idea into a business 48:10 Knowing what schedule works best for you 56:04 Redefining effectiveness and efficiency 59:15 Leaving your comfort zone for inspiration and creativity 01:05:16 Adam on Final Five Episode Resources Athletic Propulsion Labs Adam Goldston | Instagram Adam Goldston | LinkedIn Adam Goldston | Twitter 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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• 0:44Jay Shetty?

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• 1:28Jay Shetty?

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• 2:13Jay Shetty?

  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 nutrition your body needs. And alongside a proper diet, AG1 Next Gen meets 94% of nutrient requirements and it's clinically shown to enrich the gut microbiome. For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro

• 2:55Jay Shetty?

  at drinkag1.com/onpurpose. That's drinkag1.com/onpurpose.

• 3:04Speaker 01

  You think of emotion, you think you either have to suppress it or you have to embrace it. And I think there's a way in which you can experience it internally, but you don't have to express it externally. We think through it, we process it, and then we say and do what we intend to do, not what we are doing in terms of a reaction. And I think like, if you control your emotions, you're very powerful. If you're controlled by your emotions, you're not as powerful.

• 3:39Jay Shetty?

  Hey, everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world. Thanks to each and every single one of you who come back every week to listen, learn, and grow. Now, you know that I'm always out to find interesting people, fascinating stories, people who you may or may not know, but have made really interesting, powerful decisions that we can all learn from. And today's guest is... Is a friend of mine, someone that I bumped into very recently and we just connected instantly. But at the same time, he's had years of experience as an entrepreneur. I'm speaking about none other than Adam Goldston, who's the co-founder of LA-based Athletic Propulsion Labs, or APL as they're known.

• 4:23Jay Shetty?

  And he and his twin brother Ryan, who were former sport collegiate athletes, played both basketball and football at the University of Southern California. And they envisioned creating a company that would provide revolutionary products, symbolizing the ultimate intersection, and this is what I love, of luxury and performance. Today, Adam and Ryan are recognized as accomplished inventors with numerous US and foreign patents, including APL's revolutionary load and launch technology. And recently, they were named two of the 100 most intriguing entrepreneurs of 2020 by Goldman Sachs.

• 5:03Jay Shetty?

  Please welcome to the show my friend and amazing entrepreneur, Adam Goldston. Adam, thank you for being here, man.

• 5:10Speaker 01

  Jay, thanks for having me. I'm super excited. I've been a long time listener, obviously we're friends. But it's funny because your podcast is one of the only ones that I really listen to and where I think like where I actively listen. Because I think there's a difference between passively listening to something, actively listening. And it's so funny that so many of the people, big and smaller, or like not smaller, but like famous and just more specialized in their avenue, and people that have been important to my, to my personal journey. So like when I listen, I listen to the Robert Greene one. And the first book is in my, I'd say like adult life that I ever put like real intention into reading,

• 5:53Speaker 01

  was 48 Laws of Power. And I read it in a moment, like I think like one of the key things in my personal story is that like I have gotten lucky at key specific moments of my life through a decision that I made. And I was sick with pneumonia and I read Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power. And there wouldn't have been another moment where I would have been, again, at home and had the ability to dive into something at such a deep level, but. And I think the way he talks about power in like just in the past is people think of it as a negative thing. But there's positive, there's definite positives if you use it to not only help yourself, but help others. And so that was what my takeaway was, and it was again, this was years ago, but that was what my takeaway was.

• 6:36Speaker 01

  And so I just started being more active, more intentional in the way I was thinking about things. And so when I saw that you had him and then you've had other key people that I that I've definitely taken pieces of their journey and applied it to mine. Like I just, I love that because you are like the company that you keep. So I think that that was like, that was cool for me to see the other day.

• 6:56Jay Shetty?

  I'm so grateful, man. And you know, we've had so many mutual friends over the last few years who've tried to connect us. And last year it finally happened. It was like Deepika was trying to connect us and then Audrey was trying to connect us. And it finally happened and we ended up last year at a pumpkin patch. Uh, I think it was just before Halloween or something like that.

• 7:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:15Jay Shetty?

  And we just had like the best conversation. I, I walked away going, I need to spend a lot more time with that guy. So I'm so glad that, you know, we're getting to do this and that we get to mine your mind today and really get inside there. And I want to start with, actually, I watched your short film with Rolls Royce. And what stood out for me was when you guys talked about how the journey is what defines greatness and not the destination. Now that's an idea that we're told and we've heard again and again and again. But when you said it, not only did I believe it, I also understood that you're applying it.

• 7:53Jay Shetty?

  And I'd love to hear how you've been trying to apply that in your journey as you are still growing towards an incredible destination.

• 8:03Speaker 01

  So I think that one of the key things is it wasn't always, that wasn't always my thought and that wasn't always Ryan and I's thought. So I think it's, it's something that we've learned along the journey. And I mean, to, to backtrack a little bit, I think when you're starting anything, especially when you started at a younger age, as Ryan and I did. We started APL when we were in college, you focus a lot on. Where you want to end up, you don't necessarily always think about enjoying the ride and enjoying the journey to get there. And I think that, again, like, listening to your podcast and in the things and the intentions that you that you think about, that's been really important to the way that Ryan and I were. So when we started off on our journey, you have these

• 8:46Speaker 01

  goals, these grand ambitions, we all do, whether it's it's your your day to day life, or your personal life, or what you're doing in your profession, you have these milestones that you're hoping for, that you're wishing for, that you believe can happen. And a lot of times, you don't think about what you're doing day in and day out, and appreciating what you're doing day in and day out, and how those will get you to where you want to go. And so I think that as Ryan and I started to achieve more, as we really started to go further in this journey, a lot of it was happening really quickly, even though we were years in. And we cut not, we didn't take it for granted, but we took the achievements,

• 9:27Speaker 01

  took the the successes, not just like financial, but just successes as as a business, as a brand, and individually. And we said, we need to use this to get to the next thing, we need to use this to get to the next thing. I think there was a moment in time, probably 2016, where Ryan and I, we we had got this big award, we we were named Forbes 30 Under 30, is is there's a lot of other things that started going our way. And one thing we hadn't been great at was celebrating the small daily victories, and giving ourselves in our team the momentum to go to the next thing, instead of just focusing on moving to the next point. And so I think we had to have that realization where we we were doing so many things, we

• 10:12Speaker 01

  were achieving so much, but we didn't have the internal appreciation for what was happening every single day. It just became so consistent that

• 10:23Speaker 01

  It became normal and I think that's, that's, that's not positive. I think you need to appreciate your, your daily journey. You need to appreciate the people around you, what they're contributing to it. And I think that that was a key change for us. And so at that moment in time, Ryan and I, and again, key people around us, we made a clear decision that we are going to appreciate what we're doing every single day. We're going to stay inspired by what we want to do in the future. But if you, there is a way to exist mentally in the current plan and in the future plan. And I think there's, there's a delicate balance. And I think for us, we had in the beginning, we didn't have that many victories.

• 11:04Speaker 01

  And so you had to constantly put in the work, put in the repetition to get that one. But then one of the other key aspects of my story is compounding. And as you get, as you get one thing, the next thing comes typically quicker. Then the next one comes quicker, the next one comes quicker. And so for us, we tried to slow down the focus on the ultimate endpoint. Because you are probably going to get there regardless of what your goals are. You put in the effort, you put in the work and you get lucky. You will end up reaching these points. But if you're only focused on that one moment in time, it's so finite. And you're not appreciating the, the longer term, which is actually the day to day and the journey.

• 11:49Speaker 01

  It's not going to be a win. It's just going to be another accomplishment or milestone, but it won't feel the same. And I think that when we decided to put happiness before success and a, and a measurement for success and that daily happiness, and I know you can't be happy a hundred percent of the time, every single day. And, and the ups and downs do make those other things feel greater. But if you can think every day that I want to appreciate this journey and what I'm doing today will get me to where I'm going tomorrow. And if I appreciate it today, I will appreciate it tomorrow. And you make those clear, conscious decisions. You will feel much better about your journey and you will feel much better about your destination. But you spend much more time on the journey than you do at the destination.

• 12:32Speaker 01

  So if you can appreciate the longer part, the part at the end will feel even better. And I think the only way that we were able to realize that was by not realizing that earlier. And so, um, but it's like anything, it's, it's you learn as you go. And if you keep an open mind and you can take feedback and you can look at others and, and see that you're inspired by what they're doing, what they've learned. And then how can I take little pieces that and apply it to, to what I'm doing? And I, and I saw other people that were enjoying simpler things than I was and, and I appreciated that. And so I said, there's a way that I need to implement that into my day life as did Ryan and the rest of the team. And I mean, we feel great about what we do. And I think that's the most important thing.

• 13:14Speaker 01

  And that's the key to enjoying the journey, which helps you enjoy the destination even more.

• 13:18Jay Shetty?

  I think that's, that was such a comprehensive answer because like I said, it's a statement we've heard. It's a statement we've seen, but I really appreciate your interpretation of that and how practical you've made it. Because I feel the same way. I always say to people like winning the award or getting the title. That's 1% of the journey, like that amount of time you spend on stage is like 30 seconds long.

• 13:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:46Jay Shetty?

  And, and those 30 seconds, it took like three years, 30 years, you know, to get to that three seconds or 30 seconds of time that you spent receiving an award. And you're, you're spot on. Like if you don't feel passionate when you wake up every morning to do what you're doing. Can you take me back, Adam? I want to go back. What I love about this conversation is I'm discovering you. I think the world is discovering you. I, I know me and my friends are massive fans of APL. I, I had a ton of your shoes before I even knew you. Not only are they comfortable, they look fantastic. The store at the Grove is one of my favorite stores just generally to walk into, uh, which was where I was first introduced to APL. Uh, but let's go back to your childhood. I'm intrigued by.

• 14:32Jay Shetty?

  Can you think about a pivotal moment that happened while you were young? That has framed who you are today? Was there a particular experience, maybe with a parent, with a friend? Anyone in your life? Something someone said, something someone did? That has created part of who you are today that you feel has been so integral in your life? Positive or negative, or, you know, healthy or unhealthy?

• 14:56Speaker 01

  I mean, I think, I think there's a lot of things, so it's hard to point to one. I think one thing I realized early on, and I, I know this isn't applicable to most because they aren't twins. But, and so I'll choose one that's more applicable to other people. But I realized early on, as did my brother, that we had a unique competitive advantage. That there was two of us with almost identical points of view, but with unique characteristics that complement one another. So we realized that really early on. And again, like a lot of times with kids, peer pressure is something that becomes really, really difficult. And because there was two of us and there's typically one other person, we could not be pressured to move one way.

• 15:40Speaker 01

  So I think like that played a role in terms of like building internal character. But I think something that, um, that was key to my journey is I've always believed, always, now as an adult, but I think this because of a kid, was that you can turn a negative situation into a positive if you change your perspective on the negative and try to skew it more positive. And so I guess one real important example is when I was a kid, I didn't do great in school and I was always an incredible athlete, but I did not do the greatest in school. And it wasn't because I didn't have the intellect, but it's because I wasn't in the right,

• 16:23Speaker 01

  I, it wasn't important to me in the situation that I was in. So I was at this one school and I was not doing very well. I was doing great at sports, but I wasn't doing very well as a student. And I felt like the environment wasn't the right one for me because it just, it was too, it was too small. I needed to, I needed to be able to become more of myself. I always had this like nagging self-confidence that I knew where if I trusted myself and I listened to myself, I could make the most of it. And so. Middle of my ninth grade year, my parents basically gave me the opportunity to transfer to a school that wasn't as good of a school, but it was, it was, it was, it was more diverse.

• 17:07Speaker 01

  It had a greater opportunity for educational and athletic success. And I changed my environment. And again, like one thing that's been important to our journey is changing your environment. When you believe you need to. And so that gave me the ability to go to a school in a different part of the city. In a different environment. And then I was able to learn at a better rate. I was able to do sports at a much higher level. And I believed in myself because it's, it's hard switching schools in the middle of the year. Making, trying to make all new friends and things of that nature. And so I think like the key learning point from that is like, if you get out of your comfort zone and you become comfortable with the uncomfortable.

• 17:47Speaker 01

  You may discover something in yourself that you never knew you could do, or take it to a level that you, that you didn't think was possible. And so for me, that was a really big one. And I think it was, if that doesn't happen, I'm not here today. And so I think that movement in the middle of my ninth grade year. I was a young man, I'm fourteen, fifteen years old, but that gave me the confidence to try uncomfortable situations, make the most of it. And then they may actually end up benefiting you much more than you ever could have thought. So that was, I think as a kid, something that um, went a really, really, really long way.

• 18:21Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, that's such a great insight because you almost don't get to reap the rewards of that up until now, like much later on.

• 18:30Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 18:30Jay Shetty?

  In that moment, you're just like, this is the worst thing that could have ever happened to me, right? And, and I, and I really do love that you reflected on that moment in that way because I find that anytime I ask someone that question, rarely do they pick something good that happened, right? It's like, people never say, oh, when I was fifteen, I had the best, you know, it's, it's always like, well, this went wrong, or this changed and this shifted. And I think it's fascinating to hear that in your journey too. Now, when you and your brother, and I love, by the way, I love the twins answer. I love the twins answer. So I, it doesn't matter that we can't relate. We all want to relate. Like we're like, oh, that's so cool. Like, you know, that's, that's how I felt.

• 19:11Jay Shetty?

  When you have this idea for APL, and I want to talk about the idea, but what I'm really interested by is also how lots of people start stuff at college or at school. And it kind of fizzles out by the time you graduate and then you go on to get a real job. And you get real responsibilities and you wear a real suit, right? Like that kind of becomes the journey that most people go on. What I'm fascinated by is when you, when you come up with this idea, what did it take to go from this is cool to this is real? And, and what was that journey like? So tell us about the ideation, but then tell us about how this went from like, this is cool.

• 19:52Jay Shetty?

  We're doing something interesting to this is actually real and this is what we're going to commit time to.

• 19:58Speaker 01

  So I think, I think one of the important things about Ryan and I is that if somebody tells us we're not able to do something, that's essentially just gasoline to, to what we have to do. So I think Ryan used APL as his business plan in school and, and he didn't even get top 10. So I, I don't remember what the grade is, he still has it, but like he didn't even get top 10. They didn't believe in it and it's not because they didn't think it was a good idea. It's because they didn't think that we could execute on the vision the way that we did. And so I think one of the things I used to have as, as a kid and when I was in college,

• 20:39Speaker 01

  I don't have it anymore because it's more so like a running tally that I keep in my mind is I would have this list of things that we had to do and that I wanted to do. Top thing on my list I never achieved, which was making an MBA. Everything else I've done since then. But I think when thinking about the idea and execution, one thing I heard, and again, I think one of the parts of my story that's important is I've heard important things at the right moment in time and I've listened to it. And I heard the easiest way to get where you're going is one step at a time. And so when I was in college and when Ryan and I were, and we were thinking through the idea. One of the things, again, back to the journey aspect is you think of where you want to go,

• 21:23Speaker 01

  but you don't necessarily usually think of the steps you need to take in the interim to get there. And so Ryan was lucky enough that when he was in this program and people were telling us this wasn't a good idea, it's not going to work. We had to think deeper through the idea, deeper through the execution. And I mean, we started as a direct to consumer brand in 2010. So it's like in 2010, people were not going direct to consumer, but we didn't have the resources. And I think one of the things that a lot of people think when they're creating something is everybody's paying attention to me. If I fail, everyone's going to see it. But most of the time, everybody else is focused on themselves and they're not really concerned with what you're doing.

• 22:04Speaker 01

  So if you focus on yourself, you focus on what you're doing and you try something. If you mess up, there's a way to recover it and there's a way to keep moving forward. You learn from it, you won't make the same mistake again. And so for us, like we spent so much time working on this technology. We wanted to build a shoe around it. And one thing we did, and I think this is what helped us be successful and go from idea to execution, is again, most people, when they're creating something, they are scared to ask for help typically. And they don't go to the highest level of help. They try to go to the lowest level because they think somebody that's close to me will help me, not somebody at the top somewhere.

• 22:45Speaker 01

  And so what Ryan and I believed is if we went to the largest people possible and said, we have this amazing idea, it's remarkable, we can execute on this, we will put the work and do it. Can you help us? And they said, yes, we went to sneaker factory that had no business saying yes to us. But they thought, they loved the idea, they thought it was unique. And so from there, we were able to implement what we wanted to do, be able to develop things that typically you would not be able to. And so I think, again, like the nugget of our journey, because we make shoes, so most people aren't going to make shoes. And that's the part that's different is that we believe that if you ask people for help and you're willing to accept

• 23:29Speaker 01

  their help and you go to somebody that typically you wouldn't think would say yes, and you give them the opportunity to help you, people inherently want to help. And so I think when you're thinking about executing something, you shouldn't, you gotta, you have to think big. You can, it's easier to work your way down than it is to work your way up. And so that was the way that we looked at it. And again, it's just, we had an idea of how we wanted to execute it. We asked the right questions to people. And I, we didn't have this idea of you have to have a specific mentor. We believe that you could have specific mentors for specific things. So if I need help with production, I would ask a production person. If I needed help with logistics, I would ask a logistics person. If I needed help with accounting, I would ask an accounting person. But there's

• 24:13Speaker 01

  not an end all be all for each thing. So that was really what the, a point of difference for us was we were able to ask help. We had amazing people that were around us when, in that moment in time, and we just had pure determination. Like, we were, we were obsessed with taking this idea and executing it, and we were going to do whatever it took. And since we didn't have any investors, we had to do it ourselves. And so I think, and we weren't scared to fail. Like, that's, that's another thing is that there's, there's a real difference between fear and danger. And, and when you're starting an idea, most, it's all fear. It's not, it's not dangerous. It's, you're scared of it. So you just have to conquer that emotion, and you can learn most things if you ask questions to the right people.

• 24:55Jay Shetty?

  Adam, you are just dropping, dropping wisdom everywhere. I mean, there, there's so many things in that that I need to now break down. So first of all, everyone who's listening, you need to get your notebook out right now and, and write stuff that Adam is saying down because there are so many things, or you're gonna have to listen to this episode twice. So it's up to you. You either listen to the episode twice, or you get a notebook out right now. The idea that there's a difference between fear and danger, what a great way to clarify how we experience it. That is, that's just brilliant. Like, I've, I've never heard it been put in that way before. And I think that that is such great language to help us realize we react as if we're in danger, but actually we're in fear. And, and that's

• 25:37Jay Shetty?

  where, that's where things start to go wrong. So I thought that was brilliant. The other thing that you mentioned that I really am resonating with, and it was kind of in there, and I think it's an underrated part of entrepreneurship, is that you were trying, and you have of course now, but at the time, you were trying to create technology. Like, there was an engineering aspect. It wasn't just, we wanna make cool stuff and trendy stuff and fatty stuff. It was like, no, we're actually working on something. And I find that one of the most underrated things about entrepreneurship is people with deep skill sets and having a skill, whether it's innovation, technology, engineering, speaking, marketing,

• 26:20Jay Shetty?

  whatever it may be. Talk to me a bit about where did you learn about technology when it comes to athletics? Because that to me is a really different way to look at product creation, as opposed to just saying, we wanna make stuff that looks good. This episode is brought to you by Orange Theory Fitness. One of the best investments you can make is in your own strength. The choices you make today can help shape how you feel for years to come. Orange Theory Fitness provides a one-hour workout to build strength, burn fat, and build muscle with an expert coach guiding you every step of the way. Head to orangetheory.com/onpurpose to learn more and get your first class free.

• 27:01Jay Shetty?

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• 27:46Jay Shetty?

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• 28:02Jay Shetty?

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• 28:45Jay Shetty?

  That's indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.

• 28:54Speaker 01

  So back to, I think, a unique competitive advantage. And since we don't have 10 hours, I didn't want to give you the full background. But as a kid, my dad worked in the footwear industry and he actually helped. Like, one of the key parts to my story is he helped create the LA Gear lighted shoes. And so my brother and I were the first product testers ever for the LA Gear lighted shoes. And he brought them home and he gave them to us. And that day, we gave him feedback on, and we're five years old. Give him feedback on how to try to make the shoes better. And obviously, it's, we're not giving him technical feedback at five, but we're, we're telling him, you should move the lights from the back to the side of the shoe so we can see our lights.

• 29:38Speaker 01

  But the, the technical aspect of it is, from a very, very, very young age. My dad would bring us to the office and would bring us into the tech technology line reviews, would bring us into the innovation area and we would see how to engineer specific footwear product. So I think, again, it wasn't that Ryan and I woke up one day and decided that we wanted to engineer a technology that would instantly make you jump higher. We had been obsessed with footwear-specific technology since we were five years old. And again, when you're talking, you asked earlier about key moments in my childhood, my dad as a kid showed me what was possible, not saying, "Come here and

• 30:20Speaker 01

  look at this," but through ideas. And I think like that's the greatest type of inspiration you can get for anybody, not just from a parent, but from anyone, is showing somebody that something is possible through their own ideas and execution. So we took an interest to developing footwear technologies from an age of five years old. Obviously, there was a lot of knowledge that needed to come afterwards and took years to get. And we weren't eight-year-old whiz kids. We were eight-year-old with ideas. But as you become older, as you become smarter, you focus on the things that are important to you. And sports and technology, and specifically footwear-based technologies, were things that were always important to us. So I think that

• 31:03Speaker 01

  the learning point about that for entrepreneurs is that everybody, regardless of what you do, has a predisposition to a specific thing that they care about, that they're passionate about, and they could focus on. If you can learn enough information, you can figure out how to make something better. And that was basically the basis for how we did it, is that we believed that we could make a shoe that were in a technology that would do what we wanted to do. We just had to learn the basis behind the fundamentals. And that's what we did, and that's how we focused on it. That's how we learned it. And to this day, I continue to learn so much, not only from our own exploration into footwear, but from other people, what they teach us and things they bring to the table. And I think that I learned at a really, really young

• 31:48Speaker 01

  age. And I think it's, again, it's the fact that My dad and the team listened to our idea and then I saw it actually come into life. And so I think seeing what's possible and knowing that if you're passionate about something, you don't have to be a scientist to necessarily figure it out. You just have to be a creative engineer. And I think like, that's a lot of really successful entrepreneurs. It's not that they know something about everything. It's that they know a lot about a specific area. And for us, like, that's, it's always been our passion. We've, and we've always loved technology and we've always loved innovation and pushing what's possible. And I think that regardless of what your avenue is, even if you're not creating product, if you're creating content, if you're

• 32:29Speaker 01

  creating anything, like, there's a way to be innovative in it and there's a way to, to push it to as far as you possibly can.

• 32:37Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, I'm so glad you shared that detail because to me, that's the part that I love my community really getting close to because when you've been that close to something since you're five years old and you've taken an interest, that closeness has turned into a passion and then it's turned into your own cause. That's what it takes. Like, that, that's what it takes. Like, it takes that obsession, that absorption, that you're immersed in this whole world. It's not like one day you wake up and you have a random idea to go and create something, right? And I think often, we don't give ourselves the time to get close to something and deeply immersed in it and

• 33:20Jay Shetty?

  experience it. And we're, we're looking for like, I don't know what I'm passionate about. Like, I don't know what my purpose is. I don't know what I'm excited about. But that's because we're trying to hope that it's just going to miraculously appear. And I love that idea that actually, well, no, this has been a part of our life. Now, when we talk about technology, your load and launch technology became the first banned shoe in the NBA history, right? And that is just so, like, that is, I don't know if there's anything cooler than that. Like, to get, I don't know if it's better to get into the NBA or get, to get in and get banned by, like, to get banned by the NBA. To me, that sounds like the coolest story ever. But as a company, it can also be difficult. I want to hear. What was that like to find out? Like, what was that like as an experience? Because that's not common.

• 34:05Jay Shetty?

  Like, I don't hear stories like that all the time.

• 34:08Speaker 01

  So I think the unique part about that is that to this day, we've never raised a dollar of outside capital. We own a hundred percent of the business. And at that moment in time, we had zero dollars. And when I mean zero, we had zero dollars for marketing. And so we looked at it as the NBA is the greatest basketball organization in the world. It's top tier. And when you think about leagues, it's top tier. And so the dream when you're creating a product for a specific sport is you want it to be at the top tier with the best people. And the fact that the NBA said that it's too good because it provides a wear with undue competitive advantage.

• 34:51Speaker 01

  That sounds really positive when you frame it that way. But if you look at it from the other side of the coin saying the best basketball players in the world can't wear your product. That sounds negative. And so the way that we looked at it is that this is a very unique opportunity where we can wholeheartedly embrace it or we can fight it with everything that we have, which wasn't much at the time. And we said, let's embrace this. Let's turn this negative into a positive. Let's say banned by the NBA. The reason is it instantly makes you jump higher and they can't wear it because it's so good. And so there's a way that, again, you change your perspective on something. You take a negative, you make it a positive. Ends up becoming the best thing that ever happened to us.

• 35:34Speaker 01

  When it happened, number one news story in the world, number two, three and 17 most searched terms on Google, over a million articles written or posted about it within 10 days. We sold nine months' worth of inventory in three days, which is important because we're self-financed, no outside investors. There's three of us in a room that's 60 square feet when we find this out. So we basically find out that the world-leading basketball organization isn't allowing our product because it provides a wear with an undue competitive advantage. So I think at first, there's that huge shock, like. Oh, man, this is insane. Like, what do we do? And then instantly, we thought we need to lean into this.

• 36:14Speaker 01

  We need to embrace this. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We can make this negative feel positive. And that's exactly what we did. And again, I think one thing that made it special, too, is that if we would have fought it, I think the NBA would have fought us. But the fact that we embraced it made them embrace us. Like, David Sterns passed away, but he went on a show, I think, like that night and said, like, we're looking into the shoe that instantly makes you jump higher, might even make me dunk. And like the way that he said it, it was playful, even though this was a very serious thing that they weren't allowing people to wear it. But I think the fact that we leaned into it and we embraced this thing that could have been negative,

• 36:54Speaker 01

  changed the perspective of it, made it positive, and it made the people that were essentially saying no, lean into it and embrace it as well. So it ended up being a huge win for all of us. I actually think it was the only time, obviously, it's changed since that the NBA was the number one trending topic on Twitter, when there wasn't like a number one trending sports organization on Twitter, when there wasn't another thing. So I think that they saw that there was value in the social equity that came along with it. We leaned into a negative, made it positive. We felt positive about it. We reaped the benefits of it because we sold the product. And then the NBA also got the reward from it. So I think all in all, it was just, it was a tremendous experience. And it literally laid the groundwork for where we are today.

• 37:39Speaker 01

  If that doesn't happen again, I mean, one of the key things, sorry, if that doesn't happen, I don't know where we end up today. And we made the most of a negative and turned it into a positive.

• 37:49Jay Shetty?

  That's a true win, win, win. And what I find so fascinating about it is that this is kind of like a recurring pattern in your life. Like, your superpower is the ability to transform a negative into a positive and to be able to pivot. Like, that's really a superpower, because even today, You don't make basketball shoes, even that's what you started making. Like, there's just another pivot, right? There's expansion, there's growth. Like, I find that that's sometimes the hardest thing to do. And going back to what you said before is, the only thing you never got to do was make in the NBA. There's another pivot there as well. Now, Anna, tell me, how, how good were you? How serious were you? And how close were you?

• 38:31Speaker 01

  Well, so, I mean, I was a Division One athlete. I played basketball at USC. I think I had a rude awakening when I got to college that I wasn't gonna make the NBA. Cause a few of my teammates did make the NBA and I realized that they were much better than I was and that I wasn't gonna be able to get there. But I think, too, one of the points that you were just making, and it's important to our journey, is that typically, when you think of emotions, and like this turning negatives into positives, you think of emotion, you think you either have to suppress it, or you have to embrace it. And I think there's a way in which you can experience it internally, but you don't have to express it externally. And so I think like, what we've done in these negative situations is,

• 39:14Speaker 01

  we think through it, we process it, and then we say and do what we intend to do, not what we are doing in terms of a reaction. And I think like, for me, that's been super important to my journey. It's been super important for, for Ryan and I, and something that, again, it became a superpower. Because if you control your emotions, you're very powerful. If you're controlled by your emotions, you're not as powerful. And so I think like, that was something that we learned really early on. But to your basketball question, I wish I would, it could have been six foot ten and had, had a different journey in terms of that, but everything works out the way that it's supposed to. So, if I would have made the NBA, I probably wouldn't be on your podcast here today.

• 39:57Speaker 01

  So, I'm, I'm thankful for the journey that I've had.

• 40:01Jay Shetty?

  Oh yeah, no, I mean, maybe you would. We've had some, I'm trying to think now, who have we had from the NBA? We've had-

• 40:06Speaker 01

  You had Dwayne Wade on, I know that.

• 40:08Jay Shetty?

  I just interviewed Dwayne, who was amazing. We had Dennis Rodman on a couple of years ago, which was just fascinating conversation. Obviously thankful to have had the opportunity to sit with Kobe Bryant. So, so maybe Adam, maybe, maybe it would have happened that way too. We would have been brought, we would have been brought together either way. But no, I, I really appreciate this message, this pattern that's coming out through your whole journey of pivoting, of, of looking for, being able to turn a situation, something that looks like a failure or looks like a rejection and being able to turn that into a win. And sure, it's easy to celebrate that now, but you know, you can only imagine when the news is

• 40:51Jay Shetty?

  the biggest organization in the world that is your target market to help promote and propel this brand is saying you're not allowed. And that as, as a product creator can be really, really challenging. You know, when you think about, it's almost like saying, you know, this company's not going to stock your thing or we're not going to allow, you know, and so I, I love the way that I'm hearing this through your journey and how it's constantly shifted. I want to hear, how do you and your brother make decisions? Have you created like a, because when I even met you, what I, what I experienced from you is you're very methodical, strategic, very thoughtful. It's not, you know, it's not random. This isn't just some random luck story.

• 41:33Jay Shetty?

  And, and I really appreciate that because I really admire conscious, intentional thinkers. Can you walk me through how you and your brother make decisions when it comes to the business? And then diving into things like recruitment and leadership, any of those areas that you want to dive into and stories you want to share of how have you made good decisions and what is your decision-making process?

• 41:55Speaker 01

  So I think again to one of the, speaking to the podcast, when you had Ray Dalio on, I mean, the key to his entire success is, is principles. And I think that a lot of times, when you think back, think back on, on the things that you love the most, your most amazing journeys, your, your best experiences, they're usually spontaneous things.

• 42:19Speaker 01

  The best ability to be spontaneous is when you have a clear and methodical approach to how you make decisions because it gives you a lot of room to be spontaneous because you know you can stay within this realm. And so for Ryan and I, when we think about how we're making decisions, we anchor them in clear deliverables that we have to achieve. And so I think like a lot of times when people want to make decisions, they they try to make something for the moment, but they don't think of where that's going to lead them. And so back to thinking of the entire journey and the destination, I think you need to know when you're making, this is a key decision. It's not like daily what you're going to have for breakfast, but like key long-term decisions is

• 43:03Speaker 01

  you need to know where does this lead you and where do you want it to lead you? What's the intention behind making this decision? And so I think that for us has been something that's been really, really important is that Michael Burke, who's the CEO of Louis Vuitton, he gave me some of the best advice that I ever had. And which is you need to think about, do you want to do something for the moment? Or do you want to do something to be dynastic? And he took, again, he gave this advice to us at the right moment in time. We heard it, this is back, I think, 2016. And Ryan and I always wanted to build something dynastic. And so if you want to build something dynastic and you want to bring people along for that journey, you have to make decisions and have the approach for the long term.

• 43:49Speaker 01

  You can't do it for the immediate. And so all of the decisions that we make are based on building essentially this house. If you want to build a house, you have to have a solid foundation. If you don't have a solid foundation, it doesn't matter what you put on top of it because it won't last. And so the way that we look at it is every decision we make is another brick in building this house. And so if you have one bad brick, you can replace it. But if you're constantly laying bad bricks and you're saying, oh, these are the best ones that I can get right now, but it may not last for the long term, you're going to have to eventually replace it. And so the way that Ryan and I look at it is make fewer decisions, but make better decisions. And Take more time, and there's nothing wrong with saying no.

• 44:33Speaker 01

  Like, you say no ninety-nine times so that you can say yes the hundredth time. And that hundredth time is worth more than a hundred X what you did if you would have said yes all of those other times. So when we're thinking about decisions, it's really keeping that at the heart of it, is that where are we trying to go? Why are we trying to go here? How are we gonna get there? And why should we say yes to this? And like, if you do that and you stand behind each of your decisions, you'll be proud of your decisions. And then you will typically make the right ones for yourself. You can't be right a hundred percent of the time. And you shouldn't hold yourself to that standard. And it's irrational to do so. But if you feel confident in your decisions, the intention was right, and the people around you feel great about it,

• 45:18Speaker 01

  you will typically make the right decision. And I think like, one of the things that Ryan and I have always tried to do is make difficult things as simple as possible, which means move the excess. You're thinking about a really challenging situation. Should I go here? Should I do this? In large scenarios. And take away all of the excess from the decision. What's at the core of the problem? What's at the core of why you wanna do this? And then evaluate that and be transparent and honest with yourself. Like, a lot of times, people don't wanna be honest with themselves. They build up these other things and they take on these external factors and say like, I'm doing this for other people. And they're not really being transparent with themselves. But you inherently know what you should do.

• 46:03Speaker 01

  And you're gonna make some wrong decisions along the road. And it's okay to make a wrong decision if the intention was right. But you don't wanna make intentional wrong decisions. And like, people do that all the time and they don't talk about it. And so I think, again, that's something we discovered early on in the thought-making process and the decision process is if we feel confident and the intention is right, and it's for the long term, it's in line with the dynastic approach, and the people around us will... Embrace it and that's the right decision. And sometimes it's simple, it's much more simple than you think it is. And I mean, we're complex creatures, so we can make any simple idea very complex.

• 46:44Speaker 01

  I mean, I've, I've listened to enough of your podcasts and other people that are leaders in the space. And it's like, the whole goal with, whether it's meditation or anything else that you're doing is you want to try and simplify the experience because that's when you get most of your clarity. And so when you're thinking through the decision-making process, that's what you try to do is try to make it as clear as possible. The easiest way to do so is to make it as simple as possible.

• 47:09Jay Shetty?

  Adam, masterclass in decision-making right there. I mean, that, that was brilliant. I, I, I, I love this because you know, it's these things are just thrown around and I can tell that how much grappling you've done with the idea and how you've simplified the idea for yourself. And you're, you're so right that the reason why decision-making often feels so hard is we're allowing noise in and distractions. And then we're not really asking the right questions. We're not asking the right people. We're looking at it from the wrong direction. I loved something you said there. You said that people sometimes make intentionally wrong decisions. Can you explain and expand on that a little bit more about how we do that? I read an amazing book when I was like, I think I was like 16, 17 years old and I read a book

• 47:52Jay Shetty?

  called Predictably Irrational by Dan O'Reilly. He's one of my favorite authors. And he wrote a book talking about how humans make predictably irrational decisions all the time. And for

• 48:04Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 48:04Jay Shetty?

  And, and I read that book and I was like, no way. I thought I was smart. And then you read that book and you realize, wait a minute, you're not as smart as you think you are. Because so many decisions are the way things are presented and what you miss. Tell me about what you meant when you said we make intentionally wrong decisions and, and how we end up there. Because sometimes I think we're not good at making the right decisions because we don't know where we go wrong.

• 48:28Speaker 01

  Well, so I think a lot of times it's you don't know why you are making the decision. So most of the time, people can be pressured, and again, this is back to like a peer pressure situation. Is that you can be pressured into making a decision and you at your core. And know that this is not the right decision, but you believe that you need to make this decision. And so you, in every instance, you can't make the right decision. So that's not what I'm trying to say. But there's, we can all point to moments in our lives when we've done it. Where we said yes to something, or we do something, knowing we should not do it. There, there's so many things that happen because of that.

• 49:08Speaker 01

  And there's so many results of that that compound and become worse and worse and worse. Because we do these things that we don't truthfully believe in. And know that, that they're not right for us to do. And so I think a lot of times. Think back to your worst decisions, or the decisions that people make that they're not necessarily proud of. Or even just the wrong decision. They knew what the right one was. They intentionally ignored it because they thought somebody might be upset if I say yes. Or it's usually they're making it for someone else. They're not making it for themselves. So they don't put theirself at the center of this decision. They're putting others there. And you can't help other people if you can't help yourself. And so I, I know it's, it's a difficult thing and you can't apply it to every situation.

• 49:53Speaker 01

  But I learned really, I'd say early on, that if I'm in a place of strength and I'm in a place of support. I can help you much better than if I'm intentionally just trying to help you. And I know I'm going to be at a disadvantage. I'm not going to be able to help you. I can, I can help someone much better from a position of power than I can a position of weakness. And that's like using power as a positive, not as a negative. And so I think that when people are making these intentional wrong decisions. A lot of times they're not coming from a bad place. They're coming from a place where they think they need to do it to help others. But they're not, they're not going to be in a position to do it. So I think that I identified that relatively early on. Because I felt that when I felt the best, I could help more people.

• 50:37Speaker 01

  And I can make better decisions. And again, it's like back to like happiness is the core of success, right? If you're happy and you have that energy and you have that charisma and you have all the things that. Uh, resonate from you, people will gravitate towards you. But if you're pushing out negative and it's, and, and people don't feel good about being around you. You're intentionally making bad decisions. You should not go around somebody like that. And so I think that, um, a lot of times it doesn't come from a, a place of negativity or. Or something that's bad, it comes from that you're trying to help somebody and you're intentionally making the wrong decision.

• 51:17Speaker 01

  And you end up hurting everybody instead of helping them. So I think that, again, it's not being selfish. It's taking care of yourself so that you can help others. And I think like, again, when you think of intention, you think of like purpose. If you do it from a positive place and you do it from a place where you think you can help yourself, you can help others, you're gonna make the right decisions. And I think that that's, that's how you avoid those intentional bad decisions that, or intentional wrong decisions. Because they don't lead to too much for anybody. They just end up hurting you.

• 51:49Jay Shetty?

  Great answer, man. If, if someone right now is listening and they wanna start a business, side hustle, really build something. What's the first three things they should be thinking about? If someone's listening right now going, Adam's advice is great. I have an idea. I wanna get started. What's the first three things they should, they should do?

• 52:08Speaker 01

  Well, I think it depends on what the type of business is, but I think the first thing you need to do is identify how you're gonna start it. And so I think you need to know, like, you could have the best idea in the world, but ideas don't matter much if you don't have execution behind it. So I think you need to figure out how are you going to execute it? Two, I think you need to figure out what you don't know in terms of where you wanna go and who you can ask to help you get there. And then, three, you need to understand that it's gonna be longer, harder and more expensive than you think it will be, but it will also be more rewarding. So you have to have that same type of energy as you go through it. I think there's clear, specific things that apply to different businesses. So I don't think there's generalizations, more so the idea.

• 52:52Speaker 01

  But starting anything, the easiest way to do it is one step at a time and you will become better every day, even if it doesn't feel like it. But repetition leads to progress. And so I think that that's really, really important when you're starting something. And again, like you have to believe in yourself because belief is different than hope. Hoping for things won't get you very far, but belief in things will get you very, very far. So I think that that's, those are key underlying principles, those three things. But starting anything is the easiest way to get to where you want.

• 53:23Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Amtrak. You know that feeling when you're already tired and you haven't even gotten there yet? That's where Amtrak comes in. Leave the driving behind and settle into a comfortable seat with plenty of room to stretch out. Catch up on work with wifi, grab a snack at the cafe car, or just sit back and enjoy your favourite podcast. Choose a cellar or North East Regional and get there without the stress of getting there. Visit Amtrak.com to plan your next trip. This episode is brought to you by Wayfair. Home should be a place that feels like a sanctuary, a space that truly reflects who you are. But it can be challenging to balance style, budget and endless options. I was looking to create a dedicated calm space for my morning meditation and reading,

• 54:08Jay Shetty?

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• 54:51Jay Shetty?

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• 55:30Speaker 01

  I'm gonna go.

• 55:31Jay Shetty?

  For sure, for sure. Can you, Adam, I wanna shift from like your mind and your ideas and the way you think to how you live. Can you take us through a day in the life of Adam? Like, how does it start? How does it end? What does it look like? What's been your routine more recently? What are some things that you've changed over time that have actually created momentum and acceleration?

• 55:53Speaker 01

  So it's funny because my schedule is completely different than I'm sure yours in most in general. And I think this, again, becoming comfortable with who you are, this was... This was a process and I didn't have the ability early on in the journey. I do have much more of an ability of it now. But I go to sleep at nearly four AM every day and I woke, wake up closer to eleven AM. So I think a lot of times when I think of entrepreneurs and, and people in my position, they think you're up at five or six AM, you're, you're beating the sun, but I'm the exact opposite and I found that um my greatest point of inspiration and joy is, is typically

• 56:33Speaker 01

  during the nighttime when there's less activity because I can focus on where we want to go, what we want to do and also on myself and back to inherently known who I was and my brother as well. We've known since we were fifteen or sixteen that the, the night schedule worked better for us, but we didn't have an ability to implement it because we were in high school, we were in college and then we were starting the business, you have to be on other people's more traditional uh I guess like calendar or schedule and so as we got to higher levels, we were able to continually shift it and obviously we have people on our team that supplement the early mornings and whatnot and we work the late nights, but

• 57:12Speaker 01

  I really embraced what my natural predisposition was for my schedules that, and I knew that I would be better if I could operate on this schedule and just like morning people love to be up in the morning, I love to just push it as far as I can late into the night and I think there's nothing wrong with it and a lot of times uh it doesn't get glorified because it's, it's a difficult schedule, it doesn't work for everybody, it's, it's not essentially normal, but for me it's been the absolute best thing and being able to build my schedule the way that I want, I believe is the ultimate luxury because again I've if you can control your time in, in not necessarily what happens throughout your time, but

• 57:55Speaker 01

  can, to control how you allocate your time, most people would rather have ten minutes of you at a hundred percent than three hours of you at twenty percent. You can't, e- even though you spend more time, you can't give them all of you and so one of the things that I identified as I was building My schedule this way and really leading into it is I can give people a hundred percent of my effort. When I'm on a schedule that aligns with when I wanna go to sleep and when I wanna wake up. And also when I wanna work out. If I can, if I can anchor those specific things, I can give everybody much more of myself. In a shorter period of time. And again, like I've, I've heard you speak about it before and you said it beautifully.

• 58:39Speaker 01

  And it's true, like so, most of the people in your life, Jay, they would prefer for you to have. Be with them for ten minutes, give them a hundred percent of Jay, it's an amazing experience. And for you to be sitting in the room on your phone dozing off and not giving them the energy that. Not only they deserve, but that you deserve to give them. And so I think that. That's something that I identified through how I built my schedule now. I mean, I work out. Every single day and I think that's for me, it's a really important thing because discipline has been something that. Is been pivotal to our journey too. And I believe that. With discipline, if you anchor yourself through specific things, it gives you more freedom. It's.

• 59:17Speaker 01

  Discipline is something that, that opens you up and gives you more opportunities for us to be spontaneous, more freedom is because you have. Clear pillars, clear anchors. It's like if you're playing a video game and you get to the checkpoint. You can be more brave in your action because you know you can always go back to the checkpoint. So like that's the way. I live my, my day to day life. I try to. Have specific windows where I'll do calls, but then I leave everything else essentially open because. I love, I love the chaos in a positive way and I love the spontaneity in a positive way. And I think that. Um, if for me, at least this is the way I found my schedule, if it's too back to back to back to back and scheduled out, there's no. There's no real opportunity for the spontaneous excitement, which I think that.

• 1:00:02Speaker 01

  We all need to have in one way or another. And I don't think that it's the same for everybody, but I think that you have to leave. Yourself the ability to discover something or to discover a relationship you didn't think was gonna happen or. A partnership you didn't think was gonna happen or a friendship or things of that nature. And I think that. Being able to anchor myself knowing I'm doing this, these few things at these few times. Leaving this window open um so that I can try things and and again like the the greatest opportunities I've ever had have come from taking a chance on something and then anchoring it in the way that I I live my life through my schedule and so uh again it's it's something that I've had to work towards it it wasn't like that on day one

• 1:00:45Speaker 01

  it's as you get further in the journey journey you hone it in more you have more opportunity to try things and you have more control I think like again one of the key things for me in terms of success is control over schedule and control over time you don't get to you don't know how much time you have but if you can control how you allocate that time that's truthfully the greatest luxury and that's something that I think is pivotal success and I think again when we're thinking about our team in in specifically in the headquarters everybody has different schedules because everybody works differently and I've seen how positive it's been for Ryan and I and so we try to translate that to the team as well.

• 1:01:25Jay Shetty?

  I love hearing about how different your schedule is to mine because it still represents the same thing to both of us so

• 1:01:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:01:34Jay Shetty?

  you still have discipline you still have focus you're still prioritized around when you can be creative it's based on self-awareness and what's good for you and right for you so the values that we're choosing our schedule on is the same like there's a very similar value set and it just looks different and that's actually the beauty of life like that and I think that's where we go wrong where we go you know in a few years people are gonna be saying oh yeah I need to do what Adam's doing I need to sleep at 4am and you know wake up and it's like well that's not really gonna work or people can be looking at going oh yeah I need to wake up like a you know like I need to go to sleep at when Jay doesn't wake and it's like well that's not really what we're saying what we're saying is

• 1:02:15Jay Shetty?

  if you're self-aware and you create discipline and rhythm in your life and space for spontaneity then you've got to figure out what works for you and where it works for you and so I love hearing how different our schedules are because it just proves that there are multiple ways that it can look even though there's a depth of why they're created that way and in addition to that what I really appreciated you were talking about is I think we think of discipline as ease of either back to back. And we think of laziness or spontaneity as completely free. And what you've actually said is what discipline is, is that you've created a discipline

• 1:02:56Jay Shetty?

  where you can be, what I've been thinking about a lot lately is you can be effective and efficient. And efficiency is often seen as discipline, but efficiency means you do a lot of stuff. But effectiveness means you do important stuff. And, and I think that's what I'm seeing is missing in so many of our lives is that we're trying to be efficient. We do the laundry, do the dishes, we spoke to the team, we check this off, check this off, check this off. But then you're like, well, I haven't had any creative inspiration today, I haven't been effective. And so I, I really glad that you actually explained discipline to be the meeting of efficiency and effectiveness together.

• 1:03:33Speaker 01

  I mean, I think you said it in a, in an efficient and effective way. Uh, the way that you just like illustrated what I was trying to, to get across, but it's, but it's true. Like, I think a lot of times people think of discipline as something that lacks freedom. But discipline is the thread in the, in the opportunity that gives you freedom. And so I think, and again, you, as you become more efficient, you can become more effective. But it's hard to be effective if you're not efficient. And so I think, again, you, you said it in an amazing way and you took a complex thing and you digested it. But it's, it's been really paramount and I think it's something that is, is the way that my life has, has gone.

• 1:04:14Speaker 01

  And, and again, like, I think that we have the same theories, you and I, in terms of what we want to accomplish from our day to day lives, we do it at a different time, like I'm working out at midnight, you're doing things early in the morning. But it's, we're looking to get the same type of result. And I think, again, when you were talking about being self-aware, that is the absolute most important thing. If you tried, if I tried to work your schedule, it wouldn't do the same thing for me. If you tried to do mine, it wouldn't work. But I think the fact that we've both been transparent, honest with ourselves and self-aware of what makes us show up as best as we possibly can. And then that makes us better for other people. And so I think for us, like, that's, that's the, an incredible way to phrase it.

• 1:04:57Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, and I, and I respect and appreciate that in you so much because I think. There is a noise, I mean, I get different noise. So my noise is, hey Jay, why don't you hang out late? Like, why don't you come to this? Or why, right? And then your noise is, well, if you're an entrepreneur who's disciplined, shouldn't you be waking up earlier? And you know, and it's just really interesting how like, no matter what you do, there's going to be someone who disagrees with it. And, and that's why it has, and that's why I respect what you just shared. So I'm so happy to hear that you have this. I had no idea that that was your schedule. Now I know when to spend time with you. And, and you know, and, and I really like that because I really hope that everyone who's listening, you're feeling more confidence that you're not doing it wrong.

• 1:05:39Jay Shetty?

  If you're doing what's right for you, but notice that Adam and I are still basing it on values of discipline, of focus, of creativity. It's not that, Adam's not just saying, I do whatever I want, whenever I want, and there's not, there's no structure. He still even has a sleep, you still have a sleep routine. It sounds like when you're like,

• 1:05:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:58Jay Shetty?

  4am to 11am, right? There's still a routine. And so that's what I find is really healthy. Adam, this has been so powerful because what I love about the way you talk about entrepreneurship is that it's strategic and intentional, but then there's the spontaneity and creativity. And I'm so excited to see what you continue to build. It's, you know, you're 12 years in. And I cannot wait to see you just continue to crush. I mean, you're already crushing it, but, but for the business to continue to grow and grow and grow. I wanted to ask you, before we come to the final five around creativity and innovation. And you spoke about spontaneity, they're meeting someone random, like bumping into an idea. I, I love that so much.

• 1:06:44Jay Shetty?

  What has been your secret to creativity and innovation? Where have you continued to find that, that discipline and that connection?

• 1:06:55Speaker 01

  So I think one of our, I guess, one of our, I don't know if secrets is the right word, but again, back to my brother, like the fact that there's two of us and that we're able to go through life together and we've had similar experiences. I mean, my brother, like, to be fully transparent is more creative than I am. And like, when we're thinking of color stories and whatnot, Ryan's always building these beautiful color stories. Cody, who's our design director, is amazing. Jake is our content director, he's incredible. Sam, who heads up social, she's amazing as well. And just the whole team, I could go on and on. But one of the things that I discovered, and this actually came from my mom.

• 1:07:36Speaker 01

  So, uh, and you wouldn't know it based on what my life has become. But until I was like twenty-five years old, I'm thirty-four now, so, no, maybe even older. This is like two thousand and thirteen. Until, but let's use twenty-five as a number. Until I'm twenty-five years old, I hardly have ever left the country. I left the country one time, twice, actually. I went to Mexico one time and I went to London one time. And it's like each one was for two days. And then when I'm twenty-five, my mom basically says, like, you guys need to do more and see more things. You need to discover more things. So we're so laser-focused on what we're gonna do. So a lot of the things that I've reflected on today with you, Jay, is things I've learned

• 1:08:21Speaker 01

  more specifically over the last six or seven years in terms of like the spontaneity, the freedom. And I've always had the discipline, but it was almost at a level that was too high. And so my mom had said, you need to, they were going to Hong Kong. And she was, and it was for this wedding. She's like, you need to come, like, it's an old family friend. You have to come to this wedding. And I had no intention of traveling overseas. Long story short, Ryan and I end up going. It's the most incredible trip. Um, just like going outside of the country, seeing something completely different, changing our perspective. And when we're there, we get inspired by this bridge.

• 1:09:02Speaker 01

  And this bridge that never, I'd never seen pictures of it, anything. We get inspired by this bridge. We end up creating a shoe based on this. We end up going to another, another country, years later, inspired by that. And so I think that... Travel allowed us to change our point of view, change our perspective. When you're thinking of creativity, a lot of times there's things in your day to day life that when you're thinking about repetition, you don't pay attention to it because it comes almost a second nature, it's reoccurring. But when you go to a new place, everything is new. You have to pay attention to your surroundings because it's uncomfortable, not necessarily negatively, but in a positive way. You get all of the stimulation through your senses, you're seeing things, you're meeting people. And so

• 1:09:48Speaker 01

  when I, when my mom pushed me out of my comfort zone then, it completely changed the way that I was viewing the world. And it made it so that I was much more open to receiving what the world had than just pushing what I wanted to do or what the intention was. And so I think like that made it so, um, it's kind of like I don't know if you remember on the old cell phone signals, when you would make a call going out, we'd like an arrow pushing like this, but when someone's sending you a message, it's going both ways. And so that's kind of what that calibration did to how we discover creativity. And now like, uh, one of the things, the greatest things that inspires me is movement, whether it's movement in cars, movement on foot, movement

• 1:10:31Speaker 01

  in the air. And so I think like movement in general, changing your surroundings, not necessarily going to another country or another state, but even going anywhere, just discovering, I think the opportunity for, for movement, that's really where the creativity came for us. And then again, I think that if you can take an idea, lean into it and see like, and speak to why this makes you feel different, you'll find inspiration in it. And I think that for us, like we have, we have an incredible team that finds inspiration in different places. And then we're able to talk about it. And the greatest thing you can do is be a great communicator, because if you can articulate what your vision is, and whether that's through verbal, whether it's through art, whether it's through anything,

• 1:11:14Speaker 01

  people will understand and people will feel it. Not everybody will, but some people will. And I think like that's one of the things that's gone really, really far for us is that we've been able to take these. Inspirational things like our streamlined shoe, which is my favorite one, is inspired by Japanese souffle pancakes from when Ryan and I were in Tokyo. And like Ryan's obsessed with them, but we took that and we, and we made it into a shoe. And so it's like, you'd never know where the inspiration is going to come from. But if you allow yourself to receive it, you can get it. And I think like, that's something that a lot of people don't think of. They think they have to put it out there and push it. But a lot of times, just receiving what's around you will give you a lot of inspiration into what you should do.

• 1:11:56Jay Shetty?

  I am so glad I asked you that question. I was about to not ask you that question, but I am so happy. And even though you're giving, of course, which is wonderful to hear the credit to your team and your brother for being the, you know, creative ones, but the fact that you've been able to observe that and see that that's where it's come from. And the example from your mother too, I, I love that, Adam. Adam, you've just, this has been phenomenal and I hope this is the first of many. I mean, I want you to

• 1:12:20Speaker 01

  I hope so too.

• 1:12:21Jay Shetty?

  I want you to come back on the show regularly and give us updates as, as things continue to grow for you and APL and your brother. And as I said, massive fan supporter, getting to hang out with you at a pumpkin patch was, was the weirdest place that I ever thought me and you would meet each other. But it was, we had a great time because we just had a

• 1:12:39Speaker 01

  It was so much fun.

• 1:12:40Jay Shetty?

  We just had a personal growth, self-development, like, you know, complete connection there. But Adam, these are your final five. You know, the drill, it's rapid fire.

• 1:12:49Speaker 01

  I do.

• 1:12:49Jay Shetty?

  One word to one sentence maximum. You've, you've heard everyone, so you should have had enough practice by now. Uh, but Adam Goldston, these are your final five. Are you ready?

• 1:13:00Speaker 01

  I'm excited.

• 1:13:01Jay Shetty?

  Awesome. All right. So the first question is, what is the best advice you've ever received?

• 1:13:07Speaker 01

  I have to mix two because I, I think it's important. The first is, and they, because they go together. First is when I was a kid, my dad would say, if you touch it, you can catch it. It was about sports, but I think it's applicable to life, which is if something's within your grasp, you can get close enough, you can make it yours and it is possible. So you have, if, if it's, if it's in your sight, you can make it yours. The next thing that aligns with that is Larry Ellison, and again, I heard this at the right moment in time, said, the larger the apparent risk, the fewer people that will try to go there. And so that's basically is Is if it seems scary, it seems risky, but you have the deep down belief. Fewer people will try to do it. So you actually have a competitive advantage.

• 1:13:52Speaker 01

  And I heard that when Ryan and I were thinking about starting APL. So that kind of was all I needed to hear. And it pushed us over the edge.

• 1:14:00Jay Shetty?

  I do know I love those answers so much because. You know, I, I think about the things in my life as well. There are just. Lines that I live my life by. And it's exactly what you're saying like. It's not like you knew those people or it's not like you had like a. 10 hour conversation with them. It was just, you heard someone say something that what you said earlier. So. One of Einstein's lines is if you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it well enough. And that is what I live my life by. I'm like, if I. I can read as many books as I want, but if I can't explain that idea. With simplicity, then what's the point? And that's kind of what I've built my life around. And then there's another.

• 1:14:41Jay Shetty?

  Beautiful thought by Martin Luther King, which is the people who love peace. Need to learn to organize themselves as well as those who love war. And I love that because that's kind of where I get my, you know, I want to be. Empathetic, compassionate, loving, kind, but I want to accelerate in the most strategic. Focus driven way because. You can't just be this fluffy woo woo kind of vibe because that doesn't make change. And so. I those two and, and those are not two that I have been familiar with those thoughts. And I'm that one about risk. I mean, that's going to stay with me for a long time. So I really appreciate you sharing that with me. And I hope. Everyone who's listening can realize that.

• 1:15:25Jay Shetty?

  You don't need to meet someone. You don't need to, you don't even need to interview them if that, you know, you could, you could literally just hear one line and it could change your life. So. Uh, love those answers. Beautiful answers. All right. Adam, second question. Uh, what's the worst advice you've ever heard or received?

• 1:15:40Speaker 01

  It was actually around the time when I heard, uh, what Larry Ellison said about risk. And it was. Um, when we were in school and Ryan was in the business program and. Somebody had told him, don't even try it. And the idea was. Like you can't possibly do this because you don't know how to do it. But I think that if you try something and you fail, you tried it, you'll learn for the next part of the journey. But if you never try it, then you automatically fail. And so I think like that thing, and again, I know it's it's not as much of a nugget as the other ones, but don't even try. I think so many of us hear that throughout our lives. And it gets conditioned into us. So I think flip that, just try it.

• 1:16:24Speaker 01

  Like, but don't even try it is the worst piece of advice that I've ever heard.

• 1:16:29Jay Shetty?

  Question number three, top five rappers of all time. Cause I know that this, this, we didn't get into this, but I know that I, I love rap music and hip hop music too. I grew up on it. I know that's a big part of your life. So let's hear your top five.

• 1:16:43Speaker 01

  Nipsey Hussle, Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Young Jeezy, and T.I.

• 1:16:53Jay Shetty?

  Nice. Good. Great list. Great list. We literally, I literally just interviewed Lauren London earlier today. Uh, who's a dear friend of mine and she was, you know, married to Nipsey. So.

• 1:17:04Speaker 01

  I mean, it's like, not to, not to get off topic, but like, a lot of Nipsey's thoughts on entrepreneurship and I mean, I had a few great conversations with him when he was alive. But like, the way that he looked at it was, and we used to talk about it, like was so similar to the way that we thought about APL. Like in terms of building something independently from the ground up. Like I, I, Ryan and I spoke at Harvard, at the Harvard Business School. And one of the things that we talked about, and this was right before Nipsey passed away, was he did this interview and he talked about taking the stairs, not the elevator. And that's been paramount to our journey. So I think like, I've been a fan, I was a fan of his when I was in college.

• 1:17:45Speaker 01

  Because I went to USC from South Central. So like, we were hearing it at, when we're in the locker room and everything like that. But just what Nipsey did, what his thought processes and entrepreneurship and just like, building the people up around you, if you build within your community, you can help so many other people. And if you start local, can take it much further and just like, not only was he incredibly talented, but like he was just like. Such a like, he was a leader and he was a thought provoking person and he lived what he said. And so I think like, again, like he was, he was super, super, super inspirational in addition to be an incredible rapper.

• 1:18:18Jay Shetty?

  I love that, man. Thank you for adding that note. That's, you know, that's, that's beautiful insight. And I'm really glad, again, I asked that question because it led to, uh, led to an even deeper, deeper takeaway. All right. Question number four, how would you define your current purpose in life?

• 1:18:34Speaker 01

  I think it's maximizing each day and staying focused on the future. So I think it's being able to enjoy the present, but it's still being excited about the future. Like that, that's really, really important to me. And I think that's what gives you energy to keep going forward is just enjoying today, but being excited about the future.

• 1:18:54Jay Shetty?

  All right, Adam. And fifth and final question, what is something that you used to value, but you no longer value?

• 1:19:01Speaker 01

  Probably nostalgia. I mean, I think that, um, I get so excited about what I'm doing today, where we're going in the future. And I think I've done amazing things and we've done incredible things, but a lot of times we live in the past and we don't, and that keeps us from enjoying the present. And so I think that, uh, I can appreciate the past, but I definitely, uh, but I definitely love the present and I'm excited about the future. And I think that that shift of perspective, um, has been something that's really been important to my journey. And also just like my happiness as a person.

• 1:19:35Jay Shetty?

  That is such a good answer. We've never had that before. And, and I, and I love that answer because I couldn't agree with you more. I, you know, I always saw individuals who lived as if their best years had already gone. And that's such a hard way to live because life is so

• 1:19:53Speaker 01

  Hundred percent.

• 1:19:54Jay Shetty?

  Longer than you think it is. And so that is, that is a beautiful answer. Everyone, make sure you follow Adam across social media so you can connect. Make sure you follow APL across social media and I want you to make sure that you tag me and Adam and APL. And any insights that you gained from this episode, there are tons. Like I said, I hope you're making notes. Second of all, go listen to it again if you weren't making notes. Third thing, recognize that Adam is a true modern entrepreneur. Like it's highly strategic, it's highly focused, there's creativity, there's spontaneity. There are so many lessons to learn from this incredible human. And Adam, I've had so much fun today. I've learned so much from you. I think there have been moments in this interview where you've said things that are going to stay with me

• 1:20:38Jay Shetty?

  for a very, very long time. And I personally am going to make sure that I apply them in my life. So I want to thank you for those gifts and I cannot wait to continue our friendship, to continue to see you succeed and win and continue to build. And I'm excited to be a part of the journey, man. Thank you so much.

• 1:20:55Speaker 01

  Thank you, Jay. I mean, I appreciate it. And I think like you've done so much to inspire so many people. And I mean, there's a reason why you have the number one health podcast in the world. And it's just people can come here, they can learn a lot, but they can be inspired. And I think like the greatest gift you can give to someone is inspiration. And then you've got to leave it up to them to execute. But you've done a lot of amazing things for so many people. And I couldn't be happier to be a part of it. And again, like just becoming friends with you and getting to know you over like recent time has been incredible. So I'm happy that we have this friendship. I'm happy I could be here today. And I appreciate your support and obviously I hope that everybody listening to this just takes this as something that can help push them, even if it's just one step forward.

• 1:21:38Speaker 01

  Just take something and make their lives more enriching.

• 1:21:41Jay Shetty?

  It definitely will, man. It definitely will. Thank you, Adam. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you everyone for listening. Make sure you share this and pass it on and I'll see you next time.

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