Payal Kadakia Pujji: ON the Self Discipline Needed to Become an Entrepreneur

If you want to feel motivated and encouraged to be a little more self-disciplined, you will love this weeks episode with Payal Kadakia. She is the founder and chairman of ClassPass as well as the artistic director for the Sadance company. In this conversation, she shares how she achieved her entrepreneurial success at such a young age with her incredible work ethic and unparalleled self-discipline. 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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• 1:30Jay Shetty?

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• 2:16Jay Shetty?

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

• 2:59Jay Shetty?

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• 3:09Speaker 01

  That's what dance is. It's a way of expressing and conveying emotion to people. I think I realized, wow, I can impact other people's lives. And I think that is the greatest power all of us should realize at a very young age. It's so powerful that it's also one of those things which should be really, it's like humbling in the sense of being like, we all carry that power. And then what are you going to do with it?

• 3:35Jay Shetty?

  Hello, everyone. Today, I'm so grateful and honored to introduce you to my next guest. Her name is Payal Kadakya. She's the founder of ClassPass and the artistic director of the Sardance Company. And she's a really, really dear friend, someone that I've known not even for that long, but someone who's become so close and so much a part of my family and someone that I really consider a family member in my life. She inspires me in so many different ways. I can't wait for you to be inspired by her today. She teaches me so much through her example, her words, the way she lives. And more than all of that, she just has this beautiful heart that's really moved by giving and service.

• 4:19Jay Shetty?

  And I can't wait for you to experience it today. So Payal, thank you for being here. I'm so genuinely touched that you said yes to doing this.

• 4:26Speaker 01

  Thanks for having me, Jay.

• 4:28Jay Shetty?

  It's so funny when you sit down with someone, and we were just saying it before we started. As we get older in life, and I'm sure everyone who's listening can agree. As you get older in life, it becomes harder to make meaningful friendships.

• 4:39Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 4:40Jay Shetty?

  And most of us look back at our teens as being when we made really deep bonds.

• 4:45Speaker 01

  Right.

• 4:45Jay Shetty?

  But I really feel honestly that because of the incredible person you are, you've allowed me to make such a deep friend.

• 4:51Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 4:52Jay Shetty?

  In a short space of time, and not that we're old.

• 4:55Speaker 01

  No.

• 4:55Jay Shetty?

  I'm sounding like an old person now, but not that we're old, but thank you.

• 4:58Speaker 01

  You have to keep meeting people who I think help you take leaps in life. And I feel like you can never stagnate. And the people you surround yourself with are the people who help you do that the most. So, thank you for everything you've done for me.

• 5:10Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely. And today I want to talk about everything. You have such an interesting life and interesting mission and just, you have so many incredible passions that you share with the world in so many amazing ways. So, I want to get into all of it. And anyone who's listening, if you use ClassPass, you can say thank you to me right now. Well, say thank you to Pio, but thank you to me. And if you haven't heard about Hossad Dance Company, stick around. Because if you like dance, if you like expressing yourself in art, I can't wait for you to hear about that as well. But Pio, why don't we start off by what it felt like to be growing up in the United States as a young Indian girl?

• 5:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, so my parents immigrated here in the seventies. And I grew up in a town that actually didn't have many Indian people. So I was one of two Indian people in my entire grade, so of 300 people. And so when I think of that, I remember always feeling different. And I remember also facing a little bit of adversity because of it. But at the same time, I also think because my parents had some really good friends, and especially my dance teacher, who became a really big part of my life, she actually started teaching me the beauty of my culture. And I started growing up and doing sort of Indian dance on the weekends in the basements of my friends. And there was no platform for Indian dance.

• 6:29Speaker 01

  So on Saturdays and Sundays, that's what I would do. I would go to someone's house, we would train in someone's basement. And then, you know, during the week, I was like a normal girl in the middle of New Jersey. I would have cheerleading practice and I would do ice skating. And I kind of had two lives, to be really honest. I felt like I had this American identity and this Indian identity. And it really took me until college to kind of find a place where I felt like I could be really confident in both. And I think that was a big part of who I was when I was growing up.

• 6:58Jay Shetty?

  And were people around you struggling with the same things? Do you feel like that was quite a common experience? Or was it something that you felt more of?

• 7:05Speaker 01

  Well, I think my parents, you know, they took a little bit of a of a risk. They put us in a different school system. And because of that, I didn't grow up in a community where there was a lot of other Indian folks. So I think like there were towns nearby that had a lot of Indian people in it and Indian communities where I got to go to on the weekends. But my school and my where I was growing up was still not as diverse. And so I think they took the risk because of education, of course. My parents, number one thing to them was education. And it was the best school system in my town, so or in New Jersey at the time. So they were like, you have to go here. And obviously, I don't I don't regret that. But at the same time, I think I was facing one of those challenges.

• 7:46Speaker 01

  And, you know, now when I speak with other Indian folks, I feel like we all kind of can, you know, remember moments where we felt like, you know, either some of that racism or felt different or felt unique or felt like people didn't understand where we came from. But I think, you know, that's what helped me and others build a thicker skin. And I actually think what's really amazing right now is there came a point where I think we may have all assimilated because we couldn't deal with it. And now we are all really getting confident and wanting to express where we came from. So I feel like we're all going through that together. And I'm seeing so many South Asians sort of really start sharing, you know, who they are, where they come from, through art, through messages. And I think it's just really important that we do that so we remember who we are.

• 8:31Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, that's beautiful. And I couldn't agree more. I think it's nice that it's organically coming out.

• 8:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:38Jay Shetty?

  As opposed to being forced or pushed or contrived. It feels like it's organically coming to the surface.

• 8:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I think we all, you know, and I think with SAW in particular, you know, I think everyone approaches it in a different way. I think, you know, for me, it's like, how do we just share more beauty and hope and unbelievable values of the place where we came from?

• 8:58Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely. And you talk so much about in our personal conversations about how your parents.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 9:04Jay Shetty?

  Like instilled such beautiful values into you, your mother's role in your life. Tell us a bit about that, because I do feel that we sometimes live in a culture today and sometimes conversations and. Neither is right or wrong, but a lot of us today question how our parents raised us.

• 9:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:19Jay Shetty?

  And wonder if they got it right or wrong.

• 9:21Speaker 01

  Well, going back to what I was saying, and I'm even just thinking about this, like, my parents kind of always took risks, I think, when I was younger. Like, the fact that they were like, "We're gonna go to this town." I mean, even for them, they had no Indian community or friends when they went there. But they were like, "This is the best thing to do for our kids, for education," right? I think they kind of instilled these really interesting values of me of, "If you want to do something, you do it. You work hard. And, you know, don't accept the world for what you think it is at the moment. Change the world if you have to." And my mom in particular, I mean, I remember growing up, I mean, my dad worked during the day and my mom worked every night. You know, they literally were always, you know, working, making sure that my sister and I were, you know, doing well at school,

• 10:05Speaker 01

  getting to activities. I mean, they never once, and obviously, like, when we were growing up, like, we didn't actually have much. Like, thinking about back to it, I realized, like, my parents were, you know, it was like, we were living, not paycheck to paycheck, but pretty close to it. And the fact that they did everything to make sure that we lived a life and didn't really even know or see that. But at the same time, the reason they didn't want to, and I remember, like, there were points in my life where I was like, "Mom, like, should we be cleaning, doing the dishes, all this stuff?" My mom's like, "Only if your homework's done." Because, like, it was so important to them to make sure that we spent our time getting a good education. So when we grew up, we could live a great life.

• 10:43Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, I remember that too.

• 10:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:45Jay Shetty?

  I feel the same. It's so interesting how that Indian mindset, or that South Asian mindset is so strong.

• 10:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:52Jay Shetty?

  Regardless, obviously, my parents were in London.

• 10:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:55Jay Shetty?

  It was the same exact training that I had since I was young. It was always about education.

• 10:58Speaker 01

  Education.

• 10:59Jay Shetty?

  It was always about working hard. And I'm looking around at these guys, wondering if they're the same. But it's

• 11:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:03Jay Shetty?

  It's such a strong Asian value.

• 11:06Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 11:07Jay Shetty?

  To work hard.

• 11:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think it's, I think it's, you know, one of those things that I don't know, it was just something that you don't question it, you know, like you just, you just get the job done, you know, even till this day, my mom, if there's something I need for my dance show to work, she'll be the first person, she's in her late 60s, she'll be the first person to show up, stay up, make sure it gets done. And I, I think it comes down also being responsible. Like I, you know, it's, it's, if someone asks me to do something, they know they'll get a good job and, and I'll finish it. And I think that also comes from it, this idea of like, I said yes, and I'm going to do 150% and show you that I, you know, that it's going to be worth it.

• 11:50Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. How did that sculpt your dreams and aspirations at that time in your life?

• 11:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:53Jay Shetty?

  And how did that change?

• 11:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, and you know, I, I would say like, I had a second mother in my life, who was my dance teacher. And, um, you know, I think when you're really young and you have like a coach in your life, like any, you know, any young person probably had, whether it's on a sports team or music or anything, um, I always feel really grateful for that relationship with like some sort of teacher or mentor. But because she was also so close to my family, my mom, like she also was more than a dance teacher to me. She was like, you need to be valet at Corian, you need to do this. Like in a, in an interesting way where I also believed her in the sense I was like, yeah, like that, what she's saying is like what I want to get to. And she taught me this interesting way of doing it. And I always remember with dance, you know, like I would come, go to a practice, not be able to do the step.

• 12:39Speaker 01

  I would practice it over and over and over again. And I'd show up the next week, being able to do it, you know? And I think I learned this idea of self-discipline at a really young age, which was, okay, like I need to block my life and my time to rehearse something if I want to get to do it. It's not like, no one yelling at you is going to actually get me there, right? It was a matter of me going home and practicing.

• 13:01Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 13:01Speaker 01

  And like, it wasn't about being nervous or, you know, it was like, that wasn't going to fix it. It was about me focusing and doing it. And I think that self-discipline, you know, taught me a lot of being like, if I want to achieve something, I just have to like, A, like block the time out. Actually, since my earliest memories of this, and I live by my calendar, I would write down, and I actually just saw, I went home, you know, in, in the spring, and I, my mom and I were going through all my like, agenda, and like, you know how we have those like, what were those called? The cat, like the calendaring, like you have a daily calendar?

• 13:34Jay Shetty?

  Right.

• 13:34Speaker 01

  And you write down like, your subjects and your homework.

• 13:37Jay Shetty?

  Sure, sure.

• 13:37Speaker 01

  Planner. A planner, yeah. It was like a weekly planner. And I, from that time, would be like, okay, one hour math homework, one hour like, like, English homework, one hour. And I did that at a really young age. And it's funny, because till, till now, I kind of do that, right? And I think of even what ClassPass has become. And it's this, it's this idea of if I do all my work, the extra hours of my life, I'll be able to dance. And so I was always trying to be so efficient. And I like, also learned that, because I wanted to have the extra hours, not to like, relax, like, but to do my passion. And I felt like I had to earn the ability and the time to do that, because I, I knew I needed to get an education. I knew I needed to like, you know,

• 14:19Speaker 01

  do what I had to get done, and what I was responsible for. But if I got, if I could do that quickly, I'd have the old, like, the extra hours of my life to do something I love, which was dance.

• 14:30Jay Shetty?

  Which, which then has kind of like, transferred into your life today. But before we get into that, I want, I want you to actually share with the audience who's listening or watching.

• 14:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:39Jay Shetty?

  About your, your goal-setting.

• 14:41Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 14:42Jay Shetty?

  The way, the way you do it. Because I think it's, it's very unique.

• 14:45Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 14:45Jay Shetty?

  I've never seen anyone do it that way before.

• 14:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:47Jay Shetty?

  I find it fascinating. And I think everyone listening loves practical tools and tips.

• 14:51Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 14:51Jay Shetty?

  So I'd love for you to share that system.

• 14:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's a bit of an in-depth process, but I'll walk you guys through the steps really quickly. The first thing I do is I reflect on the past year, and I write down five words, whether they are like, feelings or tangible, you know, nouns that you feel like really Really describe the past year and they can be anything from like anxiety to love, you know, just kind of emotions. And then I ask people to think a year from now and write down the five words they want to be writing down if I ask them the same question in a year. And the reason I do this is because I always feel like people are like, don't always know what happiness or success or achievement means to them. So, and usually it's a feeling, it's how do you want to feel? Because that's like the only thing we can really hold on to because everything else

• 15:37Speaker 01

  is really, is pretty transient. And so I make people always think about that. I do it for myself as well of like, what's the emotion or the feelings I want to really define the coming year by? And once I have those, I do a time diagnostic. I truly believe if you want to change something in your life, the only way you can do it is by allocating time to it or changing something around with time. Because without time, you're never going to have the time to work on it. And so I write down all the areas of my life and then I even knew areas of my life if they might not be on there. And then I rate each one of those areas of my life according to the five words I've said for the year, right? So I give up, like get a word or get a number from one to 10.

• 16:20Speaker 01

  And then I force myself for the next three months to circle the three to five areas of my life I'm going to focus on. And so whatever areas those might be, and those are dependent on like the rating I gave it, plus like how it'll help me get to the emotion I want. And then I write down three to five goals in each one, very specific, like tangible goals that I can cross off and do. And I do this in all aspects of my life. And the reason actually I started doing this is because I think being this self-disciplined, efficient person my whole life, like I was, you know, obviously I'm type A, like I, you know, I knew if I put some goals down, I could achieve something. And it's because it was how my brain worked. And I realized that I wasn't always doing that in all aspects of my life, whether that

• 17:03Speaker 01

  was in my personal life, health, like any of those things. And I was like, why don't I apply the same mechanism of wanting to, you know, and once again, achieving success to me isn't achieving something per se, it's about Where do, where do, how does it feel today? And how do I want it to feel in the future? And if I can like, put that plan together in place, I'll get there. So that's where it started and I started this process about five years ago. And yeah, I have a spreadsheet and I, I always, you know, I don't look at it daily, but I look at it like every few weeks and it sort of keeps me on track. And I think the most important thing I learned from it is to not feel guilty about the things that are not on the list. Because those are the things that usually end up taking up our time and taking,

• 17:45Speaker 01

  you know, me away from those amazing things that I want to achieve in my life.

• 17:49Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, absolutely. Get your notebooks out. No, thank you for sharing that. I think it's such a practical method.

• 17:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:55Jay Shetty?

  And I feel like so many of us today, like you said, we struggle with what success or happiness looks like.

• 18:00Speaker 01

  Totally.

• 18:01Jay Shetty?

  Or we have a very abstract view of what we want next year to be like.

• 18:04Speaker 01

  Right.

• 18:04Jay Shetty?

  So I think this is a really, I, I think people are going to really benefit from it.

• 18:07Speaker 01

  It's like even in like the word love or something, for example, it's almost like, well, what do, what are you, how are you defining love? And like, what does it feel like to you? And if you put the right intention out there of what you want love to be like, it might help you find the right partner in life or some, you know, or wherever you want to go. And I, I just think it's all about the emotion and the intention versus like the idea of it.

• 18:30Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 18:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:31Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely. And the other thing I wanted to pick up from what you were saying before was, so one thing was goal setting, the other thing was mentorship.

• 18:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:37Jay Shetty?

  You spoke about the value of mentors.

• 18:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:38Jay Shetty?

  And I'm going to give a shout out to my mentor if you're listening. I'm sure you're not. But Mr. Buckridge was my art teacher in school into 18. And this man changed my life. First of all, I was a rebel at school. I was the worst. I was the worst. At least you don't know about me yet. I've never told you this. I've kind of been holding this far behind me back. No, I was the worst kid from 11 to 18. Not grades wise, in terms of just being a rebel troublemaker.

• 19:03Speaker 01

  Class clown.

• 19:04Jay Shetty?

  Yes. Yeah. And even worse, I was suspended from school three times.

• 19:07Speaker 01

  What?

• 19:08Jay Shetty?

  Yes. And, and asked to leave my school. But. Mr. Buckridge was one teacher who always stood by me, never judged me. But the most important lesson he gave me is every time we'd do any art, whether it was collage, whether it was graphic, whether it was charcoal, fine art, whatever it was.

• 19:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:25Jay Shetty?

  No matter how good it looked, his question was always, "Why did you do that?" He'd always be like, "Why did you do that? Why did you put that color next to that color? Why did you use that brush stroke versus this one?" And he'd ask me, "Why, why, why, why?" And sometimes, I loved art growing up. And I'd be like, "My work looks great and someone else's doesn't, but they'd get a better grade because they knew why." And he wasn't basing it on the aesthetic, he was always basing it.

• 19:49Speaker 01

  Such a great lesson.

• 19:50Jay Shetty?

  And he kept asking me that, and it took me years to recognize that he had coached me in always looking at the meaning and the why, without me even knowing. And I only realized that probably like 10 years after or something. I don't even think I got it at that time. At that time, I was just trying to get a good grade and whatever he told me. But I'm sharing that because,

• 20:14Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 20:14Jay Shetty?

  A, because I think mentors don't always come in the most. They're not like a box. It's not like a... So I wanted to ask you, how do you define a mentor?

• 20:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:26Jay Shetty?

  And for anyone who's listening, how does one find a mentor? And what does that relationship look like? Because you've had mentorship from early on.

• 20:33Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 20:33Jay Shetty?

  You have mentors now.

• 20:34Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 20:35Jay Shetty?

  How have you thought about it from your perspective?

• 20:37Speaker 01

  I think about it as people who are A, willing to invest the time in you. Because I think, you know, you can't just... There's role models in life and then there's mentors in life. And I think in mentorship, there's a give and a take. Right? It's not someone you're just looking up to.

• 20:52Jay Shetty?

  Yes.

• 20:53Speaker 01

  And then the other thing is I think those people help guide you on a path. That doesn't mean they always tell you what path to be on, but they're actually just helping you take the leap and take the step. I love people who push me into the next direction or next part of my life. And I think the best mentors in the world help you make the decisions you need to take that step. Once again, I don't think anyone can tell you exactly what you should be doing. And I think I love having multiple people around me in every aspect of my life. Like whether it's, you know, art or whether it's entrepreneurship or tech. You know, I want to surround myself with the best in each and all they can do is give me their thoughts and their advice. I still have to be the person who makes the decision to move forward.

• 21:36Speaker 01

  But I think the best people, like, they help, they help guide you there. And if, you know, they're guides, they're really what they are. And like you said, sometimes you don't know that people helped you make a decision.

• 21:47Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 21:47Speaker 01

  And in hindsight, you're like, wow, I would have never been there if it wasn't for that person. And that's why I think it's like, it has to be someone you're willing to be vulnerable with. Because I think if you don't, you know, people like that need to know the truth, right? They need to know your true being, your true challenges, the true dreams you might have. And that's the best way they'll be able to give you the advice.

• 22:09Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, and your flaws and your mistakes.

• 22:11Speaker 01

  Absolutely. Yeah, the patterns in your life. Like, I love it, you know, even with ClassPass now being, you know, eight years old. It's crazy to me because some of my first mentors, right? And I remember I went through a phase where I was like, oh, I don't know if those people are gonna be helpful in this phase of the company, right? Because things change. And there were, you know, tactical things that changed where I needed a, like, a new set of advisors and mentors. But at the truest level of patterns and, you know, me question, doing anything when it comes to being like, here's, I have a problem. Those people are like, well, you had this problem like eight years ago. Did you real, you know, what did you do then? And I'm like, you're right, like, I've been here before. And I think it's having people like that who know your tendencies as a human being are some of the great, greatest friends and mentors you can have.

• 22:56Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, definitely. No, I love that you brought that up because you've obviously had a mentor for such an early stage in your life, through Danz.

• 23:01Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 23:02Jay Shetty?

  Who's still there in your life, which is just stunning.

• 23:04Speaker 01

  I mean, I think, like, the gurujis, at the end of the day, I think, you know, India has this beautiful value of what a guruji stands for. And, you know, I think it's, there's this idea of respect that you have for anyone who teaches you anything in your life. Like, I will always be grateful to anyone who has, you know, bestowed knowledge on myself. Like, I just think, I think of people like that and, you know, I think you, people always have to remember this. It's like the whole values of like, I remember in dance, it's like, you show up on time, you come in, you know, you pray, you, you make sure your hair is done. Like, there's no nonsense in that, you know? It's like, and it's not because it needs to be all formal and serious. It's because you're doing it out of respect.

• 23:49Speaker 01

  And I think, like, those values are things that, you know, I feel like I carry with me. Today, and actually, I always think about this with ClassPass too, because I respect the teachers on our platform so much. Like, the model is like actually set up to be like, of course, for customers, like, you know, they love being able to try all these new things. But on the other side, you have this teacher who is now, has this gift to be able to share more people. And I think that's what's so cool is like, we're helping more teachers in the world reach students.

• 24:19Jay Shetty?

  Hmm, absolutely. I love it. Well said. Really, really well said. And obviously, so I'm kind of going in chronological order in your life.

• 24:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, go for it.

• 24:28Jay Shetty?

  And pulling out things because there's just, I, when I was thinking about interviewing you, I was like, I can't actually skip any bit of this. Because I feel like, I mean, everyone's story adds up to who they are.

• 24:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:39Jay Shetty?

  But yours is just like, there's been so many interesting decisions and choices and intentions.

• 24:44Speaker 01

  I believe how that's how life, honestly, I never want to stop. You know, even today when people are like, oh, so like, you've succeeded. I'm like, I hope I haven't. I like, like, what are the next series of crazy decisions I still have to make in my life? I never want to feel like, yeah, why would you ever want to have part of your life not be something worth telling?

• 25:03Jay Shetty?

  That's for crazy people like us.

• 25:04Speaker 01

  Exactly, exactly.

• 25:06Jay Shetty?

  I can so relate to that. I love it. And I love looking at you as a role model in that space because it's so easy for, like you said, it's so easy. And I think that's part of the challenge that the fact that we're even asking, asking individuals like yourself and saying, oh, so you're done now? You've made it?

• 25:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:21Jay Shetty?

  Just shows what we believe is the end too. It's a reflection of our own limit.

• 25:25Speaker 01

  Right.

• 25:25Jay Shetty?

  On what making it is.

• 25:26Speaker 01

  Right, exactly.

• 25:27Jay Shetty?

  And I'm glad that you're redefining that and defying that limit.

• 25:30Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 25:33Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Indeed. I know how important every hire is for a business. If you need to make the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed sponsored jobs helps find quality candidates when you need the most. You can reach who you need based on whatever criteria you're looking for, like skills, certifications, or location. In fact, people are finding quality hires on Indeed right now. In the minute I've been talking to you, companies like yours made 27 hires on Indeed. According to Indeed data. Worldwide. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast.

• 26:16Jay 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 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, but I was struggling to find pieces that felt grounding but could also stand up to daily use. I went on Wayfair and found a beautiful, solid wood accent chair and a bookshelf. Now that corner is my favorite place to anchor my day. The quality is incredible, it's built to last, and it completely shifted the energy of the room.

• 26:58Jay Shetty?

  Plus, you can shop with Wayfair Verified, where product specialists carefully vet items for quality and functionality, so you can shop with more confidence. And if putting it all together sounds like a headache, Wayfair can handle delivery, installation and assembly. Join Wayfair Rewards today to get 5% back on every purchase and start saving on your next home upgrade. Head to wayfair.com to shop all things home. That's W A Y F A I R dot com. Wayfair, every style, every home. This episode is brought to you by Whole Foods Market. If you're talking about quality food, you can't forget Whole Foods Market, who've been holding themselves to the highest standards since they opened in 1980.

• 27:42Jay Shetty?

  That means you'll see thousands of organic products across their stores, from the produce department to the aisles. It also means you'll never see certain ingredients. They've banned artificial sweeteners and colors, high fructose corn syrup and more, so you can shop with peace of mind. Shop Whole Foods Market in-store or online. So yeah, but okay, so my question was, you went to MIT, you went to Bain.

• 28:06Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:07Jay Shetty?

  How difficult was it to leave Bain to then start a company? Like, how difficult was it? Because I feel, again, so many people listening

• 28:15Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 28:16Jay Shetty?

  Either want to be entrepreneurs, which we'll get on to.

• 28:18Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 28:18Jay Shetty?

  But or want to break away from their corporate nine to nine.

• 28:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:22Jay Shetty?

  Whatever it is today.

• 28:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:24Jay Shetty?

  But how difficult was it for you? And why was it difficult or easy?

• 28:28Speaker 01

  Well, you know, one of the interesting parts is that I remember this feeling. I got, so we always have like performance reviews at Bain. And of course, like in corporate America, it's like, performance review, I have to do well. And obviously, I'm a type A person, I always do well. And I remember I, it was one of my last reviews before I had left. And it was like, it was a good review, but like, I remember one of my, one of my bosses being like, well, I think I had, by the way, like left to go do a performance in the middle of a client meeting. So I also understand where it was coming from. I think like, they had said something to me like, oh, we just don't know where, where you want to go. And if you're serious about this. And like, no one's ever said that to me, right? Because I just am like, oh, I can always fake it. And I'm like, wait a second.

• 29:13Speaker 01

  And at first, I was like, wait, I'm going to do so much better and prove to them how great I am. And, you know, and how much I want this. And then I had to have the conversation with myself and be like, Kyle, do you want this? And I very quickly realized that, no, it wasn't the path I really wanted to be on. Now, before I went and started a company, there was actually a three year period in the middle. I wasn't fully ready to take the leap. So I, I always consider this like a mini leap I took. So I went and got a job in the music industry. So still could, you know, pay my bills, like figure things out. My parents didn't, you know, weren't ready to, to like shoot me in the head for doing something crazy. So I got a job in the music industry and on the side, I started building my dance company.

• 29:55Speaker 01

  And this was an important time in my life because what it did is it allowed me to start taking some risk without fully like being, you know, fully diving into it. And I, I know, like, you know, some people be like, you have to rip the Band-Aid off and do it. And I think that works for some people. I actually am really glad at this phase of my life. Like, I took a second to figure this out because I didn't know. I mean, at the end of the day, I didn't know what SAW was going to be. I didn't know, you know, class was hadn't really come to me in that point. I wasn't even fully dancing in that way. So I, I decided to leave Bane. I started this job. I worked in the digital strategy group at Warner Music Group. I mean, it was an amazing time in the music industry. I mean, I got to work with like Daniel Ek at Spotify and got to see like licensing happen at YouTube. We tried to

• 30:40Speaker 01

  go dark on YouTube. All these things were kind of happening at this time because it was the first time people were putting music online digitally. And so that was an amazing time, but I really started fueling like my artist side at this point. So every night, I, I got together some of my best, the best dancers I knew on the East Coast. We started dancing in New York City and we would perform on the weekends and this is when SAW started. And I just remember, you know, it was the feeling of I could put something together. I could get people to come and attend. So we sold out a major show at like at Alvin Alley. I had a thousand people come to it. I wrote my own like money down of $30,000 to get this theater. And I was starting to take these risks, right? And I was, once

• 31:25Speaker 01

  again, I had a little bit of cushion while I was doing it, which was good, but it taught me so much about myself. And I think every step of the way, I just got more and more confident that by the time, you know, I was ready to take the leap, the only last part of it was my parents. And I remember it was Thanksgiving. So just about, let's see, eight years ago, I went home for Thanksgiving. And at this point, like I had built the dance company. My parents were proud of me. I had people like, you know, Mir and I are and like, you know, the New York Times people endorse us. So I think my parents were like, okay, you know, you, this is, this is good. They still didn't want me to dance full time per se. But my mom looked at me and I was really unhappy. And so this is actually, people like never realized why I was unhappy at the time.

• 32:08Speaker 01

  When I really think back to it, I was, once again, living two lives. So at work, I was like this analyst and I felt like I wasn't really going anywhere with my career. And then I also wasn't going to go anywhere with dance at that point. So I just felt like both roads were like kind of at their ends. And I was like, where am I gonna go? And I needed to find some inspiration. I actually went out to San Francisco for a friend's birthday party. And I met all these entrepreneurs. There were no entrepreneurs in New York City eight years ago. Like that, at least that were in my friend's circle. And I remember looking at like what they were doing. And I remember asking them like, you do this full time? Like, it was just this foreign concept to me. And I started thinking, what if I could do this? What if I could be an entrepreneur?

• 32:51Speaker 01

  I'm like, I knew I was creative and I built my confidence up from building Saad that I was like, I can lead. And so I gave myself two weeks to think of an idea. And this was on a Sunday. And on Tuesday, I was searching for a ballet class online. And I, you know, I started sort of looking around and being like, what technology exists for people to find classes? And stay connected to their hobbies? And that was sort of the point when the idea of ClassPass, it was called something else before that. But kind of came to me. So I had that in the back of my head when I went home from Thanksgiving. But my mom was the one who ultimately told me to quit. And, you know, being who my parents are, always, you know, work hard and all of that.

• 33:32Speaker 01

  And education, it was a really important thing because I wanted to make sure they were, they were okay with the decision. And I think my mom looked at me and she just was like, you're gonna do great at anything you decide to do in your life? Because she knew, she knew I had this self-discipline. And I, at that point, like this idea of doing well was like on my own terms. Like she even when I was at college would call me sometimes to be like, can you please go shopping? Like get out and stop working. But I just, like I said, I loved working because it gave me freedom to do other things in my life. And I still feel like that. Like being smart gives me, gives me freedom. It gives me the ability to even like to control the way I want to present my art or present my work. Right? I don't want to do it on anyone else's terms.

• 34:16Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, that's so beautiful and I love that. And I'm glad that you're so clear about that.

• 34:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:21Jay Shetty?

  We can get lost in working for work's sake.

• 34:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:24Jay Shetty?

  Working because we have to.

• 34:25Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 34:26Jay Shetty?

  You're like, no, I'm gonna work hard and be smart so that I can

• 34:29Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 34:29Jay Shetty?

  Do my own items.

• 34:30Speaker 01

  One hundred percent. It's, it's to me, it's like, it's given me, being smart has given me, given me the opportunities, right? And at the end of the day, I've worked hard to be, you know, it's like getting an education, all of that. But you know, it's, it's not an education for education's sake, right? It's like, it's like this idea of wanting to solve problems and working hard is, is, it's what liberates me. It's what, whenever I feel like I can't achieve something, like, you know, at the end of the day, like, I don't have to rely on anyone. I love, I love working people, but at the end of the day, I know I can rely on myself too. And that to me is like one of the best freedoms you have to be able to say yes to any of your dreams.

• 35:10Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, and this leads perfectly onto our next point, which you just brought up there. I'm gonna tee it up with, with something personally that happened to me recently. I was speaking at a conference to a group of entrepreneurs who all have successful, growing businesses. Not in the line of huge global businesses, but personal businesses.

• 35:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 35:27Jay Shetty?

  So personal entrepreneurs. And the big question was around social media and branding and using social media as a vehicle for growth. And I always start with this disclaimer that I did not start

• 35:39Speaker 01

  With, yeah.

• 35:39Jay Shetty?

  On social media.

• 35:40Speaker 01

  Right.

• 35:41Jay Shetty?

  To build a brand or a business, like that was not my goal. I used social media because I had a message that I felt was important to share.

• 35:47Speaker 01

  Right.

• 35:48Jay Shetty?

  And it was always about the message, it was always about the mission. And I actually thought I was going to work a full-time job and make videos on the weekends.

• 35:56Speaker 01

  Right.

• 35:56Jay Shetty?

  And just happy that a few people would see them. Like, that's genuinely how I'd imagined my whole life. And so I always start with this disclaimer that my intention and my mission was never to build a brand or a business based on my teachings or my thoughts. And they're not my teachings, but my teachings I've been inspired by from others and that I've articulated differently or repackaged or reshared.

• 36:16Speaker 01

  Right.

• 36:17Jay Shetty?

  And so, one thing I know in our conversations, and even though I've heard you say it in interviews and I've read you say it, I want you to really have an opportunity here to, to unpack it. Like, the intention of being an entrepreneur, like the mission of, of why ClassPass exists.

• 36:32Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 36:33Jay Shetty?

  And, and the heart of who you really are, which is what I'm in love with.

• 36:36Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 36:36Jay Shetty?

  I, I want you to share that and talk through that with the audience. Listen carefully, guys.

• 36:40Speaker 01

  So, you know, I think The biggest thing you could do in life is have a purpose, right? And I think when you have that purpose and you spend your life achieving that, that to me is like how life should be set up. And therefore, to me, that's also how entrepreneurship is. Because at the end of the day, as an entrepreneur, you're solving a problem. You're solving something that doesn't exist in the world, right? If it already existed, fine. I mean, you can copy stuff and replicate it, but that's a different type of entrepreneurship. I think you have to make sure that the why behind starting your company, putting out anything you might want, messages, you know, products, anything, comes from a really deep place.

• 37:23Speaker 01

  And while what I call champagne problems, or you know, the things like false indicators of success, are sometimes things that we can all get behind. So things like social media followings, even the amount of funding a company has raised, those things aren't necessarily indicative of you having solved the problem. And I think for all entrepreneurs, it's what problem am I solving? And ideas are great, but you're probably going to go through a lot of ideas to figure out actually how to answer that problem and come up with a solution. But you have to be really fixated on solving that problem. And you know, for ClassPass's sake, when I started the company,

• 38:05Speaker 01

  I wanted to just get some, I wanted to build a search engine, right? Because I was struggling with finding a ballet class. So it simply started as, okay, let me build a search engine, and then people will get back to their hobbies, right? And you know, when I first started, I may have not even known the ultimate mission and vision. And it's kind of come to me over time as I've had this unbelievable opportunity and privilege of seeing what my customers love. That being said, it did come from this idea in me that I always felt really lucky to have found dance at a really young age. And I wanted other people to feel something like that. And I, you know, even in my six years before I, you know, I was started this company, in those, I was always dancing. And I would fight to dance.

• 38:48Speaker 01

  Like, it would be like Saturdays and Sundays, like blocked off to dance. I mean, I missed. So many things that I felt like my friends were doing because I was like, I'm going to continue to dance. And I wanted to build something like that for other people. And so, and I say that, and so the first iteration like didn't work, the second didn't work, you know, the third started working and they're still, we're still iterating. And I, I say that because we're just really focused on solving the problem we set out to. We're not focused on what our product is today. And I, I really think like with all the challenges and everything that happens through entrepreneurship. If it's based on anything like ego, pride, greed, you're not going to stick with it. And I think it has to be something deeper.

• 39:32Speaker 01

  And so, and any of those moments, like, and I think the most authentic entrepreneurs know what that why is. And they can articulate, I mean, you feel it in them. They don't even need to say it. It's like in their entire being and it's the reason they work. It's how they work. It's how they inspire their team to work. It's why people will go and work for them. It's, it's all tied to one simple thing, which is they want to go and change the world.

• 39:55Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, absolutely. And I, I feel like when you do share that message into everyone who's listening. That message is actually what's going to help you figure out whether you're investing your time in the right place. Because you can know how to get funding, or you can know who you need to network with, or you can know the process of coming up with an application or whatever it is, all of that system.

• 40:15Speaker 01

  The how.

• 40:16Jay Shetty?

  Systemic stuff.

• 40:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, the how and the what. Yeah, exactly.

• 40:19Jay Shetty?

  But, but without that strong, deep why, I love what you said, you can't be obsessed or fixated on it. And that's, those two words I feel that you've used are so powerful. Because if you're not obsessed with the problem, you're going to hit so many little problems on the way, they're just going to make you give up.

• 40:34Speaker 01

  Exactly. Absolutely. I mean, it's, it's really everything. I mean, a startup is like, it's like a, an infant, you know, and it needs, it needs like, you know, but then there's something new every single day. And you have to be like, I'm gonna figure this out, right? And I'm gonna learn new things to figure this out. Because most of the times you don't, as an entrepreneur, you have not done most of the things you're gonna be tasked with having to do. But you learn and you're, you care because you genuinely wanna figure it out.

• 40:59Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, absolutely. Let's talk about SAAR and creativity.

• 41:03Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 41:04Jay Shetty?

  Because I know you're such a creator at heart.

• 41:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:07Jay Shetty?

  And that's where ClassPass comes from, which we can go back to as well. But it's where SAAR comes from and you recently launched SAAR in L.A.

• 41:13Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 41:14Jay Shetty?

  The first time, the debut, which was absolutely beautiful to be a part of. Thanks for including me.

• 41:18Speaker 01

  Thanks for being there.

• 41:19Jay Shetty?

  I felt really special. I was like, I was just, yeah, I felt special being involved because I knew how important it was to you. So I'm really grateful. So thank you.

• 41:27Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 41:27Jay Shetty?

  I was so touched to be involved.

• 41:29Speaker 01

  Magical day.

• 41:30Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, it was, it was beautiful and I, you know, everyone who's listening right now, wherever you are in the world, when SAAR comes to your city, you have to go and see it. It will come to your city very soon.

• 41:41Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 41:42Jay Shetty?

  Uh, so when it does, you should go and see it. But I, I, I say this all the time. I said it that day. I, I talk about it when I talk to you and because it stuck with me because it was so, I love clarity. I love people who have so much clarity. And when I met you, you've had clarity since day one and you've had clarity your whole life. But you said to me, if you want to understand me, you have to see me dance. And I was just like, wow, like this person really understands themselves. Like no one says, like I've never, no one said stuff, something like that to me before. Like no one's ever said to me like, oh, if you really want to understand me, you have to see me do this.

• 42:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:14Jay Shetty?

  I was just like, wow, okay. And, and because I was fascinated by you, I was just like, okay, I wanna come and see you dance. And so tell me about how dance has become such a defining aspect of you.

• 42:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:28Jay Shetty?

  And creative aspect.

• 42:29Speaker 01

  Absolutely. And I mean, we were having this conversation this summer and I think it really helped me also realize like what has guided me my entire life. And when I think about leading a life of service in some way, and I do, I think, you know, people who do wake up every day to want to make the world a better place are, everyone's living in service in a different way. And I think about that and I think about what I wanted to give the world, right? And I think at a really young age, when I was five years old and I performed, it was probably at someone's, I don't know, wedding or birthday party. While it feels like, you know, oh, okay, it was just a dance performance. I think when you're five years old and, you know,

• 43:12Speaker 01

  you have 200 people staring at you and all of a sudden you realize that you touched their hearts in some way and you made them feel something. And I think for me, that's what dance is. It's a way of expressing and conveying emotion to people. I think I realized, wow, I can impact other people's lives. And I think that is the greatest power, like all of us should realize at a very young age. And I think once, it's actually like such a, it's so powerful that it's also one of those things which should be really, it's like humbling in the sense of being like, we all carry that power. And then what are you going to do with it? And I think because I felt that at such a young age, I always just felt like I have to make sure I'm giving people.

• 43:55Speaker 01

  And knowing I have that power in me is making me feel like I need to just spend my life doing that. So I think that's always just been like a guiding light for me throughout everything I've done. What was the question originally? What I was talking about?

• 44:10Jay Shetty?

  No, I was just opening it up to talking about how dance is so closely linked with you.

• 44:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:16Jay Shetty?

  And how creativity comes from that.

• 44:18Speaker 01

  Yeah. And so, you know, I think when I danced when I was younger, I learned a lot of folk dancing and I learned these amazing, rich stories of the women in my culture and how they would work. And I think that was really beautiful. While I probably didn't appreciate it when I was younger, I really appreciate it now, especially being a woman, like seeing, you know, my mom, my grandparents, like just wanting to share their stories, you know, with the next generation, I think is so important to me. And I think that was one part of it. And then I think the other part of it, it really just came from, you know, living in America and like seeing the way people moved, learning ballet, jazz and all these other styles, and wanting to put everything together to also showcase who I was as a human being, which was this blend of like having a little bit of the,

• 45:02Speaker 01

  you know, the Indian side to you, which I was proud of, even though I think it took me a little bit of time to be really proud of it. And then also then blend it with this beautiful, like, you know, sort of more Western aesthetic, which I really love. To create like a dialogue essentially and like what I think you know saw really does and it's still evolving. It's art. It's like we're talking about women, freedom, our culture in a really profound way. And it's so deep, you know, and when I I I love creating things that are timeless. And I and you know, that to me is like one of the most unbelievable words. And I think I think about that too, when I think of entrepreneurship and anything I do in my life. It's I don't want, you know, us performing to be something that can exist in today.

• 45:45Speaker 01

  I want this to be something that in a hundred years, someone could watch, right? Or if it was a hundred years in the past and it would still be the same emotions of my culture and the beings of how, you know, human beings might be feeling today. And I think that's like what dance can really do is it can it can it just is a way to express what words can't.

• 46:05Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, and you do incredibly well. It's it's not just aesthetically and just I really do feel that the music you choose, the composition, the colors, it when I was watching you, I originally felt like I was in India.

• 46:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 46:20Jay Shetty?

  And then I felt like I was on a journey and traveling. And then there was a time when I felt I was on a boat and you were crossing the river. You know, I I and and by the way, anyone who's listening, there was no boat there. There was no river there. There was, you know, it was all through dance, this journey that was conveyed. How? Why is it still relevant to you today? Why do you think that that culture is still relevant today? And and why is it still important? Because I'm sure there's a lot of people that don't have to be, but maybe Asian Americans, Indian Americans, just kind of going like, well, no, I'm defined by hip hop and what I grew up on.

• 46:56Speaker 01

  It's a great question, you know. I think there's just this purity in in our culture. And, you know, it's something that I think I'm even spending more time on researching myself. And, you know, we it's, I mean, Indian culture is one of the most ancient in the world, right? So. You know, I mean, and you do this all the time. It's like you're trying to take knowledge of lives and lives before us, right? So we can almost live better. And I think for for me, it's it's showing how while we may be different, we're actually all the same. And these values that are in our culture, whether it be about respect and family and, you know, just even have people, girls having fun together on a playground in a way,

• 47:40Speaker 01

  which is how we opened the show. I think it's, these are just such human emotions. And we should never forget them. And I think they they're they've lived forever.

• 47:51Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 47:51Speaker 01

  And they, in a way, they're actually beyond culture, if that makes sense. So I think, you know, one of the other things I really think about is, like I said, they're human emotions. They they actually have nothing to just do with being Indian, but we're just doing them to also remember where we historically came from.

• 48:07Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, I love that. I couldn't agree with you more. I think a lot of what I got to study as a monk as well was so universal.

• 48:13Speaker 01

  Right.

• 48:13Jay Shetty?

  The principles are totally universal, totally timeless.

• 48:16Speaker 01

  Right.

• 48:17Jay Shetty?

  Not for a particular sect or caste or background or walk of life. And and that's, yeah, I think you talk about the human emotions aspect is so significant.

• 48:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 48:26Jay Shetty?

  For its relevance, because if you if you made a dance about today in the future, it'd be like all of us on our phones.

• 48:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 48:33Jay Shetty?

  It wouldn't be that, the girls aspect, playing together, etc.

• 48:37Speaker 01

  Right, no, but you know, but like, I guess it's like how playing is defined, you know, and in that way. And I think returning back to some of that, like you said, I mean, I think the word universal is exactly right. It's it's a, how do you, how do we do that? And movement is just a really interesting, because it doesn't, you don't need to understand the language, you know, while it's Indian costumes and some Indian movement and, you know, Indian music. I mean, we actually had. Eight different languages through the show. I mean, so no one actually understood any of it. I mean, there's times where I don't, you know, and I have to spend time researching what the lyrics are to really evoke, evoke the movement of it. And I think like Indian dance in particular has like, has Abhinaya, which is the expression and the emotion,

• 49:22Speaker 01

  which, you know, not many other dance forms around the world have. So it's all about storytelling and preserving some of these stories. And so, you know, I think it's going to keep evolving. And I think it's evolved as me as a, as an artist and a human being. You know, I think like I'm realizing it of the way I want to express who I am and our culture is all evolving as I evolve as a human being as well.

• 49:46Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, when I see the facial expressions,

• 49:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:48Jay Shetty?

  they're incredible. Like the amount of energy that was projecting off of each of your faces that day, you can't not admire it.

• 49:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:57Jay Shetty?

  And it can't not captivate you. As in, it's just, yeah, it's, it was totally, totally captivating. Like I was, I was enthralled the whole time. I was just like, how do you even do that? Like, your face must hurt so much.

• 50:09Speaker 01

  You know, it's,

• 50:09Jay Shetty?

  Like your face muscles.

• 50:10Speaker 01

  You have to practice both in a way. But I think at some point, it's so innate and it's so, it's just, it's coming from our hearts. I mean, you can't think about it, right? By the time you're performing at that level, it's, you know, and I think, look, I mean, you do this with words, right? Like, everyone has their way of expressing who they are. And I think it's about finding what it is for you. And I think like that, I hope all people find their way of expressing like their deepest level as of a human being. And it's why when I say you have to come and see me dance is because I don't think I go to that place to like my truest place as a human being in any, anything else I do.

• 50:51Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 50:51Speaker 01

  And so it's, it's like all the colors of who I am. It's just, you know, all the vulnerability, all the happiness is like all there. Like I'm not holding anything back.

• 51:01Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 51:02Speaker 01

  And I think even, you know, for me as a, as like a producer, I think about how do I create environment so I can also have my artists be able to perform at that level? Because I want every, I mean, it's like reaching like an unbelievable euphoria.

• 51:18Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 51:18Speaker 01

  And it's, it's actually like the day after you feel sad because you're like, how do I feel like that again? Because it's such an amazing endorphin rush, but it's coming from such a true place.

• 51:28Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, definitely. There's a beautiful Picasso quote that literally sums up everything we're saying. And he said that the, The meaning of life is to find your gift.

• 51:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:37Jay Shetty?

  And the purpose of life is to give it away.

• 51:39Speaker 01

  Give it away.

• 51:39Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. And I love it. It's just, it's so poetically beautiful, but it's, it also makes so much sense.

• 51:44Speaker 01

  Right.

• 51:45Jay Shetty?

  That when you use your passion.

• 51:46Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 51:47Jay Shetty?

  In the service of others, it becomes a purpose.

• 51:49Speaker 01

  Right, absolutely.

• 51:50Jay Shetty?

  And I feel, yeah, I wish that for everyone listening, watching right now and for anyone else as well, that just, you find your passion and then you use it for everyone else.

• 51:59Speaker 01

  And that's my like class pass why, like at the end of the day, I think once I felt that, I was like, how do I have the whole world feel this as much as possible? Because like you said, it's just, it's the only thing that matters and it's, it's a gift to each person. And I think if you're, if every person's able to find that, they're going to be, you know, 10 times a better person to everyone else, right? Because of knowing that this, this exact feeling can exist for them.

• 52:27Jay Shetty?

  Totally, totally. And that's, yeah, I'm so, yeah, I've got some exciting stuff coming out next year that's kind of giving everyone, in my opinion, the fundamentals of being able to find that first step.

• 52:38Speaker 01

  I love that.

• 52:39Jay Shetty?

  Because finding out how to use it for other people can become a scale question.

• 52:43Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 52:43Jay Shetty?

  Because you can always use it for just your friends. And then you can scale it like you have to the whole world, millions of users, et cetera. But most people struggle at the first step of just like, what am I passionate about? What do I love like that? And that's what I want to help, I want to help codify that for people. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. We talk a lot about intentional decision making and that extends to the practical stuff too. Like making sure your coverage actually works for your life. State Farm is there to meet you where you are and they know how sweet it is to feel good about your decisions. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer.

• 53:27Jay Shetty?

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• 54:32Jay Shetty?

  Do you have any tips or steps that you recommend to people? Because you found yourself so young and early.

• 54:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:37Jay Shetty?

  But have you ever thought about that?

• 54:39Speaker 01

  I mean, I think, you know, part of, and it's sort of built into class pass a bit, of like this idea of discovery, like try new things because you don't know until you've kind of gotten to that phase. And we've talked about this a lot, which is, people are, you go through different phases, right? So you're maybe in an explore phase, and then you might be in a build phase. You might be in a scale phase. And I think it's, A, like being able to go through it, but making sure that you keep things, you keep it fresh, right? And you try new things. I was actually just saying this just the other day, but like when we're younger, we're told to do so many different activities. And as adults, we somehow stop, you know? And I just don't believe in that because I think you have to keep your mind and body all refreshed.

• 55:24Speaker 01

  And I think when we talk about like me being able to take a lot of decisions in my life to keep dreaming and to keep kind of shifting into different places is because I kind of force myself to do that. I never want to kind of get stuck in being like, this is how my life is defined, and especially defined by other people. And so I think you have to just keep it fresh. But I think the number one thing is like, get out of your comfort zone.

• 55:46Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 55:46Speaker 01

  You know, because I think you just don't realize it. And then if you find something, you know, it's, a lot of it is also reflective time. It's taking time by yourself, which I think people sometimes struggle with as well. Is have you like sat in a room with yourself for a while and spent a day with just yourself? What would you really want to do?

• 56:05Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 56:06Speaker 01

  And I think a lot of the answers lie right there. It's hard for people to do.

• 56:09Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, I saw that post on Instagram that you did about play.

• 56:12Speaker 01

  Right.

• 56:12Jay Shetty?

  I was reading an article where you said that. And that actually re-inspired me because I started looking back and I was like, oh, where do I still play?

• 56:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 56:20Jay Shetty?

  Like a child. And I have to admit this because one of the plays that I remember playing a lot was actually video games.

• 56:26Speaker 01

  Fine.

• 56:27Jay Shetty?

  I love video games. Well, actually, I just like playing football on video, like FIFA. It's a huge soccer game all over the world and it's, I've recently with my business partner, because he loves it too. We literally have all of our business meetings playing FIFA.

• 56:40Speaker 01

  That's so great.

• 56:41Jay Shetty?

  And it's just because he's one person I can get away with that weird.

• 56:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 56:44Jay Shetty?

  It's just so fun. I'm with you for an hour a week. It's great play. It's like mindless. But you re-inspired that in me because I was like, oh, where do I play? And I love playing sports as well. So it's making more time to actually play sports and play football. And I just feel like, yeah, you're so right. And the funny thing is that when adults start taking dance classes or start taking, start learning an instrument again, both two things which I would love to do. A lot of people are like, oh, my God, you're going through a midlife crisis. You know, it's seen, I feel like there's a bit of a

• 57:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 57:12Jay Shetty?

  Not taboo, but there is a bit of a like, oh, yeah, what are you going through? Like, is everything okay at home?

• 57:17Speaker 01

  People like also just don't think it's a priority, like, you know, and it's like even for Saw, like, I think people will be like, oh, you're like you dance on the side. It's a hobby. We were talking about this. Some of the girls came over last night and one of the girls, she has two kids, okay, and her husband of all people, because we were talking about like what to do with the show. And she was like, oh, we might tour it, etc. And she was like, you know, she was so surprised because the person who was like, you should do it was her husband. Of all people, right? Because she was expecting him to be like, why aren't you home? Like, you have to take. And it was amazing because I think like, what he realized was like, this isn't just a hobby, like this was something great. And I think that's kind of what I think people should do is like, and look, at the end of the day, if you don't prioritize it, no one else around you is going to prioritize it.

• 58:02Speaker 01

  And this goes back to the goal setting and why I do it is it's, if it's a priority to me, it becomes a priority to everyone else in my life. And if I'm not willing to stand up for it, no one else is going to. So I do not let anyone make me feel bad for dancing. Right? And when people are like, I mean, it's crazy to put on a show in the hours. I mean, we dance from like eight to 11pm at night, you know, and everyone has other lives and other things going on.

• 58:25Jay Shetty?

  And they all volunteers?

• 58:25Speaker 01

  They all volunteer. And you do it because you're, you know, like it's a priority at the end of the day. And I think like that to me in a way, like even when we designed ClassPass, like I think about all the behavioral mechanisms that are required to get somebody to say yes.

• 58:42Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 58:43Speaker 01

  Because by the way, there are a lot of things in our lives that make it very easy to say no.

• 58:48Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 58:48Speaker 01

  Right? From being busy to where, all these things.

• 58:51Jay Shetty?

  Totally.

• 58:51Speaker 01

  And, and my whole thing is if I make it to serve it to you so easy, maybe you'll actually try and say yes. And I just feel like the more we can do that in our lives and for, for our friends, for, you know, people in our lives is help them fight through those challenges. Because we need to keep these passions in our lives. Like, I don't like when people are like, I used to be an athlete or I used to be an Olympian. Like, I meet people and I'm like, what? Like this, like, because there were, that means you would, you built something for 20 years of your life, like some work ethic, some sense of purpose, and you wanted to let go of it. And it's okay if you want to change for a little bit, but there is something in there. There's a reason you worked hard every day to get to such a, like, a great level.

• 59:33Speaker 01

  And it had to be driven by something deeper. So what is that? And how do we make sure we replicate that purpose in your life again? Even though you might have kids and have a job and everything else going on in your life, you still need to keep that in your life.

• 59:45Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely. By the way, just anyone listening, I don't make big business decisions while playing FIFA. Just, just putting it out there, like, in case anyone was wondering.

• 59:54Speaker 01

  But sometimes, like, I don't know, like, being creative is sometimes one of the best times

• 59:58Jay Shetty?

  Totally.

• 59:58Speaker 01

  you can think, you know?

• 1:00:00Jay Shetty?

  It's great.

• 1:00:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, I get what you're saying, but like, sometimes people, like, things connect in your mind when you let your brain have those moments, you know, whether it's in class or doing something creative. Like, you'd be surprised that how much, you know, the rest of your, rest of your mind is working and how much more efficient your brain can actually become.

• 1:00:19Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, well, especially you were just saying that you take a lot of your calls walking.

• 1:00:22Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 1:00:22Jay Shetty?

  That reason.

• 1:00:23Speaker 01

  I'm sitting down right now, but.

• 1:00:24Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:00:24Speaker 01

  I always feel like my.

• 1:00:25Jay Shetty?

  We should have done a walking podcast. Audio would have struggled.

• 1:00:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. But I, I don't know, I just think better like I, I run on the treadmill close to every day and people are like, why do you? And I also obviously go to class, but like my treadmill time is like meditation, thinking time like I. Solve problem and you know what like I'm off my phone, but I like, I'm working through stuff in my head. I don't, I don't just, I can't run, I'd be, I would be like completely bored. So I would, you know, it's all about thinking through really, you know, things I have to get through in my head. And I, I'm like you, like, I don't know, everything has to be thoughtful. So it's like, even if I'm thinking through like getting a gift for somebody like I have to like, I'm not okay with like just being like, oh, here. It's like, I need to spend like, even if it's like two minutes, like it needs the two minutes to think about it.

• 1:01:09Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But I love what you did because obviously you built a huge company and got married too. But you never left dance.

• 1:01:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:01:20Jay Shetty?

  Like it, because I, I feel like when you were building ClassPass, it must've been so easy to make dance not a priority.

• 1:01:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:01:29Jay Shetty?

  Like it must've been so easy, especially at the scale and acceleration.

• 1:01:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:01:33Jay Shetty?

  The focus, it must be so easy and so many entrepreneurs say that, that they lost their health when they were scaling a business. So they lost their passion and now they're using the money they've got now to go back to their passion, et cetera. But you just never let go.

• 1:01:45Speaker 01

  There, you know, and I'm not going to say it was perfect, like there was definitely times I struggled and it was, um, that being said, I always remember being like, well, I'm going to forget why I built this company if I stop dancing, right? And I, that's like part of why like I always fought to keep, keep it in my life. And even actually like till this day, and I always love this, like my board members have all come and watched me dance. Like they will, when they even introduce me to someone, like, of course they're always like me, like our founder, like, you know, it's really, it's exciting. But they'll always be like, wait, here's a dance video of her, you know, like they're proud of it too, in a, in a, in a really special way, which makes me feel, because that's how people, people should be celebrating these things, right? The, these are different types of achievements and accomplishments that hu- human beings have.

• 1:02:30Speaker 01

  But at the end of the day, like, I would lose my why. And it would, and I, I do remember there were times where I stopped and it, obviously, my team would be like, when was the last time you danced? Like, they would know because my fire and every, like, everything that got me to, like I said, fight through the problems I needed to fight through came from always reminding myself of why I started the company, which for me lied in dance.

• 1:02:54Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, I love it. It's, that's the best. When you've done it through that.

• 1:02:59Speaker 01

  Yep. And I will keep, you know, like, I think about, you know, like, having kids or what, all the, all the things in my life. And I just always remember, like, you know, every, by the way, every show I have, after I'm always like, is that gonna be my last performance? Like, you always just kind of, you know, it's just, it is really hard sometimes to work through it, you know? But I'm like, no, I'm gonna always do it. And every time I do it, I'm like, ah, like, this is the greatest feeling on earth. Like, going back to that feeling of euphoria. And I think a lot of people have that in their life. And even when people like ask, I'm sure people ask you this all the time. They ask me this, like, how do I find my passion or whatever? It's like, when was the last time you felt anything close to that? It's probably somewhere in there.

• 1:03:41Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:03:42Speaker 01

  You know, and it's, it's happened in your life, right? It's like, whether, and it might have been when you were six. But like, when can you go back to that feeling? Because it's probably tied to that emotion.

• 1:03:53Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, 100%. Anyone who's listening, don't stop playing. Like, find your play, like, make time to play. It's a beautiful lesson from Pyo. It just, it's, I, I think it's huge. I, I genuinely think it's huge. And I, I remember, for me, actually, before I started making content, and I've, I've been making content since I was 18, which was never video based. It was just spoken, it was written, it was speeches, et cetera. And I would just do it because I loved it. I didn't get paid for it.

• 1:04:20Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:04:20Jay Shetty?

  It didn't, it didn't go anywhere. I didn't, I didn't have any followers, I didn't have any views. I was just doing it because I loved it. I did it for at least three hours a day since I was 18. And so when I actually started making videos. Which was the first time I started putting into digital form. The reason I did that is because I was working a job.

• 1:04:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:04:36Jay Shetty?

  And I asked myself two questions and I don't even know where these came from, but they came from, I think I used to listen to, and this is real, I used to listen to the Steve Jobs Stanford commencement speech over and over again, every single day. And it's literally only like fifteen minutes or whatever it is, but I would listen to it again and again and again. And there's so many parts in it where he talks about, don't be trapped by dogma.

• 1:04:59Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:04:59Jay Shetty?

  Don't be defined by other people's opinions and those started becoming my voice. And then I remember asking myself these two questions. One was, what advice would I give to my younger self? And the answer to that question was, my younger self would have never stopped creating. Because as a young person, I was making, I was writing music, I was writing songs, I was doing a lot of spoken word and rap and I was sad that I gave that up.

• 1:05:19Speaker 01

  You gave that up.

• 1:05:20Jay Shetty?

  I gave up those words as a way of expressing or not that I gave up writing, actually I never gave up writing, but I gave up sharing myself in a bigger way with that.

• 1:05:30Speaker 01

  Right, expression.

• 1:05:31Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, totally. And the second thing I asked myself was like, what will I regret on my deathbed? Like, what will I regret when I'm eighty or ninety, whatever age I lived to? And I was like, I would have regret that I just accepted that to have a good life, I had to continue having a corporate job and that was it. And so that was like, those two questions just forced me out of that

• 1:05:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:49Jay Shetty?

  safety net that I was in.

• 1:05:50Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:05:51Jay Shetty?

  And that really like pushed me forward. So anyone who's listening, just know that, I mean, Pyle's a huge inspiration. I'm just sharing my own little, in my own little way, but you know, it's, it's not that it was easy for you. And I think, I think a lot, a lot of people may, may hear and just be like, oh, but you're really smart and you've always been smart and you found your passion. It sounds like, you know, you're super.

• 1:06:11Speaker 01

  Well, I think that's like another important.

• 1:06:13Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, let's talk about that.

• 1:06:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's funny. My husband always like brings this up, you know, he's always like, like I've worked hard my entire life. I know. I spend my, I spend, I'm always working, I'm always thinking, I'm always trying to learn. And I think, and I think of play, like, I mean, I kind of, I was just talking about this, like, I tried to get my work done as quickly as possible and like do it well. And I would, even at MIT, I'd be like, Pyle, you have to get straight A's if you want to continue dancing. I put that on myself, okay? And I say that in the sense of, I felt like I kept having to earn the right to play because, look, I also believe like, look, like you need to have a good head on your shoulders, like, to have to do a lot of the stuff I even do now with the art and stuff and not be able to, you know, look, you need to know how to like.

• 1:07:00Speaker 01

  You have responsibilities, pay your bills, all those things. Like, if you can't do those things, like, your life might end up going in the wrong direction for other reasons, and you might not be able, you know, I love being able to say, like, pursue your passion, but I can say that because I took care of a lot of other things. And no, none of this was given to me. My parents didn't come here with anything. I had to, you know, go through and do all my college applications, apply to all the jobs. There was nothing ever handed to me. I worked for everything in my life, and I will continue to, even till this day, right? Every opportunity. But I think that's an important thing for people to know, is that, and it is possible. Like, anyone, no matter where you start and come from, can get there, but you have to work hard, you need to, like, continue to learn, you know, be respectful, and at the same time, play, right?

• 1:07:45Speaker 01

  But like I said, it's like, I got my stuff done, and then I was like, I'm allowed to play. And that's sort of how I kept living my life, is, like, little by little, I kept giving myself more of playtime, because I felt like I earned it, if that makes sense. And honestly, like, I feel, as an artist, and even doing SAW and all that right now, like, it's an absolute privilege for me. And I say that because I'm like, I feel like I've earned this ability to do it, but it was through hard work, a lot of hard work. And that's, you know, and still, like, to do anything in your life, and if I even want to do something new, or try to, I know I'm gonna have to do the same exact, I know the formula and the process to go through, but it always starts with hard work.

• 1:08:22Jay Shetty?

  And I'm so glad you raised that point, because I think it's so easy, and right now, the rhetoric is very much, follow your passion, and be an entrepreneur, and break out, and that is all good advice, and it's sound, but the realistic, pragmatic sense of just, hey, if you don't understand how to run your business, then you can chase your passion as much as you want, but you're not gonna be able to do it long-term. Or if you don't figure out the strategic element, no matter how sincere you are, and how incredible your work is. Yeah, absolutely, and I feel like, I'm really glad you raised that.

• 1:08:53Speaker 01

  It's like having the toolkit a little, of like, you know, and I think, you know, I always think about, like, what did I learn in my life that got me here? They're like, actual tangible things. Yeah, I mean, and I've been like, just, like, thinking a little bit about it, and I think it does come from, like, surrounding yourself with great people. You know, like getting a good education, respecting others. Like, I think it's like putting yourself like good work out there. All those things are all a part of it. And then like this idea of passion, leading a passionate life. Like, like I said, I think I had to keep chipping at it like it, right? Like, I started in kind of the opposite side, very similar to you did. And we just kind of had to keep chipping.

• 1:09:32Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:32Speaker 01

  To make it a bigger part of our life. And at the same time, like, I don't know if it was ever like, I don't know. You know, people always like are like, well, do you feel like you should have started your company right after college? Like, no, I don't regret any of my time in corporate America or doing, you know, working in consulting.

• 1:09:47Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:48Speaker 01

  It's because I think it taught me a lot, too. And I was, while I was there, I did a good job and I learned a lot while I was there. Like, take every opportunity that comes in front of you, you know, that you're doing for a reason and do it well, at least, right? Or don't do it at all.

• 1:10:02Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. And, and learn the fact that, I mean, I know that the time I spent at Accenture, I learned so much.

• 1:10:09Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:10:09Jay Shetty?

  And I look back and I'm like, I learned so many things about the future of AI and VR and AR. And then I focused so much on business and sales and negotiation and just, just even basic things like turning up on time to meetings.

• 1:10:22Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:10:22Jay Shetty?

  And, and, and coming prepared.

• 1:10:25Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:10:25Jay Shetty?

  And being ready to having to work till midnight if you had to.

• 1:10:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:10:28Jay Shetty?

  All those sorts of things, which I think are undervalued because it doesn't feel what you're passionate about.

• 1:10:33Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:10:34Jay Shetty?

  And even though I wasn't waking up doing what I was passionate about every day, it was exactly what I needed to be able to do what I do now.

• 1:10:40Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 1:10:40Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:10:41Jay Shetty?

  No, that's a really powerful message. I'm glad that, I'm glad that you shared that because it's, it's often missed. Okay, I want to talk about one more thing before we end with our final five questions.

• 1:10:49Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:10:49Jay Shetty?

  It was, you've talked about your passion for art. You're also very passionate about women and women in business.

• 1:10:54Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:10:55Jay Shetty?

  And that's something you're a big advocate and ambassador for. Let's, yeah, let's open that up.

• 1:10:59Speaker 01

  Well, I, you know, I think so much of the world's spend is by women, right? Like, women are like the largest purchasers and, and I see that in the sense of, I think of the potential of the solutions we still need for.

• 1:11:15Speaker 01

  Things that women, you know, problems that women have in the world, and there's a lot. And I say that in the sense of you can really only really solve problems. And going back to what I think entrepreneurship is, is stuff you've faced and are really passionate about.

• 1:11:26Jay Shetty?

  Basically, men are creating the products that women end up buying.

• 1:11:28Speaker 01

  Sometimes that happens, and I think that has been a problem. And I think like that, to me, is a huge opportunity, right? Of like what women can build out there. And I see that, and I think that's why there's so much potential of what we can all do. You know, the other thing I would say is, I think everything in our lives that makes us unique, whether it is our gender, whether it's our height, being 411, you know.

• 1:11:56Jay Shetty?

  Tiny but mighty.

• 1:11:57Speaker 01

  Tiny but mighty. Or, you know, I don't know, I just feel like in every situation, you can walk in and people will, there's this idea of either people are looking at me with doubts, or they're looking at me thinking I'm incredible. And it's up to you to walk into the room and believe whichever one. And by the way, like, the more you walk in being like, I'm incredible, right? And whatever, however you have to set yourself up to walk in the room and believe you're on that side of it. I just believe it's, you're going to be able to accomplish more. You're going to just be more confident. You know, it's, it's one of those, it's like actually a self-belief thing. And I, I really want women to know, like, they're not at a disadvantage. Like, I really don't believe, I've never felt like I was at a disadvantage.

• 1:12:38Speaker 01

  And I say that in the sense of from a, I, you know, once again, my mom taught me, like, if you want to accomplish something in your life, you go and do it. And of course, like, there's some stats, like, we still need to fix. Like, we need, we need more women in giving money. Like, there is these things that we definitely need to shift in the world, absolutely. But at the end of the day, I want, like, I want women to know that they're incredibly exceptional, and they're going to build the next, like, billion-dollar companies, because there's billion-dollar problems that we need to solve for women.

• 1:13:05Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, absolutely. Self-belief is not that everyone will like me, but self-belief is, I'll be okay if they don't.

• 1:13:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:13:11Jay Shetty?

  Because I've, I've learned to walk in with that presence myself.

• 1:13:14Speaker 01

  It's a great way to put it.

• 1:13:14Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, I feel like that, but if I ever had a daughter, like, I think about it through that. That's the closest I can connect with the challenge on the other side. And I'm like, if I ever had a daughter, I'd want her to be able to dream

• 1:13:26Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:13:27Jay Shetty?

  of being a founder, if that's what she wanted to do.

• 1:13:29Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:13:30Jay Shetty?

  Because she sees role models in that sense.

• 1:13:32Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:13:32Jay Shetty?

  And I wanted to dream of being an athlete or whatever she wants to be.

• 1:13:35Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:13:36Jay Shetty?

  Because she sees female role models.

• 1:13:37Speaker 01

  Seeing other people who've done it.

• 1:13:39Jay Shetty?

  Who look like her.

• 1:13:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:13:41Jay Shetty?

  Who, who act like her, who think like her, who came from the same sorts of backgrounds that she did.

• 1:13:45Speaker 01

  I think, and I think what's great right now, and I see it all the time, is women sharing how they got there and like their entire life. Like when I started consulting and I would meet some female partners, I didn't know anything about their life. Like, I'm like, are, you know, are you married? Are you not? And not saying everyone wants, wants that, but I'm like, are you gonna, like, is that the life I want? Are you happy? Like, any of those things? Like, do you have anything else going on in your life? How do you play? And, and I couldn't see that. And I think what's really amazing, and I think like Instagram's been great for this, or, and even I do this, like at work, it's like sharing more of my life, you know, with people is important. So they realize like, yeah, like be, you know, be kick ass in all that you do, but you can also be like a human being and have a family and all those things, which I think wasn't always something that we saw.

• 1:14:30Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, absolutely. Awesome. So my final five.

• 1:14:33Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:14:33Jay Shetty?

  The final five minutes, five questions.

• 1:14:35Speaker 01

  All right.

• 1:14:36Jay Shetty?

  Quick, quick, quick questions that I love asking. So your number one, a number one entrepreneur dance collaboration. Like if you could do.

• 1:14:45Speaker 01

  What?

• 1:14:45Jay Shetty?

  If you could do a dance collaboration with any other entrepreneur, what would it, who would it be?

• 1:14:49Speaker 01

  Um, well, I want to dance Beyonce and J Lo. I, I'm like, I'm just gonna say they're entrepreneurs.

• 1:14:53Jay Shetty?

  They're both entrepreneurs.

• 1:14:54Speaker 01

  For the sake of this, yeah, exactly.

• 1:14:56Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, okay.

• 1:14:56Speaker 01

  Yes, they are. Totally.

• 1:14:58Jay Shetty?

  There we go. We're putting it out to the universe.

• 1:14:59Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:15:00Jay Shetty?

  I love it.

• 1:15:01Speaker 01

  There's gonna be a collaboration one day. Exactly.

• 1:15:03Jay Shetty?

  I love it. Uh, how do you play apart from dance?

• 1:15:06Speaker 01

  How do I play apart from dance? Oh.

• 1:15:09Jay Shetty?

  Or does there need to be another one? Is dance enough?

• 1:15:11Speaker 01

  No, I mean, I think, you know, for me, going to class is a huge thing. I also like, I, I love movies. Like, I love going to see movies. I know, we've gone to see movies together all the time. Like, I don't know, I love seeing like other people's creativity. Like, that's a great way I play. It's like, you know, whether it's going to see shows or whatever, I love being inspired by other people.

• 1:15:31Jay Shetty?

  That's a great answer. We saw A Star is Born and Leased.

• 1:15:33Speaker 01

  Yes, so good.

• 1:15:35Jay Shetty?

  So good. Yeah, no, I agree with you. I so agree with that. I literally watch movies to get inspired, to create.

• 1:15:40Speaker 01

  Exactly. It's like, it's playtime in a different way, you know?

• 1:15:44Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:44Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:15:45Jay Shetty?

  Okay. The best advice you ever received?

• 1:15:48Speaker 01

  My father, I think, you know, he always, and he still says this, it's, you know, the only thing consonants change, so you have to always remain adaptable.

• 1:15:59Jay Shetty?

  Oh, I like it. Yeah, adaptability in every way. One of the hardest skills.

• 1:16:05Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, I think we crave, as human beings, we crave security and sometimes, you know, finding the sense of like, even this idea of home and what that is, but at the end of the day, I think you have to kind of always realize, like, life's always changing and that's okay.

• 1:16:21Jay Shetty?

  Yeah. This one, you can give a bit more of a longer answer, but it's about, you know, what's next? What are you building? What's exciting? What's, you know, whatever you want to say.

• 1:16:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, so many things. I mean, ClassFest just launched internationally and we're continuing to launch in more places. And I think with that, I think what's really cool is, you know, the vision of ClassFest, and I've been talking a lot about time, of course, it started with fitness classes, but we obviously, like, the vision and everything I'm talking about has to do with much more than just going to a fitness class. And it's, you know, people being able to go to more experiences. This idea of playtime is even going to see a show, right? Or doing other types of classes in photography and, you know, cooking or other things that people are passionate about. It's the same thing I feel in dance, but I think other people feel doing other things. So we continue, we will continue to expand categories, which we're excited to do.

• 1:17:12Speaker 01

  Like, the vision of the company for me has always been this idea of a life pass where we're the destination for all your exciting free time. So that's really exciting. And then, you know, continuing to dance, I think, you know, for me, doing the show, which we just had a few weeks ago here in LA, was like another, another, you know, I hadn't put work out there actually in a few years personally. And so just putting work out there as an artist, I think it just opened my mind up to so much more art I want to create with dance for my culture, for women, for, for, you know, this idea of freedom and equality that's needed in the world today.

• 1:17:48Jay Shetty?

  Amazing. And in the future, when you'll be invited to give a MIT commencement speech for new grads, what will be your advice or message to them rewinding back to yourself being in their shoes, in their seats?

• 1:18:03Speaker 01

  I remember writing my MIT essay on how my life revolved around the number two. Like literally, I was born on February 2nd and I think I always had like two identities. Yeah. And my, my screen name was pile222. So I think there was like this idea of numbers that was, was very a big part of my life. But let's see, what would I tell them? Oh my God. I think, um, you know, I think my biggest message for people is to live life on their terms. And I think as you graduate, I think you spend some time about learning about what everyone else wants you to do. And I think that's fine. Like I, like I said, I don't, I don't regret those times.

• 1:18:47Speaker 01

  It's about knowing when to get off the train and to start, you know, walking your own journey. And I just hope everyone starts walking their own journey at some point, right? And the train is empty at the end.

• 1:19:00Jay Shetty?

  I love it. Thank you, Payal.

• 1:19:01Speaker 01

  Absolutely. Thank you for having me, Jay.

• 1:19:03Jay Shetty?

  You're incredible. Your, your answers, anyone who's been listening today. I love the fact that we talked about entrepreneurship, we talked about dance, we talked about creativity, we talked about purpose, intention and mission. We talked about women in business, you know, we, we've talked about so many things. But what I love about you is that you're someone that I can go from being philosophical to being really practical with.

• 1:19:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:19:23Jay Shetty?

  And, and we can go from being really like, okay, how do we break that down?

• 1:19:27Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:19:27Jay Shetty?

  To like, let's get our head up in the clouds and dream.

• 1:19:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:19:30Jay Shetty?

  And, and I love, yeah, thank you for being such an amazing friend. Thank you for being in my life. Don't ever leave.

• 1:19:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:19:36Jay Shetty?

  And yeah, thank you so much for, for doing this.

• 1:19:40Speaker 01

  Thank you, Jay.

• 1:19:40Jay Shetty?

  I really hope people are gonna learn a lot from it.

• 1:19:42Speaker 01

  Thanks for sharing these stories with other people.

• 1:19:44Jay Shetty?

  Thank you.

• 1:19:50Jay Shetty?

  Thank you so much for listening through to the end of that episode. I hope you're gonna share this all across social media. Let people know that you're subscribed to On Purpose. Let me know, post it, tell me what a difference it's making in your life. I would love to see your thoughts. I can't wait for this incredibly conscious community we're creating of purposeful people. You're now a part of the tribe, a part of the squad. Thank you for being here. I can't wait to share the next episode with you.

• 1:20:35Speaker 06

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• 1:21:04Speaker 02

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

• 1:21:07Speaker 03

  On October 2nd.

• 1:21:08Speaker 02

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

• 1:21:13Speaker 03

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

• 1:21:20Speaker 04

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

• 1:21:25Speaker 03

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:21:28Speaker 04

  I'm not the first nanny.

• 1:21:29Speaker 03

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