Jason Derulo on Self-Mastery, Success & Unleashing Your Creative Genius EP 1460

The Summit of Greatness is back! Buy your tickets today – summitofgreatness.comJason Derulo is a global superstar whose music and personality transcend borders, generations, and genres. Since his debut single reached #1 in 2009, Jason has gone on to sell well over 250 million singles worldwide and earn 12 billion global streams. In 2020, with the viral sensation “Savage Love” Derulo joined the exclusive list of artists with a #1 song in three consecutive decades. He is one of TikTok’s top creators and has 57 million TikTok followers. Sing Your Name Out Loud: 15 Rules for Living Your Dream is Jason Derulo’s first book. In this episode you will learn,How to have a clear mission and wake up excited to chase your dreams. The insights and of going viral on TikTok and topping the music charts. The biggest fears and insecurities of a global pop superstar. How to silence negative criticism internally and externally. Keys to establishing non-negotiables and the habits needed to adhere to them. For more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1460Wayne Brady on beating depression in a world of comedy: https://link.chtbl.com/1425-podSteven A. Smith on becoming sports TV’s biggest anchor: https://link.chtbl.com/1380-podYour personal masterclass to destroying insecurity: https://link.chtbl.com/1367-pod Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

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

• 0:01Lewis Howes?

  Calling all conscious achievers who are seeking more community and connection. I've got an invitation for you. Join me at this year's Summit of Greatness this September 7th through 9th in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio to unleash your true greatness. This is the one time a year that I gather the greatness community together in person for a powerful transformative weekend. People come from all over the world and you can expect to hear from inspiring speakers like Inky Johnson, Josprey Singh, Vanessa Van Edwards, Jen Sanchero, and many more. You'll also be able to dance your heart out to live music, get your body moving with group workouts, and connect with others at our evening socials.

• 0:44Lewis Howes?

  So if you're ready to learn, heal, and grow alongside other incredible individuals in the greatness community, then you can learn more at lewishouse.com/summit2023. Make sure to grab your ticket, invite your friends, and I'll see you there.

• 1:01Speaker 01

  I think we're all put here for a specific purpose and the majority of what I do in my life is not for personal gain, it's for some sort of act of service to somebody else. I pray before every single show, I always mention the fact that I'm dedicating this show to anybody that's in the audience that needs to be inspired.

• 1:21Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur, and each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 1:45Lewis Howes?

  Congrats on everything. You've got a new book coming out, you got a new single coming out. And I was just talking to you off camera about this, about how brilliant your marketing and branding mind is in everything you do. You've been successful in music. Obviously, I think you're one of the most top 20 follower people in the world on social media, or at least on TikTok, I know that. And there's so much you're doing behind the scenes in terms of building your brand and spreading a positive message through media and entertainment and music. And so I just want to acknowledge you first for the creative mind you have, the... The ability to overcome constant criticism and challenges and adversity to to being where

• 2:29Lewis Howes?

  you're at today. So congrats on everything.

• 2:31Speaker 01

  Thank you, man. I appreciate that.

• 2:32Lewis Howes?

  It's exciting. You've got this uh these fifteen rules for living your dream.

• 2:37Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 2:38Lewis Howes?

  And I'm curious, what was the dream early on? Was it always to be singer and a musician and a songwriter? Or did you have another dream before that dream came about?

• 2:49Speaker 01

  Um, so my dream happened very early. So um, I was four years old and um, I saw Michael Jackson for the first time. My dream was a little strange because my dream was to be Michael Jackson. Um, you know, whatever whatever that meant to me at that time. Um, but I told my mom, I want that's what I want to be. I want to be him, you know? Um, but yeah, you know, over the years, obviously, uh, studying every dance move, every song that he'd ever done. And then um, I slowly started to develop my own voice. I started to develop my own style and swag. And then, yeah, man, the the rest was history.

• 3:29Lewis Howes?

  Right. And and you got into music pretty early, though, right?

• 3:32Speaker 01

  Very early.

• 3:32Lewis Howes?

  Was it your mom who was influencing you into that?

• 3:35Speaker 01

  Not at all. Uh, I don't come from a musical family. Um, I was kind of like the only, the, you know, the the only Mohican.

• 3:45Speaker 01

  But yeah, uh, my mom was really supportive in the fact that she never led me to believe that it was impossible. And I think that was very gutsy. Um, and I, you know, I still take my hat off to my mom for that. Cause it's it's a hard thing to do to allow your kid to go for, you know, uh, the impossible dream, quote unquote, you know?

• 4:05Lewis Howes?

  Now, what was the lesson she taught you that still stays with you today?

• 4:09Speaker 01

  I think the the biggest one is work ethic.

• 4:12Lewis Howes?

  Really? Cause she was doing everything I think I read about her, right?

• 4:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, just by leading by example. You know, she later in life, uh, she.

• 4:23Speaker 01

  Went back to college, went to law school.

• 4:27Speaker 01

  Was working two jobs at the same time and I watched her juggle these three things while still making it home to cook us. Spaghetti that I didn't like really much. Sorry, mom, I don't like the spaghetti. I ain't like it. I thought for years I ain't like spaghetti, but I actually do love spaghetti. But spaghetti was good. But she cooks other things really great.

• 4:45Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 4:46Speaker 01

  But yeah, man, just watching her.

• 4:50Speaker 01

  As a kid, I was just amazed at the fact that she could do all of these things, juggle all these things and do it so well.

• 4:56Lewis Howes?

  Right. What was your biggest fear or insecurity as a kid growing up?

• 5:01Speaker 01

  Oh, I had, I had plenty. I mean, I had a fat stage. So, you know, that was one of the things. You know, I remember one night I'm talking to my brother who was up late night and I was like, "Everything is wrong with me. I'm fat. I got asthma. I got acne. Everything is wrong with me." And my brother was like, "Jay, you gotta chill."

• 5:26Lewis Howes?

  How old were you?

• 5:27Speaker 01

  I had to be,

• 5:30Speaker 01

  I don't know, like 10, like, like in that area and, you know, give or take a couple of years.

• 5:37Lewis Howes?

  Fat, acne, asthma?

• 5:39Speaker 01

  Asthma. It was, it was the whole nine yards. The asthma was, was, was bad because, you know, even when I, when I wanted to play sports, I mean, I could be in a pivotal moment. And I remember one time I was wide open for a touchdown and I couldn't do it. I couldn't, I couldn't make it.

• 5:55Lewis Howes?

  Cause of the asthma?

• 5:56Speaker 01

  Cause of the asthma.

• 5:57Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 5:57Speaker 01

  So I had asthma pretty bad and like, I just grew out of it.

• 6:01Lewis Howes?

  Wow. So what would you say was the biggest fear and security when you started to get into the music business? When, when people started to play your music, you started to do collaborations with other artists, you started to be on stages. What was that insecurity then? Was it a, a fear of failure? Was it the criticism that you weren't a certain way? Was it?

• 6:21Speaker 01

  You know, I, I feel like it's just so many.

• 6:24Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 6:25Speaker 01

  You know, it's not just one. When you live your life in front of the world, so to speak, I mean, everything becomes

• 6:35Speaker 01

  a thing, you know, even things that you don't necessarily think are a thing. Somebody will say something and you're like, well, damn, they're probably right. My finger does look weird there. You know what I'm saying? So like when you can have a million positive comments, but that one person says one negative thing and then your focus just goes to that negative thing. You know, that's that's human nature and it's messed up that it's like that. But um, over the years, I've become, you know, become kind of like uh, like a like a grown like this bulletproof vest that I just really doesn't get under my skin.

• 7:12Lewis Howes?

  So when when you see criticisms online or you see something that's uh, negative comments, does it affect you still or do you?

• 7:19Speaker 01

  You know, it really big, really doesn't affect me like it like it used to. It just really bounces off.

• 7:27Speaker 01

  And and in this day and age, I mean, it's it's really tough because there's a lot of kids online, obviously. And um, I know it's a lot of bullying going on. And um, I always say

• 7:41Speaker 01

  the easiest, it's easy to say like, don't worry about the negative things people say like they're just talking smack da da da. But it's really tough to be on the receiving end. Um, and I've been on the receiving end a lot. You hear what I'm saying?

• 7:59Speaker 01

  But the advice that I would give is

• 8:03Speaker 01

  you can let some things in. Right? I I wouldn't, I wouldn't just shun every every negative thing someone says.

• 8:11Lewis Howes?

  Why not?

• 8:11Speaker 01

  Because you can learn from it. And I've learned a lot from negative comments. I remember after my first um, my first uh, couple of songs, I was receiving so much uh, backlash about this auto-tune thing. It was like a big stigma. Oh, he can't really sing is auto-tune, auto-tune. So I was like, oh, wow. Like my next, my next record, I need to make sure that like, I don't put all this auto-tune on the record so people understand like. Like I really do this. Like I really like.

• 8:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 8:44Speaker 01

  I really sing. Um, but like it it took. I think it takes a bigger person to be on the receiving end and then just kind of not just be like all they hatin'. But maybe, you know, you know, take some of it with the grain of salt and you know, you can imply things that that you see that you can actually make a little change and like better yourself.

• 9:06Lewis Howes?

  Right, right. Cause some of the feedback is valid of like, okay, it's not working or resonating with this community of people. Maybe there's something I can do to improve, right?

• 9:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 9:15Lewis Howes?

  So there's certain things when people, I used to take everything personally online.

• 9:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:19Lewis Howes?

  When I started in kind of this business, I used to take every little comment personally. And then I had a coach one time say like, why are you reacting and responding to these negative comments? Just say thank you for the feedback. See if any of it resonates and you can improve. Or just, they're just a hater or a critic and that's okay too. But you don't have to defend or react. Uh, but it sounds like you've done pretty good at it.

• 9:40Speaker 01

  But there's also another approach for not looking at the comments at all.

• 9:44Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 9:44Speaker 01

  Um.

• 9:45Lewis Howes?

  But you're so big on social media. How do you do that?

• 9:47Speaker 01

  Just not look at the comments.

• 9:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 9:49Speaker 01

  Like you can post and like, you can even turn the comments off if you if you'd like. Um, I've seen people do that. Um, I've even thought about doing that before, but you know, I it just doesn't really bother me anymore. So.

• 10:01Lewis Howes?

  What's the the voice in your head that you hear the most for yourself? Is it a positive voice or is it a critical voice?

• 10:09Speaker 01

  I actively try to speak to myself kindly. So I see my self-conscious

• 10:18Speaker 01

  as my best friend.

• 10:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 10:20Speaker 01

  Um, what would I tell my best friend?

• 10:22Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 10:23Speaker 01

  I think far too often we beat ourselves up and then when our best friend comes in the room, we give them all the good. I think it's important to treat yourself kind as well. Like, why do you talk to yourself? In those way, in those ways and like beat yourself up. When you look in the mirror, you need to speak to to your best friend in the world because nobody is closer to you than yourself.

• 10:45Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. Did you always do that way? Or did you learn that over time? Did someone teach you that?

• 10:50Speaker 01

  I've learned it over time.

• 10:51Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 10:51Speaker 01

  Um, but my mom instilled in it, instilled that in me in a way because I talk about this in the book. It's the power of your tongue, right? Our, our, what we say is just so powerful. Um, and my mom made a switch when I was a kid and. Uh, you know how you have the, the, the common phrases that are like, oh, this cheesecake is to die for. My mom would switch that and say, oh, no, this cheesecake is to live for. Um, and those simple kind of things, right? And I was like, oh, wow. Like my mom is like really taking um this spoken uh the, the words that she says really seriously.

• 11:34Speaker 01

  Uh, and I started to uh implement that in my life and started to speak more positively. Um, and then that continued to morph into uh talking to myself in a really empowering, empowering way and telling myself that I can do this, I can do anything. Um, and I slowly started to see myself being able to do anything.

• 11:55Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Now, some people can do that before they become successful and have an audience and fame and money and all these people who are inspired by them, but once you started to, you know, accelerating your career. And sometimes the comparison could come out. Were you just as kind to yourself then? Or were there times in the last decade where you have faltered back into negative criticism?

• 12:20Speaker 01

  Oh, I mean, every day, even today, like, um, you know, uh, there's always gonna be times where you have the little slip ups. But just you gotta just catch yourself, you know, like my dad, oh, no, you can't talk, you can't, you can't talk to me like that.

• 12:37Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 12:38Speaker 01

  You know, cause if someone else said it to you, you wouldn't be okay with it. So why are you okay with yourself telling yourself that?

• 12:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 12:44Speaker 01

  You know?

• 12:45Lewis Howes?

  It's so interesting, cause I feel like a lot of the world has a lot of negative self-talk and, and brings themselves up a lot. And if we recorded our inner thoughts and played it on a loudspeaker, or played it to our parents, or played it to our friends, a lot of times they'd probably put us in a mental hospital or something.

• 13:01Speaker 01

  One hundred percent.

• 13:02Lewis Howes?

  Based on how we communicate to self.

• 13:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:04Lewis Howes?

  And we would never speak to some of our friend, like you said, like that. And so it's so amazing that you have this, you know, mindset that allows you to be positive to you.

• 13:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, I, I mean, I, I go really far with it too, though, so like.

• 13:19Lewis Howes?

  How so?

• 13:20Speaker 01

  So, so far as I really see my body as the avatar and my mind is, is the boss. So, for instance, this morning.

• 13:33Speaker 01

  I needed to get up at um five in the morning this morning, but I went to bed at four thirty.

• 13:40Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 13:41Speaker 01

  I mean, it was a really tough, tough thing to do, but I knew I didn't have another time slot to go to the gym today. And I knew that was my only chance.

• 13:48Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 13:49Speaker 01

  Um, so uh, when that alarm set off, it was painful. And my body was like, no, no, we can't do this. You need sleep, da, da, da, da. Yeah, you need sleep, but we're gonna get us, we're gonna get sleep eventually. This is one day. And this is a, this is a test to how strong we are.

• 14:10Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 14:11Speaker 01

  So my mind is the boss and it tells my body, you have to get up. Like, there's no choice. We don't, it's not a, it's not a negotiation. We gotta get up right now. Um, so when I treat, when I treat my life like, uh, when I treat my body as if it's uh, the, the tool in my mind is the boss, everything else just kind of falls into place a little bit.

• 14:35Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 14:35Speaker 01

  And then I'm able to stick to um, the regimen.

• 14:38Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 14:39Speaker 01

  Regiment is really important.

• 14:40Lewis Howes?

  What is the routine that you feel like has helped you the most? When you have a non-negotiable, is it the way you communicate to yourself? Is it the relationships you have? Is it the waking up at a certain time? What's the routine that has allowed you to be excelling at this level?

• 14:55Speaker 01

  So I can go back to three major moments in my life where my whole world kind of was slowed down. That um, I was able to take a large leap of growth. What was that? My first moment was when I got a publishing deal. Let, let me start with the most juicy one. The uh, the first one I want to talk about is when I broke my neck uh, in two thousand fourteen. I broke my C two vertebrae. I was about to go on a world tour. I was coming off, you know, a huge album, five um platinum hits, da, da, da. And uh, I broke my neck preparing for my tour.

• 15:37Speaker 01

  I, I slipped during a back tuck, crazy freak accident. Um, it's called a hangman's break. It was an accident that uh, could have ended off very differently. Paralyzed or, or worse.

• 15:51Lewis Howes?

  That's scary.

• 15:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, super scary. And it totally. Life rocked my world and it was like the whole world stopped, you know? Um, there was no touring, there was no interviews, there was nothing, right? So from going at my, my peak position in life, all going all the way back to zero. At this point, I was on my second album, I was making a lot of money. I was still living at my mom's house. That's how crazy my life was. I had millions of dollars in the bank. And I was still living at my mom's house. I didn't even have a chance to go buy a house yet. So.

• 16:30Lewis Howes?

  And this was nine years ago, right? 2014, you said?

• 16:32Speaker 01

  Wow. So yeah, so when I break my neck, I go to my mom's house. My mom is, you know, nursing me back to health. Um, and, uh, a girlfriend I had at the time. Um, and this was one of my lowest lows in life. I couldn't tie my shoes. I couldn't bathe myself. I had to sleep on my, learn to sleep on my back. I always slept on my stomach my entire life. Um, those things, it just like, my whole psyche was off. But there was like a calming, there was a calming. And in that calming, I was able to develop a routine.

• 17:13Speaker 01

  And, and I woke up at a certain time. I, uh, went to the gym at a certain time, even though I couldn't do much. I walked on the treadmill at a certain time for a certain amount of time. Then I went to the studio for a certain amount of time and wrote song after song after song. And then rinse and repeat every single day for seven months. And then after that period of time is when I dropped my biggest album ever. I had five platinum hits. Um, and it was one of the, uh, our biggest albums in terms of, of, of how many platinum songs come off of one album.

• 17:50Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 17:50Speaker 01

  And it's because of that focused energy that I had. There was no, nothing else. It was just the routine, the routine, the routine, routine, routine. Then another time, um, the first time that this happened was when I got assigned a publishing deal in, um, in Los Angeles by a company called Blue Heights.

• 18:12Speaker 01

  And

• 18:13Lewis Howes?

  What year is that?

• 18:14Speaker 01

  That that was two thousand and eight.

• 18:16Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 18:17Speaker 01

  Flew out to Los Angeles, me and my cousin. And literally, we had no friends, no, we knew no nobody in Los Angeles. So the same thing, we had a routine, we had a time for the gym, had a time for the studio, we had a time for dinner.

• 18:34Lewis Howes?

  Doing your laundry, whatever it was.

• 18:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, every single day, the same thing every day for months and months on end. And that's when I wrote my first album.

• 18:42Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 18:43Speaker 01

  Um, so that was a big one. And then the the final one that I wanted to just touch on really quick is the pandemic. The pandemic, I I created this whole social media thing during the pandemic. My entire career, I struggled with social media. I had sold two hundred million records, but I had barely had any followers on any.

• 19:03Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 19:04Speaker 01

  Any social media. I I was I was social media dumb. During the pandemic, I'd made it my my mission to try this new thing out and just like focus my energy on socials. And in the pandemic, I became one of the most followed people on the planet because every single day I posted six times.

• 19:26Lewis Howes?

  Six?

• 19:27Speaker 01

  Six videos per day.

• 19:28Lewis Howes?

  Oh my.

• 19:29Speaker 01

  And every day I would wake up, I went to the gym, I went to the gym and I worked out, I should say, not went to the gym because we were all locked up.

• 19:35Lewis Howes?

  The backyard gym.

• 19:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, I worked out and then I shot a gang of videos.

• 19:41Lewis Howes?

  Um, six a day?

• 19:42Speaker 01

  I posted six a day.

• 19:44Lewis Howes?

  So before twenty twenty, you weren't really that active or even known on social media, is that right?

• 19:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, I wanna I wanna go as far as like saying

• 19:54Speaker 01

  I was one of the most famous unfamous people on the planet.

• 19:59Lewis Howes?

  Cause no one was following you on social media, but they knew your music, but it was like.

• 20:02Speaker 01

  My music, but didn't know my face really, but it was just like such a disconnect. I had sold two hundred million records, but like some people wouldn't couldn't pick me out of a crowd.

• 20:11Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 20:12Speaker 01

  You know what I'm saying? It was the weirdest thing in the world, but like social media is such a huge tool for that, right? Like it connects all the dots and not the dots was not connecting for your boy until the pandemic.

• 20:25Lewis Howes?

  Why do you think? So the theme that I'm hearing is kind of three moments where there was adversity.

• 20:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:33Lewis Howes?

  That caused you to accelerate in some area of your life. The broken neck caused you seven to nine months of a routine, reflection, rest, recovery.

• 20:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:42Lewis Howes?

  Realignment on your vision and then boom, biggest album.

• 20:46Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 20:46Lewis Howes?

  Uh, the publishing deal coming out here, you know, getting a deal, which is exciting, but also don't know anyone. No one knows you, like probably things aren't moving.

• 20:54Speaker 01

  Clubs.

• 20:54Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 20:55Speaker 01

  Have no money to go out on dinners. Like it was just like work.

• 20:59Lewis Howes?

  But the routine set you up for the next thing. And then.

• 21:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:02Lewis Howes?

  The breakdown of the pandemic that everyone went through and you not having any social media on desk. But that focused energy and routine allowed you to break through into the level of success.

• 21:15Speaker 01

  One hundred percent.

• 21:15Lewis Howes?

  So these three kind of breakdown moments got you clear on what you wanted.

• 21:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:20Lewis Howes?

  I think a lot of people are in breakdown now, but they have a hard time getting clear on what they want and where they want to go.

• 21:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:28Lewis Howes?

  How did you get clear like, okay, I know I want to do social media now and I'm going to go all in on it for this year. I know I want to go and do this music and so I'm going to go all in on the studio every single day. How did you get clear to even execute that routine on the, the vision?

• 21:46Speaker 01

  I can answer that in a couple of ways. Um, I'm a guy who feels like you should work on your strengths and you work on your weaknesses.

• 21:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. It's one of your 15 rules in your book.

• 21:58Speaker 01

  Yeah. So, um, and my music, my falsetto is probably one of my strengths, right? It's like one of the things that I feel set me apart. So I work on my falsetto and I utilize it, you know? And, um, that's something that I, you know, will just continue to work on because I feel like that kind of sets me apart. Um, and something that I was weak at was social media, right? So like, that was a perfect opportunity to like, be like, let me utilize this time to like.

• 22:30Speaker 01

  To, you know, just to really kind of see if I can knock this out of the park.

• 22:34Lewis Howes?

  Now, were you also thinking like, okay, TikTok is this new thing? Let me start on TikTok and here's an opportunity. Or were you like, let me do, you know, YouTube and Instagram and everywhere else where people are already at? Or were you like, here's an opportunity. I see some people starting to pop off. Maybe I could start here. Was that the strategy?

• 22:51Speaker 01

  So what I don't want to do on this show is lie. I want to be completely and utterly honest. I'm not going to give you the pop star answer.

• 22:59Lewis Howes?

  Give it to me.

• 22:59Speaker 01

  I'm going to give you the honest answer. I genuinely saw that there was an opening in the TikTok space, genuinely. So this is how I saw it. It's because I saw my nieces and nephews on it. They were very young.

• 23:16Lewis Howes?

  All day, right? Obsessing.

• 23:18Speaker 01

  I was like, it was an app called Musically at the time. And I was like, what is this app? Why do you like this? This is not even like, what, why? Like you slowed down and like people are dancing and then like doing like lip syncs. I'm like, how, this is not how social media works. You're supposed to show your life. Um, so I was like, let me give it a try. Um, uh, my marketing director at the time was like, uh, he showed me the app. And then I saw my, my nieces and nephews on it. So I was like, okay, two, two, now this is two different situations. And then I did a live and then like I had a lot of people in my live. I was like, wow.

• 23:58Lewis Howes?

  On TikTok.

• 23:58Speaker 01

  On, on Musically at the time.

• 24:00Lewis Howes?

  On Musically, yeah. And how many followers did you have at that time, you know?

• 24:03Speaker 01

  Maybe like two million or something like that.

• 24:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. So you had an audience.

• 24:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, I had an audience.

• 24:08Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, two million is a lot.

• 24:09Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, not for somebody that was, you know.

• 24:12Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 24:13Speaker 01

  But it was, it was, it was decent.

• 24:15Lewis Howes?

  It was a base. Yeah, it was a good base.

• 24:16Speaker 01

  So, um, but the engagement was crazy. It was different. It was different. I was getting more engagement with my two million followers here and I had like four million on Instagram at the time.

• 24:27Lewis Howes?

  And you weren't getting the engagement.

• 24:28Speaker 01

  And I wasn't getting that engagement. So I saw something. So, um, I never talked about this before. This is the first time I'm talking about this.

• 24:34Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 24:35Speaker 01

  Cause I always give like the pop star answers.

• 24:37Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 24:37Speaker 01

  Oh yeah, I was trying out a new thing. But, um, but so, yeah, so I saw that the engagement was different. So this was, this was like a, a, a new kind of app. Um, so the pandemic hit.

• 24:51Speaker 01

  I was like, I've been meaning to like really dig my teeth in this app. This is the perfect opportunity. Let me try it out. So I was posting one time a day, then I went from two times a day. And then like that went to three and then all of a sudden, when I posted six times in a day, the number started to explode. My following, my followers started to explode. And it got to the point where I was receiving over a billion views a month on my TikTok.

• 25:23Speaker 01

  So it was, it was wild and it got to a crazy bit. I mean, I'm obviously I don't have that kind of time anymore. Um, but like when that focused energy hits, it's different, man. But like I go nuts with it. Like I, I, I know I have to be obsessive. To be the best at anything, it has, you have to do way more than anybody else is gonna do. So I knew I had to, okay. Um, uh, Charlie is Charlie D'Amelio is posting like five, six times a day. I know I have to post that. She's, she's uberly successful. I gotta do it too. Addison Rae is doing it. I mean, there's the blueprint, right?

• 26:00Lewis Howes?

  So I mean, but you had a lot going on still, even though it was a pandemic, you still, you know, you got a business, you got music, you got things you gotta do. How are you doing everything else you're doing and your routine and working out and doing six videos a day?

• 26:14Speaker 01

  Prioritizing the videos. I prioritize the videos before anything else.

• 26:19Lewis Howes?

  Really? You did those first?

• 26:21Speaker 01

  Yeah. And, and a lot of people thought I was out of my mind. I, I, people don't remember this, but like people laughed at me for being on TikTok. It was a real thing. People don't remember that, but like I was an artist. I was supposed to be like this world renowned singer and I was on TikTok.

• 26:39Lewis Howes?

  With like 12 year olds?

• 26:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 26:42Lewis Howes?

  And they're like, this is for 12 years. What's he doing?

• 26:44Speaker 01

  Exactly, literally.

• 26:45Lewis Howes?

  So how did you quiet that the critics in the music industry and other celebrity friends were like? What are you doing, Jason? What?

• 26:52Speaker 01

  I didn't want it quite that. I didn't care because I knew in the back of my mind that those fifteen year olds in five years were gonna be twenty years old.

• 27:01Lewis Howes?

  Right?

• 27:02Speaker 01

  So even if the the elders didn't join the party, those the fifteen year olds was gonna be twenty in five years. So like, like, it would make sense in five years. Thankfully, it all happened way faster than that.

• 27:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, it it it worked out. Um, but yeah, that was a huge gamble, you know, it could have went either way.

• 27:20Lewis Howes?

  It could have. The interesting thing is, you know, because I remember watching, because I was kind of like trying TikTok a little bit then as well, trying to figure it out. I wish I would have went all in.

• 27:29Speaker 01

  Because I would like just dabbled.

• 27:31Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. I would go all in for like a week and then just didn't go all in. But I remember thinking like, it's really smart what you're doing because I saw you get to like ten million followers really quick and then fifteen and twenty and he just kept showing up. Every I was just like, you're it felt like you were everywhere.

• 27:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:49Lewis Howes?

  And when you're doing six videos a day and it's getting featured and recommended, you are everywhere.

• 27:54Speaker 01

  And it was every.

• 27:55Lewis Howes?

  You're on everyone's phone around the world all the time. And I can and I can only imagine how many people thought you were crazy.

• 28:05Lewis Howes?

  But now, the interesting thing, everyone's trying to replicate what you've done, especially in the music industry. Everyone's saying, look what he was able to do with his music during the pandemic on TikTok and blow it up to the top of the charts. How do I get into this? So sometimes we do things where people might laugh at us, but later they're replicating us.

• 28:25Speaker 01

  One hundred.

• 28:26Lewis Howes?

  And that's what people have been trying to do with you.

• 28:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, TikTok is now the gatekeeper of the music industry. It went from being like something that people laughed at in the music industry to being the gatekeeper. It's like the.

• 28:37Lewis Howes?

  Where people pop off now.

• 28:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, the top twelve songs of last year, the top thirteen songs of last year, twelve of them had a major um, social campaign.

• 28:47Lewis Howes?

  Like a trend to them.

• 28:49Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:49Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 28:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, those numbers are staggering. So I mean, but I don't even think this is, this is not music specific. Social media now is for everyone. Like, everybody is a brand now. It doesn't matter if you're a doctor, if you're a lawyer, if you are a fireman, if you're a beekeeper. Like, these are all businesses and you personally are a brand. And until you can see yourself as a brand, you are totally selling yourself short. And I, and I'm, I'm so sick and tired of people hearing, people saying, it's not for me, I'm too old. Like, are you living under a rock?

• 29:32Speaker 01

  Like, do you not see the, that's happening in the world? It's all about social media. Every single brand out there is scrambling, trying to figure this thing out. And I love when brands come to me and trying to act like they know what's going on. You know what's going, nobody does. Like, this thing is, this thing is brand new. We're all figuring it out right now. But if anybody knows, it's the creators, it's not the brands.

• 29:56Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 29:57Speaker 01

  Cause at the end of the day, they're just hiring somebody that, that sounds like they know what they're talking about, but they don't.

• 30:02Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 30:03Speaker 01

  Cause they don't even have following themselves. Why are you listening to that person?

• 30:07Lewis Howes?

  It's brilliant, man. It's really exciting. What was the, what was the three biggest, um, things that came out of the growth of your social media? The three best things that have happened for you since rising to social media stardom?

• 30:24Speaker 01

  The number one biggest thing is, uh,

• 30:30Speaker 01

  what I can, what I can produce from an ad. The money that, that comes from that is, is substantial. It's really, really life-changing and I've been doing music my whole life and, um,

• 30:43Lewis Howes?

  You mean, you mean an ad from like a sponsorship to someone sponsoring you to do a promotion or?

• 30:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, a brand deal.

• 30:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, a brand deal.

• 30:49Speaker 01

  A big, brand deal, yeah. Uh huh. So it's basically like a, a commercial without being a commercial.

• 30:53Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 30:56Speaker 01

  Because, I mean, look at it, right? If you are

• 31:02Speaker 01

  a huge brand, a luxury brand, and you're looking for eyeballs, eyeballs are on socials, right? And it used to be where they would go and get a commercial or they would go and like put it, you know, put it on the radio or something. But now socials are the biggest thing in the world, right? And the viewership that I get on my page, I mean, you can't, you can't get that everywhere, you know?

• 31:28Lewis Howes?

  Can't get that on TV?

• 31:29Speaker 01

  You can't because the biggest shows in the world are only getting like four or five million views. I mean, you know, like my videos are in the double digits all the time, you know, so it's become like this crazy thing that I never expected was gonna happen. I, I was just trying to, to, uh, honestly, I was trying to connect the dots with everything. And I was like, if people got to know me better, they'd probably

• 31:53Lewis Howes?

  Listen to your music more, you know?

• 31:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, but I never thought that my social business would be as big as my music business.

• 32:01Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 32:02Speaker 01

  It's insane.

• 32:04Lewis Howes?

  It's almost there now or it's the same size?

• 32:05Speaker 01

  Arguably bigger.

• 32:07Lewis Howes?

  What?

• 32:07Speaker 01

  Arguably bigger.

• 32:08Lewis Howes?

  Holy cow. How else are you monetizing besides, I guess, brand deals? Are you, are you selling your own stuff now? Are you building your own businesses on the backend that are, you know, either silent or public? What else are you doing? Cause I know you're a mastermind in business and I think a lot of people think you're just an artist or just, you know, an entertainer, a musician. But I can see the moves you make and how you think brilliantly about your brand, the marketing, the messaging. Even when it seems silly or not thoughtful, I know it is. And so one of the businesses you're building or the other revenue streams you're generating beyond the brand deals.

• 32:48Speaker 01

  So now when a, uh, any company comes my way, if they are not

• 32:55Speaker 01

  You know, the biggest companies in the world, I don't want to mention any brands now. But they're not the biggest brands in the world. They have to come with some sort of equity conversation now, you know? So it's like they can't, they can't, humbly speaking.

• 33:11Lewis Howes?

  They can't afford one post.

• 33:12Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 33:13Lewis Howes?

  So they gotta give you something bigger.

• 33:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, so if I believe in a brand, like I can get ownership in so many different brands, you know, like this, and they come every day, it's like a new thing, you know? And you never, you never seen a deal that you didn't like, right? So.

• 33:29Lewis Howes?

  They all look amazing.

• 33:30Speaker 01

  They all look amazing, but you gotta go for the ones that you personally love.

• 33:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 33:35Speaker 01

  But that's such a huge, huge win from socials as well, obviously. Um, but I, the, the best thing that I like, man, honestly, um, and I'm not giving you a pop star answer like I've talked about before, but I love the fact that people got a real insight to my life. Like, people were asking me how my dog is, people were asking me how my son is. I like, I think that's just like a beautiful thing. Like, I'd never met a person in my life and they'll come and ask me how like, like, these personal things about me, and I just think that's really cool.

• 34:09Lewis Howes?

  That's beautiful, man.

• 34:10Speaker 01

  I feel like people have like a real inside now.

• 34:12Lewis Howes?

  That's beautiful, man. What is the thing that people don't know about you that you wish they knew? Cause they see a certain side of you, yes, they see a more personal, behind the scenes side, but what is the thing that most people still don't know about you? That you're either proud of, um, that you want them to know?

• 34:33Speaker 01

  Um, I don't think people realize the, um, the business side as of yet. Um, and I'm, I'm, I'm okay with, I'm okay with that. I think, uh, I think it's a little soon for people to know exactly how deep it's going. Um, but I'm, I'm just in a totally different, uh, headspace. When I'm, when I'm in that business, that, that, that business guru mode, it's, it's, it's really cool, man. Um, but I just really enjoy building things from nothing. Um, I think that's my.

• 35:11Speaker 01

  That's my passion. There's like writing a song is like building something from scratch.

• 35:17Speaker 01

  Uh, real estate. I love, you know, building things from the ground up.

• 35:23Speaker 01

  Businesses is the same way. I love building the businesses from the ground up and that's kind of been like my last like five years is just like starting something from scratch and then just like,

• 35:32Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 35:33Speaker 01

  you know, watching it grow.

• 35:34Lewis Howes?

  Something you've done that has always impressed me and inspired me from the beginning of hearing, I think your first song that kind of took off. What was that? Two thousand eight, two thousand ten? What was that?

• 35:44Speaker 01

  Uh, nine.

• 35:45Lewis Howes?

  Two thousand nine, yeah. Around that time. When I noticed it, and I'm assuming a lot of people noticed it, but that's something I noticed right away was you singing your name. And I recognize a lot of songs, but I never know the face of the singer or the name. I'm like, yeah, that's a catchy song, but I don't know who they are.

• 36:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 36:06Lewis Howes?

  I'm not in the music world that much to like, understand it. I'm gonna go, yeah, I know that song. Who is that person? I would, but I would never know their name or their face.

• 36:14Lewis Howes?

  Where did you get that from? That kind of like, cause, cause a lot of people are doing that now. And I feel like you were one of the first uh, to do that. Where did that come from? Why has that been powerful for you in personal brand? Cause I really feel like it's branded you personally in a beautiful way. Before personal branding was a thing. So where did that come from?

• 36:36Speaker 01

  Um.

• 36:39Speaker 01

  I, it was my first song. I was about to release What You Say and the song was done.

• 36:46Speaker 01

  It was originally a song for Sean Kingston. We had written it for Sean Kingston. Actually Sean uh, co-written on it as well. And the label didn't want it. His label didn't want the song. Um, so we were like, that's making my first single. And had completed the song. It was all done.

• 37:10Speaker 01

  And I was just like.

• 37:13Speaker 01

  This could be my one chance like for the world to hear me like if this if this song is going to be heard by all these people at least like

• 37:24Speaker 01

  if I can get like a couple of million people to like hear my name

• 37:30Speaker 01

  like I'll be I'll I'll still be building I'll get myself to the next level even if this song doesn't become a hit you know um and

• 37:40Speaker 01

  that's where the idea came from so I played a room with like different ways to do it and um the what you what you hear now is the one that stuck and boy I didn't think that it was gonna stick like that

• 37:53Lewis Howes?

  It stuck man it is stuck big it's almost like um I'm not referring this in this way but I in a relatable way it's almost like when you hear a commercial

• 38:03Speaker 01

  Yeah

• 38:03Lewis Howes?

  jingle over and over again the way you say your name is a context similar to like memorizing it and you wanted to sing it that way you know the audience wanting to sing it that way which is brilliant

• 38:15Speaker 01

  Thank you man yeah

• 38:17Lewis Howes?

  So you tried it in a bunch of different ways

• 38:19Speaker 01

  Oh yeah I

• 38:20Lewis Howes?

  Like what was it like you're trying to sing it deep you're trying to like just say the name and not

• 38:26Speaker 01

  Nah I'm Jay Jason Jason DeRoe Jason DeRoe That's it Something like that

• 38:38Lewis Howes?

  Wow man

• 38:38Speaker 01

  But I was in a booth

• 38:39Lewis Howes?

  Now when you when you did it on the song was the label like okay that's cool or they were like nah we don't want your name in it like it messes with the song

• 38:48Speaker 01

  Oh nah there was no mention of that like nah I did my whole first album with one guy

• 38:53Lewis Howes?

  Okay

• 38:53Speaker 01

  Um JR wrote him who was also uh the CEO of the uh record label that I was on so we did the whole thing together so I mean there was there was no egos or anything

• 39:05Lewis Howes?

  Now did you get did people comment on that during that time where they're like oh that's really cool you should keep doing that or was that more your vision I want to keep saying my name for people to remember it

• 39:16Speaker 01

  Well after the first song came out it was such a thing that I was like dang I should probably do it in my next joint

• 39:22Lewis Howes?

  Wow

• 39:22Speaker 01

  So I did it again in my next song which was In My Head and then um when writing Solo came about I was like I'm gonna chill I'm not gonna do it on this song

• 39:31Lewis Howes?

  How to do.

• 39:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was great.

• 39:33Lewis Howes?

  Still do great.

• 39:36Lewis Howes?

  But I feel like people, you know, know you from that as well. It's like another signature move of yours.

• 39:41Speaker 01

  One hundred percent.

• 39:42Lewis Howes?

  You know, like a signature dance move. It's like a signature audio move or something.

• 39:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, I called the books, you know, Sing Your Name Out Loud. Um, but the reason I called it that is had has, I mean, of course, there's correlation to that. But, um, it it's from, you know, speaking things into existence and using the power of the tongue. Um, uh, you know, just like speaking things out loud, you know, but I put it together with the.

• 40:08Lewis Howes?

  I think it's beautiful, man.

• 40:09Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 40:09Lewis Howes?

  It's beautiful, man.

• 40:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:10Lewis Howes?

  Now, I'm also curious because you are so gifted as a singer. Like you mentioned, you were, I think you were classically trained or you did opera training. You did some different things. I've seen a lot of your, uh, singing on different shows of you doing that stuff. But you didn't, you did more on the autotune thing in the first song. Why didn't you lead with your voice, uh, without that in the first song? Was there a reason?

• 40:33Speaker 01

  It's artistic choice.

• 40:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 40:35Speaker 01

  You know, um, the, uh, sample, the emoji heap sample was a vocoder. So like it matched so well with the vocoder, you know? Um, so, I mean, that was, that was, you know, the, the idea behind it. But it just seemed like it was a crush. I mean, like it was a crutch.

• 40:54Lewis Howes?

  But people thought, oh, he can't sing.

• 40:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, and that was just around the time of like death of autotune and all kind of crazy.

• 41:01Speaker 01

  I was like on the tail, tail end of that, that whole, like right at the, I think the beginning of that whole thing. Um, so it was just like bad timing.

• 41:10Lewis Howes?

  Well, I mean, the song did great.

• 41:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:12Lewis Howes?

  It did great. It worked.

• 41:13Speaker 01

  Cause nobody thinks of, when you think of Daft Punk, you don't think like one more time. You don't think like, oh, like, uh, he probably can't sing, you know? You're thinking like, oh, that's an artistic choice. But I think it was just the time period, you know, with the whole death of autotune. It was just like bad time.

• 41:30Lewis Howes?

  Wow, wow. Still did well, though.

• 41:33Speaker 01

  It did amazing.

• 41:33Lewis Howes?

  Now, you talked about these kind of three moments that, you know, were essentially breakdowns that led to breakthroughs in the last twelve years.

• 41:43Lewis Howes?

  Was there a time that you doubted yourself the most? Either during this or in any other moments? And if so, or a time where you just had other struggles with friends or family or just other stuff in life happening where you really doubted yourself? And if so, how did you overcome that doubt?

• 42:05Speaker 01

  Right at the tail end of the pandemic, I told myself, I talked really, really down to myself and I said,

• 42:18Speaker 01

  you've done so well in your life. Um, you should probably just like, you should probably coast. It's time to coast, chill. Yeah, you've done so much. You've gave, you've given so much, like,

• 42:33Speaker 01

  relax, chill.

• 42:35Speaker 01

  Um, and what that meant to me, um, just so I'm clear, so I'm clear to everybody else. It was like giving up. It was like, um, this is the end. Um, and the end to me is when you're not pushing for the next level. You're not pushing to, to gain something else. Um, and a couple of weeks passed and a couple of months passed and I was really, you know, putting my energy into TikTok. It was just like, okay, I'm not really messing with music. So I wasn't really like writing very many songs, dah dah dah. Um, and then

• 43:22Speaker 01

  I was like,

• 43:25Speaker 01

  when I was a kid, I dreamed of this place that I'm in right now.

• 43:30Lewis Howes?

  Of getting to this place.

• 43:31Speaker 01

  And my starting point, my starting point, my starting point was here. My, uh, ending point was here. I had to, I had to jump from here to here. I have way less of a climb to be the best in the world here than from here to here.

• 43:52Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 43:52Speaker 01

  Why stop right here? That's like stopping at ninety, ninety-seven pushups.

• 43:59Speaker 01

  What are you doing? You gotta, you gotta hit those last three reps, bruh. You have to hit those last three reps. Like, you can't stop at ninety-seven. Um, and in, in that realization is when I was like, I have to get off of this record label that I'm on. I have to, um, uh, get a new deal and go with a team that like really believes in me. So that like I'm hearing, you know, great things from other people as well. I feel like I had too much negativity in my ears. And when all of this negativity is coming your way and then you're talking down to yourself, it just weighs you down. So I needed like new energy. Interesting. Um, and then when I, uh, was able to get off the label finally after a battle,

• 44:45Speaker 01

  um, I thought the world was gonna be my oyster and then it was just gonna be like open arms. Just like, everybody's gonna wanna sign me. It was the craziest thing in the world. Again, I had sold two hundred million records at that point and

• 45:00Speaker 01

  crickets. And it was just like, no one wanted to sign you? No one wanted to sign me. But you were like the biggest social media star and selling albums and? I was, I was really on the rise of social media, yes. Tal. But there was no music. Uh, there was no music since like Swala. Um, what year was that? Swala was like

• 45:22Speaker 01

  twenty seventeen. Oh, so it'd been, yeah, four or five years. Twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, something like that. Um, so, yeah, so it was like. Can he still, does he still have it? Yeah, that, this is probably the end of the road for him, you know? That, that kinda vibe. You know, they didn't say that, but like I was feeling it, you know what I'm saying? So I, I, I thought I was gonna be able to go to this label. It was, it was crickets. It was like, ah, he's too expensive. I've, you know, we don't know if we wanna go in that direction, dah, dah, dah. Oh, we already have this person, it's a little too. It was like that conversation. So that, that.

• 45:59Speaker 01

  Put the biggest fire in my heart that you could possibly imagine.

• 46:03Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 46:03Speaker 01

  I was like, okay, I'm gonna do this myself. I'm gonna do it myself. So that's when um I went on a on a run and I uh put out Savage Love as a independent um song.

• 46:18Lewis Howes?

  That was huge.

• 46:19Speaker 01

  Take You Dancing as an independent song. And I was just dropping things independently and.

• 46:24Lewis Howes?

  And TikTok was blowing them up too. It was just like.

• 46:26Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 46:27Lewis Howes?

  Everywhere.

• 46:27Speaker 01

  Biggest independent artist on the planet. And then all those same racial labels was like.

• 46:32Lewis Howes?

  Hey.

• 46:33Speaker 01

  Come on up. Yes. I was like nah. I'm straight. I'm straight. I'm straight. I'm straight. I'm not. I'm not messing with you guys. Um. So I went with um Atlantic, who um I felt, you know, was aligned with uh my creative. They were aligned with um what I wanted to do business wise and on my masters and um be a partner, not not just signing to you. But we're gonna be fifty fifty partners.

• 46:59Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 46:59Speaker 01

  In this and I'm I'm I'm going to be the label as well. Um. So, yeah, so like it was it was that blow that took me again. You know, sometimes it's your lowest lows that get you to your highest highs.

• 47:13Lewis Howes?

  Man.

• 47:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 47:14Lewis Howes?

  I feel like there's a lot of people when they get money, fame, success. Eventually they crumble or they don't know how to manage it or their ego gets too big or they start treating people poorly or just they kind of climb and then they fall.

• 47:29Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 47:30Lewis Howes?

  How have you learned to be like consistently climbing?

• 47:35Lewis Howes?

  While also maintaining your sanity, your inner peace, your, you know, self-love and self-care? Um, as opposed to letting it all get to you too much where you crash and burn?

• 47:51Speaker 01

  I think people stop and smell the roses too much.

• 47:55Speaker 01

  Like, we know the roses are beautiful. We know they smell great, but but. We're on a path, we're on a journey. Life is a journey. And it's a life journey.

• 48:07Speaker 01

  There's no destination because we can always be better. We can always be greater. We can always be a better version of us.

• 48:14Speaker 01

  And what happens is

• 48:17Speaker 01

  everybody usually makes their first

• 48:21Speaker 01

  their first steps are usually the great ones, right? When you're hungry, you know, you don't necessarily know where your next meal is coming from. You're down in the dumps. You don't like how people are treating you. You want to be better in life. You want to have this, you want to have that. And you want girls to look at you a different way. You know, you want to drive nice things, boom, boom. But then when you arrive and you get those things, even though it may be temporary, when you get them, it's like, oh, I'm good. I'm lit. I made it. And then you

• 48:55Speaker 01

  take a deep breath and you're like, oh, yeah. This life, this is what I've been waiting on.

• 49:01Speaker 01

  But what you're forgetting is success is never owned. It's rented. There's somebody hungry always. There's always somebody younger, hungrier, more talented, more driven than you are.

• 49:18Speaker 01

  So they're not going to stop coming. That competition doesn't stop coming at you. Just because you've arrived here doesn't mean there's not millions of people just on your neck and waiting on that slot to open up.

• 49:33Lewis Howes?

  I love the, one of your rules for your dreams is, I think it's the rule number four in the book. Success is for rent and you'll never pay it off. The rent is due every single day. If you want to stay at that level or get to the next level.

• 49:49Speaker 01

  Definitely.

• 49:50Lewis Howes?

  Did you ever feel like there was a moment when you stopped paying rent and you saw, oh, this is really affecting me in a negative way?

• 50:00Speaker 01

  Um.

• 50:02Lewis Howes?

  Or have you always been consistent in some way in your life?

• 50:05Speaker 01

  I've always been really consistent in some way. Um, honestly speaking, I think my greatest gift is my work ethic.

• 50:11Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 50:12Speaker 01

  Um, you know, I was blessed with a lot of things, but um, my, my biggest gift, I feel like was that.

• 50:18Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. How do you manage fame now? Cause you had a certain level of fame before, sold over 200 million records before the social media fame. But now you're like a whole nother level of people knowing you and connected to you in a different way. How did you manage it then versus how do you manage it now with people, more people in your business now?

• 50:42Speaker 01

  Um, I mean, I'm, I'm kind of like an average Joe kind of guy.

• 50:47Lewis Howes?

  Okay. Yeah, I got the, I got the green hair. I got the, I got the, I got the, I got a hundred million followers, you know, just kind of average Joe kind of guy.

• 50:57Speaker 01

  No, what I mean is like, I, I'm not really like, I'm not like really sensitive or like super emotional or like, I'm just kind of like regular, average dude, you know?

• 51:08Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 51:08Speaker 01

  Um, so like, I just want to be respected just like everybody else. And um, I know when I'm meeting people for the first time, it might be their only chance to ever meet me. So I generally, generally try to make it the best situation that they could have had, right? Um, cause it's the one chance. Um. I just have a couple of rules. Um, when I'm eating, I, I don't do it when I'm eating. Uh, when I'm with my son, I don't do it when I'm with my son. Um, at the age that he's had now, maybe down the line, you know, when he's a little older, but um, uh, and uh, yeah, besides that, it's all good. Oh, when I'm working out, um.

• 51:53Speaker 01

  It's fifty fifty.

• 51:54Lewis Howes?

  Fifty. I saw you at the gym recently. We were both there. You were working out and I think you were the trainer or a friend.

• 52:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:01Lewis Howes?

  And I knew you were gonna be coming on, but I was like, oh, he looks pretty focused. I'm, oh, next time, after we meet on the show, then I'll say hi.

• 52:09Speaker 01

  That's my guy.

• 52:11Lewis Howes?

  I'm curious, love is something that I feel like a lot of people want, uh, they crave, and they don't know how to manage. When do you feel the most loved in your life?

• 52:23Speaker 01

  In a relationship or?

• 52:25Lewis Howes?

  Anything.

• 52:26Speaker 01

  I feel really loved in a relationship when

• 52:34Speaker 01

  my girl or whoever I'm seeing cooks for me.

• 52:38Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, really?

• 52:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's like a real thing. I don't know if like it's the, the, oh, like I'm old fashioned or what it is, but like I am really,

• 52:49Speaker 01

  I just appreciate it so much, like on a different level, I think, because, um, it seems like so underrated to other people, but I'm just like, like.

• 53:00Lewis Howes?

  You feel taken care of or loved? Yeah.

• 53:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, that, that's like the ultimate love to me. I, I just, you know, it's true. Um, the way to my heart is through my stomach for sure. I don't know if that's the fat boy in me or what it is, but like, I'm like, oh, yes, she, she really messes with me. She rate, she.

• 53:18Lewis Howes?

  She cares.

• 53:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, she cares. She put her heart and soul into this. I'm, I'm really, yeah. So that's, that's my favorite.

• 53:25Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 53:26Speaker 01

  Um, and in, in my career?

• 53:30Lewis Howes?

  Just in life, when do you feel loved the most? When do you feel the most loved?

• 53:35Lewis Howes?

  Is it when you're having an idea, like you talked about it, cause this idea, and then we go work on this song or this video or this business in the process? Is it when you've created something and people are resonating, they're sharing it, they're singing your music? Is it, you know, positive comments? Is it just hanging with your friends? Is it when your dog is laying on you? Like, when is that time?

• 53:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think when I feel the most loved is.

• 54:01Speaker 01

  When I'm with my family. Um, and we just have our, our moments. And I think it's, it's usually around food and drinks.

• 54:12Lewis Howes?

  So food. How do you stay so fit though with, with all this food and drinks?

• 54:15Speaker 01

  I work out a lot, man.

• 54:17Lewis Howes?

  Cause you're shredded, man.

• 54:18Speaker 01

  Oh, thank you, man.

• 54:19Lewis Howes?

  How does a, a fat kid stay shredded?

• 54:24Speaker 01

  Don't eat.

• 54:25Lewis Howes?

  Nah.

• 54:27Lewis Howes?

  Are you pretty regimen though on your, your food intake and your calorie intake?

• 54:31Speaker 01

  Yeah. So I, I, I've yo-yoed. I've done every diet. I've done every fat, every single thing.

• 54:40Lewis Howes?

  Fasting to keto to paleo to whatever. Yeah. Seven meals a day.

• 54:44Speaker 01

  Several.

• 54:45Lewis Howes?

  Two meals a day.

• 54:47Speaker 01

  Salmon shakes.

• 54:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:49Speaker 01

  Liquid diet, fruit diet. I literally everything under the sun. So I know exactly how each thing reacts to my body and how it works. Um, and, uh, I really try to now have a sustainable. Um, like asking my, my body, not asking too much of my body in terms of what I'm eating. Right? So I need, I need some sort of pleasure. I enjoy having a drink or two. Um, I'm not willing to just go cold turkey and not have any drinks. So I know that in the back of my mind, I'm going to have some carbs that are not great for me.

• 55:33Speaker 01

  So I need to do this, this, this, this, and this so that I can offset that. Um, and I think it's the same for, I mean, I make these milli meals. Uh, which are these crazy desserts and people are saying, how do you eat those? And then like.

• 55:47Lewis Howes?

  What is a milli meal?

• 55:48Speaker 01

  A milli meal is every time I get a million followers.

• 55:54Lewis Howes?

  I think I've seen this, like a big bucket of ice cream or something, or what do you?

• 55:57Speaker 01

  I mean, all kinds of like, I mean, I've made like fried ice cream tacos, like I made like humongous ice cream, chocolate chip sandwiches, like everything you can imagine, like a cotton candy sandwich, all kinds of crazy.

• 56:13Lewis Howes?

  So when you hit a million followers, a million more followers, you'll do a big celebration with food.

• 56:19Speaker 01

  So I'm done a lot of them.

• 56:20Lewis Howes?

  You gotta invite me over for one of those, man. I know you're not gonna finish it all.

• 56:23Speaker 01

  For sure. I don't, man, I don't. But I usually invite people over to have it. And it's nine times out of 10, really, really good. Sometimes it's not great, but but yeah, it's all about trying to

• 56:39Speaker 01

  you know, it's a balance, you know, if I know I'm gonna have that million meal and I might, I might fast, you know, or I might have bone broth with some veggies in it, you know? And that's, that's usually been the game changer for me. But if I'm trying to like get shredded for something, then I go crazy. So like, for instance, I'm going to Bali, you know, in a couple of days and I'm gonna shoot, I'm gonna shoot a music video for Glad You Came, my new song is about to come out. So I wanna look like super duper like, I wanna look like a bug.

• 57:09Lewis Howes?

  Wow. So you're eating like one meal, like a thousand calories a day and doing cardio and lifting?

• 57:15Speaker 01

  I'm doing bone broth, so I'm doing, um, yeah, I have like a little something, something for like earlier today, I had like some popcorn.

• 57:22Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 57:22Speaker 01

  And I got a couple grapes and like, of course, and some watermelon and then like bone broth with veggies in it. So it's not terrible, right? It's not terrible. Watermelon and popcorn, game changers.

• 57:33Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 57:33Speaker 01

  Barely any calories, just lit.

• 57:37Lewis Howes?

  I've got a couple of final questions for you. This has been really inspiring and I'm so glad that you're open up about all these different areas of your life and business and branding. So much has happened for you in the last really 12 years with these, well, I guess 14 years with these kind of three big moments. It's 2013, 2023. Where do you see the next seven years? What's the vision you have for the next seven years of what you want to be doing with your time? The things you want to be creating in the world and the impact you want to have by 2030?

• 58:11Speaker 01

  I asked a lot of, um,

• 58:18Speaker 01

  Really high level people to give me a quote, advice to the reader, right? And how they could help the reader succeed.

• 58:27Speaker 01

  And I asked

• 58:31Speaker 01

  a lot of really high level people that I didn't think would respond or do it. And they did. There was a lot of amazing people in there, you know, from Will Smith to Ellen DeGeneres, to David Guetta, all kinds of amazing people. And

• 58:49Speaker 01

  I was, I, I asked

• 58:52Speaker 01

  there's like some white billionaires in there that I really respect. And I asked two people that I, that was really important for me to have two high level black

• 59:05Speaker 01

  guys with high net worths. So I asked

• 59:11Speaker 01

  Tyler Perry. He's inspiring. Yeah. And I asked Magic Johnson. And

• 59:20Speaker 01

  they, they didn't, they didn't give me the quotes, man. Really? And that really that really, it really did something to me. Huh. Because I specifically said

• 59:35Speaker 01

  as a young black man,

• 59:40Speaker 01

  when I, before I became, you know, who I am today. And I was reading this book and I was trying to be inspired. I would want to hear from somebody that I thought was overly successful to know that I can do it as well. And I said that to them. I said, listen, you know, it's really important for you, for our community, for you to like, to, to say, say something, share something. It could be literally any, anything. It could be five words. Five words. It would just, it would just mean a lot to that young black kid to hear from you. And they, and they didn't respond. Interesting. That just put, I put a little more fuel to my fire to now, like I, I have to become, I have to become that guy. Wow.

• 1:00:23Speaker 01

  Because like I need, I need to be that. I, cause I, I want, I want to be that voice. I want, like, I really want to inspire and let them know that it's a possibility. You know, the kids of where I'm from, you know what I'm saying?

• 1:00:39Speaker 01

  So I wouldn't be able to uh um speak those words myself if I couldn't get it from somebody else.

• 1:00:45Lewis Howes?

  Brian, that's beautiful, man.

• 1:00:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, thank you, thank you.

• 1:00:47Lewis Howes?

  That's inspiring. What do you want people to say about you?

• 1:00:51Speaker 01

  Um.

• 1:00:52Lewis Howes?

  And how you want to be remembered?

• 1:00:54Speaker 01

  Uh, I hope people understand that the majority of the things that I do is as a

• 1:01:02Speaker 01

  act of service.

• 1:01:03Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 1:01:04Speaker 01

  You know, um, I think we're all put here for a specific purpose and um the majority of what I do in my life is not for personal gain, it's for um uh some sort of of act of service to somebody else. Even before I pray before every single show, I always mention the fact that I'm dedicating this show to anybody that's in the audience that needs to be inspired, that needs that's going through something that like needs a pick me up. So like, it's always like, you know, it's like, what can I do for somebody else? Like, what is the, how is this gonna impact somebody? How is this gonna gonna be a small part of their life to help better their, you know what I'm saying?

• 1:01:46Speaker 01

  Um, so I hope that um I can be remembered as as that, someone who is always thinking about uh the next person.

• 1:01:58Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's beautiful, man. I love it. Uh, I've got three final questions for you. Before we get into them, Sing Your Name Out Loud, Fifteen Rules for Living Your Dream, we'll have it up here on the video, we'll have it in the audio description and everything. Make sure you guys get a copy. Uh, I've gone through a lot of it, really inspiring. I love your rules. And I love how you talk about each one of these. We only talked about a few of them today. We'll have to get you back on in the future and talk about more, but uh so many powerful nuggets with inspiring lessons that I think anyone could resonate with. And again, it's really cool to see you, where you've come from to go to build the the the business, the platform, the health, the life thing you have using these rules.

• 1:02:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, for sure.

• 1:02:41Lewis Howes?

  And uh so I want people to get a copy, give them to your friends, get a few copies. And um make sure to check it out. Again, we'll have it all linked up. You've also got a new song. Depending when this comes out, it's either out right now or it'll be coming out soon.

• 1:02:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:55Lewis Howes?

  I I heard it before. It's really catchy, man. All your stuff's been super catchy.

• 1:02:58Speaker 01

  Thank you, brother.

• 1:02:59Lewis Howes?

  Um, but tell us about that and the best place for us to listen to it.

• 1:03:03Speaker 01

  I'm so glad you came, man. It's uh, one of my favorite songs that I've done in a long time and one of my favorite songs I've ever written in general.

• 1:03:13Speaker 01

  It talks about the power of destiny and uh, how one moment can kind of change your life forever. You know, the fact that I met this girl um, in this location at this club. If I would have never danced with her that whole night, she would have never been my girl, you know? We were just in the right place at the right time. Um, so yeah, it's it's a it's a beautiful love story that talks about the power of uh, of destiny.

• 1:03:39Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:03:40Speaker 01

  Um, so I, yeah, I I really, I really love this. I'm excited for people to sink their teeth into it. It has like an eighties vibe to it.

• 1:03:46Lewis Howes?

  When, uh, where's the best place for us to listen?

• 1:03:48Speaker 01

  Oh, you know, as a male, my, right?

• 1:03:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Where do you like to send people though to? Where were they?

• 1:03:52Speaker 01

  Um.

• 1:03:53Lewis Howes?

  Spotify, the best.

• 1:03:54Speaker 01

  Spotify.

• 1:03:55Lewis Howes?

  That's the spot right now. Yeah, yeah, check it out. Uh, very excited, man. We're gonna have everything linked up. Obviously, if you're not following Jason on social media, Jason Derulo everywhere on social media, so make sure you're following. If you're the seven people that haven't followed him yet, make sure to check out one of his platforms. Um, this is a question I ask everyone at the end called the three truths. So imagine a hypothetical scenario. It is your last day on earth, many years away.

• 1:04:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:04:23Lewis Howes?

  You live as long as you want to live, and you get to accomplish every dream you have. All your rules, you keep putting them into practice to accomplish every dream.

• 1:04:31Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:04:32Lewis Howes?

  But for whatever reason, in this hypothetical scenario, you gotta take all of your music, your books, this conversation, it all disappears. So no one has access to your content anymore, all your social media content. Everything you've ever said, for whatever reason, is gone hypothetically. But you get one final message to share with the world. It could be a song with three lessons that you would share, three truths. And this is all we have to remember you by. What would be those three lessons or three truths that you would want the world to know?

• 1:05:08Speaker 01

  Wow. So basically my, it's like my commandments.

• 1:05:12Lewis Howes?

  Yes, three of them.

• 1:05:14Speaker 01

  Um, I would say.

• 1:05:22Speaker 01

  I always say first, life is short.

• 1:05:27Speaker 01

  Don't spend your life doing something that you don't love, that you're not obsessed with, that you are not waking up every day excited to do.

• 1:05:37Speaker 01

  It's not about the money because at the end of the day, I've been on both sides. And it's not the destination that's the great part. It's the journey. I've had the best time of my life creating this path, like on the journey. My favorite times that I can remember are the times where I was laid up at night writing the song, not getting any sleep. Those are the moments. It's not driving in a Rolls Royce. That's not like a dope memory to me. I'm not like, remember that time we drove in a? Never. When it's all said and done,

• 1:06:15Speaker 01

  and you know, your life is over, you want to be like, oh, I spent my life doing the things that I love. That's like A1. Number one.

• 1:06:27Speaker 01

  Number two, protect your peace.

• 1:06:35Speaker 01

  That's

• 1:06:37Speaker 01

  the circle that you have around you, the people that are around you. You are some of those people. And if they are feeding you negative energy and if they're feeding you negative comments that can easily soak into yourself and you can start believing the things that they say. You need people around you that think that you're greater than you think you are so that you can continue bringing yourself up. But your peace of mind is more important than any relationship, than any amount of money. Peace of mind, man. So protect your peace. If you think somebody's off, like dead died, make sure that you can continue to move

• 1:07:23Speaker 01

  in a way that is yours in. Whatever yours in is, stay in there. Okay, and then number three.

• 1:07:33Speaker 01

  Oh, that that that works for a job that works for your job as well. You know, if you have a toxic boss or you have, you know, toxic other employees that work with you like you, you need to escape that situation in somewhere or another. Cause you don't want to bring that kind of energy home with you. I don't think I've ever heard you talk like this publicly. Sharing this type of stuff. Yeah, I probably haven't, honestly. You know, honestly, writing this book, I feel like really changed me as well in a way. Because it forced me to like, remember all of the things, all of the positive things that I've done and all of the negative things and all the times that I've fallen on my face. And all of the times that I succeeded and like what those things were like forced me to really dig down deep.

• 1:08:18Speaker 01

  It was like, oh, that was that moment that I I failed because of that. And oh, I won that because I was doing this. Like it really kind of took me on a memory lane. So I even learned a lot about myself and about life. The writing this book like this, this couple of years, writing this book has been really eye opening. And sometimes when you know something and you teach it, you know it a lot better. Hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. So third thing. This is a personal one for me. This one you can take or leave, but this is personal to me in my life.

• 1:09:00Speaker 01

  Family over everything. I have had many girlfriends in my life. I've had many friends in my life. People come in and my life come and go. And

• 1:09:16Speaker 01

  my family has always been there, you know, and through my lowest times.

• 1:09:25Speaker 01

  Those are the people that I can count on the most, you know, is my, my blood, you know, my flesh and blood, my, my, my inner, I should say, my, my specific household, my household that I grew up in, yeah.

• 1:09:41Speaker 01

  You know, it's almost like when I broke my neck and like, there was no sign of, we, we didn't know whether I was gonna be able to get back on the road and like be successful anymore. Like, we didn't know what was next. Um, but like, I was able to turn to, to family, you know what I'm saying? Growing up, I was always really more drawn to my family than my friends. And I had, and I had a, I had a pretty big family, so I was, I was blessed in that area. Um, but yeah, friends, friends can, friends can get you in trouble. And at the end of the day,

• 1:10:20Speaker 01

  um, if you had some bones buried somewhere, who are the people,

• 1:10:29Speaker 01

  who are the people that you think that you could trust to tell? You know, or if you had like some buried treasures somewhere, who, who's the person that you think could go and help you and like wouldn't tell anybody else? Like, who are those people in your life? Keep those people as close as possible, because they don't come to God, it doesn't, you know?

• 1:10:47Lewis Howes?

  Right, so that's beautiful. Family over everything, I love that. Uh, before I ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you, Jason, for, for opening up, man, for being, for being super real and authentic. Again, I think a lot of people see short content from you, which is inspiring and entertaining, but I've never heard a long-form interview with you, really, in this way. I, you know, five-minute stuff.

• 1:11:07Speaker 01

  It's you, man. You, you, you got, you got, you got that, that special, that special judge, man. You get, you get it out of people.

• 1:11:14Lewis Howes?

  But I, but I appreciate and acknowledge you for how you inspire people, how you show up consistently, how you, you know, dedicate to your craft, how you continue to strive for excellence. So I want to acknowledge you for everything you've done and everything you're gonna keep doing, man. It's really inspiring to watch. And next time, I'll join in the gym, get some reps in with you.

• 1:11:33Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 1:11:34Lewis Howes?

  The final question, what's your definition of greatness?

• 1:11:37Speaker 01

  Definition of greatness?

• 1:11:40Speaker 01

  The definition of greatness to me is thriving at the highest level in any arena. Whether it's...

• 1:11:51Speaker 01

  Math, or whether it's music, or whether it's social media, being able to consistently, I gotta use that word consistently, thrive at the highest level.

• 1:12:02Lewis Howes?

  I hope today's episode inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a rundown of today's show with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me as well as ad free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our greatness plus channel on Apple Podcast. If you enjoyed this, please share it with a friend over on social media or text a friend, leave us a review over on Apple Podcast and let me know what you learned over on our social media channels at Lewis Howes. I really love hearing the feedback from you and it helps us continue to make the show better. And if you want more inspiration from our world-class guests and content to learn how to improve the quality of your life, then make sure to sign up for the greatness newsletter and get it

• 1:12:46Lewis Howes?

  delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com/newsletter. And if no one has told you today, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.