some of the most important discoveries
inventions and innovations cut within a
field come from people who are trained
in a much different field and who have
an outsider’s approach
Louis Pasteur was a classic example of
this he was trained as a chemist in
mineralogist so he brought amidst a much
different way of thinking to the subject
of medicine and germs a method that was
infinitely more creative Albert Einstein
was a complete outsider his two most
important discoveries came when he was
working at the Swiss Patent Office
Google itself exemplifies this idea it
is perhaps the most successful business
on the planet founded by two men who are
relatively complete outsiders to
business and who therefore structured
and directed their company in a very
novel and creative fashion I could go on
and on and on with this list including
many great artists there are two
important reasons why Outsiders
generally have a creative advantage
first they are less steeped in and
burdened by the conventions of the field
that they are attacking they ask a
different set of questions they approach
problems from unconventional angles and
second they are often trained in totally
unrelated fields and so can make
interesting and creative connections
between two very different forms of
thinking like science and business or
chemistry and medicine or engineering
and design now we can’t all consciously
follow such a path but even within the
careers that were pursuing we can train
ourselves to think like outsiders and
help loosen up the mind in the process
everyone in this room knows how to
create you’re not a manager of your life
you’re a creator of your life or you
wouldn’t be in this room
how do you create your life you get
hungry for something don’t you who has
done something your life that once
seemed difficult or impossible and now
it’s part of your life who’s got
something your life in this area say I
how did you do it you created it three
ways number one you decided there’s
something you wanted so bad that you
unleashed all your desire you became
obsessed with it if it was a business or
a car or a relationship or a
transformation in your body if there’s
something you want sin vision and now
it’s real it’s because you didn’t just
envision it you brought so much emotion
to it but now it’s in your life it was
once a dream it was once a goal and now
it’s in your life how many have
something like that in your life now say
I you may take it for granted now
hopefully not but it was once just a
vision may have seen impossible at one
time so how did you do it you started
with a concrete vision of what you
wanted and you focused on it
continuously didn’t you wherever focus
goes energy flows you envision something
you got clear about it and then you
started thinking about all the reasons
why you wanted it you got excited about
it so this is what’s next for me now I
want this you may have dreamed about a
thought about and talked about it but
when you focus on something continuously
something magical happens you get
insights don’t you you overhear a
conversation hear something you wouldn’t
have heard if you didn’t have that
outcome or goal that you wanted so badly
who’s ever come up with something
obsessed about it didn’t even know how
to do it and it just happened and it
came together who’s that that experience
say I so why don’t we happen to that
power now for your business in life you
only came to America we were poor and
broke the way I look at it because we
would always run out of money before run
out a month we decide you know do we do
without electricity or or gas because
some months we couldn’t afford to pay
both and you know being broke is being
without money being poor as being
kind of scarcity minded poor minded and
we just realized that monies for the
rich monies for the Americans it’s for
the people who were born here who went
to college and that’s how I grew up and
later Jim Franco taught me that hey you
know what you can’t be scarcity minded
you can’t you have to live in abundance
you have to understand that people just
want a solution to a problem and they
don’t care about the color of your skin
about the level of your education they
want a solution to prompt so he taught
me he had to break all these old
patterns that I had right what were some
of the patterns some of the patterns
were that money’s for the white folk and
not for the foreigners you actually
thought yeah I really cuz that’s that’s
how it was because every time we went
and got got more food stamps it was all
foreigners there’s no white people in
line at least not not in the parts of
Santa Ana that I was raised and so I
felt that money was for the people who
were telling us to leave this country go
back to your own country and that also
puts a chip on your shoulder right
against them and so I guess I had some
reverse racism towards towards white
America now I realize for no apparent
reason there was a couple of idiots in
every culture I imagine right but so
that was one pattern that I had another
pattern that I had was that being proud
to be blue-collar like my dad was like
and he still says this work is holy and
I believe that work is holy but the fact
that he had so many jobs a paper route
pumping gas worked at a pizzeria and so
because of that mindset blue collar blue
collar always a blue collar mentality
and I took pride in being blue collar
another pattern Jim Franco had to have
the break was like dude be white collar
don’t use the shovel sell the shovel I’d
never heard that phrase before I’m the
guy that took pride in I could dig a
deeper hole a deeper trench I could I
could outwork you but that’s still
trading time for dollars and so to be
able to break those who limiting belief
systems that I had but to me was huge
and all of a sudden I realized I’m no
longer poor minded I may end up broke
again I do really well now but I may
make one or two bad decisions with my
money or my investment to end up being
broke again but I’ll never
be poor and I know how to get back from
broke because I know how to add value to
society solve problems and it’s changed
for money but I’ll never be poor again
and poor is a state of mind of feeling
out of control
scarcity minded taking pride in being
blue-collar no one should ever take
pride of being blue clock period period
you’ve got a brain you’ve got a solution
to a problem that people want to pay for
put it out there
so when you say scarcity minded abundant
minded what do you mean
well the scarcity minded person says Oh
someone else opened up a gym you know
across the street from me they’re gonna
put me out of business I better charge
less right the abundant minded person
says someone else opened up the gym
across the street from me I better out
service them out work them out social
media them right so the scarcity minded
person is always the sky is falling the
Chicken Little mentality the oh my gosh
if Trump goes into office then we’re all
screwed oh my gosh if Hillary goes into
office then we’re all screwed I don’t
care who’s in office anymore I control
my own economy the economy can crash and
go back up and back down again I will
find a way as Tony Robbins says I’m
built for winter I just didn’t know it
and so more people need to be abundant
minded in that with the economy crashes
I just have to deliver more value and
create this category of one about myself
if competition shows up I have to out
service them out work them out social
media them versus shrivel up and die I
came home one night from work spraying
for cockroaches and long story short I
turned on the Discovery Channel I saw
some guys going through Navy SEAL
training and they’re going through hell
week and they’re getting their ass just
beat you know in all the water
guys ringing the bell there was
suffering and I was waiting like 297
pounds and I had to make a change in my
life you know I was at all-time low and
I wasn’t going anywhere and I was
exactly what everybody said I was going
to be which was nothing so I had to make
a change what was it about seeing
suffering that’s that’s really
interesting and I actually get it but I
want to hear you explain it why
suffering was the thing that triggered
that thought well for me growing up
I came from a horrible background I got
called nigger every day of my life
growing up lived in a small town the
Klan headquarters at that time was about
20 minutes from where I lived the one of
the high ups in the KKK son sat behind
me in two classes so you called me nigga
a long time I got my first car they
spray-painted nigga we’re going to kill
you on it so I was just an insecure
scared kid and the only way I could find
myself was to put myself through the
worst thing possible I’m gonna say the
exact opposite of what the world today’s
world is saying so we read a bunch of
books nowadays as humans we we want to
find out how to be someone else what we
don’t do is we don’t go inside so
literally turn yourself inside out read
the book that says like we’re writing a
book every day of our lives every day
we’re seeing who we are as people when I
was growing up I I lied for people to
accept me because I did accept myself so
I would make up stories so then you
would accept me into your world I would
uh everything I did was for someone else
to like me it was until I started
reading my own book about how pathetic I
was as human being I could blame my dad
I can blame kids at school I could blame
having health issues ATD my mom not
being around great mom but she was doing
her thing I could blame a lot of people
and that’s the book I was reading and I
put it off on everybody else they
wouldn’t so I say you know what for me
to fix this I get a read what the hell
what the is wrong with David Goggin
not blame anybody read my books okay I’m
afraid of my shadow how can I overcome
that go in and military get your ass
kicked
do things you hate to do be
uncomfortable every day of your life
Roger that I’m not the smartest kid in
the world okay it says somebody saying
oh no you’re smart no no don’t say that
to yourself
I said to myself no I’m a dumb okay
Roger that how you get smarter educate
yourself so the things that we run from
we run from the truth
we’re running from the truth man so the
only way I became successful was going
towards the truth as painful and as
brutal as it is it changed me it allowed
me to become in my own right who aim
today everyone has a problem with time
but the day is 24 hours and we sleep six
now I know there’s some out there that
say I need eight but I say to sleep a
little faster because the bottom line is
we have six hours of sleep 24 hours are
available so if 18 hours now available
to your work your family your hobbies
and also to learn something new or to do
something new which could easily be that
you want to learn a new language or that
you want to read and as a New Year’s
resolution I have to read a book every
week or where you say I’m gonna go and
reshape my body so you’re gonna go and
take this hour out of your schedule and
say I’m gonna train an hour every day so
this is for most people a huge challenge
but it is totally doable I can tell them
because the kind of things that I did
when I came to this country I mean I
went to school I was working in
construction I was working out my five
hours a day I was taking acting classes
from 8 o’clock at night to 12 midnight
I was doing all of those things I wanted
to make sure that out of the 24 hours of
the day that I don’t waste one single
hour those hours were too precious and
so they’re just want to tell people
don’t give me this thing I have a
difficult time at the time and I don’t
have time for this none of that you have
time you make the time hard work and
discipline and rehearsal and that’s
always the most thrilling way to earn
applause and everything that you’ve seen
me do I’ve always rehearsed a lot for it
so there’s um there’s a lot of passion
that goes behind it I mean doing the
same thing I mean just being known for
like one thing your whole life it’s a
sad you know I there’s we all have so
many interests I’m sure and so you know
to get to make jobs of them all or
jobs if you could call it that but to
make businesses out of them all and see
them on a daily basis in your light and
how you visualize them is really cool
and fun and we can all do it we all can
do it so many people are so afraid to
try something because they’re like oh
like I can’t leave my job because I’m
you know I have to pay bills or you know
it’s like we’ll start small then but
don’t say you can’t because as many
times you say you can’t you’re not going
to if you don’t think you can you won’t
thoughts become things I’m in meetings a
lot my calendar gets very full with
those and then at night after the kids
have gone to bed I’m on email a great
deal I get messages during the day
that’s my chance to give long responses
and then over the weekend I send a lot
of mail as well as well I take two weeks
a year to just go off and read and think
where I’m not interrupted by work or
anything else I’m just solidly trying to
think about the future and people get to
send me things to read as part of that
so-called think week so it’s nice mix of
things about 25% of the time that I’m
out traveling around meeting with
customers Europe Asia and that sort of
helps me think okay do we have the right
priorities what what are people
responding well to and what would they
they like to see us do better many
people spend their lives in a state of
almost permanent dissatisfaction right
unfortunately so they may be looking for
some purpose or they may have given up
hope that there is some purpose for them
and they’re just surviving or making a
living or caught up in the doing lot up
in the doing in the stress of it right
and so usually when we talk about
purpose when people talk about purpose
they think of purpose in terms of future
where am I going what am I supposed to
do what’s the direction I’m going what
is my goal the goal that I want to
achieve and that of course is that it
has its place but I call that the outer
purpose more fundamental than the outer
purpose is what most people usually
look and that is the realization that
what matters most is finding your inner
purpose so inner purpose is aligning
your life fully with the present moment
so that you are no longer out of
alignment with the present moment which
leads to the state of dissatisfaction
that we talked about that is the reality
for many people so you have to go first
of all beyond the state of
dissatisfaction that is so many people’s
reality right but you cannot go beyond
the state of dissatisfaction through
some future goal that says one day I
would like to be in a state of
fulfillment or satisfaction no you have
to enter the state of fulfillment and
satisfaction by becoming one internally
with the present moment in the your
purpose and your inner purpose is that
alignment with where you are right now
to be totally where you are and whatever
you are doing even if it doesn’t look
like your life purpose for the earth you
buy for the next 30 years right whatever
you are doing now to be total enjoying
it and what no matter what it is to be
true to life
by being true to this moment I was gonna
constantly evolve you know I always want
to constantly grow and everyone that get
to a point where I feel like I got to
figure it out you know I always want to
like kind of like push myself to be
better you know and do and do greater
things no matter what it is I mean I
want to be the best I’m a competitor you
know I like to compete you know like
growing up with you know the name
Michael Jordan you know I’ve always had
a certain pressure pressure on on myself
and and always having to kind of like
you know put people wrong and
then I just kind of kind of kind of put
an instant chip on my shoulder I want it
just to be great you know and do great
things and I’m and then and it also
helped people man I’m really big in the
next generation I feel like that’s all I
saw that’s the only way it’s gonna get
better moving forward as if you know you
got to lead this world in a better place
than it was when you came in you know
I’m born in 87 – question mark I don’t
know when I’m gone and I’m saying but I
want to work on my – and I’m saying I
want we’re going at that time that I’m
here and it’s um and I I could make
it easier for the next round of
filmmakers and the next round of actors
coming up you know that’s it and I mean
I didn’t you know I’ll be I’m
continually going out on that take it as
a corpse a lot again like I said you
were asking ask me about the future I’ll
let you I’ll let you know a little bit
closer yeah I mean as far all I can see
right now is the cold that’s all I can
see you need to bet on your strengths
and don’t give a about where you
suck at you’re gonna way too many people
in this room are gonna spend the next 30
40 years of their lives trying to check
the boxes other things that they’re not
as good at and that you’re gonna waste a
load of time and lose I highly recommend
auditing yourself or if you have no
empathy or EQ or self-awareness then
find somebody in your family or
friendship that does and let them tell
you who you are and once you believe
that either for yourself or someone else
told you go directly all chips all into
that because that is the only possible
way in my opinion watching from the
outside that is limited phrase that is a
very highly likely way of over-indexing
because the truth is if you want to be
an anomaly you’ve got to act like one
you know like and so that’s it that’s
what I got so thanks for having me as I
started studying people that did more
not people that didn’t do more not
people that said do less not people that
said hey don’t be satisfied or be
satisfied not people that said they’d be
grateful for what you have I started
studying people that said and
done more that you can do more that’s
who I listen to today I listened to the
people my friends in my life the people
I listen to the people I talk to the
people that I follow on Facebook or
YouTube or Instagram
I don’t follow everybody I follow the
people that say you can do more dude I
follow the people that say I am doing
more I follow the people that are
actually doing something on this planet
to make a difference for the better you
have to be selective you have to give
something up okay you cannot listen to
everybody – every voice – every person
is quit or given up you got to make a
decision if you have that little voice
inside of you that says you can do more
you have to give attention to that voice
and you got to feed it with those that
support that idea that you can do more
focus on things that are AI driven
artificial intelligence driven whether
it’s machine learning deep learning
learning neural networks medical
applications but within ai ai is a
buzzword that everybody is using right
now you know every in and to that point
you know we as all guys we go back and
it’s like 1995 we talked about the
internet and I would say to people back
in 1995 look if you don’t understand the
internet you’re not gonna be able to do
business and now that’s just blocking
attack Lane it seems obvious back then
it wasn’t right I could even take you
further back to my first company you
know what we did was a company called
micro solutions and we did local area
networks on wide area networks and I
used to walk into companies and say
you’re gonna have to hook these pcs
together at some point that’ll make you
more productive more effective you know
give you a competitive advantage and
people are like now I just carry this
floppy from this PC to that PC yeah okay
but today we’re at the same type of
inflection point with artificial
intelligence you don’t have to be an
expert and be able to put together your
own neural network you know you don’t
have to know what weights and biases are
but but you have to have more than just
a cursory understanding
just like you have to know the
difference between you know different
types of websites and you have to
understand ecommerce if you’re in the
e-commerce you have to have a cursory
understanding of how apps work you’re
gonna have to have at least if not more
cursory understanding of artificial
intelligence because it will change
everything we do and if the internet was
10x in terms of change to business
artificial intelligence will be 100x or
more if you go to my house
right next to my bed there’s a book
machine learning for dummies you go into
my bathroom there’s deep neural networks
for dummies right if you go there’s a
something for dummies in every room of
my house you know I could go two ways I
know but I’m just telling you put the
time I mean I’ve taken you know I can’t
even tell you how many hours now I spend
every week if not daily working like
I’ll go into Amazon AWS and go through
their machine learning tutorials don’t
think to yourself I’m not technical
enough or I’m not gonna get this or I
don’t get into this or it’s too much try
it get as far as you can because it’s
like doing a basic website and a little
bit of HTML just having done that you
feel smarter and you feel a little bit
more confident about this you know I
don’t want to be an alarmist but I’m
trying to scare the hell out of you
because it’s important it’s a very
natural process to begin something to be
very excited and then as you go down
that process to realize yeah I actually
don’t like this it’s not giving me as
much energy as I thought of what is
taking energy away and therefore I want
to give up and quit that thing and she
said if you do that once or twice like
hey so be it but if you’re doing it
every time if you just love that initial
rush that excitement of something new
but the actual nitty-gritty reality of
getting good at it of doing what Mitch
you Kaku calls having but power meaning
you’ve set your butt in the seat and you
do the work if that’s really your
problem and nothing is interesting
enough for you to sit there and do the
work you haven’t developed Britt yet and
so grit is the ability to persevere to
see things through to go past the point
at which it is stopped being fun and it
becomes boring because you believe in
your end goal enough you’re excited by
what you’re trying to accomplish so much
that you
willing to fight through all of that
difficulty you’re willing to fight
through the boredom you’re willing to
fight through the unease that arises
when you step outside your comfort zone
you’re doing things you’re not good at
and things that are boring those are the
two things that I find kill most people
they just cannot handle the things that
make them go oh god like I’m not very
good at this and I’m feeling really
badly about myself and they forget that
they can get good on a long enough
timeline and then to inevitably in any
pursuit of greatness in any endeavor
where you’re trying to gain mastery
you’re gonna get bored because practice
is repetition it’s doing something over
and over and over and over to really
train yourself to get to the point where
you’re truly exceptional and there’s
just so much bored of inherent in that
process so building in the resilience to
see all that stuff through is the key
part of grit and when I say life doesn’t
happen to you it happens for you I
really don’t know if that’s true I’m
just making a conscious choice to
perceive challenges as something
beneficial so that I can deal with them
in the most productive way you’ll come
up with your own style that’s part of
the fun there’s a very thin dividing
line between success and failure when
you start a business from scratch and
you know if you don’t have enough money
to pay the bills you go the wrong side
of that dividing line and if you can
somehow get enough money to pay the
bills
you stay the right side of that dividing
line you know I’ve always been running
running running faster than perhaps I
should me and I have great difficulty
saying no to things so keep on taking on
new things and we’ve just managed to
stay the right side of the dividing line
over the last 50 years in business but
but equally in those early days when you
when you’re starting a business without
any financial backing it’s it’s it’s
easy to slip the wrong side and in fact
you know most entrepreneurs do do slip
the wrong side and the important the
important thing is then just pick
yourself up
and you know start again and if it
doesn’t work at that time keep keep
going until you do succeed and not to
give up how did you stay motivated all
the time people ask me that all the time
and the answer is I didn’t and neither
did you to become successful the
separator in life is really important
you’ll think the most inspired motivated
person wins nah not really it’s the
person who can work on the day’s they’re
not inspired and motivated it’s what do
you do when you’re not feeling great
what do you do when it’s not your best
day how do you do that carries you
through as rituals and habits so when
you’re fatigued when you’re tired when
you’re under pressure you react
reflexively and so successful people
rely on habits and rituals not just
their inspiration and motivation level
of course we’re both professionals and
being motivated and inspired but that’s
not every day every minute and so what
do I do I work on the days because my
habits and rituals carry me through and
so for me here’s how I look at my life
in my day if I can control the first 30
minutes of my day and the last 30
minutes of my day I have a whole lot
better chance of the middle of my day
being controlled and so I’m a freak
about the first 30 minutes of every day
it’s really about the first 45 minutes
and I’m obsessive about the last 45
minutes of every single day that gives
me some illusion in my mind and measure
of control the other thing it does it
delivers to me habits and rituals that
serve me that I do every day that are
consistent it gives me comfort in stormy
times that ocean out there is raging at
the top right now right the waves are
crashing at the bottom of that ocean
it’s completely calm at the bottom of
that ocean is the habitual part of the
water right it’s the list if the part of
the bar that stays the most consistent
that’s why it’s so calm okay so when you
see someone out of control their
emotions are up and down all the time
this is someone who is without rituals
and habits successful people have those
and so they do and so it keeps me calm
it keeps me comfortable what I decided
to do this I I first talked to my my
wife who is sitting here in the audience
and she had married a
you know relatively stable goofy but
still relatively stable a person working
at a Wall Street firm I worked at a
quantitative hedge fund and this was a
hard decision and I was looking for the
right framework in which to make that
kind of important decision and and and
and the right framework I found is a
regret minimization framework and that’s
just a nerdy way of saying that you want
to project yourself to age 80 and then
think back over your life and and if
you’re if you’re if you’re 81 or the
thew want to minimize the number of
regrets you have throughout that period
of time I think this is something a lot
of people do maybe subconsciously they
probably very few people probably name
it regret minimization framework because
most people are healthier than that but
but it was a very clear way for me to
think about making that kind of life
decision and the and and the way it
helped was I thought okay if I go do
this thing and participate in this thing
called the Internet that I genuinely
believe is gonna be a big deal and if I
fail am I going to regret having tried
and fail and I knew the answer that was
no but I also knew that if I didn’t try
that I would always regret that I would
always wonder and it would haunt me
until that you know mythical day which I
actually hope will come when the things
most matter you so desperately don’t
want to destroy it for being scared that
you can really destroy it sure when I
hosted the Oscars I was I was like wow
man this is a billion people and I just
thought okay whatever you do just
remember you’re a kid from moronga in
Sydney you’re hosting the Oscars have
some fun you know and luckily for me
those turning points I’ve somehow always
stuck to that idea of just having fun
being an actor or even being an artist
and I had studied in school behind the
camera was not even in the vernacular of
my dreams
I was raised 9 to 5 you go to work your
work you work your way up a scale that’s
from your old man right yeah and that
was all I was able to even like I said
dream about so the idea of living life
and having a career
in the arts that was in the storytelling
business it was something that’s really
fun it was not something that like I
said I even dreamed up I was in the
right place right time right bar guy
found me and said you want to come in
and read for a part in a movie I’m here
producing called Dazed and Confused I
said sure I got to read for the part
it’s got three lines three lines turns
in three weeks work they’re paying me
325 bucks a day people were telling me
I’m pretty good at it and I think I’m
getting away with something and I still
do feel like I’m getting away with
didn’t you have people just afraid man
so many people are afraid of rejection
and failure but without failure you have
no success we’re stuck the most biggest
failure I had a TV show called the big
house got picked up by ABC they told me
that we were gonna do 12 episodes flew
me down to New York this is the biggest
news ever I’m about to be rich holy Sh
I’m 22 I got a TV show I’m writing
executive producing starring in the show
you know what no I’m not just gonna go
down there by myself we got to bring the
cash they said no Kevin we only flying
you I said well I’m a pay for the cast
to come I took my own money through them
all down in New York get to New York put
on my suit people taking pictures of me
walking out this is the best thing ever
holy SH I’m famous this is what it is I
get to the up front up front to where
they announce your TV show the slew of
shows they’re announcing their time
slots I’m next they’re about to announce
the big house somebody puts their hand
on my chest and says Kevin wait they
talking an earpiece they said no I’m
standing with him right now I’m like
what’s going on what they want me to do
you know they want me to go on the other
side or something he goes okay I’ll tell
him they cancel they’re not gonna pick
you up you got to step back and I was
like that don’t sound right literally
that fast they sent me home they’re like
you got to just go home TV show got
picked up six months later for six
episodes the third episodes aired they
canceled show again I got the show can’t
do twice in a six-month period which has
never been done before I’ve booked about
three more pilots got canceled
there was a show called John Stamos his
show he was a publicist and they wanted
me as a series regular show was going
great ratings were good put me on the
show show got canceled it was everything
I’d touched on
TV tarnish I’m now just sitting out here
doing nothing
I handle money borrow money left and
right
I decided safe I said I’m just gonna do
stand-up comedy and focus on my craft
and I slaved the role about five years
doing the same circuit over and over you
really think creativity is important
whether whatever you do I think it’s fun
to be creative with meals that you cook
or meals that you eat or vacations that
you go on or dates that you said you
know I just think it’s fun to be
creative everyone likes that and I think
authenticity is just super important I
might be hyper aware of it because I
grew up in an industry that’s wrought
with inauthenticity that people will
look you right in the face and and
totally tell you what you need to hear
at the moment I don’t think that’s
unique to that industry but it’s filled
with it there so I I think transparency
and authenticity is just super important
I don’t mind having conflict with
someone if we can then be done with it
it’s that years spent where you know
that something’s going on and you’re not
talking about it those awful
Thanksgivings with the family of cousins
you’re like hey Jim hey Neela I hate
that I hate that life’s too short for
that stuff
just saw this Rumi quote that I love set
your life on fire and seek those who fan
your flames the philly translation of
that is don’t be hanging with no jank
ass jokers that don’t help you shine the
prerequisite for spending time with any
person is that they nourish and inspire
you they feed your flame look at your
last five text messages are those people
feeding your flames or dousing your fire
put your phone down for just a second
and look around look to the people
around you are those people throwing
logs on your fire or are they pissin on
it the people that you spend time with
are gonna make or break your dreams
everybody don’t deserve to be around you
you got to defend your light with
life so who are the people in your life
that are fanning your flames shout them
out tag on below do you think there were
no hurdles or obstacles that I had to
overcome but even I got the high school
wasn’t ranked you know I wasn’t ranked I
wasn’t highly touted as a high school
prospect I had nobody really running
knocking on my door saying please please
please come play for our school until
coach McCullough called and you know
everything happens for a reason and
there’s there’s a story into everything
and and if you take time to realize you
know what what your dream is and what
you really want in life no matter what
it is whether it’s sports whether it’s
in other fields you have to realize that
there’s always work to do and you want
to be the hardest working person in
whatever you do and you’ll put yourself
in position to be successful and you
have to have a passion about what you do
and basketball was mine and that’s what
scared me to this point going to your
house no quiet room and you close the
lights draw the shades and sit on a
couch and visualize a big fat check 25
G’s thousand bucks u.s. okay with your
name on it and I want you to imagine
that check and just make that check go
bigger in your mind and make it real
more real and just put it out into the
ether of the universe and the law of
attraction will take whole just think
about it
oh right hello if that’s your strategy
for success the only tip will show up in
your mailbox is not the check it’s a
freaking eviction notice from your
landlord
they’ll be towing away your car your
wife your husband all for the next-door
neighbor and you’ll be so saying where’s
the check okay the secret is a load of
crap okay do I believe in manifestation
yeah damn straight I do but you gotta
take action I’m one of those unfortunate
people I tried it I really got spikes
behind it I read books Alba try no so I
said I’d try to trade for the check
never came gonna win out and start
taking action guess what the check came
with a extra couple of zeros passion is
not an actionable word it’s correct you
know that those who do the things that
they’re passionate about do better but
it’s not helpful advice and so the
question is where does passion come from
passion is a result passion is an energy
passion is the feeling you have when
you’re engaged in something that you
love passion is the feeling you have
that you would probably do this for free
you know and you can’t believe somebody
pays you to do it you know and I think
we mistake that passion is something we
do in our private lives but it shouldn’t
be done you know in our careers for
example and I’m a firm believer that you
are who you are and anybody who says I’m
different at home than I am at work and
one of those two places you’re lying and
the goal is to make everything you do in
home and it works something that you
have excitement to do so how do you find
the things that you’re excited to do
well it’s actually easier than you think
what are the things that you love to do
what are the things that you would do
for free you know how can you recreate
that feeling and and be paid for it so
what are the things that I do on the
weekend right I love I’m very involved
in the art world I love to go to museums
and galleries but I love to go see dance
and performances because I want to see
how others are interpreting the world so
that inspires me new ideas new thoughts
new ways of looking at the world are
things that interest me privately and I
seek it out and pay money for it right
so does that mean I have to have a
career in the arts no it means I have to
have a career where new ideas are
explored where
people are experimenting and trying
things out and I have to explore new
ideas and try things out and I’m just as
excited to go to work everyday as I am
just you know go do something on a
Saturday night and so the idea of
finding your passion is ironically
simple because you should be doing stuff
that you enjoy sometimes what is the
stuff that you enjoy and then what is
the stuff that you love who are the
people you love and what are those where
they all have in common
I find that levels of success in almost
any industry or area correlate to a
person asking great questions in some
cases they seem absurd in fact the
hallmarking way of great questions is
that sound completely ridiculous so
someone might ask like Peter Thiel why
can’t you achieve your ten-year goals in
the next six months it’s a thought
exercise that’s like–that’s that’s a
good question to answer for yourself and
these types of questions come up
surprisingly often with with very very
impressive folks whether it’s a business
military entertainment or otherwise and
the way you can get better at questions
is by studying interviews in part so I
studied Larry King
I studied Charlie Rose I studied Terry
Gross I studied that that go down the
list
I studied twenty Robbins who does in
person one-on-one interventions at his
events in front of ten thousand five
thousand people and he’s just genius
with how he uses questions to like
pattern interrupt and grab someone’s
attention and divert them in a more
productive productive direction now why
is that relevant relevant because
thinking is the process of asking
questions you’re asking yourself
questions then you’re answering them in
your own head so if you get better at
asking other people questions you get
better at asking yourself questions
which means you are a you’re improving
your thought performance and level of
thinking I don’t try to look too far in
advance
because I get overwhelmed really you
know like if someone has a lot of weight
to lose if their goal is like lose a
hundred pounds I can only imagine like
even with me with some of my goals like
this recovery it feels like it’s so far
away and it takes so long for you to
like start seeing a difference that like
you’re naturally are motivated to keep
going right that it’d be super easy to
give up or to want to stop but if you
and I tell people is if you just focus
on all those little moments along the
way and ignore what your big goal is
time goes by so fast
yeah like a year goes by so unbelievably
fast that it will be here before you
know it and I completely agree that
sometimes if you focus on something that
is so far away or does feel so out of
reach you can definitely get too
discouraged like before you actually try
to get there start checking in with your
thoughts and how you’re feeling each day
so outside about gratitude practice
which I’m going to kind of talk about as
well this is probably the number one
fastest way that you can start changing
your life and I’m going to tell you
about the ripple effect that happens so
it’s checking in to see where you’re at
what emotion are you feeling in that
moment so if you wake up in the morning
and you’re anything like me I don’t
necessarily wake up in the best Boone at
all so I really need to start figuring
out how to up level my feelings right
because our feelings are the best
indicators of what we’re attracting what
we’re going to attract that day how
we’re gonna feel maybe what’s going to
come into our life who we’re gonna end
up talking to because truly truly I know
that we are all on a we’re all vibrating
at a different frequency so if you are a
really positive excited happy person who
knows that great things are gonna come
your way or who’s always thinking
positive you’re gonna attract that same
type of person and I can see this
through my life as I’ve really started
to uplevel my life and my thoughts in my
business the people that are being drawn
to me so you really do
it really is like attracts like so what
we want to do is we want to get you into
that mode right those people that you’re
like wow they can just walk into a room
and you just feel their energy they’re
just vibrating so high or maybe they’re
just always so happy or they always you
just want to be around them because you
want a piece of what they have so how do
we get there how do we become one of
those people when you wake up in the
morning maybe if you are at a low point
or you’re thinking about all the things
that you have to do that day what is a
thought or what is something that you
can do to get yourself to the next best
reachable thought so I don’t want you to
think that you have to go from zero to a
hundred in that split-second it’s
basically going from zero to five to ten
to twenty to fifty and working your way
up so it’s one thought at a time so
maybe you wake up and you just say three
things that you’re grateful for every
single morning you let yourself really
experience being grateful for it really
think about why you’re grateful and then
what you’re gonna do is as as you mosey
down the stairs to get your cup of
coffee you say three more things you’re
grateful for or I’m so grateful that I
have a job today because of what it
allows me to do and you really start
letting that sink in and you think of
something that maybe you’re excited
about something that you could create
something that you love about yourself
it’s this constant up leveling of your
thoughts so it’s guiding your thoughts
right so instead of just being mindless
which what happens we’re imperfect human
beings right so when we’re mindless and
when we don’t guide our thoughts they’re
gonna go to chaos they’re gonna go to
craziness they’re gonna go to
overwhelmed because life is crazy and
we’re constantly getting sidetracked
we’re constantly getting distracted it’s
literally people’s full-time job on TV
on Instagram on whatever we’re doing to
distract us right they want us to be
their consumer they want us to be
completely distracted they want us to go
to this fast-food place do this thing do
that thing so we need to bring it back
to a mindful place so really that’s what
we’re doing when we uplevel those
thoughts is how do you bring it back
from crazytown so bring it on back and
and guide it to that next best thought
right because the next best thought is
going to attract another good thought
attract another good thought and it attract another good thought
inventions and innovations cut within a
field come from people who are trained
in a much different field and who have
an outsider’s approach
Louis Pasteur was a classic example of
this he was trained as a chemist in
mineralogist so he brought amidst a much
different way of thinking to the subject
of medicine and germs a method that was
infinitely more creative Albert Einstein
was a complete outsider his two most
important discoveries came when he was
working at the Swiss Patent Office
Google itself exemplifies this idea it
is perhaps the most successful business
on the planet founded by two men who are
relatively complete outsiders to
business and who therefore structured
and directed their company in a very
novel and creative fashion I could go on
and on and on with this list including
many great artists there are two
important reasons why Outsiders
generally have a creative advantage
first they are less steeped in and
burdened by the conventions of the field
that they are attacking they ask a
different set of questions they approach
problems from unconventional angles and
second they are often trained in totally
unrelated fields and so can make
interesting and creative connections
between two very different forms of
thinking like science and business or
chemistry and medicine or engineering
and design now we can’t all consciously
follow such a path but even within the
careers that were pursuing we can train
ourselves to think like outsiders and
help loosen up the mind in the process
everyone in this room knows how to
create you’re not a manager of your life
you’re a creator of your life or you
wouldn’t be in this room
how do you create your life you get
hungry for something don’t you who has
done something your life that once
seemed difficult or impossible and now
it’s part of your life who’s got
something your life in this area say I
how did you do it you created it three
ways number one you decided there’s
something you wanted so bad that you
unleashed all your desire you became
obsessed with it if it was a business or
a car or a relationship or a
transformation in your body if there’s
something you want sin vision and now
it’s real it’s because you didn’t just
envision it you brought so much emotion
to it but now it’s in your life it was
once a dream it was once a goal and now
it’s in your life how many have
something like that in your life now say
I you may take it for granted now
hopefully not but it was once just a
vision may have seen impossible at one
time so how did you do it you started
with a concrete vision of what you
wanted and you focused on it
continuously didn’t you wherever focus
goes energy flows you envision something
you got clear about it and then you
started thinking about all the reasons
why you wanted it you got excited about
it so this is what’s next for me now I
want this you may have dreamed about a
thought about and talked about it but
when you focus on something continuously
something magical happens you get
insights don’t you you overhear a
conversation hear something you wouldn’t
have heard if you didn’t have that
outcome or goal that you wanted so badly
who’s ever come up with something
obsessed about it didn’t even know how
to do it and it just happened and it
came together who’s that that experience
say I so why don’t we happen to that
power now for your business in life you
only came to America we were poor and
broke the way I look at it because we
would always run out of money before run
out a month we decide you know do we do
without electricity or or gas because
some months we couldn’t afford to pay
both and you know being broke is being
without money being poor as being
kind of scarcity minded poor minded and
we just realized that monies for the
rich monies for the Americans it’s for
the people who were born here who went
to college and that’s how I grew up and
later Jim Franco taught me that hey you
know what you can’t be scarcity minded
you can’t you have to live in abundance
you have to understand that people just
want a solution to a problem and they
don’t care about the color of your skin
about the level of your education they
want a solution to prompt so he taught
me he had to break all these old
patterns that I had right what were some
of the patterns some of the patterns
were that money’s for the white folk and
not for the foreigners you actually
thought yeah I really cuz that’s that’s
how it was because every time we went
and got got more food stamps it was all
foreigners there’s no white people in
line at least not not in the parts of
Santa Ana that I was raised and so I
felt that money was for the people who
were telling us to leave this country go
back to your own country and that also
puts a chip on your shoulder right
against them and so I guess I had some
reverse racism towards towards white
America now I realize for no apparent
reason there was a couple of idiots in
every culture I imagine right but so
that was one pattern that I had another
pattern that I had was that being proud
to be blue-collar like my dad was like
and he still says this work is holy and
I believe that work is holy but the fact
that he had so many jobs a paper route
pumping gas worked at a pizzeria and so
because of that mindset blue collar blue
collar always a blue collar mentality
and I took pride in being blue collar
another pattern Jim Franco had to have
the break was like dude be white collar
don’t use the shovel sell the shovel I’d
never heard that phrase before I’m the
guy that took pride in I could dig a
deeper hole a deeper trench I could I
could outwork you but that’s still
trading time for dollars and so to be
able to break those who limiting belief
systems that I had but to me was huge
and all of a sudden I realized I’m no
longer poor minded I may end up broke
again I do really well now but I may
make one or two bad decisions with my
money or my investment to end up being
broke again but I’ll never
be poor and I know how to get back from
broke because I know how to add value to
society solve problems and it’s changed
for money but I’ll never be poor again
and poor is a state of mind of feeling
out of control
scarcity minded taking pride in being
blue-collar no one should ever take
pride of being blue clock period period
you’ve got a brain you’ve got a solution
to a problem that people want to pay for
put it out there
so when you say scarcity minded abundant
minded what do you mean
well the scarcity minded person says Oh
someone else opened up a gym you know
across the street from me they’re gonna
put me out of business I better charge
less right the abundant minded person
says someone else opened up the gym
across the street from me I better out
service them out work them out social
media them right so the scarcity minded
person is always the sky is falling the
Chicken Little mentality the oh my gosh
if Trump goes into office then we’re all
screwed oh my gosh if Hillary goes into
office then we’re all screwed I don’t
care who’s in office anymore I control
my own economy the economy can crash and
go back up and back down again I will
find a way as Tony Robbins says I’m
built for winter I just didn’t know it
and so more people need to be abundant
minded in that with the economy crashes
I just have to deliver more value and
create this category of one about myself
if competition shows up I have to out
service them out work them out social
media them versus shrivel up and die I
came home one night from work spraying
for cockroaches and long story short I
turned on the Discovery Channel I saw
some guys going through Navy SEAL
training and they’re going through hell
week and they’re getting their ass just
beat you know in all the water
guys ringing the bell there was
suffering and I was waiting like 297
pounds and I had to make a change in my
life you know I was at all-time low and
I wasn’t going anywhere and I was
exactly what everybody said I was going
to be which was nothing so I had to make
a change what was it about seeing
suffering that’s that’s really
interesting and I actually get it but I
want to hear you explain it why
suffering was the thing that triggered
that thought well for me growing up
I came from a horrible background I got
called nigger every day of my life
growing up lived in a small town the
Klan headquarters at that time was about
20 minutes from where I lived the one of
the high ups in the KKK son sat behind
me in two classes so you called me nigga
a long time I got my first car they
spray-painted nigga we’re going to kill
you on it so I was just an insecure
scared kid and the only way I could find
myself was to put myself through the
worst thing possible I’m gonna say the
exact opposite of what the world today’s
world is saying so we read a bunch of
books nowadays as humans we we want to
find out how to be someone else what we
don’t do is we don’t go inside so
literally turn yourself inside out read
the book that says like we’re writing a
book every day of our lives every day
we’re seeing who we are as people when I
was growing up I I lied for people to
accept me because I did accept myself so
I would make up stories so then you
would accept me into your world I would
uh everything I did was for someone else
to like me it was until I started
reading my own book about how pathetic I
was as human being I could blame my dad
I can blame kids at school I could blame
having health issues ATD my mom not
being around great mom but she was doing
her thing I could blame a lot of people
and that’s the book I was reading and I
put it off on everybody else they
wouldn’t so I say you know what for me
to fix this I get a read what the hell
what the is wrong with David Goggin
not blame anybody read my books okay I’m
afraid of my shadow how can I overcome
that go in and military get your ass
kicked
do things you hate to do be
uncomfortable every day of your life
Roger that I’m not the smartest kid in
the world okay it says somebody saying
oh no you’re smart no no don’t say that
to yourself
I said to myself no I’m a dumb okay
Roger that how you get smarter educate
yourself so the things that we run from
we run from the truth
we’re running from the truth man so the
only way I became successful was going
towards the truth as painful and as
brutal as it is it changed me it allowed
me to become in my own right who aim
today everyone has a problem with time
but the day is 24 hours and we sleep six
now I know there’s some out there that
say I need eight but I say to sleep a
little faster because the bottom line is
we have six hours of sleep 24 hours are
available so if 18 hours now available
to your work your family your hobbies
and also to learn something new or to do
something new which could easily be that
you want to learn a new language or that
you want to read and as a New Year’s
resolution I have to read a book every
week or where you say I’m gonna go and
reshape my body so you’re gonna go and
take this hour out of your schedule and
say I’m gonna train an hour every day so
this is for most people a huge challenge
but it is totally doable I can tell them
because the kind of things that I did
when I came to this country I mean I
went to school I was working in
construction I was working out my five
hours a day I was taking acting classes
from 8 o’clock at night to 12 midnight
I was doing all of those things I wanted
to make sure that out of the 24 hours of
the day that I don’t waste one single
hour those hours were too precious and
so they’re just want to tell people
don’t give me this thing I have a
difficult time at the time and I don’t
have time for this none of that you have
time you make the time hard work and
discipline and rehearsal and that’s
always the most thrilling way to earn
applause and everything that you’ve seen
me do I’ve always rehearsed a lot for it
so there’s um there’s a lot of passion
that goes behind it I mean doing the
same thing I mean just being known for
like one thing your whole life it’s a
sad you know I there’s we all have so
many interests I’m sure and so you know
to get to make jobs of them all or
jobs if you could call it that but to
make businesses out of them all and see
them on a daily basis in your light and
how you visualize them is really cool
and fun and we can all do it we all can
do it so many people are so afraid to
try something because they’re like oh
like I can’t leave my job because I’m
you know I have to pay bills or you know
it’s like we’ll start small then but
don’t say you can’t because as many
times you say you can’t you’re not going
to if you don’t think you can you won’t
thoughts become things I’m in meetings a
lot my calendar gets very full with
those and then at night after the kids
have gone to bed I’m on email a great
deal I get messages during the day
that’s my chance to give long responses
and then over the weekend I send a lot
of mail as well as well I take two weeks
a year to just go off and read and think
where I’m not interrupted by work or
anything else I’m just solidly trying to
think about the future and people get to
send me things to read as part of that
so-called think week so it’s nice mix of
things about 25% of the time that I’m
out traveling around meeting with
customers Europe Asia and that sort of
helps me think okay do we have the right
priorities what what are people
responding well to and what would they
they like to see us do better many
people spend their lives in a state of
almost permanent dissatisfaction right
unfortunately so they may be looking for
some purpose or they may have given up
hope that there is some purpose for them
and they’re just surviving or making a
living or caught up in the doing lot up
in the doing in the stress of it right
and so usually when we talk about
purpose when people talk about purpose
they think of purpose in terms of future
where am I going what am I supposed to
do what’s the direction I’m going what
is my goal the goal that I want to
achieve and that of course is that it
has its place but I call that the outer
purpose more fundamental than the outer
purpose is what most people usually
look and that is the realization that
what matters most is finding your inner
purpose so inner purpose is aligning
your life fully with the present moment
so that you are no longer out of
alignment with the present moment which
leads to the state of dissatisfaction
that we talked about that is the reality
for many people so you have to go first
of all beyond the state of
dissatisfaction that is so many people’s
reality right but you cannot go beyond
the state of dissatisfaction through
some future goal that says one day I
would like to be in a state of
fulfillment or satisfaction no you have
to enter the state of fulfillment and
satisfaction by becoming one internally
with the present moment in the your
purpose and your inner purpose is that
alignment with where you are right now
to be totally where you are and whatever
you are doing even if it doesn’t look
like your life purpose for the earth you
buy for the next 30 years right whatever
you are doing now to be total enjoying
it and what no matter what it is to be
true to life
by being true to this moment I was gonna
constantly evolve you know I always want
to constantly grow and everyone that get
to a point where I feel like I got to
figure it out you know I always want to
like kind of like push myself to be
better you know and do and do greater
things no matter what it is I mean I
want to be the best I’m a competitor you
know I like to compete you know like
growing up with you know the name
Michael Jordan you know I’ve always had
a certain pressure pressure on on myself
and and always having to kind of like
you know put people wrong and
then I just kind of kind of kind of put
an instant chip on my shoulder I want it
just to be great you know and do great
things and I’m and then and it also
helped people man I’m really big in the
next generation I feel like that’s all I
saw that’s the only way it’s gonna get
better moving forward as if you know you
got to lead this world in a better place
than it was when you came in you know
I’m born in 87 – question mark I don’t
know when I’m gone and I’m saying but I
want to work on my – and I’m saying I
want we’re going at that time that I’m
here and it’s um and I I could make
it easier for the next round of
filmmakers and the next round of actors
coming up you know that’s it and I mean
I didn’t you know I’ll be I’m
continually going out on that take it as
a corpse a lot again like I said you
were asking ask me about the future I’ll
let you I’ll let you know a little bit
closer yeah I mean as far all I can see
right now is the cold that’s all I can
see you need to bet on your strengths
and don’t give a about where you
suck at you’re gonna way too many people
in this room are gonna spend the next 30
40 years of their lives trying to check
the boxes other things that they’re not
as good at and that you’re gonna waste a
load of time and lose I highly recommend
auditing yourself or if you have no
empathy or EQ or self-awareness then
find somebody in your family or
friendship that does and let them tell
you who you are and once you believe
that either for yourself or someone else
told you go directly all chips all into
that because that is the only possible
way in my opinion watching from the
outside that is limited phrase that is a
very highly likely way of over-indexing
because the truth is if you want to be
an anomaly you’ve got to act like one
you know like and so that’s it that’s
what I got so thanks for having me as I
started studying people that did more
not people that didn’t do more not
people that said do less not people that
said hey don’t be satisfied or be
satisfied not people that said they’d be
grateful for what you have I started
studying people that said and
done more that you can do more that’s
who I listen to today I listened to the
people my friends in my life the people
I listen to the people I talk to the
people that I follow on Facebook or
YouTube or Instagram
I don’t follow everybody I follow the
people that say you can do more dude I
follow the people that say I am doing
more I follow the people that are
actually doing something on this planet
to make a difference for the better you
have to be selective you have to give
something up okay you cannot listen to
everybody – every voice – every person
is quit or given up you got to make a
decision if you have that little voice
inside of you that says you can do more
you have to give attention to that voice
and you got to feed it with those that
support that idea that you can do more
focus on things that are AI driven
artificial intelligence driven whether
it’s machine learning deep learning
learning neural networks medical
applications but within ai ai is a
buzzword that everybody is using right
now you know every in and to that point
you know we as all guys we go back and
it’s like 1995 we talked about the
internet and I would say to people back
in 1995 look if you don’t understand the
internet you’re not gonna be able to do
business and now that’s just blocking
attack Lane it seems obvious back then
it wasn’t right I could even take you
further back to my first company you
know what we did was a company called
micro solutions and we did local area
networks on wide area networks and I
used to walk into companies and say
you’re gonna have to hook these pcs
together at some point that’ll make you
more productive more effective you know
give you a competitive advantage and
people are like now I just carry this
floppy from this PC to that PC yeah okay
but today we’re at the same type of
inflection point with artificial
intelligence you don’t have to be an
expert and be able to put together your
own neural network you know you don’t
have to know what weights and biases are
but but you have to have more than just
a cursory understanding
just like you have to know the
difference between you know different
types of websites and you have to
understand ecommerce if you’re in the
e-commerce you have to have a cursory
understanding of how apps work you’re
gonna have to have at least if not more
cursory understanding of artificial
intelligence because it will change
everything we do and if the internet was
10x in terms of change to business
artificial intelligence will be 100x or
more if you go to my house
right next to my bed there’s a book
machine learning for dummies you go into
my bathroom there’s deep neural networks
for dummies right if you go there’s a
something for dummies in every room of
my house you know I could go two ways I
know but I’m just telling you put the
time I mean I’ve taken you know I can’t
even tell you how many hours now I spend
every week if not daily working like
I’ll go into Amazon AWS and go through
their machine learning tutorials don’t
think to yourself I’m not technical
enough or I’m not gonna get this or I
don’t get into this or it’s too much try
it get as far as you can because it’s
like doing a basic website and a little
bit of HTML just having done that you
feel smarter and you feel a little bit
more confident about this you know I
don’t want to be an alarmist but I’m
trying to scare the hell out of you
because it’s important it’s a very
natural process to begin something to be
very excited and then as you go down
that process to realize yeah I actually
don’t like this it’s not giving me as
much energy as I thought of what is
taking energy away and therefore I want
to give up and quit that thing and she
said if you do that once or twice like
hey so be it but if you’re doing it
every time if you just love that initial
rush that excitement of something new
but the actual nitty-gritty reality of
getting good at it of doing what Mitch
you Kaku calls having but power meaning
you’ve set your butt in the seat and you
do the work if that’s really your
problem and nothing is interesting
enough for you to sit there and do the
work you haven’t developed Britt yet and
so grit is the ability to persevere to
see things through to go past the point
at which it is stopped being fun and it
becomes boring because you believe in
your end goal enough you’re excited by
what you’re trying to accomplish so much
that you
willing to fight through all of that
difficulty you’re willing to fight
through the boredom you’re willing to
fight through the unease that arises
when you step outside your comfort zone
you’re doing things you’re not good at
and things that are boring those are the
two things that I find kill most people
they just cannot handle the things that
make them go oh god like I’m not very
good at this and I’m feeling really
badly about myself and they forget that
they can get good on a long enough
timeline and then to inevitably in any
pursuit of greatness in any endeavor
where you’re trying to gain mastery
you’re gonna get bored because practice
is repetition it’s doing something over
and over and over and over to really
train yourself to get to the point where
you’re truly exceptional and there’s
just so much bored of inherent in that
process so building in the resilience to
see all that stuff through is the key
part of grit and when I say life doesn’t
happen to you it happens for you I
really don’t know if that’s true I’m
just making a conscious choice to
perceive challenges as something
beneficial so that I can deal with them
in the most productive way you’ll come
up with your own style that’s part of
the fun there’s a very thin dividing
line between success and failure when
you start a business from scratch and
you know if you don’t have enough money
to pay the bills you go the wrong side
of that dividing line and if you can
somehow get enough money to pay the
bills
you stay the right side of that dividing
line you know I’ve always been running
running running faster than perhaps I
should me and I have great difficulty
saying no to things so keep on taking on
new things and we’ve just managed to
stay the right side of the dividing line
over the last 50 years in business but
but equally in those early days when you
when you’re starting a business without
any financial backing it’s it’s it’s
easy to slip the wrong side and in fact
you know most entrepreneurs do do slip
the wrong side and the important the
important thing is then just pick
yourself up
and you know start again and if it
doesn’t work at that time keep keep
going until you do succeed and not to
give up how did you stay motivated all
the time people ask me that all the time
and the answer is I didn’t and neither
did you to become successful the
separator in life is really important
you’ll think the most inspired motivated
person wins nah not really it’s the
person who can work on the day’s they’re
not inspired and motivated it’s what do
you do when you’re not feeling great
what do you do when it’s not your best
day how do you do that carries you
through as rituals and habits so when
you’re fatigued when you’re tired when
you’re under pressure you react
reflexively and so successful people
rely on habits and rituals not just
their inspiration and motivation level
of course we’re both professionals and
being motivated and inspired but that’s
not every day every minute and so what
do I do I work on the days because my
habits and rituals carry me through and
so for me here’s how I look at my life
in my day if I can control the first 30
minutes of my day and the last 30
minutes of my day I have a whole lot
better chance of the middle of my day
being controlled and so I’m a freak
about the first 30 minutes of every day
it’s really about the first 45 minutes
and I’m obsessive about the last 45
minutes of every single day that gives
me some illusion in my mind and measure
of control the other thing it does it
delivers to me habits and rituals that
serve me that I do every day that are
consistent it gives me comfort in stormy
times that ocean out there is raging at
the top right now right the waves are
crashing at the bottom of that ocean
it’s completely calm at the bottom of
that ocean is the habitual part of the
water right it’s the list if the part of
the bar that stays the most consistent
that’s why it’s so calm okay so when you
see someone out of control their
emotions are up and down all the time
this is someone who is without rituals
and habits successful people have those
and so they do and so it keeps me calm
it keeps me comfortable what I decided
to do this I I first talked to my my
wife who is sitting here in the audience
and she had married a
you know relatively stable goofy but
still relatively stable a person working
at a Wall Street firm I worked at a
quantitative hedge fund and this was a
hard decision and I was looking for the
right framework in which to make that
kind of important decision and and and
and the right framework I found is a
regret minimization framework and that’s
just a nerdy way of saying that you want
to project yourself to age 80 and then
think back over your life and and if
you’re if you’re if you’re 81 or the
thew want to minimize the number of
regrets you have throughout that period
of time I think this is something a lot
of people do maybe subconsciously they
probably very few people probably name
it regret minimization framework because
most people are healthier than that but
but it was a very clear way for me to
think about making that kind of life
decision and the and and the way it
helped was I thought okay if I go do
this thing and participate in this thing
called the Internet that I genuinely
believe is gonna be a big deal and if I
fail am I going to regret having tried
and fail and I knew the answer that was
no but I also knew that if I didn’t try
that I would always regret that I would
always wonder and it would haunt me
until that you know mythical day which I
actually hope will come when the things
most matter you so desperately don’t
want to destroy it for being scared that
you can really destroy it sure when I
hosted the Oscars I was I was like wow
man this is a billion people and I just
thought okay whatever you do just
remember you’re a kid from moronga in
Sydney you’re hosting the Oscars have
some fun you know and luckily for me
those turning points I’ve somehow always
stuck to that idea of just having fun
being an actor or even being an artist
and I had studied in school behind the
camera was not even in the vernacular of
my dreams
I was raised 9 to 5 you go to work your
work you work your way up a scale that’s
from your old man right yeah and that
was all I was able to even like I said
dream about so the idea of living life
and having a career
in the arts that was in the storytelling
business it was something that’s really
fun it was not something that like I
said I even dreamed up I was in the
right place right time right bar guy
found me and said you want to come in
and read for a part in a movie I’m here
producing called Dazed and Confused I
said sure I got to read for the part
it’s got three lines three lines turns
in three weeks work they’re paying me
325 bucks a day people were telling me
I’m pretty good at it and I think I’m
getting away with something and I still
do feel like I’m getting away with
didn’t you have people just afraid man
so many people are afraid of rejection
and failure but without failure you have
no success we’re stuck the most biggest
failure I had a TV show called the big
house got picked up by ABC they told me
that we were gonna do 12 episodes flew
me down to New York this is the biggest
news ever I’m about to be rich holy Sh
I’m 22 I got a TV show I’m writing
executive producing starring in the show
you know what no I’m not just gonna go
down there by myself we got to bring the
cash they said no Kevin we only flying
you I said well I’m a pay for the cast
to come I took my own money through them
all down in New York get to New York put
on my suit people taking pictures of me
walking out this is the best thing ever
holy SH I’m famous this is what it is I
get to the up front up front to where
they announce your TV show the slew of
shows they’re announcing their time
slots I’m next they’re about to announce
the big house somebody puts their hand
on my chest and says Kevin wait they
talking an earpiece they said no I’m
standing with him right now I’m like
what’s going on what they want me to do
you know they want me to go on the other
side or something he goes okay I’ll tell
him they cancel they’re not gonna pick
you up you got to step back and I was
like that don’t sound right literally
that fast they sent me home they’re like
you got to just go home TV show got
picked up six months later for six
episodes the third episodes aired they
canceled show again I got the show can’t
do twice in a six-month period which has
never been done before I’ve booked about
three more pilots got canceled
there was a show called John Stamos his
show he was a publicist and they wanted
me as a series regular show was going
great ratings were good put me on the
show show got canceled it was everything
I’d touched on
TV tarnish I’m now just sitting out here
doing nothing
I handle money borrow money left and
right
I decided safe I said I’m just gonna do
stand-up comedy and focus on my craft
and I slaved the role about five years
doing the same circuit over and over you
really think creativity is important
whether whatever you do I think it’s fun
to be creative with meals that you cook
or meals that you eat or vacations that
you go on or dates that you said you
know I just think it’s fun to be
creative everyone likes that and I think
authenticity is just super important I
might be hyper aware of it because I
grew up in an industry that’s wrought
with inauthenticity that people will
look you right in the face and and
totally tell you what you need to hear
at the moment I don’t think that’s
unique to that industry but it’s filled
with it there so I I think transparency
and authenticity is just super important
I don’t mind having conflict with
someone if we can then be done with it
it’s that years spent where you know
that something’s going on and you’re not
talking about it those awful
Thanksgivings with the family of cousins
you’re like hey Jim hey Neela I hate
that I hate that life’s too short for
that stuff
just saw this Rumi quote that I love set
your life on fire and seek those who fan
your flames the philly translation of
that is don’t be hanging with no jank
ass jokers that don’t help you shine the
prerequisite for spending time with any
person is that they nourish and inspire
you they feed your flame look at your
last five text messages are those people
feeding your flames or dousing your fire
put your phone down for just a second
and look around look to the people
around you are those people throwing
logs on your fire or are they pissin on
it the people that you spend time with
are gonna make or break your dreams
everybody don’t deserve to be around you
you got to defend your light with
life so who are the people in your life
that are fanning your flames shout them
out tag on below do you think there were
no hurdles or obstacles that I had to
overcome but even I got the high school
wasn’t ranked you know I wasn’t ranked I
wasn’t highly touted as a high school
prospect I had nobody really running
knocking on my door saying please please
please come play for our school until
coach McCullough called and you know
everything happens for a reason and
there’s there’s a story into everything
and and if you take time to realize you
know what what your dream is and what
you really want in life no matter what
it is whether it’s sports whether it’s
in other fields you have to realize that
there’s always work to do and you want
to be the hardest working person in
whatever you do and you’ll put yourself
in position to be successful and you
have to have a passion about what you do
and basketball was mine and that’s what
scared me to this point going to your
house no quiet room and you close the
lights draw the shades and sit on a
couch and visualize a big fat check 25
G’s thousand bucks u.s. okay with your
name on it and I want you to imagine
that check and just make that check go
bigger in your mind and make it real
more real and just put it out into the
ether of the universe and the law of
attraction will take whole just think
about it
oh right hello if that’s your strategy
for success the only tip will show up in
your mailbox is not the check it’s a
freaking eviction notice from your
landlord
they’ll be towing away your car your
wife your husband all for the next-door
neighbor and you’ll be so saying where’s
the check okay the secret is a load of
crap okay do I believe in manifestation
yeah damn straight I do but you gotta
take action I’m one of those unfortunate
people I tried it I really got spikes
behind it I read books Alba try no so I
said I’d try to trade for the check
never came gonna win out and start
taking action guess what the check came
with a extra couple of zeros passion is
not an actionable word it’s correct you
know that those who do the things that
they’re passionate about do better but
it’s not helpful advice and so the
question is where does passion come from
passion is a result passion is an energy
passion is the feeling you have when
you’re engaged in something that you
love passion is the feeling you have
that you would probably do this for free
you know and you can’t believe somebody
pays you to do it you know and I think
we mistake that passion is something we
do in our private lives but it shouldn’t
be done you know in our careers for
example and I’m a firm believer that you
are who you are and anybody who says I’m
different at home than I am at work and
one of those two places you’re lying and
the goal is to make everything you do in
home and it works something that you
have excitement to do so how do you find
the things that you’re excited to do
well it’s actually easier than you think
what are the things that you love to do
what are the things that you would do
for free you know how can you recreate
that feeling and and be paid for it so
what are the things that I do on the
weekend right I love I’m very involved
in the art world I love to go to museums
and galleries but I love to go see dance
and performances because I want to see
how others are interpreting the world so
that inspires me new ideas new thoughts
new ways of looking at the world are
things that interest me privately and I
seek it out and pay money for it right
so does that mean I have to have a
career in the arts no it means I have to
have a career where new ideas are
explored where
people are experimenting and trying
things out and I have to explore new
ideas and try things out and I’m just as
excited to go to work everyday as I am
just you know go do something on a
Saturday night and so the idea of
finding your passion is ironically
simple because you should be doing stuff
that you enjoy sometimes what is the
stuff that you enjoy and then what is
the stuff that you love who are the
people you love and what are those where
they all have in common
I find that levels of success in almost
any industry or area correlate to a
person asking great questions in some
cases they seem absurd in fact the
hallmarking way of great questions is
that sound completely ridiculous so
someone might ask like Peter Thiel why
can’t you achieve your ten-year goals in
the next six months it’s a thought
exercise that’s like–that’s that’s a
good question to answer for yourself and
these types of questions come up
surprisingly often with with very very
impressive folks whether it’s a business
military entertainment or otherwise and
the way you can get better at questions
is by studying interviews in part so I
studied Larry King
I studied Charlie Rose I studied Terry
Gross I studied that that go down the
list
I studied twenty Robbins who does in
person one-on-one interventions at his
events in front of ten thousand five
thousand people and he’s just genius
with how he uses questions to like
pattern interrupt and grab someone’s
attention and divert them in a more
productive productive direction now why
is that relevant relevant because
thinking is the process of asking
questions you’re asking yourself
questions then you’re answering them in
your own head so if you get better at
asking other people questions you get
better at asking yourself questions
which means you are a you’re improving
your thought performance and level of
thinking I don’t try to look too far in
advance
because I get overwhelmed really you
know like if someone has a lot of weight
to lose if their goal is like lose a
hundred pounds I can only imagine like
even with me with some of my goals like
this recovery it feels like it’s so far
away and it takes so long for you to
like start seeing a difference that like
you’re naturally are motivated to keep
going right that it’d be super easy to
give up or to want to stop but if you
and I tell people is if you just focus
on all those little moments along the
way and ignore what your big goal is
time goes by so fast
yeah like a year goes by so unbelievably
fast that it will be here before you
know it and I completely agree that
sometimes if you focus on something that
is so far away or does feel so out of
reach you can definitely get too
discouraged like before you actually try
to get there start checking in with your
thoughts and how you’re feeling each day
so outside about gratitude practice
which I’m going to kind of talk about as
well this is probably the number one
fastest way that you can start changing
your life and I’m going to tell you
about the ripple effect that happens so
it’s checking in to see where you’re at
what emotion are you feeling in that
moment so if you wake up in the morning
and you’re anything like me I don’t
necessarily wake up in the best Boone at
all so I really need to start figuring
out how to up level my feelings right
because our feelings are the best
indicators of what we’re attracting what
we’re going to attract that day how
we’re gonna feel maybe what’s going to
come into our life who we’re gonna end
up talking to because truly truly I know
that we are all on a we’re all vibrating
at a different frequency so if you are a
really positive excited happy person who
knows that great things are gonna come
your way or who’s always thinking
positive you’re gonna attract that same
type of person and I can see this
through my life as I’ve really started
to uplevel my life and my thoughts in my
business the people that are being drawn
to me so you really do
it really is like attracts like so what
we want to do is we want to get you into
that mode right those people that you’re
like wow they can just walk into a room
and you just feel their energy they’re
just vibrating so high or maybe they’re
just always so happy or they always you
just want to be around them because you
want a piece of what they have so how do
we get there how do we become one of
those people when you wake up in the
morning maybe if you are at a low point
or you’re thinking about all the things
that you have to do that day what is a
thought or what is something that you
can do to get yourself to the next best
reachable thought so I don’t want you to
think that you have to go from zero to a
hundred in that split-second it’s
basically going from zero to five to ten
to twenty to fifty and working your way
up so it’s one thought at a time so
maybe you wake up and you just say three
things that you’re grateful for every
single morning you let yourself really
experience being grateful for it really
think about why you’re grateful and then
what you’re gonna do is as as you mosey
down the stairs to get your cup of
coffee you say three more things you’re
grateful for or I’m so grateful that I
have a job today because of what it
allows me to do and you really start
letting that sink in and you think of
something that maybe you’re excited
about something that you could create
something that you love about yourself
it’s this constant up leveling of your
thoughts so it’s guiding your thoughts
right so instead of just being mindless
which what happens we’re imperfect human
beings right so when we’re mindless and
when we don’t guide our thoughts they’re
gonna go to chaos they’re gonna go to
craziness they’re gonna go to
overwhelmed because life is crazy and
we’re constantly getting sidetracked
we’re constantly getting distracted it’s
literally people’s full-time job on TV
on Instagram on whatever we’re doing to
distract us right they want us to be
their consumer they want us to be
completely distracted they want us to go
to this fast-food place do this thing do
that thing so we need to bring it back
to a mindful place so really that’s what
we’re doing when we uplevel those
thoughts is how do you bring it back
from crazytown so bring it on back and
and guide it to that next best thought
right because the next best thought is
going to attract another good thought
attract another good thought and it attract another good thought
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