a ton of time and a ton of money at
something it’s really hard to let go of
it and if you haven’t done it in
business we all have a relationship in
our past stayed way too long that was a
trick your brain played on you so by the
time that they closed the second
restaurant it was an $800,000 loss I
don’t know I mean that meant our entire
home equity line gone run it meant kids
come I get just choked up just thinking
about how terrifying it was and so I
found myself at the age of 41 like just
feeling like a complete failure
and so did Chris and to make it worse
not only had we lost all of our savings
but so many friends and family members
had invested and so there was this real
tension between the truth of what was
happening and what you had to do in
public because it was public business
shame failure embarrassment and the lean
start to hit the house the phone started
to ring and it was nothing but
collection calls and I just remember
feeling this tremendous shame and at
some point I think we all hit that
moment in life where things just are not
going how you thought they would go and
and what’s amazing about those moments
is we all respond very differently
[Music]
things don’t go as we assumed or better
how do you explain when others are able
to achieve things that seem to defy all
of the assumptions for example why is
Apple so innovative year after year
after year after year they’re more
innovative than all their competition
and yet they’re just a computer company
they’re just like everyone else they
have the same access to the same talent
the same agencies the same consultants
the same media then why is it that they
seem to have something different why is
it that Martin Luther King led the civil
rights movement he wasn’t the only man
who suffered in a pre-civil Rights
America and he certainly wasn’t the only
great orator of the day why him and why
is it that the Wright brothers were able
to figure out control powered man flight
when there were certainly other teams
who were better qualified but her funded
and they didn’t achieve powered man
flight and the Wright brothers beat them
to it there’s something else at play
here about three and a half years ago I
made a discovery and this discovery
profoundly changed my view on how I
thought the world worked and it even
profoundly changed the way in which I
operate in it as it turns out there’s a
pattern as it turns out hold a great and
inspiring leaders and organizations in
the world whether it’s Apple or Martin
Luther King or the Wright brothers they
all think act and communicate the exact
same way and it’s the complete opposite
to everyone else all I did was codify it
and it’s probably the world’s simplest
idea I call it the Golden Circle
why how what this little idea explains
why some organizations and some leaders
are able to inspire where others aren’t
let me define the terms really quickly
reason why is because when you’re scared
and you’re afraid and you’re jealous and
you’re overwhelmed with emotion it is so
much easier to point the finger at other
people that’s a decision by the way sir
one you may not be aware that you’re
making but you’re still making it so
what would happen to me
is the exact opposite is is Chris would
be gone the alarm would go off at six
o’clock in the morning and I would lie
there and I would think about the lien
on the house and I would think about the
bankruptcy that we were facing and I
would think about how much we had fought
the night before and I would think about
the fact that I was unemployed and I
would hit the snooze button and why
would you get up when your life is like
that why would you I mean I needed
confidence I needed courage I was so
tapped out every single person every
single organization on the planet knows
what they do 100 percent some know how
they do it when you call it you’re
differentiating value proposition or
your proprietary process or your USP but
very very few people or organizations
know why they do what they do and by why
I don’t mean to make a profit that’s a
result it’s always a result by why I
mean what’s your purpose what’s your
cause what’s your belief why does your
organization exist why do you get out of
bed in the morning and why should anyone
care well as a result the way we think
the way we act the way we communicate is
from the outside in it’s obvious we go
from the clearest thing to the fuzziest
thing but the inspired leaders in the
inspire or inspired organizations
regardless of their size regardless of
their industry all think act and
communicate from the inside out let me
give you an example I use Apple because
they’re easy to understand and everybody
gets it if Apple were like
everyone else a marketing message from
them might sound like this we make great
computers they’re beautifully designed
simple to use and user friendly wanna
buy one and that’s how most of us
communicate that’s how most marketing is
done that’s how most sales done and
that’s how most of us communicate
interpersonally we say what we do we say
how we’re different or how we better and
we expect some sort of behavior or
purchase or vote something like that
people all the time and I really believe
this that as the I exist to show people
what’s possible I really do that’s how I
it’s like go for it
try it because another thing I am no
different than anyone else out there I
am NOT here to say I have a superpower
and it was all this
it was just try it go let’s see what
happens yeah and all of a sudden when
you get rid of judgement now you can be
creative but any bit of judgment kills
creativity any time you start to go well
maybe I shouldn’t it’s funny because you
look at a lip-sync or you look at any
kind of dancing or anything like that as
soon as people see being inhibited
you’re done you know I don’t know this
guy what is this but all they want is
you to give all you got just put it out
there and that and then everybody’s with
you and let me tell you Terry Crews is
gonna give you a hundred and fifty
percent no matter what and that’s I
learned that’s my whole career here’s
how Apple actually communicates
everything we do we believe in
challenging the status quo we believe in
thinking differently the way we
challenge the status quo is by making
our products beautifully designed simple
to use and user friendly we just happen
to make great computers wanna buy one
totally different right you ready to buy
a computer from me all I did was reverse
the order of the information what it
proves to us is that people don’t buy
what you do people buy why you do it
people don’t buy what you do they buy
why you do it
this explains why every single person in
this room is perfectly comfortable
buying a computer from Apple but we’re
also perfectly comfortable buying an mp3
player from Apple or a phone from Apple
or a DVR from Apple but as I said before
Apple is just a computer company there’s
nothing that distinguishes them
structurally very many of their
competitors their competitors are all
equally qualified to make all of these
products in fact they tried a few years
ago gateway came out with flat-screen
TVs they’re eminently qualified to make
flat-screen tvs they’ve been making
flat-screen monitors for years nobody
bought one Dell came out with mp3
players and PDAs and they make great
quality products and they can make
perfectly well design products and
nobody bought one in fact talking about
it now we can’t even imagine buying an
mp3 player from Dell why would you buy
an mp3 player from a computer company
but we do it every day people don’t buy
what you do they buy why you do it the
goal is not to do business with anybody
with everybody who needs what you have
the goal is to do business with people
who believe what you believe
here’s the best part none of what I’m
telling you is my opinion it’s all
grounded in the tenets of biology not
psychology biology if you there it’s
Jaco will Inc you mentioned retired Navy
SEAL commander used to be in charge of
all West Coast training for the SEAL
Teams which is intense
highly highly decorated whether Jaco
saying discipline equals freedom or you
look at say some of the writers or
musicians
directors or others in the book across
pretty much all of them you find that
they find freedom in constraints so what
does that mean it sounds kind of weird
also sounds very sounds like an oxymoron
lit and what I mean by that is all of
these people have routines they have set
recipes that they repeat on a daily and
weekly basis so that they are not making
a lot of extraneous decisions about
mundane things and I also recognize that
we all have our less ourselves our
impulses I love chocolate croissants if
it were if I left my entire schedule to
whim I would just eat chocolate
croissants all day long I love them
they’re incredible and I still do have
them once a week I have my cheat day and
I’m allowed to do what I want so I let
my monkey mind and my lesser self just
go nuts
but these people all have typically
these and these are folks we might be
inclined to think of as superheroes and
maybe Jacko’s the supreme girl but the
vast majority have one or two strengths
and they may not even be the best of the
world but one or two strengths they
combine in a really unique way and they
build habits around those strengths and
then they have a thousand other
weaknesses but the habits and routines
are what helped them from going off the
rails and this is really encouraging
this should be really encouraging
because the people we see on magazine
covers that we might idolize and feel we
could never possibly emulate because
they have it all figured out
they have no insecurities they wake up
every morning and with a mental karate
chops they just master the day that’s
not how it works I know these people
almost everyone in this book certainly
on the podcast had become friends with
hundreds of these people not true they
have tons of not everyone I don’t speak
for everyone but tons of neuroses tons
of terrible self-defeating habits and
the safety that they create is habits
and routines that’s why Jocko in part
says discipline equals freedom okay so
you have trouble waking up in the
morning no problem you want to stage
this is something choco does takes his
clothing
prepares gets this sort of coffee ready
to brew clothing on the floor for the
workout right next to his bed prepared
the night before so there are no
decisions there are no opportunities to
make mistakes
between him opening his eyes and Jocko
working out and you find this across
everybody if you look at a cross-section
of the human brain looking from the top
down what you see is the human brain is
actually broken into three major
components that correlate perfectly with
the Golden Circle our newest brain our
Homo Sapien brain our neocortex
corresponds with the what level the
neocortex is responsible for all of our
rational and analytical thought and
language the middle two sections make up
our limbic brains and our limbic brains
are responsible for all of our feelings
like trust and loyalty it’s also
responsible for all human behavior all
decision-making and it has no capacity
for language in other words when we
communicate from the outside in yes
people can understand vast amounts of
complicated information like features
and benefits and facts and figures just
doesn’t drive behavior when we
communicate from the inside out we’re
talking directly to the part of the
brain that controls behavior and then we
allow people to rationalize it with the
tangible things we say and do this is
where gut decisions come from you know
sometimes you can give somebody all the
facts and your figures in this I know
what all the facts and details say but
it just doesn’t feel right why would we
use that verb it doesn’t feel right
because the part of the brain that
controls decision-making doesn’t control
language and the best we can muster up
is I don’t know it just doesn’t feel
right or sometimes you say you’re
leading with your heart or you’re
leading with your soul well I hate to
break it to you there’s onde other body
parts controlling your behavior it’s all
happening here in your limbic brain the
part of the brain that controls
decision-making and not language but if
you don’t know why you do what you do
and people respond to why you do what
you do then how will anybody how will
you ever get people to vote for you or
buy something from you or more
importantly be loyal and want to be a
part of what it is what you bet you do
again the goal is not just as to sell
people who need what you have the goal
is to sell to people who believe what
you believe the goal is not just to hire
people who need a job it’s to hire
people who believe what you believe I
always say that you know this if you if
you if you hire people just because they
can do a job they’ll work for your money
but if you hire people who believe what
you believe they work for you with blood
and sweat and tears and you know what’s
in the scheme of life hitting the snooze
button is not that big of a deal but
here’s the thing about life
none of us wake up and say today is the
day I destroy my life what we do is we
kind of check out because it feels
overwhelming or we check out because
we’re afraid or we check out because we
start listening to self-doubt and then
we make these teeny tiny decisions all
day long we don’t even realize it
decision to not get up on time a
decision to not eat the right thing a
decision to snap at your kids a decision
to not speak in a meeting a decision to
not look for a job a decision to not
deal with your finances a decision to
not call your parrot is all day long
these tiny decisions that take you so
far off track and then you wake up like
I didn’t and you you look at your life
and you think how the hell did I get
here
and more importantly how do I get back
over there and you have no idea and so I
was so trapped and I know from your
story you felt the same way like you
knew that there was more in store for
you but you couldn’t figure out how you
closed that gap
how do you find the power that’s in you
how do you discover your greatness how
do you solve these problems
it feels so overwhelming when you can’t
I mean I would go to the grocery store
and and the items would scan and I would
be sitting there readying my excuse
because there was no way that my check
curve is going to clear
you talk to me and I was going I was in
the football and I was a football player
and then you would have told me I would
be doing what I’m doing I would have
said no you’re crazy
leave me alone get out of here this is
why life is you can’t predict what
you’re supposed to do and I tell people
never kill yourself never because you
don’t know what your future is
you just don’t and that’s the thing it’s
like for me I never would have thought I
would be doing this but I decided to try
things I just decided that I didn’t have
to do what everyone else said I needed
to do it’s like you know when you’re a
football player everyone tells you this
would be the best route to do after
you’re done well I decided to go another
way you know and people thought I would
fail I remember when I moved to LA and
everybody said what are you doing you
know your old football player that’s not
no but they don’t care and I was hard I
was actually doing security for a little
while and you know I we went broke for a
while and but it was amazing thing
though is that as I kept trying new
things new doors kept opening and I
never thought I would be an actor but
here I am I think I’ve been acting for
15 years you never know what’s gonna
happen you never know what what the
future holds for you and it may be I
think it may be business it may be
performing it may be be home making well
whatever it is you have to explore it
you have to go for it what’s your
approach on finding and building upon
passions 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 as 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
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 every day 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 that you love and what are those
ttyn Mandela is a particularly special
case study in the leadership world
because he is universally regarded as a
great leader you can take other
personalities and depending on the
nation you go to we have different
opinions about other personalities but
Nelson Mandela across the world is
universally regarded as a great leader
he was actually the son of a tribal
chief and he was asked one day how did
you learn to be a great leader and he
responded that he would go with his
father to tribal meetings and he
remembers two things when his father
would meet with other elders one they
would always sit in a circle and to his
father was always the last to speak
you’ll be told your whole life that you
need to learn to listen I would say that
you need to learn to be the last to
speak I see it in boardrooms every day
of the week even people who consider
themselves good leaders who may actually
be decent leaders will walk into a room
and say here’s the problem here’s what I
think but I’m interested in your opinion
let’s go around the room it’s too late
the skill to hold your opinions to
yourself until everyone has spoken does
two things one it gives everybody else
the feeling that they have been heard it
give me gives everyone else the ability
to feel that they have contributed and
two you get the benefit of hearing what
everybody else has to think before you
render your opinion the skill is really
to keep your opinions to yourself if you
agree with somebody don’t nod yes if you
disagree with somebody don’t nod no
simply sit there take it all in and the
only thing you’re allowed to do is ask
questions so that you can understand
what they mean and why they have the
opinion that they have you must
understand from where they are speaking
why they have the opinion they have not
just what they are saying and at the end
you will get your turn
it sounds easy it’s not practice being
the last to speak
they care about everything and it starts
with yourself look yourself in the
mirror and ask yourself what do I want
to do every day for the rest of my life
do that I promise you can monetize that
if you love Alf do an Alf blog you
collect Smurfs Smurfs it up whatever you
need to do do it so many people are
talking about I can’t monetize I can’t
monetize there’s a billion
seven-year-old douche bags that are in
control right now but the number two
percent at 34 year old lady she’s gonna
buy your she’s gonna put the advertising
on your stuff it’s coming stop crying
and just keep hustling gratitude is one
of the most strongest forms of power and
attracting good things you know if you
truly feel grateful for the things in
your life I always felt grateful for
even the small things I always used to
celebrate the small things now I might
be celebrating the bigger things but I
always celebrate every little good thing
that would happen to me in my life even
before I had any kind of money or ever I
would celebrate and I would feel
grateful for it and it just gave me more
and this is exactly the same thing
that’s happening right now I still
remain grateful and more calm I was
presentable but I wore the same two
suits I had two suits man that I had to
wear every day for a year one blue one
great the joke around the office started
oh that’s Chris garden that he’s reenact
in the silver war some days what the
nothing more pitiful to my mind that the
person who wastes his life running from
one thing to another forever looking for
the pot of gold at the end of the
rainbow and they were staying with one
thing long enough to find it
no matter what your goal may be perhaps
the road to it can be found in the very
thing in which you’re now engaged you
see the average man believes some
businesses are better than others
instead of realizing the truth that
there are no bad businesses there are
just those people who don’t know enough
to see the opportunities and the work
they’re in no matter what our work
happens to be it’s our business we’re
the manager if there seems to be no
future our opportunity and it isn’t
always because it’s not there but
perhaps only because we can’t see it at
some point we all bought into this lie
that you’ve got a feel ready in order to
change we bought into this this complete
falsehood that at some point you’re
gonna have the courage at some point
you’re gonna have the confidence and
it’s total frankly I don’t
really like to swear an absolute okay
it’s it’s complete garbage and so there
are so many people in the world and and
and you know you may be watching this
right now and you have these incredible
ideas and what you think is missing is
motivation and that’s not true because
the way that our minds are wired and the
fact about human beings is that we are
not designed to do things that are
uncomfortable or scary or difficult our
brains are designed to protect us from
those things because our brains are
trying to keep us alive and in order to
change in order to build a business in
order to be the best parent of a spouse
to do all those things that you know you
want to do with your life with your work
with your dreams you’re gonna have to do
things that are difficult uncertain or
scary which sets up this problem for all
of us you’re never gonna feel like it
motivations garbage you you only feel
motivated to do the things that are easy
right
you think that is oh I know exactly why
that is because I I’ve studied this so
much because for me one of the hardest
things to figure out was why is it so
hard to do the little things that would
improve my life and what I’ve come to
realize and what we’ll talk a lot about
today is that the way that our minds are
designed is our minds are designed to
stop you at all costs from doing
anything that might hurt you and the way
that that that that this all happens is
it all starts with something super
subtle that none of us ever catch and
that is with this habit that all of us
have that nobody’s talking about we all
have a habit of hesitating we have an
idea you’re sitting in a meeting you
have this incredible idea and instead of
just you know saying it you stop and you
hesitate now what none of us realize is
that when you hesitate just that moment
that micro moment that small hesitation
it sends a stress signal to your brain
it wakes your brain up and your brain
all of a sudden goes oh wait a minute
wait why is he hesitating he didn’t
hesitate when he put on his killer spiky
sneakers he didn’t hesitate with the
really cool track pants he didn’t
hesitate with the NASA tee shirt
now he’s hesitating to talk something
must be up so then your brain goes to
work to protect you it has a million
different ways to protect you
one of them is called the spotlight
effect it’s a known phenomenon where
your brain magnifies risk Y to pull you
away from something that it perceives to
be a problem and so you can truly trace
every single problem or complaint in
your life to silence and hesitation
those are decisions and what I do and
what’s changed my life is waking up and
realizing that motivations garbage I’m
never gonna feel like doing the things
that are tough for difficult or in
certain or scary or new so I need to
stop waiting until I feel like it and
number two I am one decision away from a
totally different marriage a totally
different life a totally different job a
totally different income a totally
different really
ship with my kids not like one decision
I’m divorcing you in in the marriage
example but one decision on you know you
could be having a conversation with your
spouse and you feel your emotions rise
up and within a tiny window those
emotions can take over and can impact
how your marriage goes or you can learn
how to take control of that micro moment
and make a decision to act in a way that
actually shifts your marriage your life
comes down to your decisions and if you
change your decisions you will change
everything you have so many I grew up in
the hood man Flint Michigan where I’m
from and they save you Terra Cruz you
can do anything you want to do you can
do anything you want to do and then as
soon as you go to class you tell them
what you want to do and then I met what
makes you think you’re gonna do
something like that man crazy yeah and I
say okay wait which one is it now can I
do in a kid I do it right so I started
to call people on that I started to call
people and I said you know what I’m
gonna go for it
I’m gonna just try something that I’ve
never done before I want to design
furniture I want to be a part of this
thing and so I’m going and you know what
happened it’s not work people started
doing it started happening
we took the furniture from my line which
we went in front of all the best people
in the whole world and it got accepted
and people were saying how great it was
and how beautiful it was and I said man
don’t never let anybody talk you out of
something like that it never man find a
situation where you can be in the room
with masters of a craft and that could
just be deal making it could be joining
a small company say a fewer than 50
people where you simply get to observe
one of the principles negotiating in an
industry that you don’t even care
anything about right it could be waste
management and you want to go into
high-tech but if you sit in a room with
someone who’s an absolute pro at
crafting deals negotiating getting past
no
those skills and maybe those
relationships start to snowball all
right and this is what Scott Adams the
creator and Dilbert would call systems
thinking’s instead of being wedded to
the outcome of a given job you are
accumulating skills and relationships
that transcend that job okay and if you
choose your environments well because as
I’ve said before and as people like drew
the CEO of Dropbox as a friend have said
you’re the average of the five people
you associate with most all right so if
you take just a few years have the
patience a few years to really develop
core competencies that allow you to
craft your own reality and life
negotiation deal-making getting past No
etc learning how to pitch how to get
someone’s attention in 30 seconds so
that you can then create the desire and
ultimately ask for some type of action
once you develop those then you can
really just create the map for the next
decade in the next several decades so
that would be it it would be learned
before you earn and it’s never too late
to do that so I don’t care if you’re
coming out of college coming out of high
school
30 40 whatever it is Systems thinking
focus on the skills and relationships
first and then you can just create a
blank check for how much money you want
to make if that is your goal want to
talk about risk as a guiding principle
life shrinks and life expands in direct
proportion to your willingness to assume
risk yeah I like I’ve made some really
stupid decisions in my career for my
entire career
on a broad plane they’ve all worked out
every time I’ve quit my jobs which I’ve
done every time I’ve had a job people
that I trust most to treat people that I
love all advise against it my dad told
me not to move to New York City because
it was such a risk and every time I
every time I took these bigger risks the
opportunity for a larger payout was
always there life is like this
super temporary mega fragile thing you
only get like a nugget of time to really
pursue the things you care about
and like I’m thirty thirty and my rule
is that the right time is always right
now to put a little meat on these bones
this new company that I don’t really
talk about this new company is the
biggest risk I’ve ever taken I took five
years of my life to build my advertising
career and I made like a lot of money
I’ve been doing really great look at my
youtube channel go all the way back the
last branded content thing you’ll see
was in February of 2014 I ditched it all
to pursue something I knew nothing about
this huge risk and I did it at a time
when my wife was pregnant and there was
all of this vulnerability and all the
scariness in my life and even now at 33
my dad’s at 34 my dad said Casey that’s
crazy you’ve got a good thing don’t let
it go but I know that like someday I
won’t be able to do this I know that the
time is now the time the right time is
always now so I had to do it that’s how
I feel about risk in general and that’s
what the struggle has always been for me
it’s like identifying risk identifying
fear and then just smashing through it
because a fear is looking back and
wishing that I had done these things the
most dangerous thing you can do in your
career the most dangerous thing you can
do in life is play it safe you get
trapped in what I call the knowledge
action gap you know what to do but you
can’t seem to make yourself do it right
I mean every one of us is one Google
search away from a list of instructions
that if you follow any of that one it
will change your life but how do you get
out of your head
and stop thinking about what you need to
do and actually do it and in my case
this stuff was pretty easy get up on
time make breakfast for the kids get
them on the bus start looking for a job
be nicer to Chris don’t drink so much
instead of isolating yourself pick up
the phone and call a friend
get yourself out into the woods and go
for a walk
start running again like all these
little things that I was capable of but
I couldn’t get out of here could not get
out of here and if you’re stuck that’s
the problem the problem is you’re you’re
in your head you’re thinking that is the
universal problem and it all starts with
this knowledge of what to do and then
you hesitate and you think about whether
or not you feel like doing it so for a
couple months I was I was really stuck I
I would Kris would get up at 6:00 I’d
hit the snooze and then I’d hit the
snooze and then I hit the snooze the
kids would miss the bus
and then every night I’d do the same
thing I’d go in bed have you ever had
one of those nights probably before you
started your company but it where you
going bed you’re like all right um
that’s it tomorrow it’s the new me
tomorrow tomorrow I’m gonna get up on
time I am gonna go to the gym I am gonna
look for a job I’m not gonna drink so
much it’s gonna be amazing
the new me the future may whoa let’s do
this right then you go to bed and you
wake up seven hours later and you’re
like I don’t know me it’s the only who
look it’s a stupid at seat motivations
garbage it’s never there when you need
it filters are you using to make
decisions are you making decisions based
on the financial rewards are you making
decisions based on how easy the work
will be I mean I remember in college you
know they would give you this book where
they all the students would rate the
classes and they would rate things like
how easy the class was and how you know
how much do you they like the professor
and you know the first year I picked all
my classes based on it workload and I
picked everything a low workload you
know and pretty bored didn’t work very
hard which was fine but nothing was
dynamic and nothing really excited me
and I thank goodness learn
that and so the second year I picked all
my classes by professor rating
regardless of the workload so every
class I had I had these dynamic amazing
incredible human beings passing on their
knowledge and you were excited to work
hard for them you know and so again what
the question is what are the filters we
were using and so if you’re only chasing
the mighty dollar then you will have
jobs that’ll pay you a little more than
the last but are you enjoying yourself
and I talked to a guy recently who was
in a he’s in bad shape
like he really hates his life and he’s
really depressed he doesn’t know what to
do
and so we were going through all his old
jobs you know and I said give me a job
that you’ve loved and he hadn’t every
single job he’s chosen out of college he
picked because of the the money and if
something offered him more somewhere
else he took it you know regardless and
and and and the amazing thing is he
plateaued because if you’re only chasing
the result if you’re only chasing the
thing that makes it easy right then
eventually you will get bored or they’ll
get bored of you right and you plateau
in other words chasing the whole mighty
dollar if that’s your only thing it
eventually flattens out whereas if
you’re chasing the thing that excites
you the human beings to be around the
work that excites you the stuff that you
know you know you you can get passionate
about you know the the irony is is
you’ll actually make way way more right
because you’re excited and they
appreciate your excitement and they
reward your excitement and you’re better
at your work because you want to work
harder and all of that stuff you don’t
have to strain to work harder so
decision making is simply a matter of
filters you know and so I’ve made
decisions in my life that I would rather
be happy than right I’d rather do good
then then get rich and and so the
decisions I make put me in positions
where when I leave any engagement when I
leave any meeting I feel that I’ve
contributed right rare are the times
anymore where you walk arguing just
think of the money just think of the
money think of the money you know I I
because that doesn’t feel nice and and
the experience I have
I don’t enjoy traveling to them and I
don’t enjoy traveling home we have an
amazing experience I am looking forward
to getting there and I’m excited when I
leave you know so it’s just decision
made decision-making is just a matter of
what filters you use [Music]
something it’s really hard to let go of
it and if you haven’t done it in
business we all have a relationship in
our past stayed way too long that was a
trick your brain played on you so by the
time that they closed the second
restaurant it was an $800,000 loss I
don’t know I mean that meant our entire
home equity line gone run it meant kids
come I get just choked up just thinking
about how terrifying it was and so I
found myself at the age of 41 like just
feeling like a complete failure
and so did Chris and to make it worse
not only had we lost all of our savings
but so many friends and family members
had invested and so there was this real
tension between the truth of what was
happening and what you had to do in
public because it was public business
shame failure embarrassment and the lean
start to hit the house the phone started
to ring and it was nothing but
collection calls and I just remember
feeling this tremendous shame and at
some point I think we all hit that
moment in life where things just are not
going how you thought they would go and
and what’s amazing about those moments
is we all respond very differently
[Music]
things don’t go as we assumed or better
how do you explain when others are able
to achieve things that seem to defy all
of the assumptions for example why is
Apple so innovative year after year
after year after year they’re more
innovative than all their competition
and yet they’re just a computer company
they’re just like everyone else they
have the same access to the same talent
the same agencies the same consultants
the same media then why is it that they
seem to have something different why is
it that Martin Luther King led the civil
rights movement he wasn’t the only man
who suffered in a pre-civil Rights
America and he certainly wasn’t the only
great orator of the day why him and why
is it that the Wright brothers were able
to figure out control powered man flight
when there were certainly other teams
who were better qualified but her funded
and they didn’t achieve powered man
flight and the Wright brothers beat them
to it there’s something else at play
here about three and a half years ago I
made a discovery and this discovery
profoundly changed my view on how I
thought the world worked and it even
profoundly changed the way in which I
operate in it as it turns out there’s a
pattern as it turns out hold a great and
inspiring leaders and organizations in
the world whether it’s Apple or Martin
Luther King or the Wright brothers they
all think act and communicate the exact
same way and it’s the complete opposite
to everyone else all I did was codify it
and it’s probably the world’s simplest
idea I call it the Golden Circle
why how what this little idea explains
why some organizations and some leaders
are able to inspire where others aren’t
let me define the terms really quickly
reason why is because when you’re scared
and you’re afraid and you’re jealous and
you’re overwhelmed with emotion it is so
much easier to point the finger at other
people that’s a decision by the way sir
one you may not be aware that you’re
making but you’re still making it so
what would happen to me
is the exact opposite is is Chris would
be gone the alarm would go off at six
o’clock in the morning and I would lie
there and I would think about the lien
on the house and I would think about the
bankruptcy that we were facing and I
would think about how much we had fought
the night before and I would think about
the fact that I was unemployed and I
would hit the snooze button and why
would you get up when your life is like
that why would you I mean I needed
confidence I needed courage I was so
tapped out every single person every
single organization on the planet knows
what they do 100 percent some know how
they do it when you call it you’re
differentiating value proposition or
your proprietary process or your USP but
very very few people or organizations
know why they do what they do and by why
I don’t mean to make a profit that’s a
result it’s always a result by why I
mean what’s your purpose what’s your
cause what’s your belief why does your
organization exist why do you get out of
bed in the morning and why should anyone
care well as a result the way we think
the way we act the way we communicate is
from the outside in it’s obvious we go
from the clearest thing to the fuzziest
thing but the inspired leaders in the
inspire or inspired organizations
regardless of their size regardless of
their industry all think act and
communicate from the inside out let me
give you an example I use Apple because
they’re easy to understand and everybody
gets it if Apple were like
everyone else a marketing message from
them might sound like this we make great
computers they’re beautifully designed
simple to use and user friendly wanna
buy one and that’s how most of us
communicate that’s how most marketing is
done that’s how most sales done and
that’s how most of us communicate
interpersonally we say what we do we say
how we’re different or how we better and
we expect some sort of behavior or
purchase or vote something like that
people all the time and I really believe
this that as the I exist to show people
what’s possible I really do that’s how I
it’s like go for it
try it because another thing I am no
different than anyone else out there I
am NOT here to say I have a superpower
and it was all this
it was just try it go let’s see what
happens yeah and all of a sudden when
you get rid of judgement now you can be
creative but any bit of judgment kills
creativity any time you start to go well
maybe I shouldn’t it’s funny because you
look at a lip-sync or you look at any
kind of dancing or anything like that as
soon as people see being inhibited
you’re done you know I don’t know this
guy what is this but all they want is
you to give all you got just put it out
there and that and then everybody’s with
you and let me tell you Terry Crews is
gonna give you a hundred and fifty
percent no matter what and that’s I
learned that’s my whole career here’s
how Apple actually communicates
everything we do we believe in
challenging the status quo we believe in
thinking differently the way we
challenge the status quo is by making
our products beautifully designed simple
to use and user friendly we just happen
to make great computers wanna buy one
totally different right you ready to buy
a computer from me all I did was reverse
the order of the information what it
proves to us is that people don’t buy
what you do people buy why you do it
people don’t buy what you do they buy
why you do it
this explains why every single person in
this room is perfectly comfortable
buying a computer from Apple but we’re
also perfectly comfortable buying an mp3
player from Apple or a phone from Apple
or a DVR from Apple but as I said before
Apple is just a computer company there’s
nothing that distinguishes them
structurally very many of their
competitors their competitors are all
equally qualified to make all of these
products in fact they tried a few years
ago gateway came out with flat-screen
TVs they’re eminently qualified to make
flat-screen tvs they’ve been making
flat-screen monitors for years nobody
bought one Dell came out with mp3
players and PDAs and they make great
quality products and they can make
perfectly well design products and
nobody bought one in fact talking about
it now we can’t even imagine buying an
mp3 player from Dell why would you buy
an mp3 player from a computer company
but we do it every day people don’t buy
what you do they buy why you do it the
goal is not to do business with anybody
with everybody who needs what you have
the goal is to do business with people
who believe what you believe
here’s the best part none of what I’m
telling you is my opinion it’s all
grounded in the tenets of biology not
psychology biology if you there it’s
Jaco will Inc you mentioned retired Navy
SEAL commander used to be in charge of
all West Coast training for the SEAL
Teams which is intense
highly highly decorated whether Jaco
saying discipline equals freedom or you
look at say some of the writers or
musicians
directors or others in the book across
pretty much all of them you find that
they find freedom in constraints so what
does that mean it sounds kind of weird
also sounds very sounds like an oxymoron
lit and what I mean by that is all of
these people have routines they have set
recipes that they repeat on a daily and
weekly basis so that they are not making
a lot of extraneous decisions about
mundane things and I also recognize that
we all have our less ourselves our
impulses I love chocolate croissants if
it were if I left my entire schedule to
whim I would just eat chocolate
croissants all day long I love them
they’re incredible and I still do have
them once a week I have my cheat day and
I’m allowed to do what I want so I let
my monkey mind and my lesser self just
go nuts
but these people all have typically
these and these are folks we might be
inclined to think of as superheroes and
maybe Jacko’s the supreme girl but the
vast majority have one or two strengths
and they may not even be the best of the
world but one or two strengths they
combine in a really unique way and they
build habits around those strengths and
then they have a thousand other
weaknesses but the habits and routines
are what helped them from going off the
rails and this is really encouraging
this should be really encouraging
because the people we see on magazine
covers that we might idolize and feel we
could never possibly emulate because
they have it all figured out
they have no insecurities they wake up
every morning and with a mental karate
chops they just master the day that’s
not how it works I know these people
almost everyone in this book certainly
on the podcast had become friends with
hundreds of these people not true they
have tons of not everyone I don’t speak
for everyone but tons of neuroses tons
of terrible self-defeating habits and
the safety that they create is habits
and routines that’s why Jocko in part
says discipline equals freedom okay so
you have trouble waking up in the
morning no problem you want to stage
this is something choco does takes his
clothing
prepares gets this sort of coffee ready
to brew clothing on the floor for the
workout right next to his bed prepared
the night before so there are no
decisions there are no opportunities to
make mistakes
between him opening his eyes and Jocko
working out and you find this across
everybody if you look at a cross-section
of the human brain looking from the top
down what you see is the human brain is
actually broken into three major
components that correlate perfectly with
the Golden Circle our newest brain our
Homo Sapien brain our neocortex
corresponds with the what level the
neocortex is responsible for all of our
rational and analytical thought and
language the middle two sections make up
our limbic brains and our limbic brains
are responsible for all of our feelings
like trust and loyalty it’s also
responsible for all human behavior all
decision-making and it has no capacity
for language in other words when we
communicate from the outside in yes
people can understand vast amounts of
complicated information like features
and benefits and facts and figures just
doesn’t drive behavior when we
communicate from the inside out we’re
talking directly to the part of the
brain that controls behavior and then we
allow people to rationalize it with the
tangible things we say and do this is
where gut decisions come from you know
sometimes you can give somebody all the
facts and your figures in this I know
what all the facts and details say but
it just doesn’t feel right why would we
use that verb it doesn’t feel right
because the part of the brain that
controls decision-making doesn’t control
language and the best we can muster up
is I don’t know it just doesn’t feel
right or sometimes you say you’re
leading with your heart or you’re
leading with your soul well I hate to
break it to you there’s onde other body
parts controlling your behavior it’s all
happening here in your limbic brain the
part of the brain that controls
decision-making and not language but if
you don’t know why you do what you do
and people respond to why you do what
you do then how will anybody how will
you ever get people to vote for you or
buy something from you or more
importantly be loyal and want to be a
part of what it is what you bet you do
again the goal is not just as to sell
people who need what you have the goal
is to sell to people who believe what
you believe the goal is not just to hire
people who need a job it’s to hire
people who believe what you believe I
always say that you know this if you if
you if you hire people just because they
can do a job they’ll work for your money
but if you hire people who believe what
you believe they work for you with blood
and sweat and tears and you know what’s
in the scheme of life hitting the snooze
button is not that big of a deal but
here’s the thing about life
none of us wake up and say today is the
day I destroy my life what we do is we
kind of check out because it feels
overwhelming or we check out because
we’re afraid or we check out because we
start listening to self-doubt and then
we make these teeny tiny decisions all
day long we don’t even realize it
decision to not get up on time a
decision to not eat the right thing a
decision to snap at your kids a decision
to not speak in a meeting a decision to
not look for a job a decision to not
deal with your finances a decision to
not call your parrot is all day long
these tiny decisions that take you so
far off track and then you wake up like
I didn’t and you you look at your life
and you think how the hell did I get
here
and more importantly how do I get back
over there and you have no idea and so I
was so trapped and I know from your
story you felt the same way like you
knew that there was more in store for
you but you couldn’t figure out how you
closed that gap
how do you find the power that’s in you
how do you discover your greatness how
do you solve these problems
it feels so overwhelming when you can’t
I mean I would go to the grocery store
and and the items would scan and I would
be sitting there readying my excuse
because there was no way that my check
curve is going to clear
you talk to me and I was going I was in
the football and I was a football player
and then you would have told me I would
be doing what I’m doing I would have
said no you’re crazy
leave me alone get out of here this is
why life is you can’t predict what
you’re supposed to do and I tell people
never kill yourself never because you
don’t know what your future is
you just don’t and that’s the thing it’s
like for me I never would have thought I
would be doing this but I decided to try
things I just decided that I didn’t have
to do what everyone else said I needed
to do it’s like you know when you’re a
football player everyone tells you this
would be the best route to do after
you’re done well I decided to go another
way you know and people thought I would
fail I remember when I moved to LA and
everybody said what are you doing you
know your old football player that’s not
no but they don’t care and I was hard I
was actually doing security for a little
while and you know I we went broke for a
while and but it was amazing thing
though is that as I kept trying new
things new doors kept opening and I
never thought I would be an actor but
here I am I think I’ve been acting for
15 years you never know what’s gonna
happen you never know what what the
future holds for you and it may be I
think it may be business it may be
performing it may be be home making well
whatever it is you have to explore it
you have to go for it what’s your
approach on finding and building upon
passions 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 as 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
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 every day 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 that you love and what are those
ttyn Mandela is a particularly special
case study in the leadership world
because he is universally regarded as a
great leader you can take other
personalities and depending on the
nation you go to we have different
opinions about other personalities but
Nelson Mandela across the world is
universally regarded as a great leader
he was actually the son of a tribal
chief and he was asked one day how did
you learn to be a great leader and he
responded that he would go with his
father to tribal meetings and he
remembers two things when his father
would meet with other elders one they
would always sit in a circle and to his
father was always the last to speak
you’ll be told your whole life that you
need to learn to listen I would say that
you need to learn to be the last to
speak I see it in boardrooms every day
of the week even people who consider
themselves good leaders who may actually
be decent leaders will walk into a room
and say here’s the problem here’s what I
think but I’m interested in your opinion
let’s go around the room it’s too late
the skill to hold your opinions to
yourself until everyone has spoken does
two things one it gives everybody else
the feeling that they have been heard it
give me gives everyone else the ability
to feel that they have contributed and
two you get the benefit of hearing what
everybody else has to think before you
render your opinion the skill is really
to keep your opinions to yourself if you
agree with somebody don’t nod yes if you
disagree with somebody don’t nod no
simply sit there take it all in and the
only thing you’re allowed to do is ask
questions so that you can understand
what they mean and why they have the
opinion that they have you must
understand from where they are speaking
why they have the opinion they have not
just what they are saying and at the end
you will get your turn
it sounds easy it’s not practice being
the last to speak
they care about everything and it starts
with yourself look yourself in the
mirror and ask yourself what do I want
to do every day for the rest of my life
do that I promise you can monetize that
if you love Alf do an Alf blog you
collect Smurfs Smurfs it up whatever you
need to do do it so many people are
talking about I can’t monetize I can’t
monetize there’s a billion
seven-year-old douche bags that are in
control right now but the number two
percent at 34 year old lady she’s gonna
buy your she’s gonna put the advertising
on your stuff it’s coming stop crying
and just keep hustling gratitude is one
of the most strongest forms of power and
attracting good things you know if you
truly feel grateful for the things in
your life I always felt grateful for
even the small things I always used to
celebrate the small things now I might
be celebrating the bigger things but I
always celebrate every little good thing
that would happen to me in my life even
before I had any kind of money or ever I
would celebrate and I would feel
grateful for it and it just gave me more
and this is exactly the same thing
that’s happening right now I still
remain grateful and more calm I was
presentable but I wore the same two
suits I had two suits man that I had to
wear every day for a year one blue one
great the joke around the office started
oh that’s Chris garden that he’s reenact
in the silver war some days what the
nothing more pitiful to my mind that the
person who wastes his life running from
one thing to another forever looking for
the pot of gold at the end of the
rainbow and they were staying with one
thing long enough to find it
no matter what your goal may be perhaps
the road to it can be found in the very
thing in which you’re now engaged you
see the average man believes some
businesses are better than others
instead of realizing the truth that
there are no bad businesses there are
just those people who don’t know enough
to see the opportunities and the work
they’re in no matter what our work
happens to be it’s our business we’re
the manager if there seems to be no
future our opportunity and it isn’t
always because it’s not there but
perhaps only because we can’t see it at
some point we all bought into this lie
that you’ve got a feel ready in order to
change we bought into this this complete
falsehood that at some point you’re
gonna have the courage at some point
you’re gonna have the confidence and
it’s total frankly I don’t
really like to swear an absolute okay
it’s it’s complete garbage and so there
are so many people in the world and and
and you know you may be watching this
right now and you have these incredible
ideas and what you think is missing is
motivation and that’s not true because
the way that our minds are wired and the
fact about human beings is that we are
not designed to do things that are
uncomfortable or scary or difficult our
brains are designed to protect us from
those things because our brains are
trying to keep us alive and in order to
change in order to build a business in
order to be the best parent of a spouse
to do all those things that you know you
want to do with your life with your work
with your dreams you’re gonna have to do
things that are difficult uncertain or
scary which sets up this problem for all
of us you’re never gonna feel like it
motivations garbage you you only feel
motivated to do the things that are easy
right
you think that is oh I know exactly why
that is because I I’ve studied this so
much because for me one of the hardest
things to figure out was why is it so
hard to do the little things that would
improve my life and what I’ve come to
realize and what we’ll talk a lot about
today is that the way that our minds are
designed is our minds are designed to
stop you at all costs from doing
anything that might hurt you and the way
that that that that this all happens is
it all starts with something super
subtle that none of us ever catch and
that is with this habit that all of us
have that nobody’s talking about we all
have a habit of hesitating we have an
idea you’re sitting in a meeting you
have this incredible idea and instead of
just you know saying it you stop and you
hesitate now what none of us realize is
that when you hesitate just that moment
that micro moment that small hesitation
it sends a stress signal to your brain
it wakes your brain up and your brain
all of a sudden goes oh wait a minute
wait why is he hesitating he didn’t
hesitate when he put on his killer spiky
sneakers he didn’t hesitate with the
really cool track pants he didn’t
hesitate with the NASA tee shirt
now he’s hesitating to talk something
must be up so then your brain goes to
work to protect you it has a million
different ways to protect you
one of them is called the spotlight
effect it’s a known phenomenon where
your brain magnifies risk Y to pull you
away from something that it perceives to
be a problem and so you can truly trace
every single problem or complaint in
your life to silence and hesitation
those are decisions and what I do and
what’s changed my life is waking up and
realizing that motivations garbage I’m
never gonna feel like doing the things
that are tough for difficult or in
certain or scary or new so I need to
stop waiting until I feel like it and
number two I am one decision away from a
totally different marriage a totally
different life a totally different job a
totally different income a totally
different really
ship with my kids not like one decision
I’m divorcing you in in the marriage
example but one decision on you know you
could be having a conversation with your
spouse and you feel your emotions rise
up and within a tiny window those
emotions can take over and can impact
how your marriage goes or you can learn
how to take control of that micro moment
and make a decision to act in a way that
actually shifts your marriage your life
comes down to your decisions and if you
change your decisions you will change
everything you have so many I grew up in
the hood man Flint Michigan where I’m
from and they save you Terra Cruz you
can do anything you want to do you can
do anything you want to do and then as
soon as you go to class you tell them
what you want to do and then I met what
makes you think you’re gonna do
something like that man crazy yeah and I
say okay wait which one is it now can I
do in a kid I do it right so I started
to call people on that I started to call
people and I said you know what I’m
gonna go for it
I’m gonna just try something that I’ve
never done before I want to design
furniture I want to be a part of this
thing and so I’m going and you know what
happened it’s not work people started
doing it started happening
we took the furniture from my line which
we went in front of all the best people
in the whole world and it got accepted
and people were saying how great it was
and how beautiful it was and I said man
don’t never let anybody talk you out of
something like that it never man find a
situation where you can be in the room
with masters of a craft and that could
just be deal making it could be joining
a small company say a fewer than 50
people where you simply get to observe
one of the principles negotiating in an
industry that you don’t even care
anything about right it could be waste
management and you want to go into
high-tech but if you sit in a room with
someone who’s an absolute pro at
crafting deals negotiating getting past
no
those skills and maybe those
relationships start to snowball all
right and this is what Scott Adams the
creator and Dilbert would call systems
thinking’s instead of being wedded to
the outcome of a given job you are
accumulating skills and relationships
that transcend that job okay and if you
choose your environments well because as
I’ve said before and as people like drew
the CEO of Dropbox as a friend have said
you’re the average of the five people
you associate with most all right so if
you take just a few years have the
patience a few years to really develop
core competencies that allow you to
craft your own reality and life
negotiation deal-making getting past No
etc learning how to pitch how to get
someone’s attention in 30 seconds so
that you can then create the desire and
ultimately ask for some type of action
once you develop those then you can
really just create the map for the next
decade in the next several decades so
that would be it it would be learned
before you earn and it’s never too late
to do that so I don’t care if you’re
coming out of college coming out of high
school
30 40 whatever it is Systems thinking
focus on the skills and relationships
first and then you can just create a
blank check for how much money you want
to make if that is your goal want to
talk about risk as a guiding principle
life shrinks and life expands in direct
proportion to your willingness to assume
risk yeah I like I’ve made some really
stupid decisions in my career for my
entire career
on a broad plane they’ve all worked out
every time I’ve quit my jobs which I’ve
done every time I’ve had a job people
that I trust most to treat people that I
love all advise against it my dad told
me not to move to New York City because
it was such a risk and every time I
every time I took these bigger risks the
opportunity for a larger payout was
always there life is like this
super temporary mega fragile thing you
only get like a nugget of time to really
pursue the things you care about
and like I’m thirty thirty and my rule
is that the right time is always right
now to put a little meat on these bones
this new company that I don’t really
talk about this new company is the
biggest risk I’ve ever taken I took five
years of my life to build my advertising
career and I made like a lot of money
I’ve been doing really great look at my
youtube channel go all the way back the
last branded content thing you’ll see
was in February of 2014 I ditched it all
to pursue something I knew nothing about
this huge risk and I did it at a time
when my wife was pregnant and there was
all of this vulnerability and all the
scariness in my life and even now at 33
my dad’s at 34 my dad said Casey that’s
crazy you’ve got a good thing don’t let
it go but I know that like someday I
won’t be able to do this I know that the
time is now the time the right time is
always now so I had to do it that’s how
I feel about risk in general and that’s
what the struggle has always been for me
it’s like identifying risk identifying
fear and then just smashing through it
because a fear is looking back and
wishing that I had done these things the
most dangerous thing you can do in your
career the most dangerous thing you can
do in life is play it safe you get
trapped in what I call the knowledge
action gap you know what to do but you
can’t seem to make yourself do it right
I mean every one of us is one Google
search away from a list of instructions
that if you follow any of that one it
will change your life but how do you get
out of your head
and stop thinking about what you need to
do and actually do it and in my case
this stuff was pretty easy get up on
time make breakfast for the kids get
them on the bus start looking for a job
be nicer to Chris don’t drink so much
instead of isolating yourself pick up
the phone and call a friend
get yourself out into the woods and go
for a walk
start running again like all these
little things that I was capable of but
I couldn’t get out of here could not get
out of here and if you’re stuck that’s
the problem the problem is you’re you’re
in your head you’re thinking that is the
universal problem and it all starts with
this knowledge of what to do and then
you hesitate and you think about whether
or not you feel like doing it so for a
couple months I was I was really stuck I
I would Kris would get up at 6:00 I’d
hit the snooze and then I’d hit the
snooze and then I hit the snooze the
kids would miss the bus
and then every night I’d do the same
thing I’d go in bed have you ever had
one of those nights probably before you
started your company but it where you
going bed you’re like all right um
that’s it tomorrow it’s the new me
tomorrow tomorrow I’m gonna get up on
time I am gonna go to the gym I am gonna
look for a job I’m not gonna drink so
much it’s gonna be amazing
the new me the future may whoa let’s do
this right then you go to bed and you
wake up seven hours later and you’re
like I don’t know me it’s the only who
look it’s a stupid at seat motivations
garbage it’s never there when you need
it filters are you using to make
decisions are you making decisions based
on the financial rewards are you making
decisions based on how easy the work
will be I mean I remember in college you
know they would give you this book where
they all the students would rate the
classes and they would rate things like
how easy the class was and how you know
how much do you they like the professor
and you know the first year I picked all
my classes based on it workload and I
picked everything a low workload you
know and pretty bored didn’t work very
hard which was fine but nothing was
dynamic and nothing really excited me
and I thank goodness learn
that and so the second year I picked all
my classes by professor rating
regardless of the workload so every
class I had I had these dynamic amazing
incredible human beings passing on their
knowledge and you were excited to work
hard for them you know and so again what
the question is what are the filters we
were using and so if you’re only chasing
the mighty dollar then you will have
jobs that’ll pay you a little more than
the last but are you enjoying yourself
and I talked to a guy recently who was
in a he’s in bad shape
like he really hates his life and he’s
really depressed he doesn’t know what to
do
and so we were going through all his old
jobs you know and I said give me a job
that you’ve loved and he hadn’t every
single job he’s chosen out of college he
picked because of the the money and if
something offered him more somewhere
else he took it you know regardless and
and and and the amazing thing is he
plateaued because if you’re only chasing
the result if you’re only chasing the
thing that makes it easy right then
eventually you will get bored or they’ll
get bored of you right and you plateau
in other words chasing the whole mighty
dollar if that’s your only thing it
eventually flattens out whereas if
you’re chasing the thing that excites
you the human beings to be around the
work that excites you the stuff that you
know you know you you can get passionate
about you know the the irony is is
you’ll actually make way way more right
because you’re excited and they
appreciate your excitement and they
reward your excitement and you’re better
at your work because you want to work
harder and all of that stuff you don’t
have to strain to work harder so
decision making is simply a matter of
filters you know and so I’ve made
decisions in my life that I would rather
be happy than right I’d rather do good
then then get rich and and so the
decisions I make put me in positions
where when I leave any engagement when I
leave any meeting I feel that I’ve
contributed right rare are the times
anymore where you walk arguing just
think of the money just think of the
money think of the money you know I I
because that doesn’t feel nice and and
the experience I have
I don’t enjoy traveling to them and I
don’t enjoy traveling home we have an
amazing experience I am looking forward
to getting there and I’m excited when I
leave you know so it’s just decision
made decision-making is just a matter of
what filters you use [Music]
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