you come from the working-class
background that I come from I feel
guilty at ten to five if I’m not in the
office I know that might sound strange
to you but that’s a it’s there’s a work
ethic that I have to be half-dead not to
not go to work it’s a kind of a work
ethic that’s built into me yeah
but nevertheless having said all that
the weekends that was it it’s over
switch off like a like Friday night as
you got back from the office or from the
work or from the factory or whatever it
mattered what was buzzing around in my
head it was off like a light switch and
that’s it don’t let it interfere very
rarely let it interfere with the weekend
and then Monday morning bang back on it
again as if you flick the switch on
again so I think that was a bit of
discipline in that respect yeah if you
don’t have any money start with sweat
equity meaning go work for somebody else
use your time energy to make them money
that’s what I did I’m here at Joel
Salatin my first mentors farm and he
said if you want to work for me you can
live in this little cabin and it didn’t
have a toilet what had a bucket so and
it had no heat or no water
this was my bed right here I had a bunk
beds because sometimes there’d be
another guy working and this was the
toilet the bucket I bet you can still
they change the floor there was a hole
in the floor and the bucket was
underneath nightstand here and I put a
cup of water in it to drink and we’d
sleep in sleeping bags and when I woke
up it was up always an ice ice that’s
how you know it’s cold in the morning
you reach over like the whole thing goes
that you you can’t start out at the top
you start out at the bottom how the game
goes the natural order of things
people say listen he’s out-of-the-box
thinker he’s a businessman he’s an
entrepreneur but people that know man I
wouldn’t say you would say I’m not
really a business plan you’re not a
businessman no what are you I’m sure
that’s probably lots of analysts on Wall
Street who agree that I’m not a
businessman okay well what do you think
you are engineer is it your dream to
conquer the world and make the world a
better place too what is your dream like
knowledge is like magic yeah I mean like
technology’s the closest thing to magic
that we have in the real world and so I
think like the engineering creative
engineering is essentially technology
development and I guess me was when I
said I like Lord of the Rings is my
favorite book is it yeah like what’s the
closest thing to being a wizard in the
real world and that’s like creating new
technologies okay I was I got lucky I
just stumbled and I was one of the first
people to ever use online advertising I
was in I think the second month Google
AdWords launched and there was no
YouTube videos there was no Perry
Marshall books there was there was
nothing you just kind of wasted money to
learn now we’re the most spoiled
generation everything this computer on
this phone iPhone 7 is more powerful
than the first rocket that put man on
the moon that cost billions of dollars
now we get that for under a thousand
bucks and people are still like I’m lost
yes your loss sit down and then open up
Safari and go how to do Google ads and
you’re gonna come up let’s see what I
come up with AdWords they have their own
tutorial word stream jump if I
you got some paid stuff then you have
some free stuff on HubSpot if you sit in
a chair Charlie Munger calls it
assiduity put your ass in a chair sit
there and focus without being you know
the average American right now the
average first in the world our attention
span has dropped to five seconds the sad
news is the average goldfish has six
seconds we’re now competing with
goldfish and the goldfish are winning so
if you don’t have assiduity to
sit down breed there is no solution for
you you will always be poor because
you’ll always be beat by somebody who’s
willing to sit in the chair is there a
way for people to build that discipline
yes
pain and that’s why I’m not a big
believer in delusion you know you asked
me one of the rewiring things we have to
do in this world I’ll tell you one you
ever heard this myth everything happens
for a reason so just accept it
well there’s kind of truth to that if I
jump off a building and break my legs
yes everything happened for a reason the
reason was gravity like that’s why you
break your legs and physics legs brittle
concrete not brittle so debt but people
interpret everything happens for a
reason be like well I was meant to learn
from that thing and then BS read Richard
Dawkins The Selfish Gene one of the most
important books written in the last
century
he says organisms that only learn
through trial and error lose to
organisms that can learn through other
people’s a trial and error is anybody
here we got a little live audience
anybody here ever had to be hit by a car
to learn to look both ways I did it I
kind of learned from just somebody
telling me big car two tons velocity
smash dead and I now always look both
ways so if you’re myth is that the only
way you’re gonna learn is just through
massive mistakes in trial and error you
have a read Richard Dawkins book how
does pain allow somebody to get more
disciplined okay so going back to that
myth of when you see your life and
anytime there should be pain you go no
no no no it was just how it was meant to
be no look yourself in the mirror
sometimes and go do you know why I’m not
happy it’s because I didn’t listen ten
years ago and I got in the wrong career
you know I’m not happy because I married
the wrong damn person it wasn’t meant to
happen yes everything happens for a
reason you made a bad choice but it
didn’t have to be that way and the
second you build up pain
and this by the way is not my opinion if
you talk to guys like dr. David buss top
10 most cited psychologist in history
okay he’s one of my main mentors he told
me I said do it don’t change like we do
all this self-help videos in podcast I
said am I wasting my time he goes yeah
kind of
I said why he said well after 25 it’s
very hard to teach old dogs new tricks
by the way that’s why I’ve changed most
of my stuff targets people 18 to 25
that’s why I do snapchat and all that
because there’s hope for 18 to 25
now if you’re over 25 before you get
depressed he told me but I have good
news for you talk I said what he said
adults learn through massive trauma so
you will learn you have to let in some
trauma into your life and that’s rough
but no pain no gain
like if you are a hundred pounds
overweight and you want to be able to
play basketball here’s my news for you
everything happened for a reason you got
fat because you ate too much and you
didn’t exercise so welcome to the gym in
the first year is gonna be hell but that
pain hopefully will reprogram your brain
that every time you want to eat that
nasty thing go wait I don’t want to go
through that pinion so I think one of
the myths of societies we won’t let pain
in we just excuse it all the way like
now that wasn’t meant to happen
oh you wasted 20 years of life married
the wrong person in the wrong career no
Tom it was meant to happen where’s the
people who go you’ve you’ve wasted 20
years and you will never get it back you
better go in your room and cry and the
truth is you only learn as an adult
unfortunately most people can only
change with massive trauma people
globally want to be like LM Moss what’s
your advice of it I think that probably
they shouldn’t want to be you I think it
yeah it’s not as much fun being me as
you’d think I don’t know you don’t think
so yeah this definitely it could be
worse for sure but it’s I I I’m not sure
I would I’m not sure I want to be me but
[Applause]
[Music]
you know I think advice I mean if you
want to make progress and things I think
that but the the best analytical
framework for us and in the future is
physics
I’d recommend studying the the thinking
process around physics like not just not
the equations I mean the equation is
certainly they’re helpful but the the
way of thinking in physics is the that’s
the best framework for understanding
things that are counterintuitive and and
you know always taking the position that
you are some degree wrong and your goal
is to be less wrong over time the one of
the biggest mistakes people generally
make and I’m guilty of a two is wishful
thinking you know like you want
something to be true even if it isn’t
true and so you ignore the things that
you ignore the real truth because of
what you want to be true this is a very
difficult trap to avoid and like I said
certainly one that I find myself in
having problems with but if you just
take that approach of your oyster some
degree wrong and your goal is to be less
wrong and and solicit critical feedback
particularly from friends like your
friends particularly friends if somebody
loves you they want the best for you
they don’t want to tell you the bad
things so you have to ask them yeah you
know it said really I really do want to
know and then they’ll tell you guide
students last week honored 60 of them
from Harvard South Dakota State I just
tell them try to find your passion and
you know I mean may not find it the
first time but you know don’t sleep walk
through life find something that you
really enjoy doing if you can do it and
not you know not everybody is lucky
enough to be able to define that but
it’s it ought to be years old to make
ten dollars a week more doing something
that you don’t feel good about compared
to something you
make the change bill said something that
I thought was really interesting he said
the thing you do obsessively between age
13 and 18 that’s the thing you have the
most chance of being world-class at yeah
bill said his one thing was coding what
was your one of Illinois his father many
years ago right after we met had us a
group of about 20 right down on the
sheet of paper one word that they
thought accounted for their success and
Bello guy who may own that twice didn’t
know what the other one was writing down
we both wrote down the same word which
was focused and he was focused on
software I was focused on investments
and it it gave me a big advantage to
start very young there’s no question
about it well like I said I think if you
could if you study engineering and you
figure out how to design new things then
it’s relatively easy to start a company
you just need to get a few like-minded
people with you and and then focus on
creating a prototype the compelling
prototype as soon as possible and then
that you know there’s there’s a strong
venture capital industry in this in this
country that will give you funding to
take things to the next level and that
that’s all there is to it and you might
if you know tried a few times might may
or may not succeed but I think sometimes
people fear fear starting a company too
much you know to say really what’s the
worst that could go wrong you know kind
of stuff to death you know you’re not
gonna die of exposure what’s worse they
could go wrong the thing that spread
across Europe and eventually made its
way to America
purple fever also known as the Black
Death of childbed basically what was
happening is women were giving birth and
they would die within 48 hours after
giving birth this Black Death of
childbirth was the ravage of Europe and
it got worse and worse and worse over
the course of over a century in some
hospitals it was as high as 70% of women
who gave birth who would die as a result
of giving birth but this was the
Renaissance this was the time of
empirical data and science and we had
thrown away things like tradition and
mysticism these were men of science
these were doctors and these doctors and
men of science wanted to study and try
and find the reason for this black death
of childbed and so they got to work
studying and they would study the
corpses of the of the women who had died
and in the morning they would conduct
autopsies and then in the afternoon they
would go and deliver babies and finish
their rounds and it wasn’t until
somewhere in the mid 1800s that dr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes father of Supreme
Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
realized that all of these doctors who
conducting autopsies in the morning
weren’t washing their hands before they
delivered babies in the afternoon and he
pointed it out and said guys you’re the
problem and they ignored him and called
him crazy for 30 years until finally
somebody realized that if they simply
washed their hands it would go away and
that’s exactly what happened when they
started sterilizing their instruments
and washing their hands the black death
of childbed disappeared my point is the
lesson here is sometimes you’re the
problem
we’ve seen this happen all too recently
with our new men of science and
empirical studies and these men of
Finance who are smarter than the rest of
us until the thing collapsed and they
blamed everything else except themselves
and my point is is take accountability
for your actions you can take all the
credit in the world for the things that
you do right as long as you also take
responsibility for the things you do
wrong it must be a balanced equation you
don’t get it one way and not the other
you get to take credit when you also
take accountability it’s difficult
choices I have ever faced in life was
was in 2008 and I think I had like maybe
thirty million dollars left thirty or
forty one dollars left in 2008 I had two
choices I could put it all into one
company and then the other company would
definitely die or split it between the
two companies and but if I split it
between two companies they both might
die and it will you put your blood sweat
and tears into creating something a
and so it’s like which one am I gonna
let one starve to death I can bring
myself to do it surprised I split the
money between the two what should only
thank goodness they both came through
times you had somebody say to you hey
have you got a minute Bob you got a
would you think about that I read a poem
one time he said I have only just a
minute only 60 seconds in it was forced
upon me I can’t refuse that I didn’t
seek and I didn’t choose it but it’s up
to me to use it I must suffer if I lose
it give it out if I abuse it’s only a
tiny little minute but eternity is in it
well any rate I thought I’m gonna put
this on a video I just want to share
with everybody just there’s one little
part out of the seminar I’m making I
want you to look at this Sam timer and
let this I want you to think about your
life the sand in the top of the glass
represents the future the sand and the
bottom of the glass represents the past
now Genoa we know what’s in the past and
young we can’t do anything about it you
know what the trick is
you don’t know how much sands in the top
of the glass you may think you have a
lot you might only have a little then
again you may think you have a little
and you might have a lot when I was a
little boy I was raised by my
grandmother and I don’t know when I was
little yeah after she was probably 60
but as long as I can remember
redwoods saying I’ll soon begun there
I’ll soon be gone well you know we loved
her she was really an angel with God but
we thought she was never gonna go she
lived to be 94 for 30-some years I’ll
soon be gone she didn’t think she had
much time left she had 34 years left now
about the same time I had a buddy of
mine Bob Yates he was just 16 and bang
he run into the abutment of a bridge and
his life was snuffed out if you had
asked him a half-hour before how much
sand he had left he would have said at
least a half a century he didn’t have a
half an hour see the trick is we don’t
know how much sand we have left the
future
we don’t know the past it’s gone now the
only thing you can deal with is what’s
right here right now and if you look the
sand is always moving now think of this
you see I was working on that and then I
was working on a graph I’ve got here at
my computer and I’m thinking of the time
somebody said to him you got a minute
well they don’t really want a minute you
know if you’re earning $50,000 a year a
minutes 42 cents a half hours $12.50 if
we take that ahead of it if you’re
earning $80,000 a year a minute 67 cents
half hours $20 getting a hundred and
fifty thousand dollars here you got a
minute
it cost you a dollar twenty-five a
minute a half hours thirty seven dollars
and fifty cents so do you see if
somebody said you want to stop for a cup
of coffee
well if you’re earning a quarter of a
million dollars a year a minute is two
dollars and eight cents half hours sixty
two dollars and fifty cents and then of
course you’ve got the coffee to pay for
on top of that so you see the point is
this this is all we’ve got right here
right now we don’t know how much we have
left in the future but we do know what
we’ve got now and I have found the
people that win are the people who make
up their mind they’re not gonna waste
the minutes they’re gonna be productive
they’re gonna make it happen every
minute you first told me that you were
thinking about tunnels and I must tell
you about that years ago okay it’s like
a long time ago like I thought you’re
it’s not because of some epiphany that I
had one day driving on 405 that’s how it
gets called translates and I was talking
four tunnels for years and years for
probably five years or four years at
least whenever I’d give a talk and
people would ask me about what
opportunities you do see in the world
I’d say tunnels did someone please
tunnels so after four or five years of
begging people to build tunnels and
still no tunnels I was like okay I wanna
build a tunnel having sent me here so
yes I was like basically talking fields
of Arizona for tunnels right worked
several years and then said well let’s
find out what it takes to build a tunnel
and yeah so started digging a tunnel I
wanted to start the tunnel from where I
could see it from my office at SpaceX so
stuff I said well let’s just call before
part of the parking lot across the road
so I can see if it’s if anything’s
happening or not and then renamed office
boring machine gadot because I kept
waiting for it no it came finally it did
and and we got it going and now we’re
making good progress
drives so for example narcissism is a
protection mechanism right so your mind
wants to tell you you’re amazing it
makes you its bitch you have to override
that and go you know what I’m not that
amazing so let me go learn from amazing
people do you have methods for people to
do that because I think that’s so
important so I tell people don’t trust
everything that your mind says sir yes
don’t buy into all of your emotions just
because you have an emotion doesn’t mean
you have to act in accordance with that
but how do you help people get over that
how do they overcome that I think humans
for the most part learn by osmosis so
it’s hard to lecture people into success
but what you could do is you could
inspire people to understand this so for
example if you could if school system
can find all the 14 year olds and find
out what they admire in people right
it’s the reason I showed Lamborghinis
Ferraris it’s got a lot of young
followers and you know what 19 year old
guys like Lamborghinis and Ferraris so I
show that part of my life because then
they listen to the other stuff so first
you got to leave by inspiration this has
been proven over you cannot pound stuff
into people’s brain people actually do
the opposite when parents tell their
kids you got to read nobody reads but if
I show a Lamborghini and Ferrari which
is the reward that people want and then
people go how do you get it I said see
all these books I read them and put it
then people I have more school kids
reading books I think than anyone in
history I don’t say that cocky I’m
telling you it astounds me because all I
had to do was put up a video with
Lamborghinis all right and so being the
bitch of your own brain the way you
learn not to be the easiest way is to be
around people who aren’t the bitch of
their own brain like Joel Salatin my
first mentor I was lucky enough right
out of high school instead of going to
college I was with him at 19 and he is
not a bitch of his brain he’s a man of
he wakes up and he is life’s more like a
duty he knows his duty and whether it’s
hard or easy he plows through it so
every day for example when he had
breakfast at 6:00 in the morning on a
farm he writes out an organized thing on
what he wants to do for the day when
you’re the bitch of your brain you go
I’m just gonna freewheel this day it’s
very it’s very hard to be organized
we’re not net dogs aren’t organized you
ever see your dog organizing day so if
you wanna you can either act on the
animal side which is just a wing life or
you can operate from a sense of logic
and duty and so I learned somewhat I’m
not even as good as Joel to not be the
bitch my mind by just being around four
and so that’s the best way find somebody
that you look at them and you go this is
a person of discipline the motivation
self motivation they don’t need external
motivation they’re motivated from within
and spend all the time you can around
them most people do a lot of talking and
most people don’t put in the effort
there’s nothing you can’t accomplish in
life with the right amount of work the
challenge is you know are you willing to
do the work and the reality is most
people aren’t but that’s the opportunity
right is I mean it’s like people you
know at school most people are lazy
right they they just they barely get
through it and and so that creates
opportunity look the reason I talk about
social as it gives you something to
focus on but let me step back so me you
can’t focus because let’s just face it
you know social media makes money by
making you unfocused scientists have
studied how Facebook Instagram Twitter
all these apps have created addictions
and that’s how why the people who own
them are the richest people in the world
now I use social media so I’m not gonna
say don’t use social media a little
practical tip for 2018 turn off all
notifications on my phone I don’t have
one notification on so if you have an
iPhone go to settings right here go
scroll down and notifications where’s my
notifications right there turn
everything off look at mine show
previews never off off every single one
is off okay because I’m not a sucker I
use social media but social media is not
gonna use me I look at my facebook when
I want to not what Mark Zuckerberg wants
me to dopamine is released by these apps
it’s literal physical addictions created
by these again you can use social media
but don’t let it use you so just a
little practical thing turn off the damn
social media notifications Instagram
won’t be there you got to be reminded
every time someone deems you why are you
too dumb that you can’t remember that
Instagram a notification if you can’t
remember it that means it’s probably not
important so he’s a win-win situation
you’ve got more time and less
distraction so focus in 2018 I gave you
the first thing to focus on which is
your social life you’re gonna have to
focus you know I I don’t know how to
draw a horse very well but obviously
square with a head every time I try to
draw people like you’re horrible at
drawing so I am horrible so hoarse I
used to have a horse and they put these
things on the side of horses right here
they’re called blinders they don’t
really blind the horse but they the
horse can only see straight ahead and
the reason they do that is because when
you’re out on the road with a horse I
live with the Amish for two years if a
call big car comes by and the horse sees
that out of the corner of their eye they
get scared and I actually knew a guy he
was driving along the side of a road
there was a cliff on the edge that he
didn’t put the blinders on that horse to
focus the horse a big truck was coming
the horse saw and kind of went like that
inside oh no he didn’t die but he went
to run off the cliff got injured got
thrown off three four five six months
rehabilitating from their injury that’s
a good metaphor for people you need to
put your blinders on and focus straight
ahead for 2018 what do you want out of
2018 more money more happiness more time
more freedom focus that brain on that
thing you can’t be this is the average
person’s brain in one second they want
to focus on let’s say they’re trying to
improve their business well they also
think about oh I got a DM oh okay
snapchat oh my mom’s calling me oh I
wonder if you know what happened next
Game of Thrones episode focus it can be
as simple as for example make it time
when you check all your social media I
do it I try to check it once a day now
I’m in the business of social media so I
do check a little more but my personal
side try to wake up
focus and I just go through all my apps
one by one and get it out of way fifteen
minutes you know I I have a lot of
social media followers so it sometimes
takes me a little longer I got thirteen
million or something so I get a lot of
DMS but still I’m not gonna check them
all be real why just because you know so
if you got a thousand or two thousand
followers whatever five thousand I used
to have a hundred followers it took me
ten seconds a day and then I don’t need
to check at the average person at work
is checking their email
they said like 20 to 50 times an hour
little waste the life man don’t waste
your life people should make new
resolutions if they’re actually watching
this video on January 1st if they’re
watching it on December 23rd
they should make December 23rd
resolutions waiting miraculously to win
the calendar flips to start making your
life better is silly at best and pisses
me off at worst and so whenever you’re
watching this
because it lives on the internet and
thus that means you could watch this on
June 17th 2017 make a resolution every
day of your life because you only get
one app back the reason people struggle
with having a new year’s resolution and
sticking to it is because it was a
tactic to do a new year’s resolution
hence why my first answer was right
which is when you actually decide to
make a change in your life whether about
weight or job or going out with somebody
or relationships that’s when you
actually pull it off it’s religion not
tactics third thing that you got to know
is you have to have a map of success so
think about you know in the olden days
age to bury treasure and to find it they
would have a map and if you didn’t have
that map you could spend all the hard
work all the time all the effort all the
labor you wanted you never would find
the treasure and the school system
failed us let’s just face it elementary
school junior high high school I’m not
saying all schools bad but I’m saying
there’s things that didn’t teach us we
didn’t learn the proper tools and so we
weren’t given the map to success and
that’s why so many people are in debt
and why so many people are depressed and
why so many people have financial
trouble and so many people don’t know
how to invest their money it comes from
a lack of a map and I want to give you a
map and that’s part of why I’ve traveled
to 40 or 50 countries once I was
sleeping on that couch I found a mentor
Mike Stainback one thing led to another
I began Business Network and beginning
to travel I’ve been to you know New
Zealand in Japan and South America
Bolivia Chile Germany all these
countries around the world where I found
mentors who gave me a map they said here
talk here’s what worked for us I
remember being in Germany with a guy who
invited me and he was you know 30 years
older than me
and he laid out how he just told me we
went on a walk back to the hotel where I
was staying
I was speaking doing a little business
talk there to his staff and he said town
I want to share with you what worked for
me I started at 12 years old and now I’m
70 years old and I want to show you what
worked for me Ty and I remember thinking
this guy’s giving me the map
what if they had given me that map when
I was 18 years old in school life would
have been so much easier if you have the
map you’ll cut the learning curve well I
think to some degree you follow your
passions and then wait that you know you
have to hope the wave catches you I was
always interested in computers I was
always interested in software I was
always a big reader and so it wasn’t you
know which made me alert to things like
the Internet and the possibility that
you could build a bookstore online that
would have Universal selection I think
everybody has their own passion their
own thing that they’re interested in
you’re very alert to the things that
that are in the sphere of influence of
that passion so your passion has led you
to change the world frankly with Amazon
but yet you’ve got Blue Origin you’ve
got business exploration this why can’t
submit like you just rest on your loss
well I you know I love what I do I have
I also have four kids I have a wife that
I love I have a lot of passions and
interests but I one of them is you know
at Amazon the rate of change is so high
and I love that I love that I love the
pace of change I love the fact that I
get to work with these smart big smart
teams the people I work with are so
smart and they all their self selected
for loving to invent on behalf of
customers and so you know it’s not
do I love every moment of every day no
that’s why they call it work there’s you
know there’s always there are things
that I would that I don’t enjoy but if
I’m really objective about it and I look
at it I’m so lucky to be working
alongside all these passionate people
and I love it why would I why would I go sit on a beach
background that I come from I feel
guilty at ten to five if I’m not in the
office I know that might sound strange
to you but that’s a it’s there’s a work
ethic that I have to be half-dead not to
not go to work it’s a kind of a work
ethic that’s built into me yeah
but nevertheless having said all that
the weekends that was it it’s over
switch off like a like Friday night as
you got back from the office or from the
work or from the factory or whatever it
mattered what was buzzing around in my
head it was off like a light switch and
that’s it don’t let it interfere very
rarely let it interfere with the weekend
and then Monday morning bang back on it
again as if you flick the switch on
again so I think that was a bit of
discipline in that respect yeah if you
don’t have any money start with sweat
equity meaning go work for somebody else
use your time energy to make them money
that’s what I did I’m here at Joel
Salatin my first mentors farm and he
said if you want to work for me you can
live in this little cabin and it didn’t
have a toilet what had a bucket so and
it had no heat or no water
this was my bed right here I had a bunk
beds because sometimes there’d be
another guy working and this was the
toilet the bucket I bet you can still
they change the floor there was a hole
in the floor and the bucket was
underneath nightstand here and I put a
cup of water in it to drink and we’d
sleep in sleeping bags and when I woke
up it was up always an ice ice that’s
how you know it’s cold in the morning
you reach over like the whole thing goes
that you you can’t start out at the top
you start out at the bottom how the game
goes the natural order of things
people say listen he’s out-of-the-box
thinker he’s a businessman he’s an
entrepreneur but people that know man I
wouldn’t say you would say I’m not
really a business plan you’re not a
businessman no what are you I’m sure
that’s probably lots of analysts on Wall
Street who agree that I’m not a
businessman okay well what do you think
you are engineer is it your dream to
conquer the world and make the world a
better place too what is your dream like
knowledge is like magic yeah I mean like
technology’s the closest thing to magic
that we have in the real world and so I
think like the engineering creative
engineering is essentially technology
development and I guess me was when I
said I like Lord of the Rings is my
favorite book is it yeah like what’s the
closest thing to being a wizard in the
real world and that’s like creating new
technologies okay I was I got lucky I
just stumbled and I was one of the first
people to ever use online advertising I
was in I think the second month Google
AdWords launched and there was no
YouTube videos there was no Perry
Marshall books there was there was
nothing you just kind of wasted money to
learn now we’re the most spoiled
generation everything this computer on
this phone iPhone 7 is more powerful
than the first rocket that put man on
the moon that cost billions of dollars
now we get that for under a thousand
bucks and people are still like I’m lost
yes your loss sit down and then open up
Safari and go how to do Google ads and
you’re gonna come up let’s see what I
come up with AdWords they have their own
tutorial word stream jump if I
you got some paid stuff then you have
some free stuff on HubSpot if you sit in
a chair Charlie Munger calls it
assiduity put your ass in a chair sit
there and focus without being you know
the average American right now the
average first in the world our attention
span has dropped to five seconds the sad
news is the average goldfish has six
seconds we’re now competing with
goldfish and the goldfish are winning so
if you don’t have assiduity to
sit down breed there is no solution for
you you will always be poor because
you’ll always be beat by somebody who’s
willing to sit in the chair is there a
way for people to build that discipline
yes
pain and that’s why I’m not a big
believer in delusion you know you asked
me one of the rewiring things we have to
do in this world I’ll tell you one you
ever heard this myth everything happens
for a reason so just accept it
well there’s kind of truth to that if I
jump off a building and break my legs
yes everything happened for a reason the
reason was gravity like that’s why you
break your legs and physics legs brittle
concrete not brittle so debt but people
interpret everything happens for a
reason be like well I was meant to learn
from that thing and then BS read Richard
Dawkins The Selfish Gene one of the most
important books written in the last
century
he says organisms that only learn
through trial and error lose to
organisms that can learn through other
people’s a trial and error is anybody
here we got a little live audience
anybody here ever had to be hit by a car
to learn to look both ways I did it I
kind of learned from just somebody
telling me big car two tons velocity
smash dead and I now always look both
ways so if you’re myth is that the only
way you’re gonna learn is just through
massive mistakes in trial and error you
have a read Richard Dawkins book how
does pain allow somebody to get more
disciplined okay so going back to that
myth of when you see your life and
anytime there should be pain you go no
no no no it was just how it was meant to
be no look yourself in the mirror
sometimes and go do you know why I’m not
happy it’s because I didn’t listen ten
years ago and I got in the wrong career
you know I’m not happy because I married
the wrong damn person it wasn’t meant to
happen yes everything happens for a
reason you made a bad choice but it
didn’t have to be that way and the
second you build up pain
and this by the way is not my opinion if
you talk to guys like dr. David buss top
10 most cited psychologist in history
okay he’s one of my main mentors he told
me I said do it don’t change like we do
all this self-help videos in podcast I
said am I wasting my time he goes yeah
kind of
I said why he said well after 25 it’s
very hard to teach old dogs new tricks
by the way that’s why I’ve changed most
of my stuff targets people 18 to 25
that’s why I do snapchat and all that
because there’s hope for 18 to 25
now if you’re over 25 before you get
depressed he told me but I have good
news for you talk I said what he said
adults learn through massive trauma so
you will learn you have to let in some
trauma into your life and that’s rough
but no pain no gain
like if you are a hundred pounds
overweight and you want to be able to
play basketball here’s my news for you
everything happened for a reason you got
fat because you ate too much and you
didn’t exercise so welcome to the gym in
the first year is gonna be hell but that
pain hopefully will reprogram your brain
that every time you want to eat that
nasty thing go wait I don’t want to go
through that pinion so I think one of
the myths of societies we won’t let pain
in we just excuse it all the way like
now that wasn’t meant to happen
oh you wasted 20 years of life married
the wrong person in the wrong career no
Tom it was meant to happen where’s the
people who go you’ve you’ve wasted 20
years and you will never get it back you
better go in your room and cry and the
truth is you only learn as an adult
unfortunately most people can only
change with massive trauma people
globally want to be like LM Moss what’s
your advice of it I think that probably
they shouldn’t want to be you I think it
yeah it’s not as much fun being me as
you’d think I don’t know you don’t think
so yeah this definitely it could be
worse for sure but it’s I I I’m not sure
I would I’m not sure I want to be me but
[Applause]
[Music]
you know I think advice I mean if you
want to make progress and things I think
that but the the best analytical
framework for us and in the future is
physics
I’d recommend studying the the thinking
process around physics like not just not
the equations I mean the equation is
certainly they’re helpful but the the
way of thinking in physics is the that’s
the best framework for understanding
things that are counterintuitive and and
you know always taking the position that
you are some degree wrong and your goal
is to be less wrong over time the one of
the biggest mistakes people generally
make and I’m guilty of a two is wishful
thinking you know like you want
something to be true even if it isn’t
true and so you ignore the things that
you ignore the real truth because of
what you want to be true this is a very
difficult trap to avoid and like I said
certainly one that I find myself in
having problems with but if you just
take that approach of your oyster some
degree wrong and your goal is to be less
wrong and and solicit critical feedback
particularly from friends like your
friends particularly friends if somebody
loves you they want the best for you
they don’t want to tell you the bad
things so you have to ask them yeah you
know it said really I really do want to
know and then they’ll tell you guide
students last week honored 60 of them
from Harvard South Dakota State I just
tell them try to find your passion and
you know I mean may not find it the
first time but you know don’t sleep walk
through life find something that you
really enjoy doing if you can do it and
not you know not everybody is lucky
enough to be able to define that but
it’s it ought to be years old to make
ten dollars a week more doing something
that you don’t feel good about compared
to something you
make the change bill said something that
I thought was really interesting he said
the thing you do obsessively between age
13 and 18 that’s the thing you have the
most chance of being world-class at yeah
bill said his one thing was coding what
was your one of Illinois his father many
years ago right after we met had us a
group of about 20 right down on the
sheet of paper one word that they
thought accounted for their success and
Bello guy who may own that twice didn’t
know what the other one was writing down
we both wrote down the same word which
was focused and he was focused on
software I was focused on investments
and it it gave me a big advantage to
start very young there’s no question
about it well like I said I think if you
could if you study engineering and you
figure out how to design new things then
it’s relatively easy to start a company
you just need to get a few like-minded
people with you and and then focus on
creating a prototype the compelling
prototype as soon as possible and then
that you know there’s there’s a strong
venture capital industry in this in this
country that will give you funding to
take things to the next level and that
that’s all there is to it and you might
if you know tried a few times might may
or may not succeed but I think sometimes
people fear fear starting a company too
much you know to say really what’s the
worst that could go wrong you know kind
of stuff to death you know you’re not
gonna die of exposure what’s worse they
could go wrong the thing that spread
across Europe and eventually made its
way to America
purple fever also known as the Black
Death of childbed basically what was
happening is women were giving birth and
they would die within 48 hours after
giving birth this Black Death of
childbirth was the ravage of Europe and
it got worse and worse and worse over
the course of over a century in some
hospitals it was as high as 70% of women
who gave birth who would die as a result
of giving birth but this was the
Renaissance this was the time of
empirical data and science and we had
thrown away things like tradition and
mysticism these were men of science
these were doctors and these doctors and
men of science wanted to study and try
and find the reason for this black death
of childbed and so they got to work
studying and they would study the
corpses of the of the women who had died
and in the morning they would conduct
autopsies and then in the afternoon they
would go and deliver babies and finish
their rounds and it wasn’t until
somewhere in the mid 1800s that dr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes father of Supreme
Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
realized that all of these doctors who
conducting autopsies in the morning
weren’t washing their hands before they
delivered babies in the afternoon and he
pointed it out and said guys you’re the
problem and they ignored him and called
him crazy for 30 years until finally
somebody realized that if they simply
washed their hands it would go away and
that’s exactly what happened when they
started sterilizing their instruments
and washing their hands the black death
of childbed disappeared my point is the
lesson here is sometimes you’re the
problem
we’ve seen this happen all too recently
with our new men of science and
empirical studies and these men of
Finance who are smarter than the rest of
us until the thing collapsed and they
blamed everything else except themselves
and my point is is take accountability
for your actions you can take all the
credit in the world for the things that
you do right as long as you also take
responsibility for the things you do
wrong it must be a balanced equation you
don’t get it one way and not the other
you get to take credit when you also
take accountability it’s difficult
choices I have ever faced in life was
was in 2008 and I think I had like maybe
thirty million dollars left thirty or
forty one dollars left in 2008 I had two
choices I could put it all into one
company and then the other company would
definitely die or split it between the
two companies and but if I split it
between two companies they both might
die and it will you put your blood sweat
and tears into creating something a
and so it’s like which one am I gonna
let one starve to death I can bring
myself to do it surprised I split the
money between the two what should only
thank goodness they both came through
times you had somebody say to you hey
have you got a minute Bob you got a
would you think about that I read a poem
one time he said I have only just a
minute only 60 seconds in it was forced
upon me I can’t refuse that I didn’t
seek and I didn’t choose it but it’s up
to me to use it I must suffer if I lose
it give it out if I abuse it’s only a
tiny little minute but eternity is in it
well any rate I thought I’m gonna put
this on a video I just want to share
with everybody just there’s one little
part out of the seminar I’m making I
want you to look at this Sam timer and
let this I want you to think about your
life the sand in the top of the glass
represents the future the sand and the
bottom of the glass represents the past
now Genoa we know what’s in the past and
young we can’t do anything about it you
know what the trick is
you don’t know how much sands in the top
of the glass you may think you have a
lot you might only have a little then
again you may think you have a little
and you might have a lot when I was a
little boy I was raised by my
grandmother and I don’t know when I was
little yeah after she was probably 60
but as long as I can remember
redwoods saying I’ll soon begun there
I’ll soon be gone well you know we loved
her she was really an angel with God but
we thought she was never gonna go she
lived to be 94 for 30-some years I’ll
soon be gone she didn’t think she had
much time left she had 34 years left now
about the same time I had a buddy of
mine Bob Yates he was just 16 and bang
he run into the abutment of a bridge and
his life was snuffed out if you had
asked him a half-hour before how much
sand he had left he would have said at
least a half a century he didn’t have a
half an hour see the trick is we don’t
know how much sand we have left the
future
we don’t know the past it’s gone now the
only thing you can deal with is what’s
right here right now and if you look the
sand is always moving now think of this
you see I was working on that and then I
was working on a graph I’ve got here at
my computer and I’m thinking of the time
somebody said to him you got a minute
well they don’t really want a minute you
know if you’re earning $50,000 a year a
minutes 42 cents a half hours $12.50 if
we take that ahead of it if you’re
earning $80,000 a year a minute 67 cents
half hours $20 getting a hundred and
fifty thousand dollars here you got a
minute
it cost you a dollar twenty-five a
minute a half hours thirty seven dollars
and fifty cents so do you see if
somebody said you want to stop for a cup
of coffee
well if you’re earning a quarter of a
million dollars a year a minute is two
dollars and eight cents half hours sixty
two dollars and fifty cents and then of
course you’ve got the coffee to pay for
on top of that so you see the point is
this this is all we’ve got right here
right now we don’t know how much we have
left in the future but we do know what
we’ve got now and I have found the
people that win are the people who make
up their mind they’re not gonna waste
the minutes they’re gonna be productive
they’re gonna make it happen every
minute you first told me that you were
thinking about tunnels and I must tell
you about that years ago okay it’s like
a long time ago like I thought you’re
it’s not because of some epiphany that I
had one day driving on 405 that’s how it
gets called translates and I was talking
four tunnels for years and years for
probably five years or four years at
least whenever I’d give a talk and
people would ask me about what
opportunities you do see in the world
I’d say tunnels did someone please
tunnels so after four or five years of
begging people to build tunnels and
still no tunnels I was like okay I wanna
build a tunnel having sent me here so
yes I was like basically talking fields
of Arizona for tunnels right worked
several years and then said well let’s
find out what it takes to build a tunnel
and yeah so started digging a tunnel I
wanted to start the tunnel from where I
could see it from my office at SpaceX so
stuff I said well let’s just call before
part of the parking lot across the road
so I can see if it’s if anything’s
happening or not and then renamed office
boring machine gadot because I kept
waiting for it no it came finally it did
and and we got it going and now we’re
making good progress
drives so for example narcissism is a
protection mechanism right so your mind
wants to tell you you’re amazing it
makes you its bitch you have to override
that and go you know what I’m not that
amazing so let me go learn from amazing
people do you have methods for people to
do that because I think that’s so
important so I tell people don’t trust
everything that your mind says sir yes
don’t buy into all of your emotions just
because you have an emotion doesn’t mean
you have to act in accordance with that
but how do you help people get over that
how do they overcome that I think humans
for the most part learn by osmosis so
it’s hard to lecture people into success
but what you could do is you could
inspire people to understand this so for
example if you could if school system
can find all the 14 year olds and find
out what they admire in people right
it’s the reason I showed Lamborghinis
Ferraris it’s got a lot of young
followers and you know what 19 year old
guys like Lamborghinis and Ferraris so I
show that part of my life because then
they listen to the other stuff so first
you got to leave by inspiration this has
been proven over you cannot pound stuff
into people’s brain people actually do
the opposite when parents tell their
kids you got to read nobody reads but if
I show a Lamborghini and Ferrari which
is the reward that people want and then
people go how do you get it I said see
all these books I read them and put it
then people I have more school kids
reading books I think than anyone in
history I don’t say that cocky I’m
telling you it astounds me because all I
had to do was put up a video with
Lamborghinis all right and so being the
bitch of your own brain the way you
learn not to be the easiest way is to be
around people who aren’t the bitch of
their own brain like Joel Salatin my
first mentor I was lucky enough right
out of high school instead of going to
college I was with him at 19 and he is
not a bitch of his brain he’s a man of
he wakes up and he is life’s more like a
duty he knows his duty and whether it’s
hard or easy he plows through it so
every day for example when he had
breakfast at 6:00 in the morning on a
farm he writes out an organized thing on
what he wants to do for the day when
you’re the bitch of your brain you go
I’m just gonna freewheel this day it’s
very it’s very hard to be organized
we’re not net dogs aren’t organized you
ever see your dog organizing day so if
you wanna you can either act on the
animal side which is just a wing life or
you can operate from a sense of logic
and duty and so I learned somewhat I’m
not even as good as Joel to not be the
bitch my mind by just being around four
and so that’s the best way find somebody
that you look at them and you go this is
a person of discipline the motivation
self motivation they don’t need external
motivation they’re motivated from within
and spend all the time you can around
them most people do a lot of talking and
most people don’t put in the effort
there’s nothing you can’t accomplish in
life with the right amount of work the
challenge is you know are you willing to
do the work and the reality is most
people aren’t but that’s the opportunity
right is I mean it’s like people you
know at school most people are lazy
right they they just they barely get
through it and and so that creates
opportunity look the reason I talk about
social as it gives you something to
focus on but let me step back so me you
can’t focus because let’s just face it
you know social media makes money by
making you unfocused scientists have
studied how Facebook Instagram Twitter
all these apps have created addictions
and that’s how why the people who own
them are the richest people in the world
now I use social media so I’m not gonna
say don’t use social media a little
practical tip for 2018 turn off all
notifications on my phone I don’t have
one notification on so if you have an
iPhone go to settings right here go
scroll down and notifications where’s my
notifications right there turn
everything off look at mine show
previews never off off every single one
is off okay because I’m not a sucker I
use social media but social media is not
gonna use me I look at my facebook when
I want to not what Mark Zuckerberg wants
me to dopamine is released by these apps
it’s literal physical addictions created
by these again you can use social media
but don’t let it use you so just a
little practical thing turn off the damn
social media notifications Instagram
won’t be there you got to be reminded
every time someone deems you why are you
too dumb that you can’t remember that
Instagram a notification if you can’t
remember it that means it’s probably not
important so he’s a win-win situation
you’ve got more time and less
distraction so focus in 2018 I gave you
the first thing to focus on which is
your social life you’re gonna have to
focus you know I I don’t know how to
draw a horse very well but obviously
square with a head every time I try to
draw people like you’re horrible at
drawing so I am horrible so hoarse I
used to have a horse and they put these
things on the side of horses right here
they’re called blinders they don’t
really blind the horse but they the
horse can only see straight ahead and
the reason they do that is because when
you’re out on the road with a horse I
live with the Amish for two years if a
call big car comes by and the horse sees
that out of the corner of their eye they
get scared and I actually knew a guy he
was driving along the side of a road
there was a cliff on the edge that he
didn’t put the blinders on that horse to
focus the horse a big truck was coming
the horse saw and kind of went like that
inside oh no he didn’t die but he went
to run off the cliff got injured got
thrown off three four five six months
rehabilitating from their injury that’s
a good metaphor for people you need to
put your blinders on and focus straight
ahead for 2018 what do you want out of
2018 more money more happiness more time
more freedom focus that brain on that
thing you can’t be this is the average
person’s brain in one second they want
to focus on let’s say they’re trying to
improve their business well they also
think about oh I got a DM oh okay
snapchat oh my mom’s calling me oh I
wonder if you know what happened next
Game of Thrones episode focus it can be
as simple as for example make it time
when you check all your social media I
do it I try to check it once a day now
I’m in the business of social media so I
do check a little more but my personal
side try to wake up
focus and I just go through all my apps
one by one and get it out of way fifteen
minutes you know I I have a lot of
social media followers so it sometimes
takes me a little longer I got thirteen
million or something so I get a lot of
DMS but still I’m not gonna check them
all be real why just because you know so
if you got a thousand or two thousand
followers whatever five thousand I used
to have a hundred followers it took me
ten seconds a day and then I don’t need
to check at the average person at work
is checking their email
they said like 20 to 50 times an hour
little waste the life man don’t waste
your life people should make new
resolutions if they’re actually watching
this video on January 1st if they’re
watching it on December 23rd
they should make December 23rd
resolutions waiting miraculously to win
the calendar flips to start making your
life better is silly at best and pisses
me off at worst and so whenever you’re
watching this
because it lives on the internet and
thus that means you could watch this on
June 17th 2017 make a resolution every
day of your life because you only get
one app back the reason people struggle
with having a new year’s resolution and
sticking to it is because it was a
tactic to do a new year’s resolution
hence why my first answer was right
which is when you actually decide to
make a change in your life whether about
weight or job or going out with somebody
or relationships that’s when you
actually pull it off it’s religion not
tactics third thing that you got to know
is you have to have a map of success so
think about you know in the olden days
age to bury treasure and to find it they
would have a map and if you didn’t have
that map you could spend all the hard
work all the time all the effort all the
labor you wanted you never would find
the treasure and the school system
failed us let’s just face it elementary
school junior high high school I’m not
saying all schools bad but I’m saying
there’s things that didn’t teach us we
didn’t learn the proper tools and so we
weren’t given the map to success and
that’s why so many people are in debt
and why so many people are depressed and
why so many people have financial
trouble and so many people don’t know
how to invest their money it comes from
a lack of a map and I want to give you a
map and that’s part of why I’ve traveled
to 40 or 50 countries once I was
sleeping on that couch I found a mentor
Mike Stainback one thing led to another
I began Business Network and beginning
to travel I’ve been to you know New
Zealand in Japan and South America
Bolivia Chile Germany all these
countries around the world where I found
mentors who gave me a map they said here
talk here’s what worked for us I
remember being in Germany with a guy who
invited me and he was you know 30 years
older than me
and he laid out how he just told me we
went on a walk back to the hotel where I
was staying
I was speaking doing a little business
talk there to his staff and he said town
I want to share with you what worked for
me I started at 12 years old and now I’m
70 years old and I want to show you what
worked for me Ty and I remember thinking
this guy’s giving me the map
what if they had given me that map when
I was 18 years old in school life would
have been so much easier if you have the
map you’ll cut the learning curve well I
think to some degree you follow your
passions and then wait that you know you
have to hope the wave catches you I was
always interested in computers I was
always interested in software I was
always a big reader and so it wasn’t you
know which made me alert to things like
the Internet and the possibility that
you could build a bookstore online that
would have Universal selection I think
everybody has their own passion their
own thing that they’re interested in
you’re very alert to the things that
that are in the sphere of influence of
that passion so your passion has led you
to change the world frankly with Amazon
but yet you’ve got Blue Origin you’ve
got business exploration this why can’t
submit like you just rest on your loss
well I you know I love what I do I have
I also have four kids I have a wife that
I love I have a lot of passions and
interests but I one of them is you know
at Amazon the rate of change is so high
and I love that I love that I love the
pace of change I love the fact that I
get to work with these smart big smart
teams the people I work with are so
smart and they all their self selected
for loving to invent on behalf of
customers and so you know it’s not
do I love every moment of every day no
that’s why they call it work there’s you
know there’s always there are things
that I would that I don’t enjoy but if
I’m really objective about it and I look
at it I’m so lucky to be working
alongside all these passionate people
and I love it why would I why would I go sit on a beach
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