if you didn't make progress in 2025, watch the first 10 minutes.

I want to show you something that's honestly changed my life. Have I showed you this >> 5-year diary? No.

>> Okay, so let me explain how this works.

>> Dude, I'm so jealous that I did not invent this journal.

>> So, basically, here's how my 5-year journal works. I um on every single

journal works. I um on every single page, it says like, you know, December 1st, and then it has the first year, the second year, the third year, the fourth year, the fifth year. Oh,

yes.

>> I'm interested. You took this journaling thing from like, "Oh, great. The most

boring topic ever, journaling, to Oh, wait. That's pretty cool. I kind of want

wait. That's pretty cool. I kind of want one."

one." >> I started doing this in November, uh, like a the week of Thanksgiving, actually. And so, your boy's getting to

actually. And so, your boy's getting to last year's entries >> like a week ago, you mean?

>> I started doing it a year ago last week.

>> Oh, last year. Okay.

>> I've talked about this three times now.

This is the third time. This is the first time it's clicking. But the reason it's been very special this week because I'm getting to my previous year's uh entries and I had purposely did not like look ahead to like see to remind myself, >> right?

>> Do you want to know something? The

biggest takeaway I don't change >> like what do you mean like your habits or what you're doing or how you feel. I

have complained about the same stuff for 10 or 15 years and I have previous journals where I've I look back and I'm like I've complained about the same things.

>> Give give me an example. What What do you mean?

>> So, uh like is the way that I'm spending time right now, is it even worth it? Is

working on this business even worth it?

Do I want to go all in on being creating content or do I want to go all in on being behind the scenes?

>> Right?

>> Where should I live? Basically, I

complain about the same things all the time. Why did I lose my temper today and

time. Why did I lose my temper today and make myself look stupid? Why didn't I pause for like 10 seconds and like reflect before I like, you know, snapped at like my wife or a kid or something?

And I think I've concluded a few things.

One, humans don't change. Actually,

change is, let me rephrase that. I've

concluded that change is unnatural.

Change is not natural. Like, it's it's inertia is natural.

>> Yeah. Right. Inertia is the default.

>> And so, you can change. And I actually have changed like a bit a lot of big things in my life. And I was thinking about what causes change. And I think a good representation of what causes change is in business typically this

happens at the 10 million mark. The

difference between 10 million and 100 million a year business oftent times is systems. So I think it typically comes down to hiring great people and creating great systems. And the reason why I love

business is because it kind of teaches you a little bit about life. And what

I'm learning about my own life is that the moments that I've changed most in my life is when I've had a system. And this

a good system what it does it makes it more predictable by taking away how you feel at the moment. The way that you feel on any moment should have nothing to do with the actions that you take to get you to the goals that you've set.

So, for example, the times that I've lost the most weight and gotten the most fit is when I had an accountability uh a nutritionist like holding me accountable or I had a trainer who I had to see or I

was following a plan. The times that I've stagnated most of my life is when I've not had a plan and I let my feelings on that day dictate what I do during my schedule. When I have a good

company, you your sales people have scripts that they follow. They have

checklists for follow-ups. They spend

the early morning doing outbound. The

middle of the morning is doing follow-up emails. And it's like a system. And I

emails. And it's like a system. And I

just wanted to talk about like a, do you have this? And b, we should talk about

have this? And b, we should talk about some of the systems that we've implemented in our lives that have actually made real change. Because I

think the key to living a successful life, not just money, but like success defined as getting what you want, is creating a system.

>> I mean, you brought up a pretty amazing topic. I think you started with the

topic. I think you started with the journal, which again is just incredible.

The year-over-year journal, which I think is incredible. It's basically a time machine because you get to see where you were, and so it like forces perspective, which you wouldn't normally

get. Um, the vulnerability of being

get. Um, the vulnerability of being like, dude, I don't change. I'm the same complaining, you know, mother effort that I've been for the last, you know, 10 years. I think that's really funny

10 years. I think that's really funny and honest. And then you have the

and honest. And then you have the systems thing.

J the best quote of this I think comes from James Clear or whoever he got it from in his book Atomic Habits which is you know we don't rise to the level of our goals we fall to the level of our

systems you see this everywhere everywhere I see it in my business I see it when I'm coaching basketball I see it in my fitness life you see it everywhere which is that you don't become what you want you don't become your potential

that's for sure you become what we regular you know you become what you regularly do the old uh I think the Aristotle quote you know we are what we what we do repeatedly. And so what do you do repeatedly? You do what's what's

autopilot. You do what's defaulted. You

autopilot. You do what's defaulted. You

do what you have on an automated basis and not what's based on how you're feeling in the moment, which is like if it was a graph, it'd be up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down. And

so I think you're I mean you're spot on that this is inside the company and outside uh outside of any of your work stuff. It's the same thing.

stuff. It's the same thing.

>> Let me give you an example. Here's what

I wrote about on 125 of last year. I

said, "I'm one text message away from going Amish. I'm so sick of digital

going Amish. I'm so sick of digital distractions. It's a drug." When I And

distractions. It's a drug." When I And then I wrote I had this other section.

I'm like, "When I hang out with all these like successful people, I have to remember my roots. I'm just a punk rock skateboarding redneck from Missouri and I shouldn't get caught up in this fancy stuff or wanting to achieve all this

fancy stuff." That's an example. And the

fancy stuff." That's an example. And the

reason I'm bringing up the digital stuff and being distracted is I wrote about that three weeks ago in the same thing.

>> Right? So there's one thing I think that goes underneath that comes before the system, right? Because you're basically

system, right? Because you're basically saying like you need a plan, you need a goal, and then you need a system that's going to get you to the goal um reliably, right? A system that if you

reliably, right? A system that if you just follow that, you know, sort of the the mechanics, the physics of the system leads you to a certain outcome. And I

think that's very true, but there does seem to be like a couple things underneath that. One is the blueprint.

underneath that. One is the blueprint.

So figuring out what to want cuz if you set up your systems towards getting some to to get a goal that wasn't the goal that actually would change the feeling that you want um you'll be perpetually

on the hamster wheel. This happens a lot in business, right? We get a promotion and then you immediately are like uh I still feel kind of the same stressed anxious you know version of myself. So

um you know I just need a little more and that'll be the solution right? So

like figuring out the right thing to want and cuz then it says cool let me build my systems in that direction and I think that's a very uncomfortable place to be is figuring out what you actually want in life cuz it sounds like it

should be so simple.

>> That's the hardest part right you >> can't optimize for a goal without a goal and we spend most of our time worrying about the optimization.

>> Yeah. Or like you know the goal like did you pick a goal that's actually going to get you again like you never want the thing you want the feeling you think the thing is going to get you.

Right? You you don't want to have the fancy watch or the car. You don't want to have the promotion. You don't want to have the relationship. You want the feeling you think you'll have if you were in a great relationship. You want

the feeling you think you'll have if your team wins the game. You want the feeling you think you'll have if you are driving that car instead of this piece of junk. Right? And so it's the feeling

of junk. Right? And so it's the feeling that you're chasing. And if you're not very good at understanding the your own feelings and and practicing having the feelings that you want, you're not just going to have them when the thing

happens. We we just adapt too quickly.

happens. We we just adapt too quickly.

and your your base nature, your emotional home is too strong. So when

you say, "I'm comp I'm I'm complaining about the same things," I would guess that it's not that you're literally complaining about the same things. It's

that you're having the same feelings about some variety of problem. Uh you

know, some some same genre of problem, but it's the same the feeling is almost identical.

>> Yeah. Exactly. And so what do you should do about that?

>> I think a few things. I think that the way that I'm feeling now, correct me if I'm wrong. Do you feel this exact same

I'm wrong. Do you feel this exact same way or have you had the same issue?

>> I've had the same issue. I don't know what you're feeling right now, but >> yeah, I mean like this this this um uh I don't change fast enough or I'm not coaching myself fast enough and I'm not

adapting. I think more often than not,

adapting. I think more often than not, the listener and you and me, we don't need to be taught new stuff. We just

need to be reminded of the same thing that we already know. I think that we don't give enough credit to reminders.

So, let me give you an example.

>> I read or when I'm not when I don't have a newborn, I read a book a week probably. I read a lot. I love reading.

probably. I read a lot. I love reading.

It's great. It's so like I get so much joy out of it. Now, there's been so many times that I've read a book and it'll be on like something on a president or something and then you ask me a year

later, I really just can't remember much about that president. I can't tell you about the thing. And I think that I think that a lot of times we go too wide

and we consume too much stuff versus the same thing over and over and over again to master and be reminded of the same thing over and over and over again. And

so like another example could be when you're training an employee on like a sales process. I think the majority of

sales process. I think the majority of the time you have to repeat yourself like seven 8 n 10 times in a sales meeting. So you have to do it like if

meeting. So you have to do it like if you have like a daily stale standup, you have to have phrases that people can remember constantly because I don't think they need to be taught what to do.

I just think they need to be reminded constantly. So I think reminders are

constantly. So I think reminders are important. I also think that um a system

important. I also think that um a system of accountability. So when you hire

of accountability. So when you hire employees for your business, or at least when I do, I'm like, uh, I don't want to do that. I could just do this on my own.

do that. I could just do this on my own.

But I've noticed that when I hire employees for my company, I then feel like, well, now I have to keep feeding this system because now I'm held accountable. And it's very painful, but

accountable. And it's very painful, but I get significantly better results. And

so when I back myself into a corner where I must perform and then and otherwise I'm going to let others down, that's when I get the best results.

If you want to hit your goals, you need a system. And so I worked with HubSpot

a system. And so I worked with HubSpot to put together a step-by-step process showing you how I use Chat GBT as a life coach. So, I uploaded my personal

coach. So, I uploaded my personal finances, my net worth, my goals, and the output is that I have this GPT that I can ask questions that I'm having issues with in my life, like how should

I respond to this email, what's the right decision, things like that, and it's literally changed my life. And so,

if you want that, it's free. We will

send you everything you need to know to set this up in just about 20 minutes.

And I'll show you how I use it. So,

check it out. The link is below in the description. Back to the episode.

description. Back to the episode.

Have I told you what I've been doing lately? I texted you something this

lately? I texted you something this morning.

>> Uh, so it's 12:15 at 11:55 when I log in. I got this text from Sean and it was

in. I got this text from Sean and it was this really good like Instagram reel, but it wasn't on Instagram. And it was Sean telling the story about how he has quit being a business person and is now

fully focused on coaching a basketball team.

>> Is that right? So, so here's the story of how I stepped down as CEO in my companies and I'm now a unpaid high school assistant basketball coach. This

is this is a decision I've made.

>> They were high school kids. These guys

look like they had beards.

>> They're high school kids. So, I love basketball as you know. Uh, one thing you probably don't know is that growing up I didn't watch cartoons. So, you know how you're like you'll mention like Dolly Parton and I couldn't tell you who she is or you'll be like, "Yeah, you

know that Elvis song?" And I'm like, "No, I don't really know." Well, that's also true if you ask me about Sesame Street or Rugrats. As a kid, I never watched cartoons.

>> What did you watch? World Series of Poker.

>> I watched two movies on loop. Home

Alone, great movie, and I watched Mighty Ducks 2, specifically D2. And um you know, these things you do as a kid, they sort of imprint on you, right? And so

this idea of in the movie Mighty Ducks, Gordon Bombay, he's this hot shot lawyer who actually gets in like a DUI, but gets assigned this like community service thing where he ends up coaching

this hockey team. This

>> pulls up into his limo uh in New York City or some city and he's coaching, you know, like the street kids that somehow also play hockey.

>> Exactly. the business guy who grew up playing hockey but has given it up now has to go back into the world of of sport and he ends up being the coach to this shitty uh ragtag group of kids

these underdogs and then they you know they go on a run and they sort of make it to the top and he you know finds you know his love his passion he realizes like oh my god like you know this fills his cup so I watched that movie a lot of

times and I had always said I don't know if I'd ever told you this but I had said like you know like bucket list item my retirement plan was to go coach a high school basketball team at least for a year. And I tried convincing my

year. And I tried convincing my brother-in-law. I was like, "Hey, what

brother-in-law. I was like, "Hey, what if we got like an AA team? Could we do that?" And I've been kind of like poking

that?" And I've been kind of like poking around like, "Is there a way to do this?

I think it would be really good for the soul." And um the opportunity presented

soul." And um the opportunity presented itself about a month ago where um the I hired a coach, I'm big on coaches. I

hired a coach to train me in basketball just as like a workout. And so this guy used to train NBA players before the draft, things like that. And so I worked with him for like, you know, over the summer. Did you get better?

summer. Did you get better?

>> Yeah, I mean, of course you're better.

You practice, you get better, right?

Systems. So, like I showed up three, two, three times a week. We practice the same things every time, the fundamentals, and guess what? Like, you

get better.

>> Was it good exercise or did it hurt you?

>> Oh, dude, it's great exercise.

>> Um, like, you know, you're drenched with sweat, like which I would never get in the weight room type of thing.

>> Same. I like, you know, it's like your full body, right? Because you can't make them like a move without like rotation >> and you're doing like lateral movements and stuff, >> things you wouldn't do in a stationary

machine or or barbell. So,

he tells me, he's like, "Hey, um, you know, I don't think I'll be able to coach you anymore. I got this job. I'm

now the like school starts in a week.

I'm the head basketball coach at this high school. It's like small division

high school. It's like small division five high school." I didn't know the divisions go to five, right? D1, D2, D3, all the way D5.

>> So, five is small.

>> Five is very small. And so, I was like, "Okay." And I was like, "So, you need an

"Okay." And I was like, "So, you need an assistant?" I just said it jokingly. And

assistant?" I just said it jokingly. And

he's like, "Yeah, actually like I don't have any like the there's no staff, so yeah, I'm a first- time coach, so I would love assistant." So I told him, I was like, "Dude, I I'd love to show up maybe once a week." And I just thought

this would be something I would do just the way I do everything. Half ass, baby.

I thought that I would make a make a a fun commitment in the moment and then sort of back away over time. Things that

I've done many times with many cool ideas in my life. But this year, I'm trying to be a different guy, right? I

said, "I'm going to play the piano." And

guess what? I sit there and I practice scales and I play the piano, you know, four times a week and I'm getting good at it and I'm doing the boring things and I'm sticking with it. I'm not giving up. And so I did the same thing with

up. And so I did the same thing with this. I was like, I'm going to show up.

this. I was like, I'm going to show up.

And dude, when I tell you that this is the most fun thing I've ever done in my life, I am not lying. This is

incredible. So now I'm going I'm spending like 15 hours a week doing this. I'm I'm basically going to

this. I'm I'm basically going to practice four days a week. I commute,

which I would you know me, I would never commute. It's like

commute. It's like >> I didn't even know you had a driver's license.

It's a 30 40-minute drive and I'm basically coaching these kids from you know the beginning of the season tryyous. We just had our first game last

tryyous. We just had our first game last night. Uh first like official game and

night. Uh first like official game and um I the video I showed you was our first preseason game. We got smashed by 30 and then you know 4 days later we had our first real game and we actually just

won. We won by 30 last night and we like

won. We won by 30 last night and we like did a Gatorade dump on the coach cuz it was his first win. And here I am this assistant basketball coach, you know, in the office when Dwight's like, "I'm assistant regional manager." They're

like, "No, no, you're assistant to the regional manager." That's what I am. I'm

regional manager." That's what I am. I'm

assistant to the head coach is really the more more accurate way of saying this. And I'm so emotionally invested in

this. And I'm so emotionally invested in the entire process. You would not believe like me. I'm so invested in these kids. I'm so invested in getting

these kids. I'm so invested in getting them better day by day. system by

system, habit by habit. I'm breaking

down game film of like, you know, other high school teams that we're going to play. I'm sending clips. I'm We have a

play. I'm sending clips. I'm We have a kid who who was struggling in school and got kicked off the team and I'm helping him with his math homework trying to get him back on the team. Like, I am so in it's it's not even funny.

>> So, are you I I don't know much about sports. Um or at least basketball. I

sports. Um or at least basketball. I

don't know much about basketball. Can

you tell a player to make minor changes and it actually impacts the game or is it just like if you're 7 foot tall, you're going to win?

>> Well, this this is why I brought this up. So, you were talking about

up. So, you were talking about repetition reminders habits systems. Well, sports are of course the great teacher of life. It's this little petri dish. It's like a simulation of life,

dish. It's like a simulation of life, right? You you as an individual, you

right? You you as an individual, you working with a team, you going up against competition, you facing defeat regularly, and you getting to go practice and then seeing if that translates into the real world, right?

And there have been so many things where we would tell the kids something and then the first scrimmage would happen and we would just get our butt kicked and it's like we told them this. We

that's the exact thing we've been telling them. And then we had to be take

telling them. And then we had to be take a step back as coaches and be like oh that's because the job is to drill this 50 times. Like

50 times. Like >> we did one of 50 and our perspective was wrong which is that oh I'll tell them once and then they'll get it and then they'll just do it live in action when the moment happens. Like no you won't.

You will default. inertia, baby, you will default to the thing that you already do, the old you. And so I so now we to we took, you know, as coaches, we're basically giving this mindset of like, all right, we're if this matters,

there's only like you can only tell them two or three things that matter. You

can't give them 15 things to change at once. So like, pick one to three things

once. So like, pick one to three things and then let's be honest, we're going to need to say this 50 times with the same level of enthusiasm and we're not going to get discouraged if it doesn't happen

at number, you know, 42 cuz it takes 50.

And that's like the mindset as a coach.

But it's the same thing in your own life, which is like you seek progress, not perfection. And reminders matter a

not perfection. And reminders matter a hell of a lot more than some new strategy, some new play, some new thing that nobody's ever done before. You want

that. You want some new answer cuz you're like, maybe I was just missing the thing. And actually, no, it's

the thing. And actually, no, it's because I didn't internalize the thing, the answer that was already on my plate, right? And that reminders, like you

right? And that reminders, like you said, are extremely undervalued to the point where not only are reminders undervalued, they're sort of discriminated against. Reminders are

discriminated against. Reminders are like, you know, the minority class of of of self-help, right? Because when you tell somebody something that they already know, what's their reaction?

It's not like, oh, that's helpful. It's

I know I know that, right? It's

defensive.

>> It's like that that clearly can't be important because I already know it. And

it's like, no, no, it's coming back up again because it's that important, >> dude. This is is a this is hilarious.

>> dude. This is is a this is hilarious.

This has happened uh I don't know if the listener can tell this. This has

happened so many times where you and I come with the same exact thing not even realizing it. If if you're an

realizing it. If if you're an entrepreneur listening to this, you are going to be nodding your head, but how many times have you said to come up with a a brilliant idea and gone to your company and in all

hands it says this is what we are doing now and is new and it is different so many times. Right.

many times. Right.

>> Yeah. And I've come to the conclusion that a company can basically only do one new project

maybe per quarter but definitely but it could be every six months. And when I say project I mean something relatively small like for us we had never advertised before. Now we're starting to

advertised before. Now we're starting to advertise. It's like just do meta.

advertise. It's like just do meta.

>> Just do meta and get really good at that. And you think well we should

that. And you think well we should advertise on meta on LinkedIn. We should

advertise. We should buy podcast ads. We

should do this. we should do that. It's

like, no, no, no. Just that one thing and let's really master it and it's going to take six months. And so, it's kind of funny that you're you're hearing that like I don't know about basketball, but what what are you telling them to do

just that one thing or you said three things? What are those three things?

things? What are those three things?

>> Okay, these are a little bit nerdy basketball things, but here here's one.

>> Something called playing off two feet.

So, the way that uh how do I explain this if it's not like okay in nor when you play basketball normally and you go you're just playing by yourself there's no defense you're like oh I'll go do a layup so you run in and you jump usually

off one foot and you go shoot a layup and that's great when there's nobody there when there's defense u that's a lot harder to do because not only are there people in the way but when you

jump off one when you just run and jump off one foot you commit to like that path being the only thing you can go do and so what we have is a lot of undersized guys, right? Like our point guard is like, I don't know, 5'7 or

something like that, right? We don't

have like 6'4 athletes that are just going to be dunking and finishing at the rim across the board on our team. We

have like I think one guy who can dunk pretty much. And so we um uh we had to

pretty much. And so we um uh we had to teach them that there's this other way of playing. Looks a little less sexy uh

of playing. Looks a little less sexy uh but is really effective, which is when you get into the paint and you're amongst the Giants and the crowd, you come to what's called a jump stop. So

you just land on both feet and now you have options. You can pass, you can

have options. You can pass, you can pivot, you could shoot, you can step through, you can do you can do a bunch of things, but you're more under control. It's almost like a slower way

control. It's almost like a slower way to play. And it's not what you practice

to play. And it's not what you practice when it's not what you do when there's no defense there. When there's no defense there, you just kind of naturally will go do this. But guess

what? In the real game, there's always defense there.

>> So, we're going to do things we're going to practice like what happens in the game, and we're going to do things that match our athleticism. And this is a habit that you guys don't have. And so

we're going to like drill this not once, not twice, but every single day. You're

going to get reps at doing this and you are going to hear us say the same phrase, playoff two, playoff two, playoff two. You're going to hear that

playoff two. You're going to hear that till you hear it in your dreams, right?

So that'll be like let's say one of the like core principles that it's like that's a change we need to make, right?

Cuz change requires that level of like repetition to do a new new behavior.

>> You're gonna say it until someone hears it in their dreams. That's what we have to that's exactly what I'm meaning about reminders. You have to it's like that's

reminders. You have to it's like that's so funny. Number two is what

so funny. Number two is what >> and and by the way that the actual test is you say it till you hear them saying it to each other once you once they're saying it to each other your job as the coach is like you know you have

successfully incepted the idea into them. This happens also as a CEO right

them. This happens also as a CEO right like whether it's habits and how we do meetings or whatever or it's like what matters what are the priorities you know you've done it well when they're saying it to each other. I used to do this test

with companies like if I would invest in them or they were running into trouble and they'd be like, "Yeah, we're, you know, we're trying to do X." And almost always in there, the little magic trick you can always pull is you take, you know, let's say they have a it doesn't

matter how many people, it could be like just their top five executives or it could be, you know, 15 people at their company. And you say, "Hey everybody, I

company. And you say, "Hey everybody, I would like you to write down the top three priorities of the company. What

actually matters right now?"

And then you look at the CEO and you see the CEO start to realize like, oh [ __ ] we are not on the same page. Like I have not done a good job. They don't even forget doing it. They don't even know

what we're supposed to be doing. I have

not even successfully communicated the priorities cuz everybody what what they'll do is basically they will focus on their problems, my little problems in my part of the world or recency. What's

the most recent fire that somebody put on in on my plate? And like that's just the thing I'm thinking about. I kind of forgot about all the other [ __ ] we talked about at that at that all hands or at that meeting or at that offsite or whatever the thing was where we made our

plans. And so this is the same thing in

plans. And so this is the same thing in whether it's a team or whether it's a sports team or it's a it's a company.

>> I heard this story about um NASA in the 1960s before we went to the moon. They

had this amazing leader and they're telling the story about how they knew he was amazing. And this one reporter sees

was amazing. And this one reporter sees a janitor uh mopping the floor at the NASA center and he goes, "Sir, what are you doing here?" and he goes, "I'm helping us get to the moon." And that

was like the best story ever because like they all knew the mission. Like we

all are playing a part in getting us to the moon.

>> Right. By the way, there's like such funny things that happened. Like uh one kid like came to practice like 10 minutes late and we're like, "Dude, you can't be late." And he was like um he's like, "Sorry, I was at work." And then

we look at his hands. His hands were covered in grease. Like he's a mechanic, I guess. He's like, "Our point guard's

I guess. He's like, "Our point guard's like a a mechanic." And then he comes to practice and like this other guy, you know, >> wait in high school he's is he >> does he have like jobs, you know?

>> Is his name Vinnie? Does he like >> this player named Vinnie? Yes.

>> [ __ ] a man.

>> Yeah, Vinnie's amazing. Um like Vi Vinnie. Yeah. So, so anyways, um there's

Vinnie. Yeah. So, so anyways, um there's all these little things where you're like, "Oh, you forgot what it's like to be first of all like a teenager, but secondly, you forgot like how much

of the basic habits have to be installed in somebody that will serve them not just here, but also like whatever they do, right? Cuz most of our guys are not

do, right? Cuz most of our guys are not going to be in the NBA, right? None of

them. So, it's how do I teach you something that's useful today for you on this team so we win and have fun, but that's like a master skill that's going to serve you in the future, right? I'm

not I'm not doing my Gordon Momb if I don't actually do both for them.

>> Do you think how much percentage of a difference will um so let's just say you're hypothetically let's say your team is a five out of 10 just average.

>> Yeah.

>> Good coaching what do you think that would change?

>> I think it I think good coaching can take a five out of 10 team to an eight >> which is great >> which is dramatic. Yeah. I think um in

my leadership position in my career, I think I've only been average and I've seen great and I've particularly love reading military books like about Navy Seals and stuff like that and I think I

get good examples of what a good leader looks like and I think that the the difference with all else being equal like I've read um like I think Jaco has this story about um he's got this book I

forget what it's called something leadership and he talks about the story about how they would during Buds or like you know the week where you become a seal, they have uh like six different groups of like eight guys carrying the

rafts on their back and they have to race and they assign leaders and all they do is they change the leaders after each race. And what they notice is that

each race. And what they notice is that the leader is determined determines whether the boat wins or not, not the other seven guys lifting the boat, >> right? And when I heard that example, I

>> right? And when I heard that example, I was like, I'm not that leader at this moment and I have to become one because I think the difference is not I think it's more than from a five to an eight.

I think it's potentially like almost a 10. I I just I just I just think that

10. I I just I just I just think that leadership is so important and it's just so challenging because it's one of these things where if you're like you and I, you think, oh, I'm charismatic. I'm

probably already good. I don't need to I don't need to learn. Like I can convince people to do stuff or I'm an idea guy.

my ideas are good. That's just not the case. Just like basketball, it's a

case. Just like basketball, it's a skill. Learning how to get teams to

skill. Learning how to get teams to operate effectively, it's a skill and I'm learning all of this like in real time and it's been very challenging.

I'll give you an example that we I took from the pod. So, I think you were on here, you were talking about company values. You're like, "Oh, at Hampton

values. You're like, "Oh, at Hampton we're trying to come up with our values." And you were saying like,

values." And you were saying like, "Here's what I think they're going to be." And then I was kind of pushing back

be." And then I was kind of pushing back like, "Yeah, I kind of expected it to be like this." And you were like, "Yes,

like this." And you were like, "Yes, okay, let me." And you were you were working through it. So, right after I got off the pod, I drive over to I grab my whistle and my clipboard and I drive

over to basketball practice. And when we get there, I was like, "Hey, it's the start of our season." So, I'm telling Danny, our coach, I was like, "Hey, I think we should install like the kind of two or three things that we hang our hat on. What are we what are we all about?"

on. What are we what are we all about?"

And they in sport, they called this like your your team's identity, right? So,

there was like all these famous teams that had a real identity. So, it' be like the Bad Boy Pistons. It was in the name. you already knew they were tough,

name. you already knew they were tough, they were mean, they had a nasty streak, and you could not push them around, right? They would push you around. They

right? They would push you around. They

were the bad boy Pistons. Uh, in the modern day, there's like um Heat culture is a big one. So, the Miami Heat are known to be this team where they do they they they hold a standard almost like

military. So, for example, they're the

military. So, for example, they're the only I think they're the only NBA team that that does this where you get tested on weight and body fat every single week

and you're either fined or you don't get to play if you are not keeping your like doesn't matter who you are. If you're

the star player, like you can't, you know, can't just coast by on your talent. And so, they demand and they

talent. And so, they demand and they demand it from day one. So, it's like by the time you show up to training camp, you need to already be in shape. You

don't come to training camp to get in shape. And that's just a known thing

shape. And that's just a known thing that that's their standard. And so it doesn't matter what what it was like where you played before. When you go there, you already know what they're all about. You've heard the stories. And so

about. You've heard the stories. And so

you got to buy in or you're going to be out. It's one way or the other. And so

out. It's one way or the other. And so

we so we so we go there and our first day, we do it all wrong. We're like,

"Okay, what do we, you know, it's all about playing hard. So, uh, effort.

Effort is going to be one of our things." So we tell them that at the

things." So we tell them that at the beginning. We tell them three values.

beginning. We tell them three values.

Well, effort's the first one. And then

we had two others. All right. Right. So,

so you get to the you get to the end of practice. Coach had to leave. Like the

practice. Coach had to leave. Like the

athletic director wanted to talk to him.

So he's like, "Coach Sean will uh uh we'll we'll we'll finish up the practice." And I'm like, "Me? That's me?

practice." And I'm like, "Me? That's me?

Wait, I'm I'm coach. I don't know. I

don't know what to do here. Uh okay, let me let me go ahead and help these guys out." So as we're finishing up, um I

out." So as we're finishing up, um I just huddle them up and I'm like, "All right, how did we do today on those?" We

started the practice saying, "We're going to be this is our IT team identity. These three words." And I was

identity. These three words." And I was like, "Who can give them to me? couldn't

they couldn't even remember, right? They

got one of the three. So, they got effort as the only one of the three that they remembered and they were like they wanted to remember. They just couldn't remember. This is it's like to your to

remember. This is it's like to your to your thing about repetition and reminder, right? Like it's super

reminder, right? Like it's super important. So, then I was like, "So,

important. So, then I was like, "So, how'd we do on effort?" And they were like, you know, some guy was like, you know, kind of like a nod with a shrug, like a pretty good. Another guy just

took his head no with no explanation.

Um, you know, another guy was like, "Yeah, it was good effort." And then I was like, "Oh, remember what I was telling Sam, which is like Facebook's value was move fast and break things."

It wasn't just like um it wasn't just like speed, which everybody could be, like, "Yeah, we're moving fast." It's

like, "No, no, no. Are you moving fast and like are you moving so fast you you're breaking things?" Cuz if you're not, then you're not even playing at our speed.

>> So what's yours? What was

>> So we So I was like, "Oh, if we just said the word is effort, then like some effort's fine, I guess." Kind pretty good. Effort's fine. Like, wait, guys,

good. Effort's fine. Like, wait, guys, what is it? Is it pretty good effort?

Whatever. And there's one kid on the team who always beats everybody in the sprints. He's not the most talented kid,

sprints. He's not the most talented kid, but he's he plays the hardest and then whenever we make them run, he always finishes first. His name's Max. And I

finishes first. His name's Max. And I

was like, "Oh, perfect." I go, "All right, we have a new standard. It's

called max effort." And I was like, "If you're not playing as hard," but like it's like a pun, right? But I was like, "If you're not playing as hard as Max, it's not effort. That's not That's not what we do. We play with max effort."

And so that's the only one of the three that stuck because it was like a campaign slogan and it like worked. You

know, it's like it is actually a bar you could pass fail whereas most of the other values were like yeah like we want to be really competitive. It's like all right we were kind of there's no pass fail you can't test it versus everybody

knows did I actually go at max effort today or not. It's like a very simple past fail. And so taking these things

past fail. And so taking these things from one you know from business and trying to apply it here has been very very interesting. Yeah, I think that we

very interesting. Yeah, I think that we we I think that we too often think about marketing to customers when we should be marketing to ourselves and our teams and

our families. So like, you know, this

our families. So like, you know, this sounds eye rolly, but my wife and I are like, should we have values for our family? Like what what should we because

family? Like what what should we because we're we're at the age now where our children are just now old enough where we're able to form traditions >> and we're like what traditions should we have? you know, what do we like want to

have? you know, what do we like want to teach them? And so I joke with my

teach them? And so I joke with my daughter where we do daily affirmations.

I say, um, repeat after me. I'm bold,

I'm tough, and I won't conform to anyone. That's like that's like her

anyone. That's like that's like her daily affirmations because clearly I care about like, you know, that type of stuff. But we had to sit down and we're

stuff. But we had to sit down and we're like, all right, well, what collectively should we care about so we can teach our kids? And also like what traditions can

kids? And also like what traditions can we have? And I was thinking, I was like,

we have? And I was thinking, I was like, well, I have these things. I have what I call my four Fs, family, fitness, finance, fun. And that's like the

finance, fun. And that's like the categories that I value or I weigh myself on. I need to have that for my

myself on. I need to have that for my family and I need to have that for other parts of myself. So if I'm being a weak leader, I need to come up with a cool phrase that I can remind myself

in times of like I want to revert back to, you know, old me in order to create change. This whole episode is about

change. This whole episode is about change. Uh and I think that something

change. Uh and I think that something these cute phrases, I'm telling you, I just dismissed them by calling them cute phrases. I'm trying to make myself feel

phrases. I'm trying to make myself feel better here, but they they work. They

works. They work so much. Um, at

Hampton, we have this thing called the three C's, commitment, cander, and confidentiality. And that and so we have

confidentiality. And that and so we have to repeat it. We have found roughly six times to our customer for them to understand and remember the three C's.

And so it all has to be in a memorable format.

>> So I was um kind of studying this last night. So I was like, how do you

night. So I was like, how do you actually do it? Cuz you said that, right? They need to be memorable. All

right? They need to be memorable. All

right, Sam, tell me how you make them memorable. Right. So, it's like uh you

memorable. Right. So, it's like uh you kind of like it should be there's a couple frameworks, right? Like, but like I'm not an expert on that. I don't think you're an expert on that. And we

actually care about this and we should be good at this. We're like actually pretty good at writing and pretty good at talking. It's kind of what we do for

at talking. It's kind of what we do for a living. And even we aren't like that

a living. And even we aren't like that far ahead. Okay. So, who is great at

far ahead. Okay. So, who is great at this? Who's who's in what group of

this? Who's who's in what group of people is amazing at this?

>> I don't know. Marketers. marketers. So,

the people who come up with specifically slogans right?

>> Yeah.

>> Um, another one that's like where where is it life or death? Where do you have to be great?

>> The military or police.

>> Military and politics. You got to get elected, right? And so, make America

elected, right? And so, make America great again, right? Okay. Okay. That's a

that's a that's a thing that if he repeated it a thousand times, but it was enough to to stick. It was polarizing.

It was interesting. It was repeatable.

It was like something you could get behind. So, I was studying this last

behind. So, I was studying this last night and there's this um phrase called a I don't even know how you pronounce

this. Kayasmus. C h i a mus. All right.

this. Kayasmus. C h i a mus. All right.

So, so here's an example of one. Sam, if

I said the following phrase, if I said um ask not what your country can do for you, what would you say next?

>> Ask what you could do for your country.

>> Exactly. And that's a kayasmus. It's

basically a sentence structure that is an earworm that I don't even know when when was that said. When was that phrase said? It was said like, you know, 50

said? It was said like, you know, 50 years ago or something like that.

>> JFK said it in like 1963, I think.

>> Yeah, exactly. So, this is, you know, more than 50 years ago. And yet, off the tip of our tongue, me and you can can say this phrase that was said before like 20 years before we were alive.

That's how powerful that phrase is.

Okay? And so what is that structure? And

it's basically this like if you break down the sentence, it's they say this abba structure. So the first part is

abba structure. So the first part is about asking, right? So ask not what your and then it's your country can do for you. That's the B.

for you. That's the B.

>> Then the B uh um you know then then you switch the order and basically ask what you can do for your country, right? So

you're going to switch the sentence structure and there there's these two like overall structures. there's like a um you know uh abba and then there's like a uh uh a uh sorry there's a abba

and then there's like a abab right or abba and so it's like there's two structures that you could use and so what you start to do is you start to find two phrases that individually are

valid okay so for example I don't know if you've seen that um podcast clip that goes viral where people where it's just people are like oh my god I hate

podcasts where there's that girl trying to motivational and she says, "Don't she's like, "Don't love your job. Job

your love."

>> Oh, yeah. And the blonde hair lady.

>> Yeah. And everyone's just like, "Ah, it's like the ultimate grown." And the reason why that kayasmus doesn't work is because job your love doesn't make any sense, right? Um, and so you have to

sense, right? Um, and so you have to find two two individual statements that make sense, like asking what your country can do for you and what you could do for your country. Both are

individually valid. Then you structure it this way and it becomes incredibly memorable. And if you go look at that

memorable. And if you go look at that JFK speech, there's like three of them that he does have that same structure in the in that one speech. If you go break that speech down.

>> Yeah. Here's another one. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.

>> Exactly. Kasmus. And these sound beautiful. They're very satisfying to

beautiful. They're very satisfying to the mind. And when you understand how

the mind. And when you understand how the mind works, you you see that the mind loves order. It loves structure. If

you look at how a why is a face a beautiful face? Symmetry, right? The

beautiful face? Symmetry, right? The

more perfect the symmetry of the face, the more more beautiful the face to people. Uh, another example of this, the

people. Uh, another example of this, the game Tetris. Why is the game Tetris so

game Tetris. Why is the game Tetris so addictive? Um, why are games like Candy

addictive? Um, why are games like Candy Crush and Tetris so addictive? Because

they actually uh like tap into this part of your brain that's almost this uh cleaning instinct. There's a mess and

cleaning instinct. There's a mess and then you put one block in the right place and it evaporates the mess. It

creates order out of disorder. And the

brain loves that. It's just wants to do it again and again and again. This is

the basis of of the game design of Candy Crush and Tetris. And so you you know the the brain likes what it likes. And

so if you want to you you know deciding to change your brain which is this like you know multi,000 years of evolution is very hard. But just changing the

very hard. But just changing the structure of how you speak so that you tap into what the brain likes and give it what it wants so that it does become memorable, it does become sticky and it has an effect is obviously the much

better way to go.

This is this is pretty profound. This is

um this is very fascinating. What did

you read to learn this >> when you said last night you said last night you said you were curious about this? Well, I started asking different

this? Well, I started asking different questions. So, I started asking you know

questions. So, I started asking you know I think I even said it earlier which was like whose life depends on this? So,

anytime I want to get good at something, I try to figure out who who for uh this is a nice to have for me. Who is it a mustave for? So, let's say you want to

mustave for? So, let's say you want to lose weight. You would go look at the

lose weight. You would go look at the bodybuilders training for a bodybuilding competition. If you want to know the

competition. If you want to know the logical extremes of how you get the maximum muscle and the lowest body fat, go watch what they do.

>> Yeah.

>> Who's whose next meal is dependent on getting this right?

>> Exactly. So, for example, right now I'm writing the book.

>> And I told uh Diego yesterday who's helping me, I go, you know, I we're doing this process where I write in the morning and then I do a bit of a showand tell with them and I kind of show them what I'm doing and then I get feedback.

But I'm like, the problem with our feedback is I want you to like it. So, I

want to show it to you and then but I also want your honest feedback cuz I want to make this better. You're trying

to be polite and not hurt my feelings cuz you see that I tried very hard this morning, but you're also trying to help me make it better. And those two things are at odds with each other. And I was like, so I was like, we don't even know

how to give feedback in this way that's like, look, I need to be able to share so that I can get this better, but I don't need my emotions to swing based on, yay, they liked it, I did a good

job. Oh, they didn't like it. I did a

job. Oh, they didn't like it. I did a bad job. It's like that's so lame and a

bad job. It's like that's so lame and a waste of energy. And on your end, you don't I don't need you having one part of your head saying, "How do I say this the right way?" Cuz I'm I want to be

nice and supportive versus like, "Hey, how can I tell you what I'm feeling?"

Or, you know, for giving feedback. So, I

was like, "This art of giving feedback on art on something that's subjective."

I was like, "I don't know how to do this and you don't know how to do this." who

who definitely has already solved this problem because it's a mustave for them.

So, I was like, "Oh, let's text like a couple of people who are comedians because like I was like, I think comedians have to figure out like, oh, is this funny or not?" And once I've heard the joke, once I've written the joke and looked at it 20 times, it's not funny to me anymore. I can't even tell.

I'm too lost in the sauce. And so, I was like, how do they do it? How do

musicians do this? How do they play a song and I was like, is this a good song? I can't tell. I kind of liked it,

song? I can't tell. I kind of liked it, but now I've heard it ts and I can't tell anymore if this is any good. How do

they get feedback? And so now we're going to go find the people. Well, this

is a new thing. I got to go find the people to like go learn from the people for whom this is a mustave.

>> That's actually um first of all, there's I keep talking to the listener today, but there's two or three takeaways. The

question of whose life depends on this.

That's a great question.

>> Uh and I'm very curious actually. I want

to know the answer >> because I I I create a little bit for a living. I want to know how you know if

living. I want to know how you know if something's hitting. If I had a guess

something's hitting. If I had a guess for a comedian, they would probably just say, "I perform it in small audiences and I suffer the pain of bombing, >> right?" Yeah. Then that might be it for

>> right?" Yeah. Then that might be it for them and it's like, "Oh, cool. So,

what's my version of open mic with 20 people and testing if it bombs? Can I do that in my world? Is there a way I could set that up?" Okay. Maybe if it's not that, how do musicians do this? And you

sort of start to figure out, well, how do they do that? How do they get feedback? What's the language there?

feedback? What's the language there?

Pixar, I think, wrote this book, Creativity, Inc., which is very like they talk about the brain trust that they have of how they show raw kind of like not even the movie but like a

single scene and how they created a dynamic of trust. There's actually a great story of uh when Disney bought Pixar. Pixar had been making hit after

Pixar. Pixar had been making hit after hit after hit and Disney animation had been just bombing for years and so they put the Pixar guys in charge and they were like great like we'll merge these

two companies and then we'll just start making hits like Pixar. Didn't they just like want to fire all the Disney people though?

>> No, no, no. I think what he did at the beginning, the the the main guy, Ed Catmo, they were like, "Oh, what a perfect AB test. What a perfect like, you know, randomized control test here."

So, what they did was they didn't blend the teams together. They didn't move them together. So, what they did was

them together. So, what they did was they kept the teams separate. And then

what he did was he basically took the Pixar method and he went and he taught it to the Disney folks. And he's

basically like, if we just took our process but not our people, could we make those same people who have been failing succeed? Kind of to your

failing succeed? Kind of to your question earlier of like how big of a lever is leadership, is coaching, like can it take a five and turn it into a 10? And they actually started creating

10? And they actually started creating hits once he taught them the process of of doing this. And for them, I think trust was like the underlying thing, which is like um if you don't have trust, you're not going to share your

work at the right times. You're not

going to be give real candid feedback.

you're not going to receive candid feedback in the right way because you distrust what's going on. You think your project's going to get killed if it's bad or you think this guy's going to come steal your thunder if uh you know if you let him and collaborate on it,

right? You you have all these fears that

right? You you have all these fears that are basically a lack of trust and once they installed their sort of like trust process, Disney animation started making hits too.

>> Well, and I think one of the um the other points from that book was he was like we have hit makers. He was like, "We got like these two or three people who are just typically more they're more

right more often than other people. We

listen to them." Like he did like a pretty fun funny thing about that. We

should um Okay, so for MFM we've done like a handful of challenges like the MFM uh fitness thing. We should do like a give back thing because tell me about I haven't like really given my time to

give uh to others which I don't know if you consider coaching. Is it like a you you rescued a dog, but you say the dog rescued you? Uh is it that type of thing

rescued you? Uh is it that type of thing like weird like you know you thought you thought that you were going to go and you know do it for these kids.

>> To be perfectly clear my choice was selfish. I wanted to do it. I thought it

selfish. I wanted to do it. I thought it would be fun and it is very fun and I do want to do it. So it's not like this like burden I'm I'm carrying. At the

same time, I had recently like in the last two years, I had given some money to charity and felt nothing. Like, so

maybe I did some good in the world. It's

hard to know. You know, you give the money and it just goes in a black box mostly and then, you know, hopefully something good hopefully someone's life got changed from that in some positive direction. But I don't know and I didn't

direction. But I don't know and I didn't feel anything. So, I didn't want to like

feel anything. So, I didn't want to like triple down on that. And my trainer has this great thing he says basically. He

always talks about he's like, "Oh man, he's like our economy. Our economy." And

I was like, "Why do you talk so much about the economy?" Like Jim Kramer.

Like what are you what are you talking about over here with okay, okay, you know, Powell, you know, what are you talking about interest rates and the economy? What what are you what are you

economy? What what are you what are you talking about? And he's like, no, like

talking about? And he's like, no, like he's like us. He's like me and you and my other clients and because he trains my mom and then my mom then they referred another person. He's like it's all like a web, right? And so he was

like I'm just talking about like our local economy. like he's like I want

local economy. like he's like I want that little economy to thrive local not like I don't care what's going on in the macro I want the local to thrive that's what I can affect and if that's thriving like that actually like improves the

lives of these people that I can see feel touch and if everybody was just doing that in their local little bubble then the big picture would take care of itself right I was like okay fair enough and he even like went further like again

like this sort of cute thing like he was like I was like so if the normal economy measures GDP gross dome gross domestic product. I was like, "What's the How do

product. I was like, "What's the How do you know if your economy is doing well?"

He's like, he's like, "Baby, smiles per hour, baby. Smiles per hour." He's like

hour, baby. Smiles per hour." He's like He's like, "I just want everybody to be smiling." He's like, "If I made you

smiling." He's like, "If I made you laugh and then you carried that vibe into the house with your wife next and with your kids and then they carried that into school." He's like, "That's how it works." Like, if you're making

people smile by whether it's your mood, it's doing something for them, it's thinking of them, it's having an experience together, that has this this carry-on effect. They take that smile

carry-on effect. They take that smile into the next interaction. That's how it spreads. So I started actually like

spreads. So I started actually like buying into this. I was like it is about your local economy. It is about some miles per hour. And so I was like what

do I do that is a kind of give back but not the way I did it last year where I put money in some black box into some multinational nonprofit and then it just disappeared and I I don't know what happened. I didn't feel anything. They I

happened. I didn't feel anything. They I

don't know what happened. And so the idea of like going to a local high school, taking an unpaid job and just going contributing my time, my talent, my effort, and affecting like a group of

12 guys, like that sounds small, but it feels very big. The other thing, solving world hunger felt sounded very big, but felt very small. Like there's no feeling. And so I don't know. I don't

feeling. And so I don't know. I don't

know if this is the right direction or wrong, but that's the one I've gone.

>> I don't I'm not charitable. Uh, I want to be, but I'm like a little bit I'm like I don't know how to be. I don't

want to just write a check to someone and not feel anything. I want to be selfish. I want to get value out of

selfish. I want to get value out of this. Just like a feeling. And so I

this. Just like a feeling. And so I talked to Do you know who Mike Beckham is? He started a simple modern.

is? He started a simple modern.

>> Yeah. The hugely successful uh water bottle company.

>> So he told me all the numbers and he told me I could share it. So he's worth $200 million because the company does something like 200 million a year in revenue and does 50 million a year in profit. His net worth because he owns

profit. His net worth because he owns half of it and then with the multiple he goes I'm probably worth this was last year I talked to him. So he said I'm worth probably $200 million and or he

said 190. And he said uh I have about uh

said 190. And he said uh I have about uh I think he said three or four million to my name but I pull $5 million out of the business every year and I take1 million

of it and I give away four. Uh you if you guys Google Mike Mike Mike Beckham uh Sam Par, you'll like see a post I wrote about it. So I I think I there's a chance I got the number slightly wrong, but basically he said I take something

like 5 million and I give the rest away.

Uh I I I my family spends 25,000 a month, so we take enough for us to spend minus taxes and I give, you know, 4 million or four and a half million dollars. I I give it away. And I was

dollars. I I give it away. And I was like, that's insane, man. Why do you do that? He's like, well, it's not generous

that? He's like, well, it's not generous to do this when I die because that's not hard for me. like it should be like some type of like challenge like this should feel like I should feel a little bit of pain.

>> But then he he said something really great. He said

great. He said >> the more that I give the less loud the greedy voice in my head becomes. So he's

like, I feel this like greediness in my this voice in my head that says make more money, buy more stuff, do this, but the more that I give, that becomes a whisper because I feel what it's like to give away this money and it feels

significantly better than the acquire a bigger home or another car. He was like, I drive a $30,000 CRV because I know that if I spent bought a $90,000 car, that's $60,000 less that I can give to

people and it makes me feel good to do that. And so his whole the whole point

that. And so his whole the whole point of him telling me this was he wanted to to to get me to like give now versus when you're old and or dead. And I

thought that that was very inspirational. It wasn't that

inspirational. It wasn't that inspirational cuz I haven't done it yet.

But but >> more admirable.

>> Yeah.

Inspirational.

>> Yeah. It inspired me like a you know like the Rocky movie like you know I should get into boxing one day.

>> Totally. But I did think it was uh really awesome.

>> You know, I've read this a few times on Twitter where somebody will say, "Oh, I started either micro doing or I started taking like, you know, ompic or whatever one of the other >> I've done all those things. You can just ask me."

ask me." >> Okay. So, so maybe you had this too, but

>> Okay. So, so maybe you had this too, but they talk about food noise, >> which was not a phrase I'd ever heard before. I don't know if that was is that

before. I don't know if that was is that common, but like they basically said the biggest change is not the weight loss, it's the I don't have food noise.

basically this like part of my brain this this chatter in my brain about the next meal or about should I have this or wanting this or >> let me give you an example >> like is this real

>> yes so like I have an addictive personality and I had addiction stuff before and tell me if you've ever experienced this you get a piece of dessert like a cake or something you eat

half of it you put the rest in the refrigerator you go lay in bed you lay in bed and you're like but it's still there >> and it's uneaten eaten. I think the fork that I use might still be in the sink. I

could probably just use that maybe.

Well, what I'll just go up and get a little bit of bite. And so, you go you get to bed and you eat one little bite, you put it back, and then I will do this seven times until it's gone. And then it goes away. And I say to myself this, I

goes away. And I say to myself this, I say, "Shit, well, I already did this. I

might as well eat this entire sleeve of Oreo cookies."

Oreo cookies." >> Right?

>> And before you notice, you've done 1,000 or 1500 calories of like binge eating, but it's all based on one urge. That is

the food voice. And when you take uh GLP1s, not only does that voice get dimmed, other addictions get dimmed. I

noticed I bit my nails less. I noticed I wasn't craving like it used to be where I would smell like beer. If I walked by like a brewery, I'd be like, "Let's let's go like and see what's up." Not

anymore.

>> What is up? When you go see what's up in that situation, >> you The secret is you should not go see what's up, but like you smell the hops and you're like, "Ooh, that's nice."

>> Right. Uh but yeah. So yeah, it it definitely turns it down.

>> So I wanted to ask you about this on the money the the the loudness of the money voice of the more voice in your head because a few podcasts ago we did an

episode I think the front half of it was about something sort of silly but the back half of it was us talking like we kind of mostly did today just like what's hard for us in life? What is

what's some of the wisdom that kind of helps? and just sort of like I don't

helps? and just sort of like I don't know trying to figure [ __ ] out loud right in front of a bunch of other people bunch of other strangers which is a little bit uncomfortable but you do it. Um and in that I mentioned this

it. Um and in that I mentioned this thing that had come up and I had a lot of friends who were basically like they have all this success and then they go start another company and it's like then

they stress out, lose some hair, gain some weight and try to build another company and I >> Well, you said the best phrase ever too.

Yeah, this is the phrase that a lot of people DM me afterwards, which is like you you've already earned the last dollar you will ever spend.

So why are you trading good hours for bad dollars now? And that's something that I had, you know, thought of for myself and when I saw others, but like, you know, that doesn't mean I'm like

immune to it either, right? Like I still am in the same boat. I think I have it to a lesser degree in the same way that like that food chatter you you were talking about like I got I that that

guy's got a megaphone in my head whereas I think for other people it's you know a little bit more like a whisper and so I I want to do two things. I want to ask you about the voice in your head and

then I want to tell you about a a Chad GPT coaching conversation I had about money. I kind of want to just read you

money. I kind of want to just read you what it what it said to me a little bit, but uh but first I want to ask you, you know, you you were also in that boat where I believe you have earned the last dollar you'll ever you'll ever spend.

You're a pretty frugal guy um in general, like you're not like Mike Tyson buying tigers. Um, you had a great exit

buying tigers. Um, you had a great exit with the hustle, and you have earned the last dollar all you'll ever spend, but here you are starting more companies,

maybe making some investments, and um, you know, every day you wake up and you take your life energy and you go to an office with other people, and you do this and and you could always talk about how like, you know, you like working and

the mission. There's I'm not saying it's

the mission. There's I'm not saying it's bad. That's not what I mean. I guess

bad. That's not what I mean. I guess

what I mean is how do you think about money and wanting more? Are you honest with yourself that you do want more? And

then how do you square that circle of like but I don't actually need more because I have already earned the last dollar I'll ever spend or do you not think that's true? So I just want to hear how you what's what's that chatter in your head? How loud is it and what is

the what does it say?

>> I think the okay so nothing is all or nothing or there's a priority of lists.

So the number one priority for me is like I just don't know what to do. like

I don't know how to spend time and when I spend time sitting around I feel like I'm missing out or I feel like I'm not contributing and that I that feels bad and yet when I spend all the time working some days I have bad days and

I'm like what am I doing I should be doing this other thing. So that exists but then the this well the the one right below that is um I'm not good enough and

I have to and my my self-worth is directly correlated to the success of the thing that I'm working on.

>> My self worth is my net worth basically.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You

could say that. Um and so like that that's probably through like years of trauma and like believing something and but it's hard to break. Um and then the

last thing is like more money does feel good. Yeah, it definitely feels good.

good. Yeah, it definitely feels good.

And what I have to do I do math all the time where I'm like I don't need more.

Everything that I want I have. But I

can't break that. I guess I guess if you wanted to be like a a a therapist or a psychologist, you would say like the reason you don't want to change is or the reason you don't change is because you don't want to.

>> You know, you you like how it feels.

>> Do you like how it feels?

>> I love when things go well at my company, I do feel on top of the world.

The problem with building companies is you typically only feel like that 10% of the time.

>> Uh you know, like things are bad most effective way to get that feeling.

>> Yeah. So I say I don't gamble. I don't

do drugs and alcohol and instead this is like um a dopamine uh slot machine.

>> Yeah.

>> Okay.

>> So, it's like do you like being addicted to gambling? You say no, but when you

to gambling? You say no, but when you win it's so amazing that it makes you >> but at least it's not heroin is what you kind of just >> Yeah. And then I also justify it by

>> Yeah. And then I also justify it by saying, and this is a bad justification, and I and I'll prove it to you, but you say, um, I want to you say, I I'll go ahead and do the work for you. You say

to yourself, you say, uh, well, I I don't want my kids to just see me sitting around, and I want them to see me working really hard, and I want to set a good example, but then, um, they probably would rather be with you.

>> Yeah. They want to see me.

>> Yeah. And, uh, and I don't I think I do good. Like, I I I go to the office from

good. Like, I I I go to the office from 9:00 to 4, 9 to5. Um, but then I also say I'm doing this for them. And it's

like, what is this? What what you know, like what is this for them? How does

that make sense? You know, do they they don't need anything physical? Uh, they

don't, you know, they don't what do they need that I can't give them already?

>> Right. Yeah. Is uh is 50hour weeks the the most effective way to just give them the general principle that you should work hard at things? Yeah. Like that

might not be the most efficient route to that to that answer. Okay. So, I wrote down three things. I wrote down imagination which I think is the first part uh the first one you said which is I don't know what else I kind of don't know what else to do I want to do

something and like I don't want to do nothing therefore I do this thing and I think about that a lot I think that um Sulie came on the podcast a while back

and he said something where he goes >> sulie being your good buddy who is presumably worth hundreds of millions of dollars is one of the more successful entrepreneurs we know

>> correct he's my he's my great friend but he's also the guy who I respect and trust the most when it comes to entrepreneurship and like kind of business

>> like strategy. Yeah.

>> And I've met a lot of people wealthier than him, but he consistently is the highest signal, best judgment person and like you know just the way he way he approaches in a tax business, he's just

like like such a winner. Okay, so uh he came on the pod and he goes, "I used to think I was limited by some lack of resource like I maybe I didn't have a skill I needed. I needed to learn how to

code. Maybe I didn't have enough money.

code. Maybe I didn't have enough money.

Maybe I didn't have enough time. Like

basically, he's like, I always just thought, you know, I didn't have the network. I didn't know people. Like, I

network. I didn't know people. Like, I

just assumed I lacked some resource. And

he goes, now I realized that all I ever lacked was basically imagination. He's

like, I the thing I lacked the most was even figuring out what to want, what the possibilities were of what I could do, and how I might be able to go do those things. That sounds kind of like

things. That sounds kind of like handwavy, I guess, but the more smart people I meet and it's almost like the bigger that side of your brain gets

where it's like I am analytical. I am

good at making plans and then executing them and operating and like the the better you are at that, the less I've I've noticed they're disproportionately

bad at imagination. And so, for example, it's like, you know, kind of don't know what else to do with my hands. That's

kind of what you said. There's a lot of things. There's actually a ton of

things. There's actually a ton of things, right? Like, and the stupid

things, right? Like, and the stupid example I gave earlier, and this wouldn't be the right thing for you, but it was the right thing for me, which is like, well, what if you instead of going and chasing down the next investment or

starting another company and I got a bunch of deals and I got a bunch of ideas like the the right thing, the thing that was fulfilling was, hey, what if you took four months, one season, and you just coached high school basketball team? That was actually the right answer

team? That was actually the right answer for me, which totally out of left field.

Doesn't even make sense. It wouldn't be the right answer for other people, but it's the thing that like totally fills my cup in a way that another business that was successful would never do.

>> Yeah. But I think that you're not or maybe you are, but it's way harder than you think. Or not than you think, but

you think. Or not than you think, but figurative view. I think like that

figurative view. I think like that imagination game is quite challenging.

Like for example, if you said you have a billion dollars today, what do you want to do? I'm like, I don't have an answer.

to do? I'm like, I don't have an answer.

We might get flamed through the comments here. All we're talking about is like

here. All we're talking about is like this uh I call it second mountain problems but whatever. I was thinking about the I was like why do I want all these employee like so we're moving to a new office down the street and uh we

just signed this lease. It's a million- dollar lease so over 3 years it's going to be a million dollars and we're building out this office whatever. It's

a lot of money. I've never done this before. And I was like why why am I

before. And I was like why why am I doing this? And I was like I just I

doing this? And I was like I just I think maybe I'm lying to myself again. I

was like I care about capabilities. So,

what I hate is that you have an idea.

So, like how often do you have an idea for like a small project and you're like, "Uh, now I got to go get the people and then I got to like train the people and I don't think they're going to be any good." Like all the time.

Yeah.

>> And I was listening to Ari Emanuel talk and he was like, "We have this thing and this thing and this thing and I was like, "How cool is it that your company and you have all these capabilities? You

have an idea. You like wouldn't it be cool if this existed in the world?" And

it's not just a business idea for him. I

think he cares about like the show. It's

like wouldn't it feel awesome if like at the UFC we did blank or we bought all these turn tour turn tour turn tour turn tour turn tour turn tour turn tour turn tour turn tour turn tour turn tennis tournaments and we offered food at a discount you I don't know and I love the

idea of having lots and lots of capabilities and I think that's why business building is fun yeah I have that right now actually I forgot to say this but the one of the things I've been talking about for a

while on here but have not executed right like the walk hasn't matched the talk is I had this realization that that Video is the language of the internet.

It's like if if the internet was a country and it'd be it would be the most important country in the world, it'd be more powerful of a country than America.

Um, so it's like a place where you live and you spend time. I think the internet is that people live and spend a lot of time online. And then you say, "All

time online. And then you say, "All right, well, do you speak the native tongue?" Cuz if you don't, you know, if

tongue?" Cuz if you don't, you know, if if you come to America, but you don't speak English, you're putting yourself at a pretty massive disadvantage.

And I believe that video is the language of the internet. It's how people communicate online whether it's long form like this on YouTube or it's short form which is growing growing more and

more popular across you know YouTube shorts reals Tik Toks etc. It is the way people communicate information and if you don't have the capability to communicate and tell your story um or

connect with others that way you know you're just not speaking the important language of the important country. In

fact, like it doesn't really matter where you were born or what you were doing or how hard you worked. Pretty

much if you were born anywhere in the world, the best decision you could make for your like life quality and upward mobility was to move to America and learn English. Even if that meant

learn English. Even if that meant starting at the bottom, even if that meant being uncomfortable, like in the long term, it was short-term pain, but in the long term, that was the best thing you could do. And it would there was no amount of hard work you could do

in Somalia that was going to make up for that one decision. Dude, is this the most charismatic and epic way just to say you're going to start posting on Instagram?

>> Yeah.

I'm going to start posting on Instagram.

>> Can I not just sell your ass on the fact that I'm posting on Instagram?

>> Dude, imagine imagine your wife at the dinner table like telling this story. Like listen

year years ago our grandparents lived in India. The the best thing they could

India. The the best thing they could have done is learning English.

Now here we are today the year 2025.

Sean, are you going to start posting on Instagram?

>> Yeah, exactly.

In fact, I'm going to start specifically just post posting a story series about the coaching thing I'm doing. So

basically like day one, you know, basically like every week I'm just gonna post like a thing that I sent you.

>> Dude, that was a good video. Do you get inspired by Marshall?

>> No, not Marshall. There's uh actually these young guys who are doing this.

They're there's this format where >> Airbnb, >> the Airbnb guy, >> and the bar guy.

>> His name I think is Rajan. I don't I don't know exactly what his first name is. His handle is something. But they're

is. His handle is something. But they're

building like a luxury Airbnb in in Virginia. There's a guy who's bought an

Virginia. There's a guy who's bought an old bowling alley and he's rehabbing it.

It's basically like, yo, I'm doing a project for shits and giggles and like I want to make it happen and I'm kind of new to this. I I don't have it all figured out, but I'm going to share as I go. And I just like the format and I

go. And I just like the format and I think it's fun and I want to do it specifically on something that's not business. Like it's very hard for me to

business. Like it's very hard for me to get motivated to be like, "And now I'm going to give you business guru content." And even if I like like

content." And even if I like like business, it's just very hard for me to sit in front of the camera and do talking head content about business or um about myself or about uh you know

some new SAS company. But I was like this one I would want to follow. So I'm

going to make this content. And so I'm going to make like a coach account. It's

going to be like coach Sean or Coach P or something. I'll put the link in the

or something. I'll put the link in the in the Instagram but uh or in the comments of this or I'll put it on the screen. Uh but I want people to follow

screen. Uh but I want people to follow it because I'm going to post videos on here and I think they'll be great.

>> That's so funny. I've been uh doing the Instagram thing. It's pretty fun because

Instagram thing. It's pretty fun because you start like trying to It's basically cuz we're the old guys now. It's sort of like when people wanted to start newsletters or something and it was

like, "Dude, you're writing way too like tight. You got to be a little loosey

tight. You got to be a little loosey goosey."

goosey." >> I've done the same thing on Instagram where I start talking to the camera and I like get official. It you're going to you're going to have fun. It's uh it's very intimidating.

>> Pop those two buttons down.

>> Dude, it's so intimidating. We have, if you go to my thing, I start I do all of our videos now where I'm holding a spatula as a microphone cuz we had to like have fun and like >> of you.

>> Yeah. And it totally >> million dollar Manhattan office.

>> Hey fellow kids.

>> Yeah, exactly. Um,

it's so funny that you say that. Your

content is pretty good though. The

problem with it though, uh, you know, the problem with all social media, like being like, I'm going to try to like post good short form content is it's basically saying, I'm going to go to the

bar and not get drunk cuz it's so easy for your mind to get wrapped up in the vortex of like, how many likes did that, how many views did that get? Is that

good? Is that bad? And so I I don't even know physically if even knowing that, like, you know, I don't know if it's physically possible to go in and not want that. So, I could easily see myself

want that. So, I could easily see myself aborting that, you know, that process 6 months from now. Even though in this case it's like I'm doing it for just this basketball season, which is just three months and it's only content about

this random side quest that I'm on. Um,

it's not like, you know, here's my personal IG. I'm going to create short

personal IG. I'm going to create short form content every day.

>> But let me tell you something I've been telling myself and it's been helping so much. So, a few things. One, the

much. So, a few things. One, the

algorithm is so good right now on Meta that the right people see the right stuff. Like, I'm pretty sure that the

stuff. Like, I'm pretty sure that the camera knows like what I'm wearing and what my background looks like, what I look like. Like, I posted a

look like. Like, I posted a skateboarding video. It knows that I'm

skateboarding video. It knows that I'm like doing a skateboarding thing. It

shows it to the right people somehow. I

don't know how it does it. this. And the

second thing is that I have noticed I've only been doing this for a handful of weeks now and I'm going to be doing a lot more, but people text me when something hits. And I that is so much

something hits. And I that is so much more cool than the number of likes or the comments on the thing. It's just

those texts. And the cool thing is once you have a business, which in this case, you're actually probably not going to be doing it for a business. You don't need that many people to watch it. And like

I'm seeing it's it's changing our like we're getting customers. I've made a lot of money off of it already in a very short amount of time with very few views. I think my most popular thing is

views. I think my most popular thing is getting like 70 or 80,000 views. It's

not a lot for Instagram and the right people is are are shown the right stuff and you don't need that much to make it cool. There is something weird about

cool. There is something weird about like Instagram right now and I know that like any 21year-old listening to this is like >> yeah duh >> duh. Uh but as like if you are above 30

>> duh. Uh but as like if you are above 30 or whatever and you grew up with this stuff the I've never posted on Instagram up until recently. The algorithm is way different than what I used to think it was.

>> That's cool. Um, yeah, makes it makes a ton of sense. I I think you're doing a good job. I think the spatula trick is a

good job. I think the spatula trick is a good trick. I like that. Um, everybody's

good trick. I like that. Um, everybody's

got to have a stick. That's yours.

You're the spatula guy.

>> Great.

That's where we thought we'd land in life.

>> I mean, write that in my diary.

>> I mean, have you ever had the thought like, what did your grandfather do?

Dude, when I think about my grandfather, I think if I was him right now, I'd have like, you know, 18 confirmed kills under my belt in the world in World War II in an ammunition's factory in India.

>> Yeah.

>> Okay. So, that was my grandfather. His

thought, his idea of what work is.

>> And you're talking to a microphone with a sheep on it that says, "Sorry I'm late."

late." >> Yeah. My shirt literally says, "Sorry,

>> Yeah. My shirt literally says, "Sorry, I'm late. I was dillydallying.

I'm late. I was dillydallying.

That's what I wore to work today." Dude,

your grandpa had lost three fingers before the age of 28.

>> I was like, Ari, is this shirt too wrinkly right before the butt? And she's

like, I think it fits what it says. It's

like, oh yeah, yeah, that's true. Um, so

but just this a kind of mind-bending thing right?

>> My grandpa was a sheriff, was a he was a cop.

>> Okay. So, a job that like you can buy an action figure for.

>> Yeah.

>> Right. like soldiers, policemen, like you know the factory worker, construction, doing a real thing that like the world critically needs that's hard and completely unglamorous. And

then I think about, okay, his son, what did his son do? My dad. And it's like he sat in a cubicle, like an office, >> like not a factory. It's like, well, what does he do? It's like well he types

on this computer mostly and he like wears a suit not like a construction for wears this like fancy suit for some reason and he will sometimes fly on an

airplane to go meet with somebody shake their hand talk to them for a while come back home and do a so he does these like business meetings okay that's what I grew up and that's my so to my grandfather what my dad did kind of

looked and seemed like a little bit of a joke and now my dad looks at me and he's like you're wearing wearing a shirt with a sheep on. It says Abdilly Dalling.

You're talking to your friend on this tiny screen. You're podcasting to who?

tiny screen. You're podcasting to who?

What? What is a podcast? Do you make You can make like I'll still go to family gatherings and they'll be like, "So, how do how do you earn money though?" I'm

like, "Uh, I don't know. How do I explain this ads?" Um, and they're like, "But where and how?"

I'm like, "Have I told you about HubSpot?"

HubSpot?" And so, my uncle has a CRM. I don't know why but um but but to them what we do which

is like yeah you're talking with a spatula to a cell phone to strangers so that they can join so that that will so that.1% of them will go spend 10 grand

that.1% of them will go spend 10 grand joining your membership community you know like it's like what is this and then you think about like what your kids are going to do it's going to be completely unrecognizable work is going

to be unrecognizable from one generation to the next is what I'm realizing And I feel like such a [ __ ] [ __ ] doing it.

>> Like our kids are just going to be like live streamers, right? Like you know those like you know that girl who was like as comments were coming in she'd be like woohoo cowboy. Every time somebody got one that gift it's like that's what our kids are going to do. Something that

seems even worse or it's going to be like you know yeah I'm I'm a AI therapist. It's like what do you mean?

therapist. It's like what do you mean?

It's like well I sort of I talk to AIs to make them feel better. It's like what what is that? Is that a job? I think

about your mom all the time.

>> Well, inappropriate.

>> Well, it could go either way. I think

about your mom coming to America all the time because I think about how cuz the way you told the story was really good.

And I like I saw myself in her situation of like not having a lot, being on a plane for the first time, coming to America, where we didn't speak anything.

You just dropped off in Berkeley, I think it was. And like you're like, what do I do? And like I I I felt a little not even close, but sort of like that when I moved to San Francisco, but on a much smaller scale. And I think um I

think about her all the time and I think about like immigrants and stuff like that who like come here with nothing and I'm like and I'm complaining about this.

I'm complaining that my apartment that's already huge isn't big enough and I want more and I'm sad about it and I'm going to pay a therapist money where they could hear me complain about this. What

>> the idea of a therapist is like someone you pay money to complain to.

It's so funny. Like I just think about that. I'm like, how ridiculous is this?

that. I'm like, how ridiculous is this?

>> Yeah.

>> Sako or Sako Jia carried her three-month old kid across America for 2 years. For

two years, she carried that kid in a piece of leather.

>> Yeah. But the car at the place only had forward facing car seats.

>> And I need four strollers.

She carried him in a leather sack without diapers.

I think about that all the time. I think

about this stuff like on a regular basis. How soft are we?

basis. How soft are we?

>> It's so funny because you know what what's that famous uh like Ern Shakford like you know the journey will be hard, people will die like that job posting.

What's that famous thing?

>> Yeah. So Ernest Shackleton honestly the greatest book I've ever read. I

>> I think I said his first name like he's a like Ernie from Sesame Street and then I called him Shackleford. What's his

name?

>> Shackleton is his name, right? Or

Shackleford. But whatever. He's just

like the hardest dude of all time. the

book uh endurance probably honestly might be the top three books I've read of all time. Uh the story is basically in the early 1900s when he was just in

like a ship without you know uh power sails around to the bottom of the Arctic or Antarctica I forget which one. The

ship gets like so deep into the cold that the lake or the water the ocean freezes around it and he walks for three months to get to like the tip of Brazil.

>> So here's the job ad.

>> No one died.

>> Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return, doubtful, honor and recognition

in event of success. Ernest Shackleton

for Burlington Street. That's the job.

That's the job posting, >> dude. Such a good book.

>> dude. Such a good book.

>> Our job.

>> Wanted cardboard box cutter. Lots of

Amazon packages. It's getting a little bit unwieldy in the laundry room. Take

off your shoes when you enter. Please

bring own box cutter. Don't have tools.

>> Softer than cream cheese, man. I'm so

soft. I pride myself in trying to be hard and it is there is no pride there.

It's >> like why do I smell like chives? Oh,

softer than cream cheese. Maybe that's

why this is ridiculous.

>> All right, so we started off talking about Dear Diary, >> dude. The softest ent the softest

>> dude. The softest ent the softest >> softest entrance softest exit you'll find in podcasting history.

>> That's the episode. That's the pod.