Dan Martell - 20 Things I Quit to Simplify My Life

00:00:00.080 Stop lying to yourself.

00:00:01.740 I'm gonna share with you 20 things that I quit

00:00:03.820 to simplify my life, to focus on what actually matters.

00:00:06.900 Because when kids come up to me

00:00:08.020 and I'm driving one of my supercars,

00:00:09.500 they always ask me, hey man, what do you do?

00:00:12.080 And I always say the same thing.

00:00:13.360 It's not what I do, it's what I don't do.

00:00:15.740 Starting with the first thing I quit,

00:00:17.180 trying to separate work and life.

00:00:19.660 For me, I integrate both things.

00:00:21.500 I don't wanna make it separate.

00:00:23.020 I want my family to be around when I'm working.

00:00:25.160 I want my workmates to be around when I'm playing.

00:00:27.420 I just realized if I'm gonna travel the world

00:00:29.560 and try to live life to the fullest,

00:00:32.080 then everybody is gonna be part of that life.

00:00:34.000 I don't keep them separate.

00:00:35.000 The second thing I quit is eating because of my emotions.

00:00:37.300 If you can't control what you put in your mouth,

00:00:40.300 trust me, it will affect your confidence

00:00:42.360 because confidence is a byproduct

00:00:44.020 of keeping the commitments you make to yourself in private

00:00:46.360 and you know what you should be eating.

00:00:48.100 The third is caring what other people think.

00:00:50.880 When I look at my life and the pain I've gone through

00:00:53.340 and realizing that if I made decisions

00:00:55.860 based on what other people thought I should do,

00:00:58.600 guess who wasn't there when I was in pain?

00:01:00.800 And if they haven't done the thing that I wanna do

00:01:03.100 and I care about their opinion

00:01:04.460 and I use that to make decisions,

00:01:06.640 now I'm living somebody else's life.

00:01:09.160 When I take my last breath,

00:01:10.500 I wanna know that I live my life.

00:01:12.120 The fourth thing I quit is thinking short-term

00:01:14.300 instead of long-term.

00:01:16.020 If you want to build a life, it's gonna take time.

00:01:19.040 If you wanna be successful, it's gonna take time.

00:01:21.400 If you try to take shortcuts, guess what?

00:01:23.340 It'll burn you every time.

00:01:25.000 Investing in long-term decisions

00:01:26.600 with long-term people playing long-term games

00:01:28.920 is how you win in life.

00:01:30.100 Number five is having a rigid morning routine.

00:01:32.480 It's kind of crazy because I always ask people

00:01:34.140 that have like the 37-hour, 17-step morning routine.

00:01:38.340 What if you don't have it?

00:01:40.180 Does that mean like the rest of your day is shot?

00:01:42.340 You can't enjoy yourself?

00:01:43.800 My whole thing is being fluid.

00:01:45.560 There's key things that I do

00:01:47.180 that takes literally minutes to reset and center.

00:01:50.560 Other than that, those are just bonuses

00:01:52.480 not required for me to have a great day.

00:01:54.340 Number six is canceling meetings last minute.

00:01:57.540 I used to think it was okay to reschedule,

00:01:59.520 reset and push things off.

00:02:01.080 The problem was, is I was telling myself

00:02:02.660 that my priorities weren't important.

00:02:04.680 And guess what?

00:02:05.360 Other people don't wanna work with people

00:02:07.320 they can't depend on.

00:02:08.460 And every time I let my feelings or my mood

00:02:10.840 affect where I showed up or how I performed,

00:02:13.220 it bit me in the butt.

00:02:14.220 Number seven is having notifications on my phone.

00:02:16.760 This device is a professional distractor device.

00:02:19.600 And if you allow it to bug you, to vibrate,

00:02:22.500 to ring, to ding, you will not be able to get into flow state. You won't be able to do the work.

00:02:27.940 The biggest thing robbing you from focus is the distraction that comes from this little device.

00:02:33.360 Number eight is having lots of meetings. What I thought was productive was literally a distraction

00:02:38.760 and allowing people to take my calendar and make me busy and then not having the time to actually

00:02:43.800 think, did you know there's only one or two really important decisions you have to make every day?

00:02:47.520 And if you don't have the space to actually think about those decisions, then you'll just

00:02:51.200 bogged down by being busy but not moving forward there's a massive difference between busy people

00:02:56.080 and productive people and being in meetings all day is just giving you permission to avoid the

00:03:00.480 real big decisions number nine is trying to remember every freaking detail i gotta tell you

00:03:05.200 my dad used to ask me all the time like hey dan what about this part of the business that part

00:03:08.400 of business and i was like dad i don't know and guess what i got okay with that because the need

00:03:13.120 to remember everything is going to cause you from actually focusing on the things that are important

00:03:17.680 can i get the answer yes do i need to remember and memorize everything no create the space in

00:03:22.800 your brain to be able to make better decisions number 10 alcohol partying or honestly any vice

00:03:28.720 when i looked at my life i realized that success is not about adding a bunch of stuff it's actually

00:03:34.320 about taking things away and the more i subtracted i added to my life i know that your next level is

00:03:40.960 on the other side of you actually giving something up you might not want to hear this you might think

00:03:44.960 think it's okay to vape. You might think it's okay to gamble. You might think it's okay to play video

00:03:48.560 games. I know that you know that next level is going to require you to kill that devil. Number

00:03:52.580 11 is answering random phone calls. Did you know in your phone, you can, there's a setting, there's

00:03:57.760 a toggle. It says any unknown number, send immediately to voicemail. That's a pro move,

00:04:02.800 but I just stopped answering my phone. Why? If I made a commitment to get something done,

00:04:07.540 that thing has to get done. If somebody else wants my time, they can wait until I'm done.

00:04:11.580 I just write down their name and call them back when I'm finished. Number 12, trying to finish

00:04:16.700 every book that I started. It's so funny how some people are like, did you finish the book? Did you

00:04:21.920 read that book? I might've read the first chapter, maybe the third chapter. If it was good, I got to

00:04:26.200 the fifth chapter. Every once in a while, a book's going to keep my attention to the very end.

00:04:30.740 I don't need to read the whole book. I'm just looking for one thing that I think can change

00:04:34.520 my whole perspective, one nugget, one idea that'll give me something to move forward with.

00:04:39.100 Once I got that, I might close the book,

00:04:40.960 put it down and never visit it again and that's okay.

00:04:43.420 Number 13, multitasking in general.

00:04:45.980 See, most people think they can multitask is actually fake.

00:04:48.740 It's a focus tasking.

00:04:50.320 So you go one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,

00:04:52.840 eight, nine, 10, try to go A, B, C, D, E, F, G.

00:04:55.480 Now go one, A, two, B, three, C.

00:04:58.520 See how much slower it is?

00:04:59.940 Your multitasking is actually fake.

00:05:02.300 Lock and load, focus and get the thing done

00:05:04.480 before trying to do too many things at once.

00:05:06.120 Number 14, spending time with people that suck my energy.

00:05:09.840 I had to get really honest and it was hard

00:05:12.020 because I was scared I was gonna piss people off

00:05:13.560 to start choosing folks that when I spent time with them,

00:05:16.880 when I talked to them, they gave me energy.

00:05:19.160 They made me feel good about myself.

00:05:20.860 Like it's so crazy how it could be family members

00:05:23.120 and friends, but it could also be people

00:05:25.040 you used to look up to that all of a sudden

00:05:27.420 start criticizing because you're making more progress

00:05:29.840 than them.

00:05:30.520 You need to protect your energy and do a friendventory

00:05:33.340 and get rid of those energy vampires.

00:05:35.500 Number 15, trying to make everybody happy.

00:05:37.980 Here's what I learned.

00:05:38.880 Their reality is their reality.

00:05:40.940 I'm not responsible for the reality

00:05:42.900 they found themselves in.

00:05:44.220 And I have no problem realizing some of my decisions

00:05:46.820 may not make them happy.

00:05:48.580 But if I know I'm doing them with the right intention,

00:05:50.740 then that's on them to figure out their own story.

00:05:53.280 Number 16, staying up late at night.

00:05:55.500 I gotta tell you, I turn into a pumpkin at 9 p.m.

00:05:58.200 and I'm okay with it.

00:05:59.180 Last night I had a big dinner

00:06:00.340 and I told everybody before I showed up,

00:06:02.280 hey, if it goes late, that's cool,

00:06:04.100 but I'm going to peace out. And I did. Why? I'd rather upset a few people by going to bed early

00:06:09.860 so that I have my mornings and I'm not groggy and tired. Because when I think of my life,

00:06:14.020 I want to be focused. I care about my energy in the morning. I'm not going to ruin that by

00:06:17.960 staying up late because somebody's got some social hour thing they want to do. What's funny is most

00:06:21.740 people have an alarm that goes off to wake them up. I have an alarm that goes off to tell me to

00:06:25.340 go to bed. Number 17, blaming other people. If you realize that your whole life, your situation,

00:06:31.680 everything is 100% your fault

00:06:33.740 and you are accountable for your creation,

00:06:36.360 you will give yourself power.

00:06:37.880 I don't wanna give somebody else the power on my life.

00:06:40.420 Number 18, saying yes to everyone.

00:06:43.080 Here's what's crazy, is the more you grow,

00:06:45.660 the more people will want to ask you for things.

00:06:48.120 The more you expand who you are and better your life,

00:06:51.440 people will wanna take some of your time.

00:06:53.700 Learning to say no is the key.

00:06:55.680 Saying yes to everybody will only lead you disappointed.

00:06:58.520 So here's my philosophy.

00:06:59.900 Sometimes we have to say no today to other people

00:07:02.800 to say yes to the goals that we plan for ourselves.

00:07:05.220 Number 19, overthinking every damn decision.

00:07:09.680 I had a mentor of mine say to me once,

00:07:11.240 he said, the point of leadership

00:07:12.700 is making decisions with imperfect data.

00:07:15.900 If you got 70% of what you need to know, decide.

00:07:19.960 Don't get stuck in the analysis paralysis.

00:07:22.360 Most people are worried about making the right decision.

00:07:24.780 I'm about making a decision

00:07:26.480 and figuring out how to make it right.

00:07:27.980 number 20 was stop comparing myself to other people the thing you actually may be inspired

00:07:33.260 by me for is being me a hundred percent me the most unique thing that you can do is be you so

00:07:38.300 here's the deal you didn't live somebody else's life i don't have other people's bodies i don't

00:07:42.700 have their brains i have me the only person i compare myself to is me from yesterday if you do

00:07:49.340 that you will live a life that is uniquely yours so now if you want to be 99 more productive than

00:07:56.060 anybody else click the video and I'll see you on the other side.

Dan Martell - June 13, 2025

20 Things I Quit to Simplify My Life

Episode Stats

Length

Words per Minute

Word Count

Sentence Count

Misogynist Sentences

Hate Speech Sentences

Summary

Transcript