Dan Martell - December 30, 2025


I'm 46. Here's 7 Cheat Codes I Wish I Knew in my 20s


Episode Stats


Length

17 minutes

Words per minute

199.40504

Word count

3,575

Sentence count

202

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Toxicity

10

sentences flagged

Hate speech

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

7 Cheat codes that took me from a broke addict straight out of rehab in my teens to becoming a multi-millionaire in my 20s and today running a portfolio of companies that generates over $100M a year. They're the same cheat codes that I used to build my dream life where I speak on stages like Tony Robbins, fly around on my own jet and mentor thousands of entrepreneurs around the world.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 I'm going to share with you seven cheat codes that took me from a broke addict straight out
00:00:03.860 of rehab in my teens to becoming a multi-millionaire in my 20s and today running a portfolio of
00:00:09.460 companies that generates over $100 million a year. They're the same cheat codes that I use
00:00:13.940 to build my dream life, where I speak on stages like Tony Robbins, fly around on my own jet and
00:00:18.900 mentor thousands of entrepreneurs around the world. And from all those experiences, I can tell
00:00:23.260 you success is hard, but it shouldn't be. That's why you need these cheat codes to make success
00:00:29.720 easier so let's get into it starting with cheat code number one talk about people behind their
00:00:35.560 back now hear me out i believe if somebody's name comes up when they're not around you should give
00:00:42.440 them praise you should give them a compliment you should talk positively about them because here's
00:00:47.400 the thing if you say that and the person you're talking to then later talks to that person and
00:00:53.480 says hey i was with dan the other day and he said that you're one of the few people in the world that
00:00:57.480 that truly understands Facebook ads.
00:00:59.180 That goes a massive long way.
00:01:01.680 Here's how I learned this.
00:01:03.040 I would spend time with people
00:01:04.880 and some people would talk about other people
00:01:07.260 and other folks would praise other people
00:01:09.000 when they weren't around.
00:01:09.840 And I just thought to myself, 0.99
00:01:11.280 the ones that are talking crap, 0.99
00:01:12.760 I worry, are they gonna talk about me 0.99
00:01:14.680 when I'm not around that way?
00:01:16.180 But the people that are always positive,
00:01:18.080 I'm like, man, I wonder what they say about me
00:01:20.160 when I'm not around.
00:01:21.060 So I just decided I will always praise folks
00:01:24.180 when they're not around.
00:01:25.000 I just think it's a great way to live.
00:01:26.520 I really wanna give you a tactical approach to doing this
00:01:30.640 because the truth is most people give compliments.
00:01:33.780 But here's how you give a great compliment.
00:01:35.920 The first thing is you have to be genuine, right?
00:01:38.720 Obvious, I know, but just don't lie.
00:01:40.980 I always ask myself, what is on my heart
00:01:43.060 that I actually wanna say about that person?
00:01:45.840 And that's what comes out.
00:01:46.720 The other one is make it specific.
00:01:49.560 Say something detailed.
00:01:51.040 Saying great person, not detailed.
00:01:53.360 You wanna try to find something that's obscure.
00:01:55.640 again, genuine, that comes to your mind
00:01:57.880 that you could say specifically about them.
00:02:00.120 Number three, compliment the effort, not the outcome.
00:02:03.720 When I'm trying to give somebody a compliment,
00:02:05.520 I'm always saying like,
00:02:06.640 the other day, this guy on my team, Ollie,
00:02:08.240 I found out from somebody else
00:02:09.580 that he's showing up and putting in extra work.
00:02:11.900 I made that compliment to somebody else
00:02:13.880 knowing hopefully it's gonna get back to them.
00:02:16.400 And the best part, if they're a team member,
00:02:17.900 when you compliment the effort,
00:02:19.460 you're essentially shining a light on the bright spot
00:02:21.480 of what you wanna see them do more of.
00:02:23.360 Here's why it's such a powerful cheat code.
00:02:26.040 The person that you're talking to,
00:02:27.820 talking positively about the other person,
00:02:29.800 they'll also believe that you do that about them,
00:02:32.760 which is gonna open up so many doors.
00:02:34.680 People do business with folks they know, like, and trust.
00:02:38.120 This creates a massive like in their mind.
00:02:40.980 Cheat code number two, the zone of genius.
00:02:43.680 Your zone of genius is the work that feels like play,
00:02:47.500 but drives real results.
00:02:48.860 In many ways, I used to tell people,
00:02:50.600 you should start a business doing a thing
00:02:52.240 that you do when you procrastinate.
00:02:53.700 You literally do this thing
00:02:55.220 when you don't wanna do the work.
00:02:56.420 Imagine if you got paid for it.
00:02:57.980 Today, my life looks wildly different
00:03:01.540 than the way it used to be.
00:03:02.740 I used to wake up and just work and grind,
00:03:06.460 and honestly would hate certain days.
00:03:08.880 Today, I realize that when I give myself permission
00:03:11.460 to focus on my zone of genius
00:03:13.480 and find other people that play at the things I work at,
00:03:17.880 then the group of us can do more in this world
00:03:20.560 than I ever could trying to do things that I hated to do.
00:03:23.860 Great way to think about it is this.
00:03:25.720 Broke people get good at tasks. 1.00
00:03:28.160 Rich people get good at avoiding them.
00:03:30.460 Why? 0.99
00:03:31.300 Because it sucks their freaking energy. 0.99
00:03:32.960 When you're in your zone of genius, 0.99
00:03:34.800 an hour or two hours of work feel like a third of the time.
00:03:38.180 It goes by so fast.
00:03:39.660 When you're outside of your zone of genius,
00:03:41.760 that one hour can feel like three or four hours.
00:03:45.180 So here's four principles to make sure you only operate
00:03:48.480 in your zone of genius.
00:03:49.640 Number one is don't lean your ladder against the wrong wall.
00:03:53.540 For example, you might find your zone of genius
00:03:55.940 being creating videos.
00:03:57.300 So you might think, okay, well the natural thing
00:03:58.880 is I gotta start an agency
00:04:00.100 and start editing videos for other people
00:04:01.800 and then I can be in business.
00:04:03.440 But you might find out you hate agency work.
00:04:06.060 Instead, ask yourself, what would it look like?
00:04:08.200 Maybe it's finding one creator and you join their team
00:04:11.040 and then you work with that creator to create their platform
00:04:13.920 and that is actually what you wanna be doing.
00:04:15.780 The second is it looks like work, but feels like play.
00:04:19.180 I love when people get around me and they see me work
00:04:22.720 because they'll see me with my team
00:04:24.500 and they'll see me doing long hours,
00:04:26.300 but they don't realize internally, it feels like play.
00:04:30.120 Number three, build a life
00:04:31.900 that you never have to retire from. 0.99
00:04:33.700 The idea of retirement is the dumbest idea 0.99
00:04:36.960 that's ever been sold. 0.99
00:04:38.240 I'm a fan of saying, how do I make this week
00:04:41.060 feel a little bit more like retirement?
00:04:43.220 How about next month?
00:04:44.380 How about next year?
00:04:45.380 I'm taking nine months off to travel with my family
00:04:48.060 all over the world.
00:04:49.180 That sure sounds like retirement to most people,
00:04:51.780 but guess what?
00:04:52.440 It's just life.
00:04:53.480 When you create things in a way
00:04:55.140 that doesn't feel like you have to escape them,
00:04:57.500 then you're not rushing to a vacation.
00:04:59.840 Number four is that it's okay to say no to the dull thing
00:05:03.680 to make room for the exciting.
00:05:05.680 Oftentimes, a yes to something today
00:05:08.400 is saying no to something more exciting in the future
00:05:10.760 because you just don't have time for it.
00:05:12.480 I'm a big fan of curating my calendar.
00:05:15.300 I always ask myself this question.
00:05:16.780 If somebody's asking me to do something
00:05:18.380 and in two weeks or a month or six months,
00:05:20.060 I go, if I had to do it tonight,
00:05:22.400 would I be excited to do it or is it a meh?
00:05:24.900 I gotta be able to create space by saying no
00:05:27.160 to the future dull things.
00:05:29.040 So I have room to be able to say yes
00:05:31.120 to the exciting opportunities.
00:05:33.240 This is such a cheat code
00:05:34.540 because it makes hard work feel like play.
00:05:37.880 So your energy compounds over time.
00:05:40.920 That is a cheat code.
00:05:42.640 Cheat code number three, strategic silence.
00:05:45.740 this one is counterintuitive silence is a power move pausing before you speak shows control
00:05:55.420 see it makes people listen closer and it cuts out empty words the ums the likely the probably
00:06:02.600 there's all this stuff that people say because they don't take a second to think they just
00:06:08.580 assume they got to fill everything in the truth is they don't that is a cheat code for example
00:06:15.820 One of my sales guys rarely talks,
00:06:18.420 but when he does, everyone listens.
00:06:22.160 And his ability to articulate with crystal clarity
00:06:26.280 a concept that helps the other salespeople
00:06:28.420 make a lot of money
00:06:29.340 is one of the most important reasons
00:06:31.600 why we love having him on the team.
00:06:33.620 But this is the thing.
00:06:34.840 When he asks the team a question, he stops.
00:06:37.820 Because he wants to get them to integrate the outcome
00:06:41.140 that he's teaching, not just talk over them.
00:06:43.460 Another way to think about it is a well-timed silence is louder than a poorly timed opinion.
00:06:49.840 Here's how I like to use strategic silence.
00:06:52.700 First, take a second before you speak.
00:06:55.640 If you're in a meeting, especially if you've got an emotional reaction to what was just said,
00:07:00.660 do yourself a favor and just take a second to breathe.
00:07:04.540 Hmm.
00:07:06.100 I like to go curious.
00:07:07.560 That's what I think in my head.
00:07:08.780 Be curious, Dan.
00:07:09.560 Be curious, Dan.
00:07:10.240 Be curious, Dan.
00:07:10.880 From that place, then I can speak.
00:07:13.860 Second is count the seconds in your head.
00:07:16.640 If you wanna practice, try five seconds.
00:07:19.280 You know, especially if you're in a communication role,
00:07:21.820 sales role, business development role,
00:07:23.760 once you present somebody an option, count to seven.
00:07:26.960 I dare you.
00:07:28.260 You give them the price.
00:07:29.760 One, two, three, four, five.
00:07:34.020 And usually have five seconds
00:07:35.400 when the other person leans in.
00:07:37.140 If you move on too quick, you don't give them a second
00:07:39.920 to give you the real reason they're thinking.
00:07:42.920 The third is eliminate filler words.
00:07:45.120 Those words like, literally, ums,
00:07:48.160 they're all fillers
00:07:49.220 because you haven't given yourself time to think.
00:07:52.300 Just stop.
00:07:53.380 The cool part, practice makes perfect.
00:07:55.660 My favorite exercise comes from my friend Vin.
00:07:58.080 What he recommends you do
00:07:59.240 is record yourself talking for five minutes.
00:08:02.120 And then that way you can go back
00:08:03.940 and look at all the times.
00:08:05.340 You said the likes, the ums, the pause, the literallys,
00:08:08.160 all these filler words that don't add anything
00:08:10.740 to the conversation, it'll change the way you talk.
00:08:14.100 In a world addicted to noise,
00:08:16.380 silence is a signal of confidence. 0.54
00:08:18.500 This is why it's such a fricking cheat code
00:08:20.900 is that it builds perceived power without saying a word.
00:08:24.940 Cheat code number four, the preloaded year.
00:08:28.020 Most people react to their year by default.
00:08:31.020 I want you to do it by design.
00:08:32.960 Before doing this, my life was nonstop conflict.
00:08:36.560 I had somebody pissed off because I missed a birthday.
00:08:39.280 I was mad at myself because I put on weight.
00:08:41.140 My life was reactive.
00:08:42.820 I wasn't proactive.
00:08:44.420 So this is how we do the preloaded year.
00:08:46.840 First off, you can click the link below in the description
00:08:49.220 to download my template and the whole structure.
00:08:51.820 So you have a one page document on filling it out.
00:08:55.200 So it makes it crystal clear.
00:08:56.760 I always do my preloaded year at the end of the year
00:08:59.380 for the following year.
00:09:00.720 So the first thing is I'm planning the most important stuff.
00:09:04.460 So at the end of my year, what I've done is I've written down all the things that I want to
00:09:09.300 consider. So my buddies might invite me on a ski trip. I write that down. Somebody else might say,
00:09:14.260 Hey, next year we should do this. I write that down. Think of it like rocks in a jar. I've got
00:09:18.100 my big rocks. I'm talking birthdays, reoccurring trips with my family. All that stuff are the big
00:09:23.780 rocks. These are the things that are most important. The pebbles, the business stuff,
00:09:27.680 the trips, those are important too. We're going to get them in there. But sand is like stuff that
00:09:31.740 will just fill in between. That's like the day-to-day stuff that you can say yes to in real
00:09:35.480 time. It doesn't take any extra space. Number two is I like to visualize and color code. My template,
00:09:42.320 that one page, I can block in all these different things and I use different colors based on what
00:09:47.800 they are. Being able to step back, visualize it, and ask myself the energy of how it would flow
00:09:53.280 is a game changer. The third is to have one place for all of it. I like to use the one page to
00:09:59.040 design it. Then I have a Google Doc where I save all my ideas this year or next year for
00:10:03.660 consideration to add it to my one page. The reason why it's such a cheat code is because it reduces
00:10:08.440 stress. It avoids the rework, forgetting to do something, paying last minute for flights,
00:10:13.340 or doing something you know you need to do that you didn't plan for. And it protects your
00:10:17.120 priorities. And that is the most important. Cheat code number five, the 95-5 rule. Most results,
00:10:23.200 if you truly analyze them, look at your life and see what have been needle moving activities. It
00:10:28.400 actually comes down to about five percent out of a hundred percent that truly move the needle the
00:10:33.760 95-5 rule is the 80-20 Pareto principle on steroids the Pareto principle is essentially this
00:10:41.760 guy Pareto that analyzed wealth distribution and he realized that like 20 percent of the population
00:10:48.640 had access to 80 of the wealth but if you look at most things from a distribution point of view
00:10:53.680 it follows the same 80 20 rule i've noticed within that there's actually the 95 5 rule
00:10:59.760 which means that if you focus on the right decisions or activities you can get 95 of
00:11:05.040 the results with only 5 of the effort if you focus on the right 5 and completely ignore the rest
00:11:12.080 it's a game changer it reminds me of this time years ago i hired a marketing leader and we're
00:11:16.800 doing probably 3 million in revenue in the business and they jump on and they hit the
00:11:20.720 ground running auditing funnels and refining all the marketing six months later we fired them the
00:11:27.120 reason why is they never moved the needle because they didn't stop to actually analyze and focus on
00:11:35.120 the things that actually were working oftentimes if you just look at all the effort on a team
00:11:41.120 for your own work you'll find those key elements that are actually having the biggest impact when
00:11:46.720 When you say no to everything else
00:11:48.120 and double down on those, that's where the gold happens.
00:11:51.220 This is why it's such a massive cheat code
00:11:53.960 is you stop optimizing for problems that just don't matter.
00:11:57.680 How often do you actually try to put out
00:11:59.880 what I call a kitchen fire?
00:12:01.760 How often do you actually try to put out a dumpster fire?
00:12:05.060 When you get good at deciphering what is the 95 versus the five,
00:12:09.760 you will become lethal in your ability to produce results.
00:12:12.860 Cheat code number six, the 5AM club.
00:12:15.800 This one is my favorite.
00:12:18.160 Now I'm gonna give you permission to aim towards 5 a.m.
00:12:20.460 I'm up earlier.
00:12:21.680 Why?
00:12:22.520 Very simple.
00:12:23.380 I believe the earlier you wake up
00:12:25.580 from when other people naturally wake up,
00:12:28.360 gives you the more time to actually do
00:12:30.280 some of the most important work for the day.
00:12:32.480 Because you're awake while everybody else is sleeping,
00:12:35.580 which means there's no distractions.
00:12:37.180 It builds momentum.
00:12:38.360 So 5 a.m., when everybody else is getting up at 6.45 or 7,
00:12:42.020 gives you a couple hours to yourself.
00:12:45.240 That time is where I use it to create, connect it to my creator, where I look for opportunities
00:12:50.780 to feed my mind, to educate myself, to design and dream, where most people are still horizontal.
00:12:58.100 I've built momentum getting up early to start my day.
00:13:01.760 15 years ago, I'm talking to my dad and he's asking me those questions that dad's asked
00:13:06.340 that make you feel like you're still not actually doing much with your life, which is crazy
00:13:09.880 because even at that time I was a multimillionaire.
00:13:12.140 But you know what?
00:13:13.600 He wasn't wrong. 0.97
00:13:14.320 I had convinced myself that I had made it and I was sleeping in, wasn't focused. The next day
00:13:22.760 I made a commitment to just wake up earlier. I just started with 15 minutes earlier than what
00:13:27.860 I was used to at the time, maybe 7.15. So that went to seven, then 6.45, then 6.30. Now it's 4am.
00:13:34.220 Sometimes I wake up at 3.23 and I'm awake. Guess what? I just get up and I start my day. Other
00:13:39.380 times I will let myself sleep in, but it is rare that I can even make it past 5am anymore because
00:13:44.280 it's who I've become and I look forward to it it's my favorite part of my day this is why this
00:13:50.560 strategy is such a cheat code is because you get hours of deep work while the world sleeps while
00:13:56.920 everybody else is still trying to find themselves in the morning you probably got more done in that
00:14:01.860 morning than they'll do their whole day cheat code number seven energy stacking time isn't the real
00:14:08.100 limit your energy is sometimes you're doing something and it can feel like a lot of time
00:14:13.180 and other things can feel like it goes really quick.
00:14:15.900 When you align your work
00:14:17.160 with your natural energy levels throughout the day
00:14:19.820 and then do batch tasks,
00:14:21.700 you stop forcing motivation and start building it.
00:14:24.480 The other day, I was chatting with somebody on Instagram
00:14:26.700 and they were like, tell me how they were burnt out.
00:14:28.980 Well, tell me about your day.
00:14:30.120 And they're like, you know, well,
00:14:31.080 this morning I had a sales call at 7 a.m., blah, blah, blah.
00:14:33.540 And I'm like, why did you take the call at 7 a.m.?
00:14:35.360 They're like, I don't know, the person,
00:14:36.720 that was the only time they could talk.
00:14:38.240 Did you ask them if they could talk at a different time?
00:14:41.000 No.
00:14:42.280 Interesting.
00:14:43.180 The way I like to think about it is this.
00:14:44.860 If you don't set boundaries, somebody else will,
00:14:47.980 and they won't be for your benefit.
00:14:49.560 So stop managing your time and start managing your energy.
00:14:52.940 Here's how you do it.
00:14:53.900 The first is schedule for energy.
00:14:56.020 The way you do your mornings
00:14:57.360 is completely different than your afternoons
00:14:59.440 and probably your nights.
00:15:00.760 So figure out what types of activities
00:15:02.640 you wanna do in each spot, and every person's different.
00:15:05.020 So for example, not only do I like to do
00:15:07.460 all my meetings in the afternoon,
00:15:08.960 I like to do all my one-on-ones on a scooter.
00:15:11.220 When I have meetings with people,
00:15:12.500 when it's just them and I, I wanna be on the waterfront.
00:15:15.460 I wanna be talking.
00:15:16.340 It also puts my mind at ease so that it's more fun for me
00:15:19.780 and from an energy point of view, it's actually better.
00:15:22.600 The second is you have to batch your work.
00:15:24.680 When I look at shooting content
00:15:26.620 or doing deal reviews at Martell Ventures
00:15:29.440 or sitting down and doing financial meetings,
00:15:32.300 I batch that together because I wanna have the focus,
00:15:35.600 the context be ramped up, similar energy.
00:15:38.720 So I use the batch work
00:15:40.520 to manage the energy throughout the day.
00:15:42.500 I do that so that I don't lose a lot of energy
00:15:45.820 switching between things.
00:15:47.420 So for example, if I asked you to just say out loud,
00:15:49.900 one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
00:15:50.980 all the way to 26, and then go A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
00:15:53.500 all the way to Z,
00:15:54.580 you could probably get it done in about 27 seconds.
00:15:57.460 But if I asked you to go one, A, two, B, three, C,
00:16:01.980 most people, if they got it done,
00:16:03.460 because they get confused,
00:16:04.800 will take about a minute and a half.
00:16:06.320 Think about the amount of energy you save
00:16:08.920 by not switching context and doing batch work instead.
00:16:12.500 number three net time which stands for no extra time i already mentioned the scooter meetings
00:16:18.100 but i also do all outbound messages while i'm in the hot tub why looks like work feels like play
00:16:24.260 when i'm in a hot tub doing text messaging it does not feel like work i like to do workouts
00:16:29.300 with other friends i like to do founders hikes where i invite anybody in the world including
00:16:33.540 yourself if you want to fly to kelowna every tuesday although i'm going to be traveling for
00:16:37.380 the next nine months i won't be here is a great opportunity for me to say yes to people to get a
00:16:41.300 a workout in have a conversation it's just a great way to use the energy that's appropriate for that
00:16:46.500 time and not take away from something else that i need to get done why this is such a massive cheat
00:16:51.460 code is you stop operating from a place of needing to be motivated and start operating from alignment
00:16:57.300 your energy is just more efficient so those are the cheat codes to achieve anything that being said
00:17:04.260 if you have big dreams the effort and discipline need to match you got to take big actions you
00:17:11.700 can't have big dreams and take little action you can't have big ideas and think small you have to
00:17:18.260 match the effort so now that you've heard all these awesome cheat codes i need you to just pick
00:17:23.620 one and commit to it 30 days just pick one leave a comment below let me know what it is and commit
00:17:31.780 to it for the next 30 days that will integrate it into your identity who you are and will stack
00:17:38.420 the habit of success if preloaded year is the one you want to do then just click the link below in
00:17:44.340 the description to grab your template so it makes it really easy to get it done now if you want to
00:17:49.060 to learn the 40 brutal truths i wish i knew in my 20s click the video and i'll see you on the other