The Charlie Kirk Show - Charlie's Top Books of 2023

00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, my thoughts on 2023, kind of life advice, reflections on the year, my favorite books, something that took me 241 hours.

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00:00:09.000 241 hours.

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00:02:00.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:02:01.000 Here we go.

00:02:02.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:02:04.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

00:02:06.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:02:09.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:02:12.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:02:13.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:02:14.000 His spirit, his love of this country.

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00:02:44.000 Okay, everybody, this is the last hour of 2023, and we're kind of making this a pattern.

00:02:50.000 We did this a little bit last year.

00:02:51.000 This will be more formal, where we just kind of think through the last year of my own personal lessons, things that I encountered, my favorite books, my favorite podcasts, things that I'm really proud of what I accomplished, things that I think I could have done better.

00:03:05.000 And just kind of summarizing this last year.

00:03:07.000 And so some of you guys know this, but just it's worthy of maybe repeating.

00:03:11.000 What we do here on this program is how I start my day, but it's not how I finish my day.

00:03:16.000 And, you know, we have a question here because I ask people, hey, what are your questions about life advice and stuff?

00:03:20.000 Charlie, what does a day look like?

00:03:22.000 And when I say, when I kind of walk through it, sometimes people don't always necessarily believe it.

00:03:27.000 But wake up right around 6.30 or 7 a.m.

00:03:31.000 Don't eat anything.

00:03:32.000 Fast all the way through the program.

00:03:34.000 Get into the office at least hour and a half hour before the program.

00:03:38.000 Have a rather, let's say aggressive coffee with a lot of different supplements in there.

00:03:46.000 And that's proprietary.

00:03:48.000 I'm not going to tell you everything that's in there.

00:03:49.000 But then also drink a ton of water and have a special kind of green tea concoction with matcha tea, which I love.

00:03:57.000 Do three hours of radio.

00:03:59.000 I've been doing it fasted, by the way, and I encourage people.

00:04:03.000 If you are not intermittent fasting, you totally should.

00:04:05.000 And also check out myphdweightloss.com, which has been a total game change for us this year.

00:04:10.000 They've been amazing, lost 30 pounds.

00:04:12.000 And I'll kind of get to that.

00:04:12.000 Do three hours of radio.

00:04:14.000 Usually take about a 20-minute break, have some sort of a meat and salad, avocado, olive oil, and then turning point starts.

00:04:23.000 And then I'm all on turning point doing duty, raising money, doing meetings, speaking, and then do it all over again.

00:04:30.000 And so the numbers are 295 days of radio this year, 1,200 hours of radio, 550-plus speeches, interviews, and 230 days on the road.

00:04:41.000 And then I work out four times a week and I try to end my day the same way, which is with sauna cold plunge.

00:04:50.000 So do a cold plunge in 37-degree water and then end in a very hot sauna for about 25 to 30 minutes, about 190 to 200 degrees sauna.

00:05:00.000 By the way, the benefits of doing that is just, it's hard to even comprehend.

00:05:05.000 Obviously, no alcohol, no drugs, no sugar.

00:05:08.000 Try to eat no carbohydrates.

00:05:09.000 And you're able to perform at a really high level when you do that stuff.

00:05:12.000 And it's not for everybody.

00:05:13.000 And that's the one thing that I want to try to challenge some of you guys that are listening.

00:05:17.000 And by the way, I wasn't able to keep this pace two years ago.

00:05:19.000 I was overweight, eating poorly, having too much gluten-free bread.

00:05:23.000 I'm celiac, so I eat gluten-free and just wasn't performing at the top level.

00:05:27.000 I said, I want to be excellent.

00:05:29.000 And that's one of the things I love about New Year's.

00:05:32.000 You have an opportunity to say, I am not where I want to be.

00:05:37.000 There's all this cynicism out there about New Year's resolutions.

00:05:40.000 It's honestly one of my great points of disgust when people are trying to bag on or try to make people not want to be better.

00:05:52.000 Where did this whole anti-New Year's resolution movement come from?

00:05:55.000 I think it's sick.

00:05:57.000 I think that you guys are part of the problem.

00:05:59.000 Whoever you are politically or whatever, by the way, it transcends political lines.

00:06:02.000 I talked to somebody the other day.

00:06:04.000 I said, what are New Year's resolutions?

00:06:05.000 They say, oh, I'm not doing that.

00:06:06.000 I end up breaking them.

00:06:07.000 That's not the point.

00:06:08.000 Just the process of analyzing something you want to improve with.

00:06:12.000 And yes, you know, I get a chuckle when I go to the gym in early January and it is packed in early January.

00:06:20.000 And it is not packed in early June.

00:06:22.000 I get a chuckle out of it.

00:06:24.000 But you have to understand that if you be excellent at something, you must be process-oriented and habit-oriented.

00:06:34.000 The people that are the best at the performance of the top levels, this goes from Tony Robbins, this went to Rush Limbaugh, this goes to Donald Trump, this goes to Elon Musk.

00:06:44.000 You habit stack.

00:06:45.000 So once you find something that you want to do or you need to do that will help you, and you do it for 60 or 90 days, it becomes a habit.

00:06:55.000 Same goes for bad habits too.

00:06:56.000 But then once you have a baseline of habits, you can add one habit on or two habits on or three habits on.

00:07:01.000 And so for those of you that may say, boy, I really want to work out, then start micro.

00:07:07.000 Don't say, I want to go run a marathon.

00:07:08.000 Just say, I'm going to walk around the block every morning.

00:07:10.000 It's a great start.

00:07:11.000 By the way, the people that set these ridiculously ambitious goals, I'm going to run the Boston Marathon by September, rarely ever accomplish that.

00:07:19.000 Rarely.

00:07:20.000 Chunk it down.

00:07:21.000 Write it down.

00:07:22.000 Say, I'm going to walk around the block.

00:07:24.000 Longest journey starts at a single step.

00:07:26.000 And you say, I'm going to just, then I'm going to start jogging on the treadmill.

00:07:31.000 And there are very simple ways that you're able to then find places you can improve upon.

00:07:37.000 So I love New Year's resolutions.

00:07:38.000 I'm going through them right now.

00:07:40.000 And last year, I had a couple of New Year's resolutions.

00:07:44.000 So if you rewind the clock, now I have to look a year later.

00:07:47.000 I'm like, yeah, I actually did that.

00:07:49.000 That's cool.

00:07:50.000 I said, I wanted to lose about 30 pounds.

00:07:52.000 And I did.

00:07:54.000 Said, I want to perform at a higher level, be able to do three hours of radio, do hundreds of speeches, have to raise over $100 million and manage 400 people without destroying myself.

00:08:09.000 And I think at least the people around me at AmericaFest said that I had, you know, enough energy to get through the day and definitely had more energy this year than last year.

00:08:18.000 So that was a success.

00:08:19.000 Praise God.

00:08:20.000 And another thing that I, last year, I was thinking, what are my New Year's resolutions?

00:08:25.000 And I was in, I'll be very honest with you, I was in this kind of midterm election funk.

00:08:32.000 Kerry Lake should have been governor.

00:08:34.000 It was not a good landscape.

00:08:35.000 The House majority was thin.

00:08:37.000 And so I said, what do I want to really attack?

00:08:41.000 And by the way, that's a great way of framing your New Year's resolutions is to attack them with urgency, with aggression, with ferocity.

00:08:51.000 Don't just walk towards your New Year's resolution.

00:08:53.000 Attack them. 0.99

00:08:54.000 Surgical strike. 0.99

00:08:56.000 You'll find that sort of attitude.

00:08:59.000 You're much more likely to actually accomplish it.

00:09:01.000 And so I was in this midterm funk.

00:09:03.000 I was so at the time and still am, obviously, but honestly, but to a lesser extent, not exactly thrilled about this kind of popcorn politics.

00:09:15.000 Again, I was so turned off by what they did to Kerry Lake and all this stuff.

00:09:19.000 And so I said, have I really done the work?

00:09:22.000 I've read the books, but have I really studied the Old Testament?

00:09:27.000 And as many of you know, I'm a big Dennis Prager fan.

00:09:30.000 And so I went to dennisprager.com.

00:09:32.000 I just started flipping around.

00:09:34.000 I was like, woo, this looks hard.

00:09:36.000 I said, this is something that a lot of people would say, no, that's too hard.

00:09:42.000 That looks too big.

00:09:43.000 And I said, well, the only reason I wouldn't do this is because I decide not to do it.

00:09:50.000 The only reason I would not be able to do this particular task, I'll tell you what it is, is a complete act of the will.

00:09:56.000 It doesn't take massive intelligence.

00:09:58.000 It doesn't take tons of money.

00:10:01.000 It's simply, do I want to do this thing?

00:10:03.000 And Dennis Prager, over the course of 18 years on DennisPrager.com, PragerStore.com, he had Dennis teaches the Torah.

00:10:12.000 And it was for sale for $995.

00:10:15.000 And that's a lot of money for a lot of people.

00:10:17.000 For me, I looked at it as an investment and a way to give back to Dennis for all that he's done to me.

00:10:21.000 And it's not easy.

00:10:23.000 So for 18 years, Dennis Prager would, for 90 minutes to two hours, teach the Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

00:10:35.000 So just the fact that he did that for 18 years inspired me to become a better version of myself.

00:10:41.000 And we hear it say a lot, you know, Jordan Peterson, other people, that the Old Testament, Judeo-Christian values, built the West.

00:10:49.000 And I said, do I really grasp that well?

00:10:51.000 And I said, I'm somewhat of an expert, but I said, here I am trying to lead a movement.

00:10:58.000 Do I really know, understand, comprehend?

00:11:03.000 Have I really meditated the books that built our world?

00:11:08.000 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

00:11:11.000 And the honest answer was no.

00:11:12.000 I hadn't really studied those books.

00:11:15.000 And so I start flipping through this, available at PragerStore.com.

00:11:19.000 And it says here more than anything else, Dennis loves teaching the Torah, five books of Moses of the Hebrew Bible.

00:11:23.000 More than 18 years, he taught it verse by verse at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles to both Jews and Christians.

00:11:29.000 And so I start flipping through this.

00:11:30.000 I said, oh, come on, I'll get this done in January, right?

00:11:33.000 241 hours and 199 talks.

00:11:40.000 Like, that's a big number.

00:11:42.000 And it sounds manageable, right?

00:11:43.000 241 hours, you can, you know, bite-size it.

00:11:46.000 So I bought it at PragerStore.com and I wrote down a goal.

00:11:51.000 I said, I want to work through every single one of the Dennis Prager lectures on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

00:11:59.000 241 hours and 199 talks.

00:12:03.000 And in the next segment, I'll tell you about it.

00:12:05.000 I'll tell you about that journey.

00:12:06.000 That goal started with, I want that.

00:12:10.000 I want it for the right reasons.

00:12:12.000 And it took work.

00:12:16.000 All right, I want to tell you about Herzog.

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00:12:20.000 I want you guys to check it out right now.

00:12:22.000 We've been talking about how our nation's public schools have been captured by progressive ideologues teaching things that directly contradict the values of millions of American families.

00:12:30.000 For those of you worried about the best educational path for your kids and grandkids, I'm pleased to announce our new partnership with the folks at the Herzog Foundation.

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00:12:48.000 To learn more about how your family and faith and community can flourish through a quality Christian education, go to Herzogfoundation.com.

00:12:56.000 That is Herzogfoundation.com.

00:12:58.000 Herzogfoundation.com. 0.96

00:13:00.000 H-E-R-Z-O-G, HerzogFoundation.com.

00:13:07.000 241 hours, 199 talks, and start every day going for walks when I'm on an airplane.

00:13:16.000 And it took work.

00:13:17.000 It took work.

00:13:18.000 And so I got through Genesis by early March.

00:13:26.000 I started listening to Exodus around April.

00:13:31.000 And then June came along.

00:13:33.000 And the dog days of Leviticus started.

00:13:38.000 I got super sick in late June.

00:13:41.000 Andrew remembers this.

00:13:42.000 I was in Maine, like very sick, like 104-degree fever.

00:13:46.000 It was insane.

00:13:48.000 And Andrew Guest Hosted did a great job.

00:13:50.000 And so I used it as an opportunity to listen to 25 hours of Leviticus.

00:13:57.000 I'll never forget that being super sick listening to Leviticus.

00:14:01.000 At least I maximized the time.

00:14:03.000 And then I finally got through Leviticus.

00:14:05.000 And then July and August started to work through numbers.

00:14:09.000 And it took the entire fall to finish Deuteronomy.

00:14:13.000 Now, look, there's so many lessons that I have from this.

00:14:16.000 First of all, if you have any doubt, any doubt about God and religion, I do not take you seriously unless you have studied, not to the same extent I did, because that's insane.

00:14:32.000 At least studied a little bit.

00:14:34.000 Understand the complexity, the beauty, the interconnectivity, the prescience, the prophecy, at least in Genesis and Exodus.

00:14:45.000 I don't take you seriously as an atheist.

00:14:47.000 I don't take you seriously as an agnostic unless you've done work. 0.89

00:14:51.000 Study it and tell me there's nothing special there. 1.00

00:14:54.000 Nothing at all.

00:14:55.000 Just a bunch of fables.

00:14:57.000 If you come back and you tell me that, in fact, very, very few people that have seriously studied Genesis, Exodus go on to be lifelong agnostics or atheists.

00:15:09.000 They're obviously out there. 0.60

00:15:10.000 Joseph Stalin, for example, was one of them. 0.78

00:15:12.000 Joseph Stalin went to a seminary, ended up being a mass murdering atheist. 0.81

00:15:17.000 It is an infinitely deep well. 0.73

00:15:19.000 You can go as deep as you want and as deep as you're open to going.

00:15:23.000 I'm not even an expert.

00:15:24.000 I wouldn't even say I'm even close to an expert.

00:15:25.000 I'm saying, though, that I have now at least a baseline understanding after 241 hours and listening to Prager's 199 talks of what the books say, what the narrative is.

00:15:36.000 And by the way, I'm at like 1% knowledge and understanding of what the Bible offers.

00:15:43.000 There's not even a number you would put on it.

00:15:44.000 But I'll just say 1% of earthly or human comprehension.

00:15:47.000 But if you're out there and you say, boy, you know, God doesn't speak to me.

00:15:51.000 I don't see God.

00:15:52.000 You have to work at it.

00:15:53.000 So here's a challenge to you.

00:15:55.000 Go study Genesis and get back to me and tell me that there's nothing exceptional about that.

00:16:01.000 Tell me that there's nothing exceptional about the story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, creation, fall, exile, the flood, the moral code, the Noahic covenant, the city of Babel.

00:16:21.000 If you're like, oh, that's just a bunch of fairy tales.

00:16:25.000 You should do the work.

00:16:26.000 And that's one of the big lessons of 2023 for me is that you get what you focus on.

00:16:31.000 And that's so counterintuitive to what the world would tell you.

00:16:35.000 The world would tell you that, oh, you're just a byproduct to your environment and a byproduct to your circumstances.

00:16:40.000 To a certain extent, that of course that's true.

00:16:43.000 But you end up becoming who you want to be.

00:16:46.000 So if you want to become more literate in biblical texts, then focus on that in 2024.

00:16:52.000 If you want to become a happier person, then focus on happiness and start acting happier.

00:16:59.000 Don't wait for happiness to come to you.

00:17:01.000 Start to actually act happier.

00:17:03.000 It's completely the opposite as to what mainstream secular opinion would lead you to believe.

00:17:10.000 So I will say that one of the things that I am actually the most proud of of the New Year's resolutions I made last year, I made the New Year's resolution.

00:17:16.000 I said, I want to finish the Torah by Dennis Prager.

00:17:18.000 And I did.

00:17:19.000 And I can't tell you the accomplishment and the satisfaction that I feel.

00:17:23.000 And it took nearly the entire calendar year.

00:17:27.000 It was not overnight.

00:17:29.000 It took a lot of times where I'm sitting on an airplane and I turn to Mikey and I say, do you want to know about Levitical priestly garments?

00:17:40.000 And he says, no.

00:17:44.000 And I'm going to build this out because I'm going to go through the top three books of 2023, the third of which is all about discipline, by the way.

00:17:51.000 And when you keep up your disciplines, you end up having more self-worth, more direction, more purpose, less depression, less sadness.

00:17:59.000 Focus more on the process than the outcome.

00:18:04.000 I think we have lost in our society the necessity of the habits and the process.

00:18:14.000 And we're so focused on the reward.

00:18:16.000 Sometimes you have to commit to things you know that are good for you over a period of time, trusting that they will help you and doing it every single day.

00:18:27.000 And yes, it takes work.

00:18:28.000 It takes grit and it takes hustle.

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00:19:34.000 So I encourage you guys to write down some New Year's resolutions.

00:19:36.000 I'm a big fan of New Year's resolutions, fresh starts.

00:19:40.000 And if you're in a place where you say, you know, I wish I could be this or I should do that, you must turn your shoulds to musts.

00:19:50.000 Turn your shoulds to musts.

00:19:52.000 I must lose weight.

00:19:54.000 I must listen to this audiobook.

00:19:57.000 I must study.

00:19:59.000 I must become a better version of myself.

00:20:01.000 And there's infinite ways that you can improve yourself going in 2024.

00:20:06.000 Just some very simple ideas.

00:20:09.000 Decide to read 20 books, 50 books.

00:20:12.000 Typically, I read around 50 or 60 books a year.

00:20:16.000 That was lower today, this year, because of the emphasis, and I was a conscious emphasis on the Prager talks.

00:20:25.000 So that was 241 hours, which in audiobook world, that could have been 15 or 20 extra books, about 199 talks.

00:20:35.000 But still, I did about 40 books this year, 40, 45 books.

00:20:38.000 And I'll tell you the ones that I thought were the best of the year.

00:20:41.000 And that's just a big takeaway for you guys.

00:20:44.000 I know this sounds like an oversimplified prescription to problems, but you're probably not reading enough if you're looking for answers to life, looking for answers to self-improvement.

00:21:01.000 It is a lost art.

00:21:05.000 And it's a beautiful thing to read.

00:21:08.000 We watch way too much television.

00:21:11.000 We have so much dead time on our phones.

00:21:13.000 So make a priority to maybe just say, I'm going to read a book a month.

00:21:17.000 Of course, audiobooks count as well.

00:21:19.000 Now, if you listen to the Charlie Kirk Show podcast, I got to say, you know, we have a good amount of wisdom here in this program, some great guests.

00:21:26.000 So I'll give you a pass for that.

00:21:28.000 But instead of watching Netflix anti-white Obama whatever thing that he has, turn that off and go read a book.

00:21:37.000 So the Prager stuff was amazing.

00:21:39.000 So thankful for that.

00:21:40.000 I have literally notebooks full of notes on Deuteronomy, Leviticus, Numbers.

00:21:45.000 It infinitely blessed my life.

00:21:46.000 And it also just started all of this incredible journey into trying to find symmetry in the New Testament, in the Old Testament.

00:21:53.000 It was just amazing.

00:21:54.000 And it's a gift that keeps on giving.

00:21:57.000 So in addition to that, read a bunch of books.

00:22:01.000 So the top three books of the year, the third book is all about discipline.

00:22:06.000 And it's by this guy who he tends to be militantly non-political.

00:22:12.000 I know Tucker Carlson has tried to have him on his show.

00:22:14.000 I like him.

00:22:15.000 He tends to skew a little bit to the left, but his name is Ryan Holliday.

00:22:20.000 He's on YouTube, very popular.

00:22:22.000 You'll probably recognize him.

00:22:24.000 He's kind of best known for bringing back Stoic philosophy, Marcus Aurelius, Epietus, Seneca being the most famous Stoics, and applying it to modern life and finding stories of people that used Stoicism as a way to navigate life's troubles.

00:22:46.000 And so he has a whole series of these books.

00:22:48.000 The one that I really enjoyed is called Discipline is Destiny as my, the third best book of the year, The Power of Self-Control.

00:22:55.000 In Discipline is Destiny, he talks about Lou Gehrig, Queen Elizabeth II, Floyd Patterson, Marcus Aurelius, writer Tony Morrison, Napoleon, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Babe Ruth, amazing book.

00:23:07.000 And I'm a big believer in self-control.

00:23:09.000 Now, we as Christians believe that self-control is a fruit of the spirit.

00:23:12.000 It comes from the Lord.

00:23:14.000 But if I were to isolate one of a handful of things that I think America is missing, it's certainly self-control.

00:23:23.000 And self-control is a skill that builds.

00:23:26.000 And it builds the ability to say no, the ability not to drink alcohol.

00:23:30.000 And by the way, that's a great goal for you.

00:23:32.000 Stop drinking poison.

00:23:33.000 Alcohol is poison.

00:23:34.000 I'm not saying you're a bad person if you do.

00:23:36.000 I'm not saying that I think less of you.

00:23:37.000 That is not what I'm saying.

00:23:39.000 However, it is a fact.

00:23:40.000 People that stop drinking alcohol almost across the board tend to be happier over a period of time, not immediately because you go through withdrawals.

00:23:47.000 Happier over a period of time, lose weight, more money, especially if you're on a budget.

00:23:53.000 Alcohol is really bad for you.

00:23:54.000 Obviously, no drugs.

00:23:55.000 You should be doing no drugs whatsoever.

00:23:57.000 But these are things that can improve your life without having to actually add to your life.

00:24:03.000 You can actually add by subtracting.

00:24:06.000 You can add by saying, I'm not going to have six beers when I watch the college football playoff.

00:24:12.000 So Discipline is Destiny, the third best book of 2023.

00:24:16.000 The second best book that I read in 2023.

00:24:19.000 And I didn't like the ending.

00:24:21.000 It got a little bit too corporate, wonky, technical.

00:24:23.000 This is a very, very popular book.

00:24:25.000 I enjoyed it, though, by Sean Acor called The Happiness Advantage.

00:24:29.000 It's a good book.

00:24:31.000 And I enjoyed the first three-fourths the best.

00:24:34.000 He argues that if you commit to the action of being happy, if you commit to the, if you commit to acting in a way that is obviously joyful and happy, you'll actually succeed more in life.

00:24:49.000 And he talks, the best part of the whole book was about 10 to 15 pages where Sean argues through a lot of data that your brain is constantly changing.

00:25:01.000 And I would add, I also read the, I also read Scott Adams' book.

00:25:06.000 I want to have Scott Adams on the show about reframing.

00:25:09.000 I thought it was a very, very powerful book.

00:25:11.000 I didn't like all of it.

00:25:13.000 Some of it was a little goofy at times.

00:25:14.000 However, it was a really, really important idea where he says you get to choose how you frame your experiences.

00:25:22.000 I love that.

00:25:23.000 And by the way, the Apostle Paul is evidence of that.

00:25:26.000 Apostle Paul is in prison and he's rejoicing.

00:25:30.000 I've never been more free because I'm free in Christ.

00:25:33.000 You have a conscious decision, an act of the will, an act of your agency to frame your experiences.

00:25:39.000 Romans 8:28, God is working all things for his good for those that love him.

00:25:43.000 And obviously, we know a lot of the quotes, John Wooden, attitude, 10%, what happens to you, 90% of how you react.

00:25:51.000 What I liked about the happiness advantage, Sean Acor talks about how London taxicab drivers have enlarged hippocampus.

00:26:03.000 Hippocampus is your ability to map, your ability to have directional awareness, your ability to memorize streets directions.

00:26:11.000 And why on earth would older men who are taxicab drivers in London have enlarged hippocampus? 0.56

00:26:19.000 Because the streets in London are so insane. 0.98

00:26:22.000 They were designed by crazy people, literally. 0.94

00:26:25.000 They're like one way.

00:26:26.000 Andrew lived in London.

00:26:27.000 He knows, and it's out of control.

00:26:29.000 And what it goes to show, he uses as an example is that your brain is constantly changing.

00:26:34.000 An old belief in neuroscience was that your brain stops developing at age 18 or 20.

00:26:40.000 What he talks about in the happiness advantage is your brain, your brain is actually changing all the time.

00:26:45.000 Your brain is constantly plastic.

00:26:47.000 It's constantly adjusting.

00:26:49.000 Now, why is that important?

00:26:50.000 That means that if you're 26 right now, listening to this, or 35 or 50, and you're depressed and you're anxious, you have bad habits, you can choose a better future for yourself.

00:26:58.000 You can choose a better life.

00:27:00.000 You could choose to stop the bad habits and add good habits.

00:27:04.000 You can choose to be happier and to be more joyful.

00:27:08.000 And that leads to the best book that I read in 2023, The Gap in the Game.

00:27:14.000 Without a doubt, the best book that I read and with kind of one of the shortest.

00:27:18.000 There it is right up there by Dan Sullivan with also Dr. Benjamin Hardy.

00:27:24.000 So it's the High Achiever's Guide to Happiness, Confidence, and Success.

00:27:27.000 I read it twice and I've re-listened to it three times.

00:27:30.000 And it's ridiculously simple, but the way of framing it is super powerful.

00:27:36.000 So in the book, The Gap in the Game, they argue that there's two ways of framing your experiences.

00:27:42.000 They're very binary, that you can either live in the gap or you can live in the gain.

00:27:47.000 So, for example, people such as myself, I'm constantly living in the gap, the gap between where I am and where I want to be.

00:27:57.000 So, there's a delta.

00:27:58.000 There's a gap between those two things.

00:28:00.000 And I'm fixating on not being yet where I want to be.

00:28:03.000 Instead, he argues you should live in the gain, how far you've already come, how much you already have in a constant, perpetual place of gratitude and understanding of what you already have.

00:28:19.000 And that really is one of the keys to not just happiness, but to joy and contentment, especially in the Christian faith.

00:28:26.000 And so, in the book, they talk about how so many hard-driving entrepreneurs are constantly measuring themselves against the ideal and they're in the gap.

00:28:36.000 I'll be happy when I sell the company.

00:28:38.000 I'll be happy once I close that sale.

00:28:41.000 And they argue, well, why are you not happy now?

00:28:41.000 I'll be happy.

00:28:44.000 Why aren't you happy today?

00:28:46.000 Why do you need that extra thing?

00:28:47.000 And by the way, you won't be happy when you get that extra thing because you've wired your mind in a way to say that I need that extra thing.

00:28:54.000 So therefore, I'm just going to get another extra thing.

00:28:55.000 I'll be happy once I go to the football game.

00:28:57.000 I'll be happy once my kid graduates college.

00:28:59.000 Now, the only exception to that, the only exception is if you are in absolute total misery.

00:29:04.000 That's the only exception they say in the book.

00:29:06.000 The only exception is like if your kid has terminal cancer.

00:29:10.000 That's fair.

00:29:11.000 However, 99% of that sort of thinking doesn't happen in absolute misery or crisis.

00:29:16.000 It happens in, I need another vacation or I need another thing to get me to be happy.

00:29:21.000 And in the book, it challenges you.

00:29:23.000 Well, why can't you delight in the moment and delight in the present?

00:29:28.000 And if you're finding that that happiness, that presence, that joy eludes you, no matter how much you've achieved, then learning this easy mindset reframe that Scott Adams talks about beautifully in his book will set you on a life-changing path, they argue, to greater fulfillment and success.

00:29:44.000 I loved it.

00:29:45.000 It's amazing.

00:29:46.000 It's very easy to read.

00:29:47.000 It's only a couple hours.

00:29:49.000 And it's by Dan Sullivan, who is a great author.

00:29:51.000 So discipline is destiny, happiness, advantage, gap in the game.

00:29:54.000 Do you notice a through line of those three books?

00:29:57.000 They're not political.

00:29:59.000 I don't love political books.

00:30:01.000 I read political philosophy here and there.

00:30:02.000 I take courses with the Claremont Institute.

00:30:03.000 I love it.

00:30:04.000 But life is more than politics, everybody.

00:30:07.000 Life is more than just Republicans good and Democrats bad and uniparty this.

00:30:11.000 I do that all the time.

00:30:12.000 I actually sometimes enjoy taking a step back and philosophy, personal improvement, betterment of self, constantly trying to become mentally stronger, more physically fit.

00:30:12.000 It's fine.

00:30:23.000 I love that stuff.

00:30:27.000 So set those goals.

00:30:28.000 Push yourself.

00:30:29.000 You got to raise your standard of excellence.

00:30:31.000 This is one thing that I want to contribute to the conservative movement is we have to challenge ourselves and be a little uncomfortable where we are.

00:30:40.000 Write down your goals.

00:30:42.000 Every single one of us, and I'll include us in this, we have work to do.

00:30:47.000 2024 is going to be the hardest year I've ever worked.

00:30:51.000 That's my commitment to you.

00:30:52.000 That's a commitment to our turning point donors.

00:30:54.000 That's a commitment to your audience.

00:30:55.000 We're going to be doing broadcasts, live streams, speeches.

00:30:59.000 When we're going to be sitting right here in this chair, God willing, God willing, I'll be sitting right here in this chair.

00:31:08.000 We'll have Blake crunching numbers.

00:31:10.000 We'll have Andrew right here.

00:31:12.000 We'll have Jack.

00:31:14.000 Who knows?

00:31:15.000 I'll be able to look into the camera as all of a sudden they say, that's it.

00:31:20.000 Ballot's closed.

00:31:21.000 We're waiting for results.

00:31:22.000 I'll be able to look into the camera and say, I did everything I could.

00:31:29.000 I did everything I could.

00:31:31.000 And if we don't win, I'll have no regret and I will have enjoyed the process.

00:31:36.000 That's the other thing.

00:31:37.000 I will have enjoyed meeting all of you and doing shows and convincing people and persuading and fighting because I love the fight.

00:31:44.000 And if we win, glory be to God, because it's a matter of obedience.

00:31:48.000 We're going to need a miracle because we're up against these demons, unlike anything I've ever seen.

00:31:52.000 You got to play to the whistle.

00:31:54.000 So write down your goal.

00:31:55.000 So one of my goals for 2024 is to work harder than it did in 2023 and to really crescendo, especially post-Labor Day, I'm going to go nuts.

00:32:05.000 It's going to make the last couple of years look like nothing.

00:32:07.000 So you guys better buckle up.

00:32:08.000 We're going to need your help.

00:32:09.000 We're going to need your prayers.

00:32:10.000 We need your support.

00:32:11.000 I gave the team off at turning point and I was like, you guys need to take some time off because we're about to enter into the turbulence about to begin, full ratchet.

00:32:20.000 And some of you, ratchet full, and you might say, oh, my goodness, I don't know if I can handle that.

00:32:25.000 That's fine.

00:32:25.000 Just do your part.

00:32:26.000 As I say, here I am.

00:32:28.000 We have a whole speech on that.

00:32:29.000 Hainani, here I am.

00:32:31.000 You guys listened to that in the Charlie Kirk Show podcast.

00:32:33.000 We don't fight because we think or know we're going to win.

00:32:38.000 You fight out of obedience.

00:32:40.000 You step up because it's the right thing to do out of duty.

00:32:43.000 One of the lost words in the West is duty.

00:32:47.000 Entire generation doesn't even know what that word means.

00:32:50.000 What do you mean duty?

00:32:50.000 I have duty to myself.

00:32:51.000 No, no, you have duty to something greater than yourself.

00:32:54.000 Duty to the divine, to your ancestors, to your family, to your children, to your parents, to God, to your country, to your church, to your community.

00:33:04.000 You have a duty to things that are greater than you.

00:33:07.000 You are not the greatest thing ever to exist.

00:33:09.000 You're important.

00:33:10.000 You're loved.

00:33:11.000 God loves you.

00:33:12.000 But there are things greater than just you.

00:33:15.000 That's why we fight.

00:33:16.000 And when you do your duty, you'll find naturally that your self-image improves.

00:33:21.000 Your confidence, your depression eases, your mood improves.

00:33:24.000 It's very hard.

00:33:25.000 It takes work.

00:33:26.000 By the way, some of you might say, Charlie, I'm fired up.

00:33:28.000 I love this episode.

00:33:29.000 I'm going to do it.

00:33:29.000 I love this.

00:33:30.000 And then a week later, say, I'm giving up.

00:33:32.000 This is going to be, it takes 90, 100, 150, 200 days sometimes to reprogram, to build new neural pathways, to shed yourself of addictions.

00:33:43.000 But once you are, you can operate at a level that you'll never have thought possible.

00:33:48.000 New habits, tons of joy, lots of gratitude, focus, passion, energy, intensity.

00:33:54.000 There's a better life out there for you.

00:33:56.000 If you're out there, you're like, boy, this is just heavy.

00:34:00.000 Life is tough and it's kicking me in the tail.

00:34:02.000 You got to commit to being better and you have to do the habit.

00:34:05.000 Be process-oriented, habit stack, find five things that you know that are good for you that you aren't doing.

00:34:12.000 I'm going to walk around the block.

00:34:12.000 I'm going to drink a ton of water.

00:34:14.000 I'm going to stop drinking alcohol.

00:34:15.000 I'm going to stop eating refined sugar and carbs.

00:34:18.000 And I'm going to try to read a book a month.

00:34:20.000 Those five things every single one of you guys can do, regardless of your income level.

00:34:24.000 If you were worth millions of dollars or you were worth no money, those five things you can do.

00:34:28.000 That's it.

00:34:28.000 No excuse.

00:34:29.000 Focus on your physiology.

00:34:31.000 Focus on your mental.

00:34:32.000 Focus on your spiritual.

00:34:34.000 Boom, boom, boom.

00:34:35.000 And then after 90 days, like, well, that was easy.

00:34:37.000 Well, then increase all those.

00:34:39.000 Instead of going around for a walk, go for a jog.

00:34:42.000 Instead of just reading a book a month, read a book a week.

00:34:45.000 Your physiology improve your diet even more.

00:34:47.000 Say, not am I going to do no refined sugar, no carbohydrates, no alcohol, no smoking, but I'm also going to say, I want to lose 10, 15 pounds.

00:34:55.000 Go to myphdweightloss.com.

00:34:57.000 By the way, one of my goals is I'm going to try to try to try to finish every single Hillsdale online course going into 2024.

00:35:04.000 In all my idle time traveling across the country, I have a choice. 0.97

00:35:06.000 I can watch some stupid Netflix Hulu thing. 0.99

00:35:08.000 Ah, that's funny. 0.99

00:35:10.000 Or I could listen to Hillsdale online courses, charlieforhillsdale.com.

00:35:13.000 Push yourself, raise your standard of excellence.

00:35:16.000 There is a better life for you.

00:35:18.000 However, I'll tell you, going into 2024, mediocrity is not going to save the country.

00:35:23.000 You're going to have to want something excellent.

00:35:25.000 So pray on it, work towards it, flourish in the name of the Lord.

00:35:30.000 And let's do it together.

00:35:31.000 This is a great year, everybody.

00:35:32.000 2023.

00:35:33.000 It was a setup for what comes next.

00:35:35.000 Let's work.

00:35:37.000 And I'll see you guys in the new year.

00:35:41.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:35:42.000 Email us as always freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:35:45.000 Thanks so much for listening, and God bless.

00:35:50.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - December 29, 2023

Charlie's Top Books of 2023

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