The Joe Rogan Experience - Joe Rogan Experience #1127 - Jesse Itzler

00:00:02.000 Four, three, two, one, boom. 0.96

00:00:06.000 So what, um, 100 mile man, or 100 man, what is it?

00:00:09.000 The 100 mile man.

00:00:11.000 What is that?

00:00:11.000 I ran a 100 mile race years ago.

00:00:14.000 You're like, I'm the fucking man. 1.00

00:00:16.000 Let me grab it if it's available. 0.99

00:00:18.000 That's cool that you got it, man, because that's a very popular thing now.

00:00:22.000 Yeah.

00:00:22.000 Did you run this before or after you did the book with David Goggins?

00:00:26.000 I ran it before.

00:00:28.000 Oh, okay.

00:00:28.000 Yeah.

00:00:29.000 I think at the time when I did it, there were like 400 Americans that ran 100 miles or something.

00:00:34.000 Oh really?

00:00:34.000 It wasn't a lot, so that's why it was available.

00:00:36.000 Isn't it crazy how many people do it now?

00:00:38.000 Yeah, I think I was trying to figure out in my head how many do it a year and like how many races, 100 mile races there are there a month and then multiply it out.

00:00:47.000 So probably five or six thousand, I'm guessing.

00:00:50.000 Five or six thousand people have done it?

00:00:52.000 I think probably.

00:00:53.000 I think so.

00:00:54.000 Wow.

00:00:54.000 Americans.

00:00:55.000 Yeah.

00:00:56.000 It's a long way. 0.99

00:00:58.000 It's a long fucking way. 0.99

00:00:59.000 We were just about talking right before the podcast about how Miss America yanked off all... 1.00

00:01:06.000 They're no longer judged by their beauty.

00:01:09.000 And I posted this because I thought it was silly.

00:01:12.000 And there's just these fights online, man. 0.99

00:01:16.000 There's fucking fights in the comments and fights and... 0.99

00:01:19.000 People are tense. 1.00

00:01:20.000 Yeah.

00:01:21.000 People need to go out and run those hundred miles, man.

00:01:23.000 Yeah.

00:01:24.000 They loosen up fast. 0.96

00:01:26.000 I don't know what the fuck is going to miss America scrapping the swimsuit competition would no longer be judged on physical appearance It's literally a beauty contest. 0.98

00:01:35.000 That is what it is. 0.98

00:01:36.000 What are they replacing it with?

00:01:39.000 I mean, I gotta think it's like when Playboy decided to not have people nude Right that like and but here's the thing but no longer judging them on their physical appearance Well, what does that mean?

00:01:52.000 Like what does that mean?

00:01:54.000 We are no longer a pageant, Gretchen Carlson says.

00:02:00.000 We're a competition.

00:02:02.000 Okay.

00:02:04.000 I give up.

00:02:06.000 I don't know.

00:02:07.000 I think this might hurt the ratings a little bit.

00:02:10.000 I think a little bit.

00:02:11.000 Or not.

00:02:12.000 Maybe people will get very excited about it.

00:02:14.000 Maybe it'll ramp up.

00:02:15.000 Yeah.

00:02:16.000 It's getting a lot of talk.

00:02:17.000 Yeah.

00:02:17.000 Maybe people will be pissed off and so they'll tune in.

00:02:20.000 It's just, I don't know.

00:02:21.000 Where do you stand on it? 0.99

00:02:22.000 I don't give a fuck. 1.00

00:02:23.000 It's so stupid. 1.00

00:02:25.000 Miss America. 1.00

00:02:25.000 I mean, this is what's really fascinating to me. 1.00

00:02:27.000 I was reading in the comments a lot of feminists were angry at me that I was mocking. 1.00

00:02:32.000 I saw a few of them.

00:02:34.000 I don't get it. 0.99

00:02:36.000 Like, why would you even want a who I'd most like to fuck contest? 1.00

00:02:41.000 Because that's what it is. 0.99

00:02:42.000 I mean, that's really what it is.

00:02:44.000 You're having these gals parade around in their bikini. 1.00

00:02:46.000 It's a beauty contest.

00:02:47.000 Do we have a Mr. America contest?

00:02:50.000 Like, is that just the president?

00:02:51.000 Is that what the Mr. America contest is?

00:02:53.000 I don't know.

00:02:54.000 I don't know.

00:02:55.000 I mean, I was trying to ask you as someone who's deeply connected to competition and mindsets.

00:03:02.000 Yeah.

00:03:03.000 I don't know.

00:03:04.000 I'm not following it that closely.

00:03:06.000 But I am going to miss that part of the competition, to be honest with you.

00:03:09.000 Are you, though?

00:03:09.000 Really?

00:03:09.000 Yeah.

00:03:09.000 There's so many opportunities to see people naked today.

00:03:13.000 Yeah, but you know, as a kid watching this America pageant, I was like, you know, there weren't a lot of options.

00:03:18.000 Back then.

00:03:19.000 Yeah.

00:03:20.000 Kids today are broken.

00:03:21.000 Sports Illustrated and the pageant.

00:03:24.000 Swimsuit issue.

00:03:25.000 I wonder if they're going to continue the swimsuit issue.

00:03:31.000 Maybe they'll just see their faces and just have to assume they're in their swimsuit.

00:03:35.000 And then, you know, there'll be like a bubble, a thought bubble, and it'll be filled with an amazing quote that they say.

00:03:42.000 That'll be the new swimsuit issue.

00:03:44.000 Because we're just judging them on their minds.

00:03:46.000 Right.

00:03:46.000 And the content.

00:03:47.000 Yes.

00:03:48.000 The content.

00:03:49.000 The content.

00:03:49.000 Speaking of content.

00:03:51.000 Living with monks.

00:03:53.000 Yes.

00:03:53.000 What is it called?

00:03:54.000 Living with the Monks. 0.89

00:03:55.000 Living with the Monks. 0.89

00:03:57.000 This is your new book.

00:03:58.000 Yes.

00:03:59.000 Why did you decide to do that?

00:04:00.000 And how long did you do it for?

00:04:01.000 I did it for 15 days.

00:04:03.000 That's enough.

00:04:04.000 That's more than enough, man.

00:04:07.000 Yeah.

00:04:07.000 Where'd you go?

00:04:08.000 Go like this for an hour.

00:04:09.000 Your finger will fall off.

00:04:10.000 What are you doing with your finger?

00:04:11.000 Up and down?

00:04:12.000 Yeah.

00:04:12.000 Just a repetition.

00:04:13.000 What did you have to do?

00:04:15.000 Well, I live with...

00:04:16.000 There were eight monks, four of which have been there for 50 years.

00:04:20.000 50?

00:04:21.000 50. On a monastery, 500 acres, kind of in the middle of nowhere.

00:04:27.000 Wow.

00:04:27.000 And I went for 15 days.

00:04:30.000 So I figured, you know, I'd invested so much of my life on the physical side and ran 100 miles and just always active and this and that.

00:04:38.000 And have really invested very little on my own inner work.

00:04:42.000 And I just felt like, man, I just felt overwhelmed a little bit.

00:04:47.000 And I said to my wife, you know, who are the masters?

00:04:49.000 And everything pointed to monks.

00:04:52.000 And I said, I want to go live on a monastery.

00:04:54.000 There's something romantic about that, right?

00:04:55.000 It's almost like the guy who goes off into the woods to write a book, like being with a monk and just being in a monastery with monks.

00:05:04.000 There's something very romantic about that, right?

00:05:07.000 That you've shed all your worldly belongings and you no longer care about the day-to-day nonsense that everybody is fixated on.

00:05:15.000 You just decide to just...

00:05:19.000 Yes.

00:05:20.000 All day.

00:05:23.000 You can do it, man.

00:05:25.000 I don't want to do it, man.

00:05:26.000 You should do it.

00:05:27.000 I don't want to do it.

00:05:27.000 I live the opposite of a monk's life.

00:05:30.000 My life is filled with bullshit. 1.00

00:05:35.000 I get it. 1.00

00:05:37.000 Where'd you go?

00:05:38.000 So I went to a monastery just south of Canada in the States.

00:05:43.000 What state is it?

00:05:44.000 It was in upstate New York.

00:05:46.000 Oh, okay.

00:05:46.000 Yeah, like on the Vermont border.

00:05:48.000 And it was, you know, no phone, total kind of separation from my family.

00:05:52.000 I have four kids, my wife, and just got to get to know myself a little bit.

00:05:57.000 Wow. 0.98

00:05:58.000 Now, when you were up there, was there any time where you're like, what the fuck am I doing? 0.97

00:06:03.000 Like one minute into it.

00:06:06.000 When I first got up there, the main monk, like my go-to monk, Brother Christopher, took me to my room.

00:06:13.000 They call the rooms a cell, which is about the size of this table.

00:06:17.000 And I had a bed.

00:06:18.000 I walked in, there was a bed.

00:06:20.000 There was a little desk with a night lamp on it and nothing on the walls.

00:06:24.000 And he said, tomorrow, we're going to start prayer, reflection, and meditation at 7.15 a.m.

00:06:31.000 And I looked at my watch and it was 6 p.m.

00:06:34.000 And I asked him, well, what do we do between now and 7.15 a.m.?

00:06:39.000 And he looked at me dead in the eye and he said, you think? 1.00

00:06:43.000 And I said to myself, I'm fucked. 1.00

00:06:47.000 Because I'm like... 0.99

00:06:51.000 I don't really spend a lot of time in thought.

00:06:55.000 So I went and I said, okay, I'm going to meditate.

00:06:58.000 I'm here.

00:06:59.000 Let me start this journey with meditation.

00:07:01.000 I had taken a course in transcendental meditation.

00:07:03.000 I'm not a big meditation guy other than running.

00:07:07.000 So I set my timer for 20 minutes and I sat down in my chair and I started focusing on my mantra.

00:07:14.000 Immediately I'm bombarded with How is my wife?

00:07:18.000 How are the kids?

00:07:18.000 The Hawks?

00:07:20.000 The Atlanta Hawks.

00:07:22.000 I live in Atlanta.

00:07:23.000 Not your kind of Hawk.

00:07:25.000 Everything's coming at me.

00:07:26.000 And time is going by.

00:07:28.000 And I'm just getting bombarded with thought.

00:07:30.000 And I'm like, why is it my...

00:07:32.000 Timer buzzed like it's been I've been here forever so I was gonna look and reset my thing I'm like that would be cheating let me keep going and I'm going and all the times going by and finally I'm like fuck is going on with my timer you know so I open my eyes and I look to reset my timer it's three minutes and 27 seconds no and I said to my I really thought it was 20 minutes I thought it was like hours, 0.83

00:07:53.000 man.

00:07:53.000 I mean like I never really sat in a room like with nothing going on and just closed my eyes alone and thought and time just stopped and I calculated how much time I have left like 15 days times 24 hours or 60 minutes and I said to myself like man I'm in trouble.

00:08:11.000 This isn't like like this isn't what I'm on Gilligan's Island.

00:08:15.000 This is a real like I can't get out of here and I had a really hard time with it.

00:08:20.000 What was the commitment?

00:08:21.000 The commitment was 15 days.

00:08:23.000 It was a personal commitment.

00:08:26.000 You did it up to you.

00:08:28.000 There was nothing in writing.

00:08:31.000 Did you have a way to escape?

00:08:33.000 I was thinking of escape plans.

00:08:37.000 On the monastery, and this is a little crazy, the way the monks keep the lights on is they breed German shepherds.

00:08:44.000 That's how they make money. 0.52

00:08:45.000 They breed German shepherds.

00:08:46.000 Oh, I've seen this.

00:08:48.000 They wrote a book.

00:08:49.000 Yeah, they wrote a book.

00:08:50.000 I have the book.

00:08:50.000 It's a book about raising puppies.

00:08:52.000 Correct.

00:08:52.000 The same guys?

00:08:53.000 Same guys.

00:08:54.000 Oh.

00:08:54.000 So they weren't Buddhists.

00:08:56.000 They were Russian Orthodox.

00:08:57.000 And they raise German shepherds.

00:08:59.000 So they live on this property, and there are these 11 German shepherds.

00:09:03.000 And at the end of the property, the only way off the property, were two mobile homes, unconnected to the monastery at the end of this road that leads up to the monastery.

00:09:12.000 And both of those homes had German shepherds as well that were a little territorial.

00:09:18.000 So there really was no way for me to escape.

00:09:22.000 I ran 120 miles up and down the driveway while I was there because I couldn't leave the property.

00:09:29.000 So you just timed yourself or paced yourself using an app or something like that?

00:09:33.000 No, I said like 2,000 steps equals a mile.

00:09:36.000 So you counted your steps?

00:09:37.000 Mm-hmm.

00:09:37.000 Oh, Jesus Christ, dude.

00:09:39.000 Yeah.

00:09:40.000 I counted it.

00:09:41.000 I marked it.

00:09:41.000 What did they think about you running back and forth like that?

00:09:44.000 I thought I was a fucking psychopath. 0.99

00:09:47.000 I'm like, you guys have been here for 50 years, man. 1.00

00:09:50.000 I'm just trying to get some exercise.

00:09:51.000 What are the guys like that have been there for 50 years?

00:09:56.000 Quiet.

00:09:58.000 No, they were extremely...

00:10:00.000 Listen, they were doing what they wanted to do with their life.

00:10:04.000 So they were super happy.

00:10:06.000 Really?

00:10:07.000 Yeah, super present.

00:10:08.000 I mean, very present.

00:10:10.000 I mean, I live in a world of to-do lists, man.

00:10:13.000 They were very present, very happy, and really, really nice to me and everybody.

00:10:21.000 Did you talk to them?

00:10:22.000 They speak English?

00:10:23.000 What was the conversation like?

00:10:25.000 What do you say to a guy who's been in a monastery for 50 years, just staring at the walls?

00:10:30.000 Well, I could have talked to him about the pageant.

00:10:33.000 That would be an interesting conversation.

00:10:35.000 He probably would have been super confused.

00:10:37.000 When I first got up there and they asked me a little bit about my background, I told them, you know, I was in the private jet business.

00:10:43.000 They didn't understand private jets really.

00:10:46.000 And then I said, I had a coconut water company.

00:10:48.000 They'd never heard of coconut water.

00:10:50.000 I told them I was involved with the Atlanta Hawks.

00:10:52.000 And one of the monks said, ah, I've been to an Expos game.

00:10:57.000 And I'm like, that's a different sport and they don't play, they don't exist anymore.

00:11:01.000 And it was just very like time warped at first.

00:11:05.000 It was really interesting.

00:11:06.000 Really interesting.

00:11:07.000 Jesus.

00:11:09.000 Now, what led these guys that are 50 years on the monastery, how old were they?

00:11:14.000 So some of the age range from, I think the youngest monk was probably 35 up until late 70s.

00:11:23.000 So late 70s were the guys that had been there for 50 years?

00:11:25.000 Yeah.

00:11:25.000 So they checked in when they were 20. Yeah, in their young 20s.

00:11:29.000 In the same spot.

00:11:30.000 They actually built this monastery by hand.

00:11:33.000 They bought 500 acres for very, you know, I think it was like $50,000 or something.

00:11:39.000 I mean, something crazy.

00:11:40.000 And then they built the monastery by hand.

00:11:42.000 Yeah.

00:11:43.000 And so it's been a passion of love and labor and they've been there since.

00:11:49.000 And so they vow celibacy the whole deal?

00:11:52.000 Celibacy, poverty.

00:11:54.000 Poverty and celibacy at 20. Yeah.

00:11:57.000 They take a vow for things of...

00:12:02.000 Celibacy, poverty.

00:12:03.000 They pledge all their personal belongings to the monastery.

00:12:05.000 So really their only possession is a driver's license.

00:12:09.000 Obedience and stability, meaning we're not leaving.

00:12:12.000 This is what we're going to do.

00:12:14.000 So, I mean, talk about discipline.

00:12:16.000 Just off the charts.

00:12:17.000 This is what we're going to do forever.

00:12:18.000 Forever.

00:12:19.000 And where do they get funding?

00:12:20.000 They're self-sufficient, so they breed German Shepherds, they sell them.

00:12:25.000 That's kind of one income stream.

00:12:27.000 And then they're masters, world masters of dog training.

00:12:31.000 So every two weeks, they have 10 dogs that come in, and I watch this.

00:12:38.000 I mean, literally, dogs come in like Spuds McKenzie and leave like they just left etiquette school.

00:12:44.000 Really?

00:12:45.000 It was...

00:12:46.000 Anytime you're in the presence of... 0.63

00:12:49.000 The people that are the best in the world at what they do, it's fucking fascinating.

00:12:53.000 And these guys were masters.

00:12:57.000 They are the masters of...

00:12:59.000 I'm sure there's a lot of people that are great, but in their space of dog training and breeding.

00:13:04.000 What was so special about the way they trained dogs?

00:13:07.000 Just the command.

00:13:08.000 Like, they had an energy that the dogs responded to.

00:13:12.000 I mean, like, I would walk in, the dogs would go crazy.

00:13:14.000 They'd sniff my nuts, they'd jump, like, they'd go nuts.

00:13:17.000 These guys would walk in and, like, they could just sense...

00:13:20.000 That they were in control.

00:13:21.000 That they were in control.

00:13:22.000 And, like, the eye contact...

00:13:25.000 Everything, the way that they talk, their tone, their hand mannerisms, they just have mastered this and they have a deep connection with the dogs.

00:13:35.000 Dogs are weird in that way.

00:13:37.000 Like I have a one-year-old golden retriever and he has different rules for different people and he knows who he can get away with, what with.

00:13:45.000 My wife's mom has zero shot at controlling this dog. 1.00

00:13:50.000 He's like, no, no, no.

00:13:51.000 I'm the boss.

00:13:52.000 I think I'm going to jump up on you and kiss you.

00:13:55.000 No, I'm going to just run around and put my paws on you when you sit in the chair. 0.98

00:13:58.000 And we're like, Marshall, come on, man. 1.00

00:14:00.000 What the fuck? 1.00

00:14:01.000 What is this? 1.00

00:14:02.000 You don't do this.

00:14:03.000 And it doesn't matter.

00:14:04.000 When she's here, he just decides, nah, new set of rules with this lady. 0.99

00:14:08.000 She doesn't seem to know what the fuck to do with me. 0.91

00:14:11.000 But I had a trainer that I worked with him for in the beginning when I first got him. 0.90

00:14:16.000 And when Ryan, the trainer, comes over, he just sits down.

00:14:20.000 He's super chill.

00:14:22.000 He listens. 0.99

00:14:22.000 He's like, oh, this guy knows what the fuck to do. 0.99

00:14:25.000 He knows how to control me. 0.99

00:14:27.000 It's very interesting.

00:14:28.000 He's even different with me than he is with my friends.

00:14:31.000 My friends will come over. 1.00

00:14:32.000 He's like, let me try you out, motherfucker. 1.00

00:14:34.000 Put my paws on you. 1.00

00:14:35.000 See what's up.

00:14:36.000 And I wish he would be, like, across the board with everybody, but he's just...

00:14:41.000 It's all love, so it's not bad.

00:14:43.000 You know, he's just a lovey dog.

00:14:45.000 Yeah. 1.00

00:14:45.000 But it's just, like, paws on you and shit, you know? 1.00

00:14:48.000 And I'm not really a dog person. 0.99

00:14:49.000 I like dogs.

00:14:50.000 Do you have one?

00:14:51.000 No?

00:14:52.000 No.

00:14:52.000 But we don't really connect.

00:14:53.000 You don't connect with the dogs?

00:14:54.000 I mean, I'm not, like, instant love when they see me the way that they are with other people, you know?

00:15:00.000 But the monks were teaching me various lessons, almost like karate kid style, through the dogs.

00:15:07.000 So the first day I got there, every day I was signed a different role.

00:15:12.000 I would shadow one of the monks.

00:15:13.000 And there were eight, and they had different responsibilities around the monastery.

00:15:18.000 The first day I was in the training center with one of the monks that was training the dog.

00:15:21.000 And my job was to be the distractor. 0.90

00:15:25.000 So Rainbow, this dog, would walk around and I would fucking go at him and jump and run and like try to, you know, whatever, get him to break his goal of going. 0.93

00:15:35.000 They were kind of simulating a park scene or a city scene and making this dog not get distracted. 0.97

00:15:40.000 So I would go nuts with a pork chop and this and throw whatever.

00:15:44.000 The dog would just go unwavering from point A to point B. And the monk said to me at the end, he's like, it's just like life, man.

00:15:51.000 He's like, if you have a goal, Just like Rainbow's goal is to get from A to B, you can't be distracted in your goal.

00:15:58.000 And I was like, that makes sense.

00:15:59.000 Some karate kid stuff.

00:16:02.000 Wax on.

00:16:03.000 Yeah, like wax on.

00:16:04.000 But all these different lessons started to emerge.

00:16:08.000 It was pretty interesting.

00:16:10.000 Wow.

00:16:12.000 It's interesting, too, that they're doing it with German Shepherds, which are really, really smart dogs. 0.99

00:16:17.000 What's a dumb dog? 0.99

00:16:21.000 What's generally thought of as a dumb dog? 1.00

00:16:25.000 I'm trying to think. 1.00

00:16:28.000 I'm trying to think. 1.00

00:16:29.000 What would generally be thought of as a dumb dog? 0.99

00:16:32.000 There's no, like... 0.99

00:16:35.000 Prejudices for dogs, right?

00:16:37.000 Is there? 1.00

00:16:38.000 This is like one breed where you're like, this is a dumb fucking breed. 1.00

00:16:42.000 I don't think of... 1.00

00:16:43.000 If you say a dumb dog, there's dumb individual dogs, but I don't ever think of like, oh, that... 0.95

00:16:49.000 There's some dogs that are like spastic, right? 1.00

00:16:53.000 Like Jack Russell Terriers are kind of spastic, but that's because they were raised to kill rats, and they just have a high kill drive, and they're super hyper. 0.99

00:17:01.000 But like, I can't think of a dog that's supposed to be stupid. 0.96

00:17:06.000 But German Shepherds are generally supposed to be smart. 0.98

00:17:09.000 This list says English Bulldogs, but I don't know if that's necessarily true.

00:17:12.000 Really?

00:17:12.000 I think they're just lazy, man.

00:17:13.000 My dog, Brutus, is half English Bulldog and half Shibu Inu.

00:17:17.000 He just has bad joints and he's just lazy. 0.99

00:17:20.000 He's just, I don't think he's stupid. 1.00

00:17:23.000 He's kind of a dick. 1.00

00:17:24.000 He's a dick to other dogs, but I just think that's because he's in pain a lot. 0.99

00:17:29.000 These dogs were super smart. 0.98

00:17:30.000 They're so smart, man. 0.99

00:17:31.000 Those dogs look at you and they're sizing you up, checking you out, seeing what the fuck you're up to, making sure you're cool. 1.00

00:17:38.000 But there's this feeling like they know they could kill you. 1.00

00:17:42.000 They're looking at you like, I could kill you, but I'm just checking you out. 1.00

00:17:45.000 I had that feeling that they could kill me too. 0.99

00:17:47.000 Yeah, it's a real feeling. 0.74

00:17:48.000 Yeah.

00:17:49.000 Yeah, they can.

00:17:50.000 And I was scared they were sensing that.

00:17:53.000 I was trying to downplay my fear. 0.99

00:17:56.000 Yeah, my friend who trains them, It has a dog that's like he does police work and it's like a serious fucking dog and he'll attack like a thing if you're holding like a stick like on command and he jumps and one of the things he does he bites the stick and then two paws go right into your nuts and I don't think it's on purpose but damn it's an effective strategy like it's like bite and then nut stomp all in one maneuver right But those dogs are a 0.94

00:18:26.000 dog that's sort of bred and designed for protection work and police work and stuff. 0.76

00:18:33.000 They are, and they train their dogs as pets, so they didn't do any kind of, you know, police work or anything like that.

00:18:39.000 So the eleven German Shepherds that were on the property were super well behaved, I mean like ridiculously well behaved. 0.98

00:18:46.000 So when they train them, are they just training them to make sure that they're obedient, you know, they just listen, watch the house, bark at strangers, that kind of shit? 0.99

00:18:54.000 Yeah. 0.98

00:18:54.000 Hand signals, obedient, you know, not jumping, but really that, you know, they know who's in control. 0.98

00:19:01.000 So did these guys do that before they started running the monastery, or was it something that they decided to do while they had the monastery?

00:19:08.000 No.

00:19:08.000 So they fell into it.

00:19:10.000 They didn't go up there.

00:19:11.000 None of them had any experience in dog training.

00:19:14.000 That wasn't the intent.

00:19:15.000 They just said, we've got to keep the lights on here.

00:19:18.000 And they had a dog as a pet.

00:19:22.000 And fell in love with the dog and ultimately when the dog passed away, the dog got killed, they wanted another dog and they went to a breeder and they got two dogs and they realized that once they bred an amazing puppy,

00:19:38.000 their first litter, We're good to go.

00:20:01.000 I mean like they ran this thing super efficiently.

00:20:05.000 But the point would only be to make enough money to keep the lights on.

00:20:10.000 Correct.

00:20:10.000 So as an entrepreneur, it's almost like they're limited in their ambition.

00:20:15.000 I think excess, you know, it's not like if they have excess money and revenue, it's not going to material things, but it's for the life and the extension of the monastery.

00:20:27.000 So they would save it and put it away for taxes or what have you.

00:20:30.000 Yeah, or they have, you know, they're in the hands of God.

00:20:32.000 They don't have a lot of litters or they don't have a lot of puppies or they have no income.

00:20:36.000 Right, right.

00:20:37.000 That's fascinating.

00:20:38.000 Now, these guys, what do they do for recreation?

00:20:42.000 They pray.

00:20:44.000 Jesus.

00:20:45.000 They think.

00:20:46.000 They read.

00:20:47.000 What do they read?

00:20:48.000 And they have like an amazing collection of books.

00:20:52.000 Fiction?

00:20:52.000 Everything.

00:20:53.000 Really?

00:20:54.000 Oh, okay.

00:20:54.000 Super well read.

00:20:55.000 So they do have some entertainment in terms of like fiction.

00:20:59.000 Yeah.

00:21:00.000 And, you know, periods of it—and I went up there with no expectation.

00:21:03.000 The only—like, I'd heard of monks.

00:21:05.000 I've seen monks in movies and read articles and blogs, but I never—I didn't know much about it, about the culture, certainly about Russian Orthodox and the different factions and this and that.

00:21:17.000 So I went up there with eyes wide open.

00:21:20.000 But I went up there really just to detach and get away from feeling overloaded and feeling distracted.

00:21:27.000 And man, I'm a father of four and I have a business and my wife has an entrepreneur, etc.

00:21:31.000 And I just wanted to see like, you know, this has kind of been my journey.

00:21:36.000 I learned best by diving into the unknown, just like I did with David and just as I've done in businesses and other things.

00:21:42.000 It's just like I learned best by going into the unknown.

00:21:45.000 So I didn't do a lot of research around them or how they made money or this or that.

00:21:50.000 I just kind of showed up.

00:21:51.000 Wow.

00:21:52.000 That's a crazy undertaking.

00:21:55.000 But I guess if you knew you only had 15 days, at least you have some light at the end of the rainbow.

00:22:01.000 When that 15th day came...

00:22:04.000 And did you get in a car and drive away from that place?

00:22:06.000 Yeah. 0.99

00:22:06.000 How fucking good did you feel? 0.99

00:22:07.000 Did you check your phone? 0.99

00:22:08.000 Did you check your text messages?

00:22:10.000 Felt really good.

00:22:11.000 See what's going on on Twitter?

00:22:13.000 On day four and five, I was already kind of making excuses.

00:22:17.000 I was rationalizing in my head that seven days would be enough.

00:22:19.000 So, like, in my head, I was going home day seven.

00:22:21.000 Oh, really?

00:22:22.000 Well, I mean, I was like, no one's going to know the difference or care if I went 15 days or seven days.

00:22:27.000 Is that like if you're at mile 50 and you're like, that's enough?

00:22:30.000 It is.

00:22:31.000 Same kind of thing?

00:22:32.000 Same kind of thing until you wake up the next day and you're like, I dropped out.

00:22:35.000 Right.

00:22:36.000 And you feel like, you know.

00:22:37.000 So, anyway, I decided, like, you know, I'm going to stick this out.

00:22:42.000 And then when I left, it was a good feeling.

00:22:45.000 And the feeling was proud.

00:22:47.000 I felt proud of myself for sticking through it.

00:22:51.000 Isn't that funny?

00:22:51.000 These guys have been there for 50 years.

00:22:53.000 50 years, man.

00:22:54.000 And you're like, I did it in two weeks, man.

00:22:56.000 Yeah.

00:22:57.000 It felt good.

00:22:58.000 Yeah.

00:22:59.000 I bet it did.

00:23:00.000 It also felt good to go into a bed.

00:23:01.000 Well, the 50 years when you're describing that, that seems so insane to me that I can't even relate. 1.00

00:23:07.000 But when you're talking about your 15 days, I'm like, man, you poor bastard. 0.99

00:23:11.000 Like, I feel bad for you. 0.98

00:23:12.000 The guy, the 50 years, he might as well be living in another dimension, as far as I'm concerned.

00:23:18.000 The guy, I mean, went in there in his 20s?

00:23:21.000 That is just, so nothing.

00:23:24.000 No sex, no family.

00:23:27.000 No neighborhood.

00:23:29.000 Nope. 1.00

00:23:30.000 No fucking hobbies. 1.00

00:23:31.000 No drive to work. 1.00

00:23:33.000 Nope. 1.00

00:23:34.000 Fuck! 1.00

00:23:35.000 And you know their their impression of it is like we made this decision. 1.00

00:23:38.000 So it's not we didn't sacrifice it like we decided this is the life we want to live.

00:23:42.000 But when he made this decision it was 19 what? 0.94

00:23:45.000 1965 or some shit? 0.99

00:23:47.000 Black and white TVs. 0.99

00:23:49.000 Oh my god, that's a crazy decision.

00:23:51.000 That's crazy.

00:23:53.000 To decide back then like I I see what's coming and I've had enough.

00:23:58.000 Yeah.

00:23:59.000 I've had enough.

00:23:59.000 These daily newspapers, it's just too much information.

00:24:02.000 Right, exactly.

00:24:04.000 That's a crazy time to check out. 0.99

00:24:06.000 So they don't know what the fuck's going on in the world? 1.00

00:24:08.000 Did you quiz them on shit? 1.00

00:24:10.000 I didn't really quiz them. 1.00

00:24:12.000 I mean, every Sunday night, there's one TV in one back room, and they watch the news.

00:24:18.000 So they get a sense of just, like, you know, kind of where we are, state of the union.

00:24:22.000 If we're at war.

00:24:23.000 Yeah.

00:24:23.000 If there's a nuclear meltdown.

00:24:25.000 Yeah.

00:24:26.000 One hour?

00:24:27.000 Yeah, they watch about an hour on Sunday night.

00:24:30.000 One night a week and that's how they tune in.

00:24:32.000 Who do they trust?

00:24:33.000 I was going crazy.

00:24:34.000 I was immediately like, my head went to like, I'm sure we're being attacked right now and I'm stuck at the monastery.

00:24:41.000 I'm sure the airlines aren't flying and I'm stuck here for another 30 days.

00:24:46.000 My mind went to a place where I was thinking just the worst of everything.

00:24:51.000 What news do they trust?

00:24:55.000 I think they trust it all.

00:24:57.000 But like, which channel do they go to?

00:24:59.000 Oh, they would just watch like, you know, the local ABC, the local network.

00:25:03.000 So whatever's local in upstate New York.

00:25:05.000 Oh, okay.

00:25:06.000 There weren't Netflix options.

00:25:09.000 Do they have internet?

00:25:11.000 I had no access to the internet.

00:25:13.000 I think they have access.

00:25:15.000 Probably for their job.

00:25:16.000 Yeah, but I had no access.

00:25:17.000 For the dog training?

00:25:19.000 Jesus Christ.

00:25:20.000 It was wild.

00:25:22.000 But why is that so romantic to people?

00:25:24.000 Because it is.

00:25:24.000 It's very romantic.

00:25:25.000 There's something about this idea of checking out.

00:25:29.000 I had a buddy who did it.

00:25:32.000 For all I know, he still does it.

00:25:33.000 I lost touch with him 25 plus years ago.

00:25:36.000 But he was a Taekwondo guy.

00:25:39.000 And he started to meditate...

00:25:42.000 Because he was always very nervous about sparring and very nervous about competition.

00:25:48.000 So he was trying to figure out what was going on.

00:25:51.000 So he said, let me just take some meditation classes.

00:25:53.000 He took some meditation classes and really enjoyed it.

00:25:56.000 Got really, really into it.

00:25:58.000 And then one day decided to give up all the worldly possessions and all of the trappings of civilization and move into the monastery.

00:26:08.000 And I remember we met him for lunch one day.

00:26:13.000 He'd also become a vegetarian, so he only ate vegetables.

00:26:16.000 And we were all just hanging around, and he seemed oddly at peace.

00:26:20.000 And it was so confusing to me, because at the time, I was, like, probably 20. And I just didn't know what the fuck was going on in the world. 0.89

00:26:28.000 He was maybe 10 years older than me. 0.98

00:26:30.000 And this guy had just decided, I've had enough.

00:26:34.000 Which is weird to me, though.

00:26:35.000 He made me nervous.

00:26:36.000 Like, you know?

00:26:37.000 Like, he made me nervous that, like...

00:26:40.000 He was on to something.

00:26:41.000 It made me nervous that he was wiser than me. 1.00

00:26:45.000 It highlighted how fucked up I am, especially at 20. Life is so chaotic. 1.00

00:26:52.000 You have no idea what the future holds for you, if it's going to be success or failure, if you're going to slip on every fucking banana peel you run across. 0.98

00:27:02.000 But he seemed to have it figured out. 1.00

00:27:04.000 Sitting there eating vegetables, all calm and shit. 0.99

00:27:07.000 Where is he now? 0.99

00:27:08.000 I have no idea.

00:27:09.000 I lost touch with him.

00:27:10.000 I lost touch with him, you know, probably like 30 years ago.

00:27:15.000 When I was 20, those guys freaked me out too.

00:27:18.000 They must have freaked you out just when you did this book.

00:27:21.000 I freaked them out.

00:27:22.000 Really?

00:27:23.000 I was an alien.

00:27:24.000 I mean, I came in there high energy, you know, rah-rah.

00:27:27.000 Were you the only guys that ever done that?

00:27:31.000 Probably.

00:27:32.000 Probably.

00:27:32.000 At this particular place, I think, for an extended period of time like that.

00:27:36.000 Yeah.

00:27:37.000 Wow.

00:27:39.000 Why'd they let you do it?

00:27:41.000 Well, I'd written a book prior, Living with a Seal, and they knew I was coming up there to write a book.

00:27:48.000 And I guess they liked the first book.

00:27:51.000 Well, I'm sure it'll be good for the dog business, too.

00:27:54.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:27:56.000 So they read your book?

00:27:57.000 They read my book.

00:27:58.000 Were you allowed to read books while you were there?

00:28:00.000 I was allowed to.

00:28:02.000 I brought...

00:28:03.000 I'm not like a big reader, so I figured two books would carry me.

00:28:07.000 For 15 days?

00:28:08.000 For 15 days, but I read both in the first two days.

00:28:12.000 Yeah.

00:28:13.000 So then I was like...

00:28:14.000 Did you check whatever they have?

00:28:16.000 Oh, look, Mary Poppins. 1.00

00:28:17.000 Yeah. 1.00

00:28:18.000 I can read this stupid shit. 1.00

00:28:19.000 Yeah. 1.00

00:28:20.000 I said I'm good just thinking.

00:28:22.000 Wow.

00:28:22.000 So was there any point at day 13 when you're like, I actually kind of like this?

00:28:28.000 Yes.

00:28:29.000 I think around day seven, once I realized, like, you know, I got the excuses out of my head that I'm staying.

00:28:35.000 I'm not leaving.

00:28:36.000 I'm in this.

00:28:37.000 This is what I'm doing.

00:28:38.000 And I settled into it.

00:28:40.000 I got tremendously energized because, like, at the monastery, you don't make any decisions.

00:28:45.000 You eat when they tell you to eat.

00:28:47.000 You eat what they tell you to eat.

00:28:49.000 You go to service when the church bell rings.

00:28:51.000 You go.

00:28:53.000 I wore one outfit.

00:28:54.000 I showered once.

00:28:55.000 So all the decisions were taken away from you.

00:28:58.000 But when all the decisions are taken away from you, it frees up so much energy.

00:29:03.000 So I was getting like super clear and I was like, I like this.

00:29:07.000 This is like no one can get to me.

00:29:08.000 I'm not getting bombarded.

00:29:10.000 No one can schedule appointments with me.

00:29:12.000 This isn't so bad.

00:29:14.000 Have you ever done the sensory deprivation tank?

00:29:17.000 Mm-mm.

00:29:19.000 There's the thing about the sensory deprivation, you know what it is, right?

00:29:22.000 The thing that's most interesting about it is that in the absence of input, your brain is freer and you can make decisions better and think about things better because there's no input coming in.

00:29:33.000 You don't think about it, but as we're sitting here...

00:29:36.000 Just touching this table is input.

00:29:39.000 You and I look at each other across the lights.

00:29:42.000 All this is input.

00:29:43.000 And in that tank, there's no input.

00:29:45.000 And in the absence of input, it frees up more resources for your brain.

00:29:49.000 So, in a sense, what these monks you're saying are doing by having everything on a schedule, you don't have to think about anything, and there's nothing coming in.

00:29:58.000 There's no Twitter, Facebook, all that jazz.

00:30:02.000 You have more resources.

00:30:04.000 Correct.

00:30:04.000 And you feel better.

00:30:05.000 That's exactly right.

00:30:07.000 And I experienced that.

00:30:09.000 I think the average American makes like 35,000 to 50,000 decisions a day.

00:30:13.000 And there's a real thing called decision fatigue.

00:30:16.000 Really?

00:30:16.000 Yeah.

00:30:17.000 And when you eliminate all...

00:30:20.000 I remember when I came home.

00:30:21.000 I came home and the day I got home, my wife is like, sweetie, I'm going to take the kids to school and I'm going to take the blue car. 1.00

00:30:29.000 I was like, cool.

00:30:29.000 Take the blue car.

00:30:30.000 And she came back a minute later.

00:30:32.000 She's like, you know what?

00:30:33.000 I think I'm going to take the other car because I want to park and the blue car is too big.

00:30:36.000 And I was like, all right, cool.

00:30:37.000 Take the other car.

00:30:38.000 And then she came back in. 0.52

00:30:39.000 She goes, you know what?

00:30:40.000 I'm going to take the blue car.

00:30:41.000 I'm like, Sarah, you're using so much energy already.

00:30:45.000 It's 7.45 a.m.

00:30:47.000 on what car to drive.

00:30:49.000 And I realized that happens all the time.

00:30:51.000 It's exhausting, man.

00:30:55.000 I'm sorry, go ahead.

00:30:56.000 No, no.

00:30:56.000 I'm just saying, I didn't have any of that.

00:30:59.000 So it freed up all this energy.

00:31:01.000 I was making massive life lists, what I want to do.

00:31:04.000 I became very aware of my relationship with time.

00:31:06.000 I mean, when we think of relationships, we think of our relationships with our mom or our dad or our kids or this and that.

00:31:12.000 But no one thinks of a relationship with time.

00:31:15.000 When I'm turning 50, the average American lives to be 78 years old.

00:31:19.000 So if I'm average, I hope I'm not, that means I got 28 years of life left.

00:31:24.000 If you reverse engineer that, if you reverse engineer it, like I just climbed Mount Washington.

00:31:30.000 There were no 70 year olds climbing Mount Washington.

00:31:33.000 The actual years that you have left to be active and do the shit that we want to do, They shrink significantly as a percentage as you get older.

00:31:42.000 So once you get aware of your relationship with time, everything shifts.

00:31:48.000 I had a fundamental shift when I came home as it relates to my relationship with time and who I want to spend it with and what I want to do.

00:31:56.000 And I want to put more on my plate of the stuff that I love to do with the people I love to do it with.

00:32:01.000 And I started getting a lot of clarity around that when I wasn't getting bombarded With everything else.

00:32:08.000 Like, I don't spend any time alone.

00:32:10.000 The only time I spend alone is if I go for a run.

00:32:13.000 Everything else is I'm getting influenced by everybody else and everything else.

00:32:17.000 So I'm losing my main superpower, my instinct, which I've survived.

00:32:21.000 I got a 980 on my SAT, man.

00:32:23.000 I survive on instinct and gut.

00:32:25.000 And I was losing that because I was so distracted.

00:32:28.000 So once I started to get that alone time, you don't have to go to a monastery to do it.

00:32:32.000 You just got to, you know, carving out a little bit of time for myself every day.

00:32:36.000 I just started to think a lot clearer on like, you know, how do I want to live reverse engineer the rest of my life?

00:32:42.000 Wow.

00:32:44.000 Do you think this is something you would do on a regular basis?

00:32:47.000 No, but it's something that I have and I feel like, like I said, going into the unknown, it gives you an edge.

00:32:55.000 You come out of it a little bit different than you go in.

00:32:58.000 It doesn't have to be a monastery.

00:32:59.000 It could be a race.

00:33:00.000 It could be a business experience.

00:33:01.000 It could be whatever.

00:33:02.000 Right, but just doing something different.

00:33:04.000 Doing it different because, you know, so yeah, I feel like it's, I don't think I would do it again, but I don't think I have to.

00:33:12.000 Because I already have...

00:33:13.000 I can tap into that when I need it.

00:33:15.000 Do you think that'll wear off, though?

00:33:16.000 Because a lot of times, inspiration for people, it's fleeting.

00:33:21.000 The takeaways won't wear off.

00:33:24.000 Like, I'm already back on my phone.

00:33:25.000 I'm back in modern day life. 0.99

00:33:27.000 I'm all fucked up again. 0.99

00:33:29.000 But... 0.97

00:33:30.000 The main things, like my relationship with time and certain things of, you know, who I want to spend it with and what I want to do and continuing to build what I call my life resume.

00:33:40.000 Doing these things that build up my, not my business resume, but my life resume.

00:33:45.000 That's things that I know I want to do more of and that will never go away.

00:33:49.000 So, you know, there's things that came out of it that will last forever.

00:33:55.000 Like what kind of adjustments did you make when you came back?

00:33:58.000 Started saying no.

00:34:00.000 I reverse engineered my life.

00:34:02.000 So let me give you an example.

00:34:03.000 My parents are 88. I have a good relationship with my parents.

00:34:09.000 My parents are 88. They live in Florida.

00:34:12.000 Let's say my parents live to be 92. I hope they live longer.

00:34:16.000 But let's say they live five years.

00:34:20.000 I don't have five years left with my parents.

00:34:24.000 I see my parents twice a year.

00:34:25.000 That means I have 10 visits with my parents. 0.98

00:34:28.000 So when I started to look at shit like that, I made significant changes. 0.98

00:34:34.000 Like, okay, I'm gonna get on a plane and see my parents. 0.98

00:34:36.000 And when I'm in those moments, My feet are on the ground.

00:34:39.000 That's where I am.

00:34:40.000 Because I only have a limited amount of time with them.

00:34:43.000 You understand?

00:34:44.000 It's not five years.

00:34:45.000 People are like, oh, I got five more.

00:34:46.000 No, you don't.

00:34:47.000 How many times do you see them, man?

00:34:49.000 You see them two times a year.

00:34:50.000 You got 10 visits.

00:34:51.000 So I just started looking at stuff like that and became really aware when I'm in moments that are big moments to take it in and take note of it.

00:35:01.000 So it has an impact on me and I appreciate it.

00:35:04.000 Wow.

00:35:05.000 Did you shift anything else in your life as far as what you do with your time during the days?

00:35:10.000 I did.

00:35:11.000 So I started putting parameters around simple things like my phone.

00:35:15.000 So I was the guy at the movie theater.

00:35:17.000 I'd be checking.

00:35:18.000 Bing! 0.98

00:35:19.000 I'd look under my shirt so the light doesn't light up and know what you know.

00:35:22.000 Well, I'm glad at least you did that.

00:35:24.000 At least you're courteous.

00:35:25.000 Yeah, that's true.

00:35:26.000 But I put parameters.

00:35:28.000 I'm not keeping my phone at...

00:35:31.000 At nighttime and seeing anything come in at 5 in the morning.

00:35:34.000 Nothing at the dinner table with my kids.

00:35:37.000 So basic, obvious things like that.

00:35:39.000 But as far as my time, I made two really big changes.

00:35:43.000 One changes, and I've kind of always been doing this, so I wouldn't necessarily say it was a change, but I take three hours a day for myself.

00:35:51.000 Religiously, every day.

00:35:53.000 This is new just since the monastery.

00:35:57.000 It's kind of like...

00:36:00.000 It's unwavering since the monastery.

00:36:02.000 It's kind of been in my life and out of my life, but I just made a pie chart of time.

00:36:07.000 It's 24 hours in a day.

00:36:08.000 We all have the same pie chart.

00:36:10.000 It starts the same.

00:36:12.000 And I said, alright, I sleep seven hours.

00:36:15.000 I mean, sometimes I'm out of balance if I'm Doing something big.

00:36:18.000 But right now, six or seven hours.

00:36:20.000 I take three for myself and it's cumulative.

00:36:22.000 So like, I'll take, could be, I'm gonna go for an hour run.

00:36:25.000 I'm gonna sit in the sauna for 20 minutes. 0.99

00:36:27.000 I'm gonna do fucking nothing. 0.98

00:36:28.000 But when I'm in my time, I'm not mad that I'm not with my kids or my wife or I'm not mad that I'm not at my office. 0.98

00:36:36.000 Like, that's my time.

00:36:37.000 And when I'm with my kids, I'm not mad that I'm not at work or whatever.

00:36:42.000 Because I don't want to resent everything. 0.97

00:36:43.000 My wife or my boss or anybody for taking away the shit that I love to do. 0.98

00:36:47.000 Like if they said, you can't run. 1.00

00:36:49.000 You can't go in the sauna.

00:36:50.000 I'd be really pissed off.

00:36:52.000 I'd be pissed at my wife. 1.00

00:36:53.000 I'd be pissed at everybody.

00:36:55.000 So I take three hours for myself.

00:36:57.000 The average American works 40 hours a week.

00:36:59.000 That's eight hours a day.

00:37:00.000 You still have six hours left in the day.

00:37:04.000 Now, of course, you have to eat.

00:37:05.000 You have to commute.

00:37:06.000 You got family and this and that.

00:37:07.000 But my point is, even take 24 hours is a long day.

00:37:11.000 I learned that running. 0.94

00:37:12.000 You can get a lot of shit done if you keep moving for 24 hours. 0.98

00:37:16.000 Even if you take three hours for yourself, if you get rid of the stuff that doesn't move the needle in the buckets that are most important to you, you can get a lot done. 0.99

00:37:26.000 So I take three hours for myself.

00:37:29.000 And I'm not mad about it.

00:37:31.000 I'm not guilty about it at all.

00:37:34.000 I feel like I'm way out of balance.

00:37:36.000 And then the second thing actually...

00:37:38.000 It didn't come from the monastery, but it was kind of an offshoot of the monastery.

00:37:42.000 I was mentioning to you that I climbed Mount Washington.

00:37:45.000 Mount Washington, in the winter, is one of the ten most dangerous mountains, I think, to climb.

00:37:50.000 Certainly in the States, there's the highest death rate.

00:37:52.000 Because the winds go up to about anywhere from, on any given day, 50 to 100 miles an hour.

00:37:59.000 Minus 35 degrees.

00:38:01.000 No visibility. 0.99

00:38:02.000 It's fucking... 1.00

00:38:03.000 It's just... 1.00

00:38:04.000 100 miles an hour?

00:38:06.000 Yeah. 0.99

00:38:07.000 What the fuck is that like? 0.98

00:38:08.000 I mean, I didn't experience 100, but I experienced super high wins. 0.98

00:38:12.000 Like, what did you experience?

00:38:14.000 50?

00:38:14.000 I think even more.

00:38:15.000 50, 60, yeah.

00:38:16.000 What is it like?

00:38:18.000 Well, I went twice.

00:38:19.000 The first time I went to do it, I didn't make it to the summit because it was too dangerous.

00:38:24.000 I actually timed out.

00:38:27.000 I didn't have enough time to get back to make it.

00:38:29.000 In altitude?

00:38:30.000 No, just in...

00:38:31.000 The amount of darkness?

00:38:32.000 Yeah, darkness.

00:38:33.000 It would have just gotten too tough to get back down.

00:38:36.000 I was with five friends.

00:38:37.000 No tour guide.

00:38:38.000 I mean, did everything wrong.

00:38:40.000 Right.

00:38:41.000 And I actually came home after that attempt, which was a year ago, and I was talking to my wife about it, and I posted it on Facebook, so everybody was blasting, did you make it?

00:38:53.000 You know, Mount Washington's only about five miles to the top, 4.6 miles, just the elements and the weather that make it so hard.

00:39:00.000 And I said to my wife, I failed.

00:39:02.000 You know, like, I didn't make it. 1.00

00:39:03.000 I feel like an ass. 0.98

00:39:04.000 I'm so disappointed. 0.99

00:39:06.000 You know, I want to go back.

00:39:07.000 And she said, well, get a tour guide.

00:39:09.000 Break in your boots.

00:39:11.000 Properly train for this and go back next winter and check it off your list.

00:39:15.000 And I was like, next winter?

00:39:17.000 I'm going back on Saturday.

00:39:20.000 Next winter.

00:39:22.000 Who knows if I'm going to be healthy enough next winter?

00:39:25.000 So I went back next Saturday with the same guys and we did it.

00:39:30.000 And then recently, this year, I took my son, who's eight.

00:39:33.000 Not to the top, but we're like, we're going to go camp out.

00:39:35.000 I want you to experience this.

00:39:37.000 Got him a minus 40 sleeping bag and all this stuff.

00:39:40.000 And we went out there with my friend who's a police officer in Suffolk County.

00:39:43.000 He brought his daughter. 0.98

00:39:44.000 And we're sitting out there sleeping outside and fucking freezing. 1.00

00:39:49.000 Fucking freezing. 0.99

00:39:51.000 And I'm all bundled up. 0.99

00:39:52.000 And I turn to him and I'm like, Kevin, how often do you do shit like this? 0.97

00:39:56.000 You know, he's a police officer. 0.97

00:39:57.000 He's the happiest guy.

00:39:59.000 Rockstar shape.

00:40:00.000 And he goes, I call it the Kevin rule.

00:40:04.000 He goes, every year, I go on one trip a year with my college roommates.

00:40:10.000 I've been doing this since I'm 21. And then once every two months, I take a weekend and I do something.

00:40:17.000 I go camping, I run a marathon, I go hiking, I go to whatever, with my family or friends.

00:40:23.000 And I said to myself, if I can't, going back to your question about time, if I can't take a weekend, Every eight weeks, once every two months, if I can't carve out a day or two to take some kind of adventure to put on my life resume or to collect a moment for me,

00:40:40.000 then my life is out of balance.

00:40:43.000 I call it the Kevin rule.

00:40:44.000 And I said, if I live 30 more years, if I live to 80, And I do that, you know, for 30 years. 0.87

00:40:50.000 That's 150 or 100, basically 150 more fucking amazing memories that I'm going to create.

00:40:57.000 And that became another one of these time-related, monastery-related, urgency moments. 0.94

00:41:04.000 Rules.

00:41:05.000 So I just, again, it just became a real big clarity around like, man, I want to live with urgency and I want to do as much shit as I can and put as much on my plate of the stuff I love to do with the people I love in my life and have it on my resume.

00:41:20.000 And that's how I want to live my life forward.

00:41:22.000 That's very inspiring. 0.99

00:41:23.000 So when you decided to cut out or carve out three hours a day for yourself, what was the first shit that you eliminated? 0.97

00:41:30.000 Literally just saying no to requests for my time. 1.00

00:41:33.000 Like what kind of shit? 0.99

00:41:34.000 Hey, Jess, can you think you can meet me for lunch? 1.00

00:41:38.000 I want to talk to you about a business idea that I have in the beverage space.

00:41:43.000 I know that you had your coconut water.

00:41:44.000 I want to talk to you about that.

00:41:46.000 No.

00:41:50.000 I'm going for a run.

00:41:51.000 Yeah.

00:41:52.000 Oh, no, I don't want any money.

00:41:54.000 I don't want any money.

00:41:55.000 I just want to talk to you for 15 minutes.

00:41:56.000 A friend of mine...

00:41:57.000 No.

00:41:58.000 You think on Friday night you can come down for 15 and see this...

00:42:01.000 No.

00:42:02.000 Because it's cumulative.

00:42:03.000 Right.

00:42:04.000 It's not one...

00:42:05.000 I mean, listen, I made my...

00:42:06.000 It's not one person ever.

00:42:07.000 No.

00:42:08.000 No.

00:42:08.000 It's going to be one person every day or so with some new request.

00:42:13.000 So that was the first shift.

00:42:14.000 And the second thing is for the...

00:42:15.000 And I put myself first.

00:42:18.000 And a lot of times I don't, but in certain times I do.

00:42:23.000 And I realized that I was, this is kind of, might be a little bit more specific, but I realized I love football.

00:42:32.000 I watch a lot of football, man.

00:42:34.000 I realized that I was watching two games, the college game on Saturday, fantasy football Sunday, I'm locked in, Sunday night game, Monday night, Thursday night, and I realized that if, at this point, if I live to be 85, 80, whatever, That would be 36,000 hours of football.

00:42:52.000 36,000 hours of football that I'd be watching.

00:42:57.000 I'd throw in some of the fights, throw in some of the other stuff.

00:43:00.000 It's like I just took the plug out and I freed up these 36,000 hours.

00:43:06.000 My wife said, what do you mean you're going to go live in the monastery?

00:43:08.000 I'm like, it's 15 days, sweetie.

00:43:10.000 I just freed up 36,000 hours.

00:43:13.000 You get the benefit of that.

00:43:14.000 I'm going for 15 days. 0.98

00:43:16.000 So I freed up the time by eliminating stuff that fucking didn't move the needle. 0.96

00:43:20.000 So you stopped watching football? 0.98

00:43:22.000 Totally.

00:43:22.000 I still watch it, but I became very aware of it.

00:43:26.000 And I still watch it, but I check in.

00:43:28.000 I'm not sitting around on Sunday.

00:43:31.000 Nothing wrong with it.

00:43:32.000 It's just it wasn't moving the needle in my family, my finances, or my wellness.

00:43:39.000 But what about recreation time?

00:43:41.000 Like, does recreation time, is that valuable?

00:43:44.000 Like, enjoying things?

00:43:45.000 Like, sitting back and watching a good movie, enjoying it?

00:43:49.000 Absolutely.

00:43:49.000 And I do.

00:43:50.000 I do, but I'm not, you know...

00:43:53.000 I'm asking for myself as much as I'm asking for you.

00:43:57.000 Yeah, I mean, I think, look, you gotta be happy and do the things you like to do.

00:44:00.000 But, you know, again, for me, I look at it very simply.

00:44:05.000 I got three or four buckets.

00:44:07.000 I got my family, my wellness, my finances, and causes that are important to me.

00:44:11.000 And if it's not moving the needle in those four buckets, it's really just a distraction.

00:44:17.000 Honestly.

00:44:17.000 Now, that doesn't mean I'm not going to go to a movie.

00:44:19.000 That's family.

00:44:20.000 That's part of my wellness.

00:44:22.000 Relaxing is part of my wellness.

00:44:23.000 You want to go...

00:44:24.000 But, you know, those are kind of – everything else kind of gets a no.

00:44:29.000 Like going to lunch to look at someone else's idea in a category I don't really know much about because they want to maybe get to me or they want my wife.

00:44:38.000 No.

00:44:39.000 No.

00:44:41.000 Just no.

00:44:42.000 No.

00:44:43.000 I should make a T-shirt.

00:44:45.000 I've said – listen.

00:44:47.000 I get it.

00:44:48.000 When I was starting out as an entrepreneur, when I was 20 years old, you know, and I was cleaning kiddie pools and in the music business, I was doing all this stuff, I'd laugh at a lot of jokes that weren't funny.

00:45:00.000 I know what you mean.

00:45:01.000 You know what I mean?

00:45:01.000 Yeah.

00:45:02.000 To get deals, to get stuff, I'd laugh, and I'm sick of laughing at jokes that aren't funny.

00:45:08.000 That's actually very funny.

00:45:10.000 Like, you saying that is very funny.

00:45:11.000 It's a smart thing to do.

00:45:13.000 But in the beginning, it's very hard, right?

00:45:15.000 Because you're trying to get momentum.

00:45:17.000 You're trying to establish relationships.

00:45:19.000 You want people to like you. 1.00

00:45:21.000 You don't want to deadface a stupid joke. 1.00

00:45:23.000 Exactly. 1.00

00:45:24.000 And then have people go, fuck that Jesse guy. 1.00

00:45:26.000 That guy's a dick. 1.00

00:45:26.000 I'm not doing anything with him. 1.00

00:45:28.000 So you laugh.

00:45:29.000 Yeah.

00:45:31.000 Hmm.

00:45:32.000 So do you organize your time very specifically now?

00:45:36.000 And did you do that in the past?

00:45:38.000 I do now.

00:45:39.000 I did it in the past.

00:45:41.000 Because, you know, in the past, I'm going to do anything.

00:45:44.000 I say yes to action things without really thinking them through very often.

00:45:50.000 Now, what I do is I have a third grade, a three-year-old system.

00:45:55.000 I have two notebooks.

00:45:56.000 I'm kind of old school.

00:45:58.000 I don't really operate well keeping stuff in phones.

00:46:01.000 I just take everything that comes into my head and I dump it out of my head to free up space in my head.

00:46:07.000 So I have one journal that has everything I need to do.

00:46:10.000 And I just do that to get it out of my head.

00:46:13.000 So I don't have to remember that I have to get my son's friend's 8-year-old birthday present for Saturday.

00:46:18.000 I just write it down.

00:46:19.000 It doesn't mean it goes away, but it's out of my head.

00:46:22.000 Right.

00:46:23.000 And then I have my daily, from that list, I pick the most important things that have to get done.

00:46:28.000 And then the night before, I write them down or the beginning of the week.

00:46:32.000 I just knock them out, man.

00:46:35.000 And how long ago was it that you went to this monastery and did this 15 days?

00:46:39.000 A year ago.

00:46:39.000 One year ago.

00:46:40.000 And has this enthusiasm or this feeling waned at all?

00:46:44.000 No.

00:46:45.000 Wow.

00:46:46.000 That's really interesting.

00:46:47.000 Do you think you conveyed that in the book?

00:46:50.000 I do.

00:46:51.000 I mean, I feel like I've been living my life like this even before the monastery.

00:46:56.000 It just reinforced a lot of things. 0.68

00:46:59.000 I think combined with the fact that for some reason, you know, I'm turning 50, it's fucking with me in a way that I didn't think it would. 0.60

00:47:07.000 And I don't know how you, how old are you?

00:47:09.000 50. Yeah, so I don't know if it's had the same impact on you, but like, you know, there's not a day that goes by where I don't say to myself, man, in 30 years you're turning 80. That's a way to look at it.

00:47:21.000 You want to live with urgency.

00:47:24.000 My enemy is the clock.

00:47:27.000 I feel like my enemy is the clock.

00:47:30.000 There's a lot of stuff I want to do in my life, and my enemy is the clock.

00:47:34.000 Do you feel like you live in the moment enough?

00:47:38.000 Absolutely.

00:47:39.000 You do?

00:47:39.000 I do.

00:47:40.000 Because that would be the worry, right? 0.94

00:47:41.000 Like, if you're constantly worrying about, damn, 20 years, I'm going to be 70. 30 years, I'm going to be 80. If you keep doing that, like, there are people that look ahead too much and don't just... 0.90

00:47:52.000 I've talked to people that are 20. Like, fuck, I can't believe I'm 20. I'm like, listen, motherfucker, you just turned 20, dude. 1.00

00:47:58.000 Relax. 1.00

00:47:59.000 You're like, just 20. You're a baby.

00:48:02.000 Nah, man, I'm going to be fucking 30 in 10 years. 1.00

00:48:05.000 Like... 1.00

00:48:05.000 You shut the fuck up. 1.00

00:48:07.000 You're 20 now. 1.00

00:48:07.000 I use it as a motivator. 1.00

00:48:09.000 And I remember when I was starting out, I was 21 years old.

00:48:13.000 This is a crazy story.

00:48:15.000 I just got dropped from a record label.

00:48:17.000 I was signed to a record label called Delicious Vinyl.

00:48:19.000 What did you do?

00:48:21.000 I had a rap record on Delicious.

00:48:23.000 You were a rapper?

00:48:23.000 I was a rapper.

00:48:25.000 Signed to Delicious with Tone Loke and Young MC. Oh, get the fuck out of here! 1.00

00:48:29.000 So, my album doesn't get picked, I don't get picked up for a second album, and I moved to New York City. 0.99

00:48:34.000 I have two things on my resume.

00:48:36.000 Kiddie pool attendant, because I was a kiddie pool attendant, and rapper.

00:48:40.000 So, I'm staying on my friend's couch, living on his couch, with his roommate, and he tells me on Monday, I gotta get out of the apartment.

00:48:47.000 So, instead of going to look For a new apartment over the weekend, I go to my friend's bachelor party on the Jersey Shore.

00:48:54.000 I'm at the bachelor party.

00:48:55.000 I'm getting a drink at the bar and I see this girl.

00:48:58.000 I start chatting with her.

00:48:59.000 She asks me where I live.

00:49:01.000 I told her, actually, as of Monday, I have nowhere to go.

00:49:04.000 She takes out a napkin.

00:49:05.000 She writes her address on the napkin.

00:49:07.000 I'm 21 years old.

00:49:08.000 And she says, if it's an emergency on Monday and you're stuck, you can come live with me.

00:49:13.000 Monday comes.

00:49:14.000 I get kicked out of my friend's apartment.

00:49:16.000 I have nowhere to go.

00:49:17.000 I'm like, this is an emergency.

00:49:18.000 I take out the napkin and I live with this girl and her roommate for six months. 0.75

00:49:23.000 It turns out that her father is a big entrepreneur, business model.

00:49:28.000 He owns a piece of the Yankees, just like monster mogul.

00:49:33.000 I write this song for the New York Knicks called Go New York Go, and it becomes a big success.

00:49:39.000 You remember that song?

00:49:40.000 No.

00:49:41.000 Okay, that's okay.

00:49:42.000 I'm not a sports fan.

00:49:43.000 Oh, that's fine.

00:49:44.000 It becomes a big hit.

00:49:46.000 And I just realized that there's an opportunity to write theme songs for all these professional sports teams, but I don't have a penny to go in the studio to do the demos to shop them to the team.

00:49:56.000 So I need money.

00:49:57.000 So I go to this music guy and he says, I'll give you $10,000 to go and do these songs for 10% of everything you make for the rest of your life.

00:50:06.000 He wants to buy me like a stock.

00:50:07.000 For the rest of your life.

00:50:08.000 I'm 21. For the rest of your life, everything you do.

00:50:11.000 I will invest in you.

00:50:12.000 You own an airplane business.

00:50:14.000 He owns 10%.

00:50:15.000 Yes.

00:50:15.000 Forever.

00:50:16.000 Yes. 1.00

00:50:16.000 You have to kill him then. 1.00

00:50:17.000 Yes. 1.00

00:50:18.000 Yeah, you have to kill that guy. 1.00

00:50:20.000 But I need a 10 grand. 1.00

00:50:21.000 So I say, I'll take it.

00:50:22.000 So before I take it, I go to this girl's father for advice, this business mogul that I'm living with.

00:50:29.000 And I sit down.

00:50:30.000 I go to this guy's apartment.

00:50:32.000 Again, I'm 21. In his apartment, he's got a swimming pool, artwork, like fancy fuck. 0.99

00:50:38.000 Swimming pool? 1.00

00:50:39.000 He's macked out, man.

00:50:40.000 It's like I've never seen anything like this.

00:50:43.000 He does a swimming pool?

00:50:44.000 In Manhattan?

00:50:44.000 In Manhattan.

00:50:45.000 I'm just setting the stage of this conversation.

00:50:48.000 And I go in and I tell him the story about the 10 grand.

00:50:53.000 And he says to me, I will trade, this is exactly what he said to me, I will trade everything that I have.

00:51:00.000 For you to get out of my daughter's life.

00:51:06.000 Exactly.

00:51:08.000 I'll trade everything I have for the one thing that you have. 0.97

00:51:10.000 And I'm like, man, I'm fucking broke. 0.97

00:51:12.000 What are you talking, me? 0.98

00:51:14.000 I go, what's that?

00:51:15.000 And he said, youth.

00:51:17.000 Because he had already gone through the journey, even though he had everything.

00:51:21.000 He already had gone through the process.

00:51:24.000 He wasn't that 20-year-old that you're talking about that whatever.

00:51:27.000 He had gone through it.

00:51:29.000 He had it all.

00:51:30.000 He missed the process, the journey of being...

00:51:35.000 You coming up at 20 and not knowing...

00:51:37.000 Here you are, but those were the years, man.

00:51:41.000 The first fight, the first this.

00:51:43.000 That's what makes you...

00:51:46.000 And that stuck with me, man.

00:51:48.000 At 21 years old, it stuck with me.

00:51:51.000 And realize that, like, man, I got to enjoy the process.

00:51:54.000 And it's really never rubbed off on me.

00:51:56.000 From me.

00:51:57.000 Well, why didn't that guy, how old was this guy at the time?

00:52:01.000 The old rich dude?

00:52:01.000 He was, let's see, he must have been in his 60s.

00:52:04.000 Why didn't he just do shit? 1.00

00:52:05.000 Do a bunch of shit. 1.00

00:52:06.000 He did. 1.00

00:52:06.000 Instead of lounging around his fucking swimming pool in his house. 1.00

00:52:08.000 He did, he did. 1.00

00:52:09.000 He had an amazing...

00:52:09.000 Wishing he was 20. He had an amazing life.

00:52:11.000 He had an amazing life.

00:52:13.000 So what did you wind up doing?

00:52:16.000 The second part of that conversation, he said, will you make this work on your own?

00:52:22.000 I said, I think I can.

00:52:23.000 He said, I didn't ask you if you can.

00:52:25.000 He said, will you make it work?

00:52:29.000 I said, I will. 1.00

00:52:30.000 He said, then go tell the guy to fuck off. 1.00

00:52:33.000 And go make it work. 1.00

00:52:35.000 And I did.

00:52:36.000 So how'd you get it funded then?

00:52:39.000 I somehow got...

00:52:41.000 I went to the Dallas Mavericks after the Knicks and told them that...

00:52:46.000 I convinced them to give me a $2,500...

00:52:49.000 The Knicks paid me...

00:52:50.000 It was just a crazy part of my life.

00:52:52.000 But they gave me $2,500 to do the demo.

00:52:54.000 And then they bought the song for like $20,000.

00:52:57.000 And that funded the rest of the business that I ultimately sold to a public company.

00:53:02.000 Wow, that's crazy.

00:53:04.000 And you almost gave away 10% of your whole life. 1.00

00:53:06.000 That guy who wanted 10% is a piece of shit. 1.00

00:53:09.000 What a motherfucker. 1.00

00:53:11.000 Like, that's a... 1.00

00:53:12.000 It's just business.

00:53:14.000 Just business.

00:53:15.000 And I had no one to go to.

00:53:16.000 I know.

00:53:17.000 He's taking advantage of a 21-year-old kid who's just got some dreams and needs some cash, and 10 grand to him is probably nothing.

00:53:24.000 Yeah.

00:53:24.000 I called my father.

00:53:25.000 My father owned the plumbing supply house in Mineola, Long Island, during this time in my thing.

00:53:31.000 And my father said, you know, I love him to death.

00:53:34.000 But he's like, you know, do what you think is best.

00:53:38.000 He just didn't...

00:53:39.000 I didn't know what to turn to.

00:53:41.000 I didn't know what to turn to.

00:53:42.000 Yeah.

00:53:43.000 Don't give up 10% of your life.

00:53:45.000 Ever.

00:53:46.000 That's just crazy.

00:53:47.000 Someone asked for that.

00:53:48.000 But you hear things like...

00:53:50.000 I mean, this is similar to what they do in the music business.

00:53:52.000 Like how the music business treats artists.

00:53:54.000 They essentially sign you to these contracts...

00:53:57.000 And then take a piece of everything.

00:53:59.000 They take a piece of if you do a movie, they take a piece of your live performances, your merchandise sales, everything.

00:54:07.000 They just say, look, we'll help you out a little bit, but we want you.

00:54:12.000 Right.

00:54:13.000 Yeah.

00:54:13.000 I mean, at least you're in a contract, though.

00:54:15.000 But there's some creepy contracts that they used to do in the old days of Hollywood that were similar to that, right?

00:54:21.000 They just take a PCF forever.

00:54:23.000 Yeah.

00:54:24.000 When I signed my music deal, I didn't care.

00:54:27.000 I was like, you can take whatever you want, man.

00:54:28.000 Get me on MTV. Right, of course.

00:54:30.000 Take it all.

00:54:31.000 Well, that's the whole idea.

00:54:32.000 The reason why these exploitation contracts work is because in the beginning you're just so desperate and what you have is what they don't have.

00:54:39.000 You have talent, right?

00:54:41.000 What you have is you're creative.

00:54:43.000 You're young and full of energy and you've got something exciting that people want to look at.

00:54:48.000 And so what they do is they go, oh, look, we've got a way through the door, but we want 75% of the profits.

00:54:54.000 We want a little bit of this.

00:54:55.000 And you don't get any money back until we recoup our money that we spent on... 0.99

00:55:00.000 Executives and parking and car leases and they calculate all that shit. 0.98

00:55:05.000 How much the fucking building costs, how much electricity, all that stuff. 0.99

00:55:10.000 You've seen those, I'm sure. 1.00

00:55:12.000 Oh, yeah.

00:55:12.000 Those contracts.

00:55:13.000 They're fucking scary. 1.00

00:55:14.000 I've signed them. 0.99

00:55:15.000 I've signed them in my own way.

00:55:17.000 Yeah.

00:55:18.000 But, you know, it's part of the process and no leverage.

00:55:22.000 No leverage.

00:55:23.000 That's the thing.

00:55:24.000 They've got the leverage.

00:55:25.000 And now they don't have the leverage, but they still figure out a way to pull it off. 0.98

00:55:29.000 It's really weird, because who the fuck is buying albums now? 0.98

00:55:33.000 No one. 0.97

00:55:34.000 No one.

00:55:35.000 But yet these record companies are still figuring out how to cling on to you like a lamprey and suck blood out. 0.97

00:55:42.000 They're still staying alive and their fat fingers driving their fat Mercedes Benz. 0.95

00:55:48.000 They know how to do it. 0.99

00:55:49.000 They just figure out a way to grab people that are just, just getting popping, you know, and just signing, and then figured out a way to get in with these fucking streaming companies. 1.00

00:56:00.000 Have you paid attention to any of that shit? 0.99

00:56:02.000 A little bit, yeah. 1.00

00:56:04.000 That's the darkest.

00:56:05.000 It's even darker than the music distribution.

00:56:07.000 Yeah.

00:56:08.000 Because the artists get, like, no money.

00:56:10.000 0.00001.

00:56:12.000 Yeah.

00:56:12.000 Steven Tyler was talking about it with me.

00:56:14.000 It's just...

00:56:15.000 He was explaining it and there's a...

00:56:17.000 It's the company's actually...

00:56:19.000 Or the organization's actually called MMA. What is something...

00:56:23.000 What did it stand for?

00:56:25.000 Musicians for...

00:56:27.000 Some sort of an act.

00:56:29.000 Where they're, you know, trying to stop these streaming companies...

00:56:33.000 From ripping off these artists.

00:56:35.000 Music modernization act.

00:56:37.000 Yeah.

00:56:38.000 It's dark.

00:56:39.000 Yeah.

00:56:40.000 But it's along the same lines.

00:56:41.000 It's like people figuring out a way to just take something from somebody.

00:56:48.000 Because you need it.

00:56:49.000 You know, you're broke.

00:56:50.000 You're desperate.

00:56:51.000 You signed a contract.

00:56:52.000 Oh, you gotta buy a contract.

00:56:54.000 And then music that was invented...

00:56:57.000 How did they put Led Zeppelin on a streaming service?

00:57:01.000 There was no streaming.

00:57:04.000 There should be a whole new contract, right?

00:57:07.000 I don't know.

00:57:09.000 It's true with audiobooks, too.

00:57:11.000 Even books now, all these old publications, they never envisioned that there would be e-books and audiobooks and all these different distribution...

00:57:23.000 I would imagine that audiobooks probably mirror the sales of regular books now.

00:57:28.000 I mean, at least in my circle, I know so many people who just use audiobooks and they hardly ever read.

00:57:36.000 And what they've essentially done is taken that commuter time that was just dead air and filled it up with books.

00:57:42.000 When I did the Seale book, I couldn't believe how many people hit me about the audio.

00:57:48.000 Because I did my own audiobook and I just couldn't...

00:57:51.000 What year was that?

00:57:53.000 It came out two years ago.

00:57:55.000 And it just never dawned on me that people even listened to audiobooks.

00:57:59.000 It made me angry that I did the read so quickly.

00:58:03.000 I was like, I should have invested a little bit more time and gotten a coach or something.

00:58:07.000 I just read it.

00:58:10.000 What percentage of your books were audio versus paper?

00:58:14.000 It's a good question.

00:58:16.000 I'm gonna guess about 30%.

00:58:19.000 30% audio.

00:58:20.000 Maybe 30-40%.

00:58:21.000 So it's closing in.

00:58:23.000 Closing in on 50-50.

00:58:24.000 It is.

00:58:24.000 Yeah.

00:58:25.000 Because, you know, people can now speed it up a little bit so they can get through it quicker.

00:58:28.000 It's so weird.

00:58:29.000 People do that with podcasts.

00:58:31.000 Right.

00:58:31.000 So they're listening to us right now like we're on speed.

00:58:36.000 Yeah.

00:58:38.000 Now, when you're done with this book, and you get back from this monk thing, and you realize that this has made some sort of a fundamental shift in the way you live your life, and you put this book out, is there a real sense that people who read this book are going to get that from you?

00:58:57.000 Are you aware that you're probably going to change the way a lot of people live their lives?

00:59:02.000 I hope so.

00:59:03.000 I don't know if they'll change their lives, but I hope that it helps them look through things through a different lens and make their own decisions.

00:59:13.000 One of the takeaways from the book isn't so much specific around the monastery.

00:59:18.000 It's around this notion of building your life resume.

00:59:21.000 You know, and just stepping into the unknown.

00:59:23.000 Because for me, that's where I learned the best.

00:59:26.000 I mean, I could get a traditional coach or go to seminars or experts, but I just don't learn.

00:59:31.000 I learn by going into the unknown.

00:59:33.000 And I hope it just motivates people to have a little bit more urgency and do stuff like that.

00:59:39.000 You don't have to go to a monastery.

00:59:41.000 But, you know, there's an old Japanese ritual, you might be familiar with it, I don't know, called the Misogi.

00:59:47.000 And the thought around the Misogi is, it was introduced to me by Kyle Korver, who played at the Hawks, for the Atlanta Hawks.

00:59:54.000 And the notion around the Misogi is, you do something so hard one time a year that it has an impact the other 364 days of the year on you.

01:00:05.000 That you go so far beyond...

01:00:09.000 For me, that was my 100-mile run.

01:00:11.000 I mean, I can look back since 2008. I've had moments like that every year.

01:00:16.000 And I believe in that.

01:00:19.000 I believe in that.

01:00:21.000 And I don't know why I just brought that up, but it's true. 1.00

01:00:26.000 And so it's just kind of one of the themes around this urgency and creating memories, etc.

01:00:34.000 Yeah, I think there's things like that sort of highlight that urgency that if you just live your life like at the same steady static pace Maybe sometimes you don't feel it as much.

01:00:46.000 I'm sure after you did your 100-mile run, when it was over, it probably felt so good to relax.

01:00:55.000 Well, first of all, for me, the pressure around completing the run.

01:01:02.000 When I did the run, I raised millions of dollars for charity.

01:01:07.000 And everyone in my world knew I was doing it.

01:01:10.000 I gave myself 90 days to train for it.

01:01:12.000 What's normal?

01:01:14.000 I would say like for the people in the shape that I was in going into, probably a year, eight months, six months.

01:01:20.000 I mean, I gave myself 90 days.

01:01:23.000 I started in August and the race was 90 days later.

01:01:26.000 And everyone in my world was donating money.

01:01:31.000 Or involved or knew about it.

01:01:33.000 So if I didn't finish it, so much can go wrong in a 100 mile run.

01:01:37.000 You know, like something goes wrong in a marathon at mile 19, you got it out.

01:01:41.000 You got seven more miles left.

01:01:42.000 You know, something goes wrong at mile 19, you have 81 miles left.

01:01:46.000 You can't gut, most people can't gut that out.

01:01:48.000 I don't think I could.

01:01:50.000 I felt so relieved when it was done because I was just like, man, I did it.

01:01:55.000 And no one can take it away from me.

01:01:57.000 What was the longest you had ran before that?

01:02:02.000 I ran two fifties.

01:02:04.000 Two fifties?

01:02:05.000 Two fifty milers. 0.63

01:02:06.000 I mean, I never did miles, I did time.

01:02:07.000 So I did two ten-hour, about ten-hour runs twice.

01:02:10.000 And fifty miles in those ten hours?

01:02:12.000 Probably around there.

01:02:14.000 Somewhere around there?

01:02:14.000 But you knew that you were at the halfway mark, roughly, and you could push through the rest.

01:02:20.000 I knew that if I could get to 50 miles in 10 hours, I could basically, even injured, walk the rest in the allocated time.

01:02:30.000 Now, after that was over, and after you did do that 100 miles, how much of a shift did that make in the way you thought about time and effort?

01:02:40.000 Totally changed my life.

01:02:42.000 Completely, completely talking about this Misogi.

01:02:46.000 It completely changed my life.

01:02:49.000 That was in 2006, I think, that I did the run.

01:02:53.000 And it's completely changed my life.

01:02:55.000 Because when I started running, my goal was to run two miles.

01:03:01.000 If I could run two miles in 18 minutes, nine minute pace, I considered myself a runner.

01:03:06.000 And I worked towards that goal.

01:03:08.000 Like, out of college.

01:03:09.000 I was like, just got out of college.

01:03:10.000 I'm like, I'm gonna try to run two miles, you know?

01:03:11.000 Like, it took me a little to get there in nine-minute pace.

01:03:16.000 And fast forward, I ran this.

01:03:20.000 Nothing in my body changed.

01:03:21.000 This is the same legs God gave me, same lugs God gave me.

01:03:25.000 I'm not very strong.

01:03:26.000 Nothing's changed.

01:03:28.000 But I took that two-mile body And ran 100 miles.

01:03:33.000 And I bet almost a lot of people that are listening to this could run two miles with a gun to their head.

01:03:38.000 They could run two miles if they had to.

01:03:40.000 And the only thing that changed was the way I perceived what I thought I could do in this run. 0.97

01:03:46.000 And I realized after the race that, holy shit, I did 50x what my initial goal was. 0.78

01:03:54.000 Like, I was under-indexing 50x in this category of my life.

01:03:59.000 What are the areas of my life, Jesse?

01:04:01.000 What other areas of your life, man, are you under-indexing in?

01:04:05.000 Like, okay, if your sales quota at Marquee Jet, my company, was 20 jet cards, is that because I knew I could get it and it was comfortable?

01:04:14.000 Or should I be like, man, put me on the board for 40, fellas, this month. 0.98

01:04:17.000 Let me see what the fuck I can do. 0.98

01:04:18.000 I was living in this, like, comfort. 0.99

01:04:21.000 I was going through life like this.

01:04:23.000 Routine.

01:04:24.000 And routines are great, but routines can also be a rut.

01:04:27.000 You can't get better in a routine.

01:04:29.000 And if you get so...

01:04:30.000 When you're in a routine, time goes fast.

01:04:33.000 When you're out of your routine, time goes slow.

01:04:35.000 So I was so comfortable in my routine. 1.00

01:04:37.000 I was like, man, fuck it. 1.00

01:04:38.000 I don't want to go through life like this. 1.00

01:04:39.000 I want to go through life like this, you know?

01:04:42.000 And I was just...

01:04:43.000 The people who are listening, you're going up.

01:04:44.000 I'm going up.

01:04:45.000 Most people are listening.

01:04:46.000 Yeah, I'm sorry.

01:04:46.000 So I'm just going...

01:04:48.000 People do this all the time.

01:04:50.000 I'm just locked in.

01:04:50.000 I don't even know where...

01:04:51.000 People are listening?

01:04:51.000 Yeah.

01:04:52.000 I'm locked into you.

01:04:53.000 I was going flat, you know? 1.00

01:04:54.000 I was just doing the same shit. 0.97

01:04:56.000 And you want a nice 45 degree upward angle. 0.99

01:04:59.000 Yeah.

01:05:00.000 So this run showed me, man, I was under-indexing so much what I thought I was capable of.

01:05:05.000 And it made me think, like, what else am I capable of?

01:05:07.000 What about recovery?

01:05:09.000 Like, what was it like when you were done?

01:05:12.000 Well, at mile 94, I realized I had six toenails in my shoe.

01:05:19.000 So that was an uncomfortable feeling.

01:05:22.000 So you felt them rattling around?

01:05:23.000 Felt them rattling around. 0.99

01:05:24.000 And when I took my shoes off, my feet were so fucked up. 0.99

01:05:29.000 Is it because your feet swell while you're running? 0.99

01:05:32.000 And if you have a size 10, you're supposed to swap out to a size 11 later?

01:05:37.000 Is that how it works?

01:05:38.000 Yeah, I swapped.

01:05:38.000 I wanted to size up.

01:05:39.000 But I had blisters.

01:05:40.000 I had bad blisters.

01:05:41.000 My blisters were really bad.

01:05:43.000 Were they bad before you ran?

01:05:45.000 No.

01:05:46.000 I got them as I was going, and it literally looked like I had swallowed red grapes, and they went to the bottom of each of my toe.

01:05:54.000 I mean, it was just...

01:05:55.000 So, I was in a wheelchair for four days after the race.

01:05:58.000 Four days?

01:05:59.000 Just because of the bottom, the blisters, and, you know...

01:06:04.000 So, for me, just like a regular guy...

01:06:10.000 It was a very powerful moment for me, you know?

01:06:13.000 And it was worth it.

01:06:15.000 It was all well, well, well worth it.

01:06:17.000 Once I was done and I realized, like, I'm okay.

01:06:19.000 I'm not in shock.

01:06:20.000 I'm not dehydrated.

01:06:22.000 I'm just in super pain.

01:06:25.000 That was a great moment.

01:06:26.000 And I have a regret from that race. 1.00

01:06:28.000 Like, one of the biggest regrets in my life.

01:06:30.000 Like, I don't like the way I finished the race.

01:06:32.000 I ran 99 miles.

01:06:34.000 The last mile took me 48 minutes and literally had to grab my brother's shoulders.

01:06:40.000 If I could do it all over, I wanted to really finish that like a champion.

01:06:45.000 And I was just very disappointed.

01:06:47.000 I'm very happy about it.

01:06:49.000 But I also have one of my biggest regrets from the race. 1.00

01:06:51.000 It's just that, you know, I got to that moment and I just didn't finish it the way I wanted to finish it.

01:06:57.000 What was wrong? 0.99

01:06:58.000 Oh, man, my fucking joints. 0.99

01:07:00.000 Like, my hips and my knees were just, like, swollen. 0.99

01:07:06.000 Just so much pain.

01:07:09.000 It was just so...

01:07:12.000 At 75, I felt I just kind of was running and then all of a sudden I was on the ground because I just buckled.

01:07:18.000 It was my joints, not my muscles.

01:07:20.000 Like I said, if you roll your thumb around for 24 hours, your thumb's going to fall off.

01:07:27.000 It's just that motion and pounding.

01:07:30.000 And I didn't know what I was doing.

01:07:31.000 I was wearing cotton.

01:07:32.000 I was like, I did everything wrong.

01:07:34.000 But I did it.

01:07:37.000 And when you did get done with that in the wheelchair for four days, how long did it take before your body felt normal, like your joints normalized and your hips and your knees?

01:07:47.000 Took about a little over two weeks.

01:07:50.000 Wow.

01:07:52.000 Yeah.

01:07:53.000 So you're just hobbling around for two weeks thinking about it.

01:07:55.000 I'm still impacted by it.

01:07:57.000 Really?

01:07:57.000 How so?

01:07:59.000 I had a huge cyst from all the stress on my foot.

01:08:05.000 You're making a ham-sized.

01:08:09.000 You're holding your hands like a watermelon.

01:08:13.000 How big was it?

01:08:14.000 Big enough I couldn't wear shoes.

01:08:16.000 What?

01:08:16.000 I had to wear sneakers.

01:08:19.000 I'll show you a picture when we're done.

01:08:20.000 Did you get it removed?

01:08:21.000 I got it drained twice, and then I went to an almost fruitarian diet and went away.

01:08:27.000 Fruitarian?

01:08:27.000 Just all fruit?

01:08:29.000 Why did that do it?

01:08:31.000 I don't know.

01:08:33.000 Did you try fruits with vegetables or fruits with anything else?

01:08:37.000 For 27 years, I've only had fruit till 12 o'clock noon.

01:08:41.000 That's all I eat in the morning.

01:08:42.000 But I extended that out further and it went away on its own.

01:08:47.000 From fruit?

01:08:48.000 I don't know if that's the reason.

01:08:50.000 Maybe it just went away.

01:08:53.000 But I made some significant changes in my diet.

01:08:57.000 Yeah.

01:08:58.000 So what led you to be the fruitarian idea?

01:09:02.000 I read a book called Fit for Life right before my first marathon.

01:09:06.000 I was 21 or 22 years old, like looking for an edge.

01:09:10.000 And in the book, it challenges the reader.

01:09:15.000 One of the principles of the book is to only eat fruit until noon.

01:09:18.000 We can talk about it, but it challenges the reader to try it for 10 days and then day 11 go back to your regular breakfast and see how you feel.

01:09:25.000 So I did.

01:09:26.000 I can invest 10 days to try this.

01:09:28.000 And on day 11, I went back to oatmeal and toast or whatever.

01:09:31.000 And I was like, oh my god, man.

01:09:33.000 I felt so sluggish and bloated.

01:09:36.000 And I was like, I never went back.

01:09:39.000 And that's unwavering.

01:09:42.000 I'm unwavering on that.

01:09:43.000 I run a marathon.

01:09:44.000 It never changes.

01:09:46.000 Fruit till noon.

01:09:47.000 And so, that's why.

01:09:51.000 Now, what do these people eat in the monastery?

01:09:54.000 So they have a very light breakfast that suited me well.

01:09:57.000 They have fruit in the morning.

01:09:58.000 And then their lunch, they call it dinner.

01:10:01.000 That's their big meal.

01:10:02.000 So the afternoon meal is like dinner.

01:10:05.000 And then at night, it was super light, like soup and salad or whatever.

01:10:09.000 So it was really like almost one meal a day.

01:10:11.000 Are they vegetarian?

01:10:12.000 Some were, but others weren't.

01:10:14.000 That's interesting.

01:10:15.000 Not all of them were, which was interesting.

01:10:18.000 Did you expect them to be?

01:10:19.000 I did.

01:10:20.000 I lost a lot of weight there.

01:10:22.000 I lost like 17 pounds.

01:10:24.000 Really?

01:10:24.000 In two weeks?

01:10:25.000 Yeah.

01:10:26.000 Why so?

01:10:26.000 Do you think it's lack of sugar?

01:10:28.000 Yeah.

01:10:29.000 No carbs, lack of sugar.

01:10:31.000 So they don't eat any bread?

01:10:33.000 They did.

01:10:34.000 I didn't.

01:10:35.000 Mm-hmm.

01:10:36.000 I wanted to put a little asterisk next to my thing.

01:10:39.000 I went in there saying to myself, I wanted to come back clean, so I really tried not to have any grains.

01:10:46.000 And I did have some grains, but not a lot.

01:10:48.000 And I walked a lot.

01:10:49.000 I walked 120 miles over the time I was there, up and down the driveway.

01:10:55.000 So I lost a lot of weight.

01:10:57.000 I gained it all back, but at the time, yeah.

01:11:01.000 Now, these people that live this life, do they have something they're working towards?

01:11:07.000 Do they have an idea that they're working towards?

01:11:09.000 I mean, when you press them on it and ask them, like, why are you here?

01:11:12.000 Do you ever plan on leaving?

01:11:13.000 Do you ever see yourself going somewhere else?

01:11:15.000 That's a really good question.

01:11:16.000 I asked them all those questions.

01:11:17.000 So, no, they felt like that was their calling.

01:11:21.000 Their calling?

01:11:22.000 They were doing what they were supposed to be doing.

01:11:26.000 And...

01:11:28.000 That they were committed to that lifestyle.

01:11:30.000 So, no, there was no thought of going back.

01:11:35.000 There have been monks that have left the monastery.

01:11:37.000 It just wasn't the right lifestyle for them.

01:11:39.000 But the monks that were there, when I was there, 50 years, they were committed and they're not going anywhere.

01:11:47.000 That's what's confusing to me.

01:11:49.000 I understand that they're enjoying and I understand that they like that life, but that it's a calling.

01:11:56.000 Like the calling to do nothing.

01:11:59.000 Or just think?

01:12:00.000 Maybe it's just...

01:12:01.000 Sacrifice.

01:12:02.000 Serve God.

01:12:05.000 Live a life of purity.

01:12:07.000 This is not...

01:12:08.000 I couldn't do it, but I think that's kind of the mindset around it.

01:12:13.000 And step away from...

01:12:18.000 The regular life that they were living.

01:12:21.000 What's interesting is that they weren't born into the monastery.

01:12:24.000 Right.

01:12:25.000 A lot of these guys made this decision in their 20s, 30s.

01:12:29.000 What were their jobs before they did it?

01:12:32.000 All over the board.

01:12:33.000 All over the board.

01:12:34.000 Literally.

01:12:36.000 One of the monks was a lifeguard as a teenager.

01:12:40.000 Wow.

01:12:41.000 I mean, just all over the board.

01:12:43.000 So, but regular jobs, just always felt connected to God and connected to this higher living a life just, you know, under these terms.

01:12:54.000 Well, what's fascinating to me is that you're saying that they're so happy.

01:12:57.000 Because if you get around, I mean, how many people are in this monastery?

01:13:01.000 Eight.

01:13:02.000 And they're all male?

01:13:03.000 Yes.

01:13:04.000 Eight men.

01:13:05.000 If you get eight random men in their, you know, what's the youngest age of the guys?

01:13:10.000 35. 35 up to 70s.

01:13:12.000 You get eight random 35 to 70s and ask how many of them are happy.

01:13:17.000 Actually truly happy.

01:13:19.000 Maybe two, right?

01:13:21.000 How many people do you think are happy?

01:13:23.000 Well, they just did a study.

01:13:24.000 There's a famous Harris study on happiness in this country.

01:13:27.000 I think 67% of people are unhappy. 1.00

01:13:30.000 That is fucked. 1.00

01:13:32.000 I did this, Joe. 1.00

01:13:33.000 This is a good test.

01:13:34.000 Maybe you'll want to do this.

01:13:36.000 I did this when I was speaking at an event for 500 Wall Street people recently, and it was fascinating.

01:13:42.000 I'll take you through it.

01:13:43.000 You can tell me if you're comfortable with it.

01:13:45.000 But if you take all the areas of your life and put them in a blender...

01:13:48.000 Okay?

01:13:49.000 So take where you live, your relationships, your finances, your health, everything.

01:13:54.000 Everything. 0.99

01:13:55.000 Put it in one fucking big blender and blend it up. 0.93

01:13:58.000 And on a scale of one to ten, with a ten being the Dalai Lama of happiness, and a one being a guy that's at zero, being someone that's at rock bottom, what's your happiness number? 0.98

01:14:10.000 Me?

01:14:11.000 Yeah. 0.91

01:14:12.000 I'm pretty fucking happy. 0.64

01:14:14.000 I don't know. 0.90

01:14:14.000 I wouldn't do it that way. 0.90

01:14:15.000 I definitely wouldn't give it a number.

01:14:17.000 Okay.

01:14:33.000 And I just, I don't like that idea.

01:14:35.000 I don't like that idea.

01:14:36.000 Because I think it's a management issue.

01:14:38.000 I think a lot of what happiness is is a management issue. 0.81

01:14:41.000 And decisions that you're making right now, like you could be in a shit state of mind right now, but you could make some decisions to adjust that, and over the next couple hours, you'll get to a much better place.

01:14:53.000 And these constant management decisions, they waver in and out of your life on a daily basis. 0.95

01:14:58.000 Like this idea that you could have a good mindset, then all of a sudden you'll be happy. 0.98

01:15:01.000 That's horseshit. 0.96

01:15:04.000 It's like the tide. 0.99

01:15:06.000 It comes in and it comes out.

01:15:08.000 There's going to be days where you're just not feeling so good physically.

01:15:10.000 And that's going to affect the way your happiness level is.

01:15:13.000 It's never static.

01:15:15.000 It's never exactly the same.

01:15:16.000 True.

01:15:17.000 But if you looked at it overall at 30,000 feet and you had to give yourself a grade. 0.99

01:15:21.000 Happy as fuck is what I would say. 0.98

01:15:23.000 I'm pretty happy. 0.99

01:15:24.000 Okay.

01:15:25.000 So I'll take that.

01:15:27.000 I'll take that.

01:15:28.000 Most people in that room raised their...

01:15:30.000 I said, if anyone is seven and...

01:15:32.000 For anyone listening that wants to do it, raise your hand if you're seven or below.

01:15:38.000 I don't want to put anyone on the spot.

01:15:40.000 And the majority of the room stood up.

01:15:42.000 Being a seven and thinking seven's a pretty happy number.

01:15:46.000 But a seven...

01:15:47.000 If my son comes home with a 70 on a test...

01:15:51.000 It's a C-.

01:15:53.000 And all I'm saying is, what's interesting about the test, though, if you do actually go through the process, for those that go through and get a number in their head or whatever, or do want to give themselves a grade, your brain automatically goes to a 10 and then subtracts the two or three things pop in that bring your happiness down.

01:16:11.000 It's a great way to identify What's making you unhappy?

01:16:15.000 You know what I mean? 0.99

01:16:16.000 You start at a 10, you're like, oh fuck, my relationship, this or that. 0.99

01:16:20.000 Usually it triggers an automatic, this is what's fucked up in my life response. 0.99

01:16:24.000 It helps you identify.

01:16:27.000 But it's interesting, we have benchmarks.

01:16:29.000 In so many things in our life.

01:16:31.000 You have an IQ test.

01:16:32.000 You have tax brackets to measure your wealth or financial statements.

01:16:37.000 You have IQ tests, like I said.

01:16:39.000 You can get on a scale to measure your weight.

01:16:41.000 But you're right.

01:16:41.000 Happiness is one of those things.

01:16:43.000 It's like, how do you benchmark it?

01:16:45.000 You know what I mean?

01:16:46.000 It kind of fluctuates.

01:16:47.000 It's like hunger.

01:16:49.000 It's something that goes in and out.

01:16:51.000 It's always there. 0.99

01:16:52.000 But happy as fuck is a good answer. 0.98

01:16:54.000 Yeah, but this is something I've cultivated for a long time and avoided things that make me unhappy and figured out what those things are and been very rigid about eliminating them from my life. 0.98

01:17:07.000 And one of the big ones is eliminating interactions with people that are negative.

01:17:12.000 That is gigantic.

01:17:15.000 Because I've realized that I'm not really as independent as I used to like to think I was. 0.97

01:17:21.000 I used to like to think that my thought process was independent and that I don't give a fuck what anybody thinks. 0.99

01:17:26.000 That's nonsense. 0.98

01:17:28.000 People say that because they absolutely care what people think and it bothers them. 1.00

01:17:32.000 So they say, I don't give a fuck. 0.99

01:17:34.000 But that I don't give a fuck stuff is almost entirely nonsense. 1.00

01:17:37.000 You do care. 0.99

01:17:39.000 And you care in both ways.

01:17:40.000 You care if people are critical of you.

01:17:42.000 You care if people are positive of you.

01:17:43.000 But you also care if people are living positive lives.

01:17:47.000 And they're motivating you.

01:17:49.000 That's a big one.

01:17:51.000 People are fuel. 0.62

01:17:52.000 And other people...

01:17:53.000 It's one of the reasons why I like talking to people.

01:17:55.000 One of the reasons why I like to do podcasts.

01:17:56.000 Because I get a lot out of just talking to you about your time in the monastery.

01:18:00.000 Or your push to get to that hundred miles.

01:18:03.000 You get...

01:18:05.000 Energy out of people like that.

01:18:06.000 And you think about this energy and you think about this inspiration when you're doing other things.

01:18:11.000 And it also sets in your mind that when you meet these exceptional people that move you, what are the qualities that they have?

01:18:20.000 What are the characteristics that they possess?

01:18:23.000 And those things become significant and important to you.

01:18:26.000 Whereas if you live around a bunch of people that are complaining and bitching about everything, and they see the negative in everything, and they're always whining, those people are the opposite of that.

01:18:38.000 They're the opposite of inspiration, and they're mud.

01:18:43.000 It's like you're up to your ankles in mud.

01:18:45.000 You try to trudge through life.

01:18:46.000 It's difficult.

01:18:47.000 You're not light.

01:18:48.000 It's not pushing you.

01:18:50.000 There's not a wind at your back.

01:18:52.000 The wind's in your face, and it's rough.

01:18:56.000 Over time, I've learned that these people, you're not going to fix them.

01:19:02.000 I used to want to fix them when I was young.

01:19:04.000 I used to want to go, hey, man, I see what you're doing.

01:19:05.000 Like, dude, don't do that anymore.

01:19:07.000 Listen, just do this and stop doing that and start doing this.

01:19:12.000 And if you just work towards this, you could be successful. 0.99

01:19:14.000 And then a week later, the guy's doing the same shit. 0.97

01:19:17.000 You're like, okay, I'm wasting a significant amount of my energy on someone who doesn't want to waste any of their energy on themselves. 0.99

01:19:25.000 Managing the community and the tribe that you're in, making sure that you're a good member of that tribe, that you're doing your part. 0.99

01:19:35.000 There's a lot of cynicism in these days about inspiration and about motivation because there's a lot of fake shit.

01:19:44.000 You can go on Instagram and you see a million of these Inspirational quote pages and they're run by people that are probably depressed You know you see a lot of people that are you know talking about how to get ahead in life But they're not really doing anything themselves. 0.79

01:19:59.000 So there's a lot of cynicism involved in that but There's also sincerity in it and you can get if you just look at it with a pure heart and a pure mind you can get a lot of energy out of that and When you're around happy,

01:20:15.000 inspirational people that are successful, it makes you feel better and you get inspired.

01:20:20.000 And if you act on that inspiration, your life will be more fulfilled.

01:20:24.000 And it's not just inspirational in terms of financial success, but in terms of doing difficult things, whether it's running 100 miles, it doesn't pay you a goddamn thing other than the wealth of the knowledge that you can push yourself to such an extreme.

01:20:39.000 Or anything else, whether it's someone who becomes really good at playing chess, or someone who's really good at martial arts, or whatever it is.

01:20:46.000 There's a great feeling in overcoming these difficult things, because life is never this just constant state of, I'm at a 9 all day, and when I'm with my wife, I hit 10. Yay!

01:20:59.000 And I stay like that.

01:21:00.000 That's not real.

01:21:02.000 What's real is...

01:21:04.000 Like, you saying that you went to this monastery and felt all this angst about meditating and being alone and not having your phone and not having the input, but then when it comes out of it, then you have this reward.

01:21:19.000 So you push through this, and you had these uncomfortable feelings, and you came out of those uncomfortable feelings with this newfound appreciation for time and this respect for...

01:21:31.000 Your own existence in your own space and carving out three hours for yourself a day.

01:21:36.000 That's where it all comes from.

01:21:38.000 It all comes from life lessons and the lessons are learned through struggle.

01:21:43.000 And I think that there's a lot of people out there that think somehow or another you're going to get to some place where you're living in silk sheets and you're getting your toes done while someone's dropping grapes into your mouth.

01:21:52.000 I don't want that.

01:21:53.000 I've never wanted that.

01:21:54.000 That guy's not gonna be happy.

01:21:56.000 He's gonna be bored an hour into the grapes. 0.99

01:21:58.000 He's gonna get those fucking grapes away from me. 0.99

01:22:00.000 Stop painting my toes. 1.00

01:22:02.000 What am I doing in this bed?

01:22:03.000 I got to do something.

01:22:04.000 I'm not stimulated.

01:22:05.000 The human organism, the animal that we are, needs constant stimulation because it evolved trying to find food and escape enemies.

01:22:15.000 And find shelter, escape nature, escape the elements, try to survive.

01:22:20.000 And this is the great joy that you have in taking care of your children, that you can protect your children from the elements and the enemies and feed them.

01:22:27.000 And it's also the great sadness that you see in losers. 0.99

01:22:31.000 When I see a loser, I see some guy who's 43 years old, lives in his parents' basement, and he fucking hates the world. 1.00

01:22:38.000 I'm like, that was a baby. 0.99

01:22:39.000 Man, this is a baby that somebody just gave shitty nutrients to, whether it's nutrients in the forms of food or in the form of... 0.88

01:22:48.000 Thoughts and ideas and examples and this kid developed these horrible self-defeating patterns of behavior that have led them to this point where they're this middle-aged person with no future and no idea of how to get out of this rut and probably never will escape it and might just wind up sucking on a gun. 0.98

01:23:08.000 This is the world that we live in today, and I think part of that world is because we have been fed this line of horseshit that you're supposed to seek comfort, and I don't think you are. 0.95

01:23:19.000 I think you're supposed to seek lessons, and you're supposed to seek difficult tasks and accomplishments, and through those things, and through doing things, Things that are hard to do, even if it's just a fucking 90-minute hot yoga class. 0.97

01:23:32.000 I do a 90-minute yoga class, man. 0.87

01:23:34.000 Those last 20 minutes, I do not want to be there, man.

01:23:37.000 And I definitely don't want to give 100%.

01:23:39.000 And I can cheat.

01:23:40.000 I can kind of half-ass it.

01:23:42.000 But if I don't...

01:23:45.000 And I get through it. 1.00

01:23:46.000 When that time is up and the lady says namaste and everybody gets up, I'm like, fuck, man. 1.00

01:23:51.000 I made it. 0.99

01:23:52.000 You know, I lost 15 pounds. 0.99

01:23:53.000 My fucking yoga mat is drenched to the point where I could literally wring it out and fill a jug up with water. 0.99

01:24:00.000 But... 0.99

01:24:00.000 Through that struggle, I will now have a better day. 0.99

01:24:04.000 And I better fucking do it again tomorrow. 0.97

01:24:06.000 Or do something else. 0.99

01:24:07.000 Because if I just think, well, tomorrow I'm just gonna coast and eat Twinkies and watch TV. Oh, hello, sadness, my old friend.

01:24:13.000 Hello, depression. 1.00

01:24:15.000 Because when you're not doing anything, you feel like shit. 0.99

01:24:17.000 And that's just a part of being a human being. 0.99

01:24:19.000 And we can pretend that we're something other than what we really are.

01:24:22.000 And we can pretend, nah, me, man, I'm just cool, just chilling, doing nothing. 1.00

01:24:26.000 Bullshit! 1.00

01:24:27.000 You're a fucking human. 1.00

01:24:28.000 You're a human being. 1.00

01:24:29.000 You evolved from the fucking hundreds of thousands of years of hunters and gatherers and people that were struggling. 0.99

01:24:35.000 Those human reward systems are carved deeply into your DNA. And if you don't respect that, if you don't respect the mechanism of happiness and fulfillment and what you really need to do in order to feel satisfied in life... 0.98

01:24:49.000 Camaraderie, love, family, friendship, struggle, testing yourself, learning, all those things are imperative.

01:24:58.000 They're all a giant part of being a person.

01:25:01.000 I love it.

01:25:02.000 That was amazing.

01:25:03.000 And I'm thinking in my head, am I checking those boxes as you're talking?

01:25:07.000 And am I living my life like that?

01:25:09.000 And yeah, I agree with you.

01:25:11.000 Sounds like you are.

01:25:12.000 I am.

01:25:13.000 And we all waver, right?

01:25:14.000 We all have days in and days out.

01:25:17.000 Absolutely.

01:25:17.000 But to be reinforced.

01:25:19.000 Yep.

01:25:20.000 And I feel like, you know, as I'm listening to you talk about that, I'm literally going through like the last 10 years of my life, you know, and when I lived with David, when I went on The Modest, all these things, they're all about getting an edge and doing what you, you know, and it is, I think it's like part of being human.

01:25:36.000 And that stuff makes me feel the most alive too, you know, like...

01:25:40.000 That just makes me feel alive.

01:25:43.000 Yeah.

01:25:44.000 You know, and also like little improvements over things.

01:25:48.000 That's why doing difficult things is good, whether it's running.

01:25:50.000 So like if you're running and you run, you could run two miles and then one day you get it up to three. 0.98

01:25:56.000 It's like, fuck, I remember when I struggled with two. 0.99

01:25:58.000 Now I can do four. 0.99

01:26:00.000 Little improvements.

01:26:01.000 You know, and you really see that in yoga class in particular for me because I'm not good at it.

01:26:07.000 You know, so when I do a yoga class and I can hold a pose until the next, you know, you're holding these poses for a minute.

01:26:15.000 If you could stand on one foot grabbing your other foot lifting it above your head and keep your arm out straight and you're balancing your foots on fire and your core is engaged but if you can get to the point where they say stop You feel like, wow, I didn't used to be able to do that.

01:26:31.000 I used to be able to hold it for 10 seconds and then I would fall down.

01:26:34.000 And then I'd have to start all over again and start from scratch.

01:26:37.000 There's little improvements where you feel yourself getting a little better at something, whether it's jujitsu or anything else.

01:26:44.000 Little improvements, I think, are what life is all about.

01:26:47.000 And I think also they're a tool to feed the mind.

01:26:51.000 Because I really believe the mind needs these little lessons.

01:26:55.000 The mind needs these little...

01:26:57.000 These little tasks.

01:26:58.000 And if your brain doesn't get that, I think it atrophies and it gets depressed.

01:27:03.000 I think that's half of what a lot of people's sadness is.

01:27:08.000 Is this lack of stimulation and reward.

01:27:11.000 Lack of these peaks and valleys. 0.98

01:27:14.000 And again, this bullshit idea that we're constantly fed that you should be comfortable. 0.99

01:27:19.000 It's so true. 0.99

01:27:20.000 I mean, when Goggins lived with me, his rule was we had to do something every day that sucked. 0.70

01:27:26.000 That was his rule. 0.53

01:27:27.000 He's the master at that.

01:27:28.000 Yeah, tell me about it.

01:27:30.000 What did he make you do? 0.96

01:27:33.000 Every day sucked. 0.88

01:27:35.000 He didn't tell me that we were going to do that five times a day. 0.91

01:27:38.000 No, I mean, I remember one day...

01:27:41.000 Well, the first thing we did was he came and he...

01:27:45.000 He wanted to see how many pull-ups I could do so he could map out the month.

01:27:48.000 He lived with me for a month.

01:27:49.000 And I went to the pull-up bar and I got like maybe eight pull-ups, which is an exaggeration.

01:27:54.000 I probably got like four pull-ups.

01:27:57.000 A lot of people are listening, so I'll say eight.

01:28:01.000 And then he said, all right, wait 30 seconds.

01:28:02.000 Go and do it again.

01:28:04.000 And I went up on the pull-up bar and I did maybe like three or four.

01:28:07.000 He said, all right, wait 30 seconds.

01:28:08.000 I want you to do it again. 0.98

01:28:10.000 And I got up on the pull-up bar and I did maybe like one kipping, you know, getting my damn chin over the bar, barely. 0.98

01:28:16.000 And I dropped down. 0.97

01:28:17.000 I was all jacked up.

01:28:17.000 And I said, all right, well, what's next?

01:28:20.000 He said, well, what's next is we're not leaving here until you do 100 more.

01:28:23.000 We're not leaving the gym until you do 100 more.

01:28:25.000 That day?

01:28:26.000 Now.

01:28:26.000 Like right now.

01:28:27.000 Right now.

01:28:28.000 So you had done seven.

01:28:30.000 Probably seven or ten, and I was like, man, Goggins, that's impossible.

01:28:34.000 And he said, you know, I already know what your biggest problem is.

01:28:37.000 And he's like, the limitations you're putting on yourself are self-imposed. 1.00

01:28:41.000 Get the fuck back on the bar. 1.00

01:28:43.000 And, you know, roger that, man. 1.00

01:28:46.000 And I got up on the bar, and over the course of an hour or two, I did them. 1.00

01:28:51.000 And that started our journey of like, you're about to go in a place where you've never been, motherfucker. 0.99

01:28:57.000 I remember one day I was sitting on the couch in Connecticut where I was living at the time, and on the ticker on the TV, the emergency broadcast system came up. 0.99

01:29:09.000 Stay inside.

01:29:10.000 Freezing rain.

01:29:11.000 Icy conditions.

01:29:12.000 High winds.

01:29:13.000 Stay inside.

01:29:14.000 It was like beeping, stay inside.

01:29:16.000 And Goggins was like, this is amazing, man.

01:29:18.000 Let's go for a run.

01:29:21.000 And I'm like, they're telling us the exact opposite, man.

01:29:25.000 They're broadcasting to the whole community to stay inside.

01:29:29.000 So we go for a 10-mile run in the blizzard and we come home and I lived on a lake and kids are playing hockey on the lake.

01:29:35.000 So we go down and he takes his hand and he moves all the snow off the ice.

01:29:39.000 It gets a boulder.

01:29:41.000 And he breaks the ice, a little hole in the ice with the boulder and then he takes his hand and he makes the hole a little bit bigger and then he jumps in.

01:29:47.000 And then he points at me and he takes his finger and he signals for me to jump in. 0.91

01:29:52.000 I'm not going in the fucking freezing cold water because my mother told me as a kid in Long Island, don't go anywhere near the frozen water. 0.96

01:29:59.000 If you fall in, you have like a minute, you know? 0.99

01:30:01.000 He's bathing in it.

01:30:03.000 So, of course, I go in and he looks at me.

01:30:07.000 He's like, man, you got about two to four minutes.

01:30:10.000 You're going to get hypothermia.

01:30:11.000 We just went on a run.

01:30:12.000 We got to get you out of the lake.

01:30:14.000 And I go to get out.

01:30:15.000 He goes, you can't get out.

01:30:16.000 He goes, if your skin touches the ice, it's going to stick to the ice like the kid in Christmas Story, his tongue that sticks to the pole, you know? 0.89

01:30:23.000 So he puts my shoes back on my hands and picks my ass up and I put my socks on or whatever.

01:30:29.000 And I bear crawl out of the ice and I run up and I see my wife looking out the window as I'm running into the house. 0.69

01:30:36.000 And we come in and she says to Goggins, you know, like, what's the medical benefit of jumping in a frozen lake?

01:30:42.000 And he said to her, there's no medical benefit.

01:30:44.000 She's like, this is what your husband signed up for.

01:30:47.000 You know, he's like, I want to see how far he's willing to go to get to his goals. 0.99

01:30:50.000 And I was like, fuck, this is going to be some 30 days, man. 0.99

01:30:56.000 Jesus. 1.00

01:30:57.000 Wow.

01:30:57.000 What was the toughest thing he made you do?

01:31:00.000 It was just the consistency of it.

01:31:02.000 You know, it was just like...

01:31:04.000 It was just like, he went everywhere I went.

01:31:07.000 He shadowed me for 30 days.

01:31:09.000 He went to every business meeting.

01:31:10.000 We flew together.

01:31:11.000 He lived with my wife and I. Did you think, like, what the fuck did I sign up for? 0.99

01:31:17.000 This is back in 2010. So this is, you know, yes, I did. 0.99

01:31:24.000 And the book came out two years ago?

01:31:26.000 Yeah, I waited five years.

01:31:27.000 I didn't expect it to ever be a book.

01:31:31.000 It was just like, you know, at all.

01:31:33.000 There was no book.

01:31:34.000 Being discussed.

01:31:35.000 I kept a little blog about it, you know?

01:31:37.000 So why'd you do it?

01:31:40.000 I just felt like there was so much in it.

01:31:43.000 There's so many lessons.

01:31:45.000 And it was funny.

01:31:46.000 Fish out of water.

01:31:47.000 Like, he's coming into our house.

01:31:48.000 My wife owns Spanx. 1.00

01:31:50.000 I mean, like, the whole dynamic of this shit was crazy. 0.99

01:31:54.000 And I just felt there were a lot of lessons that could be learned through it. 0.99

01:31:58.000 And, you know, I took a shot at it.

01:32:01.000 Jesus Christ. 1.00

01:32:02.000 Yeah, he's a maniac. 0.94

01:32:03.000 When he did the podcast, I got here, he showed up super early.

01:32:07.000 And when I got here, he was already with his shirt off doing chin-ups.

01:32:12.000 I was like, I walked into the back where the gym is, and he's in there. 1.00

01:32:17.000 I'm like, look at this motherfucker. 1.00

01:32:20.000 Amazing. 1.00

01:32:20.000 Yeah, he's a savage. 1.00

01:32:21.000 Yeah, yeah. 0.96

01:32:22.000 He's legit.

01:32:23.000 But these are all the lessons, you know, as you're talking about, you know, and you don't know where the nuggets come from.

01:32:27.000 You put yourself in a position for the nuggets to appear.

01:32:31.000 And they don't have to be radical positions like I'm going to go get Goggins or I'm going to go live with them.

01:32:36.000 They don't have to be radical.

01:32:37.000 But you put yourself out there like you were saying and you live a life where those lessons find you.

01:32:41.000 Yeah.

01:32:42.000 And seek them.

01:32:43.000 You seek them.

01:32:44.000 Yeah.

01:32:44.000 Well, Goggins' story is so fascinating because he wasn't that guy.

01:32:48.000 He was fat and out of shape and unmotivated and lazy and, you know, talked openly about the first time he ran.

01:32:56.000 Like, he quit. 0.89

01:32:56.000 He was supposed to, you know, he ran about three quarters of a mile, I think he said, and quit. 0.89

01:33:01.000 And he was exhausted and just drinking milkshakes and all fucked up. 0.94

01:33:07.000 And somehow or another decided he's not going to be that guy anymore and went 180 degrees. 0.99

01:33:14.000 Yeah.

01:33:14.000 And became this intensely motivated Ironman.

01:33:17.000 Yeah.

01:33:18.000 Yeah, I was at the race.

01:33:19.000 I saw him at the race where he broke all the bones in his feet, you know?

01:33:22.000 I saw him.

01:33:22.000 I participated in that race.

01:33:24.000 It's the first time I saw him.

01:33:25.000 That's how I met him.

01:33:26.000 In 2007. He broke all the bones in his feet?

01:33:32.000 Yeah, he was running a hundred.

01:33:34.000 I was running this race.

01:33:35.000 It was a 24-hour race as a relay team.

01:33:37.000 I was with four friends.

01:33:39.000 And the format of the race is, you run a mile, I run a mile.

01:33:43.000 Whatever team runs the most amount of miles wins the race.

01:33:46.000 He had no teammates.

01:33:51.000 That sounds like him.

01:33:52.000 I'm like, where's the rest of the team?

01:33:53.000 That sounds like him.

01:33:55.000 And he weighed a lot at the time.

01:33:57.000 And I watched him.

01:33:59.000 Weighed a lot.

01:33:59.000 Was he bodybuilding at the time?

01:34:00.000 He was just big.

01:34:01.000 He probably weighed 260, 270 pounds, maybe more.

01:34:04.000 When he was deadlifting and all that stuff?

01:34:05.000 Yeah, maybe even more.

01:34:06.000 So was this the one where he ran 24 hours all around the road just to show that he could run 100 miles?

01:34:12.000 Yes. 0.84

01:34:12.000 And he wound up shitting himself? 0.84

01:34:13.000 Yes.

01:34:13.000 Yeah, he told me about that.

01:34:15.000 I saw it.

01:34:16.000 I didn't know he broke all the bones in his feet though.

01:34:17.000 He broke some bones, yeah.

01:34:18.000 He didn't even tell me about that.

01:34:20.000 And then he ran a marathon a month later.

01:34:23.000 Yeah. 1.00

01:34:24.000 He's a fucking animal. 1.00

01:34:26.000 Yeah. 1.00

01:34:26.000 Yeah, I mean, he really is. 1.00

01:34:28.000 Yeah.

01:34:29.000 And he was telling me also that he did that.

01:34:30.000 Explain that to your wife when you say he's coming to live with you.

01:34:34.000 You don't know my wife. 0.90

01:34:35.000 That's isn't happening.

01:34:37.000 She's kicking us both out. 1.00

01:34:39.000 I just said it really fast.

01:34:40.000 I told Sarah, because I flew out to meet Goggins after the race.

01:34:44.000 I cold-called them, and my wife asked me how the meeting went.

01:34:49.000 And in the meeting, I realized I kind of wanted to get the secret sauce. 0.99

01:34:54.000 Like, what the fuck? 1.00

01:34:55.000 Try it. 1.00

01:34:55.000 Yeah. 1.00

01:34:57.000 Was that the idea?

01:35:00.000 By being around such an intensely motivated guy that you would get the rub?

01:35:05.000 Get the rub, and I'd fallen into a routine I couldn't get out of.

01:35:09.000 I was like, just get me out of my routine, man.

01:35:13.000 And I want to learn from you and that kind of thing.

01:35:15.000 And my wife asked me how the lunch meeting went, and I told her that he's coming to live with us.

01:35:21.000 She was like, what?

01:35:22.000 So you had this lunch meeting with him, and were you going to propose this before the meeting?

01:35:29.000 What happened was I went to the meeting and...

01:35:34.000 With no real agenda, other than, like, I want to meet this guy, man.

01:35:37.000 You know, it's 2007. I want to meet him.

01:35:41.000 2008, something around there.

01:35:43.000 It was 10 years ago.

01:35:44.000 And I was just so, like, drawn to him, you know?

01:35:50.000 And I actually went home and then asked him to come, you know, live with me.

01:35:56.000 And he said yes.

01:35:58.000 And then I told my wife after.

01:35:59.000 Like, this guy's coming in two days.

01:36:02.000 Now, why did he say yes?

01:36:04.000 I mean, isn't he busy?

01:36:05.000 Did you offer him money?

01:36:07.000 No.

01:36:09.000 He was still in the military at the time.

01:36:16.000 I don't know exactly what triggered. 1.00

01:36:20.000 I remember asking him to come and I remember him saying to me, if you're crazy enough to ask a guy like me to come live with you, motherfucker, I'm crazy enough to come. 0.99

01:36:33.000 Three days later, he shows up with one bag. 1.00

01:36:35.000 Knowing him, that is exactly what it would sound like if he said it with those crazy eyes.

01:36:44.000 Jesus Christ. 0.64

01:36:46.000 Sweetie, this is David.

01:36:48.000 Wow.

01:36:48.000 Did you give him an objective?

01:36:50.000 Did you say why you wanted him to come or what you were trying to get out of it?

01:36:54.000 At that time in my life, I had just left, if I have my timeline right, I think I just left this private jet car company.

01:37:03.000 I had Marquee Jet.

01:37:04.000 I was just starting out in this Zico, this coconut water business, and I was in a routine.

01:37:10.000 I was in a rut.

01:37:12.000 I was just doing the same stuff, man.

01:37:14.000 I was so comfortable.

01:37:15.000 And I was just like, just come shake it up, man.

01:37:18.000 You can travel with me.

01:37:19.000 I got some meetings coming up.

01:37:20.000 We'll live together.

01:37:21.000 There was no book.

01:37:23.000 There was no anything.

01:37:23.000 The book happened years later.

01:37:25.000 And he said he would do it.

01:37:29.000 That's crazy that he just agreed.

01:37:30.000 I loved it, by the way.

01:37:31.000 It was one of the best months of my life.

01:37:33.000 I loved being around him.

01:37:35.000 He's an amazing guy.

01:37:37.000 I loved...

01:37:39.000 We were watching games.

01:37:40.000 We were working out.

01:37:41.000 I was going out midnight, three in the morning.

01:37:43.000 We were running in the blizzards.

01:37:45.000 Three in the morning?

01:37:46.000 One day, he was like, we're going to run four miles every four hours for 48 hours.

01:37:57.000 Joe, I was like, I got to work.

01:37:59.000 He's like, no, you don't.

01:38:01.000 No, you don't.

01:38:02.000 You can work in 48 hours.

01:38:04.000 Wow.

01:38:05.000 So I would wake up at midnight.

01:38:06.000 We started at midnight.

01:38:07.000 We would run.

01:38:08.000 Let's say it took us 40 minutes.

01:38:10.000 And then we would come back.

01:38:11.000 We'd have, you know, what?

01:38:13.000 Three hours and 20 minutes of rest.

01:38:15.000 And then at 4 a.m.

01:38:16.000 we'd go again.

01:38:17.000 Four miles.

01:38:18.000 Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

01:38:20.000 48 hours.

01:38:21.000 Jesus Christ. 0.99

01:38:23.000 One time, I have fucking a million stories. 0.98

01:38:26.000 I mean, we went in the sauna and he's like, all right, we're going to stay in the sauna for, I'm a sauna guy. 0.96

01:38:31.000 I thought I was a sauna guy, by the way.

01:38:33.000 I thought I was.

01:38:36.000 And actually, this was the steam.

01:38:37.000 And he's like, we're going to stay in here for 30 minutes, 8 ounces of water.

01:38:41.000 Okay.

01:38:41.000 We jack it up.

01:38:43.000 It's fucking cooking in there. 1.00

01:38:46.000 I walk in, I'm like, holy fuck, it's so hot in here. 1.00

01:38:52.000 He sits down, he's whistling Dixie. 1.00

01:38:56.000 You're like sitting in the corner doing his shit. 0.99

01:38:58.000 I'm like, you know, eight minutes in and my water's gone. 1.00

01:39:01.000 I've already drank my eight ounces of water.

01:39:04.000 And about 19 minutes in, I'm like, Goggins, I gotta get out.

01:39:09.000 He's like, you can't get out.

01:39:10.000 I'm like, no, I'm gonna pass out.

01:39:12.000 I gotta get out.

01:39:13.000 He's like, you can't get out.

01:39:14.000 I'm like, no, no, no.

01:39:15.000 I didn't even wait for him to say no again because I'm about to pass out.

01:39:20.000 I can feel myself about to pass out.

01:39:21.000 I open up the door.

01:39:23.000 All the smoke from the steam room goes flying out of the door.

01:39:26.000 I sit right in the chair.

01:39:27.000 He comes storming out.

01:39:28.000 And he looks at me. 1.00

01:39:29.000 He's like, oh, fuck. 1.00

01:39:30.000 You don't look good. 1.00

01:39:31.000 I go, no, I'm gonna pass out.

01:39:33.000 He goes, we gotta abort.

01:39:36.000 Abort the mission like we're not doing the rest of the 30 minutes like I got a pass.

01:39:40.000 That was the only pass I got.

01:39:42.000 Because you almost died in the sauna or the steam room. 1.00

01:39:44.000 I was fucked up. 0.99

01:39:45.000 Steam room is different because it's moisture. 1.00

01:39:47.000 And you're taking it in.

01:39:48.000 I was taking in like the eucalyptus.

01:39:50.000 You're getting cooked.

01:39:51.000 Cooked.

01:39:52.000 Yeah, I mean you're really getting cooked.

01:39:53.000 It's not like with sauna you're getting like kind of dry roasted.

01:39:57.000 The moisture is different.

01:39:59.000 You can't get as hot in a steam room as you can in a sauna.

01:40:02.000 Correct.

01:40:03.000 Yeah.

01:40:04.000 So this is a series of these.

01:40:05.000 Getting poached.

01:40:07.000 Throughout the...

01:40:09.000 God.

01:40:09.000 No, he would just make these up, like come up with these ideas?

01:40:13.000 It was just constant, man.

01:40:14.000 I mean, we would go to work.

01:40:16.000 We'd be sitting at work, and I'd have like a 30-minute break, and he'd be like, burpee test.

01:40:23.000 I'm like, what?

01:40:25.000 I'm at work.

01:40:26.000 He'd be like, I want to see how many burpees you can do in 10 minutes.

01:40:29.000 I'd be like, burpee test? 1.00

01:40:30.000 And I was like, in the middle of work, I would like get down, take off my, you know, whatever I was wearing.

01:40:36.000 I'd get like my boxers or whatever, like just to get, and I would do as many burpees as I could in 10 minutes and be soaking wet and I'd walk into my next meeting.

01:40:45.000 And everybody knew he was, you know, like he was, that was part of the thing.

01:40:49.000 So you explained to all these people?

01:40:50.000 Oh yeah.

01:40:51.000 Wow.

01:40:51.000 Closed every deal.

01:40:55.000 I close every deal, man.

01:40:57.000 Because you're so amped up.

01:40:58.000 Plus, he was there.

01:40:59.000 Who's going to say no?

01:41:00.000 People were fascinated.

01:41:03.000 I'd walk in, and they'd be like, at the end of the meeting, I'm like, do you want to talk? 0.99

01:41:07.000 He's like, whatever the fuck you guys are in, we're in. 0.99

01:41:09.000 We're in. 1.00

01:41:10.000 Wow.

01:41:11.000 That sounds so much better than living with a monk.

01:41:14.000 It was.

01:41:15.000 That sounds so much better.

01:41:17.000 I miss him.

01:41:18.000 Yeah.

01:41:19.000 Do you keep in touch?

01:41:20.000 Yeah.

01:41:21.000 I haven't spoken to him in a while, but...

01:41:23.000 Yeah, I've known him since 2007 now.

01:41:26.000 It's been 10 years.

01:41:27.000 Wow.

01:41:28.000 Yeah, I would think that that would be hard, but exciting.

01:41:34.000 Whereas the monk thing seems like the drone of it all would just get to you.

01:41:41.000 Yeah, and I couldn't go back to my room and my surroundings in the monk thing.

01:41:46.000 I was in their world.

01:41:49.000 Forever?

01:41:50.000 Forever.

01:41:51.000 And they live in the same way that you did?

01:41:52.000 They have a little cell as well?

01:41:54.000 Yeah.

01:41:56.000 I actually didn't see their rooms, but yeah, from what I understand, even smaller than what I was in.

01:42:01.000 Smaller?

01:42:02.000 Smaller than this table?

01:42:05.000 My room was about the size of this table.

01:42:06.000 So theirs was smaller?

01:42:08.000 From what I understand, yeah.

01:42:09.000 How is that even possible?

01:42:11.000 Bed.

01:42:12.000 There's no...

01:42:13.000 Just a little bed.

01:42:15.000 Just go into a space with a bed.

01:42:17.000 Blackout.

01:42:18.000 Wake up.

01:42:18.000 Start all over again.

01:42:20.000 Drone.

01:42:22.000 Drone.

01:42:22.000 Yeah.

01:42:23.000 No, I think the four miles every 40 minutes or whatever the fuck it is, or four miles every four hours, that sounds way better. 0.96

01:42:30.000 That sounds crazy. 0.92

01:42:31.000 I did at the time, but yeah.

01:42:33.000 How'd you end it?

01:42:34.000 How did he end the 30 days?

01:42:35.000 He left me a note on a post-it.

01:42:39.000 Thanks.

01:42:40.000 That's it?

01:42:41.000 That's it.

01:42:42.000 Jesus.

01:42:44.000 That's intense.

01:42:46.000 Thanks.

01:42:47.000 Yeah, thanks.

01:42:48.000 Wow.

01:42:50.000 Jesus Christ.

01:42:51.000 My goodbyes are like long hugs.

01:42:54.000 Yeah, right. 0.99

01:42:54.000 Changing, exchanging shit, planning. 0.99

01:42:57.000 Thanks. 0.99

01:42:58.000 That would be an incredible service.

01:43:01.000 If he wanted to do that, just go to billionaires and just say, you have to do what I tell you to do for a month.

01:43:10.000 I bet a lot of people would do that.

01:43:12.000 I'm sure. 1.00

01:43:14.000 Just charge some fucking stupid amount of money and have him live with you for a month. 1.00

01:43:21.000 You know, it's hard. 1.00

01:43:22.000 Anybody, personality-wise, over time, having roommates, it's hard.

01:43:27.000 You know what I mean?

01:43:28.000 Yeah.

01:43:28.000 So he's with you 24-7.

01:43:30.000 Yeah, I mean, it's hard.

01:43:32.000 Did he ever wake you up?

01:43:33.000 Every day.

01:43:34.000 Every day he woke you up?

01:43:36.000 Yep.

01:43:36.000 Come in and tap me on the shoulder.

01:43:38.000 Time to get up.

01:43:39.000 Let's do this.

01:43:39.000 With my wife right next to me.

01:43:41.000 Jesus Christ.

01:43:44.000 It wasn't time to do this. 1.00

01:43:46.000 It was, get up, motherfucker. 1.00

01:43:48.000 That's what he would say? 1.00

01:43:52.000 Well, at least he was courteous.

01:43:53.000 He whispered it so it didn't wake your wife up.

01:43:55.000 Yeah. 1.00

01:43:55.000 Was your wife like, what in the fuck are you doing? 1.00

01:43:57.000 She loved him. 1.00

01:43:58.000 She loved him.

01:43:59.000 But was she to you like, what in the fuck are you doing? 1.00

01:44:02.000 She said you're out of your fucking mind. 1.00

01:44:04.000 Wow. 1.00

01:44:04.000 She said you're crazy. 1.00

01:44:06.000 But 30 days later, you must have been in sick shape. 1.00

01:44:11.000 Ridiculous shape. 0.99

01:44:13.000 No. 0.99

01:44:15.000 Ridiculous. 0.92

01:44:16.000 When he left, I didn't do anything for six weeks. 0.82

01:44:19.000 I didn't do anything for six weeks because I couldn't keep the intensity up.

01:44:24.000 I couldn't do it.

01:44:25.000 I've run 100 miles.

01:44:27.000 I've done endurance paddle races. 1.00

01:44:29.000 I've done all this shit. 0.99

01:44:30.000 I couldn't do it. 1.00

01:44:32.000 Wow.

01:44:33.000 I was just like, why?

01:44:35.000 You know?

01:44:37.000 It was wild. 1.00

01:44:39.000 Damn. 1.00

01:44:39.000 I look back on that stuff, man. 1.00

01:44:41.000 It's just like...

01:44:42.000 I just feel so lucky to have had the opportunity.

01:44:46.000 You know what I mean?

01:44:47.000 Like I said, you're around that.

01:44:49.000 You're around the best dog trainers.

01:44:51.000 You're around, you know, and I get to live with it because my wife's an amazing entrepreneur. 1.00

01:44:56.000 I get to live with greatness, you know, and just you go around these things and it's just these people.

01:45:02.000 It's just the stuff that you can learn if you allow yourself.

01:45:05.000 You know, to listen.

01:45:07.000 I'm not a great listener.

01:45:09.000 I'm learning to be a good listener.

01:45:11.000 Because even like you were giving that little monologue and you were going through it, I was like, yes! 1.00

01:45:15.000 Man, that shit is resonating with me on a high level. 0.99

01:45:19.000 You put yourself in this position and then you have to be able to extract it and apply it. 1.00

01:45:23.000 Yeah.

01:45:25.000 Yeah, and exactly what I was saying is what you got out of Goggins.

01:45:29.000 You were around greatness. 0.87

01:45:31.000 You were around a man who just does not accept mediocrity and does not accept a shitty effort. 0.62

01:45:38.000 He wants everything your body can do. 0.72

01:45:41.000 And through doing that, you just get something more out of your mind.

01:45:45.000 You get something more out of your life.

01:45:48.000 Those hard days, the relaxation is earned.

01:45:54.000 You appreciate it.

01:45:55.000 Yes. 0.99

01:45:56.000 Relaxation without any effort is just bullshit. 0.99

01:45:59.000 You feel proud of yourself, too. 0.99

01:46:00.000 Yeah.

01:46:00.000 I think it's so important to do things that make you feel proud of yourself.

01:46:06.000 Right.

01:46:07.000 When I left the monastery, you asked me, how did you feel when you got in the car?

01:46:11.000 And the exact feeling was proud.

01:46:15.000 That you did it?

01:46:16.000 That I did it.

01:46:17.000 Wow.

01:46:17.000 I was proud of myself.

01:46:19.000 I stuck with it.

01:46:20.000 I did it. 1.00

01:46:22.000 Did you have a little bit of, fuck that place too? 1.00

01:46:25.000 Yes. 1.00

01:46:28.000 Yes.

01:46:29.000 I'm like, can I Uber Eats when I get home?

01:46:31.000 Stop at the first Five Guys burger you see.

01:46:34.000 Exactly.

01:46:36.000 Exactly.

01:46:36.000 Oh, man.

01:46:38.000 Well, listen, dude.

01:46:38.000 I really appreciate you coming in here, man.

01:46:40.000 I really enjoyed talking to you.

01:46:41.000 Likewise, man. 0.99

01:46:42.000 Fucking awesome stories. 0.98

01:46:44.000 And so the two books are available right now. 0.98

01:46:47.000 Anybody can buy them.

01:46:48.000 Is there an audiobook of both?

01:46:49.000 Yes.

01:46:50.000 Audiobooks available and Audible and Apple Books and all that jazz.

01:46:54.000 Living with the Seal and Living with the Monks. 0.99

01:46:56.000 Thanks a lot, brother.

01:46:56.000 Really appreciate it, man.

01:46:57.000 Appreciate you, man.

01:46:57.000 Thank you so much.

01:46:58.000 Really enjoyed it.

01:46:59.000 Yeah, man.

01:47:02.000 We have a mutual friend in...

The Joe Rogan Experience - June 05, 2018

Joe Rogan Experience #1127 - Jesse Itzler

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript