9 Mindset Shifts to Escape the Achievement Trap | Ed Mylett

Key Takeaway

Achievement addiction can be as destructive as any other addiction. The key insight: fall in love with the process, not the product. Your brain produces more dopamine during the journey than at the finish line. Stop delaying all your bliss until you reach achievements. Instead, find joy in the daily work while the people around you get what they need. Remember: you can't take achievements with you, but you can leave the lives you've changed.

Episode Overview

This episode explores the concept of achievement addiction - the unhealthy obsession with outcomes rather than processes. The host discusses how constantly focusing on finish lines and achievements can lead to delayed gratification, perfectionism paralysis, and ultimately dissatisfaction. He emphasizes that brain science shows we experience more dopamine during the process of achieving than at the achievement itself. The conversation shifts to include a powerful dialogue about confronting fears, dealing with public criticism, and the importance of creating new experiences. The episode provides practical wisdom on finding balance between ambition and present-moment awareness.

Full Transcript

Transcript of 9 Mindset Shifts to Escape the Achievement Trap | Ed Mylett from The Ed Mylett Show. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

Hey everyone, welcome to my weekend special. I hope you enjoy the show. Hit that like button and be sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel so you never miss my show whether it's Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. Now on with the show. show. show. Okay, welcome back to the show everybody. It's so good to have you here with me today. And what we're going to talk about today is something that I bet you've never had discussed with you before in your life. And you know there's all kinds of different addictions in life.

You know, we can become addicted to alcohol or we can become addicted to a person. We become addicted to drugs. We become addicted to gambling. And all of those are really well-known addictions. There's one addiction that I see become so prevalent in our culture today that I do not see being discussed in the business world or in the personal development, the self-help world because it's sort of a scary topic to touch on. And so what I want to talk about today is achievement addiction. addiction. addiction.

And I know that may sound like an interesting thing coming from somebody whose show is all about, you know, achieving your dreams and making great things happen in your life and changing your life, but there can become an addiction to achievement that becomes very unhealthy. And one of my concerns about so many of you that are involved in the, you know, the podcast or personal development world is that you begin to miss the forest for the trees and that you begin to become addicted to achievement in a way that is unhealthy.

You know, all kinds of studies right now, if you write this down, just remember this phrase right now. Process over product that if you're always focused on the product you're producing and the achievement that you must have, you lose focus over the process. And what happens often times in life is we become so focused on the fruit of our life. We become so obsessed with the fruit that we want to produce in our life that this takes all of our energy and focus away from building the tree that could actually produce fruit for a lifetime.

We become so addicted in the finish line in the achievement. this addiction to achievement that it becomes incredibly unhealthy to our long-term mental health and also our long-term wealth accumulation, our long-term building because we don't learn the process of delayed gratification and we don't fall in love with the process of doing something great in our life as opposed to always being addicted to the product. And this achievement addiction become incredibly unhealthy. It can become unhealthy because you delay all of your bliss in your life until you get to particular destinations.

Once I get this achievement, then I'll be happy. Once I get this relationship, then I'll be happy. Once I get this amount of money, then I'll be happy. And this addiction to the finish line keeps all of the bliss in our joy in our life into the future. There's there is a way to be blissful now and still being productive. The other thing that happens when you're addicted to achievement is that you become it it can very carefully insidiously become a perfectionism addiction where you think everything you have to do has to become perfect.

That can cause paralysis. That can cause you, I'm talking about analysis paralysis, that can cause you to not want to take risks or take steps or step into the unknown because it's all about the achievement. It's all about the finish line. This can lead to a life that's really not very harmonious. All kinds of data tells us right now and I've said this, you know, previously that actually the brain produces more of dopamine, which is our joy chemical, our pleasure center, the pleasantness in our life.

We produce more dopamine during the process of achieving something than when we actually get to the actual finish line of the achievement. Brain studies now show us that when you get to the end and you get to the dopamine, it actually falls off the charts downwards once you get the achievement. And then you're left wondering, is this all there ever is? You know, is this as good as it's ever going to be? And if you do that enough times, you repeat this achievement addiction pattern. Once you actually get to the achievement, if you do, and it's a very unhealthy way to get there, when you get there, it's not all it's cracked up to be, and eventually you and your brain go, "This just isn't worth it anymore." And you stop the journey.

You stop being willing to do the work that you once did. You may need to ask yourself right now, are you really working like you were working when you were starving and hungry? If you're no longer starving and hungry, because there was something beautiful to those days where you didn't have any achievement, wasn't there? In fact, in some strange ways, the hardest parts of my story of when my water was turned off and, you know, and we didn't have electricity in my house and cars were repoed and I had a home go into foreclosure, in some odd way, there was a happiness there that I don't even have now in my life because I was so enthralled in the process of my life.

You know, some of the most happy people in the world are the most happy when they're just so involved in process. Why? Because process focus keeps you present. There's all this stuff in person. Be present. Cause yourself to be in the present. Don't be in the past. Don't be in the future. The truth is all there is is the present. And when you're focused on something that's the work you love in your life, the actual work, the actual dedication to the the process, you're fully present.

The minute you take your focus to the achievement, you're no longer present and you're focused in the future. This can lead to anxiety, worry, frustration, an addiction that's unhealthy. It can lead to sacrificing lots of other things in your life that matter on the way there. I'm not for a minute saying don't bust your tail and do something great. That's don't misconstrue what I'm saying because I don't believe you can actually enjoy inaction and rest unless you know what it feels like to be completely active and busting it.

For me, I only enjoy inactivity after massive spats in my life of full activity. Then and only then can you appreciate rest and enjoyment and unplugging. A life of being unplugged, a life of no process, a life of no achievements, a life of no expansion of your being is a wasted life. I'm talking about nuance here. What I'm saying is that you get so addicted to the achievements that you constantly delay your bliss and your happiness at the expense of other human beings in your life.

And secondly, when you get there, you're waiting for all the dopamine then rather than falling in love with what you do to get there. This is not a message about fall in love with the journey. Sure, that's part of it. I'm talking about falling in love with the process. And what's happened to a lot of people is they've become conditioned in their life. There's this conditioning that it's all about the achievement. Why is that? Because that's what we see. We see on ESPN, what do we see?

We don't see the entire game of baseball or football or basketball, whatever the sport is. We don't see them practicing. We don't see them lifting weights and stretching. We don't even see most of the stuff that happens. We only see the highlight. We only see the home run. We only see the great catch. We only see the touchdown, right? We only see the goal. We only see the dunk. We only see the three-pointer to win the game. And so, we become highlight reel and achievement addicted thinking that's all that matters.

Not only does your brain not work that way, your life won't work that way. And I worry sometimes in this space, this business personal development, self-help space that everything's pointed to the achievement. And this becomes an unhealthy addiction as opposed to addiction to the things that can be healthy in our lives. There's also this addiction to accumulation that some if I can accumulate enough things, if I can accumulate enough awards, if I can accumulate enough money, if I can accumulate enough cars, if I can accumulate enough conquests, if it's a woman, accumulate enough men or a man, accumulate enough women, if I can accumulate, you know, a jet, I can accumulate things that somehow if I can just accumulate a bunch of stuff that somehow that's an achievement and I'm going to enjoy my life and feel better.

And just remember this in your life. You cannot take it with you. You cannot take these things you accumulate with you. But you can leave it here. And what I mean by that is somebody who's accumulated a lot of wealth in their life. I can tell you I want you to accumulate wealth. I want you to accumulate success. I want you to accumulate awards. I want that. But this should not be your obsession. Your obsession should be the work you do in the process. The people's lives you change in the process.

that you can leave here. See the award, the money, the jet, the house, you can't take that with you. But the lives you change, the difference you make, the consciousness you shift, the difference you make in your own family by being the one, the difference you make in other people's families by the work you do in your business, your life, your your good works, that you leave here. Life's about being in the full present moment, every moment you possibly can be. And then when you're no longer here physically, you leave these things here and they reverberate into history.

The ripple effect of the works you do, that's something that's blissful when you're addicted to it. But the actual achievement, not so much. And so I want you to really evaluate this idea of accumulating things in order to be happy as opposed to being focused on what you need to do to change other people's lives. The other thing I want to share with you too is that one way to get out of this is to begin to compete. I like to almost like gify my life where I'll compete for different things.

I'll compete in the gym every day. So, it's not about how big's the bicep or how ripped are your abs or whatever your body fat might be or your weight or all that. That's an achievement. But to fall in love with a process of actually working out and actually competing to get stronger and faster, competition is a great diversion from the unhealthiness of achievement addiction. And so I really want today for you just to sit back for a second and ask yourself, what does make me happy, right?

What does make me happy? And am I spending am I thinking I'll spend 99% of my time kind of grinding, but when I get to that achievement, achievement, achievement, man, that's when all my happiness will happen. Or is there a better way to live? Can you actually fall in love and enjoy the day-to-day process, the ups and downs of your life? You know, I'm convinced in my life, I made a decision. I don't want a merrygoround life. I want a roller coaster life. Most people will choose a life of the merrygoround.

It just keeps going in the same circle. You get on that merrygoround. You go about one time, you start seeing the same things, don't you? And it comes back around again, and you see it again, and you see it again. It's nice and calm and slow with that goofy music. And it just repeats itself in a circle, very slowly. little ups and downs as you just go in this circle and see the same things. That's a merrygoround life. And if you're listening to me right now, you have decidedly chosen you do not want to live life on a merrygoround.

You've decided you want the roller coaster, the ups and the downs and the butterflies and your stomach goes all the way up, right? You know, it's woo and the screaming, yay, and you're scared. That's the journey of life that produces the most bliss is actually the roller coaster life. But I think too many people think I just want to get off the roller coaster, right? And get to the end of it and achieved that I finished the ride. And I'm telling you, when you finish the ride, that's when all the butterflies go away.

That's when all the joy goes away. That's when all the bliss goes away. The joy and the bliss is in the ride. Even the ups that are go and you know it's coming. You all the way down, up and down. I don't want a life that avoids ups and downs. I want the roller coaster, but I want to decide I'm going to enjoy the process of that ride. So, you can make two choices. You can choose to get on the merrygoround. And if you're listening to me, you don't want to be on the merry-goround.

If you're listening to me, you either chose consciously to live a life off of the merry-goround like 99% of the people do. Same life, same pattern, same conversation, same vacations, same nothing, no growth, no experience, no memories, no joy, no life. That's 99% of people. So, if you're listening to me, either you've decided, I want to get off the merrygoround or you've gotten off of it. But the other mistake and choice you can make is this up and down thing. I just need to get to the end to the finish line to ride's over and then you get off and you go, "Yeah, wasn't that awesome?" Right?

Wasn't that awesome? That's a mistaken choice. That's the achievement addiction. The right addiction, I believe, is the nuanced one in the middle, which is to accept you've chosen a roller coaster life. And the people around you have chosen to be with you in your roller coaster life. And it's to make sure those people around you get what they need as you ride your dream and you ride your roller coaster. And that you get what you need, which is the bliss and the happiness and the fulfillment and the contribution that comes with the dayto-day riding of that roller coaster in the process.

and not waiting for all of the joy for the end of the ride. And so, please guard against achievement addiction in your life. And I'm really hopeful that today helped you really hear something you've never heard before and cause you to begin to think. Every week I'm producing content, I want you to begin to hear it. when I'm doing these interviews through this idea that you're not here to just accumulate and accumulate and accumulate because you can't take it with you. But you can leave the people that you help, the difference you make, the vibrational frequency you change, the consciousness you shift in your own family, in your own being, and the lives of other people.

You can leave that here. And I sure would appreciate it. And I know your family would, and I know you will if that becomes your obsession and your addiction. So, you go away and you come back and I'm just curious like does the anxiety manifest itself in any area? Like could even be like coming here today or Yeah, it does. It does. So, you'll still you'll still and what does it look like for you? Like, I don't really want to do this or I'm not good enough to do this or how do I get out of doing this or like Oh, no.

I mean, yeah, it definitely Well, it could manifest in all those ways actually. ways actually. ways actually. Yeah, me too. That's why I ask. I um I think it's definitely kind of comes back to this like worthy worthiness wound. Um Wow. It's amazing for me. I know it is pretty crazy if you think about it because of all that I've accomplished in my life and and I but I do think that that's why I was so adamant about accomplishing so much because I felt like I had to in order to receive love.

receive love. receive love. Me too. Me too. Me too. And and and when you really boil it down, especially for myself ultimately at the end of the day. And so now it's I I feel like that's definitely quieted down a lot. And I like I said, I can stop myself this morning and be like, "No, you're like it's all okay." Like you can have all the anxiety and all these feelings of unworthiness and you can still show up and you're still going to for me it's like just I just ask like you know I trust that whatever needs to come through will come through me and it is it is it is and thanks.

And that's what that's the thing like you just for me I've learned to kind of move that piece of me just to the side not like out of the way completely just move it to the side tell it it can be there like you can have your space in me today like you can be right here and I'm also with you there's another part of me that's here too. Um, so it's a bit of compartmentalizing and at the same time allowing it to be complete. Like I, you know, for me in the past, like I used to never have stage fright, never have anxiety.

have anxiety. have anxiety. Like when I was a kid, I was just, I felt super human. And until I, once I started to see my humanity, it changed everything. All of a sudden, I had anxiety. All of a sudden, I had stage fright at times. Like I realized about when was that my humanity? It started I would say it started um right maybe around 28 around 28 around 28 yeah 27 28 um um um me too for me it was when other people started to criticize me a little bit completely that's exactly when it happened my husband and I have been married for 12 years but we went through you know very public affair and um I mean the press is just brutal and especially for a woman and especially for a young woman who they built up to be America's sweetheart forever and so it was like the ultimate story for them.

for them. for them. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And that's when I started judging myself through other people's eyes. And one day that did switch and like maybe 32 or 33, I realized, wait, these are people's projections on to me. Like I don't have that's not who I am. You know, my my mistakes um I'm not my mistakes and I'm not I'm not who they say I am. And I think that it took me it took me doing a lot of soulsearching to recognize who I was in order for that not to be projected upon me.

upon me. upon me. It's very good. Yeah. Same with me. Yeah. It's intense. It's an intense roll. roll. roll. Yeah. And by the way, this manifests this projection from other people manifest in your life listening to this maybe the same way it does for Lean and I, Leanne and I, but maybe differently. Maybe you're living someone's projection in your life. Your parents projected a particular career on you. totally or beliefs in yourself or what you are or are not good at. They projected that onto you and you've adapted it and that's how you live your life.

And so a lot of our lives there's this whole thing or we live it in some ulterior dimension. You know, we're not. But we are often times is living other people's projections. And and for me and you it was like wow we were sort of achiever achiever achievers and then criticism and then I started to sort of look at myself as if maybe I've been fooling myself the whole time you know maybe maybe I am that horrible person they say maybe I am and maybe part of those maybe some of it was true for me that's some of it I was like oh I can see where I was kind of an [ __ ] at that moment in time you know like oh I didn't you know I didn't take other people's feelings into consideration when I did blank whatever it may have been I can look back now and go, "Oh, yeah." Like there were parts of that that were true, but that's not totally that's not who I am.

Me, too. Me, too. Me, too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My way out. I'm curious what some of your ways are. Let's talk about some tools out for you. What works for you? Ice baths. No, I'm just kidding. We were just for everybody. We were just talking about how much we can't stand ice baths before the show. Yeah, it's definitely not ice bath for the two of us right now. Um, that's so dang funny. It's so true. I I uh for me the hardest thing I'll tell you something interesting cuz I've been in front of people.

I conflated two things too. I conflated like um love with significance. significance. significance. When I did significant things I felt loved. So if I would just keep doing significant things and sometimes in life these things also work for you. like one of the reasons you were so successful is because you did make this and then you're oftentimes in life if something works for you a little bit it's really scary to give it up entirely because you're like that's part of my recipe if I don't have anxiety or worry maybe I won't practice as I won't be on my agame and so there's a nuance to life that's the hard part about podcasting or writing a book it's like there's a nuance to something but for me the hardest thing that is now the most beautiful thing is what you just said earlier me being alone with me.

with me. with me. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. I realized like maybe it's different for a woman, but maybe it's not, but like for me, like I never even just stopped and really just like looked at me in a mirror. mirror. mirror. Like just not I'd look at like is my hair messed up or something, but I mean just like just like just like I love this man. I've like I've never done I had never done that. Like I I love this man. This is a good man.

I've never would stop. I was just doing life. And then this idea of like getting alone with myself and being quiet and like just being with my breathing and these were so difficult for me and when they were difficult for me I thought well maybe that's because it would be so valuable for me if I could do it and so for me forms of meditation have helped me a lot um sometimes like actually writing for me can be a form of meditation. So has what's worked for you?

Like if you were to share with somebody who says, "I got anxiety, I got worry, I got fear, I got anger." What has actually worked most of the time? the time? the time? Yeah. I mean, I think that piece of creativity is super important. Um, I mean, we're all creative beings. Like that is our nature. And I think until we nurture that nature, um, and find a way of doing that like, and I think what's so interesting too is we are all so unique. Like what works for one person will not work for the next person possibly.

And you know, it's just you have to find your own path with it. So, I I dip in and out of things all the time. Meditation is pretty much a non-negotiable for me, even if it's five minutes during the day. I just need to sit, breathe, um, and you know, I'll take in an inhale and like and do it like double time, double longer exhale. That usually will help my anxiety a little bit. Um but yeah, I mean I've really gotten into recently um working a lot with my physical body, like balancing my hormones.

Like I' I kind of went from the beginning meditation and breathing to now like going running the gamut of pretty much everything you can think of. But you know, physical, mental, spiritual, like emotional, it's all important. You can't leave one out. You really can't. Um writing, I think, you know, has been such a a big thing for me. also creating. Um, creating. Um, creating. Um, and I Yeah, I it's interesting that you just said cuz something clicked for me. You said um that you know we get projected upon like the things we're good at, things we're not good at.

I think leaning into the things I've been told I wasn't good at. Like I I I don't like to dance. Like it really I do not like to move my body. And there was I think that also has to do with um old uh religious programming too. M um but it's I had this whole thing around someone told me one time that I was a better singer than I was a dancer and I stopped dancing and which by the way like I I might have been a fine dancer but if you're going to tell me I'm a better singer I mean I'm like I'm I was exceptionally good at singing so I like I couldn't dance that well too.

Um but yeah I felt like I just stopped doing it. And so for me, finding what those places are that feel really uncomfortable and even if it's for me putting one song on and like moving my body body body freely is and when I do that, I'll ball like I'll ball and I'll have so much joy at the same time and then I I'll stop. I'm like, okay, if that's that's kind of my threshold of how I but how I lean into those things. But I I feel like it's finding those places for people that are scary and walking into them.

And they don't have you don't have to just, you know, run and jump off the cliff. Like just dipping a toe into things to expand who we believe ourselves to be. Yeah. Like it just it opens our lives up in every other aspect. Not just that one little space, but in every other aspect of our life starts to change. You're so right. That's where I want to go, too. You're like doing the interview for me, for me, for me, but like I tied up my identity into everything outside of me all in my life.

So, like uh if I made money or I got a muscle or whatever it was, it was my identity was always tied to the external. Man, it worked for me for a long time. Yeah, it does. It works. It works. But it like when I got wealthy or whatever, like I it never was quite what I thought it would be when I would get there. And I think it was because I had I had tied it to the external instead of like like I I just love this work.

I love doing this work. So you had to have had your identity completely tied up in being famous or being a singer. And did you have you unpacked that at all? Like someone listen your identity could be that and stay with me. Your identity could be that you're a mother. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, someday, by the way, someday you'll be an empty neester. And then what? Right. So, so it could be anything out there. But did you you must had a lot of that. It's still tied up.

Um and to a certain extent around my voice. I I went through this few days the other day where I was thinking like what could I live without? And when I really could live without Yeah. Like could I live without my voice? And that was one big one where I was like, was like, was like, I don't want to, but if I had to, I guess I would have to. And I just looked up at the sky. I was like, don't do that to me. So, you know, this is not an invitation to test that theory, that theory, that theory, right?

right? right? But I, you know, I there was like my wedding, it was interesting things like my wedding ring like was really is really important to me and yeah, it's random little things that I was like, that's a powerful question. Yeah, it was. And it was like, okay, well, maybe that's because of how important like relationships I was told how important relationships were at a certain age, you know, like, well, how are these things how are why why are the the few things that I wouldn't really want to let go of?

Why are they so important? So, I went through that for a moment and my my voice is definitely one of those weird things when you're born into this world with something like that. And you know, as you get older, like things shift and change. And I know that I'm not going to be doing this my whole life, you know? I mean, who knows? But I mean, I I at some point I I feel like I want a different experience. That's been a new thing for me, too, is that that whole term different experience.

Um, especially when shifting things, it's like, oh, I want a different experience. What's a different experience look like? So, that's been something I've been playing with. And I know for me, like I will want a different experience one day than being on the road. Yeah. So, and I don't know. I mean, I've I've had moments like, look, co, you know, gave us an opportunity to kind of untangle from all of those things that we were attached to. And I did for a moment and I was I was okay with it.

with it. with it. I was okay with it. I I think, look, I you know, I just released an album. I um I haven't ever I don't even look at charts anymore. Like, I don't know what what it did. I I really don't. And I maybe it's part of that self-preservation and also part of it though is is not the reason I do it anymore. anymore. anymore. Like the reason I do it is to connect with people and help shift help them shift or help them question.

And question. And question. And it's really Yeah, it's it's so interesting how my reason for doing things has shifted changed. changed. changed. It really has. What was someone listening to this and they just said, "Hey, I'm I'm curious your I saw you on a stage. I don't remember whose event it was. It was Louis's." Oh yeah, that's where I met you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And um I had to go up after you. I think think think you did. you did. you did. I think I had to go up after you.

I was like I'm not I' I rarely have ever had that feel in my life. I don't want to go up after that cuz the room was so moved. moved. moved. I just thought she's going to be doing this too. this too. this too. Like what meaning this meaning like leveraging this gift she has, but and it was much more like direct approach. It wasn't like just enjoy my work. There was a message, spoken message, some chanting with it. I'm just cur I I'm surprised you haven't gone further down that road.

It's something I want to do. Yeah. Well, maybe today's the beginning, right? right? right? I know, right? It is. When I It's funny when you when you asked me to come on here. That's what I thought about. And I remember you saying to me, you came up after and you were like, "You've never done this before." Because I had such a I was going through this whole thing with with Lewis. I'm like, "I don't speak. I speak during my shows, but like this is you're asking me to give a speech." and he's like, "Just come do it for like 10 minutes and then you can sing and then we'll have a chat." I'm like, "Cool, I can do that." But it it did give me this bug of this is another way for me to share and connect with people.

And when you asked me to do this, it made me think of that. I'm like, you know what? I need to do that. I've been speaking for 30 years. One time ever, I went, I would really prefer not to go up right now after that person. And it was you. I'm serious. And it's not cuz you could sing better than me. I think that's kind of a given. I was like, "No, something just happened in the room right now that I'm not so sure I can match or do anything better than." And I I'm dead serious when I say that to you.

And it's the heart. I It's the heart. I mean, I think that I was so open. I mean, I walked up on stage and just started balling because it was I was conquering and that's what I talked about. I was I cry now. I was conquering a huge fear. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I know that that's also the reason why I haven't done more of it. But I the reason as I'm crying the reason I know I need to need to need to which is rather remarkable that you of all people were uncomfortable getting up in front of a group but the lesson in it the reason I bring it up is the lesson I made a post Saturday about this like start a new hobby you said a new experience experience experience that's the pathway to bliss everybody that's the pathway is to do something new that you feel illprepared for that's a bit scary but maybe you have some potential proclivity for like I shouldn't decide that right now I'm going to start doing 360 windmill dunks It's just not a lot of dudes that are my build that are doing that right now.

So, it's got to be something that you have some proclivity for. But create a new experience. Like even if you're great at something to your point, like you're you're the best at what you do, but do you want that to be the entire experience of your life? Yeah. Right. Like Like Like that's the juice of life. And so what I was so proud of you not even knowing you that day and then to watch you just go, "Wow." But I remember thinking this is probably something she's going to do a lot of and then really you haven't very much since that time.

Yeah, I haven't since then. Well, but also co co happened along those lines too. So, but it is something that I've I I just had this huge meeting the other day with my team and I'm like that is that is on the docket of things like to to walk into. I'm I did Well, you just got introduced to a couple million more people who need to do it. So, that's really good. I did um I did a chant record during um during the middle of COVID because I felt like people just people needed it.

Um which was something new for me. I've never kind of branched out and did that. And then I think that kind of you know that informed this new record and I'm also working I'm working on a chant too at the moment. So I'm wanting to create this whole like sound experience for people. people. people. You guys when she does this it's unreal. It's unreal. She did it that day. It's unreal. unreal. unreal. Welcome back to Max Out. I'm Ed Milelet and I'm so excited to bring you the program today.

The man to my left is literally one of the most interesting men in the world. And at least for me, I can tell you that for today, it's been something I've been looking forward to for a long time to pick this big brain of his. You probably recognize his face and most of you know his name. This is Rob Deerick and this is a guy who at 16 years old dropped out of high school. He founded a professional skateboarding league. He's been a professional skateboarder. He's got 21 Guinness World Records.

He's a media stud. He's a rock star in the entrepreneurial space. He's a branding master. But most importantly for me, this is a guy who's a tremendous husband and a great father. And we're going to pick his brain about how he's accomplished all of those things here today. So, thank you for being here, brother. brother. brother. Thanks for having me. I I you know, I've seen it in video now to experience what it's actually like to be here live. It's it's so much more beautiful and remarkable than than I could ever imagine.

imagine. imagine. Thank you, man. I appreciate that. So, let's be honest, man. You've had a pretty interesting life so far. I have. I certainly have. It's loaded. It's loaded. It's loaded. I like to say I've lived a lot of lifetimes already, you know. Do you feel that way? I do. Yeah. What do you mean when you say that? I look, you you want to be a professional athlete. You have this obsession and pursuit and you achieve that. Like then you take that and now like I want to I I want to expand this and be uh take this into television.

And then you go and live this entire television life. Uh all these different businesses and different things. You go from athlete to stunt guy to business guy to father to husband, you know. So, uh, each one of those is a is a pretty pretty significant chunk of life that's completely different than I am today. I want to figure out how you did that. And I know the audience does too cuz they see this guy on TV. Obviously, I think arguably you're the face of MTV, you know, from By the way, what's interesting about that, too, is for multiple generations, too.

Yeah. Here I am at my age, you're the face, and then my kids, you're still the face for them. And so, the career's just been unbelievable. And I'm fascinated by you because when I saw you on TV, I kind of had this picture of who you were, which I think is probably accurate to some extent, but then there's these multiple layers of you like there are all people. And so what I try to do on the show is get to those other layers. And so let's just start out.

How does a dude who drops out of high school at 16? Okay, so there's a lot of people watching this who, you know, don't have advanced degrees but want to go win in their life or maybe they're a parent. They got a child who's struggling in school. Did you drop out because things weren't going well in school? Did you drop out because of the whole skateboarding thing? I'm just curious what Yeah. Look, you know, I I'm I dropped out because I just was a professional skateboarder, right?

Like, and I, you know, one year in my junior year, I got straight A's for the semester just to show them like, look, I could, it's not even hard for me. It's not even a matter of if I need to do it. Uh, this is my dream. This is my passion. I achieved it. I'm now a professional skateboarder. Uh there's no you know in that year in between that year I had uh went to my first pro contest in Müster Germany and got fourth place in the world championships and all my signature product had launched that year and you know I was like I don't need to go to school.

It's just not in my path. I'm not going to go to college. I'm not going to I'm going to move to California and be a professional skateboarder. And so even though I don't fully remember this, my mom tells me the story of going in and them all trying to tell me I have to go to school like principals, counselors, everyone all one room and I just like convinced sold everybody on like and they were like, "You want to know what he probably doesn't we should probably just let him go." You're already marketing and closing people.

people. people. Yeah. And so, you know, it was really the beginning of of just let him he's going to pursue whatever he's going to do on his own and and you got to just sort of let him do it. And that's sort of the process that that that allowed me to get out of school. And I still had to go and take a night class. So I got uh enough credits to get a diploma or your diploma. Okay. Is there a difference between a GED and a diploma?

Yeah. I think that with the diploma is like you still had enough credits to get your to graduate where a GED would be like a I believe like a not a formidable uh or a complete formal uh diploma, right? So right? So right? So So how do you get there? How do you get from you get you're you're 16, you drop out. How do you were were you making enough money at the time that you could move to California or what happened? Here's the thing. Uh in December of 1991, I sold one board and got a check for $2, you know, and I needed that $2, you know, because that was all the money I made that month.

And I actually broke that up into quarters and went and bought a bunch of sodas that were at a quarter uh Dr. Pepper machine. But wow, wow, wow, you know, I think, you know, even in that era, I would track all my finances, right? I would say back then when I was 16, I'm a I got to treat myself as a business. And you know, I w you know, I would got $400 check one month and a 600 and then it was all scattered in that one devastating December where it was like $2 and and in the spring, you know, the company was was growing and was ultimately like, hey, if you move to California right now, we'll guarantee you $1,000 a month.

Thousand a month. And I was like, you what? What? What? What? Out of here, man. I felt like I hit the lottery. Like it was just like what? Uh me and a buddy of mine who was who was also about to uh turn pro like jumped in our Honda Civics and shot across the country to uh begin our professional skateboarding career in San Diego. That's crazy, man. So you get there. I'm just curious as this is happening. I because people listen to this because I look at you I think some people look at you as the TV guy.

I look at you as the entrepreneur guy. Yeah. And what's awesome about you is there's so many different marketplaces out there that see different versions of you. Some of you see the athlete, some of them see the the branding guy with whether by the way the multiple brands you built from alcohol to apparel to, you know, the the food business that you and I are a part of now. All these multiple brands and then there's obviously the TV show, there's the producer, there's there's just all these layers to you.

Did you see all this like at your 18? Did you were you already kind of like a business savvy guy or were you a skater professional skater dude and that was it? No, I mean I was business I was raised by entrepreneurs, right? You got to understand even the company that I turned pro for was guys that I knew since I was 12 that moved back from California who started the Alien Workshop, the company I turned pro with with my uh entrepreneur mentor uh who lived in Dayton, Ohio at the time.

They all formed that company together. Got it. And then there was uh a couple other uh guys with them that started other multiple companies that I was a part of. This is all that I watched at 14 15. So in my mind this is just what I was supposed to do. So even though I I treated myself as a business and you know was watching my finances and all this stuff. I started my first soup to nuts, built my first like pure brand at 18, right?

Where soon as I got to California, I did a partnership with a big manufacturing and distribution company uh and started Orion Trucks. I was reading a book at the time called the Orion Prophecy. You know, I was super into conspiracies and aliens and and I was in my teens and like I was like, man, like we should name it Orion. I hand drew the logo was like this star with an O around it. I put together um you know five of the literally the most accomplished top level pros in the world which then went and got uh two guys a piece and Orion trucks when it came out was the literally the the dream team of skateboarding that I had built for this accessory.

Uh and I did all of that for.5% of sales. So you you have that kind of going like you got this entrepreneurial fever, you got the skateboarding thing going and then there's like kind of this time I just want everyone to hear this because as an entrepreneur and as a man as a person I should say there's just false starts in life like you get going and then you don't. You make progress and then you regress and then I don't think you're ever prepared for every moment like you weren't prepared for the 0.5.

You didn't know to negotiate the right percentage any of those things but right around 24 there's another kind of like defining time for you at least one of them. Doesn't doesn't your team come to you and go, "Hey, look, we think you're kind of toast now." So, what tell them about that? Well, look, in in in that gap now, I've found huge success right now. I've helped launch the DC footwear brand and and move to California and now become a superstar in skateboarding and all this stuff's going and and but I it wasn't fulfilling me, right?

Oddly enough, like the pressure of of being in the streets and being a pro skateboarder just wasn't like like my angst to want to do bigger things in business and do other things besides skateboarding became incredibly problematic. I was launching all these different businesses that I didn't know anything about the industry's record labels and and retail stores and all this stuff with this newfound money that I had helped develop by creating DC shoes and all the royalty money I was making at this time. Getting hammered on life lessons with taxes.

You know, when you first make big money, starting all types of dummy companies all over the country trying to like put my money in different places. Nevada Corpse and whatnot. That's not really and I equate it to this. I lost my way and along losing my way way way I lost the belief in myself right and and when you're have had success your whole life where you were a young kid you played soccer you became a top soccer player you decided to pick up karate you become an amazing taekwond do fighter uh you pick up skateboarding you path straight to professionalism you everything first companies everything you do you're doing like so when you grow up with a deep selfbelief and everything you do uh works thus building this deep foundation that anything you put your mind to you can achieve.

can achieve. can achieve. It's a much more dramatic loss when that drifts from you, right? Because belief becomes a part of your identity, right? Uh which is connected to your ability to achieve which since that's what you've been doing your whole life, you don't know any other way. So when that dips from you, it's a much more painful, more dramatic thing. I think a lot of, you know, big athletes, like when when it tends, they struggle, man. Or the ones that were chosen ones from from junior high all the way and they get into their third or fourth year in the league and get hurt or like now you don't even understand how to like manage your identity because it's had this trajectory for so long.

100% right. And it was compounded when um DC basically told me they thought my best years were behind me and that this would be the last contract, you know. And I think that was and I can I can say it in hindsight and telling the story so many different times of like really knowing like now it was like you lost the belief in yourself. And at the time I I sought out a a I was looking for a hypnotherapist, right? Like just to hypnotize me uh to be a better skateboarder, right?

I was like hunting all these things, right? And And And uh I found Dr. George Pratt at La Hoya Scripts. And what he did was this technique that was he wrote a book called Hyper Success. and he basically uh did this hypnotherapy to just give your um inner self your subconscious the belief that it was meant to have great success. success. success. And whether it was the moment in time it was like being at the pit whatever it was but at that sort of uh 24 years like it was that moment of like no you've got to take control of of all of this.

And from that point on, I told them at the time, I said, you know, I don't and at the end of this contract, I'll be a completely different person. And then I rededicated my life to like skateboarding skateboarding skateboarding and and you know, took all all the way back to like top 10 in the world again. And then like all the signature products and all the filming and and image and brand and everything just exploded basically from that point uh straight into television, you know, four or five years later.

years later. years later. Bananas. Usually when I interview somebody, you know, they've accomplished something in their sport and we talk about that or they've accomplished something in business and we talk about that. The complexity of what you've done, done, done, I wonder and it's probably even a good thing that you don't always just step back and go, "Wow." Right? But the complexity of and how many times you've remade yourself remade yourself remade yourself because that lesson at 24, that lesson at 16, I think there was another lesson when you were preparing yourself, we're going to talk about later for finding someone like Briana, that whole thing.

See, I I had this really weird thing happen. I'll tell you when Max was 6 years old, I was at this car wash and um there's a really nice guy I'd see there all the time on Saturday, old guy. Turns out he's about my age now, but at the time he was old to me. And just out of nicely, he says to me, he goes, "Hey, enjoy the six-year-old." Cuz when he turns seven, the six-year-old's gone forever. And when he turns seven or when he turns eight, the seven-year-old's gone forever.

And you got little kids, you know, man, they just keep becoming these different versions of themselves. And I remember saying back to the guy without trying to be disrespectful. I said back to him. I said, "So, when did that stop for you?" Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he just stared at me kind of blankly and he goes, "I don't know." And I said, "You should figure that out." And what I respect about you is that you have not settled. The the 18-year-old version wasn't the same at 24.

The 24 year old man's doesn't even resemble the 43y old or the 44 year old or the 24 year old, right? Just it shifts all the time. I respect that about you. So, that happens. And then you go on from there. We can't document your whole life. Let me let me say this to that too, right? Cuz I think I've heard you say before about how you're you're in pursuit of the vision of of you know something to the effect of you're pursuing the vision of the man that you you expect yourself to become, right?

right? right? Something to that effect. And I I I would say when I finally shifted to that that that that in that pursuit of that individual, I also knew that that individual was slowly changing with the experience that I was having pursuing it. Right? And it and it's not that it it's this you're pursuing something that's not attainable. It's with experience and knowledge and understanding of yourself because you're on the journey just to master you. that the more you begin to master you, the more that ideal version of you begins to evolve, too.

So, you're in this sort of relentless pursuit that's clear um that I think at some point it becomes fully optimized. The fully optimized version of yourself is who you will catch up with. Like that won't forever be elusive. And oh my gosh, that's good. And and I think um as because we're so similar in that sort of idea, it's the moment I realized that no, this growth is actually one of your key attributes. Like embrace it and and enjoy uh what you're able to achieve, but know that that's not part of your makeup.

Like the relentless of pursuit is actually your makeup, right? Oh my gosh, brother. And that changed um it it allows me to not very difficult to look back and reflect because I mean I just enjoy the pursuit so much. You know what I mean? Me too. I've had the uh in I've had you heard you say about this too. You make me feel really good because although we're a little bit different personalitywise, you're probably the most similar person to me that I've met maybe ever. and just that it's even hard to describe, but we're both just so obsessed with this pursuit of growth and change and experiences in life.

And one of the things I struggle with is my memory. memory. memory. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and I and I know you do. So I know like like like the gift and the curse. It's a gift and a curse. And I think I think maybe one of the gifts of it is I don't remember all my failures that just hold me back and I keep telling all these old stories. But I really do have a hard time remembering things. In fact, when I get interviewed, the great gift for me when I'm interviewed is it forces some recall of memories I didn't have before.

You have that too, right? What do you think that is? that is? that is? 100%. I don't I don't know. But just talking it out, thinking about it, right, with somebody else that experiences it. experiences it. experiences it. I think it's more gift than curse. Now, it it comes back to haunt you when you're trying to like remember the details like on certain things. And it and it jams you up a where it jams me up at this state is I'm taking in and learning so much at a high level and then it pushes out stuff that I could really use again when I want to uh use it for another situation if you will especially in business.

Uh but I also um it's also made me super conscious of stuff that I really want to know that I'm want to remember and never forget that I tell myself that as I get there right right right meaning when a major moment happens you have have have the engagement getting wedding children like a moment uh with children like I'll I when I really even just recently taking the helicopter to Catalina to celebrate uh my uh 3year anniversary Like I kept telling myself as we're flying over the city and look at the ocean like don't like just feel this like like remember this, look at this, remember this.

So it's like I have to practice that and those lock in, right? Yes. That's why you guys if I started to try to list for you the amount of moments that he can't remember but also that have been amazing in his life. Some of you just would literally it is what he said earlier. It's many many many many many lives, right? And so I want to touch on some of them where there's lessons, but I just I'm going to spend most of my time in your brain and in your heart.

So, but you go all the way from, let's be honest, you go from Robin Big, you got ridiculousness, right? You got uh all of the moments that happened on all of these shows, too, right? Fantasy Factory, like all of these different things. It's just it's it's bananas. And so, and keep in mind, Fantasy Factory was basically a moment generator, you know what I mean? from a shark to jockeying a horse for a race to like flipping a car for a Super Bowl commercial, breaking a world record, jumping a car backwards, like like like getting towed into a giant wave and almost dying.

Like all these crazy crazy highlight reel that no human being on the planet Earth has. Correct. Right. Is Did you just hear what he said, by the way? Just just slow that down just a second. Okay. Mauled by a tiger, bit attacked by a shark. You kissed a bear on the lips. I think the bear, right? And then an easier one. What? So, let me just stay on that just for a second cuz like those are once in a-lifetime moments you've had over and over and over again, right?

So, stay on that just meanwhile kicking ass in business. Meanwhile, founding a skateboarding. It's just it's it's like you make me feel small, which is awesome. Right. So, and keep in mind, too, they are fully intertwined. What do you mean? Like I'm I'm negotiating a deal, a fiveyear like multi-million dollar mega deal with Nike right before like I got to hang up the phone and break a world record for jumping a car ramp to ramp 90 ft backwards, right, for a giant Chevy integration deal that Chevy's going to do a deal for uh being a part of our league while launching a complete new company.

It's like you're taking phone calls in between this sort of chaos and sort of all aspects of your life. That was that was a six or sevenyear run of doing all this insanity while doing all of your business and normal stuff inside it. it. it. So that's maxing out these different areas. The pun is intended, right? But like so there are people out here who use the complexity of their lives as an excuse not to succeed in any one of them, right? So oh god, I'm a dad and I've got my business and I got my, you know, soccer league or whatever it is.

How did you do that? So if you were to say here's one of the reasons how I can compartmentalize and win in different areas, what would be one of the keys? Just sheer drive and and relentless pursuit of success. Now the problem with that was is here you are um you know someone that can do anything. You you end up uh you have the ability to do anything. So you end up doing everything. Then you end up kind of standing for nothing, right? So you end up meaning so much to so many different people you you're not even sure what you stand for.

Like are are is your passion business? Do you want to do stunts? Are you a TV guy? Like do you want to be the commissioner of your league? Do you like skateboard? Like what is like I had to stop and realize that because my hope was if I just kept doing all this stuff, one of them would show me the way. Right? So, and as someone that's so driven and whose gift is execution, the moment you decide to do something, you're going to do it. I'm going to do a cartoon and a toy line, like, okay, I got a cartoon on Nickelodeon and a toy line in Walmart.

I got attacked by a shark to launch it. I'm going to do a new television show. I got this I read a article with Vinnie Deon. I'm going to do this clip video show. That's going to be the biggest thing ever. like you end up doing all of these things and you basically behind that there's 20 of them that aren't working that you're putting that same energy of running into the wall with, right? And and furthermore, it it's not leading anywhere since you're hoping one will determine what your future is, right?

And I stopped and and yes, I I would looked at myself as this highly conditioned stress athlete where you could you could put yourself under the deepest pressure and and you know take on 50 or 60 things at a time and operate smooth and happy. And but it wasn't until I looked deep within myself and decided what type of life do you actually want? It's easier to do when you're sort of in the midst of failure externally, but you did it in the midst of success.

of success. of success. Totally. And so this is what it does, right? It when I finally transition to the the the next level, right, or the fully designed version, right, which I'm on my way, right? I would say I'm exactly two and one half years into um then I'll speak about it and it'll be what I'm known for and what we talk about, right? Because since I'm in the middle of transitioning in it, when you look at at my body of work, it is like so all over the place, you don't even it's so hard to like land on what it is because the stunt aspected is is really interesting.

You know what I mean? and being a professional athlete and then like oh you jump up and and oh now you're doing all these businesses we're partners together and this super innovative amazing brand like like oh but then no you're still uh shooting nine episodes of television a week you know what I mean and like you're still u you know entering your uh 12th 13th and 14th season on on ridiculousness putting you at 10 years and 25 seasons and 500 episodes of television on MTV like It's hard to put down like what does he really what would he be known for when really uh you would know me primarily for for MPV if you know business or you've had a conversation then you're like okay this guy's like tuned in but my goal is to be known for the life that I created the life that I lived and the and the and the and uh the way that I systematized it and built it uh that ultimately people could replicate in their own lives.

in the future. future. future. Yeah, the example is going to be bananas. I I actually admire the diversity of your success. Um, it makes it makes it makes it's been a lot of fun. I mean, it's like, like, like, brother, come on. I mean, and I'll tell you another moment, too, man. When I after I got attacked by that shark, right? Cuz I'm like, this is so dumb. Like, this isn't even going to be good. Like, why am I doing this? That's every stunt. Every stunt is like, this isn't even that this is so dumb.

And then afterwards, like no one in the world. No one in the world, right? But I remember swimming up off of the looking down on the on that boat and stopping as I was swimming up and there's like 50 sharks swimming around telling myself just look and and soap this into your mind cuz you will never be back here, you know? And and I have that uh to go along with the great photo of that like shark on my arm. You know what I mean? Like but that for all the achievers though and for me like I just want you to know something.

You take you mention it, but I got to be honest with you. It's one of the things you're supposed to say to me. I don't think I personally, and I'm an achiever and I enjoy my life and I, you know, people come to me for advice on how to live better, but I think I could do a better job of telling myself, "Hey, man, stop." stop." stop." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What you've said, the flight to Catalina, the shark thing, like stop. I think achievers have to do that once.

Stop. Stop. Stop. Appreciate this moment for a second, man. It's not coming back again, you know? And I I you and I were talking about your kids at their ages and you know it made me think did I appreciate all those moments when they were two, when they were infants, when they were three, when they were eight and 10 and I didn't, you know, and I wish I could go back in those moments again. Think about it too though. You think about how optimized you are as a man today versus when they were born.

True. True. True. Right. And and the lucky thing for me is I I I had evolved to a place where being super efficient and using my energy for what I'm only passionate about and having clear uh goals and vision for life is the foundation that I started with for the family. So I've never missed a pediatrician appointment. I I've rarely I've never missed waking them up very rarely when I'm gone or putting them to bed. Right. And that's by design. That's by moving out of a fantasy factory in downtown and living in Hollywood to a a home in Beverly Hills and an office in Beverly Hills and being uh super close as you're uh developing this life and creating a plan uh from my how I use my time and my schedule.

You know what I mean? I everything is systematized around full balance. I take my first meeting at uh 11:00 a.m. My last one at 5. It never changes. I don't compromise my schedule and my time with my family and wife in my pursuit, right? I fitted inside it, you know. Whoa. So, say something about that. So, we're going to I want to get into this life thing now cuz I love the word about optimizing your life. Since the second we talked, the first time we talked was going to be five minutes was turned into a really long phone call.

We actually together talked about these things. Yeah. Like these very topics are what you and I discussed when we first connected. Of all those stunts you had though, I'm just curious because it leads to life. We're going to go into life stuff now. So, you had to deal with the the the tiger chasing you down and mauling you. That to me, even for me, I don't know why that's even scarier than the shark thing for me. Seeing that sucker run after you, dude. Like, they're trained.

they're trained. they're trained. I don't give a crap. Sharks in the ocean on but he was biting my neck and they kept saying, "Put it down. Put it down." Cuz I was the it. You know what I mean? But I'm like, is this guy supposed to be doing this? Like, Like, Like, dude, they're a millimeter away from some artery. Like, dude, there's just Come on, man. That's That's the scariest thing of all of them was jockeying a horse for a race. Like, that was the scariest of all of them.

Cuz the car stuff, you're in a cage. Like, you're covered in the mesh here. Trained tiger. Like when you're on the back of a horse going 40 miles an hour, like if you you when you can barely if you get shot off that thing, you're basically in a like a car wreck with no car, right? Like that was the scariest. But are you hearing what we're saying to each other right now? Like you know what was scarier than getting bit by a shark. It wasn't the tiger.

It was riding a horse. horse. horse. But then for me, it feels good to be able to say it. You know what I It's like I don't think about it so often, often, often, but then just even talking about comparing them and thinking about it and the fact that I own that as a highlight forever, it makes me happy. Yeah. And it's also like, hey, man, look, being on TV all that long for some people would be scary. Staying at the top that long can be scary, you know, not wanting to fall off the the the totem pole, you've climbed up, the flag pole, all those things.

But I want to ask you about one of the stunts you did because I think like at least for me, it would cause me to do a little reflection. So, of all of them you did, the one that captured my heart the most was the one where Lar drags you on the um I think it's Lar on on the seedu into riding the wave. Yeah. Okay. And so you ride this wave and you crash and you thought you were going to die. Yeah. die. Yeah. die.

Yeah. Of all of them, is that the one that you were the most sure you were going to die in the middle of? I'm curious. No, I mean that's the only time in my life that I was dying. So tell tell me about what happened there and what it did to you. I'm I'm I'm you know the trippiest thing about it too is like it was pouring rain and I swear the moment I stepped in the water to do it that it stopped raining and a rainbow went right over it right and I'm like what's what like it was freaky enough and we're like what is going on like it was just this freaky sort of moment in time so it like already had this like weird tone and if you can imagine like and then like some of the local Hawaiian guys were like asked where I was doing uh getting towed in and they were like oo it's real sharky out there right so I'm like sharky was this after the shark thing or before before before like this is this is way after but it doesn't when you're doing like you know going getting a a Bahamas reef shark with a metal thing like it's super controlled when you're laying on your back in the deep ocean and all you can think of is like sharks coming up from underneath to get you I didn't even I wasn't worried about what was going to happen in that wave I just wanted to get up so that I don't get attacked by a shark.

Right. And and if you can imagine this, you know, I've grinded a 20 stair handrail and flipped a car ramp to ramp and and done all these crazy stunts and you face them. You face the danger on getting towed into a giant wave. It's behind you. So like you like I'd never surfed before. It was literally the only time I'd ever surfed in my life. You had never surfed before? Never surfed before. And it was like the first wave I ever surfed was like 18 ft, right?

And right? And right? And so it's the most peaceful amazing like you know cuz you can't see it and like you're like what? You know what I mean? Like what do we and and then it's like a house crashes on you and you don't like you can feel something coming. You can start to hear it and then just wham and now you're in like this fight everything in you to just get to the surface. Right. So Right. So Right. So I was like, you know, it's really weird management of emotions and experiences as it as it's related to when you get into kill mode for stunts, right?

Cuz you have to shift into a mindset of like where you basically you get to a deeply calm place because you literally nothing else matters and you understand that that for this moment in time. You have to put everything you have into making sure that that you do everything for this to work. It's a different different level of mindset, right? because you're it's a it's it's your life is on the line for this moment this moment this moment and it's so so much easier when you're facing it and you go go you know and in this one so as I did it and and fought back up and then I want to get out of the water I want to get back up you know all this all this all this it wasn't as bad right so it was like it was like okay it got up pretty good that didn't you know it's still water you know I got spun around but it wasn't too bad okay let's let's try to get a bigger one, right?

Like, so you get into that zone zone zone and now the problem was I got a bigger one and one right behind it. it. it. Oh gosh. Oh gosh. Oh gosh. So, not only did I get annihilated, but then as I was like trying to find the surface, another one came down. And now I'm so deep and have no idea where the surface is. And you know, believe it or not, this is a viciously vivid memory just out of death. Wasn't trying. Hey, you got to remember this.

Yeah. You're about to die here. You want to remember this. Hold on to this one. You know what I mean? No. No. This is like you like like I like eyes open, spinning. It was just all white. And I just remember kept trying to push to what I thought was the surface. And I kept going nowhere. And the light kept changing. And I kept trying to find what I think was the surface. And it all kept looking the same regardless of where I went. And I was could not.

No more breath. breath. No more breath. Like as far as you can hold. As far as you can hold. As far you can. If you can't, you can't. You can't. You can't. And right as I like had to like pass out to take the breath. Like I popped right up. And then he come flying in. He was so freaked out. Right. Because it's all fun in games. You're Lar Hamilton. You're gnarly. You literally don't even have the the gene like to even be scared of like water.

You're like literally Aquaman. So you're like, "Of course you could do it, Rob." Like he just looks at me. He's like, "You're a stunt guy. You can do this stuff easy." He thought I died for sure. And he just We are done. He ripped me out of that. Threw me on the back. We are done. Like he was so freaked out, you know. And you know, of course, we made that whole episode. We wrote that episode around testing your man level. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And we had decided I had reached it.

Yeah. He reached it and that's bananas. The joke was like, man, you don't you don't want to get to the edge your man level cuz you really you really lose some layers of your man level if if Lar's got to give you mouth to mouth. Oh my god. Yeah. Right. Right. But yeah, that that was I think if people rewound that and they listening to your description what it was like during that time, some people feel like their life's in that place right now, man. Like they're just everything looks the same.

They can't get out of it. And really what you eventually is you just kind of surrendered, right? And then then then thank God you popped up. Yeah, I I uh that's my favorite story, by the way, of all the stunts is to think that you that was the one where you thought you were dead. I mean, that's it's insane. insane. insane. I want to ask you a couple things you said cuz I think that they're worthy of covering. You said earlier about your habits and routines and your rituals and I've heard you talk about how that actually creates freedom for you.

People usually think the reverse. They're like, "Hey, if I have all these rituals and habits and I've got no real freedom in my life." You you would say that that's completely opposite, right? Yeah. Well, look, I'm I'm the more I'm I'm people call it habits, rituals. I uh rituals. I think it's systems, right? The more systematized, the less you have to think of, the more freedom you have to think about other things. Like, like when you're optimized, you know, you know, you feel the best when you're the best version of yourself.

So, the more like it is a machine and systematized for you to do it. Uh and it's based around you. It's based around what uh are the things that ultimately help you and you can you can actually do you know and I would equate meditation to it. Okay. Okay. Okay. Everybody will tell you meditation is is great. Meditation for me is impossible. It's impossible. It's impossible. It's impossible. You can't quiet yourself. You can't quiet myself. I'll never be able to get there. um it is it is um you know even if it's great for the mindset like uh but I knew that eventually I needed to right and I eventually found a meditation machine right so right so right so um what it now allows me to do is meditate every single day at 5 in the morning but I couldn't do it if I was just going to sit there and try to quiet but when I jump into my soma dome which is basically like a giant egg with like lights and and sound and guided meditation.

It now has become an essential part of my life because I needed uh to find a something like that because that's what I needed to actually apply that to found your system to meditate. meditate. meditate. And so, you know, for me um if you can imagine you're up in the morning at 5 in the morning, irregardless of how you feel, feel, feel, uh you're going to feel a lot of different ways when you wake up. And I go into that machine for mindset only. It is like I just think about everything I want to achieve and how it looks when it happens and every single layer and level and you pop out of that thing and you are you're just in a different energy.

Right. energy. Right. energy. Right. Welcome back to the show everybody. So grateful you've decided to join me again here this week. And this week I have a question for you. Do you play hurt? Because I think playing hurt is one of the invisible skills of all the great ones. And if you think back in your lifetime, the people that you've been the most, you know, emotional about when you've watched them perform in sports or life in business, they were overcoming some pain they were in currently at the time, typically in sports, it's some type of an injury that they have.

And so I ask you, can you play hurt? Because I think that's the great separator in life and in business, is that the great ones are able to perform even when they're not at their best, even when they're hurt, even when they're wounded, even when they're down. And average ordinary people succumb to the injury, succumb to the pain, the down cycle in their life. You know, I really believe the separator in life is not what you do on the days where you're feeling great, you're feeling healthy, you're feeling emotionally strong, everything's going your way.

Everybody performs well on those days. It's what do you do on the days that you don't feel that way. In sports, especially the greatest moments of my lifetime in sports, we'll talk about them in a minute, have been watching athletes perform under pain, under injury, under hurt, and in business, in life. You know, we're not on television. And so sometimes we don't realize that's the separator. The difference between winning and losing in life, in sports, is so small, it's almost too scary to talk about. One of the things that worries me is I have to be candid with you.

I think everybody can help someone. But one of the things that's happened in the business space, the entrepreneurial space is there's just so many people that are giving advice and information that have never built a business that have never accomplished anything other than telling you how to accomplish something. And so often times I hear their messages and I'll commiserate with other people that I know that have actually done something in their life and like, can you believe that they teach this stuff and that people are believing this?

I worry sometimes that you don't get told the truth about what it really takes to win and that so many of you are listening to so many different voices, many of which aren't qualified to help you in the area that you're looking for help. And I say that with respect cuz I think everyone can help somebody. But by and large, if I want to get fit and in shape, I want my trainer to be fit and in shape. If I want to become wealthy and build a big business, I want to listen to someone who's wealthy that's built a big business.

If I want to become happier and more influential and more passionate in my life, I want to listen to someone who's done that. And so I know that one of the separators from the people that I know that have become mega successful in their lives is their ability to play when they don't have their aame, their ability to win and step up and sometimes play better. And so ask yourself this question. In the last year on days when you were down or not even feeling physically well, you had the flu or cough or you know you had an injury that you hurt yourself and your knee or your back was hurting or someone had hurt your feelings the day before or maybe a week or two before the day before you lost an account or didn't get a sale you thought you were going to get or something's going on with your kids.

How did you perform those days? Because that's the separator in life. And so we're so moved often by the people we see when they do this. I'll give you an example. I was recently moved by a young man and I'm sure this will get back to him and he may be surprised that I saw this but a young man named Cade Belaloo and he's a college baseball player at Auburn University. I played college baseball. He's a lefty. I was a lefty and so I took note of this young man but the reason I saw him wasn't because he played college baseball or because he played at Auburn.

He's much better college player than I was by the way. But um the reason I saw him is that his mother had died. And the day that his mother had passed away, he still played in the game that night. And I guess evidently went to the coaches and says, "You know, mom would want me to play tonight. This young man under tremendous pain just lost his mother. Can you imagine?" Just hours before he said, "I think mom wants me to play." And this young man steps up to the plate.

I believe it was his third at bat. Guess what he did? You know it. He had a home run. Mother of Auburn baseball outfielder Kaloo. Kaloo. Kaloo. Stacy passed away this morning after a battle with cancer. Our hearts and Auburn baseball are with the balloon family during this time. Ball right side. It's deep. It's gone. He hit it out of here. here. here. Brad, I you know, some things just transcend the the human experience and how sports can bring everybody together. And that that's one of them.

One of the most inspiring things I've ever seen in 32 years of coaching was uh Big Blue getting hit home run. First one of the season. Hadn't hit a home run on all the good days. But he hit a home run on that day to honor his mom when he was under tremendous pain where many people would have said, "Hey, hey, Kade, we wouldn't blame you at all, man. Sit out the game. Sit out the weekend." You know, that's okay. And by the way, that would have been okay.

You know, heal up a little bit. You know, there's so much this stuff in about healing and all that stuff. And by the way, I think you can take action and still win while you're healing. And sometimes the winning can be the healing. Instead of just sitting around and machinating in your thoughts and trying to evaluate yourself all the time, get up and do something, right? And I say that out of love. I would say this if you were my children. I talk to the audience as if they're an extension of my family.

I also don't say these things sitting on some high horse because I've made the mistakes of not taking action on the days when I was down or hurting. I've sat out games when I was an athlete when maybe I could have played. And now in life, you know, as I got older, I realized that's the separator. And so, Kade Blue, man, congratulations, brother. Way to honor your mom. Just want you to know I saw it. And now you've moved millions of people through our audience here today.

On the day he was probably hurting the most in his life, he stepped up and hit his first home run of the season. I have to imagine that inspired his teammates. Have to imagine that his mom's very proud of him. The rest of his family is very proud of him. By the way, would would we been proud had Kate hit a home run? Sure. Would I be mentioning a guy at Auburn who hit his first home run of the year on my podcast to millions of people if he wasn't hurt?

No. And so what I'm saying is some of your greatest accomplishments, your greatest story, we've all heard the saying that your test can become your testimony, your mess can become your message. But it's true. In fact, often times this adversity is a gift. It's an opening to get something for your pain. I've always said that I don't believe God's going to give you pain without a gift on the other side of it. That if you look for the gift of the pain you're going through, that all pain is temporary.

And if you can survive the temporary, whatever the pain is you're going through, mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, if you'll survive the temporary, but while you're surviving and getting through it, look for the gift. Look for the miracle. He's going to give you something. He's going to give you a new friend, a new relationship, a new insight, a new thought, a new talent, a new ability, a new innovation, new innovation, new innovation, a new whole new life. Often times, a new reference, a new whatever it comes your way through pain.

And so this is the people that we admire in life. You think about in your sports life. Think about Michael Jordan. Of all the championships that Michael Jordan won, it was winning the 1997 NBA Finals, the flu game where most people wouldn't have played. He had 104 degree fever. He no one thought he was even going to show up and play that night and somehow he comes through and wins the NBA title playing with the flu, right? I mean, we remember this. It's iconic. Now, he won a lot of championships, but that's the clip that you see the most.

Why? Because he played hurt. He played hurt. It's Tiger Woods of all the majors that he won. He won the 2008 US Open, they tell us, on basically a broken leg. Are you kidding me? This is these are the stories of legends. These are the stories that are what icons do. And you have a chance when you're going through this down day. These are the days where maybe you're going through it today and you're like, man, I needed this today, brother. Or send this to somebody who needs it.

My gosh, this is actually an opening for me. This is where I separate. This is my separation season because almost, you know, it's I almost get off in my mind on these days because I'm like, I know nobody's working as hard as I am. Not after how bad yesterday was, not after how bad I'm hurting. Not after that let down. Most people are licking their wounds and staying down. And there's all this stuff is well, maybe you should stay down for a while. Evaluate what happened.

Learn the lesson. Yeah, maybe. Or maybe you should get your ass up and go back to battling. Go back to fighting. Go back to winning. Get in motion again. I think you could heal, learn, and take action at the same time. Tiger Woods winning that US Open on a broken leg. They tell us Kirk Gibson in the 88 World Series hitting a home run coming off the bench. He was so injured he couldn't play. He didn't he didn't play the game and he didn't play at all after this home run.

He had one at bat, limps up to the plate. He couldn't play a position so they put him into pinch hit. He gets up there, two strikes. Dennis Eckersley, bam, hits a home run over the right field fence to win the World Series game. One of the most, if not the most iconic home run in the history of baseball, one of them. Why? Cuz he hit a home run in the World Series. No, cuz he hit a home run hurt in the World. By the way, I was at that game.

game. game. Funny anecdote. My dad wanted to leave that game the inning before. We got up to leave and we ran into my T-ball little league coach in the We were in the bleachers at Dodger Stadium and my T-ball coach says, "You don't leave World Series games early, Mr. Milelet." My dad went, "Ah, all right." We walked back to our seats. True story. Sat down in the next inning. Maybe the most famous home run in the history of baseball was hit by Kurt Gibson, but we remember it cuz he played hurt.

If you're really old like me, it's a year before I was born, but I heard about it all my Willis Reed for the Knicks coming out and inspiring his team to win. You know, when I speak, I walk out on stage to Thunderruck by AC/DC and everyone thinks that's because he's such an AC/DC fan. Well, I am a fan of that band, but that's not why I walk out. I walk out to AC/DC when I speak because my favorite fighter of all time is Arturo Thunder Gotti.

He came into the ring to Thunder Struck. My favorite fighter of all time, Gotti. Why? because he was the best fighter of all time. Arturo was not the greatest fighter of all time. If you don't know him, go watch his clips. I don't care if you're a boxing fan, female, male, go watch Arturo guys cuz the shots he would take and keep coming. His fights with Mickey Ward. I mean, I'm just going to tell you like inspired me to want to be somebody. If you think about the movies, it's Rocky Balboa.

It's how he came back from being hurt. Cut me Mick, right? It's those are the things that move us. the greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali and how he beat George Foreman and would come back from being hurt. The wonderful Carrie Scrugs, most of you don't know this, one of the greatest clips of all time. Carrie Scrubs, 1996 gymnast, ends up basically winning the gold on a torn ankle. And I remember watching that and crying, literally crying when she won. I wonder, by the way, why do we cry when we see somebody accomplish something great and overcome something amazing?

Whether someone heals from cancer and they come back and they live or an athlete that overcomes an injury like precious Carrie Scruggs did in the Olympics and just the world cried watching her go through this pain and win. I submit that we cry when we see these great acts of courage because we know that exists within us and we're not using it. We're not even crying out of happiness. There's a part of us like why can't I do that? I have the same capacity. I'm also a human being.

I want to be proud of me. I want to overcome my pain. You know the story that you're going through right now or have gone through. It's only inspiring if you win. It's only inspiring if there's a fairy tale. There's only it's only inspiring if there's a lesson. If there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And so you got to play hurt. Sometimes, I'll be honest with you, I think we exaggerate the pain we go through. We make it a bigger deal than it really is.

You know, I've had people cancel cuz, well, I've got a cough or I've got the flu. Heck, this is a Zoom call. I'm I'm doing this today. My My producer will tell you, I'm sitting here today. I've got at least two teeth that I need a root canal on today. I I've got something wrong with my jaw where I can't really open my mouth to eat. It's enough that I can talk, right? and I've got the flu. But no one asked me to run a marathon today.

They asked me to do six zooms. I'm sitting in a chair. What's the difference between sitting on the couch and doing nothing and sitting here and helping change the world? And I'm not bragging about me. Heck, I'll just tell you this. I played this whole year hurt. I I haven't been on social media in a year. I've had issues with my heart. I've had a back issue that's just very significant. I've had surgery on my back. I've got a I played hurt all year. It's one of the best years I've ever had.

Now, has it been the biggest growth year? No, but I played hurt. Dion Sanders, Coach Prime, was on my uh podcast a few weeks ago. His agent and my agent, Constar, was also on some of the most popular shows we've ever had. And Coach Prime's this legendary coach now at Colorado. But what a lot of people don't know is Coach Prime played entire major league baseball season and NFL football season at the same time, multiple years in a row. You imagine playing, imagine how hard it is to get to the NFL.

Imagine how hard it is to get to MLB. He got to both and played both and some days would play a major league baseball game and an NFL football game in the same day. Imagine that. And guess what? One year he did it with a bronchial infection, walking pneumonia basically for the entire year. Imagine that. You got a bronchial infection, almost borderline walking pneumonia for a year, and he plays a full NFL football season and major league baseball season and went to the postseason in baseball.

But some people can't get on a Zoom because they've got a cough or their tummy hurts, right? But you want to be a millionaire. You want to be one of the great ones ever. But any chance you're hurt, a little bit down, I'm just being honest with you. Maybe this isn't the message everybody wants to hear, but it's the message everybody needs to hear. The separator is what you do on the days you're hurting. This man played an entire football season, entire baseball season, both with a condition that most people would cancel their zooms for.

Can you imagine? And so it's about how many punches you can absorb. Remember this, your breaking point is God's building point. Just when you're ready to break, just when you think you've got too much, if you'll push to that next level, that's when God starts to build. That's when he starts to break through. That's when the growing happens. But we don't take advantage of these opportunities. I'm almost to the point in my life where I believe adversity is a gift. I can't tell you that every time bad things happen like today, I didn't want to wake up with my jaw and I didn't want all that stuff.

It's just like a year of stuff in my physical being. I've had issues personally and socially. It's been a tough year. You know, I'm not saying I would wish that. Same time, it's I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned how much to be honest with you I love what I do and how much I care about you all because in a long time ago financially I didn't need to do this and I kind of always thought in my life when I got very very wealthy I probably wouldn't work like I work still but then when I got here I fell in love over my lifetime with people and making a difference and serving them almost like feel like it's my home and it's my calling it doesn't feel like that much work to me and so who am I to be you know telling you to do all these things and so when I'm not feeling I don't.

And so I'm really convinced that your breaking point is God's building point. I tell you another story of a guy you probably haven't heard of unless you live in Australia. I've been reading about this guy for a few years now. 1983 it started the one of the world's toughest ultramarathons. 540 mile trek from Sydney to Melbourne. I want you to imagine this. Some of the top runners in the world are running in this race and a farmer shows up. True story. Dressed in overalls and like galashes over his boots is what they say.

I'm just telling you what they tell you. And so people are like, "Who's this farmer? This guy's got overalls on. There's this combination of runners, but some of them are the best in the world. 540 miles." And so reporters asked who he was. He replies, "His name's Cliff Young." Oh, by the way, Cliff is 61 years old, sheep farmer. sheep farmer. sheep farmer. Picture this. A marathon's 20some miles. Guess what? 5 days, 15 hours, and 4 minutes later, he won. He finished first in this race.

Grueling race. He beat the next closest competitor by about 10 hours. He becomes this Australian national hero, total icon of ultramarathon running, you know, example of determination, perseverance. But what he's really an example of is pushing through pain. Pushing through pain. You know how he won the race? He slept less. Now, there's some legends that say he didn't sleep at all. Evidently, that's not true. But he just slept less. He didn't know how much sleep was really required of him. And all the training of chasing sheep on his farm is what equipped him for the race.

So, while these other guys were just running their normal race, this dude's chasing sheep for years and years and years around his farm, some days having to run days at a time. He was totally built for this. And so when the actual race comes along, he dominated dominated dominated because he'd pushed through pain for years and years and years and years, the actual race was nothing. And so I believe when you push through pain over and over and over again, it starts to not affect you like it once did.

But if you avoid pain, if you shrink to it all the time, if you give in constantly, it weakens you. weakens you. weakens you. Remember this. When you've gone through a difficult, painful mental experience, a bad day yesterday, physical, spiritual, maybe it's in your relationship, maybe you're just losing confidence. This is an opportunity to either strengthen you or weaken you. And how you respond means everything. I'm pretty sure Cliff at 61 years old in overalls overalls overalls didn't have all of the pedigree to be the guy to win that race, never mind by 10 hours.

But what he had done is trained himself to sleep less than most people. what he had done is trained himself to push through pain over and over and over. This wasn't something he trained for. It was his daily life and it becomes this national icon. Isn't that incredible story? It's just incredible. So, can you push through pain until you find your truth? I think of so many of my female friends and they'll tell me the greatest experience of their life is having children. Yet, they'll tell me the most physically painful experience of their life for many of them was child birth itself.

And so for that unbelievably painful experience, you get the greatest gift of your life. your life. your life. Is that amazing? If you really look back at your life, man, you've come a long way. And if you look back, most lessons learned, most gains were made during your flu game, during your broken leg round, most of your great experience of your life were the painful ones. In some odd way, it's God's gift to us because when you go through the real pain of life, believe it draws you closer to God.

At least in my case, I had to conclude, I can't do this on my own. I need you, Lord. Please help me. And so, ironically, sometimes pain is one of the great gifts we can have to strengthen our faith. But it also strengthens our resolve. There's also something that happens in us where we develop grit and toughness and resiliency and a relentless pursuit that our conditions aren't the thing that determines our behavior. our behavior. our behavior. Conditions and behavior can be separate. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:10, "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast." Life can be heavy.

There are moments when the weight of the trials we go through, it feels unbearable. Pain can linger. Sometimes prayers seem unanswered. And oftentimes we wonder whether we're ever going to feel whole again. But take heart because your suffering is not the end of the story. Remember this. God sees every tear, every struggle, every weary side. And he's promised that after you've endured for a while, he'll step in and restore you. You got to endure for a while usually. And he steps in, strengthens you. He'll make you unshakable over time.

Your pain is temporary. All pain is temporary. The only thing that's permanent is our souls. But God's grace is eternal. Whatever your faith beliefs are, just know that. And what feels like brokenness now, brokenness now, brokenness now, it's simply the ground where he's planting something new for you. Just remember that his hands are holding on to you all the time. They're rebuilding you. The storm you're facing right now, it's not going to destroy you cuz you're going to get up. You're going to persevere and you're going to fight one way or the other.

You're going to get through it one way or the other. You'll get through this day. Remember this. One day at a time, one meeting at a time. My book, The Power of One More, I tell you this because I believe it to be true. You don't need to decide to never quit. You just need to decide right now I'm getting up. Right now I'll make one more call. Right now I'll do one more workout. Right now I'll read one more book. Right now I'll go one more day.

Right now one more. Just do one more. It's such a powerful concept. If you've not read the power of one more, go get it. By the way, I should say this to you. You should be on my email list. I Everything I send you is going to be free if you go to edmmylet.com. Just put your email there. I think it says join here or follow here at the top. Whatever. Go to edmmylet.com and be in there. And by the way, let God's grace carry you and trust that he'll bring you through.

But you got to step up and be resilient. Remember this, by the way, the best ability is availability. availability. availability. You got to be available. The great ones like Deion Sanders during that season, the best ability was he was available. So many people just aren't available. They miss too many hours. They miss too many meetings. They miss too much stuff. They allow too many things in their conditions to affect their behavior. The great ones do not do this. And that's why habits matter. Rituals matter. Routines matter.

Because when we're down, when we're under pressure, when we're hurting, we resort to habit mode because our brain kind of checks out. And if your habit's to get up and fight, if your habit's to get up and do it anyway, if your habit is to show up and give it your best regardless of how you feel, then that will be your default setting. But if your habit has always been, and it's been mine in the past, yeah, I got to rest a little bit. I got to evaluate this.

You know, I'm really hurting right now. They got to take a breather because that's what everybody does. But everybody's not successful. There's this whole thing in the world now. Everybody wants to be successful. Everybody wants to build a big company. Everybody wants a great body. Everybody wants a great relationship. Everybody wants a bunch of money. But nobody's willing to do the work on the hard days. They're willing to do the work on the good days. Man, I just listened to a great Instagram video. Man, I'm fired up.

Yes. Someone said yesterday, "Here we go." But what happens when three nos in a row, somebody quits on you, somebody hurt you? And you're feeling physically ill. Can you get up those days? Can you push through? Can you do what winners do? And when you do what winners do, you get what winners get. You get what Jordan gets. You get what Carrie Scruggs gets. You get what Tiger Woods gets. There's a great story. Kobe Bryant tears his Achilles tendon. But they need him to make the free throw to stay in the game to win.

They're like, "Kobe, you tore your Achilles. It's okay, bro. He We'll show you the clip. He walks out on the court and makes two free throws with a torn Achilles tendon. That's why he's Kobe. That's why he was Jordan. That's why he's Tiger. That's why she was Serena. That's why Carrie Scruggs is Carrie Scrugs. And I promise you, if you went through the lives of these people you admire, they played hurt. They found a way. They built that muscle. It's the separator. I tell my kids this all the time.

Max when he golfs, you know, and he said to me, "Dad, I don't have my swing." Hey, Max, it's the days you don't have your swing. Hang in. Shoot a decent score today. Go work on your swing on the range after. Come back tomorrow with your A game, but you got to score with your B game or your D game. This is the separator and let God's grace carry you through. We all go through pain in our lives. We all do. It's part of life. It's It's like if you're not in pain right now, you're probably going to be soon.

So, why not have a blueprint, a mindset, a habit, a way of being that says, "Oh, I see what's going on here, devil. Okay, I'm stepping up. I'm getting more faithful. I'm taking more action. I'm coming back stronger. I'm built for this." And by the way, I know some of you listening go, "I've just never been that way." That's okay. Neither were these people until they started to be that way. No one's born like that. What happens is they all hit a wall at one point and said, "I'm tired of running.

I'm tired of quitting. I'm tired of giving in when I'm hurt. I'm tired of backing up. I'm going to stop. At some point, Kobe Bryant said, "I'm going to stop backing up. I'm going to stop making excuses. I'm going to stop quitting. I'm going to stop flinching stop flinching stop flinching and I'm going to step into this." At some point, I did. And I'm not acquitting myself with those people. But I know what it's like to give into an injury. I know what it's like to lay down too long when I'm down.

I know many years ago, even at the prime of my health and fitness, I didn't work like I do now. And I'm probably in the worst physical condition I've been in in decades. Pro actually certainly ever. Yet, I think I've been delivering the best content of my life. Most athletes will tell you, by the way, any of you that played sports, my dad used to tell me this when I'd play sick, most athletes, most business people play better hurt, especially you got a little bit of a fever running.

everything kind of slows down a little bit. It causes you to focus a little bit deeper and a little bit more. You kind of have to move out all the noise and stay in the moment because that's all you have energy for. A lot of times you're better. better. better. And here's the truth. None of that's real pain. I was thinking about real pain this morning. I woke up, had a lot on my mind, and I was still fuzzy from waking up. And I thought, "Oh, I'll call dad." And it wasn't for about 10 minutes until I got up and started to move around.

I remembered I can't call my dad. My dad's been passed away now for 3 years. years. years. I don't know if any of you ever lost somebody, somebody, somebody, but every once in a while you forget. You have a great moment. You think you'll call them or you have a dream that's so real when they're in it. you. And I woke up this morning and for about 10 minutes I was planning on calling my dad this morning. And then I realized I can't. You don't know real pain until you crave a conversation with someone that's no longer with us.

That's some pain. And then I had to decide today. Don't feel real good. Wish I could call my dad and I can't. That hurts. hurts. hurts. I think I'll honor him with what I do today. I could have chose a different decision. Yeah, decision. Yeah, decision. Yeah, I worked real hard. I've got got a little bit of money. It'd be okay if I kicked the curb can down the curb a little bit. Did this tomorrow. I don't want to do that. In fact, what my producer will tell you is I texted him about two hours ago.

I said, "Let's do one more today, too." So, we're actually doing more today. He probably wondered why. He's learning right now. I decided to do more today because it's one of those days. I'm not going to meet my normal standard. I'm going to do one more. more. more. So, real pain is that stuff. And if you have that in your life where you can't call someone cuz they're not here anymore, honor them and make them proud of you with what you do on the days you're hurting.