Coffeez with Joe Shalaby - Love, Legacy & Jiu-Jitsu ft. Ryron & Victoria Gracie | Coffeez for Closers with Joe Shalaby

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

In this episode of Coffeez for Closers, Joe sits down with husband-and-wife duo Ryron and Victoria Gracie—leaders in the legendary Gracie Jiu-Jitsu family.We talk about what it’s really like to gr...ow up Gracie, how jiu-jitsu goes beyond fighting into lessons about emotional control, patience, and resilience—and why those lessons carry into marriage, parenting, and everyday life.Ryron opens up about the pressure (and freedom) of being a Gracie, while Victoria shares what it’s like to marry into a legacy—and how they balance tradition with growth in their own family. From the mats to marriage, from raising kids to running Gracie University, their story is as much about love and values as it is about martial arts.Top producers at E Mortgage Capital are earning more per deal—with faster closings, better tech, and no junk fees.👉 Learn more: https://join.emortgagecapital.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Now, you guys are the Gracie family. What's it been like growing up as a Gracie? Like, that's just, it's a shocking thing to be sitting amongst such greatness, but I just want to see what it feels like. Yeah, people often ask if there's a lot of pressure for being a Gracie. Gracie family, thank you so much for joining us today. I got a couple quick questions before we dive into it, and this is what I ask every single person who comes on the show.
Starting point is 00:00:25 What's your guys's morning routine? What's your morning routine, Victoria? Three egg whites and a piece of toast. a mix of a protein milk with coffee, and then I go straight to the gym. So I don't do coffee, but I do cold plunge. So I jump in, I don't know, it's probably 43 degrees. And I do that a few times a week for like 90 seconds, and then I go do whatever the kids need,
Starting point is 00:00:48 which is usually making them breakfast and kids stuff while she works out. Nice. And then you still train after a jiu-suitzoo after you work out? No. Depends on the day. It depends. I start the day though at 6.30 in the morning. It's always it has to start the gym.
Starting point is 00:01:04 So before I even handle the kids or see anybody, I wake up and I'm out of the house before anyone wakes up. And she's a full-time mom as well as doing other jobs, dancing and teaching jiu-jitsu. Mom is still. She really is a mom. I, on the other hand, do jih Tzu every day, morning and night, and I'm very fortunate to have her in my corner to allow me to do that. But so, yes, my morning routine does incorporate some jiu-jitsu as well. well as my afternoon routine and my evening routine. Nice. Now, you guys are the Gracie family.
Starting point is 00:01:35 What's it been like growing up as a Gracie? Like that's just, it's a shocking thing to be sitting amongst such greatness, but I just want to see what it feels like. Yeah, people often ask if there's a lot of pressure for being a Gracie. And I would say that when I was very young, there might have been a little bit of pressure because I grew up amongst giants that looked up to my my grandfather, my father, my uncles, and everybody. But then I soon realized that the expectations of the elders towards me were not very, they weren't as high as I thought they were. It was pretty simple to please my grandfather, my father, my uncles,
Starting point is 00:02:17 practice Shih Tzu, make healthy choices, be a respectful person. So it was very easy. So pretty soon in my teenage years, the pressures of being in my, my family pretty much went away. And it's been very, very nice and very comfortable for me. Obviously, I have to work very hard and train jiu-sitsu all the time, but I really feel safe in my family to do jiu-sitsu and exist the way that I choose to exist. I don't feel this pressure to fight mixed martial arts, to fight in the UFC, to fight MMA, which quite often people in the family might feel like, you know what, we have to go out there and fight to prove the family
Starting point is 00:02:53 name, that's not quite the case. I feel like I have to teach jiu-jitsu to people around the world who want to learn to defend themselves, but that's a much lighter pressure than having to step into the cage. And I respect everybody who does fight professionally, but I'm very fortunate to just go out there, not just, because it's not a very simple thing, but to share jiu-jitsu and give people the skills to defend themselves is a blessing that I have that. But to just give you some insight
Starting point is 00:03:20 to someone who married into that and watched and heard the stories of how they grew up. For him, it's very normal. But for us to look at them and, like, you guys were just obsessed. You were obsessed with Jiu-Jitsu. And it's like you were raised in a beautiful family that had something they were obsessed over, has physical and health benefits,
Starting point is 00:03:36 and makes you a lethal weapon. So really, you were raised in the most obsessively amazing family, really. And that's the beauty of it. Like, obsession can be such a good thing for them. Yeah, I love it. It's the best thing ever. But no doubt, they're all. are some challenges for some people in the family,
Starting point is 00:03:55 but I handled it all very well, and I'm grateful. Now, I was actually gonna ask you, what was it like marrying into the Gracie family? Well, that's a complex question because there- Give us the short answer. Well, there is, of course, the beauty of like, wow, these guys are disciplined, they have a way of being and a way of eating and a way of thinking.
Starting point is 00:04:17 And when you look at that, you have so much reverence for like, this is what you've built based on this. Now, the hard part is every person who goes into any relationship comes with their own thoughts and culture and way of being. And the hardest part has been how do we blend our two worlds to still yield something our value systems share, honor both his legacy, but also my want for maybe the renegade of like let's try this new thing or let's be bigger and better or improve the legacy to its maximum potential. And that's one of the values of getting married and any relationship when you're going to. someone comes into your life, you have a choice. You can completely close them out or you can be open to learning from them. And I always say that she is, she's an amazing student because she has a
Starting point is 00:05:02 natural ability of being a dancer, growing up dancing. But she's also probably one of my greatest teachers in her very open-mindedness and just challenging of things that I might be so, like, tunnel vision on. It has to be this way. She questions them, which hopefully her ability to question them comes from her feeling of safety within us. So when she questions things, I do my best. I have to take it very personal that she's questioning a family way of life. But instead, she's trying to help me grow and we can make slight adjustments for our family of four. Now, you say jiu-jitsu is not really fighting.
Starting point is 00:05:42 It's more like dancing. Describe that to me. Yeah, so when people say jiu-jitsu is fighting, And the analogy you gave is that it's more like dancing, the back and forth. Yeah. So there's two jujitsu. There's the practice of jiu-jitsu amongst her and I. We can grapple together and we can flow back and forth and help each other and give each other indicators.
Starting point is 00:06:05 And it's more of a, it's a little bit less focused on self-defense. It's just us moving together, even though those skills will help you in a street fight because you're more comfortable with your body, your weight distribution, your controls and so on and submissions and escapes. But big picture, Jiu-Jitsu is an art of self-defense. That's what it started as. It's for survival. The martial arts are here to help keep us safe.
Starting point is 00:06:34 Now, jujitsu being music, I don't think of it being music when I think of it for self-defense. For self-defense, I think of it as self-preservation. Someone approaches you in the street and they're verbally a, attacking you, how can you use verbal de-escalation? How can you talk to them and get yourself out of the situation? If they attack you, how to defend yourself, you don't have to hurt them, just keep yourself safe. So it's not music in that sense, but you're right. Amongst friends, there is a cool back and forth that can happen.
Starting point is 00:07:07 There's a flow that exists. And quite often, students of ours who are professionals in every realm, they say, man, there's nothing like Jiu-Jitsu, the ability to escape my thoughts. and you're really present moments because you get into that music, you get into that dance. Dance, it ends. It's the dance. Mark Zuckerberg refers to jujitsu as human chess.
Starting point is 00:07:31 What do you think about that? Yeah, I think a lot of people said that before Mark Zuckerberg, but yes, there is the psychological, the intellectual part, the jiu-jitsu is a battle. And I think that it's cool to say it's like chess because chess is so like, I don't know, what is chess? It's very... Forward-thinking, you know, you have to be.
Starting point is 00:07:50 one step ahead. Strategic, for sure. Very strategic. Yeah, but it's also, it's a very intellectual. It's a very... It's revered. It's revered. It's a revered game.
Starting point is 00:07:59 That if you're good at chess, oh, that must say something about you. And so they want to equate it to a physical, like... 100%. Because it is. And people often say, like, you're playing chess, and I'm over here playing checkers. That's an analogy that I've heard blue belts and lower belts say about black belts, which is kind of cool. The black belt, of course, loves hearing that.
Starting point is 00:08:19 But yeah, I think it's... It's fun. I don't think, I don't say it too often, but yeah, it's a nice little saying. Now, you guys have said before that the real power of jiu-jitsu is what it teaches about emotional control. We actually talked about that outside. When did that actually come up outside of the dojo? Emotional control. Do you have any thoughts on that? I'm going to let you start this one, and I might add it at the end. So the thing about emotions, naturally men grow up suppressing their emotions. You cannot be emotional.
Starting point is 00:08:52 And I grew up kind of being taught, don't get angry. If somebody, you know, physically, even if somebody kind of pushes you a little bit or verbally attacks you, we don't get angry. We might defend ourselves, but be very aware of, instead of like, wow, you don't have to start swearing back and getting out of control with your emotions. It's unnecessary. And the reason why getting emotionally responding to you, responding to you know, running emotionally in a fight is dangerous because you're kind of blinded by your emotions.
Starting point is 00:09:25 You want to respond from a place of clarity not like, how dare you say that? And you attack the person who, you know, is a potential threat. And now you're putting yourself in harm's way because you're blinded by your emotions. So that awareness was always talked about. But there is something to be said also about how your emotions can add, fuel to the encounter. Someone can cut me off in traffic and then they pull up next to me and I could be really angry and start saying something and then before you know it they pull their car off in front of me. Now I'd get out of my car and now we're yelling back and forth. The whole thing
Starting point is 00:10:05 escalates because I got emotional about it. So emotional control in the everyday world, think about how many street fights or assaults could be avoided if the person that was initially offended had a little more emotional control, had a little more confidence, and they just said, you know what, that person's having a hard day, and they walked away. Yeah, and how Jiu-Jitsu helps with that is that we continue to put people
Starting point is 00:10:29 in sort of these uncomfortable positions, which brings up a myriad of emotions. And then now you're faced with these emotions on the mat in a safe place with a training partner, you sort of trust, and then you can feel it coming up, and you sort of taper it down sooner. And so you kind of learn how to micro-control those emotions on the mat,
Starting point is 00:10:46 so that as you exist off the mat, you go, and then you settle it yourself. It's the practicing of emotional regulation in real time. And simultaneously, you're learning techniques that make you feel more confident, more prepared, more empowered. So you don't need to verbally assert yourself to make up for your lack of confidence that you have physical. Because people who are very confident who know how to fight,
Starting point is 00:11:12 they don't start arguing and yelling back and forth. Right? the most confident person in the room is often the most quiet person in the room. So when it comes to the martial arts, it does so much in just calming people down. If you're an anxious person, if you're a nervous person, even if you're a very negative person, Jiu-Jitsu brings out the positivity. Now, one thing I've, anyone's able to immediately assess is your guys' relationship. It's in a fantastic relationship.
Starting point is 00:11:41 You guys get along very well, madly in love. You know, would you attribute a lot of the success in your marriage to the lessons you've learned from jiu-jitsu? Would you? I would say that thanks to jiu-suitzu, I'm really durable. And because marriage is not easy. It's a very difficult thing. As much as it's difficult, it's also very rewarding. So I think my, I have a certain resilience that allows me to have very difficult times in the marriage,
Starting point is 00:12:13 but then see the bigger picture and stick through it and be patient and be understanding and be forgiving. So I'm, you're saying that we're an amazing, loving couple, but that doesn't mean that we're not also human. And there could be arguments, but I don't yell in my arguments. I don't get angry and emotional, but I can be frustrated and be bothered by things,
Starting point is 00:12:36 and so can she and we can argue. But then the bigger picture creeps back in, which is, hey, I want to make this. I love this person. She has my best interest at heart, and I have hers at heart. But sometimes it doesn't feel that way. So the understanding and the grace and the patience, those are things that I feel like for me are very helpful. Well, and you're a hugely participatory person in the relationship. I think often when we get into relationships, we go, oh, I need them to be this person and do these things instead of being of service. So if you're perpetually going, I'm going to
Starting point is 00:13:11 continue to serve this relationship, you'll continue to win from it. And it's hard because not every moment do we have like the full capacity to give. And I think there's a lot of also constructs in the world where it's like men should be this and women should be this and that's how it should be. Instead of coming together going, hey, how do you want to play this game? We're here on this earth one time. We're humans. We can like you said, play the chess however we want. Do you want to play the rook today? Cool. It didn't work. Pull the rope back. Let's do, you know, the other one. And because we're on the same team for everything, we're going to play every game together. It's just figuring out how we want to play it with deep respect for each other and how each other's feeling at any given time and going actually
Starting point is 00:13:48 You're going to handle this kid the kid fight today like I'm gonna I'm gonna trust you with that I feel like there's a confidence that the martial arts gives you At least I believe the greatest thing jiu jitsu has given me is like a deep confidence that I know Everything is gonna be okay no matter what like I really feel that way because if it's gonna to be okay. If somebody on top of me punching me, it's going to be okay. I'm going to get out. I'm going to be safe. Then everything else is going to be okay. I might lose my home one day. I might not have a car. I might lose a leg. I might get injured. It's going to still work out in the end. So I think jiu-jitsu helped really ingrain that in me that we're going to find an answer.
Starting point is 00:14:34 We're going to find a way out of this and we're going to be okay. And I've never once, we've been married for, I don't know how many years, 12, 10, 14, 15, you know better. A long time. Good amount of years. And even being married that long, no matter what, the chaos, I never felt anything but it's going to be okay. Would you say that that's the greatest lesson that Jiu Jitsu taught you? For me, I would say it's the most valuable skill, most valuable thing that I've learned and taken from Jiu-Sitsu, yes. Now, one thing you guys also have mentioned several times is your children. Now you, you know, I mentioned you guys, my kids train Jiu-Jitsu, they're three and four, and I asked you guys, when do you guys start? You said babies. We start our kids as babies.
Starting point is 00:15:23 Well, it's the concept that everything in Jiu-Jitsu is movement, its technique, it's leverage, it's understanding, you know, how to form positions. And when babies are babies and you're changing diapers, that's the thing, they can upa. And Upa, it's to bridge your hips up, while your feet and your back are still remaining on the floor. And we would say, Upa, and they would lift their hips, and we would slide the diaper under. And she's saying, we would say that because my dad did that to me. When I was a baby, and kind of Upak, I think comes from, like, a horse, like bucking.
Starting point is 00:15:53 So, as a little baby, as she just said, I'm laying down, and my dad would say, Upa, when I'm one years old, I would raise my hips and change the diaper. Yeah. So it's an amazing example of how soon you can start using jiu-jitsu language and verbiage around kids. but the reason why our kids start so young and why any kids that start very young have an advantage
Starting point is 00:16:14 and why it's so cool is because anything you want to learn in life if you start when you're seven years old or four years old you have an advantage over the rest of the world and if you start with play. With play. Children are significantly more likely to learn, enjoy and become adaptable with play.
Starting point is 00:16:35 If you're forcing them or if it becomes competitive or, like, again, this is what we do, it's the control dynamic, then they're a little more resistant to it. They don't understand why you're changing your behavior. But the Gracie family just plays jujitsu all day in every form. Our father did this, and now we have what we call our Gracie bully-proof program, which are these games that we teach parents to play with their children. And the idea that kid doesn't even realize they're learning jujitsu.
Starting point is 00:17:04 Yeah. So what she's saying is, when you put it, play, you'll play forever. The kid wants to play sometimes more than the parent wants to play. And that's part of the trick. We teach parents that. Listen, don't even make it a thing. How do you teach that? Like, how do you teach just play? Well, you, you disguise a jiu-jitsu technique in a game. So the kid thinks that they're playing a game called crocodile control where they have to hold down a crocodile for 10 seconds. But in reality, we're teaching our four-year-old how to hold another
Starting point is 00:17:36 kid down underneath them, how to have positional control and have, you know, I guess, good weight distribution. And that's a fighting skill. Like if you lay down and I lay on top of you, I can hold you down for four days. You'll never get out. Now, to give that to your child, they get into school and, you know, a fight in the school yard. They fall on top of somebody. They can hold that kid down. If they don't know how to hold someone down and now you're 13, 16, 19, you resort to striking. Now you've got 19-year-olds beating each other up because they're afraid that if they don't win the fight quickly, they're going to get beat up.
Starting point is 00:18:12 But I, on the other hand, I know I can just hold the person down for a minute, two minutes, three minutes, and they're going to get tired, and then I'm going to stand up to say, hey, have we done here, and walk away. That was the whole fight simply holding someone down. So why not give kids that tool when they're 3, 4 years old? So when they're 9, and you see the kid fighting on the grass in the schoolyard somewhere, you know, a little bowling situation,
Starting point is 00:18:33 you're not in shock as a parent. parents are like, oh my gosh, my kids being bullied, what do I do? No, it's okay. Your kid's been playing, been play fighting forever with the parents, with the siblings, with whoever. Not to mention there's a huge benefit to getting out their proprioceptive needs right before bedtime. Like, all right, mount on my back, try to get off. You're wiggling, you're bonding with them. They feel safe. Their body moves. They get charged and then they relax. She just said bonding, which is one of the things that so many parents, they come forward and they say, wow, I never imagined how special the Jiu-Jitsu would be because the physical contact that exists.
Starting point is 00:19:09 My 9-year-old son and I were grappling all the time. He's hugging me, even though they're play fighting. I love it. That's why I love it. Huge. The bonding of Jiu-Jitsu is priceless. There you go. And the normalization of physical, like for COVID, everyone's like six feet, six feet, six feet.
Starting point is 00:19:25 We're humans. We need like eight hugs a day, they say on average, right? Like we're physical beings with everybody. And we want to make sure we're like, kids, you can touch other kids and it not. be like weird, but also like hug. And if you don't feel great hugging, great, mount him, roll over. And okay, I did it because we're fighting. We're fighting. It's not weird. It's not weird. Contact is not weird. And it's, it's only a matter of time before your kids, your kids are doing Jiu-Jitsu, but every single kid at some point, whether they're three, five, 12, 19, 27, something will
Starting point is 00:19:58 happen where someone someday crosses the line. Someone someday grabs a wrist, pushes them, them down, says something. And whether or not they have the skills is the parents' responsibility. I had a friend and I said, hey, bring a kid to do Jiu-Jitsu. He's like, yeah, I tried for the last year. He didn't come. I said, it has nothing to do with your son. It has to do with you. You're the parent. We do Jiu-Jitsu once a week. This is a life skill. The last thing you want to do is turn 27 years old, 35 years old, and not have any skills to keep yourself safe because who knows what the world is going to throw your way. Well, and that's what's crazy.
Starting point is 00:20:34 The majority of parents come to us one, two, three months before their child is going off to college. And they're like, hey, my little child, Jennifer, she's going to college, and I want to protect her. I want her to know how to defend herself. And you're calling us three months before her college, like, vacate, like, what are we doing? She's needed years of first boundary setting and then understanding how to use her body as a defense mechanism, how to, like, really assess a room, understand the human, now he's overbowered me. How do we get out of this? and three months is a really short time to just equip them. We can do it.
Starting point is 00:21:05 We've done it. We do it. It takes a nightmare for parents to wake up. Too often the parent comes forward after either they're going to college. So they start thinking about the nightmare. Worst case scenarios, yep. Or maybe the kids, 10, 12 years old, they're getting bullied at school. No, I'm thinking about my daughters now.
Starting point is 00:21:23 That's something like it's more important. Don't wait. Don't wait. And again, if we resort to the, you learn better and play. kids, girls who are younger, play easier. As we grow up, we go, I don't want to play. I want to go to Sephora. I want to be cute.
Starting point is 00:21:36 I want to be beautiful. There's a huge shift in the social world of all sort of digital-like media of girls changing their interests. So capture them while they're still willing to play. And if you can play with them, now you've got dad and mom rolling with you, bonding with you in ways that really cement
Starting point is 00:21:52 what they're capable of, their personal confidence, and what they can do in the future. And at the same time, don't make it something so, serious where you have to do jih Tzu. If you don't go, you're in trouble. It has to like be a family thing and okay we do it today. We missed for two weeks. No problem. But it's just always in the back of your mind as a parent and that's because you might do it once a week or that's
Starting point is 00:22:15 because you know you have the discipline to watch videos and play with them on your carpet at your house once a week, whatever it is. Now I want to real quick before we adjourn, I want to talk about the Gracie University. It's the biggest Jiu-Jitsu Academy ever. Who was the visionary behind it? How did you guys roll that out? And like, what's the plan for it? So the Gracie, my grandfather and his brother Carlos Gracie and Eliu Gracie, their brothers, they had other brothers as well. They basically shocked the world. They shocked Brazil, exploded in Brazil. My father came to America, 1970, 1978. His name is Harjone. Harjone Gracie. And he created the UFC. in 1993. My uncle Hoyce fought in the UFC and there were other uncles and cousins of theirs
Starting point is 00:23:06 at the same generation. Hardiano was the founder. Hardion was one of the co-creators of the UFC. So him, his brother, his cousins, people of that generation, they were in other states as well. They were in New York, you know, Hawaii. They're all around America and in Brazil and they're fighting in different events. The UFC is obviously the biggest name, biggest promotion. The UFC happened. My father and his brothers had the Gracie Academy in Torrance, California. There are multiple Gracie academies. My brother, Hennar, and I started Gracie University, which it's in the same community as where
Starting point is 00:23:45 the Gracie Academy was. The Gracie Academy of Torrance of Los Angeles is no longer. But in a way it is because we were also kid-instruity. growing up in the Gracie Academy. But we changed to Gracie University because we have an online platform, Gracie University.com, where people can learn.
Starting point is 00:24:04 It's a linear program. Men, women, and children, and we have courses for everybody, law enforcement training, and now we're doing a lot of first responders. And we have Gracie Medical Defense for doctors, nurses, everybody you can imagine, firefighters.
Starting point is 00:24:18 Everyone's learning Jiu-Jitsu. Whoever you are, whatever demographic you are, we have a program and we have techniques that we suggest for you and your profession and your life. So Gracie University online birthed the idea of having Gracie University brick and mortar headquarters mat space.
Starting point is 00:24:36 And that's in Torrance, California. It's an amazing facility. You know, we have 1900 to 2,000 students right now from four, three-year-old kids to 75-year-old adults. It's amazing. And the best thing about Gracie University is, like, Like I said, it doesn't matter who you are, you can grow with jujitsu, where quite often jujitsu schools might be more focused on the younger, more athletic, stronger, faster people, which those people can train at our school or any school in the world.
Starting point is 00:25:14 And there is a beauty in the very sportive, competitive jiu jitsu. But Gracie University understands what Carlos Gracie, Elie Gracey, what so many of the Gracie's before I've always wanted, which is to empower the world. And I think today, more than ever, other schools around the world are also understanding how a small percentage want to be competitive and want to fight and win medals. The majority want to have community. They want to exercise. Build confidence. Yes, they want to use their body. If you don't use your body, you lose it. They want to learn skills that they can keep themselves safe and their family safe. They also want to learn how to approach situations and problems with the jiu-sitsu mindset.
Starting point is 00:25:57 Because when you start training jiu-sitsu, you start looking at everything differently. You're more calculated, you're more strategic, you're more patient in your response. Back to the whole thing about marriage, right? How you just exist in a calmer space. You have this calm confidence. So I think everybody who does jiu-tzu would say, would agree with me, that it has changed how they just sit within themselves. incredible couple last questions you guys are teaching grit you learn grit from the graces how are you
Starting point is 00:26:28 instilling that same mindset that gracey mindset into your children now it's unavoidable for our children to learn the mindset if we live it so my father used to always say leading by example isn't the best way it's the only way so it's how we respond to challenges moment to moment teach our children right I'm a little bit more controlling than I need to be with my kids. She always reminds me of this. But I'm trying to educate them, but by me not being controlling, teaches them to be flexible, teaches them to be okay. Back to that mindset, it's all going to be okay.
Starting point is 00:27:05 It's all going to work out. So living how we want them to live is probably the best teacher. I would say that my favorite line that I have taken to heart is how you speak to their children becomes their inner voice. And I talk to my kids, I go, yeah, you have the genetics of a champion because you're willing to work hard to do it, not because you're a champion of any kind, right? You literally have genetics of working hard. That's what your genetics want to do. So keep working hard. You got this. And the idea is, if I can keep telling her, you can do hard things, you can emotionally regulate, you speak kindly to people. You're a generally kind person.
Starting point is 00:27:42 I don't know why this one moment is being really hard for you, but generally speaking, you make good choices. So it's okay that sometimes we make mistakes. So I speak to the greater good of them, honor the humanity in this moment, and then bring them back to, but this is who you are. We're building identity and building confidence. Yeah, you speak to the person's potential. You speak to the child's potential.
Starting point is 00:28:03 Yeah. Now, what's a personal goal you guys have? A family goal and a business goal. Oh, my gosh. I would say, I don't have any goals. I had zero goals. I just want to continue to do every day the best that I can. I'm not even thinking like three years out, 10 years out.
Starting point is 00:28:29 I know that that's very, I just came from a real estate class over here, Realtyers of America. We did a seminar. And people, they want more. They want these numbers. They got to hit this, this many this leads. I don't want anything. I just want to keep doing.
Starting point is 00:28:43 the moment better? Great question. I think for me, personal goals is continued self-awareness. So often we're giving our awareness and judgment to so many things around as an attempting to control it. But if we constantly look inside and go,
Starting point is 00:29:05 who am I, what am I doing, what are the choices I'm making, and how are they affecting my family and my circles of worlds at large? Because I think I really pay attention to how I affect the people around me. And I watch a lot of people who don't even see how they impact anyone. I kind of compare it to people walk into like a vase store and they can knock over any vase. And I'm like, do you see how you're affecting others?
Starting point is 00:29:29 And I really care, maybe to a fault. But my goal is to just continue self-awareness. It's interesting. And as you try to do yourself better every day and self-awareness and all these things, it's going to naturally touch your family life, your business life. You're going to win everywhere when you're coming. constantly working on you focused on the moment. So are there some like, oh, fun, superficial goals, you know, that are out there?
Starting point is 00:29:54 Yeah, but I don't need to do any more. Like, I tell people, which is, I don't know how. Because he does a lot, in fairness. I don't know. He does a lot. I don't know if this is good to say, but I already feel like I lived. I've lived long enough. I'm 43 years old.
Starting point is 00:30:09 If I go tomorrow, I had a great life. I helped so many people. I travel the world. I've touched so many lives. You know what I mean? I have kids. I have a wife. I have homes.
Starting point is 00:30:19 Like, it all worked out. Everything now is just extra. And that's the thing is that it's very easy to get in the mindset of like, okay, what's next? What's next? What's next? No, I don't want anything. I just want to go have lunch. I will say one of the greatest things he's helped me.
Starting point is 00:30:37 And I was a big goal person. I wanted to work with all these artists. I've toured the world. I've been to over 75 countries at this point. We've been a lot of places, we've experienced a lot of the world together, and we just keep going, when does the chase end, and when do we just become satisfied with every little moment? And as a person in the dance industry looking for that next job,
Starting point is 00:30:58 the next movie, the next whatever, I think it's been really beautiful go, I'm right here. I'm in this job. It actually doesn't matter what the next job is. Can I do this one to the max? And can I celebrate it? We're so quick to chase the next. We don't even really revel in what we are experiencing now.
Starting point is 00:31:13 We get to be day to day on the jiu jitsu mat, helping, like I said, from a four-year-old child to a 75-year-old. So we're just changing lives every day connecting. And you can't put a price on that. The value. The people that have come to us in tears, in gratitude for what jih Tjitsu has done for them, like, I don't need anything else ever again. Last question.
Starting point is 00:31:41 When you're in front of the pearly gates, what do you think God's going to tell you? Kids, you're an amazing person. You should have probably had more kids. Because I thought I feel like, yeah. Yeah, it's a good question. How many kids should you have? I mean, as you can. I got four. I'm shooting for 10.
Starting point is 00:32:00 There you go. I hear this head number is big thing. But her saying that says a lot. Her just saying you should have had more kids. We need to leave here now. We're the same age. You've got plenty of time. Let's get out of here.
Starting point is 00:32:12 Okay, it's time to go. And it's a wrap. Thanks, guys. Hey, if anyone, if you want to find you, how do they connect with you? Gracie University.com is that platform. If they want to learn jiu-jitsu, but, um... We're heavy on Instagram. Heat on Gracie, Instagram, X...
Starting point is 00:32:30 I'm big Gracie, V-I-C-Grazy. Facebook, all the things. It's easy. You know these days, you can probably type it underneath there. But these days, it's easy to find anybody. And the funny part is that anybody out there listening and watching you right now, we're probably two or three degrees away separation, right? Because everybody knows someone who knows someone who knows a Gracie.
Starting point is 00:32:52 Like the family is so big that you're, you could probably call me on the phone. If you call two or three people, you can get my number. It's that easy. I mean, yeah, you have like 80 cousins. There you go. Too many. More. Way too many cousins.
Starting point is 00:33:10 Guys, you were a pleasure. Thank you so much for being on the show. God bless you guys. God bless your family. I hope you get all your goals. Thank you so much.

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