Digital Social Hour - The Hidden Cost of Success Most Founders Won't Admit | Divij Vaswani DSH #1020

Episode Date: December 26, 2024

The hidden cost of success isn't what you think - and most founders won't tell you the truth about it. 🎯 In this powerful conversation, Divij Vaswani opens up about his journey from ego-driven entrepreneur to finding purpose through faith. Get ready for raw honesty about the real struggles of success: anxiety, pride, and the challenge of maintaining authentic relationships while building an empire. Discover why treating everyone with respect matters more than material success, how to overcome ego-driven decision making, and what really brings fulfillment in business and life. Divij shares vulnerable stories about his past mistakes, personal transformation, and why true success means prioritizing relationships over revenue. This conversation goes deep into mental health, spirituality, and the often-unseen emotional toll of entrepreneurship. Learn practical wisdom about maintaining boundaries, finding purpose, and building a legacy that matters. Perfect for entrepreneurs, founders, and anyone seeking authentic success beyond the superficial. Join us for an unfiltered look at what it really takes to succeed while staying true to your values. No sugarcoating - just real talk about the journey from ego to purpose. 🙏 #selfimprovement #motivation #personaldevelopment #motivationalvideo #selfhelp #inspirationalinsights #mindsetshiftfromemployeetoentrepreneur #businessideas #personalgrowth #howtostartabusiness CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 02:10 - Josh's Early 20s 04:28 - People Watching 06:15 - Setting Boundaries 11:02 - Finding Happiness 12:43 - Importance of Gratitude 13:43 - Reflecting on Past Mistakes 15:50 - Overcoming Victim Mindset 20:40 - Understanding Ego 22:10 - Exploring Narcissism 28:10 - Discovering Your Purpose 29:55 - Importance of Forgiveness 32:08 - Trump and Kamala Discussion 34:33 - The Power of Words 38:34 - How to Connect with Divij 38:44 - Outro APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] GUEST: Divij Vaswani https://www.instagram.com/divijvaswani/ https://www.youtube.com/@divij_vaswani LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I love people watching too. Yeah, it's fun. You learn a lot from it. You might be observing people. Like what are some of your big takeaways? Micro expressions, so like facial expressions. I could tell like if they're confident, if they're like maybe depressed even,

just based off facial expressions and body language, this stuff's really important for me. What happens when your father, your mother, your sister, your cousin is the person that's talking to the waiter in a poor manner? You know, do you reprimand them? Like do you say like, yo, you shouldn't be talking to this person this way. You can't bring the, what is it?

You can't feed the horse, but you can bring the horse to the water? Yeah, yeah. I figured that out. Yeah. All right guys, from LA, DeVish Vazwani here today. Thanks for coming on, man.

Absolutely, I'm super excited to be here. We've been chatting for a while now. Yeah, I've known about who you were because we have mutual friends, but never had a chance to actually meet you. So I'm excited to be here. We've been trying for a while now. Yeah, I've known about who you were, because we have mutual friends, but never had a chance to actually meet you, so I'm excited to sit down. Yeah, first time meeting. That's the power of podcasts, man. For sure.

People you talk to for years online, you finally get to sit down, chop it up. Yeah. You know? 100%. Yeah, I've heard about you for a while now, and you've really integrated yourself well in this space. Thank you.

You've got a great reputation. Thank you. Is that something you were? People are saying good things. Yeah. I've never heard a bad thing. Thanks for having me. Which is props to you, man. Thank you. You got a great reputation. Thank you. Is that something you were people are saying good things Yeah, I've never heard about we happy which is uh props to you man. Thank you, bro. There's an LA. There's a lot of shit talk Yeah, man reputation is everything I think you know, especially when you start doing business seriously you realize like this is a long-term game This is not we're not here for a week for a month We're here for a year and for now for you for longer than a year for decades for decades

And so I think for me like I'm playing the long game I I'm all about people I think as I've gotten deeper in my faith I've realized to like this is all we got you know I'm saying like you can't take the money with you it's just a tool and so for me it's it's glory to God and I'm just excited to sit down have cool conversations yeah it sounds like you value relationships more than money. Absolutely. Absolutely. Money comes, man.

It's like, I think when you treat people fairly and you bring value, like significant value, which is making other people money, connecting people, whatever it may be, I mean, the money will flow. And it's like, you can't take it with you. You know what I'm saying? Like, obviously, it would be great to have millions and millions and millions to pass along

to the next generation, but you can't take it with you, man. I care about my people, and that's it. Did you have this belief when you weren't as financially set too? No. My story is pretty interesting. I mean, I think we all have a similar journey in the sense of a lot of us struggle with ego and pride,

especially in your early 20s. I started making a lot of money. And I was like, dude, I'm getting the nicest cars, like the nicest watches. And I was just focused on the wrong things. But I think it definitely, I had to go through some stuff. I had to go through some pain and some suffering

before I could learn how to truly live and exist. And I think after that pain and suffering, when I found God, that's truly when it changed for me like it and went from the ego mind to being led by the Holy Spirit and humility and That's all matters. Wow, that's powerful. I definitely want to hear that story Yeah, I've been studying materialism and like the mindset behind it seems like it kind of puts you out of touch with spirit with spirituality Yeah, when you're down that road, I haven't seen someone super materialistic but also super spiritual for sure. It's a rare thing Yeah, I think you can I think it's okay to like nice things

like if you know you want to provide for your family you want to give them the best experiences you want to take you know your mom around the world and you know make sure everyone's comfortable and I think money is the tool that makes those things happen, but It's not it shouldn't be your God. It shouldn't be what you wake up and you praise, you know Yeah, so that I think that's the difference't be what you wake up and you praise, you know? Yeah. So that, I think that's the difference is when you praise the Lord and you walk on his path for you, the money will flow, man.

It's just like, just comes, you know? So my early 20s, similar to you, all about money. That was my number one goal. I put it over family, friends and my own health even. I wasn't going to the gym, wasn't working out, wasn't doing anything. And my mental health was complete shit also from that So you can't be laser focused on just money for sure it's a lot of sacrifice

Well, yeah for sure health is the first the first thing I mean I was on the plane over here this morning, and I'm looking at the guy next to me He's probably in his 70s or 80s, and I'm thinking I'm like this guy's had a whole life. He's sitting here He's watching the news. He had the news on his computer or on the airplane screen But he fell asleep within two minutes and I'm looking at him. I'm kind of observing I'm like what's important like the money on the screen right now like Fox News talking about what's happening on Wall Street or this guy's bodily organs like you know what I mean, and so again back to the money money is great, but if

You're on your deathbed, bro, it's like it doesn't help Yeah, I love people watching too. Yeah, it's fun. You learn a lot from it. I'm at the airport or in public Yeah, I'd be observing people what what's like, what are some of your like most common? I guess observances like I'm switching the podcast back to you. No, you're good. Like what do you notice about people? Like what are some of your big takeaways? What do you notice about people? Like what are some of your big takeaways? Micro expressions so like facial expressions I could tell like if they're confident if they're like maybe depressed even just based off facial expressions in body language I look at how they treat people so if they're with someone I see how they're talking to them that kind of shows me like their

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Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit superstore.ca to get started. Deserving before I even film with my guests normally, I look at how they treat my staff, because sometimes I have my assistant here or something. I see if they talk to them the same way as me, and for me that's a huge thing like treat everyone the same. Yeah when I'm at restaurants, I see how they treat the server This stuff's really important for me for sure 100% man. It's so important like people, you know, it's interesting. I was thinking about this What is what happens when it's your family member? That's the piece of shit

You know, I mean like what happens when your father your mother your sister your sister, your cousin is the person that's talking to the waiter in a poor manner? How do you deal with that, right? And that's something I've been kind of trying to figure out is like, do you reprimand them? Like, do you say like, yo, you shouldn't be talking to this person this way. And I've been praying about it because I have someone very close in my family

that operates that way and it is terrible because I'm very kind to people. Like any person I see, I try to be as kind as I say thank you and make sure they feel seen. So I've been praying about it. And I think what I've learned is you just have to be the example and you just have to lead with kindness.

And hopefully the people around you will realize it and do it themselves. But you can't bring the, what is it? You can't feed the horse, but you can bring the horse to the water? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I figured that. No, facts though. And that's, I think boundaries are important

in that situation. So with my family, I have strict boundaries with business stuff, because they're not entrepreneurs. So I love my family, but they try to give me advice in entrepreneurship. It's not conducive. Like it's not gonna work most of the time

because they haven't been down that path. I'd rather get advice from someone that's an entrepreneur so I think boundaries are important and if they're treating people like shit at a restaurant it's really hard to change people man so I'm probably just not even gonna go out with you to eat anymore yeah you know yeah I feel that man that boundaries is something I've been struggling with for sure I mean that's like probably the hardest thing in my life right now is you know you got two parents right and they're that know, you got two parents, right?

And that's all you got, your mom and your dad. And they brought you into this world with the grace of God. And I think for me, I struggle with, I really want to give them the best life because they've worked so hard for me to be where I'm at. But you also got to remember, you've got your own priorities. You got to go to the gym. You got to eat healthy. You got to work. And you got to balance all these things. And got your own priorities. You've got to go to the gym. You've got to eat healthy.

You've got to work. And you've got to balance all these things. And so it's just something I've been kind of trying to figure out is how much time is enough with the people that I love. And I think what I'm realizing is every day, I kind of just in the evening, I'll observe and kind of look back at the day. And I'm like, I'll kind of like do a self-reflection. And I think that's been super helpful,

like micro self reflection to understand if my time is being spent the most wisely. Yeah, that's so relatable, man. I was such a giver growing up. I used to put everyone before me and it ate at me, man. I realized how to put myself first in certain situations. For sure. So that was a big learning lesson,

but I always wanted to people please. I don't know if it was some childhood trauma or something, but that was how I thought growing up with friends, with family, I wanted to put them before me. But that's not sustainable in the long run. It's not. God gave us one holy temple and we got to take care of it. And if we don't take care of it,

no one's gonna do it for us. Yeah. It was tough though, cause I lived that way for years. So that was a habit. I had to break. It comes with growth. Are you 25 25 26 yeah we're about the same age I mean I think I didn't get it till just now yeah I mean

like it took me a while to really understand and realize like how to even exist and I think I'm just finally getting it mmm yeah life's a constant game of learning right you're never completed in my opinion you're always figuring stuff out the guy who started KFC I think was like 75 when he started it I saw that so, you know, you never you never know when it's your time. You really don't man I've lost some people almost every year now that are young lost like dead. Yeah, I'm so sorry Yeah, but I feel like that's more more common these days with the health epidemic and everything, you know We're hearing of people passing away every year at this point. Yeah

It's it's so unfortunate man. And I think it truly can I'm so sorry for your loss Thank you, but I think it comes down to like how you view death right like I've been so my mom had a Double lung transplant she had idiopathic. Yeah pretty insane. She had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which is terminal scarring of the lungs Your lungs just start deteriorating and she got a transplant, glory to God, she's still alive. But that pain and suffering taught me like truly, again, what's important, which is the people around you and your friends and your family. And I think we just have to do everything we can do

on a daily basis to control what we can control, which is lifestyle, what we consume, how much we sleep, what we eat, how much time we spend in the gym, and just these simple things, hydration levels. And you know, I'm no biohacking expert, but I'm trying my best. Like I'm listening to Huberman, I'm listening to Ben Greenfield, and I'm trying to just like take in all this knowledge because especially as a man bro, like I read a quote, it said men are not designed to be happy, women are meant to be designed to be happy. It's our job to make sure that they are happy.

And so I think what that kind of taught me was, you know, I agree with it and I don't agree with it. I think we do need breaking news coming in from Bet365 where every nail biting overtime win breakaway pick six three point shot underdog with buzzer beater shoot walk off, and absolutely every play in between is amazing. From football to basketball and hockey to baseball, whatever the moment, it's never ordinary at Bet 365. Must be 19 or older, Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

If you or someone you know has concerns about gambling, visit connectsontario.ca. To be happy, and I think that comes with with discipline it comes when we're chasing things i think is men like we're our best selves when we're aligned on our purpose you know yeah and so that's just try to what i try to focus on is making money bringing glory to god focusing on my family and working out i love it that's it work out baby that's all that is baby we the gym yeah sean strickland actually tweeted this I'm not sure if you saw this about the men's mental health how men are not designed to be happy He's getting a lot of pushback on it

Really? This was like a few days ago. That's might have might have been where I saw it. It might have been yeah I thought it was interesting. I think I think we're all designed to enjoy happiness though. Yeah I don't think we're set to not be happy. I agree with you. I just think it's, I agree with you. I think we all should be happy. We should all aim to be happy. But I don't know.

There's something about that quote kind of stuck. I was like, we're the providers. We got to be disciplined. We got to be focused. We got to be structured. And that's our job, is to provide for others, but not at the expense of happiness. I agree with you.

We should still be happy. Absolutely. Where are you on your journey with happiness? It's a daily struggle man. I think What I've been dealing with recently is I'm a morning person so if I'm up at 4 a.m. 5 a.m I'm feeling really good about the day like I feel like my dopamine levels are high I'm you know, just feeling good, But the days where I wake up, maybe later, I'm kind of like my happiness levels go down. And so it kind of comes down to a day to day basis. I think, you know, if my day starts off with being grateful, I'm able to journal and meditate and read the word.

Right now I'm in Genesis, just kind of revisiting how the world started. And, you know, today was a beautiful morning. I woke up at five, hopped on a a plane spent the first few hours with God but the days where I don't spend time with God in the morning I realize I'm just not as happy those days. Wow. And so that's been the hack for me is as long as I have time to to learn about the the Word and about God and read scripture I'm good. That's crazy so it's a daily battle with you. It's a daily battle man I mean it's a daily battle, man I mean, I think I don't do therapy, you know, I think the other thing I'll say is the days that I box like when I'm punching Stuff. Yeah, I'm feeling great. Lots of stress reliever probably so your sounds like you're stressed out just you know how it is

I mean you're building a company and Stress comes and goes that you just have to manage it. Yeah, I feel the same though I'm in a couple basketball leagues the days I play I play, I'm super pumped. Like, I feel great after, especially after a sauna session. Yeah. So yeah, I don't think happiness is like a permanent state of mind. I agree with you. It's not.

It might be for some people. I think some people might just be wired in certain ways, and some of us are wired differently. But by no means am I depressed. Like, I'm actually, I'm very happy. I'm very grateful, right? Like, that's, it's all mindset. Yeah.

But there's days. I have my days. Gratitude is important for sure. I have a gratitude journal. Do you write down every day? Yeah, five to 10 things every day for the past four years now. And it's incredible.

The days I don't write it down, I actually notice that I'm off. Yeah. It's that noticeable at this point. Can I ask you, you don't have to tell me, but are you writing down a lot of the same things every day? They come up, like obviously my fiance, my dogs, my loved ones come up probably once a week, but I try to mix it up. I try to be grateful

for as many things as possible. Yeah. Yeah. What about you? It's mostly my mom, my dad, my sister, you know, my girlfriend and the people and God. Obviously this is like my top five, but some days I'll find myself adding in something just random. I'm grateful for my coffee or I'm grateful for like, you know, the curtains, like whatever it's a little things right? Yeah, cuz we live such a fast-paced lifestyle We rarely well now it sounds like you're reflecting more but for me, I wasn't reflecting for a while Yeah, and I got normalized to like life's life almost Even though I had this huge house, you know great friends great people I never sat down and thought about it. Isn't that crazy?

Crazy, have to reflect. Have to. It's so impactful, bro, too. Like, I'll be honest with you, I had a moment this morning where I was a bad dater. Like I was a bad boyfriend in my last relationship. I dated this girl for six years. I cheated on her.

I was a piece of shit. Whoa. Right? Because I was young. I mean, I didn't know who God was. I wasn't on the right path. I was being led by my ego. But this morning. I got this new book yesterday by Chad Veatch is my pastor at zoe It's called this book is not about you And it's about how you can go from your pride mindset to your humility mindset and as soon as I open the book

I start balling bro on the plane I'm just like crying sitting there crying and I'm just like crying, sitting there crying. And I'm just writing down, I pulled out my journal and I started just going crazy on like what was coming out of my brain. And it was a realization, I was reflecting and it was a realization of the hurt that I caused my ex because of my pride.

And now I have a new girlfriend. And through that experience, I've learned how to treat other people and And I would never make the same mistakes again, but I think it's important to reflect because you You get to forgive yourself. You know you get to kind of understand where you went wrong And then you just don't make the same mistake again like yeah, we're all human. We all fuck up I really appreciate that honest a lot of people talk negatively about their ex and they put the blame on them usually No doing the opposite.

You gotta take ownership. Everything that's happened in my life is my fault. Everything that's gone wrong is my fault. Everything. Besides maybe my mom's disease, obviously that wasn't my fault. But the worldly things that I'm doing or that I'm interacting with, it's all on me.

And once you have the ownership and you take charge of that, your life is just like, bro, the weight off the shoulders. You know what I mean? Facts. Just feel relieved, bro. And like the Bible says, cast your anxiety to God. And that's what I do.

I had a victim mindset for a majority of my life. And it was toxic, man. I never took ownership for messing up. But yeah, now I'm probably similar to you. I'll take ownership. And it feels great. I can own up to it and then fix it and address it 100% man It's the victim mindset is just its weakness and we all go through that phase I think but the earlier you realize this the better your life becomes. Yeah, it's easy to get in that phase

I wonder why that's happening to so many people actually. I Don't know I wish I had the answer I think every the world is a hard place bro like there's so much pressure now with social media like you know you wake up you look at your phone people are killing it you see Jake Paul doing all these crazy things you're like like I'm 28 what am I doing and I think that leads to just a cycle of you know you putting yourself down and negative self-talk and I think people it's just a hard time bro but I think if you align yourself with the right community you know you find a good

church you reflect and stay in the gym you exercise you eat good like those are all things that I think help combat those negative you know mindsets yeah so I think part of the reason for my success is when I see competition doing well I love it you know I don't get pissed you know I don't get upset I treat that as motivation and I think that little shift right there is how I was able to grow the podcast pretty fast yeah cuz you're it's you versus you it's not you versus them right like bring your enemies closer mm-hmm always I think that's there's there's a saying it's work hard until your your mentor becomes your

enemy or something it does that work hard until your mentor becomes your enemy or something. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah, mentor becomes enemy. Yeah, like work hard till they know who you are and that you're on the same playing field. But I think anybody in this industry that you're in, you should always keep them close and just be kind, bro. It's not all about you.

Yeah, and I'm really collaborative. That's one thing I noticed about certain other people They hold their connections really dear to heart, which is fine But I think I'm able to grow quick because I'm so giving so I know I believe in karma So I believe that energy will come back to me. So I'll give off my connections I'll get them on other shows that are competition to mine. Yeah to me. It doesn't matter for sure I mean it always comes back to you too, right? Like you'd share a guest with me for our podcast with George Janko with my show We then send you ten back, you know, it's like it's all it's all relationships, bro

And you just got to be good to the person across the table. Yeah, I'm big on that man reputation relationships these days You can't get away with with scamming and anything anymore. No, like your reputation screwed from there on word spreads I have a story about that real quick. I was in Germany on a Lufthansa flight, and the airline wasn't taken off. We were sitting on the plane for hours. And I meet the guy next to me, who I won't say his name, but we start talking, chit chatting. Turns out he went to the same school as me,

and he knew someone that I knew. And I brought something up that I knew about that person from college and I asked him about it and he said, something about being on a sports team. And he was like, that guy wasn't on this sports team. Like he wasn't even around us at the time. So what I learned was my friend back home was lying to me about what he was doing to impress me, which is fine.

You know, I forgive him, but he was lying and just making these stories up to make himself feel better when I found out in Germany from a stranger that that wasn't true. And so my point with this is the world really is small, right? Like, so the moment you talk ill about somebody, I promise you that person's gonna go tell that person or that person's probably, you know,

the person that's talking ill about the person is probably also talking ill about you. Like, it's just such bullshit, bro. Like, you know, the person that's talking about the person is probably also talking ill about you. Like it's just such bullshit, right? Like you got to be positive. Even if I think something negative about a person, if I do think something and I'm making a judgment, it's more a reflection on on me and how I feel about myself. So if you ever have anything negative, with maybe the exception of a terrorist or like someone that's killing or harming people, obviously obviously might be like okay that

Guy's a bad person, but yeah, man. Just like you know be kind for the most part It's not productive and talking ill something I learned in public school You know that was always the gossip of town like oh who hooked up with who like that guys ugly stuff like that And I had to get out of that mindset for sure yeah now when I catch myself talking ill I actually feel bad after I literally feel it in my body like, wow, why did I just do that? Yeah. So I try my best not to do that anymore. That's good. It's good that you're recognizing, you know, kind of what you're doing wrong and that's all it is, right? We all make mistakes, you just have to catch it. Yeah. I also

feel like the truth always comes out, like you said earlier with that example. The truth always just finds its way out always like you can't hide Can't hide. Yeah, that's why I can sleep at night cuz I'm not lying or anything, you know, mm-hmm Consciousness yeah, dude When you look in the mirror and you're brushing your teeth like and you have done something wrong and you're brushing your teeth And you're like you're fine about it. There's a problem like not you but like people in general like You know Consciousness well, I think the conscious will always come and bite you in the butt.

And so honesty is always the best, you know, move. I think if you did something wrong, just admit it, you know, say sorry, apologize, and just, you'll be surprised at the compassion that the other person might have. Yeah, yeah, apology is something I used to never do because of my ego. And you said you dealt with some ego stuff earlier, right?

Yeah. How did you get, I guess, find out, first of all, that you had it? And how did you overcome it? It was obvious. You know, I went on a reality show. And when I came back, I was buying all these cars. And I was doing all this crazy stuff and treating the people around me kind of just in a poor fashion.

And I started realizing that it was getting really bad when I started losing people around me that I truly cared about. And so I had to really check myself and I started just diving into my faith. And I was like, I'm on the wrong path. God like steer me to where I need to be. And that's all it was. It was a pretty quick flip for my the pride mindset to the the Holy Spirit mindset But again, I'm not perfect dude. I still have a ton of pride right which I struggle with every day, and I'm not a saint and

Just got to try and be our best You know it's all it is well a lot of entrepreneurs have high narcissism scores really yeah So there's a test called the dark triad test and it measures your narcissism Machiavellianism and psychopath scores zero to a hundred and Part of being an entrepreneur is pretty high narcissism scores from what I've seen with I've had hundreds of my friends take this test It makes sense it makes sense because you kind of got to be out there You have to be confident you have to believe in yourself right like you're going out on your own And you know this probably better than anyone it's a pretty lonely journey at least at first

Oh at first for sure and then you got to find your tribe Exactly, and until you find your tribe, it's super lonely and only psychopaths would stay on that journey you know, I mean like you're isolating yourself and I was talking to George yesterday. He actually said that he was like he was like I'm surprised You're not like mildly socially autistic. He didn't use those words, but he said it in a much better way. But the reason he said that was because, you know, I'm pretty aggressive in business. Like it's what I love.

It's my baby. I've been doing this for 15 years. You know, when I was 13 is kind of when I started selling stuff and I realized I caught the bug and I'm sure you have a similar story. But yeah, dude, I struggle with social anxiety and being weird because I was just like all I care about is achieving this goal that I have and with that definitely comes narcissism because you know when you if you're that dedicated to something and you achieve

it of course your ego is gonna be like oh my god I'm the best like I'm God you know yeah but I'm not I'm not God. I'm god. But I'm not. I'm not god. Yeah, the first step is just being aware, I think. And most people are not even at that step. So you got to take these tests, talk to some people, get some honest feedback. Yeah. Get like a board of, almost like your own board of advisors.

You know, like your top three to five people around you that you trust that aren't your yes men. Like people that will tell you, like, yo, you're doing this incorrectly. You're being a piece of shit, like whatever that will tell you, like, yo, you're doing this incorrectly, you're being a piece of shit, like whatever it is. And just have those board advisors and check in with them every couple of weeks, you know, and do the same thing for them.

You keep each other accountable. Facts. Yeah, I had bad anxiety too, man. We got some similar journeys. Yeah. Crazy. For sure, I'm excited to do it, to talk off camera and to learn more about your stuff. Mine was bad, man.

I was having panic attacks, collapsing on the floor. You were collapsing too? Physically collapsing. I thought I was having a heart attack. It was just a panic attack. But they're so powerful that it feels like a heart attack. Yeah, because your heart rate is going boom, boom, boom. Skyrocketing, man.

Yeah. Collapsed on my college dorm room floor. I was so ashamed to even tell anyone what was happening to me. Wow. Yeah, I didn't know what it was. How did you get out of that? That was a multitude of things. It wasn't like one set thing good people around me getting a dog helped me a lot. Mm-hmm

connecting with nature I Even started praying and I'm not I wasn't religious at the time. Yeah and Finding purpose which was that took years, but yeah, I tried therapy Finding purpose which was that took years, but yeah, I tried therapy Didn't really work. I know that works for some people didn't work for me. Maybe it was the guy I'm not sure Yeah, I was trying everything man For sure, dude it's cool that you talk about this because I Not to this day have panic attacks, but literally like probably six months ago when I was going through the situation with my mom

Like I mean dude I was a couple times where I called the ambulance because I thought I was having a heart attack. My toes were tingling. I was like mom. I'm dying like well you know I mean and they came and they're like dude. You're fine. You're twenty seven. You're super healthy like what are you doing and I realize I had a holy gabana on my podcast recently who was formerly known as boot gang and he had a crazy spiritual journey where he found Jesus in jail and it's super inspiring But he the way that he phrased anxiety

Was it's almost like a spiritual rewiring and so when you're having panic attacks It's because God is trying to literally change the dynamics of what's happening inside of you And he's trying to take you from X to Z right and so that's that frame of mind kind of was like, whoa, that could be true. The disciples were trembling, the Bible says. And so I think it's kind of the similar thing where if you do have panic attacks and anxiety and all these things, you just got to realize, perhaps it's God trying to set you up for something better.

And I think in those moments, bro, it's just breathing, just hydrate, sit down, it's not a heart attack That's fascinating. I always thought of it as a physical problem. But yeah, I never considered the you know, the spiritual aspect of a panic attack Yeah, that's so fascinating. Yeah. I mean you think about panic right like we all are inside our bodies in a way And so I think in my mind a panic attack is when what's happening inside is freaking out because of some reaction to the external or whatever so it's not I don't think a panic attack is a physical ailment or you know experience I think it's a spiritual experience and so I think if you know you have just like we

train our biceps bro we got to train our spirit like read the Bible or whatever word you want to read, journal, meditate. Like you have to, it's repetitions for that too. It's not just hitting the biceps every day. Absolutely. Yeah, I feel for all these people with mental health problems right now. It's skyrocketing, man.

It's actually insane. It's crazy. These numbers are almost unbelievable. Yeah, it's sad, man. It's in my mind, I'm no expert, but I think it's probably the biggest epidemic that we have and even just like walking around town bro. You see just sadness on people's face and it's like you know you wish you could help them and in certain ways and what I've realized is you kind

of can you know you smile you give you know tithing giving money to to strangers like even just a smile bro being kind saying Thank you like these things help people and I think people don't realize like when you're in an elevator for example And everyone's super awkward and quiet right like because no one wants to say the first thing dude Say the first thing like be the person to start the conversation like compliment them on their shoes say something stupid say something weird You know and you'll just you'll see the person light up, bro, and when you make other people happy that's when I think you're the happiest yeah it feels great right yeah yeah being giving just helping out you know it's a fulfilling feeling for sure for sure but yeah I can walk I'm more sensitive as a

result of this podcast people and when I walk the streets man yeah I could feel the energy of people and it's it's dark yeah it's dark I look at them it just people are unhealthy like physically yeah we spiritually in all aspects and you could feel it for sure I don't know what the fix is but I don't know man I think it's everyone's got to work on themselves and I think the answer is God because that's been the answer for me but you got to work on it bro like it's like you know my glutes right now are weak because I haven't been squatting yeah it's clear. I have to squat. If so, if my spirit is weak, I got to spend time lifting my spirit up. Right. So would you

say you found your purpose in life? Yeah, for sure bro. It's and it's such a relief too, because I think I just found it like the last like six months to a year and I think definitely, you know, I built a media business called division media and I was just chasing money all the time and trying to be, you know, have as much resources as I could. And then I started managing George Janko in twenty, twenty two and we started the George Shanko show. And through that, I mean being around George and even other people in my life, you know, outside of work, I've just seen their natural

curiosity towards the gospel and, you know, shining the glory to God and doing that. And so, you know, you are the average of the five people that you hang out with. And so I started hanging around these people and now I find myself deep in the word and I'm trying to just be the best version of myself every day and just learn about why we're here. And I think my purpose right now is pretty simple. It's spreading the gospel through social media, right? And the way that we're doing that is through podcasts and through shows. Right.

And I'm just trying to see how big we can take it. You know, I want to be selling out stadiums where we're praying about Jesus. And wow. And doing that kind of thing. I think it'll happen. It will. Tucker Carlson just did it. Yeah.

Who's that guy that got canceled? Russell Brand. They were praying, I think 10,000 people. It was beautiful to see. Yeah. Russell Brand is sick, dude. I just watched that. I get him to the Greek the other day.

But me and George actually went to Wisconsin, and we filmed with him for the George Janko show. Nice. We got to hang out with him. the George Janko show. Nice. We got to hang out with him. He's such a like, just crazy uplifting guy. So I love that because he was canceled and he's got such an important message. So it's cool to see that podcasting and independent media is on the rise and he could get back

out there. Yeah, for sure. I was talking to a couple of pastors, Cliff and Stewart, connect. We shout out Cliff and Stewart amazing guys What Stewart said on my podcast? He said even Jeffrey Dahmer can be saved. Whoa. Yeah to me. I was like He's killed a lot of people like it's pretty dark ways but he's like no like the Bible says like anybody can be forgiven as long as they you know live a Christ life like Christ like life and

You know, I think Russell Brand whatever he did or didn't do, I just think it's great that he's on this path. And I'm sure, you know, God's forgiven him already. Forgiveness is super important to me. I've forgiven everyone that's wrong to me. Even people that have scanned me out, hundreds of thousands, I forgive them because just living with that resentment is so harmful. Yeah. And it's tough when people really do you wrong, but it's worse when you live with that man It is right. I saw happen with my dad

He never forgave his parents for the way they raised him and he ran away at 18 never forgave them his whole life He died him. Mm-hmm. So I didn't want to live like that It's not the way to live Yeah, bro you just when you when you wake up in the morning and you just don't have any weight on your shoulders like there's so much power in that and when you just carry baggage and Baggage and baggage and keep letting it build bro, like people will implode like we're not designed to have that much baggage We're designed to be in nature and be happy. Yeah, I see people, you know with anger and that's just not healthy man

That stuff causes I believe it can cause physical disease in the body uncalled uncontrolled emotions Absolutely, I would argue that that's and again I'm no doctor like so I even just saying this is like you probably shouldn't even listen to me But like I think probably a lot of cancers are caused for mental health issues and stress You know definitely stress stress from mental health issues and stress. You know, definitely stress. Stress almost cause health issues for me.

Just stress alone. Yeah. It's a silent killer, they say for sure. One hundred percent. There's a book, great book called Stop Worrying and Start Living, I think by Dale Carnegie, and it talks all about that, like when you just let worry out of your life, how it can change your life for the better in just such a tremendous way. And yeah, I think worry and stress

are definitely the killers, like, you know. Absolutely. I was on your Instagram, so you and George got to meet Trump, right? George got to meet Trump. Got it. I have not met him yet, I would love to. Was he on Georgia's show?

No, but if you know anybody, or Trump, if you wanna come on, dude, you should definitely come on. I mean, George's, I'm gonna say this, his entire audience is in the swing states. He's from Arizona He's from an immigrant family and a Syrian family four to five hundred million views a month Make sense. I'll make an intro for you. I might be able to make that happen. I've been talking to their team I think it's a matter of him being busy. Yeah, you know doing rallies everywhere right now

I'm actually trying to get Kamala on my show right now. Dude, crazy. Yeah, I want to be the first show to have on both, because they seem to be, if one goes on one show, the other one won't go on type stuff. Yeah, I think that'd be crazy, dude. I think it'd just be interesting to understand both perspectives.

For sure. And I saw Kamala did Kamala? Kamala, I was getting canceled for this. Yeah, I kept saying Kamala. It's Kamala. Is it Kamala? OK, yeah. Like I saw Kamala did Kamala Kamala. I was getting canceled for this. Yeah, I kept saying Kamala Is it camel? Okay. Yeah, like I saw camel go and call her daddy, which I thought was interesting um Yeah, maybe hopefully you can get it make it to happen. That'd be crazy. That's the power podcast man Who would have thought five ten years ago that these presidential candidates would be going on podcasts like wild?

Like not even a thought they were going on 60 minutes. They were going on traditional news. Yeah, this is the new media, bro, like Sean Kelly. You are the new media, bro. Like and that's why I'm so focused on my podcast of it just down and building the George Shanko show because I realize the impact that can happen, bro. Like people I'm reading the comments even on my episodes, which get 20,000 views. Some of them are going a little bit bigger which is exciting but you know people are like do this episode change my life like and I'm just in my mom's room like taking it

with her and my dog on her bed like just you know hanging out so my point yeah my point of that is like I think anybody that has a voice should vocalize if they feel like they have something to say because the power of tongue is very significant bro yeah you know all it takes is one clip to blow up, man. Yeah, I had one yesterday. Get 20 million. 20 million. Yeah. Damn. And I'm jealous.

It'll happen to you, dude. I've had a couple now, but that one was interesting because I was telling you before we filmed, I had a liberal on the podcast. My audience is totally right wing. But I think you still need to be having these conversations. Yeah. So that's the thing with my show is I'll have on anyone for sure. And some people are closed off to talking with other side, but you won't grow that way. Yeah. You got to understand all perspectives, bro. I just had a blind person on my podcast. I had a four year old. I'm going to have a homeless person. Like I'm

excited to hear from people that people aren't talking to. The guy that works at Jersey Mike's behind the counter, what's going through his brain? Or the nurse that's staying up till 3 in the morning dealing with sick people. What are they thinking about? Police officers. I think we're living in a society where celebrity is big

and people want to hear from those influencers and celebs. And that's great. And they all have great perspectives. But let's not forget about everybody else. So that's what I'm trying to do, bro. That's cool. I'm excited about it. Yeah, no one's doing that. That's going to be cool to see.

You just had a four-year-old? I had a four-year-old, yeah. Shadow, Iowa. Wow. That's interesting. What was the goal of that one? Just understanding her perspective on God and emotions.

Whoa. And she said joy was her favorite emotion. I don't know if I could talk at that age. Yeah, it was hard to have a full conversation with her. Just understanding her perspective on God and emotions. And she said joy was her favorite emotion. I don't know if I could talk at that age. Yeah, it was hard to have a full conversation. But yeah, even just that, dude, kids are so fascinating. That's cool.

You had a blind person on. I've never seen that on a podcast. Yeah, my cousin is coming out this week. It was great, dude. I think there's a stigma with blind people. I think a. You know, I think a lot of us, at least I dealt with this like if I saw a blind person in public, I wouldn't approach them because I was like what's the right way to approach them? Do I touch them and make sure they know I'm there? Like do I help them cross the street? Do I

not help them cross the street like a lot of questions that I think I have not been answered. So we got deep into that and I learned a lot man like yeah, that's cool. I had someone with stutter last week. Oh really? Yeah. I think that might be the first show where someone's like that the huge. Okay, it was really brave of him to come on. Wow. Was it? Is it gonna be? I'm so sorry. I feel like a piece of shit for making a joke, but like is it gonna be annoying for the listeners because they're like it was tough for me. So probably yeah might be tough for the joke, but like, is it going to be annoying for the listeners? Cause they're like, it was tough for me. So probably, yeah, might be tough for the listeners, but I think nevertheless, it was an important episode for sure. Cause he stepped up. Yeah. I think people with that condition,

he was staying on the show. He didn't talk for like 10 years. Wow. He was so ashamed of it. So there's probably other people listening to that, that will get inspired to speak up. And now he's making eight figures a year doing a sales job with a stutter. Crazy nuts, right nuts right yeah put yourself in uncomfortable situations I'm a huge introvert I have autism like me to even be podcasting but this has been the most growth I've had in my life doing podcasts learning from yeah I'm the same way dude I'm an introvert too like for sure and I think it's Isaiah 1436 in the Bible says that

god will lead something about god will leading lead the blind, but I think that applies to every disease or physical ailment. Like if you have stutters like I know a girl that she couldn't stop sneezing like she was sneezing like twelve thousand times a day a crazy medical condition, but I think god makes these things happen for a reason. It's either to teach somebody else a lesson, or he's giving you a certain gift. Like this guy with the stuttering issue,

perhaps he's going to inspire millions and millions of other people with the same condition. And something powerful could happen with that. Like, you never know. That's crazy when you zoom out like that, yeah. Because you put it on the individual, but you're thinking big picture. I love the way you think. Thank you. out like that, yeah. Because you put it on the individual, but you're thinking big picture. I love the way you think.

Thank you. Yeah, that's impressive. Thank you, bro. But yeah, he will inspire, whether it's millions or maybe thousands of people, for sure. Yeah. From that episode.

100%. That's awesome. Well, dude, what's next for you? Where can people find you, keep up with you in the podcast and everything? Yeah, Divisious Den is the podcast once a week. The George Shanko show obviously is building super fast and we're very excited and bullish on what George is up to but yeah man just you know continuing to build the show both shows and build

division media, the media company and I'm spending a lot of time with family. I'm in the gym unboxing him just like a box someone I would just for You gonna box someone? Just for fun, you know, I actually called out, people were hitting me up like, yo, why don't you call out Logan Paul's manager, like Battle of the Managers. Oh, Jeff? Yeah, Jeff Levin, shout out Jeff. I saw him at the half marathon yesterday that we ran.

So if I was gonna box anybody, I would want a box manager. That'd be a good one, because they got beef, right? There's no beef. Oh, they settled it? It's all good, yeah. That's cool. Everything happens for a reason. Nice, I love that. Well, we'll link everything below. Thanks for be a good one. They got beef right? There's no beef. Oh, they settled it. It's all good. Yeah. Yeah. Everything happens for a reason. Nice. I love that. Well, we'll link everything below. Thanks for coming on, man. Thank you, brother. I appreciate it. Thanks for watching, guys. Check out the links below. See you next time. Bye.