Insight with Chris Van Vliet - If You Ask Better Questions, You Get Better Answers.

Episode Date: July 19, 2022

The quality of your life is the quality of the questions that you ask. I'm so pumped to be able to connect with you one-on-one for this solo episode. I feel so incredibly fortunate to be able to spend the last 17 years working as a TV Host and Entertainment Reporter and talking to some of the biggest stars in the world like The Rock, Oprah Winfrey, John Cena, Leonardo Di Caprio, Julia Roberts and so many others. I learned that if you ask better questions, you get better answers. And that doesn't just apply to the questions that you ask of others; it is most important for the questions that you ask of yourself! Create a beautiful website for your podcast is just 5 minutes: https://www.podpage.com/?via=cvv If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh, man, I am so excited for this one today. Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet, and it has been far too long since we've done a solo episode. So I'm pumped to get into this one with you, and hopefully there's a few nuggets in here that really resonate with you. I know that with our last few solo episodes, like the meaning behind vague goals, get vague results, and especially the episode titled, What the F are you waiting for? you sent a lot of DMs and tweets and emails saying how much it helped you. So speaking of that, I've been tossing around this idea for a while, but let's do it.

For the first time ever, I'm going to give you the chance to work directly with me one-on-one as your coach. We'll dive in deep, help you grow your podcast or your YouTube channel or your social media. Or maybe you want to learn to be a better interviewer and ask better questions. This is going to be a one hour long, one-on-one session where you can pick my brain about absolutely anything. And I'll be as open and as honest as I can to help you as much as I possibly can. This is a limited opportunity. I'm only going to take on 10 people. So after those 10 people have signed on, that's it. And also, this is the first time that I'm mentioning this. So because you listen to the podcast, and I'm sure you've been listening for a while, you're getting a head start on this

before I post about this on social media and really open it up on there. So if you're interested in this hour-long strategy call with me, if you're interested in trying to take some of the things that I've done to grow my channel to, I think the YouTube channel is doing about a million views a day right now. The podcast is doing as great as it is. If you want to do this, if you want to work with me, I want to help you out. Shoot me an email with the word call in the subject line, C-A-L-L-L-C-V at Chris fanfleet.com and shoot me that email. I'll get you the details on the pricing and you can book a time

with me and we will go from there and we will blow this thing up. So again, the word call, CAL to CvV at chris fanfleet.com. And I'm just so pumped about the opportunity to give you as much value as I can and to help you grow as much as possible. Tony Robbins says the quality of your life is the quality of the questions that you ask. So for the last 17 years, I've been so fortunate to work as a TV host, an entertainer reporter, and I've shared conversations with people like The Rock,

Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise, Adam Sandler, Julie Roberts, Ryan Reynolds, and so many others. And I learned very quickly that if you ask better questions, you get better answers. And I've always been a naturally curious person. Maybe you can relate to this. And if you can't relate personally, you definitely know someone who was like this because I was

that annoying kid always being like, why, but why is that? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Until your parents are just like, Dad, just because, okay? Just because.

I got obsessed also with the word how. And I want to know how. How do things work? I was that kid who would take their pen apart in the middle of class and I'd be like, oh, there's a spring in here. Well, if we stretch that spring out, oh, my gosh, my pen. clicks that much faster now. I'm sure you can relate to this idea. I like to call it conscious curiosity. It's this general wonder of who, what, when, why, where, how. And that curiosity that I had

as a kid, it really grew. And it led me into what I'm doing now on TV and here on the podcast and the YouTube channel. I've told the story several times before on a few other episodes and because you listen to this show so often, I'm sure you've heard it, but basically I talked my way into getting my first TV job. I actually kind of lied my way into it. I was basically like, hey, I'm going to be in town next Thursday. If you have some time, could I come by and talk to you about the job? And it worked. And here I am now because it worked. And it's just so interesting to me that when we're kids, we're always asked that same question. And you know the question. What do you want to be when you grow up? And there's this general attitude that we encourage kids

to dream as big as possible. And then this strange thing seems to happen. When we grow up, and I'll put grow up in quotes, because none of us have really grown up and figured this out, but we grow up and the question becomes, so what do you do? It shifts from what do you want to be to what do you do. And you get defined by this job that you have. And for so many people, it's a job you don't even enjoy doing. And for that, I want to ask you a different question. When did your journey begin? And it wasn't the day you were born. When did you get on the path that you're on now? And is it really your path that you're on? And if it's not your path that you're on, what are you doing to get back to the things that really juice you and really fulfill you every single day? It's really important

to not just ask great questions of other people. It's so important to start with yourself. And a big question you should be asking yourself right now is, what are you waiting for? Because there's no such thing as the perfect time. For me, I realized in my senior year of college at 21 years old that after graduation, we were going to have to work for the rest of our lives. And I was having the best time in college.

I lived with four of my best friends. We decided whether we wanted to sleep in or go to class or just drink beer. And I asked myself in this moment, it hit me like a ton of bricks one day. I woke up. And I asked myself, am I going to be happy doing a job where I wake up and go to it that I don't enjoy for the next 40 or 50 years? And then more importantly, if I do settle for a job now that, you know, it has solid benefits and decent pay, am I going to be happy 40 or 50 years from now knowing that I could have tried harder, I could have pushed a little bit more in my 20, or 30s. And if somebody out there is doing the thing that you want to do, I think there's some

people that, you know, it upsets them or it makes them jealous. Man, that makes me pumped up. It makes me pumped up knowing that the path has been carved by that person and I can reverse engineer my way back from there. But I do think that social media is the worst for this because it shows the highlight reels of people's lives and so rarely shows the bumps in the road. So if the quality of your life is the quality of the questions that you ask, what are the questions that you're asking of yourself? The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clemenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup.

Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really stake their claim. And they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited, just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. I heard a great story that Oprah sets an intention for every interview. So in the green room beforehand, because she had the Oprah Winfrey show and she was able to get the message out to, you know, so many people, because that was one of the most popular shows on television. She would ask the person, what is your intention?

for this interview? What do you want people to feel about you when this interview is done? And now that she's not doing as many interviews, she sets an intention for every meeting that she's in. At the very start, she says to everyone, what's our intention for this meeting and what do we want to achieve when it's done? And from that, I take this idea that it's so important to have a vision and a clarity and an intention for your life. What if you were to start asking those questions of yourself. What is my intention for today? What is my intention for this week, this month, this year? What's my intention for this event? I'm walking into this interview that I'm doing, this meeting that I'm having, whatever it happens to be. What would happen if you were to start

to ask those types of questions of yourself? And the reason that I end every interview by asking my guests, what are three things they're grateful for is, number one, I'm genuinely interested to hear what they're grateful for. But number two, and perhaps more importantly, I want anybody listening or watching and go, oh my gosh, that person who's so successful and seemingly has it all is grateful for things like their health or their family.

Wow, I can be grateful for those things too. Because I learned something that it is impossible to be simultaneously angry and grateful. And if you are angry, maybe start focusing on the things that you do have, rather than focusing on the things that you don't have. And start asking better questions. Of others, of course, but most importantly, of yourself. So there we go.

Hope you enjoyed this solo episode. I just love being able to hang out with you one-on-one like this. And if there was something in this that really jumped out, really spoke to you, I'd love if you shared this episode with a friend. And take a screenshot. Tag me at Chris Van Vleet and tag me so I can share it out and we can let other people know to listen to this episode. And as I mentioned at the start, the first time ever that I'm going to offer you the chance to work one on one with me. And I'm so pumped about this. I want to just be able to give you as much knowledge as I possibly can. So if you're interested in setting up an hour long

strategy call with me, email me the word call in the subject line to CVV. at chris fanfleet.com. You'll be seeing this on social media over the next few weeks, but this is the first time I'm ever talking about this, the first time I'm opening it up, we're only going to do 10 people. So if you want to take your podcast, your YouTube channel, your content creating your life to that next level, let's do this thing together. Send me an email, CBV at chrisfanfleet.com. I'll get you the pricing and the details, and we'll go from there. I'm going to leave you with an amazing quote here. an unknown quote, but it's one that speaks so much to my core.

Knowledge is having the right answer. Intelligence is asking the right question. Be great and be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley.

Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of then? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987.

I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.