Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Interviewing The Greats & Learning From The Best - Chris Van Vliet On 'The Danny Miranda Podcast'

Episode Date: May 9, 2023

On today's episode, the tables are tuned and I'm a guest on The Danny Miranda Podcast (@heydannymiranda). Danny is a fantastic interviewer who does incredibly deep research allowing him to ask questions of people that they've never been asked before. We sat down together in Los Angeles for this conversation and talked about why I'm obsessed with chasing greatness, the interview I recently did with my wife, how Tony Robbins impacted my life, the morning routine I have for interviewing The Rock, why I think there is a science to interviews, my thoughts on Logan Paul in WWE and much more! Check out The Danny Miranda Podcast here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dannymiranda For more information about CVV and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com 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. 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

All systems are gathered. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blaine! Hello, my friend. So good to see you here and welcome back to another one. For this one, I'm going from being the interviewer to the interviewee. I was recently a guest on the Danny Miranda podcast and it's one of my favorite interviews that I've ever done. Danny has this amazing way of connecting with people and you've heard me talk about before how the most important part of interviewing is actually listening, like actively listening and following the conversation

wherever it may go. Danny is a pro with that. And on top of that, he does deep, and I mean deep research that takes things to another level. He's talking about things that you don't even remember telling people about. And he's bringing him up. And it just makes for such a connective conversation and such an intimate chat. So I hope you enjoy this. And when you're done with this episode, go check out the Danny Miranda podcast wherever you're listening to this one right now. He recently did an interview with Andy Fricela that I loved. Andy is the guy behind 75 hard. He's the founder of First Form Supplements. And he's the host of the Real AF podcast. So when you dive into Danny's stuff, that is the podcast that I would start with.

if I were you. I loved how they were talking about manifesting and how real it really is. So that's the episode that I would start with. It's a recent one. So you don't have to go back too far to find that. Also, check Danny out on social media. He's at, hey, Danny Miranda. Check me out. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And if you enjoy this episode, please share it with a friend. And also, if you haven't yet, make sure that you're subscribed on the podcast platform of your choosing, the one that you're listening on right now, and also go subscribe to Danny's show wherever you're listening to this right now. All right.

Please enjoy this conversation with me and Danny Miranda on the Danny Miranda show. If you're not inspired by Mr. Beast's first YouTube video, by Joe Rogan's first podcast episode, by Tom Brady's Combine, by Oprah's first episode of her show, if you're not inspired by that to think like, okay, there's something there that really needs to be shined up here. If you're not inspired by that, then I don't know what's going on in your life. You should see that and go, oh, man, they started somewhere too. And if they can get that much better, I could get that much better. Are we rolling? We good? Sweet. Well,

let's get into it because I'm so excited to have you in person, in studio, in Los Angeles. Thank you for going to me here. My pleasure. Thank you for reaching out and being like, hey, I'm going to be in L.A. and I want to make this happen. Yeah. Because I've been following your journey since we recorded episode 235. We did that virtually. That was an amazing episode. Got into your backstory in a couple of interesting ways. But now I kind of want to talk about the forward motion of where Chris's life is going. I mean, you're becoming a dad. A lot has changed since the last time I spoke to you. We had a really big year. And when I say we, I mean, me and my wife, I didn't have. a wife the last time we spoke. I had a girlfriend, I think. I don't even think we were engaged yet.

So yeah, in the last year, we got engaged, got married, found out we were pregnant, bought a house, and now in May our daughter's going to be joining us. So a lot of massive changes. I also turned 40 in May. So a lot of big things are happening. But man, I'm so excited for this next chapter of my life. And entering into that chapter of my life with the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with. record an amazing episode. You and your wife and it was just talking about like this is going to be a pivotal moment and let's record an episode. I think you guys were in the woods in the middle of nowhere. I listened to that. I felt such a connection with you of like being able to experience that moment with you and being able to just be there. So like what was the decision to interview your wife?

It wasn't really an interview. It was more of a conversation. But like what was that decision? She had never done an interview before? She nervous? Very, very. Very. Like, I was like, I think this is something I want to do. And she's like, I don't know. We'll see what happens when we get up there. And I packed just the audio equipment. So I packed just the microphones, the XLR cables, and the Zoom recorder. Put it in my suitcase.

And I said, look, when the moment's right, I think we're going to hit record and we're going to do this. I really want my audience to, like, know who you are. Like, they've been on this journey with me. I mean, really, since my career started in 2005. But they've been on this journey specifically since the YouTube channel really got underway 12 years ago. The podcast is almost four years old. And I've always kind of let the viewers and let the listeners behind the curtain a little bit to see, you know, what is going on in my life. And with all those big announcements that I just listed off, I wanted them to meet my wife.

I wanted them to meet this, you know, incredibly important person in my life. So we had just got married. We got married on December 17th. This was right before Christmas. We went to the mountains. We went to Idle Wild, which is about two hours from here. And it's kind of, you know, of in the middle of nowhere. It's just this little mountain town. And we went up there and it was just this beautiful setting. It was me and her and our little Chiaweeney dog named Luna. And I just hit record. And I didn't have any questions prepared. I just wanted to have a conversation and see what would happen. And I've been doing this thing in my life for years where I feel like you can never go back and relive moments. And it's been so important for me to go, I'm just going to hit record

on my phone and just like usually a video and just kind of see like what's going on right now like kind of of a video diary and then watch this back in two years or five years and go oh man i thought that was cool at the time or that was important at the time and just it's a snapshot in your life and i figured this would be like an hour long snapshot of who we are at this exact moment and now i want to make this a yearly thing that we always do that's so cool and i it's a practice that i recommend to people all the even if you're not an interview or you don't have a podcast, interview or record a conversation

with a family member, with a close friend, with somebody you love, what are some tips or practices you could give somebody if they're going to do that? I've just been doing like these as like video time capsules. Even times like,

I remember when I bought my first house in Florida, I went in there before anything had been moved in. It's just empty, echoy house. And I just hit record. I went, check this out. Like, I can't believe. but I move in tomorrow, look at this, and you're capturing the essence of that moment.

I think when you're interviewing somebody, I think people just overthink it all the time. People get really freaked out about the word interview. Because in our daily life, we're communicating with each other all the time. But when you slap that word, interview on it with a capital eye, people get really freaked out. So it's simple advice,

but it's also really difficult advice to actually take is just stop thinking about it as an interview and just have a conversation with your aunt, your uncle, your brother, your sister, your mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, whoever it is, just have a conversation. And it's really interesting, especially like, talk about your grandma or grandpa, like the stuff that they've seen. Oh, my God.

My grandpa just passed away at 97 years old. What an incredible life he lived. But he was telling me stories of, like, he lived in a house growing up that didn't have, like, a toilet to flush. They would go out back to the outhouse. And I'm like, that was within this century. And we sometimes forget that because we're living this time right now with all the technology we have, that that stuff even existed.

Yeah. Joe Rogan has this joke where he says, well, if you think about the founding of America and people living 100 years in their life, that was three people ago. Yes. I love when he talks about that. It's so true. It's like three people ago, that was the beginning. And I think we often have, it's hard because our lives right now are so go, go, go. fast, fast, fast, the news feed of like, what's hot right now, what's happening?

But it's like, when you have a broader perspective, like, we're just here for a short amount of time. It gives you a lot of perspective. And that's something I love about you and I love about your podcast. It seems like with everything you do, you do it with a lens of amazing perspective, of gratitude, of I get to do this in this moment. Like, there's just a level of joy that comes through with you. And so thank you for doing that.

And thank you for being you. that come from? Look, Danny, I see a lot of that in you as well. And you're so good at like showing up in the moment and being grateful for these opportunities. Like, you flew yourself out here. You're staying in your own hotel and paying for your own Uber's like, my hat's off to you. I'm not wearing it happen. My hat's off to you for having that initiative to do that. And that's something I did early on in my career was like the idea of like if someone's going to say yes, I better go out of my way to make sure that I can have that interview happens. So I think for me, it's just, I've always chased after the things that I've been interested in. And my God, I'm so fortunate to have had the opportunities

that I've had in my life. So if you can't bring the excitement or the joy of those situations to the moments as they're happening, then what are you doing? Yeah. I'm curious, what's the price you needed to pay in order to be Chris Van Fleet? Because you're interviewing the rock, you're doing incredible things. You've had this illustrious career. You're turning for, you're having a child. Like, what is the price that you needed to pay in order to have all the massive success that you have? That's such a great question. And this is why you're so good at this, because you ask questions like that. I don't think it's a price that you pay other than I've always had a vision for what I wanted to do. And even if it seemed completely out of the realm of possibility,

I still kept it on my radar as like, this might be possible. And if it's not, I at least want to go all the way to the end and find out it's not possible. But if you really think about it, like I grew up in Pickering, Ontario. The fact that I now live in Los Angeles and I'm able to work in Los Angeles is crazy to me. You know, I immigrated from Canada to make this happen. So I think it was just the idea that I was clear on what I wanted to do. And, you know, I always say vague goals. goals get vague results. So the flip side of that is specific goals, get specific results.

And no two people's paths are the same. But if you can go along the way and get over those bumps in the road, get over those hurdles in the road, and figure out your path, then I think you're going to be really successful. Could you take me to the first time that you set a specific goal and that achieved some outcome? There was a moment in my life that changed my life forever in my senior year of college. And I wasn't really sure what I wanted to study in college. And that's the craziest thing. You're 17 years old.

And you're basically asked like, what do you want to be when you grow up? And you're like, I don't know. This communication studies class in high school was pretty fun. So I studied communication studies in college thinking, maybe that'll help me get into radio and TV. I don't know. And it was great. And I had such a good time in college.

But I woke up one day in my senior year. And I just hit me like a ton of bricks that, we're going to have to go work for the rest of our lives. And up to that point, like, I decided if 10 a.m. was too early for me to go to class. And I kind of realized, like, that's not going to be the case after we graduate. You're going to have to go to work, 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, for the next 40 or 50 years. And it was in that exact moment I went, I don't want to hate my job. I just want to have a job that I at least can enjoy going to.

I didn't want to be one of those people who hated Sunday because Monday was the next day. And that was when I reached out to every radio station and every TV station of my college town just said, I'm passionate about broadcasting, can I come in and see how it's done in the real world? And that was when it really changed for me. And what I also realized in that was the power of asking. If you don't ask, the answer's always no.

And I got a lot of knows, but I got a few yeses. And that led me closer to the goal of like one day, hopefully, possibly being on TV. When I was doing research for this conversation, I stumbled across somebody asking you, when did you hit your income goal? And you're like, never, because I never had an income goal. And I just thought that was such a fascinating thing because most people don't think about that. You were just optimizing for, let me enjoy what I do.

And I'll figure it out. It was such a strange question, I thought too. But, you know, he works in finance. So it's like, I get it. You know, in finance, you probably set a goal like that. for me, I've always been driven by, am I excited about what I'm going to do today? And I'm going to be proud of what I've done at the end of the day.

So I will always be one of those people that will take less money in order to enjoy what I'm doing every single day. So it's never been about an income goal. It's never been about the certain TV station that I work for. It's not even about the certain people that I interview. It's about enjoying the moments as they're happening. Yeah, and I think this is something that a lot of people misunderstand when you're doing something externally facing is like, for you, it's so clear.

And for me, it's the same way. This is an internal pursuit of like, I'm just doing this because this is what lights my own heart on fire. And I'm broadcasting it to the world. And I want people to gain value from it. But it's not about the external validation of it all. When did you realize that you were doing an external thing for an internal reason? Because broadcasting is very much externally focused.

But it's an internal pursuit for you, right? I didn't get recognized for being on TV for like the first two-ish years. So it very much felt like an internal thing, right? Whereas in the first TV market that I worked in, it was a small town, Peterborough, Ontario, most of the other local news talent were from that city. So they were being recognized all the time by their former teachers or their neighbors or the people at the grocery store who knew them. I was this new person who just came in to be on TV and would leave at the end of my shift.

so I never got recognized there. And then in my second job, I was working for MTV to Canada in Vancouver. And it was like a month in, I was walking out of the bathroom at a bar. And someone stopped me and they said, hey, aren't you that guy on TV? And I said, yeah?

And that was the end of the conversation. And she just stood there and I just stood there. And I said, was there anything else? She's like, no, ew, that was so weird. And I realized in that moment that, like, I'd gotten that external validation that you talk about. And I went, oh, wow, that happened. And not in the way that I expected it to happen. And then it started happening a little bit more after that.

And I went, okay, like, I need to make these actual moments here rather than just like, I literally answer the question she asked me and realized that's not, that was not the interaction that should have been. What should the interaction should have been? And you see this with like the best celebrities. They'll bring you into the moment. They'll say, hey, what's your name? And where are you from? Oh, that's so cool.

And then it becomes a conversation. Like instead of just like, hey, are you this person? Yes. And then that was the, I felt so bad. So bad. Yeah. Well, it's a learning experience. It was a big learning experience.

What else have you learned from becoming more known? I mean, like now you're at 250 million viewers. use on YouTube or just in general? That's just on, yeah, that's on the YouTube channels combined. I think maybe more, I don't know. And it's just like, it just gets to a crazy point where you get recognized all the time. You've become more and more known. It's like, what does that experience like and what have you learned in that process?

I certainly know that if someone's recognizing me, they probably watch wrestling. We'll get to that. That's usually where it comes from. Or I'll get like the, aren't you the Ann Hathaway guy? I'm like, oh, wow, yeah. I think I've just learned that you're able to share these moments, these really cool, incredible moments with the world because so often you're creating in a vacuum.

I mean, look at us. We're sitting in this beautiful room here. There's three of us in this room. And you forget that through these camera lenses, the rest of the world can see it. Like there is literally unlimited potential on the other side of that camera on the other side of this mic, And that's something you forget all the time.

And it's especially hard when you're creating one-on-one with your camera or one-on-one with your webcam, where you're going, oh, yeah, on the other side of this, those comments represent people who actually took the time to type them out with their fit thumbs or their fingers. And I think the biggest realization in that is, I've always been a fan of the things that I love, whether that's pro wrestling, movies, bass fishing, whatever it is. And I see so much of myself in someone who leaves a comment. And I go, yes, I get it. I get you.

I understand you. I think that's been the biggest realization. It's like, it's so different when you meet somebody versus you get a comment on the screen. And someone's like, yo, this episode impacted me. Or what you're doing and the way you're showing up in the world is changing how I think about myself. Yeah. It's like, oh my God, this is now like a responsibility for how you carry yourself for the words you say. Yeah.

And you realize, like, we all have that at all times. Like, whether you have a platform on, like, people are looking at how you're operating and they're basing their decisions on what to say and do next. Yeah. I think one of the biggest wins is when somebody comes for your guest and they leave a fan of your work. And you're like, oh, my gosh. Like, I won someone over.

Yes. That's the coolest thing. Yes, absolutely. So you mentioned wrestling before. And, okay, so one of the things that I admire most about you, is the way you are so willingly own the things in your life that let you up as a kid and you stay true to those passions. And that's just like, that's a rare thing because people often get older and they're like,

well, no, like I'm not going to play around with that thing that I did when I was kid. That's for children. But your childlike curiosity is still within you in many different realms. And that's something to be admired from my perspective and also to ask about like, why? Why is that the case? I really think that we never grow up. Like, I truly think that, that we never grow up, we've never ever figured it out, we're just figuring it out every single day.

The Internet also allows you to lean into those things. That did not exist when I was a kid. Like, if you were really passionate about, I was, you know, I'm passionate about some really niche things, right? Like bass fishing or pro wrestling, you know, many other things. But, like, when you were a fan of that stuff before, the internet was as big as it is, you would read the magazines. And that would be it, you know, and like, you wouldn't be able to connect with those people. But, like, I have a friend who does

toy hunts, you know, he's a grown man who does toy hunts on his YouTube. Gary Vaynerchuk? It could be. It's, uh, it's Ethan Page, who's an A.W. wrestler, and he does toy hunts. And they're very successful on YouTube because everybody has that in them. Like, I think to, to just leave that stuff behind and go, I am a quote unquote grown up now. It doesn't make any sense. So I just lean into that. Yeah, it's beautiful. With the wrestling piece of it,

and there are a lot of creators who listen to this podcast and people who are putting stuff out on the internet, Logan Paul has mixed the worlds of creating and wrestling, pro wrestling. What is your perspective on seeing that shift as a creator yourself and seeing him go into your world of wrestling? I think it's just the fact that he's doing it at such a high level. Because the bar for a while in pro wrestling,

for an outsider to come in was pretty low. And then Bad Bunny came in and crushed it at WrestleMania. So then the bar was like insanely high because that match was so good. So then Logan Paul came in. All eyes are on him. People, you know, can say what they want about Logan Paul. But whether you love him or you hate him, you feel something about him. And that is the essence of wrestling.

Like whether you're a good guy or a bad guy, it makes you feel something. And so many people wanted Logan Paul to fail. And then he went in in his first match. and knocked it out of the park at WrestleMania last year. And then he had his second match at SummerSlam and was so good. And then he had his match with Roman Raines and again, so good. And people went, okay, well, I don't like him, but he's very talented. And the fact that he's put in the work is so impressive.

Obviously, he's a natural athlete, but he looks the part and is acting the part. And I think that if you're a wrestling fan and you're not respecting what Logan Paul's doing in the ring, then you're not really a wrestling fan. Wow. Yeah, I mean, he, Logan Paul going into the WWE, got me to watch the WWE. I haven't watched in 10 plus, how old am I, 27?

I haven't watched the WWE in 15 years. Wow. But because of him with the selfie, jumping from the top rope, the way, what did he do with, like, jumping on the rope and then slamming into a guy? What is that called? It's a springboard.

The fact, like, there's so many, elements of that that could have gone so wrong. They met perfectly in the middle. And the guy he did it with, Rickashay is the best of the best when it comes to high-flying moves. But the fact that they timed it out, jumped perfectly, smacked in the middle.

That's not a move you can practice. And the fact that they pulled that off live in front of 70,000 people there in person, the millions of people watching at home, that's the spot of the night. And the cool thing about Logan Paul is he brings it. In every match he's in,

you're going to be talking about one of those moments. It's insane. Have you ever thought about or like dreamt about the possibility of getting your chance to be in the WWE ring or something like that? Years ago. Yeah. So I was a backyard wrestler when I was 16. I wanted to be a pro wrestler so, so bad.

And I trained for a few months in Toronto. I trained. I can fall. I can run the ropes. I can lock up. Like we could have a little. match right now. Wouldn't be the best, but we could have a little match right now. But I just kind of came to a crossroads in my life. So I was 20 when I was doing this. And I was still in college. So I had started

wrestling school that summer. And then when September came around, it was time to go back to school. And it was going to be an hour-ish drive to go into wrestling school four days a week, $250 a month. A lot of things were like working against me. And I kind of had to make a decision. Was it school, school, or was it wrestling school? And I didn't think that I could put all of my effort into both. So I thought, I'll just finish with school. I'll get my communication studies degree. And then if I want to get back into wrestling,

it'll always be there. And then I got the degree, an internship led to a job, and then the communication studies led to the broadcasting, and everything just started kind of taking off there. And I was like, yeah, wrestling will always be there. And I'm now fortunate to dip my toe into that world. As a ring announcer, I appeared on AEW.

you. So like, I think I've got the best of both worlds because my friends who are my age that have been wrestling for 20 years, their knees hurt, their ankles hurt. They've got broken bones or they've had broken bones. I'm fortunate that when I got out of bed doesn't really hurt. So I'm grateful for that. The mind works, the body works. Right. You're set. So I thought about it for a long time. I thought about it. And I'm glad to say that I actually went in there and did it. Because wrestling's an interesting thing. When you look at other sports, you can watch a basketball game and chances are you've dribbled a basketball, you've shot it in a net. You can watch a football game, and chances are you've thrown a football. Chances are you've thrown a baseball if you're watching a

baseball game. If you're watching pro wrestling, pretty good chance you've never run the ropes. Pretty good chance you've never taken a bump in the ring. And I'm grateful to say that I have done that and I know how it feels. Certainly does not tickle. What advice do you have for people who are at crossroads in their own life in making the best possible decision? I really think that there's things in your life that end up leaning, like showing you which way to lean. And you really can't make a wrong decision. Like whether you make this decision or you make that decision, you're making the right decision based on the information that's in front of you. And make the decision based on what you feel in your heart.

and don't be influenced by your family or your friends saying, actually you should probably do this thing. Like, you know what feels right. And if you're a week or a month or two months into it, it doesn't feel right, can always go back and do the other thing. So I think for me, just you've got to listen to your gut and got to trust it. What have you done personally to help you get better at listening to your gut?

I think I'm still figuring that out. I really think that it's a day-to-day thing. Yeah. But for me, I lean into the things that I'm excited about. I'm also not scared to go down that path and realize it's not for me and go, okay, well, it tried. And it wasn't for me, so I'm just going to go this way. But it's important to, if you are going to commit to something, commit to it with your whole heart.

And I've made that mistake in the past of going, I'm going to go do this thing. And then I kind of just like halfway do the thing. Or like someone says, you've got to do this, this, this, this, and this. And I go, yeah, I'll do like the first two and, like, I'm still doing it, right? I think it's important to fully commit. Yeah. And it's so crazy, like what happens when you fully commit

and how the world just opens up for you when you're just like, all right, I'm going to this new place and I'm going to interviews people. And I'm just going to go and do as many as possible. And, like, you've dealt with that and you've done that time and time again. And I think that when you start to lean into something, the world, the universe, God, whatever you want to call it, starts to lean back into it for you. So like when you point your compass in that direction,

I feel like the world starts to respect that. And it's funny how one thing will lead to another that leads to another. I mean, look at all the stuff you've lined up when you're out here. Or when you go to New York and you do this, you make yourself available. And I feel like people make themselves available for you as well.

And it's just, I swear we're living in a simulation. I swear we're living in a simulation where if you really want to do something, something really bad, then all you have to do is find your path to get that thing done. Like, whatever it is that you want to do, somebody else in the world has done it. Just reverse engineer what they've done back to where you're at right now. Maybe they're at step 70 in the process, and you're in step three. We'll figure out all the other steps between where you are and where that person is and make it happen.

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 Klinenberg. 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 take their claimant, 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 Henco. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. I'm curious, when did you start resonating? with the content of people like Tony Robbins, Lewis House, and Milet. Like, when did that type of content really hit you where you're like, all right, I'm going. What they're saying is really resonating.

I could tell you a specific moment. Wow. I was commuting into the TV job that I had in Toronto. And it was about an hour drive into the city. I was living in my parents' house still. Do you remember what Torrance were back in the day? Torrance. So you would, it was how you illegally downloaded, like,

albums and movies and I downloaded Tony Robbins' audiobook for Awaken the Giant Within. Wow. And I burned it onto a CD. This is like 2008 when I was doing this. And I remember listening to Awaken the Giant Within. And I'd never like, I was familiar with Tony Robbins and I'd maybe seen one or two of his things here and there. But I wasn't really familiar with like his teachings.

I hadn't read one of his books before. So listening to his audio book on the drive into work and then back from work, that was, that really hit me and it started to make me realize that like, oh, there are other things that you can do in your life or your brain can fire on different cylinders. And then I just started to realize that like, you know, they always say like you are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with. You're also the sum of the five podcasts you listen to the most, the five albums you listen to the most, the five TV shows you listen to the most. So I was like, if I can surround myself with people like Tony Robbins or Ed My Lad or Lewis Howes or Tom Bill you,

or the list goes on and on and on. Even if it's just in podcast form, you're having those thoughts go into your mind and you're surrounding yourselves with those conversations. Because the best thing about a podcast is we're eavesdropping in on someone's conversation. And that's so rare to be able to listen to someone like Elon Musk or Bill Gates or a former president speak for two hours.

Just have a conversation. And we're able to just eavesdrop in on that. And I love that element. of the long-form conversation. Well, it's like that becomes your friend in that moment, that they're spurring thoughts and they're helping people. So it's like then as the person interviewing or the person who is hosting that podcast, it's like you now have a responsibility to direct the conversation to an insightful

or interesting place. And it's like you also have to consume interesting information that's going to help you get to that place as well. Yeah. So it's like you're bridging the gap between. wrestling and bass fishing and then like you're you're helping end the conversation with like what are the three things you're grateful for it's like where where does that question come from i just i'm really driven by gratitude yeah like the fact that we can be grateful for all of the things we have

in our life because so often people are focused on the things they don't have in their life and another thing i try to do in every conversation is make people see the commonalities between someone who is so famous and so successful and someone who's just starting out on their journey. Yeah. And I think that far too often we just see someone at the finish line and we don't realize this stumbles along the way. And you see this in the comment section all the time on YouTube

and TikTok and Instagram. It bothers me so much when you see someone who's holding up the championship trophy or someone with the gold medal around their neck. And there's this sentiment from people that are like, oh, well, it must be, you know, must be easy for. for them, or you see like a jacked person like, yeah, yeah, but they're on steroids. It's like, even if they are, there's a ton of work that goes in and you're trying to negate all that work to just say, oh, yeah, but they did this one thing.

But they also did like 64 other things that you didn't see. And I try to bring those things to life. Yeah, well, I remember getting cut from my seventh grade basketball team and thinking like, I couldn't get better. That was it. Wow. The universe was over for basketball. And in truth, if I just committed to daily actions of dribbling more, shooting more,

like, that could have changed forever. So I didn't really understand the growth mindset until I started lifting weights and that changed everything for me. When was the first time you noticed, oh, I can actually change my circumstances if I put more effort and action into something? It's funny how, like, that example that you're talking about can either drive someone one way or the other. You get cut from the team, you can either go, well, man, I'm not. I'm no good at basketball.

I'm never going to try again. I'm never going to play again. Or you can go, man, when those tryouts come around next year, I'm going to be that much better. And I've just always had this competitive spirit. And I skipped a grade when I was younger. So I did grade one and two in the same year. And so I was always the youngest kid in class.

So then when I would try out for the volleyball team, basketball team, track and field, I'm the smallest and youngest kid. And that really drove me to go, I want to be good. Like, I want to make this team. Even though I'm a year younger than everybody, I want to do this and I want to make this happen. And I remember, like, specifically with baseball, just doing, like, some off-season drills and, like, getting better at, like, the fundamentals of the game made me that much better when tryouts came around the next year.

Whereas so often, you just kind of, you know, hang your cleats up for the year, especially in Canada where it's going to be cold from, like, September to, like, May. you hang your cleats up for the year and you just kind of hope that in the spring you'll just be as good or possibly better. And I actually worked on it. And that was a big thing for me. One of the fundamentals of the interview game is silence.

And I was going through your catalog and I listened to or watched a very short five-minute interview you did with Jack Black, The Rock, and Kevin Hart. And your first question was about the people's eyebrow and the rock doing that. And the way you asked the question also got Jack Black

and Kevin Hart involved. And I thought that was so powerful. But what I noticed was that you were silent for one minute and 57 seconds while they just had this amazing back and forth report. And the reason why I bring that up in one minute, 57 seconds, you might say is not a big deal, but it's a five-minute interview.

So that's a huge bullet for the things you want to talk about. And that's a huge part of the interview. But what I loved about it was just how you let them be silent. Wow. I didn't realize that. A minute and 57 seconds. Yes. That's a big thing I learned in TV is you don't want to ruin their sound bite. And that was something I learned really early on, that someone could be saying something so great and you're trying to interject or you're trying to squeeze in your next question because you know you've only got five minutes. And I realized in those moments to just let those moments breathe. Because I had, especially at some,

some TV stations where they would take that minute and 57 seconds of them talking and cut it into a 25 second sot, they call it a sound on tape. And the last thing you want is me interjecting and it not making any sense to the viewer watching at home. So I realized really early on to just let those moments breathe and let them talk. And also, when you get three amazing characters like that who are at the top of their game bouncing off of each other, you're going to get so much better stuff than if I was sitting there going, anyways, guys, my next question was this.

Right? So I just sat there and went, man, I've got three of the very best at what they do, sitting right in front of me, have at it. I found that when the interviews go from 30 minutes to an hour, like an hour I'm comfortable. I know I can get all my questions in. I know, but when it's 30 minutes, I feel rushed sometimes. Like, I got to get this in and I got to get this in. And like, if you listen to episode 39 of this podcast with Gary Vaynerchuk, that was the first time that I ever did 30 minutes and every other one had been an hour or more.

And I got so nervous about that that it just didn't flow well. It wasn't comfortable listening back to it. So it's like, how do you think about the timeframe that you get with somebody and how that changes the interview? It changes it so much based on whether it's a... I'll go from the shortest to longest here. If you're on a red carpet, there's a chance you might only get one question. So that could be a 30 to 60 second interview.

So you've got to leave with your best question and you've got to try to build rapport from the second that you shake their hand, the second you see them. And that's really difficult. But all you're trying to get there is really just a sound bite. Then you've got the junket interview,

which is like a four to five minute interview. Probably going to be three to four questions. Again, I think it's so important to build rapport right up way and then also have a succinct question and answer moment that you can air on TV. And then also somehow

trying to have that interview whole be a good conversation. So I go into those with like, all right, here's three to four specific questions. When you start going longer, like 30 minutes, I'm not thinking about questions so much. I'm thinking about topics. But I'm with you. You start watching the clock and you're going, oh man, we're already 10 minutes into this. We're already a third of the way through it. I haven't even talked about this, this, this, this, this, this. Oh, man. I got to ask this, but also have to ask this. So like, what's the timing of that going to be? I'm with you. An hour. Let's the conversation be a true conversation. Because if you were going to meet up with someone for coffee or a

beer, you're going to talk for at least an hour and truly let those conversations like breathe. Whereas when you're in a five-minute junkin interview and you ask a question, there's really not a lot of room for follow-up questions. It's kind of like, okay, and on to the next one. And you better ask a question that is related to the movie they're talking about because that movie studio has invited you there. You can't talk about, you know, if you're talking to Harrison Ford about his new movie, You can't be like, anyway, I want to ask you about Star Wars and Indiana Jones and this and that. You've got to somehow tie it back to the movie you're promoting. So in that interview that I just mentioned with The Rock and Jack Black and Kevin Hart,

your second question or your last question wasn't about the movie. It was about like a wrestling question. And so like how did you manage to swing that in there? I thought I was going to have way more like the opportunity to ask way more questions. I had so many other questions about the movie prepared. Also, that interview was running super late. I think it was like four hours late at that point. We're in Hawaii.

I was certainly not complaining. But I think that, you know, I try to, and I'm sure you do the same thing. You think to yourself, I'm going to lead, start with this question. This is probably a good one to end with. And in that interview, just, I had someone behind the camera going, let's wrap it up. And I'm going, okay, well, I guess I'm not going to ask this other.

question. What's the morning routine like when you have an interview like The Rock coming up and you see that on the docket for later that day? How do you prepare for that specifically in the morning? Usually you're on location somewhere. So I wake up, the gym's a big part of my day. So it's go to the gym. Sometimes I'll listen to a podcast that that person's been a guest on to just kind of like get a feel for the conversation. And then it's just like specifically write out the questions. A lot of times I would write out top. but if it's, we've only got four or five minutes, I want to try to get to an actual question. So the morning routine is, you know, it's gratitude always. I start the day with three things I'm grateful for. That takes like 10 seconds. Everybody should do it because it really sets the tone for the day.

Gym, eat. And then it's just write out questions and I'll go to Google News and go, all right, so it's The Rock, for example. What are some big news stories that people are talking about that maybe he hasn't addressed yet? And I can get his first comment about it. Oh, that's a good one. I'll add that in.

And there's been some really cool moments with people like The Rock, for example, where they give us a little piece of advice or a little piece of news. And you go, ooh, I never would have thought about that if I hadn't gone on Google News this morning. One of the questions from your most recent interview with The Rock, which really caught him by surprise and was impactful was, what does success look like to you? Yeah. And I was curious, what does success look like to you? Oh man, I see what you're doing. You're using my magic against me here.

I have to. It's, I think for me, it's a day-to-day thing. I truly think you've got a clean slate at the start of every day. So for me, it's about being excited for what you're going to do that day, and then being proud of what you're going to do at the end of the day. And then if you can do that enough days, you win the week. And if you can do that enough weeks, you win the month. And you win enough months, you win the year, and you know, so on,

so on. And I think that that's what it is for me, because I really don't think you can have a bad day. I think you can have bad moments within your day. But when I see some negative people that are like, oh, it's terrible day. Was it a really bad day? It was like a bad 10 minutes that you like allowed to linger for the other 23 hours and 50 minutes. So I think that's it for me. It's just like it's the essence of that day. I was just in an Uber on the way here. with this phenomenal woman named Ingrid, and her apartment went on fire last night. She woke up in the middle of the night.

Her apartment's on fire. I asked her, how's your day going? It's like, it's going great. My apartment just went on fire. But, you know, I get that moment allowed me to go for a run and see the morning sunset, and I got to do yoga, and I got to Shadowbox, and now I'm driving here.

It's a phenomenal day. Wow. And I'm just saying to myself, holy smokes, this is living. This is what can be possible when you master your mind, when you really are grateful. And one of the worst things that can happen is like, you lose your belongings, possessions, everything.

I don't know what the status of any of that, but she found a way to look at all of that and be like, life is great. Wow. Wow, if we could only live like that every single day, it would be pretty amazing. That's a great story. But I think that there's a real lesson in that.

And we all know that person or people in our lives that they always have an excuse for something. And there's always those people that are like, well, yeah, but this thing happened in my life five years ago. Or this thing is really pulling me back because of this. Or I wish I could do that, but there's this. And I'm sure you've heard the phrase before, but you can either find a way or you can find an excuse. and I think that for a lot of people, those are just crutches. And I think that if you can look for the beautiful things in every day, like your new friend, Ingrid, life is so much better.

Were there any particular moments in your own life when you were characterized more by the excuses you were making than by the actions you were taking? I'd like to think no. But I think back to college and I had, had the best time there. And I think that I allowed myself to just do what I needed to do

to get by in class, which was totally fine. But I think that there were times there where I probably could have done a lot more and turned some B pluses into A's or Bs into A minuses or whatever. But I just kind of weighed, you know, the situation. And I'm like, I think I'd rather have seven more

beers with my friends tonight. So I'll just do that one instead. So they're not excuses. It was just like, we have a choice in every moment. And I just chose like, I think I'd rather have some fun with my friends than to study tonight. So we'll just wing it tomorrow. I listen, I was the same exact way. And I think what it shows is that you can change and you can take remarkable action and you can use the moments in your life to make crazy changes. Right. Like for some people, it's like, I'm going to quit this job. For some people, it's like, I'm now in the real world, quote unquote, and I'm going to make this a different reality. Yeah. So it's like, and you use that change of like, all right, I went from college to now the real world. I want the real world to be fun and enjoyable every day to wake up. Yeah.

And using those moments in your life that are changes to really create a remarkable life changes as well, whether it's moving to new city or like a new job. Yeah. Make those moments different. Yeah, and we all have the choices in front of us every single day to do, you know, are you choosing to do something that's going to get you closer to your dream? Or are you choosing something on the flip side that's going to get you further away or just keep you in the same spot? And I think that there's some people that have these incredible dreams and goals and aspirations, but they're really scared of starting. They're scared of taking that first step because they're either scared of failure. and some people are even scared of success. And I just think like you got to lean into it.

You have to start. I'm sure people reach out to you all the time. Like, Danny, I see what you're doing. Your podcast is so great. Look how many cool people you've talked to and how many episodes you've done? How can I do that? The funny thing is, and Gary V always talks about this,

like, I can tell you all the things, but are you actually going to do it? Like, I can tell you all the things you need to do, but it's a good chance you're not actually going to do it. I say to people, you just got to start. Yeah. Well, you were starting at such an early age. Age four, you had the microphone in your hand and you were pretending to be an announcer. And it's just like, I also think it's worth pointing out. Like, sometimes we're not starting because that thing that we're doing is for external reasons. Sometimes we're not starting because we're fearful of doing the thing that we were here and called to do. But it's like, maybe you shouldn't, maybe I shouldn't start fishing. Maybe like, because it's not interesting. to me or compelling in this moment. You take me fishing, that changes.

But it's like thinking about what are the things that you were compelled to do as a child? And really say to yourself like, should I go that direction? Should I? And thinking about that. People always say like, oh, you just got to follow your passion. You just got to do what you're passionate about. Which is easy if you know what you're passionate about.

But there's a whole lot of people that have no clue what their passion is. And for those people, I say, just lean into the things that make. you feel good. And for some people, it's singing or it's dancing, or maybe it's art, or maybe it's programming, or whatever it happens to be. We now live in a world where there's a way to monetize everything. So if you were to look at, you know, the most prolific singers or dancers or performers right now, chances are they'd have a similar story when they were four years old, dancing or singing just because they thought it was fun and just because it juiced them and energized them inside.

And that's what passion is. It's that thing that makes you go, really glad I did that today. Yeah. And also, I would encourage people to ask themselves, what is making you cringe? If you're in that position of not doing the thing that you want to be doing, for me, when people put themselves out there, that made me cringe. Why did that make me cringe? Because that's the thing that in my heart, I wanted to do.

But I didn't have the courage to look at myself and be like, you're not doing that. You're in college and you're drinking beers instead of putting yourself out there. any way. So, like, if you're in that place of, like, not knowing, look at what makes you cringe and ask yourself if there's something more there. I think that find somebody who's doing the thing that you want to do and figure out what their path is. I love reading bios. It's something I did a lot when I was in college. Even if it's just like the short one paragraph bios, I would start to see similarities. Oh, you joined that club. That's interesting. Oh, they went to school for that thing. That's cool. And I think that you start to see a lot of similarities.

and you can start to apply them to your own life. Have you read the profile? It's Polina Maranova Pompliano's newsletter. Have you heard of it? No. You always give me so many great recommendations. That Oprah book you gave me? The best.

I want another one like that. I got you for your birthday this year. Oh, wow. And for your child's coming. But yeah, she covers different biographies of different people. She reads all these biographies. She reads profiles.

And then every week, she puts out, these are the top profiles that I read. And she also has a book coming out called Hidden Genius where she's decoding all of these profiles. So very much up your eye. You should have her on the podcast. Brilliant lady. Sign me up.

Sounds great. Yeah. It's right up in alley. Yeah. And it's like, how can we like learn from the people who are the best in their field? And that's what you do so eloquently. I just think that there's a lot to be learned there.

And it's just so unfortunate that there's a very big section of people that will look at a successful person and go, that could never be me. Why not? Why couldn't it be you? At what point did you give up on your dreams? And I speak about this

when I have the honor to be on stage. And it's the idea of like when we're a kid, everybody has asked the same question. You know it. What do you want to be when you grow up? And then something happens, something shifts where that one question that you ask to other adults

when you become an adult is, oh, what do you do? And you're defined by just the occupation that you have. And a lot of times it doesn't even say anything about who you are. Like if you say, what do you do? And you're like, oh, I bag groceries at Trader Joe's. Well, that just tells me what your occupation is. It doesn't tell me like anything about you and what do you want to be. And I think that a lot of that stems from what questions are you asking yourself?

and people aren't asking great questions of themselves in the day to day, in the week to week, month to month, in the year to year. And I think a really good one is what we were just talking about. What excites you? What excites you every day? And then I'd ask, you know, then you should ask yourself, when was the last time you did that thing that excites you? For a lot of people, it's like, oh, wow,

I really haven't ridden my bike in a while or really haven't played tennis or whatever it happens to be. I really haven't played my guitar in a while. Why do you think we do that? Why do you think sometimes we know what excites us, but we don't give ourselves the gift of actually doing it? That's a great question, especially the way you phrase it, because it is a gift. I think that the excuse a lot of people use is, I just got too busy. But it's amazing to me that how you can be so busy, but if that thing that you really want to do pops up, you somehow find the time to do it,

You're so busy, but magically you found an hour or two. There's a law. It's called Parkinson's Law. You know what I'm talking about. Or the task that you have will take the allotted time that you give it. So if you give it eight hours, it'll take eight hours to do. If you give it four, it'll somehow magically take four hours. Yeah.

And the lesson there is like compressing the amount of time that you give yourself to do something that excites you. Instead of saying, I'm going to do something that excites me this year, say like, this day or this hour, I'm going to put down this podcast or do it right now. Yeah. Right? Like, figure out a way to make the amount of time that you are going to, a lot to something that you enjoy doing in the as close to the present moment as possible. Yeah. And I would say to anybody who's listening to this right now or watching this right now, do that thing that you love today. Yeah.

For even just five minutes. Yeah. Just do that thing. and remember how that makes you feel. Who's inspiring you right now? You're inspiring me right now. For sure. You're inspiring me the fact that you're chasing after this.

It was set so much of what I did and what I still do of looking for the yes in every situation, which your podcast is continuing to grow. I know that you have that specific goal of impacting a million people every month. And you're on your way. And I'm really excited for you about that. So you inspire me as we sit here right now.

I'm just inspired also just by greatness. Like I've always been a football fan. I'm so cool watching the Super Bowl yesterday and seeing the people who are the very best in the world at this. I'm inspired by greatness and seeing people who like excel at things like that. Like Tom Brady blows me away with not just the fact that he's the best in the world,

but the fact that he's 45 and just wrapped up the greatest career as a football player. And he spent more than half his life doing this thing. Like, I'm really inspired by people who look to be one percent better. Like, they're already so good. And they look to just get one percent better than everyone else. Why do you think that hits you at such a deep level?

Because I think that that's within all of us. Tom Brady had this brilliant docu series on Facebook watch, which I don't think a lot of people watched, unfortunately. It's called Tom versus Time. and it was the first real look behind the scenes at his life and his family life. And there was a moment in that that I'll never forget. He's with his quarterback coach. And he's in the offseason like throwing perfect spirals.

And the quarterback coach goes, people don't come to me to get a lot better. They come to me to get 1% better. And I went, wow, Tom Brady, the greatest of all time, is trying to get 1% better at this stage in his career. Man, what am I doing in my life? What do you actually do to get 1% better after 20 years in the business and doing interviews? And like, what does that equivalent look like for you at this stage?

I think it's to look at people who are really crushing it in this industry. And it's to constantly do it. And I think one of the hardest things with doing podcast and interviewing content creation is to go back and watch your old stuff. And if you can't go back and watch your old stuff and cringe a little bit, like, ooh, could have asked that a little bit better. Could have certainly approached that topic a little nicer. If you're not doing that, you're not heading in the right direction. Well, I'm so upset that YouTube took out the oldest to newest feature. Did you notice that on YouTube?

There used to be a way to sort by oldest to newest, and I would always go back and see the people and how they operated and now it's gone. So I just have to scroll back. Yeah, you're right. It's just newest and popular. I didn't even think about that. I don't know why they took that away, but YouTube, if you're listening or watching, please put that back because people need to see the journey. And we need to put on a pedestal the layers of paint that people are brushing. Because I watched an interview you did.

I think it was either with Bobby Lashley or Rampage Jackson back in the day. Yeah, Bobby Lashley. It's quite the hair I had. Exactly, the hair. And it's just unbelievable to see how you could see the talent in you, but it wasn't fully developed. And it's so cool to be like, oh, that's what Chris was like back in the day.

This is how he was approaching. This was his diction. And it's like, well, if you don't have oldest to newest, you can't really sort. You have to go and search that and we'll put it below because we want, we want people to see, look at how talented this man is today. And look at how you could kind of see that in the beginning. But the progression of all the years, that's what really made the difference.

If you're not inspired by Mr. Beast's first YouTube video, by Joe Rogan's first podcast episode, by Tom Brady's Combine, by Oprah's first episode of her show, if you're not inspired by that to think like, okay, there's something there that really needs to be shined up here. If you're not inspired by that, then I don't know what's going on in your life.

You should see that and go, oh, man, they started somewhere too. And if they can get that much better, I could get that much better. Absolutely. You like to end your podcast with things you're grateful for. I like to end these podcasts with challenges for the audience. A challenge goes to the place where you think that from everything we've talked about or something we haven't, somebody should take this conversation and do something with it in their own life.

Does a challenge come to mind from anything we've spoke about or anything we've happened? I feel like we already put it out there. So you made it easy for me. Thank you. I think it's to do something today that you love. Do something today that you're passionate about. Do something today that you are passionate about that maybe you haven't done in six months, six years, 16 years.

I don't know, depends on how long it's been. Because I think that those things, you know, how often do you buy the guitar, play it for a few years, and then just throw it away in the closet? And I interviewed Terry Fader, who, want America's Got Talent. And he's a ventriloquist and so insanely talents. And he's back on America's Got Talent now.

He has a show in Vegas. It's very popular. And he talked about how if the guitar goes back into the closet, if the microphone goes back into the closet and you want to be a singer, if the camera goes back into the closet, you want to be a content creator, the dream does die.

But if you constantly do that every single day, You play guitar just five minutes a day, every day. Think of how much better you'll be in a year or in five years. And I think that it's so important to not let that dream die. Even if you don't want it to be a career, just don't let that dream die. Let that still be a part of who you are. Chris Van Vleet, ladies and gentlemen, the man, the myth, the legend. Find him at Chris Van Vleet on Instagram, Twitter, at chris.

dot van Vleet on TikTok. Insight with Chris Van Vleet is where you should check him out on the podcast. I'm really so grateful for you. You crush this. You are the man and I'm so immensely grateful for you for making this a reality.

You're a legend. You are the man, the myth, the legend, Danny Miranda. And congratulations to you. And I like how you don't take no for an answer or you will find your way to make yourself available to somebody.

and there are so few people out there that will do this. So I'm excited because you're going to get a million downloads a month. It's just going to take time. And I truly think that podcasting is a long game. You've been in it for a while. You're just getting started. So I'm excited to see what's next for you. Appreciate you so much.

Thank you so much for having me on here. My pleasure. Man, what a great conversation. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Danny as much as I did. And now that the episode is almost done, we got like, what, 40 seconds left? here. Go check out the Danny Miranda show wherever you're listening to this right now. And check him out on social media. He's at, hey, Danny Miranda. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And I think you could probably tell from this interview here that Danny is very, very talented at what he does. And he's 300 and change

episodes into what he's doing right now, 352 episodes as I sit here right now and record this. He has a really bright future as a podcaster and kind of like taking you a little bit behind the scenes here, peeling back the curtain just a little bit. Danny moved from New York to Austin to chase this dream of becoming a podcaster. And I love that. I love how dedicated he is to this. And I mentioned it during this interview, but I see a lot of like me early on in my career and the passion that I had, not that I don't have passion now, but like it was the idea that if someone were to say yes, that I'd be like, oh, that's it. That's all I need. I'm going to chase a after this now. And I see so much of that in Danny. And I'm grateful that in my own life,

that that passion and that excitement and that drive has gotten me to where I am now. And I hope will continue to take me to where I want to go. But I'm so excited to see where Danny's at in 352 more episodes from here. And then has he approaches episode 1000 and so on and so on. But I hope that you enjoyed this. Thank you so much for being on this one. And I tweet, We did this out. It's such a simple thought, but it really seemed to resonate with a lot of people. Honey, you guys were replying to it and retweeting it. And I just think that it's something that a lot of people may need to hear on this Tuesday. Well, the episode's coming out on Tuesday, but you could be listening to it at any point in time. You are closer to your dreams than you think. You are closer to your dreams than you think.

Don't give up now. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one. It's Chavo Guerrero joining us on Thursday's episode of Insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do with rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. The spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be?

Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.