Insight with Chris Van Vliet - What Do You Want To Do Before You Die? Ben Nemtin On The Importance Of Living Your Purpose

Episode Date: July 22, 2022

Ben Nemtin (@bennemtin) is a bestselling author, entrepreneur and co-creator of the hit MTV series "The Buried Life". He joins Chris Van Vliet from his home in Marina del Rey, CA to talk about the importance of living without regret, how he and 3 of his friends started The Buried Life movement, how to find your purpose, his new Bucket List Journal, how he played basketball with President Obama, had a beer with Prince Harry and more! Check out Ben's Bucket List Journal here: https://bucketlistjournal.co/ 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 Create a beautiful website for your podcast is just 5 minutes: https://www.podpage.com/?via=cvv 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 going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bleas! It is awfully good to see you. Welcome to another audio adventure on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet, and I know this one is going to light a fire in you. If you remember the MTV series called The Buried Life about 10 years ago, Ben Nempton was one of the guys on the show.

It was him and three of his friends traveling around the country on this adventure to cross things off their bucket. They had a hundred things they wanted to do before they die. And some of those things are things you'd never think could be possible. Like play basketball with President Obama or have a beer with Prince Harry. They actually did accomplish both of those, by the way. And every time they did accomplish something, they would help a stranger cross something off their bucket list.

And this is just a really inspiring conversation and makes you think about how you spend your days and your weeks and your months. So before we go any further, please make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on any episodes that we have. And if you like this,

snap a screenshot and tag us. Ben is at Ben Nempton. I'm at Chris Van Vleet, and let's do it. This is me and Ben Nempton. There's just something about seeing another Canadian, especially down here in L.A. being successful,

it just makes you go, ah, you're one of us. I know, I know. Yeah, it's so good. good. It's so good. I was just back home last weekend in Vancouver, Victoria, went to the Gulf Islands and explored some of those, like, there's a beautiful islands between Vancouver and Victoria. And, yeah, it was good to be back. But, you know, never fear. Canadians are everywhere. They really are. But I feel like when I'm, I was also just home last weekend as well.

Yeah. And I'm like, you know, while I'm here, I've got to tick a few things off of my Canadian bucket list. Or just like the visited home bucket list. Okay, yeah. Tim Hortons, of course. Swiss chalet. Yep. And I took the go train into Toronto. Yeah.

Those are like, just got rid of some loonies on the train. That's right. Yeah. My dog's name is Luna. They call her loony. Yeah. Which is so funny to me because, you know, it's unintentionally the tie into Canada. Yeah.

Yeah. That's a beautiful thing. It is. How was being home for you? It was wonderful. I mean, you know, my sister just had a baby. She actually lives in L.A. as well. But we all went back and saw my parents.

And then all my closest friends from college, I went to University of Victoria, which is in Victoria, BC. A lot of them live in Vancouver. So we organized a tennis tournament on Salt Spring Island, which is one of the islands. And so for whatever reason, you know, all of my friends got so into tennis over the pandemic. I just fell in love with tennis. It was like paddle tennis was my gateway drug into tennis. Like pickleball? Yeah.

So in Venice Beach, it's not pickleball. It's actually now called pop tennis, which is a basically. basically just little tennis with a tennis ball, but it's punctured. And the racket is like a thicker sort of, it's like a paddle racket, but it has holes in it. And it's just easier tennis. So it kind gets you into the paddle sports. I feel like you're one of those people that when you get into something, you just dive all the way in and you're like, I'm going to be the best of this. Yeah. Well, I definitely, you know, if I find something that I love, it's like it's, I can't not do it as much as I can. And tennis, I think, too, is it's meditated.

I feel like it's the perfect sport because you're outside, so you get, you're in the sun. It's, it's, you get that hit of being with friends and, you know, that aerobic workout, which is really good. And it's easier on your body, you know, I played basketball growing up. And anytime I play basketball when I'm older now, I just get like a broken nose or like a twist and ankle. I played rugby growing up because it's big on the West Coast. And I stopped that years ago, thank God. So it just feels like a good older. person kind of sport.

You can play it until you're 60, 70, 80. And many people do. Yeah. That and golf. Yeah. Like the two, like I don't think you can be playing like tackle football into your 60s and 70s and 80s. Yeah.

Maybe. I don't know. Yeah. Some people do, but yeah, not me, not today. I remember seeing the buried life for the first time and going, yes, like that's me. Like, I want to do that. And, you know, I have done a lot of, not maybe not the things you had on your list, but a lot of things where I was like,

that's a big, massive idea, and I just want to go out there and chase after it. Have you always been that type of person? I think when I started to surround myself with friends that inspired me, it made me want to do more. So I had this sort of moment where, actually, in university, I hit quite a low

where I dropped out of school because I got really depressed, because I put so much pressure on myself to succeed. And so I was on the U-19 national rugby team and I had a scholarship to university and we were training for the World Cup and I was just, I was so worried about missing a kick at the World Cup because I played fly half and I would think about it at night

and I would lose sleep and I got anxious and I stopped going to school, I stopped going to practice. I just was totally shut into my parents' house and I never, this was like my first mental health crisis and when you go through your first, you know, mental health crisis, you think you're totally screwed up. Like you don't know that this sometimes is a part of life and that other people are actually going through similar struggles.

But when you're 1920, you don't want to talk about it. You have no idea what's going on. You think you're totally screwed up. You think you're losing everything. And so I just kept spiraling down. But one of the things that pulled me out of it was literally my friends pulled me out of the house and brought me to work in a new town for the summer after I dropped out of school. and in that new town, I started meeting young people that had, like, started their own businesses

or they'd traveled, and they were these kids that were really inspiring. And so I was starting to feel back to myself. I was talking about what I was going through. I realized I wasn't the only one that was going through these struggles. And, but I was like, okay, these kids gave me energy. And so, like, I need to be around people that give me energy because I was low. And so I made this conscious decision. I was like, okay, I'm going to try and only surround myself with people that inspired me.

And that led me to calling this kid from my neighborhood named Johnny, who was a filmmaker. He just was a kid that I knew from the neighborhood. And I was like, I want to make a movie. So I called him up. And that's what started the whole buried life road trip was one, the intention of being like, I'm going to surround myself with kids that give me energy and inspire me. Yeah. And the more that I did that, I think you talked about this with Hal in the interview that you just did,

was like when you see your friends achieve great things, you just, by osmosis, you feel like you can do great things. So you don't even need to consciously think that you can, but because you know them and you know that they're not much different than you because they're your friend, you, instead of thinking, wow, they're better than me, you think, huh, I wonder what I could do. And so the more that I leaned into those relationships with people that inspired me,

the more I felt like I could achieve, and therefore the more I proved to myself that I could achieve those things, and it was sort of, that was the snowball effect. And I think one of the big takeaways here is energy is contagious, whether it's positive energy or it's negative energy, but whatever you surround yourself with

does start to affect you. Yeah, 100%. And I think that that is what I've started to understand, too, just in terms of, you know, like success, is like, can you continually be energized by your days, by the things that you're doing? And I think that that really is purpose. Instead of thinking about purpose as this big, elusive mountain that you need to climb, like, what is my purpose in life?

I think we have multiple purposes. And it could be spending time with your kids. It could be climbing Everest, right? It doesn't need to be a huge goal or huge. purpose. I just think that as long as you are fueled by this thing, then that is part of your purpose. And if you can identify what those things are and then not let the day-to-day get in the way, which typically is what happens, which ironically is the name of the poem that inspired this whole journey is called The Buried Life, which talked about this exact same thing 150

years ago, which effectively is we get inspired and then the day-to-day buries them. And, you know, we get swept up and we push these personal passions and things that really fuel us. And so I think that paying attention to your energy, whether it's people that you're with, like, if I meet someone, I know right away if I love them, right? Like, you can just, you feel it. And I think that if you can find those people in your life, and hang out with their friends because usually like-minded people. And you can kind of lean into those friendships

and I think that they're going to fuel you and really fuel what you believe is possible. I think that so many people are busy being busy. And just busy like checking things off of their daily to-do list or I like to call the get-to-do list, but just busy being busy every single day. And those things that they wanted to accomplish five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago,

become exactly what you're talking about. They just become buried. Yeah. And I think it's human nature, you know. And in fact, like, if you look at the research, you know, so there's this psychologist named Tom Gillivich, who is a professor at Cornell. And he asked people on their deathbed. And also, Bronny Ware, who's worked in, I believe, hospice. She also wrote a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dine.

And both her book and Tom Gilvich's research, they both point to the same issue, which is that when Tom Gilvich asked people on their deathbed, what is your single biggest regret in your entire life? 76% of the people he asked had the exact same answer. And that was not living my life for me. So living for what I thought others wanted for me or what was expected of me. And I think the problem is, is that a lot of times we're living a life that's not for us. And we don't even realize it. We don't even know it that we're living for other people.

It's sort of subconscious. You know, we're living this life where we feel like this is the path for us. Or, you know, maybe it's not like our parents said, you need to do this. But it was just we feel like this is what we ought to do. So he calls it you live your ought life instead of your ideal life. And so when I heard that statistic, I was like, that's a huge problem. Like that feels like the biggest problem. Imagine living your life, getting to your deathbed and reflecting and being like,

Jesus, like, I totally blew it. And you only get one shot. Yeah, you only get one shot. Yeah. So for someone that's looking to find their purpose, where do you think that journey begins for them? I think it's looking at, as I said, the energy. like what fuels you? So what are you curious about or what excites you when you think about it?

And then I think it's really important to write those things down because if you, when you, it feels like a small thing, but when you write down your goals, you take this intangible thought and you make it real. So now you have a reminder that it exists. And that actually creates a bit of accountability because now it's in front of you. And as you get buried by the day to day, you come back to your list, right? And it reminds you of what's important to you. I think it's also important to write things down because it forces you to slow down and actually think about what's important to you. You're talking about physically writing things down. Not like an iPhone note. Yeah, I think needs to be something physical that you actually, even more so than a piece of paper, like a journal

or something that you keep, that you can treasure so that it sort of like keeps your dream safe so that over time you come back to it, you update it over time, and you have this place where you know that these things live. You know, but I think even, I think everyone's different. So it could be a Post-it note

that you put on the edge of your computer or on your fridge, you know, something, anything that you can do to create accountability. Because what Tom Gilvich, the psychologist, found is that the reason why we have these regrets is because there's no deadlines. And we have deadlines for everything else.

else in our life. But with our personal goals, there's no deadline. So we just, we say, oh, let's do it next week. Let's push it. Like, I got a, I got a fire to put out at work or we got to do this for, for the kids, or let's push it to next year. And we continually do that because we think we have all this time. But in reality, three quarters of the population realized that they're out of time. And so how can we create accountability around our personal goals? Well, you can write down your goals. That creates a bit of accountability. But we can also talk about our goals because when I share my goals, I feel accountable to the people I share them with. Like if I, if in this interview, I say like, you know what? You say, what's your big goal this year? And I say, I'm going to write a book.

Yeah. And you're like, that's amazing. And then I run into six months later you're like, oh, how's the book coming? Right. And I'm like, shit, I better start writing that book. And on the flip side, if you say, my goal this year is to lose 30 pounds. And then you start posting all these Instagrams about the donuts you're eating. Yeah. You know, hopefully your followers go, Chris, what happened? What happened to the 30 pounds you were losing? Exactly. Like, if you share with your community, you share with your friends, you know, you're going to, you're going to have this fear of looking bad. So it's interesting. So the, so the first thing that stops us is there's no deadline. So we've got to create accountability. So that's writing down your goal, sharing your goals.

If you have an accountability buddy that checks in with you, you're 77% more likely to achieve your goal. So like if I say, I'm going to write a book and I'm going to send you an update at the end of every month of where I'm at. That is huge. That's why when you train for a marathon with a partner, you don't feel like training, they're going to get you out of bed and vice versa. So if you can, if you can find that accountability, buddy, it's huge. The second problem is that usually we're waiting to feel inspired to go after these goals. Like you see, there's a guitar sitting in the corner. I got that at the beginning of the pandemic. I'm just waiting to feel inspired, to pick up and play, but I haven't, right? But you have to create your own inspiration through

action. You haven't picked that guitar up at all? Well, it's a little bit. Not much. I don't, like, if you ask me to play, I won't. I could play you G, C, and D. There you go. That's like every song. Yeah, that's better than me. And so...

But the inspiration's not just going to, boom, just hit you. No, but once you pick up the guitar and you start playing, you start to feel inspired. So, you know, instead of just waiting to feel inspired, you create your own inspiration. Yeah. And a lot of that is, is, it's like we overplan with these, with these goals. We're waiting for the perfect time. And then we forget that action is a plan. Right. So just by moving, moving, you create

your own momentum and that's your play. That's always been our plan. Like, we had no idea how we're going to play basketball with Obama or, you know, have a beer with Prince Harry or like do these stupid, crazy, audacious goals. But we just did the first thing that we could think of, which was like, we want to play basketball to Obama? We better drive to D.C. You know? And so I think that you create that momentum and that really starts to fuel you. And then the third thing that stops us is really just the fear of what other people think or the fear of failure. And that's the biggest, you know. And so you can flip that, though, when you share your goals because you can use that fear to your advantage. Because if I share this is the thing that I want to do, I don't want to look bad. So I can use that as a driver.

Right. And so that's always like a good thing to try and, use this thing that doesn't go away, this fear and use it to propel you. You've become like the expert on this. And it's funny how like your career has now become like you being the expert on like checking things off your bucket list and making sure things happen. Clearly didn't start that way though, right? No. But now you're like when I was depressed.

No, totally. But even when you started like, even when you started a list of your own, you've now become like the foremost expert on this and you speak all around the world about it. Yeah, and it's been a very unusual journey, you know. I think that like what started as a two-week road trip with my three friends and I in Victoria, where we just rode a bucket list and decided we're going to go hit the road and crossings off our list and help other people. And we're going to make a little movie. What was the first thing you crossed off by the way?

The first thing was be a night for a day. Like medieval times? Yeah, yeah. So we got a full suit of armor in Victoria, BC. and I was able to get it on loan for free. And basically, we went downtown Victoria. We called all the local media. We got a big stunt that we're going to film.

And they all showed up because there was really nothing going on in Victoria. And I was dressed in this suit of armor, but I was so, it was so heavy. And I couldn't walk in it. And I walked out of the RV and all the cameramen and women were there because there was nothing going on in Victoria. So they were all there to film this thing. and there was this little boy that walked up with a plastic sword, and he literally came up to me and didn't say anything

and just dropped down on one knee, and I knighted him. Completely unplanned. Yeah, and then all these kids started coming out of nowhere. I started knighting all these kids. And so we ended up making the front page of the newspaper that day. And that's what kicked off the momentum of people like starting to hear about this journey and wanting to help. And that was what was really unexpected.

Have you read the book, The Third Door? Yes, I have. Yeah, that's my good friend Alex Benign. I'm actually in that book. That's right. Yeah. I just recently read that book and it's so similar to your story of like, this thing that leads to this thing leads to this thing and this person knows this person that knows this person. And that feels like your entire journey. Yeah. And Alex is like, he's such an amazing guy. I met him when he was 19 and he was just starting that journey. And, you know, talk about energy. You know, he just has this infectious energy. And it's, it's a similar approach where it's just, you don't know how you're going to make it happen. All you know is that there's this one step that you can take. And after that, you'll figure out the next step and the next step and so on. So it's important. And I think that this is the thing that scares a lot of people is they see a gigantic goal in front of them. And they go, I could never climb Mount Everest. You go, well, you can if you just take the first step.

And then after you take the first step, you've got to take the next step. And then you've got to take the next step after that. Yeah. And I think that one of the things that I never really understood was that power of momentum. And also that you actually don't know what's possible until you're doing it.

Yes. You know? So you can't even, how can you plan if you can't even imagine how you're going to get there? Yeah. And so I think that that is something that stops a lot of people because you're like, well, I can't even picture myself doing that. And that's where the roadblock, you know, you hit that roadblock.

Yeah. And then I think that if you can picture yourself doing it, you can then reverse engineer your way back to where you are. And so many people just never start. Yeah. Because it's, it's, that's where the fear stops you. And I think that once you like, so we were just kind of young, dumb, and broke enough to like prove to ourselves that these things were possible. You know, and I think that young naivete is so important to keep because it, you know, you're young so you don't, you don't have much to lose.

You're dumb, so you don't actually know how hard it's going to be. And you're broke. So, you know, again, you just don't have anything to lose and you're just scraping together whatever you can. And so if you're able to keep that youthful energy, of course, as you get older, you have more to lose and there's more risk. But it's, it's that, it's that youthful energy that kind of is like, I'm going to try. this. And if it doesn't work, then what do I really have to lose? And when you look at the fear, you look at like, what are the real risks and what are the imagined risks? And so that's what I think is important. So a phrase I really like is vague goals, give vague results. It's the idea that, like,

specific goals then get specific results. When you look at this list of yours, like it's very specific. Like, you really dialed this in, I feel like. Yeah. Well, I think, and also, I mean, in the beginning, unintentionally, but now that I've looked more at the, so the research behind goal achievement, it is very important to write a goal that's measurable, you know, that's like those smart goals. So you want to know when you've achieved it. So, you know, it's not get healthier. It's run three times a week for five miles or something that you know, okay, I've achieved that. It's not lose some weight this year. It's lose X amount of pounds by a certain date. Exactly. Specific things like that.

Yeah. And so I think when you're, I do also think that it's important when you think about your list. It couldn't be daunting just to look at a blank page and be like, okay, what are all the things that I want to do in my life that I won't regret when I die, you know? So, and when I used to think about a bucket list, I would really gravitate towards those cliche bucket list. items like travel, adventure, skydive, travel to Europe. And those are obviously great list items. But I think that my definition of a bucket list is really a little, it's going to reflect who you

truly are. So that means it's going to reflect all the categories of your life. So you want to think about your travel and adventure goals, but you also want to think about what are your, how do you want to give back? Like what are your giving goals? What are your physical health goals, mental health goals, creative goals, relationship goals. One of the top five regrets of the dying is, I wish I would have stayed in contact with friends. So that doesn't cost any money. It's just picking up the phone, you know, meeting up with someone.

So you want to identify those relationships that mean something to you because you have to invest in those. That takes energy. So you want to write your relationship goals. You want to write your financial goals, professional goals. And so when you think about your life, list as a holistic reflection of those things that are truly important to you, and you can break them down like that, then you start to hopefully have this picture of all the things in

your life that are going to bring you joy and fulfillment that you know you need to prioritize. And you need to figure out a way not to forget about those things. And so that's different, you know, that will be different for everyone. Sometimes it's putting it in your calendar. Sometimes it's having accountability, buddy. and sometimes it's setting a reward. So when you achieve it, you get something that you're like, yes, I've done it. And now I get to have this reward, sharing it, you know, all those things.

But I think breaking it down into those 10 categories is helpful. What was the most ridiculous thing when you put it down on the list where you went, guys, I can't, I mean, we'll write it here, but this is stupid. I mean, it's funny because literally that that is the reaction I had when my friend called me when President Obama got elected and he said, we should put play basketball with the president on the list. And I was living in Victoria at my parents' house. And I laughed because I was like, this is the most impossible thing we could ever think of doing it. Are you doing? And on so many levels, too. Like, you didn't even live in America. You weren't American, aren't American.

Yeah. Yeah. And so it was a, and I laughed. And I thought, and my friend said, you know, wouldn't it be amazing? And I couldn't argue with that. And so we wrote it down. And I think about three or four years later, we were at the White House shooting hoops with Obama. So, I mean, that sounds so crazy that you're saying these words and it actually happened. What was like step one in that, I'm sure, 97-step journey to make that happen? Yeah. So I'll give you the 97-step journey very quickly. But step one was driving to D.C. and asking people on the street if they knew anyone.

No. Yeah, basically. Yeah, that was the first step. And it was kind of a dumb step. But what we learned quickly was that we could contact politicians' offices through their website. So then we started sending emails to anyone that had a publicly listed email on their website. And we would say, we're in D.C. We're trying to play basketball with the president to prove that anyone can do anything.

Most people ignored us. But there was a few lower-level officials that agreed to meet with us. And we ended up being able to meet with them. And we just stayed long enough until they agreed to talk with their boss. And we meet with their boss. And then we meet with their boss. And we got all the way up to the Secretary of Transportation of the United States who called the White House while we were in the room. No.

And then we got an email from the White House. And they were like, thank you for your inquiry. I'm sorry, we can't make it happen. And so we're like, well, we're not quite ready to give up. And while we're in D.C., we started gathering Intel. And we heard about these secret semi-regular basketball games that happened with the president. And he would shoot around and play hoops with like a couple senior officials. And the man that set up those games was his personal aid.

It was a guy named Reggie Love, and Reggie Love had played basketball at Duke. And so he was sort of the gatekeeper. He invited people to these games, and so we thought we're going after the wrong guy. Like, we got to get a hold of Reggie Love. Somehow managed to track down what we thought might be his email. And then we just started challenging him to basketball games. So we'd send him emails, being like, you and the present versus us tonight at the YMCA at 730, be there. And we'd show up and they weren't there.

We'd do it the next day. We did it for a week. And then finally, we've done everything we can think of. We've picketed it outside the White House with signs. We've left messages. We went to the Y where we thought Reggie Love worked out, couldn't find him. So we leave. And then I get a blocked call, and it's the personal light of the president.

And he's like, what's this? I keep hearing about you trying to play basketball against the president and I. And I explained to him the mission. And he was like, I think I can actually make this happen. I feel good about this. He's like, I got to run by the press team, though. So it calls back two weeks later. He's like, I talk with the press team.

it's not going to happen. And so he's like, but if you come back to D.C., let me know, maybe I can give you a tour. And so we were back in D.C., the personal lady of the president gave us a personal tour of the White House. He showed us the basketball, where there's a presidential seal on each who. There's a presidential basketball, and we're shooting around, and all of a sudden, we hear the president walk on the court. And he's like, hey, guys, I heard about what you're doing. I thought the least I could do is come down and shoot a basket with you.

And we didn't even think he was in town. And we were floored. And it was that moment that I talked about when you, like, this was something that there was no fiber in my being when we wrote this down that, that, that believed that this was possible. Like it was just, it was, it was a laugh. We were going to put it down just jokes, right? And here I was. And the only moment that I realized it was possible when I saw him walk on the court.

And then I had no, I could only believe that it was possible because I had proved. that it was possible. And so my whole belief system kind of changed. And I, and I, and I, and I thought, okay, well, I thought this was impossible and it happened. Um, therefore I, I guess anything is possible. Um, so moving forward when I face challenges, I don't think like, can I do this. It's more like, do I want to do this. Is this in line with who I am and what I want? Because I know I can do it. It's going to be a ton of work. So I want to make sure that this is aligned with, with my purpose, you know, does it fuel me, does it give me energy, and does it really mean something to me or am I doing

it for other people? But I think everybody has the ability to prove to themselves that those things are possible just by taking action and over time slowly showing. I mean, like the things that you have achieved when you came down here, I'm sure in your mind you didn't think that you would be here right now doing the interviews that you're doing, talking with the people that you're talking to. you, over time, slowly proved yourself that it was possible. And thank you for saying that, but you're right. It's like one thing builds on another that builds on another. And you go, well, if I, we'll use interviews, for example, if I interviewed this person,

well, that makes this person a little bit closer. And if I can get that person, then I could probably get that person. And the rock was at the very top for me for years and years and years. And now I've interviewed The Rock nine times. I was joking. Not that I'm counting or anything, but like, But I also, like, dressed up as the Rock for Halloween one year. Yeah, that's so cool. I would walk around my high school asking people questions just so I could shout,

it doesn't matter what you think. And then the Rock yelled that at me one day. And it's like, I think you're right. Like if you can do one thing, one small thing, it leads to like a medium-sized thing. And I'm curious, though, were you ready to take no for an answer from the White House? No. No, we weren't. No.

And I think that's something. that we, I say we, you know, like personally, I sometimes forget when I see people that have achieved great things, that I think that they're, they're smarter or they're better. And a lot of times, they are more talented. So that's why they, but they also, they've paired that with unbelievable persistence. Like, almost unimaginable person. Like when you talk with Kevin Hart gets up every day, 4.30 a.m. works out for an hour and a half.

When he's filming, he does it twice. Like, I don't, I don't know anybody that does that. And the reason is, because I guess I don't know superstars. Like, you have to have that type of drive and work ethic and persistence to achieve these things. And I think that you just can't underestimate the power of persistence. Yes. Because I think, because most people give up. And it's a numbers game, man.

It's a numbers game. Like trying again and again. with authenticity, with creativity, and heart. You know, I think over time, you're just going to win. If you're a good person, you do what you say you're going to do, and you know, you approach these problems in a bit of a different way, you know, like, I'm sure there were millions of people that were trying to meet the president.

And I'm sure there were hundreds of people, maybe thousands of people, but less that were trying to play basketball with the president. But there probably weren't that many people that were standing outside the White House wearing basketball uniforms from the 1970s with signs saying, number 95, play basketball with the president, like, help us cross this off our bucket list. You know, I'm sure there weren't that many people that were going to the YMCA, you know, looking for people that worked in the White House to try and pitch them this idea that they

want, like. So, but the creativity is, is what cuts through the noise, you know. It's like that, there's that, I don't know if it's a parable or it's true, but it's, you know, there's a story that someone trying to get a job and it keeps getting denied and can't even get an interview and finally sends the CEO of the company a gift, you know, a package. And in the package is a shoebox and in the shoe box is a shoe. And there's a note that says, now I've got my foot in the door. Yeah.

Can I get an interview? You know, and it's those, that, I think that creativity is what, but the person on the other side respects, because you've got to imagine, anyone that you're trying to get a hold of, and Alex Ben I will tell you about this as well, like they've been where you are, right, for the most part. Like some people have things handed to them or whatever,

but like for the most part, they started out and they were just trying to figure it out. And someone was a mentor, someone gave them a shot, someone was there for them. And so if you're continually, you know, approaching them in a sort of a creative way. So it gets their attention and you're respectful and you're honest.

You know, eventually someone's going to reach out and grab your hand. And I think most importantly, those people don't give up too. And like I think that unfortunately, especially in this world of social media that we live in right now, people just see the finished product. And they don't see all the hard work that went into whatever it is, playing the sport or being an author or an actor, or whatever it happens to be. They just see the finished product and go, it must be nice.

I wish I could do that. Well, that person also wished they could do it. The difference says they actually did. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think that it's just brick by brick. You know, at the end of the day, it takes a lot of work to achieve the things that are important to you. But the truth is, a year from now,

you're going to wish you started today. What's that old parable or that old Chinese proverb? It's like the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. Yeah. The second best time was today. I love that quote. Yeah. Me too.

Yeah. It's because it's so true. And we've all experienced it where we think, you know what? I'm too late. And then a year later, you look back and like, damn it, I wish I would have started. And it's the reality is it's never too late to be what you might have been. Right. And so that, you know, when I'm speaking to crowds, it's like I'm talking with people in their 70s.

And they're like, I'm going to start my list. So it's never too late to start to go after those things that are going to fill you up. So how can someone begin today? What are like the first three things they can do to begin today? Step one, write your list. you know if you need a framework to write your list my new book the bucket list journal walks you through yeah thank you um and it's this is beautiful too i don't even know if i'd want to write it in it's so good yeah no that's great yeah i wanted to be nice you know so you wanted to keep it and i like this you open it

right up and it's like impossible as possible is what it says here and it's like yes yeah you're living breathing proof of that yeah thank you yeah this was a labor of love for sure um but i just I just modeled after, you know, one, sort of the science behind goal achievement and some of the research that I talked about. So the whole journal is designed to get you over those three barriers, create accountability, create inspiration through action, move through fear. And you write your list in those 10 categories. So I would say, first things first, write your list. If you want to, if you can't get the journal, but you want to look at the 10 categories, you can go on Amazon or you can go on the bucket list journal website and look at those 10 categories, use them as a guide.

and then a good exercise, I think, is to look at your list and imagine that you come across the magic lamp and you rub the magic lamp and then a genie pops out and Jeannie says, congratulations, I just saw you wrote your list. I'm going to make one of them come true. I'm going to make one of your list items come true. But there's a catch. As soon as I make this one list item come true, you can never cross anything that you just wrote down. So you never be able to achieve anything else that you wrote on your list. So what do you choose? So that's the most important list item, right?

And I would suggest starting there, you know, moving towards that one thing that is so important to you. And a lot of times those things don't actually involve money. You know, again, coming back to Bronny Ware's top five regrets of the dying, I wish I would have stayed in contact with old friends. I wish I would have worked less. I wish I would have let myself be happier. I wish I would have lived for me, not other people.

And of course, I forgot the fifth one, so you have to look at the journal. But, you know, a lot of these things have little to do with money. So it's just this inertia that we have to build. So you identify like one or two things that you want to start moving towards. And then I would say, write three things you can do in the next 48 hours. So what are the smallest things that you can do? do ask someone for help you know can you um make a phone call book the trip you know whatever it might be um do some research online and then i think you start to share those goals now you want to create

accountability so you've identified what's important you started to look at what are the things that you need to do to move yourself to create that inspiration and then it is creating the accountability around sharing it, getting accountability, buddy. And I think when you share your goal, so let's say coming back to me trying to play guitar, which is a complete failure, if I came to, I came to you and I said, you know, I want to learn the guitar. You'd be a pretty good person because you've, you played the guitar growing up. You sort of know how to play the guitar. You got those three chords. So you can teach me those three chords. I might know like eight chords. Right, right. So So you're a pretty good person.

And then there's probably even someone better, though, that is really good at the guitar. So the point is, is like, be intentional with who you're sharing with so that they might be able to help you. So if I, let's say your list item is to write a book. And you want to think about, okay, who do I know that's written a book? Or who do I know that might know an author? And just put yourself out there. Ask for help. Because I'm always, the only way that we cross things off our list is through the help of other people.

We had no money. We had no means. You know, and I've always been so surprised how people step up in unexpected ways when you ask for help in an authentic, you know, open way. Yeah. I've spent a lot of my career doing interviews. I've interviewed so many incredible people. And I realized through that the power of questions, not just when you have a microphone in your hand, but just the power of questions in life. And it kind of boiled down for me that anything we have or don't have in our life is,

is the direct result of a question that we either have or haven't asked or maybe have or haven't asked in the right way. That's exactly what you're hammering home here. Yeah. Yeah. I think that it comes back to that fear of like, well, what is this person going to think, you know? And what if I get, you know, denied? And I think another thing that you start to understand is that those fears never go away. Right.

I look at them as taxes you have to pay. to achieve your goal. So you got to pay them to achieve something. So you look at, again, these people that are achieving great things, and you think, wow, they just don't feel that fear. They don't get staged right when they go up in front of people. Well, they do. They just know that that comes with the territory. And you're getting comfortable with being uncomfortable because when you feel that discomfort, that actually means that you're growing. That means that you're learning about yourself. And so, you know, I speak all the time, and I still get nervous. But I also understand that nervousness and anxiety and excitement, they're all very similar feelings. So when I'm nervous

for a talk, I think, wow, I must be pretty excited. This must mean something to me. And I can shift that anxiety into excitement because I realize that this is really important. So I'm probably excited to do it. So for people that didn't watch The Buried Life on MTV, first of all, you missed down. Big time. It's amazing. You were not only crossing things off your bucket list, you were also helping other people cross things off their bucket list. What were the main things you were seeing on other people's bucket lists? You know, a lot of them were around connecting with people that they've lost touch with, you know, reconnecting with a father or a friend. We actually did. We actually did, We did, you know, so we did two seasons, and in three episodes, we did two that were reconnecting

a father and son, and another one, which actually happened when we were in D.C. trying to play basketball with Obama, where we met two guys in their 60s who were looking at the monuments, and we asked them, what do you want to do before you die? And they said, oh, it's funny, we're actually doing it. We're friends from childhood. We haven't seen each other in 20 years. We've always wanted to visit the monuments, so this is we're doing it. And we said, oh, that's awesome.

Anything else? And they said, well, I guess it would be cool to reconnect with our other two friends that we haven't seen in 40 years who we all used to hang out with when we were kids. We'd go to the same. They was like a swimming hole on the East Coast, but basically it was on the coast where their families would hang out. They said, we haven't seen them in 40 years. So we tracked down those two other guys now in their 60s. And we secretly orchestrated a surprise where the two of them, surprise the other two at that swimming hole. Wow. And that's magic of television. Yeah,

right there. That's a great moment. Exactly. It was, it was pretty special because the four of us, we were them, right? They were us in 40, 50 years. So it was cool to see these guys in their 60s who hadn't seen each other in 40 years. And as soon as they saw each other, they immediately became kids again. And they were back to being 14, 13 years old, jumping in the water together, thrown mud at each other. You know, cannonball is the whole thing.

And what was especially powerful was one of the guys, about five, six years later, ended up passing away of cancer. And he wrote us an email saying that they continued to meet up after that meeting, every year. Wow.

And that that was some of the, you know, those were some of the moments he cherished. And again, coming back to those regrets that you have, and sometimes we just let the day-to-day sweep us up and we don't realize that,

you know, we're dying slowly. Right? And I think the, like, being able to really digest the fact that you're going to die is the biggest gift. And we, we got really lucky when we were younger, you know, Duncan, one of the guys in the buried life,

his friend passed away on a camping trip, on sort of a graduation trip. And so we were sort of faced with this death at an early age. And that's why we came up with the question, what do you want to do before you die, which really became the pillar of the project, which was the bucket list grew out of that question. right like our bucket list was the answers to what do you want to do before you die and you know as i reflect on the journey i'm like wow being able to really daily understand that your time is limited puts things it puts things in perspective and we just don't think about it like we see you know all the time i'll see someone in their 80s or 90s walking down the street maybe they're sort of shuffling along

and not for a moment do i think that will be me I just, I see it and I don't even think about it. And the only thing that we can count on is that that will be us, if we're lucky. We can't count on anything else in life. The only thing that we can count is that we're going to die. And we don't live like that, you know, and it's a problem because in the background minds, we think we have all this time. And that's why everyone dies with those regrets, because they think, well, we're going to,

I'm going to do that. You know, I'm going to do that next year. And so any way you can keep that, that idea that you are mortal, you know, close to the vest is important. But it's difficult, you know. But you hear it all the time, right? Like, as soon as, you know, my mom passed away, everything changed. My partner passed away.

Or I had a near-death experience, you know? I'm not saying I did, but you hear that. And then, so why does it take this traumatic, event to wake us up. Yeah, like shakes us to our core. I mean, that's the whole idea that Tim McGrath song. Love Like You Were Dying. Yeah.

And he lists all the things that he wish he had done with his dad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm curious what the first step to drinking a beer with Prince Harry was. That was actually oddly straightforward to get that done. We wrote, we, we, we, we, we, found somebody that knew a friend of his,

and he said, the best way to do this is to write a letter, and I'll put it in front of his, send it to his office. And so we wrote a letter. We said, we're going to be in London. We want to, you know, love to cross off. Were you actually going to be in London? We done, this time we were, although we have, I have done that many, many times.

That's how I got every job I've ever had. Totally. Could have been in Vancouver. I could just love to talk to you about the job. Yeah, exactly, exactly. That's a great tip. It's a great tip. Literally, no joke, how I've gotten every job in television I've ever had.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, or every girlfriend. I could be in Vancouver. Another great tip is if you want to sneak into any place, you dress out in an all black with a clipboard and a walkie-talkie, and then you just say that you're with the crew. That's how we snuck into the CMTs, Duncan asked out Taylor Swift. That's how we would get into different award shows. It was, yeah. Not only did Duncan ask out Taylor Swift, he actually went out.

Yeah. Twice, right? Twice, yeah, which was, wow, considering my attempt was a complete failure, well, I tried to ask out Megan Fox, and I just blew it, where I pretended to be a reporter and stuck onto the red carpet, and I was standing in the press line on the red carpet. Wow, which movie? This was Transformers.

Wow. Yeah, so this was like in the heyday of Megan Fox, and she was like, my girl. I wore a red velvet jacket, and I had a microphone just like this, and the cord was tucked into my pocket. But I did have a cameraman with me, and so I was just looking at the lineup of the,

and you'll understand this, because like, you know, every outlet has their spot on the carpet. Well, there was one that, I think it was us weekly, they didn't show up. So I was like, I'll just take this until they show up. Wow. And luckily they didn't show up. And so she came right in front of me,

and I started talking with her. And the first thing she said, I said, you know, my, I said, my, I said, my, I said, my first boyfriend's name is Ben. And that just threw me. I was shook. And so I was like, blah, blah, bad. And I started talking with her. But then before I asked her out, her publicist pulled her away.

So I didn't get to ask her out. It was a total failure. So Duncan made up for that next season. And he actually asked out Taylor Swift, we got him into the awards. It is not easy to sneak out of red carpet. No. I've worked many of them, and there's a lot of layers of security. especially when it's a big event like the Oscars or the Grammys or something like that.

Many events. We did it a couple times. It's just so funny because I think back to the CMTs. Our initial idea, which we tried, was to dress up Duncan like a fake country music star. And we called him Boone McCaw. And Boone McCaw, we also had, we had to, at this point, have disguises. Because, like, the CMT is owned by Viacom, which owned MTV. They knew, they heard that we were coming.

And so we had to disguise ourselves. We got mustaches, everything dressed up, Duncan like a fake country music star, got a horse and chariot. Dave dressed up like his guitar player named Patagonia with this crazy tassel jacket and a huge handlebar mustache. And again, I was wearing all black with a walkie-tockey and a wig, and I was kind of running beside the chariot being like, I'm the publicist, right?

But we also, we tweeted out to get a bunch of buried life fans to stand at the corner where, all the cops and security were to the entrance of the awards. And we made Boone McCaw T-shirts. We made fake covers of country music weekly or whatever with Duncan's face on it. And so we said as soon as you see this white horse and chariot pull up, go nuts. Right. And so they made a bunch of noise.

Cops let us through. We went up to the red carpet. They led us through. But one publicist recognized us. And they were like, buried life. You're out of here. So they kicked us out. And so we ended up getting Duncan in the back with the old all black and the walkie-talkie guy. I ended up getting in there and sneaking some of Kid Rock's passes giving it Duncan. So he went in and just walked right up to Taylor Swift. They was sitting there and passed for a note. And the rest, yeah, it was history.

Yeah. We've gone off the track of what the Harry, uh, the Prince Harry's story was. Yeah. So effectively, it's not as exciting. No, I feel like we could list off all, you know, 100 stories here. Yeah. So we wrote a letter and they passed it to his office. And, uh, And that was that. He accepted it. Yeah. We met him in this secret bar sort of, you know, in London. We ended up actually having a dinner with him, um, spent like the evening. And he was very, very cool and very philanthropic. He, you know, he's just a super genuine guy. And that was, uh, that was how it happened. Man. So you still have, and it's actually in here, you still have your bucket list. Yeah. And there's still four items on there that you have yet to cross off, which I feel like they're all very attainable. You know, the four are. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So of the original 100,

there's four left. So there's go to space. Yeah. I think totally attainable. Yeah. And in fact, I'm talking with a company right now about doing that in 20204,

2025. But is this going to be like you fly up to space for four seconds and then right back to Earth? So it's interesting because there's a lot of companies that are sort of democratizing

space travel. And I actually did, I moderated a panel. I had no business being on the panel. I moderated a panel about the democratization of space travel at Southby this year. And so some really cool companies that are making it so,

if you're not a billionaire, you can go to space. One of them is World View, where they made this capsule, where eight people can go in this capsule. It's a huge hot air balloon. It's like three football fields in length. It takes you up, and you actually get to spend about an hour up at the edge of space. Wow. And so I really want to experience the overview effect,

which is what astronauts talk about this change in their perception when they see the Earth from space. You get that perspective of like, wow. we are all one. And you have this affinity towards Mother Nature. So it's kind of an interesting idea that this moment can change your life. So I'd love to experience that. So that's a year and a half away.

Amazing. Yeah, so that's a year and a half away. I mean, some of these other ones, they're giant goals, right? Like being on the cover of Rolling Stone. Yeah. So I think that the move there is if they ever do a pixelated cover, you know, whether it's like a hundred little, a thousand little photos, maybe we can get one of those photos. That's brilliant.

What's the new big goal that if the genie came today and said you could only do the one thing that's maybe not on this list here? Yeah, that's a great question. I would love to, I would love to host a show. I'd love to do another show, I think, around the helping people achieve their dreams in a way that's sort of more like a process, you know, like, basically. what's outlined in the journal, this kind of idea of demystifying goal achievement. Because I think that it's just not as hard as we think it is. Like the steps are quite simple. I also think people like excuses.

Yeah. Right? Yeah. I think people like to go, wow, I don't have the time. I don't have the money. I don't have the resources. I don't have the other things. Yeah.

I agree. And so you sort of need to push people kind of over the ledge. And so I think that would be something that I would be something that I'm, I've had in the back of my mind for a while. And, you know, I do also, there's also a couple places that I want to go. I really, I've always wanted to go to India. And I've always wanted to. You could go like tomorrow.

Yeah, I could go tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so those are, those are two of the things. So, yeah, what about you? I actually just interviewed Colin O'Brady. Oh, cool.

The man who, you know, crossed Antarctica on the first ever solo mission. And I just read his new book, which comes out in a few weeks called the 12-hour walk. And in that book, he has a chapter called What's Your Everest? And it got me thinking because I'm like, well, what is my Everest? And there's so many things that I want to do. And there's so many things like I think that are really achievable. Like you can snap your fingers and go skydiving this afternoon.

Or you can go bungee jumping tomorrow. And I've done all those things. For me, I want to go to Antarctica. Also feel like that's super attainable. Yeah. But goals for me this year were like my girlfriend is amazing. Now my fiance. Congratulations.

Yeah, thank you. And when we knew that this was it, we had a really adult conversation. We were in Joshua Tree when we said, I love you for the first time. And we had a really adult conversation of like, all right, well, like, this is it. Like, we align on so many levels that, like, this is the, this is the. the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with. And then we went, all right, we've got five really big things that are going to happen in the next, you know, handful of years.

It's like we're going to move in together. We're going to buy a house. We're going to get engaged. We're going to get married and we're going to have kids. And I think that those are the things that are, we've already done a bunch of those things. They've already done three of those things now in the last nine months or whatever. Yeah. So I think that those in terms of, you know, personal, personal goals. It's, we've got a wedding. We've got to plan this at some point in time.

And, you know, we're going to make some people. God willing. Yeah. I mean, it's, that's the, I think it's such a great and important conversation to have with your partner. And I think it's a big one that a lot of people don't have. And I'm guilty of having a lot of relationships when I was in my 20s where you're just like, let's just take a day to day. Let's just take a day to day and see where this goes. Well, the thing is if you don't have an address typed into your GPS, you're just going to drive around. And it might be a nice drive, but you're never going to get to a destination. And I'm glad that with Rachel, who's now my fiance, it's only been a few weeks. Isn't it funny to say that? Yeah. And then fiancé will be out the door and she'll be my wife.

But I love that we had a destination in mind. So that's my long answer to your question of, you know, what's in the bucket list for me? Yeah, interesting that you identified five things, and as soon as, you know, you identified them, nine months later, you've achieved, you know, you've done three of them, which is sort of, I think the power of that intention, you know, like living with intention and also, you know, aligning with your partner around, like, what is really important to both of you. And that's important. We had to make sure that we both lined up there, too. And the reason I brought up Colin O'Brady is because I think climbing Mount Everest would be an amazing thing. Like, I love if my Everest was actually literally Mount Everest. And then he went through like the technicalities of like, you don't just show up and walk up the mountain.

It's not how this works. If you were really dedicated to this, it'd be like 18 months of training. And I'm like, oh, yeah, I'll climb a smaller mountain then. I think I'll do that. That feels like a lot. But then he told me a great story about how Mike Posner wanted to climb Everest and was like, all right, Colin, I'm dedicated, I want to do this. And Colin goes, well, if you're actually serious,

I'll set you up with someone who can kind of coach you through this, but only if you're serious. And Posner was like, okay, I'm in. And then 18 months later, Mike Posner climbed Mount Everest. So I look at that kind of stuff and I go, if you're willing to put in the time and the effort and you have the drive and you're willing to come over those hurdles and humps along the way, he really can do anything. Yeah, yeah. I completely agree.

And yeah, it's funny talking about Posner. Like, you know, then he also walked across America. And, you know, I just think that there's, it's also, I mean, thinking about someone like him who, because he's a friend of mine, and he is taking all of these different paths. And you think about like definitely not traditional. But what you realize is that what he is absolutely doing is being true to himself. And I think that that's really what this all comes down to. It's like how can we, in a world where it's very,

it seems like so many things pull us away from ourselves, how can we just be true to us, right? And that's one identifying what those things are, understanding that those things change. You know, my uncle passed away over COVID, and one of the things that he said to me that really changed my life because I was in a moment where I was in transition

and I was trying to figure out, how do I, like, leave this thing and start something new? This is when I started speaking, and I was building a production company with the same boys that we did the buried life with, but I just wasn't, I didn't like it, you know? I was like, ah, it's just a grind. I don't, and I was worried about,

making the jump and starting again. And he was like, you know what? You're not starting again. You're just recycling your career. And that just simple shift and perspective and they realize, like, yeah, I'm not starting again. I'm just pivoting. I'm taking all the things I've learned.

And I'm applying it to the next thing. And I think sometimes we feel like we're stuck because we've invested so much time. All this time and equity into this path. And we're stepping up the ladder one rung at a time. When if you take a step back, we're human beings. We change. Therefore, it's plausible that our goals and our desires are also changing, and therefore

that might shift what we love to do as our profession. And what I found is when I get depressed, it's because I'm doing something that's not aligning with who I truly am, whether that's a relationship that is not authentic. to like, and it's not, I'm not being able to be true to myself, or it's, I'm working on something that I don't love. And it sounds so simple when you, when you just say it like that, but that's the truth. Like, I'm talking about, like, major depressions, right? Where I'm like, what is going on? And now I've realized it's an indicator. It's my body telling me that I need to change something. And unfortunately now, this is the biggest problem that we're facing right now.

It's like this mental health crisis due to the pandemic and anxiety and depression and everything is on the rise, social media, being disconnected. All of these things are contributed into this, you know, our emotional well-being going down. And I think just like simply identifying small things that bring you happiness and protecting time. for that or protecting time with people that bring you that sense of fulfillment and joy is so important because at the end of day, that's all that matters. And also, that is what is going to allow you to survive those dips, is those relationships, you know, those friends that you have, you know, intentionally, you know, kind of watered that soil so that you have that person that you can rely on when you hit that roadblock and that type of thing. So, you know, I think that if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, to be

selfish and to pursue these things because you can't take care of other people if you don't take care of yourself. And I think oftentimes we think it's selfish to do, to, to have a bucket list or to do these things that, you know, especially with with, with, with, you know, with people that, you know, maybe you're reporting up to you. And I feel like that's the first step so that you can then serve those people. I got to say, this has been one of my favorite conversations

we've ever had in the podcast. Thank you so much for bringing me into your house for sitting down with me and having this great conversation. And I end every interview asking the same question because I love gratitude. And I wake up every day, I say out loud three things I'm grateful for

and I do it before I go to bed. So good. So, Ben, for you right now, what are three things that you're grateful for? I'm grateful for this. Sounds silly. I'm grateful of this conversation for you coming down and having this conversation and to be able to just do what I'm doing right now. I did not plan to be doing this, you know, when I think back to my younger self when I was studying kinesiology to be a physiotherapist, you know. And just to be able to be able to be able to to finally feel like I'm following my true self. And that led me to speaking and led me to making the journal and obviously to the adventures.

And so I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful for you being here too. And everyone can go to the bucketlistjournal.com. Yeah, you got it. And grab one of these also on Amazon, right? Yeah, you search bucket list journal on Amazon or it's actually bucketlistjournal.com. bucketlist journal.com. Perfect.

Ben, this is amazing. And always so good to connect to the fellow Canadian. Right. That should have been my first gratitude. Just being Canadian. No, just being another Canadian. Yeah. But thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. I hope this conversation got you thinking about what you want to do before you die. And, man, I really got into some personal stuff there at the end. I don't know if I've ever shared so openly before. But there you go. That's a look into my life with my beautiful fiancé Rachel.

and all the things that we have ahead of us. So if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe to Insight and take a screenshot. Tag us, let us know what stood out for you the most. Let us know what's on your buried list or your bucket list. Tag us, Ben's at Ben Nempton. I'm at Chris Van Vleet, and Walt Disney said it best.

All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. Be great and be grateful. 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. Oh.

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