Know Thyself - E26 - Jason Goldberg: Lead Your Life, Own Your Obstacles, and Achieve 2023 Goals

Episode Date: December 27, 2022

Are you ready to break free from your old habits & achieve your 2023 goals? Celebrity Mindset Coach, Jason Goldberg, shares how to tap into your unique gifts and make your resolutions come true this year. He tells his story of overcoming unworthiness and anxiety, and instead living life in alignment with his purpose. He shares his secret to releasing self-imposed pressure, and recognizing that we are not our identity. He also explains how to overcome perfectionism, and experience true freedom in life.     ___________ Timecodes: 0:00 Intro 3:08 Overcoming Unworthiness - Jason’s story  10:59 You’re Not Your Identity  23:58 Finding Your Unique Gifts  28:18 Strengthening Intuition 33:07 How to Break Bad Habits 37:34 Anxiety 44:30 Imposter Syndrome & Perfectionism  50:11 Experience Freedom in Life  52:10 Jason’s Rap 54:13 Vision for the future  55:29 Conclusion ___________   Jason Goldberg:   Jason “JG” Goldberg is a Mindset Mentor and Self-Leadership Coach for Celebrities, Change Makers and CEOs.    He is also the host of The Jason Goldberg is Ruining Podcasting Podcast, author of the #1 International Best-Seller on Self-Leadership entitled “Prison Break” and creator of the Playful Prosperity AND Competition-Proof Business Immersion programs.      JG has been a featured expert on media outlets including ABC, CBS, and FOX as well as teaching on the MindValley and SoulPancake platforms and has founded multiple start-ups including one in partnership with NASA and the space shuttle program.   He now focuses on blending his signature mix of simple and transformational wisdom, captivating storytelling, practical business mentorship, and belly-busting humor to make personal growth less “personal growth-y” and to leave everyone he meets with at least 5% more joy than when he found them!   As a sought-after international speaker and host, JG has shared the stage with some of the world’s greatest thought-leaders and innovators in human potential and performance including Jason Silva (Host of Nat Geo’s “Brain Games”), Dr. Sean Stephenson (The 3 Foot Giant), Don Miguel Ruiz (The Four Agreements), Vishen Lakhiani (CEO of Mindvalley), Steven Kotler (Stealing Fire), Marisa Peer (the UK’s psychotherapist to the stars) and many others.     Get a FREE copy of Jason's Book, "Prison Break": https://thejasongoldberg.com/knowthyself/ Website: https://thejasongoldberg.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejasongoldberg/   ___________   Know Thyself Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knowthyself/ Website: https://www.knowthyself.one Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ4wglCWTJeWQC0exBalgKg   Listen to all episodes on Audio:  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4FSiemtvZrWesGtO2MqTZ4?si=d389c8dee8fa4026 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/know-thyself/id1633725927     André Duqum Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreduqum/   Meraki Media https://merakimedia.com https://www.instagram.com/merakimedia/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I was born to a mother who my father left her when she was pregnant. And so I was essentially told, coming into this world, that one of the people that created me didn't want. By the time I was in my 30s, I was 332 pounds. And I just had this deep-seated feeling of not being enough, not being lovable. To step into owning who you are is an act of defiance. That was the start of me really stepping into, what is it that I want? 99.9.9% of anxiety comes from one belief. And it's that there is a future where I won't be okay.

And there's nothing you've been through that you haven't gotten through because you're here right now. Why would we think all of a sudden that would change? I want to leave everybody I meet with at least 5% more joy than when I found them. So when I have that as my activism, I don't have time for the bullshit that distracts me from my mission. So if I can hold the paradox of what I do in the world being essential and irrelevant, I notice the ridiculousness of taking any of the two series. Hello, beautiful people. Welcome back to the Know Theyself podcast where every single week we get the honor and privilege

of sitting down with a brilliant mind and open heart, a deep, soul, somebody that we can have a conversation with and see what we can learn from the insights they've learned in their life to help us know ourselves deeper and know the world deeper. And my guest today is a dear friend. He is an author, a podcaster, a public speaker, a former rapper, somebody who is a mental performance and leadership coach for changemakers and celebrities and CEOs and somebody who is, you know, a profound public speaker and coach. And he speaks on some of the most important.

topics in terms of the internal processes that we go through in the human spirit and mind and body. And he really supports celebrities, CEOs, change makers, and also the everyday person on their journey of self-actualization and self-realization. He is somebody that brings a lot of play and humor and wisdom into helping people have breakthroughs in their life. And he helps people feel on the process of personal growth, make it feel less personal growthy. And above all, he's just a dear friend. He's got such a massive heart. He's got a brilliant mind and such a playful spirit. And I'm excited to have some fun in this conversation today. So

Jason Goldberg. Bro, I've already gotten what I needed out of this whole thing. I just like, I feel so good about myself right now. This is beautiful. Thank you for that intro, man. It means a lot. And I adore you, bro. You're such an incredible human. And I'm so honored to be here today. Oh, man. I'm really looking forward to this combo. Every time we, every time we chat, it goes deep. And also, it's also so fun and so playful. And I'm just, excited to put some cameras and mics in front of us and let the magic unfold today. Oh, these are real? These are real.

Oh, okay. Well, I guess I should be serious. Yeah. These are not props. That's hilarious. I'm really looking forward to all the avenues in which we can dive into today, man. There's so many avenues in which we can dive into today. To start, I mean, it's really been beautiful to see your path evolve and getting to know you more and more over the past year or two.

And to see the level of work that you're doing in both your coaching work and your speaking work and your written word and your podcast. and all the various avenues in which you're expressing yourself. I think on the path of self-actualization and, you know, stepping into your power and claiming who they are and how they want to show up in the world, a lot of times there's a story of unworthiness. And, you know, I think that we live in this illusion sometimes of thinking that we have to have it all figured out before we step into whatever it is that we feel like we're here to do and how we want to share and impact the world.

And so I'd be curious for you to share about your journey of that, stepping into your own power and how, you know, you're sharing in the ways that you're sharing now. the journey of how you got to that point. Yeah, I mean, I came out of the womb knowing that I was absolutely perfect and I've never really had to do any work since then. So, I mean, that's kind of my short answer. No, I'm kidding. So, I mean, for me, it was actually interesting.

I was born to a mother who my father left her when she was pregnant. Like literally told her, get an abortion or I'm leaving. And she said, I'm having the child. And so he left. Never saw him. Never saw a picture of him. Never had anything. And so I was essentially told coming into this world that one of the people that

created me didn't want me. Right. Now, I didn't have language to know that it was like a worthiness thing or whatever, but it kept showing up in my life a lot. And I didn't realize that's what it was, right? That there was coming into the world and you already feel not enough. And so that was my first thing. And then I was raised by my single mother, single Jewish mother, so she can hear everything we're saying, no matter where we are in the world. And I love her to death. She's amazing. And, and, you know, she dealt with a lot of depression and anxiety. And in the same way, if you are raised in a household that speaks French, you start speaking French, right? And so that became my default way. That's how I started relating to and engaging with the world from a place of

stress and despair and anxiety and depression and all these things. And so that just kept getting worse and worse and worse as I got older and older. And what that manifested in my, that was how it manifested in my heart and in my mind, but it also manifested in my body. And so from a very young age, I was also kind of the chunky kid. From first grade, I was already kind of the chunky kid. By the time I was 15, I was 250 pounds. And 15 is when kids are really loving and accepting and they would never make fun of you because of the way you look, right? So that was really fun. Yeah. And then it just kept getting worse and worse and worse because food became my coping mechanism to deal with all these things that felt so heavy in my life. And by the time I was in my 30s, my late 20s actually,

I was 332 pounds. And so I'm in this place of so much self-loathing and so much feelings of unworthiness that I would sometimes in the morning be on the floor, in my closet, crying, because my body felt so disgusting to me. My clothes were so tight and I had to go to work and had to go show up and do all these things. And I just had this deep-seated feeling of not being enough, not being lovable,

and it's really debilitating. And so to step into owning who you are is an act of defiance, right? We live in a world of compliance, right? Do the thing, do what I say. And that wasn't working for me, right? I was doing what everybody said and I was still depressed. And so at some point, there has to be this decision point,

this inflection point where you say, am I going to continue living in compliance or am I going to live in defiance? And for me, that was the start of me really stepping into what is it that I want. I know what my mom wanted for me. I know what the family wants for me. I know what society wants for me.

What do I want for me? And I had outsourced myself trust for so long. I didn't know what I wanted. So that was a part of the journey too, even figuring out who I wanted to be in the world. It's like if the opposite of courage is conformity, then who we are raised to be in the conditioning that we are programmed with

from a very early age, that becomes our work to essentially get through and to discover who is beneath the stories and accumulated beliefs that have been passed down to us, either genetically, consciously, subconsciously. And so it seems like you've had many points in your life with your own weight loss, with stepping into what you want to be creating in your career, to the various different things that we all have these different chapters or things in our life that we get to step into that power and true alignment with who we really are.

what actually allowed you to make that shift? Because it's one thing to have the awareness of, yeah, I'm not happy. I'm crying on the floor in my closet. Like that's a reality that you can sit, you know, be with. And then like how do you actually make the shift? Yeah. So I was in IT consulting for the better part of 15 years. And then I had a couple of other startups.

There was a transportation startup and another one in partnership with NASA in the shuttle program. And then I became a coach and a speaker about 10 years ago. But while I was in my IT consulting job, there was this day in 2009. I was my late 20s, making well over six figures in this director of engineering role. And I went to go make a purchase on Amazon, and it was my bank card, and it got declined. And it was like a $40, $50 purchase. It wasn't like some massive purchase. And I'm like, that's weird.

I know I have money in the account. So I put the credit card number in again, and it gets declined again. Now, back then, not only did I have tons of anxiety, tons of depression, but also tons of anger, had massive anger issues, like punching holes in walls and walls. And never people, but inanimate objects were all fair game, right? And so I got so angry. I threw my chair back into the wall and I storm out of my office and I go into the lobby of the building of our office complex. And I call the bank and I'm mashing the stupid fucking zero button to get a person on the line instead of the automated thing.

And finally this guy comes on the line, super sweet guy. His name was Stephen. I'll never forget him. And I just go out on this guy just like, what the hell's going on? My card's not working. I know there's money in the account. What's happening? And he says, oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Goldberg.

It looks like there's been some suspicious activity on your account. And so we froze the card. We deactivated the card to protect your assets. To which most people would say, thank you. I'm so happy you're looking out for me. Not the rageaholic that I was. Like, what do you mean? Did somebody hack my account?

Do they steal my identity? Like, what are these charges that were fraudulent? And he comes back to me and he says, Mr. Goldberg, it looks like there were four fast food transactions in one day, in the city you live. And so our system flagged that as potentially somebody who had taken your card and was making small purchases before making a bigger one. Right. And they weren't fraudulent charges. That was me. I had eaten at four fast food restaurants

in one day. And it was a multi-billion dollar bank that said, we are taking away access to your money until you make better decisions. And so that wasn't, a lot of people would say, oh, is that your wake-up call? No, I've had wake-up calls my entire life of being overweight and things weren't working. That was the first time, for whatever reason, universe, God, whatever. It was the first time I couldn't find somebody else to blame. I had gotten so good at living by the mantra. who can I blame? That was one of my spiritual mantras. Who can I blame? And that's just the way I am. We're my two spiritual mantras. And so in that moment, it became a thing where it wasn't liberating at all. It was very much kind of shameful at first. Like, oh my God, I'm doing this to me. It's not my idiot

employees. It's not my overly demanding boss. It's not my genetics. It's not my mom, not cooking healthy meals when I was a kid. Like, it's me. And so initially it was shame. And that eventually went into liberation. But what happened there was being in IT, we're all about reverse engineering. We look at what's been done and we say, how did that happen? So we can rebuild it in different ways. And I knew people personally who had been through way worse traumas, objectively, we're not comparing. You can drown in eight feet of water or an inches of water. But objectively, people that had worse traumas than me that didn't seem to carry around the same level of anxiety and depression. And so I wanted to figure out what is it? They know that I don't know.

And that kind of started my path on diving into this stuff. That decision, I guess, to take personal responsibility into your life to where this victimhood mindset where you're operating from life is happening to me, wise is this happening to me. And of course, when life is happening to you in all unfortunate ways that you perceive, anger is going to be a natural byproduct. And unfortunately, there's going to be a lot of people and individuals and everyone around you that is going to be an effect to that and get the blunt end of that. So it's a powerful understanding that you decided at least, at the very least, that you are the maker of your reality.

And you stepped into that responsibility. And like that is the first step. So once you understand that you are the creator of your reality, the life that you're living, you manifest it on some level, often unconsciously. Then how do you get people to move beyond the victim mindset and take responsibility into changing actual behavior in their life? Because that's where the real change comes. Totally, yeah, and it's all based on the stories that we tell ourselves, right? So I had a client last week who said he got in some kind of like argument with his wife, and he said he overreacted.

In talking about the situation that actually happened, what his wife had said to him that triggered his anger was something that in his mind, he had created a story that she was saying something bad about his mother, right? Even though she hadn't at all. And so his reaction to that was not an overreaction. It was a perfect reaction given the story that he had created, right? And so every system is perfect for the result that it's creating. Your systems are all perfect if you like the result.

But if you don't like the result, you just want to try a different system. So that's a big part of it is like really just uncovering. What is the identity that I'm attaching to? What is the story I'm attaching to that's coloring the way I see the world? Because if I'm cast as a bank robber in a movie, right, I kick the door in and I wave my gun around and I scream at people to get on the floor and I take their money. I don't walk in and say, hi, everybody. I'm going to be robbing the bank today.

if you don't mind giving me some money. Like, no, that's the role. I'm a bank robber. But if I forgot that I played the role of a bank robber in a movie, and then I went home to my family and I still thought I was a bank robber, then I'm causing a lot of issues in my real life. So it's trying to understand, starting to understand, what's the identity, right?

What's the role that I'm stepping into in this moment? It's powerful because I feel like the identities that we hold that will inform the meaning that we attach to everything in our external reality. And that's really largely to affect our level. of happiness. I think it's such a powerful topic. I want to dive deeper on because people can start to have awareness as the identity that they're operating within, right? And we see the world not as it is, but as we are, right? And you like spoke to this color tinted glasses that we're kind of viewing life through. And there's many different practices that can kind of bring you back

home into yourself and kind of quiet the noise that we've accumulated and, you know, surrounding the identity. You want to share about your Batman analogy. Because I think that plays in really nicely here. Totally, yeah, and I have this bracelet that I'll tell you about what it says here in a second. But yeah, imagine that you are the director of the movie Batman, right? I'm just going to say it's Michael Keaton Batman because I don't fuck with Christian Bail and all those other fake

Batman's Ben Affleck, come on, bro. So Michael Keaton, original Batman. And Andre, you're the director, you're on set, you're filming a scene, Batman's doing his Batman thing and he's, you know, judo chopping and whatever else he does. And you yell cut, and you're working with the crew and get ready for the next scene, and you look over and you see Batman pacing back and forth,

the set looking super stressed out and he's your star you got to make sure he's okay right so you walk up to him and you say hey man what's going on and he goes Andre I don't know man what if what if I'm not strong enough to beat the joker what if what if my technology is not powerful enough what if the people of gotham die and it's on my watch and the blood's on my hands how am I supposed to live with that and you as a director like what the fuck is he talking about it's a fucking movie but you have two choices in that moment because you want to take care of. Number one, you can meet him where he's at. You can say, okay, Batman, let's figure out how to make your tech stronger and save the people

of Gotham together. Or you can remind him that he's Michael Keaton playing the role of Batman. You can ask him, okay, cool, we can deal with that, but just quick question, where were you before you were on set? And he goes, I guess I was in a trailer getting like some makeup and putting on the suit. Cool. And what about before that? I was in my car. I was driving to the lot. Cool. And before that, oh, I was home having breakfast

with my wife and Kit. Oh, shit, wait a second. I'm not Batman. I'm Michael Keaton. And when Michael Keaton realizes he's Michael Keaton, it doesn't mean he disregards the problems that Batman's having. But who do you think is better suited to help Batman with his problems? The one who's attached those problems and his ego and his life is at stake? Or this third party who can see it objectively and from a compassionate, helpful, grounded place, help Batman to solve those issues. And so the bracelet that I wear here, it says, not Batman as my reminder. And this is something I do on a regular basis. This is any tool that I share is out of necessity because I needed it for myself and continue

to need it for myself. So when I get really, really stressed out, I'll ask myself, I'll say, what role am I playing today? And I'll say it out loud. I don't care if somebody's there or not. I'll say, today I am playing the role of Jason, the frustrated entrepreneur that wants this damn project to move faster. That's the role.

I've been cast in it. I am an Oscar award-winning skill level at playing that role, right? I know it. And then I sit there, close my eyes, and I say, right here, right now, not off somewhere in the future, right here right now, where my feet are, without the attachment to that role, assuming that cut has been yelled, I've taken off the suit, without that role, how does life feel right now? Does it feel 5% more peaceful?

Does it feel 5% more stressful? How does it feel right now without an attachment to that role? And when I do that, 100% of the time, I feel at least a sliver of peace. And that sliver of peace is the opening to the happiness, the creativity, the joy, anything else that I want to create. Yeah, so powerful because you're creating some distance between you and the story you've made up yourself to be. That's it. De-personalization is the key. If we could master non-identification and depersonalization, we'd be happy as shit all the time.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's a really powerful distinction between detachment and non-attachment, right? Detachment is almost like there is this indifference to your reality, where I feel like non-attachment is you're actually seeing the game of life that you're playing in, but you're still fully involved. You're just not lost in the sauce in thinking that it is you. Yes, absolutely. And so I don't know if we've talked about this before. If we have, pretend that we haven't.

Do you know who the most spiritually evolved Marvel character is? Would it be the ancient one? Which one? Dr. Strange. That's a great guess. Not my answer, but great guess. His teacher. Do you want to guess one more?

Have you been in a Marvel movie? I have not, but that would be epic. Ooh, the Eternals? Oh, the Eternals is good too. Nobody's ever guessed that one. That's a good one. Okay, but wrong. Not wrong.

Just the wrong in my head. So the Marvel character I think that is the most spiritually evolved is Deadpool. Okay. Wow. I didn't expect you to go there. And most people say, really, the gratuitous violence? and although he's the most spiritually evolved, let me tell you why.

He's the only comic book character that knows he's in a comic book. If you watch the movie, he breaks the fourth wall. He talks to us. He knows that it's all an illusion. And knowing that's an illusion, he doesn't go home and sit on the couch

and say, well, nothing matters. It's all an illusion. He still plays the game full out, given the container of the illusion that he's in. And so being able to balance those things exactly like you said, it's not about disavowing the world of form. It's about understanding

how to navigate the world of form without identifying with the world of form. And I think Deadpool does a great job with that. So good. I love that. And I feel like the visual is like we sometimes we have so much resistance and holding on and grasping into what we want life to be or our movie to be. And it's like this and it creates so much tension.

And it's not to be completely indifferent like a floppy hand to what our reality is. But it's like holding this effort, this kind of container for what you want to come through. But then you like just don't take it over serious. It's not that you're not a person. You're just not really, really a person. Like we take it too serious. Totally. And that's why Alan Watts, to me, I'm sure you're an Alan Watts fan as well.

But Alan Watts to me is really nailed it. One of the distinctions that he has that has become such a core tenant for me is he talks about instead of being serious, you can be sincere, right? There's something about the word serious that for me has always felt heavy and debilitating. And this is what I used to hear. Like, you know, you better get serious about your health. If you ever want to be in a serious relationship, you better do this. If you were a serious entrepreneur, you would have always.

already done that. And when I hear the word serious in that way, like my, my but hole clenches. Like, I'm not creative. I'm not like open to the world, right? But sincere says there's a devotion. I want to pour my love and my attention and my energy into something, but I don't want to take it so serious. I don't want to make it significant. And I think that the significance piece is so huge. I was giving a talk a few months ago in Estonia at one of the Mine Valley events. And it was all about how to lose the weight, W-A-I-T, right, like to get into action. more. And I brought up the Nike slogan, just do it, right, on the screen. And I asked the entire audience, which word do you focus on when you see this? And unanimously, 700 people scream the word

do, right? Because that's, of course, do. You have to take action. And I said, the challenge is that if we're not taking action, it's very rarely a strategic issue. It's more of a significance issue. I've put too much significance on this thing. People say, oh, if you really loved it, you would, if that was really your passion or your dream, you would work on it nonstop. Sometimes because it's your passion and your dream, you don't work on it? Because what if it fails? What if it doesn't work out? There's so much significance. So if we can shift from the word do to the word just, right? I just brush my teeth. I just drove over here to have this podcast with you. I'm just having a conversation. It removes some of that significance and that creativity can actually shine through.

Yeah. I love it. I think that anytime you just create that spaciousness, like for example, if you're going to speak on stage, the more you make it about you, the more anxiety you're going to have because apparently the thing that you have, I think is so significant is now up for survival. Like what's going to happen to this thing, this identity that I'm putting to be perceived from so many people, right? But like coming back and creating that spaciousness and realizing that, oh, it's actually not about me. It's about who I get to serve. And then it comes from a place of excitement and not anxiety. And so that's a powerful switch. Yeah, it's huge. And when I was speaking, when I first started really getting into speaking, one of my mentors, guy called Sean

Stevenson, he was one of my best friends. He unfortunately passed away a few years ago, but he's one of the best speakers in the world. And he told me a trick that he would always use is that before he'd go on stage, he would peek out in the audience so he could see the people, and he would make up stories about people in the audience. And he'd say, that woman just lost her job. And that guy, his kid is having a drug problem. And that person over there, they're going through a divorce. All they want right now is something that would be helpful for them. They don't care how polished I am. They don't care what I look like. They don't care what I sound like. Can I be helpful? Can I be of service? And just having that, like really personifying the people in

front of you to get out of the ego and into service, it was a game changer. Yeah. Life's so much better when you're coming from a place of just wanting to be of service. That's like how the best part of you comes online, you know, because when we're doing what we're good at and what we love to do, but it's inherently providing value for the world, then I don't know, in ways that we can't understand. Like grace comes into the picture and we are supported by the universe in ways we can't see in invisible ways.

I totally agree with that. I actually had an interesting experience that I think, feel like. So I had done this sound ceremony with mushrooms and it was a very, very deep experience. And at one point during the experience, I'm not sure how this happened, but like a veil dropped and I saw like my angels. But they were dressed like us. Like they just like normal people. And they're just talking, hanging out, like having a drink or something. And they look over at me and they're like, wait, you can see us? And I'm like, yeah, are you guys here like all the time? Like, yeah, who do you think is up here making sure you're okay? And I'm like, holy crap. I had this

moment of I'm the worst boss in the world if you're my team because I do nothing but say this should be happening faster. Why isn't this happen yet? And you guys are working your butt off up there trying to help me, trying to co-create with me. And that was such a huge turning point for me because I realized a few years ago, and I never talked about this before, that while I believed 100% in a higher power and something much bigger than us, I came to a realization that I didn't believe that thing had my back. I believed it was there. I believed it was doing his thing, but I didn't, not that it was punishing me, but that, like, I wasn't getting personalized attention.

They have enough going on. They don't actually worry about what I'm doing, right? More like it's like an ant farm where, you know, they just created it and they stand back and watch everything. So really getting into this place of humility, right, getting out of this arrogance that I've created anything, that the jobs or the money or the impact or anything else was something I did by myself. Switching more into humility of knowing that it's always a co-creation, even if I can't see the thing, that was a big turning point.

also. Yeah, that like visceral feeling of just trusting that there is support and you're being held by life. I mean, it's a miracle that we're here. And to have the experience firsthand, whether it's like you see your guides or you can just even develop some gratitude for like the small things that you have because somebody will always have it worse than you. Like it just creates that level of taking the pressure off like we spoke to earlier. And that becomes a catalyst. I think for us stepping into what naturally wants to come through us, which I think is really important to pay attention to, you know? So for you on your journey of impact, how have you been able to clarify what is like uniquely

Jason? What is uniquely you? Because that's, I think we're all on the path of figuring out like what is uniquely us and how our own unique soul's fingerprint can be expressed in this life. And so how have you found that personally for you on your journey and how do you support people in finding that? Yeah. it's actually now that I've gone through it, it's actually simpler than I was making it.

And so I'll share the kind of simple version of that in a second. But what I know is that especially when I got into coaching and speaking. So this was the first business that I started that was me, right? Like the other ones were like products and services, but not me, right? I'm selling me. And so I said, okay, well, then I got to be known for something. Right. I look at my mentors and people I love and oh, Byron Katie, she has the work.

And like, these people have a thing. Like, what's my thing going to be? And I put so much significance on that. And it was just, it was debilitating for me. And so I always wanted to do this stuff. And of course, being an entrepreneur with my previous companies and being an IT consulting, you're celebrated for knowing the answer, for like knowing how you don't ever say, I don't know when you're in IT consulting.

That's how you get fired, right? And so I'd had this whole thing, this identity wrapped up in knowing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing and who I am. And that was causing a lot of stress for me. Then I started getting reflections. I would be on stage. I'd be doing a talk and I'd come off stage and somebody would come up to me, inevitably always, and say, you know, I don't know what it is, but like just watching

you on stage, I feel more joyful. I just feel lighter. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. But like the framework, right? The methodology, that's the thing. And they're like, yeah, yeah, that was cool. But like, I just feel and I would just push it away. And then finally, I was on a press tour for prison break. I was doing a bunch of like morning talk shows. Your book? For my book, yep. And the, uh, and the very last one I was doing was at good day

Sacramento, morning show in Sacramento. And the anchor there, Cody Stark, awesome dude, no relation to Tony. I asked, he didn't think it was that funny. We had a great interview. and afterwards he came up to me and said, you know, I don't know what it is about you, man. Like, I just feel more joyful being around you. And the people in the green room said it and the co-anchors said it. Like, everybody's saying it. And for whatever reason, that's the first time it broke through, that that was my competitive advantage.

That's my differentiator was the fact that I could activate joy. And so I switched from trying to worry about what I was going to be known for and instead focused on what I would be known for activating in other people. What can I give them permission to feel that they want to feel? And the beautiful thing about that, is that that becomes the butter in the pan, so to speak, right? If you're cooking anything, typically you have butter or if you're here, it's like soy butter or shark milk butter or whatever it is. But you put the butter in the pan and then all the other ingredients go on top. So when I know

what the butter in the pan is for me, I could exercise activating joy doing what I do now or being a barista at a coffee shop or being a parent one day. Like I can do that in any form and things can change and mold and modify. So that's the real thing is like, what are you known for activating in people? Ask people. Like, what's the impact of having a conversation with me. How do you feel after we hang out or we have an interaction? Like ask the people that really know and love you and you'll find out what your core essence is. It's so powerful because what really impacts the world is not necessarily what we do, but who we are while we do it. And so I think you're really that buttering the pen analogy of like just paying attention to what

do you really want to activate in people. And that's a powerful take home for the listeners is to feel into that, that essence. And then the doing or like the, you know, whatever the actual external impact that shows up and what you do on the planet will unfold naturally. Absolutely. But it can look like so many different things because your essence can be infused into so many different ways. Absolutely. It's bound by your creativity.

That's all it is. And for people who are looking to find with that thing is even beyond talking to people, if you want to look at this for yourself, there's two places I always tell people to look. And this is the simple part I was telling you about earlier. So number one, look back to when you were a kid and see what did you get love and approval and praise for, right? Like I was, you know, I was always kind of the loving kind of kind of kind of kind of child.

And that was something I got a lot of praise and approval for, right? So that's a part of my core essence. But the flip side of that is look at what you did as a child that you got in trouble for. That's also your core essence. So I would get in trouble all the time for talking too much in class and being disruptive and making people laugh. Well, that humor that got me in trouble and the empathy that I got love at approval for are the main core pieces of how I show up in the world now. So going back and looking at that can also give you some clues. Yeah.

It's powerful. I feel like having those reference points to where you can look back at your history and see what have been via reflection shown to me as something that is important to me and significant for me. And then also, like, we are creative beings and we are creating ourselves and discovering ourselves equally in this moment. And I feel like the power of our intuition is an incredible guide to be able to refine what that actually is and to get clear on how we can listen to that. So how do you guide people in getting clear intuition and kind of stuff? So the intuition thing is really interesting. I have my own take on this. I actually wrote a chapter about it in the book. It's one of my favorite chapters in the book for me.

Like I go back to it myself. So the name of the chapter of the book is your intuition is drunk. And so the analogy here, the metaphor for it, is imagine you have somebody in your life, a coach, a mentor, a friend, whoever it is, that no matter what's going on in your world, they will drop everything and help you. And they always have great advice. They always have your best interest at heart. Fuller service. It's all hard, right? And you're struggling with something.

and you go to them, and when you walk in the door, you see that they are pissed drunk. Like David Hasselhoff eating the cheeseburger on the floor drunk, just like completely obliterated. Would you ask them for assistance with whatever you were dealing with in that moment? Of course not. But that's what we do when we try to be guided by intuition

when we're in a low state of consciousness, when our thinking is just overrun or we're overwhelmed or whatever it is. In that real situation, if you did have somebody you love that was drunk on the floor and kind of, you know, not in a great space, you'd probably turn your attention away from your own crap and say, oh, well, this person's always here for me. I've got to take care of them. Let's get them on the couch. Let's get them some water.

I'm going to nurture them. And once they feel healthy again, then I can ask my question. And the same thing happens with their intuition when we allow it to just settle, like a shaken up snow globe where it looks all crazy on the inside. You don't have to run around and grab every piece of snow and put it on the ground. If you just set the snow globe down, within a minute, it all settles. It's the way nature works. And so our intuition is the same way. So I always say, you're intuition will always be kind. Doesn't mean it won't be confronting, but it'll always be kind. So if you're getting a message saying that you suck or you should have done this sooner or what's wrong with you, it's not intuition. If you're feeling that though, it just means your consciousness

at a low level, fine. We all have those moments and just allow yourself naturally to raise back up that ladder. Go be of service to somebody. Go watch something funny. Meditate. Spend time with people that you love, whatever you need to do and then ask yourself, then ask your intuition for guidance. Yeah. I love the analogy of just like stop, stop shaking the snow globe. Allow the snow to settle, allow the dust to settle. And in that space, you'll make a much clear decision. I think when we make decisions not from fear, but from joy, then those will have much longer and impactful ripples in our lives and they'll actually mean something to us. When we're, when we're making a decision from a place of not having to do it, but it genuinely wants to come

through us, then it's like, it's going to be meaningful for us 30, 40, 50 years down the line still. And so I think that's just a powerful invitation for people to sit with and to make sure that when they're making a decision for what they want to do in their life on the big things. And then also, you know, on the small things to come from that place of clear level perception and joy first and foremost. Always. Absolutely. Yeah. Byron Katie, one of my favorite quotes from her is a clear calm mind knows what to do next. It's like, God, simplicity. That's it. A clear. I don't need to do a bunch of things. I don't need to do all kinds of, just let the mind settle. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's just for individuals that are so heavy. on the personal development path.

And I even said the word heavy because it can't feel like that after like people that go to 30, 20 Robin seminars and read all the books. And I think information can be useful. But to develop your own innate capacity for wisdom is infinitely more impactful. And we all have that within us. We all have the capacity within us. And so I love that. I feel like prioritizing, you know, unfilling the mind instead of filling it,

allows you to have that clear perception. And then you can make a proper decision. and move in that direction. Absolutely, 100%. And that's one of the reasons why I have an email folder in my email. You probably have something very similar. And it just captures all the insights that I have as I'm having them. Something pops up.

I just type it up real quick and send it to myself and then it goes in this folder. And the reason I bring that up is because when I'm really in despair, a lot of times going back to my own wisdom and my own truth, even if it was informed. Of course, it was taught and informed by other people. But it's in my words, right? I tell people on stage all the time, don't write down what I say, write down what you hear.

Right? There's a difference. And so being able to go back to that wisdom and trusting that your wisdom can guide you, super foreign for at least for me, like first 30 years of my life, self-trust, intuition, even if they were there and I was guided by it sometimes, I had no idea. I wasn't accessing it intentionally. It was completely foreign to me. But once you're able to really start seeing that, it makes a world of difference like you're saying. Everything comes through the way it's meant to. Yeah. So, so true. So powerful, man. For you on your journey, like when you've had, when you were over 300 pounds, over weight. You have to make the decision day in, day and again, like to make, to move into the direction that you feel like you want to go in. And that it's, we're in a constant state of contraction and expansion with our identity and actions that we take. And so how are you able to, in that period or other periods in your life that were similar to be able to show up for who you are trying to be a stand for and not just who you've been? Yeah. It's a big one. I mean, you know, with the weight loss, I always say I didn't lose 130 pounds. I lost one pound, 130 times. Right. So I really try to subscribe as much as possible. And just for the record,

for everybody listening, if I can do all this stuff I'm talking about in this podcast, 70% of the time, I'm living life beautifully. Right. This is not something we're supposed to have it done 100% of the time. So don't set yourself up for unrealistic expectations, especially right away. But I try to subscribe as much as possible to what I call JFT productivity. And JFT is just for today. Tomorrow's none of my fucking business. I have no idea what's happening tomorrow. And that's back to the arrogance to think I would. I have no idea what I'm going to eat for dinner. next Thursday night, but that doesn't stop me from eating dinner tonight, right? I don't need to know all the things in the future. So one of the things was really just focusing on today, what can I do

today that makes a difference? What can I do today to show my body that I care about it, that it's something I actually want to take care of? And so really focusing on just for today, that's it. The other thing, and this is more if you have, if you're working on something that's kind of mission-based or you're building a company or whatever it is, is that I dated this woman years and years ago, who was a major, major animal lover. And any time the circus would come in town, she would go out front and protest the circus. She was the one handing out the pamphlets

and saying, you know, the elephants are being mistreated. Don't take your family here. And then, of course, inevitably, there would be somebody walked by with their kids, get an effing job. What the hell is wrong with you? Leave us alone. And she would come home and tell me about this stuff.

And I'm like, God, that sounds terrible. How did you deal with that? It's like, I would feel horrible. I'd like crawl into a ball and cry. And she said, listen, they can say what they want, but the elephants are still being mistreated. And something about that really stuck with me. And a few years ago, that story came back up in my head and I realized the moment I shifted

from being a coach or a speaker or an author to being an activist, my entire mindset changed. Because as an activist, I don't have time to worry about what people will think about me. I don't have time to worry about if that Facebook Live had the right perfect lighting or that message was perfect coherent. Or what if somebody disagrees with me? Or what if my family sees it and they don't agree? Or what if my ex-co-worker see it and say, oh, you were an IT guy. now you're some spiritual guru.

If you're an activist, you don't have time for that. So my activism for me, and I would invite everybody that's listening to this to do this, is think about this statement. I want to leave everybody I meet with at least 5% more or less of X. I want to leave everybody I meet with at least 5% more or less of X. For me, that's joy. So my one-line life and business plan is I want to leave everybody I meet with at least 5% more joy slash 5% less suffering than when I found them.

Right. So when I have that as my activism, I am an activist for joy. I don't have time for the bullshit that distracts me from my mission. Yeah. And so for anybody watching this who's like, oh man, I'm a coach and it's really hard or I'm a speaker and it's really hard. I'm an entrepreneur. It's really hard. Change that noun. You're none of those things anymore. You're an activist. Powerful. Yeah, mine is actually activating 6% joy. So it's just a little bit. It's like seven minute adams, but it's so powerful to what you're speaking to. this shift of like actually becoming an activist. First we have to discover what activates us.

And that's a process of discovery. But what really will matter to us 60, 70 years from now of like, okay, that's life worth living. Yeah. What do you want to make a dent in before you leave? I have no misconception that I'm going to make the entire world joyful before I leave this planet. But I'm going to make a fucking dent. Yeah. Do our best.

It's like, who knows if utopia is possible. We're going to work our ass off to see that we can. AI is your next guest. on the podcast. That would be a dope podcast. Just sit here with a laptop and have an AI interview. Oh my God. That would be so cool.

I mean, there's like that Sophia robot interview. But it would be cool to have like a like yeah, like a voiceover reading what I. I've just been diving down this AI rabbit hole the past few days and it's been blowing my freaking mind. What's what's coming man? We live in the most interesting time on the planet. Yes. All right. Let's stay on the train here.

Stay on track. Too many tangents. Possible tangents. For individuals, I like kind of bringing it back down to things that a lot of people struggle with. And anxiety, that's a big one. A lot of people on subtle or more gross visceral levels with depression feel this pressure. And how do you guide somebody on a basic level to get more clarity on the cause of their anxiety and then actually move through it? I know we spoke to some things already with significance and identity.

Is there anything else in regards to that? Totally. Yeah. So I actually believe that 99.9% of anxiety comes from one belief, shared belief that everybody who has anxiety has. And I don't know this intellectually. I know it because I struggle with anxiety for the first 30 years of my life. Right. And it's that there is a future where I won't be okay. If when I was born, my mom was given a scroll and it said, here are all the trials and tribulations your son's going to go through. And on December 6th, 2022, I was going to have some bad thing happen. It would still suck. But I'd be like, all right, well, I guess it's okay because I got to. another thing coming up in, you know, January 2026 or whatever, so I'm going to be okay. So it's, I don't think it's the, it's the things that happen to us or don't happen to us that cause us anxiety. It's the worry that we won't be okay on the other side of it. And so what I first like to do from a very pragmatic standpoint is just look at the evidence, right? I say this all the time. There's nothing you've been through that you haven't gotten through because you're

here right now. And so if we just look at the evidence, why would we think all of a sudden that would change? We are so much better in crisis as humans than we think we are. We're terrible. We're terrible at anticipatory anxiety about a crisis. But when the crisis, if it occurs, actually occurs, we're actually way better at dealing with that than we think we are. Yeah. So powerful. Our projection of life that can go wrong is so much worse than that actually happened. I think Mark Twain has that quote, the worst things in life never happened to me. And it's so true. It's like those fears and projections that we place on our external reality, that is the root of our suffering. I agree. It's like 99 plus percent of our suffering is in these projections. And so

A lot of times that's coming from unconscious or subconscious beliefs that we hold that we're not even aware of. And those manifest as compensation patterns in our life. And it could look at different habits or behaviors that we habitually consistently partaken, that we're not fully aware of why we're doing it, but we just keep doing it. And just seeing that the beliefs that we hold are really what informs those projections. And so it's important to have that process of self-inquiry and conversations like this and books that you can read and courses. that you can take and meditations that you can sit with allow you to gain clarity on what that actually is. But I think that's just one of the most powerful things to kind of dissolve the beliefs

that we hold so dearly and oftentimes subconsciously. Yeah, because they come from everywhere, right? Family and lineage and the news and everything else and we adopt them as our own. I mean, like, the only reason my name is Jason is because my mom called me that and I believed her, right? And so, like, that's what happens. These things come at us and then we believe them. And so I want to be really mindful whatever possible to only engage with helpful thoughts. And so I actually had this amazing opportunity earlier this year for my birthday. I got to go to Hell's Kitchen, the actual TV show. And I'm a huge Gordon Ramsey fan and all that stuff.

So one of my buddies is the executive producer of the show. He knew it was my birthday. He's like, why don't you come have dinner and watch the show? So I go and Gordon's 20 feet away from me. He's screaming at everybody. It's Seven Wellington, four salmon. Oh, the soup is dry. What are you doing?

And it's just this amazing thing. And I'm sitting there with my friend and I'm like, I could never work in a restaurant in a kitchen like that. He's just screaming so many orders. How do people keep track? And my friend said, well, you know, they only listen for the instruction of the station they're on. So the guy doing Wellington doesn't care how many salmons, he yells out.

He's only listening for Wellington. And that was a really powerful metaphor for me because I realized that just because there's a bunch of thoughts coming at me doesn't mean I have to engage with them. Just because there's the presence of a thought doesn't mean there's the presence of a threat. And sometimes I can get those confused. And so just being in the practice of saying, I'm only going to engage with helpful thoughts. Unhelpful thoughts come. That's fine.

I'm not trying to stop them. I'm only going to engage with the helpful ones. Yeah. It's such a powerful shift because it's just the nature of the mind. The mind thinks, just like the heart beats. It just happens. And it's like the more space we can give to like just not taking them so seriously, can we just observe them?

Like that creates a spaciousness for us to relieve the suffering that we experience. Yep, 100%. I actually think in some ways, and I'm an avid meditator. I know you are too. But in some ways, I think meditation has actually screwed people up with the way it's positioned. And what I mean by that is directly to your point, I always say the mind runs. That's its job. My only job is not to run after it, right?

That's all. So when I was first getting into meditation, I hated it because everybody told me the point is to quiet your mind to get rid of all your thoughts. And I would sit down for five minutes and my thoughts would go crazy and I'd say, well, I guess I'm a shitty meditator. This isn't fun. And then one day it occurred to me, this distinction popped to my head of nap time versus recess. like when you're in school, right? Nap time versus recess. I think most people think meditation is supposed to be nap time, where the mind shuts down, everything gets quiet, right?

But think about nap time in a school. The teacher has to make sure the lighting is perfect, the temperature is perfect. You can't put Jimmy next to Tommy because he's going to elbow in the face because he's a little dickhead. And then when they wake him up, you've got to wake him up slowly because you don't want to be cranky. You've got to have the snacks ready. It's like all this stuff just to have nap time.

But contrast that with recess. Teacher takes the kids outside. There's a fence around the playground. Teacher sits down. Kids go play. The teacher has to do nothing but witness the children. And so I started bringing that into meditation. So now the days where I have meditations where there is not a second of silence,

I mastered meditation that day. It's great. I let my thoughts run. I just didn't engage with them. So understanding that you don't have to quiet your mind to feel peace, right? The act of allowing your mind to run without running after it can bring you peace. So well said. That felt full in the completion of what you did said.

Yeah, it's just so powerful when we think we want to sit down. meditate and clear our mind and clear our head. It's like just allowing it to whatever happened, happen, just allow whatever it is to just be. It's not like the act. It's not like us trying to actually make them quiet is what makes them quiet. It's that we just see it is for see that it is for what it is. And the less we place significance on it, the less we actually care to see what's going on and just happens. So it's like, yeah, I don't think that no matter how advanced of a meditate your thoughts don't just like dissolve when you sit down like they still come it's just like background chatter instead of forefront you know dump truck noise yes and and just to acknowledge them right

they just want to be acknowledged yeah and there I don't know if you were ever a family guy fan but there's this the scene of stewie going up to Lois and over and over saying mommy mommy mommy mum mum mum Lois Lewis Lewis and finally she goes what and he goes hi and he runs away he just wanted to be acknowledged and then he'll screw off and you can get back to life and I feel like thoughts are the same way. Yeah. Just to acknowledge it and just to say I see you. Like that's just a powerful practice to acknowledge it, have it be seen. And whatever it is when we're speaking to anxiety or these limiting beliefs that we have, I think perfectionism is a big one that people deal with. And it's kind of tied in with imposter syndrome, which I want to speak to a little bit now,

because on the path of calming the snow globe, figuring out what you want to activate in other people, and then making a decision and changing your behavior to actually do the thing, whether it's start a podcast, write a book, become an artist, teacher, or whatever it is, those are ones that just come first of mind. Because it's true you want. Then you actually, it's so much of it is actually in the doing. It's like you can have the limiting beliefs of feeling like you're not ready or you're, you know, it's not perfect enough in advance.

But then when you actually do it, that's when the real change happens is when you're confronted in real time with your, you know, inherent. beliefs and then you do it anyways. And then it kind of settles down that snow glow began to where you realize it was just a falsehood that you were holding on to so tightly. So is there anything that you want to add on to that perfectionism mindset that a lot of people have and hold on to? Well, I love what you said just now because to me that that's such a key.

And the perfectionism thing is interesting because it just goes back to worthiness. If I'm perfect, then I prove that I'm worthy. So it's this, it still comes from this, it's not just unhelpful, it's inaccurate, an inaccurate thought. So essentially, I'm trying to solve an infinite question with a finite answer. And you can't. It's like love. How do you describe love? How do you know you're in love?

How do you measure love? It's infinite. You can't put your finger on it. And so we never had a frame of reference for perfection, and yet we still go after it. And we'll use perfection as an excuse to not just do the thing, right? like you said, you just do the thing. So what you said is so powerful to me because you didn't say, get rid of the fear and then do it. Right?

You bring the fear along with you. It's fine. It's okay. And so for me, I think about that. Like if I'm driving a car and in the seat next to me is the most angry, depressed, sad, anxious, unworthy feeling person in the world, the car still operates the same way. That doesn't affect the way the steering wheel works or the brake and the gas pedal. So I can take all that stuff with me. I don't need to get rid of it.

So I think that's part of the thing with perfectionism too, is just being okay with the fact that the perfectionism thought is there and not even taking that seriously, right? Checking that. So, yeah, that's what I think about perfectionism. Just do the damn thing. It's also not going to be the last thing you ever create. So that's a big part of it with perfectionism. So imagine you're in a play and you've been casting this play. It's a big Broadway thing.

And you have one line in the play, one single line. And when you deliver this line, if you crush it, the entire play becomes the biggest hit ever. Screw Hamilton. That's nothing anymore. And you become the biggest star in the world. If you flub the line, your career's over, the play tanks, everybody else in the play can never get work again. How do you think you feel waiting to come on stage to deliver that one line?

Would you say expansive and joyful? No, back to butthole puckering again, right? And so I like to shift over and think about the fact that what if you were the star of the play, right? You have dialogue all throughout the play. If you flub a line, it's going to sting. But you have another line three seconds later and you're doing this play through. three times a day, four days a week for the next six weeks. Nobody including yourself is going to

remember that you flubbed that line. And so if we can get into this place of almost thinking to ourselves, it is against the law for you to do anything epic until you've done 1,000 mediocre things. What would you do? Fuck, let's get through these mediocre things so I can get to the epic thing. But the funny joke is that you never get to a thousand mediocre things because just by starting the mediocre stuff, you get to epic a lot quicker. Yeah, so true. And I think Bruce Lee has quote, I'm not afraid of the man who's practice 10,000 punches once, but the man needs to practice one punch 10,000 times. That's right. And it's in getting through and feeling the resistance and doing it anyways that we can actually develop proficiency and through that confidence in our capabilities.

And then whatever it is that we're doing, we can show up to it with enthusiasm and knowing that, yeah, there's just, I think there's a level of confidence that comes with competency when you do something often. And the more you public speak, the more you don't have anxiety when you're about to public speak, because you know the story. And what is that? You're going to be okay. You're going to be fine at the end of it and it allows you to bring that easefulness into what you do. And I think when we bring that easfulness into what we do, we're so much better at it. We can actually be present to whatever is alive and we cannot be so tight and serious.

100%. And just remembering the ridiculousness. I actually remember this. Before I was going on stage for this talk in Estonia, it was one of my first times back on a big stage since COVID. And so I remember being off the side of the stage, like getting nervous, like really nervous. I always have little nerves before I get on stage. And then as soon as my foot, it's just the anti-stop.

like I want to get up there and do the thing. But this was not that. This was like anxious. Like, oh God, we don't fuck this up. And then it hurts me. I was like, the ridiculousness. Like, look, just look where I am. I'm just standing in a room about to go on a stage and speak to people.

Like, what I'm about to do is essential. It's essential for the planet and it's irrelevant. So if I can hold the paradox of what I do in the world being essential and irrelevant, I notice the ridiculousness of taking any of the too seriously. Yeah. That's so powerful. because it's essential because you're actually impacting people's lives to experience more joy, which is important.

Yeah. But also to realize that we're on this mud ball spinning at 66,000 miles an hour around a huge ball of fire and that this is just kind of ridiculous. It's so ridiculous. But that's a thing. And notice, you'll know that you've mastered this stuff when you can start ridiculing your fears. Not ridiculing yourself, but ridiculing your fears. So when you say something like that and you start giggling as you say it, that's how you know

that you're free from the thing. So beautiful. Is there anything else that we haven't touched on that you really found moves the needle in terms of people actually experiencing freedom in their life? Or is that it? And now everybody is free. This is where I start shaming the audience. Wait, you're not free yet?

After all this, you're not free yet? What's wrong with you? No shame, no judgment. Yeah, I mean, maybe that is one thing. And it's another chapter in my book is called Deep Shame Thrombosis. Right? And it's about the fact that we tend to motivate ourselves. much through shame, right? And through judgment and through everything else. And it's like,

if beating yourself up was going to work, it would have worked by now. Right? It's just, it's not an efficient way of doing things. So again, just recognizing the pressure that we put in ourselves, recognizing that just because in a commercial for beer, within 15 seconds, the person goes from being at work to crushing a project, to being at a bar, to meeting a girl, to leaving with the girl in 15 seconds because it's a commercial. That's not how life actually works, right? And so if we really slow that down, we realize that, like, it's okay. We can be patient. The timeline we're creating is completely ours. I was just talking to a client. He's like, yeah, you know, really looking forward to the new year because it's a fresh start. And I said,

according to a man-made calendar, like, it's just a day that's been made up. It's a construct. Fresh start can be in this moment. So just really kind of just zooming out. I think that's it. Like, we're so zoomed in sometimes. Just double tap on the map. Zoom out. Yeah. And you'll see things in a different way. And I think that's really important. Yeah, it's so true to zoom out and to also just also like proverbially on our phone like we're so not zoomed out and we're so in the comparison of other people's success and highlight reals that it just steals the joy that we can experience from our own journey in our own process of us wanting to be somewhere else other than where we are. And it's been so awesome, man, just to see your journey and hear your insight and how many stories and metaphors that you have. You've been doing this for some time. It's been a few minutes.

Yeah. It's so good. Man, I'm curious. Do you have any, like, spoken words or raps that you would want to share with the audience? Oh, yeah, I could do something for you. I heard that you're one of the top Jewish rappers in the world. I don't know how much you're a rapper. You're still Jewish. According to Vission. So Vichyhani, CEO of Mind Valley, he has this joke where anytime he introduces me, he'll say I'm the some number best Jewish rapper in the world, and the number's totally arbitrary. So, like, one day it'll be the 19th, and then he'll say it again three months later and he said the fourth. and I'm like, what did I do to go from the 19th of the 4th? So he's a big fan of screwing with me. Okay, so let's try this.

What if there was no such thing as villains? Nobody to teach a lesson to. Nobody to backlash at because they mess with you. What if instead of wasted energy and effort to make yourself right and then wrong, you just accepted you. Because when you let them get to you, it's extra fuel to upset you and disconnect you from the truth. You're exceptional. What if you could love anything someone says to you and take their critiques as simply a self-express?

to teach you something you may have actually needed to hear, listen with openness instead of retreating with fear. I'll take your judgment because now it's exceedingly clear. When I expand my awareness, I'm increasingly here. I don't mean you shouldn't speak your mind to research yourself, but when it comes from your ego, you might just hurt yourself, search yourself, and you can love anybody you talk to for all they've gone through and what they believe will serve them well. Don't take your personnel.

No need to have your patience shook because everything you're presented with is for your greatest good. I got no enemies, not a single enemy ending in every one of the first. who was sent to me it was meant to be. To help me go from a centipede to immensely free, that freedom comes from in me when I just let it be. That was fire, dude. Thanks, bro.

So good. Thank you, man. Amazing. I love it. I love the multidimensionality in which you express yourself. Thank you, so cool, bro. In this next chapter of your life, kind of closing out for the next five years,

I love the looseness in which you hold your identity and, like, willingness to step into a new arena. And it's been cool to have some, conversations with you as you're like evolving your form of expression with infusing humor and wisdom. Is there, yeah, outside of wanting to leave everybody with 5% more joy, how do you feel like you want to leave your impact on this world? And is there anything that you want to share in regards to that? Yeah, you know, it's, I really just, I, Robin Williams is one of my idols. And he has this quote that I'll butcher, so I won't even try. But essentially he says he doesn't know how valuable

he is in the world, but he knows that he made some people happier while he was here. And there's something about that for me. My coach was asked this one, this question one time, Steve Chandler, who I've told you about before, he was asked on a podcast like, what do you want your legacy to be? And he's like, I'm going to be dead. What do I care? But while I'm here, I want to make this happen, right? And I feel a lot the same way. Like, I hope that my impact goes beyond the time I'm on this earth. But if while I'm here, just that that joy piece is huge. And so for me, the kind of next chapter is leaning even more into the performer that I am, right? And, and, And I love bringing wisdom and humor and all this stuff together.

But I think there's even another level of performing that I think could bring even more joy to people. So I'm looking into that now, some TV related stuff and stuff like that. So we'll see how that comes together. Beautiful. I'm here. You know, I'm here to support any way that I can, bro. I just appreciate you. Love you so much.

I love you, man. For the shining bright light that you are in the world. Thank you for being the same, brother. Love you, man. Love you, man. Is there anywhere people can particularly find you. Prison Break. Your book is available on Amazon at all places.

can find you on Jason Goldberg. The Jason Goldberg, because Jason Goldberg was taken, so I got the most pretentious name possible. I think I'm going to change it to A Jason Goldberg, just to really get rid of out of the pretentiousness. You can find me in Erawan in Venice most of the time. You really want to come to say hi. The hot bar.

And actually, if you go to the website, getprisonbreak.com slash know thyself, you can actually get a free digital audio or paperback copy of Prison Break. Amazing. Phenomenal. Thank you so much, man. For everybody that's been tuning in to this episode, please let us know in the comments section below or sharing clips of social media.

What was your favorite part? Insight, breakthrough that you had. We love seeing that. And to see the actual impact firsthand from you guys is just so fulfilling for us. So please do so. If you haven't already, please hit the subscribe button and leave a five-star rating. It helps us get this message out of raising consciousness and tapping back into our truth and spreading 5% more joy on the planet. Thank you so much.

Until next time, be well.