Passion Struck with John R. Miles - The Real-Life Indiana Jones: Forrest Galante on Exploring the Edge of Extinction EP 413
Episode Date: February 8, 2024https://passionstruck.com/passion-struck-book/ - Order a copy of my new book, "Passion Struck: Twelve Powerful Principles to Unlock Your Purpose and Ignite Your Most Intentional Life," today! Picked b...y the Next Big Idea Club as a must-read for 2024. In this episode, host John R. Miles interviews Forrest Galante, an adventurer, wildlife biologist, and host of Shark Week. Forrest shares his journey from growing up on a farm in Zimbabwe to becoming a passionate advocate for wildlife conservation. He discusses the challenges and risks he has faced in his career, including searching for extinct animals and encountering dangerous predators. Forrest is the author of "Still Alive: A Wild Life of Rediscovery." Full show notes and resources can be found here: https://passionstruck.com/forrest-galante-on-exploring-edge-of-extinction/ Sponsors Brought to you by Cozy Earth. Cozy Earth provided an exclusive offer for my listeners. 35% off site-wide when you use the code “PASSIONSTRUCK” at https://cozyearth.com/ Brought to you by Function Health. Take control of your health. Visit FunctionHealth.com today. Use code PASSIONSTRUCK to skip the nearly 100,000-person waitlist. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/PASSIONSTRUCK, and get on your way to being your best self. This episode is brought to you By Constant Contact: Helping the Small Stand Tall. Just go to Constant Contact dot com right now. So get going, and start GROWING your business today with a free trial at Constant Contact dot com. --► For information about advertisers and promo codes, go to: https://passionstruck.com/deals/ Exploring the Edge of Extinction with Forrest Galante Forrest emphasizes the importance of taking calculated risks and staying focused on one's goals, even in the face of fear and adversity. He also highlights the significance of surrounding oneself with like-minded individuals and staying true to one's core values. The episode showcases Forrest's incredible adventures and his dedication to making a lasting impact on the natural world. All things Forrest Galante: https://www.forrestgalante.com/ Catch More of Passion Struck My solo episode on Why We All Crave To Matter: Exploring The Power Of Mattering: https://passionstruck.com/exploring-the-power-of-mattering/ My solo episode on The Art Of Managing Toxic Family Using The Mosquito Principle: https://passionstruck.com/the-mosquito-principle-overcoming-toxic-family/ Catch my episode with University of Pennsylvania professor Katy Milkman on How You Create Lasting Behavior Change: https://passionstruck.com/katy-milkman-behavior-change-for-good/ Listen to my interview with BJ Fogg On How Tiny Habits Can Transform Your Life: https://passionstruck.com/bj-fogg-on-transforming-lives-with-tiny-habits/ Catch my interview with University of Michigan psychologist Ethan Kross and the impact of our inner voice: https://passionstruck.com/ethan-kross-power-of-our-inner-voice/ Listen to my interview with Marianne Lewis and Wendy Smith on Both/and Thinking: https://passionstruck.com/marianne-lewis-and-wendy-smith-both-and-thinking/ Listen to my interview with Thomas Curran On Breaking Free From The Perfection Trap: https://passionstruck.com/thomas-curran-breaking-free-from-perfection-trap/ Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter or Instagram handle so we can thank you personally! How to Connect with John Connect with John on Twitter at @John_RMiles and on Instagram at @john_R_Miles. Subscribe to our main YouTube Channel Here: https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnRMiles Subscribe to our YouTube Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@passionstruckclips Want to uncover your profound sense of Mattering? I provide my master class on five simple steps to achieving it. Want to hear my best interviews? Check out my starter packs on intentional behavior change, women at the top of their game, longevity and well-being, and overcoming adversity. Learn more about John: https://johnrmiles.com/
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Coming up next on Passionstruck.
I think you hear a lot of entrepreneurs talk about this,
but I think so much of it's fear-based.
People are just scared to take risks.
They're scared of the what if.
What if I don't make money?
What if I don't make it?
What if I can't get a job?
What if, what if, what if, what if?
And for me, I'm not fearless.
The definition of bravery is not being fearless.
I'd say the definition of stupidity is being fearless.
The definition of bravery is being scared of something,
but doing it anyway, being willing to take that risk. When it comes to being entrepreneurial, say the definition of stupidity is being fearless. The definition of bravery is being scared of something
but doing it anyway, being willing to take that risk.
When it comes to being entrepreneurial,
just like when it comes to tagging a great white shark,
catching a cobra, darting a lion,
all the things that I do for work now that I love doing,
you have to take a calculated risk
and you have to be laser focused
and you have to be willing to give it your everything.
It sounds like a very grandiose message, but I think for me, if you aren't willing to focus 100% of your time and energy and effort
on this thing that you want to do, you will end up doing something that you don't want to do for
your life. Welcome to Passionstruck. Hi, I'm your host, John R. Miles, and on the show, we decipher
the secrets, tips, and guidance of the world's most inspiring people
and turned their wisdom into practical advice
for you and those around you.
Our mission is to help you unlock the power of intentionality
so that you can become the best version of yourself.
If you're new to the show, I offer advice
and answer listener questions on Fridays.
We have long-form interviews the rest of the week
with guests ranging from astronauts to authors, CEOs,
creators, innovators, scientists, military leaders,
visionaries, and athletes.
Now let's go out there and become Passionstruck.
Hello everyone,
and welcome back to episode 413 of Passionstruck,
consistently ranked as the number one
alternative health podcast.
And thank you to all of you who come back to the show every single week to listen and learn how
to live better, be better, and make a positive impact on the world. If you're new to the show,
thank you so much for being here. Or you simply want to introduce this to a friend or a family
member. And we so appreciate it when you do that. We have episode starter packs, which are collections
of our fans favorite episodes that we organize and convenient playlists that give any new listener a great way to get
acclimated to everything we do here on the show. Either go to Spotify or passionstruck.com
slash starter packs to get started. And in case you missed my interview earlier in the week,
it featured Angela Duckworth, the number one New York Times bestselling author of GRIT,
the Rosa Lee and Egret Chang professor at the University of Pennsylvania. And we discuss GRIP self-control personal agency. And she
also gives a sneak peek about her upcoming book. Angela's work was so foundational to
everything that I talk about here on Passionstruck. And it was such a great opportunity to have
her on the show to help launch my book. And if you liked that previous episode
with Angela or today's, we would so appreciate you giving it a five-star rating and review.
They go such a long way in strengthening the Passionstruck community where we can help more
people create the intentional life that they've always dreamed of. And I know we and our guests
love to hear your feedback. Today's episode explores the life of someone who is truly Passionstruck
and features a remarkable guest whose work is reshaping our understanding of the natural world, Forest
Galante, the executive producer and host of Shark Week.
Known as the modern day Charles Darwin, Forest's dedication to wildlife biology and conservation
is not just about adventure, it's about making a significant impact on global conservation
efforts and changing the way we view the natural
world. Force Galante's journey is a compelling story of passion turned into purposeful action.
With a degree in biology, specializing in marine biology and herpetology, he has carved a unique
niche in high-risk wildlife biology field work, focusing on species on the brink of extinction.
His work goes beyond the realm
of traditional conservation. It's a race against time to save the unsung heroes of our ecosystems.
His groundbreaking discoveries have garnered international attention, not just for their
scientific importance, but also for their message of hope and resilience. Through his show,
Extinct or Alive on Animal Planet, Forrest takes viewers on an exhilarating quest to find species once
thought extinct. This show is a global platform that highlights the critical importance of
biodiversity and the urgent need for conservation. Forest's impact is amplified through his participation
in his high-profile projects like Discoveries Naked and Afraid, where he demonstrated not
only survival skills, but also deep respect for nature. His expertise and hands-on approach
have led to rediscovery of eight animals once believed
to be extinct, challenging our perceptions and proving that it's never too late to make
a difference.
Beyond television, Forrest continues to lead field expeditions and surveys, dedicating
his life to the preservation of wildlife.
His active social media presence and on-camera expert interviews are not just about sharing
adventures, they're about educating and inspiring a global audience about the importance of wildlife and nature
conservation.
Today, as we delve into the fascinating world of Forrest Galante, his passion struck life
is not just about chasing adventures, but about making a lasting difference in the world.
Thank you for choosing Passionstruck and choosing me to be your host and guide on your journey
to creating an intentional life now.
Let that journey begin.
I am so excited today to welcome Forrest Galante, passion struck.
Welcome.
Hey, John.
How are you, buddy?
Of course, I am doing incredible.
And as I told you before this show, I have had the opportunity to interview hundreds
and hundreds of people, everything from astronauts to Navy SEALs to Green Berets to actors and actresses.
I have never met anyone quite as unique as your life is. So I can't wait to explore it.
Well, that's a heck of an honor. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here. And I would say
the show about passion definitely aligns with me because I've always followed
my heart on the things that I love to do and somehow managed to turn it into a career.
So yeah, it's awesome to be here.
Thanks, man.
I love to get these episodes started by giving some people contextual background on where
you've come from.
And I understand, although you were born in California, you actually grew up on a farm in Zimbabwe. And on that farm, you
were surrounded by diverse wildlife. And your mom was one of Africa's first female
safari guides, as I understand it. How did this upbringing shape your
perspective on nature and conservation? Yeah, that's all correct. Grew up in the Southern African bush of Zimbabwe.
And as having safari business running parents, I would spend all of my time
if I wasn't in school either on the farm or in the bush.
And so how it shaped my life in conservation.
One is I was always just passionate about wildlife.
It was the only thing I cared about.
I didn't care about video games or TV or anything.
I cared about fishing. I cared about trapping. I cared about catching stuff. I cared about. I didn't care about video games or TV or anything. I cared about fishing.
I cared about trapping.
I cared about catching stuff.
I cared about seeing animals.
It was the only thing that really interested me
outside of maybe a bit of rugby as a kid.
So there was that.
And then as far as how it shaped my life with conservation,
as I grew up, I saw places that I love disappear.
Trees get cut down and wild areas turn into farmlands
and places get developed.
And so I watched this wildlife that I'd spent my whole
childhood around monitoring and learning from and learning
about disappear and get displaced and get hunted or poached
for bushmeat or whatever it happened to be.
And so I didn't like that.
And so I didn't realize that when I was 13 years old or 14 years
old when we left Zimbabwe, but that sort of shaped my entire
future as to trying to mitigate that and prevent wildlife from
being displaced and animals from disappearing and wild habitats
from drying up.
Yeah, I want to get to that here in a second.
I had another thing I wanted to explore before we touched on that move from Zimbabwe to California.
And that is, I understand when you were seven or eight, you had a first hand experience.
I think it was with your grandfather with a great white shark.
Can you tell me about that experience?
So Zimbabwe is the landlocked country, so I didn't have any great white shark experiences
when I was little, but had a lot of big experiences in the bush
So with my grandfather him and I did a lot of stuff together
But had a close call with a big bull elephant and monopools that came down and locked us off from our exit area
I got stuck in a big thing of mud at a place called long pool and had this big
Now a crocodile coming to Chow Me and my grandpa was whacking it with a stick and I had a lot of close calls with him
But no nothing nothing specific with a great white shark with him.
Okay.
I happened to see an article where they mentioned you were in Mozambique and that happened.
So it's inaccurate reporting.
Yeah.
We used to go to Mozambique when I was little and we do a bit of snorkeling and stuff, but
I don't remember anything with a great white shark.
Definitely saw a few sharks, but nothing crazy. That's where my big love of the ocean came
from was those youthful trips to Mozambique, which is a neighboring country from Zimbabwe.
But yeah, no, not no memories of a great white shark from there.
Well, I understand as you move from Zimbabwe to California, you had to do it because of
political turmoil that was underway at that time. How has that helped
shape your view of the intersection of politics and
wildlife conservation?
It's a good question. Now, the problem is in Bobway went from
one of the richest countries, the richest country in Africa,
richer than the United States in some senses, because it was
one for one with the British pound at one point in time, meaning the currency was valued higher than the United States in some senses because it was one for one with the British pound at one point in time, meaning the currency was valued higher than the United States' currency to the poorest country
in the world in under 10 years. So when a country goes into a nosedive like that, people do what
they can to survive. There's no food on the shelves. There's no anything. And so the wildlife
suffers because of it. Bushmeat, the trade for for bush meat and things like that, but goes rampant.
Just seeing the political turmoil of Zimbabwe go into such a tailspin and seeing how people
had nothing and go from being happy, it's relatively wealthy and food in their bellies
to having so little and having to rely on natural resources, I would say it was definitely
eye-opening even if in my youth I didn't really understand it.
I didn't really understand it until much later in life
when I understood the politics of it
and I understood what it meant for the natural resources
and things like that.
Yeah, and I understand one of the things
that you're known for is freediving and spearfishing,
and this is something that you picked up
and when you move back to California,
how did those activities start influencing
your desire to want to build the career that you have today?
So what happened was we got checked out as in Bobby in 2001
during the political turmoil, came to California,
and I was longing for that same sort of wild connection
to nature that I'd had as a child.
And you don't really just get that in California.
California is very tame, contrary to what you might see in the media.
You know, there's really nothing above the surface, a couple mountain
lines throughout the state, and that's about it.
And when you've grown up in the African bush, where there's something
interesting from a wildlife perspective around every corner, California feels very,
very boring.
So I was longing for that connection to wildlife, that place where you're not at the top of the food chain, but rather somewhere immersed in it. And that was what led me to find free diving in California and specifically freedive spear fishing. So I remember the first time I jumped in the freezing ocean of Maro Bay, water was in the 50s. And I was in a pair of board shorts I made as long as I could. And yeah, just seals and sea lions and knowing there are white sharks
and things all the way from little tiny gobies
and blennies to giant white sharks and whales.
And so yeah, I found that same exact draw
for a wild place in the oceans of California,
which truly are magnificent.
That same desire, that same passion for immersion
into the food chain that I had grown up with
in Africa,
in the oceans of California.
And so we were really poor.
We came here as political refugees.
We had nothing.
And I still remember I spent $1 on a Pulse beer,
which is like, it's like a stick with a rubber band
on the end basically,
and used to feed the whole family with that.
And I'd go out and shoot four or five little surf perch,
like as big as my hand, nothing big,
like similar to a bluegill for those listening
that aren't from California and take that home
and make fish tacos out of it or whatever
just to feed the family.
And so I felt very cool
because I was providing for the family when we had nothing.
I was able to be back in the food chain.
Obviously spear fishing is 100% sustainable.
You only target the individual animals
that you wanna harvest and take them home without any,
you don't leave any fishing line in the ocean or lure snagged on bushes or anything like that.
So yeah, I just fell in love with the ocean and fell in love with that.
I had that same exact stuff, feelings I'd had from Southern Africa just now in the oceans of California
and became very competitive in the space.
Everything I always do, if I fall in love with it and I become very passionate about it, I become competitive around it because I think
it's just my nature.
And so I became very competitive in the freedive spearfishing world and
started breaking world records and chasing fish and doing all this various
stuff, which at the time was just a passion, but helped project.
It helped build me into the career and place that I'm in today, even though
once again, I didn't realize it at the time.
I happen to love spearfishing as well. And when my son was younger, middle school and
in high school, we used to go out in Tampa Bay because one of my favorite fish is the
hogfish. Yeah, delicious.
And the only place you can get that is pretty much spear fishing. So we would go out there and do that.
And ironically, we would go with a friend of mine and his son, and he didn't like hogfish.
He may be the only person on the planet who doesn't like hogfish.
Never heard of that.
Everybody likes hogfish.
So he would trade me a grouper for hogfish, which I would do any day of the week. Something I saw you and I have in common
is I've been to 50, 60 different countries
all over the earth.
And I understand that after you graduated college,
that you visited 40 plus of the most interesting places
on earth.
And what caught my interest on it
was that you were hospitalized many times during this journey.
Can you talk about that and how in the world that led you to end up in high risk, wildlife,
biology chasing?
I think I was only hospitalized, oh no, three, four, yeah, okay, quite a lot.
Yeah, I was hospitalized a few times.
Yeah, so in college, like I said, we had no money.
We were refugees when we came to the United States.
My family, it wasn't really much of a tradition,
but my mother's generation and her two siblings,
their university graduation gifts
were a thing that used to exist,
which was around the world trip ticket
where you could jump on and off one airline
for basically whenever you wanted.
This is some 55 years ago.
So that obviously doesn't exist any longer,
but I'd always
heard these stories from my mother about when she traveled the world after university. And so in
university, I started a small business, which was an adventure science business, where I take kids,
local kids in Santa Barbara, where I live, which is a, you know, it's a pretty rich neighborhood,
which is immersed in nature. And I take kids for a fee out into the wilds and teach them about Channel Island foxes
and catching snakes and this, that and the other thing.
And so I started this little business
that I was able to sell when I graduated from college.
And in selling that and selling my little boat
that I'd bought for the business
and my pickup truck that I used for the business.
And basically everything I had that wasn't nailed down
that I couldn't live without,
I was able to save up enough money just by my first ticket.
And the goal was to just travel and go for as long as I could.
And I came home a year later with negative $400 in my bank account.
So I just pushed it to the very, very limit.
And during that year, we went to 28 countries, I think.
I've traveled so much now, it's hard to keep track.
But I think we went, we did 28 countries in that year
and I went with my girlfriend at the time,
who's now my wife, and we jumped all over the place
with the goal of seeing and documenting,
not documenting, but just immersing ourselves
in really wild and unique places,
finding a few of the target animals and species
I'd always wanted to see and find.
And yeah, we went all over the place.
We went, we traveled west, so we went from California to Samoa,
and then Tonga, and then New Zealand,
and just continued going west.
And if that makes sense, New Australia, blah, blah, blah.
And yeah, there's a lot that happened in that time.
I got a couple different things.
I broke my back in Thailand, jumping off of a waterfall.
I put myself, wasn't really a hospital,
more so in a vets clinic with a terrible third degree
Carl Bern from trying to fish lobster out of a hole in Komodo Island.
And the list goes on and on. But yeah, it was quite an adventure, that's for sure. And we did a
lot of cool things. I got to see things like Komodo Dragon and Rare Wildlife that I wanted to see
my whole life that I'd only ever read about or seen pictures of. And it was how that shaped my future was probably just the taking the restrictors off
or just giving myself the ability to do something like that
that I was really interested in, excited about.
Didn't have an end goal.
Most people come out of college
and their first thing is get a job, make money,
figure out how to set up in a life.
And I think even in today's world,
maybe today's world more than ever,
kids are so concerned about that
and they're so motivated to get out of college
and find a job and all my friends did that.
And what's funny is I look at those same groups of friends
and most of them still have those same jobs,
albeit they've moved up in their companies or careers.
And I came home a year, a couple of years later,
whatever it was a year and a bit later
with negative $400 in my account
and less qualifications than I'd ever had before
because I just spent a year goofing off.
And somehow I've managed to create an even more successful
career and business for myself than any of those guys
who are so singularly focused on work and career.
And I think it just is because I wasn't willing
to accept the conventional norms of you have to get
out of school, find a job, do it this way.
You get your two weeks of vacation a year and go and that's when you can go and
play. Like I was like, screw that. I'm not doing any of that.
I'm going to do it my way, which is just to go do the things I love the most,
but still have drive and enthusiasm to figure out a long term plan,
just not right then and there.
So I wanted to ask you a lot of times we have these big
ambitions that we wanna pursue and yet we get stuck.
We end up not taking the steps to do them
and it's interesting, I like to bring up the statistic
on the show, but Cornell University did this study
of thousands of people in 2018 that were nearing
their deathbeds and they asked them what was the number one
regret they had in life
and 76% of them said it was not going after their aspirations when they were younger.
For someone who's listening to this and our audience is everyone from new college graduates
to high achievers, for you what stops people from pursuing their dreams and what did you do
differently that allowed you to explore this life that you have?
I think you hear a lot of entrepreneurs talk about this, but I think so much of it's fear-based.
People are just scared to take risks. They're scared of the what if.
What if I don't make money? What if I don't make it? What if I can't get a job? What if, what if, what if, what if?
And for me, I'm not fearless. The definition of bravery is not being fearless.
I'd say the definition of stupidity is being fearless.
The definition of bravery is being scared of something
but doing it anyway, being willing to take that risk.
And when it comes to being entrepreneurial,
just like when it comes to tagging a great white shark,
catching a cobra, darting a lion,
all the things that I do for work now that I love doing,
you have to take a calculated risk
and you have to be laser focused
and you have to be willing to give it your everything.
And that's, it sounds like a very grandiose message,
but I think for me,
if you aren't willing to focus 100% of your time
and energy and effort on this thing that you want to do,
you will end up doing something
that you don't want to do for your life.
And it's not like I found it straight away.
It's not like I came out of college, as I mentioned.
So I came out of college and was like, all right,
I'm gonna be, this is the thing I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna be laser focused on it.
No, all I was laser focused on was wildlife
and pursuit of wildlife and saving wildlife.
And then over years, quite a lot of years,
it took me from when I graduated
college to when I was nearly 30 years old to really get things up and off the ground.
But it took me that amount of time. So call that nine years, eight years of trying to
figure out how to do that and experimenting in different fields of biology and science
and wildlife, Haitian and conservation and so on and so forth and narrowing in on this
is exactly how I want to do
the thing that I want to do.
So being open, being dynamic, being able to shift and pivot,
but also staying true to your core values and your goals.
At least for me is what led to starting
pretty successful career in wildlife communication,
so on and so forth.
And I think that most people are held back by the fear.
They're held back by the what if I don't make it?
What am I gonna do for money, blah, blah, blah.
John, my wife and I, three years living on my girlfriend
at the time, she's now my wife's part-time teacher salary,
okay, she made $18,000 a year as a part-time teacher.
We ate top ramen, five meals a week, minimum.
We had no money, we had absolutely nothing,
but I didn't let the fear of living like that
for the rest of my life Stop me from giving a hundred percent to the thing that I wanted to do which was communicate
Conservation to millions of people and help make the world a better place for wildlife
And so we never gave up on that and while it took three years
During that time frame to for the first thing to click it wasn't like it clicked. It was like alright
I've made it, you know now it's taken another, since then,
another 10, 11 years, whatever it's been
since that point in time,
to get things up and off the ground.
And it still hasn't clicked.
You know what I mean?
I'm still chasing the dream.
I still think I can do better.
I can reach more people.
I can make better media.
I can have a better income, all of it.
It hasn't clicked.
It's just something you just never give up on.
You keep pushing the rock uphill no matter what.
Man, for us there are so many things now
I wanna unpack that you just brought up.
So, some of the first ones,
and I got this question on a podcast
I was interviewed on yesterday is that a lot of people say,
we're barely making it.
We only have $50,000 a year.
I'm just making up a number.
We can barely cover our rent. We don't have enough money to go out. I've got this,000 a year. I'm just making up a number. We can barely cover our rent.
We don't have enough money to go out.
I've got this, I've got that.
Like how do I find the extra time?
How do I find the extra energy to,
and where with all to do this?
What would be your advice to that person?
You just have to do it.
There's no other, it doesn't matter
what financial situation you're in,
what opportunities, what education,
you just have to do it.
Don't go out.
Don't go out with your friends and get beers.
Don't sleep in until eight in the morning.
Don't watch Netflix at night.
You just have to do it.
You just have to keep doing it, whatever it is.
How do you find the energy?
You get up and make yourself find the energy.
You can't take no for an answer.
You can't get beaten down.
You can't let the relentless
negativity that is the world that we live in stop you. You just have to keep doing it. It
doesn't matter what it is. You've got $50,000 to your name as the number that I know it's arbitrary,
but the number you just said, then you're richer than 99% of the entire planet. You might be not
be rich by the United States standards, but you're richer than 99% of the entire planet.
You've got enough to keep going. If you have a car, you have a roof over your head, you
have a computer to work from, you've got enough to keep going. You just have to keep doing
it. Whether your business is failing, whether you have a side job that is just allowing
you enough money just to get by so that you can focus on this thing, you just have to
keep doing it. There's nuances to that where say you're peddling a product, say you've
made up a product, say you've made up
a product, this pen here, and it's a crappy pen that doesn't write, right? And you've been pushing
it for five years and the pen still doesn't write. Might be time to change the pen. It might be time
to change the marketing. Maybe it's a stabbing tool and not a pen. Maybe it's a digging tool and not
a pen, but you still have to just keep pushing it. Whatever it is, you have to keep pushing forward.
Don't get stagnant. Don't get stuck. Don't get down. We all get
depressed. I took nose and nose for years when I first started my production company,
when I first wanted to pitch television shows, I had no background, no credibility, blah,
blah, blah. It doesn't matter. Just say thank you for your opinion and keep going. And if
you change your mind, I'm here, right? Thank them for their opinion, keep going. So to me,
it's like, it doesn't matter how little you have, how much you're struggling, how hard it is to find the energy
or the motivation or the time.
I've been there, I've been there on every sense of the word.
My family came here as refugees.
We had nothing.
We lived in government housing on welfare.
It doesn't matter what it is,
you just have to keep pushing towards that thing
that you care about, towards that passionate thing.
Find the time, blow off your friends,
blow off everything else that is arbitrary,
that is unimportant to that goal
and keep pushing towards that goal.
And slowly things will click and you'll look back,
you'll give it a year, you'll give it two years,
you'll give it whatever and you'll go, wow,
I now have $60,000 instead of $50,000.
I now actually have an employee instead of me doing it all.
And it might feel like you're getting nowhere,
but when you look back and you've given it everything to it
for a year or two years, five years, whatever it is,
things will grow, they will amount to more.
And if you want proof of that, just look back
and just look back at where you were a year ago,
two years ago, three years ago.
And you might be like, oh, I haven't grown at a rate
that feels sustainable, I haven't grown at a rate
that I feel successful, but compared to where you were,
if you're always pushing forward, it will grow.
Yeah, so many important things that you just brought up.
And an example I like to use is Hillary Swank.
Because people see she's this Oscar-winning actress,
but they don't realize that she was living
in a minivan with her mom for a very long time.
And before she got her first Oscar, she actually took that role for $3,500.
I didn't know that.
I was just looking it up a little bit.
That's hilarious.
Just to get that opportunity and then that has led to what she has now.
So anyone has the potential to do this and I think it's so important.
And you brought up another thing that I love to focus on. And you were talking about the comparison. And I tell people all the time that so many
of us focus on the gap instead of the gain. It's a book that I love by Benjamin Hardy,
where we measure ourself against someone else instead of measuring ourself against the gains
we've made from our previous self to our future self.
And I think that's so important
because when you're constantly comparing yourself
to other people, you're gonna live your whole life
in that gap.
Yeah, 100%.
And John, social media is such a bastard
when it comes to that,
because you go on social media,
and especially in today's world,
this whole hustle culture of seeing,
oh, you gotta make millions of dollars,
you gotta be doing this,
and you can turn a profit in two weeks,
and just all this nonsense that these people who probably have never made a dollar in their lives
are spouting on social media.
It's easy to fall into that trap and start comparing yourself to all of these other entrepreneurs
or whatever you want to call them, and just forget it.
You just have to block out all the noise, even from your own family, from everything everything else I'm very lucky because I always had a very supportive mother my immediate family but outside of that
I remember my cousins being like oh my god. You're never gonna make it in television. What a joke
You're never oh you got to give up and get a real job and meet like close family saying things like that
And I'm like yep. Thanks. Sounds good appreciate your negativity not gonna change anything
You know what I mean? So you just have to block it out. It doesn't matter how many people around you are saying no. And one thing that I
always find or have found helpful is to surround yourself with people that also have big dreams
and aspirations. So if you are taking time to socialize or you are doing things, sit down with
people that sure, they might not be as immediately fun as your college drinking buddies, but make
your social group people that also are trying
to accomplish something not necessarily similar to you,
but in the same vein, whether that's entrepreneurial wise
or a pursuit of passion or creating something
or whatever it happens to be,
surround yourself with like-minded people
in your social group so that when you sit down,
you can be like, wow, how's it going for you?
What's working?
What's not working?
As opposed to, oh yeah, I have a job at a bank
or something like that. And you're like, okay, well, it's really hard for me to communicate with you
about work stuff, because what I'm doing is so much different to your nine to five at the bank.
And so building a network and a social group and a support group around you, so that when you are
taking time off of staring at a computer screen or making phone calls or whatever is the thing that's
pursuing your passion, you can at least be talking to other people who are in the same state as you as far as
trying to pursue something and create something.
And I love what you're saying.
And I just want to go to my book here for a second because one of the reasons I wanted
to bring you on is to showcase people who are living a passion-struck life.
And I want to highlight some of the chapters of the book that you're just covering. The first principle in my book is to become
a mission angler, meaning you need to become a life crafter. You need to create that vision for
the future self that you want to achieve. You talked about being a fear-confronter and that it's fears
that stop most people in their tracks and from pursuing the life that they want
and how you have just confronted those. I have this chapter called the mosquito principle where
we just like that pesky mosquito that seems to be this invisible thing that's around us,
but honestly creates more harm and havoc than any other planet on earth. So are those toxic people and influences in your life.
And that you talked about. And then I also bring up this whole thing that we need to be a brand re-inventor and that,
like you were saying, once you've reached this point, you've got to continually keep pushing it, keep reinventing yourself, keep expanding.
So you've nailed a whole bunch of these. And one other thing I really
wanted to hit on that you talked about is I talk about the triad of passion, perseverance, which
Angela Duckworth calls grit, but the missing ingredient that so many people don't take into
account, which is intentionality. And you brought this up earlier on how you were guiding your life
against your core values and your long term
goals. And I think oftentimes you can have passion and you can have that willpower to
persevere. But if you're finding yourselves going on the wrong course, you need to course
correct. Because to me, the easy thing to do is those things in life where you're doing
things that go against your core values,
you're taking the easy path,
taking the harder path or the more intentional path
is doing the things that you're talking about.
It's not going out to have that beer with your friend.
It's making the choice to get rid of people
who are holding you back.
So so many amazing lessons.
So-
And to be clear, John, sorry, I don't want to interrupt you.
But to be clear, anyone listening to this and listening to me
needs to take it with a grain of salt.
Yes, I have created a successful business for myself
and a successful life in my opinion,
but I have no background in business.
I have no background in no degrees in financial management
or motivational speaking or any of the stuff
that we're talking about here.
This is just how I've done it
and I've done it because I have a passion for animals.
And at the end of the day,
you can boil it down to whatever you like,
but it is as simple as I care about wildlife
and conservation and I thought this is the best way to do it.
And it's been a very hard and bumpy road,
but I've done it all just because it's what I care about.
I'm not saying it's the right recipe for everybody because I have no background to validate that,
just my own experience of this.
Well, luckily for you, I have a ton of research that backs up that the steps that you're taking
are the same ones that people like Jeff Bezos or Michael Dell or professional athletes like
Michael Jordan, Supreme Court
justices have all taken and it's how they reach the point that they have.
And one of the biggest thing you're saying is you just never give up.
And I did this interview with retired astronaut Wendy Lawrence and her big message to people
is that you've got to permit yourself to dream the dream.
And so many people run into a course in school that they can't get through or they run into this obstacle or
that and they allow it to stop them from pursuing this life adventure that they want.
Speaking of life adventures, I want to get into now some of the stuff that I'm sure the
audience wants to hear about, some of the exciting things that you do. What are the most challenging aspects? Because I'm just imagining there are
a ton of them about creating an engaging yet scientifically accurate show.
Yeah, well, we did things that are really the hard way, right? The first TV show I ever did
called Extinct or Alive was about looking for extinct animals, right? Which extinct doesn't
mean hiding in a bush or around the next corner, extinct means gone.
And we were probably just as shocked as the audience
when we found our extinct animal and our second
and our third and all the way up to our eighth.
And to talk about doing things the hard way.
There's a million other, a billion other ideas
you could come up with to communicate
interesting animal science that doesn't involve
halting to find something that the world believes is gone,
literally the rarest creatures on the planet. And yet we were successful in that. But I think what's the hardest
part of those adventures? Honestly, the hardest part of everything I do, no matter what it is,
or where it is in the world is the people side. It's getting them funded, putting the business,
it's putting the plans together, it's managing the teams, it's doing the research. And then when
we're in the field, it's the guerrilla warfare. It's the cartels
It's the corrupt Mozambique officials that are chasing us down a runway with machine guns and the list goes on
It's always the people if I were just left to my own devices with the wildlife
And it would be nothing but smiles over here
But it's always the people that are always the biggest challenge
But I don't think that's the exciting thing that your audience probably wants to hear about. Rather, we push ourselves really hard.
I think the reason we were successful
in finding eight extinct animals,
the reason we've been able to catch
some of the biggest man-eating crocodiles in the world
and translocate giant herds of elephant,
and the list goes on and on,
is because we push ourselves to that extent, right?
And we have all of it, amoebic dysentery, heat stroke,
thrown in jail, run out of countries,
cross borders illegally overnight to not end up being hung. And the list goes on and on.
I heard speaking of books, most of this is in my book, by the way, and still alive. And I've
currently in the throes of writing a second one. But it's crazy, some of the adventures we've had,
from being shot at, to being stabbed, to being caught, to being thrown in prison, to some of the wildlife run-ins.
I've been bitten by sharks twice now.
I've been tagged by a lion.
I've just earlier this year,
I thought I killed myself by rubbing sea snake venom
in my eye ducts out of frustration
because I grabbed my eyes like that
after milking sea snakes.
There's been some pretty hairy moments.
It's always a human error,
or it's a calculated risk that I've decided to take.
It's not the wildlife's fault.
I just wanna take that lesson and apply it
to other aspects of people's careers
because I haven't had that adventure life
that you have had to that extent.
But I spent a lot of time in Fortune 50 companies
and I was the leader of the technology organizations and people
would always come to me and say, what makes a successful project or an unsuccessful one? And
it's the same answer. It's the people. People always think it's the technology that's going to make
it or break it or even the processes. That is not it. It is changing people's hearts and minds.
And if you can't do that, it's not gonna be successful.
And there are so many things that like my little company
and the employees that we have that
you can overlook certain things
as long as other people have important qualities
and that shared passion, that shared drive, loyalty,
certain things like that are just so critical.
And when it comes to my field,
it's loyalty to the wildlife or core values or passion for communication of the same messages that that's what's allowed us to thrive and make such hit TV shows is I'll be sitting around with five guys in the middle of a southern African bush at a camp who haven't slept for three days who've just got out of a holding cell because our permits weren't cleared who've been shot at on the runway. And instead of going, yeah guys,
we just got to sleep and call this one.
They're going, hey, dawn's two hours away,
get the cameras ready.
We might be able to get that shot.
And they have the same amount of passion
and drink the same 12 cups of coffee
that we all have to drink to get through the night.
And again, it goes back to what we were saying,
but surrounding yourself with those people
that are willing to really just push it to that extent. And it sucks because I'm getting older now, my
whole crew is getting older now, it's getting harder. You know, the knees creaking a little
bit, the bugged up shoulder is hurting a little bit more, the lack of sleep is weighing a
little bit more, but still have this group of people that are just so passionate for
the same things that we can push ourselves and push against each other in order to propel
forward as opposed to having that sort of toxicity of we got to stop, we got to break down, and
we got to throw in the towel.
Yeah, I wanted to go back to Extinct or Alive just for a second because you've described
it as some of your most meaningful television work because for you, it combined education,
conservation, and
adventure. Is there a particular moment or expectation from that series that really stands
out that's emblematic of that combination?
Yeah, it's a great question. I think the biggest moment for me was on Fernandina Island in
the Galapagos diving into the bushes and picking up Fern, the Fernandina Island tortoise, that tortoise right
there, that literally the rarest animal in the world.
There is one known individual of that species, hadn't been
seen in 114 years.
Only one specimen had ever been recorded prior 114 years
before that.
And there I am diving into the bush and picking up this
crown jewel of rarity, this animal that is saved from oblivion,
or at least should have been, by us finding her.
And that's in season two Galapagos, I forget the title of the episode, I've extinct her alive,
but that moment, about two-thirds of the way through that episode is just, I mean, I'm getting goosebumps just describing it,
because to me it was, I don't let my wife hear this with our two children, but probably the best moment of my entire life, you know what I mean?
Better than anything family oriented or anything else.
I don't let my wife hear that, but it is just such a big moment and it's just really the
fruition of such a pipe dream of finding such rare and critically endangered loss to this
planet things and actually being able to find them.
Yeah.
And I wanted to turn to Face the Beast because it was interesting.
You took on a producer role and you focused on historical animal attacks.
But what was interesting to me is I have a ton of behavior science experts on the show
and you were working through the eyes of one of the most renowned animal behavior experts.
Can you discuss how that shift in perspective for you
from the typical work you did to this project influenced you?
Sure, yeah.
So for background context, I was just getting my,
so I have a production company.
So all these TV shows that we're mentioning or whatever,
typically produced by the company that I own that has a handful of employees So all these TV shows that we're mentioning or whatever are typically produced by the company
that I own that has a handful of employees
that put these shows together now.
But at the time I was still just a presenter
working for another company,
trying to figure out how to communicate science
the best I could.
I had producer credits, but not like this.
Then I created Face the Beast,
which was a history channel show
along with a couple partners.
And we brought this show to fruition,
but because of the locations and stories
that I wanted to tell,
I never let things like the logistics of,
well, how are we gonna get to Ramri Island in Myanmar
that hasn't had Western people there in 30 years?
I never let that hold me back.
I always think, what is the biggest, most grandiose,
loudest, most exciting thing we can do?
Oh, let's go to a place where soldiers were killed by crocodiles.
Even though they're in the height of a war and nobody's been there in 30 years and blah blah blah,
I don't consider that. I just consider what is the most incredible story to tell.
And so when we put Face the Beast together, as I just stated, that was the first location.
And so although I was heinously under qualified at the time, nobody in their right
mind would go to Ramri Island, Myanmar to go nipples deep in a swamp to look for man-eating
crocodiles. It's there's the Rihenga massacre taking place at the time and Warstruun and I mean
it was crazy. It was like the dumbest idea we've ever had probably and so the only person who can
drive the ship directly into the eye of the storm of the dumbest idea I've
ever had is me. And while I was heinously underqualified, I went
with the old fake it till you make it and said, I got it, I'll
produce it, I'll take the crew, I'll run the show, I had created
it. So it made sense for me to run it. But it just I just
didn't have the skill set or the qualification. Regardless, it
came out really well. And it was because of what we're saying
it, there's more to it than just passion. But And it was because of what we're saying.
There was more to it than just passion,
but the passion was there from the entire team.
The same team that I still work with today
on every project that I'm on camera for.
And I took that team and we went to this halish spot
in Myanmar and we made this show.
And yeah, it was unbelievable, but the perspective changed
because instead of at that point to date,
all I had been doing is I had been producing off-camera meaning I had been
Creating what are the animals I want to search for where do we go?
What's the plan?
How do we do it and handing that over to someone that would then be like all right forest
Well now tell the camera why this and why that and so on and so forth and at that point in time
The only shift was instead of me all of that down and handing it over,
I then wrote it down and had to take the experiences
that I'd had of watching other people produce me
and apply those same things to other people on camera.
So that was my first real foyer into being a showrunner
and executive producer, which means creating the show,
but not being in front of the camera.
And it was fine. To be honest, it was an easy transition because I'd inadvertently, unknowingly,
already been doing it.
I'd already been producing myself on camera.
I just didn't really know it.
So now I just had to produce other people.
And the challenge there, and any good person that works in my industry of creating media,
the challenge there is managing the people, managing the, not just the camera crew and the sound guys and the team, but the people that are on camera and
making sure they're happy and can convey their message the way they want to do it in the
most accurate and concise way possible. So it's just keeping all those personalities
aligned and making everybody happy there while still focusing on a mission, which is telling
the story of this massacre or whatever it happens to be.
I've spent some time binge watching before I got on this episode and I've always liked
Shark Week. I think it started in 1987 if I have it right somewhere around that time.
88.
88. Yeah. I know because it's the same age I am.
One of the episodes that I really liked was your one that you did in Alaska.
I think it was called Jaws of Alaska.
And it was just amazing to me the conditions that you had to film in and the challenges
of filming underwater.
So as I understand it, the reason you did this is that there were these mammals that were being massacred
by some creature that couldn't be identified and biologists and scientists were struggling
with what was the cause of all this that was happening.
Maybe you can expand upon that so we set the right scene for everyone.
Yeah, simply put, there are seals and sea lions in Alaska that were either
washing up dead or swimming around with giant bite marks out of them that didn't
match any known predator.
You know, when an orca kills a seal or sea lion, they don't take this sharp
surgical bite out of them or they don't shred them the way that a shark does.
And those are really the main predators up there.
Outside of that, in the water,
you have other species like salmon sharks
or Pacific sleeper sharks,
but these are not typically large marine mammal predators.
As most people that are interested in sharks know,
your big mammal eating shark is the great white shark.
But historically speaking,
great white sharks are not supposed to go to Alaska.
So the question was, who is it?
What is it
that could be eating these seals and sea lions up under the ice in Alaska? Which is a pretty
hard question to answer because outside of a few bite marks, you have to actually find something.
You have to actually see what this big predator is. Have Great White Sharks moved into the area,
have other known species like salmon sharks or Pacific sleeper sharks change their predation behavior.
So we went up there where four other crews
had completely failed to try and figure it out.
And it was very cold and very difficult.
Yeah, and I understand that while you were filming it,
you had to do a lot of freediving.
And so you couldn't wear this layered approach
and you're swimming in water because it's
seawater that's actually colder than freezing.
How did you manage to do that?
And honestly, like how cold was it?
Yeah, it was cold.
So yeah, because I always prefer freediving and the reason being you're much less restricted,
you're not making the noise of bubbles and clampering around with scuba tanks and things
like that.
And so when it comes to wildlife observations, when you're free diving,
you're much more a part of the food chain.
You're not a weird different thing.
You're just the same as being an otter or seal or sea lion.
Whereas when you're scuba diving, you're like a total alien.
You're like blowing all these bubbles and you're staying under
and you're just acting in a manner that's different to anything else in the ocean.
So I always choose free diving as a methodology for wildlife observation over scuba diving
and because I'm quite competent at freediving,
I've been doing it a long time.
But the reason I tell you all of that
is because you cannot freedive in a dry suit.
And typically when you're diving in arctic conditions
like that, you wanna be in a dry suit,
which is a waterproof suit
that you can put on layered jackets and things underneath.
You cannot do that with a wetsuit, obviously.
You just put on a layer of neoprene.
So we put on these layers of neoprene
and got in water that I can't remember,
but it was in the 30s, maybe 30, 31.
It might've been over-freezing.
It might've been 33.
I don't even remember anymore.
I just remember it was so effing cold
that you couldn't close your hands
because your fingers were just like,
they weren't frozen, but you just had no blood in them.
So you couldn't do anything with your hands, your face,
you know that ice cream headache you get
when you slurp a smoothie too quickly?
Brain freeze, like you're in brain freeze mode,
80% of the time where your whole face is like stinging,
the wind whips and things like,
at least one morning when we were around the glaciers,
all the water in my beard that you could see here now
would freeze within a matter of a second from coming out of the water and it's just cold. It's
just unpleasant and there's nothing more relentless than that cold. There's nothing that sucks more.
Put me in heat, put me in whatever condition, but when you're wet and cold for weeks on end,
like we were in Alaska, it is so effing draining. And yeah, it was brutal.
And if you wanna hear something really stupid,
we're doing it again in March of this year.
We're going to a different, equally as cold place,
actually colder to do another thing.
I can't really talk about it yet for obvious reasons.
The show hasn't been announced yet,
but we're going to somewhere even colder
to do the exact same thing again
for the entire month of March,
which I'm really not looking forward to.
When I was in the Navy, I was stationed up in Newport Rhode Island.
We used to have to do damage control drills in this makeshift as a vessel-like structure that they built for this.
And we used to have to do it in January and February, and I don't think it was as cold as you're talking about, but it was probably in the high 30s, low 40s,
and that water hits you and your whole body just freezes.
You cannot even move.
Like convulsion, yeah, 100%.
It's brutal.
It's absolutely brutal.
So funnily enough, John,
have you seen these cold plunge things
that are super popular now?
Yeah, so I just got one.
I got a plunge, which is a brand of cold plunge thing.
And I put it in a gym where I work out
and I've been trying to get used to it
oh, in preparation for what's coming up in March.
And this is a big part of these big lengthy expeditions.
We do pretty extensive training for each one.
There's no getting used to the cold.
I don't care, it just doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter if you do it at six a.m.
It doesn't matter if you do it in the middle of the night.
It doesn't matter if you do it on full stomach and empty stomach, get out of a sauna, come from a run. It doesn't matter if you do it at 6 a.m. It doesn't matter if you do it in the middle of the night. It doesn't matter if you do it on full stomach and empty stomach.
Get out of a sauna, come from a run.
It doesn't matter what you do.
You get in a damn cold tub, get in the cold water.
It is shocking and it is miserable 100% of the time.
Well, on that expedition, I understand that you used some unique technologies because
the sharks that you were going after,
a lot of people had never even seen these before. Can you describe, I know you did some
that allowed you to see them in the depths
that they typically live in,
and then you had to use some
because some of these sharks can travel at 50 miles per hour
to actually be able to catch them.
Yeah, so it's one of the things that my team
and I have become most well known for globally
is our ability to adaptive technologies, really,
taking tech that already exists in the world
and adapting it to wildlife science.
And so you look at something like the salmon shark,
which is the animal that we wanted to study and get close to.
It's an incredibly shy and elusive cousin
of the great white shark.
Beautiful, incredible mackerel shark family,
amazing animal. But pretty much everybody that had ever tried to
study them had failed because they can move 50 miles an hour,
they're elusive, they don't like sound, they don't like noise.
And everybody that had ever tried to spend time with them had
done the same thing over and failed. And so what we're so
successful at my team and I is we look at
the species, we look at a situation or condition and we break it down into okay, what are the factors
that could or couldn't be going wrong? And I'm doing this on a huge, tens of millions of dollars
project right now that I unfortunately I can't talk about yet, but it's to save a species of
animal that there's very few of. And if you saw the ridiculous tools and toys that we're using
from the military,
from the sporting industry, from the fishing world,
and the list goes on, you'd be like, this is not,
like it looks like a toy shop in my office over here
because of all the tinkering going on.
But what we do is we take these technologies
that already exist and adapt them for wildlife science.
And so in the case of the salmon shark
in Jaws of Alaska, in Alaska, we went,
all right, this shark can go 50 miles an hour.
Okay, so how are we going to keep up with it? Well, we can't in the water. We need to come
up with another idea. It's super shy, so we need to be low profile and we need to have a low footprint.
And it's noise sensitive, which is obvious because everybody that's ever gone in the water on
scuba to try and film them has failed. So what can we do? What can we adapt in order to get closer to
these animals? So we're thinking, how do we figure this out? Long story made short after
many sleepless nights, tons of research, tons of figuring out. I found a guy's named Dana
Lunkwist, amazing dude. You should talk to him, Johnny's a hell of an entrepreneur too,
who created this, this jet board, which is an electric, it's basically a jet ski you
strap to your feet.
That's all electric.
So it's all electric, meaning it's super quiet.
It goes 50 miles an hour, which is zipping around.
And the size of my desk here, it's this big.
It's five feet long or whatever.
And I remember calling up my buddy Mitch,
who's my right hand man, executive producer,
shooter, everything else.
And I'm like, what do you think if I strap a jet board
to my feet, which is small and we get behind the sharks
going 50 miles an hour, do you think that'll work?
And of course not, let's do it.
So I called up this guy Dana and we became friends
and everything else and I told him what I wanted to do
and he's like, look, people just use these things
to race and jump over, jump on lakes and stuff.
I have no idea what it's gonna do with sharks,
but those are the kind of Hail Mary plays
with technology that we always do.
And so ordered a jet board, got the the batteries shipped it all up to Alaska and
When all the stars aligned meaning the water was flat the Sun was low in the sky
So the sharks were up high the conditions were just right
I pulled out this ridiculous jet ski that I could strap to my feet
wobbled my way up onto it and sure enough was able to keep up and study the salmon sharks
with the jet board, with the e-wave jet board.
And yeah, that was it.
Like that was how we figured it out.
And so that kind of system is something we've done time and time again where we take other
stuff, thermal drones for the military to track elephants and hunting technologies like
sound decoys or collars to bring in rare wildlife and adapt them. And so it's just
you got to figure out the ecology of an animal or the challenges of a situation. And then instead
of reinvent the wheel, go and find the wheel and figure out how to make it into something that you
can use it for. Well, man, Forrest, I could spend another three hours talking to you, but I know
you've got to run. Unfortunately. If there was one thing you would like to leave listeners with, maybe a piece of advice from
your own life, what would it be?
Well, as this is the Passion Struck podcast, I would say if you have that passion, and
if you want to know if you have that passion, ask yourself how much time are you thinking
about it?
But if you have that passion for anything, for business, for animals, for sports, for anything at all, for music, figure out a way that you can spend
your time working on that every day. It doesn't matter if it's for money, not for money, it
doesn't matter what it's for. Just figure out a way that if you care about that passion
so much that when it turns into a job you don't hate it, figure out a way that you can
give everything to that passion.
And at the end of the day, you're going to feel fulfilled and rewarded,
even if you're not making a lot of money, even if you don't have this giant empire of a business,
you'll feel like you've made a difference because you're pursuing your passion.
So that would be my tidbit.
Okay. And then the last question is,
people who want to buy your book want to learn more about you.
Where's the best place for them to go?
Yeah, thank you.
I always appreciate that.
And the book, you know, anywhere books are sold,
I'm on every platform on the internet.
The one thing I'm really excited about now, John,
is our new YouTube channel.
So I just started a YouTube,
it's literally just my name,
Forrest Galante on YouTube.
Sounds ridiculous,
but YouTube allows you the freedom to do whatever,
to communicate whatever I want.
I don't have to answer to executives at a network, at Discovery the freedom to do whatever, to communicate whatever I, and I don't have to answer two
executives at a network at Discovery Animal Planet, whatever,
and say, here's a show I'd like to make, what do you think?
Instead, I could just go out and make whatever I like.
And so we just started this YouTube just a few months ago.
It's at about a half a million subscribers so far.
And I really want to start leaning into that more
and bringing a more serious, not serious,
but a more scientific and higher production quality approach
to YouTube, which is a space that has typically just been
kids on iPhones or whatever.
And I'm really excited about that.
It's like a whole new venture for us.
It's the first thing in this world of media generation
that's got me really excited in a while.
So I'd love it if people would check that out.
Okay.
Well, man, thank you so much for being here.
I absolutely love this interview.
Anytime, John. Thank you for having me.
I thoroughly enjoyed that interview with Forrest Glante. Wow, was that incredible.
And I wanted to thank Forrest and Chris Cremisos for the honor and privilege of having them appear
on today's show. Links to all things Forrest will be in the show notes. Please use our website links
if you purchase any of the books from the guests that we feature here on the show.
Advertiser deals and discount codes
are in one convenient place at passionstruck.com slash deals.
Videos are on YouTube at both our main channel,
at John R. Miles and our clips channel,
at Passionstruck Clips.
Please go check them out and subscribe.
I also wanted to tell you about the Passionstruck quiz.
If you ever wanted to know where you currently sit
on the Passionstruck continuum,
now is your opportunity to find out.
Just go to passionstruck.com, take the 20 question quiz. It'll take you about 10 minutes and we'll give you an answer right away.
What it means where you currently sit and actions that you can take to get to the next level.
You can find me at John R. Miles on all the social platforms and you can sign up for our work related newsletter on LinkedIn.
It's called Work Intentionally. You're about to hear a preview of the Passionstark Podcast
interview that I did with Morgan Hussil, a mastermind in the world of finance, behavioral
economics, as well as psychology and the author of the groundbreaking book, The Psychology
of Money, which has resonated with over 4 million readers globally. I engage Morgan
in a thought-provoking conversation that dives into his
latest work, same as ever, a guide to what never changes. So I have no idea, or neither has anybody
else, when the next bear market is going to occur in the stock market. But I know with certainty
how people are going to respond with greed and fear and uncertainty and their tribal influences
and how they interpret the media and the incentives
of investors, the incentives of advisors, the incentives of the media, that's never changed.
And it will never change. So we know, even if we don't know what's going to change,
let's put all of our attention in these things that don't. As a student of history,
I'm always most excited reading history when I read something that took place 50 years ago,
100 years ago, 1,000 years ago.
And you realize that if you just changed the dates on what you just read from 1823 to 2023,
every word would fit right in. So when you find something that doesn't change,
you know you found something that's particularly important in the world that you should put a
lot of your focus and attention on. Remember that we rise by lifting others.
So share the show with those that you love. And if you know someone who would love this episode that we did today with Force, then definitely
share it with them. In the meantime, do your best to apply what you hear on the show so
that you can live what you listen. And until next time, go out there and become Passion
Strong.