Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - How to Be Great | Alex Toussaint

Episode Date: October 11, 2023

This ain't daycare... Tough love and actionable insights on validation, gratitude, and self-alignment from the Peloton star. Plus, he shares the most important words he's ever heard.Alex Toussaint, Peloton Instructor and Puma Athlete, is a titan of the fitness community sitting at the intersection of fitness, tech, music, sports, and entertainment. A hybrid of high-performance athlete and motivational coach, Alex is widely respected for his authenticity and positivity. His new book is called Activate Your Greatness.In this episode we talk about:Alex’s remarkable life storyHis thoughts on internal versus external validationWhat he means by “activate your greatness”The habits and practices he employs in service of his own greatness, including gratitude, self-alignment, and his “starting five”Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/alex-toussaintSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hello, everybody. How we doing? Today, we've got an incredible story of somebody who figured out how to be great the hard way. Alex Tussant is the child of Haitian immigrants who grew up in a wealthy enclave in New York State in the town of East Hampton,

one of the wealthiest towns I've ever personally been to, growing up there, his neighbor used to call the cops on Alex just because of the color of his skin. He's black. Alex went on to struggle academically and in other ways throughout his childhood. He was sent away to military school, then he dropped out of college and went to work as a janitor. But, and I will let him tell this story, that is when something pretty incredible happened. Alex then turned into one of the very few genuine superstars in the fitness world. I take Alex's classes all the time on Peloton, where he's a senior instructor, especially his club banger's class.

Really like that one. Heads up. Peloton does sometimes advertise on this show, but this is not an advertisement. I wanted to have Alex on because one of the things I like about him, aside from his incandescent charm and charisma, is that like my meditation teacher, Joseph Goldstein, with whom many of you will be familiar. Alex also teaches in pithy catchphrases, which you will hear during the course of this interview. Alex just published a new book. It's called Activate Your Greatness, which is both memoir and manual. And in this conversation, we talk about his life story, his thoughts on internal versus external validation, what he means by Activate Your Greatness,

and the habits and practices that he employs in service of his own greatness. Also just a heads up, we did have a little bit of technical trouble with Alex's recording. So sadly, the audio quality will not be quite what you're used to hearing on this show, but it really is a terrific conversation. So I hope the audio quality, which really isn't that bad, I have to say. I hope it doesn't distract you.

Arbor. Go SoundReal. At least is a journalist. That's what I've always believed. Sure, odd things happened in my childhood bedroom. but ultimately, I shrugged it all off. That is, until a couple of years ago, when I discovered that every subsequent occupant of that house is convinced they've experienced something inexplicable too, including the most recent inhabitant who says she was visited at night by the ghost of a faceless woman. And it gets even stranger. It just so happens that the alleged ghost haunted my childhood room might just be my wife's

great grandmother. It was murdered in the house next door by two gunshots to the face. From Wondering and Pineapple Street Studios comes Ghost Story, a podcast about family secrets, overwhelming coincidence, and the things that come back to haunt us. Follow Ghost Story on the Wondering app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes at free right now by joining Wondry Plus. Bosch Legacy returns now streaming. Maddie's been taken. Oh God. His daughter. He's in the hands of a madman. What are the police have been looking for me.

But nothing can stop a father. We want to find her just as much as you do. I doubt that very much. From doing what the law can't. And we have to do this the way. You have to. I don't. Bosch Legacy.

Watch the new season now streaming exclusively on FreeV. I'm Rob Briden and welcome to my podcast, Briden and we are now in our third series. Among those still to come is some Michael Paling, the comedy duo Egg and Robbie Williams. The list goes on, so do sit back and enjoy. Briden and on Amazon Music, Wondery Plus, or wherever you get your podcasts. Alex Tussant, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. It's the honor to be here today.

It's so funny to have a two- way conversation with you because I've been taking your classes for years. So I've had one way conversations with you for, for, for years. So really cool to meet you. Tough love conversations. A lot of cursing back at me. No, no, no, no, you're the one cursing mostly at me, which I like. Actually, that's why I take your classes so often because you're one of the few teachers who will drop an F bomb down again, which I like. Actually, that's why I take your classes so often because you're one of the few teachers who will drop an F-bomb now and again, which I appreciate.

Yes, sir. I appreciate you rocking out with me though. I mean, it's everything. I appreciate that. I do it on the regular. And it's so interesting to now know more about your story, and I'm interested to let other people know about your story. If you're cool that I'd like to go back to the beginning, and I was really struck by your honesty about the relationship with your dad. Could we start there and maybe have you tell that story a little bit? Yeah, first of my mother and father

are the my two biggest supporters and two biggest advocates for what I do on a daily basis. My parents, Touhation immigrants came to the United States some time in the early 80s, not knowing English language, not really having as many resources as I do today, and somehow figured out a way to thrive in America. Not only just for themselves,

but also for the family, for our two older brothers as well. I was a kid who was very much knuckleheaded individual. I didn't really understand where I come from. I didn't understand the sacrifices. I really didn't live up to the family last name. And within that, I also struggled with my own mental health and just trying to identify who I am as an individual. With that and having a tough love father

who also stems from the military and just very much a disciplined individual, there's a lot of clashing, a lot of tension in the household growing up. He also dealt with his own sickness, thankfully that he beat. But just a lot of negative energy, negative tension in the household growing up,

which just was a lot of clashing with my father. So I had a father who's always present, but we just butted heads every single day where it was just, yeah, it just wasn't the prettiest of all things. But without him, though, without his discipline and his structure, I just wanna be very clear about that. I wouldn't be the man I am today.

So for all the negative things that we've gone through, now I'm validating the positive sides of it. So yeah, it's definitely a 360 turn around of our relationship, but it's a blessing though. Mark Twain has this line about how at 18, his father was the dumbest person he knew. And in his mid 20s, his father was the smartest person he knew and he couldn't believe how much his father

had changed during that time. So it's funny, like for me, I used to tell my, like, my dad was the, I want to say dumbest person because I actually always thought he was smart, but I always thought that his method to his madness was outrageous where it didn't make sense. And now that I'm in my early 30s, I'm like, everything he's brought up as a kid makes sense now. So I've written a way of text him, like, dad, you were right about this. He's like, you see, you look ahead, I told you.

So all of his, all of his crazy methods and how we went about things with wild, but he was honestly 98% right about life. So I got to give him credit to that. And it was, it's so interesting because you have these stock phrases you use when you're teaching that I've heard a million times and to now see where they came from, some of them from your dad, it really explained a lot to me, gives, you know, exercising with you a whole new level of meaning. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Something as simple as the smile you woke up, I say every single class I've ever taught at Peloton, that stems from my father waking up every single day and being sick and not really knowing how the next day may look for him and still trying to find light and try to tell me to smile because I woke up. So things like that, which a lot of the community doesn't know too much about, because I've been very private about that side of my life. I'm very excited for the world to see and tie in a lot of these statements and phrases and analogies

that I use on the platform, where it's comes from the originating foundation of it. What kind of illness did your dad have? He had colon cancer. And he beat it, but it did mean that he was kind of in a role reversal with your mom where he couldn't go out and work the way He used to and so she was the primary breadwinner and he was at home and if I understand correctly that Created a little bit of psychological turmoil for him that might have played into the difficulties between the two of you Yeah, without question. I think when you have somebody who is as disciplined and routine,

such a hard worker individual provider for the family, military man, when you have somebody that's so accustomed to being the provider, and then life takes an imaginable turn, and now your force is to sit on the sideline of life for a little bit and figure out what your body can do and what it can't do, your mind can do, and what it can't do. It's definitely a shock for anybody out there, let alone a black man trying to raise a family of three black men as well. Thankfully, my mother, being who she is,

stepped in and went back to school, got a PhD, became a doctor to make sure that the family was always taken care of. But I think just like as a man, that kind of ate at my dad a little bit, he was definitely proud and happy of my mom and the work that she was doing, but just as a man, internally, that kind of ate at my dad a little bit, he was definitely proud and happy of my mom and the work that she was doing, but just as a man internally, I think that ate at my dad a little bit. As a kid, I was never able to recognize that.

But as a man now, understanding how things happen in life and how things affect me, it allows me to provide my dad so much more grace and understanding he had his own battle he was dealing with. There wasn't just a one-on-one issue with me. He had his own internal thing that he was fighting. I just happen to be in the crosshairs of it, but just understanding long-term, just becoming a young man and just realizing,

in order to be great in life, you need to just provide yourself a grace of provide others grace. And it's that ability right there that's helped our relationship, made it extremely strong and healthy relationship. And now, maybe my dad and best friends, and I'm so thankful for the journey

that we've gone through together, for sure. I love to hear that. There's actually, there's so much in what you just said there about the relationship between improving your own mind and how that can lead to having better relationships with other people. And then, of course, since relationships are so important, that wings back and makes you even happier

and then that improves your relationships even more, it's like a classic virtuous cycle. Absolutely. Absolutely. All it starts mentally, it all starts up here. How you view yourself is how you treat yourself. And I started to believe in this mindset of, if I continue to view the things that I went through previously in my life as it's something that is going to continue to hold me back,

I'll never propel to the next journey to the next chapter to the next evolution of who I'm supposed to be as an individual. So in order to take that step forward, I'd take a couple steps back, which allowed me to get in a clear perspective of life, which allowed me not to proceed forward. So I'm very big on gratitude, canceling it got my negativity and fear.

And I'm just thankful I have my dad and my mom in my life. So that itself can't be my negativity and fear. And I also figured out a way to provide others forgiveness, which it allows me to have internal peace. So I don't even have issues with anybody anymore. Like I don't have those tensions, those problems with people anymore. I know how to communicate.

I know how to forgive somebody to provide myself that level of peace. I can set up here as a 30-year-old black man right now. I'm be like, my dad did this, my dad did that. All that's gonna do is have me retain that negative tension, that negative mindset and bleed it onto the next generation coming in. Whereas I could understand my dad had his own internal battles,

understanding I had my own internal battles, provide him peace and forgiveness, which allows me to have a less of a restrictive mindset, and allow me to live freely, which allows me to be present with myself, which allows me to be present with others. So it's really like a 360 degree ecosystem, but it all starts within you

and how you do yourself and treat yourself first. I don't want us to get to ahead of ourselves, because there are a lot more story beats for you, so developments in your life that I want to go back to. So before things get hunky-dory with your dad, it gets quite a bit worse. Before I go into that, though, I do want to set the context because this is all playing out in East Hampton, New York. And for people who don't know East Hampton, as I do, it is one of the fanciest

places on planet earth. It's part of the Hamptons, what's colloquially known as the Hamptons. So it's a vacation spot for wealthy people. And East Hampton is probably the nicest part of the Hamptons. And so you've got many hundred million dollar homes lining the beach there. And even in Linde, you've got lots of expensive homes. And these are all second or third homes for people. And this is the context in which you are being raised as a first generation African-American. And it is not the easiest place to grow up. It's crazy to say that because it is the most beautiful place that I've ever laid my eyes on. I'm thankful to represent East Hampton

to call that my home. Just within that space though, you have to realize we're coming out there in 1999 as the first Haitian immigrants to come to East Hampton. I think it was a bit of a cultural shock for me because I was coming from an environment where I saw kids that looked like me, that talked like me, that walked like me,

when we were living in Corm, that we moved to East Hampton and everybody in my block is predominantly white. There's not one black kid on my block, there's not one black kid within a three mile radius of it. And in my high school at the time, I graduated, there was probably maybe 20, 25 black kids total

out of the entire school. So it was very small pocket of minorities in East Hampton. The thing that I can say though, that I'm so thankful for is that community because they did open up their arms and welcome my family in with the highest of all love. The teachers out there want the extra mile for me. My friends and parents want them extra mile for me.

So if you know anything about growing up in a small town, everybody knows everybody, everybody supports everybody, everybody looks out for everybody. So to East Hampton, I thank them to the fullest because they did nurture me, they did give me time, they did give me grace, all the dumb things that I did, they could have really just wrote me off.

And East Hampton gave me a little bit of time to slow down life, so I didn't get myself into too much trouble. So I am thankful for the bottom of my heart for everybody part of that community out there. I get it, it sounds like East Hampton wasn't in many ways amazing. And you tell stories about having neighbors call the cops on

you just because of the color of your skin. Yeah, that became just a normal thing. My next door neighbor for, and we lived there in 1999 to 2018. I think minimum five, six, seven times a year I was getting the cops calling on me just for being outside my house, walking down the street, walking the dogs bouncing

a basketball, playing basketball in the backyard. It just started to become normal to me. Over time, my mom would tell me, don't worry, do I go into the mailbox. My dad would be like, turn down the music, don't play that song while you come into the driveway, all to make sure the next door neighbor was comfortable. And I think about that now,

and that mindset is the exact thing that I talk about the book of existing versus living when you're in an environment and you're you're existing due to the other people that are throwing circumstances on you are throwing BS honestly on you just because of the color of your skin or how you operate and that itself is the reason why I'm so unapologetically who I am today It's because of that next door neighbor making me feel restricted in my own environment all grown up as a child Yeah, fuck them. And so I do want to give you permission to, you don't have to say BS, you can say bullshit,

you can be your full self here, it's just to be clear. Yeah, we gotta say the bullshit. Gotta say the bullshit. Yeah, I think that's how, actually, it can be super helpful. Having said that, there were some bullshit that you were responsible for in this time, as you've referenced, not doing great at school, telling weed. And again, no judgment here. I did both of those things

myself. So I'm not talking you from on top of the mountain. However, what happened with you was a little bit more harsh than what happened with me, which is that you got sent away to military school. Why did that happen? And what was it like? I mean, there was one of the two options. It was either go to military school and get sent to Haiti. I think I got the better end of the stick and full transparency. Being at my dad was a military. He served in the Navy, my uncle served in the Air Force. So I grew up with a military style family, the regiment.

My dad really operated the houses. If it was we were in the military, three minutes showers, lights off at a certain time in the house at a certain time. My dad was very meticulous and disciplined like that. Military school was the very much needed to slow down point in life. I was in the sixth grade, or fifth grade going in the sixth grade,

and my dad thought that military school would provide me a slight pause where it would stop me from entering the street life. The full street life had just been completely gone and doing dumb things that I would never be able to come back from. So six grade, my dad ships me off to military school in the middle of nowhere, I went with military academy

and Missouri, dropped me off in the middle of it and just leaves. And that was probably the day I went from a little boy to a young man because at that point, I'm isolated from my friends, I'm isolated from family, I'm isolated from my brothers, my mother, my father, and I'm just in an environment where I don't know anybody at all.

And it's either you confined to it, or you don't know anyone to know what happens kind of concept. So it gave me the discipline and the structure and the foundation to who I am today as a man. It was just a very, those are hurtful period in life because I really didn't feel like I was wanted in the family at that point. I really feel like, instead of my dad leaving

the family, it was like, I'm not welcome, you get out. So it was, it was very much a crushing emotionally, mentally, till this day, I still get myself around of a pause for how the hell I got through that by myself. Yeah, I'm applauding with you. It sounds like hell. And as it turns out though, there is one of the phrases you use While teaching that actually comes from that period of your life. You'll sometimes Scream at me even though you don't know I'm there while I'm on the bike this ain't daycare. This ain't daycare One of my first Jill Sargent's big dude, big Samoan dude, Tatted. He used to tell me that when I first got to military school, as if I don't, he goes,

I don't know what your pants did for you at home, but they didn't say daycare, this is the real world. But it was tough love, you know? And honestly, military school saved my life. It honestly, it gave me the respect that I needed for individuals and made me understand how to communicate with people. I don't see color, I just see who you are, the individual,

and also help me respect where I come from. So that last name factor in the military, you don't get identified by your first name. Nobody truly even cares what your first name is. That identify you by your last. And that was the first time I really understood the power of that. You need to know where you come from in order where to take it. So military school provided me that structure, that discipline, that accountability, and that mindset to where I am today. So without military school, I don't know where I would be today. Military school is the foundation to my greatness. I've just added a lot of things on top of that,

but the foundation to support stemps from the military school without question. To have that kind of discipline. Yeah, to wake up every single day and knowing that like the small tasks lead to great distances. Understanding that, making your bed every single morning is the first task. Everything you do after that is a small accomplishment,

but it all stems from the one thing. Putting your clothes hanging up in the closet and parade rest two fingers apart from each other. It's just a standard operating procedure. And how you do anything is how you do everything. So it's a small thing, a small minor task that I needed to learn in military school that allows me to find out where I could take the big task.

And you kind of translate that into your teaching now with like, yeah, you got yourself on the bike good for you, but it's not daycare, you know, when I ask you to sprint to the best of your ability, I want you to sprint. Exactly, exactly. We got to move with the purpose and execute with intention. And one of the things that you learned in military school

was high speed low drag, high speed low drag. I want people to understand what that means. You got to do everything with a high speed low drag, high speed low drag. I want people to understand what that means. You got to do everything with a high speed, a low drag with an intent with the purpose, with the direction, not just dragging your feet across the floor. If you're going to walk, walk like you need it, be grateful to walk, walk with an intent, walk with the purpose in that step.

Don't just lollie gag about it because how you do anything is how you do everything. So you got out at a military school and you were able to move on to college that was not the happy endings. So what happened in college? College was the buffer zone. My mother being a PhD doctor at my brother

going to Brown University, education being an extremely important thing within my family. I was able to graduate high school. Thank God for the teachers and he's hampting that. Took extra time with me that stayed after school with me and make sure I graduated. Well, because I was dumb, I he's hampting that, took extra time with me, that stayed after school with me and make sure I graduated. Well, because I was dumb, I just didn't apply myself.

I came up from military school and just kind of really lost discipline and fell back into my old BS habits. But because I love for audio and video production that allowed me to go to a school in New England Tech in Rhode Island. When I went to the school, I went with the intent of let me learn the stuff.

Let me actually apply myself right now, but I still didn't have the structure to go about that process from an educational standpoint. So I went to school for a year and a half, and I dropped out. For the time that I dropped out, I was still acting like I was going to school for about six months because I was so scared

to tell my mother and father. And then when they found out, then all hell broke loose. The minute they found out, my car also got stolen. So it was like one week of car got stolen and my dad just gave me to go to college with. Same week he finally dropped out of college. I already knew what coming home was going to feel like and just have to deal with that mindset all over again. So sure enough, I come home and my dad get into a massive fight. One of the worst fights we've ever been in my entire life. And he said to me the words that I needed to hear that day. Till this day, it was the most important words

that I've ever heard, second, most important words that I've ever heard. He said, you are piece of shit, you ain't going to be shit, get out of my house. Rightfully so, because he said, if you're not working or going to school, you're not allowed to live in this house. And he thanked, thankfully, he said that,

thankfully, he gave me that kick in the ass. And I remember that feeling of looking at my dad in the face and saying to him, I'm going to make sure you bite those words. And I don't know if he truly meant that or if he truly felt that. Truthfully, I knew I wasn't a piece of shit. I knew I had something in me. I just didn't know where I was going to take it.

How I was going to take it. How I was even going to activate it. But I was like, from that point on, I needed to make sure he bites those words. So I got kicked out of the house. I moved into my best friend's house, slept on his floor. And I was running the work, jogging the work, taking a mo-ped to work to go mop floors at a company called Flywell Sports.

At the time, I've never stepped foot into a indoor cycling studio. I never stepped foot on the indoor cycling bike. I'm going to work six o'clock in the morning, trying to just make some money, just trying to figure out the next step, what are we going to do? And I would listen to these instructors teach through a little peephole, fish people.

I would just listen to them teach. Just beautiful fire playlists day in and day out and over time I'm getting that same feeling the writers are getting from on that on that bike But just what's a mop at my hand? Within that period this lady who was an extremely pivotal person in my life She's my life mentor without her the world wouldn't know who I am. My name is Ruth Zuckerman At the time she was the head instructor in the owner of't know who I am. My name is Ruth Zuckerman. At the time, she was the head instructor and the owner of the company.

And I would see her come in every single day and she always would stop and acknowledge me. She always took that five, 10 second, two minute moment to check in how I'm doing. I never understood why a CEO was taking time out of the day to talk to somebody who would have mopping their hand and do it with such level of love and joy,

that it felt like a motherly touch to it. So I've always felt comfortable with Ruth. Now, this is a CEO. Most people don't feel comfortable with a mop in their hand, talking to the CEO of the company. She made me feel as if I never had a mop in my hand. And it was that, that was the first time I understood that feeling of seeing light in somebody

when they don't even see it in themselves. She was that person that brought me light every single morning and confidence. To sure enough, one day day I'm in the studio and I'm up in the floor as if she comes in and I jokingly ask her, Ruth, I would love to be an instructor. What's your thoughts on that? And she looked me dead in my face and said, if you give me two weeks of your time, I can change your life. And this goes into the statement in the book every day is an audition that'd be great. If she didn't see me coming to work every single day

with that joy on my face, with the mop in my hand and mop those floors, as if I was a CEO of the company, quote unquote, she wouldn't have gave me that opportunity to teach. She understood that if he mopped floors like this, what the hell could he accomplish if he was on a bike? So if she gave me an opportunity to get on that bike,

two weeks, she trained me day in and day out, heard it in a lovely lady by the name of Hickle. And then we fast-forwarded 11 years later and look where we are. But it was Ruth that gave me an opportunity to teach. When I told my native to move to the city, it was her that showed me where I needed to live. It was her that gave me the classes. When Peloton came to recruit me,

it was her who gave me the phone call to be like, you need to go to Peloton. When I said, no, it was her that called me again and said, you need to go. The world needs to I said no, it was her that called me again and said, you need to go. The world needs to see your talent and you have already reached your maximum potential here. Early on, she was very, very real with me. And I think her so much because without her blessing,

yeah, without her blessing and her grace, who the hell knows where I would be right now in life. So Ruth Zuckerman is definitely my North Star and the world needs to think her. That's why I shot her name from every mountain top that I reach because without her, I wouldn't have this platform, I wouldn't be where I am today in life.

It's an incredible story. And obviously Ruth did a really good thing, but none of it happens without you. I still have to show up and do the work. So I tell people all the time, stay ready so you don't have to get ready because you never know what can happen. You never know who's watching

and you never know who you're inspiring. Coming up Alex Tussant talks about a time a few years ago when he made a choice to speak out publicly about something very important to him Why that was scary why he did it and how he feels about it now and we talk about his thoughts on internal versus external validation Emily do you remember when onection called it a day? I think you'll find there are still many people who can't talk about it. Well luckily, we can. A lot, because our new season of terribly famous is all about the first One Directioner to go it alone. Zayn Malik.

We'll take you on Zayn's journey from Shilad from Bradford to being in the world's biggest boy band and explore why, when he reached the top, he decided to walk away. Follow Terribly Famous Wherever You Get Your Pocasts. Terribly Famous What if we told you that there's a darker side to royalty? And more often than not, life as a prince or princess is anything but a fairy tale. I'm Brooke Sifrin, and I'm Arisha Skidmore Williams, and we're the hosts of Wondery's podcasts, Even the Rich and Rich and Daily, and we're so excited to tell you about our

brand new podcast called Even the Royals, where we'll be pulling back the curtain on Royal Family's past and present from all over the world. On Even the Royals, we'll cover everything from stories you thought you knew, like Marie Antoinette, who was actually a victim of a vulgar propaganda campaign which started a wild chain of events that led to her eventual beheading. Or, Catherine de Medici, who was assumed to be responsible for one of the most devastating massacres in French history. But in reality, she was a mother holding on to her dying dynasty. Royal status might be bright and shiny, but it comes with the expense of everything else,

like your freedom, your privacy, and sometimes even your head. Follow even the royals on the Wendery app or wherever you get your podcasts. If you don't want to wait for more episodes, join Wendery Plus today to listen exclusively and add free. You signed on a Peloton pretty early. It wasn't the cultural phenomenon then that it is now. Were you surprised how signing onto this startup turned you into something of a celeb?

I'm not surprised. I truly trusted and still do the leadership of Peloton. Like when I first came here, you got to realize I was a 23 year old young kid, really wild knucklehead, earrings in, gold chain, didn't notice this wild boy. Peloton allowed me to go from what I called fly ball as my college. As the college dropout, I used fly ball as my college. When I stepped into Peloton, I view it as the pros. They told me from day on, if you do what you do and you do it, how you supposed to do it,

and you do it at a high level every single day, you're gonna become the star that you're destined to be. So I'm not shocked about it. I'm just more so like, it never gets old when you walk down the street and somebody's like, hey, I take your class and you inspire me. You make me a better individual, a better mother, a better father, a better husband,

better Kylie, just a better person on this planet. That part needs more to me than just the Instagram followers and the fame. And that stuff is honestly irrelevant and I actually don't care about that. It's to walk down the street and not even know somebody and then look at you and say, thank you, you make me a better individual.

That to me, I didn't know it wasn't a goal this far and I'd never take that for granted. And to be honest with you, every time I get it, it feels new. That is a great spirit to keep. Every time you get it, it feels new. And I'm not surprised that you became one of, if not the most prominent teachers on there, just because you have a style and energy and humor and a kind of infectious enthusiasm that is very attractive to the customer.

For sure, for me as a customer, having said that, there was this really painful and interesting moment in the news and in the world yet hit like right as Peloton was kind of at its peak. The pandemic hit many of us are stuck at home. Of course, there are a lot of people who had no choice but to leave their homes to work on the front lines, whether it be teaching or delivering food or working in a hospital or working at a pharmacy.

But many of us were stuck at home and were working out at home. And so Peloton becomes this huge phenomenon and very early on in that hype cycle, George Floyd is murdered. And you were really kind of open about your feelings about the matter. I want to, if you're cool with that, I want to just play for you and for the audience. Just a little snippet of what you said on Instagram. And I was just struck by it because the way you're talking in this video is just so different from the way you talk

in class and I really appreciate it. So if you're cool that I'm just going to play a clip. Absolutely, absolutely. And I'm dealing with this emotional level of guilt because I've been so blessed to be accepted by this Pelotonon community for the last four and a half years. You guys, accepting with open arms respect, love, trust, you allow me in your homes, your kids love me. I love your kids. We just, we have dialogue with each other.

But you don't give that same energy and love to my community. And now I'm living in this emotional guilt of like, y'all give me love and I feel like my entire community got into back turn on me. For some of y'all, y'all think this racism and I feel like my entire community got into back turn on them. For some of y'all, y'all think this racism shit isn't even real. Listen, if I'm in your home, if you rock it with me, racism is real, it's really your life. I'm in your life.

I gotta deal with this shit too. I'm not exempt for this because I work at Paul's time. I got cameras in my face. Oh, y'all show love. I get reminded every time I get a haircut and Brooklyn. Every time I get pulled over and the cop pulls my ass out in my car and sits me on the fucking curb that's a 50 50 chance I'm playing with my life right there that's a 50 50 chance yeah wake up to go see me two clubbingers

the next morning that's a 50 50 chance I got to text my mom good night that shit is scary man ultimately it's like that's just scary I just look back at my recent text messages with my mom it's nothing but just confirmation that I'm alive. Let you good. Let you okay call me check it in you good My mom is at a point now where she's like if she's here for me for a couple of hours She goes to my social media to check my story. She goes like as long as I see a story. I know you're breathing. That should not be like that I'm a grown-ass man. I text my mom every single night to make sure to let her normal live Come on man. It's shit is scary guys. I need you to really wake up. I need you to ultimately do better. I need you to teach your families, teach the people in your communities. Surround yourself with individuals who do not look like you. The only way to

learn is to wrap it. Surround yourself with individuals who do not look like you to read, to grow. Stop repeating the same shit. It's time to evolve. Well, this is just one person's opinion, but I think that is incredible and courageous. Was it hard for you to do that? Were you scared? I was scared.

I was scared because I was scared because I could take heat from people. I've been broken down so much by my father that he's, I told him the other day, you've done an amazing job of breaking me down with society. You can't. I just was a little bit scared how the community would receive it and return. How would that affect Peloton from being completely transparent with you? But I remember the night before when I called Robin. And if you know anything about Robin,

who she is, the warrior she is, so unapologetic, and she makes sure that the instructors at get signed, they stay true to themselves. I remember calling her the night before and just giving her the heads up in front of a lever. And everybody in the team has their role. And when you know your role,

you know exactly how to operate within that ecosystem. And I understood that if I go out there and speak freely to the community, I would want the person who leads the team to captain to have awareness of what I'm going to say. So if there's any backlash, she could say he's not crazy. I spoke to him directly. So I remember the night before I called Rob and asked if for her advice on how to operate.

And the first thing she said, honestly, the only thing she said to me was don't hesitate, speak exactly what you need to speak to the community. I always got your back. And for me, I'm very much a team player and like I never will fall out of line and do something that would jeopardize the team. So to hear the captain of the team say, now you good, you need to do that.

That was all the comfort and protection that I needed to go out there and speak freely as a black man representing my family but also representing the Peloton community. I took pride when I signed on in 2016 as the first black instructor here, understanding that there's a responsibility of being a young black man in the homes

of a lot of people who may potentially not interact with black people the way that they do with me. And that holds a certain weight. Over time, at Peloton, I felt like the token black guy, and that was never my goal, that was never my intention. I wanted to be the person to open the door for other black people to walk through this and be viewed in the same light that I'm viewed in.

I want people to feel comfortable around black people, the same way they feel comfortable around me. There's a reason why I go in the corporate meetings when I do rag on a sweatpants. You already know who I am, so you're comfortable with me. I want you to identify me and identify the same person you see on the street and be like, yo, that's AT, you should be scared of somebody

just because of color of the skin. I know AT, that person talks and walks like AT. Oh, they're valid. There should be no difference in that. And it was when the George Floyd thing happened that I realized that I get too caught up in the fame in the hype and lose track and focus of what I actually came here to do with my purpose

of opening up that spacing, allowing others to view my community and the same way they view me. And I think what happened was I got a little bit too caught up. I mean, transparent being a star and accepting that blessing, but forgetting the main focus of allowing other black people to walk through these doors as well. So I wanted to provide the community reminder as to why I'm even here. I don't do this for the likes of for the fame I do. So other people can get the opportunities I'm afforded.

I just wanted people to get the reminder that racism is real. There's been times that I have been pulled out my car that I almost didn't make it to the studio for class. God forbid something does happen to me. Would it take me not being on the platform the next day and something knock on wood? So bad happened for you to realize, oh shit, this is real. So I just wanted to bring awareness to the community.

For a lot of them, they have kids, they have family members out there, they communicate, they share their Peloton bike. So I feel like if I was able to share that story, that could share that love, whether you agree with it or not, the fact that you were even listening is something powerful to me.

So I'm a former leader of those who can, must and because the platform that I was afforded to meet through Peloton, I must do the work and allow people to understand who I am, where I come from, which allows them to view my community in different light and accept them the same way they accept me. Just a quick factual note here, Robin, who you're referring to as Robin Arzone, is one

of the main teachers on Peloton, just to fill that in for people who aren't familiar. The OG. Yeah, the OG. The OG. But what comes screaming through in that video and the comments you just made is, well, there are a lot of things, you know, the fear, the anger, but also there's guilt and you reference it, you know, being the token black guy. Do you still feel that? I don't anymore because I'm truly not the only black instructor here at Peloton anymore.

I don't own the black, the only black male here. There is a joy when I look around the locker room and I see Ali Love, I see Jess Sims, I see two-day-oh-yune, I see Cliff in Germany. It was definitely scary in 2016 joining as the first black guy or first black instructor period, but I had so much join it because if I'm being transparent with you, growing up in East Hampton, I used to feel that same exact way. Being that token black guy, I want to feel in an environment predominantly of white people, I'm actually accustomed to that. But growing up in East Hampton, I didn't know that was a bad thing.

They make it seem that it was a good thing because you're accepted, but somebody else may not be accepted. I didn't understand because I'm young, I'm immature, I'm naive. When you grow up and you become a person of principles and you acknowledge that being the token black eye is actually a negative thing. It rubbed you the wrong way. It actually makes you feel extremely, extremely fake

to your community and to the people that are accepting you. So you're in the space of, to your black community, you feel fake because you fucking turn your back on them to the white community, you feel like you're playing into a space that you're not really a part of. So you're in this middle ground trying to figure out who you are. And that was the first time in my career.

I've ever felt that. I've never felt that since. And I was able to release that within that Instagram post in a couple of classes after that. Did I lose some fans? Maybe so. But do I care? Absolutely not because the message was purposeful. It had intent to it. It had love in it.

And most importantly, we're trying to do better within our communities. So we're trying to break communities together, not separate people. So that's all my tent ever is. Yeah. And you get a lot of the time. As you hear people say, I stand with you. I support you. I'm like, don't stand with me. I'm trying to move forward. That's a problem. You're trying to stand still. I'm trying to stand. I'm trying to move forward. So if you're going to stand, we're ready to move to the purpose though, because I'm trying to move

forward with this. You said you made of lost some fans. I know you not only did the Instagram post, but you also posted some classes where you talked about this. Was there some blowback? Yeah, I think, I mean, there's blowback with whatever you do in life, not everybody's going to be receptive to it. And that's okay. That's life. There was some blowback, but the thing is, when you have pure heart, pure intent, you just gotta keep pushing. You know where you come from, you know where you're trying

to take it, you know you don't meet it in a way to make anybody feel less than. If anything, you try to make sure that everybody feels seen. So yeah, there was some pushback with that's life. When you're on a paligetically blackened yourself, there's gonna be pushback in any sort of space you're in, whether that's professionally, personally, it's just how it goes.

So I accept that pushback, but I also use it as a motivation to keep pushing forward. Hmm. Well, respect. This is the type of thing that I have the luck not to have to deal with. So it reminds me of a, and I've used this quote on the show before, but I, it always comes to mind in these conversations,

a friend of mine at work, Keana, a long time friend at work, and has been the first black female in many jobs. And she talks about the tax she and others have to pay. And it sounds like this is a tax you're paying too, which is they're not only trying to advance themselves, but everything they do feels like a referendum on their gender and race. Yeah, exactly how it feels. That's why like for me, a lot of people don't know this, but the day that Ali loved joining the company, I cried emotionally.

I broke down crying, because I didn't realize how much pressure I was holding onto my back as being the only black instructor. And to be very clear with you, I'm not a black woman, so I can't speak from the black woman experience at all. So I'm speaking from one lane, trying to cover many grounds. It wasn't until I realized Ali loved join,

where I'm like, oh, we can do this together. Then you started to add more black instructors. It's like, I know we're building our communities because a lot of people don't understand. I'm a Haitian American. That's completely different than African American and how they grow up in their household and their experience of going to black in America. So I think that was a crucial part for people to understand growing up as a Haitian American in the North is completely different than growing up as African American in the South. When you have different instructors from different perspectives and environments of life, it allows you to tell different stories and allows you to bring its center and old for the community

that Peloton to receive it. So it's crucial that I step through those doors, but it's also extremely crucial that I broke it down so others can walk through as well. And some ways right now might make sense to go back to the beginning of your story. You know, despite the fact that you might have lost a few fans after your comments about George Floyd, your career has only continued to skyrocket.

Since then, you've got endorsement deals. Your classes get tons of views. You've got tons of followers on Instagram. Now you've got this new book out. I'm just curious, how is your relationship with your dad now? That's amazing. It's amazing. I think for him, it's somewhat shocking

to see all the success that has happened, but in a weird way, he sits back and he knows that the method to his madness worked. All of the things that I just called crazy for and hate him for, you have me doing this, like all the bullshit things that he used to his madness work. All of the things that I used to call crazy for and hate him for, you have me doing this, like all the bullshit things that he used to have me doing as a kid have all led to this level of success. And I think now he's able to sit back and validate,

especially because we're in a healthy space in our relationship where he's more than proud. He internally claps because he knows that he instilled a lot of this in me, the way that I think, the way that I move, the way that I talk and walk, stems from my father. So I know he could have been more proud. Whether he sees me sign a deal with P move, the way that I talk and walk, stems from my father. So I know he could be more proud.

Whether he sees me sign a deal with Puma, have I own for a cycling shoe, he sees me win the NBA celebrity All Star MVP, he sees me drop a book, whatever he sees, I know for a fact he internally claps because I really truly think I'm gonna print sound like my father. You know, I have a dad too,

and I know what it feels like to get the validation of your dad. At the same time, how do you think about, you often talk about validating your own greatness. You know, when I'm on the bike, I'm listening to you teach, you talk about that a lot. So what's the balance between our very natural desire for external validation and the importance that you often

discuss of like doing it for yourself, validating yourself? Well, I had a personal turning point, which I realized that where I feel like the majority of my life I was existing in my own life and I truly living it. If we pull back and we go earlier into the story about how I woke up every single day with the intent to prove my dad wrong, whether that was me mopping floors, whether that was me teaching my first second class at Flywheel, whether that was me teaching 25 classes at Flywheel, whether that me coming to Peloton now as a new rookie in 2016, everything that

I ever did from the moment he said you're a piece of shit, you ain't going to Peloton now was a new rookie in 2016, everything that I ever did from the moment he said, you're a piece of shit, you ain't gonna be shit, what's the proof from wrong? It wasn't until April 4th, 2016, 430, I was coming out of the studio, he called my phone, and I remember the day because I lived my entire life for that moment, where I existed my entire life for that moment.

My dad called me and said, Lex, I am proud of you. I searched my entire life to get that I am proud of you for my dad. I remember that exact moment in my life when I went from existing in my own life to now I'm able to live it to my own truth. I went from existing to prove my dad wrong to not living to prove myself right.

And it was that pivotal point where, from that day on, I never needed to search for it somebody else's to give me outside validation. I truly do not need a member or anybody to tell me that was a good class. Like I love the feedback, but I truly don't need it because I know when something is shitty, I know when something is good,

I can actually validate it myself because I've searched my entire life for that feeling. Once I was able to identify it April 4th, 2016, I don't need an external validation from anybody else because truthfully, there's no better validation than your parents saying I'm proud of you. I can't think of another one, we're very transparent with you. And when I received that, that was all better validation than your parents saying I'm proud of you. I can't think of another one. We're very transparent with you.

And when I received that, that was all the validation that I needed. So you don't need to wait for somebody else to validate your greatness. You just have to activate it from within. Coming up, Alex talks about what he means by the phrase activate your greatness to the title of this book. And the habits and practices that he personally employs in order to realize his own greatness. And don't miss out in celebration of Sharon Salzberg's new book. We've made her course on loving kindness, which we call 10% nicer. Free over in the 10% happier app until October 23rd.

Download the 10% happier app today wherever 23rd. Download the 10% happier app today wherever you get your apps and get started for free. Deep in the enchanted forest, from the whimsical world of Disney Frozen, something is wrong. Arondelle is in danger once again from dark forces threatening to disrupt the peace and tranquility. And it's up to Anna and Elsa to stop the villains before it's too late. For the last 10 years, Frozen has mesmerized millions around the world.

Now, Wondry presents Disney Frozen, Forces of Nature podcast, which extends the storytelling of the beloved animated series as an audio-first original story, complete with new characters and a standalone adventure set after the events of Frozen 2. Reunite with the whole crew, Anna, Elsa, Olaf, and Kristoff for an action-packed adventure of fun, imagination, and mystery. Follow along as the gang enlist the help of old friends and new, as they venture deep into the forest and discover the mysterious copper machines behind the chaos.

And count yourself amongst the allies as they investigate the strange happenings in the enchanted forest. The only question is, are Anna and Elsa able to save their peaceful kingdom? Listen early and add free to the entire season of Disney Frozen Forces of Nature podcast, along with exclusive bonus content on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, or Wondery Plus kits on Apple Podcasts. Tell me what you mean by activate your greatness, because that's the title of the book, and that's a phrase I've heard you utter countless times

while I'm internally complaining about what you're asking me to do. What actually do you mean by it and how can we do it? So one of my favorite people on this planet and my favorite artist, Jay-Z always said, everybody has got to give their abilities, they just need to tap into it and once they tap into it, they need to amplify it.

So when I say activate your greatness, we were all put on this planet to be actually great at something, whether that's podcasting, whether that's teaching cycling classes, whether that's being a lawyer, being a mother, being a fight, we're all truly great at something, but you truly need to take your time and invest that and tap into it to unlock its full potential. I didn't know what I was great at until I came to Peloton. And I'm still figuring it out. I've been teaching cycling classes for 11 years. It wasn't until year six that I realized, oh, I'm actually great at this.

Now, for the last four years, I just been tapping into it at a different level, at a higher frequency and amplifying what can I get out of this one thing that God has given me a skill in. So what I tell people activates your greatness. There's no such thing as going on Instagram, going to Wikipedia, going to Google and finding out a recipe to be in great. You need to do the internal research on yourself.

You need to do the internal scan on yourself and figure out what you're passionate in, what's to keep you motivated every single day no matter if you see success or failure from it. Essentially, what is going to be your North Star and what is going to make you feel validated where nobody else can actually sit there and provide you that validation. And once you find that, you tap into that. Once you tap into that, I guarantee you over time

it gets activated. That doesn't happen in a year, that doesn't happen in two years, it takes time. I've been doing this for 11 years and I'm just tapping into a new level of greatness. So unless you have that mindset to wake up every single day and do something, are you willing to hustle with the outcome being unknown?

That's what being greater is. Yarnes not to the Cumpul had a great thing that he said that, just because I'm making it to the NBA finals every year, does that make me a failure? I made it to the highest league in basketball because I make the finals I'm a failure? No. But what I'm going to do is work every single day with the outcome being unknown. I don't know what the outcome is going to be when it's time for the NBA championship. But I'm going to work with the intent that I'm going to be there one day. I don't know what that outcome is gonna be when it's time for the NBA championship, but I'm gonna work with the intent

that I'm gonna be there one day. And people need to understand that. You need to find that North Star internally what it is for you and wake up every single day of your life. No matter if you have a nine to five, you come home and you apply yourself to that. And that right there is activating your graders.

One of the things you said in there really resonated with me in particular, which is this notion of hustling even when you don't know the outcome in Buddhism, which is the tradition that I come out of. There's this idea of non-attachment to results that you can work really hard. You should work really hard, but you can't control the outcome. This the universe is too complicated for that. So you've got to be able to release the outcome and just focus on your effort. It's a concept of falling love

with the journey, not the destination, right? Because what happens when you reset destination, you're like, oh, boom, what's the next step? But if you focus on the journey, it allows you to instead of just go one road and may allow you to go two roads, three roads, and now it allows you to get a clearer perspective of a way more wider perspective of life.

I'm very big on opening up your aperture and not being one-leigned individual. So I tell people all the time, let that light in, baby. Let that aperture in because it allows you to see a clear perspective of life of where you're trying to go. But if you have that negative mindset, you're only going to see what's right in front of you, not what's there for you in the long term. What are the habits and practices that you have that help you activate your own greatness? Support system, accountability partners. That's one of the biggest things I can tell you

is you have to surround yourself with individuals who amplify your goals and not shrink them. My mother always told me, watch the company you keep because you are the company that you keep. We've all been in a situation before where we have an idea or a goal and we tell it to somebody and they're like, ah man, you can't do that, that's crazy.

That's them self-reflecting saying, that idea is so far out, so far gone, I can't do that, therefore you can't do that, that's crazy. That's them self-reflecting saying, that idea is so far out, so far gone, I can't do that, therefore you can't do that. Those are the exact people you don't want around you. Because I want people around me that I could go into a locker room at work and be like, I have this idea, crazy idea, and somebody be like, I'm gonna help you out with it.

Oh, here's this idea I have for you where you can amplify it. Maybe you should go this direction. Those are the people you want around you. Your support system is your foundation system. And if everybody, to quote Jay-Z one more time, if everybody in your clique is rich, rich with integrity, rich with spirit, rich with purpose, nobody would fall,

because everyone would be each other's crutches. So I only surround myself with individuals who are only gonna amplify my dreams versus shrink my dreams. And that has been a very big key to my success is my support system. My best friends, I manage their, my family, and keep it in tight knit. Don't go out there and tell your dreams to the world and allow so many different insecurities and doubts to interject on your greatness.

Keep it very tight knit until you accomplish it because it feels good internally when you win with the people that help you set up the show. Not just come to it. Do you have gratitude practices? Absolutely. Gratitude is the one thing that cancels out my negativity and fear. Before my feet touch the ground, I literally will sit up at the edge of my bed and just thank God that the fact that my eyes opened up, because my eyes opened for my feet touch the ground.

So I got to be thankful for the things that I'm able to see before the things I'm able to touch. The minute my feet touch the ground, I'm thankful for I thank God for the ability to move my body. My day is full of gratitude. It's actually hard for me to go throughout the day without gratitude. Another concept you sometimes talk about is you're starting five. What is that? That's something that I started implementing recently within the last like year and a half two years. With everything going on career-wise and just trying to maintain family, healthy relationships, physically stay healthy and honestly mentally stay healthy, I started to feel myself catching a lot of burnouts. And we all know this from just how life is. If

you don't put yourself on timeout, life will put you on timeout and you don't want that feeling. So what I had to start doing was just identifying my starting five. And because I love basketball so much, I use sporting references just because it's easy for me to do so. Within the starting five, I always think about as a coach, every single time you face an opponent, you have to either reconstruct the starting five or give them a game plan I had to execute. So I view every single day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday as different opponents in the week. And within those days, I have to identify my starting five

and how I'm able to get through the day. Nine times at a 10, gratitude will always be the number one thing. Physical mental health will always be this number two thing. But in those times that it rotates. So right now, it's, physical, mental health, families number three for me, work as number four, truly right now, peace is five. But there's days where like I might have to put my family on the side and make my peace number one, that way I have to protect my love for the family. So every single day is an opportunity to reconstruct your starting five.

And every single day is an opponent. So if you view it as such, it allows you to have a clear mindset of how you want to operate within your 24 hours of your day. It allows you to really be precise with what you're trying to accomplish versus just random thoughts and ideas. What do you mean by peace? That internal peace. That's the thing that you can't pay for. And I'm going back to you. You could have all the start, all the Instagram followers, all the love, all the notoriety. But if you go home at the end of the day and you don't have that internal peace, you're going back to existing in your own life and not living it.

And I think that's one of the highest levels of currency is your internal peace. If you're in peace with yourself, it allows you to be a peace with others. That's daily grind, daily gratitude, daily prayer, daily self-alignment. There's days that I don't have my peace, but you gotta work every single day to go find that

or protect that. What do you mean by self-alignment? Whoo, by that. There's times like right now, getting ready for the book tour and just a lot of executing. Sometimes your body is moving in a different direction than your mind is. Every single day I wake up on the bike, I'm on the tread. I'm always in motion, but sometimes my mind may be somewhere completely different.

I had a conversation with Jen Sherman the other day. I haven't talked to her in probably like a month and I never happened. I talked to Jen Sherman religiously. And for those I don't know, she's an amazing instructor at Peloton, she's actually the first instructor ever. And I told her, I was like every single time that I received her text from you,

it always reminds me that I'm so in my locked in mode that I forget to be self-aligned. When I'm self-aligned, I'm present with so many other people. But sometimes I get myself into my own cocoon and I get locked in. It's the military school mindset where like, don't speak unless spoken to. I've been trained to do so my entire life

that I'm comfortable not speaking and being in my own cocoon and being in my own environment and just moving in my own pace. Sometimes it requires a coworker, a colleague, or a best friend to pull me out of that space and be like, yo, slow down, enjoy life. You've been moving around so much, you've been doing all this things for your career,

for your family. Take time to let your body and your mind align. It's essentially what I talk about in my class and the warm up and the cool down. So that's what I talk about self alignment is just making sure you stay in practice of mentally, emotionally, physically, your body feeling as in one.

Speaking of doing stuff for your family, I understand that you, the kid who struggled in school and then got sent to military school and then struggled more in school and then went to college, I understand that you, the kid who struggled in school and then got sent to military school and then struggled more in school and then went to college, he got kicked out, he got his car stolen, then got kicked out of the house, you bought a house for your mom.

Yes, yes, by God's grace, we're able to buy a house for mom. I think about how much of a goal that was for me, the first day at Joint Peloton, and to be able to accomplish that with the same people that I started with, feels like the ultimate, ultimate level of self validation. There's some things that like you accomplish

in this lifetime where you just wanna see people feel good about the work that they've done for you, and receiving that I'm proud of you for my dad and buying my mother at house to make sure she's taken care of. Those are the self-validating things that lets me know that I'm on the right track. I'm stuck, I still got some work to do.

I'm not perfectly at all, I still fuck up all the time, but it lets me know that I'm doing the right thing and I'm stuck. I still got some work to do. I'm not perfectly at all. I still fuck up all the time. But it lets me know that I'm doing the right thing and I'm doing it with the right intent and with the right people in mind. So that's why when I walk in my house every single day and I see my mom, I thank my colleagues because I know what it feels like to have individual success, but until I came to Peloton,

well, I didn't know what it felt like to have collective success. The team championship, the team win. We're a family here. And I truly mean when I see these individuals in work, I say thank you to them for the work that they do because it allows us to push each other and propellant have these opportunities and these blessings off the platform. So, yeah, thank God for the colleagues that I worked with every single day for the last eight years because I don't think I would be able to buy my mom a house unless they show up every single

day and do what they do as well. Your story is so incredible and what I'm about to say, it might not be a question, so you can react to it or not, but it just comes to mind as I'm listening to your story, it's like the kind of thing that happens in movies, guy who's wielding a mop, it becomes the, you know, a star teacher. And yet, I don't think if we're gonna operate successfully as a culture that we can rely just on lightning bolt moments

like that and a wild out-of-the-box stories, we need like a structural approach to make it so that that kind of upward mobility isn't as amazing that it's actually happening all the time. Does that make sense to you? If I hear you correctly, I'm not the only one that's born to be great with that had a mop in my hand. I just happen to be seen by somebody who's so light of me before I saw it in myself. So that's why I go so hard for the members. I'm like, I'm not the only one who's been at that quote unquote rock bottom emotionally, financially or from a professional standpoint that can't propel to the highest of all

levels. It's my job and my personal duty to make sure that the other people that aren't seen that don't see themselves can get pulled into this light. So I agree with you completely because I'm just thinking to myself, I'm like, what the hell would I be doing if somebody like Ruth didn't acknowledge me? Like there's so many other individuals out there who had God gifted abilities, who just get overlooked based on their environments, based on their circumstances, based on their financial ability. Like that's bullshit. So I, what we're trying to do right now is provide people that opportunity to be able to be seen. Like that itself was one of the highest levels

of love is to be seen. So that's just my intent every single day right now. So make the people out there that aren't seen, feel seen. I think it's really useful. I can speak from the other side of the spectrum, you know, having at all the advantages that life could possibly confer on anybody, I had them all. And it's very easy for somebody in my position, or at least it's been very easy for me to be in a cocoon where I don't, you know, I'm just using your word from earlier, being in a self-absorbed cocoon where I don't see people because I've never had the need, you know, I've never been in the, on the other side of it.

And so to have, you know, I've really worked hard to not do that anymore, but I think, but I still do it. I still fuck up all the time. And so that's what I'm trying to say is I think it's very useful for you to be out there saying what you're saying, because you can wake up the people who have had all the luck and the advantages to not take those for granted,

as well as being a model for those who haven't. Exactly. Exactly. I respect the fact that you're even aware about it, though, because a lot of people are not self-aware of the advantage in privilege. So if you're to be aware of it, allows you to communicate with other people that may not have that advantage, or for the people that do have the advantage, let them be aware that they do have the advantage, and how to operate differently with the people that don't. Well, I appreciate that. I think the way I like to think of, you know, we, there's all this, you know, talk now of, you know, we, there's all this, you know, talk now

of, you know, check your privilege and all this stuff. And I'm not sure exactly how I feel about that. I agree with part of it, but I also don't agree with this. What I don't agree with is the kind of shame part of it. I can't, nobody can help what womb they come out of. But as you said before, I don't remember exactly the words you used, but it was some version of what Peter Parker's uncle said to him, which is that to those who are given a lot, much as expected.

You feel that way as a Peloton star, and I think people with luck and advantages need to feel that way. That doesn't mean you need to feel shame. In you felt shame, actually, you could hear it in the BLM video that you made. There was that shame, that guilt about the things, the good things that it happened to you. I don't think that helps. I think just using your advantage to other people's advantage is what helps. Yes, sir.

I totally agree. Totally agree. Before I let you go, one last question, I'm kind of lying because I do have two questions I ask everybody at the end, but this is the last question before I go do those questions early early early in this interview You said that those harsh but helpful words that your dad said to you about you know you ain't shit get out of the house You said that was the second most important thing anybody said to you. I didn't want to Fail to circle back to you to ask what was the first most important thing? The April 4th 2016, I'm proud of you. Got it. That was number one. So it's crazy. The number one was a

positive. The number two was a negative, but those two things come from the same exact person, the same exact voice. So it's crazy how one person could be such an inspiration, but also like a self-fuck motivation. Like, oh, I got oh I gotta say I gotta make you say like you know there's there is that from my dad like I gotta make sure you bite you know what you know I mean and I think for him I know for him he's he's so happy because he I'm such like I'm a replication of him I like completely to the point that he sees himself and me where he's like I like to myself went against the grain and figured it out for himself. So, yes, yes. The one thing I can tell that anybody out there

who has kids is, I'm a product of two parents who give me a lot of love, but also tough love, but a lot of grace. So don't ever question yourself when it comes to your kids. Always be the first person to root for your kids, or always be that first person to kick your kid in the ass as well, because I promise you long term when your kid gets to a level of success,

or just maturity and realizes, mom and dad are just humans trying to figure out life for themselves. And when you realize that your parents are just humans, it provides you a space of like, you know what, I'm not perfect, they're not perfect. Let me give them them grace because at one point, I'm going to have kids in this world. And I want my kids to give me the same grace when I fuck up when I don't get it right as well. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna play those comments to my eight year old tonight. Ha-ha-ha.

Here are the final two questions. The first of them is, is there anything I should have asked you but failed to ask you? Maybe like one of the high, like the biggest things that I'm proud of in my career. And I would say that being is the cycling shoe that I have coming out later this month with Puma. A lot of people don't know, only my internal team, my best friends who are my manager's business partners.

They know from the day that I got on the cycling bike in 2013. They know that I said to them, I want to be the first trainer indoor cyclist, what is shoe? This is 2013, I said that. And I kept it very closed, very tight knit. I didn't really tell too many people. And because I woke up every single day with that North Star of activating my greatness, without knowing the outcome, I'm launching the first indoor cycling shoe at the end of this month with Puma. So for anybody out there that's listening,

please support it. You could wear indoor and outdoor, but just know that for any member who's ever stepped into my class, any member who's ever interacted with me on the platform, any member who's interacted with me from a tablet at home,

I thank you because I'm able to live up my lifelong goals and dreams because of the level of support and love of them showing up every single day. So thank you to all the people who've ever supported me. Final question. First of all, congratulations on that. Final question. Can you just remind everybody of the name of your book

and anything else you want them to know about? The book is called Activate Your Greatness. Coming this October, I'm the one who did the voiceover work as well, so you can get your audible read from your boy directly from the voice from the source. And once you read that book and you soak it in and you feel like you've absorbed the words, I want you to do better and extend that book

to somebody out there who may need it. So my goal for everybody is to read that book and whether they buy somebody a copy or give them a copy, I want them to provide that book in those words of somebody else that way we could better off our communities, make everybody feel mentally strong, emotionally strong, and make sure we have a purpose in life. And I want everybody to figure out their purpose in life from meeting this book. Alex Tucson, thanks for everything you do. Thanks for all of your great classes, which have improved my life. And thanks for coming on this show. Thank you for having me today.

So it's a honor to speak to you. Much love and respect. Right back at you. Thanks again to Alex Tussant. Thank you for listening to the show. Really appreciate that. By the way, if you're a fan of the show, we do still have a handful of,

I think like about a dozen tickets left for our in- person meditation party retreat at the Omega Institute, which is in Rhineback, New York outside of New York City. It's coming up on October 13th. We'll put a link in the show notes. And if you can't come IRL, you can check out the live stream, a link for that as well in the show notes. Thank you most of all to everybody who works so hard on this show.

10% happier is produced by Gabrielle Zuckerman, Justin Davy Lauren Smith. And Tara Anderson, DJ Cashmere is our senior producer, Marissa Schneiderman is our senior editor, and Kimmy Regular is our executive producer, scoring and mixing by Peter Bonaventure of Ultraviolet Audio and Nick Thorburn of Islands, wrote our theme. We'll see you right back here on Friday for a brand new episode of Freshy. Sharon Salzberg is back on the show and she's got a new book and we have fascinating conversation about that. See you on Friday. Hey, hey, prime members. You can listen to 10% happier early and ad-free on Amazon Music.

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