The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett - Moment 26 - Eddie Hearn: Don’t Forget What REALLY Matters

Episode Date: October 7, 2021

In these ‘Moment’ episodes of my podcast, I’ll be selecting my favourite moments from previous episodes of The Diary Of A CEO. In this week’s clip, Eddie Hearn reveals what he’d regret if he only had a few more days left on Earth. You see, the drive to succeed can be both a blessing and a curse. What drives you in some areas of your life can also distract you from the things which really matter, especially if you’re young. Episode 58 - https://g2ul0.app.link/Bv30UaOl8jb Eddie: https://twitter.com/eddiehearn https://www.instagram.com/eddiehearn/ The Diary Of A CEO is going on tour! Sign up here to be the first to know about tickets - https://g2ul0.app.link/diaryofaceolive

Quick one, just wanted to say a big thank you to three people very quickly. First people I want to say thank you to is all of you that listen to the show. Never in my wildest dreams is all I can say. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd start a podcast in my kitchen and that it would expand all over the world as it has done. And we've now opened our first studio in America, thanks to my very helpful team led by Jack on the production side of things. So thank you to Jack and the team for building out the new American studio.

And thirdly to Amazon Music who, when they heard that we were expanding to the united states and i'd be recording a lot more over in the states they put a massive billboard in time square um for the show so thank you so much amazon music um thank you to our team and thank you to all of you that listen to this show let's continue you talked a little bit about that about being 80 years old and looking back on your life i'm gonna just play a little uh a little game with you so we've got to imagine um imagine that what day of the week was i think it's tuesday today tuesday so friday you find out that friday's your last day on earth my question is and really put yourself there right so friday's your last

dinner all the fights coming up, AJ Fury, it all falls away. What do you immediately regret? That's actually something that I've thought about quite a lot. And the reason was, is about four months ago, my granddad passed away. He was 93.

Great life, you know. And when I went to see him in his last couple of days, you know, and he obviously didn't look great. And I looked him I thought wow life's crazy isn't it I said everything that you've done in your life and now you're laying here about to leave so when you get experiences like that just you have to be reminded sometimes that this is a game life is a game we're only on borrowed time right and you can never take yourself too seriously i think that's one thing i do well is i love to have a

laugh and i don't take myself too seriously um in answer to your question since that moment i've been thinking a lot about if i you know if i went now do you look back and say i couldn't have done anymore i had a great time and i think the answer is yes i mean we could all do we can all do better If I went now, do you look back and say, I couldn't have done any more? I had a great time. And I think the answer is yes. I mean, we can all do better. But my dad is an inspiration in that respect because he's the kind of person that couldn't have squeezed one more drop out of his life, right? So I'm quite envious of that.

He's 73. And who knows how long he's going to last. But I do feel like it's very important that when you get to whatever stage, when God says that's enough for you, that you are able to look back and say, I couldn't have done any more. And that scares me a little bit. I want to know exactly what, when you think about more, you're saying I could have done more.

You find out that this Friday is your last day. What are the things where you think, do you're saying i could have done more you find out that this friday is your last day what are the things where you think do you know what because i think that the hot the that moment like the the deathbed moment puts everything in perspective it does but i think in that moment your emotions are very different to when you're well and fit and on the hustle and just you know so you don't get a chance to reflect on that kind of moment until you're there yeah and the obvious reflection at that point is i wish i would have spent more time with my family you know i wish i would have been less focused probably on work but i'm not a believer in you know the thoughts then are not the thoughts now and you have to act on the moment you can't live your life saying well blimey

when i'm on my deathbed you might look back in because i don't i don't think you can plan like that you have to do what's in your heart you have to do what feels right and what feels right for me right now is this what what might feel right then is do you know what should have probably missed a few trips really and just done the school run a little bit more. And I know that, you know, you have to, you really have to understand where you are in life. This is great for your mental health as well and your sanity. You've got to be honest with yourself and you've got to understand the situation. I know exactly where I'm at, what I'm thinking, what I'm doing, the sacrifices I'm making, what I could do better at, what I, you know, but I'm okay with it. You know, you can't get the perfect balance, but as long as you understand

what is going on and you're not deluded, you're not stubborn. I know, I know I need to do more at home. I know I need to do more school runs. I know I need to be less short with the wife sometimes. But can you, there's a couple of points here that I think are super interesting. So that deathbed moment, what I think it's doing, and I've never been there, you've not been there,

but what I think it's doing is it's telling you what actually mattered. Because to some degree, I think that it's like with that hindsight, you can say, fuck that person criticizing my hair or my cut or this. None of that fucking ever mattered. All of that was trivial. The things that mattered were, you can say, fuck, that person criticising my hair or my cut or this, none of that fucking ever mattered. All of that was trivial. The things that mattered were, as you say,

like my niece or my, you know, so I think that's what that moment's doing. But that comes over time. How old are you now? 27. Okay,

you're a baby, right? When I was 27, what people thought of me really mattered. You know, I mean, listen,

I've been working out for 35 years just to stay fat you know like the barn it's going a little bit i could not give a monkeys now at your age oh mate i was you know i might have been jack the lad i might have been turning out there but deep down you know it'd only take one of the boys to say you know tell you what ed you're putting on a bit of timber there oh look look your, look, your barnet's creeping back. What? What do you mean? What do you mean? Now I'll go, yeah, mate, I know. Listen, sign of the times, isn't it? So being comfortable with yourself is the best feeling in life.

You know, it's the best feeling in life. And I think when I was growing up at school, I wasn't subconsciously. I think I had a massive chip on my shoulder. And that's why I was a bit of a knob, to be quite honest. But when you get comfortable with yourself, it's a beautiful thing in life it really is you know when you wake up in the morning and you've always got to try for me and look good and feel good and be the best version of yourself you can be but you do get to a stage and that's actually when you become really powerful and effective you know it's the same kind of thing you know when you're young and you're

courting or you're looking for a young lady kind of thing. You know, when you're young and you're courting or you're looking for a young lady to show you some interest, you know, when you try really hard and you're sort of on edge and you're a bit, oh, I don't really like my hair, or, oh, God, you know, you know the ones that walk into the bar and just go, oh, mate, you know, I know I'm not the best, but, you know, they're the ones that everybody gravitates to. Anyone with a smile on their face is always creates so much more energy

and flow than the people that don't. And that's about being comfortable in yourself. So I think that it's very difficult with everything you've achieved at your age to just know where you're going or what you're doing. I'm done. Do you know what I mean? I'm married. I've got two kids.

I've got business. I'm struggling to balance everything, you know, I mean I'm married I've got two kids I've got business I'm struggling to balance everything you know but I'm here you know I'm not gonna roll back the the years and do this and do that and I know exactly what I'm doing I know exactly where I'm at I know exactly what I'm focusing on and that life starts to become a lot easier then at your age you know I went to work I left college after my levels I went to work for five years in sports management companies and event management companies. I was a sports agent on a PGA Tour in America.

I had no idea where I was going. I mean, I just wanted to be successful. I wanted to earn money, you know. But the mindset or the changing mindset over the years is unbelievable. I always say to people, you people, what matters to you now, you will look back on when you get to my age and go, I can't believe I even used to worry about stuff like that. And that's important because I feel like people that are very successful,

you know, you did it at a very young age, very impressive because I think it takes time. Now, when I did the Cambridge talk the other day you know you're sitting down with all these young i mean i'm i'm i'm street smart and i can sell right these people are like yeah but i'm jealous of boffins i used to take the mickey out of boffins i'm jealous of boffins now i find intellectual people fascinating i love talking to them and just

trying to learn and absorb and i'm sitting in this room of people and they're talking to them and just trying to learn and absorb and i'm sitting in this room of people and they're listening to me and i'm thinking you know firstly you must be listening to me thinking this bloke who is he what is he a car used car dealer or something like that and then but i'm i'm talking around i'm saying to you what do you want to do well uh you know what what is success to you they've not got clue and it's not because they're at oxford and they're deluded it's because that's just it's very difficult at that age to understand i don't believe anyone at 40 looks back at what they were thinking at 20 and said yeah i had this plan i'm there now and this is what i always wanted to do so it takes time to develop a passion

for something and that that is the that's a key word, passion, because when we talk about being relentless and we talk about this work ethic, you can only have it if you love what you do.