THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Unleash Your Inner Spartan w/ Joe De Sena

Episode Date: October 20, 2020

What does it take to build a Spartan legacy? We’ve created a culture that celebrates comfort and avoids pain at all costs! So many people are unhappy because of it. Our children are suffering because of it! Doing the hard things doesn’t FEEL GOOD while you’re doing them! They HURT. They’re PAINFUL and forces us to get UNCOMFORTABLE.  But they’re also the things that turn you into the man or woman you’ve always wanted to become! That’s why I’m so excited to bring you my next guest on The Ed Mylett Show, Joe De Sena! Joe is is the CEO and founder of Spartan Race (the world’s leading obstacle race) and the Death Race. He is also a 3x New Your Times Bestselling author and entrepreneur. He’s already helped over 7 MILLION people get healthy and off the couch and now he’s here sharing his wisdom with the MaxOut community! Fitness is the one area of you life you have control over and is one of the greatest catalysts to transform every other area of your life! In this interview, Joe and I share the secrets to mental toughness and the skills we both use to embrace pain now for a greater payoff later. Whether you are 9 years old or 99, this is for you! Parents, Joe is revealing THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION you need to ask yourself if you don’t want to let comfort destroy your child’s future! It is time to do the hard work and learn from the master how to build mental and physical toughness. Transform you life. Do the hard things. Create lasting change. BUILD A SPARTAN LEGACY!

This is the Edmmerlidge Show. Welcome back to Max out everybody. Side it to this episode is gentlemen on my show here today. He's a very interesting guy. I follow him on social media. He's been a fan of what he's created in his life and in the lives of other people for a long time. He's a really unique story and delivery.

And you're going to love today, guys. We're going to love it. He does a lot of stuff. He's an entrepreneur, he's a podcaster. He's a, I don't know if he probably like this term, but he's kind of a life coach. You know, he's the term neither one of us love, but he's somebody that helps live a better life, help other people live better. And he's become a friend of mine too. So I really like him and you're going to enjoy this time

today. So Joe DeSena, welcome to max out brother. Thanks for having me. You know, since you and I met, you've changed so many lives in my orbit because you taught me this saying one more rep. Yeah, and so Every gym every wrestling room anywhere I am. It's one more rep. You look like it I told you that before we got started I've been shooting up. I've been doing This guy is a monster

Oh my gosh, that's freaking awesome one thing. One thing y'all might not know, if you don't, is if you've ever heard of the Spartan races, this is the founder and creator. And I've never asked you this before, speaking about getting fit. Why did you, how did start? And why did you start it? Well, so years ago, 1970s, if you saw the movie Goodfellas,

I grew up in that neighborhood, ground zero. You couldn't get any closer to the family that's depicted in that movie. My mom sees that it's going in the wrong direction. Her life, my sister's life, she stumbles into probably the only health food store in 1973 on the East Coast. And randomly, there is like an 80-year-old yogi that just got in from in Canada Airport from India in that health food store. Strikes up a conversation with this yogi and she changes her life right there. She then threw this new interest. She divorces my dad.

She meets another yogi who's got a race that he puts on in Queens, New York, not far from our house that still exists today since the 70s, called the Transcendence Run. And it is a 3,100 mile run around a one mile loop in Queens. About eight people do it every year. 31.

Eight people do it every year. And it takes 50 to 60 days. Oh my gosh. And so as a young kid seeing this, seeing my mother meditate and fast for 30 days straight, seeing her give up sausage and peppers and pizza and granoles and all the things we were you know and leave my like I don't know there was some

stoicism in there. Yeah. My dad on the other side of the spectrum, being somewhat of a tough guy with business like you know he was an air freight and to be an air freight and trucking in that neighborhood at that time, you had to do things. And so, you know, seeing two ends of the spectrum, but both tough in their own ways, both hard working, seeing this race, you pick things up as a kid, you know, it just absorb it and fast forward through my life and so here I am putting on. How many total people have participated in a race? Oh my God, seven, seven plus millions.

So, do you hear that everyone? Seven million. I mean, and I guess you can say one thing to you as you go. I just want to jump in and tell you that one thing about Joe is like his content to when he produces it is no BS right to the point just like what we're gonna do today. I like that and it's great stuff and also backed by results.

But I like when someone's reputation precedes them and for years, man, I've heard about these races. Like there's a lady in my CPA's office who used to be a little bit overweight, really shy, kind of insecure, from another country, you know, her English was in her first language. And then one day I come in and she's just

completely different. I mean, her identity, the way she walked, her body, her clothes, her presentation of herself, the way she looked me in the eye, and I go, Andrea, what's going on with you? And she's like, oh, I'm so addicted to these Spartan races. And she starts telling me about the community and what it's done for her and the challenge.

Like, you literally changed her life. And so, and I've had multiple, I mean, so many people, since I've known you tell me they participated. Guys, it's something if you don't know what it is, once COVID's over, this is something you need to really take advantage of. If you wanna challenge in your life and be a part of a great community,

I cut you off there, brother. I just wanted to share that with you because I know it means something to you. Well, no, listen, I mean, if anybody who's watching us right now, they see that your house is clearly the house of a wealthy individual and they see my house in a garage, they know that fighting for milk.

The reason I bring that up is I get paid with stories like that. I don't get paid cash right now. And just in the end, just in the last few days, no bullshit. In the last two days, okay, forget about the 20 years of stories. One story I got yesterday, you're gonna, it's unbelievable. This guy somehow gets a brain eating virus in his body. Okay, ends up in a coma. They get him out of the coma. He doesn't remember anything. No long-term

memory's gone completely. He doesn't recognize his wife, his kids, nothing parents. They bring him home, stumbling around for a week, and he sees a photo of him at a Spartan race with his kid. And it triggers a bunch of emotions. And he starts doing races again. No. And he becomes a coach, and he starts to get his life back. That's incredible.

One, right in the last two days. Another one, overweight, sick, dying, stumbles upon, spartan race, gives up diet soda, gives up the fast food, loses a bunch of weight, back with the wife. So like, I get these stories every day, and that's how I get paid. I mean, that's how we get paid.

Listen, our team, we got pre-COVID, we had 501 people working for us, of course, 45 countries, putting on 325 events. Um, um, um, um, a shame to say we don't pay very much. We can't. It's, it's, it's not a high margin business. Um, but people do it because they're changing lives. Yeah, well, he's being humbled, by the way, he's very financially successful too. And he has not just done it with the Spartan races. We're gonna talk about the farm too. It's, you're a remarkable dude.

And I think one of the reasons is what you started to go down which is like this makeup. You kind of have this like meditating granola mom. And then you're like surrounded by these mobsters. And it's interesting that one of the great influences in your life was actually this mob boss. And he taught you these lessons like, I know you've shared this before,

but not with my audience. And it's just, it's mind blowing to think you were this up close to someone like that, multiple dudes like that. But tell them this story about this guy and how he kind of made a difference in your life, which leads to some extent what you're doing. I mean, the way you deliver a message,

the farm, the race is everything. So, tell them about it. So mom, the voice is dead, moves us up to Ethical New York, but I want to get back with dad. I want to be back with the tough guys, the nice cars, the suits, the roles, $100 bills. And my neighbor, my father's neighbor, is the head of the banana organization,

prime family at the time. And he's got three daughters. I kind of know what it is, you know, but you don't know all the details. You're a young kid, three teenager. I'm cleaning my pool, you know, Saturday morning, I'll pay a $35. And I, there's a lot of money back then for young kid.

And I go over and I show up at 8 a.m. he told me to be there at 8. My father probably nudged me and says, make sure you're on time. And he says, all right, I'm going to teach you a couple of lessons. First of all, you get here at 7.45. On time is late, right? Second of all, when you get here, you clean the pool, which I'm paying you for, but you also clean the lawn furniture, the windows, whatever it takes, the shed, even though I'm not paying you for that, you got to make yourself invaluable. And then third, never ask for money.

You provide value first, and don't worry about it. You'll get paid, or you won't. But you don't have your handout asked for for money. And as a young kid, listen to a guy that's a little scary, that you see everybody around you, respects this. It really sunk in. My dad probably reinforced the message. And it really guided my life in business,

as well as a bunch of other things that I was able to secure out of those relationships. Because not only did I clean his pool, but then he connected me with about 700 other people. By the time I graduated college, I had 700 people across all five families that were my customers. They trusted me and their house.

They trusted me with their, you know, I could tell, like somebody could say, hey, when you see this guy, make sure you mention this, when you see that, it was an interesting time. Yeah, I didn't have the complete proximity to that world that you did, but I did have some. And one of the other things that that world teaches us is the keeping your word and loyalty. It's like a huge deal, right? And one of the things I've observed about you, it's like you'll go to

freaking extremes to deliver on something you've said. And last time you and I talked, Joe's gonna be on the show a while ago, we had a connection issue and so we're doing it now. And one of the things that I was just dying to ask you about is you've been like lugging around this kettlebell with you forever, right? Like, what is that? Like, why? And explain to you, you made a commitment to do it. So you did it or what?

Like, you're dragging it around like airplanes and stuff, too, even, right? Yeah, so basically, fast forward, I built that business, I ended up making some money, I bought a farm, met my wife, got married, had kids. While we were on the farm, we're Spartan started in Vermont. I heard about a guy that had done one of our races. He was 696 pounds.

Oh, I went away. I said, I gotta talk to this guy. We found the phone number. I reached out. I said, congratulations. I heard you did a race. Could I get you to the farm? Could you somehow take some time off? I will help you get to where you need to be.

He took 18 months, came to the farm. I took his keys, I took his wallet, and I helped him get down to 262 pounds. Wow. Okay, he cried when he left. He said, this is the first time ever I could fit in one seat of an airplane. Wow. Right, you said to see two seats. Anyway, to help him lose weight in addition to the protocol of, hey, we're only going to eat fruits and vegetables. We're going to walk 10 miles a day, which then turned to 20 miles a day, which then turned to we're going to walk 20 miles a day carrying a sandbag. I told him as he lost weight, I carry weight to motivate him.

I'd be shoulder to shoulder with him, right? I do this with him. Ultimately, it got to be 100 pounds I was carrying around. Oh my gosh. This is crazy. I can't do it, which led to the kettlebell. I wanted to keep my word, a 44 pound cattle bell. And it just became my stack, it became my thing. Oh, that's the guy with the cattle bell. So here I am walking through a casino with a cattle bell, getting on an airplane with

a cattle bell, just became the thing. That's crazy to me that you've kept your word like that. And you went right where I was hoping you would go, because I want to talk about the farm a little bit at this Theory the older I've gotten to one of my anchors like for me I'm getting myself together is physical Because it's like an area you can keep the promise, right? Like you can't really control external stuff. I'll make you know

I'm gonna make this much money or hire this many people those are things that are for me is like my body I can control like when I wake it up, what I put in it, how I move it, what I lift. And so for me, a lot of the catalysts for me, no matter when, even this stage of my life, like I wanna make a financial increase, it actually starts with my body, a physical challenge. And you're like become probably the master of this.

And at this farm guys, I'll let you explain a little bit what you do there, but I'd like you to talk specifically a little bit about what you do with the kids specifically and some of these, but we'll call under-privileged kids, although I don't know that those upbringing necessarily mean you're under-privileged, but talk about them,

tell them what you do there, and then a little bit about the kid part because I think it's just fascinating study and what's possible and the transformation even at a young age. Those of you guys watching or listening, if you don't know Vermont, it's a pretty unbelievable place. I mean, some people would opt if you talk to Ed for the beach, other people would go to these other more cushy places.

I found an inexpensive farm in Vermont, but it's beautiful. And so if you look at the bottle, the Poland Spring bottle of water, the water comes from up the street because it's that clean, right? There's no billboards. So we find this place, we buy this farm, and now I realize,

hmm, there's only 400 people in town. How the hell am I gonna make this work? Well, I gotta make, I gotta bring people to me, right? And that's how Spartan started. And I'm gonna help you lose work? Well, I got to make, I got to bring people to me, right? And that's how Spartan started. And I'm going to help you lose weight. I'm going to kick your ass. I'm going to help get your kid straight. And it was a fight. It was a fight for 20 years to get people. It's hard to get people to come to Vermont. It's only one, it's only one gas tank away from New York. But it's hard to get them to come. They got to commit. And they're going to work hard. And sometimes, you know, they're only there for a few hours and they pack up and they leave.

And they give me some bullshit excuse. I forgot. I have a family affair I was supposed to go to. Oh, really, right? So this summer with COVID, I really focused on the kids. And at first, I brought in friends and family. Then we extended it a little bit beyond that. And then we brought in kids from inner city. And I liked the kids because once they get there, they can't leave.

Yeah, they're committed, right? And what was great was the inner city kids who were less privileged, if we want to use that word, like you said, they were just smiling. It didn't matter if I said we're doing a thousand burpees, right? They didn't care. They were just happy to be on the farm. We're not eating today. They didn't care. They were just happy to be on the farm.

It didn't matter what I threw it. You could not break these kids. You know, the white privilege kids, including my own, they're soft. Whereas the other kids, They just get after it. And you and I talked about it a little bit. I just wish all parents would realize what a powerful tool it is to have a little grit and resilience in your,

I mean, I'm fighting with parents today, literally today. I'm texting my neighbors and I'm saying, my neighbor's going to listen to this podcast, by the way, he's gonna laugh, and here's this. And he likes you, he likes you from when I had you in the bathroom. I'm fighting with him and I'm saying, your kids need to come over my house and work out. Wow, you need to make it fun.

What the fuck are you talking about? Are you like, no, it's mandatory. They don't get a phone if they don't do the work. It's like 40% plus obesity rates now. And the United's like fun. Yeah. Yeah. Fun working. You hit on something huge, man, huge. And by the way, he said people like plan way in advance, months in advance to come see him and they disappear in a week because it gets too hard. And seriously, an hour in, they're gone. Let me interrupt you.

I keep that thought. I had a bunch of kids show up just a month ago, maybe around the time you and I talk last. And they were all, let's say, 14 years and younger. I had a bunch of kids show up just a month ago maybe around the time you and I talked last and They were all let's say 14 years and younger and they came in and they committed for seven days and in those seven days We were gonna hike 50 miles. We were gonna do 300 rope climbs 1400 pushups 1400 burpees 1400 leg lifts and wrestle for 40 hours and seven days Okay, and the kids 14 and under they were crying were screaming, they were kidding, they didn't leave.

Two adults showed up with them. Two, they didn't know each other. They just, they wanted an ass kicking. One from Texas, one from Connecticut. Hours, they packed up and left. Hours. Wow. I think it's, that's my,

it's not mind blowing to me because I think we've developed a culture that doesn't enjoy doing hard things. And I got to say to the parents listening to this, by the way, if you go to Joe's social media, follow him on Instagram, you're going to get great entrepreneurial lessons, life lessons, fitness, nutrition, everything. I love his content and his podcasts. But the other thing you'll see is there's some videos in there, even for me, as a dad who believes in that, it's hard to watch some of these videos with does watching that young guy pushing the deal in the in the wet grass

And you're like can you can you give me six more inches or whatever you asked him You know my heart's breaking for this kid yet. I know intuitively This is turning him into something that he will be so grateful for when he's done doing it The reason I point that out to everybody is if you're a parent, ask yourself this question, how often am I getting my children to do hard things that are prepping them for a hard world and a hard life? My daughter right now, this is a small thing, it's not the same thing, but you know, she has grown up and she's 16 and you know, she's she's got a job and some of our friends are like, well, your daughter got a job, she's

also volleyball in school. I said, she's got to get, she's, she's got a job. And some of our friends are like, well, your daughter got a job. She's also volleyball in school. I said, she's got to get, she's a hostess. People give her shit every night. She catches cry, want people once in a while to be rude to her. I want people to be dismissive of her. I want her to deal with the conflict of working there. And that pales in comparison to what you're having these kids do. So put your kids through some hard things.

And by the way, if you wanna be happier, this is why the Spartan racers are so big, or go to the farm, or 75 hard, or one of these programs, do hard things. You will be proud of yourself. You will be better when you're done than if you do easy things. And so I wanna say that,

because you're the king of this and the best at it. Let's talk a little bit about business because this is a side of you that you underplay, but I know business won't have. What I listen to, I'm like, man, this is good stuff. Talk a little bit about the difference between, because I think every company should have them. Entrepreneur, entrepreneur, what's the difference?

Well, I mean, your audience, I think knows this, like not everybody my father used to say, and I didn't understand it as a young kid. Joe, not everybody has a stomach for entrepreneurship. What do you mean by that? As I got into it and started running my own business at a very young age, man, my stomach was in knots 24-7. Am I going to be able to make payroll?

I can't believe I just pissed that customer off. This marketing message I just paid for didn't work. The truck broke down and I got 20 jobs to go do today. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong. You got to have the stomach for it. I mean, your reputation is on the line. By the way, you get a girlfriend. She's leaving you in about seven minutes

because you don't pay any attention to her because you're running your business, right? Your parents are like, this is ridiculous. You didn't show up for the funeral, you didn't show up for the wedding you were supposed to be at because you're running your business. So, Inture Poon Newer Ship allows you to do all that without as much frustration because the company you're working for is allowing you. They're providing a little bit of a safety that they're giving you some of the tools

If things don't go so well they they wipe your ass a little bit So if you don't have the stomach to go to war and and add you you got to tell your audience if I'm not true I mean you are going to war if you're in yourself if you're not ready for war and you want like Maybe a practice version, that's venture partnership. You could do it within the confines of the company you work for. And which is fine by the way, it doesn't mean you're any less of a person. By the way, I love people that work for us that act like entrepreneurs within the company.

And to fantastic as opposed to somebody that's just kind of mozing around and punching the clock, if anybody knows what a time clock is these days, right? Punching the clock at 9 a.m. and fuck. I mean, sometimes in our office, I'll stand by the door when we had an office pre-COVID. I'll stand by the door at 5 p.m. and I want to stab people that are walking out at 4.59. It's not my kind of person. Yeah, me either. And the other thing that comes with it that you talk about really well, the thing about being an entrepreneur man is you have to have this a meet, a kind of

crazy dynamic where like you can take a media monster action on a split second and Then combine that with like tremendous patience that almost nobody will have To wait for the result like 90% of people do 90% of what it's required But they don't stick around long enough for the other 10% to kick in or they won't do the extra 10% And there's the old marshmallow story, but you have this story. I think it's your six-year-old with you with ice cream. Right? I did my research, man. You see this? You see how I do this? So tell them this because it goes to the point, like you just said, I'm going to go 20 years to still keep trying to get people to come to the farm, right? So tell them this ice cream deal.

Also, in 1972, Professor Walter Mitchell, probably the same moment my mom was walking into a health food store, Professor Walter Mitchell, Stanford University, decides to test children, puts them in a cubicle, bunch of kids in a cubicle, different cubicles, and says, here's a marshmallow. You could eat that marshmallow now, or if you wait, I'll give you two. And what the research is we're trying to figure out was, is there anything interesting around people that could wait and delay gratification and not eat the marshmallow right now? Another example in your own life would be like in the morning, when the snow, when the

alarm goes on, do you hit snooze or do you get right up, right? And they followed the kids for 30 years. Most of the kids, as you would imagine, ate the marshmallow right away. But a few of the kids were able to withstand the pain of looking at this marshmallow and not eating it. And what they found were those kids had better SAT scores. They had, they went to better colleges. They had better cars, better marriages,

better everything in life was better. And so I wondered when I found out about this, I said gee, honey, to my wife, I said we got our first kid, look we should find out, like what kind of kid do we have? Is this a kid, because everything we stand for with Spartan is the ability to be stoic

and just not eat that marshmallows. So anyway, we give him a scoop ice cream. It's about 10 o'clock at night. I'm already making excuses in my head that if he fails, it's because he should have been a better ready at 8. Jack, if you want, you could eat the scoop ice cream now or if you wait, I'll give you two. And we're about three and a half minutes in. No bullshit. He looks at me. I'm so proud to say and he says, Dad, how long do I have to wait to get 15 scoops? Mm-hmm.

And you would appreciate this. Anybody listening to this, Nanch Panora, we're playing for 15 scoops. We're not playing for one or two. And you got to withstand pain to get 15 scoops. That is. okay, rewind. Everyone go back right now, rewind, go back about two minutes, play that again,

get your kids in the room, either watch it or listen to it again. That's why I wanna join you guys. No one, you know what it is, I don't know if it's the combination, how you grew up, you've given analogies and stories in ways that I like, that I relate to,

maybe a little bit better than like your traditional speaker dude, you know. And I wanna ask you, that I relate to, maybe a little bit better than like your traditional speaker, dude. And I wanna ask you, and I just curious, is there something you believe, I was asking myself this this morning, so I thought I'd ask you, is there something you believe, you really believed 10 years ago about life or business that you believe almost a complete opposite in now? Like your perspectives just changed,

20 years of, all the Spartan races, all the people coming to the farm, just getting older too by the way. There's something you used to kind of really believe that you don't believe anymore that's replaced by almost the opposite belief. Isn't that interesting? That's a great question,

and I'm quickly scanning grain over so many years in business. And it's a little contradictory, my answer's gonna be a little contradictory to what we just spoke about, which is, when I was young, and I think this is the case with all of us, maybe not my son, Jack. But I didn't necessarily have the patience. I wanted to make money. I wanted to have a nice house like those guys, you know, I was cleaning their pools. How did they get a nice part?

I wanted to do it fast. And I just didn't understand that like slow down young grass. Like life is actually longer than you think, even though it's short. If that contradiction makes sense. So I think today I have no regrets. I wouldn't change anything, but if I was guiding somebody young, here's at ancient Spartans I'm gonna answer this way the ancient Spartans back you know 2500 years ago everybody believed in legacy right they want to build the pyramids is that the ancient Spartans said legacy let's focus on doing a perfect job at what we do I mean perfect legacy is just gonna come just gonna come. Here we are, 2,500 years later

talking about Spartans. It worked. If you go to Spartan Greece, you don't see big monuments, built, or scriptures, or books, they like, they didn't keep track of any of that stuff. They just kicked ass at what they did. And it worked. And so, I guess that would be, that would be my message to my younger self. Would be like, don't't worry about like make him like like just focus on the here now I didn't really know that At a young age even though mobsters were telling me things like they were telling me I just I wanted it now Yeah, totally I had two of them, but I'll ask you about one of them for me how you respond to this I used to think when I was younger I had two of them, but I'll ask you about one of them for me, how you respond to this.

I used to think when I was younger, that I was really driven out of chasing my dream, this big dream, whatever it was, like living on the beach. Me and my wife did not live on the beach growing up. And the more I've gotten older, the more, and I did. I wanted to chase things. I kept that goal in mind, no question about it,

but the bigger mover for me, as I've gotten older, was fear, pain avoidance. Like, for me, it was, even to this day, like, still, you kind of get me to do things, almost operating out of the opposite, almost fear or pain, like, I don't avoid fear. I don't avoid pain. Like, I've made lots of little decisions

throughout my life of the opposite of chasing my dream, which was running from not wanting to be broke, not wanting to be fat, not wanting to be irrelevant, not wanting to get old someday and regret my life. Which do you think is the bigger mover for you. A couple of things on that. We, as human beings, are more motivated by the loss of version. We don't want to lose more than we want to win. So that's normal, right? And then the number two, I would say, as a species, we want to avoid discomfort at all costs. So guys like you and me, we are more uncomfortable when we don't work out. We're more uncomfortable when we don't need healthy, when we don't work hard,

when we, you know what I mean? Whereas most people are more uncomfortable working hard, working out, healthy. And so we flipped it on its head. So I don't think it's uncommon for a high performer to be more motivated by like, fuck, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be embarrassed by, you know what I mean? Like that's not who I am. By the way, you probably do what I do, which is I carry my chest out. I talk about what I'm gonna do.

I tell you I'm carrying a kettlebell. So I know subconscious, I'm on the hook. I gotta do chest out. I talk about what I'm gonna do. I tell you I'm carrying a kettlebell. So I know subconscious, I'm on the hook. I gotta do this stuff, I gotta act this way. I gotta do some curls before Ed my let gets me on because I gotta look good. Yeah, right. But I know what you mean. I want it out there because it holds me accountable

to what I'm saying and what I'm doing. And I also just think, drawing attention to some extent to your example, can create change. I used to think you can't mo, I also think I used to think is you really can't motivate other people. They got to be totally self motivated. That's true to an extent, but I have personally seen my presence or someone like your presence push people past a limit. They maybe they wouldn't have had on their own. Like you do it the farm with the kids or even with the adults.

But I think a thing I've respect about you the most man is it's been longevity. It's one thing to like, you know, I know a bunch of NFL dudes that are friends about like one one Super Bowl. Hey man, you go to like, I don't know, half his career Brady's been in the AFC championship or the Super Bowl.

There's something to be said for that. Like I think this my home's kids a great quarterback, but it's hilarious to me that three years in the league, we're even having this conversation, right? And I've seen flash in the pan entrepreneurs. One hit, 40 years old broke again. I've seen people make a change and regress. They've gotten sober. Now they're drinking again. I've seen people lose weight and gain it back. What do you think is one of the keys to sustaining lasting change in some ways? I don't know why this, you and I might have spoken about this,

but did we talk about the marathon monks in Japan? No, well, you're gonna love this. Okay. I'm gonna answer it with, we're gonna go back in history. So I don't know, 800, 900 years ago, a bunch of monks in China load up a bunch of boats. They sail over to Japan, they find the mountain, mountain, hei, they rebuild their mountains and they set up their monastery and their program.

All these monks have different programs. Their particular program is Ed and Joe want to become monks. We want to join their temple, their worship. And they say, great, shave your heads, throw on these sandals, wear these robes, and go around this trail for 100 days in a row. The trail is 25 miles long in the mountains. So you and I look at each other, we don't know what we got ourselves into. Fuck it, we're doing it. We do 100 days in a row, 2500 miles. We come back and we're like, guys, we're in, we're committed. Long have it, like you said, right? Somebody could do a marathon one day.

We just did 100 days, we're in. And they say, okay, now we know you're serious. You got 800 more days to go. And now, and now, I want you to carry a rope and a sword. If you decide to quit, you hang yourself and disembowel yourself on the course. So, talk about, look, look, look, look, when I tell that story, I see your facial expressions,

I know the people listening are like, wow, that's commitment. And I think that's what you're talking about. It's not just, you know, Brady doing well. It's that level of commitment to keep doing well, to stay in there, to work on his body, whatever it is, right? Like, that's hard to do. That's why it's exciting when you see somebody that just sticks it out. Those monks, you can't help but like, yeah, out down to, you know, so I had to bring my family there. I walked to you know, so I had to bring my family there

I I walked you did yeah, I had to bring my family I walked the course my family and along the way you see little tombstones of the guys that like over the years No way they quit And then you see these giant tombstones of the of the guys like I Stuck it out one guy did twice, 1800 days. Oh my God. He had committed such atrocities in his mind in World War II that he wanted to just cleanse himself. So those are the stories, by the way, that they just go on forever, right?

They make their way around the world. So your point is like, hey guys, that's cool that you're one hit wonder. Why don't you try doing it, you know, 900 times in a row. That is an amazing touch on my favorite things I've ever heard in my damn life. There's two stones along the way of the, that's crazy to me. I'm pointing to my kids and I said, that's a quitter.

What a like legit metaphor, like he's laying right there, dude. That's amazing to me. I think my experience too is like, a part of lasting change is like, it has to be your standard, not just like some goal. And, you know, I just tell everybody, listen, I said, like Joe makes me think.

He did it when I was on a show when we were done. I'm like, ah, I wish I would have done better. You know, you guys like you make me think. And, you know, I think if you're gonna really change your life, you can't fake it. It has to become who you are. Like if you're gonna really change your damn life long term, it can't be just something you do.

You have to start to change you and become that standard, become that excellence and decide that's who you are. And the more you do it over and over again, you begin to convince yourself that's who you are. And that's who you are. And that's why you say terms like guys like you and me because over time you became that kind of guy and you now believe that's who you are. And so you conduct your life in accordance and congruence with that, right?

Yeah, and I think it's as you're saying that. I think for me, my my 900 that I put in, like the monks were in the neighborhood, you know, like I couldn't do a bad job. And whenever I did, whenever I cut a corner, or I cheated or I rushed, I paid the price as we all do in business. And so I had to do it again, and it cost me money.

And I had to do it again. it cost me money and I had to do it again and eventually you realize you're just better off doing everything right right you feel better about it it cost you less money you get a reputation so true I think the other thing you got to have too you're good at this is I you know it bothers me man's when I have someone in my businesses and I give them feedback, and then they wanna coach me on how I should be giving them the feedback. In other words, you know what I'm talking about? Like it probably happens to you at the forum too.

It's like, hey man, it's not that I don't wanna improve, but like the way you're saying this, really? And I'm like, so you wanna win so little that the way in which I'm saying something to you is gonna impact on whether or not you finish. And I wanna all of you thinking about this that, listen, I wanna mentor, I wanna coach,

but they have to say it the way I like it. Maybe part of being your mentor in your coach is we purposely say it the way you don't like it, so you don't want to feel like that anymore. That's the real winners, right? And what you do that's nuts, you literally have other people call people because you've had me do it for people

to call them out on their crap, right? Tell them this, you do this like basically all the time. Yeah, I did it today. I did it to a 60 year old guy. And you know, if I see somebody eating Doritos or soda or whatever, that I don't know, I'll just grab it out of their hand. I'll just, what the fuck are you doing to yourself? Not all the people saying I almost

got in fist fights, but I'm like, they need a wake up call. The people around them aren't doing it. So, I mean, that's my, I feel like that's my purpose on this planet is to help people. And so, if you don't like, I mean, whatever your system is isn't working. So, not you, Ed, right? But, or some we're talking about. And so, I had, you know, the kid, there was 696 pounds. We got in a fight. He was, he was about 100 pounds away from goal.

And he said to me, I want to go to the hospital. I want to go to the doctor. And I said, for what? Excuse me, you know, for what? I got to get my liver levels checked. You're not a doctor, you've got me eating this way, and I'm concerned it's unhealthy for me. I said, you were eating eight egg-mid muffins every day,

two two liter sprites. Did you ever get your liver levels checked? And now on fruits and vegetables and walking up, so to your point, we don't like to be uncomfortable, whether it's the way somebody speaking to us, and so we create this crazy response in our brain that sounds logical, but all it's doing is trying to get us away from being uncomfortable. That's all it is. It's 100% and if you want to be people like Joe, you can't, you don't get to choose the way they say it. You don't, you don't get to choose the way they say it.

You don't, you don't get to filter that, right? So speaking of that filtering, I'm everywhere today because I love your stuff. This is going to sound totally contractual, but here comes the, we're going to, that was all the mob stuff, everybody, what we just covered. Now we're going to go over to the meditator of mom's side of Joe. And I never heard this term, what's a phone fast? Yeah, so my mom got into this fast thing at a very young age. I saw her do 30 days without food.

And then I said, well, you could fast from other things, right? You could fast from things were addicted to a phone. Get rid of a phone for 30 days. You're gonna love this. We took the kids on the farm this summer, and they were starving. Could you imagine on a typical day hiking the mountain, moving a thousand pounds of rock up the mountain, hundreds of push-ups, ice cold water, burpees, rope

climbs, it's now finally time to eat. You've been out since 5 a.m. it's 7 p.m. We got a big thing of food. We're gonna give the kids some ice cream As the food in the ice cream comes out So do their phones. They're gonna be allowed to use their phones for a few minutes Ed Where do you think the kids went to the food or the phones went to the freaking phone? phones Wow, it took phones over food so phones whether you believe it or not I've been on the phone with some experts. I've been on doing interviews with some experts on this are so addictive. So much dopamine is released in the brain. The dopamine pathways is serotonin using those phones that it's like heroin.

You're getting those, by the way, Apple has like 300 billion in cash, Whatever the number is, 272 billion. You think they got a few experts that figure out how to make phone addictive? I don't know. And so try fasting, try taking that phone away. If you and I go to Japan, I wonder what would be harder? The 900 days on the trail?

900 days without the phone. So true. So true. So really good question you guys. And you know when you hear something you know is true. I know I do for a social media fast and I felt it in my I can't say it like you say it. I love fast as the terminology because it's accept fast on other things, but I feel it, I need a, I don't know if it's a week or a month, it's at least a day where I'm just not involved and it's not that it's bad,

it's toxic to some extent. Do you have anybody in your life, I think I know the answer to this, but anybody in your life that's toxic around you and what would you say to people who do like these guys come to your farm or they go to a race. Do you have any concern that then they go back to their other environment, the other friends, the other way of, I just give them any counsel about that.

I mean, I had, I had one guy come up to the farm. He did 30 days, I, he lost 100 pounds in 30 days on the farm. Wow. I, I the farm. He showed up with a wheelie suitcase. And he said, where am I staying? And I pointed to the top of the mountain. And he said, how am I getting up there? I said, you're walking. And it took about four hours with this wheelie suitcase going up over the rocks, barely made it, got to the top.

He didn't fit in the door of the cabin. He said, where is a shower? I said, there's, where's the shower? I said, what shower? There's no shower up here. Anyway, he loots the 100 pounds, 30 days. Okay, on her, people would kiss my feet for that. His girlfriend shows up, clearly there's a psychological issue. They drive immediately from the farm

as I issue him, he's out, right? He's done with, he did his job, did his tour of duty. They go right to Ben and Jerry's in Vermont, probably put on 15 pounds that day. So, so there's, you know, maybe the girlfriend, maybe the girlfriend wanted him fat, I don't know, right? Like, so that's what happens, you're around people. By the way, the ancient Spartans, they realized that the way they wanted to live was so hard

that if they were not surrounded by similar-minded people that would hold each other accountable, it would never work. So this is 2,500 years old. Like, yeah, this is not something new. If you're around toxic people, if you're around people that are not holding you to a standard, that are not calling you out, you're gonna fail. I totally believe that. By the way, going back, I just,

I honestly think in my mind, 900 days without the phone would be harder. And that's just absolutely insane that I just said that out loud as a grown, almost 50 year old man. But in my mind, I'm like, I think I'll take the physical challenge over having no phone for 900 days. And that is, that means I need a fast for sure, right?

Like, and I think most people honestly answering, if you're like, 900 days without a phone, I don't think they remember what you said earlier, you know what I'm saying? I'm like, that just, that's really bad. It's, it's amazing how much we need to remove these things from our lives. I'm sure being outside at the farm and that has done that for you too. Okay, last thing, oh, I love you. I think you're awesome. I want people following you. I want them on your stuff.

What's the difference between the people that you know are, this is a broad question, but I know you're gonna give a great answer. What's the difference between the people you know that have some fulfillment in their life? And the ones that you now know over time don't have that. They live without fulfillment. And what's the people that have it? What do they have? I bet you never been asked it that way. Well, somehow my family just threw my dog here. Awesome. Into the into I don't know if people watch this on YouTube, but this is, you're going to love

the name of this dog before I answer that question. This is a puppy, and I named this dog, Sir Ernest Shackleton. So he was a great explorer at a England that just kicked the ass with stuck in the ass for two years. This is a terrorist, this dog. Anyway. Sir Ernest, good to meet you. I'm on the middle of an important podcast.

It took me five years to get on this podcast, my wife called the puppy in the fucking garage. Tell her we say hello. Now losing your phone for 900 days. Can you close? That's awesome. Look, I think fulfillment comes from, for me, from saying what you're, you know, from saying what you're going to do and doing what you say.

So, so if you're all over the place, and you're not sticking to some level of standard, whatever that is, because fulfillment, fulfillment just isn't about, you know, crossing the finish line, having ice cream, doing all that. For me anyway, and I think for most people, I've been pushing my wife, she's gonna kill me if she lists. I've been pushing my wife, she made me get a frig in Peloton. Okay? I said we own Spartan, you don't need a Peloton.

Like that, rings, I got, I need a Peloton. I got the Peloton, I had the only Peloton that was still in the box for like 60 days. What do we need the palaton for? Just like, you got it right? Now, the last 15 days, every day I make her get, well, you're ruining it for me. You're not making it fun. I said, forget about it. Just hold yourself to a standard every day. It's like, I don't care if you get on for 20 minutes, but whatever the thing is, you must want to do it. Otherwise, you wouldn't have maybe get the damn thing. Right?

So I think fulfillment comes from sticking to stuff, from doing stuff that you say you're going to do, and then you're able to pat yourself on the back and say, whatever this is, doesn't have to be climbing Mount Everest. It could be doing 20 minutes a day on the Peloton. It could be going for run every day. It could be eating salads at lunch. Whatever that thing is, I think people are not fulfilled when they're not able to look in the mirror at themselves and say they're sticking to the the person they want to be. That makes sense. Brother, that's a great answer. I've never heard it answered that way and like it's true. That's a great answer. And I'll send a

link to the podcast to your wife here just so she can enjoy. You don't even know, I'll be dead. Guys, Joe, this is awesome. You're so good. Listen, everyone listen to me. Your life will be better if you take a listen to Joe's podcast and your life will be better if you're following him on Instagram. And for some of you, you need to really do some research on the Spartan races and the farm and everything Joe does because it's all to serve other people.

This man is spent most of his life. He seems like a tough guy. You know, he delivers it no nonsense. This dude has a heart. He loves people. And he's dedicated his life to helping them and he's great at it. And I'm honored to hear my friend, man. Thank you for being here today, brother. I have a man that we got this done. Me too. Follow me my friend, man. Thank you for being here today, brother. I'm having me, I'm glad we got this done. Me too. Follow me on Instagram, everyone. Hey, two minute drill every day on there. I make a post, 730 Pacific time.

You got two minutes. You make a comment, you're in a drawing. If you missed the first two minutes, make a comment on every post I make every day. At the end of the week, we add them all up, pick winners. They get all kinds of cool stuff. They meet my guests, they get coached by me,

max out gear, my book. They fly with me once in a while. It's really cool stuff we do. We pick them every Sunday. Just stay connected. Turn your notifications on Instagram. Follow Joe. Follow me. God bless you all, Max out. This is the end of my life, shall we?