The Jordan Harbinger Show - 356: How to Make the Most of Quarantine | Deep Dive

Episode Date: May 26, 2020

Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) joins us for this deep dive exploring the ups and downs of COVID-19 pandemic life and how to make the most of quarantine to emerge better, not beaten, from the experience. [Featured photo by Kari Shea] What We Discuss with Gabriel Mizrahi: While you may not be able to control how long the pandemic lasts, you can control your response to it — is there opportunity nestled in the setback? How to use this downtime to strengthen relationships and build skills so you can springboard into action when things regain a semblance of normality. From which everyday nuisances are you spared while quarantining? For which often overlooked boons should you be grateful now? How to work efficiently and effectively from home even if you’ve always relied on the benevolent micromanagement skills of your resident office busybody. How you and your kids could benefit from using this time to learn new skills together — like a new language you can bond over long after the pandemic passes. And much more… Full show notes and resources can be found here: https://jordanharbinger.com/356 Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course! Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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responding to the day to day of your job and your life and your family. It's just very, very hard to ask those basic questions. Like, am I happy? You know, am I doing what I want to be doing? If I had to go back to work in two weeks, would that be my choice? You know what I mean? Like, would I want to be doing that? That right there might be the greatest gift that this quarantine is us. Welcome to the show. I'm Jordan Harbinger. On the Jordan Harbinger show, we decode the stories, secrets and skills of the world's sharpest minds and most fascinating people, and turn their wisdom into practical advice that you can use to impact your own life and those around you. We want to help you see the matrix when it comes to how these amazing people think and behave, and our

mission is to help you become a better informed, more critical thinker, so you can get a much deeper understanding of how the world works and make sense of what's happening. If you're new to the show. We've got episodes with spies and CEOs, athletes, and authors, thinkers and performers, as well as toolboxes for skills like negotiation, body language, persuasion, and more. So if you're smart and you like to learn and improve, you're going to be right at home here with us. For a selection of featured episodes to get you started with some of our favorite guests and popular topics, go to Jordan Harbinger.com, and we'll hook you right up. Today on the show, if you don't want to hear about coronavirus, how we're coping with it, I get it. Skip this one. Go to one of our many other options,

be it a long-form interview or feedback Friday Q&A. But look, this is make the most out of quarantine. Quarantine, whatever you want to call it, a lot of you are already back to work, and that's great. But what I will say is the economy is going to be slow for a while. A lot of people are out of work. A lot of people's projects, even at work, are going to be kind of dead in the water.

And I originally didn't think this episode would be necessary because I thought we'd be through this by now, and I think a lot of you probably thought that too. I took all the major themes of COVID-19 and coping with the pandemic that I haven't addressed, in other episodes of the show, and I put them into this episode. Some of this is questions sent in, some of these are ideas we'd cut from other places or written about in the blog. We'll go over why right now can actually be an opportunity for you, whether you're stuck at home with the kids,

jobless and on the hunt, or feeling the pressure. We're also going to outline some ways you can be using the downtime, not to just catch up on Netflix or something else, but to strengthen your relationships and skill build so that you've got yourself a springboard for when things finally start back to normal. You know, a lot of times when we lose our line of work or our projects, we feel sort of purposeless, and I understand that. It's not a good feeling. I went through that myself. And speaking of relationships, I would hope you realize that now is the perfect time to be doing the six-minute networking course, which is free. You know it's free. Come on. It's five minutes a day, except that. My name was taken, so it's six minutes a day now. Jordan Harbinger.com slash

course. All right, here we go with Gabriel, Ms. Rahy. Gabriel, thanks for coming on the show, man. Of course, good to be back. Usually I see you in person. This time we're doing this over squadcast.fm, as usual. My life is now remote. Life in general is now remote. Life is remote and for me, under a blanket,

so that you don't hear all the room noise and my cat trying to play with the bowl on the table. Oh, nice. That's what that is? Yeah. So this is, this show is devolved into everybody sitting around with no pants on drinking in the middle of the afternoon. I mean, I didn't say anything about the pants. That's, I mean, you are assuming a lot.

Correctly assuming about the pants? They're Lulu Lemon yoga shorts, so you were half right. Of course, that. Everybody's in quarantine. Everybody's at home, that remote life, that WFH lifestyle has kicked in. Work from Home lifestyle has kicked in for everyone. And this new abbreviation of Work From Home, or WFH, has hit a lot of people really hard. And a friend of mine hit me up recently to check in and he said, how you do one on a scale

from one to 10, you know, no BS, tell me the straight deal. And I said, I'm great. This is business as usual with less travel, fewer obligations. You know, I feel bad for folks, and I hate the state of the world right now, but me personally, I'm fine. And he said something really insightful. He said, you had your shite storm two years ago when you had to restart the Jordan Harbinger show. Everyone else is having theirs right now. And I realize how correct that was. And I remember very clearly the anxiety I had at that time. And I think a lot of people are going through that phase of anxiety and uncertainty right now. Yeah, it's interesting. You did have to go through this a couple years ago under different circumstances. But in other words, like you had your reset button a while

ago. And from what I remember, you had to figure out how to do your job, rebuild your company, and kind of like get back in touch with your routine and like rebuild all those habits and those processes and your team and all of that back then. And so right now, you probably don't have to do it as dramatically as everybody else because you basically have the template already in place. But I do remember back then there was like a week or two of kind of like shock and panic. And it was hard. It was like a shock to the system. And I think that's what a lot of people are dealing with now, some more than others, of course. And I feel like we have to acknowledge that like this pandemic is hitting different people very differently. And some people are absolutely devastated. There's a ton

of uncertainty and fear. There's financial instability. You know, relationships are being tested. They're being broken up. They're being redefined. I mean, there's a lot of stress and it's hitting different parts of the world and different jobs, different sectors and different personalities very differently. But the one thing that we all share in common is that the quarantine, however, it's playing out in your state and your city, like, it is forcing us to take a step back in some form. And there is so much that we don't have control over that it almost forces us. us into like submission, right? Like you can't argue with the state of your job. You can't argue with the larger economy. You can't argue mostly, unless you really want to on Facebook, about the

laws or the way people are handling it. The only thing you can control is this very, very small sphere around you. I think that's like one of the most interesting things I've come to realize in the last month. Like, it shrinks your world down and it gives you a very narrow area focus that you say, like, here are the things I can control. And you're also sort of forced to confront a lot of things that you might not have confronted before, the way you work, the way you act, how your lifestyle is, how you handle situations like this. And so we wanted to spend a few minutes on this episode talking about how to make the most of it, no matter who you are, and no matter how it's playing out for you, I feel like there are universal opportunities that, if played correctly, are

actually really, really huge gifts. And I think it's something that's on everybody's mind. It's certainly on my mind and your mind. So I'm glad that we're talking about it. This is probably going to be generation defining. And I hate hyperbole generally. So I usually stay away from it, but the longer this lasts, the more it's gonna be like, I remember what I was doing when this hit. You remember when September 11th happened, like, probably where you were.

You were significantly younger than me, but I was like a freshman in college, and I remember exactly where I was, and I remember talking about it with the people I talked about it with, and that Spanish class that I had was canceled because of that and all the specific things about that time and, like, calling my girlfriend at the time who was in New York City, it was just nuts.

And this is kind of a more long, drawn-out version, of that it's going to affect everyone's lives. So I'm not trying to compare my business hiccup with, or like my misfortune with that to like this global pandemic that's going to define this generation. But instead of focusing on the negative here, and I'm not a positive thinking or positive psychology guy either, I want to focus on why this is an enormous opportunity, not because, you know, invest in Bitcoin or whatever people are saying, but this is a chance to reflect, re-evaluate, recalibrate, redefine, step outside of what we were doing day to day, which a lot of people were forced to bustle and hustle day to day, and we very rarely get a chance

to step back and be like, what do I actually want to be doing with myself? Because that's often a luxury that you don't have when you're working two jobs to pay for your way through school because you're a single mom. Like you just don't have that option. Right now you may be forced to be at home to take care of your kids and you may be on social assistance or doing something off the books or something to make money or working for your uncle's construction company like who knows this is a good time to then sit back and go okay what have I assembled for myself and do I like this you know check back in with who I am essentially I hate woo-woo crazy

talk like this but this is very appropriate right now are we doing what we want like all adversity this is a chance to become better or at least keep an eye on that or maybe decide hey you know what Maybe losing this job in XYZ was a terrible thing for now, but maybe this was the hard reset that I needed to get my ass in gear and go back to school or go do something else. Exactly right. It's like stepping outside of the Matrix, which is really, really hard when you have so much invested in the Matrix. I mean, some of it is practical. Like when you're working 40, 50, 60, or plus hours a week, and you have friends, and you have a family, and you have social obligations, and you want to work out. And you want to, you know, there's so much that

makes up our lives, like, just on a very practical level, it's really difficult to get that space and the time to step back and evaluate. And I think that's dead on what you're talking about. Like, that right there might be the greatest gift that this quarantine is giving us. And again, it's a gift that comes with a lot of baggage and a lot of difficulty. It's not like once you realize that it's an opportunity to step back, all of your other problems go away and the pandemic isn't a big deal. No, it's both. But the fact that it's both is the silver lining. That is the saving grace. I mean, I'll speak for myself. I think you can relate. Like when you are so invested in the way your life looks and, you know, just you're carried by the momentum of all the choices that you've made up until this

moment. And you're just responding. You're responding to the day to day of your job and your life and your family. It's just very, very hard to ask those basic questions. Like, am I happy? You know, am I doing what I want to be doing? If I had to go back to work in two weeks, would that be my choice? You know what I mean? Like would I want to be doing that? Those are really important questions. that we all have to be asking ourselves, but we don't always have the courage to, or more importantly, the time and energy to. So I want to start as well by acknowledging that things are pretty bad for most people right now, because otherwise I feel like this is the most privileged, a whole type of thread that we can be on,

like, relish the opportunity that you just lost everything and see if you are pursuing your higher calling, and it's like, shut up, Jordan, I'm going to shove my foot up your ass. Let these two people who work from home and have the ability to continue working from them tell you that it's an opportunity, like 100%. I totally agree with you. Yeah, yeah, I just don't want to be like that random privileged one-percenter who's like, spend more time with your pets and family. And it's just like, dude, run yourself through a window right now.

Because I understand that there's tons of people that even I know that are in service or high touch or other industries that are directly affected. People who work in healthcare, frontline workers. If you're a frontline worker, you're afraid of getting COVID. And if you're not a frontline worker, you don't have anything to. do because essential staff has been sent home, so your hours are trimmed. They know, like, everyone's eating it. Or if you have children, or if you have older parents who have preexisting conditions,

you know, like, there are a lot of circumstances that raise the stakes. So we are, yeah, thank you for bringing it up. Like, absolutely not pretending that we're living in a world where those are not real concerns. Yeah, so we're not glossing over the fact that there are some huge problems right now. In fact, we're highlighting them. I mean, we're living in a world where the pandemic has caused an enormous amount of stress, financial problems. The list goes on and on.

but in a world where those things exist, it's also on us to find the opportunities and to also realize that we don't always get all the good or all the bad, but usually both. So it's very easy, I think, to fixate on just the downside of the pandemic and not look at some of the more interesting and sometimes subtler opportunities that it creates. So let's maybe recognize there are some better ways than others to spend this quarantine. I know plenty of people who are just hammering through Xbox games or they're on Reddit and they're like, just just crushing the posts. There's a lot of people doing 70 Instagram stories a day.

Look, if that's entertaining for you and you appreciate that or you're building something with that, then fine. There's a mindset of some people have that is just getting through this by killing the time, and I think that's a wasted opportunity. You know, there's a lot of people that are trying to watch like everything on Netflix. And I wish I were kidding.

There's actually the people who have a huge checklist. They're like, I'm gonna get through everything. That is a very real thing. A lot of people are just passing the time. And also like Netflix and HBO have made it very attractive to spend the quarantine doing that. It's in their interest. Not to be all like tinfoil hat about the streamers or anything like that. I love TV more than almost anything, except working out on a very uncomfortable mat in my apartment every morning, because

if I don't, I will fall apart. Well, you're a TV writer. You're not just like sitting around watching TV. Jordan, it's work. It is research. Yes, yes. You're doing research when you binge watch Westworld season one again. It is critical. My point is like HBO made like a bunch of their library free for people during the pandemic. Free. See you later. Yeah. I'm out. We'll reschedule. We'll talk after I watched the wire for the ninth time. But like the point being that it is not only very easy to spend the quarantine doing that, but it has become so easy and attractive because companies have learned how to meet our needs in these moments very well. We actually already touched in how this is an opportunity to reflect on life, relationships, choices, because we get to stop doing all the time

and have this chance to be and reevaluate. So I don't want to beat that. Is it a sappy horse? What sort of, what is it? It's a little sappy, but it's also very true. I mean, you're right. Like, that's what we were talking about a moment ago when you're so cut up in the matrix. You can't step outside of it. So I feel like a lot of us are asking some really useful questions right now. Like, what matters to me, you know?

Like, whom do I actually want to spend time with? Like, how am I spending my day? Like, now that I have 12 free hours, I used to do this for four hours to, like, numb myself after I got home from the office job I hate. Now I'm doing it for 12 and is this actually the way I want to spend my free time? Like, is this what I want to do? You know, what do I want my life to look like going forward? And what brings me happiness and joy and meaning?

You know, is it FaceTiming with my nieces who live across country or is it watching yet another episode of Parks and Rec even though I've seen it for the third time? So those are really, really good questions. Again, there are questions that we should all be asking ourselves anyway, but it's suddenly become very like important and urgent to do that. So when you can't leave the house, what do you find yourself doing to give your life meaning and purpose and direction? So only when we lose something, do we really appreciate its value? There's a cliche there, right? And for most of us, I think a lot of people are really grateful they have an office. I've been working from home for 13 years, and even I'm like, well, I'm not missing any office, but I really liked going to that Greek restaurant once a week and having lunch. I thought that I wouldn't miss it. I mean, I don't miss having to travel a bunch, but it would be kind of nice to know that I could go. somewhere if I needed to or do a show in person or go out for a drink with friends,

stuff I didn't do a whole lot of. Yeah, most of us don't actually want to go back to having happy hour with our friends. We just want to have the option to say no if they asked us. I want to have the option to bail at the last minute like you. Exactly. I just want to be thought of to be included to possibly go. No, but you're absolutely right. Like it is impossible or very, very, very difficult to be fully grateful when you have everything. And it's only when it's taken away the way it has been in the last month that we realize how much those things meant to us. I have friends who would complain to me weekly, literally, about how much they hated their office and how much they wish they could work remotely or find a new job where they didn't have to go in

all the time and waking up and putting on clothes and making small talk and running into the coworkers in the kitchen and having to chat about their dumb kid over making a curate coffee or whatever. And now those same friends are saying like, I wish I had somewhere to go. Like I was, I had structure and like other people might feel differently. We all, you know, it's not like there's a right way and a wrong way. But I just find it so interesting that like all these things that we just took for granted, whether it's going to a group fitness class at the gym or meeting up with a friend after work or going to a physical office, you know, those things which used to be burdens or just were sort

of neutral are suddenly very precious. And when things return to normal and they will and they will very soon, it might look different, but they will return to some form of what we used to have. those things will mean a lot more to us, and they should. And I feel like that's one of the biggest lessons we could take away from this period. I think that's true. It's hard to sort of keep it in mind now. It's one of those, like when you dream someone you love Dyes, and you're like, I need to keep in touch with them more. And then like a month later, you still haven't really called them, other than that text you sent the morning after the dream. Well, that's a good point. Like,

when this all lifts, it will be so easy for us to slip back in it. You talked about 9-11, that period, right? And there was that period. I mean, look, it was a very complicated and fraught time, and it's changed with, you know, time, how we look back on it. But there was that period afterwards where everybody was very sensitive and everyone was very, like, connected and grateful for their connections and their security. And, like, that goes away. And, you know, other things take its place and it gets complicated. But, like, it's not going to be the case that this pandemic will suddenly make us all grateful. Like, it's not like once everything goes back to normal, all of these things are suddenly going to mean a ton to us. And that's really all we had to work through to get there.

Like, I think this is going to be a practice. It's going to be that thing we keep. coming back to on the show, like the constant practice of taking stock of what you have and making a little bit of a conscious effort to appreciate it, which might be a little bit easier knowing that we didn't have it for some time. You're listening to The Jordan Harbinger Show with our guest, Gabriel Mizrahi. We'll be right back. And now back to Gabriel Mizrahi on the Jordan Harbinger Show. You know me, I love practical application.

So instead of just like, be grateful and realize how good you had it before, I'm like, okay, cool, we got it. We got the bumper stickers. Right, we got the bumper stickers. What can we actually be doing right now to leverage this opportunity instead of just rewatching the wire? Yeah, so what have you been doing? I've been doubling down on a lot of learning and a lot of networking. And a lot of people are like, what networking?

I can't go meet anyone. And I'm like, you clearly don't listen to the Jordan Harbinger show if you're going to throw that excuse at me on social media. Like, if you think six-minute networking or the networking course, the networking we discuss, has to do with going to mixers? like y'all don't know me. What I've been doing is texting people every single day, following the six-minute networking re-engagement drills all the time. And if you don't know what six-minute networking is, go to Jordan Harbinger.com slash course. It's free. I'm teaching you how to use your phone and your

computer to reach out and network with people. And, you know, Gabriel, this is a little bit bit as sweet as it always is, but there's a ton of messages in my inbox right now that are from people that have said something along the lines of, oh man, I know now what you mean about dig the well before you get thirsty because I put this off, put this off, put this off, and I just got laid off, and now I can't even interview anywhere else

because of COVID-19, and I'm like, yeah, that's kind of the whole point of digging the well before you get thirsty, man. Usually those messages that they're sending me end with, what do you recommend I do? And there's no like emergency triage networking. There really isn't. It's sorry, the best time to plant a tree,

was 20 years ago and the second best time is right now, like start doing it now. It really is tough because of course now they're doing it and there's a global pandemic. So they reach out to someone and they're like, hey, haven't caught up in a while. And the person's like, oh yeah, what's going on? This pandemic's wild, right? And they're like, yeah, yeah, it's totally crazy. Do you have a job? And they're like, oh, yeah, I knew it. I knew there was some angle here. I haven't heard from you in two years. No, I don't have a job for you. Good luck, buddy. You know, it's like that versus people who did start doing six minute networking. My inbox is full of thank you messages from those folks as well.

And they're like, I got laid off and I found something else the same day because I reached out to these people that I'd re-engaged using layoff lifelines or Connect 4 or whatever the other drills were in the course. And I got a new opportunity. So it's a bummer, but whenever there's an economic downturn or we hit some hard situation, just like two years ago when we had to reboot the show, it was my network that saved my ass. And that was, for those of you who saw the Startups Magazine this month, which,

Very few of you might have, because it's on bookstore shelves everywhere, collecting dust, I would imagine. I'm on the cover with this magazine and it's about this networking article that we wrote that I wrote months ago that you actually wrote with me that dig the well before you get thirsty article. That's finally out, great timing.

So I've been working a lot on networking and making sure that other people know how to do it and updating the six minute networking course for that reason because now is, well, I wouldn't say the best time to get into it, but if you're not into it yet, certainly the second best time to do it. So I've been looking out for other people though and checking in with them as well because I've been able to help a lot of other people right now. Find jobs, find things to do, work on their business, figure out how to transition to remotely working.

A lot of people shockingly, shocking to me anyway, haven't really known how to do that. And this is a forcing function for them. So you'd think, oh, they're a lawyer. They can work remotely so easily. This shouldn't be a problem for them. You'd be surprised how many 50, 60 plus 4.000. 40 plus people there are that went to the office every day and never, ever tried to set up video teleconferencing and shared documents and things like that. So it's funny to hear from like these 26-year-olds who have been at their law firm for like one year. And now they're the MVP because all these old partners are like, how do I get into Google Docs again? And how do I share my screen and this Zoom thing that we're using now? And they're like, oh, I got you, fam. So they're using

these skills, these things that they grew up with essentially to help these heavy. hitters at work transition. And that I think is really interesting. For people who think they don't have enough experience to be helpful here, some of the most valuable people in firms right now are people that like know how to turn on a webcam. Yeah, and that reminds me of one of my favorite articles on the website, on your website, which is called How to Be Generous when you're just starting out. And you talk a lot about, you know, when you're younger, when you're earlier in your career, and you feel like you don't have a lot to give other people. There are so many things that you just don't even realize they're valuable until you offer them to people who don't have them.

So they could be skills or they could be just little, you know, conversations or they could be just the offer to pitch in and help, like whatever it is. But I think those small ways to create value become really, really important and possible in a crisis. So if you are the young person in the office who happens to know how to navigate Zoom, like that becomes like a really great small way to build social capital when you might feel like you can't and also when it's harder because you're working remotely. So I feel like that's another accidental little discovery that a lot of us are making in quarantine. So you talked a lot about networking.

What else are you doing on the education front right now? I'm actually working a lot on learning new skills, and I think now is a great time for people to learn new skills. Not only am I going through my backlog of books, mostly books that I'm listening to, but books and movies, documents, things I need to read. I made a huge list, and I plow through one or two a day, usually. And that's a ton of stuff.

Some stuff I watch 10 minutes of, and I'm like, I never wanted to see this, and then just kill it. And that's nice, it's still a relief. I've never been more productive than I am right now. So I'm plowing through books and plowing through movies, usually for the show. But I'm also taking online classes. So many of you know that I take Mandarin Chinese. I used to do that like twice, three times a week.

Now it's like four plus times per week. I've recorded more shows this month than I have in the past two months, and I've done that maybe the last two months in a row. So we're months and months ahead on the show here as well. And I think a lot of folks who've been asking me, what should I be doing with this time? What I've been recommending hand over fist is just get skills right now, especially if you find yourself unemployed and you're kind of on the dole right now, so to speak, then the best thing you can do to stop feeling kind of like a schlep or useless because you can't go an interview

somewhere or you feel like you're underutilized, even if you are employed. Go learn a skill. It doesn't have to be related to your job. I guess bonus points if it is, but there's a real-life example. there's a kid who was working at a restaurant, and by kid, I mean, he's like probably approaching 30. But now that I'm 40, I can call everyone kids. It's part of the privilege.

And he worked at a restaurant. Obviously, the restaurant's closed, and he was like, I guess I'm going to do my cartoon that I always wanted to do. So he bought himself some animation software for his birthday, and he learned the animation software. I want to say on one of these skills websites and using YouTube and things like that, self-taught.

And he said, hey, what do you think of these? and I was like, these are really cool. You want to animate some clips of my show? And he's like, sure. So he got another job animating clips of the show, and those are going to be on YouTube soon as well. And I really like these. Like they're funny, kind of looks like South Park kind of situation.

And he's making more than he did at the restaurant, and I'm getting animation from somebody who really enjoys making it and is interested in continuing to make it. And we've got all the time in the world. So he actually found an upgraded job where he has essentially gotten a raise. and I got something that has plugged a hole in my business because I can't fly anywhere and film the interviews anymore.

And rather than putting up YouTube videos of two dudes talking into a webcam like other podcasters are and I find it insufferable, we're going to have little animations for the shows. So yeah, I mean, this is a huge opportunity to learn new skills and that story is awesome because it's somebody invested in themselves

and then connected with you and it was just a perfect match. But what do you say to people who feel like they have such full lives that they can't really do that? Like maybe there's somebody who has three kids. And he's like, I can't spend three hours a night learning how to animate just because I want to. Like, I have children or my kids need me to teach them the skills they need right now. And I can't really do it for myself. So does that mean that the pandemic is useless for me? Like, how do people like that get to take advantage of this opportunity? Sure. First of all, hat tip to all the lawyers out there who are trying to figure out how to teach fractions or like the people who work in quality assurance at like a Ford Motor Company and everyone's like, what? The kid's like, How do I do long division? I don't know. I have no clue.

So that aside, learn a skill with your kids. If you're starting to learn Chinese yourself, I throw Chinese in there because I'm learning that, but let's say you want to learn Chinese or Spanish. If you're a beginner, there's no reason you can't start learning Spanish with your 10 or 12-year-old kid. You're at the same level.

Plus, like, how much more fun is it with somebody else? Totally. You could hire a teacher that teaches you one hour at a time or 45 minutes at a time. a referral, let me know I've got language teachers galore. All of them work online. All of them work remotely. They've been doing that for years. You can mail order a Spanish textbook for kids. Again, even if you're 50 years old, you can still learn that same skill at the same time with your kid. The teacher will teach you together. It'll be really fun. You can do it a couple nights a week.

It doesn't have to be a big thing. And you just learn some flashcards. You quiz each other using the flashcards. I mean, this is a great time to learn something with your kids. I like that, Jordan, also because I feel like for a lot of us, we feel like we're torn between competing obligations. I'm not a parent, so I'm definitely not one to talk. But I can imagine if I had a child, and that kid, who I assume I would enjoy hanging out with pretty much, wants to have an even, like, after work, like, we want to have dinner together. We want to talk. We want to hang out. And you're like, okay, so how do I learn Italian? Well, you could be doing both and getting like two, three X the return on that investment. You could be bonding with your kid,

teaching you both a new language and then having that language to share and bond over. So that's actually really cool. I didn't even think about that if you combine these things when possible, you could actually make them even more useful for everybody. I love that. Many skills at the beginner level are the same for adults and kids. You know, a lot of my early Chinese books, I was like, what's up with these weird stories? Everybody in the story is a teenager. And I asked the Chinese teacher and I said, why are all the characters in this story so much younger? There's no, and then, which now it's obvious why. She goes, well, that's because most of the people who use these textbooks are like in middle school or high school. And I said to myself, Jordan, you're a knucklehead for not knowing that.

But it's true. There's no reason that you can't learn something exactly at the same level, even as like an eight-year-old, 18-year-old, 38-year-old, 48-year-old, you're at the same level when it comes to learning how to cook something, learning a language. There's not like adult versions of this that are going to be faster. I understand why an eight-year-old might not want to learn Adobe After Effects. It might not be on them. I think teenagers and adults have a lot in common, but I do think there are tons of skills that young people can learn with you. Languages are the most obvious example. And cooking. Another one that occurs to me is exercise. I think a lot of people are struggling with how to stay fit in quarantine. And I know that was

something I had to adjust to. I work out almost every day and I used to go to a gym almost every day. But my point is that just like learning a language or cooking, exercise is also something you could be doing with your family and maybe your roommates, if that's safe or your friends, if you're allowed to hang out with one another right now. But yeah, like these things, are not only more doable, they're more fun and more meaningful when you do them with other people. So, you know, creating that habit to do 30 minutes of yoga with your children or your spouse or everybody or whoever wants to join every night before dinner could be a really, really cool way to make that habit stick in the pandemic when it's a little bit hard to create a new routine

around something like fitness, but you also get to hang out with the people you love. So that's something that I just did not even think about until this conversation. Just the way we combine our obligations and our habits could make them a lot more meaningful than they were even before the quarantine. This is the Jordan Harbinger Show with our guest, Gabriel Mizrahi. We'll be right back. Thank you for listening to you guys and supporting the show. Your support of our advertisers keeps us going to learn more and to get links to all those

great discounts you just heard. So you can check out those amazing sponsors for yourself. Visit jordanharbinger.com slash deals. And don't forget the worksheet for today's episode. The link is in the show notes at Jordan Harbinger.com slash podcast. And now for the conclusion of our episode with Gabriel Mizrahi. On the flip side of fitness, I want to highlight the idea that I don't even know what the opposite of fitness would be, but dysfunctional habits, dysfunctional tendencies, excessive drinking, smoking, if you're smoking seven joints a day, whatever it is,

these are harder to hide from even yourself or ignore when you're alone in your house. And a lot of people double down on vice. A friend of mine runs like online poker, and he said it's just off the hook right now, which is bad news for most people involved. It's good for him because it's his business, bad for everyone else losing their money. But if you're sitting around smoking cigarettes, drinking all the time,

there's all these, drinking is so pervasive in American culture that there's a lot of people being like, the best thing about quarantine is I can get Jack Daniels delivered and it's always five o'clock somewhere. And I'm like, uh, not cute, really. You know, it's 2020. It's not cute that you're drinking at 11 a.m. by yourself. That's a good call.

And I don't mean to be a grandpa about it because it's funny. But like a lot of memes right now and a lot of just like quarantine humor in general on the internet focuses around how easy it is to not get dressed and to drink whenever you want to. And it's interesting. I mean, the getting dressed thing is just a stupid punchline. But like the alcohol thing is interesting. I feel like I've seen it a lot. And I feel like it makes sense because we as a culture drink to cope.

And there's a lot to cope with right now. and there is nobody looking over your shoulder asking if you really need to have that fourth half of Eisen. So I think you're right. This is another opportunity. It's a lot harder to hide from some of those behaviors that might not be very adaptive when you're alone. It's also easier to continue them when you're alone, to your point. So it's kind of up to us to stay on top of it. But I do think that, like, when you're working and you, for example, you go to a happy hour with your colleagues and you have a few drinks, even if it's once a week or even if it's every other week, like that can master. as hanging out with the people around you and doing your part to fit in. And, you know, if you

skip the gym for a few days after because you don't feel great, then it kind of has a snowball effect that you chalk up to just being part of society. And right now, you don't have that excuse. None of us have the social envelope that contains all of our vices and our weird habits and our tendencies. And if you wake up on three weeks into the quarantine and you realize that I haven't done a push up in three weeks or I'm drinking pretty heavily. And maybe that's a problem. And I really We can't deny that it's a problem because it's literally me alone in my house, pulling from the handle of Maker's Mark that I bought on discount from Bevmo because they're an essential business and they're still open. That is something. That was weirdly specific. Let me just put the bottle down and finish my point. I've seen it a lot. Again, it's kind of like one of the harder parts of the quarantine. Bortem kicks in. You know, lack of purpose kicks in. A lot of unhappiness and uncertainty kicks in. And that makes you want to do a lot of these things. But it also creates the opportunity to catch yourself doing those things. A lot of folks ask me how I get so much reading done, and I'm listening to audiobooks,

and I do it while walking. And there are days now where I will walk upwards of eight, ten miles a day. I don't recommend starting walking eight miles a day. I do, however, wouldn't hate hearing that people bought walking shoes online, of course, from the Nike store or wherever, and just got to work doing it. You can start with just a mile at a time. I just decided one day to do 10,000 steps every day,

and then I decided to keep doing that, and I've done that almost every day for the last few years. And on some days where I have more time, I'll walk 20,000 steps in that day, and I just get a ton of stuff done. And it's easy for me because I'm in the suburbs. There's not a whole lot of people around. If you live in New York or something,

you probably can't slash shouldn't do this. But walking is a great way to lose weight. It's a great way to not be eating because walking and eating a bunch of junk food at the same time is tricky. It's a great way to read stuff. and not just be sitting on your couch wondering where the day is going. You can get a lot of stuff done while walking, but most of it is good for you.

Yeah, and also on top of that, it's a great way to enjoy one of the unfortunate but amazing side benefits of the pandemic, which is that most cities and places, I guess, not just big cities, but anywhere really, are really beautiful right now. In L.A., for example, we've had the lowest pollution levels, I think, in recent history, if not ever. The air literally smells different, and I'm sure that's true of a lot of places. So I feel like it's more fun to walk now than ever. And if we're going to be stuck inside and we get to go out every once in a while, might as well enjoy that one silver lining. Yeah, I can imagine that a lot of folks think walking is crazy or they can't possibly go that far.

Trust me, you definitely can. The weather's great. Well, in most places, the weather's great. And you can call friends while you do it. You can read while you do it as long as you're listening to audiobooks. There's just not a whole lot of downsides. This is part of my shitstorm coping strategy from two years ago. I started walking before then,

but I really kicked it up when I had all that stress and anxiety. Now is the time to build a routine and stick to it. I think a lot of the stress and trauma that people are facing right now, not all of it, of it is, the routine is gone. You don't have a forcing function

to get you up early in the morning, get you showered, shaved, dressed, out the door, in your car, grabbing a cup of coffee, having contact with your office workers and things like that. Now a lot of people are sleeping in a little bit, staying up a little bit later, eating a little bit more junk that they had delivered,

their family's driving them crazy. So there's a lot of things that stack up. You can find that you're feeling anxiety not just from the situation, but from the fact that your routine has been torpedoed. So rebuild the routine and stick to that routine. And part of that's going to be walking and learning. If you do nothing, start walking and start learning. Even if you just do the walking thing with your kids and you say screw the learning, we don't

of time, that will at least get you off the couch. It'll burn a few hundred extra calories, get you some sun. There's a whole lot of benefit to just getting outside. Yeah, it's almost like your day cannot go below a certain point if you just do that. Back to the pollution issue, though, how crazy is it that LA's smog layer has taken a massive hit? Have you seen the photos of China and cities like Sao Paulo and like, it's just insane? The water quality also. There was also like a lot of BS going around about this. I don't know if you've caught any of this on Twitter, but like there were photos of the Venice canals that had dolphins in them and then Elton John like said that on the, I don't know what it was called. It was like a quarantine concert that he hosted.

But like it turns out that there were dolphins in the body of water near Venice, but it wasn't actually the Venice canals. So like, you know, there's a lot of misinformation going around like, we are the virus, you know. But the truth is that water and air quality is so much better right now. I know that probably doesn't do as much. it's cold comfort. Yeah, it's not going to do as much as a stimulus check in your bank account in terms of your mental health. But in a way, I think it does help to know that the Earth is getting a rest right now. And I try to keep that in mind as well. It doesn't make my life day to day all that different except for walking outside and enjoying it. But we know that the Earth is put through a lot by our presence. So it's kind of nice to know that it's also getting to heal a little bit. And it also gives people an opportunity to say, hmm, no coincidence that things are clearer now. So if you ever had any doubt that a lot of the smog and haze was caused by humans, or if you just thought your city was foggy,

look out the window now and see if there's a big difference, and if there is, you know the answer to your question. So what do we do now? We gave him some homework, Gabriel, learn something, get walking, get fitter, if you can. What else we got? Let's bring it home. I mean, I think at the end of the day,

what you were going to confront and learn during this quarantine is going to be very personal to you. And that's the point, right? There's no right way to do this, and it's not like you have to be spending your days a certain way in order to make them great. It's still okay. If some days are hard, I know for me, like, some days are really exciting and there's no distraction and

nobody's bothering me and I don't have to go anywhere and I don't have to drive anywhere. So I just have all this time to just do what I want to do and just disappear into my work. And then other days I wake up with this inexplicable anxiety or just concern or just like feeling like I can't really click in and like, that's fine. And then the next day is another thing. And then you just sort of let every day do its thing as much as you can. And, you know, you use the routines and the habits you just talked about Jordan to create a floor for your day so that it can't go beneath a certain point if you did 30 minutes on your yoga mat or you went for your 5,000 steps, you know what I mean? But whatever it is for you, I do think that at the end of the day, the quarantine can become a really, really special and

crucial opportunity to check back in with ourselves and prepare for the future that we're going to have back pretty soon. It might not look the way it has. We talked about that. I know it's not going to be exactly the same. People are talking about a much longer timeline and things won't go back to normal, but we will eventually return to our lives, as they were. And when we do, I think the question is, what kind of person do I want to be when I go back? And for me, that's been the question during this period. Oh, I like that.

What kind of person do I want to be when I go back? It's almost like going abroad for a year, and a lot of people don't have this experience either. So again, you know, check my privilege here. But it's the opportunity to come back, like, after a summer vacation, let's say. You know, middle school, I remember I, one summer decided to go to the gym with my mom, and we signed up for the gym, and I went and lifted weights a bunch, and I went to karate, like, every day or something. And I left school that year being kind of like a fat body

schlep, and then I rejoined next year, and I was like the starting linebacker on the football team, because I could run and jump and catch and everything, just from being stronger. And I was so much stronger than everybody else that I absolutely crushed it. And this is kind of like that opportunity, right? We get a chance to free from our constraints that we might have, social constraints of colleagues being like, oh, yeah, you're going to, what are you doing, one of those new fad diets? Oh, you're walking now. Oh, you read a bunch now. You know, you have those people at work that might be kind of holding you back from self-improvement. It's really we only hold ourselves back. But you know what I mean, right, Gabriel? Like, we're around a certain set of people. They expect us to be a certain

way. You have a chance now that you're in a different environment to come back almost as someone else. Yeah, it's almost like grown-up summer. Yes. But everything you're talking about is dead on. I, for one, am kind of excited to see how different things are when we go back. I think a lot of the assumptions we made about work, you know, what it looks like, how we do it, what people expect of us, how we want to be as colleagues and as friends. Like, a lot of these things are kind of up in the air right now because of the pandemic. And what we thought was so certain is turning out to be a lot more flexible.

And, I mean, everything we talked about on this podcast is some version of this. is what everybody is going through. So when we go back, I'm curious to see how people are running their companies differently. I'm curious to see how people side projects and new ventures turn out. I want to see how relationships look and how people manage their teams and how we relate to one another. I feel like all of those things are going to be a little bit different and hopefully in a good way. I'm thinking it's probably going to be mostly in a good way. But to make it really meaningful to make sure that we reenter the world in the best possible way will require a little bit of extra effort and energy and attention, you know, all of the habits and consciousness that you

talked about and just like a little bit of patience and love to get us there. But I love this conversation and I feel like a lot of what we talked about is everything that I'm trying to figure out and learn as well. So thank you for that. Yeah, Gabriel, thanks so much for coming on, man. My pleasure. Talk soon. Pleasure, huh? Great big thank you to Gabriel, Mizrahi. There's going to be a lot more with Gabriel in the future here on the show. Please, if you buy books that we talk about on the show, use our links. They support the show. Worksheets for the episode, worksheets for every episode in the show notes. Transcripts also in the show notes. I'm teaching you how to connect with great people and maintain

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