The Rich Roll Podcast - Have You Ever Been Excited For Now?

Episode Date: December 15, 2014

IN-Q returns. It's time to question everything. It's time to get excited for now. If you've been on this journey with me for a while, no doubt RRP 81 seared Q into your permanent consciousness. If you’re new to the show, I strongly suggest you give that episode a listen first. Not only is it an epic conversation, it will give you some crucial context and foundation for today's mind meld. Nonetheless, here's a quick breakdown on the impressive IN-Q curriculum vitae: Rapper. Actor. Teacher. Songwriter, TED Talker & internationally revered spoken word artist, IN-Q is a national poetry slam champion who has shared the stage with people like Barack Obama, De La Soul, Eminem, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Legend and even Cirque du Soleil. He has toured over 70 colleges; written songs for Miley Cyrus, Rock Mafia, Selena Gomez and Aloe Blacc and has been featured on virtually every TV network from A&E to ABC, including HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and Versus & Flow. Why is a spoken word poet guesting on a health & wellness podcast? Because wellness isn't just diet, exercise and yoga mats. Someone who is truly “well” exudes positivity, soul, spirit, honesty, service, selflessness and integrity from their very core. IN-Q represents a life fully expressed – spreading a message of healing, love and positivity in service to others. Not only is IN-Q a man living his most authentic self, he is what I would call the very definition of health. On January 15, for one night only, IN-Q will be performing at the beautiful Mark Taper Forum in downtown Los Angeles. It is going to be an epic evening (I'll definitely be there), so if you are in town that day I strongly suggest you pick up tickets now — it will definitely sell out and it's a one time deal not to be missed. For tickets and additional information on this one time performance, go to in-q.com.* If you can't make the show, then this podcast is the next best thing. IN-Q is a special guy — touched in a very real, tactile way. I aspire to this man's openness, grace, and attitude of gratitude. It's an honor to spend time with him and I am so pleased to bring his message to you once again. An incredible storyteller, his message will leave you reevaluating your priorities, rethinking your path and ultimately indelibly changed. As the man himself just might say: get excited for now and question everything. I sincerely hope you enjoy the conversation. Let me know what you think in the comments section below. Peace + Plants, Rich

When you can't see the forest from the trees, then it means that you need to take a step back and recalibrate your needs. See, whatever we perceive, we achieve. So without the intention, we are living on our knees, begging please. Success can breed success. And the science is your belief. Because once you know it's possible, it's easier to dream. That was In Cue, and this is the Rich Roll Podcast. Hey, everyone. Welcome to episode 118 of the podcast. My name is Rich Roll, and I am your host.

Thanks for tuning in. Thank you for listening. Thank you for spreading the word with your friends, your colleagues, your coworkers, your pastor, your coach, your therapist, even your nutty relatives. Thank you for sharing the show. Thank you for tweeting about it, Facebooking, Snapchatting, Instagramming, whatever else you kids are doing these days. And thank you for subscribing to my newsletter at richroll.com. And thank you for supporting the show by clicking through the Amazon banner ad at richroll.com for all your Amazon purchases. The easiest and best way to support us financially at zero cost to you guys.

It's the holiday season. You guys are gonna be going to Amazon to buy your gifts for the holidays, last minute purchases, all that kind of stuff. Do me a solid, take that extra nanosecond to just go to my website, richroll.com, and click the banner ad, the Amazon banner ad. Or better yet, you can bookmark it on your browser so you don't even have to go to my website. It will not cost you a cent extra. It doesn't take any time. And I'm telling you, it supports us so much. So thank you,

everybody who has been doing it. And I appreciate you guys considering that. All right. This show, this show is about, what's it about? Well, it's about unpacking the tools necessary to live your best life. So towards that end, each week I sit down with the best and the brightest and the most forward-thinking paradigm-busting minds in health, wellness, fitness, sports, nutrition, the arts, entrepreneurism, all to tap these people's experience, their knowledge, their insights to help you guys discover, uncover, unlock, and unleash your best, most authentic self. That's right, people. As I announced the other week,

I'm beginning a weekly, maybe bi-weekly, I'm not sure yet, Q&A edition of the podcast. I really want to get the podcast up to two shows a week. It's kind of a lofty aspiration of mine. This podcast takes a lot of my time and we're doing a lot of other things at the same time, but I really want to kind of create a system where I can do that. And what I thought would be cool is to do a Q&A each week or maybe every other week. And the first edition of this is going to go up this Thursday, December 18th. I'm playing it by ear. I'm not making any grand pronouncements. This is an experiment. We'll see how it goes. But, you know, I really want to do something that will allow me

to connect with you guys a little bit better to talk about the things you guys want to talk about. And you guys can kind of hear more from me as opposed to the guests. And anyway, that's the idea. So if you're into it, please send me your questions to this email address, findingultraatgmail.com, findingultraatgmail.com. I've seen some of these questions pop up on social media and on Facebook, and that's all great and all of that, but it's so scattered. In order for me to keep it organized and have all the questions in one place, it's just better if you email me at that address.

So I have some good stuff to pull from. I already have a bunch of stuff, so it's all good. And I'm looking forward to trying that out and let me know what you guys think about that. Okay, so I'm on day five of this iPhone digital detox. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go back and listen to last week's podcast with Josh Shipp, part one and two. Basically, Josh challenged me to delete email and social media from my iPhone. Why? Because it is impairing my productivity. It is impeding my ability to be present in my life and not want to shirk away from a challenge. I took him up on it and I've been doing it and it's been an interesting experience. I took email, Facebook and Twitter off my iPhone. Now I haven't quit social media. Social media is a big part of my life. And it's really kind of in certain respects, my profession. So it's not like I'm disappearing from social media. I'm just creating healthy boundaries around it, temporal boundaries saying between these hours, it's cool

to do it. But you know, when I'm in my car driving around or i'm doing other things i want to be present for those things and it's not okay to just kind of check out by scrolling through social media as a means of kind of not engaging with my environment that's the idea and it's definitely been a challenge it's been a detox which really has put things into perspective for me it's made me realize that yeah this really is uh something i need to look at the fact that I'm detoxing at all is a pretty strong indication that there was something going on there that I need to look at behaviorally. And I think that we can all be more present and mindful throughout the day around other people, whether we're standing in a line at the bank or, you know, whatever it is, driving around with our kids or just at home hanging out. Isn't it better that we have an interpersonal exchange

with another human being rather than bury our head in our mobile device? Talk to our kids rather than checking Twitter. I know for a lot of people, it's not easy. Look, I'm a crazy, obsessive, compulsive personality. These are the kinds of things that I love to do. I love to remove myself emotionally from whatever situation I'm in.

So this is a challenge for me, but it's been good. I already feel different. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel a little bit. It's been hard and it's hard to do it alone. That's why I've kind of reached out on Facebook, et cetera, for, and I'm being kind of transparent about this journey because I want help. I want you guys to do this with me. Let's do it together. I can help you. You can help me. And people have already started to do it. I've seen a bunch of people posting about it and joining in. I could use the help. And if you're going to try it, you could probably use the help as well. So let's do it together, you guys. And when you post online, use the hashtag ID Talks. That's what I've been doing to try to create

a little bit of community around this, and I think it'd be a really cool thing to do heading into the holiday season and the new year. This is a time where we really do wanna be present for the loved ones in our life, and also work's kind of slowing down, and there's not so much kind of going on in the world, and it's kind of that time where you feel like hibernating.

I think it's a perfect time of the year to try this out. That's my point. So anyway, come on, you guys, do this with me. All right. Got in queue in the studio today, back in the studio, I should say. You might remember him from episode 81 of the podcast if you've been with me for a little while. If you're new to the show, you don't know who this guy is, maybe go back to episode 81 and give it a listen. It's pretty epic, but also because it'll give you a little bit of context about who this guy is, because I'm not going to recap his whole life story today like we did last time. But if you are new and you're not going to hit pause right now and go back, just to give you a quick idea of who NQ is, he's a rapper, he's an actor, he's a teacher, he's a songwriter, he's an

internationally revered spoken word artist. He's a national poetry slam's an actor. He's a teacher. He's a songwriter. He's an internationally revered spoken word artist. He's a national poetry slam champion. And this is a guy who has shared the stage with people like Barack Obama, De La Soul, Eminem, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Legend, even Cirque du Soleil. He's toured over 70 colleges. He's written or co-written songs for Miley Cyrus, Rock Mafia, Selena Gomez, Aloe Blacc. written songs for Miley Cyrus, Rock Mafia, Selena Gomez, Aloe Blacc. He's been featured on basically every television station, every television network, including HBO's Deaf Poetry Jam and Versus and Flow. All right, I can hear you guys. What is a spoken word poet, a rap music guy? What does a guy like that have anything to do with a health and wellness podcast. I don't get it. It doesn't seem to really mesh. And my answer to that is everything, actually. If you know me, you know I cast a wide net, a broad net. I'm always looking for, you know, I'm kind of searching for the bigger answers, the bigger picture. And NQ is a guy who's not only oozing with talent and positivity and soul and spirit and honesty and

integrity. He is a guy who is living a life fully expressed. A man really in the midst of his creative strength, his creative power right now. A man living his most authentic life and spreading a message of healing, of love, of positivity and service to others. He's really, he's one of my favorite people. He moves me. I aspire to his integrity, his gratitude, his honesty, his openness, his grace. And he's, he's really, he's a special guy. He's a touched guy. And he's one of those people who can touch you in a very real and tactile way, which is why I'm so excited to have him on the show today. If you're in LA, I would strongly suggest that you pick up a ticket for his upcoming one-man show.

For the first time ever, he's doing this really big one-night-only one-man show at the beautiful Mark Taper Forum in downtown Los Angeles on January 15th. It's an incredible theater. It's almost theater in the round. It's a perfect place for him to do what he does. It's going to be completely epic. It's definitely going to sell out. So if you're into it and you're going to be around, or even if you feel like traveling here for it, I would think that that

would even be something you might consider. You can find out more by going to inq.com. Actually, it's in-q.com to get tickets and get more information about the event. You're not going to want to miss it if you're in town. And if you're not in town or you can't get to LA for his show, then you're not going to want to miss this podcast. Again, he's an amazing guy. He's an incredible storyteller with a message that will leave you indelibly changed, transformed for the better, embracing your life and the people in it with more love and more gratitude. He will leave you reevaluating your priorities and maybe even rethinking your path, or as the man himself likes to say, questioning everything. So let's drop into the world of NQ. We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long

time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety. And it all began with treatment and experience that I had that quite literally saved my life. And with that, I know all too well just how confusing and how overwhelming and how challenging it can be to find the right place and the right level of care, especially because, unfortunately, not all treatment resources adhere to ethical practices. It's a real problem. by the people at recovery.com who created an online support portal designed to guide, to support, and empower you to find the ideal level of care tailored to your personal needs. They've partnered with the best global behavioral health providers to cover the full spectrum of behavioral health disorders, including substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, gambling addictions, and more. Navigating their site is simple. Search by insurance coverage, location, treatment type, you name it. Plus, you can read reviews from former patients to help you decide.

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To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com and take the first step towards recovery. To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. What's up? We're back for more. Happy to be here. How was the Sideshow tour? Say again? How was the tour of Sideshow? It was amazing.

It was ridiculous. This is a crazy place, right? It's a vortex of magic. I know. Break it down a little bit for the listener. They do collectible, sometimes one-of-a-kind works of art from different movies and all the characters from your favorite movies out there. They're really, really special. The intricacies of all of the different departments that go into creating this place is fantastic.

Everybody who works here is super fucking cool. They have a massage therapist. Yeah, it's crazy. It's really remarkable. And then the overall vision to put this all together besides the pieces is, yeah, remarkable. Yeah, it all comes from Greg from the top down but it's a pretty special place and

for the listeners out there yeah we're recording today in a in a studio at Sideshow Collectibles and and Inkyu got a nice little tour

beforehand and and there are just extraordinary artists here who you watch what they do and you think of course they're here

like where else could they be to do what they do to create these works of art, you know, for this subculture of people that just like love the products. Yeah. It's cool. Yeah, very cool. But anyway, man, so thanks for returning to the show.

Thank you for having me, man. For episode deuce. Deuce. In Q podcast. You want to start it off kind of like we did last time? Sure. Throw a poem at us? Yeah.

I used to save my new clothes for special occasions that never came. There in the closet they would hang. Lonely in the dark waiting for me to change. But I was comfortable wearing my same things, my same shirts and my same jeans. My newer stuff was for the right time or right scene. I wouldn't waste it on a normal day of living. It was more for an event. Or a premiere. Or the house party of the year where everyone is there so they'll see me

in my fresh gear rocking just the right look so I can meet the right girl and get her back to my house and get her clothes on my floor. But the tags were still on the collars. A couple seasons went by and my shit was out of style. So now I'm back in the aisle buying more stuff. I take it back to my closet and hang it all up. I wonder what they do when I'm not around.

What if they come alive, climb down, make believe they're me, and run around, acting like they own the town, mixing outfits and floating like ghosts off of the ground? I mean, they probably want to be used. If they could choose, your shoes would try to break out of the box, too. Kiss the concrete and learn to walk, too. After all, that's what shoes are made to do. And even shoes want to feel purposeful. What if chairs want to hold up your weight? What if tables like when we gather around them to celebrate? What if beds want to carry our dreams?

And I'm taking them for granted because they're not living things. Then again, I've taken many living things for granted too. I could pass you on the street and I would barely notice you because if I noticed you, I'd see how beautiful you truly are. And yet the closer that we get, the more I see the distance from afar. Late night, lying in the grass, counting shooting stars. One day, we'll all buy our vacation homes on Mars with Nike Gravity boots and Tom Ford spacesuits that come in camouflage. But as for now, we wander overpriced apartment stores. What are we looking for inside the malls?

Last week, I found a black hole beneath a pile of clothes at Ross. I fell in and got lost. Woke up four hours later in a discount suit from Boss. I keep it hanging on the hanger, hanging out with Moss. Just another mediocre metaphor collecting moss. And the funny thing is, I really liked floss, so wearing what I bought should be priceless despite the cost. I want to walk in every room and drop jaws so fly that I could fit a Mack truck inside the pregnant paws, fresh dip down to my palm tree drawers so whenever I arrive or say goodbye, I get applause. I'm the man, huh? I should probably wear my clothes while I can, huh? I should probably wear my clothes while I can, huh?

Tomorrow isn't promised to any of us. We're living in a dream even when we're waking up. Besides, it's not about us. It's about our stuff. So right now is always special occasion enough. Beautiful, man. Thanks, man. I mean, there's so much packed into that.

Like, you know, just trying to like deconstruct where you're coming from in that, like you're hitting on so many levels. It's like, you know, this dissertation on ego and consumerist culture and gratitude and being present and kind of like the autopilot, you know, that we all kind of allow to direct our lives. I mean, where did this, you know, what was the inspiration for that one? Well, it's true.

Like I really did used to save my clothes for special occasions that never came. And that was like a real thing for me. And when I realized it, I wrote it down and then I didn't look at that for a while. So I didn't really write the rest of the poem until months after I wrote the first line. But just acknowledging in my own head that that was something that I was doing, that I was waiting for something in the future to happen and that that would be worthy of these clothes that I bought. It's so fucking ridiculous to me, you know? And it's like sometimes something simple and true that resonates is the best place

for me to start any of my pieces from. So it just kind of took on a life of its own from there. Right. Yeah. it's interesting. I mean, I do the same thing, of course. And then you think about it and you're like, that's insane. You're projecting this meaning onto something that's just an inanimate object. And attaching all these kind of emotional, you know, your emotional baggage and expectation and everything onto it. Yeah, totally. And it, so now I just basically wear shit right away.

When I buy something, I wear it pretty much right away because to me, the special occasion is the moment. Right. And I think that that's like a microcosm of a much larger thing. So I think that's rippled through my life more and more. Yeah. How do you think you got to this place where you, these sort of issues are important to you, like sort of, you know, recognizing the moment or, you know, being mindful and conscious about the fleeting nature of time

and the preciousness of where we're at right now, doing this podcast as opposed to, oh, shit, I got this show coming up and I got to call that guy. Right. Well, I've always been super analytical. So I would always be in the moment and then observe the moment like simultaneously. And just like the simple things are important to me. Like and paying attention to that I think is where I get most of my material from is like a lot of people will come up to me and they'll be like, your work is saying things that I've thought but didn't recognize that I had thought.

And so I feel like that's my job as a poet is to recognize the things that I could let slide. And that takes me kind of like being as aware as I possibly can to everything that's going on and being sensitive to my environment, but not being overly sensitive to my environment because that can be dangerous too. So you need to balance it. Yeah. I mean, I think a lot of people kind of give lip service to this idea of like, I've got to be in the moment or, you know, I'm working on being present. Yeah. But these things are readily apparent when you meet somebody, you know. And like when I meet you, the several occasions that, you know, we've been together, you walk into a room and I'm like, that guy's here.

Like he's here right now. There's a big smile on his face. He's looking me in the eye. He isn't thinking about anything else. Like you really are. Like you're practicing that like in a true way. Like it's very clear like, oh, this guy is, you know, he's walking his walk when it comes to these kinds of things. Thank you, man.

Yeah, you too. I feel the exact same way about you. But I mean, I think there's a lot of work that goes into that, right? Yeah. Like there's a lot of personal work. Yeah, man. And I take a lot of time to myself too. Like I make sure that I have time to myself to be able to organize my thoughts. And I tend not to, almost to an annoying point at times, let anything pass without me being in real time with myself. So that when I'm showing up with other people, I'm not busy with other things. So that's like a conscious thing.

Yeah. You do like the housekeeping, the house cleaning first so that when you walk into a social situation, you really can be present and accurate. Present. Yeah. And then I try to, I mean, to various degrees of success and failure, but I basically try to like do the same thing with other people, like, which is like be as in real time with them as I can with my own acknowledgement of whatever's going on with me. So friendships, that's good. Business, that's good. You know, relationships, that's good. And even with my audience, like sometimes I'll like stop a poem, you know, mid thing and like start to talk to somebody specifically who's disconnected or I'll literally go up to somebody

and touch them and just do the poem to them so that they come back into the moment. And if I don't do that, then I might be thinking about it during the next portion of the poem. You're actually not present in what you're doing. Exactly. Takes you out of it. Exactly. So I try to do that with myself first and then I try to do that in how I operate with the world. And yeah, sometimes I feel like I'm knocking it out of the park and sometimes I'm bunting. Wow. You're still a human being.

Yeah. You know what I mean? I mean, is that analogous to the creative process? Like what, you know, getting into the headspace where you can kind of unlock these ideas and get into that kind of flowing rhythm? Like, how do you organize your mind and your physical space when you're going to go, okay, I'm going to sit down and I'm going to workshop this poem? I mean, is it just, is it flowing in your mind throughout the day? Or do you like have a disciplined kind of thing where you're like, okay, between, you know, nine and 12, I'm going to sit down and work on this? How does it work for you?

Yeah, I used to do that. I used to be more disciplined about it. And now I just basically wait until I have a project that I want to write something on or I just have a real inspiration. And like I said, sometimes the inspiration for the beginning of the poem comes far away from the inspiration for the middle and the end. And then sometimes it just all comes out flowing in one sitting. And then occasionally, like, I don't feel necessarily inspired, but I have space and time. Like I write a lot on planes, like because I have space and time or not space, but like

no one's going to call you. You're not going to get an email. Exactly. Right. Exactly. So that is what I mean by space, not the physical space, but the space to be able to like create without somebody knocking on your door or texting or any of that stuff or emails. There's no business.

I tend to like not even doFi thing, and I just write. And so even if I'm not, like, specifically inspired, allowing myself the time and the space for that, then I can just, like, plug in to whatever the original thing that resonated with me was and then build on that, like, Legos or something like that. And even when we were walking around like getting the tour, I mean, that's what I was thinking is that as an artist, you get to like travel around and like, and you know this, you get to connect with all sorts of different people in all sorts of different

worlds that you wouldn't normally get to connect with. And that's really cool because you see the inner workings of all of these environments and you're like, whoa, that's so crazy how you see the inner workings of all of these environments. And you're like, whoa, that's so crazy how they put all these things together. It's not just the product, obviously. It's the process. And those are the Legos is the different steps of building that ultimate thing. So for me, I just wait until the next Lego shows up. Right.

You know? And you have to be, you have to exercise a great deal of patience, I would imagine. Yeah. Like it's not, it doesn't come out fully baked. Like sometimes, and you can't force it to be done. Yeah. Right? You have to just sort of allow it to, you know, kind of ruminate for a while, you know, and that could be, I would imagine, sometimes months or a really long time before you're like, okay, this is, I mean, how do you know when it is done?

I don't know who said this. It was, I think it was an artist. Somebody said, I think, like, how do you know when you're done having sex? It's the same thing. That's not me. It's pretty clear. You're pretty sure you're like i think i'm done i think i think no wait i have some more no no no i think i'm done i'm done i'm done

yeah so yeah it's a it's pretty similar like i know i know it and then sometimes i'll try to write beyond the it's an intangible knowing like yes it just it's like okay just taps in yeah like if i was if i said like right right now is always special occasion enough and then i was like and also just you know you you could do it like sometimes i run poems together like train tracks or whatever and that's like fun to do but there is like a finished thought and there is some sort of like a completion to it. And even if I don't know where I'm going, I know when I get there. So it's not like you wake up every day and you have this daily routine, you know, like between these hours I do this and between it. So it's, it really is like an artist's life.

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I think a lot of artists sort of walk around thinking or other people are projecting on them this idea that they're like lazy. Oh, you're an artist because like, you just, you don't want to wake up until noon and you sit on your couch. And it's unfair because I think in order to really

sort of express yourself at the highest level, you need that alone time. You do. You need that space to use your word without other things interfering. So what an outsider might look at is like you're not doing anything. Right. There's a lot going on in the interior I think that is necessary in order for those ideas to kind of fuse and form. Yeah, totally. I totally agree with that.

And sometimes it's not like fun, the fusing and the forming. Yeah. You know, but it always wants to be worth it. Are you like, I'm not going to see my way through this one? Or, I mean, do you get caught up in, yeah, this one's never going to work. I mean, do you have like a, I wonder if I'll ever write a great poem again, or are you just so in your flow that, you know, you'll see your way through it? No, now I'm more trusting. Like now I'm pretty trusting about it. I've written so

many things over the years and I've, I've seen like, uh, all sorts of different ways that they've come to fruition that I'm pretty trusting now about like how I go about doing it. The other thing I realized recently is that I don't ever really sit down and think about my audience when I'm writing something. And that's like out of a place of respect and humility. I'm not like thinking about the end product. I'm thinking about the inspiration or the original spark of what made me want to do it. So like, uh, I think that that allows me, um, to not get caught up in writing for other people like,

or, or, uh, writing from a place of being successful. Um, my performances vary. Like sometimes I feel more connected and more authentic than other times. And I like tweak and try to balance myself out as I move forward in life and grow as a human being and become more comfortable in my skin. I think my, my work tends to change, uh, as well. Uh, but I never wrote from a place that wasn't exactly where I was in my truth at that time. So, yeah. Well, to do otherwise is the death knell of creativity, right? Exactly. I mean, the minute you start getting caught up in how something is going to be received or the

result of your labor, then you're history. Right. You're toast. Right. I mean, that's not, you know, like that's taking you right out of what it is you're trying to do. Right. My therapist said the other day, he was like, he goes, you have to be comfortable in the not knowing. You have to become comfortable in the not knowing.

And I really connected to that. I was like, that's interesting. In my work, in terms of the writing aspect of it, I'm definitely comfortable in the not knowing. So I trust that it's going to arrive. aspect of it, I'm definitely comfortable in the not knowing. So I trust that it's going to arrive. Sometimes in my own life, I get a little anxious in the not knowing, and then I have to rebalance myself out. It's incredibly powerful. I mean, so much of, you know, how my life has unfolded over the last eight years is very much about that, you know, sort of stepping into something that I felt compelled to do without any idea where it was leading or even really any sort of logical rationale for it.

It's just, I need to do this. And getting comfortable with not knowing has been a process, but also a beautiful thing where now I'm cool with not knowing. Because that allows, that provides again the space for that magic to come in. What would you say, is there like one thing that like really sparked your awareness of being comfortable in the not knowing? I think that, you know, when I said for the first time, like, okay, I'm going to train for this Ultraman race, you know, I'm a practicing lawyer. Like, you know, I've got, you know, I've got a family I'm trying to provide for. Like, it just didn't make any sense. And I had, you know what I mean? It's like,

my friends are like, you're doing what? Like, you know, why? You know? So, but I had this very deep knowingness that it was the thing that I should be doing that didn't have any relationship to the rational world. But I had enough, I'd done enough work on myself to know that I needed to pay attention to that. And Julie was supportive in me doing that. And I didn't know where it was leading me to. And I would have told you that it probably wasn't leading to anything that was anyone would care about except myself. And I started to acclimate to being okay with not knowing where it was taking me. And in retrospect, looking back, it's that thing where when you look back on your life

and it looks like everything lined up perfectly, like you're like, oh, of course it happened. All those things happen. That's exactly the way it needed to happen to get me to where I am. And I have that looking backwards now, but I can tell you when I was in the middle of it. Yeah.

There's no, you don't know which way is up. At all. Yeah. Like, and I was very much like, what am I? I had dark nights of the soul going,

what are you doing? Sure. This is crazy. And I'm sure you've had that as well. Yeah. But I still go through varying degrees of all of that human shit. You know what I mean? Yeah. But it's cool to have had that experience a couple times and go, oh, it worked out or it led me to a place I wouldn't have predicted, but it was a beautiful

place in the right place. And to have a couple of those experiences under your belt, you can go into the next one with a little bit greater level of comfort that somehow it's going to work out, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I was out to dinner with a friend the other night and he does big, large-scale events like for Nike and different things like that. And he was discussing them as like mega moments. And he was discussing them as like mega moments. And he was basically like, yeah, like when you're going into a mega moment in your life or mega shift, you're going to expect either everything to have gone wrong for you to make the shift or the mega moment that's coming up. You have to know that everything will go wrong at a certain point. And then you have to be able to like shift around that.

certain point and then you have to be able to like shift around that um and so those are the dark dark night of the soul thing that i think you just referred to right right um and the most valuable information oftentimes can come from that um if we're like able to like surf the wave rather than perpetuate it or blame other people or victimize ourselves. So that's just the constant reminder. And then once you have that, a couple of things under your belt, you do have that faith that you'll come out on the other side and then hopefully trust in the not knowing with a smile on your face rather than a frown, you know? Yeah. I mean, surfing the wave means sort of accepting whatever is happening, just not fighting it,

just being in nonjudgmental acceptance and not, because making a judgment call on anything when you're in the middle of it, you're basing that on no information whatsoever. You know what I mean? Like, but that's what we do. That's what we do every day, right? So to be able to step out of that and develop some kind of 10,000-foot objective perspective and go, all right, I'm going to reserve judgment for now. I'm going to surf the wave. I'm going to be in acceptance.

And this will lead me somewhere. And I don't know what that is yet, but I'm cool with whatever it is. And I think that when you talk about mega moments, I mean, certainly, you know, to use an example, like you going on stage at Life is Beautiful, which I want to talk to you about, you know, like a big moment, right? You know, like you wake up that morning, you're like, this is a big moment. Like it's going to go good or it's not going to go good, but like it's going to happen, right? You know what I mean? And there will be a result. But every day we have tiny little moments that we don't pay any attention to. And I think sometimes those decisions that you make

throughout your day can have grander consequences than you think, right? Like I've made decisions in my life where in the moment I thought, well, this is a decision that I'm making, but I didn't have any idea that it would completely set me on a different life trajectory. But looking back, I see that now.

So when you talk about in your poem, like being sort of being mindful of the present moment and the more that you can anchor yourself in that, I think the more these tiny moments can be maybe not mega moments, but more significant. Yeah, no, I totally, totally agree. Yeah. So we got off on a crazy, I don't know what we're talking about. We always dreidel out. I know, man. Yeah, it's cool. So you've been busy, man. I mean, you've been doing some cool stuff lately since the last time

we talked i mean you've been all over the place and getting up in front of some pretty groovy crowds like where you were you were at burning man yes beautiful like yeah a bunch of conferences awesome so tell me like did you i saw a picture where you did you you performed at somebody's wedding there too? Yes. And you performed? What was going on? I officiated a wedding at Burning Man and did a performance there.

Were they friends of yours? Yeah. Yeah, they were friends. And so it was a wedding at the temple and it was beautiful. It was like a really, really gorgeous day, gorgeous great great great family and friends and yeah it was awesome that's cool

and did you did you perform outside of the wedding ceremony at Burning Man also or that was yeah no I did a bunch of shows oh you did at Burning Man

so yeah Burning Man have you been no I still haven't been you gotta go this year dude you gotta go I was looking at some of Preston Smiles'

photographs and they're just like insane. Yeah, dude. It's the... So break it down a little bit. I would say it's the best event I've ever been to.

Have you been to Burning Man several times? No, this was my first time. Oh, it was your first. Wow. So, in terms of... And when I say that,

I say the best event in terms of like moving the mirror. Like, there's... You've never seen so much creativity in a contained, uncontained area. You just can't imagine. It's so crazy. And the thing that I realized while I was there was I was like, people are literally dying to express themselves, man. Like people are literally dying to express themselves, man.

Like, and this was this environment that allowed them to have no rules. And everyone is a part of the art. And like every vehicle is a part of the art. And it's like this ever-changing like puzzle piece of lights and art. And it's like so inspiring. Like the microcosms and the macrocosm, like the whole thing itself is one gigantic performance art piece. But within that, there's thousands of things.

Yeah, there's so much going on. I mean, it's a matrix, like nothing I've ever experienced before. So we did a bunch of shows and they were great. I mean, it's a matrix, like nothing I've ever experienced before. So we did a bunch of shows, and they were great. The audiences really received the poetry very well. And, yeah, we had some crazy experiences, too. You know, it was deep, man.

How many days were you there for? We were there almost the whole time. There was like a, some rain that like stopped people from coming in, I think on the first night or something like that. So we came in after that. Um, and it was, yeah, it was a trip, man. I left in like an RV or were you camping? Yeah, I was, I was, I was in an RV. I did, I did like pretty much the most luxurious thing that you could do but even that like you can't really be luxurious at burning man there's no way to do it you know like you just you have to get in with the dust and the people right um and and that's what's wonderful about it because you're you're pretty much transported and none of the shit that you use, your ego uses to hide behind really can use out there. So you just become a part of this like ever-changing experience.

You think I can bring all my kids or it's too crazy? Should it just be Julie and I? I don't know if I want to be the person to help you make that decision. Fair enough. I don't think I know enough to be able to weigh in. Yeah, I gotcha. Yeah. But it was a trip, man.

Yeah, it was great. The wedding was great. Yeah, like I said, we had a bunch of wild experiences. So Burning Man was crazy. That's cool. You just got back from, were you in Mexico? I went to Mexico. Were you part of that wedding too?

I was a part of the wedding. I mean, I don't know who got married but i just know lewis howes was there and he posted a video of a poem that you did so i said i noticed that you were there as well yeah lewis is fantastic man lewis is the shit so while we were out there lewis uh yeah he was like you know what like you need to put out videos and we've been very like, I don't want to say precious with my material, but like I'm so used to performing live, man, and like showing up. And like I know how to do that. I can actually see the reaction of the audience in real time.

And I haven't quite figured out how I want to put out my own videos in order to be a fan of the stuff that I'm doing and the way that I write it and the way that I perform it. And so Louis and I got in a conversation about that. And Louis was like, I think you're using that as an excuse to not put stuff out into the world. And I thought it was an interesting way to look at it. And he was like, we should do a video right now. And I felt uncomfortable with him saying that. I was like, I don't want to fucking just go do a video. And because I felt that way, that's what made me know that I had to do it. Right. Because it was scary. Well, let's camp out here for a minute. I mean, that's an interesting

sort of decision that you have to make because on the one hand, you know, you feel strongly about your material and you want it getting out in the right way. You don't want to be flip about it and just, you know, have some cell phone video of you doing it. There's a specific, you know, presentation that I would imagine is important to you to keep the quality high and that really is evocative of who you are and how you want to portray yourself. Yeah, no doubt. There's a balance there.

Right. Like, what does that look like? Like, what is the camera angle that, you know, there's a lot of creative decisions that play into that. But at the same time, balancing that against being too precious about your material. Like, oh, this is, you know, this is only live

or this is only if they buy my CD. And if I get it out there, then it's out there and then no one will want to come and see me. You know what I mean? There's a lot of other things that play into that. But I think that, you know, in this internet age, you know, everything is so temporal, you know, that I think people have this expectation that you just need to be putting out content all the time. And maybe it would be good for you to be putting videos out and to not be so precious about it. And just it would push you to continually create and expand. Yeah, no, I think so.

I mean, that's what I'm starting to get to now. And so we actually are going to film something on Sunday. Cool. That's great, man. Yeah. And I think, you know, I think you should be, it should be a high quality, you know, it should sort of be everything that you want it to be. It shouldn't just be a hacky whatever.

Right. Preach, brother. Did you perform at that wedding too? I did, yeah. Yeah. That's cool. And you've been doing a bunch of conferences, right? Yeah, we've been bouncing around.

We've been bouncing around so much that I have a hard time remembering where the fuck we've been before. But like a lot of tech conferences. You're like kind of the guy now. Like you show up at all sorts of different kinds of things, you know, like entrepreneur conferences and things like that. We did a success summit in Colorado recently, which was pretty fun. That's cool. And then came back and did Mexico. And then we're doing Boston in a few weeks.

What's going on in Boston? We're doing like a show with the Life is Good clothing company. So that should be pretty cool. And then the big thing that I'm really excited about is the January 15th show that we have coming up. Right. So let's hear about this. This is a big thing, man. Yeah.

This is like the biggest thing you've ever done. Yeah. It's definitely a mega moment. Right. Yeah. This is like the biggest thing you've ever done. Yeah, it's definitely a mega moment. Right. Yeah. That day's coming. It's definitely around the corner. So Mark Taper Forum, January 15th. Yeah.

How many people does that theater seat? I think we can get 850 in there. Wow. Which is dope, and we fully expect to sell out. We will, 100%. So it's like the energy in there is going to be incredible. I mean, it's basically the best theater for what I do in Los Angeles. And I used to go there with my mom.

We would go for plays. We started waiting for Godot there. And I remember whenever it was, three or four years ago, we went and saw this play, and I was sitting in the audience, and I was like, I was three or four years ago we went and saw this play and I was like sitting in the audience and I was like I would love to do this theater like this theater is perfect what makes it so great it's in the round and it's like there's not a bad seat and it's just a beautiful theater and the acoustics are really good so like you know you can kind of whisper and people can still hear it

or you can get intense and people can still hear it. Or they don't feel like overwhelmed by the intensity, I guess is what I'm trying to say. It's like the, really the perfect spot. Right. And this really is going to be like, I mean, you're bookending it with musical acts and there's some other people that we can talk about that,

but it's really, it's a one-man show, right? You're going to go, how long are you going to go for? Probably like an hour and 15. Yeah, wow. Yeah. That's heavy. Have you worked it all out? Yeah.

You know what it's going to be? I do. I have the show. I think it's the best set that I've ever done. Is it all new stuff? You know, a lot of it is new. It's basically all new. I did sold-out shows last year, at the end of last year, in Venice at the Electric Lodge.

Yeah, I know that place. Yeah. So we sold out three nights, and that was really great. So it's all new material from those shows. And then it's just mostly the things that I've written this year and then kind of stories about what's been going on with me and different things that I think about in terms of the world. And so it's a stand-up poetry special. Yeah, that's cool. It's kind of like, yeah, HBO, Chris Rock, you know, that kind of thing.

I mean, yeah. Are you going to film it? We are. Wow. Yeah, we're going to film it. That's basically our intention is to film it at the highest quality that we can do, which luckily is relatively easy these days, and then sell it as the first stand-up special to a major network. And so that's where we're coming from. That's exciting.

So it's only one night, right? Yeah. Just January 15th. January 15th. That's one and done? Yeah, it's one and done. You don't want to do, like, I mean, is this something I would, this is something I imagine you could take on the road. Yeah.

Like, would you do, you know, like then go tour with it or what's the plan, you think? Well, definitely what we'll wind up doing is taking the footage and, you know, cutting it up and either putting it out ourselves or putting it out with a partnership. And we want to make a movie, more of like a documentary type of a thing. So that's something that we would put out on iTunes, and then we'd put out a live album as well. And then it is something that could tour around.

So we have a lot of people coming that are interested in that, and we'll just kind of like suss through the things that we're most excited about afterwards. Right, what kind of comes up in the aftermath of that. It's cool. I mean, I think that, you know, you're blazing this path that like there really is no template for. You know what I mean? Like certainly there are other spoken word artists and people that do what you do, but it's not like there's this career trajectory where you can go, this is how this works.

Like I get to this level and then I do this thing. Like it's really a wide open kind of thing. It is. You're trying to invent this thing that doesn't necessarily exist, which makes it exciting. But also I would imagine it's sort of like, all right, what do we do? Yeah. It's, it's exciting and fucking confusing. No, you know, sometimes it's frustrating and then sometimes it's like exhilarating. Right. You know? So, I like the fact that I get to wake up every day. First of all, I know that what I do, I love doing.

I love connecting with people more than anything else. I love connecting with people. I love inspiring and challenging and entertaining people. Uh, I love inspiring and challenging and entertaining myself. Uh, I like when people are like encouraged to share their own stories. Um, and so I hope that like when people come to my shows or when they hear my work, uh, you know, they feel a little less alone about what's going on in their own lives. And they feel more inspired to talk to other people about the real things that are going on for them. So that to me like is the starting point for everything. So when I get frustrated or confused, I can kind of like go back to that and then that kind of realigns me. And mostly I love that I get to wake up every day and try to break a genre in popular culture in a different way without compromising the material.

And, yeah, I mean, it's certainly been a long road to be here right now, but I'm happy to be sitting with you. Yeah, well, it's happening, you know. You're getting in front of a lot of different kinds of crowds of people. Like, you know, just sort of go to a tech entrepreneur conference and open it up. I mean, that's just – there's no model for that, you know what I mean? And those are all people who are doing interesting things and are tastemakers in their own right and in their own world. And to get up, I mean, let's talk about Life is Beautiful. I mean, how many people were in that audience? I think probably when I opened up for The Roots, it was like maybe 15,000.

I don't know. It's hard for me to – Outdoor concert in Las Vegas. Yes, exactly. But they had some huge acts this year. Huge, yeah. And it was a great festival. It was like 60,000 people there in general. And I opened up for Phantagram one night. I opened up for The Roots the next night and then Broken Bells on Saturday night.

That's really cool. And it was great. Right. So just by virtue of doing that, having that mega moment, I mean, you're in the consciousness of all these people that the vast majority of which probably are not going home and listening to a spoken word, right? So you're expanding awareness of what this art form is single-handedly and doing it in a really unique and creative way that is not threatening to the integrity of what you're doing, which I appreciate and I respect,

you know, to be able to do it your way. I mean, I think it would be easy for you to get co-opted by some, you know, MPV producers, like, I'm going to do it like that, you know what I mean? And suddenly you're doing something that was never what you wanted to be doing. Have like a genie outfit on and shit. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Like doing interstitials on, you know, VH1 or something. Right.

So, I mean, has there been, you know, have you been approached by those kinds of opportunities that you've had to say no to? No is really important to me. And yes is really important to me. important to me. And yes, it's really important to me. So... But I would imagine as you start to grow and expand, like no becomes a bigger thing. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I'm going to have to start saying no more often now. Just don't say no to the podcast. Yeah, no, fuck that. I'm in. I'm always in. Anytime, man. So, yeah, I'm like, I see that now and I see how that will expand in the future too. I have to kind of be aware of things in real time like we talked about earlier.

But right now, it's just like only if something doesn't align. Now it's just like only if something doesn't align. Like, and it's like, I feel like I don't want to like work with this company or I don't vibe with this person or whatever. So I like try to give myself like the space to like notice like how I feel around people, like beyond the content of like what they're saying or what I'm saying. It's like, how do I feel? Like, do I feel good around this person? Like, is this something that feels right? And then I think about it too. And then I make my decision based on those two things. Do you feel like what you're doing is part of a community or are you kind of freewheeling out on your own? Like, I guess I'm interested in, you know, what the, what the spoke, how the spoken word, you know, kind of slam poetry

community perceives what you're doing. Cause you're, you're doing, you're doing what you're doing kind of within that world, but you're also kind of doing it a little bit outside of that as well. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know how people, I mean, cause you're just doing your thing. Yeah. I'm, I'm kind of just going on all cylinders right now. So I don't know. I don't know how people. I mean, because you're just doing your thing. Yeah, I'm kind of just going on all cylinders right now. So I don't know. I mean, the community that I come from, I'm still really tight with. And, you know, the Poetry Lounge, which is like basically where I performed for 13 years straight and helped to popularize this space, which is still every Tuesday night at the Greenway Court Theater in Los Angeles. You know, like, they're still family for me.

And we check each other and still inspire each other and challenge each other, too. So that's great. I don't know in terms of, like, the overall scene how I'm perceived. But I just kind of want to continue to push the envelope. And, you know, there's other poets out there who are doing really well and doing that in their own right. And I'm always super stoked when I see that because I think from my standpoint, like I don't need to be the person that does it.

I just want it to be done. And I think anybody who winds up taking this to the next level, there'll be room for everybody else who's been working really hard to come up. And more importantly, I think the message of, like, this work and, like, being intimate being intimate about like what's going on and sharing that with large audiences and inspiring them to do the same is important and worth it. So I just want people to be successful. Well, I think it's happening. You know, I mean it's expanding and growing and I think people are welcoming it in a way that maybe even a couple of years ago, you know, wouldn't have been the case. So it's a good time, right?

Totally. Yeah. And, you know, just kind of thinking about, you know, what you do creatively, it's sort of, it's more like, it's more like being like someone who's a writer, like an author than it is about, I mean, like if you're a musician, you're in a band, you have band members, you're working, you're workshopping stuff together. You know, there's a group aspect to that. If you're, you know, a screenwriter, you're swapping your script with your buddy who's giving you feedback. I mean, do you have people like a trusted, you know, couple people that you show stuff to before or you're just totally, it's just all you, man. Yeah.

Yeah. No one's allowed in. If I do like full shows, I'll sometimes like get poet friends of mine and I'll like do the full show to them just to see what their thoughts are. But I don't really involve people in the creative process because it's such a personal process for me. but I don't really involve people in the creative process because it's such a personal process for me. But everybody needs like kind of objective feedback, like, hey, you're hitting a false note on that. You know what I mean?

Like just a little bit of like, like people that know you well and go, I know this is what you're trying to do, but you might want to look at this line here. You know what I mean? Yeah. I'm definitely open to it. Like when people give it to me, I like listen.

The unsolicited feedback. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, totally. Yeah, when people give me the unsolicited feedback, I go, yeah, cool. Oh, thank you very much. And I take it or sometimes it actually does really fit. And I'm like, wow, that's really interesting. I haven't looked at it like that.

And then I'm able to make a tweak. But I don't do that while I'm like wow that's that's really interesting I haven't looked at it like that and then I'm able to make a tweak but I don't do that while I'm writing um I think partially because I sometimes don't even know what I want to say yet and the poem is like taking on its own identity uh and so and I edit so much I like go back and like change things so often that like, sometimes like it's just the cocoon that allows me to find what the butterfly is supposed to be. It's got to gestate for a while. You got to perform it a bunch of times before you find out what it really wants to be. Yeah. And I definitely like the writing is a different thing from the performance for me. Like, the writing I know, like, I go, all right, it's complete.

And then even after it's complete, like, sometimes I'll edit in the moment. Like, I'm performing on stage and I'll realize that this word should be this word or the tenses should be different. And that's actually more real to where I am right now. Or I'll cut out whole portions because I realize that it's just conjecture or it's not needed. It's not needed for the overall arc of the piece. So that's like the writing process. And then the performing process is just me being like more down to be seen. I don't know how else to say it.

Like, uh, less, um, like needing the audience for any sense of like validation or like, um, like anything like that. Anything that has to do with my ego is just getting that shit out of the way and like sharing my fucking soul, man. And then letting people take it however they take it, which as I grow as a human being, I think it's more and more refined. Yeah. I mean, when your ego is attached to that reaction and you're up on stage, you can read that. Yeah, totally. You can tell, you know, like this guy's striving,

he's overreaching and it prevents you from being in that moment. Like when you're coming up with words, when you're in the middle of your performance, the only way that's happening is if you're super just in the moment, right? Like if you're up in your head about like what's going on, like you're not gonna be able to riff, right?

Yeah. What's the, you know, what is the, like what's the vision, you know, like where is this leading? You know, where do you see yourself in five years? And are you in a place that you predicted you would be in a couple of years ago? Or is it just every day is like a crazy new adventure? You know, you're blazing some, you know, path that, you know, there's no roadmap for. Every day is kind of the wild west right now still.

But I like that. It's really unpredictable and then I would say where I want this to go I just I want it to get out to the widest audience that can be reached in a way that connects to them the most

because I have all of this material that I wrote over basically like my lifetime up until this point and Um, because I have all of this material that I wrote over basically like my lifetime, um, up until this point. And, um, and I think no matter what stage people are in, in some form or fashion, they can connect to those different poems for different reasons. Um, so most of it is just in my head, you know, and people have experienced it live and I have 70 or 80 of these pieces that ultimately I'd like to find like platforms that allow people to consume it in a way where they can consume it over and over again.

Not only monetarily. Monetarily is important, but that's the last thing on the, it's the last rung on the ladder. Like the first is just in a way where they can connect to the poetry the most, you know? Right, right. You mentioned doing a documentary. I mean, if you, like, what would that look like? Like sort of like your life story or about the sort of community of artists that are doing what you're doing or, you know know what do you see that kind of subject matter being beyond just your performance well i definitely see us making like a documentary on the community of poets that i come from at a certain point um because it was just such a special

unique environment to come up in and so many crazy things happened over all of the time that we were at the Greenway Court Theater as the Poetry Lounge. Right, give me a little bit, give me a taste of that. Ah, just ridiculous shit. We were young, you know, we were like 19 when we started that. And literally it's 14 years later, 15 years later,

whatever it is. So, and we were like creating something in the same way, you know, but in a different way that it was just uncharted territory. So, um, yeah, it was just very cool. We went on a bunch of trips together and where it was like this, uh, carnival, uh, It was like this carnival artistic college that never really ended. And 350 people would come every week, you know, and you just had all these amazing voices. And those guys that you started with, I mean, how many of them are still in it? You know, some of them, everybody kind of had to branch off in some way in order to maintain, you know, and make a living, which is a shame. And I think that soon enough, that won't be an issue. People will be

making good living on poetry, which is great, you know, and that will inspire more poets. So, yeah, but a lot of people had to kind of like break off. And I don't know how many people are still like considering themselves like full-time poets at this point. But I mean, just the most amazing, like creative, badass people. Yeah. I would imagine there's probably some guys that you're like, that guy's a genius. Yeah, absolutely. But there's just no way to make a living, you know, for that person to do it. And then you find out like, oh, they're working some, you know, job that just breaks your heart.

Yeah, that 100% has been my experience. And there's people that are just so blown away by and have moved you so deeply. And they just haven't quite found the audience. And so, yeah, that's a part of I think what I'm doing too is trying to – I feel like if that one domino falls, you know, then the momentum will push others. Yeah. I mean, I think that would make it an amazing documentary to go find all those guys, you know, and just – and see what they're doing now. And I mean, do you have footage from back when you do? Yeah, we do. Yeah think that would make it an amazing documentary to go find all those guys, you know, and just see what they're doing now. And, I mean, do you have footage from back when you do?

Yeah, we do. Yeah, that would be really cool. Yeah, the Poetry Lounge has footage. So we've talked about it, and I know that would be something that we would like to do. I would see that happening, like, after the wave has kind of crashed. And then that would be a really good thing for the second wave. I think the doc that I was talking about was just having behind-the-scenes footage and testimonials and interview stuff in between the show that's coming up on January 15th and just making that a really full package for people to get to look behind the curtain. Right. Cool, cool, cool.

Are you still doing stuff with Cirque du Soleil? We did a collaboration with One Drop and Cirque and the World Series of Poker earlier this year. Oh, yeah. I saw something. You were giving a poem to kick, like on ESPN, right? Yeah, it was on ESPN, yeah. Yeah.

You're dropping a poem on ESPN. That was to kick off the World Series of Poker. Big one for One Drop, yeah. So that must have off the World Series of Poker. It was the big one-for-one drop, yeah. So that must have been a trip. It was great. It was really fun. It was in collaboration with the charity, One Drop, that I work with. It brings water to people who don't have access around the world and community infrastructure and sustainable community infrastructure.

and sustainable community infrastructure. So I'm not like a big poker player, but because of that, like it was a good fit. Right. And so I did my poker research and came up with it. You wrote a specific poem for that? Yeah, yeah, I did. Yeah, I did. And tried to do it as like a metaphor for life and raising the stakes. I would imagine the people

watching the world series of poker are probably not spoken word aficionados yeah i don't know that they expected it to be how the program how did that come together um just like it's a weird mishmash of worlds right yeah one drop reached out to us and and so it made sense uh-huh and so we did it but that that is the thing is is as because it's the Wild West and because we're figuring out how to trailblaze, there are all of these things that come up that seemingly are just really out of left field. But we're like a lot of money was given to one drop, and we know that that was going to a good place. And so we were like, yeah, sure, let's do it. That's a cool thing.

Yeah, it seems like you're starting to kind of establish yourself as this – a little bit of like a Vegas act, though. You're like doing all this stuff in Vegas. You got Cirque du Soleil. Life is beautiful. You did this thing. I think you've done some clubs there too, right? Yeah. Pretty soon you're going to be like the guy who's on the cab, you know, like the billboard.

It's funny. Like the magicians and stuff like that. Yeah. I like never had a good trip to Vegas when I was younger. Like I never even. So it's bizarre to me that I've wound up. You keep doing all this stuff out there now. I keep doing it.

But, you know, as long as the audience is connected, I'm happy. Right. You know what's really cool I want to talk about for a second is you performed at one of these Daybreaker parties recently, didn't you? Yeah, so fun. I'm on the email list for that. I have yet to go to one, but I'm always getting, I get the emails and I'm like, one of these days I'm going to go to one of these.

You got to do it. Explain what this phenomenon is because it's so insane. So Daybreaker is like a morning rave and it's really something that you have to see to believe. Like just people dress up in the most ridiculous costumes and they go and it's a sober rave. So they basically rent out a club at like literally six, six 30 in the morning. And, uh, and they're just like dancing, like just like their lives depend upon it. And, uh, there's like a DJ and there's like a live painter and like, uh, live, uh, uh, instrumentation. And there's like an intention setting and they serve like kombucha and,

and people are just raising the roof. And, and so they, they had me come down and do poetry for, for one of the events. And it was fantastic. It's like literally balls of the wall party, like wake, set your alarm, wake up, you know, go to this insane party happening, and then go to work. And then go to work. Right. And that's the thing, is like, right afterwards, people just go to work. And like, what a way to set off your day.

I mean, you imagine, like, going to work after that, you're going to be on cloud nine. Right. Like, even, you're an early riser, right? Yeah, I'm not necessarily on a on a regular basis artists come on i know but it's actually bullshit like and i've realized that recently and i think uh partially in celebration of the podcast i woke up early and i took a hike man nice you know i took a hike this morning with my girlfriend and we were like really enjoying it it was like and it really trampolined the rest of my day. Like I had way more energy, you know, what you talk about. So

it was like, this is like a very different way to experience that. Yeah. Very extreme. Very extreme. But it's a trip and it's really worth checking out. Yeah. It is important, like those simple actions that you take in the morning, how impactful they are, you know, throughout the rest of your day. Yeah. I don't think we pay enough attention to that. I know, I know.

But even if it's as simple as a five-minute meditation, like anything, like there's something about those moments when you first wake up that are so crucial towards really kind of getting you sorted out to maximize what you're going to do that day. But, you know, I mean, going to a daybreaker party. By the way, that one, you can definitely take the kids. Oh, you can really? Yeah. I was wondering like how many people roll in like as the after after party after being up all night, you know? Is there some of those or is it really just all clear headed people? No, it's all, I think it's all clear headed people.

Like they've had like, you've had early morning rave parties. I remember going to Ibiza when I was younger, and they had one of those, a day party. And a lot of the people that were going to that were staying up the night before. This is kind of a new animal. But this is like a new paradigm. It's a celebration of positivity. It's not like a party party, but this is like a new, this is like a new paradigm. Like it's a positive, it's a, it's a, it's a celebration of positivity. It's not like a party party. It's about like, yeah, let's get all jazz so that we can have an awesome day. Yeah, absolutely. And there's something liberating only in Venice, right? Or they, is it in Venice? Is it downtown where,

where was the one you did? They bounce around. They have different spots that they've done it, but they've done it in like, I think London, San Francisco. It started in New York. Oh, it's going to other cities, yeah. And they've all been really successful. That's cool. So they charted, like, a yacht, I think, one time in New York. I mean, yeah. Who are the people that are behind this?

Matthew and Radha. Radha, who's a friend of mine. She's amazing. So it's just a good crew. Yeah. You can just kick them on the podcast, that could be a cool interview. Absolutely. I'll connect.

Right on. Well, we're going to wrap it up here in a little bit. Yeah. But I was wondering if you could kind of leave people with, you know, I'm fascinated by creativity and the creative process. Like I think that we're all inherently creative beings. And, you know, we sort of make these decisions in our culture like, oh, that guy's an artist and that guy's a banker. And it's kind of bullshit. You know, I mean, these are just labels, right?

I think we all have a creative voice and I think that we can all be more deeply expressed in that. And to the extent that we can and do, I think we become better versions of ourselves. We become more authentic to who we are in whatever that is. It doesn't mean you stop being a banker. It just means you're a more authentic, you know, sort of expression of whatever it is that you're doing on this planet. But I think a lot of people don't look at it that way. They think I'm not creative or, you know, that's just not my thing. My cousin, my crazy aunt's like that, but I'm not.

You know, that's just not my thing. My cousin, my crazy aunt's like that, but I'm not. But I think that sort of embracing the idea that we can be more creative or flow of entertaining that inner muse, that inner voice, you know, whatever it is that is speaking to you acting on that and setting aside the time and the space to be creative. And that is one thing is like oftentimes if we don't define ourselves as artists and we're not like used to the action of creating art and our lives are so full, we don't set aside the time and space to explore art. But we should, you know. So I would say like for anybody out there who's like thinking about expressing themselves and they don't necessarily know how, I would say just create the time and space and then choose a thing and do it.

And why not do a poem? You know, like everybody, you know, anybody and everybody who's listening to this, I challenge you in the best way to write a poem. You know, think about something that you're inspired by today and write something about it. Or think of like something that you've gone through in your life that was like intense and write something about that story and everything that you learned. And then choose somebody and share it with them and see what that feels like. Because we all have stories and we all deserve to have our voice be heard. I don't know who it was who said it, but somebody smart said the most powerful or impactful thing

that you can do is to share your story. Yeah. Right. And a lot of people think, well, my story is not that, who cares? Right. And I think your art is an expression of sharing your story. It's certainly, you know, a big part of what I do. And I found it to be, you sort of think like, well, what do I have to, you know when you tap into that kind of common vein of humanity that people can connect with. Totally. And it can be transformative. And I think everybody has a voice in that. And sometimes I still feel that way. I'm probably sure you do too, or at least I would ask you if you do, but sometimes I still feel like, who am I to say anything? I'll write things, you know, and I'll be like, who, who am I to say these? I'll write things and I'll be like, who am I to say these things? Who the fuck do I think I am? But creativity doesn't come from us necessarily.

It just comes and we're like conduits for it. It's almost arrogant to judge it. Yeah, it is. It is. To judge it as negative is arrogant as well. Who are you to say this has no value or great value? Right. It's just sharing it and letting it exist in the world.

Beautiful, man. I'm excited about your show. Thank you, man. I'm excited too. So January 15th at the Mark Taper Forum, 800 seats, 750 seats, going fast. All right. Can you buy tickets already? No, we're going to put tickets up in about two weeks. So that will be, let's see, today is the 13th of, so it'll be what, like December 1st or something like that?

I think the first week of December. Yeah, depending on when we put this show up. So is there a website where people can go to check that out? It'll be put up on IN-Q.com. So IN-Q.com. And they'll probably have the Mark Taper Forum itself will probably sell tickets there too. Absolutely. But just people go to your site, IN-Q.com.

Cool, man. Thanks so much for doing the show. Of course, man. My pleasure. Cool, man. Thanks so much for doing the show. Of course, man. My pleasure. You got the website already, and you can find InQ on Twitter at, what is it?

InQ. InQ Live. InQ Live, right? Life. InQ Life, right? Live, live, live. Facebook and all those places, man. Yeah.

Everybody just noticed. They heard the last one. They know what's going on, right? All right, man. Will you take us out with another poem again? Yeah. All right, man. Will you take us out with another poem again? Absolutely, yeah. All right, cool. When you can't see the forest from the trees, then it means that you need to take a step back

and recalibrate your needs. See, whatever we perceive, we achieve. So without the intention, we are living on our knees, begging please. Success can breed success. And the science is your belief. Because once you know it's possible, it's easier to dream. But unfortunately, failure can be the same fucking thing. I can't seem to fly, so I blame it on your wings. We're crabs in a bucket. And the misery can be company. I blame it on your wings. We're crabs in a bucket.

And the misery can be company. Sex, politics, and religion can be comforting. Band-aid your wounds, then pretend it doesn't exist and dance like the black swan perfect into death. Our universe is like a breath into God's chest. Expand and retract, pause when there's nothing left. It's in the silence that we reconnect. Find the guidance, then redirect by retracing our steps. Me? I'm MC Escher, but with an Etcher sketch. I'll make a masterpiece, then shake it up to make something else. I used to want to be someone else until I realized that I'd created my hell myself. Your mind state is not who you are.

It is where you are. You can run away, but anywhere you go, there you are. Whether plane, train, or car, near or far, it's bizarre. We all stare up at the same fucking stars. And even when we let go of pain, pain still exists. It was just a mind state that we embodied for a bit. And even when we let go of pain, pain still exists. It was just a mind state that we embodied for a bit. And even when we fall out of love, love still exists. It was just a mind state that we embodied for a bit. But the problem is we think we're not responsible for shit. So we zombie our way into misery or bliss. And you can shift quick from the peak to the abyss if you bite into the fruit and forget that there's a pit. I've got a dandelion forehead. No one really knows me. So act like the wind. Make a wish, then you can blow me. I used to be a vampire until I broke my

fangs. I used to be a phoenix until I burnt my wings. I used to be a scorpion until I used my sting. I used to be an actor. Now all I do is sing. I used to be a parachute. Now I'm down to earth. I wandered through the desert, but couldn't quench my thirst. I used to be a prophet,

but never made a dime. The skeletons inside my closet partied all the time. I used to be a victim. Now I've become a mirror. I used to have strengths. Now I am the puppeteer. I used to talk a lot just to talk a lot like a barbershop or a parking lot. Now I'm smoking weed alone till I'm higher than an astronaut, having conversations with myself like a schizophrenic mascot. I'm complicated like

the plaid on an ascot. I used to want the fast cash and the fast cars, fast lane, fat ass, and some fat farm. Now I just want to have a hammock in my backyard. Takes a lot of energy to have to act hard. I'd rather smile while the dealer pulls my last card, see the highlights of my life and fast forward, walk into the light and get everything I've asked for. Love and integrity, joy, trust and honesty, prosperity, generosity and charity. I wish you clarity, passion, success, and sincerity,

action, abundance, and balancing polarity, laughter and growth, creativity and hope, faith, friendship, and family, peace for all humanity, service with humility, truth over jealousy. Even when my emotions are overwhelming me. Thanks, man. My pleasure. Chew on that for a while, everybody.

That's amazing, man. Thanks, man. You're touched. You really are. Thanks for coming by. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Stay true.

All love. All right, man. Peace. Plants. by. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Stay true. All love. All right, man. Peace. All right, you guys, that's it for today. That was pretty special, right? Amazing. What a gift that guy is and what a gift to be able to spend some time with him today. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope he left you with a few things to think about, a few things to ponder about your life. Once again, I'd highly recommend picking up tickets to go check him out on January 15th.

If you're in LA again, or even if you're not in LA, I think it's maybe worth even a trip to town. It's a beautiful theater. It's gonna be an extraordinary night. Obviously, I will definitely be there and I can't wait. Another reminder, send me your questions for the Q&A podcast to findingultra at gmail.com. If you are joining me on this 30-day iPhone detox, keep me and everyone posted on how it's going by tagging your social media shares during designated hours, of course, with hashtag IDetox. It's the holiday season.

You got to get some gifts, right? Well, rather than a bunch of trashy plastic, how about something that could actually help somebody? You can check out my online courses, the ultimate guide to plant-based nutrition and the art of living with purpose, both at mindbodygreen.com, both multiple hours of streaming video content, downloadable tools, and featuring interactive communities, everything you need to get more plants in your active life set you on a new and healthier nutrition trajectory probe deep inside to learn about what makes you tick, help you set the right goals for yourself, help you take these goals across the finish line, and ultimately raise the bar on your personal and athletic life experience.

You can gift them to people. It's super cool. Just go to mindbodygreen.com. Click on video courses at the top of the homepage menu and you can learn more there. We're also running a big holiday sale on my website, richroll.com, through December 20th. $10 off on all our t-shirts, including our groovy new ones, the peace and plants one with the peace sign and the plants, pretty sweet. And we have this California flag design that says plant power with a pretty badass looking rhino on it. Really cool.

$10 off my repair post-workout recovery plant-based protein supplement. And we're offering buy one, get one free on our B12 supplement. So check all that stuff out, find out more at richroll.com. Again, don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter, get a free seven recipe download, stay clued in, no spam, just good stuff. And if you'd like this podcast, do us a solid, give us a review on iTunes, only takes like two seconds. If you want to listen to the old catalog, anything older than the most recent 50 episodes that iTunes allows you to listen to, then get our app, the iOS app. It's free. Just go to the iTunes app store, click in Rich Roll in the search window. You should be able to pull it up right there. That way you can access the entire RRP Canon for free and support the show. Tell a friend,

use the Amazon banner ad. You can donate, keep Instagramming, just tag me at Rich Roll there. And that's it, you guys. We're out of here. There's no assignment this week. I think the assignment I gave you last week about detoxing off your iPhone, that should keep you occupied this week. Nothing new. That shows you how serious I am about wanting you guys to join me on this. I need the support. Come on, you guys, help me out here. All right.

See you in a couple of days with the Q&A episode. Peace. Plants. Thank you.