The School of Greatness - 300 Jesse Itzler on Pushing Your Limits & Taking Back Your Time

Episode Date: March 9, 2016

"So much of business is a reflection of you." - Jesse Itzler If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/300

This is episode number 300 with Jesse Itzler. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Welcome everyone to this episode of Very Special Milestone.

That's right. We hit 300 episodes on the School of Greatness. Now we have been around for just over three years. We have over 15 million downloads, and we're at 300 episodes. I am just in awe and amazed as I reflect back on the idea for the School of Greatness in the first place. The reason the School of Greatness came about was because I was at a turning point in my life. I was at kind of a lower moment, a lot of frustration, some anxiety, some resentment I was feeling. And I had just moved to L.A. from New York City, and I was going through a breakup.

And I remember just feeling like, what am I going to do next with my life? What's next for me? And I was talking to some friends who were podcasting already, who were having success with it. I was stuck in LA traffic every day, kind of a little bit angry and frustrated that I wasn't in New York anymore. And I just said, you know what, there's got to be a way to share these insights from brilliant minds that I'm spending time with on a daily basis with the rest of the world. There's got to be a way to tap into their mind, into their heart and their soul, and access some of the wealth of this information that they have, and then really break it down

in a way so everyone can consume it, understand it, and apply it to their lives to become their greatest self. And that's how it began, again, just over three years ago. So I want to say thank you so much for listening. If this is your first time or your 300th episode that you've listened to, thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing this out with your friends. The way that we continue to grow is by you spreading the word, by you posting it on Instagram

and Twitter and Facebook and emailing your friends and just talking about it, saying, hey, guys, have you heard of the School of Greatness podcast? Check out this cool episode. I think you'd really enjoy it. That's how people get on board, and that's how the movement began and how it continues to grow with over a million downloads a month. So I just want to say thank you and acknowledge all of you for joining me on this journey over three years in, 300 episodes. And I'm excited to continue going to the next level for this show.

So there's no point anytime soon where I see myself slowing down. It's only getting bigger, better, and it's all for you guys. So I hope you guys are enjoying it. Again, thank you for being here, and I'm so pumped for this interview and this episode because it's with my new friend, Jesse Itzler. Now, for those that don't know who Jesse is, extremely impressive human being, an incredible entrepreneur. He is the original partner of Zico Coconut Water, which is coconut water I used to drink all the time and still do.

He's also co-founder of Marquee Jets. He's an Emmy Award winner and a best-selling rapper, and also the co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks NBA basketball team. And he felt the need to break out of his day-to-day routine. You know, he's a guy who has achieved incredible success in his life, and he felt the need to break out of his day-to-day routine and grow beyond his perceived limitations and discover possibilities within himself he never knew he had. So he decided to have a Navy SEAL, one of the top Navy SEALs in the world, really, move to his New York City penthouse suite alongside his family. His wife, by the way, is a Forbes top self-made woman in America.

Her name is Sarah Blakely, who's the founder and CEO of the billion-dollar company Spanx. So he had this Navy SEAL move in, and a lot opened up for him during this month with this extreme Navy SEAL training him every single day. And a lot of the lessons we're going to talk about covering how much and how often that you should switch up your habits and routines. Now, you guys know I talk about habits and routines all the time. And Jesse has an interesting point about habits and routines that can get people caught up in the mundane as well.

Also, why Jesse needed a big push to go to the next level, even though he was already crushing it. How to take back control of your time. If you feel overwhelmed, if you feel stressed, if you feel distracted, here's how to take back control of your time. What Jesse does to make time for himself with all the kids, with all the businesses, with all the people that are constantly coming after him, he spends more time with himself than anyone else I know, and why breaking a habit is so hard and how to get through it. We cover those ideas and principles and so much more in this episode. I hope you guys enjoy this one.

Make sure to head back to lewishouse.com slash 300 to watch the full video interview. dot com slash three zero zero to watch the full video interview. Check out the book that he just came out about this story and all the show notes we cover in today's episode. And without further ado, let me introduce you to the one, the only Jesse. It's learned. Welcome back everyone to the school greatest podcast.

Very excited about this. Our guest is Jesse. It's learned. Thanks for coming in, man. Appreciate it. Very excited about this. Our guest is Jesse Itzler. Thanks for coming in, man. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Pleasure. I'm pumped for this.

I saw this come out. This is the first time I heard about you when this book came out. And I remember being talked about. I think maybe your pup has just sent me the information or someone did it. Ed O'Keefe, a buddy of mine, had you on, I think, his podcast and told me about you. And I was like, who is this guy? Who is this SEAL guy? I don't know what's happening.

But then I started doing more research on you. And I was like, oh, I actually want to meet this guy. guy? I don't know what's happening. But then I started doing more research on you and I was like, oh, I actually want to meet this guy. So I'm excited that you're here. I'm excited. I don't think we've had anyone on here who is like you. So I think it'll be interesting to kind of uncover the things that you've created, what you've done in your life. And you started out from my research as a rapper. Am I right? I did. Okay. So why were you inspired to be in the music space? Was that always something you loved to do as a child?

Yeah. I grew up in the 80s in New York City, in Long Island, which was a focal point for rap when it was starting out. So I just got at an early age, had a real interest in it. And then when I was in college, I made a demo tape. And like most people trying to get into the music business in college or in the late 80s, I sent out about 100 cassettes. At the time, it was cassettes to A&R executives, to presidents of labels. I called everybody and I got zero.

Nothing. Nothing. Callbacks. And when was this? What year is this? That was in 90. All my college friends were doing resumes and I was sending out cassettes. Nothing. Nothing. Callback. And when was this? What year is this? That was in 90. Wow. All my college friends were doing resumes and I was sending out cassettes. Wow. And that was my first real experience with like pure full out rejection. Okay.

You didn't get rejected before then? Not like – not a hundred times in a row. Right. But it forced me to start to think differently and figure out that, you know what? You really got to kind of differentiate yourself and separate yourself to get noticed and get things done. Right. Which ended up being a really valuable lesson for me down the road. Sure, sure.

So how did you start to break into the music world? So I was in a recording studio in Corona, Queens, where I was recording at 2 a.m. I would ride my bike 20 miles from Long Island to the studio at the only time I could get studio time, which was 2 a.m. Wow. And the artist that finished recording before me was a guy named Dana Dane, who was a big Brooklyn-based huge rapper in the 80s. And on the mixing board was an advanced cassette of his second album that no one had that

he left behind so i literally quote unquote borrowed the cassette i was a fan of his i wanted to hear it i took the cassette home and i flew out to la a week later to visit a friend and on the plane ride out to la i read that there was a label out here called delicious vinyl it was a probably the biggest independent rap label at the time. They had two artists, Young MC, who wrote Bust a Move, and Tone Loke, who had Wild Thing. And I read that the founder of the company, or one of the founders, was a huge Dana Dane fan,

and I had this guy's cassette. So when I landed... Pre-released cassette. Pre-released. No one had heard it. No one heard it. Impossible to get. Like, go to jail if you have it kind of thing.

Yeah. No one heard it. Impossible to get. Like go to jail if you have it kind of thing. And so I cold called the label and through a little bit of New York hustle and confusion, the secretary who took the call put me on hold. I explained that I had this cassette. I was dropping it off for Mike Ross, the founder. She came back and she said, Dana, Mike would like to see you at 2 o'clock. She thought I was Dana Dane. So I said I'll be there at 2. Wow. And I got the meeting under the guise that they thought that it was Dana.

Wait, and you had his tape. Did he know you had his tape? No, I never met him in my life. You took it to LA. Took it to LA to listen to it myself. Did he have an extra copy or was this just his only copy? I have no idea. Were you thinking to myself, what if this is his only copy or what happens if I don't bring him back?

What if he's looking for it? I wasn't thinking anything other than I really wanted to hear it. Oh, my gosh. Okay. That took balls. Yeah. So I got buzzed into this office. They said, Dana, come on in.

Mike will be right with you. Escorted into his office with all these platinum records on the wall. And Mike came in and said, who are you? And I said, oh, you know, Dane is 20 minutes behind. I have his, you know, he's coming to see you. But while we wait, can I play my demo? He said, sure. And I told him I work with Dane, all the same studio, more confusion.

And I put my cassette in and got a record deal. Wow. Interesting. So through association of someone else credible, you essentially use that as social proof, it sounds like, and built your case up in person. Yeah. Amazing, man. Yeah. That was great.

Wow. Okay, cool. And so from there, what happened? Was it just a big hit right away? Were you on the top charts with every song you had, or was it a struggle after that? Well, I thought, 22 years old, 21 years old, that they had these great mega artists that all I had to do was sign the deal. And whatever I put out would be a hit.

But as you know, it doesn't work that way. Exactly. And that was another quick lesson that you really have to do it yourself. The label was so busy with other stuff that I realized that I should have done more on myself. And it didn't go as I thought it would go. And I didn't get picked up for a second album. Do you know how many sales it did? Not enough to get picked up.

Okay, gotcha. Whatever that number was, it wasn't enough. And I really had nothing on my resume other than I was a kiddie pool tendon that summer that I was riding my bike to the studio. So now I have no record deal and the only thing I put on my resume is kiddie pool attendant and failed rapper and that wouldn't really do it. So sometimes when you look at something that's a failure, it's sort of just life's way of tapping you on the shoulder and saying you're off course. It's sort of just life's way of tapping you on the shoulder and saying you're off course. And I felt like I was in the right world but just a little bit off course. I called an audible but stayed in it.

And I ended up doing jingles. I read that. Like NBA teams. I started doing theme songs for professional sports teams, which was a niche that sports music that didn't exist really created this category of sports music. Which can be profitable. Jingles can be profitable, right? Yeah. I mean, not for me.

For most people, they were. Sure. The first song that I did was a song for the Knicks called Go New York Go in 92. And it was a theme song for the Knicks. They paid me $4,000. And it became the number one song on New York radio. It was a huge hit.

But by the time I paid the singer, the studio, the engineer, the studio, the engineer, the mix, all the things. You were negative money. I lost $400. Yeah. But every team that came to Madison Square Garden would say, how do we get a song like that?

And I realized, well, hold on. $4,000 times 100 professional sports teams. That'll work. I'm not making anything now. And I started doing that. That was my little thing. Amazing.

I did about 20 or 30 of them and came up with a concept. The songs became really in demand. There was no way to get them. They were played on radio. So if you're a Knicks fan and you wanted a song, you couldn't get it. So my partner and I came up with an idea to sell our song, this song, with all the other songs they play in the arena with great moments and team history in between it like a musical program. And we sold a shitload. Can I curse on this?

That's fine. We sold a shitload of records. That's great. And that was my first kind of taste of having a little bit of loot. After 91, 92? having a little bit of loot. After 91, 92? 93, when Jordan came back, we did a song for the Bulls called Right Back In It, when Michael came back, sold half a million Bulls CDs, which was a couple million dollars, and then

took all the money, which was probably the hardest thing I ever did in my life. Took all the money, and instead of going to buy a car or a house, which is what I wanted to do, we reinvested it in exclusive deals with all the sports leagues to do these team-specific compilations and then sold the company to a public company. Wow. So that did really well financially when you did all that? That's amazing. Yeah. That was it. Congrats.

That was a good little... Most people don't think about reinvesting it back in their brand or their business or things like that. When I'm heavily doing that myself, the money I make... I have a $4,000 car that I've had for years that I just don't care about the possessions. I'd rather build something meaningful that's impacting the world

and also creating something cool at the same time. So it sounds like you learned a lot of amazing lessons. Yeah, and it's very difficult if you don't have any investors and anyone to report to and all of a sudden you have money in your bank account as a business. You want to take it out. You don't think that you're going to report to. And all of a sudden, you have money in your bank account as a business. You want to take it out.

You don't think that you're going to have to reinvest it or use it, especially when you're 22 years old. So that was a really tough thing, but it ended up being a good thing. Yeah. It sounds like up until then, you had learned a lot of great lessons. What I'm hearing is the theme. And I'm curious, who was the most influential person in your life growing up and what was the biggest lesson they taught you? Well, it would certainly be my dad without question.

But the best lesson I got was from my mom. When I went to college, my mom told me just to do everything I could, to try everything at school. Nothing was off limits. Go to every lecture. Do every intramural sport, go to every fraternity party, do everything. Meet as many people and just figure out what it is that you like to do. Now, I still don't know what I want to do or what I like to do. But it did give me a different view to just expose me to a whole different world that I didn't see growing up on Long Island. And that ended up being a really good lesson for me.

But my parents have both been great influences on me. What would you say is the biggest lesson your dad taught you? He just gave me so much freedom to try to do whatever I wanted to do. And I think he really supported my failures, and I had plenty, and congratulated me on the attempt rather than the outcome. Interesting.

Okay. But at some point, you got to make money. So if you keep attempting something and you never make money, you've got to figure out a solution, right? Well, you don't have to make money if you're happy. That's true. That's true. But yeah. Right, right.

Well, if you're starting a business, you can't just fail over and over. Right. You got to eventually be be profitable I would say you do pay your overhead pay your employees yes of course

gotcha gotcha that's cool though that he gave you that freedom that courage but the relationship between you and money is an important dynamic of course

you know what I mean absolutely right yeah of course absolutely very cool so what happened after the music success

you know you're reinvesting and you sold the company. Did you stay in the music world? Did you branch out? Well, we sold the company to a public company. And the owner of the public company, a guy named Bob Silliman at SFX, had a private jet and invited my partner and I on a trip. We were the youngest company that he bought as far as we were 25 or 26 years old when we sold the company. And he took a liking to us, kind of like young guys, invited us on a trip and went on a private jet. And as soon as we got on the plane, we kind of looked at each

other and like, how in the world do we do this more often? Like, how do we get this? And ultimately, that one trip led to a private jet business that we started called marquee jet unbelievable i think i went to a marquee jet party at a super bowl in the tampa bay super bowl yeah there was a party there was marquee jets i think it was like i'm not sure when this was oh i remember five six years ago maybe more it was seven years ago yeah 2009 maybe maybe more but – Seven years ago? Yeah. 2009 maybe? Maybe more. But yeah.

I think it was 2009 maybe. When did you guys launch Marquee Jets? 01. 01. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah, I remember that and being like, wow, this is a pretty sweet party.

Yeah, that was like our annual – That was cool. Yeah. It was really cool. Amazing. So you just decided that you're going to launch a jet company. Well, we had the idea because we wanted to use it. Right.

So we're like, you know what? Even if no one else signs up for this thing and we can fly on a private jet, that would be a win. a jet company well we had this we had the idea because we wanted to use it right so like you know what even if no one else signs up for this thing and we can fly on a private jet right that would be a win but uh it's a completely different uh skill set and business and industry that you didn't have any experience in i'm assuming right i knew yeah i mean that's kind of a theme for me i mean i think one of the things that i look back on my life and i was in music i was in private jets i've been in coconut water and all these different things, sports, is that I had no prior experience in any of that. And it ended up being the best blessing for me because no one taught me or told me how to do it. So it was guaranteed that it would be done differently.

Interesting. And that was – it guaranteed that it would be creative and different and unique. So no, neither my partner or I had any background. I mean we couldn't even make a paper airplane. And we didn't have money to buy a plane. You weren't a pilot either I'm assuming. No, no. But we had an idea.

You had a passion for it. We had an idea. And intuitively I think we both knew it would work because we knew if we wanted to use this product, that probably a lot of people would want to use it. And how could we make it more affordable and bring it to the masses? So what did you do? Tell me the problem and what the solution was you guys created. Well, the problem was there was only three ways to fly privately at the time.

You could buy your own airplane, which is incredibly expensive. It's so expensive, yeah. It takes out 99.9% of the world. You could buy a fraction of a plane, which is like a timeshare, which is also very expensive and it's a long commitment. And that's not – we don't want to put a couple million dollars in for multiple years. We want to take like three trips a year with our friends to golf. Or you could charter a plane and there's all kinds of questions about like, well, who owns the plane? Who's flying the plane?

What if the plane doesn't show up? Inconsistencies. the plane, who's flying the plane, what if the plane doesn't show up, inconsistencies. So we were like, if we could just offer a 25-hour solution with none of the responsibilities of owning your own plane, you don't have to manage it, you don't have to schedule it, you just call on demand, it shows up, and you prepay for it and just work off the hours, it will work. It's like the Uber for planes. Yeah.

But there was one problem. What? We didn't have any planes okay so we we once we had the idea and we had it all kind of baked we had to go find out find someone that could lend us a fleet of airplanes right how many did you want to start with uh well we sat next to each other like you and i are doing it uh my partner asked me how many people you think would buy this that you know and i said said, I could probably sell 15. He said, all right, put me down for 15. I said, we need enough to hold 30 people.

Wow. And we went to NetJets, which is owned by Warren Buffett and Berkshire with this idea. Are they based out of Columbus? Yeah. Whenever I fly in, I see big NetJets on the couch. Yeah. And had this meeting to pitch this idea that was going to change my life. And they threw us out in about 10 minutes.

Why? I think the direct quote is, sounds cool. If you guys think I'm giving two 27-year-olds my fleet of airplanes, it's not happening. You're out of your mind. Yeah. But his partner came out after the meeting and said that was a great meeting. I said, what are you talking about? We got thrown out in 12 minutes.

He said, Rich Santulli, the CEO, doesn't give anyone 12 minutes. I said, if you guys kind of just do this, change this, do this, let's come back and let's try it again. So we did. But instead of coming back with a deck, we brought in our own focus group. We literally just lined up like eight chairs of athletes, entertainers, agents, lawyers. People who could afford it. Right. And one by one, they stood up and explained why they wouldn't buy their own plane, lawyers. People who could afford it. Right. And one by one, they stood up and explained why they wouldn't buy their own plane, why

they wouldn't buy a NetJet fraction, and why they would buy this cart. Wow. And we got a deal. And then a year later, I think we had more customers than NetJet. No way. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. That's brilliant that you brought people in, that you were able to enroll your friends

into coming in and supporting you. Yeah. Wow. It was great. And they were all on board because they wanted to use the product, it sounds like. Yeah. They want to fly private. Yes.

They don't want to buy first class and wait in line for an hour or two or whatever, right? Or pay millions. Interesting. So it worked out. Amazing. That's really cool. And how long did you have that company for until you – We had it in 01.

We ramped it up to $5 until you – We had it in 2001. We ramped it up to $5 billion in sales and sold it in 2009 to Berkshire. Wow, amazing. Congratulations. That's big. I love it. Okay. And so during that time, then you got connected with Zico, right?

Yeah. So in 2006, I decided to raise money for a bunch of charities that were important to me. And I didn't want to do it the way, you know, at the time I was going to all these golf dinners for charity and, you know, banquets and all this stuff. And it was just like the same thing. So I decided I was going to run a hundred miles to bring awareness and raise money for these charities. And I picked a date on my calendar and said i'm gonna start training today and um during the process i uh i did a lot of research on like well what do you drink right what do you eat if you're gonna run for 20 basically 24 hours yeah yeah and i stumbled upon coconut water and i became literally like the human guinea pig for coconut water

and um i ended up finishing the race and i didn't cramp. And I was like, wow, this is the fountain of youth. Like when other people discover what I just discovered, you know, to like a regular guy that's not a great athlete and just ran 100 miles, this thing's got some legs to it. So I spent a year. I went to Jamaica. I traveled to Brazil, tried to figure out like, you know, can I import this? How does the whole beverage game work? And realized that I wasn't wired and I didn't have the energy to start from, you know. Start from scratch.

Yeah, from scratch. Learn the ropes. Like the category was starting to move too fast and the learning curve would be too great for me. Yeah. And my energy level wasn't there at this point in my life. So I ended up partnering with a guy named Mark Rampolas, a rock star who founded Zico. So he already had the brand.

He had the brand. He had the brand. They were doing about $4 or $5 million in sales and we went to Coca-Cola. I had gone to Coca-Cola with this idea originally to see if they would kind of be my net jets. They could provide the back office stuff. Anyway, we did a three-way partnership. Me, my company, which was the 100 Mile Group, Zico, and Coca-Cola, three-way partnership. And then we sold – grew it, sold it three years later to Coke.

To Coke. Amazing. It's unbelievable, man. Yeah, it was good. And it was a great product at the right time and I really believed in it and

Mark did a great job with the company it was a great product yeah I mean there's so many competitors now there's so many yeah

he has like 250 different beverages that use coconut oh my gosh it's crazy yeah unbelievable it tastes so good though

like you said right so tell me how did the whole I want to own an NBA Gosh, that's crazy. Unbelievable. It tastes so good, though, like you said. Yeah. Right? So tell me, how did the whole I want to own an NBA team come about then? How does this? Again, like it wasn't planned. I live in Atlanta. I'm a season ticket holder, a huge basketball fan.

I had the past experience having done a lot of these songs for the NBA teams in my past life, which ultimately became more like ad campaigns and real slogans and way more than just a theme song. So I had a little bit of background in kind of how game operations work and what you do at a timeout and how the in-arena operations work. But I'm a big fan. I was season ticket holder at the Hawks and I was a consultant to the Hawks for about a year prior to this. And when the team became for sale, I fell so in love with the product, the players, the coaching staff, the employees, the brand, the community that I just put my hand up really in a big way and said I want to be involved.

And surprisingly, not a lot of people in Atlanta did. And I was just lucky enough to hook up with a small group of friends. And we got it. Wow. Is it three of you or is it three? Well, there were four. We started out with – there were four of us. And now there's about – I think there's about 14 total owners.

Gotcha. Yeah. Gotcha. So you raised a fund essentially and there's about 14 total owners. Gotcha. Yeah. Gotcha. So you like raised a fund essentially and there's like a few that started. Gotcha. And your wife is one of them, right? Yep. And how did that come about?

Were you guys connected? My wife and I? Yeah. She was a customer at Marquee Jet. Okay. And she came to a customer appreciation event and we became friendly. Wow. And sort of like how I got my record deal deal i had to kind of break through the clutter so before i ran the hundred miles i called up her office

she's an entrepreneur she has a company called spanx yeah which is women's shapewear it's huge right yeah and i called her pr person and asked if um she would connect me to sarah and they said no and i said well could you tell her that um want to run – I'm running this 100-mile race and I want to do it in Spanx. No way. To get some publicity for her brand if she's interested. She'll make a donation. And I married her a year later. Amazing.

So did she make the donation or no? No, but we got married. Exactly. That's cool. Better than a donation. So did she hear about it before you went to the race or after you did it? Before. No, her PR person said it.

As she would tell the story, Sarah, another lunatic is on the phone. This time, it's someone saying he wants to run 100 miles in a pair of Spanx. And that caught her attention. Yeah. I mean, she's married to that. Enough. Gotcha. Gotcha.

Very cool. So did you guys connect before the race though or no? Yeah, we were friendly. We became friendly. But we really started, gotcha. Very cool. So did you guys connect before the race though or no? Yeah, we were friendly. We became friendly. But we really started dating after the race. Interesting. She was like, a guy loves my brand this much, I'll go out with him, right? Right.

I love it. Yeah. Okay. So I want to talk about the book now. I love your story. I love what you've created. You're like the representation of someone who creates something from nothing with everything you do. And for me, that's really inspiring.

representation of someone who creates something from nothing with everything you do. And for me, that's really inspiring. And I think it's inspiring for a lot of people that are listening because most people don't believe they can create something from nothing. And you create big things from nothing, which I think is really cool. And you didn't have like the education for all these things, right? You didn't go to like the school specifically for music or for owning a NBA team or any of these things, you just learned as you went which i think is really cool and admirable um why why the point of having a seal live with you this is this book's called living with the seal 31 days training with the toughest man on the planet and i watched a few videos and this guy is a freak um but why did you decide to to have him live with

you on theme it wasn't planned i was at a race a race in San Diego that I was doing with five friends. It was a 24-hour relay race where we each took turns running a leg of the race. Is this San Diego to LA and back or something? No, it was actually a 24-hour race on a one-mile, unlit, dark parking lot. And we were doing it just to kind of get out of New York and have fun and and whatever and at the start of the race and the race was unsupported which means that you have to bring completely bring all your own supplies they provide nothing right and provide the track essentially a track and right you know a chip in your in your shoe to clock your time right and um you know i've been i was coming off uhe Jet, so our supplies were like loaded.

We had like whole food trucks. Trucks of stuff came up. Campers, everything. Luggery. Masseuses and tents. Acupuncturists set up, yeah. We had like lights under our thing. The guy to my left was running the entire thing alone.

And his supplies, he had three supplies. Wow, 24 hours? Yeah, he had three supplies. He had a fold-up chair that he sat in, one bottle of water and a bag of crackers. That's it. For 24 hours? Yeah, and he was about 280 pounds of like muscle. I'm looking at this guy.

I'm like, what the – it made no sense. At mile seven – so I kept my eye on him during the race. And at mile 70 about, because of his weight – 70? 70. Because of his weight,

he had broken all the small bones in both of his feet. Oh my gosh. Because of all the pounding. And because he had only eaten crackers, when he sat down on his folding chair, all the blood that was from the run rushed down, blah, blah, blah, blah. He had basically a kidney failure.

He was peeing blood. Oh, my gosh. So he was done until he wasn't done. I watched him get out of the chair, peeing blood and with all this broken bones taped up, and run 30 more miles. No way. And I was like, who is this guy and what in the world makes him tick? So I Googled him after the race.

Did you say hi to him or connect to them? He wasn't a say hi to guy. Wow. He was, he was a don't fuck with me guy. Right. And, um,

so I got his number off of his bib, looked at the race results, Googled them and learned that he has this like amazing backstory. He was a Navy SEAL. He lost 100 pounds in 60 days before he reported to buds, to training camp. He gained the weight back and then after he graduated and then lost a bunch of friends in a helicopter crash and decided to Google the 10 hardest things in the world to do to raise money for the kids of the fallen soldiers and literally became the best endurance athlete on the planet. He broke the Guinness Book of World Records for most pull-ups in a day.

He did 4,030 in 17 hours. Oh, my gosh. He's run multiple ultra marathons, won multiple races. I mean I can't even explain what this guy – so anyway, I cold called him. I'm like, I got to meet this guy. Flew out to meet him and like 10 minutes into our meeting, I'm like, you know what? All the different buckets of my life would be better if whatever this guy has rubbed off on me.

Like whatever made him get out of that chair, I want that in work. I want that at home. I want that in my training. I want that to give that onto my kids, like everything. So I just asked him if he would live with me for a month, if he would move in with me and my family. And three days later, he's at my breakfast table.

Wow, okay. And was there a format, a structure? Because you're a busy guy, you're traveling a lot, you're probably not at home that much. So what was it like? Were you like, I'm going to be at home this whole time? Right. So the rule was –

Comes to you with work or he just stays at home? He shadowed me everywhere I went. Everywhere. 24-7 except for bed. Everywhere. He didn't sleep in the same bed. No, he slept in the room next to us. He slept in my house.

And the only thing he said, the only condition before he moved in was that I had to do anything that he said. And that nothing was off limits. And if I didn't do it, he'd leave. Right. Obviously, with respecting your family and, you know. No. Nothing like. Not really.

No. I mean, it was like he. No, not really. No, I mean it was like he – I mean when he first moved in, the first – he comes into the house and he has a little knapsack for 30 days. If I go away for 30 days, I'm checking two bags. He has this little like Huck Finn knapsack. For 30 days with all his clothes and everything? His whole life in the bag. And I said to him – his name is David Goggins.

So if you're listening and you know him or you want to Google him, I said in the book I referred to him as Seal. But now he's out there. So he came to the house and I said to him, hey, here's your room. I'll show you around. Make yourself at home. My home is your home for the next 30 days. And he said, no, no, no. He said, I don't have a home.

And I said, no, make yourself at home. It's an expression. And he said, I don't operate in expressions. Wow. And that was sort of like, okay, let's start. That was kind of our opening act. No settling in, no, yeah. And then we went down to the gym five minutes into our 31-day journey.

And he said, I want to see how many pull-ups you can do. So I said, all right. So I guess to kind of get a level of like where I was at. And I am not a strong guy. So I did maybe eight pull-ups. And then I dropped down. And he said, all right, wait 30 seconds and do it again. So I waited 30 seconds, got back up on the bar.

I did like six. He said, all right, one more time. And now like I'm starting to feel it. I don't think I can even get back up on the bar. more time and now like i'm starting to feel it you know like i i don't think i can even get back up on the bar and i get i get three but three like you know kicking my chin over like whatever i could do to get over the bar so i said all right what's next he said what's next is we're gonna stay here till you do a hundred more oh my gosh you're doing one at a time and i'm like, come on, man. Like that's great on paper, but I physically can't do 100 more. And that was our start of many lessons that I learned because I ended up doing it one at a time.

And what he taught me was that so many of our limitations are self-imposed. And we set something up in our brain. We program our brain one way and that's our limit and until we can get past that and see what we're really made of and like get uncomfortable and experience pain you can't really you don't really don't know what you're capable of yeah so that was a really good good lesson for me and um every day was a lesson like that. Wow. So would he wake you up in the middle of the night? Or did you have a boundary from 10 to 4, I'm with my wife and dad? He did all kinds of really nontraditional things.

Really? And you just had to say yes? I said yes. What about your wife? She was on board with it? She was on board with it. But he wasn't doing it with the kids or her. They were out of it, right?

He took the kids. I, at the time, only had one son. I didn't matter. She was on board with it. But he wasn't doing it with the kids or her. They were out of it, right? He took the kids. At the time, I only had one son. I have four kids. And my son was 18 months old. And one day, he took us. We went running with a 50-pound weight vest. And it was in the snow. And we did like for like an hour and a half.

And we came back. And I was on the couch, wiped out. And he woke me up immediately and said, come on, we're doing it again. Wow. And my wife had left. So I was on kind couch, wiped out, and he woke me up immediately and said, come on, we're doing it again. Wow. And my wife had left, so I was on kind of babysitting duty. So I said, I'd love to, but I have my son. And he said, bring him. Wow.

And I said, it's 18 degrees out and snowing, and he's 18 months old. I can't bring him. And he said, bring him. Wow. So I put the vest on and bundled my son up. Otherwise, he would have walked out and left, right? Yeah. And we did it.

And at first, when he moved in, I was at a great point in my life. I was married. I thought I was operating at a high level. I didn't realize. You've had successful businesses. But I didn't realize how much more I had in me. And I was in a routine. Like all of us, my routine for me was have breakfast routine. You know, like all of us, you know, my routine for me,

it was have breakfast, go to work, come home with your family, repeat. And it was great, but I wasn't getting better because I couldn't get out of it. I was so comfortable in it.

Yes. And like to get out of a habit requires really rewiring your brain. And I just couldn't do it at that point. I don't know. I've done it in the past. I just couldn't do it. So I brought him in to really shake things up.

And when I did it, I emailed 30 friends. And I said, guys, the workouts I'm doing are so insane. You got to check it out. And they started sharing it and it caught on. But what I realized was it was the mental side of it. What is behind this guy? What is driving him? Where does this come from?

How do I get it? How do I get to be more mentally tough? How do I get to be more consistently disciplined? And that's why I wrote the book because I wanted to share more of him than just like, oh, we ran nine miles and then he woke me up and we ran seven miles. I did this many pull-ups. That comes and goes. I mean, you've had – Anyone can do the workouts.

Right. That's the mindset behind it. Right. I wanted Obi-Wan Kenobi on my shoulder all the time. Wow. So what do you think were the top three lessons that you learned from those 30 days – 31 days, sorry. Well, he has this thing called the 40% rule, which is basically when you're done – when your brain tells you you're done, you're really only 40% done.

Oh, my gosh. But the reality is we're all wired. So the first time we experience pain or discomfort, our brain sends a signal and basically taps you on the shoulder because it doesn't want you to get hurt. Yeah. But if you ignore that tap on your shoulder and keep going, you can do so much more. Sure. So that was a really good lesson. And I kind of learned that with the pull-ups.

But when's the limit the limit? Like once you do that 60% more or 40% more. You got to find out. Do you keep going until you break an arm or until you go to the hospital? It depends on who you are. Right. I think. Did you ever hit that limit where you had to go to the hospital i hit the limit where i physically just physically could not go on like

we were doing push-ups one day and i just i just just physically couldn't get up you know like do another one like i just i just couldn't do enough my mind wanted to do another one i just felt like i just couldn't do it yes but uh could he kind of read your energy and was like, okay, now is enough? Well, we went into the steam room once because some of it was just psychological stuff. So we went in the steam room one day and he set the – maxed out on the steam to the highest temperature. It was like 130. But it felt like it was 180 because it was – it had to be a broken – it was definitely hotter than 130. It was hot.

How long were we in there for? Well, he said we're going to go in for 30 minutes with one glass of water. And at about 19 minutes, he's like in the corner like literally like whistling to himself. Shut up. And I'm like – I said to him like, Goggins, I got to get out of here. He's like, we got 11 more minutes. I'm like, I got to get out of here. And before he could answer, I opened up the door.

And he came out and he grabbed me and goes, get the fuck back in. And then he looked at me. He's like, you don't look so good. I'm like, man, I don't feel so good. And I was kind of drifting into la-la land. And he said, we're boarding. I'm like, we're boarding? A boarding?

We're boarding? A boarding? So he didn't put you back in. He didn't put me back in. So he kind of saw the limit. He saw the limit. He saw the limit. He also watched me sit in that chair for about three hours. Afterwards to recover, drinking coconut water.

Yeah. I mean, we just ran. I was so out of whack from everything we were doing. I wasn't sleeping. And then we went into this heat. I was dehydrated already. The steam, it was gross. I couldn't breathe.

Plus, you're also mentally – I'm assuming you didn't put your life on pause during this. No. I was working full-time. Working full-time on multiple businesses, right? Full 12-hour day. Then you're full-time with your son, right? And then your wife. So it's not like you're just –

And traveling. And building a house. It was crazy. But one thing that he – one lesson that he taught me was so important is I was able to take on all that he was putting on my plate and do more without getting rid of anything. Because what I did was he basically after a week looked at my life. He was like a life coach in a weird way. Right. And said to me, I was filling up my calendar with so much non-essential stuff. Yeah, non-productive things.

Because I felt obligated to say yes to lunch meetings. Yes. You meet this guy for 15 minutes. We take this call. And I just didn't want to be like, oh, Jesse's an asshole. He won't take this meeting. So I would just do it. And I realized, like, I was losing control of my own time.

And, like, I lost control of my own time. I lost control of my own time. So I just said – I started saying no to everything, canceling everything that wasn't going to really – that I didn't need to do. That was other people putting demands on me. I really started focusing on me. I mean I think so much of business is a reflection of you and so many of us don't invest in ourselves. Yes. of you and so many of us don't invest in ourselves. So I drew a little pie chart of my time, of how I want to spend my time and in my 24 hours, I broke it up into four different sections and I make sure that every day I have three hours for me.

So I can – because I think it's just so important that we put ourselves first and we really don't. So many of us don't. You get all these arrows shot at you every day, bills, problems, friends need this, work. The plumber has to come because this is broken. This thing won't start. It's like you're always dodging arrows. There's no way around that.

But if you don't take the three hours to at least separate yourself from the constant attack of arrows. You go crazy. Bonkers. Yeah. So – Or you're going to get out of shape or you're going to feel like you don't have any self-worth or something. Right.

Interesting. So what do you do in those three hours? It's my time. So it could be nothing and watch TV. It could be exercise for two hours, get in a sauna and read the paper. It could be read a book. It could be returning. It's however I want to do it, but it's my time that I control.

Do you schedule that every day? Is it in the morning? Every single – Is it broken up an hour here, an hour there? Is it at night? It's three hours together. Together. For me.

I mean I'm able to do that. Yeah. A lot of times I'll kill two birds with one stone. No one else is around. It's just you alone. Or is it your friend? No one else is controlling my time. So you can have friends in that time with you working out or doing it.

Yes, but no one, but I'm not going and doing something I don't want to do. I'm not taking calls unless it's an emergency. I'm shut down. Wow. Shut down. Now,

sometimes if I'm training for something, I want to, I'll say, you know what? I'm going to schedule all my calls during those three hours and I'll go for a run or a walk and I'll take them with me or I'll listen to a podcast during that. So I'm like, all right, you know what, I'm going to go for a three-hour walk, let's just say. Right, right. And then I'll knock it all out.

Sure, sure. Interesting. Okay. So what are the other three sections of the day? Sleep, family, work. Sleep, family, work. Sleep, family, work. And how much sleep do you get? Six or seven. Six or seven. Okay.

And then the rest depends on, I mean, for me, my bucket's a little, my bucket used to be 10 hours of work and three hours of family and seven hours and three, you know, it's amazing how much you can do in 24 hours. Think about it. Get seven hours of sleep, take three hours for yourself is 10. And work a full day, eight hours. You have six hours left of family time. And that's a lot of time. That's a lot of time.

So you could, I mean, just think about it. You've already caught up on everything in an hour. But my point is, and that's what I got out of this guy living with me. 24 hours is a long time, and we maximized the time. I would get home at 11 o'clock some nights, and we would spend an hour from 11 to 12 working out if we didn't do it or we had to get more in. Every minute was maximized.

It wasn't like we were just going to go and be like, you know what? Let's just go, you know, whatever. No, it was all about being productive with my own time too. You know, you talked about habits and routines. What would you say is, you know, and that you kind of got complacent with your routines or they kind of held you back at a certain level, right? You weren't able to break through a certain level. I talk about habits and routines and about how important they are on this podcast a lot.

But it sounds like what I'm hearing you say is that they're important, but every few months or year, you've got to switch it up. Is that what I'm hearing you say? Well, I don't want to go against your wisdom of this. But I think there are times where I would disagree and say that habits and routines are great. They are, but they also could be a rut. Sure. And once you get to a place where they are could be a rut. Sure. And, you know, and once you get to a place

where they are a rut and you're not getting better, there's all kinds of, you know, studies on that. Now, it's all, that also changing it up

and changing up your habit also leads a little bit to, to me, getting uncomfortable. Breaking a habit requires a lot, a lot. So if you get in a habit requires a lot, a lot. So if you get in a habit to get out of that habit, it requires rewiring your brain.

That's just a fact. And that's hard to do. It's no different than – it's just a very hard thing to do. So when I got to that place, I couldn't get out of that rut because I was so deep in my habit. I had been doing the same run, the same this, and that was my day. I had a workout. I had a run in the morning. I went to work. I just couldn't get out of that rut because I was so deep in my habit. I'd be doing the same run, the same this, and that was my day. I had to work out. I had to run in the morning. I went to work. I just couldn't get out of it. So for me, it ended up being a rut and I had to mix it up. Mm-hmm. Now, why did you choose your wife? I'm curious about this. Why is your wife your wife? Well, we both got married. We were both older when we got married. I got married at 40. My wife was 37 when we got married. So for me, the 20s and 30s were fun, super fun. And that's where I was in my life. My head was around fun,

work. I had to work at nights. Nights were really important to me. I just wasn't ready. And there's only three scenarios. Right girl, right time. That's the one. Right girl, wrong time. That doesn't work. And wrong girl, right time. It doesn't work.

So she was right girl, right time. Interesting. Why was she the right girl for you? And she still is. She's independent, which I needed. She had her own career. She allowed me to have a long leash and freedom to do the things that i like but we still checked in with each other still check in with each other values were the same you know all all the stuff

that you know you check if you check eight out of ten boxes it's probably a fit that's great and what's the biggest lesson you've learned about uh yourself through her lens or being married with her what has she taught you well you go through different chapters sure so marriage for us was before we had kids was one chapter marriage with a child was another. Marriage with four is another. But listen, for me and for her, you make a commitment. You're in a team. You're in a team.

And what I love about marriage is like no matter what happens, you got to hug and make up and move on. You know what I mean? Like when you're dating, it's like, oh, well, no. You know what? It's not going to work out. When you're married, you got to sort it make up and move on. You know what I mean? Like when you're dating, it's like, oh, well, no. You know what? It's not going to work out. When you're married, you got to sort it out and figure it out. And that's hard, but it's also fun. Yeah. Wow.

OK. How does she inspire you? We'll see, Lewis. I know. I'm waiting. How does she inspire you? If you want to get on the couch right now, I'm happy to walk you through some stuff. Exactly.

Yeah. You could be my seal. How does she inspire you to break through your limits on a consistent basis or does she? Well, she's an entrepreneur that's made her living putting herself out there. So she's always not been scared to fail, not been scared to take a chance. And she's lived her life on the edge. So she allows me to have the same mentality and encourages me to do stuff like that.

So I was telling you before we started recording that about a month ago, I invited the 12, 10 most influential or 10 of the most influential artists, music artists in my life that really changed the trajectory of my life when I was growing up and took me on a whole different course

to my house for dinner and they all came. And I told my wife, I said, Sarah, next Friday, you might want to circle your calendar. We're having 10 guests come from, you know, some from the Bronx, some from Queens. And, you know, she knows that

that's in my DNA and I know that stuff like that is in her DNA. Sure. And she accepts you for that, it sounds like. Nothing she does will surprise me, and I don't think anything I do will surprise her. Right. I got you. I like it. I mean, what's next for you?

You've had the SEAL live with you. You've had these experiences. You've been talking about this for a while now, and press and everything like that. When do you know? let me ask you. What's next for you and how does someone know when they're in a rut and how do they get to get out of it? And how are you going to get out of the next rut you're in? Because it's going to happen it sounds like for all of us. Right.

So for me, I love – it's one thing to – I love reading about inspiration and motivation and you do it all day long. You encourage people. You encourage people. You motivate people. But it's a completely different thing to live with inspiration and motivation. And I love this because I got so much more out of it than just reading a book. Right. That I'm going to continue to do a series of books where I live with interesting people. Really?

Yeah. Huh. That's brilliant. I have all kinds of ideas and thoughts around what will be next. I think that's a great idea. Yeah. Huh. That's brilliant. I have all kinds of ideas and thoughts around what will be next. I think that's a great idea. Yeah. Wow. It'll be like a kind of living with series.

I think that's brilliant because this is nothing compared to what you're doing. But growing up, my dad had seven different exchange students live with us for six months at a time from all over the world. So these 18, 17, 18 year old seniors came to learn English and go to high school in my hometown. And I had all these older brothers and sisters that I learned culture, language, food, everything from that. I feel like developed me as a, you know, a different human being than my peers. Right. And where I had these extra skills and perspective. So I think it's really cool that you're going to be attracting, I'm assuming the top people in the world at what they do to live with you and continue to develop. So I think, I think it's really cool that you're going to be attracting, I'm assuming, the top people in the world at what they do to live with you and continue to develop. So I think it's brilliant. Yeah, no, I'm excited.

I wish I had that idea. That's another thing, how I know I married the right woman, because she's allowing these people to come into our house. Amazing. Now, has anyone else tried to hire him to have him live with them for 30 days? Yes, yes. It's like his job now to go in and reprogram homes, right? We had the right chemistry between us. He came from a completely different background, life than I did.

We're totally different, black, white. His childhood was tough. Mine was comfortable. It was just like these two worlds colliding were unbelievable and would be very difficult for a lot of people i think yes and for us uh it you know personality wise and just where we were it it worked out so i think we'd have a hard time for the other people both sides for him and for other families sure sure and i don't think he wants to do that. Yeah. What was it like the day after he left? It was quiet and sad.

Well, first of all, he lived with me for 31 days, shadowed me, went to every meal, every meeting, everywhere, every trip, everything. He left me a note. Amen. Thanks. No goodbye? No. No hug?

No. He left. As soon as that clock hit, 12 o'clock, he was out. I'm assuming you hired him. So you paid him for the time, right? I'm assuming there was like – Yeah. Well, he never asked me for money.

Really? Which was very – pretty unbelievable. I did pay him. Right. But he never – we didn't negotiate. He was like, I'll come live with you. And I was like, I'm going to compensate you. And he was like, whatever you want to do.

Yeah. So that was – it was sad. And I was tired. I was like, I'm going to compensate you. And he was like, whatever you want to do. So that was – it was sad. And I was tired. I was tired. From all the training. Yeah. So I was kind of glad that it was done but kind of sad that he left. Nice.

Like if he could have just hung out and we could have watched ESPN for a week, that would have been cool. But if he had to stay another week with the push-ups, probably the time that he left. Gotcha. So now how much of this can you consistently do yourself? Obviously, you're not doing the extreme workouts every single day the way he did it, I'm assuming. But how much of what you learned are you still applying on a daily basis? How much do you say, you know what?

There's still 20 more percent I can do. Yeah. Let me actually push it? Or are you just like, well, I know it's available for me, but I'm not going to do it? So let me actually push it or are you just like, well, I know it's available for me but I'm not going to do it. Well, a lot of the physical stuff, I can't – I wasn't able to keep it up without him because it was just too much for me. But it was the mental stuff that stayed with me and that's really what I wanted. So I still – I get his little voice on my shoulder all the time. If I don't want to do something, if it's cold, listen.

If we could all get motivated through our conversation, we could tell everyone who's listening, we're going to run a 10K tomorrow, get everyone pumped up and they're fired up. We play Rocky in the background. People are all jacked up. And then we said, we're going to start tomorrow morning. And tomorrow morning, you wake up and it's dark, it's windy,

it's wet, cold out. That motivation goes out the window. So it's that mental toughness that says, you know what? I don't care that it's dark, wet, windy, cold. I'm going to go anyway. That's what I kept with me. And in training and in work, I get deal fatigue. You lose motivation. You go through peaks and valleys. We all do. It's that mental toughness that hopefully can push you through. And it goes to like your last question was how do you identify you're in – you're in a rut or you're in a – you're just – you're not improving. I think you identify that you're in a rut when you want to get better and you're not.

And it's easy to fall into habit. It's so easy. I think you identify that you're in a rut when you want to get better and you're not. Uh-huh. You know? And it's easy to fall into habit. It's so easy. Yeah. Comfortable habit that's not moving you forward. Listen, I've been in brands. I've launched brands that I thought were great ideas but required breaking a habit. And that is super difficult. And coconut water is one.

You're asking someone to go and say, stop drinking what you're drinking today. Put down whatever you're drinking. Completely change your habit. Right. And go try this. Oh, and then do it again next week and then buy it again the week after. Yeah. And then go get another person to do that.

That's hard. Come on, man. That's hard. It's hard. It's got to be a great product for that to happen. Yeah. What's a non-negotiable for you every single day what's a habit that is a must do every day for you for 25 years it was it was running not maybe not every day but you know pretty close pretty close to every single day a couple miles a non-negotiable for me is i only eat fruit until

noon like so if you don't eat fruit afternoon. I do, but I don't eat anything other than fruit until noon for 27 years. You only eat fruit until noon. And then afternoon, you'll still eat fruit. If you said to me, Jess, tomorrow, let's get up and let's go have pancakes. Right, or eggs and sausage. Right. I would say, Lewis, I would love to, but I'm going to have a banana.

Right. Right. Why is that? say, Lewis, I would love to, but I'm going to have a banana. Right. Right. Why is that? I read a book called Fit for Life in 90, 91.

And one of the principles of the book was to only eat fruit until noon because digestion requires so much energy. It does. You eat a big meal or you eat something that's hard to digest, you get tired. Thanksgiving, you're tired. Have a steak and potatoes, you're usually tired. Lions eat a lot of meat. Big meals, they sleep all day. But fruit digests in 20 minutes and is the only thing that doesn't digest in your stomach

and bypasses your stomach. Wow. Digests in your small intestines but is loaded in nutrients, perfect sugar balance with your brain and helps with elimination. So I'm not a scientist. I'm not a food nutritionist. I don't know. I'm not any of that.

But I tried it for 10 days like the book said and here I am 27 years later and I ran 100 miles and it's never changed. And I've never – I mean I don't miss – I've missed probably three days of work. Wow. 27 years. So – Amazing. I love that.

Are there any other non-negotiables? I mean, I got a little nutty stuff. Yeah, I got some non-negotiables. We'll talk about it afterwards. Gotcha. Final few questions for you. Why are you so motivated to continue doing what you're doing? I mean, you've built so many amazing businesses.

You've tried all these things. You're married to an incredible woman. You've got kids. Why do you keep moving forward? Why do you want to keep creating books, building businesses? What's the drive for you? I mean, I think it's two things. One is I'm a big believer in building life resumes and creating memories. And last year, I probably, and you probably, if I said to you, name five things that happened last year, it would take you a long time to probably think of five things that you really remember. And I bet the five are either the most wild or hardest or – those are usually the

most memorable and those are the things that make you feel the most alive. So I love creating life memories and challenges. The more challenging, the more memorable and the more alive you feel. And the second thing is I don't believe in finish lines to the sense that I believe in one-day celebrations like check the box and move on. You run a marathon, I'm not like, that's great. Let's celebrate it that night. Let's show everyone our medal. But let's not sit there and think about it for six months that we ran a marathon like that's great we did it what's next so i've never been someone that like you know if you didn't bring up marquee jet or zico it would never it's

not even on my mind right it's in the past right i mean it subconsciously it lives in me and it's part of my journey but it's like i'm I'm like thinking about what can I do next. Yeah. You want to keep creating. Yeah. I mean that's just – you did it. I love it. It's like moving back to your old neighborhood.

Yeah. That's great. What are you most grateful for in your life recently? I mean knock on wood, man, four healthy kids without question. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. This is a question I like to ask at the end for everyone.

It's many, many years from now and it's the last day for you. And let's say that all the people you love are there, but every book you've written, all the businesses you've ever created have been erased from time and all the interviews you've ever done are gone. No one has access to the information you put out there, and your friends and family say you've got a piece of paper and a pen, and you get to write down three truths, the three things that you know to be true about all your life memories

that you've created and your experiences that you pass on to us for us to use as a guide for the rest of our lives. What would you say are the three truths for you? I would just say there's one. I would just say if's one. One truth. I would just say just to be, if I was telling my kids, like on my deathbed,

I would just say to be good to people. I mean, at the end of the day, really what else is there other than treating people well? And you know, one of the best things about success is you get to spoil your friends and family. And that's the most rewarding thing.

It's not that you can go and get a bigger house or – it's that you can share things with your family and friends, vacations, game, sporting events, big moments, fly them in and do stuff with the people that you really want to do it with. Yeah. I mean, and it's hard to say like live an honorable life and don't lie. And we all try to do that stuff. And you do it to the best of your ability. And obviously, there's going to be little exaggerations here and there and this and that. But at the end of the day for me, it's just – But at the end of the day for me, it's just – I've made my living and my life when I was in my 20s treating everybody exactly the same from doorman to whatever because in my 30s, those same people – and I had no idea that this was the case in my 20s. But in my 30s, all those people that I've been nice to, that I crossed paths with,

you know, mad or whatever, were in positions of power. So many of them went on to be in positions of power. And like, you know, people genuinely want to help people if they were nice and good to them and have a good taste or feeling about them. If the energy is good between us, you know, you're going to want to help me, I'm going to help you down the road with nothing in return and i found in my 30s that that was the case that people wanted to genuinely if i picked up the phone and i had done something or we had a relationship that i could get something move forward because of that whereas other people could have been an

asshole right you know what i mean just because you're an asshole and you might not have that same thing. So, you know, and I try to do the same thing, you know, with everybody. Right. Turning, calling, you know, everything. Sure. I love that. One final question before I ask. I want to acknowledge you, Jesse, for your creative spirit and your nature that you have

and your consistent commitment to redefining who you want to be in the life you want to live. I think it's inspiring to see your whole journey of what you created in the music world and the jet world and everything. You've come with a fresh perspective. Thank you. And I think, uh,

that's really inspiring for me to, to know that people like you are out there and you're changing the world with each new life memory that you create. So I want to acknowledge you for that. Thank you. Thank you. And I'm excited about your book. I want to make sure everyone gets this.

It's called Living with a Seal. Make sure to check it out. I'll have it all linked up here in a second. Tell you guys where to go. But the final question is, what's your definition of greatness? Oh, man. Saving that one for the last one. Oh, man. saving that one for the last one oh man well they say that the definition of success is if you're

um adult kids still want to hang out with you you know as they get older um you know anything you ask me around greatness because the hardest challenge is being and you'll find this out hopefully is being uh do you have kids no okay it's being a parent it's just so it's just so difficult and it doesn't come with a manual yeah um so for me the great greatness is if you're you know evolves around centers around your family i love it and you know how you can help people yeah everyone has you know the ability to do great things at work. There's so much opportunity in this country. We're so lucky to be born in this country

where you have nothing but opportunity and you see it every day. You don't even need a high school or college degree to be a billionaire in today's world. You've got to do a lot of things right and great to be a great parent that's powerful

Jesse Itzler thanks for coming on man appreciate it there you have it my friends thank you again so much for being here on episode 300 so pumped on where we've come together as a community and the greatness community to

get to 300. A lot of you have supported by listening, by sharing, by promoting, by just being involved, by buying the book, by buying the School of Greatness Academy, by being in the community. And I appreciate you guys so very much for your support along the way.

So many of you have also sent me suggestions for guests that you would like to have on. And we're getting bigger and bigger influencers and billionaires and celebrities and top athletes and scientists and doctors in the world. And that's my goal, to get the top 1% in their industry to come on and share their secrets and their information on how to be great and what that means and lessons. information on how to be great and what that means and lessons. So if you have a good friend who's in that category, who's on the top 1% of their industry, a mainstream name, someone who's really doing great things in the world, email lewis at schoolofgreatness.com with, in the headline, interview request or interview suggestion.

And only do that if you actually have a connection to that person or that person's team, and you could make that intro if I think the person would be great for the show. So don't just tell me, hey, get Obama on the show, and then not have an intro to Obama, right? Give me an intro if you can. That way I don't have to run around and try to make the work happen myself if I don't have that connection. So let me know by sending an email to lewis at schoolofgreatness.com.

If you know someone who'd be great for the show at the top 1% of their industry, their field, someone who's doing big things in the world and send interview request or suggestion and then let me know who it is and if you have the intro. I appreciate you guys so very much. If you are here for the first time, please leave a review over on iTunes. We're almost at 1,000 reviews actually. So help me get to 1,000 five-star reviews. It's been amazing to see all the feedback and comments that come through on iTunes. So if you go to iTunes.com slash School of Greatness, you can do that there.

Or just if you're on your iPhone right now, on your iPhone app, the podcast app, just tap on leave a review right on your phone and you can let me know what you think and I'll check out your thoughts there. I appreciate you guys so very much. We've got some big things ahead, but in the meantime, you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Thank you.