The School of Greatness - 428 Millionaire Success Habits with Dean Graziosi

Episode Date: January 4, 2017

"Let thoughts be things, not who you are." - Dean Graziosi If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/428

Episode number 428 with New York Times best-selling author Dean Graziosi. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a 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 back to another inspirational interview on the School of Greatness podcast. We've got Dean Graziosi in the house. We've got Dean Graziosi in the house.

And most of you know of him as someone who has been on TV almost every single day for the last 15 years. He did a number of educational interviews and infomercials teaching real estate for over 15 years on TV. And it's been amazing to hear about his results. At one point, he talks about how he did over $150 million in sales in 18 months for an infomercial from one different commercial he did. He talks about the millionaire success habits, what he learned from living in a trailer park growing up to not going to college, and how he transformed his life from living in scarcity and living with hand-me-downs to being financially free a thousand times over. Again, he never went to college. He's a multiple New York Times bestselling author. He's an entrepreneur, an inspirational speaker. And some of the things we talk about are the habits that he does every

single morning that set him up for financial success, but also fulfillment in his life. We talk about the seven levels deep exercise that when everyone goes through this exercise, you understand the actual purpose of your life's mission. Such a powerful experience. You're going to want to make sure you go through it. We also talked about how he overcame the misconception of being on an infomercial and the lesson that Tony Robbins taught him about this process as well. We talked about the keys of persuasion, sales, and marketing. And really, for someone who sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of products and services, I asked him, what is the secret? What are the keys to sales, marketing, and persuasion?

He reveals the simple philosophy that has served him and his audience over the last 20 years in this process. We talk about that and so much more in this interview, episode number 428 with the one, the only, Dean Graziosi. Welcome, everyone, to the School of Greatness podcast. We have a living legend, Dean Graziosi, in the house. Thanks for having me here, man. This is awesome.

I'm excited. I first found out about you probably, I don't know, 10 or 15 years ago from TV. Yeah. Late night when I was probably broke and depressed, trying to figure out about what I was going to do with my life. You were on there interviewing, talking about a book and real estate stuff. I remember you in front of a house

talking about how you generated like, or this house, like someone made 30 grand from or something like that, or 130,000 or something like that, vaguely. And I met you the first time, I don't know if you remember this, I think it was probably five or six years ago at Josh Bozzone,one had a mastermind.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, in Austin. Yes. That's right. I was wondering where I met you the first time. Yeah, I couldn't point. I briefly just shook hands. And then I met you again, I think for like a hot second through Than Merrill.

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I believe at one of his events or something. Got it. So I think we met briefly, but this is really- But now we're here, so. Now we're here. And thanks to Joe Polish for connecting us. Yeah.

And I know you guys do a lot of this. He's the total connector, right? Yeah, exactly. I've got a lot of questions for you today. Okay. But you wrote a book called Millionaire Success Habits. Make sure you guys go check this out. We'll tell you where to go at the end here.

It's the Gateway to Wealth and Prosperity. And you are a New York Times bestseller. You've written a number of books, five books, right? And why this book? Most of them are real estate-minded books. Why a book about millionaire success habits? It's a great question. My first book I ever wrote, my first New York Times bestseller was called Totally Fulfilled. I was in the business and I read it now. And it's like, you look look back, if you're a person, it's someone who grows. I look back at that now and I'm like, oh, can I take it off the shelves? But I wrote that book because I'd already been in the education business for 10 years. And when, you know, when you find out, when you obsess on

getting people results, right. And which everybody watching, whatever you do in life, like there's nothing better than being passionate about what you do. And when I'd look where people would fall short on doing a real estate deal or taking their life to the next level or, or taking action, it had nothing to do with my tactical skills on what I taught in real estate. Cause what I was teaching was exactly what I did. I literally, you know, not to go to the story, but I was lived in a trailer park. I was homeless with my dad for a year. We lived in a bathroom. I went through that. I didn't go to past high school. I had dyslexia. All this stuff that a lot of us have gone through. I know that the strategies worked in real estate. When I got so frustrated, I'm like, I don't need to write a real estate book.

I need to write a book to get out of their own way, to get over the obstacles, to just use the crap that I'm giving you so you could take action. Because they would have the strategies, but they wouldn't get the results. The first obstacle, they turn around and go backwards, right? First time it doesn't work, you know, limiting beliefs, people from the outside, the stories they tell themselves, all the things that we all know. And if your audience is watching this, they get a lot of that stuff. So I wrote that book and then went on to write four or five more real estate books.

I've been blessed to sell lots of them, millions of books sold. And then in the last couple of years, it's just been on my heart to share the process in which I went through and then being blessed to be friends with really successful people and billionaires. The more success you have, the more you realize it's less shifts in your life than you would think. I think when you're struggling and you want more, if you think back to when you were on the couch at your sister's house, you probably thought there was 100 or 200 things you had to change about you. You had to discover the latest and greatest and technology and all the things, the complexity of today's world, right? We're overloaded with information. We're overloaded with delivery systems. If anybody's in marketing, it's like, do I do Facebook?

And if it's Facebook, is it Facebook Live? We get all so much complexity with the delivery systems and we forget that it really boils down to about a handful of things, handful of things that make someone successful or not. So through my years and touching the lives of millions of people and reading tens of thousands of posts and doing live events, you realize that people are just lacking these habits that they could shift. And that's what I got on this obsession about 18 months ago. And that's why, that's why millionaire success habits. Who was your biggest mentor growing up? You know, I would say I didn't have a lot of mentors growing up. Um, I was, I was probably

more running away from the life I had. You know, I, I hated watching my parents struggle. I mean, all they ever worried about was money, right? There was no time for coaching little league. And I was telling you, I'll tell you more. My daughter's here with me today too her first business trip when she turned 10 she's here in the business trip but you know i get to coach little league i get to go to every dance recital i play at the park in the middle of the day i watched my parents not have any of those options they were great parents they just didn't have those options so i think i was running away from the pain of money and broke and all that but i would have to say 18 years ago tony robbins made a massive

impact on my life. Just, I mean, he's one of my dearest friends in the world now, but 18 years ago it was his course and my journal where I said, someday I hope to meet him, you know? And so I would say that he made a big impact on me for sure. Wow. Okay. Was there, how did you get out of the, uh, I guess the scarcity mindset or the scarce life you were living in where you were in the trailer park or you were living in a bathroom and your parents had these conversations. How did you shift it? Was there information you learned from Tony or from someone else that helped you get started? You know, it's funny. I've been asked that question before and I don't have a specific epiphany like, oh, this one moment. I can remember thinking throughout high school and even in my

early twenties, maybe not my early 20s, I flipped pretty quick, right around 20 years old. You didn't go to college, right? I didn't go to college. I barely got out of high school. But I can remember thinking in high school, whatever years that was, is that I hope someday I can get a job and make a thousand bucks a week and just get by. I'm not that smart because I had trouble reading. I still can't read great, but I've had dyslexia is what I think it's been diagnosed now, but I still can't comprehend good when I read, but I didn't realize I was an audible and visual learner. I could listen to a book and I'll memorize the whole book. I can watch somebody on stage and emulate that if it fits my life. But sometimes we're judged by a scorecard that

doesn't, it's an outdated scorecard, right? So not only did we not have money, I also felt, well, I'm not smart enough to go to school. And something changed around 17, 18 years old, just something flipped. And I just, I noticed, and this is going to sound like it's a pitch for the book and it's not, but I noticed the people in my town, this little tiny town, I grew up in upstate New York, the people that had money, the people that seemed happier, I don't know behind the scenes, but they seemed happier, more fulfilled. They were more relaxed. Like life just happened. Like they were walking up a ladder instead of like, my family seemed like they were running on a treadmill. You know, it's like, we're going fast, but we're not going anywhere. So why is this guy or this woman in this town doing so well? And I remember just

obsessing on it. And, and what I noticed it was, I didn't, I didn't call it habits. I'd love to say I figured this out when I was in my twenties, but what I realized is they just did different things than my family and my friends were doing. And I just started obsessing on that. And I was young enough and naive enough to just think I could do it. You know, I mean, sometimes you wish you could give that gift to somebody in the twenties, thirties, fifties, 70s, right? I had the gift of being naive and a little dumb and not listening to anybody. I mean, in 1998, I did my first infomercial. Wow.

Almost 20 years ago. Yeah. In 1998, I filmed my first one. And my sister, my daughter's aunt, my daughter's sitting here with this, my sister drove from Virginia. Because by then, so in 1998, I had an apartments, I had a collision shop, I had an auto sales, and I was building houses. From that broke kid, I was doing well. How old were you when you started that?

I was probably in 1998. It was 20 years ago. I was 28, 29 years old. So in your early 20s, you started to do real estate. Yeah. So I hit it big in real estate by the time I was 26, 27 years old, just by taking action, knocking on a million doors and finally got someone to do a no money down deal with me when I was 20. And then another one, and I rolled that into the next deal and next deal. And it was

consistent action and consistent, you know, failing and getting back up. Right. The, the, the space between failures is really a huge determining factor of your success, right? It's like if you can fail fast, you can win quicker, right? So I remember the first, I decided to do an infomercial. I'm going to write a book on how to make money and go on TV. And my family lost their mind. Like my sister drove from Virginia to sit down with me and say, it's time to get real. You did good.

You got lucky. Not lucky. You work hard. You got here, but you're going to blow it. And I remember that conversation like it was yesterday. It was your sister. My sister. And she did it out of pure love.

Of course. She thought she was protecting me. How many people listening right now want to listen to you or do something? Oh, you're listening to that. Wasting your time. Just get real. Right. You know, do something.

So I remember that conversation and I literally almost gave up on it. I remember going to cancel the whole thing and say, what am I thinking? I can't read that good. I'm going to write a book and all this stuff. And luckily, I just remember thinking, if I keep these patterns, I'm going to continue the same process my family has. And I want more. And we filmed it and the show went on TV and it aired in 1999.

And I went 17 years straight without missing a day on TV. 17 years. Without missing a day on TV. 17 years. Without missing a day on TV. Does it stop now? It stopped because we're going from my real estate book to this. Oh, wow. So we're just pausing until the show I did with Larry King is going to roll out on Millionaire Success Habits sometime. 17 years.

Yeah, I didn't miss a day on TV. Was it all throughout the US, over the world? Just US. Just US. Just US. Wow. And how did you... Now, was there a guy named Big who was a part of this? Big, yeah. Big, he bought my media. Gotcha. I met him. Right. He the world? Just U.S. Just U.S. Yeah. Wow. And how did you, now was there a guy named Big who was a part of this? Big, yeah, Big, he bought my media.

Gotcha. I met him. He bought some of my media. Okay. When we were, yeah, he's a great guy. He's an interesting character. I love that guy. Yeah.

That's cool. So he worked for Mercury Media. Uh-huh. And I had three media, at one time when we were really cranking, I had three media companies at the same time. Just buying media for you. Yeah, we were running out of media. It was converting so well.

Wow. So. Amazing. Now, is this the same infomercial for 17 years? No, no. Yeah, we were running out of media. It was converting so well. Amazing. Now, is this the same infomercial for 17 years? No, no. She had a new one about every year. Really? Wow.

Yeah, it was an interview. Some I drove in my car. That was one of my biggest ones. I just put a camera on the dash of the window, the windshield, and I drove in the car for a half hour and pitched. I'd stop at, literally, I'd stop at streetlights and pitch my book. I'd stop, and then I'd hold the book up and be like, hey, everybody, I'm driving to my house right now from my office, but if you want my book, call the number. Wait, light screen. I got to go.

Oh, my gosh. How did you think that these infomercials were going to do well for you? You had a good system already. You were making good money. Why risk something like that? Because of Tony. If I lost all my money, I'd have to blame him. Because he was on TV every night. He was on TV, and he inspired me. I'm like, I want to inspire people with my that. It was because of Tony. Because he was on TV. Yeah, if I lost all my money, I'd have to blame him. Because he was on TV every night. He was on TV and he inspired me. I'm like, I want to inspire people with my story. So I didn't even know about direct mail or the internet really wasn't there yet. It was AOL dial-up.

So it wasn't the internet and I was naive enough. I mean, I shot the infomercial and then I didn't know how to get it on TV. I was calling like stations and I'm like, who books the then I didn't know how to get it on TV. I was calling stations. I'm like, who books the media? How do you get on there? Like so naive. How did you know what formula was going to work? I didn't.

I didn't. I just watched Tony. Let me try this out. Let me try this. I remember I was a nervous wreck and scared. I'm happy to talk about me, but I really want to serve today. I want to give back anything that I can do

to help somebody watching right now that wants to get over that obstacle or they feel like they're at a plateau. They know there's more and they can't. I mean, that's the biggest frustration in life is knowing you have more gas in the tank and you don't know where to go, how to go, or get that momentum. But I digress. I got off track. But I did the infomercial being so naive. I had no idea how to get it on. And I just, and that's the part I was going to tell everybody is persistence.

Like I didn't, I literally flew to Arizona to meet a media buyer. And I said, I have no idea what I'm doing. And I just kept pushing. And, and one of those things that I think during the evolution of growing from wherever you are to where you want to go is do whatever you do best. I mean, do whatever you're doing the best you can knowing there's the bigger horizon. So I literally was working during the day on cars. I was a paint cars. I was doing collision repair at night. I'd go work on my apartments and I was a plumber and, and, and, and hung sheet rock and I'd work till midnight on houses and I was tired, but I had a dream. I knew I wanted to help people do better. So it made what I was doing okay because I knew there

was more. So the big problem I see is people want more and they hate what they're doing. So that they're in a state of mind where, God, I just, when I'm done with this crap, then someday I'll reach my dreams. And if you can flop that to go, no, this is the gateway to my dreams. I don't care that I'm serving coffee or I'm painting cars or I'm a teacher right now, or I'm on my sister's couch. Like this is what I have to do. And I have to do it the best. Become a master. Just become a master at that because, and that's the income and the security and the mindset that fuels the next level. It's not, this is miserable. I hate it. I feel the next level. And now I'm amazing. It's like, this is miserable, I hate it, I fueled the next level and now I'm amazing. It's like, you need to master that.

Yeah, the process. Yeah. You gotta fall in love with that process. You do. And the evolution. Yeah. And the failure. You're not gonna have like overnight success.

You know, it took you probably 10 years until you got into that next phase. It's like the first time you see an actor in a movie and you're like, man, I never saw that person. Overnight success. It's like they don't show the summer stock and all the stuff, you know, the millions of theater and no money and editing extra work.

Yeah. Sitting there drinking coffee in the background. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Wow. Okay.

Can you share, I wasn't even going to ask about this, but I'm fascinated about infomercials now since you've done it for so long. Is there a, a formula to like the most successful infomercial, like five or six things that you must have? Yeah. You know,

it's so funny when I went dead before, when my brain, there was a thought I had, and I never, never happens because we just got off a plane. It might be the Dramamine. But I went flat for a second because what I was thinking, what I was going to tell you is you said,

how do you know it was going to work? And what I'd share with anybody watching in any kind of marketing or any kind of persuasion or any kind of getting some, attracting somebody, persuading someone to get them to take action. When I look back at those original infomercials, I had two things going for me. I wasn't the smartest guy in the world, struggled reading, insecure about that,

wasn't college educated. I don't have a really incredible vocabulary. It's hard for me to articulate certain words because they're not in there, right? But what I had was, is enthusiasm and authenticity. When I look back at those infomercials and they hit like monsters. I mean, one infomercial I did, one of the first sit down infomercials I did, did 150 million in sales.

Wow. Just one infomercial. And. How long, what period was that over? About 18 months. Wow. That's amazing. And I look back at that and I don't say that to brag and all that's not profit.

Of course. You spend a lot of media on your media. Of course. So I don't want anybody, I barely say anything about money. I'm saying that to make an impact because I wasn't the smartest guy. I didn't go to college. I didn't come from anything. Most people watching are way further ahead than I was when I started.

You weren't trained on the camera. Right. But what I did have is I look back even at those old shows where I'm embarrassed to see myself. And my New York accent was like super heavy. So I grew up is I had authenticity and enthusiasm. And I think people could see this guy really wants to help. I wasn't scripted. It wasn't perfect.

I stuttered. I said words wrong. I mean, I look at some of those. I use the wrong words in the wrong context, but it's still converted. And as I evolved, so you say, what's the foundation? Like as I evolved and I did the first time I ever did a sit down Larry King style infomercial, he's the one that gave me the idea for that. Then I did the one where I was driving in my car. The reason I did that driving in my car is I wanted people to know that I wasn't using a

teleprompter. There wasn't somebody scripting me. There wasn't a million cuts. It was me just driving. It wasn't produced. It was me driving from my office. I started it with a backpack. I said, I'm going home. You want to take a ride with me?

And I talked till I got home. You, Brianna and my son were probably three and one. When I got to the door, they came running out. That was the end of the infomercial. That's cool. Right? And that wasn't even planned. They just ran out because dad was home. Right. But I did that because I could tell the authenticity and the enthusiasm I had to change people's lives was there. So what I'd say for an infomercial,

for any kind of marketing, for selling yourself, you still need the core. I mean, what I wrote in this book, but what you need is the core foundations of what success are. Now, I would say a couple of things when it comes to persuasion out of all my years of doing this and being lucky to sell, I wasn't a scientist of selling. I was just an innate, I had an innate ability to sell through that passion. And then you get your 10,000 hours in and all of a sudden it becomes good. Right. So on the job training, right. But when I look back, um, and if I, if I go off in an area that you want to reel me back in, reel it back in, but people buy from you, will love you, will learn from you, will give you a

promotion when they feel understood, not when they understand you. And that was one of the biggest lessons I read. When you watch someone who is so full of knowledge, so full of wisdom and wants to sell their product, sell themselves, get the raise, close the deal at the boardroom. They're always want to just exude who they are, their credentials, what they have and how they could solve the problem. And that will get you so far. Like being great at sharing who you are will get you out of Egypt. Understand how people feel and letting them feel understood will get you to the promised land, right? So when you go to an audience or you're talking to close a deal, most people want to share. Most of the time you just need to be quiet and find what's going on in that person's life. Be an expert at the temporary state of mind.

Like understand what they're going through at that minute and let them feel understood. When you let people feel understood, when someone's watching you and you do an amazing job, dude, I've been watching you forever and I love what you do. But when someone watches you and go, man, that guy gets me. He understands where I'm going at. He understands my struggles. He understands where I want to go. That's someone I can hitch my cart to rather than someone who's got great credentials and tells you can go, I understand that person, but I don't think he understands where I'm

at. Right. And so the two things when it comes to an infomercial comes to anything with persuasion. The two things I always tell myself is how do I make sure that person feels understood? And secondly,

how do I enter a conversation going on in their mind, not mine? You know, when you were on your sister's couch, you had different struggles. Right? Now I come to Doheny Drive in LA.

You're in a completely different world, a completely different space, flying to the White House and all this stuff that you got going on. The conversations in your head have changed dramatically from when you were on your sister's couch to now. So what happens, and I've watched this with marketers and people in business, as they evolve, you remember that pain, that passion, the desire for more.

I mean, you could probably close your eyes right now and remember that desire and think, am I ever going to make it? And even a little bit of envy for maybe some of your buddies who made it or a little jealousy. It doesn't mean that you wished ill thoughts on them, but it's like, damn it, they made it. I don't have it. What if I never get it? If you remember that pain, if you remember that process, you remember that thoughts, you will always serve anybody watching who needs that. But what happens to some people is as they evolve and you're going to join the country club, maybe you're going to get married, you're going to move to the suburbs. Now you got an accountant

and you got two assistants. And now should I hire a sales team? Got a private jet. And then is the pilot going to be late? And then you're like, I got a Facebook team. Should I outsource the Facebook market? And all of a sudden your conversations change. You get to do an interview or you pitch on camera or you do an infomercial. And all of a sudden you're having conversations in your head and your audience feels disconnected. And you don't even know why. You're like, what did I miss? Because now you're asking questions of a completely different group because you've evolved. So the two things, again, I always go back to even before I turn a camera on, before I go on stage, before I do an infomercial, I said, people buy from you, love you, adore you, will learn from you if they feel understood. And I

want to enter conversations going on in their heads, not mine. Wow. Powerful. So two, two simple, like such simple little things, but it's a foundation for persuasion. Amazing, man. Um, so what are some of the habits then that you learned over the years that the millionaires have that the rest of people don't have? So this is going to sound, this one's going to sound crazy, but this is one that I've, I shouldn't say it sounds crazy. It sounds too simple, but this one has been a passion of mine for the last probably two years more than ever, last six months, especially. I told you before with being a dad,

you always want to be able to look in the mirror no matter how much money you're making and what you're doing for a living and look at that person and say, are you good with you? Are you compromising who you are? Are you going against your values to be successful? You have to have that conversation with the man in the mirror, right? Yeah, absolutely. But when you have kids, it compounds times a thousand. Anybody watching who knows exactly what I'm saying, kids don't do what you say. They do what you do. So you have somebody watching. If I want to be the best dad possible, I need to keep evolving and faster than ever.

So I would say a morning routine, this is just one of them that's been huge in my life, is setting my day up for success. And in an interview like this, there's so many different directions we can go, but I want to give some really strong takeaways here is everybody watching. We suffer on all different levels of suffering. We, some people suffer on a high level. Some people suffer because is the job going to get done? Is the, is the deal going to come through? Like we have these moments of suffering, no matter if it's five minutes of suffering or an hour of suffering or months of suffering. Some people lose a relationship and they suffer for years. Some people have a partner take their money. They suffer for years and they're stuck in that. And if you can limit the time you suffer,

the more you can work on the solutions to better your life. People stuck in suffering are stuck forever. And right now I'm saying it and you're thinking of friends that you have that are stuck. They went, went, went, found some suffering and they just crippled. Or moments where I was suffering

and I didn't let go of it. You can't let go of it, right? Or I held on to it for too long and it hurt me. Right, and if you hold on to it, there's not enough energy or focus to keep moving forward. That's when you stall, right?

Yeah. So I've been on this obsession and literally Tony Robbins flew out. Him and I got really close. He flew out, him and I got really close. He flew out and him and I had lunch about nine months ago and he's on the same thing of like eliminating like complete suffering gone. Like instead of hours or weeks, it's moments that you catch it.

So morning routines helped me more than ever. And I'll tell you mine. Anybody wants to steal this, this works for me because I want to set my days up for least amount of suffering, feeling grateful and ready to, you know, just rock at the day. Like nothing can get me off. Now, everybody knows gratitude is a key to success, happiness, joy. You can't be grateful and depressed, grateful and sad. You just can't do the two together.

But it's hard sometimes. I feel like the Roadrunners before your time. But when I was a kid, remember Beep Beep, the Roadrunner? There was the Tasmanian Devil. Yep. So most of our lives with Facebook and social media and cell phones, we're like the Tasmanian Devil. There's so much dust around us.

It's hard to like see through it, right? Like it's like, I just got to get through this storm and then I'll be okay. How do I, you want me to set a goal and be grateful? Like how do I get out of this dust storm, right? Sure. So I just obsessed on how do I start my day to make sure it doesn't happen. So one thing I do is at night, I put my phone on airplane mode. And for the last year especially, when I wake up in the morning, I do not check email or text.

Because I can't. If I check email or text. Especially in bed, right? Right. And I've done it for years. I'm not telling you something I haven't done. But the great texts put me in a good mood. Bad texts, I become the.

Or you feel anxious. Yeah. And you feel like, oh, you know, I should get this done. I should just get this out of the way, right? And you become the thermometer of life. Life just grabbed a hold of you, and they're going to tell you how your day is going to be. I don't know if I'm going to adjust you on the heat up, the ice cold, or stressed, or anxious. So I leave my phone on airplane mode, and the first thing I do is I feed my soul, right?

And that's not this this I'm just being honest I don't chant I don't do hours of meditation what I've done is I've lowered the bar of gratitude now these are habits that you think oh this is revolutionary these are the habits that I look have made me successful make me keep going forward push through the negative times keep reaching for the next thing so I I find gratitude but I've lowered the bar. And I just said this, but I'll wake up some mornings and be like, damn, these sheets are amazing. You know, I mean, 150,000, you can Google it, 150,000 people die every day.

There's some days I just wake up and go, damn, I'm not one of them. I'm here. And when you can find gratitude on the lowest level, not I conquered, I did. Look, I see your wall. You've interviewed such amazing people. You got to be so proud of yourself. I look at it. I admire it. That's amazing goals. But sometimes we just set ourselves up until you get the next one of those pictures up there. The rest of the stuff is just mundane. It's not. We're in this beautiful world. We're blessed every day. We're learning every moment. Even an interview like this, take all the stuff I say,

throw most of it away. If you get one thing I say today, it was worth your time with us being together. Just one thing, right? So I find a way to be grateful in like the first few moments I wake up by lowering the bar. No big special thing. Or sometimes I'll open a book like I just read The Untethered Soul for the second time. Love that book. I'll read two sentences out loud and then I feed my body. So I immediately get up and I do, I mean, it's just my personal thing, but I do a glass full, big glass of water with a lemon, a green juice, some essential oils. And I down that cause I feel like I'm feeding my body. And then I go move whether it's

workout, run, exercise, and someone isn't working out. I just move. And those three things set me up for a successful day. And then when I get back, this is something I've been doing for a year, and I'd say rob this, because there's things that, listen, you're in business, there's things that you love to do. It's your core competency,

you were put on this earth to do, it's interviewing, it's meeting people, it's networking, whatever you have is meant to be. But there's some things that you do, it's like, I don't want to do that conference call, I don't want to sit with my accountant and go over numbers,

I just, right, whatever it is, right? And I used to like, I don't want to do that conference call. I don't want to sit with my accountant and go over numbers. I just write whatever it is. Right. And I used to think, man, I have to do that today. And I just switched that in the mornings. I write a quick little list every day of what I get to do. I just put that word, what I get to do. When I think about that, I, I used to, I used to literally live in a bathroom with my dad. And I, when my teens, I worked on cars every day and smoke,

you know, smelled fumes. Cause I was like, the rooms were always smoky. I was the only one painter in our collision shop and I'd have headaches and like, I could be doing that. So I have to do conference calls on Tuesdays and I don't like conference

calls. Now when I say I get to do conference calls, it changes everything. So that little routine, I'm not a victim anymore. Right. And, and again,

on every level it's, it makes a difference. I love it. Any other hat or any other thing in the morning that you, you do? No, that's it. That's, that's my morning routine. Are there any non-negotiables every day for you besides the routine? No, not really. Yeah. I'm pretty flexible. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Uh, there's a part actually that I wanted to go over in your book called the seven levels deep. Yeah. And this is an exercise that you do, right? And what is this exercise for? Okay. And how does it go?

Okay. So seven levels deep was probably the biggest impact, the biggest thing in the impact of my life ever. Really? Yeah. One day. So I hired a guy named Joe Stump. Do you know Joe Stump? No.

Great guy. He's in the marketing world. But I hired him because I want more engagement with my students so it's it's all about if you can get somebody to digest some of your book if somebody will read 30 pages of your book they'll read the whole book how do you get them to the first 30 pages so I'm always obsessing and trying to create ethical bribes whatever I get you to take action right we know books work it's the books in the action so I was always so anyway so Joe comes in in and I said, I want to do whatever I can.

And he said, have you ever done the seven levels deep? I don't know where he got it from. This is probably about eight years ago. She was two. So about eight years ago. And I said, if it's good, just give it to me. I'll take it. I'll take it.

And he's like, I want to go through it with you. I'm like, listen. And I paid Joe 10 grand for half a day of consulting at the time. And he's like, I said, I want to go through. I just want it. He goes, I won't give it to you unless you do it. So we sit there and what the seven levels deep is, is finding everybody wants to know your purpose and what's, what's this meaning of life and what's my why and all that I get.

And it's kind of played out, but I don't know if anything really gets to the heart of the, of it as simple as this. So what it basically was, he's like, why would you give me 10 grand for half a day? And I said, cause I want to create a company that stands out from everybody else. I want to engage more students, change more lives. And he basically said to me, that's a really great answer. So I asked you why I'm here. And you said you want to engage more students and get more people to change their lives. So why is it important for you to engage more students and change people's lives? And I remember saying, you know, there's a lot of people in this industry that shouldn't be here. And there's some great people.

I want to help rise all boats of the good and push the rest down. I want to leave a legacy for my kids. So he said, okay, I asked you why you pay me 10 grand. I'm not going to go through this whole thing. And he's like, you did this. You know, you said you wanted to stand out and you wanted to leave a legacy. So why is it important to leave a legacy? And the whole point is asking the previous question seven times.

I took that that day. By the time I got to the third question What happens is the third when there was three questions left? I should say he asked me four times It switched from my head to my heart And I felt my physiology change. I felt my emotions change I felt like tears welling up and when he asked me and I don't even remember what the fourth thing I said But the third thing I said was I never want to go backwards. And he got me thinking about things I haven't thought about in years. I didn't like being the kid with hand-me-downs and I'd make my parents drop me off down the street with their junky car and I'd go to lunch.

And this is not a poor me. My life was designed to be exactly the way it was or I wouldn't be the man or the father I am today. But there was days I'd go to school without lunch money and I'd just tell my buddies I'm not hungry because we didn't have a buck, right? So I never want to go back there and I felt that emotion and it hit me so hard. I'm like, that's what it is. And he's like, well, there's two more left.

So he said, Dean, why is it important that you never go backwards? And I'm like, God, I don't know. And it hit me and I thought, my kids, I just want to give them options. I don't want to raise entitled kids or brats, but I want to give them options I don't want to raise entitled kids or brats but I want to give them options that I didn't have and I'm like that's it so he's like well that's not really because it's seven it's not nine it's not five it's seven levels deep

and by now I'm crying because I'm thinking about my kids literally and I got half my staff there and I'm like just weeping and it came to me he said why is that important and it just hit me and I never knew why I worked so hard since I was cutting firewood in high school and did all this stuff. I said, I need to be in control

of my life. And these emotions flooded in my parents. Everybody's got their thing, right? But for me, and I'm saying this because I want you at home to be,

or when you're watching this, listen to this. I realized that my parents were married nine times when I was a kid. So I moved 20 times by the time I was 19. Different stepbrothers,

stepsisters. Both parents were married. Five for my dad, five for my mom, four for my dad. Oh my gosh. Yeah. It's crazy.

Always moving. Like military kids know what that feels like, right? So I'd be in a cul-de-sac with a new stepdad, stepbrothers, stepsisters, have the bike,

come home one day and my mom's like, we're moving again. And then I move in with my dad, move in with my grandmother. So I had this crazy hopscotch my whole childhood. There was no certainty.

So what I realized at that moment, literally I'm bawling loose. I mean like literally crying. It's like, I don't want anybody to ever tell me when to move, how to dress, how to live, how to work, who, how I'm going to raise my kids. It's definitely not going to kiss somebody's ass for money. Right. And I realized at that moment, my why was I don't want to be a control freak. I just want to be in control. When I was 27, I retired both my parents. I stopped worrying about them. I took care of my grandmother. I take care of some – so I got those problems out of the way.

And when I anchored that in and you watching at home, it's like if you think you're watching this because you want to be an entrepreneur or you already are. If you're watching this, you already had great success in your life. You want that next level or maybe it's income or better health or better diet or better physiology, whatever it is you want. So many times we think it's because I want to get out of that job. I want this freedom. I just want more money. I want to take the better vacations. And it's seven times deeper than that. And when you find that, and the reason I know this, not only because it wasn't just transformational to me, is I did live events in Las Vegas for six years straight. Every single month, there was 400 people in the room that paid 20 grand to go to real estate events. So about five and a half years, I did them every month in Las Vegas. So once a month, I'd fly in and that was like the highest level.

And every single month, I'd pick somebody out of the audience and I'd say, come on up, let's do this seven levels deep. Like, I got it, man. I know what it is. And I'm month, I'd pick somebody out of the audience and I'd say, come on up. Let's do this seven levels deep. Like, I got it, man. I know what it is. And I'm like, okay. So I'm going to give you a quick example. I won't beat this up, but this is so important. Because when you feel fatigued, when you want to say no, when you don't want to go to the gym,

when you don't want to make that sales call, when you don't want to get your funnel working, when you don't want to start new, when you don't want to say no to someone you should say no to, or say yes to someone else you should say yes to, Literally for me still, I fall back on my why. And when I think of my kids and going backwards and being in control, I could push through anything. Nothing will stop me. A bad day. I don't know what it's like to be sick because of my mind. I can program my brain to just power through because I focus foundationally on this why. So I get, I remember this guy, he was awesome. This big dude, he had dread locks. He was like six foot seven. I mean, six foot five. He was huge. He's awesome dude. He

comes up. He's like, man, I like pick me up. He gives me this big hug. He's like, so I said, why are you here? He's like, I already know, dude, you're not going to get seven levels on me. You're not gonna, I've already done the exercise. He says, I'm here because in my neighborhood, there's no dads. There's not enough dads in my neighborhood. I grew up without a dad. These kids need dads. So I'm making money in real estate and I'm starting this youth group. I already had dad. We get dads together and we go spend these days. He had this amazing story. And I mean, I melted on the first one. I said, why is that important? He goes, dude, what do you mean? Why is that important to you? Of course it's important. And he's laughing. He's joking. He gives me another reason. I want more money because I want to build a building for it. But I could tell he was still in his head.

He gets to number two or one, and everything changed on him. He gets small, and he starts crying. I mean, like uncontrollable crying. And he gets to his number one. He's like, my mom raised a good boy, but when she died nine years ago, I was a drug addict. And she never saw the man she created. And she said, I'm showing her in heaven what a man she is. I was a drug addict and she never saw the man she created. And she said, I'm showing her in heaven. What a man she, I'm saying it right now. I got physical good. He said that. And I said, he said, I'll never stop now. I'll never stop. And again, we all have our own

reasons for doing stuff. But when you get to the heart of why you're watching, why you do what you do, it's so much deeper than what you think. And I forget sometimes I hope I don't sit here and feel like, seem like I got my life all figured out. I've been blessed to have more, I've had more blessings in my life than I ever could imagine. If somebody would have told me at 25, this is where I'd be, I'd say impossible. So I appreciate my blessings, but I'm not, I'm not perfect at all this stuff. But when I practice these habits, when I think through this, when I recognize my why, the days that I'm off track, the days I think I bit off more than I can chew or the days where I feel like I plateaued. When I go back to that, why it's like game over and you're not getting in my way. Nothing is. Wow. You got me emotional. What is the, uh, I mean, you've achieved so much over the years,

you know, you said in the first 18 months, 150 million in sales, you know, and that was 20 years ago. And the things you've created now, 10 years ago, the things you've created now, you've created so much. You've impacted so many lives. It sounds like you don't need to work or need to keep pushing. But why do you, what's the dream and why do you keep going after it? So I think it's three things. So real quick, I think there's three types of entrepreneurs. There's an entrepreneur who wants to work under the blanket of someone else, right? They're the company, they're the person that's in a company like, man,

that guy, that woman, she just, they want to rise up through the ranks and be an entrepreneur, but kind of with the safety net. And it doesn't make them better or worse than anybody. I mean, without the implementers in your life,

without the team, who would I be without the amazing people on my team? Secondly, there's lifestyle entrepreneurs like my buddy, Dean Jackson. He's got this, I know I'm being successful. When list is good for anybody who's got a lifestyle entrepreneur. There's buddy Dean Jackson, he's got this I Know I'm Being Successful When list. For anybody who's got a lifestyle entrepreneur, there's just a certain amount of money.

He says, I know I'm being successful when I don't have an alarm clock in my house and it never goes off. I wear black t-shirts every day and no one gives a shit. I golf at least five times a week. I live on a $50,000 a month net income. I live like, what do you say? I live like an artist with a trust fund, except I don't know how to paint. So he's got this, he's, so he like, he has this list.

He knows he's being successful when, and that's lifestyle entrepreneur. And then there's entrepreneurs that just want to keep, that just want to, they're accomplishment based. It has nothing to do with the money. They thought it was, and I think this with me, they thought it was when I get the money and success out of the way

that I can stop worrying, and it's not. It's the next accomplishment. What can you do? It's the game, and I think it converts. That's why you see somebody like Richard Branson that his whole life now is Virgin Unite, his charity. I spent a couple weeks with him out in his island because me and Joe Polish raised a million

bucks for him, so we got to spend time with him. He started that same process, made all the the money and then now he's still driven but now it's how many more schools he could build in africa so it never changes it just but always have your focus on something like you see people who go to you know warren buffett his age he's still crushing because he has a bigger purpose we always have to have that so i would say yeah i you know a couple years ago a little especially when the kids are young, I was thinking of, should I just cash out and spend 10 years being dad? But I w I wouldn't be the best me. I love accomplishing. I love creating. I love something new. Uh, you know, so what do you want to accomplish in your life? What's the big thing?

Big thing is, uh, you know, I'm first and foremost, I'd love to say it's, you know, You know, first and foremost, I'd love to say it's, you know, I'd say top two is showing people an easier path. I think most people are driving 100 miles an hour and they don't know where to go. It's like even if they got a Ferrari engine, they don't have any GPS. And it's like everybody's going fast. And most of the time they think it's going to be this dramatic, spectacular thing. And a lot of teams, it's the same thing that they could have learned from Dale Carnegie or Earl Nightingale or Napoleonoleon hill or or somebody you know that it's just these

simple core things that can make them slow down and achieve and i think that i can i think i have the ability to deliver a message in a way that it sticks and that's what i've been blessed to do in real estate is it's not that i had found the only way to make money in real estate but i'm the i was the biggest real estate educator in the entire world. There was nobody even close to me. It was like second, second through 20th place didn't make up the volume I did. Right. Right. And there was other guys that were great at education. I just think I found a way to deliver it. It's probably because of my dyslexia and my learning disabilities and stuff. I found a way to give people recipes. So I would say the, a big fuel is, is getting people these strategies in their hands so they could

see there's a better way but the number one is is to just be a totally present and impactful father like i it's it's just where i'm at and it's magical age anybody who's watching it remembers their kids eight ten years old it's like they're just it's all i'm still superman they still love me for two three years yeah exactly so i'm gonna absorb it while i can you know a couple years i might have a you know a new um uh you know thing for trying to get teenagers to like you or something i don't know sure what's the um the thing people miss um understand about you the most um i would say because i did infomercials for a year me and yours tony and i had this conversation a lot of times when somebody sees you on an infomercial it's like oh that guy's i you know that guy's got to be a huckster. He's just

schlepping books on an infomercial. So I think the biggest misconception is that I'm an introvert. When I'm on stage or on camera or an interview, I love it. But if I go to my kid's school function, there's a whole bunch of people around. I'm the one hiding in the corner or playing with the kids. I'm not a networker. I've never had a business card in my entire life. And I think some people, when they see that, if they're looking from afar, if they don't come up and shake my hand, people will say, oh, that guy, he's, he's too good for everybody. He doesn't talk to anybody. I really don't know him. I'm hiding. Sure. Right. So I would say that. And, and I think the infomercial thing, you know, I'll give, I got to just one more thing about Tony Robbins. The first time I met him

about five years ago, I go up to his hotel room. He's doing a date with destiny, invites me up for lunch. And I get there and we're talking for like 15 minutes and he stands up and he picks up and he gives me a hug. And he says, I, I got to apologize to you. He's like, I almost canceled this meeting today because you were an infomercial guy. And he goes, I made a judgment. And he goes, what an ass, because I was the infomercial guy. He goes,, I made a judgment. And he goes, what an ass, because I was the infomercial guy. He goes, I've been trying to run away from it because people look at you and wonder. And he said, and I judged you wrong. And we've been really close since then. So I think that those two things are probably the biggest. Wow. Now, so I'm surprised you still do infomercials

then if you think so many people, you know. Yeah. You know what? So I don't mind because it's all about the message. I want to get my message out there. I've been off TV for two and a half years on purpose by choice. But with Millionaire Success Habits, I ran across Larry King

who was a big impact on my life. We met. I said, do you want to do a show? You're the one who inspired me to do sit down information. So he interviewed you. He interviewed me. And the funny thing is,

so I'm going to digress here for a minute. I'm going to digress on two things that are really funny. So nine years ago, I'm watching Larry King interview Joel Osteen. He says to Joel, I'm guessing nine, nine, 10 years ago, he says to Joel,

I'm a Jew. I don't believe in Jesus. That means I'm going to hell. I'm like, oh my God. Could you imagine getting asked that on Larry King where there's millions of people watching? Joel turned different colors. He didn't know how to answer.

And if you don't know who Joel Osteen is, he's like the biggest pastor in the world, right? So I see that, and I remember thinking, oh my God, could you imagine if Larry just looked at the camera and said, hey, like Joel or not, if you'd like to get his book, call our show. And that's what inspired me to do a Larry King show. I just thought, so I raced and I built a set like Larry King. I spent four grand for Larry King's microphone, right?

I did all this stuff. I do an interview and that was my big breakout show. That's when my company went from 10, 15 million a year. We broke a hundred million dollars in a year within 18 months because of that sit down live. I know teleprompter. It's like the bald guy or the balding guy. Yeah, we had different guys. Yeah, we had different guys through the years, but we did all these different things, right?

So I say that. And so Larry King inspired me to do that. It was just the chance. Now everybody does sit down interviews, but I was the first one out there and the first one who sold a book. On the infomercial. On the infomercial, direct to consumers. So we sell the book.

Larry makes an impact on my life. He doesn't know it. Fast forward years. Now Larry comes. I haven't used that set in ages. We wheel it back out because Larry's coming right to do this interview and I'm nervous

like I'm a little kid Larry King's coming I mean I know you know Larry Larry stood right here when I interviewed him yeah so Larry comes and he gets there

and we go to dinner that night and the next day he comes in the studio and I'm telling him this story and as he's kind of not paying attention to me and he looks over and he goes

you know the mic is supposed to be here no way and he moved it and I was just like oh this is so amazing and we just riffed he goes do you have, the mic is supposed to be here. No way. And he moved it. I was just like, oh, this is so amazing. And we just riffed. He goes, you have questions for me?

I said, here's my goal, Larry. I do. I have all your questions and they're loaded on a teleprompter. But why don't you just start the show like you always start your shows when you say to somebody, why this book? Why now? He used to say that all the time. And he goes, Dean, you don't need this.

Why the hell are you doing a book now? And we just riffed for a half hour. And so that's everybody watching. You guys will see that show. There's no pre and there's no questions he really used off the prompter. He just kind of went off one or two. Yeah, and we rocked it. And the show tested.

It's solid. It'll be out in February. So can I tell you a really funny story? Sure. He's an amazing joke teller. Amazing joke and storyteller. Oh, my God. There's nobody better in the place.

Jokes for days. Yeah, and I don't know if you know who Harvey McKay is. Yes. He's a swimming shark. So last Friday, Larry came to my office and Harvey's there they're there for two hours I'm between these two

83 and 84 years old they got more history and stories and they're just out doing each other with stories it's non-stop and I just

and they'd look at me and I'd be like I got nothing just you guys keep going so Larry for like all the years he's doing live

with Larry King they have this he has a producer who's like a practical prankster. And he said, but big time, really good at what he does. And he said anytime that someone was in the office a little off or grumpy, they'd get him. So he said they had this guy, I don't know what department,

but he was kind of a pain in the ass, for lack of a better word. So they wanted to get him. So the guy came in everyday structured. He came in with his briefcase, his hat, his overcoat. He'd hang his hat, hang his overcoat up and go to work so they went and found the hat the exact hat and bought one two sizes too small oh my god so every day he'd come in they let him go for a week where he'd go to put the hat on he couldn't get over his head like me i'd have to tell the guy

like in a day so the guy's freaked out he's coming in off like just off he thinks his head's swell right so then they didn't just leave it there. I'm like, then you told him? He goes, no. He goes, then we bought a hat two sizes too big and we left that there for a week

and he said he was rolling up paper and stuffing it in his hat. No way. And I'm like, oh my God, but Larry tells that story so amazing and then they finally told him after two weeks.

That's hilarious. Anyway, I'm going to digress. It was just a funny story. No, it's amazing. Is there any question that you wish more people would ask you that they don't ask? God, that's a really good question.

Yeah, probably how to get, you know, I think, and I watched this when we did the fundraiser with Richard Branson. We went there. I watched everybody trying to ask him, like, how'd you get to be a billionaire? And I don't, I think that's the wrong question when you see somebody successful. I think it's, I think it's more of like asking them either what their why was or how they overcame obstacles or how they persevered. So I think, and I don't think it's about our, it's about the story. It's just, I think so many people give up on the five yard line. I's just I think so many people give up on the five-yard line. I think so many of you are just there and you think it's so much heavier.

When you start playing at a higher level, there's not a lot of competition. No. And it's not doing – I'm not doing much different. I'm just being honest with you. I'm not doing much different now than I did to start my collision shop and start my auto sales. I'm doing the same thing just on a bigger scale. I still have to overcome negativity. I still have to get out of bed. I still am stressed some days. And there's some days I question myself. There's some days I make bad decisions and it's just how you get over them,

how you handle it and how you go forward is, is everything. And, and, and you say that, and I'm talking and thinking at the same time, and I don't know how much time we have left, but I would say the last thing, or one of the last things I'd love people to really think about is their thoughts. Have you ever read The Untethered Soul? No. It's a, gotta put it on your list. Okay.

How about Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now? Sure, yeah, yeah. I've read that. I've read that half, yes. Okay, so Untethered Soul is, for me, it's that and so much more. It's a great book. Wow.

So I don't know if you had another question. So I think, so I, I'll reframe that. It's that one. But if it was one specific question, I'd love for people to say, how do you be the observer of your thoughts?

And that's something. How do you, yeah. And that's something I would, I would, I, and always I say this is because I've been obsessed with it for the last three years.

Cause I want to be the observer of thoughts immediately and I'm not there yet. I want it to trigger because when you're having a bad day, an angst day, a stressful day, you feel off or overwhelmed. Most of the time, it's just the thoughts we're having in that particular day. And when you can look back and view those thoughts, you can make a decision to throw them out or not let that spin you up or feel it for 10 minutes and then throw it out. But when you leave them there, they just linger. And the more I've become aware of my thoughts, the more I've evolved as a person. So again, I'm sitting here because my daughter, you're probably bored to death. I love you. She's doing great over there. I'm going to tell a story about her. I am trying to observe my thoughts as they happen. So I don't know if she'll remember this, but we were, we were, and I'm sharing this as my story, but I want you to put yourself in these shoes. This could be your husband, your wife, your kids, your coworker, your partner, people you do business with, employer, employees, but we're

at breakfast and breakfast is really important to our family. We have breakfast every single day and, and I cook for them most of the time and so we sit at breakfast and try to have conversations about gratitude and all this kind of stuff and my son, Brody, was obsessed

with these crayons and they were like these crazy colors. They weren't red. They were like aqua blue marine something. Had these three names. So I'm sitting there

using them and I pull it out and I go, God, this is a cool color and he names it. I'm telling this for a reason so I pull out another. He names all, I was this is a cool color, and he names it. I'm telling this for a reason, so I pull out another.

He names all, I was at 25 or 50 in that pack, so he names all of them, these big long names. I'm like, dude, what an incredible gift. I couldn't memorize these

if I spent a month trying. Right. It's not how my brain thinks, but that's him. He's this structured, organized kid. So Bree, she says to me,

I can do that, so I don't know if you remember this, but she studied it, and like five minutes later on the second one, she didn't remember. I'm like, we're all blessed with different gifts. I couldn't remember. He does that, but my daughter is the inventor. She comes up with ideas that are real, not kid inventions.

She's going to be the visionary. My son's going to be the implementer. If you ever read Rocket Fuel, that's the two kids I have. I have an implementer and a visionary, right? So when she tried, all of a sudden she got upset and started almost crying. And she said, because there was so much attention going to my son. Of course. And she says, dad, it's because you spend more time with Brody than me in the mornings.

And I remember just having the immediate thought that may have came from my dad or the way I was brought up. And I said to her, Breed, don't lie to me and don't lie to yourself. That's not true. I work my butt off to be completely equal and you're telling yourself a lie. It's not a good story. And I went on this rant and she tucked it up. She stopped tears. She's tucked up. It was the first time ever that she left the house without kissing me goodbye ever. And I'm like, well, she just got to learn that lesson. And she

left for about a half hour and I like, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Like, I observed that thought I had. And what I basically told my daughter is that I didn't give a shit about her feelings. That it didn't matter how she felt. That dad was right. Tuck it down. I said, if she was married to a man, and I watched her try to tell her husband about her feelings, how she was feeling. And he basically told her to shut up and tuck it down.

I'd have a talk with that dude if he's married to my daughter. And I treated my daughter that way. I got in my car because I, only because I'm sharing this because I practice trying to observe what's going on. Why am I feeling this way? What is this thought I'm having? Step back, look at it. When I stepped back and looked at it, I knew I screwed up.

I drove to school a hundred miles an hour. Even if you were right. Even if I was right. No, I might have been right that I keep equal time, but I didn't acknowledge her feelings. I didn't acknowledge her feelings. I mean, and that's the gift of selling. It's not what people need. It's what they want and how they feel. Right. So I told her her feelings were off. I drove to her school a hundred miles an hour. You were at chapel. Do you remember I came and got you out of chapel? I got her out of chapel and I walked her outside and I said, dad screwed up. I said,

I may have been right in context, but I wasn't right in telling you your emotions mean something. Your feelings mean something. And we had a great talk. We hugged, we kissed her and I had the best relationship in the world. And, and I left and I felt amazing and she felt amazing. And I never would have caught that if I wasn't observing my thoughts. So I say that story about my family, my daughter sitting here right now, but who, who are you not, you know, what thoughts are clouding your judgment in a marriage or in a relationship or in your partnership or trying to get a raise or taking your life to another level, whatever it is in your life. Most of the time, it's those thoughts that are messing with us. And if you can, you can observe them, you can adjust them. Amazing, man. Um, I've got

a few final questions for you. This has been great. This one's called The Three Truths. Okay. So it's many, many years down the line. You've achieved everything you want, but it's your last day. It's your last day here. Okay. And you know it's the last day.

Your whole family is there, friends, everything. For whatever reason, all your books have been erased from time. Okay. And they've sold hundreds of millions of them at this point. They're all gone. Okay. And someone in your family comes up and says, I have a piece of paper and a pen. And all you get to do is write down three things you know to be true about everything

you've experienced in your life. The three simple truths or the three lessons that is all we would remember you by physically. Yeah. All the stuff in the books is gone. What would be the three truths for you? Wow. What a great question. I'm glad I didn't know that one in advance because I would have thought about it too much. That's really good. I think the three truths are that it's not the objects, it's the things that we get to experience. So you can't buy your way.

I had a lot of pain as a kid, which we all, and I know I thought for a time in my life that money would fix that. And there's nothing more than the experience. My daughter's on her first trip with me as a business trip. This will last, this is worth millions to me. I'd give up all my books to have that.

So it's the moments and the experience, not the things, is one. I would say, wow, wow, is one. I would say that I lived true... Okay, this is a really good question. Sorry, I'm studying. It's all good.

But I would say success is easier than people think. Like, I think I... Like, there's a lot of days I'm like, man, when is everybody going to figure out I'm not that smart? I'm just being honest. I literally, for years, I would, when's everybody going to figure out I'm not that smart. I'm just being honest. I literally, for years I would say, people are going to figure I'm not that smart.

I'm just enthusiastic. And, and, you know, and I have the momentum. And, and so I would say that that truth is don't be over prepared, be overly enthusiastic and committed. Um, and I would say last is, um, that I found a way to not, to let thoughts be things, not who I am. If thoughts can be automatically a thing, but not who I am in my soul, then I lived a good life.

Those are great truths. Thank you. Um, before I ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you for a moment, Dean, for your incredible generosity and your enthusiasm for wanting to impact so many people. Thank you. From a guy that has gone through so much pain and suffering to a person who's led a life of service and constantly pushing the envelope and showing what's possible. Thank you. For people like me who are dyslexic as well and who barely got through high school and college myself, seven years of college.

You're such an inspiration. Every time I see your message or see you in person, you're always smiling and happy and want to give to people. Well, thank you. So I want to acknowledge you for all those gifts. Well, thank you. And I give that back. That's why I'm here because I love what you're doing. And don't stop.

Keep pushing. Yeah. No matter what it takes, get it out there. I appreciate it. Thank you, man. Appreciate you. We have one final question, but make sure you guys go get Millionaire Success Habits. Go get the book. Where's the link for it again? Of course, it's on iTunes, but we set up a special link at mshbook.com. MSH. Yeah, like Millionaire Success Habits. Yeah, mshbook.com.

Awesome. We'll have that linked up in the show notes. And where do you like to hang out the most online? Do you spend time on social media at all yourself? I don't. Not much. A little bit on Facebook, a little bit on Instagram, but okay. We'll link it up there in the show notes as well. And, uh, the final question is what's your definition of greatness? Um, just going at it full, full tilt boogie. A buddy of mine used to say when I was in high school, he used to say when he was playing football, if he had a great day, he goes, man, I was full tilt boogie.

I don't even know what that means. But I think definition of greatness is just knowing that you gave it your all. And I think so many people on that last, when you're 90 years old and you look back, if you say, if you don't, if you didn't give it your all, I think that's going to be one of those things. Like I had one shot at this. Why didn't I just go for it? Why didn't I say yes? Why didn't I finally say no? So I think greatness is just freaking putting the pedal to the metal. Thanks, man. Appreciate being here, man. I hope you guys enjoyed this interview. If you got some value out of this, please share this with your friends. Again, lewishouse.com slash 428. Share it with your

friends on social media and tag me at Lewis Howes on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. And let me know what you enjoyed most about this interview, the insight, the tip, the story that meant the most to you that opened you up in some area of your business or your life. Again, lewishowes.com slash four 428 to watch the full video interview, to get all the information about how to connect with Dean online, to learn about where to get his book, and also to see all the show notes from what we covered in today's interview. If you're struggling in your life, if you feel stuck, if you feel like there's not a better option, there is.

There are example after example of people that i bring on here guys that struggled at one point in their life and figured it out dean mentioned it over and over and again at the end how you know he's wondering when people are going to find out that he's not that smart that he's not that talented but he's just figured out a couple of tweaks and that's what it is guys it's a couple of tweaks every now that's what it is, guys. It's a couple of tweaks every now and then that you're implementing and building over time. It's less crowded at the top. I'm telling you, for a kid who grew up not believing in himself, who grew up with my parents struggling, constantly arguing, who grew up in a small town in Ohio, the things I'm doing now, like Dean talked

about, this is like a dream life. And the people I'm connecting with, I never would have in my wildest dreams thought that I'd have relationships with or get to hang out with or get to interview the people who sit in this studio right across from me to share their stories. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that'd be possible for my life. But for almost a decade now, since I stopped playing professional football, my original dream, I have taken consistent actions that aren't that different than what you're taking. I've just tweaked them and optimized them a little bit to get me to where I want to be. And I'm constantly in the journey. I'm constantly in the process for the next level for myself. So now I see where I'm at. And if I feel stuck, I just know it's a couple little tweaks. And again, it's that enthusiasm. It's that passion that Dean talks about that

really is contagious. And the more energy and passion and positivity that you bring and an understanding of other people and their needs, you're going to create more abundance in your life. If you found this valuable, let me know. Again, lewishouse.com slash 428. And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Bye.