The School of Greatness - How To Pursue Your Dream & Make A Living As An Artist w/ Derek Hough EP 1167

Episode Date: September 24, 2021

Today’s guest is Derek Hough. He’s an Emmy Award winning Choreographer and New York Times Best-Selling author. Derek started dancing at age 11 and has since become the only six time champion in franchise history of the hit ABC show Dancing with the Stars. He has a new live show in Las Vegas that I’m incredibly excited to go and see myself called No Limit where you will go on a journey through a true fusion of dance and music, as Derek explores styles ranging from ballroom and tap to salsa, hip-hop and everything in between. He’s performing from September 22nd to November 21st, 2021, so make sure to check it out!In this episode we discuss what drove Derek to pursue his childhood dreams, what to do when you don’t feel enough, how to make a living as an artist, how to let go of being a perfectionist, and so much more!Sign up for the Greatness Challenge: www.lewishowes.com/challengeFor more got to: www.lewishowes.com/1167Check out Derek's show: Live Event - No limit Derek HoughThe Wim Hof Experience: Mindset Training, Power Breathing, and Brotherhood: https://link.chtbl.com/910-podA Scientific Guide to Living Longer, Feeling Happier & Eating Healthier with Dr. Rhonda Patrick: https://link.chtbl.com/967-podThe Science of Sleep for Ultimate Success with Shawn Stevenson: https://link.chtbl.com/896-pod 

This is episode number 1167 with Derek Hough. 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 back, everyone. Today's guest is my friend, Derek Huff. He is a Emmy Award-winning

choreographer and New York Times bestselling author. And Derek started dancing at age 11 and has since become the only six-time champion in franchise history of the hit ABC show Dancing with the Stars. He has a new live show as well in Vegas that I'm extremely excited to go watch myself called No Limit where you will go on a journey through a true fusion of dance and music as Derek explores styles ranging from ballroom and tap and salsa hip-hop and everything in between. He's performing from September 22nd to November 21st, 2021, so make sure to check it out in Vegas. And in this episode, we discuss what drove Derek

to pursue his childhood dreams, what to do when you don't feel enough, how to make a living as an artist. I thought this was fascinating how he shares this, how to let go of being a perfectionist, and so much more. I know you're gonna love this, and if you do enjoy it at any moment, make sure to share this with someone that you think would be inspired by Derek's message as well.

And if this is your first time here, click the subscribe button right now over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a review letting us know the part you enjoyed about this interview and inspirational story the most. And I want to give a shout out to the fan of the week who left a review over on Apple Podcast. This is from Kevin who said, Lewis's podcasts are like athletic tape, keeps us in the game and allows us to compete. I get something good out of every episode.

These are deep and meaningful talks and are useful to everyone. So Kevin, big thank you for leaving your review and being a subscriber and a fan of the School of Greatness. And I can't wait for you all to check out this interview so in just a moment the one and only derrick huff welcome back everyone in school of greatness very excited about my guest my friend derrick huff in the house my man how you doing so good to see you and catch up on everything i was uh we were

talking before this interview started and I was reflecting on the conversation we were having how much both you and I have grown so much in the last five years. And in the last couple years, both of us,

I didn't get to share stuff that I've been going through, but we've both had multiple layers of transformations. And you have been extremely successful your entire career

since you came on the scene with Dancing with the Stars, six-time winner, two-time Emmy winner as well, up for two more Emmys right now. You've got a tour coming out here in Vegas soon. But you've been successful since pretty much the moment you came into the TV Hollywood scene. Right.

You've accomplished. You've won awards. You've been judging on massive shows, you keep accomplishing. But there are certain lessons emotionally that you've learned, especially over the last few years, that have helped you elevate as a human being. What would you say are a couple of the lessons that you've learned the most in the last few years that have really helped you with your inner world? Yeah. Not just the accomplishments and the success from the outer world.

And then I want to talk about how you've accomplished your success as well. Dude, well, first of all, it's a pleasure being here, my man. That's fine. And I'm here. This is the school of greatness. Finally, man. We made it happen. It's amazing, man.

So, I don't know. For me, to answer your question, something that I've learned along the way, you know, my whole life has been a competition. Yes. My entire life. Yeah. Even from growing up. I mean, I had four sisters. I was the only boy.

And so, you know, competing for attention. Like, you know, hey, look at me, look at me. And then, of course, becoming a competitive dancer, it was always about judging, being judged and becoming, wanting to get the best. And then being on Dancing with the Stars, you're being judged in front of millions of people and there's this pressure and there's like this feeling and desire of wanting to win and be the best. And one thing I realized along the way that really really helped me tremendously and transformed my whole life experience was realizing and it actually happened to me when I was in my apartment in Los Angeles I had one Dancing with the Stars for the third time and I was a world champion Latin American dancer before Dancing with the

Stars you know won all these big competitions and peaked you know in that as a ballroom dancer yeah traveling around the world you know i peaked in that and then i'm on the tv show and i've now won it more than anybody else ever had like three times and i'm i'm feeling like super depressed really and i'm like and i felt super lonely i felt just in a dark place and i was like what the heck is going on man I feel like I should be like buzzing right now and what I realized I had this massive emptiness looking at all this hardware all these trophies because I realized that my whole life I really felt like success equaled love. I felt like achievement equaled love. And in order for me to get love,

I had to become something. I had to be good at something. I had to be the best. And then I would be worthy of love.

And what I realized was like, wow, that's not the case. That's not the case because once you, we all know, once you achieve something, you're just like, all right case that's not the case because once you we all know

once you achieve something you're just like all right what's the next thing yeah so you never really fully feel resolved or feel did you feel loved at all when you accomplish those things for a second minutes right like that god we're very similar man dancing with the stars like for a good example it's like the biggest high you know like there's like confetti everywhere screaming you know everybody's happy you're on good morning you're on your private jet you know good morning america you wake up the next day and for the longest time i had this such a huge negative association with new york because every time i'd go there for gma i was so depressed on the show or afterwards after the show so you'd be celebrating on the show and then you're like

okay no one cares anymore and i was i just like, that way, you know. But what held me throughout that whole journey was realizing that somebody told me this, actually. They said, listen, man, if you are in a field by yourself with no clothes, no possessions, no trophies, absolutely nothing, just you by yourself, you're enough. That's it, you're enough. You always have been and you always will be, no matter what. And that struck a chord in me because I always felt like I had to have something to be enough. I had to achieve something to be enough. And I think y'all can relate to that. It's a deep fear of all of ours, you know, am I enough, enough you know and realizing that was such a huge shift for me because then I started doing things and you know performing or creating

not because I wanted to win or be the best or because I wanted love it was just because I wanted to do it for the joy of it and for the love of it while realizing that I didn't have to do it in order to receive love or to feel loved. Not just from other people, but for myself. And so that was a huge shift for me. And it's interesting because after that shift, I can look back at my sort of career and I think, oh, so many things just accelerated so much from that point. When was this point? This point was right after I danced. It was actually when I danced, after I danced with Shawn Johnson. And I actually became second that year. Wow. And I remember feeling really deflated, really disappointed because I was like,

really deflated really disappointed because i was like sure we had it in the bag and um but it was so good for me because it it it got me to that point realizing you know uh why am i doing this again why am i doing this why am i dancing why am i performing this all just seems so pointless and frivolous and used like who cares about any of this stuff and then i realized the importance of it you know not just for me but just bringing joy to people and and you know i was in the hospital with my mom actually she had fallen and hurt her head and there's somebody next to her and i was really constantly giving up the whole thing i was just like burnt out i just didn't enjoy it anymore and she was just like i just love watching you on the show.

It just gives me so much joy. I look forward to it every week. And I was like, man, I'm being so selfish right now, thinking like, oh, I'm so over this, and I'm so done, I'm so burnt out. And because I was thinking about myself, you know, I wasn't thinking like, oh, how can I bring joy to somebody else? How can I bring joy to others? And it's so much more of a sustainable energy.

Because up to that point, it was all about me. I was like, I want to be the best. I want to get good. That's exhausting. And by the way, it worked. It did work. You got results. It worked for a certain amount of time, but it's temporary.

That's not sustainable. That's not a sustainable energy to think like, to think about you. It might work for a little bit of time. But a sustainable energy and a sustainable thing that will get you through the longest time is how can I serve this person? How can I give my talents or the things that I've trained for? How can I like uplift somebody or how can I give something? And man, I just like, my batteries just got like rebooted i just had this like copious amounts of energy and you know started going on tours and creating these opportunities

creating tours creating you know show concepts and just creating all this stuff and then just so many things started to grow from that and it's pretty cool man it's pretty neat and we were talking beforehand about you've always been like the positive guy like right every time people around you you're like you were like the positive hey everyone's happy everything's good yeah um and i would say i'm a very positive person as well i'm always coming from a place of like gratitude and appreciation and positivity but sometimes there are things that will trigger us or affect us or that make us feel angry. But you mentioned that you never really allowed yourself to feel anger. And I think that's great to come from that as a baseline.

But when something happens or you go through an experience that really triggers you or makes you angry, what have you learned about allowing yourself to express a wider range of emotions in general? It's interesting you mentioned about a wider range of emotions in general. It's interesting you mentioned about a wider range of emotions because there's a great analogy with a pendulum. You can imagine something hanging here and swinging side to side, and you have a range of emotions. You have this side, which is like, we'll call them the negative emotions. Anger, frustration, disappointment, sadness, resentment, all these things.

Then this side is all the positive stuff. Happiness, joy, love. And the thing with the pendulum is if you're only swinging on the negative side a little bit, right? If you're only experiencing your emotion that much, then it's only going to swing that much on this side. So you're kind of having this like very like restrictive amount of range of emotion so for me when i realized i was like wow i don't allow myself to feel like anger or i don't allow myself to feel sadness i don't allow myself to like to swing and fully experience this emotion over here so then I can fully

experience these emotions too. Doesn't mean to stay there, right? You're not gonna like live in that emotion, acknowledge it, feel it fully and swing it and then fully experience that full range of emotion. And I realized for the longest time, for years, I was living in this emotion. So I felt good. I felt happy. I was like, yeah, things good. All right.

But what I didn't realize is that I had a lot of emotions that I never really allowed myself to feel and to acknowledge. And there's a great sort of analogy for that where it's like, you know know emotions are there to give you messages and you know if you're in a room and an emotion comes to the door and you're like no no no you lock the door and another emotion comes like no no you move the couch against the door you're like no and another emotion comes in like no too much i'm good everything's good everything's good everything's good and eventually all these emotions are just there like hey man we got we have something to tell you we need to tell you something and then

eventually you open that door and all those emotions come flooding in at once and you go through this insane experience and you're just like it's confusing it's loud it's it's hard to unravel yes and so now I try to practice you know if I feel something if an emotion comes I'm like open the door I'm like hi how are you what's up what are you what message are you here to bring me all right thank you very much thank you and then they're like cool then they're on their way right you have to hold on to the emotion you don't to lock the door with the motion inside no no let it in and then let out the back door absolutely and you know there's a great expression

you know whatever whatever you resist persists you know we've heard that before and it's it's so true when you resist things they're just going to keep persisting until you eventually acknowledge it and and then you can decide what you want to do with that. Yeah. But, yeah, man, it's been an interesting journey because, for me, I always looked at people who would get angry or get, like, as weak and, you know, I'm like, oh, that person. They can't control themselves or something. Right.

And the truth is that, at least for me, in a healthy way. Yes. There's a healthy way, of course, of expressing that feeling. And for me, it's like I'll go box or I'll hit something, I'll co-connect with something. But I'll just allow myself and I'll judge myself or shame myself for feeling a certain way. And I really noticed that when I allow myself to feel that way and accept it, then it dissipates very, very quickly. Yeah, it goes away. Very quickly.

That's beautiful, man. And I'm curious, what do you think is the thing that drove you to accomplishing so much from your childhood, the thing that drove you to accomplishing so much, and then also what was the thing that held you back from experiencing deeper amounts of love? So the thing that drove you, and then the thing that made you feel maybe trapped or locked inside where you didn't allow yourself to feel the depth of love for yourself or from other people or whatever it might be. Yeah, I think something that might have driven me, you know, when I was younger, I went to a few different schools and I would get bullied

severely, get beaten up. And, you know, my neighborhood, I had these neighbors, and they would, like, hang me up in a tree by my feet. No way. Upside down? Upside down. By my feet for hours. What? And spit on me. No way.

They put a gun to my head, told me they were going to kill me. A real gun? Real gun. Yeah, a real gun. Because they hunted and stuff. How old were you? I was about six years old. Holy cow.

They hung you upside down. Yeah, and sometimes they would actually hog tie me. They would tie my wrists, my ankles together behind my back, on my feet, and then leave me in a field. And I'll never forget,

I remember there being an anthill there and I was just trying to move away from the anthill because I didn't want to get ants all over me. So it was holy cow and so even as I say that now I kind of say it like this right not really sort of really saying it into the magnitude of really how bad that was yeah right that's intense and for me you know growing up and and thinking about that and carrying that with me, I had a lot of, like, fear.

I was a scared kid. I mean, I went to bed until I was, like, eight years old. And it makes sense because I was just living in fear constantly. And being from a fearful kid and then being like beaten up at different schools. I went to six different schools in a very short amount of time. Because every time I would just get picked on and get beaten up. And then once I found dance, I was like, oh, this place feels like I belong here. And I love the music.

And then my teacher, Rick Robinson Robinson who was the most incredible guys from Chicago lived in Provo Utah and he brought me in he was like yo Heavy D you know come on in here man and I was like oh he gave me a nickname that's cool you know yeah and taught me about dance taught me about life you know all these different things and then I had the opportunity to move to England when I was 12 years old by myself. So going from a really scared kid, afraid of his shadow, afraid of the dark, couldn't sleep over at somebody's house because I would wet the bed, you know. And then get picked on and made fun of. Yeah.

Then I moved to England by myself at 12 years old. That's nuts. So it was like one extreme to the absolute next extreme. But I grew up real fast. And I suddenly became unafraid. Wow. And part of why I was saying that was because, you know, when you look back at the time and I think about those kids who would do that to me,

there should be a lot of anger there right there should be a lot of like resentment there um however through the time of experiencing that and understanding and being curious right because that's something i always also say as well is like we got to stay curious stay curious with people yes in this climate with like politics or cancer culture and everything

cancer culture like be curious why did that person do that why do they believe that like why and so for me when I look back at those kids

like I have empathy like I actually have compassion for them like wow man they must have been going through some stuff it's like they had to do that to that little boy

yeah wow but I can also be angry about it for that little boy yeah um wow but i can also be angry about it for that little boy of course you know on behalf of him but not hold it you know i mean just feel it for him honor it and then let it go uh but uh i can't remember the original question was but i just kind of the thing that drove you oh to become successful and accomplishing so much The thing that drove you to become successful and accomplishing so much. And then the thing that, yeah, so what was.

Well, part of that drive, I think, was me wanting to get out of there. Yeah. I was like, let me get out of here. And once I was in England, I just felt this desire to just become better. And I didn't do it because I wanted to prove anybody wrong. Really? I didn't do it because I wanted to prove anybody wrong. I didn't do it because I wanted to like, that wasn't really my motivation. It was, truly I think my motivation was,

going back to what I said before, where I really felt like in order to receive love, I had to be good. In order to receive love, I had to feel like I accomplished something and I was worthy of it. Yeah. Not just for being myself.

But yeah, that was good. And that was good. That was a good drive for a while, but it wasn't sustainable. Right. It wasn't sustainable. And what was the thing that held you back from feeling a deep sense of love? A deep sense of love. For yourself and receiving love for just existing.

Yeah. What held me back? I think it's just that belief system. That belief system and feeling like, you know, yeah, kind of the same thing, I think. I just, I was just holding on to that feeling of I'm not good enough. Like, just me as I am is not enough I have to accomplish me I had terrible acne all these things so I I would lock myself in a room and learn

how to play drums cuz I was like nobody's gonna love me I'm not talented if I'm not talented dude nobody's gonna love me unless I like unless I have a skill cuz I like look at my face like when I smile like you know stuff comes out like it's awful I remember those years yeah so it was a lot of insecurity

a lot of fear of not being enough which I'm sure everybody experiences but that definitely drove me a lot a lot and I had a lot

of encouragement from people but you know we talk about that sort of we talk about like bad people right and you know and I talk about that sort of, we talk about like bad people, right? And, you know, and I talk about being curious about other people.

One thing that really stuck out with me that I heard that made me so curious about just human beings and the human condition is, you know, there's that whole word out there like evil people or bad people. And it's just like, well, that's just what it is there, like evil people or bad people. And it's just like, well, that's just what it is. You're bad. That's it. And what I heard is like, you know, they're not bad people trying to be good. It's like they're wounded people trying to heal. Because I really truly believe that people aren't innately bad, right? I think that I look at people and I think like they were once a young boy, they were once a young girl. Something happened along the way that created these behaviors or these things that have happened. And those are wounds.

Those experiences they've experienced are wounds. And I'm not saying that what they've done, things have happened to me and it's not okay that they've done that. By any means. but it doesn't mean that i can't look at them and go they're wounded that's a wounded person and i hope that they can heal through that you know what's the uh how did you learn to heal the different parts of your life and what's the the experience that you've that was the hardest to learn how to heal to heal i mean acknowledging it first and foremost you have to just realize that it's uh the pain or the hurt or the upset or the thing that happened yeah and acknowledging it and do

some detective work too because sometimes what you think it is isn't actually what it is right you might think oh i'm really upset about this. But then when you actually start asking yourself more questions and digging a little deeper, you're like, actually, that's actually not what's upsetting me. It's something that happened even before that, you know, where actually did I feel a little abandoned? Did I feel a little bit of abandonment?

Even though I went to england and i and i cherish that i'm like thank god i had that experience and it took me on this course but maybe a part of me felt like that i wasn't wanted and i never felt like that consciously right but as i like dug deeper i was like oh wait that's that's in there interesting maybe i didn't i didn't feel wanted actually subconsciously and maybe that's what kind of drove me that i had to be wanted to get away to be good so i could be wanted oh you know so it's interesting sometimes the thing that you think it is isn't really what it is you keep digging and you're like oh wow i didn't even think of that and isn't it interesting when you started to have all the skills and accomplish all the success,

you still didn't feel like you were, maybe you felt wanted like on the surface or at a certain period of time, but you didn't personally feel wanted. Yeah. Like with yourself. No. Like you're still not good enough. No, I never like really truly happy with yourself, you know. And again, that's good fuel to a certain extent, you know.

But again, not sustainable. You can't sustain that, you know. You have to not just accept yourself, but like love yourself. And it's so cliche, of course. We hear all those things are Hallmark cards. You hear those things and they go in one ear out the other because you hear them so often. That's why I tell people, it's like usually cards you hear those things and they go in one ear out the other because you hear them so often that's why I tell people I was like usually when you hear like I could like believe in yourself or like love yourself don't don't just like oh yeah I've heard that before yeah there's a

reason why we hear that so much there's a reason why you hear it everywhere and every show every movie every postcard, is because it's so important. When did you feel like you, oh, go ahead. No, I was just going to say it's so important. And then to look into that, not as just a slogan, but as like, really look into that. What does that mean for you? For yourself.

When did you feel like, what age did you feel like you started to really love yourself? Not for the accomplishments, not for the skills, not for the talent of what you've done, but for who you are being? Still working on it, man. I think that's the thing is like there's days when you feel, or moments I should say, not really days, not prolonged times for me. I feel like now I don't let myself dwell in sort of um self-pity if you will or or like what was me but there's definitely moments uh where that ego comes in and that voice

that roommate comes in your head is like hey you're you're a phony you're a fraud like you're you're you're not this you're not that and you're seeing all these things and you're like oh yeah you're right and you start listening to them and it's the great book untethered soul we talked about that the roommate in your head and if you had a roommate in your house who was telling you yo you're a piece like you're useless you're sorry you suck you'd be like hey you need to get out here. You need to go. But for some reason, we allow this roommate to, you know, live rent-free in our head and sit there and call the shots and say things. So I think it's just being aware of that.

So still practice, still learning. But I think that at least for me, I started to accept myself a little bit more and love myself more when I was being a little bit more congruent with myself too. Because I also realized that I would say certain things, you know, to people because I'm coaching them, right? I would be like teaching them on Dancing with the Stars and I'm teaching them like, hey, we need to work on this, do this, and you need to believe this. And then I would go home and I was like i wasn't living that wow

i wasn't being what i was preaching essentially what i was teaching and i hated myself for that really i hated myself for that because i was like i'm a fake i'm a phony i'm a fraud i'm not being congruent with what i know what is right or what I know is going to be helpful. So by being congruent fully when I say something, I live it. Then I'm like, then I can love myself. That's true. I really love myself because, yeah, there's no sense of, like, feeling phony, if that makes sense. Right, right.

Yeah. What's the thing you're most proud of that you've either overcome or embraced in the last couple years Right, right. Yeah. What's the thing you're most proud of that you've either overcome or embraced in the last couple of years? Since the, kind of since the pandemic. Yeah. I feel like a lot of people have uncovered things in their life.

Some people on health or relationships or finances or their career path. What's the thing that you're most proud of that maybe people don't even know about that you've overcome? That I've overcome? Or are overcoming still. Yeah.

No, no. There's been lots of things. I think, you know, I'm trying to think about that, actually. Just like, you know, it's interesting the pandemic taught me a few things. I'm sure it's taught many people you know a lot of things um for me was being an overachiever that i am it was a good moment for me to like pause and be okay with not doing a whole lot you know and enjoying watering the plants you know becoming a tiktok star yeah which by the way that's been a whole other animal man

it's just like that was another thing too for me i was like all right i take myself seriously but i also don't take myself too seriously and i think that was a good goofball it's a good outlet to just be my inner dork yeah you know we talk about our emotional home you know where's your emotional i'm like my emotional home is dork like that's where I live. But I think as well, something that I feel like I've overcome that's been, I think, letting go. Letting go. Just the art of letting go. Letting go.

And realizing that you not only can't control other people, you cannot control your environment, but you certainly can control the meaning. You certainly can control, you know, what it means to you and what are you going to do with that. You're in full control of that. And there's been a lot of situations where there's had to been a lot of forgiveness, you know, from others or from myself or a lot of letting go of, you know, certain things not working out.

Expectations that weren't met. Yeah. And just being like, hey, this is the is-ness. Like, this is what is. And then when you realize that there's like this beautiful release that happens. But it is, but like again, it's like, it's never like a magic pill and everything just like happens and everything clicks and you're good to go. It's in daily practice. You know, you know.

It's the physical fitness. It's the emotional fitness. it's the mental fitness. You know, you have to do it every day. And I know, I'm sure you do too. Like I know when I haven't been working my emotional fitness or my mental fitness, things start creeping in. You're knocking the face, man. Yeah, yeah. You're like, oh, man, I was not ready for that.

I wasn't ready. And you're like, wow, I haven't been, like, lifting my emotional weights, essentially. And it bites you sometimes. It does. So it reminds you, like, you know, be consistent, you know, letting the good things come in your mind. And, yeah, man, I just feel like going back to the healing, I just think that when we look at certain wounds in ourself and look at wounds in others, I really feel like that when you heal your wounds,

you heal the world. Because I think that's really what all this trauma is. What we're feeling in this world, it's like there's wounds. And we just need to... Absolutely. If we're not willing to heal the things that are hurting us we're going to be taking that out on other people whether that's actually reacting in situations where we don't need to react whether that's

holding back our love for other people or our generosity and our gifts yeah whatever it is it's hurting other people by us not being our full authentic authentic, healed selves. Yeah. And that is the work, man. It took me a long time to learn how to heal. Until I turned about 30, I actually learned how to start healing certain things. And every couple of years, there's new things that come up where I'm like, oh, I've got to learn how to heal this. And I thought I was done, but it's like you're constantly learning. But if we don't learn the art of healing consistently then man we're holding back something

from the world yeah and i think the the whole prospect of healing is something that's you know the difference between guilt and shame right the guilt is you know i did something bad and shame is i am bad and your identity and that's so you know terrible so i feel like it's yes when we when there's something wrong with us or or sorry not wrong with us but when we have a feeling or an emotion um we like to sort of uh look at it as something wrong with us right and and we don't allow ourselves to heal because we think that's who we are instead of looking at it and being like hey this is not who i am. This is...

Something I did. Something I did perhaps or something that happened to me or whatever it is. I don't need to hold on to it. What happened for me. And yeah, I can use that

and turn it into something beautiful. You know, these problems that we feel like we have in our lives and look at these, you know, adversities

and I think Tony Robbins says this beautifully but, you know, what if your think tony robbins says this beautifully but you know um what if your enemy is your angel you know what if your enemy is your angel when you look at my bullies you know back in the day how are they my angel okay well it taught me how to have compassion for people man you know put you were hanging up hanging up in a tree how how is this person this person who you're like i cannot stand being around this person for people, you know, you were hanging up in a tree. How is this person, this person who you're like,

I cannot stand being around this person. They're just like so annoying or just, that person is your angel teaching you patience. They're in your life to teach you something. And so looking at certain things in your life as not your enemy, but your angel, I think that sometimes that opens up an amazing door of empowers you absolutely you know in a beautiful way everything is about the perspective on every event or moment that happens there are so many artists

creatives actors dancers people who work in the arts that struggle. There's not many that, there's not many dancers that make a full-time income. Yeah. You're one of the, I don't know, 100, you know, that are making like consistent full-time income in the world probably, right? At the level that you're at. You're probably in the top 10, I'm assuming,

in the world of like. Yeah, you definitely don't become a dancer to become a millionaire. Exactly. No, no. Exactly. But you've learned how to use your creative artistry and also turn it into a business for yourself.

You've learned how to earn a living, let's say, and multiply it abundantly. But there's a lot of artists out there, whether they be writers or painters or dancers or any type of creative actors that struggle. They struggle to get gigs. They struggle to get their work be seen and even just talked about, not even purchased, but just talked about. They struggle to, again, book stuff. What would you say to all the artists in general out there, whether they're a dancer or just a creative individual that wants to express their art in a certain way, who is

struggling to get noticed, seen, booked, paid for their talent, what would you say would be the process or the roadmap from going to making nothing to little to making a full-time living well I think we live in an amazing time right now yes for artists absolutely we take talk oh my gosh Graham took Instagram sick talk YouTube I mean there's there's creators out there who are making millions of dollars and and here's it here's the thing I we were just talking about this the other day. And I was talking to a friend of mine. And I said, you know when you get like a reel, like a sizzle reel? You know, choreographers, casting directors, things like that,

they might look at it, but then they immediately go to your Instagram page. They do, don't they? Immediately. I know I do. I was casting for my Vegas show. And I was like, wait, who's this kid? Let me go check his Instagram. And I'm looking at his Instagram. And the way I look at it, the way that, you know, I'm thinking of dancers, it's a real time reel. It's a real time. So it's like, what are they

doing now? Like what's going on right now? I don't want to see your past 10 years of whatever, like what's happening like last week let me see where you're at and and and that's that's incredibly helpful that's kind of where things have been going so i would say stay up to date don't wait for somebody to give you an opportunity create your opportunities you you have the platforms to do that now you really do you truly do if you're not sure about something, University of YouTube. You know what I mean? I'm saying about YouTube.

I mean, my girlfriend and I, she taught herself how to do Premiere Pro last year. It's crazy. Edit everything. And I see that a lot. I see a lot of people

kind of like, well, you know, I just, I must not get in these jobs. I'm like, well, what are you doing? Like, well, what do you mean?

I'm like, well, are you putting content out there, you know, weekly or once a month or something, whenever it is. well what do you mean I'm like are you putting content out there you know weekly or once a month or something whenever it is

and I think that you just gotta stay on top of it and also don't ever just never lose the love for it as well because I know for me I got burnt out of it

the love of it because I forgot why I did it in the first place and I did it because I was dancing in my living room with my family

and I just remember it just bring me joy and I love the music and I love the way it made me feel i think that's part of partially why too on tick tock i'm kind of a goofball because i'm kind of staying in touch with that sort of inner dork that inner kid where i'm like hey i don't have to take myself too seriously i can have fun and i can be serious and i can be deep and i can be emotional and I can be a leader and I can be a coach and I can be a performer. There's no limits anymore where you're a dancer and that's it.

We live in a time where you can be whatever you really want to be and you can create your own audiences and that's what's so special. I think it's really hard to make a full-time living without creating some type of consistent content as an artist these days. If you're not using the platforms to create and showcase in a unique way for the platforms, it's hard to just be talented and someone just discover

you. Yeah. Without you putting stuff out there, it's really hard. You know, that's the problem too. I realized it's execution. Execution is everything. Again, you know, ideas are a dime a dozen. Everybody has ideas. Everybody has like these like, oh, wouldn't this be cool? And then you see this guy over here execute something that's not even as good, but it's getting just blowing up. And you're like, oh man, I can't, they're not good but you're like but they executed they actually saw the idea they saw through they put on tape they made it happen and it's out there whereas your idea is dying in your mind sitting

there so keep it simple you know complexity is the enemy of execution. Yes. And something that I do as well is I book a date. I book a date before I have an idea. I go, okay, it's time to create something. And I just go, all right, I'm going to pay for a space. I'm going to pay for a camera. I'm going to pay for this. And I pay it.

So now I'm invested. Without knowing what the thing is going to be. Don't even know what it's going to be yet. Interesting. I invest for this. And I pay it. So now I'm invested. Without knowing what the thing is going to be. Don't even know what it's going to be yet. Interesting. I invest in it. That way I'm like, now I have the pressure. Now I have to do it. You know, I don't have, it's like, I'll do it when I'm ready.

No. You know, because you're never really ready, truly, right? No, you're never ready. Never ready. And that was something I learned from my coaches. I would have a few hours rehearsal and then compete that weekend. And I'm like, we're a mess. They're like the biggest, the biggest learning curve is on the floor. Wow.

You could rehearse for months, but you're never going to learn the biggest lesson, which is like being in the ring or being on the floor. You have to have that experience. So the more you do it on the floor in front of people, the faster you're going to learn and the better you're going to become more confident. It's incredible. And like immersion. Immersion is huge, massive.

You want to be a good guitar player. You say, I'm going to take an hour lesson a week. It's going to take you years to be a good guitar player. Every day. Yeah. Well, Dance With The Stars is a good example. People are like, wow, they get so good so fast. It's like four or five hours a day, right?

Seven days a week for three months. Hopefully they get better. I mean, it's harder for some other people. But yeah, it's that immersion. If you really want to do something, there's absolutely nothing holding you back. Who are some examples you saw in the last year who were like blew up? There were nobodies that were creatives,

whether it be artists or dancers or singers that you saw that blew up and actually, you know, have an audience and are making a full-time income now. Do you have a few examples? I don't even, some of them, I don't even know their names, honestly, probably, properly, but, because I just kind of follow them. But I've seen them know their names, honestly, properly. Because I just kind of follow them.

But I've seen them go from like $100,000 to now like $400,000. And then you see them doing deals and brand deals and doing things. And for me, it makes me so happy because I'm like, wow, that didn't exist two years ago. That opportunity didn't exist. That person might not have had the opportunity to even do that. And I hear a lot of people be bitter about that. They're like, oh, I can't believe that. And I'm always like, they executed.

They took action consistently and something you said a few minutes ago was about some of your most viral content was shot on an iphone that wasn't produced that was like last minute let's just shoot this thing real quick and put it out there it was you being your dorkiest self not your most like professional dressed like in a suit yeah you know production choreographed for months it's you just been like yeah oh my god we you know, production, choreographed for months. You've just been like, oh my God, wee. Yeah, exactly. Which, by the way, oh my God, wee. No, but that's what's funny about that is that and listen, sometimes that hurts

because you put all your heart and soul into something and you're like, oh, nobody saw that. But the way I look at it is I do a lot of those and those are like for me. Yeah. Right, the quality. Yeah, of course. Like the content that I look at, I I do a lot of those, and those are, like, for me. Yeah. Right? The quality.

Yeah, of course. Like, the content that I look at, I'm like, ooh, that was beautiful. And if, like, 10 people see it, so be it. It's like the rain falling down on you and the lights. Yeah. Ah. You know? So be it.

Tap dancing on buildings. Ah. Yeah. Because those, like, dreams you had, like, I'd love to do that. And, by the way, even if nobody saw that, the amount of pride that you feel for just seeing it through yeah is you know that momentum carries you through the next thing but you're right there's some things where i'm like i do something really silly dorky and it blows up and um and you're like and then it's funny because then i was at the candy honors recently with dick van dyke and Garth Brooks and the legends, you know.

And 10 people come up to me like, hey, you're that TikTok guy, right? I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that doesn't bother me. People are like, doesn't that bother you? I'm like, absolutely not. Because it's just a new audience. It's new people. And it's kind of fun because then you get to surprise them.

Look what I can really do. Which is like, check this out, you know, so it's pretty cool. That's amazing, man. What do you think is going to happen over the next two to four years for artists, creatives and singers, dancers? What do you think is possible? I mean, that's really anything is possible, you know, really. And that's very vague and very general to say.

But we've seen it. We've seen, you know, it's been disrupted. You know, the whole industry has been disrupted. You know, the power is in the artist's hands now where they can do live streaming shows and make a ton of money, which is something they never had before. You know, you had to be physically on a show, on stage, doing something.

And it's just going to continue to innovate, you know, continue to branch out. You know, I have some fun ideas. And actually, it's interesting. A lot of creative ideas that I had or I have have actually come from TikTok. Really? Where I reach out to them and say, hey, I love what you're doing. I have this project I'm doing on television coming up. And I really would love to use your talent for this project.

That's cool. So you're finding talent online. Oh, my gosh. And booking talent for your stuff. Because that's the thing, too. I think sometimes people think that it's just like whatever. But there's some legit people on there that are really good at what they do. Top of what they do.

on there that are really good at what they do top of what they do yeah and there's some projects the next year early in the year before the Oscars leading up to the Oscars that I'm working on right now and it's I'm really excited about it cuz it's something I played with for a long time but the technology has never been there and now the technology is there so that's exciting pretty exciting how important important is, uh, artists not competing against each other, but collaborating with each other? It's become a collab universe now. It's all about clubs. You were all about competition growing up. Yeah. The answer was start. No, I'm going to win. I'm not going to tell you my secrets. We're going to be the best.

Yeah. You never collaborated. You were like, especially in the ballroom world, you know, competing, he was just like out for blood and barely spoke to people, at least for me. Yeah, I was very competitive. But now I love collaborating. I see you do collabs all the time now. I love learning. I mean, just a forever student. I think whenever I see something and I'm like, man, I love to tap or I love to do this.

Well, I saw that drum thing. I think for me it's wildly inspiring to work with somebody that has talents and skills that I don't have. And I'm just like in awe of them. And I think that that's the thing for me is I always want to live in a state of awe in everything, when traveling and people and just I always want to live in a state of awe and everything when traveling and people and just, I never want to lose that. Like,

wow. You know, that feeling, that hunger. Um, cause I think that we, we've all been there. I'm sure.

Or we lose that hunger, that drive. Yeah, man. And you're like, wow, what are we doing? What are we doing?

What are we doing? Like what's, so to remind ourselves. And I think that a lot of times bringing people, in with new perspectives and ideas revitalizes that hunger. What's your process for, you were just mentioning about visualizing something in the future, wanting to create and choreograph. You've had these ideas, but now the technology is there. I'm curious, what's your visualization process in general for projects competing, wanting to land a judging spot for a big TV show? How do you visualize and manifest and attract so much?

Is there a method, a process? You're good looking and things come to you. What is that? I think for me, when I look back at certain opportunities, and it's a good example, during the quarantine, how certain things manifested. In quarantine, everything shut down. No entertainment, no shows. My tour, the Vegas show was canceled.

Everything's on the back burner. And we're at home, we're chilling out. And I say to my girlfriend I was like babe let's do something, let's dance let's just dance around the house let's just dance around the house, I'll jump up on here we'll spin around, I'll do a dip

we'll edit it on the thing, we'll learn how to edit on the computer and anyways we put it up there and then from that, you know these guys named Nick and RJ who do pinks tour and they do multiple television shows they do everything they saw that and they were about to work on a project called the Disney sing-along and they were like oh that would be perfect for this so they call me up say

hey we saw this video we would love to you to do something like that for this so I'm great so we did that so you booked a gig at home booked a gig for Disney and we're we edited the whole thing ourselves all it was a film did yeah Michael Buble is calling me he's like bro that was I love that it was so great I need to work together I love you so much and I was like I would play I love you boo boo he's amazing he's the bell I directed a music video for him like years ago and we've kind of had this like little bromance from afar right still haven't met in person what no it's unbelievable I love the I directed a music video for him years ago. And we've kind of had this little bromance from afar. Right.

Still haven't met in person. What? No, it's crazy. This guy's unbelievable. I love him. Dude, Christmas time is my favorite because of him. Because of him. He's incredible.

By the way, he's a better person than he is even a singer. He's Canadian, right? Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, yeah. He's just a nice guy. But then from that, it was just like opportunity from opportunity. And there was so many more that came from that.

And now like an Emmy Award, possibly a nomination for one of those performances. The Disney choreographed. That one that led to the Christmas one that led to this. And then now Judging on Dancing with the Stars. And then, so my point being was, you know, it's, you just, if you have an idea, like go with it. Don't worry about it. Like it's you just if you have an idea like go with it don't worry about it like it's perfect or polished you start where you stand and and go with it because you don't know where it's going to lead to you and almost everything i have in my life that i look at it's because of me saying yes to so many things you know the small gig over here i'd be like yeah okay let's do it yeah doesn't pay anything but i'm

gonna do it and then there's somebody there who saw that who does over here and so yeah so i would just say start say yes more say yes more and to enter yourself absolutely yeah what's your thoughts on the law of attraction is this something that you study or implement in your life or is it more of just you have an idea you create it and I think that it's I think that

yeah I think I think what what you focus on is what you feel right? And once you focus on what you feel and what you feel

I think that is what you manifest and I've noticed that at least for me if i'm a little bit more optimistic and a little bit more and i see the light and i see the opportunities um they they i i i see them more if that makes sense right i'm aware of them i'm turning on that like i'm looking for them you know what i mean mean? Like, I have my, like, filter on of the possibilities versus, you know, if you're looking, you know, if you're cynical and you're like, oh, there's just nothing going on.

I just. You're going to feel that way. Yeah. You're not going to try. Well, you're just, well, also, you're just going to see what's wrong. Right? You're just going to see what's wrong. You're going to see how this opportunity is not going to work.

You're going to see how this idea you had isn't going to work. You know, and go to quote Tony Robbins again, my guy, you know, he's one of my biggest mentors since I was 15 years old. And, you know, it's about that state. And I really feel like that, actually. I went to a seminar of his when I was 15 years old. Me too. In Cardiff, Wales.

I was 16 when I went. Really? Did you come here? He was in St. Louis, Missouri when I was there at that time. Yeah. And first of all, we're like being 15, 16 years old. It was amazing, dude. Unbelievable.

It was crazy. It shifted my life in a sense. I don't want to be dramatic, but it was like, I don't know what type of event it was for you. For me, he was doing this tour in the USA that was like this kind of success principles event where he brought in a lot of other speakers like it was yeah Larry King was there and Donald Trump

and it was like all these different like coaches NFL, Super Bowl coaches and you know actors but he came down on stage one time I was maybe you know

it was an arena and I was in like the middle court if it was a basketball court and he came down and kind of stopped right in front of me and I was like is this God's like actually actually sorry you were probably like i was sitting down he was like yeah i was sitting down yeah but i remember him being like

hovering over me with his powerful energy and i can't remember what he said but i remember the way it made me feel and i was just like i want to be able to create that for other people when i grow when i grow up you know i want to be able to do that for other people when I grow up. You know, I want to be able to do that for other people. But so when he went to Cardiff and you were at the event, what did you experience? Well, it was that. It was just like that energy that's being, you know, shown. And also, too, is the tools, too, the state, just controlling your state. That was a game changer for me because being a competitor, you know

This is actually what happened to me. I went to the seminar. I'm buzzing, you know, you're like, wow I could do anything Wow, and then my partner at the time dumped me Oh, and she was like the best in the world She was like the one that everyone to dance with like she was like the 15 year old gem. Yeah 15 Yeah, I mean, you know we were were like in our little ballroom ladder world. And she dumped me, and I'm like, uh. But because I was so pumped, I was like, let's go. Who's next?

Who am I going to find? And I ended up dancing with this girl who got dumped by her partner. So we were like the dumps. Like, we were like the rejects. Right. And they were the super team. Really? They got together. Oh, they got together oh they got together yeah and

but when i beat you beat them didn't you we did let's go beat them we like we were at the royal albert hall in london and it's like arena like wow like a bullfighting ring and we we ended up beating him but so that was kind of a cool moment but what i realized and i kind of forgot about that whole seminar and the whole thing but my whole whole life, it was ingrained in me, the state thing. Changing your state, just like your physiology, the language, your focus. That stuck with me for so many years. And when I look back at all my world championships or my competitions that I did, and when I was on stage in London doing eight shows a week and I was sick but I had to go on there,

I would do that. London doing eight shows a week and I like was sick but I had to go on there you know I was I would do that I would I would get myself in state and I would get myself in a place where I was like I would deliver every time and and I think that that really honestly really helped me throughout my life and look at opportunities Dancing with the Stars and they call me say hey can you do this thing and I'm like yeah I don't know how to teach I had a I was I was 22 22 but I was like I was faking it big time I don't know what I was doing I was like yeah I think you I knew I knew how to dance but you know so hard to teach me so different so different I I've been salsa you see me salsa dance I've salsa dance for I just saw I just saw your teacher the other

day yeah oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay, yeah. She was at me, yeah. And I've been salsa dancing, social salsa dancing, not Latin ballroom style, but social dancing. I've seen you salsa dance, man. It's a different style.

It's pretty amazing. It's a different style. And I'm intimidated, actually, being in the ballroom. Because when I watch ballroom, I'm like, I have no idea what you guys are doing. It's very different. It's a different language. Yeah. Anyways, I've been doing it for 16 years.

And I can't remember what I was going to say now. Listen, all I remember is seeing you at, I think it was like my sister's engagement party. Dancing. And you were dancing with Haley and you all sweating. Drippy sweat, man. And I remember just being like, I had no idea Lewis had this. I know, right? I did not know he had this. This is amazing.

It's incredible. But salsa dancing puts me in that state too. It makes you feel it. When you move your body, it puts you in that state. And I think a lot of people don't know how to get there. Probably as a dancer, you know when you move your body, you get in that flow state. You're releasing negative emotions. You're heightening your vibration i think it was

primal right i mean you look at like your body it's it's you know i always say this like you know you look at a toddler you know before they can walk before they can crawl you put them on the ground you put some music on what do they do they're like a little worm he's like nobody taught them to do that nobody showed them to do that it's in us it's primal and then somewhere along the way you know we would dance around as a kid, like on the couches and stuff. And somewhere along the way, you know, we just got afraid of it. We got afraid of dancing and moving.

And singing and dancing. We got afraid. Yeah. And when people say this, they say this all the time. Oh, I don't dance. And I'm always like, well, when did you decide that? They're like, what do you mean? I'm like, well, when did you stop dancing?

They're like, I never danced. I was like, really? Not even like when you were like a kid like well yeah sure I like like it look goofed around I'm like well okay so what made you stop and then they usually they're like well actually there was this one time when like somebody laughed at me or or somebody said that wasn't good or and then boom they just switch off that part of themselves and they and they stop they deprive themselves of this like

primal thing in us that is meant to move which is why the movement we were meant to move yes and it's the best thing to see especially on dancing with stars it's one of my favorite things like working with amy purdy she's amazing paralympian she's amazing two prosthetic legs we're sitting there we have no idea how to do this there's no handbook there's no rule book of how to you know

dance with prosthetic legs we're making it up you know we had to go through finding these swimmer's feet that were pointed all these different things and

my favorite moment ever was we were we just got done finishing rehearsal and this Argentine tango and she sat on a stool

and she started to cry and I was like, oh gosh, what did I say? What did I do? I was too hard on her. And she just said like, this is the first time I felt truly feminine

since I lost my legs. Oh. And it was so powerful because she just felt like this, like reintroduced to this part of herself that was missing. And literally that happened almost every single partner where there was like this reintroduction. Like, oh, hey, remember this person? Wow.

Remember her? Nastia Lukin, same thing. Really? Yeah. We had this amazing connection where I actually asked her, I said, I was like, what's your real name? Is it Nastia? She goes, no, no, no, it's Anastasia.

And I was like, oh, wow, that's such a different, I just see you differently instantly. Her face softened, her whole demeanor softened. She's like, Anastasia, when did you stop being Anastasia? She's like, well, when I started gymnastics. I gymnastics i was like well who was the girl before that dude it was the most powerful like and she just like it was it was incredible it was so going back to that movement and how important it is and the physiology of our bodies it's uh obviously i'm very passionate about it because i'm a dancer but it's it's it's just, it's so helpful. I'll speak for, you know, as a, as a guy who grew up in Ohio

in the Midwest, it wasn't cool to dance. Right. And, and, and Twitch talks about this too. It's like, it wasn't cool for him to dance in Alabama growing up or whatever. Um, and I remember I didn't really dance. I don't think I ever danced in like middle school or high school I actually did take a tap dancing class in high school for one semester and I felt like it was amazing but other than that I wasn't like feel comfortable dancing like whatever on social dances

with girls or something like that I was kind of sat in the corner and when I was 24 23? 24 I started to learn salsa and for three months I would, I used to live above a jazz club. My brother was a jazz violinist. He's a jazz violinist. Wow. The best in the world at jazz violin. He's a freak of nature. And I needed an apartment. And he knew of a person who owned this jazz club. And he was like, oh, there's like an artist loft upstairs. Maybe I can get you up

there. So I ended up renting this place for $250 a month little studio and downstairs they had jazz music but once a week they had a live salsa band come out and all the salseros in Ohio would come once a week and I would go down and I would watch and just be like this is another world this is amazing the guys are just so smooth the women looking beautiful and i went down there every week for months and i never would step on the dance floor because i was so scared so intimidated of looking bad of being made fun of like the fear is crippling for people to try to sing in front of others or dance or do something like this. And I can have empathy because I know what it felt like.

And then finally, I was just like, I need to do this. Someone grabbed me on the dance floor. I was resisting it. I felt like I was making the biggest fool of myself trying to learn the basic steps. Right, right. Stepping on this girl and just like bumping into people. I was just like, oh, I'm just this like giant white guy in the middle of like a sea of incredible dancers. And everyone's got to laugh at me.

This is, like, the self-talk. Yeah. And then after, like, five minutes, I look around, and no one cares. No one's looking at me. No one cares. No one cares. And even if they did, who cares? Yeah.

Even if they laughed at me, who cares? Yeah. And I went all in from that moment. I love that. I was obsessing over salsa dancing. Every day practicing. Dude, seeing your videos when you're, I'm so impressed. Because here's the thing.

Here's what's interesting is that like social salsa dancing. Yes. It's the feel, right? And you're just flowing and you're just kind of leading and it's just improvised. It is. I'm not good at improvising. Really? It's not my forte.

Dude, I bet you'd be great at it. It's not my forte. Like it's whenever people are like, oh, you're, come on, dance with me. And they grab me and I'm like. We need to choreograph this. I was like, give me a couple of hours to, like, choreograph this routine. And I'm always like, they're always kind of, like, slightly disappointed because they're like, oh, he's not as good as I thought he was.

But, like, because I'm always, like, mine is, like, mine's very, like, choreographed. And, like, I have to, like, work things. It's all about the technique, you know, all that stuff. So I have such admiration for people like, hey, let's go. And they just start dancing. And I'm like, ah, okay, great. So I love that, dude. I think it's amazing.

It's fun, man. And it is liberating, especially for the guys. Dude, it's liberating. And anyone listening or watching, if you haven't experienced yourself dancing in a long time or singing in front of people, of these expressions when you tap back into it like when you're a child like you were saying yeah it's going to bring a whole nother level of energy for you in your life yeah your relationships and your confidence and just enjoying life so i highly recommend people to get back into it because the first first few days doing it is

going to be hard but it's the freeing. Yeah. It's incredible. My favorite thing is seeing, like, Super Bowl champions, World Series champions, like, come on Dance of the Stars, and they're like, yo, this is insane. Like, how do they, what do you, this is amazing. And they fall in love with it, and they find it so challenging. And it's been cool to see, like, even just from, like, 12 years ago 12 years ago, people have been like, what? Damn, chat, pasta, what? And now you're in the street and some dude in a football jersey with a beard is like, yo, I love that pasta doble you did.

That sachet cake was beautiful. Really? Yeah. That's cool. They like their own terminology and they're so into it because they understand it. They appreciate it more now. That's exciting, man. it because it's um they understand it they appreciate it more now so it's been cool to see that like massive shift yes in just appreciation of this insane sport and artistry

because dancers dancers for me um artistic athletes the greatest athletes in the world are dancers artistic athletes that's that's sort of my that's my phrase for when i look at dancers so i feel like like the ability to control your body and have freedom and control at the same time as a dancer, it's one of the most inspiring things for me to watch. That's why I love watching you and Haley, your girlfriend because just in awe

of the artistry and the physical talent that you guys have. It's like you're incredible athletes. Don't they say dancers are like athletes from the gods or something like that? What's the term? I know you're sorry. Something like that.

I think Einstein or something like, yeah. It's like the athlete of the gods or something like that. Yeah, it's something like that. Anyways, what you were talking about before is what you focus on, you feel. And what you feel, you manifest. Can we talk about that a little more? Because I think there's a lot of people, whether they're an artist or an entrepreneur or just someone that wants to attract the right relationship,

and they want to learn how to manifest these things better. And I like the way you worded it. What you focus on, you start to feel. And what you feel, you manifest. I like the way you worded it. What you focus on, you start to feel, and what you feel, you manifest. So how do we change our focus and our feeling so we can start to manifest more quality things in our life as opposed to the negative things? Well, I think, and I feel like I'm just quoting my man Tony all day here because, I mean, he's my guy. But, you know know what's bad is always available

but so is what's good it's always available all these things are available for us right they're all there it's just up to us to decide what we decide

to focus on you know good expression actually a good situation is Kelly Pickler I was working with her on Dancing with the Stars

and she had insane nerves really she would just get we rehearsed and she was great. Begin a rehearsal onto the floor, it'd fall apart because the nerves just got the best of her.

And so I said to her, we go back to the state change, and I said to her, I said, I said, this is what I want you to do. I said, don't say that you're nervous. Just say that you're excited because as we know, nervous and excited are chemically identical, right?

The body doesn't know the difference. The only difference is our focus, right? And also our language, what we're saying. So when we say we're nervous, we're focusing on what's bad. Like, I'm nervous because I'm going to fall over. I'm nervous because they're not going to like it. I'm nervous because I'm not good enough.. I'm nervous because they're not going to like it. I'm nervous because I'm not good enough. But your body

doesn't know it could be excited. So I said, just say you're excited. Just say it. She's like, okay, I'm excited.

I'm like, okay, now just say I'm excited. Just fake it. Just say it. Don't even feel it. Just fake it. Okay,

I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm so excited. And all of a sudden you could feel like all of a sudden her posture changed, her body changed. Now'm excited. I'm so excited. And all of a sudden you could feel like all of a sudden her posture changed, her body changed.

Now she was like changing her feeling. She was feeling excited, even though it was the same chemical response, because now she's focusing on what's good. I'm excited because I worked hard on this. I'm excited to show these people. I'm excited to show what I've been working on. And, man, that was the antidote that was it we won that season and we would not i'm telling you like we it was crazy like

all that work would fall apart on the day until we changed that and that became a ritual of ours that's cool where we were like i'm excited i'm excited and we're focusing what's good and so that manifested a good performance yeah Results, yeah. Manifested results. So what you focus on is what you feel. So let's focus on the solutions. Let's focus on the tools that we need in order to achieve what we want. Let's focus on what's good.

I mean, social media will hijack you. You're just like bad, negative, awful. And then you're like, why do I feel like crap today? You're like, okay, well, because you're focusing on just like bad negative awful and then you're like why do i feel like crap today like okay well because you're focusing on what's bad and so yeah i don't know i think for me that's been a don't get me wrong and there's i have to catch myself many many times and i still use that to this day for myself my heart's beating fast my palms palms are sweating, I'm like... Mom's spaghetti. You know, knees weak, arms are heavy, keep on forgetting what we wrote down. Eminem, please don't sue us.

So how do you prepare then for, you know, you've been on so many big stages. You've been on TV many times, you've been on big stages, touring for, I don't know, hundreds of cities over many years. Do you still get nervous before you perform in front of an audience? Yeah. I mean, I get excited now. So how do you prepare an hour before a big performance? Whether you're shooting in front of just cameras and no one's watching, but you know this is for something meaningful.

You're on stage in front of thousands of people. You're on cameras in front of millions of people watching from home. of people. You're on cameras in front of millions of people watching from home. How do you prepare that hour leading up to make sure that you're in your best position to nail it? Yeah, it's the ritual. It's my rituals. It's, you know, everything from stretching, getting my body right. I have like a heater, you know, I get hot, I sweat. I had to break a full sweat before I do anything. And there's something about that that just, I feel like, it's like my body just kind of awakens when

I actually, like, there's physical perspiration and I'm sweating. And it's also, again, listening to things. You know, going back to focusing on what's good, you know, I'll listen to a podcast, you know, I'll listen to my school of greatness right here.

I'll put something on that is nurturing and uplifting and nourishing, I should say. And that gets me in the right mindset. The physicality's there. The focus is there. And the rest just flows. You put in the preparation and the practice so that you just fall through.

And when it becomes routine, it's reliable. You know, I know I'll be in that spot. I'll be in that place. Really? By doing these things, I know I'll be in that spot by the time it comes to performing or doing what I have to do. And also trusting that it's going to work out. Because I used to drive myself nuts. Really?

Like, it's never going to happen. It's not going to work. I'm a perfectionist. That was the other thing, too. I used to pride myself on being a perfectionist. I was like, I'm such a perfectionist. What does perfectionism do to you? Oh, it's paralyzing.

Really? Right? Because it doesn't exist. It's not real. You're never going to be perfect. And even if it is perfect, you're still going to think that something's wrong with it, right? So you're living in a constant state of disappointment.

Constant. Because you're just like, it's never going to be perfect. So realizing that the perfection is the experience. The perfection is that, is your heart beating fast? the perfection is the experience. The perfection is your heart beating fast. The perfection is you being prepared and giving it, you know, putting in the hours and knowing that you've done the time. That's the perfection. Like, that's that feeling.

It's not actual perfection. You know what I mean? Yes. When did you learn to let go of perfection? Or is it something you still... Dancing with the Stars. Really? Oh, my gosh.

You had to. Because it was like, this person doesn't know how to dance. You had to. We got to go out there and do something. No, literally. Dude. It was crazy.

It's going to look bad, but let's still have fun. When I competed before Dancing with the Stars, I was a terror. Oh, wow. I was honestly a terror. My coaches hated me. I was like...

Again. It wasn't good enough. I was like, ah. But you won. I'm. Like, because I was like, it wasn't good enough. I was like, ah. And like, but you won. I'm like, I know I didn't deserve to win. I was like, I was off tonight. And I was so hard on myself. And it just was never good enough.

And Dancing with Stars rolls around, and you're dancing with somebody who's not a dancer. And it feels like nails on a chalkboard oh man because in that in bomb dancing it's all about connection yes it's all about the feeling of it it's not even like what you're looking at it's like the feeling and that takes years to get that like that connection going with your partner that takes thousands of hours and here you are you're like like, oh, this is, and man, I had no choice, I had to just like, okay, I, this is what it is, but then I look back on it, and I'm like, and I had to change the definition of what perfection meant to me, which was, the perfection is, I get to help this person,

I get to serve this person, I get to see their face light up when they get to do something they never thought they were able to do. Those moments became so much more rewarding and things that I look forward to versus like, man, that felt terrible or their frame was down or they missed the turn

and not really worrying about that so much. The first couple of seasons though, I was still like that and I apologize to all my partners out there, and they know and I love them, we're still friends. But I was a terror, man. It's gotta be perfect, let's go! I was like, let's do it again!

And then eventually, halfway through, I was like, wait a minute, what am I doing? Gotta relax, man. Has there ever been a moment where you went on stage, whether it be Dancing With The Stars or your own, some other show, your own show, where you felt like, I'm not fully prepared. Like, we didn't practice enough.

The dancers don't know their steps two hours ago. Yeah. Have you ever felt that way? Oh yeah. Really? So much, so many times. How do you go out there knowing you're not ready? Just wing it. Really? Well, here's the thing.

The first two tours I did with my sister, I learned the whole show in two days. Shut up. Two days. And it was on the stage where we were performing it. And sometimes I was doing the routine the night before in the hotel lobby before we were on stage in front of 5,000 people. And it didn't go great sometimes. Really? But I realized, I was like, as long as you're enjoying it,

even if it goes wrong, the audience are with you. They're with you. If you go into this like, oh, the audience feels that. And so it's this, hey, that didn't go quite right, and you acknowledge it, you're just like, hey, and the audience are like, hey, that's awesome, you know, it's like somebody on SNL laughing in a skit or something, you know, they're like, oh, this is actually pretty fun, and it's personal, you know, and it's human, it's real, but also, too, being a dancer, and I guess it's real um but also to being a dancer and i guess it's sometimes good in life as well but you know it's uh you're going to make mistakes you know and at least when you're competing it

was for me was about like how well can i recover from those mistakes right how how well can i oh i missed that let's get back into it and then let me get back on balance let me get back into you know my center um because if you get frantic about it if you hold on to that mistake you know it's you become slow sluggish you're missing more steps so you you have to learn to let go of mistakes in a routine in order for yourself to get back to Center and I think that's kind of you know yeah good in Speaking of getting to center, when you have accomplished so much from a young age, for the last 15 plus years now, you've been on a global stage, at least a national stage and a global stage in different areas of your career. How do you stay centered and grounded and not

allow ego to take over when you're winning everything and on covers of magazines and celebrity gossip, all the things, all the opportunities and people feeding into the ego of how amazing you are, how have you stayed centered or grounded, or maybe you haven't at certain points, but what's the process there to staying grounded with success? Yeah. For me, I feel like i've never got too carried away with with all that you know to be honest with you i think maybe that's my competitive side of me

where i feel like like i said before like it's still not good enough or there's still more to do and um it i listen i i appreciate like the the accolades and I love like hearing people, you know, who appreciate what I do. But you never, again, I go back to the student thing. I'm a forever student. I love learning. And I think that it's hard, at least for me, I think that it's hard for me to allow myself to get to a place like that. Because I always feel like I'm constantly growing and i'm i'm wanting to learn more and i'm in this sort of state of like not like hey i'm the guy i know everything and like you're all lucky you know it's like

never like that and also you're never realizing that you're never as big as you are individually never as big as like the project or the show, whatever you're working on. I'm here to serve. I'm here to like, how can I make this better? How can I make this, how can I give myself to this audience and make them feel great in a certain way? Not how can they love me more and appreciate me?

That's not it, you know. And I think that keeps me super just motivated you know to give but that's also things you having a family you know in earlier years because when you're a teenager and you know things are going great you you start to feel a certain way about yourself perhaps right but that would be quickly family keeps you grounded that would be quickly. Your family keeps you grounded. That would be instantly. Hi, little Derek. Instantly checks. Yeah, yeah, of course.

Yeah, never allowed to even go there, yeah. What do you feel like is something that's missing in your life that if you were able to tap into it more would give you more abundance, freedom, peace, love, intimacy? Is there anything missing? You know, I don't necessarily think there's something missing. I think there's some things I can water more, I can grow on more. You know, I think there's things that I can definitely improve on and dive deeper into.

What's one thing that resonates with you right now? You know, man, I think going back to the idea of like execution and that's a good question. I'm just trying to think about it. Yeah.

What's one thing that I think is... Dive in deeper. Yeah. Internally, something internally. You're an execution machine. Because here's what's interesting with me. Because here's the thing. Usually, I would usually say my relationship.

A relationship, like intimacy and things like that. And I think that that's been something that's been missing in my life for so long. True intimacy, true love and I feel like I'm in a place now in my life where that has I feel I feel like it's there and it's it's beautiful and I feel very like oh that's been sort of the that's been a piece that's been missing for so long um yeah so yeah i don't know you know it's interesting your body language shifted right when you this is the first time you sat back back i know i'm like this is my uh but why do you think that something shifted when i was i think it was my pondering i think it was like you know it, it's interesting actually, I think because there's a groundedness about it.

I think maybe, you know, here I'm like engaged. Yeah, yeah. My body language here, I feel really grounded. And I think that I'm at ease. At peace. At peace, at ease. Of feeling like if nothing were to happen, no other things happen in life, like, everything's going to be okay. Wow.

You know what I mean? Because of quality, intimate relationship. Yeah. Yeah. There's a beauty about that. That's interesting, man. I will say, it's pretty hilarious, the amount of comments that are just like, when are you popping the question? Like, what's happening?

All the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You get that all the time, don't you? All the time, all the time. I think people should never pressure a man to make that decision. As men, we should say,

this is a decision I want to make in this moment when I'm ready and lean into it because we want to make it, not because we're pressured by society or friends or family. Like, you've got to do this now. Yeah, no, no. That's not the right thing for people, I don't think.

I think you can encourage depth of the relationship and growth and these things, but pressuring someone to make that decision? Well, here's what's interesting. Usually what I've seen in relationships is people, they get in it, and then they get married. And this is not every relationship. Sometimes too quick. What they get in a relationship.

And then there's lots of trials and tribulations and things that go through. They go through a lot. And, you know, sometimes it doesn't work out. And sometimes it does. The way I've looked at it is like we've gone through so many different versions of our relationship in the past six years. Sorry, my eye is twitching. Okay.

I don't know what that means. The stress of the pressure of getting married. No, but I think we've gone through so many different versions of our relationship over the past six years and so many ups and downs

and so many beautiful things that have really just, you know, deepened our relationship that I know that when that day comes, that there's going to be no doubt that there's nothing we can't get through. There's going to be no doubt that what we do is going to be forever

and a beautiful thing. And yeah, yeah, it's awesome. It's exciting, yeah what do you think is possible for a man when they create that intimate connection with someone their partner that they deepen and strengthen and evolve over time as opposed to being single as a man what do you think is possible from you single Derek to, to now you committed intimate, you know, expanding growth in an intimate relationship? What's possible on that side versus where you were single, kind of all over the place, having fun? I think possible is the possibility, at least for me, of what I feel, what I see is just consistent consistency of happiness.

Not just consistency in a relationship, but consistent happiness and consistent joy. Because an amplification where I feel like experiences are amplified because you're sharing them with somebody. You know, one thing I love about Haley is like we love adventures. We love going on these amazing trips

and we'll go diving and she's down 40 feet and I'm like, oh, well got to go be down there with her. And it's really great to experience these things together. And so for me, it's not necessarily just the possibilities of like what it does for like business or creativity, all these things. For me, it's the possibility of just the quality of life that I feel like, you know, at least for me, I was sort of searching for and looking for in other things. There is a breath. There's a breath. There's an ease.

There's a groundedness that's there. And she's a very, like, grounded person, too. I don't know if you can tell, but I'm very airy. I'm like, I'm up here, you know what I mean? And she's very here. So it's a good combo. here you know what i mean and she's very here so it's a good combo um and uh yeah it's interesting because i have friends like who um they'll be in this relationship or this relationship and they're dating they're like oh man i want to be in a long-term relationship and and i just said i

said dude you gotta stop stop having the appetizers i I know, man. Like, meaning, and I don't say that as talking about women like that at all. I have four sisters. Like, my respect for women is, you know. But it's more in the sense of be on your own. Yes. Be on your own. Don't jump into, yeah, yeah. Yeah, be on your own and, like, love yourself, figure yourself out, find yourself,

and gain that appetite for love. Depth and deeper connection. Yeah, get yourself that appetite for that. And at least that's kind of what I felt like I did at least, where it helped me from being sort of dating a serial dater to stepping back, being sort of on my own for a while, and then allowing myself to be ready for it. To dive in.

Yeah. Yeah. It's exciting, man. I've got a couple final questions for you. Love our time together. I love how real you've been and how just open and honest. It's been really inspiring, Derek. Yeah, really.

Before I ask the final questions, people got to follow you, DerekHuff.com Derek Huff on Twitter well Derek Huff on Twitter on Instagram Twitter and TikTok

all the things Derek Huff that's it yes follow him on TikTok if you want to be inspired if you want to laugh if you want to be

you know get some creative ideas I think inspiration is the wrong word I think inspired inspired to be a dork yourself that's it to be your authentic self. Yeah.

People need that. People need that, man. You know, literally I'm just like, yo, just have fun with it, man. Just be a goofball. I think that's part of life, man. It's okay. But one of the coolest experiences I've ever done

is been to your live performances. I think I saw two of them with you and Jules. But you're doing your own here in Vegas coming up September 22nd through November 22nd. It's called No Limit Derek Hough. No Limit. No Limit, baby.

No Limit. Let's go. So September 22nd through November 22nd, if you're in Vegas or make a trip to Vegas, they can see your show. Where can they get tickets to that?

How can they? Yeah, go to Ticketmaster. That's it, right? Ticketmaster.com yeah go to Ticketmaster Ticketmaster that's it right Ticketmaster go to Ticketmaster.com yeah and it's at the Venetian Hotel okay and yeah it's a great night and this show is like live band the an all-star cast of dancers I mean these dancers I picked from you know they won world of dance Wow they were like first place they're on your show yeah on the show you were judging yes that's like and These dancers I picked from, you know, they won World of Dance. Wow. They were like first place. They're on your show. Yeah.

On the show you were judging. Yes. That's cool. And they, you know, are just extraordinary dancers like beyond. Of course, Hayley's going to be dancing on the show as well. And she's sensational. But it's, they're singing in it. It's like.

You're going to sing? Yeah. It's a big band music. That's cool. Actually, Michael Bub buble he sent me all his tracks his authentic musician uh stems so the music just sounds so full wow um motown music rock and roll you know latin salsa tango uh contemporary i, every different genre you could think of. It's something for everybody. And,

it's just, it's a great night. And we, we, we dance, man. It's hard. You're sweating.

You're dripping. It's full out and it's so much fun. And, yeah, I'm really proud of it. It's an athletic performance. It's like you guys are full on

athletic performance. Yeah. It's top notch. 90 minutes, what is this, like a 60, 90 minute performance? Yeah, and's different about vegas is there's no intermission oh it's just like straight through and um yeah it'll be like it'll be like an hour 20 that's amazing um just non-stop you know action uh but it's gonna be a lot of fun a lot of fun you definitely need to go check it out i'm excited man i'm gonna be there for sure at least one night. If not two, I'm going to bring some friends.

So check Derek out September 22nd through November 22nd called No Limit Derek Hub. You can get it on his Instagram and Twitter. You'll be linked up to it as well. Yeah. So make sure you guys check that out. This question I ask everyone at the end, it's called the three truths. Uh-oh. So imagine there's a hypothetical scenario.

So imagine it's your last day on earth many years away. Okay. You get to live as old as you want to live. And you've accomplished everything you want to accomplish. Okay. You've lived a great life. But for whatever reason, everything you've ever created has to go to another place. All your dance, your videos, this interview, your book,

all these things have to go somewhere else. No one has access to your content. But you have a piece of paper and a pen and you get to write down three lessons that you've learned in your life that you would leave to the world. I call it the three truths, three lessons you would leave behind. And this is all we have to remember you by. What would you say would be those three lessons or those three truths without being prepared? What's resonating with you in the moment?

I think man and I just I'm just a walking infomercial for Tony. I love it man. I'm telling you. But truly some of the things have really stuck with me and really changed my perspective dramatically. And really in really dark times,

really changed my perspective almost instantaneously. And one of them was trade your expectations for appreciation. We've heard it before. But it's something that when you really sort of apply, it's an absolute game changer. And that applies to everything. Everything. Like your environment, especially your relationships. especially relationships you know

for me like whenever there's a a fight or there's an argument or something happens there's usually an expectation that's not being met

and so you realize okay how do I switch this how do I appreciate this person right now how do I appreciate them listening to me or them being

you know what they actually did this for me that man game changer so yeah that's number one

that's number one um man game changer so yeah that's number one that's number one um man um i feel like i feel like i think that like you're enough You always have been and you always will be. And I think that's important, too, that it's not just you are enough. It's you always have been and you always will be. I feel like that for me has been really powerful as well because it's just a reminder of like, hey, man, that kid or those things that ever happened to you. When you look back, you were enough.

You already were enough. Yeah. Already. And you are now. And you always will be. That's big. So I think that one. And the third one, drink lots of water.

Stay hydrated. It's true, man. Stay hydrated, man. That's a good lesson, though. I know, right? Stay hydrated. man stay hydrated man no um that's a good lesson though i know right stay hydrated uh i go back to this one again because it's just it's such a go-to but you know um um

yeah i think that i think one of them would be what the world isn't isn't happening to you, it's happening for you? That's another one that I've heard that was so powerful for me because we fall into that victim mode. Why is this happening to me? Why did that happen to me?

And it goes back into the, what if your enemy is your angel? So I'm like, well, how did that happen for me? What lesson did I learn from that? How can I learn from that? Um, how can I grow from that? So those have been really key, pivotal things that have helped me in my life that I would love to, you know,

carry on and, and share. Yeah. Pass on. Those are great, man. This has been inspiring. Um,

again, I want people to follow you everywhere on social media, Derek Hough, especially on Tik TOK and, uh, go to the show. I, especially on TikTok. And go to the show. I'm telling you, if they go to the show, text me or message me on Instagram or Twitter with a photo that you're there and you're going to be inspired. I'm telling you, it's going to be worth the show. So make sure you guys go and tell your friends to go. I want to acknowledge you, Derek, for, again, the transformation you've had. I think I've known you for like five or six years maybe.

We've hung out a little bit here and there, but it's been more over the last couple years here and there. And it's fun because I see your transformation in myself because I see how I've continued to grow and evolve through adversity and heartache and things like that. And I know other things off camera that we've talked about that you've grown into a different person. And it's really inspiring to witness the growth. Thank you, brother. Because I think some people might think that you just had it all figured out and things are perfect in your life. And you've got no problems because you're successful. And you look good.

And you've got these amazing blue eyes and all these things. But we all go through challenges and adversity. But we all go through challenges and adversity. And to know that you've been doing the creativity you bring to the world, and the joy and the passion, but for you growing as a human being and as a man. So I really acknowledge you for that. It's really inspiring, man.

It means a lot. Thank you, my man. This is the final question. What's your definition of greatness? Definition of greatness. Definition of greatness wow my brain goes crazy because there's so many things you could possibly say

I guess and that's probably why you asked that question exactly what's it mean for you? I think honestly the definition of greatness for me is

I'm just trying to find a way to make it a little bit more, well, I'm just going to keep it streamlined, but really is serving others. It really is. I feel like that to be truly great is to lift others. I think in any sense of the word, you know, in a career, in a relationship, in your family. think in any sense of the word you know um in a career in a relationship in your family um and at least for me that's when i feel the most great yeah or the most aligned with myself is when i'm helping somebody um so yeah i feel like you'll be you'll be serving in some way and by the way way, it doesn't have to be huge, a huge gesture. It could be a small gesture just like listening to somebody.

But yeah, I think that that would be my definition of greatness. That's it. Derek Huff, my man. Appreciate you. Thanks, brother. Thank you so much for listening.

I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's show with all the important links. And also make sure to share this with a friend. Leave us a review over on Apple Podcasts and subscribe over on Apple Podcasts as well. I really love hearing feedback from you guys. So share a review over on Apple and let me know what

part of this episode resonated with you the most. And if no one's told you lately, I wanna remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.