The Squeeze - Jay Shetty: The Path to Purpose

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

This week, we’re joined by none other than Jay Shetty - one of the biggest names in wellness and podcasting. Everyone may know who he is, but this week we are diving into his origin story, uncovering the moments that shaped him into the thought leader he is today. Jay takes us through his incredible journey, from what first sparked his interest in monkhood to how his family reacted when he made the life-altering decision to pursue it. He opens up about the challenges of transitioning back to public life after leaving monkhood, the resilience it took to push through over 40 job rejections, and how mindfulness found its way back into his life - leading him to teach weekly meditations to his colleagues. We also explore the pressure of "practicing what you preach" in the wellness space, the role of humility in continuous growth, and a simple 5-4-3-2-1 mindfulness technique you can use today. Plus, Jay shares about his first-ever live tour, On Purpose, and what he’s most excited to bring to audiences.Be sure to follow Jay https://instagram.com/jayshetty/!Get tickets to Jay’s tour here: https://www.jayshetty.me/To email us your questions or share your story, you can reach out to [e-mail] sure to rate, review, and follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode! Plus, follow us on Instagram:The Squeeze: https://instagram.com/thesqueeze/Tay Lautner: https://instagram.com/taylautner/Taylor Lautner: https://instagram.com/taylorlautner/& TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@thesqueezepodcastTo learn more from The Lemons Foundation, follow https://instagram.com/lemonsbytay/ and visit lemonsbytay.comEpisode Sponsors:Right now, you can get an exclusive 20% off your first order at thrivecausemetics.com/THESQUEEZE  Visit premierprotein.com and go to Where to Buy to find a retailer near you or find where to buy online Head to Ollie.com/SQUEEZE, tell them about your dog, and use code SQUEEZE at checkout to get 60% off your first box of meals when you subscribe today! Head to ThriveMarket.com/squeeze to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift!  Go to Cymbiotika.com/SQUEEZE for 20% off your order + free shipping today. If you think you may be struggling with OCD and want to learn more about therapy with NOCD, go to https://learn.nocd.com/squeeze and schedule a free 15-minute call with their team. Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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The following Podcast is a Dear Media Production This is something that I maybe want your advice on. But I feel myself sometimes holding myself to a really high standard of making sure, practicing mindfulness, making sure I'm going to therapy. I kind of get to surge because I hold myself to such a high standard.

How to like combat those thoughts of I feel like I'm not doing enough to actually be sitting here doing this. Yeah, not like feeling worthy to be preaching the stuff that we talk about. Am I worthy of, you know, having a number. mental health podcast. Yeah. We don't always do things the right way. Yeah. That makes you the perfect person.

That feeling makes you the perfect people to do the show. The other two choices are you think you're so perfect, or the other option is you think you're so unqualified that you never do anything. When I was with the monks, humility was seen as the most aspirational quality that a human could ever aspire for. I love that your lemon drops have you to listen to. That's what makes you both perfect host. because you're not coming at this from a point of view of we know and you don't.

You're coming at it from a point of view of, hey, we're struggling with this and we're figuring it out, and I'm trying to share it. When life gives you lemons, what do you do with them? Over here at The Squeeze, we talk about it. All right. Jay, welcome to The Squeeze. Thank you for having me. I'm so grateful to be here. Oh, my gosh. We, I mean, this has been a dream of ours for a while ever since we started the podcast, to be honest with you. So the fact that it's come together is just like just such an insane honor.

Well, that is very humbling. I'm so grateful. And congrats on everything. It's awesome to see what you both are building and doing together. And even the few moments we've just spent together now, I'm so happy to be here. I mean, honestly, you just, when we started this, you were and you continue to be the goal. Like, you know, what you do is a large reason why we wanted to start doing this. So as people in the mental health space, like we all strive to be more and more like you. So thank you for being that for us. That means the world to me, honestly.

I don't even know how to respond to that. That is so generous and so kind. And I am so thankful to hear that. And I'm here to help you and support you and serve you in any way I can. So thank you so much. Thank you. So fun. Okay.

So we start each episode off with a game called Citrus Got Real. this jar has some questions in it. If you would like to pull one of those little pieces of paper out. That's so cool. All right. Well, I'm already learning from you guys. This is amazing. These are viewer, listener questions.

Okay, great. They're all very random. So we don't really know what we're going to get. Shall I read it? Yes. Okay. What's the weirdest item you keep by your bed? Weirdest item you keep by your bed.

Shall I go first? Yeah, go ahead. I don't know if I keep anything weird next to my bed. Like, I'd say I'm, I have a hatch. Do you know what a hatch? Oh, yeah, yeah. It's like things. I think babies use, so maybe it is a bit weird, but it's, it wakes you up with like

this light and it's got beautiful sounds and tones. And I've had that for a while. I generally wake up before it wakes me up, but it ends up being there. I have a copy of the Baguagwood Gita, which is the text from India that I studied. And so that's not weird. That feels fairly normal. And that's it, really. My bedside table is really boring.

That's, that's it. Oh, that sounds really nice and clean. I feel like I might like this hatch thing. Yeah, I wasn't going to call you out. But I actually think you could really benefit from that. Can it be like a noise machine too? Because I need a noise machine. I need a good question.

I don't know if it has that functionality. I have no idea. I'd have to find out. But it does have really good sounds to wake you up with. Like far better than any alarm tone or whatever may be, especially if you don't want to sleep with your phone next to your bed. Yeah. It's brilliant.

Okay. Okay. What's in your nightstand? I'm trying to think. You have a lot of like cough drops from when we were sick like a month ago that are still just sitting there. Yeah, that's true. Honestly, my nightstand needs a clean out. Oh, you know what it's in yours?

Ow! Sorry. You know the little like head scratcher thing that's like this? I feel like that's really random. Oh, I want one of those. The massage thing. Oh, I've been wanting one of those. Are they good?

They are, but only when somebody else does it to you. If you grab it and you do it to yourself, it just like you don't feel anything. Yeah, it's not really relaxing. If somebody else does it, it feels heavenly. Right. I guess on that same note, what's in my nightstand is the little eye, the eye massager thing. The one that moves and heats. We love all these fun little, like tech gadgets.

I want to try both of those things. Yeah, it's like massages your eyes. It like heats up and it's just like a gentle eye massage. That sounds incredible. It is nice. Now that I've like thought through everything that's in our night, we have like large nightstands. I actually feel like we should probably clean those out. Yeah, mine's like a storage unit.

Now that I've like to actually sat. Mine's like a little stool that just has these two things on it. And that's it. That's what I need. Because I should have picked another question. No, that's good. I love that. Okay.

Let's dive in because, as Taylor said, we truly are just like so honored to have you and have been a dream guest of ours for so long because you're just like one of the best, I feel like to do in every like walk of space that you do. Like, you know, from speaking, just being in the well, this field, your podcast, which you're going on tour with, and we'll talk about later. But what I really want to know, and I would love to dive into, is truly just like the origin story of the J. Shetty that is sitting here with us today. And what for you initially sparked your love and interest in wellness? That's a great question. I'd have to say it was my dad who was subtly trying in my

teens to get me to read meaningful books. Oh, wow. And he was trying so hard to get me to read philosophy or theology or whatever it may have been that he was interested in. And I wasn't interested in any of it because I was a teenager, like who at 14, 15 years old is thinking about wellness. You feel amazing. You feel indestructible. And then I remember that somehow, through his recommendations, I ended up finding the writings of Martin Luther King, biographies, of Malcolm X. And then I was also reading the biographies of David Beckham and Dwayne the Rock Johnson at the same time. This is when he was in the WWE and I was a big wrestling fan. And it sounds ridiculous, but it wasn't. It was this deep dive into how someone lived. And I still

remember this story in David Beckham's autobiography where he would spend his Friday nights every week practicing free kicks. And so he would go and put the ballerickm's autobiography where he would go and put the ball down, he'd stand 25 yards away from the goal, and he'd try and put it in the top corner. And he said that all his friends were out drinking or partying or, you know, meeting women or whatever it was. But he was there practicing. And I think it was little things like that. Or I thought, oh, wow, like, that's fascinating to hear that someone who's as successful as he is had so much discipline early on. Or I remember him saying that he couldn't drink before game day. And so he wasn't drinking alcohol like his friends were he was drinking orange juice or whatever it was

yeah and i think it was tiny little things like that remember the rock talking about in his book about what he'd gone through in terms of depression and his relationship with his family and i just couldn't you know now i think we have podcasts and we have all these conversations around people sharing their mental health stories or their morning routines or their evening routines but at that time it was so unique and i would honestly say it was those real life life stories of real people. And that's where I discovered that, you know, that age old wisdom or the quote that we've all heard that there's no such thing as a strong person with an easy past. And I started to realize that all these strong, incredible, powerful people had extremely

uncomfortable, difficult pasts. And it was how they reacted to them, how they adapted to them that transformed their life. And I feel those seeds were planted. around that time. So that's, even though that wasn't directly wellness, there was a power to that idea that these people had sacrificed, they had discipline, they had worked towards their success, if that makes any sense. Yeah. For sure. Wow, that's such like a fascinating, like, thing to grab onto. Yeah, especially at that age, like, to be able to look forward and be like, you know, that, you know, I should probably start. I should get, you know, hold myself. now if I want to be like that then. You know what's so crazy is the fact that you were

fans of those two individuals back then and they, you know, sparked that within you. And I'm assuming here, I'm pretty, I'm 99% sure on one. Have you had both of them on your podcast? No, I haven't yet. But I got a, I got a voice note from The Rock like a couple of months back. And it was super sweet to, you know, hear from him. We've actually never met or even been in the same room with either of them. Wow. And I got a voice note that was like, let's figure it out. And so that was really sweet.

It was a great moment. I've been a fan of him since I was like 15 years old. That's so cool. And to have that moment. And save with David Beckham. I'm waiting for that one. I'm still waiting for that one. But I'm very excited about it because, yeah, I was studying their life so early and

have so much respect for them beyond just their success. But actually the journey that it took to get there. Yeah. I feel like you and Dwayne would just be a matchmate in. heaven. That would be cool. Fingers crossed. Okay, so then growing up, when did, when did the idea of becoming a monk start? Because I just think that is one of the coolest things. It's just like, because, you know, I don't know much about it, but it's just a fast, what I do know, I'm so fascinated by. Yeah, no, so I always think about that as I would never have wanted to become a monk

if I never met a monk and spent time with one, it just wasn't on the cards, right? Like, you don't grow up and go, I want to be a monk one day. And so neither was I thinking that. Like, I thought I was going to go and carry on and study business and go get a real job and work and get married and, you know, kind of tick all the boxes. And for me, what was so profound was when I met the monks in my teen so early on, it just changed my trajectory. And so I met monks around 18, 19 years old.

And one was speaking at my college. And I started spending time with him. And I look back at that moment as just being a moment where the best way to explain it is you meet someone that you look up to and you just want to be around them all the time. And I think people have felt that with actors. They've felt that with CEOs. They felt that with athletes. Like, you know, a kid who looks up to David Beckham and goes, I just want to learn from him and be around him. It was that kind of almost childlike enthusiasm.

Yeah. And I think what resonated to me was because the monk that I met, who I'm still very good friends with today, his name's Gorongadas. I was just with him in January at the monastery at the same archroom I lived at. And he just felt content. And when I look back at that time, I think when I was that age, I'd met people who were beautiful. I'd met people who were strong. I'd met people who were rich. I'd met people who were famous. But I don't think I'd met anyone who was happy. And his natural aura was confidence, happiness, security. And I just thought to myself, I don't know anyone who has that. And it was one of those strange things where I don't even think it was logical. I think it was a feeling. It was an aura and experience of being in someone's

presence that was so comfortable with themselves, even though they were wearing robes. He had a shaved head. There was nothing externally attractive about him in that I was drawn to him by anything material. It was purely a spiritual force that he has, that he still has till this day, that just penetrated my heart and just made me go, well, this person has something that I think is worth pursuing. And then I found that he'd given up jobs that I would have probably chased to do that. He went to IIT, which is like the MIT of India. It's the Indian Institute of Technology. extremely reputable institution, the current CEO of Google went to that university, like, that's the level of accolade that that brings. And he'd given up that future to become a monk.

And so I thought either this person is crazy or they're the smartest person in the world. And I went on to find out that he was extremely thoughtful and mindful. And I give him all the credit. I don't think I would have ever even dreamt of that life. I just got really. really lucky that my role models at that young age became monks. Wow. And that's a very random thing. Yeah. Because up until that point, my role models were athletes, CEOs, musicians, actors,

whatever it may have been. So do you, how does, so do you say to him, I want to come with you? I want to, I want to come, you know, practice what you, how does that initial decision come to be? Yeah. So when he was in London, I basically just started going to every one of his events. Okay. So after I met him, I said, what else are you doing this week?

I'd love to come and see you speak. And I'm sure you've had similar things like this when you both have done events. I'm sure you've had people come up to you and be like, what else have you got coming up this week? Or how do I follow you guys? Obviously, now you just follow someone on social media and you know what they're doing. At that time, that didn't exist. So I went and asked him and he said, well, I'm speaking at this home. I'm speaking at this temple.

I'm speaking at this event. Just joined me. And so I found out his schedule. And then that week, I went to every event that he did. Wow. And every time I went and sat with him, I felt more connected. I felt more inspired. And then eventually I actually went and spent time with him in India.

This is before I actually became a monk. But I would spend my vacations and my holidays visiting him. So I'd go there for a couple of months. I'd go there for a couple of weeks. Anytime I had a break from school, from university, I'd go and experience the lifestyle. And I think that's what really gave me a taste because I would be interning at these corporate companies. And so I'm in bars,

stakeholders, wearing suits, going to this official job as an internship. And then the rest of the time on vacations, I'm living as a monk, sleeping on the floor,

wearing robes, experimenting with that lifestyle. And I'd always come back happier having spent time there. I'd always come back having this really profound experience that I thought, this is what I want to do with my life.

And so I really, it's almost like A-B testing that everyone's doing now with thumbnails and everything else. and you're like, wait a minute, what works for you? And I was just really lucky that during those times I was at college, I had time to kind of test an experiment. And it became very obvious to me that the corporate life didn't inspire me

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That's O-L-L-I-E.com. slash squeeze and enter code squeeze to get 60% off your first box. Start your dog's new year off right with Ollie. When you told your parents that you were going to go and practice being a monk, what was their reaction? Yeah. So I think they didn't believe it because I started to say it to them while I was at college. Okay.

Because I was going on these trips, I'd be like, guys, I'm going to become a monk when I graduate and they were like, whatever. Like, that's not going to happen. So I think they kind of thought I was just saying it to say it. Yeah. And it's almost like when you're telling your parents your dreams. And they're like, yeah, yeah, you'll get a real job someday. Like, don't worry about it.

And then when I actually told them in my final year of college, and especially in the last six months, and I was like, guys, I'm definitely doing this when I graduate. Like, this is the plan. I think my mom was just extremely worried about my health. Like, my mom was like, what are you going to eat? And how are you going to take care of yourself? And, you know, all the things that a mom would care about.

Like, my mom's a mom. She just, she doesn't care about anything apart from me being healthy. Right. And my dad was always slightly aloof. with my upbringing. Like he wasn't really the most present dad. He wasn't someone that I was really that close to in a way of listening to him. I've always said my dad's more like my friend than he is my dad. He wasn't someone I followed or listened to. He was someone that I shared things with, but wasn't someone that had a say in my life. And I feel like I started to like follow my inner

voice when I was around 14. So subjects I wanted to study at school, the kind of places I wanted to hang out, people that I wanted to be around. So when I was at that age, I was so independent that I don't even think my parents' opinions matter to me. But my extended family had very strong opinion. So my extended family, aunts and uncles, grandparents were like, you're wasting your life. This is the worst decision you're ever going to make. You're letting your parents down. You know, your parents have worked so hard to make sure you had a great education. What now? And so there was this almost societal pressure that was there at the same time as my excitement was mirrored with this weight of you're letting your parents down.

Your parents are not wealthy. How are they going to take care of themselves? What are they going to do? You have a younger sister who's not going to have your support as an older brother. So there was this kind of conflicted feeling that I had of like, this is what I think I need to do with my life. And at the same time, there are a lot of people that seem to be upset with me. Yeah. Did that ever cast down?

doubt in you if that was the right decision? I knew it was the right path for me, but I hated that the right path for me was going to hurt someone else. Right. And I think this is a really interesting learning point for all of us that sometimes the right path for you is going to upset people you love. Yeah. And sometimes the best decision for you is going to push people away.

And sometimes the thing that you feel called to do, not everyone's going to agree. with it. And what you've got to do is follow your heart and try to bring those people along with you to the best of your ability. I think if you throw away the path that feels true to you or sacrifice it in order to make people happy, I think you might fail. But I think you might be surprised that when you follow your heart and follow your path and try to bring people along with you, they might appreciate it. And I think sometimes we get lost because we think, well, if you don't agree with me, then I don't want you in my life. And I don't think that's the case. I don't think that person's bitter because they don't like you or don't believe in you. They probably don't

believe in themselves. They probably had a dream that they sacrificed. They probably had something that they were taken away from because of pressure. And so I think the more compassionate we can be that the people around us, they're not not supporting us because they don't think what we want is valuable. They're not supporting us because no one supports them. Yeah. And I've definitely seen that with the people that didn't support me at the time. Most of them are still in my life, if not all. Yeah. So when you decide you're going to go, is the intention when you go to do it for the rest of your life?

Like, is that what most monks do? Or is it like something that you practice for a shorter amount of time? So I definitely made the decision that I was going to do it for the rest of my life. Like I felt that. I went in there really clear. that this was what I was wanting to do, and that this was my path. Okay. And I almost looked at it how you'd look at a marriage in that, I think when someone gets

married, their intention is, we're going to do this forever. Yeah. And so, you know, at that time, at least in my naivety, my enthusiasm, my genuine calling at the time, I was like, this is it, this is life. This is what it's going to be. Yeah. So then when did you get to the point when you decided you wanted to leave that and come back to normal society? The real world, yeah.

Well, it's the reason why I describe it like a marriage is because it felt like a divorce. Like breaking up with being a monk is what it felt like. Because it felt like my whole college life. Imagine you fell in love with someone at college and you were waiting to get married to them. And that's kind of how it felt to me. It was like my whole time I was at college, even though I was dating and I was, you know, doing everything a normal college student does.

In the back of my head, I was like, I really want to become a monk. I have to figure out a way. And then you finally get there and you're like, yes, I graduated. I chose to become a monk. I did it. I'm here.

We got married. We're in love. This is going to last forever. And then three years in, you're like, I think this isn't going to work. And it's interesting because a divorce is a conversation between two,

two people, but this type of divorce is in your own head and it's with yourself. Which sounds like it should be easier and it probably is than breaking up with someone else because it's only your feelings, but it felt like there were these two choices because what it was for me deeply was I felt a calling to share what I'd learned. And it's not that the monk could discourage that. They encouraged that. They would encourage me to come back to London and give talks. We'd go to Europe and teach meditation on the streets.

It's like we had some really incredible experiences, but I think it was a really fascinating realization that you've done something for three years. It's meant to make you more self-aware. But the result of myself awareness is I'm not a monk. And that's a really interesting kind of thing. Like the whole point of all these practices are meant to get to know myself better. Yeah. But getting to know myself made me realize this path is wrong for me. Yeah.

And that's a really harsh realization. And I remember it probably took me six months to even admit that I was thinking about it because I felt so guilty. I felt the pressure again of what people would say. I was scared about all those people who wrote me off before I joined. Don't do it. Exactly. Now here you are coming back with your tail between your legs.

Literally. Like I was like they're going to be right. They all told me I'd never get a job. They all told me that I was wasting my life. I was now like, oh gosh, now I'm three years behind in the career market if I come back. do I even want a real job? Like, what does that look like? I'm not sure that I'll fit in.

Like, what will I do? I really love this lifestyle. And so I came back with a lot of, I didn't even admit it at the time, but I definitely was depressed. And I didn't even accept saying the word because I was so scared that I would go so deep into it that I wouldn't know if I could pull myself out.

Yeah. And so that's why I left. And that's why I felt such a, you know, heavy feeling when I left, because I felt like I'd let myself down. I felt like I'd let my teachers down. And I felt like I'd let my friends and family and community down who kind of predicted it anyway.

Yeah. And I couldn't see it. So I felt like the fall. And so there was shame, guilt, embarrassment, humiliation, you know, everything. And it sounds ridiculous now because it was only to like my tiny community that, you know, but everything's proportional. Yeah.

Well, I feel like it's so relatable. Even though, like, on the surface, like relating being a monk And leaving that to other society wouldn't on the surface seem like it could match. But I feel like that is so relatable to any like relationship, moving to another state, getting a new job. Like all of that is so relatable. Going down any path that you think is the right decision and realizing that it wasn't and, you know, you take the good from it. But, you know, it almost feels like starting over again. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, and that's why the divorce, I think, is the best way to look at it. Like, I think when people are reflecting on, do we get divorced? Do we stay together? Yeah. It's all the same things. They're like, what are our family's going to say? If you've got kids, you're going to, you know, what are the kids going to do? Like, all the same thoughts.

And it really is that. There's no, it's just that I was doing something that was very random and different. Yeah. But the feelings and emotions of us as humans when you, quote, unquote, fail at something. Yeah. Not saying that divorce is a failure or that. What I left being was a failure, but I felt that. I felt like a failure.

Yeah. And I think we have the same emotions, whether you fail at a marriage or failure, being a monk. Yeah, precisely. How was transitioning back from three years of, you know, living that life to being back in London and just like thrown back into this different world? The first month, if I'm honest, I went back to all my old bad habits. And so that means, and they weren't that bad, but it was like I was not, I was not waking up,

early. I was like sleeping the whole time. Partly it was because my health had taken a hit as well. I was quite physically drained. I'd been in hospital just before I left because the taxing impact of the monk life physically really took its toll on me as well. Oh wow. The sleeping on the floor, the communal living. If someone's sick next to you, you're getting sick. If someone's waking up at 2am, you're waking up earlier just because they've woken up. There isn't that, you know, you're sleeping in a room with potentially anything from 20 to 100 people, depending on which monastery you're at while you're moving around. And so the style of life, for me, my body was like, I need my own bed. I need my own bed sheets. I need my own, you know, I need some, I need to control the temperature

in this room, like simple things like that that you're used to growing up in London. Yeah. And so all of that kind of put me in quite a bad place physically. So when I got back, I was sleeping all day pretty much. I started, I caught up on every episode of how I, I met your mother and every TV. I love that show. That's a great show. That was like the first show that I watched when I came back. I was watching every movie that I'd missed.

I think I'd missed a World Cup. So I caught up on all the soccer that I'd missed because I'm a big football fan. And then I caught up on, I was just like, I started eating chocolate again. And I was like addicted because I had enough sugar for a while. I was listening to Drake again, which was amazing. And so it was like this first month. It was just like this complete, like, as if it never happened. And I think that was almost like withdrawal symptoms in the sense of like this, this feeling of like, oh gosh, I failed. Now what? Who cares? Forget about it all. And I remember one night where I was like, I was washing up dishes at night after eating dinner. And I'd move back in with my parents at this point. So I was living with my parents because I didn't have any money and didn't have, I didn't have anywhere to go. And so I'm living back at home and I was just washing dishes. And I remember like looking at my reflection in the window that's, you know, near my parents' kitchen. And I was just looking at, you know,

myself and I was thinking, what would I be doing if it was 7 p.m. in the monastery? Like, that's the thought that came to my mind. And I remembered I would have been in a collective prayer or a collective meditation before going to sleep, or I would have been giving a talk at a university or a school or something to inspire young people. And I was just thinking, I was like, that was real. Like, that's what I was meant to do. Like, that was what I wanted to dedicate my life to. And I now have a choice to make that I either give up my dream or I find a way to still make it real even though I'm not living there. And it was that thought that changed everything where, you know, I started to get ready as if I was getting ready for work. I'd go to my local

library. I'd sit there and apply for jobs. I'd read the Vedic literatures that I'd been studying and I'd read personal growth and self-development books. And I spent probably, around 10 months doing that before I finally got a job after being rejected from 40 companies before an interview. Oh my gosh. Because no one would give me a job. And, you know, surprise, surprise. No one wants to hire a former month.

Right. Everyone's like, what are your transferable skills? What's your resume? Yeah, being silent and sitting still. It's like we don't need that in the company. And so it was like a really, those 10 months were really tough. Yeah. And it took even my first day back.

When I finally got a job, they had a almost like, what do you call it? Like a pre-drinks before you start the job kind of thing. Like, I don't know what it's called now. Like orientation, induction kind of vibe, but it's like social. And it was like pizza making and wine tasting. Oh, wow. Now, I didn't drink alcohol ever since I became a monk and I never drank alcohol again. And so I was like, God, I'm not going to drink the wine.

And, you know, pizza making, all right, I don't know what I'm going to talk about. And I was so stressed. I remember getting the train in to this event. And I was so stressed because I was like, I haven't done small talk. I don't know how I'm going to connect with anyone. How do I explain what I've been doing for the past three years? And everyone's younger than me because I've got onto the grad program. So most people are like 21 and I'm born in September.

So I'm like 25, 26 going in. And so I'm like, I'm so much older than everyone as well. And so I'm just thinking, this is going to be strange. And so I remember that pizza making and wine tasting, I just found like one person that I went and had like a meaningful conversation with because I was so scared to talk to anyone else because I didn't know what to say. What, what, did you say it? What was your first job back?

My first job back was working at Accentia, which is this big management consulting firm. Okay. And that's kind of the track I probably would have taken that or investment banking if I would have gone straight if I hadn't become a monk. But I wouldn't have been rejected by 40. companies and so to get that job was such a slog because 40 companies were just like, we don't want you. I didn't forget we don't want you. I just never heard back because there was no interview. So it was rough and tough. And so I was so grateful to get that job because I was

like, at least I can pay my own bills and not be relying on my family at this age and, you know, not be living in my loft bedroom that I grew up in. Yeah. So from there, how do you transition from corporate almost back into wellness space. Yeah, it was, it was really interesting because what I realized was that being a monk was like being at school and everything that came after it was like taking the exam. And what I mean by that is I learned all these incredible philosophies, tools, practices while living as a monk. But it's only when I left did I realize how valuable they were.

Yeah. Because you got to test them in the real world. Right. Right? It's like you've learned these in this not perfect place, but you've learned it in this safe space where everyone around you's following these principles and everyone's meditating and everyone's doing all of it. And then all of a sudden you're in the real world. And now it's like, all right, well, do I follow what the real world says works or do I follow what the monk said? And I was really fortunate that at that time I went, I'm going to follow what the monk said. I'm going to see whether what I learned was true. And so there was this beautiful verse that I remember that I studied. And it says, when you protect your purpose, your purpose protects you. And I never heard it that way because if you think about our language, it's all about finding purpose. It's all about looking for purpose. But the Vedas say that you already have purpose and you have to protect it.

And so I knew that my natural purpose was I love teaching. I love sharing. I loved giving principles. I loved making tools really accessible. And so when I joined Accenture, I was like, I need to find a way to do that here. Yeah. And my interesting fact about myself at work was that I used to be a monk and I'd teach meditation. Pretty interesting.

Yeah. Because you had to write it down on the first day. Like everyone had their interesting fact and someone was like, I bumped into the royal family or like I swim for the country or whatever it is, right? And mine is, I used to be a monk and I know how to meditate and I can teach meditation. And what happened was I got really lucky and this is the beauty of timing, the universe, things that you can't control. Accenture at the time was really focused on mental health.

And this is 2013, so it's early days. But Accenture is a very forward-thinking company, really values employee well-being, and they were making it a priority in 2013. And so my managing director at the time heard about me and my interest in meditation and my background, and she said, I want you to, at the next company off-site,

teach meditation to your peers and talk about what you're doing in the workplace. So by the way, I have no brand. No one knows who I am. No one has a clue. And I'm putting on stage at Twickenham Rugby Stadium,

which is like a, it's where the England team play rugby. And so it's at, imagine a sports stadium but in a private conference center and I'm on stage in front of a thousand of my peers who don't have a clue who I am. Yeah.

And they're like, hey, this is Jay Shetty. He's one of your peers. and he's going to teach you how to meditate. And I'm sitting up there and I'm in between like our company CEO and Will Greenwood who won the Rugby World Cup with England. And I'm in the middle of them.

And so I have, again, I have no clout on this stage whatsoever. I have no place to be there. Right. And I just, I practiced my breath work before I went on to stage that I'd learned during my time in the monastery. And I went and taught meditation just from the best intention I could find.

I was like, I really believe this will help people. We have a stressful, fast plan. workplace, let me try. And it was amazing the response I got. My managing director came up to me afterwards and she said, I've never heard a group of your peers

be that quiet ever and be that present. And then everyone inside the company started inviting me to teach meditation to small groups. So on top of my day job, I would travel around the company. So I was still doing, I was still a consultant by day. But on top of that,

I would travel around and teach meditation. And so the first time I did it, two people showed up. And then the second time I did it, five people showed up. And then the third time I did it, maybe 10 people showed up. And so I would literally start, I was just teaching meditation to my colleagues for free. It was like meditation Mondays. I'd do mental health weekly check-ins.

And the company just really encouraged it. And so even though it wasn't my job and it wasn't my role title, it became a part of my life. And I loved it. And so that's how wellness came back into my life. And it was, I'm so grateful for them. And that's why when I'm, if I'm talking to anyone today who's, anyone who's listening today and they're like, Jay, I hate my job. Yeah.

You know, they're listening to us right now. And they're like, I hate my job. My job isn't my purpose. My job isn't my passion. Find a way to bring your passion into work. It's going to feel really risky to quit your job, try and build something. And I'm not saying you can't do that one day. Maybe you will.

But find a way to bring that passion into your workplace. Find a way to bring your skill, your talents, whatever it is, into your workplace. Because it will build your confidence. Yeah. It will help you learn. It will help you build amazing relationships. And I've so many good memories of traveling around, teaching meditation to two colleagues. And it was great. Yeah, it was awesome. I love those, like, photos that you post of, you know, when you started doing it. And there's like five people listening to, you know, on the stage with thousands now. It's just so, it's so cool to see.

Yeah. And it's, it was so meaningful then. Like, I never sat there and went, I really hope this is 500 people one day. There was a joy in just the fact that, especially, at that time, at that time, I'm talking about 2013, 2014, 2015, I was just happy anyone cared about this. Like,

it wasn't like, oh, I can't wait for more people. It was just like, I can't believe five people care about mental health. Right. Because it wasn't in the zeitgeist.

It wasn't the conversation. So I was so grateful. And I remember there was one guy who was known as like, he was the rugby lad. And so he's like the alpha male, Taipei, you know,

he was the guy that all the girls wanted to be with and all the rest of it. and kind of like your old characters that you played, and today too, of course. I'll take it. But, you know, that kind of like, the stud. And he came up to me one day and he was just like, Jay, look, I know you teach this meditation stuff.

It's like, I really want to learn, but I can't let the girls see that I'm learning. Right. So will you teach me privately? hilarious. And so he told me this at like some evening networking event. And I was like, sure, tell me when. He goes, can we do it now?

I think he might have been a little drunk. Anyways, I was like, I was like, all right, sure. Like, I was like, whenever, I would take up any, I would take up any opportunity to teach someone meditation because it wasn't common. So I'm like, all right, let's go. So we went and found a room at like, you know, wherever in the office we were. We found this private room. And I was like, all right, well, let's sit in here and meditate.

And, you know, it wasn't one of those rooms where you could dim the lights. It was either lights on or lights off. And he didn't want anyone to know he was doing it. So we turned the lights off and it's me and him in a room. Next thing you know, we're closed eyes, you know, he's sitting opposite me like you are. and we've got hands on our lap. We're meditating on breathwork. All the girls run in, turn the lights on,

and see these two guys sitting opposite each other going, what are you doing? And all of a sudden his cover was blown. In the dark, yeah. Oh, my gosh. I've just got so many good memories of that time of just, you know, things that wouldn't be weird now or wouldn't happen now. Yeah.

So I have good memories. That's so good. The rest is history. Yeah. That's so good. What, I guess what was the first thing? I'm assuming you left that and then decided to pursue this wellness space. What was that?

So I think that all these experiences that just shared with you gave me so much confidence. Yeah. That this was needed. Yeah. And that there were people that were valuing this. There were people in my team or my colleagues that would come up to me and say, this really helped me with my burnout this week. Or I'm going through a really tough time in my marriage and this was the only break I got or whatever it was.

I was hearing these things. And then I thought to myself, I was like, I'd be, there were two questions I asked myself. The first was, what would my younger self be really unhappy that I've given up? When I was young, I really enjoyed spoken word. I loved poetry. I loved writing. I always enjoyed that. And I'd stop doing it.

And then I asked myself, what would I regret on my deathbed if I didn't pursue? So if I fast forward to 90 or 100 years old, hopefully and I was on my deathbed what would I look back on and think you should have done that you should have tried that because I'd read that people always regret what they didn't do not what they did do right yeah and I thought I'm going to really regret it if I don't try and share this message with more people yeah and when I say more people I mean like 50 maybe 100 and so I was happy to go around companies my friends were inviting me to their companies now. So I was going beyond my organization. And then me and my friend were messaging. My friend's a

videographer in London. And he videos weddings. And he'd messaged me and said, Jay, you always give so many good talks and everything. He goes, we should, we should record them into videos. Oh, wow. And I said, yeah, maybe. I don't know. Everybody thought about it. I'm not sure. And he's like, no, no, let's just get out there and do it. Yeah. So I scribbled down some scripts. In three days, we went out. It was the end of 2015. Or we were always trying to figure out whether it was December 2015 or the 1st of Jan 2016, I can't remember. Okay. And we recorded four videos.

And these videos were me in London, thinking out loud, reflecting, philosophizing on themes that I cared about. And we recorded those four videos. And then 2016, I put out my first video. And he got like 100 views. And I was over the moon. And it was amazing. I was like, wow, 100 people.

And then, you know, that video maybe got to like 5,000 views. And I was like, this is incredible. And then I put out the next one. And then in a month, I had a thousand YouTube subscribers. And I was so happy. I was like, this is insane. Like, I've been speaking to groups of five to ten people. And I remember my friend saying to me, like, this is the peak, right?

Like, this is it. Like, well done. It's not going to get much better than this. I enjoy it while it lasts. And I was like, yeah, maybe. I don't know. Like, let's see how it goes. And so it was really just my friends by chance mentioning it to me,

me kind of going out there and recording videos that were based on talks and meditation that I'd given and then kind of putting it out there into the universe. Yeah. And Ariana Huffington saw them around three, four months in. And they didn't have loads of views then. They maybe had like 10,000 views or something like that. And Ariana Huffington saw them because my old boss from Accenture, she showed them to Ariana Huffington at Davos.

And Ariana Huffington saw them. And then that was when the Huff Post started sharing them on their page. So there was no money. There was no, I didn't have a page. They were like, we'll share your videos. Yeah. And so they started sharing them. And the first video got a million views in seven days, which for them was basic.

They were like, we do that all the time. Right. So they weren't that impressed. And then the second, I was like, this is insane. And then the second video got a million views in 24 hours. And then the third video got a million views in 12 hours. And then the fourth video got a million views in six hours. And those four videos did like 250 million views or something crazy.

Wow. And, yeah. that was just, you know, that's where, that was the tipping, the first tipping point in 2016 that led from me kind of doing this for two to ten people to then, right, having an opportunity to do it for more. Holy crap. Wow. That's incredible. Sorry for the long window dance. No, no, no. I was trying to give you, I was trying to give you all the detail. Oh, no, that was great. No, that's, I love, I just love learning, like, what, like, we just had Mel on recently. Yeah. I love talking with her, like, how she got into it. And I just love learning how people who have fully just, like,

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Oh, sure. Love you. You guys are so easy to talk to this. I'm sorry if my concerts have been too long. Oh, no. I'll put them down. No, no, no, no. We could sit here forever.

But, no, diving into the topic of mindfulness. I'm curious just coming from the king of mindfulness himself. In layman's terms, how, what would you say mindfulness means to you? Mindfulness to me means being able to be present with what you want, when you want, and how you want. Okay. And so mindfulness is just the ability and the act of bringing your presence to something that you choose to be present with. Okay. And most people find that very difficult because even if we want to be present, we're absent. And even if we want to be there, we can be lost in a million thoughts. Yeah. And so mindfulness is, to me, is the ability and the

act to be able to point your attention in the direction that you want it to be in. Okay. Does that help? Does that feel simple enough? Yeah. Presence. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I hear the word mindfulness and it's like such a commonly used word in this space.

And sometimes I'm like, wait. Yeah. What exactly does that? Yeah. And how do you, I guess this is a good question for you. How do you then like specifically approach implementing mindfulness into your daily life? Yeah. And if you want to go a step deeper in the definition, it's doing everything.

with intention. So everything is done with, I'll give an example. By the way, definitely not the king of mindfulness. I was talking to my team member yesterday and I said something and it was just unmindful because I just, it wasn't intentional. And then I messaged her afterwards and I was like, hey, I'm really sorry I said that to you. Like, I was just so not mindful in that moment and I felt terrible.

And I said, I hope it didn't, you know, it didn't affect you in that way. And she was so sweet about it. But I make mistakes all the time. And I think mindfulness is being intentional. Like I know why and I know how and I know where I am and I'm thinking about being here. For example, like I've come on this show with you guys today. If I'm mindful, it's like I know who I'm going to meet. I've been present and I've watched your guys' show.

I enjoy your interviews. I love your style. I have a sense of what this room even looked like before I'm here. On the way here, I was thinking about the kind of things we'll probably share. and talk about. And so I've come primed, prepared, prepared, thoughtful about it. That doesn't mean I'm prepared.

I don't mean prepared in terms of rehearsed. I mean prepared in terms of I have prepared my mind and energy to be present. Whereas most of us, sadly, don't get that opportunity. And we've run from thing to thing. And so most people take their last meetings baggage into their next meeting. So the first 15 minutes of the next meeting, you're actually thinking about the last meeting. So you've missed the context of this one.

And then you take that absence into. the other. And so when I think about it, it's like when we're at work, we're thinking about vacation. And when we're at vacation, we're thinking about work. And it's because you can't be absent at work and present on vacation. And you can't be present on vacation and then not present at work. Your presence or absence is going to bleed into every area of your life. And that's why people who are disconnected at work, you can't then come home and suddenly be present with your family because you've trained your brain and your mind to not be where you are. So mindfulness is in the basic way the Zen saying would be to be where your feet are,

to truly be where your feet are, to truly be right here, right now, and nowhere else. Wow. Yeah, that's great. I was going to say the same. So do I. I was going to say the same. It's like, we need to be better at that. No, that's such a good reminder.

And I guess that's why it's so commonly used in this space is being where you're are truly being present. Yeah, so much easier said than done. So much easier said than done. And it's practice, right? Going to your question, like, it comes by trying to do it in the most basic of ways. I, next time you walk into a space,

my favorite technique. This is by far my favorite mindfulness technique that I share all the time. It's super simple. Anyone can do it. It's called the 5, 4, 3, 2,1 technique. And the technique is whenever you walk into a space, First, look at five things.

So we can look around this room, we can look at the colors, we can look at the shapes, we can look at the shades, just take it in and observe five things more deeply than you would. So I can see the yellow lemons, I can see the green leaves, I can look at both of your eyes, I can see what you're wearing, so I can be present through the sense of seeing. Now what are the four things I can touch? So this chair when I came in, I can, the texture. the temperature, the smooth or harshness, whatever it may be, you made me pick one of the questions. Like, I can feel the paper.

I picked up the glass to sip some water. Then me be present through touch. Three things that I can hear. I actually, the first thing I noticed when I walked in here is how peaceful it was. Like your whole home has such a peaceful energy. It's so calming. And even this room, I was like, wow, there's so much stillness here, which I really love. And then, of course, I can hear your voices.

maybe there's a little bit of white noise, tiny bit that I can hear. And then there's two things I can smell. And then finally, one thing I can taste. So if you're ever worried that you're not where your feet are, simply focus on the five things you can see, the four things you can touch, the three things you can hear, the two things you can smell, and the one thing you can taste, and you will be right where you're fear. And so that's the simplest, most easiest mindfulness technique

that I've loved learning for years. And I even do it when I'm in a really special place, kind of like an Instagram picture spot. And this is the picture I try and take. Yeah. And the last time I was teaching this technique, I was teaching it to a group of friends in Bhutan last year. And we were in this old Bhutanese castle fort.

And it was candlelit. And we couldn't really see that much apart from certain colors. And if I closed my eyes today, I can be right back there. Yeah. Because I practiced this. And so it's not just a technique of being present. It's the technique of taking a mental picture that will never leave you.

And so if you ever are having the most beautiful date or time with your family or your friends, do this together. And you will never, ever forget the imprint of that special moment that will last for you in your heart and your mind forever. So anyway, it's one of my favorites. I like that a lot because I think to myself all the time, like how many, um, like people ask me, and we ask a lot of people on this podcast as well, but when people ask me if you could go back in time and do anything differently, what would that be? And I always, my answer always is, I wish I could go back in time and just like be in the spaces I was in and like the memories I have and just like relive them or wish that in that moment, I just,

just enjoyed them more because I sit here today going, wow, I've done some like really amazing things in life. And I don't remember much of it. I almost look at that person and those memories and it just, it feels like somebody else because just life was such a whirlwind. And I think I was just always so focused on, you know, what's to come instead of being like, wow, I'm presenting at the Oscars right now. I'm having lunch with Tom Cruise, like the craziest of crazy things. And, you know, it's just, I don't, I definitely was not present. I was appreciative, but I wish that I, in, you know, moving forward, I want to do that, you know, whenever, like, for example, this moment right here, 10 years from now, I want to be able to remember this moment

having this conversation with you, like, very well. And that's definitely something that I want to start implementing into my life. So I don't, you know, do the same thing that I've been doing, which is like thinking about the past and being like, it just seems so blurry. And I don't really remember things very well. Yeah. They say it's one of the reasons why we feel life is moving faster as we get older

is because we have less present, absorbed new experiences. So when you're young, everything is just so amazing. Right, the first time you went to Disney World, the first time you went to your favorite restaurant growing up, the first time you could remember a birthday. There was a newness, a novelty, you were present, you remember so much. And then as we get older, it's not that time moves faster.

It feels like it does because we have less, novel, profound, absorbed experiences. And I felt that. I mean, I think all of us who lived through the pandemic, it feels like the last five years, have just gone like that. And it's because everything just seems the same, feels the same.

But when everything feels the same, that's when you have to look for the new. And I remember one of the mindfulness practices that I learned in the monastery that I loved is often we were asked to walk down this path. And we'd walk down this path every day during this exercise. And every day you were asked to find something new to focus on.

So it was the same old path, but you had to discover something new. It could be the shape of a stone, it could be the color of a flower, it could be the shape of a leaf, it could be a new plant, it could be a new animal, whatever it was that you found.

And it was really interesting to me because the mind would try and game the system. So my mind would be like, oh, I'm going to find two new things today, so tomorrow I don't have to look for something new. And I'll just come back here. And then my monk teacher would change it the next day and go, well, today I want you to not worry about anything. And then you'd be like, oh gosh.

So it was, but it was this practice of how can you do the same old thing and find something new? I think that's the key to great marriage. I think that's the key to great life. I think that's the key to loving your home because anything you can become familiar with and lose its value. Yeah, you start to take it for granted. Exactly. And by the way, you being so honest and vulnerable about you feeling that way about amazing experiences you've had. We've all done it. I still do it. We're all a work in progress. And

these techniques are some techniques that I think have really stayed with me and I still try and practice today. Yeah, that's great. I love that. Okay. This is something that I maybe want your advice on. But I feel myself sometimes now like being in this mental health wellness space. I don't know if it's like if it's imposter syndrome creeping in, if it's like what it is. But I feel myself sometimes holding myself to like a really high standard of making sure practicing mindfulness, making sure I'm going to therapy. I'm doing all the self-care things and that I really am like practicing what I'm preaching. And I kind of get to surge because I hold myself to such a high standard that truly like isn't realistic. And I'm just curious if that is something you have ever dealt with.

And just to like kind of how to like combat those thoughts of I'm not doing enough. Like I have this platform. I have this podcast. We have our alarm and drops listening. Like I feel like I'm not doing enough like to actually be sitting here doing this. Yeah. Not like feeling worthy to be, you know, preaching the stuff that we talk about on a daily basis. When we know that, you know, deep inside we're not.

perfect. Yeah. Yeah, just having that feeling of like, am I worthy of, you know, being having a mental health podcast and, you know, giving advice or having these open conversations with people when, you know, we don't always do things the right way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That makes you the perfect person. Like that thought, that feeling makes you the perfect people to do the show. Because the other two choices are you think you're so perfect that you're qualified to teach or the other option is you think you're so unqualified that you never do anything and I think the reality is that none of us are perfect we're all works in progress none of us are completely mindful all of the time we all make mistakes none of us are superhuman no one is truly there is no one that I've met that would

claim to be. And what's really interesting about what you said is that I think it shows humility. And when I was with the monks, humility was seen as the most aspirational quality that a human could ever aspire for. But if you're aspiring for humility, you want it life. And there's this beautiful story of Benjamin Franklin because he had his 13 precepts. So he had a book that he carried around with 13 things he journaled about and wanted to aspire to have in his life. There were qualities, integrity and different things like that.

And when he was dying, the story goes that they asked him which one he felt he didn't conquer and he said it was the 13th one and they said, what was that? And he said, humility. Because obviously you can never conquer humility because if you think you conquered it

then you're not that humble, you're not that humble, you're massive ego. But with what you said to me that I love that your lemon drops have you to listen to. That's what makes you both the perfect hosts, because you're not coming at this from a point of view of we know and you don't.

You're not coming at this from a point of view if we figured it all out, and we're going to teach you everything. You're coming at it from a point of view of, hey, we're struggling with this and we're figuring it out, and I'm trying to share it. And by the way, that's what I'm trying to do too.

Like the reason why I call life the exam and the test is because I'm testing these ideas and I'm teaching what I'm testing. and experimenting with, then I've found these ideas to be hugely valuable as I've tested them and I'm sharing them.

And I would hope that you, me, Taylor, like all of us that we hold on to that feeling forever. I hope it never leaves you. Because if it ever leaves you, to me, that's when we'll actually make the mistake. And so I think that thought

is actually the most beautiful thought because it keeps you humble, it keeps you grounded, and it keeps you yearning and wanting to grow and believing. And all you have to do is add, all you have to do to that thought is add one thought. And that's grace and kindness. One thing I found in the top performers, the most enlightened people, spiritual people, the most successful people is this balance between having high standards and then having high grace.

And those two things together are an unbeatable combination. because you hold yourself to a really high standard, but you have high grace because you realize that you'll only stay with that standard if you have grace on your mistake. And a good example of this, in a practical sense, is Roger Federer, the tennis player, was giving a commencement speech last year.

And I think he said something like he's lost, like just, I think he said something crazy, like he's only won 70 to 80% of game. but he's lost like 40 to 50% of points. Like there was some crazy statistic he said. Where he's lost a really high proportion of points. And his point was being the best doesn't mean not losing a point. It means I just focus on the next one rather than being focused on the last one.

So most of us when we make a mistake, we're so focused on that last mistake we made that we can't bring ourselves to focus on the task. at hand and guess what you just make another mistake then you make another mistake because you're constantly worried about the last one and so I think when we're trying to be mindful and we're trying to do all of these things there has to be a high standard because the high standard is why you're able to lead and people are able to learn but at the same time there has to be a high grace and so I think you're the perfect people to host it because of that and don't ever lose it keep it forever you know and and I feel the same way as you do today I I deal with it all the time I worry that I'm, you know, not X enough, not Y enough, not Z enough, whatever it may be.

Yeah. And I always want to feel that way because it proves to me that I haven't lost myself. I haven't kind of drunk the Kool-Aid and bought into my own hype and, you know, started living an inauthentic life. It's great that I question my motives. And it's great that I check in on myself. Yeah. I love that Federer thing so much. Yeah.

I need to get these stats, right? I completely lost it. I remember, like, I wrote something about it because it was so powerful, but it's an insane statistic where he's lost a really high proportion of points. Yeah. And you're in it to win the game. Yeah. Not each point.

Yeah. We were just talking about this the other day. She's very hard on herself like this. She was talking about her, you know, her list of goals for each year. Yeah. And how she was disappointed because she didn't hit a couple of them. And I, you know, have to remind her, like, you, first of all, you had a long list. Second of all, when you created the list, you said you were going to put simple ones and you were going to put, like, crazy ones.

And when she doesn't hit a couple of the crazy ones, she's, like, disappointed. And it's just, it's so, it's so true. Yeah. You, you know, you can be more like Federer. Yeah, I guess so. I am also realizing now, though, which is crazy, I'm just now realizing it because we've been talking about it this, like, past month is those things that I didn't hit actually I had no control over. Right.

Like I literally like it wasn't up to me to make that happen. There's nothing you could have done that would have changed the outcome of the things I'm thinking of. Uh-huh. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Why are we just thinking of this?

That's a life lesson in itself. Wow. Okay. Don't let things outside your control, get you, you know, and eat you up like that. We say that all the time, but I didn't realize it. also applied to that. Wow. I love that. The last like 10 minutes and I'm just going to play it every day for myself. Oh my gosh. That's so good. That was good. Can we talk tour? Yes, let's do it. Yeah. So this is, this is shocking to me. This is the first time you're taking the podcast on tour.

Yeah, we've never done it before. Yeah, never ever done it. That's what I'm so excited about it because I just feel like you both know this, having a podcast. It's the community is so deep. They're with you all the way, you're in their ears. And it's been six years of the podcast this year. Wow. And so I feel like we've got six years of community, you know, hundreds of millions of billions of streams and downloads and just being able to go and meet all those people, look people in the eye, have them have a personal experience of the podcast. And, you know, I'm just excited to take the show on the road and have these kind of conversations in person. I hope you both will join me. For sure. Just to really, yeah just just to give people a sense of what it feels like to be in the room yeah and you know if you

could just imagine like everyone's here and with us right now like what would that feel like it's gonna be special yeah I'm really excited I just I can't believe that's so cool um that's gonna be awesome what why would you say it took this long to do it and what what was it now that felt like the right time to do it I think that it was probably a bit of imposter syndrome going back to that like There's a feeling of wanting, have to, there's a feeling of having wanted to do something for a period of time where then it feels like now I'm worthy. We all have that imposter syndrome of like, I was like, okay, we've got to five years. Like, you know, now, now, and it shouldn't be that way. I think the pandemic probably played a part.

If I'm completely honest, I think it's because I am craving human connection so much. Right now in your life. In my life, I'm just wanting to look people. people in the eye. I want to hold people's hands if I can. I want to invite people up on the stage with us. I want to see the connection that you don't get to see. And for me, it's been a big focus of trying to do that. I went on a world tour for my book two years ago in 23, which was so much fun. But I was like, the podcast is the experience that people are tuned into every week. So the reaction is going to be even more. When people came out the book tour, no one had read the book yet,

because the book was new. But this is like, Okay, these are people that are listening every single week. So I'm just craving connection with my community. I love how they rally behind each other. I love how there's a... I also think that one thing that happened last time that I believe will happen even more from the tour is I want people to leave that room with new friends.

I want people to leave this space with new connections because they do the same thing every week. They all tune in to the same podcast. They all listen to the same episodes. Who better than to connect with? then someone that's doing the same thing as you. And sometimes your own friends and family may not be that. But everyone in that room is.

And so I'm excited to see the community that it builds and brings. And I'm just, yeah, I've never been this excited about anything for a long time now. I'm excited for you. Yeah, I'm really, really looking forward to it. I definitely need to come. Yeah, I'd love for you guys to be there. When you start June? So we start in May, start in May, finish in June.

Okay. Doing 15 cities for right now across North America. Wow. And yeah, it's going to be great. It's going to be great. Yeah, got some really exciting. surprise guests both in health and wellness, athletes, celebrities. Like it's a mix of guests.

And I think everyone's going to have an awesome time. Yeah, it's going to be unforgettable. Oh my gosh. I'm excited. Yeah, we'll definitely go. Yeah, we'll need to be there. It'll be my honor. This has been, sorry to all of our past guests, truly.

I think of my favorite podcast yet. I just, I mean, you're obviously, you know, an amazing speaker and you know your craft so well. But it's just, you're just so. like real and like I just feel like just it feels like a normal conversation talking with you. It's a good thing he has humility because you've really just been building him up this whole time. Well you never know what you know we never know what we're going to get. A majority of our guests we don't know. And so it's just like I really just felt like we were like, you know, getting lunch with a friend just like, you know, getting to learn about you.

together. I would love that. I would love that. You guys make it very easy. I think that's credit to both of you. You guys create such a wonderful atmosphere, wonderful energy. You both, you know, have such sincere and sweet souls and intentions. It's evident.

So it's easy to be like that with you. And I honestly, I've never taken for granted anyone connecting with my work. I honestly have never because I know what it feels like to speak to an empty room. I've done that. My first ever talk I gave at a university was for, empty walls and there was no one in the room and I practiced my speech and so when there was one person or two people or today, whatever it is, it's like I'm still as touched by anyone thinking my work is meaningful or helpful to them because I live in a world where I remember a time

when no one cared or no one listened. So I'm touched by both of your love and appreciation for anything I've done and I'm excited to do that lunch for real. So we've got to set that up. I'd love that. Yes. Yeah. I'd love it. for you guys to meet, Radi. Yeah, you guys are so, you'll so get along. She's always too hard on herself, too. Oh my gosh. So, yeah, definitely. Thank you, Jay. Thank you, thanks. Thank you. Excited. We'll see on tour. Absolutely. It's getting on tour. Thank you so much. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.