The Tim Ferriss Show - #435: Kevin Hart — The Unstoppable Combination of Positivity and Relentless Improvement

Starting point is 00:00:00 At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking. Can I ask you a personal question? Now would have seemed the perfect time. What if I did the opposite? I'm a cybernetic organism, living tissue over a metal endoskeleton. The Tim Ferriss Show. This episode is brought to you by Theragun. I have two Theraguns and they're worth their weight in gold. I've been using them every single day. Whether you're an elite athlete or just a regular

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Starting point is 00:06:17 that's tim.blog forward slash Friday. And thanks for checking it out. If the spirit moves you. Hello, boys and girls, ladies and germs. This is Tim Ferriss, and welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is my job to interview and deconstruct world-class performers from all different disciplines. And my guest today is Kevin Hart, at Kevin Hart for Real, H-A-R-T, number four, real, on Twitter and Instagram. Kevin was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he launched his career as a comedian during an amateur night at a local comedy club. Of course, he now plays to sold-out arenas. Over the years, Kevin has become one of Hollywood's box office powerhouses, opening 10 films as the number one

Starting point is 00:07:02 movie on opening weekend. His memoir, I Can't Make This Up, debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list and remained on the top 10 print hardcover bestseller list for 10 weeks straight. His latest, The Decision, subtitle Overcoming Today's BS for Tomorrow's Success, an Audible original launching May 21st in a follow-up to his memoir, helps people to get mentally fit using the same tools and rules he's developed to elevate his own life. He really does have a toolkit that he applies to making decisions, sorting opportunities, saying no, and so on in his life. And we delve into all of that in this conversation. Kevin can next be seen in Sony's Fatherhood, a movie that he is not

Starting point is 00:07:43 only starring in, but also producing through his production company, Heartbeat Productions. He most recently starred in the Sony franchise Jumanji, The Next Level. In 2019, Hart reprised his role as the white-haired rabbit Snowball in Universal's The Secret Life of Pets 2. Before that, Hart starred in STX Entertainment's The Upside alongside Bryan Cranston and Nicole Kidman. In 2018, Hart co-wrote, produced, and starred in Universal's Night School, all under Heartbeat Productions. And Heartbeat, you might guess, H-A-R-T. His last live stand-up comedy tour, The Irresponsible Tour, was released as a Netflix original stand-up special in April 2019. As mentioned, you can find him on Instagram, and he has knows how many, a hundred million total followers at this point. Instagram at Kevin Hart for real. That's K-E-V-I-N-H-A-R-T number four

Starting point is 00:08:30 real. Facebook, Hart Kevin, and on Twitter at Kevin Hart for real. Without further ado, please enjoy a wide ranging conversation with none other than Kevin Hart. Kevin, welcome to the show. Yes, sir. Thank you, man. Thanks for having me. And I thought we would start with a quote from a mutual friend. I won't mention his name unless you want to mention it, but I asked him about you, and he said you were the person he would most like to be like.

Starting point is 00:09:02 Wow. And coming from him, that is very strong praise. He knows a lot of people. And he suggested that I learn more about your mother. Wow. And I have done a lot of homework, and I feel like she was a very powerful influence in your life. And I'd love to just hear you describe your mother

Starting point is 00:09:23 and your relationship with her, if we could. Cool. Cool. Who was the friend? Do I get to know who the friend was or no? This is Neil. Oh, Neil. Okay, yes.

Starting point is 00:09:33 My mother. I mean, God, where do you want me to start about my mom? I mean, that's my reason for the way that I move at the level that I move and how I move you know um I think I can just sum it up for you in like a a nice nutshell to where it's not it's not the longest run-on sentence that you've ever heard. Just one of the most determined and strong-willed individuals to ever walk the earth. And she was someone that just wanted to always improve. Wasn't content with just being complacent in a position because this is the position that I'm given or that I have, was always searching for the next step. So whether it was in education, whether it was

Starting point is 00:10:35 in health, whether it was in family, it was always trying to figure out how to improve when most would be okay with just being okay you know we didn't live a lavish lifestyle we didn't come from money you know we we were we were we were we were poor, you know, we had enough to eat and she put clothes on my back. But, you know, that's about it. We didn't live an astronomical life, you know, and the extra money that she did have, she poured into extracurricular activities for me. So our priority was our kids. And it showed, you know, where some mistakes were made, fixes were immediately figured out and implemented on the next child. So it's a woman that I have so much respect for and admire, but she's basically the definition of my mindset. It comes from my mind. And I was spending a lot of time exploring your mindset. I've followed you for a long time,

Starting point is 00:11:55 but I wanted to dig into your books and your writing, obviously a lot of what you've done in terms of interviews. And in the back of your book, I can't make this up, subtitle Life Lessons, there's a beautiful little chapter called The Blueprint. And I want to just read a paragraph from that and give people a taste, because I think it speaks to what we're discussing. It says, Life is like a pack of cards. There are 52 cards in the deck, but only four of them are aces. The goal of life is to make your way through a crowded deck where the odds are stacked against you and draw an ace. Looking back over decades, covered in this book, I've picked out eight qualities that put me in a position to draw aces. These characteristics won't work alone.

Starting point is 00:12:32 Like a recipe, they only create success when combined together in just the right amount. So I'm just going to list them real quick, and then I want to dig into one. You have persistence, patience, class, commitment, learning, passion-centered competitiveness, positivity, and discomfort. I want to talk about positivity or hear you talk about positivity because, for instance, I was reading a piece in Variety that seemed to me to indicate that you are a master of managing energy and avoiding energy leaks. And for instance, the decision to allow your children to get to know their grandfather, your father, the quote that stuck out to me was, it takes too much time and energy to keep hate alive. And for those people who don't know, I mean, your father was an

Starting point is 00:13:17 addict. You've spoken about him publicly before, a contentious relationship. How have you developed that positivity? Was that mostly from your mom? How do you think about that? Well, when you come from the bottom and you work your way up to the place that some people refer to as the top, I mean, what do i have to be angry about what do i have to really bitch and complain about and harp on you know what i mean like i i really

Starting point is 00:13:57 do come from nothing i'm uh i'm a part of a very small percentage. So in understanding that and knowing that, the things that are supposed to act as triggers, the things that are supposed to be life-changing, threatening, altering, are just lessons. It's just education. It's stories it's stories for lack of a better word. You know, you got an amazing story under your belt and I don't choose to stay in one particular paragraph, uh, of my story. It's a long story. And, you know, the life is as long as, of course, we are all given the chance for it to be. Because that's something that we have no control. We only try to enhance the opportunity of longevity or success. We don't have no control. You walk outside and something could happen, boom, and that's it. So I just have a realistic approach and understanding to that. I come from

Starting point is 00:15:11 nothing. I got something. I'm appreciative of my something. I don't look at this something as if I'm supposed to have it because that's not how it works. I'm very fortunately blessed too. It could all go away. If it did and I had to start all over again, that's life. I don't harp on it. I don't bitch and complain about the things that I can't change. And the things that you can change, why spend time bitching if you're going to change it? Yeah. You know what I mean? So when you look at, for example, a relationship with me and my father, did my father fuck up? Yeah. Did my father get himself clean and straight? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:15:58 Does my father feel bad about some of the stuff that he did? Yeah. Could you still be angry at the lack of parenting that was done or the time that he did? Yeah. Could you still be angry at the lack of parenting that was done or the time that was spent? Yeah. But why? It doesn't change it. It doesn't change anything that happened. It doesn't make it right. You know what I mean? Like you don't, that anger that you're giving off into that, it's not going to change these things. So that's energy that I feel like I can put into something else. That's energy that I feel like I can get a lot more use out of that energy that would have been negative. By finding a way to say, you know what,

Starting point is 00:16:45 I do forgive you. And I mean that. And that life now hopefully is better for us. If it's not, I know that it's not because of me. I don't like putting myself in a position to easily be affected. You know, I think life is too short. It's too short. And if you just spend time being affected all the fucking time those are tough days man if you're bothered all the time there's a lot of shit to be bothered about today you can be bothered a lot of shit if you're the person that's really bothered then how how pleasant are you to be around yeah if there's just so much anger and and so much negative energy i i just choose the opposite direct and approach and i mean that doesn't make me perfect i'm nowhere near perfect i done fucked up. I done did stupid shit and I've apologized. And if I can be,

Starting point is 00:17:47 you know, if those apologies can be accepted, then great. It's fantastic. If they can't, well, I can't do anything about that. I can't put any more energy into the things that I've tried to do or make right. If you choose to still feel a certain way, God bless you. I'm going to keep living. That's my attitude. And it seems like you've practiced this consistently over time. And then when you run into something like the catastrophic car accident you had not terribly long ago, could you speak to not being able to put on your socks and what your self-talk was like? I mean, what are you saying to yourself in your own head when you're experiencing something like that? That's when you truly realize that you're not in control.

Starting point is 00:18:32 Like right now I said that to you, that's because I really understand that. But there was a moment where I lost sight of reality. You kind of feel like you are. You're not in control, but you kind of feel like you are. You're not in control, but you kind of feel like you are. I can make this happen. I'll do this. I'll get this easy. I'll get it done. I got it. I'll do it. I'm up. I'm in it. I'm working hard. I'm going to do it. I, I, I, I, I. Everything is I, I, I. And you get lost in that. You know, you really do get lost in that. And for me, that car accident was much more than any and everybody can see. For me, that car accident, it was a reason to sit down and really process what's around me. And by what's around me, the things that only matter. And that was my wife and my kids. You know, all of the things that I put the significant value

Starting point is 00:19:35 in tremendous amount of, I'm going to call them, you put the things that come with success on a pedestal for a minute. The things that you feel you need and the things that you feel you have to have, right? But when life hits you with a real curveball and you're in that room with four walls, none of that stuff that you thought was important or that you thought you needed is ever brought up in conversation. When it comes to life, when it comes to health, when it comes to like, you know, an emotional support, none of it's materialistic. It's all person to person and when it was my wife and my brother and my kids and we were just in

Starting point is 00:20:29 this hospital room that gave me a different a different look and insight into life so it made me shoulder shrug negative shit even more i already had no tolerance or patience for negativity i already was a guy that never feeded into to the world of of nonsense and i i something i pride myself on but then after this it was even more oh i don't have time to be upset. Even if I am upset, I'm going to figure out what I can do to make this better. I don't have time to do that. It's not valuable. One of the things that most fascinates me about you, and this has shown up over and over again in what I've read in preparation for this, also what I see is that you have, say, is one of the aces, so to speak.

Starting point is 00:21:29 You have discomfort, right? Never being complacent. If you want to get far in life, you never get too comfortable. Don't stop. Don't rest. Don't be satisfied. So, you know, I've heard that when you hit these various pinnacles of success in different areas, that one of the first questions you ask is, okay, what's next? Where do we go from here? And yet, for instance, Neil told me that, I asked him, I said, do you

Starting point is 00:21:51 think that he is genuinely happy? And he said, he is. From what I can tell, he's a genuinely happy guy. And in my experience of interviewing high performers, those two don't always go together. You find people who are never able to appreciate what's in front of them or to rest for a moment because they're constantly focused on what's in the future, what's next. How do you combine those in the sense of appreciating what you have but still deliberately building in discomfort or not getting too comfortable and looking forward?

Starting point is 00:22:21 How do you think about that? Well, you got B-A and A-A, right? So you got before accident, after accident. Before accident, that engine ran. That engine is still running. I can't sit up here and act as if it's not. I'm just an ambitious person. And I'm in love with understanding the definition of history. What fascinates me is when you watch something from the past that's attached to an individual or a person and a monumental moment in history. That's fascinating. This man walked on the moon on this date, such and such. Regular guy who wouldn't be there tonight was the first man to ever walk on the moon. And for years after his life is over, it's a discussion. It's a discussion. It's information that people need to know. That's fascinating to me. Right now we're in a pandemic.

Starting point is 00:23:36 Our world has been hit with a catastrophic stomach punch that's put us all in a position where the economy has dropped and we have been put on quarantine, huh? And we're home for how long? And now it's going to be this long? This is history. This moment in time will be talked about in 30 to 40 years as one of the worst things to hit the globe when COVID and X, Y, and Z, and it's history. So my hard work and my craft and my hard work is for me playing the game in my head of, are you going to be a conversation attached to history? How long will the work that you put in be a discussion? Are people want to one day look back and say things about the things that you did? And if they do, what would it be I like not knowing it but I like knowing that

Starting point is 00:24:48 I put a lot of shit in that conversation I like knowing that you're gonna have a lot of shit to talk about whether you like it or not because I'm in love with just doing that I'm in love with the resume I'm in love with the boxes that can be checked off I'm in love with the resume. I'm in love with the boxes that can be checked off. I'm in love with the thought of success and, more importantly, the benefit that comes from hard work. I'm in love with being a testament to the conversation that's preached to so many that some don't necessarily know if it's true. I'm a product of truth. I'm a product of hard work pays off. I like that. I like the fact that that was instilled in me and I didn't get it, but now I do get it. And it's thank you, at the highest level. I like the fact that my kids get to see me operate and that I get to talk and communicate with them.

Starting point is 00:25:48 And whether they do it like I do or not, it's embedded in them. It'll kick in somewhere. In something, it'll kick in, whether they like it or not. It's embedded in you. So my joy definitely comes from being able to see the benefits of my work and being able to create a story that can possibly be talked about years after I'm here. That's for me, that's a happy place. And if and when I decide to not do it anymore, I'm happy with that decision. After my accident, it did make me say, let's be conscious of your family. Let's make sure that we put the time and energy into this that matches the time and energy that I'm putting into that. This should never outweigh that. And there was a moment where I was guilty of that, and the accident made me realize that. So, Kevin, you make sure that if you go on that at 1,000% over here, you don't come back at 900.

Starting point is 00:26:59 You better match that 1,000 on both sides. And that's what I'm much more conscious i've always been uh you know a great family guy a great dad minus my fucking bumps in the road of just stupidity but i'm a good dad that's never going to be compromised never never gonna fucking be compromised it seems like you have done an excellent, consistent job of cultivating your physical vehicle for giving 100% in many areas of your life. Has that always been the case? When did that start for you? I would say, for me, I don't understand how you do something halfway. I did that through high school. And doing that, I saw the instant consequence.

Starting point is 00:27:52 You know, there was a moment where after high school, where my friends went on and they started going to college. And I was the guy that didn't even know that we applied. I didn't know we was applying to college. I thought we was playing all this time. Where were y'all going? What was a joke to me was never a joke to anybody else. I was the only one that the joke was being played on.

Starting point is 00:28:18 So when I thought we were hooking or cutting class, well, I thought we all weren't doing work. I thought we all were getting by and just fucking off opportunities. Oh, it's just me. Oh, y'all been doing your work this whole time. Oh, fuck. Huh. Wow. University of, university of, university of. I was the only jackass That was going to community college And that's not to take a shot at anybody that was going to community college Because those colleges are available for a reason

Starting point is 00:28:52 I was the only jackass That didn't have a plan because I thought that was a cool thing to do I didn't take my SAT I did abracadabra Going down and guessing at it Because I thought that's what we all were doing Because we were hooking class to go I was the only dickhead abracadabra going down and guessing at it because I thought that's what we all were doing because we were hooking class to go. I was the only dickhead that did it the other way.

Starting point is 00:29:11 So that joke was on me. So I saw what not working hard got me. I didn't take my SAT. That to me, that was an eye-opener, man. Well, if I'm going to do something, I should never do it halfway. And that means that if I do want to do it halfway, I just shouldn't do it. If I'm not going to do it to show what I can do at the best of my ability, then why am I doing it? If you ask me to come work out with you

Starting point is 00:29:37 and I come work out and I bullshit to work out, why did I go work out? If you ask me to come see a movie and I go to sleep, as soon as I get in there, well, why did I go to the movie? Why didn't I just say I want to stay home? If you ask me to go and get up early with you so we can go look at these apartments or housing complexes and I get down there and I just got a negative attitude, why the fuck did I go? What I've learned and how I operate is that you're in so much control of yourself that it's ridiculous.

Starting point is 00:30:09 And sometimes it's easy to put out excuses for yourself that make sense to you. We all know the fucking truth. We all know if we're giving 100%, if we're not. We all know. You tell me to go outside and pick up the dog shit. My wife tell me every morning. If we're giving 100%, if we're not, we all know. You tell me go outside and pick up the dog shit. My wife tell me every morning, I don't want to go out there and pick the dog shit. But I get up and do it.

Starting point is 00:30:38 If I go out there and I take two steps and I'm like, man, it's too early. I'll do this shit later. Then that means that I'm fucking, I'm already compromising an action that I said I was going to do that I'm not. If I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it. If I don't say it, don't expect it from me. I never put my foot in my mouth. Well, why do you expect me to go do that? I never said I would do that. That's the one power that I have. That's the one thing that can never be taken from me. What I say I'm going to do, I do. And if I do do something that puts me in a position to be scolded because my actions weren't correct, then I got to stand up and I got to say that too. Hey, I said I was going to do X, Y, and Z. I didn't do it. I got to wear that hat. Hit me with the stupid stick or the dummy hat,

Starting point is 00:31:36 scold me, whatever you got to do. I fucked up. I out loud said that I would do and I did it. For that I'm wrong. That's the difference. That's what I'm okay with. I'm okay with standing in this shit and smelling it if I have to. I try my best to avoid it but I'm not perfect. So if there's ever a moment where that happens and it has to happen, well, I'm on it. But as I've gotten older, my words become more of my bond. Hey, Kevin, I want you to come talk to these kids.

Starting point is 00:32:09 Man, look, it's a group of kids. Hey, I can't do that. Not because of the kids. I'm tired. Let's find another time where I can. There was a time back in the day. Yeah, I figure out that you can't get me on the phone. Well, why did I say I could do it?

Starting point is 00:32:25 I've learned from that. I don't play those games. So if I say you're going to get me, you're going to get 100% of me. If I don't feel like I can, then I'm not going to say it. Do you have other ways of saying no that you use as sort of default language or anything like that? Because people see what you do, right? I mean, you have so much in the air and you're, you're getting so much done,

Starting point is 00:32:50 but they don't see the thousands of things that you say no to, right? I can say right now, I am, I am so honest right now. I'm so honest that it is, it's so, it's ridiculous, right? Like right now, I am, I am no. Kevin, you're absolutely not. No. 40 years old. What I got time to be around Bushworld? No. Why? I just don't want to do that. I just don't want to do that. I don't want to do that. I shouldn't have to explain why I don't want to do something. I shouldn't have to explain. That's a that's a thing that people have to overcome. There's a portion of life that you go through where you feel guilty for saying that you don't want to do certain things.

Starting point is 00:33:40 That's not fair. Because when you do want to do things, it's celebrations and it's happy times. But you're allowed to not want to do. You're allowed the option to say no. You say no for things that work for you, then good for you. You can be saying no to opportunity. For all I know, you're allowed the option to say no and to not want to participate or not want to do. That's your choice. And anything, I know that and I make sure that I use my no's wisely. There's a lot of yeses. So when there is a no, understand that. For example, I love my fans. I love my fans. Take pictures with fans all the time.

Starting point is 00:34:31 Go back and forth with fans all the time. Make myself available before red carpets, after carpets, movie premieres, not movie premieres. I'm out and about. See them, stop, talk, pictures, videos. But if I'm with my kids, no. Kevin, I said no. I shouldn't have to explain to you I'm with my family. I shouldn't have to do that. I'm entitled to no. That's why you got two options. You got yes and no. You thought maybe in there that's your choice. Is it yes or no? So as you get older, you start to see that a little more clear.

Starting point is 00:35:08 And I joke around about it, but it's so true. You ever notice how direct and honest old people are? Yeah, for sure. Have you ever noticed an old person does not waste time? No. Yeah, I do it. No, get your ass up out of here. Whatever it is, it's

Starting point is 00:35:29 direct. Because they don't have the time. They don't have the time to play those games. I don't either. I don't play those games anymore. Just a quick thanks to our sponsors, and then we're right back to the show. First up, Theragun. Theragun is my go-to solution for recovery and restoration. It's a famous handheld percussive therapy device that releases your deepest muscle tension. I own two Theraguns,

Starting point is 00:35:57 and my girlfriend and I use them every day after workouts and before bed. Check it out. Go to theragun.com slash Tim and check out the Gen 4 Theragun. It is just amazing. They also have some great videos. That's theragun.com slash Tim. Second and last, I get asked all the time, if you could only use one supplement, what would it be? My answer is usually Athletic Greens, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I've used it for more than a decade. Hard to believe. As a listener of the Tim Ferriss Show, you'll get a free 20-count travel pack valued at $79 with your first order at athleticgreens.com slash Tim. That's athleticgreens.com slash Tim. One thing that you seem very good at is long-term investments and thinking. And I'll give a few examples of that. If you look at the path of Kevin, which I've done to get ready for this conversation, I noticed these seemingly little things like, for instance, you go from community college to, as I understand it, selling shoes, open mics. Eventually, you're hitting the road and touring, gathering email addresses, right?

Starting point is 00:37:06 You have people putting cards on tables. You're sowing the seeds of tremendous things later. And what I'd love to hear you maybe discuss a little bit is how do you choose your opportunities so that they're steps up and not steps sideways or steps backwards? Because you have a lot thrown at you. How do you think about that strategically, or how do you think about it at all? Well, I think when you're talking about opportunities in general, the best part about opportunities are figuring out what makes them an amazing opportunity for you, right? And, you know, I think you're extremely lucky if you're doing something you love.

Starting point is 00:37:51 You know, if you're doing something that may not necessarily be your passion, but it's a job, the trick is to find out how to make this thing become a bigger thing for you so that you're able to go and do what you want to do? How do we use the things in life that are thrown at us as stepstones or baby pathways to the ultimate road, right? So for me, I have a great, my tunnel vision is ridiculous. So if life was like, if you could compare it to, let's call it, let's call it like an Indy 500. they're never looking right in front of them. They're way up in the road. Before they make a turn, they're looking at the turn after that turn to decide how to handle this turn so that when they come out that turn, they're on the straightaway already as to how they're going to come out. You have to have vision that's in front, that's at least set as a goal, as a destination of where you're trying to get.

Starting point is 00:39:08 And once you get there, you can reassess. The opportunities that I have were ones that were wanted back when. I want to be a stand-up comedian. Now that I'm a stand-up comedian, I want to make sure that I'm telling jokes that can allow me to travel the globe one day. I want to make everybody laugh. If I can make everybody laugh, I will travel the globe. If I get the opportunity to travel the globe, that gives me the opportunity to start on that journey of making the world laugh. Opportunity one is getting to a position to perform outside of the U.S. That would be massive. Let me get what's my first opportunity doing something that's considered international what is it where does this exist my first time going to canada i didn't know what to expect because i'm a guy from north philadelphia what language do they speak yeah what's gonna

Starting point is 00:40:20 happen what's gonna happen when i'm here? I just landed in fucking Canada. Oh, my God. Hi. How are you? I'm looking for this hotel. Why are you yelling, sir? English. English.

Starting point is 00:40:39 He speaks English. Okay. Whoa. I perform to Canada. People laugh. Is it like this everywhere? I go to London. Holy fuck. I'm in London for the first time. Oh my God. People speak English. What if I can make, I'm making people laugh in London. Oh my God. The opportunity that I was talking about is now happening. It's a reality. Man, what doors can comedy open up? What if comedy got me to acting? Eddie Murphy was a

Starting point is 00:41:08 comedian. He started acting. How did he do it? What if I got in there? Oh my God, it got me the opportunity to act. Oh my God, now that I'm acting, what if I can figure out an opportunity to create? Oh my God, created and showed me that you can write. Oh my God, what if writing creates more opportunities? Holy fuck, that's how you produce. Now I'm producing. Oh my God, created showed me that you can write. Oh, my God. What if writing creates more opportunities? Holy fuck. That's how you produce. Now I'm producing. Oh, my God.

Starting point is 00:41:29 What if I can direct? Oh, shit. Then you look all the way back behind you. It all started off with the goal of doing comedy. But the opportunities kept getting bigger because you kept looking past the first opportunity at what the what if was. That doesn't mean that you're not respecting the things you're doing. It just means that you're realizing why you should do this well. That's what I do. So my title vision is ridiculous. I'm always down the street no matter what.

Starting point is 00:42:03 Have you ever played Monopoly? And there's a person that you play with and they'll get like, you know, they'll they'll get the worst property on the game. And people go, why the fuck are you buying that? You got Baltic Avenue. Met a friend? Yeah, I did. It's the cheapest one, but I'm going to put all my houses and then flip those into hotels. And it's cheaper. I now have money left. And hopefully for making money on this, I can go and get some of the nicer stuff. I can go and get the maybe the boardwalks or maybe the Venturas or, you know, maybe maybe some of the other more expensive, but I want to get my money right first because I don't have enough. And then you got the people that go right and go buy Boardwalk and then they're stuck with $200 or $300 after. And they're trying to figure out how to get houses, but they

Starting point is 00:42:56 can't really afford the thing that they bought because they didn't have a plan. There's other people that put a plan together that they're trying to execute that can get them to the place that they want to be. I'm the guy with the plan. And whether I get there or not, I'm executing something that I'm vetting out. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:43:17 You know what I mean? And I'm trying my best to get there by checking all these boxes and building an amazing team around me of people that are more than qualified to help me on this journey. So it doesn't become a Kevin did a thing. It becomes a we did a thing. And then before you know it, you change lives and now you're able to have a major impact, not just with laughter, not just by providing content. But now you're providing jobs, opportunities. Now you're providing, you, but now you're providing jobs, opportunities. Now you're providing, you know, now you're providing dreams, hope. There's a, it's a bigger story to it. It's a bigger story. There's a bigger understanding.

Starting point is 00:43:55 So I definitely want to talk about stories and storytelling. But before we get there, we were talking, you were talking about this macro planning, vetting, and looking at opportunities. I'd love to look at the micro for a second. What does, say, the first 90 minutes of your day look like? Are there any components or routines that are particularly important to you in the first hour or two of your day? 90 minutes of my day. Yeah, an hour or two, if there's anything that is a constant for you. There's no—I mean the the one thing that

Starting point is 00:44:26 never changes is my my workout right now you know i'm up six i mean well since we've been in quarantine i've been working out 7 a.m every day um but before this if i'm like out and i'm working i'm up at five you know in the gym and very consistent about that. I don't, I don't, I don't sway with that. You know, it's how I start any and every day. Uh, and I'm just heavily into taking care of me. Um, got a lot of people that depend on me. I got a lot of people that, that, that I feel need me and also that I need in return. But I can't be the best version of myself if I'm not taking care of myself. What are some of the, in your mind, because you've exercised a long time and very consistently,

Starting point is 00:45:17 so you have had a chance to test a lot. What are some of the best bang for the buck exercises if you could only kind of take a handful with you? Do any come to mind? Nothing beats push-ups and sit-ups. I don't care whether you got a gym or not, push-ups, sit-ups, can't beat that. That's the core. That's the core. You can't beat that. Ever. With stories and storytelling, I mean, what strikes me is you're a student of history.

Starting point is 00:45:47 You're looking at what can become stories that are told decades, maybe 100 years after they happen. And you are, in some respects, it strikes me, making your mark with an incredible gift and honed talent of storytelling. When I watch you perform, what makes a good storyteller? Are there any particular people you consider good storytellers? I mean, whether it's, I know you've cited the Bible. There are certain stories that are more compelling than others and certain storytellers. Are there any storytellers who stand out to you? I mean, minus what's going on in the personal life of this individual um you know cosby is one of the uh probably one of

Starting point is 00:46:29 the best storytellers within the profession of comedy like i said making sure that's separate from of course you know this stuff uh eddie murphy amazing storyteller d Chappelle an amazing storyteller I mean you're looking at people that have very unique styles and approaches to the craft of storytelling those are my favorites

Starting point is 00:46:59 and I'm going to tell you who else is one of the best or was one of the best at storytelling? Bernie Mac. Bernie Mac. Bernie Mac. Bernie Mac could tell a story.

Starting point is 00:47:11 I mean, you know, I love it. I love the idea of telling a story. I love the idea of, you know, grabbing someone's attention and holding that attention and a person going on levels with you until the end and at the end of it getting an amazing payoff to where it's like oh my god i didn't even see that coming that's crazy like i there's something special about that. I've always been a fan of it. You know, and it's a craft and a talent that I try my best to hone and work on.

Starting point is 00:47:54 I want to talk about The Decision. So this is an Audible original. The Decision and the subtitles, Overcoming Today's BS for Tomorrow's Success. It seems like this had been in the works for a very long time. And then the launch got accelerated because there are certain things that you can't do right now with COVID and quarantine. But there are things that you can do, like utilize audio. Could you speak to why you decided to push this forward now and why you did it in the first place? Well, I said, I said, basically, you know, right now, I think the crazy thing within the times

Starting point is 00:48:32 that you're realizing the need behind content, you know, like you, you see what people gravitate towards when times are tough. Like, you know, there's an escape that comes with good content. You're able to get lost in something good. Like, I remember when his first hit in Ozark came on and the season was available. And I was like, I'm going to watch Ozark. And I sat and I watched Ozark came on and the season was available. And I was like, I'm going to watch Ozark. And I sat and I watched Ozark. And for that time, I just enjoyed a good show. A good show was enough.

Starting point is 00:49:16 It was enough for me. And it motivated me after watching it. And I was like, I got to get up and I got to write. I got to write. I got to write. I got to create. I got to write. And watching that show made me do that. Now, of course, this is my profession. This is what I do. So it's where I can grab energy from. But there's content all around that can amplify a person's mood. There's different types of content that's good for whomever. You know what I mean? It's a lot that you can go out and grab or read or see. It's just a lot. So I told my team I was like this is this is a perfect time just for me to

Starting point is 00:50:09 release the decision and the reason why is because it's not just informative but it's mental fitness and and when when our mental is getting tugged on just having information can be key it's just information my way of thinking isn't the right way for everybody i don't i don't claim that i don't stand on that it's not my way or the highway i'm just giving you an option i'm just sharing wholeheartedly what has helped me in life and what has helped get me to this place and how my thinking and thought process have played a major part. And I want to give you guys this information. You may gravitate towards it. You may not, but I'm going to give it to you in a way that nobody else can.

Starting point is 00:51:07 I'm giving it to you with personality. I'm giving it to you with real life situations attached that you can look up and see. And I'm giving it to you from a guy's perspective that has results. So it's not as if there aren't any results in my way of thinking and in my way of decision making. You see what the results are, which is why I feel like the information is valuable. You know, guys, I like this. There's chapters on positivity. There's chapters on negativity. There's chapters on cowboying up. There's chapters on shoulder shrugging. There's chapters on positivity. There's chapters on negativity. There's chapters on cowboying up. There's chapters on shoulder shrugging. There's chapters on things that we overlook that are so small that I've made big. You know, a shoulder shrug, a shoulder shrug is a motherfucker, man.

Starting point is 00:52:00 The ability to shrug your shoulders, it can mean so many things. Shrugging your shoulders can mean, I don't care. It can mean, I don't know. Or it can mean, oh, well, it is what it is. That ability to shoulder shrug, that's a major thing. Because that's also the ability to move on. That's also the ability to go, well's also the ability to go well i guess i gotta keep going a shoulder shrug that's what it is it can be taken as nonchalant it can be taken as passes

Starting point is 00:52:34 it can be taken as so many different things but nine times out of a ten after a shoulder shrug you're gonna keep going yeah and these are the things that i've broken down in this audible original it's it's it's me giving you just a different way of seeing things a different insight and your memoir i mean if we describe it as that i i can't make this up was extremely popular on audio and is is the way to think about this new Audible original, I mean, I think the subtitle describes it well, overcoming today's BS for tomorrow's success, a more prescriptive description of your kind of tools and principles. It's sort of a distilled collection of your tools and tactics.

Starting point is 00:53:20 Is that one way to think about it? If people are wondering how it contrasts to I can't make this up. I can say for me what I really, really love is when you look at my first book, Life Lessons, right? I really broke down my life in great detail. I just gave the stories of where I've come from and how I got to here. And major success. People loved it. They loved the honesty that came with it.

Starting point is 00:53:54 And they just loved the stories. They loved hearing about my father, my mother, my brother. They just loved the overall story. And this one, I wanted to go a step further because what I realized was I'm privy to a lot of information and I'm privy to a lot of different environments. And I've been a sponge and I've soaked up so much information. Outside of my wife and kids and some of my closest friends, am I just taking this information with me? What I found is for me right now, if I were just to go and take all the information that I had and just keep it and put it in my pocket. That's selfish. That's extremely fucking selfish to not share.

Starting point is 00:54:52 To not share any of this. I look at it as very selfish on my part. So I said, I want to share. I want to give information. But this information is to really help you understand how to maneuver in the BS that we all go through. And there's people that really struggle with a lot of the BS that we go through. struggle that comes with thought process, with decision making, with do I make it right, do I make it left? There's a real struggle that goes with that. And it just comes from lack of knowledge or from thinking that you're alone and that nobody else is the way you are, thinks like you think. I mean, I can go down a

Starting point is 00:55:47 list of things. When you're able to open up and talk about things that most people don't in such an honest way, it acts as a bonus. There's a piece in there where I'm talking about social media and how social media has been such a gift and a curse. I've been on the side of the gift. I've been on the side of the gift. It allowed me to connect and touch base with my fans in a way that I never thought that I would be able to. And then there's this dark side to it that's reared its head. And that dark side just seems like it's negative. But it only seems that way

Starting point is 00:56:32 because there's something in us as people to be attracted to the negative. We're attracted to bullshit for some reason. If there's a story about a man that saved a kid, and at the same time, a story gets posted about a woman that cut her husband's dick off, you're going to forget about the man that saved the kid. Everybody's running to the story about

Starting point is 00:57:02 the woman that cut her husband's dick off. Nobody can answer that question of why. You can't tell me why, but it's true. It's what we gravitate towards as people. So that's why the internet seems like a hub for negativity. The news is on every night. There's always a good story on the news, but you can't tell me what it is. But you can tell me about all the people that got shot. You can tell me about the story that got robbed. You can't tell me the good story. You can't highlight the things of good. It's because the volume is turned down. And that's because

Starting point is 00:57:39 we choose not to turn it up. So it's not until you realize that hey, you know what? I'm looking at this thing, man. There's a lot of negative comments on here. Well, how many of the positive ones did you actually see? Right. Did you give that the same attention? These are things that I'm giving

Starting point is 00:57:57 and it all go back to the decision. There's a decision that I'm making to speak on or to amplify what can be perceived as bullshit or negativity. I'm making the decision not to give the same energy and effort to the thing of positive. It's there, but I'm making a decision to not realize it or see it. I have tons, tons of this in this Audible original. Cowboy ain't up.

Starting point is 00:58:33 You make the decision to sit and bitch about what you can't change. We talked about it earlier. That's a decision. Or you can make the decision to say, you know what? I'm a cowboy up. Cowboy up is a term. It's a term that anybody can use. And cowboy up just means I'm going to strap on my boots

Starting point is 00:58:54 and I'm going to get back to work. That's it. That work can mean anything. It can mean life. It can mean family. It can mean, you. Whatever that thing is, I'm not going to let the problems weigh me down to where I stop doing what I'm supposed to do. I'm going to make the decision to continue and keep going. The decision. As you mentioned, Audible original. Yes. Releasing May 21st, overcoming today's BS for tomorrow's success. I've been fascinated in the

Starting point is 00:59:26 process of getting to know you through research for this conversation. And I'm excited to see it come out and listen to it, I suppose more accurately. And people can find you, of course, you're not hard to find on Instagram at Kevin Hart for real, the number four on Facebook, that's Hart Kevin, and then on twitter same as instagram at kevin heart for real uh kevin is there anything else you would like to share before we before we wrap up any uh any words of wisdom favorite quotes things you live your life by anything else um you know what i'll say right now i think the the biggest and best thing is just to get people to understand that you know look these times are extremely tough for for us all um but there's always

Starting point is 01:00:15 sunshine behind a cloud this is just a very dark cloud we'll get through it we'll get out of it and you know when we do uh let's be better than we were when we went in, you know. And what what I think is really dope that I was able to see that I was able to hold on to and gravitate towards is how so much money has been raised to solve and help for world hunger, but it took a pandemic. And it shouldn't have to be because of a pandemic that we're all conscious of the needs of others. It's something that should be more of a priority. And when you see these hundreds of millions of dollars that have been raised within a two-month period of you know, just kind of raises the question of why is this so far few and in between? Yeah. Shouldn't take a pandemic to make us all aware. Let's open our eyes and start to just, once again, look beneath the debris and let's get to these

Starting point is 01:01:22 other real things that come out of this that we can hold on to and make other people be responsible for in the future you know think about so you know what somebody said that really made me go wow we're solving world hunger and you know raising hundreds of millions of dollars but for flint michigan clean water has been a problem for how many years? And that's a how many million dollar fix? Time to cowboy up, it seems like. Time to cowboy up. Let's look on the bright side, man.

Starting point is 01:01:56 This has been a great conversation, dude. Great conversation. Yeah, thanks so much. And I'll certainly put all these links also in the show notes for people at tim.blog forward slash podcast. And Kevin, real pleasure to connect. Thanks for taking the time. Hey, man. Thank you. I appreciate you. Anytime. You too, my man. All right. Be safe. Bye-bye. Hey, guys. This is Tim again. Just a few more things before you take off. Number one,

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Starting point is 01:03:00 And it's very short. It's just a little tiny bite of goodness before you head off for the weekend. So if you want to receive that, check it out. Just go to 4hourworkweek.com. That's 4hourworkweek.com all spelled out and just drop in your email and you will get the very next one. And if you sign up, I hope you enjoy it. This episode is brought to you by Theragun. I have two Theraguns and they're worth their weight in gold. I've been using them every single day. Whether you're an elite athlete or just a regular person trying to get through your day,

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The Tim Ferriss Show - #435: Kevin Hart — The Unstoppable Combination of Positivity and Relentless Improvement

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