Want to learn how to become “ultra spiritual”? How to tap into your inner badass, open up ya chakras, and achieve a level of spiritual enlightenment that would make even Gandhi blush? Then you’re in the right place…sort of. While you won’t learn how to levitate or permanently eliminate all of your desires, my interview with JP Sears will help you achieve more success, fulfillment, and inner peace in every area of your life. And it might make you cry from laughter. JP Sears is one of the funniest and most down to earth guys I’ve ever had the pleasure of interviewing and I promise that you will leave this podcast feeling more inspired, excited, and “ultra spiritual”. Enjoy. Who is JP Sears? JP Sears is an emotional healing coach, YouTuber, author, international teacher, speaker, world traveler, and curious student of life.  His work empowers people to live more meaningful lives. JP is the author of “How To Be Ultra Spiritual,” (Sounds True Publishing, release date of March 7th, 2017). He is very active with his online videos where he encourages healing and growth through his humorous and entertainingly informative videos, including his hit Ultra Spiritual comedy series, which has accumulated over 100 million views.  You can learn more about JP Sears and his work at AwakenWithJP.com. JP Sears’ Favorite Success Quote “Nothing is as it seems.” Key Points from My Interview with JP Sears 1. If Nothing is as It Seems, Then What Does this Mean? While the above line might sound like something out of an esoteric spiritual text or a children’s poetry book, its implications are profound. As human beings, we are all incredibly delusional whether we want to admit it or not. The very chair (or whatever inanimate object is currently supporting your weight) that you sit on is comprised of 99% empty space! And yet to us, it seems solid. And when you stop to think about it, you will begin to realize that this concept of “Nothing as it seems” is applicable in all areas of life. Take, for example, a common goal among many men… To date a “Perfect 10”. While most people would agree that this is a fine goal and that every man should seek to find a woman who is his own “10”, when you dive deeper into the nuances of your motivation, you might begin to realize that reality is quite different from what you thought. For the man desiring a perfect 10, his motivations might be rooted in an early childhood trauma or feelings of deep inadequacy. He may feel that he is a “1” or a “2” and that a perfect “10” would increase his value and worth. If this is true, then he is faced with one of three options. He can ignore this new information and uncomfortable way of viewing his desires and continue living his life as he was before. He can relinquish his desires and move onto more “noble” pursuits. Or he can do the deep internal work needed to elicit change in his own sense of worth and esteem so that his desire for that perfect woman comes from a place of love, wholeness, and a desire to share a life. But remember, this is not a judgment, this is not a call to abandon all of your self-serving goals, it’s not even a statement of absolute truth (if nothing is as it seems, then perhaps this isn’t as it seems either). Rather it is an invitation. An invitation to go deeper in your life, your health, and your relationships. An invitation to figure out what is really driving you, to see situations for what they really are (or at least what you perceive they really are), and an invitation to go beyond your current level of consciousness. You owe it to yourself to dive into your life and take a more objective look at who you are and what you want. And you might be surprised by what you find. 2. Break Out of the Comparison Trap  One of the greatest single distractions in our modern world is the comparison trap. And how couldn’t it be? Each and every day, we are bombarded with images of private jets, exotic cars, hot Instagram models, and juiced up “Natty’s” who make us feel inadequate and completely overwhelmed. Is it any wonder why most of us look at our own lives and feel incredibly unfulfilled? You see, our society does its absolute best to keep us distracted, to stop us from looking inward, and to keep us contributing to the system by setting goals that aren’t our own, buying things we don’t need, living lifestyles we can’t afford. Because whenever we are focused on keeping up with our neighbors or looking like “That Guy” on Instagram, we will never realize that we don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on clothes, cars, and supplements to be happy. In fact, almost all true fulfillment comes from within. So I want to challenge you to stop wasting your time looking at others and start spending more time looking at yourself. Cut out the social media, stop looking at other people’s lives, and focus on yourself. Spend time alone asking yourself what you really want and what would make you truly fulfilled. Cut yourself off from the herd that mindlessly follows whatever new fad is trending on Facebook. Build a life that is designed by you, with you, and for you. 3. The Mess Strengthens You  Whenever we are in the midst of adversity, it’s easy to become disheartened and lose hope, to feel like there is no end in sight. And once the adversity has passed, it’s even easier to feel shameful about the struggle that we endured. But your messy story is what strengthens you and brings power into your life. Think about it this way. If someone walked down the road and said “Hey, here’s a gold 1st place Medal”, would you really want it? Maybe, but if you’re anything like me, that medal would end up in a trash can by the side of the road. Now I want you to imagine that you are preparing to compete in the Olympics. You’ve been training for the better part of a decade, you’ve lost sleep, injured yourself countless times, given up your social life, and all but devoted your entire life to becoming one of the best. After a brutal and strenuous competition, you cross the finish line first, achieving victory and winning that gold medal. How would you feel about that?  Would you carelessly discard it in one of the city’s waste bins? I doubt it. When you have bled and suffered for something so much, you cherish the journey, you treasure the medal, and you revel in the victory. And this same principle is true in life. If you aren’t struggling to achieve your goals, if you don’t have to bleed a little bit, if you don’t have any scars, then how valuable will it really feel? The mess that you are going through, the proverbial “River of Shit” that you must swim through, that’s what makes it worthwhile, and that’s what makes your story worth telling. So learn to feed off the mess, feel strengthened by the struggle, and revel in the pain… Because these are the things that make success worth it. 4. Feel Your Freaking Feelings As men, we are good at thinking about things. We think about problems, we think about solutions, we think about the future, we think about the past, and, unfortunately, we think about our feelings. But by their very nature, our feelings are meant to be felt not analyzed and thought about. Society has spent so much time trying to drill the dogmas that “Real men don’t cry” and “Tough guys don’t show emotion” into our head, that, as men, we have lost touch with our feelings. We are no longer able to just feel things without assigning judgment or coming up with some sort of action plan to remedy or enhance the feeling. And because of this disconnection, we have also become disconnected with ourselves. We no longer know how to feel fully, we no longer remember how to simply sit in our emotions and allow the feelings of the moment to wash over us. In order to help you reconnect with your feelings, JP recommends that you follow what he calls the “Feel Your Fucking Feelings” meditation. During this meditation, you simply pick one sensation in your body, whether it is positive or negative, and just feel it. Don’t think about it, don’t analyze it, don’t try and fix it… Just feel it. If you sit down and immediately feel a cramp in your back, then just feel that sensation. If you sit down and feel a build up of energy in your stomach, just feel it. If you want to become “Ultra Spiritual” then you must reconnect with yourself and learn how to feel again. 5. Success is About Being Ok with Who You Are Success, true success, doesn’t come from the amount of money in your bank account or single digit body fat or dating a Victoria’s Secret model. True success comes from your ability to be yourself fully, completely, and unapologetically. When you are totally comfortable with who you are, and you don’t feel the need to apologize for being you, then you are a success. But this is easier said than done. Because we are our own worst critics, and oftentimes, the person who want to be gets in the way of the person we were born to be. There’s really no wisdom JP or myself can impart to make this journey easier. Success is simple. It’s about learning to love yourself and be ok with who you are. Getting to that point will be hard, but I promise you that it will be worth it.

Jordan Harbinger, once referred to as “The Larry King of podcasting,” is a Wall Street lawyer turned talk show host, social dynamics expert, and entrepreneur. After hosting a top 50 iTunes podcast for over a decade that enjoyed nearly four million downloads a month at its zenith, Jordan has embarked on a new adventure: The Jordan Harbinger Show, where he deconstructs the playbooks of the most successful people on earth and shares their strategies, perspectives, and insights with the rest of us. Jordan’s business sense, extensive knowledge of the industry, and contemporary approach to teaching make him one of the best and most sought-after coaches in the world. You can learn more about Jordan and follow his new podcast at jordanharbinger.com Or click here to get access to Jordan’s free networking course. Favorite Success Quote “Fortune favors the prepared” Key Points 1. Focus on the Right Things  Ironically, one of the most difficult tasks in any endeavor, whether it’s fitness, relationships, or business is not mastering any given skill, but learning which skills to focus on in the first place. The ability to select the skills most pertinent to your success will often be the difference between hitting your goals and being the guy who’s 10-years into a business getting beaten by 20-year olds who’ve just launched their company. So many people will dive into a new endeavor or new company and they will focus on skills that aren’t completely relevant to their long-term success. For example, I see lots of guys running towards the social media marketing game thinking that all they need to understand is how to run a good Facebook ad. But in reality, their time would be better spent learning the nuances of sales and marketing which are the basis for their entire business model. Take some time to figure out exactly what skills you need in order to succeed, and once you know what you need, go out and master them 2. Pick a Craft and Commit to Mastering It  Most millennials want a quick fix. They want an easy solution. They want instant gratification. And this is why they’re failing. Success is not easy, but it is simple. If you can find the 2-3 skills required to succeed in your niche, and then commit to mastering those skills over the course of 15-20 years, you will create tremendous levels of success for yourself. For example, since 2006, Jordan has been laser focused on mastering the arts of research and interviewing. Before every new interview, he compiles extensive research to fully understand his new guest and unravel potential threads of conversation. On the weekends, he works with a vocal coach to ensure that he has impeccable tonality while conducting his interview. Every single day he does something to help him improve as an interviewer. And his results don’t lie. If you want to succeed in any industry, whether it’s e-commerce, marketing, podcasting, coaching, or sales, then you must commit to mastery. Understand the commitment level required to succeed at a high level and devote the next 10-20 years of your life to totally mastering a small set of skills that will bring you massive amounts of success. 3. Most People Are Delusional  Most people think that they want to be “successful”. They think that they want to run a huge business, make millions of dollars, and live a lifestyle that will make them Instagram famous. But in actuality, most of these people only like the idea of succeeding at such a high level. When the rubber meets the road and they are required to wake up early, cold call hundreds of businesses, and sacrifice time with their family and children to make the business work, they collapse under the pressure and quit. The problem is that most people don’t realize what it really takes to achieve the goals that they have set. And while they will tell you that they are willing to sacrifice anything to succeed and achieve, when the time comes to actually do it, they are nowhere to be found. Most people are running around believing the garbage that they see on Instagram and thinking that with some careful outsourcing they can magically make millions from their phone. It’s a load of bullshit and the people trying to sell it to you typically work harder than you’d ever want to do! I don’t say any of this to discourage you. If you have a dream, know the costs, and have decided that it’s worth it to you, then go and do it! But be careful who you believe and what dream you pursue, because if you don’t, failure is all but inevitable. 4. Don’t Force Yourself to Make Short-Term Plays Conventional wisdom tells you to “Burn your boats so that you can take the island”, and while this philosophy does have its merits, its also has a number of holes. Whenever you “Burn your boats” you force yourself to make short term plays because you are building your business from a point of desperation instead of inspiration. For example, if you are currently working as a server and trying to build an online clothing store on the side, don’t quit your job to pursue your business full time. If you do, then you will be forced to compromise your long-term vision in order to make short-term plays like paying the bills and keeping your inventory stocked. If you keep your current job, no matter how much you dislike it, you have a level of security that will allow you to design your business around your ultimate vision. When you aren’t stressed about putting food on the table, you will be able to approach your business with a level head and think about the long game. 5. Balance is Bullshit  Most people who tell you that you can “Have it all” are trying to sell you something. While plenty of gurus and thought leaders like to peddle this idea of a balanced life, in my experience, there’s almost always a compromise. Certainly, there are many people who reach a comfortable level of success financially and then refocus on their family, their health, and their community, and this is great! There are also a number of people like Grant Cardone who have learned how to incorporate their spouse, their family, and their social life into their businesses, allowing them to create a (seemingly) balanced life. But anyone who tells you that you can build a 7, 8, 9, or even 10-figure empire while living a “Balanced life” is trying to sell you some bullshit. Achieving true excellence in anything requires sacrifice in many things. If you want to build a wildly successful company, you will have to sacrifice time with your family. If you want to build a wildly successful marriage, you will have to let go of your desire to drive the business forward the same way you did when you were single. If you want high levels of success in anything, it will inevitably require high levels of sacrifice in something else. Despite what the gurus told you… balance is bullshit.

Ryan Nicodemus (and his partner Joshua Fields Milburn) help over 20 million people live meaningful lives with less through their website, books, podcast, and documentary. The Minimalists have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Forbes, TIME, ABC, CBS, NBC, BBC, CBC, and NPR. You can connect with him and learn more at www.theminimalists.com/start/ Favorite Success Quote “It’s not a matter of being busy, so are the ants. The question is: What are you busy about?” ~Henry David Thoreau “Love people and use things because the opposite never works.” Key Points 1. Embrace the Drudgery  Conventional wisdom states that “If you do something you love, you will never work a day in your life”. Unfortunately, as nice as the sentiment sounds, the reality is quite different. If you want to succeed at anything in life, you are going to have to work and let me tell you, there will be times that, no matter how much you love what you do, the work will feel like endless drudgery. I believe that a more accurate statement is, “If you love what you do, you will be able to stomach the hard work.” Ryan loves sharing his message with millions of people across the world, but he doesn’t always love the daily grind of writing, marketing, and speaking. I love empowering men all over the world to achieve their full potential, but I don’t always love managing employees, testing marketing campaigns, or putting out fires. Because we love what we do, we are able to handle the drudgery. That doesn’t make the work any more pleasant or any easier, but it does give those difficult tasks a greater sense of meaning and purpose. This extends beyond the realm of business too. Think about dating and relationships. Just because you are madly in love with someone doesn’t mean that the relationship will not take hard work. There will be fights, there will be disagreements, there will be times when your partner is struggling and you need to stand by and support them. And guess what? It’s hard. But if you truly love that person, it’s also worth it. So embrace the drudgery, realize that you will have to work and you will have to work hard. But remember that if you are working on something you love, the drudgery will be worth every second of pain. 2. Get Clear on the Massive Action You Need to Take  The first step to success in any endeavor is gaining clarity on what you want to achieve. The second step is gaining clarity on the actions you must take in order to manifest that dream and bring it into reality. Knowing what you want is not enough, you must have a very clear blueprint for the specific actions you are going to take in order to achieve your end game. Do you want to be financially independent? Great! Now, what specific actions are you willing to take in order to achieve that goal? Will you work 10-12 hours a day for the next five years? Will you devote all of your free time to your side hustle? Will you break off friendships that are dragging you down and keeping you mediocre? What are you going to do to make it happen? Do you want to be the healthiest man possible? Great! Now, what are you going to do to bring that goal to fruition? Will you give up drinking, smoking, and drugs? Will you commit to training 5 times a week? Will you cut out sugar, gluten, and processed foods? What are you going to do to make it happen? You see, it’s great to set goals, but most people forget that every worthwhile goal requires massive action. And before you set out to achieve a goal, you need to have a very clear picture of what it is that you are willing to sacrifice and what actions you are willing to take in order to achieve your dreams. 3. Giving is Living  While this might sound cliche and overplayed, the secret to living truly is giving. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to live for yourself. It’s fun to focus on your own happiness. It’s fun to do your own thing and give a single finger salute to the world. But how long will it fulfill you? When you stumble home drunk for the fourth night this week, a random girl from the bar on your arm, and unlock the door to your penthouse apartment, you’re having fun. But after a while, you will find that the endless cycle of living for yourself and your needs becomes tiring, and the very things that once brought you immense joy and happiness now leave you with a profound emptiness and a voice in your head asking “Is this it?” Life isn’t meant to be lived for yourself. It’s meant to be a shared journey. And if you are struggling to find fulfillment in your current life, then I want to challenge you to refocus your intentions and desires on giving back. It doesn’t have to be a huge gesture either. Commit to giving away $5 a day in a creative way. Do one random act of kindness a week. Volunteer at a soup kitchen a few hours each month. Do something that gets you out of your bubble and allows you to give back. Because not only will you be contributing to the greater good, but you will also be reminding yourself of just how good your life really is. It will help you remember what is truly important and it will reframe your current struggles and put your problems into perspective. And what’s more? It will give you a profound sense of inner peace and fulfillment. The secret to living truly is giving. So the only question I want to ask you is this… What are you going to give? 4. You Must Know Your Values and Beliefs  In life, you will often be presented with difficult decisions. You will find yourself at a crossroads where both paths seem appealing and you are unable to determine exactly which route to take. During these times of decision, it is imperative that you have a deep understanding of what it is you truly value and what brings you the most fulfillment and joy. To use a classic example, imagine that you are offered a promotion at work. The promotion will more than double your salary but it will also take you away from your family and children and will require you to travel 3 weeks out of the month. What should you do? The answer depends on your values. Do you value financial independence and leaving a legacy? If so, then the best course of action might be to take the promotion, be more intentional about the time that you get to spend with your family, and use the influx of cash to create a better quality of life (and guarantee a better future) for the people you love. Do you value your relationships and your influence over your children’s development? If so, then forget the promotion and spend your time pouring into your children and shaping their future. There are no right or wrong answers with these types of decisions. But every big decision is predicated on your unique value system and beliefs. So you’d better be damn sure that you take some time to define exactly what those are before you go making life altering moves. 5. Happiness Isn’t the Purpose of Life  Many people believe that happiness is the purpose of life. But, as we alluded to in a previous point, this is far from the truth. If happiness is all that we are here for, then 99% of the population should say “Fuck it!” and become a heroin addict. Afterall, it’ll make you happy right? I mean it will make you really happy for every waking hour of your day. But I think you and I both know that there is more to life than just feeling good. While I don’t pretend to know what the meaning of life is, I can tell you with 100% certainty that it is not manic levels of happiness. Life is about the journey, it’s about contribution, and it’s about living in accordance with your own unique values and beliefs. And even though I cannot tell you what you should do in your own specific situation, I can tell you that you must have a much higher purpose and calling than happiness. Because if happiness is your end game, then you should expect to live the majority of your life in an unfulfilling and unproductive way.

Tom Bilyeu is the co-founder and President of Quest Nutrition, the second fastest growing privately owned company in the United States (currently valued at over $1 billion). He is also the founder of Impact Theory, a show dedicated to helping you achieve your limitless potential. Favorite Success Quote “Do and believe that which moves you towards your goals” Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Key Points 1. Find That Thing That Makes You Feel Alive  We live in an age of unprecedented freedom. Never before in the history of the human race have there been so many options available to so many members of the general populace. In the 21st century, our options and opportunities, like our potential, are nearly limitless. Traveling across the globe is easier than it’s ever been, growing your brand and authority has never been so scalable, and the ability to build a wildly successful business is now open to anybody with access to the internet. And yet… Despite the tremendous number of resources and the almost limitless amount of opportunity circulating the modern economy, recent polls still indicate that nearly 70% of the American workforce is disengaged with their career! How can this be? In an era of unparalleled choices and opportunity more than two-thirds of the entire nation spends 40+ hours of their week doing something they hate! While every individual is different and each circumstance is unique, I personally believe that the primary reason for this disconnect is simple. People are scared. They are scared that pursuing their dreams will be hard, they are scared that following their passions will be too difficult, and they are scared that they will fail. But guess what? Regardless of the path you choose to pursue, there will be challenges, there will obstacles, and there will be hardships. The struggle is an inevitable part of the human condition. No matter what path you choose to pursue, you will face challenges and trials, you will fail, and you will probably want to quit more than just once. But, if you decide to pursue that thing that makes you come alive, the thing that lights a fire inside of you, the thing that you are willing to devote the rest of your life to… Nothing will stop you. 2.  Tailor Your Activities to Achieve Cognitive Optimization  Since Tom founded one of the fastest growing health and nutrition companies in the world, it should come as little surprise that one of his “Secrets to success” is methodically optimizing his cognitive performance. No matter what goal you are pursuing, you will need to be operating at full blast in order to effectively make decisions, execute on ideas, and move the needle forward. And the quickest way to improve your own performance is to optimize the performance of the gray matter in between your ears. But how does one actually do this? How do you totally optimize your mind without spending thousands of dollars on supplementation, smart drugs, and crazy bio-hacking equipment? The truth is surprisingly unsexy. For Tom, it all starts with sleep. He is in bed every night by 9 p.m. and only wakes up whenever he feels rested and ready to attack the day. This is crucial to ensuring optimal brain performance since the majority of memory, association, and cellular repair happens while we are asleep. After optimizing his sleep, Tom will then head to the gym every single morning, flooding his brain and body with dopamine, endorphins, and endocannabinoids and getting his mind and body into a peak state. With his workout concluded, Tom will sit in silence to spend time “Thinkitating” which is, as Tom puts it, “Applying the afterglow of meditation to solve the greatest challenges in your life.” Basically, after concluding a short meditation session using Mark Divine’s box breathing technique, he will sit back and consciously contemplate the greatest challenges he’s facing in his life allowing his mind and subconscious to search for an answer to the problem. Then, with his exercise and thinkitation done, Tom hits the books and will consciously spend an hour or more each morning filling his mind with ideas from the best and brightest individuals on the planet. Tom attributes much of his success to this “Cognitive optimization morning routine”. It’s not complicated, it doesn’t require much equipment, and it can be done from anywhere in the world. If you want a more detailed description of the Impact Theory Morning Routine, you can check out this article for more info. 3. Always Focus on Delivering More Value than Expected  Imagine for a moment that you are purchasing a product and deciding between two different companies. For the sake of the argument (and since Tom is the founder of a fitness nutrition company) let’s assume that the companies in question are selling a muscle gain supplement. After years of research company A found a formula that helps their clients get results and they decided to follow the age-old advice “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Company B, however, is never satisfied and they continue dumping thousands of dollars a month into sourcing higher quality ingredients, finding new ways to improve their formula, and delivering more value to the end customer. Who do you think will win? Even though Company A has a “good” product that provides real value to their customers, Company B is unwilling to settle for “good enough”. And let me tell you, one of the biggest traps that entrepreneurs fall into is the trap of “Good enough”. Because the second that you stop improving your product, service, or experience somebody else who is hungrier, more motivated, and more driven than you are will steal your customers and leave you in the dust. You must constantly improve the value that you bring to the marketplace and look for new and unique ways to expand your services to help more people. Because at the end of the day, you will be paid in direct proportion to the amount of value that you give. And if you do more than you are paid for now, you will be paid for more than you do later. 4. Email is the Greatest Thief of Productivity While it might seem a little bit superfluous to devote an entire key point of this interview to the topic of email, I want you to consider for a moment that the average American is estimated to spend a total of 3.2 hours per day just checking work related emails (this doesn’t include personal correspondence). That’s almost half of their work day devoted entirely to the largely pointless act of reaching inbox zero. During our interview, Tom admitted to having over 6,000 unopened emails sitting in his inbox and told us that he will typically look at his emails only twice a week for a few minutes. According to conventional wisdom, there’s no way that he could effectively run a successful company spending so little time devoted to email, and yet he’s the Co-founder of one of the nation’s fastest growing companies. If you want to become truly successful at the game of business, then you must learn to focus only on profit-producing activities. Email is not one of those. 5. You Will Never Eliminate Pride, So Use It  While many philosophers and teachers preach the importance of eliminating pride, anyone with a basic understanding of the human condition knows that pride is an inherent part of our existence and will never be removed. So if we cannot eliminate our pride, then what are we supposed to do? The simple answer? Use it. Pride and ego can actually be a phenomenal tool if they are focused on the right things. Specifically, learning to develop immense pride around your focus on the processes, not your outcomes.  What do I mean by this? Well, instead of priding yourself on how smart you are (which will likely lead to careless mistakes) develop immense pride in your commitment to your education. Instead of priding yourself on your physique, strength, or endurance (all of which can be taken away with one injury) develop immense pride in your physical work ethic and desire to improve your body. Learn to take pride in who you are instead of what you are and you will find that pride becomes an asset instead of a liability.

Mark Divine served 9 years on active duty and 11 years on reserve as a US Navy SEAL before retiring as a commander in 2011. After his decorated career in the special forces, Mark went on the found Navyseals.com, launch US Tactical, and develop a revolutionary workout program known as SEAL Fit. He has also written multiple New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon best-selling books. Favorite Success Quote “Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked.” ~Patanjali Key Points 1. Focus On People’s Character Not their Acumen  If you ever have the opportunity to sit down with any older businessmen or entrepreneurs and ask them the question “What was your biggest mistake”, nine times out of ten they will tell you that their biggest regret in business was trusting someone who they shouldn’t have trusted. You see, even outside of the realm of business, it’s easy to overlook people’s character flaws because of their other resources. I see many men fall into this trap in business, dating, and friendship. It’s easy to ignore the obvious red flags with your new employee because they are a monster salesman and you know that they will make you a lot of money (until they end up stealing it back). It’s easy to ignore a woman’s blatant character flaws because she’s wildly attractive and great in bed. It’s easy to ignore your friend’s unscrupulous behavior because he’s funny, rich, and always makes sure you have a good time. But if you want to mitigate risk and succeed at life, you must adopt a more cautious approach. Learn to focus on people’s character and their virtues, not just their raw talent. Because at the end of the day, it’s easier to train a virtuous man to become a good salesperson than it is to train a great salesperson to become a virtuous man. 2. Win the Morning Win the Day  Mark attributes much of his success to the powerful morning rituals that he follows in order to get himself grounded and ready for the day. Something that surprised me is that Mark’s routine doesn’t take several hours, one hour, or even 30-minutes. He told me that he can complete his routine in 15-minutes on average and 5 if he’s really pressed for time. Each morning he spends a few minutes in silent meditation, then he will focus his intentions on his life vision and the daily tasks he needs to achieve to move closer to that vision, and finally, he will review the elements of his “ethos” or the guiding principles upon which he operates his life. And that’s it. Whatever your goals in life, you need to start your day in a powerful state to set yourself up to win the day and achieve your dreams. Personally, I try and start most mornings by watching something inspirational, reading a few pages of a classic book, journaling, focusing on gratitude, and incorporating some sort of physical exercise. How you develop your own morning routine will be unique to your dreams and vision, but what is important is that you have a morning routine and that it helps you get grounded and ready to go out and achieve your dreams. 3. Turn Failure Into Your Greatest Asset  Many people believe that failure is a problem, that it’s a liability. But it’s not. Failure is actually one of your greatest assets and closest friends… When you use it properly and learn from it. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that failure is fun or that you should try and fail. Failure sucks, there’s nothing fun about it, and nobody wants to see their dreams and ambitions fail. But when you fail and trust me, you will fail, you have one of two options. You can whine and bitch and complain. Or you can dust yourself off, look at your failure objectively, and ask yourself “Ok, how can I do better next time?” Failure is only failure if you don’t learn from it, if you don’t grow from it, and if you don’t reframe it so that you see each failure as a valuable teacher, educating you about how to achieve your dreams. 4. Realize that Your Growth is Limited by Your Shadow  There is an old saying that “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link”. And in the realm of personal growth, you are only as strong as your darkest parts. I see so many men today who walk through their lives trying to elicit personal growth by constantly pushing forward, suppressing the pain of the past, and ignoring the emotional trauma that has held them back. But the harsh reality of life is that you can only grow to the extent that you are willing to address your darkness or your shadow self. We all have a dark side, we’ve all been hurt, we all have deep wounds and pain whether we want to address them or not. And most men choose to ignore this dark side. They try and move on with their lives and pretend that everything is ok when, subconsciously, the pain and hurt of the past is holding them back from living the lives of their dreams. If you want to move forward in your life, if you want to truly succeed, if you want to open up to true intimacy and love and connection, then you must face your shadow. You must address the pain, you must conquer your darkness and learn to use it for good. Because if you don’t, you will constantly be haunted (consciously or subconsciously) by the parts of you that you dare not bring into the light. 5. Detach from the Details of the Outcome & Focus on the Vision  One of the biggest mistakes that many men make is that they are more concerned with the details of the outcome than the outcome itself. For example, in the interview, Mark discussed his goal of impacting 100,000,000 lives. He told me that, while he is rigid in his vision, he has learned to be flexible in the details of achieving this outcome. For Mark, it doesn’t matter whether he impacts 10 people who go and change a million lives or whether he impacts a million people who go on to change 10 lives. He is adamant in his vision, but he is flexible in the approach. In your life and with your goals, you must adopt the same mentality. Yes, you should have a strong, crystal clear vision and end game, but you must be flexible about how you achieve that vision.

Michael is the Senior Partner at Box of Crayons, a company that helps organizations do less Good Work and more Great Work. He’s also the author of several books, including The Coaching Habit and Do More Great Work. Michael has written for or been featured in numerous publications including Business Insider, Fast Company, Forbes, The Globe & Mail and The Huffington Post. Favorite Success Quote “If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start.” ~Charles Bukowski Key Points 1. Forget All About Doing Good Work and Focus on Great Work  There are only three kinds of work. Bad work, good work, and great work. Ironically, the type of work that is most deadly to your dreams and ambitions is not bad work. Because bad work is obvious. It’s the kind of work that creates a visceral reaction each time you are forced to engage in it. You know what I am talking about. That work you try and outsource as soon as you receive it. That work that leaves you anxious and exhausted each time it pops up in your inbox. That work that requires no talent, skill, or ability, simply an ability to switch off your brain and put your nose to the grindstone. And most importantly, that work that does nothing to push you closer to your ultimate vision. You know bad work when you see it, which is why it’s not truly a danger to your dreams. Good work, on the other hand, is an innocuous killer of greatness. Because good work (again, as the name implies) is good.  You enjoy good work, you can profit from good work, and good work leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment. But there’s a disconnect. Good work is often what we use to fill our time and distract ourselves from great work we know we should be doing. Good work is that high-paying freelance project that distracts your focus from your new startup. Or that client you keep on retainer who doesn’t push your abilities or stretch you. Good work can even be a relationship, a friendship, or a career that is blowing you off course from your life’s mission. Good work will not steal your soul and crush you underfoot like bad work will. Instead, it will ensnare you and keep you playing the game of life at a small level. So it’s time for you to decide. Do you want to do good work that will make you a living? Or do you want to do great work that will make you a legend? 2. Learn to Understand the True Problem  Men are problem solvers. This isn’t some sort of gender-based stereotype, it’s simply how we are biologically hard-wired. But the unique problem with being a problem solver is that it can often lead to impatience and unnecessary haste. Which, especially when it pertains to leadership and management, can be fatal to your efficiency. After all, how can you effectively solve a problem if you haven’t fully defined the problem you are trying to solve? For example, let’s say that you receive a call from a long-time client who is responsible for more than 25% of your bottom line. As soon as you pick up the phone, the client regretfully informs you that your contract is being terminated and when you inquire as to why he simply responds by saying “We no longer need your services.” At this point, you could make assumptions about the problem, politely hang up, and face the consequences of losing such a big contract. Or, you could ask a simple question, “What’s the real challenge here?” By diving deeper instead of simply assuming that the client is lost, you might find out that they recently underwent significant budget cuts and don’t feel that they can afford your retainer. And while you may or may not be able to renegotiate an agreement, you have stepped further into understanding what the real challenge is. The next time that you are presented with a challenging situation, even an internal one, I challenge you to pause, take a step back, and ask “What’s the real challenge here?” If you are feeling unfulfilled in your work and you’re thinking about quitting your job, stop and ask “What’s the real challenge”? Are you bored and unchallenged? Do you feel stuck? Do you feel underpaid? Talk to your manager and see if you can take on more challenging projects, move into a different division, or negotiate a raise. However, if you feel like your talents and abilities genuinely need to be applied to a different endeavor, then follow through and quit with a full understanding of the challenge you need to surmount. If your marriage is on the verge of collapse, pause and ask yourself, “What’s the real challenge here?”. Are you and your partner simply struggling to connect? Do you feel the need for more time alone and with friends? Do you feel that you have lost touch with what made you fall in love with one another? These issues (although difficult) are all fixable. But maybe the real struggle is that you were married too young and your goals are no longer in alignment. Maybe the solution is to part amicably and move towards your own individual purposes. Whatever problems you are facing in your life, take a step back and figure out what the real challenge is. Sometimes, your assumptions will be correct. But more often than not, you will find that the real challenge is much deeper and much more nuanced than you originally thought. 3. Knowledge is Never the Issue  I want you to imagine that you are walking through a dark alleyway late at night in your hometown. You feel a tingle at the base of your spine, and when you turn around, there is a man with a gun pointed at your head. He doesn’t want your money, he doesn’t want your watch, in fact… He doesn’t give a damn about any of your valuables. All he wants is the answer to four questions. “What can I do to become healthier? What can I do to make and save more money? What can I do to attract more women and love into my life? And what can I do to become a stronger grounded man?” Would you be able to respond? If you have been listening to this show for any appreciable amount of time, then I can guarantee that you could. “Lift heavy weights for 5 hours a week and only eat real food. Start a side hustle, save away every extra penny, and then invest in some sort of asset like a real estate deal. Talk to five new women every day, be genuinely interested, and be authentic with them. Start journaling, meditating, and pushing yourself to embrace adversity.” Boom! He puts the gun down and you are free to go. Now, I know that the above scenario is implausible, to say the least, but my point in sharing this is that you know what you need to do. I doubt that the above responses were new to most of you. You already knew how to become healthier, wealthier, attract better relationships, and become more grounded. And if you don’t, then a short glance through the Knowledge for Men archives will solve that problem once and for all. For 99% of you reading this, however, knowledge is not your problem. You know everything that you need to do. So why aren’t you doing it? Why aren’t you taking action? Why aren’t you moving forward? Before you get upset and start casting blame and recoiling in defense, pause… And ask yourself, “What’s the real challenge here?” What is it in your life that is stopping you from moving forwards? Why aren’t you taking action? Why aren’t you doing what you need to do? Instead of judging yourself and trapping yourself in a vicious cycle of frustration, shame, and inaction, take a step back and analyze your inaction. If lack of knowledge isn’t your problem… What is? 4. What Do You Want? Seriously… What do you want? What do you want? Not “What do mommy and daddy want?” Not “What does society want?” Not “What people tell you that you should want?” What do you want? It’s funny to me how few men will actually take the time to uncover the answer to this question. To our knowledge, we only get one shot at this thing called life. We only have one chance to live the lives that we want. So why the hell do we go about living our lives based on other people’s values and desires? If you only have one chance to live your life and achieve your dreams, then why would you pursue a career that makes you miserable? Why would you marry someone you don’t truly love? Why would you live one second of your life out of alignment with your deeper calling and purpose? Ask yourself every single week, month, and year, “What do I want?” Don’t filter what comes up, don’t judge it, just embrace it. Once you know what you truly want… Go out and get it.

Bill Lyons is a successful entrepreneur and contributor. He is currently the Founder & CEO of a technology startup inside the real estate industry called Revestor. Revestor is a real estate search engine and marketplace for residential investment properties that provides custom investment filters, notifications on new investment properties for sale, and comprehensive analysis. Revestor’s patent-pending software creates the only residential real estate search engine that can run investment calculations over live listings. Revestor’s investment tools and data help real estate investors and real estate professionals be more effective in their local market. Lyons is focused on carving out a large segment of the $11 Billion online real estate advertising market and the residential investors that make of 25% of the real estate market. Lyons built his former company, from zero to $20 Million per year in revenue with $3+Billion in transactions inside of 36 months. As President & CEO of one of the fastest growing companies in San Diego, Mr. Lyons managed a $6million per year online marketing budget offering opportunity to well over 250 employee Favorite Success Quote “I know what you’re thinking and you’re right” ~Magnum P.I. Key Points 1. You’re Not Done Yet  Winston Churchill once said that “Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” Ironically, most people assume that success is final and failure is fatal, but nothing could be further from the truth. For the entrepreneur (and even the corporate 9-5er) life and business are tumultuous. Your best month ever will be followed by your absolute worst, your greatest successes often precede your biggest failures, and just when you feel like giving up, your greatest breakthroughs will occur. Life is about the ups and downs. You will have failures, you will have successes, and you will experience highs and lows you could never have predicted. And during times of great success and great failure, you must take a step back and reflect. Remember that nothing is final until you draw your last breath. One success does not make you invincible. One failure does not make you worthless. It is the courage to continue, each and every day, that will determine the impact your life has. 2. Certainty is King  I want you to imagine that you recently started a new company and you are looking to hire your first employee to manage your marketing. You have two prospects lined up with back to back interviews and on paper, you are all but certain that the first candidate will get the job. But when he walks into the room, your certainty vanishes. Despite his impressive resume and a long list of people with whom he’s worked, something is just off. He’s shy, timid, and seems unsure of himself and his potential within your company. When he leaves the room, you are left perplexed, hoping the next candidate shows more promise. And he does… The second candidate you have lined up is a man fresh out of college with only a handful of low-level contracts under his belt. But he has an enthusiasm, a vigor, and a certainty about him that is contagious. He responds to ever single question with a well thought out response displaying his confidence and certainty in his abilities and future, and by the time the interview concludes, you are excited about getting to work with him on a regular basis. Who would you hire? You see, in our modern world, certainty is king and doubt is the killer of dreams. If you are certain of your potential, abilities, and destiny, you will overcome any obstacle, any adversity, and any challenge. But if you are uncertain, in yourself, your chosen career path, your relationship or anything else, it will inevitably crumble and fall. Certainty is king. Everything else depends on it. 3. Your Health = Your Wealth  So many entrepreneurs and high performers assume that they don’t have time to take care of their health. After all, when you are running an 8-figure company, how in the world can you expect to have time to go to the gym, cook healthy meals, and sleep 8 hours a night? Well, according to Bill and many previous podcast guests, you will never have the time to effectively run your company until you are willing to take care of your health. Your health is the spring from which all productivity, happiness, and success flows. If you are overweight, suffering from low energy levels, or operating suboptimally in any area of your physical or mental health, your business will suffer. Period. And yet, if you are anything like the majority of the population, you are probably skipping the gym, eating fast food several times a week, and sleeping only 6 hours a night. Why? Because that’s what society has taught you to do! We’ve been misinformed and taught to believe that success requires massive sacrifices in the realm of health and fitness. Yet, the most successful entrepreneurs I know of claim that the opposite is true. Richard Branson has been quoted as saying that “Taking care of your health is the quickest way to ensure success”. Neil Patel, founder of 3 multi-million dollar companies sleeps more than 9 hours a night. And Dave Asprey, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and biohacker claims that taking care of his health has more than 10x’d his productivity and happiness. If you want to succeed at a high level, you must take care of your body. So I want to challenge you to take better care of your health for just one week. For just one week, I want you to eat real food, exercise at least 20 minutes a day, and sleep 7.5 hours a night. If you cannot tell an appreciable difference by the end of the week, then you have my permission to go back to the way you were living before you read this article. But I can almost guarantee you that if you take this challenge seriously, you will never neglect your health again. 4. Figure Out Your Non-Negotiables During our interview, Bill shared a number of his daily and weekly non-negotiables, or actions that he is committed to taking, no matter what. And while his own nonnegotiables consisted of weekly massages, acupuncture, and cryotherapy, your own list of nonnegotiables will differ based on your goals, income, and vision. Ask yourself, “What are the things that you must do each day/week/month” to ensure that you are able to live the life of your dreams? For some of you, this will be getting to the gym every morning, doing yoga every week, or taking a few hours to hike through the mountains. For others, it’s spending time with your kids, indulging in an hour of creative time each night, or going on a weekly date with your wife. Whatever your nonnegotiables are, define them, write them down, and commit to them. I promise your life will never be the same. (If you want to hear more about nonnegotiables and how they can improve your life, check out one of the early episodes I did with Wayne Levine) 5. Decide  Modern men are undergoing a societal emasculation where the very essence of masculinity is being stripped away piece by piece. Due to confusing gender politics, contradictory evidence, and a slew of b.s. pervading the modern media, men are more confused than ever before about what it means to be a man. Do you need to smoke Marlboro Reds, ride a Harley, and be an international playboy? Should you be soft, sensitive, and effeminate? Do you need to blow shit up, drive a fast car, and make lots of money (Dan Bilzerian anybody?)? What the hell does it mean to be a man? While the answer to that question is dependent on the individual and extremely multi-faceted, there is one trait that is axiomatic among all “real” men. Decisiveness. No one and I repeat no one is attracted to a man who is indecisive, a man who cannot make up his mind and move forward, a man who cannot stand firm in his decisions and take action. If you want to become more of a man, then learn how to make a decision and stick to it. It’s that simple. Do you want to be in better shape? Decide that you are going to go to the gym and eat healthy, then go do it. Want to be better with women? Decide that you will make it happen and then go take some action. Want to make more money? Decide that you will become a millionaire no matter what and then backup that decision with massive amounts of action. Decide. Act. Repeat. This is the pathway to true masculinity.

Chris Winfield is an entrepreneur and productivity expert in New York City. With the use of simple systems, techniques and the power of true focus, Winfield teaches business owners how to get 40 hours of work done in 16.7 and much more. Favorite Success Quote “You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward” ~Steve Jobs Key Points 1. Stop Postponing Your Happiness  One of the greatest diseases afflicting modern men is something I like to call “postponitis”. This sickness has ravaged mankind, depriving hard-working men of their happiness, fulfillment, and liveliness for decades. And it all starts with the seemingly innocuous word, “then”. It goes something like this… “I am going to work my ass off, make lots of money, then I will be happy.” “I’ve just got to get this promotion at work, then I will have time to prioritize my health, family, and personal growth.” “Once my startup hits $100,000/month in recurring revenue, then I can relax and enjoy my life.” It’s always “then” and never “now“. Men are living their whole lives in pursuit of some arbitrary goal that somehow gives them permission to live their lives, love themselves, and enjoy their time on this planet. And frankly, it’s complete bullshit! Life happens in the now. It doesn’t happen later. It doesn’t happen when you make your first million. It doesn’t happen when you finally get that promotion. It doesn’t even happen at IPO. Life happens now. And if you are constantly living your life in pursuit of something in the future (something that may or may not happen), then you will miss out on life’s most precious moments and end up on your deathbed, wishing that you had a chance to do it all over again. But you don’t. You have one life, one shot, one opportunity. Don’t waste it living for someday. 2. Money is a Magnifying Glass  Tell me if you have ever heard this phrases before? “Money is the root of all evil.” “Rich people are greedy.” “Money can’t buy happiness.” If you have been on this planet for any appreciable amount of time, then I’m going to assume that these sayings have been drilled into your head since the womb. Can I let you in on a little secret? They’re all a load of crap! Money is nothing more than a magnifying glass. If you are a miserable, unhappy, and stingy person, then becoming rich will do nothing except make you a miserable, unhappy, and stingy person with a big bank account. Conversely, if you are a happy, generous, and loving person, then becoming rich will do little to change your life other than giving you assets that allow you to be more generous, happy, and loving. Money simply makes you more of what you already are. So instead of focusing on earning money to attain happiness or believing that money will make you immoral or “greedy”, accept the fact that money is nothing more than a tool that will amplify who you are. 3. Build Your Foundation and the Tower Will Follow  Most men set out to achieve success in a way that is completely backward. They start by focusing on their goals instead of themselves. They are more than willing to hustle and grind on their business for hours on end, but spending an hour in the gym? Not a chance! They will drop $10,000 on a business consulting package, but spending $2,000 on a new mattress to improve their sleep and energy? Not going to happen! But here’s the problem… All of your success, whether it’s in your business, relationships, or social life, stems from one thing. You.  And if you are not operating at the highest levels, if you are not taking care of yourself, if you are not cultivating habits of excellence, then you are not going to succeed in the other areas of your life (and if you do, then it will not be sustainable). Therefore, creating a strong foundation of health and high-quality habits is the first step to achieving lasting success. Start with your body. Hit the gym at least three times a week, follow a diet that consists of 80% real food (organic if you can afford it), and sleep at least 7 hours a week. Then, with your body in prime condition start building routines and habits into your life that will expedite your success. Feed your mind daily, journal, practice gratitude, and recite affirmations. With these habits in place and your body in an optimized condition, you will be able to achieve your goals at a much faster pace while enjoying your life and feeling fulfilled. 4. The Fastest Way to Recieve is to Give The best kept “secret” for success that almost every millionaire, billionaire, and wildly successful entrepreneur knows is this: If you want to receive tremendous value from the marketplace, your relationships, your network, or your career, the first step is to give tremendous value without expecting anything in return. Let me give you an example from the interview. Since Chris lives in New York, he has a phenomenal proximity to incredibly powerful and affluent individuals. And while this might seem like an advantageous situation, you must remember that most successful people get asked for a lot of shit. They are constantly getting pitched by individuals who are looking for a handout or a handshake and at the end of the day, it can feel exhausting. Luckily, Chris understood this and decided that he was going to take a different approach. Instead of hunting these people down and asking for something, he hosts regular dinners and meet-ups where he asks one simple question “How can I serve you?” He doesn’t ask “What can you do for me?” instead, he flips conventional wisdom on its head and offers value for free. And guess what? It has driven more deals, knowledge, and value to him than any marketing tactic of sales pitch ever has. Why? Because people love and trust people who are willing to give value. Just think about this from your perspective. Imagine you have two friends, one who is constantly asking you for loans, pitching you on his new network marketing products, and pressuring you to join him in business, and one who gives you value in the form of advice, connections, and services… All without expecting anything in return. Both of your friends are excellent copywriters and you have a client who needs a referral for a six-figure copy contract. Who would you recommend? The giver or the taker? Now ask yourself another question. How can you give value without expecting anything in return this week? Who can you help? How can you serve others? As weird as it might sound, the universe has an uncanny way of providing for those who provide for others, so I want to encourage you to be on the lookout for ways that you can bring more value this week. The results might surprise you. 5. The Enemies of Fulfillment are Ego and Expectation Since personal fulfillment is a subject that is unique to every individual, I cannot tell you how to achieve fulfillment in your own life. But I can tell you how to eradicate fulfillment from your life. Allow your ego to control your actions and your expectations to control your relationships. Ego and expectation both have their uses, and in moderation, they can be used as effective motivators and filters to ensure success. However, they become problematic whenever you are the slave, not the master in the relationship. When you allow ego to rule your life and become your sole motivator, you will find yourself pursuing goals that aren’t aligned with your purpose and acting in a manner that is disingenuous and inauthentic. When you allow your expectations to control your interactions, you will find yourself loathing people that you should love for indiscretions that you shouldn’t have noted. The more that ego and expectation run your life, the more you will find yourself at the whims of others instead of captaining your own ship. Learn to curb your ego, swallow your pride and develop some humility. Give others some breathing room, only set expectations that you yourself can live up to, and be forgiving in the face of failure. If you do this, I can promise you that you will live a life that is richer, more productive, and ultimately, more fulfilling.

Tony has been a presenter on Sky Sports since 2006. He is a regular on Sky Sports News HQ, and also the regular presenter of Golfing World. He hosts a roster of other sports on Sky Sports channels 1-5. Tony is also a personal development author and presenter. He has three books published with Virgin Books in 12 languages and is one of the country’s foremost experts on NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). He is the host of top-rated podcast Zestology, interviewing a wide range of experts in the field of health and personal development, and having lots of fun along the way. He regularly appears as a guest on other shows talking about energy, vitality, and motivation. Favorite Success Quote “Men of lofty genius, when they are doing the least work are the most active” ~Leonardo Da Vinci Key Points 1. Do Less to Achieve More  I want you to imagine that you have two friends who are starting a business. The first friend is a firey, gung-ho, type-A personality who jumps into building his business operating by the mentality of “Ready Fire Aim!”. He works hard, hustling for 16-20 hours a day, working weekends, and sleeping at his office, but his does so without taking a moment to think or plan. The second friend, although just as oriented for action, takes a few steps back before launching his business. He learns his market, he spends time every day sitting in thought and contemplating his goals, he takes long walks in the parks after asking questions of his subconscious, and when he does start his business, he has a clear picture of exactly what he needs to do and how he needs to do it. Who do you think will be more successful? While society might tell you that the first man will learn at an accelerated pace and achieve success quicker, Tony believes that the second man will actually achieve greater levels of success in the long run. Even though he was doing “less”, spending plenty of time relaxing and living at a leisurely pace, Tony suggests that he will achieve more in his business because he is giving himself the mental bandwidth to properly approach problems and fully understand his goals. Here’s another example. Imagine that I told you and a friend that you needed to get from San Diego to New York. As soon as your friend hear’s the directions, he laces up his Nikes and starts hauling ass towards the East. You, however, take a step back, check your bank account and realize that you have more than enough to purchase a non-stop flight from the San Diego airport all the way to JFK. After eight hours, you have successfully passed through security, boarded the plane, and landed at your destination. Your friend, on the other hand, will not arrive in New York for several weeks (unless he is some sort of ultra athlete). Even though he took more action and did “more” it took him longer to accomplish the task and he had a more difficult journey. As Abraham Lincoln said, “If I had 8 hours to cut down a tree, I would spend the first six sharpening my ax“. 2. You Owe it to Yourself to Pursue Your Passion  When has there ever been a greater time to be alive? Life expectancy is up, crime, poverty, and other societal diseases are down and there has never been a time in all of human history where the average man could climb the ranks of society and achieve at whatever levels he desires regardless of race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or age. There has never been a better time to be alive! So why are you wasting away your opportunities? Why aren’t you pursuing your passions? Why aren’t you using all of the amazing technology and political freedoms that you have to build a life you love, a life that inspires you, a life filled with passion? Why the hell are you wasting this opportunity!? You have one shot at this life, one opportunity to live to the fullest, one chance… Why waste it pursuing careers and goals that you aren’t truly passionate about? I am not telling you that you need to quit your job and start your own company, or even that you need to start a side hustle. I am saying that your life is too damn valuable to waste on uninspiring crap that doesn’t light you up. Do things you enjoy. Pursue your passions. Have fun. You owe it to yourself to enjoy your life! Because you only get one of them. 3. Just Share the Truth  Most men suck at telling the truth. It’s just a fact. And I don’t mean that we are all liars or manipulative a**holes. I simply mean that men are terrible at being authentic, honest, and vulnerable about what is really going on. Because, quite frankly, it’s hard. It’s hard to let other people in, to show our weakness, to admit that we don’t have everything figured out. It’s hard to stand out from the crowd and be the only person standing for a specific cause or belief. It’s hard to share your truth and be unabashedly you! But it’s worth it. Because when you share the truth, your truth…. You are free. You are free from the bullshit, free from the expectations of others, and free from all the societal garbage designed to hold you back. Share your truth and be yourself… Because anything else is a waste. 4. Manage Your Energy Not Your Time Have you ever wondered how some people who work so little can accomplish so much, while others, who work their fingers to the bone, can come up short again and again and again? If you have ever spent a significant amount of time among a pool of high achievers, you will quickly realize that hard work alone is not their secret to success. Many of them sleep 9 hours a night (James Altucher and Neil Patel both do this), several spend more time reading than working (Warren Buffet and Bill Gates), and the legendary Richard Branson somehow has the time to run 400+ companies, party on his own private island, and spend time with his family and friends! So what gives? If the answer isn’t spending more time on work, then what is it? Well, the answer that Tony and countless other guests have suggested is that the secret to success and productivity is not time management, but energy management. It doesn’t matter how much time you throw at a task, if you are too lethargic and groggy to properly function, you won’t be able to achieve it no matter how well you manage your time. Therefore, energy, not time should be seen as your greatest asset. But how in the world can one successfully manage your energy when there are so many different forces vying for your attention, time, and effort? While I could write a whole book on this topic (and plenty of my previous guests have), there are three simple hacks that you can implement today to 10x your energy in less than a week. First and foremost, you should give yourself a minimum of two hours a day to totally unplug. No cell phones, no TV, no computer screens, just yourself, your friends, and your favorite activities… That’s it. In our modern world, most people are wildly overstimulated resulting in massive levels of mental and physical fatigue, and while you can fight it for a while, the only truly effective method that I’ve found to reclaim your lost energy levels is to give yourself the gift of unplugging. In addition to stepping away from your iPhone and laptop every day, you must also make an effort to exercise at least 20 minutes a day. While it might seem counterintuitive to do something that takes energy in order to gain energy, study after study has irrevocably shown a direct correlation between exercise and energy levels (not to mention mental and physical wellbeing and longevity). And the good news is that it doesn’t take much! You can try out the simple 7-minute workout promoted by the New York Times, go for a 20-minute jog, or just do a few calisthenics circuits from your office. Whatever you do, I promise that if you stick with it, you will see your energy levels skyrocket. Finally, for the last piece of advice, I must defer to the legendary Peter F. Drucker who said: “What gets measured gets managed.” This is true in your business, your finances, and yes, your energy levels. If you want a simple hack to immediately boost your energy levels so that you can accomplish more in less time and truly enjoy your life, then start tracking your energy levels throughout the day and note the elements in your life that are leading to either an increase or decrease in energy. Every body is unique, therefore what helps or hinders one person’s energy might not have the same effect for you. So tracking your energy levels and noticing patterns is the only way that you can truly optimize your energy and ensure peak performance. 5. Success at the Expense of Your Health Isn’t Success at All  One of the greatest ironies of life is that the aggressive Type-A individuals who work themselves to death in order to achieve success are often the same individuals who die young and leave behind their wealth before they can ever truly enjoy it! So many people work day in and day out to build their dream, neglecting their health and letting their bodies fall to the wayside. And when they finally do hit that million dollar mark, epic IPO, or acquisition… They are too tired, fat, and sick to enjoy any of the rewards for their hard work. Why the hell would you want that fate? I don’t know about you, but I am in this for the long haul. If I have to wait until I am 40 to become a millionaire so that I can take care of my body, get to the gym, eat well, sleep plenty, and enjoy my life, I will happily wait on the seven figures. I don’t believe that it’s worth it to arrive at my goal too sick and tired to enjoy it. Realize that nothing is worth your health. No goal is worth losing your vitality. And quite frankly, if you focus on your health first, you will find that your other goals and desires will actually manifest faster because you can pursue them with more energy and clarity than ever before.

Mo Gawdat is the Chief Business Officer for Google [X], a serial entrepreneur and author of “Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy” Mo has an impressive combined career of 27 years, starting at IBM Egypt as a Systems Engineer before moving to a sales role in the government sector. Venturing into the UAE, Mo joined NCR Abu Dhabi to cover the non-finance sector. He then became acquainted with the consumer goods industry as Regional Manager of BAT. At Microsoft, he assumed various roles over a span of seven and a half years, in his last role at Microsoft he headed the Communications Sector across Emerging Markets worldwide. Favorite Success Quote “The gravity of the battle means nothing to those at peace” Key Points 1. The Equation for Happiness is Simple  Happiness is not complicated. While you might not come to this conclusion by scrolling through your social media feed, watching the latest advertisements, or even reading some of the more popular personal growth and self-help books, when you truly sit down and think objectively, you will realize that happiness is simple. Despite marketer’s best attempts to prove otherwise, happiness isn’t contingent upon some wild, complex, equation. In fact, the equation for happiness is almost too simple. Happiness is equal to or greater than the events of your life minus the expectations you have for those events. That’s it. The equation isn’t “Happiness = Fancy Clothes + A 6-Figure Salary + An Italian Sports Car and a French Bikini Model” It’s simply events – expectations.  But what does this really mean? At the most basic level, it means that your happiness in any given situation, and thus your happiness in life, is entirely dependent on the difference between what you expect from a situation and how that situation actually turns out. So, for example, let’s say that the event in question is coming home to your wife after a long day of work. Let’s look at how your expectations of the event will determine your happiness. On one hand, your expectation might be that when you come home after a long day of work, your wife should be preparing dinner, opening you a cold beer, and wearing a sexy outfit that tells you she’s “in the mood”. On the other, your expectation might simply be that your wife should be relaxing and unwinding after her long day of work and that the two of you should prepare dinner and unwind together. While neither of these expectations are right or wrong, they can have a tremendous effect on your happiness and well being. If you come home with the first set of expectations and your wife has already prepared dinner but left it in the oven and is now relaxing on the couch… You are going to be unhappy and angry because your expectations were not met. However, if you come home to the exact same situation with the second set of expectations, you will not only be happy, but you will feel an abundance of love for your wife because she went above and beyond and exceeded your expectations. So now, you might be wondering, “If the secret to happiness is to have lower expectations, shouldn’t I just stop expecting anything so that I will never be disappointed?” Well, yes and no. While eliminating your expectations would certainly make you happier in the short run, it proves detrimental to your well being and success in the long term. If you have no expectations of yourself or others, then you will mistreat yourself and allow other people to walk all over you. Therefore, the key to happiness is to first become conscious of your expectations and then consciously and intentionally craft a new set of expectations that serve you and your purpose in life. 2. We Are All Born Happy  An often forgotten truth of life is that we were all born happy. All of us. We are born carefree and loving, without any hate, anger, or animosity in our hearts. It is our society that teaches us to be unhappy, to compare ourselves to others, to hate our fellow man, and to be unfulfilled. And once you become aware of this reality, it is your job to undo the programming that society has instilled into your brain. Luckily, the process for “deprogramming” all of the crap in your brain is simple, however, this doesn’t mean it’s easy. The best way to start is to pick up some sort of daily mindfulness practice whether it’s meditation, prayer, long walks in nature, or even just some sort of conscious movements like yoga or Tai Chi. These practices allow you to detach yourself from the human experience and the brain’s programming and become more aware of how you or your “superconscious” are meant to function. Let’s use the analogy of a new computer so that you can understand what I mean. Whenever you get a new computer, everything runs smoothly. It functions exactly as it was designed, quickly opening applications, seamlessly running commands, and doing its job without a problem. But over time, things start to slow down and problems start to arise. You begin downloading new programs and applications, visiting questionable websites, and demanding more of your computer than the software and hardware were designed to handle. And as you execute increasingly demanding operations, your computer starts to slow and malfunction and what once took 2 seconds now takes 2 minutes. When this happens (and it almost always happen) the only way to restore its original performance is to return it to default settings and execute a complete factory reset. In much the same way as a computer’s default setting is speed and efficiency, our brain’s default setting is happiness and contentment. But when we start installing (willingly or unwillingly) societal, religious, and familial expectations into our “operating system”, we start to get bogged down, and experience unhappiness. And when this happens, the only way to return to our original state is a “Factory reset” which typically takes the form of meditation, affirmations, journaling, and other consciousness practices. These practices are kind of like our brain’s “CTRL + ALT + DELETE” function and the more you can integrate them into your daily life, the smoother and faster you you will operate. 3. Your Emotional State is Determined by Your Thoughts, Not Events One of the simplest, but most impactful, formulas that you can understand to achieve a happy life is this: E + R = O Or Event + Response = Outcome In other words, your emotional outcome (happy, sad, angry, loving) is not determined by the events in your life, but rather by your response to the events in your life. For example, let’s say that you are going out to meet up with a friend. You agreed to meet at the local coffee shop around 8 a.m., but when you show up he is nowhere to be found. You order your drink, a few minutes go by, and your friend is still absent. At this point, you can respond in one of two ways. First, you can assume that your friend does not respect you, get angry, and allow his tardiness to dampen your mood. Or, you can simply assume that your friend had some sort of extenuating circumstance that stopped him from showing up on time and reframe his lateness by saying, “Great! This gives me a few minutes to read that new book I bought“, resulting in a happier and more fulfilling morning. In these two examples, the event was exactly the same, but by changing the response to the event, you achieved two wildly different outcomes. When you understand the far reaching applications of this formula, your life will begin to change in ways that you could never expect. Mastering your emotional response to any circumstance gives you power over the events in your life instead of allowing those events to have power over you. And when your internal world remains unaffected by the chaos of the outside world, you will have true power in your life, business, and relationships. 4. Learn to Differentiate Between Incessant and Effective Thoughts As it pertains to our happiness, there are only two kinds of thoughts. Effective thoughts and incessant thoughts. Effective thoughts are the thoughts that move the needle forward in your life, thoughts that solve problems, achieve goals, and give you a deeper understanding of your place in the cosmos. Incessant thoughts are the negative thoughts that do nothing to improve the quality of your life or happiness even when they are true. In the interview, Mo shared a powerful example detailing the difference between these two thoughts during a tragic situation. At the age of 21 years old, Mo’s son Ali died on the operating table during a routine surgery that should have been quick and simple. Shocked and in pain, Mo was overwhelmed with a wave of thoughts and feelings that can only be comprehended by people who have experienced a similar tragedy in his life. Over the coming weeks and months, Mo was faced with a single, pervasive and incessant thought, “I will never get to hug my son Ali again.” However, as he continued grieving for his son, he realized something. This thought would not bring Ali back, it would not change reality, and it would not benefit humanity. So he made a very conscious decision to change his thinking. Instead of thinking “I will never hug my son again”, he reframed the tragedy and said, “My son is dead, now it is my duty to remember his legacy by living my life as he would have wanted and impacting the world in honor of his memory.” And while this new thought didn’t take away the pain of losing his child, it allowed him to cope with the loss and make sense of the heart break. Each of us is faced with the same thoughts day in and day out. Even if we haven’t lost a loved one, we are all faced with our own “Incessant thought demons” that seek to cripple us and hold us back from living a happy life. Whether we are constantly thinking about a mistake that we regret, a relationship that we ruined, or an opportunity that we lost, we all have incessant loops of unhelpful thoughts playing in the back of our mind. And the biggest problem with these thoughts is that 99% of the time… They are true! But just because something is true, does not mean that it is advantageous. For example, if you lost the woman of your dreams because you were too focused on your work and not focused on the relationship, you might be faced with the incessant thought “I will never have her in my life again”. Chances are, this thought is true. But does it serve you in any way!? No! Instead, you can choose to reframe this thought by saying “I will never have this woman in my life again, so now it is my duty to learn from my mistakes and move forward so that I can find love once more… Only this time, I will make it work.” The moment that you can learn to eradicate incessant thoughts and replace them with intentional and effective thoughts is the moment that your life will be irrevocably changed for the better. 5. Money Doesn’t Make You Happier… Unless Countless studies have been conducted on the correlation between money and happiness, and what they found was rather interesting. Money only affects your happiness up to a certain point. If you are living below the poverty line, increasing your income to a stable and livable level will drastically improve your happiness. However, going from $100,000 a year to $100,000 a month will only have a marginal impact on your happiness and mental well being. However, once you have passed roughly $7,000 a month, increasing your income will only result in a nominal increase in your happiness. So, for example, if you go from $100,000 a year to $250,000 a year, your happiness will not increase by any appreciable amount. If this is true, then why is it that so many rich people seem to live better and happier lives? Because they give so much of their money away! Studies have found that one of the only ways money can make you happier after you have passed the $70,000/year threshold is if you are giving more of your money to charitable causes, family, friends, and organizations that you support. For example, if you earn an extra $20,000 bonus this year and then use it to put a down payment on a new sports car, your happiness will only increase marginally and temporarily. However, if you took that same $20,000 and paid for a vacation with some of your closest friends, your happiness would increase dramatically and the effects would last much longer. So yes, money is important for your happiness. If you cannot afford to put food on the table, increasing your income is one of the quickest ways to increase your happiness. But after your basic living expenses are covered, giving your wealth away and spending it on the people you care about is the only way to leverage your money to increase your happiness. 6. Life is a Video Game and Challenges Make the Game Fun  Life is not fair, it is not perfect, and it is not easy. But I’ll let you in on a little secret… That’s what makes life fun! I want you to imagine that the new Call of Duty just came out, and after months of anxiously anticipating the game’s release, you take it home and start playing. You go through the tutorial, launch the first level, and then get ready to kill some virtual bad guys. But there’s a problem… There are no bad guys to kill and no challenges to overcome. Every level is simply a linear progression where you run from the beginning to the end as quickly as you can, avoiding all signs of danger or adversity. Does that sound like a fun game? Probably not. And guess what? Life is nothing more than a very intense and large scale video game. So why in the world would you want it to be easy? Why would you want a challenge and problem free life? Just think about it for a moment. Imagine that I came to your house tomorrow and gave you an Olympic Gold Medal. How would you feel? If you are anything like me, you would probably think that the medal was pretty cool, but after a few minutes of looking at it, you would quickly feel disenchanted and bored because you did nothing to earn the medal. You’d probably sell it or leave it in your sock drawer because it has no significance in your life. But imagine that you have been training for the Olympics since you were 12 years old. You worked every single day for the past ten years of your life, and when you finally had the opportunity, you competed and won. How would that medal make you feel? I would chance a guess that the medal would have more meaning and significance to you than darn near anything else that you owned. Why? Because you worked for it, you suffered for it, and you endured more pain than most people are willing to endure in order to call that medal your own. In much the same way, we gain meaning in our lives by overcoming challenges, by enduring pain, and by beating adversity. Life isn’t meant to be easy. It’s meant to be a challenge. A challenge that you enjoy and have fun with, yes. But a challenge nonetheless. 7. You Don’t Find Your Purpose… It Finds You So many people in the modern world are concerned with finding their purpose. But they fail to realize that you don’t find your purpose, your purpose finds you. People don’t just wake up one day and say “Hmm, I know exactly what I am meant to do and how I am going to do it”. Instead, they find the intersection of their passions and talents and they work for years honing their skills, setting and conquering goals, and becoming better and better. Then, when they have mastered their craft, an opportunity presents itself, often in the most unlikely manner, and all of the hard work they put in begins to make sense. If you want to live a life of purpose, then you must first start by building your skills and growing yourself until you are ready to handle your purpose. Typically, this means working on rather mundane skills and projects so that you can grow your capacity as a human being. Think about the classic Karate kid movie where Mr. Miyagi had his student wax the car and paint the fence. These tasks seemed dull, monotonous, and frustrating. But, when the time came, and the first punch was thrown, these dull tasks that the Karate Kid had practiced suddenly made sense and he realized that he had been practicing for the purpose of learning a new skill. Steve Jobs summarized this truth when he said You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.