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- [00:00]
Dan Go
I was a degenerate pretty much like my entire life up until my twenties.
- [00:04]
Cody Sanchez
This week we have the performance coach to high performers. He has had his team help people lose £100,000.
- [00:12]
Dan Go
If you have a big belly, it's gonna fuck up your brain. How do you think you're gonna feel? Am I going to change my lifestyle or am I willing to take medications for the rest of my life?
- [00:20]
Cody Sanchez
Lorraine Ring is not going to like this podcast.
- [00:23]
Dan Go
Okay, so my whole thing about these.
- [00:25]
Cody Sanchez
Trackers, it's a really good point actually.
- [00:28]
Dan Go
There's no free lunch out there. If you are metabolically healthy, you are to be controlled.
- [00:33]
Cody Sanchez
Can have a thousand problems in life until you have a health problem.
- [00:36]
Dan Go
What's going to happen if you don't take care of yourself?
- [00:41]
Cody Sanchez
Hi, this is Cody Sanchez. Welcome back to the Big Deal podcast. This week we have the performance coach to high performers. He is one of the top health and fitness coach in the country. For 20 years he's been turning people who maybe have a lot of wealth but don't have the right kind of health completely around to the fact that he has had his team help people lose £100,000. His name's Dan Go. We get into a bunch of reasons that will shock you about why you aren't losing weight, how to be healthy, how your brain is performing if you aren't very healthy, and why doing this one hack might be the way to stop those hunger pains. Can't wait to get into this conversation with Dan Go. And I have something for all of you business owners. It is a grading system to see if your business could be sold for the max dollar right now or if you are actually operating in an F business. We use this proprietary quiz that we honed with thousands of owners to help you figure out where your business is at. Go to the link in bio to learn about dominium and to get access to your free grade and you can tell me in the comments what grade your business has. So this line I was obsessed with the other week on your Twitter, it totally changed my perspective on how to think about health. And the line was this. I die for my family in quotes. Okay. Would you lift three times a week, eat a nutrient dense diet, fix your sleep habits, walk 10,000 steps and stop drinking so much alcohol for them. Tell me about that quote.
- [02:17]
Dan Go
Dying to me is easy. Living is way much harder. It takes way more effort. And I remember talking to an entrepreneur about this and he was like, oh yeah, man, like, like every parent would say. It's like I would die for My family. And I was like, okay, cool, let's juxtapose this. So let's just say, like, your daughter is on the other side of a bridge, and you're on the other side, and the bridge is going to explode unless you lift three times a week. Unless you do the things that we're asking to do, nutrition wise, Unless you fix your sleep and also give up alcohol. Are you willing to do this? He's like, do I have to do the alcohol bit? And I'm just like, dude, your daughter's on the other side. And he's, yeah, I'll do it. And the thing to me is just the fact that it is so easy to say, oh, yeah, I'll die for this, I'll die for that. But the effort of living, the effort of actually going to the gym three times a week, the effort of controlling the foods that go into your mouth, the effort of actually putting yourself to sleep every single day for eight hours a day, that is much harder as way more effort than just saying, I'm willing to take a bullet for someone. So. So I. I feel like a lot of people would be willing to die, but not a lot of people would be willing to live for their kids.
- [03:39]
Cody Sanchez
It's actually fascinating. When did you first notice that?
- [03:42]
Dan Go
I noticed that when my first daughter came out. And when my first daughter came out, I was like, I am willing to do everything for you, and I am willing to run through walls. I'm willing to build whatever you want me to build. I'm willing to do everything. And something that not a lot of people know is that I had my first kid when I was, like, 40 years old. That's old in, like, traditional sense. And for me, it was just like, okay, well, I'm 40 years old. I'm having my first kid. I want to be here as long as I can be for her. And that means I want to live till, like, I'm 110, 120, 130, if that is at all possible. I want to be there as long as I can. So I have to look at myself. I have to look at my own health and be like, okay, so what am I doing? This is the reason why I'm getting more into longevity. This is the reason why I'm doing my blood work six months or every six months. This is the reason why I'm doing DEXA scans. It's because I want to make sure that I am lining myself as much as I can to be there as long as possible for her.
- [04:49]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah, it's fascinating though, because it's so damn hard. Like I don't know what the difference is. Why are we say, why do you think that we are so willing to say, yeah, you could shoot me and that would be okay, but I won't make these life changes. Is it just because it's instant and painful as opposed to continuous and sort of low grade pain?
- [05:09]
Dan Go
Absolutely. I do think that I say this a lot where getting in shape in general is a subtle and slow compounding effect of feeling more positive. I remember you actually posted this thing where you, you said, okay, well, I quit alcohol for a month. I ate protein for a month. I did all this stuff for a month. I don't feel any different. What, what, what, what gives? And there's another guy who actually came out with almost like copied you word for word. He got like 100,000 likes. And the thing is, is that you aren't going to feel the differences within the month. It's almost like saying, okay, well I tried everything I could to build a business for 30 days. It didn't work out. I don't think this is for me, guys. Like, I don't think this for me.
- [05:51]
Cody Sanchez
Okay, that tracks.
- [05:53]
Dan Go
Yeah. And then it's just like. And for me it's like this instant gratification that people expect, especially when they're trying to get in shape. They want things to be fast, they want things to be as instant as humanly possible. But the thing that we know about getting in shape and the thing that we know about business is that it's about the incremental improvements. And these incremental improvements are not necessarily things that you're going to see instantaneously. But if you have enough awareness over 90 days, over 6 months and you actually track this stuff, you're going to see. Oh, crap. I actually made pretty good decisions over 90 days. I actually was able to control my emotions over 90 days. I was able to wake up out of bed and actually like feel like I wanted to crush the day. After 90 days it takes a little bit more. And I, and I remember I was talking to a client, we helped him drop 20 pounds, do all this kind of stuff. And then I asked him, After 90 days I was just like, okay, so tell me what's happening in your life? What's going on? Oh, dude, we just like crushed our record. We had a record breaking month. I'm having like the best time with my wife. Like we're doing it, you know, all that kind of stuff. And I was like, well, do you understand that this is a reflection of like how you feel because you've dropped 20 pounds of fat off of your body. You're not carrying around this weight vest on you. And then he was just like, I never really thought about it like that. And no one does. And even it goes, the other goes the other way as well. We're getting out of shape. Is a slow burn. Oh, gosh. And then you wake up one day, you, you actually like eat the junk food. You binge eat at night or you drink enough times and it becomes a habit and then that becomes your new normal. And you're like, oh, cool, this is what life is like. It goes both ways. And people don't realize it until they have to go through it long enough.
- [07:38]
Cody Sanchez
It's true. You know, the other quote that I love that you have is that the American diet was meant to put you in an American hospital for American health care so you can buy American pharma drugs.
- [07:48]
Dan Go
Yes, yes. The system sucks. And this is not just, I mean, I'm from Canada and we have the both the same system. We have free health care. Our healthcare is not even free. Like we have to wait maybe six months to get an mri. I would almost like rather have private healthcare in that sense because American hospitals, they want to get your money like they want it. And the thing that we're seeing right now with Maha and the things that we're seeing with RFK Jr coming into play is the fact that it almost seems like a conspiracy, but it's not. Yeah, Food companies make foods that make you more addicted to the foods that you're eating. Pharma companies come in and they say, oh cool. We have this thing that's going to help you mask the system but. Or mask the symptom. But what's going to happen is, is that you're going to have to take this for the rest of your life so you don't have to feel it. And the unfortunate thing is, is that everyone wants that. Most people want that. I remember I was talking to one of my, my sister in law. She has her parents, her parents are frail, as you know what. And I was just like, hey, if we could, I could give her like a workout program. I can, I can help them go on their way. And she told me is like, no, she, she doesn't want to do that. She give her the pill. Just give me the pill, make it go away. And then that's the mentality that a lot of people have. And unfortunately what's going to happen is, is that there's going to come this precipice where you're going to have to take a medication if you've not taken care of your body. And then that's going to be a decision. Am I going to change my lifestyle, or am I willing to take medications for the rest of my life? And unfortunately for the vast majority of people, they're like, all right, give me the medication, give me the pill.
- [09:36]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah. I mean, you know what's fascinating is all the stuff going on with Maha. I know you and I are both friends with a bunch of the same people. I think, like, they really took some bullets for us out there. Like, Cali means some of the stuff that he's had to deal with is w. But what I like about the stuff that you talk about is that you make it sound so simple. So, like, you have lots of things that you talk about from your. I don't know, how long have you been in fitness now? 18, 20 years.
- [10:01]
Dan Go
20 years?
- [10:01]
Cody Sanchez
20 years. So you've basically said, in my 20 years of fitness, I can distill health down to these few things. What are they?
- [10:10]
Dan Go
This is one that's going to be one that not a lot of people will actually see as the most important thing, which is getting your data, tracking your data. I was having this conversation with one of my clients, and I was like, he's an entrepreneur like yourself. I was like, how often do you check your revenue? How often do you check your sales? Every day, bro. Every day. Okay, cool. When's the last time that you stepped on the scale? And then, like, complete silence. And I'm just like, dude, how are you tracking the metrics that matter to you? And you're not even stepping on the scale and you're saying health is a priority. These two things don't make sense. So for me, you cannot improve what cannot be measured. So the first thing for me is going to be setting up some sort of dashboard. You have your surface level numbers, which are going to be your weight, your inches, your pictures. Then you have your deeper numbers, which are going to be your blood work. It's going to be your DEXA scans. It's going to be for guide. It's going to be your testosterone levels. And what we want to do is we want to get this dashboard to inform us whether or not we're on the right track or whether or not we're off track. Just like a business, I actually say there's so much correlation between a business and a body. So another thing is just. And this is not with the data thing. But I always ask entrepreneurs, okay, when a problem happens in your business, fire happens. What is your first thing that you're going to do? All right, we're going to find what the cause is. We're gonna. We're gonna figure out who's in charge of this, and we're gonna fix the cause right at the root. Okay, cool. Okay. So if you step on a scale and you're £5 over and you did everything that you thought you were supposed to do, what is your reaction to that? And they're like, I panic. They're like, I get emotional. I'm like, this is not working. I can't do this anymore. And it's just that they act. They're so objective for their businesses, which is this external thing. But when it comes to the internal, they're so. They are not objective at all. They're quite emotional. So I like to get data because that makes me objective about what's happening with my business or what's happening with my body, so to speak.
- [12:12]
Cody Sanchez
Where do you put all this data? Like, do you. Are there. Like, is there an app that can aggregate everything for you?
- [12:17]
Dan Go
Right now? We're working on it at this very moment. Yeah. So it's like we. What we're looking for is, like, weight trends. We're looking for inches. We're looking for a place to put your blood work. We're looking for a place to put your Dexa scans. Right now, there's not anything that aggregates everything all at once, but we can have things that file things away. So even in my software, we can file away the Dexa, we can file away the blood work, we can file away the recommendations. We can have the actual dashboard in front of us, but we don't have anything right now that can give us this health dashboard. And that's one of the things that.
- [12:46]
Cody Sanchez
We'Re working on at this point because it's annoying. Is it? I mean, I have the aura ring, right? So I'm now tracking, like, movement and steps and sleep, et cetera. But then I got to go to my fitness pal or something to plug it all in, and then I got to go to, like, ladder to do my workouts that I'm going to do, but I can't actually very easily input my numbers for how much weights I'm lifting every single. So at some point, I'm pretty high functioning. You're like, Jesus Christ. Like, I have to have 37 apps, and I already run a business. You know, how come I got to do this other one. So it is.
- [13:15]
Dan Go
Does feel unfortunate part. Yeah, yeah, that is an unfortunate. How's it, how's the aura ring going for you right now?
- [13:20]
Cody Sanchez
Actually, I'm loving it. Which is like, yeah, just like you said, what gets measured gets managed. And then also I think where your attention flows, that's where your energy goes, like Tony Robbins says. And so the fact that I just know every single day we also have the eight sleep bed. So it pings me like, how'd you sleep last night? Which makes me want to look at the aura ring. And then I sort of gamify, okay, did I do the steps, did I do the workout today? And it becomes a habit, you know?
- [13:46]
Dan Go
Yeah. How long have you had it for?
- [13:48]
Cody Sanchez
I've had it for like, not long, maybe four months, something like that.
- [13:52]
Dan Go
I've got some strong opinions about that.
- [13:54]
Cody Sanchez
Oh, no. You don't like them? What's wrong with the aura ring?
- [13:57]
Dan Go
There's nothing wrong with the oura ring. Let's, let's just put that out there. But there is something wrong with, with using data to kind of like track and make yourself emotional about this stuff. Okay. So my whole thing about these trackers is the fact that we should use them to get the data. Once we get the data, once we make improvements, we should actually stop using them. And I say, for every single one of the people, should I get an ORA ring? Should I get whoop or whatever it is? I'm actually saying, like, you should get it for probably like six months to a year. Yeah, you should make the improvements that you should make. And everyone's different. So you can test out magnesium glycinate, you can test out mouth taping, all this kind of stuff for your sleep and recovery and whatnot. Once you get that data, once you make the improvements, once you know your average score is at like 85, 90 for like sleep or whatever, get rid of it. And the reason I say that is because when you actually get a bad score and these, these sleep trackers are not necessarily most accurate. So let's just say you get a bad score. How do you think that's going to make you feel for the rest of the day? Yeah, you get a 60 on your sleep score and you're like, oh, I'm so tired. I don't think I can, like, you know, I don't. I'm not going to be operating at my best. Or let's just say you get a low recovery score, which is like what they give you even though you're feeling fucking Amazing. How do you think you're going to feel? It's going to give you this cognitive dissonance. So for me, it's like, yes, use it to get the data. But eventually, over time, you're going to have to take away the safety blanket and trust, like the behaviors that you're doing and not have something to actually tell you. Okay, you're doing. You have. You're doing great. You have high energy. You can go get after it. For me, like, one of the best things I ever did was actually for my health, was actually get rid of the aura ring.
- [15:37]
Cody Sanchez
Interesting. Because you were obsessing on it.
- [15:39]
Dan Go
I was obsessing on it, yeah. It was dictating the way I felt.
- [15:42]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah. And I think that can happen. It's a really good point actually, because some of my girlfriends don't sleep well. Happens to a lot of women right after they have a kid. Really. A lot of them struggle with sleep, it seems. And so. And they'd be like, I would just be so stressed when I looked at my sleep score every day. And I sleep like a baby, so I'm always like, I'm fucking Brian Johnson Jr. Over here. So it doesn't bother me. But if I stopped being able to sleep well, it probably would. So I like you almost. It's like anything else. You're not gonna get your blood tested every single day. Unless you're sick.
- [16:11]
Dan Go
Yes.
- [16:11]
Cody Sanchez
You're gonna do it for a period, then you're gonna put it away. Then if you're not feeling good again, you might take it back out again. Re engage.
- [16:16]
Dan Go
Yes.
- [16:17]
Cody Sanchez
Oura Ring is not going to like this podcast.
- [16:20]
Dan Go
Why?
- [16:20]
Cody Sanchez
Are they going to cut your subscription revenue in half? No, they're not sponsoring it, but I like that. It's good to know.
- [16:26]
Dan Go
Yeah.
- [16:27]
Cody Sanchez
Wait, I want to talk about one other thing that you talked about that I thought was so true, which is you said you're never going to be as young as you are right now. Being in good shape in your 20s is not impressive. Being 40 years old and being fit is a massive status symbol.
- [16:43]
Dan Go
Yeah. There is this law of diminishing health as we get older. You're probably noticing it right now. If you don't mind me asking, like, how. How old are you?
- [16:54]
Cody Sanchez
38.
- [16:54]
Dan Go
Okay, so 38. You probably know some of your college girlfriends, seeing them grow over the years. There's only a very small percentage of them who are keeping themselves in tip top shape.
- [17:07]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah.
- [17:08]
Dan Go
Who look like they looked like when they were in college. And the reason is, is because you have Responsibilities in college. There's one guy on my Twitter who's just like, yeah, man. He used to, like, drink. And I was, like, in the best shape of my life in college. And I was like, yeah, because when you drink, you're dancing, you're moving all over the place. You're going from, like, campus to campus, and you're, like, going out with your friends, and you're just moving all the time. And obviously, you had good hormone health at that point, too. But as we get older, number one is we slow down. Number two is that we have more responsibilities. Let's just say we have, like, two kids. That's a lot to handle. And you're not getting as many steps as you would like handling a toddler, no matter what anyone says. And it's also stress. You feel more stress as you get older, maybe because it's perception or maybe it's because of the overall weight of everything that you have to handle all the stuff that's on your shoulders. So what I say is, like, when you are in your 40s, and if you're able to keep yourself in shape in your 40s, way more impressive than your 20s, because not only are you dealing with responsibilities, you're dealing with hormone changes as well, and you're also dealing with the modern life that is just, like, slowing us down. And. And just in general, it's like, hey, like, you're supposed to be in your shape in your 20s, okay? Like, come on. I know.
- [18:28]
Cody Sanchez
That's what I always tell them, too. I'm like, yeah, yeah, just wait until you're my age. I looked like that, too. Okay?
- [18:34]
Dan Go
Like, chill, chill, bro. You're 20, okay? Relax. I know.
- [18:39]
Cody Sanchez
Do miss those days, actually. You know, you told a story that, like, was so beautiful but also daunting to me about. You were in your early 20s, and you walked into your dad's house at 6am yes. And you were super drunk. And then something happened that kind of changed your whole perspective on health.
- [18:59]
Dan Go
Yeah. Okay, so I was a degenerate pretty much, like, my entire life up until my twenties. Always a deep D student in school. When I got to high school, high school dropout. My grade nine or freshman year, I was in typewriting class or, you know, keyboarding class.
- [19:20]
Cody Sanchez
I remember that. I'm that old too.
- [19:21]
Dan Go
Oh, my gosh. The teacher had to talk to my mom and say, yo, your kid sucks. People don't know this. I failed kindergarten. I didn't even know that was possible. I feel like, what did I like, they fail people in kindergarten. You're like, you're supposed to do your ABCs. Like, I don't know. So I was always like a kid, always. And there was one point in time where I got really into raving. I got really into doing ecstasy, mdma, all of the drugs, except for the ones that you put up your nose, because that was like the most dangerous one. I was like, I ain't gonna touch that stuff, right? And there was one time I came home at 6am and I just walked in. And then you walk in and you see your parent and you're just like. And then like automatically in your brain, you're like, okay, I gotta play this off. I got. I gotta act like I'm normal, that I'm just coming home from like, Bible study or something like that. And. And I just looked in his face. I was like, hey, like, how's it going? And he went to me, he was just like. He. He looked at me with the most disappointed Asian father face that you can ever think of. And he's just like, I'm going to the gym. And he just walked past me, walked straight out, didn't say anything. And then that left an impression on me that I will never forget to this day. I actually still remember it vividly. And the reason why I remember that is because at that time, my dad was probably around like 30 pounds overweight at that point. And he was waking up at 6am hitting the gym. And guess what happened? One month later, my dad comes out. He's like the member of the member of the month. He went to the gym like 30 days a week or whatever, or 30 days, like 30 days straight. They gave him like a free month pass. He actually gave it to my brother. And it was like, my brother's like, nah, I'm good. Here, give it to. Give it to. Little Dan gave it to me. And I was just like. Because of that impression I had of my dad, I was like, hey, maybe this gym thing can be a little bit cool. At worst, I will see hot women. At best, I will get myself in shape. So I ended up taking the gym pass, walking to the gym every single day. I was doing nothing at that time, like, absolutely nothing. Just playing video games, partying. But in the afternoons, I had a lot of time, so I went to the gym and. And then, lo and behold, maybe like two or three weeks into it, I end up putting on my pant, putting on my belt, and then I just like cinch it in, like one more notch, and I'm just like, yo, this is Nuts. If this happens with me, not even like caring about my nutrition, like what happens if I go longer? And then that was like when you get results, that's when you become like just obsessed with the gym. And at that point in time I didn't realize it, but I was changing my brain so I wasn't even exercising. And then the time that I brought like exercise into my life, it was starting to just like change my thoughts. I was starting to go from being this negative dude, oh yeah, woe is me. To being like, hey, like I can, I can pretty much like do things, you know, I can, I can take action. And it was the, it was almost like the, what do they call it, the entry level drug for self improvement for me. And then from there I never looked back. Pretty much like I ended up quitting a corporate job that I hated, started becoming a personal trainer because I was so into fitness, started to be obsessed about fat loss. And then all of this, like I got myself $15,000 out of debt, getting out of credit card debt, all that, like, it just was the lead domino to so many amazing things in my life and I will never forget it. And I just blame my dad for it. He's the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing right now.
- [23:06]
Cody Sanchez
It is weird to think about you as a non positive guy. Like I almost do not have, I can't imagine that frame for you just as long as I've been following you on the Internet and we've been chatting back and forth. So that's pretty wild. So when you were talking to some of your clients and you've helped thousands of people lose more than 100,000 pounds of fat, right, over the last however many years?
- [23:29]
Dan Go
Hell yeah.
- [23:31]
Cody Sanchez
Is that the, like, what's the first thing you tell somebody who is like, I am fat and I'm miserable and I don't know if I'm going to be able to do this.
- [23:40]
Dan Go
I will, I will not even tell them anything. I will ask them why. That's the biggest question. Why is this happening? So I'll, I'll, I'll track back. So one of the things that we do inside of our practice, inside of our coaching practice is we do this thing called the theory of constraints. This is something that we all know in business and we want to find out what is the reason why you are doing this? What is the root cause? And I remember talking to one of my clients and he was just like, he had a problem with binge eating, binge eating at night specifically. And I was like, okay, cool. Like, why do you do that? I don't know. I just have cravings. I don't, I don't know why I do that. And, and to me, I'm just like, you have to like peel the onion a lot, right? And there's always like a physiological reason and there's a psychological reason. So his physiological reason was he wasn't getting enough nutrients, wasn't eating breakfast, all this kind of stuff. But the psychological reason is the one that makes the actual constraint fixed. So we kept on asking him why, why, why, why, why, why? Kept on asking him. He's like, dan, shut the fuck up. Like, I don't know. And I was just like, just, just dig, just stay with me here for a second. What happened was he realized that when he was a kid, he had, he actually had two sisters. When he was a kid, his mom put so much attention on his two sisters, neglected the fuck out of him. So for him, what he did was he went into the kitchen every single night. He had to cope with these feelings that he was, that he was going through. The only way he could cope was opening up the fridge and eating whatever was in the freezer, whatever was inside the fridge and making that actually numb the thing that he was feeling. So I never tell people, this is what you should do. Oh, you should do that. You should. I actually say I want to get down to the root of why you behave, the way that you behave. If we can actually just bring awareness around why you are the way that you are. Awareness to me is a precursor of change. If you, if you shine a light, then that's going to be the best disinfectant. So the next time he goes and binge eats at night, and whatever it is, at least he knows why he's doing it as opposed to most people who are just subconsciously just doing it because they're trying to numb something, right? So, so I'm always asking why I'm never telling people what to do.
- [26:03]
Cody Sanchez
That's wild. I've never thought about that. So we almost start with the psychological and then you can say, okay. It actually makes sense though, because it's not like this stuff is that complex. Like you have a, you have another one that I love that I remind myself of. It's like, all right. All of the information that I've learned about fitness can be distilled into this formula. Walk daily, drink water, be in nature, eat nutrient dense foods, follow circadian rhythms, strength. Train 3 to 4x a week, get 7, 8 hours of good sleep. Your brain and body will change for the better when you do this consistently. Not rocket science, really.
- [26:39]
Dan Go
No, it's not rocket science. But why are we not doing it? We know what to do, but why are we not doing it? And that to me is the psychological side. So we'll bring it back to say, someone who's building a business. And I'm pretty sure you've talked to clients about this. You've also dealt with people who have, let's just call it like mental blocks. Oh yeah, like Cody, we're not getting enough leads in our business. Like, what's going on? And you're like, you should do this, this and that and this and that. And then next, next week you're like, okay, did you do those things? No, I, I didn't. Like all these things like came up and whatever it is. And then at that point you got to be like, okay, well this is not a tactical issue. This is a psychological issue. And for most people, that is the issue. For them, it is a psychological issue that is wrapped up in a tactical issue. They're like, oh, like I don't know how to count my calories. Oh, like I'm eating the wrong foods. Oh, seed oils and like all this kind of. No, no, no, no, no. Another, There is a emotion that you're numbing as a result of the food that you're eating or the alcohol that you're drinking. And unless you can actually find out what it is that you're numbing and do the work to actually heal that stuff, you are going to run up against the same psychological roadblock every damn time. And let me tell you this right now, that is hard. It's the hardest thing to do because guess what, it's going to actually show you, oh, maybe I'm like not in the right relationship right now. Maybe I'm, maybe I'm chasing the wrong ladder. But I don't want to think about it. So I'm just going to have another old fashioned. It's going to bring up so many of these decisions and these conversations that you should be having with yourself that you are avoiding. And most times people don't want to go through that work. They just want to go through the numbing agents that allow them to not have to feel that.
- [28:24]
Cody Sanchez
What percentage of people who are not fit and not healthy realize that it's psychological?
- [28:32]
Dan Go
I think they're, I think for the vast majority, they realize it's psychological. Now the question is, is that whether or not they want to do the work to find out why. And then that's probably. I would say. I don't know if I can put a percentage on that, but let's just say, like, not a lot of people, because behavior change is hard. You have to. Changing your personality in general and the way in which you react to things is hard. And then that also means that you're going to have to look at the world in a different way. And we also have to look at these excuses, these rationalizations that we have and the ways in which we look at this world, the ways in which we behave in this world, as ways in which that give us comfort. If we don't have the security blanket of comfort anymore, what happens? Oh, we have to take responsibility for our lives. How many. I'll ask you, like, how many people are willing to take responsibility for their lives?
- [29:24]
Cody Sanchez
Not enough.
- [29:24]
Dan Go
Not enough. And maybe they can do it with their business. Sometimes you're dealing with entrepreneurs. I could do this with something external, but when it comes to the thing that's internal, ooh, like, I gotta change, like, something inside of me. I don't know about that.
- [29:38]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah. It also seems to me that a lot of this is that society makes it more comfortable to be unhealthy and unfit. Like, for instance, you know, there was something else that I was reading from you that I really liked, which was, oh, yeah, it was basically this, that society eats so much junk food that real food is considered dieting. And that also when you tell people, hey, I'm gonna eat only protein this month, I'm not drinking. I'm not doing any of that. They're like, come on, bro, why aren't you joining me? And so it's almost. It's lonely trying to be healthy for some reason.
- [30:14]
Dan Go
What happened there isn't. Isn't it lonely? Like, when you started to first become an entrepreneur, wasn't that lonely at first, too? Yeah, because you had to kind of separate from all the finance people, and then you had to go your own way. And not a lot of people are willing to go through that process of being lonely. When I started to get in shape, I, like, I. I realized, like, oh, crap. I really don't like drinking alcohol that much, but here I am, binge drinking every single week. And, like, what's going on here? It's because I want to do things that make me feel part of a tribe. I want to be part of the tribe. I don't want to be ostracized. And inherently, we're all in it for survival. That's what we're all in it for if we lose the tribe, then we lose our survival. But we're not living in tribes anymore. But technically we are. We maybe are. We maybe not. But inherently that's what's happening. They don't want to be ostracized. They don't want to be away from the tribe. When I started to get my body in shape, I actually had to get rid of a lot of friends because when you start to get in shape, you realize that water attracts its own level. You want to hang around people who have the value of health and not people who are being like, all right, let's have Big Macs. Let's have, you know, burgers and fries and like all the time, like, that stuff's cool once in a while, but not like all the time. And. And the other thing that we have to realize when it comes to this stuff is that we're changing identity. That's what we're doing. And to me, changing of identity, changing your self image, changing the way in which you look at yourself and how you perceive yourself, that's probably one of the most important things that we have to do in this journey. Even going from, let's just say, like we're using a business perspective. It's like going from like being someone that earns six figures to being someone that earns seven figures to being someone that earns eight figures to nine figures, whatever. Those jumps require a change of identity. The same thing goes with our bodies that people don't realize. Making these jumps, going from, let's just say being metabolically unhealthy to being metabolically healthy to being metabolically healthy to getting a six pack, to doing all this kind of stuff that requires change of identity, change of behavior. Are you willing to do the work to get there? That is the question.
- [32:24]
Cody Sanchez
How does one change their identity to get health?
- [32:28]
Dan Go
I think, like, the most important thing is to get someone to help you to be honest. Like, you have to. All you have to invest in yourself, whether it be in education, whether it be in the coach or whether that. I mean, to me it's like the fastest path between point A, point B. The place where you want to be is actually finding a coach that tells you what to do and what not to do. That's like the most important thing. And I look at kind of like education in three steps, which is like you have your free education, which is like the stuff that we do on social media. We give away our best stuff. Like, to be honest, we tell you, like, what the what the sauce is already. Then you have your courses, which is do it yourself. This is the system. You do it yourself. Then you have the most important one, which is the coach. I think that's the most important one because the coach is going to call you on your bullshit. They're going to keep you accountable. They're going to say, don't do this. Avoid this mistake. Watch out for that. Okay, cool, we're good. And for me, it's like, that's probably the most important thing. But if you can't actually do that, then we have to do it by ourselves. If we have to do it by ourselves, what can we do? Well, number one is what we just talked about, theory of constraints. Okay? So I know I have to eat healthy. I know I have to work out. I know I have to sleep well, whatever. Okay, what is like the number one thing that I can work on right now, that I will subordinate everything to just work on this thing? And the thing about theory of constraints is you subordinate everything. You work on that one thing, that one little habit that's just holding you back. Whether it's binge eating at night, whether it's snacking, whether it's not working out, like, whatever it is, you just focus on that one thing. And then what you have to do is you have to get support on it. You have to find actually, you have to find out awareness around it. Why am I not doing this? What is the reason? Then you have to get support. Then you have to make sure that you just track that habit over and over and over until it becomes a part of your life. And then after you're done that, you go on to the next thing. The thing that people want is like this whole body transformation. Get abs in 6 weeks or whatever it is. But the reality of the matter is, is that getting into the best health of your life is about incremental changes that you're making over the course of a year, two years even, sometimes like three years. And one thing that I always ask my clients, because a lot of clients just come to me, they want to lose weight. Cool. All right. And I'm just like, okay, cool. Like, hey, John, how long did it take you to. To gain this weight and be like, yeah, ever since I started my business. Five years. I just, like, started gaining weight and I just haven't. Like, everything else in my life is great, but this. This part I just can't get a handle on. Cool. How long are you giving yourself to lose this weight? Is like six weeks.
- [34:57]
Cody Sanchez
I'm like, What?
- [35:00]
Dan Go
Like, dude. And so I have this mantra that I try to impart to my clients is just, like, as long as it takes. If it takes a year, cool. If it takes even, like, a year and a half, cool. But what you're doing is when you give yourself an elongated time horizon to do this, you're giving yourself the chance to make mistakes. You're giving yourself the chance to find out things that work for you. You're giving yourself the chance to fall on your face and to know what that looks like, to step on a scale and to see that, hey, I'm doing everything I can, but the weight's still going up. Like, what's happening? It gives yourself the ability to actually create that objectiveness around your body as opposed to the emotionality that a lot of people like. A lot of people bring to it.
- [35:41]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah. What are. What do you think Are some. I hate to use the word hacks here. What's a better way to ask this question? Sometimes I think when you understand a framework, a framework can accelerate your path to success because you're like, all right, I see a highway that I can drive down. There's like, this framework we've already existed on. If I drive on a highway, I go faster than if I drive on a back street. Like, we just know that this one moves faster than the other. You have one framework, which I really liked, to determine if you're actually hungry or if you're eating for some other reason, which was called the apple test.
- [36:16]
Dan Go
Yes, the. In hunger is, like, a huge thing, especially if people are trying to get leans. Like, hunger is going to pop up, right? Like, you can't do anything about it, especially if you're in a caloric deficit. So. But a lot of times, like, we have to understand there's, like, three levels of hunger. There's like hormonal hunger, which is like leptin, ghrelin. They're popping up and saying, hey, what's up? Like, I'm kind of like, we're kind of fucked up right here, but we want to eat a little bit. And there is also the actual physiological hunger, which is like, hey, what's up, Dan? You haven't had a meal for, like, 12 hours. Like, you got to eat. And then you have what is called hedonic hunger, which is like, am I hungry because I'm bored, or am I hungry because I'm actually hungry? And then this is where the apple test comes in. So the thing about apples is that they're 68% water, they are nutrient dense. And not a lot. I'm going to say, like, the vast majority of people do not crave apples or eating apples whatsoever. So I say eat the apple, see what happens, wait 20 minutes, keep yourself busy. Are you going to be hungry afterwards? If you're still hungry, then maybe you actually are hungry, right? If you're not hungry, then you just saved yourself maybe 500 to 1,000 calories of, like, eating whatever junk food that's around you. So I like to have protocols. For me, systems is everything. Like, if I'm running a successful business, I need to have systems. If I'm running a successful body, I need to have systems. And I think that the main thing that people are missing are these protocols and systems in their lives when these things pop up.
- [37:47]
Cody Sanchez
How much of your clientele is starting to use things like Ozempic now? And do you like. And I use Ozempic because it's the easier word for everybody to know. But what do you think about Ozempic? Should we be using it?
- [38:00]
Dan Go
I think for people who are morbidly obese? Absolutely. Just being morbidly obese and having way too much weight on your body, then you are going to benefit from not having that much weight on your body. For someone who has, like 20 or 30 pounds to lose, who's kind of like, looking at it as like, this, hey, hack that I can use just to, like, help myself lose the 20 to 30 pounds, I'm going to say you should probably chill out a little bit and kind of give yourself a little bit more discernment. Because the thing that we're realizing about these drugs is the fact that, hey, when you get off of it, guess what's gonna happen to the hunger? It's gonna come back. These are almost like forever drugs, so to speak. You're gonna have to take them for pretty much, I would say, like, the rest of your life. Also, the thing that we're realizing is that people are using this as, like, a hack to lose weight. They're actually burning off the thing that is the longevity organ of your body, which is muscle. Like, I've seen people go on Ozempic and not eat high protein, not do resistance training. And then we're starting to see that people are coming up with osteoporosis, starting to see people lose a ton of lean mass. Do you know what happens to your metabolism when you lose a lot of lean mass? And yes, like, yes, you want to eat high protein, yes, you want to do resistance training. But a lot of people are using this as, like, this quick fix just to lose a lot of weight. The percentage of people who are inside of our program who want to use these drugs or are on these drugs is zero. Absolute zero. But I'll tell you this. We're working with entrepreneurs, executives, professionals, high fucking achievers. So when it comes to the high achiever, it doesn't mean that they're not going to use this mpic, especially if they're morbidly obese. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is that most of the times these guys are willing to do the hard work.
- [39:49]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah.
- [39:50]
Dan Go
And they're willing to do the work it takes to discipline themselves to actually follow a program. And Ozempic is like the last resort for them. For them, the first resort is like, hey, let's get our behaviors fixed. So I actually did have one client who was on Ozempic, did great. But we had an escape plan. We created an escape plan for Ozempic because we knew that the hunger was going to come back. We knew that he was going to start to feel uncontrollable cravings.
- [40:17]
Cody Sanchez
What was the escape plan?
- [40:18]
Dan Go
Oh, the escape plan was, hey, like, you and I are going to talk on the phone every single day. We're going to track, like exactly what's going into your body. We're going to make sure that you're eating enough fiber. We're going to make sure you're still eating enough protein. We're going to make sure that you're not going to stress yourself out with like long endurance cardio or anything like that. We're just going to walk. And then what we're going to do is we're going to have to go through what I call the struggle bus period. The struggle bus period is like the three to even six months where your hunger is going to be elevated as a result of getting off of Ozempic. So we just want to make sure there's an escape plan. Just like anything else with any medication, there has to be an escape plan for it. And then we have to keep. We have to actually keep them highly accountable to abiding by the escape plan.
- [41:01]
Cody Sanchez
It's fascinating actually, because no doctors give you an escape plan for medicine. I mean, for, for cholesterol levels. You're just on cholesterol medicine for the rest of your life.
- [41:13]
Dan Go
Yes.
- [41:13]
Cody Sanchez
Then you add whatever blood thinner you need on top of it. Then you add something else. And no part of that is a mandate for you to walk more and eat less.
- [41:23]
Dan Go
I feel like the health system is a System of learned helplessness where they will, they will give you the medication, they'll be like, hey, you gotta walk, you gotta do this kind of stuff. But, but really it's just like they will also, I would say, recommend you being on this medication. And I don't want to go through the whole like, oh, they're making money off it, they're not making money, whatever. You know, the thing is, is that unfortunately people want this too. That's what people want. They actually want the magic pill and they're willing to deal with the side effects as a result of taking this pill. To me, there's no free lunch out there. There's absolutely zero free lunch when it comes to any kind of medication, any kind of thing that you're putting into your body for eating nutrient dense foods, high protein, whatever the fruit. It's not a free lunch either. There's effort. Like that's, that's the actual cost for all this stuff. The free lunch is side effects. The free lunch is having to be on this stuff for the rest of your life. Whatever. This stuff is going to cost you for the rest of your life. And when I go back and I'm just like, hey, you really should like, you know, hit the gym like three times a week and you know, work out with weights. Like, do I really have to? Like, I just want to take this pill. And I feel like it's, you know, a lot of doctors catch a lot of flack for recommending these drugs. But the unfortunate thing is, is that it is the consumer that actually is asking for this stuff, notwithstanding the shitty things that are happening with like pharma advertising, the, you know, all the advertising that's happening with pharma that actually pushes this stuff and psyops people into wanting to take this stuff. That shit is fucking, I will say that's like evil.
- [43:05]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah, right.
- [43:06]
Dan Go
So. So it's, it's a confluence of a lot of things and I try not to blame doctors for this kind of stuff. But, but again, everyone is complicit.
- [43:14]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah, we're all a product of our environment too. You know, one of the things that I think is really interesting about you is all these high performers that you work with and you talk a lot about the connection between the body and increased cognition in your brain. What have you found with high performers? And if they get their body more healthy, what happens to their brain?
- [43:35]
Dan Go
They make more money. That's number one. We hit record breaking revenue months almost with I would say like 75 of our clients. Like some of Them are just like, just masters at making money, but at the same time, for. For a lot of people, because it's. It's not really. It is about the cognition, but to me, it's more about the emotional control. It's more about the decision making. So when what we know about, especially when we get rid of visceral fat, when we get rid of belly fat, when we get rid of that stuff, what happens as a result is the brains start to work better. You start to amplify and start to grow areas in your brain that are responsible for decision making and emotional control. I actually set out this tweet before people got pissed at me. But fuck it, whatever. It's just like, if you have a. If you have a big belly, it's going to fuck up your brain, bar none. Okay? Like, it is. And then people are like, no, it's not true. And whatever. I was like, just. Just Google this, bro. Just. Just Google this. Like, I don't have to tell you what the evidence is. Like, we all know this stuff. This is all just basic. And.
- [44:37]
Cody Sanchez
But why is that. And visceral fat is. Is. Explain visceral fat quickly.
- [44:41]
Dan Go
Visceral fat is the most dangerous fat that's on the body. We should not be aiming to have, like, absolute zero visceral fat on our bodies, but we should be aiming to have at least healthy amounts of visceral fat. When we have too much visceral fat on our bodies, it sets us up for a lifetime of preventable disease. Things like type 2 diabetes, things like certain cancers, Alzheimer's, and. And this is very much a lifestyle thing. It's about the foods that you put into your body. It's about the exercise that you do. And for me, it's like my. My full thing is. And this is actually more prevalent for guys into this, for girls, for guys, because they have, like, the beer belly. That is a sign of having visceral fat. And if you want to check, like, how much visceral fat or whether or not I have too much, we go through the waist to height ratio, right? So it's like, okay, what is your height in inches and what is your waist in inches? If it's above 50%, you probably have way too much visceral fat. You're probably at a dangerous level right now. And you know what? A lot of people are at that level. This is an aside, but I posted this, like, before picture of myself, like, when I was actually a before picture when I was, like, in my 20s, before I changed my body And a before picture because when I, when my second daughter came about, I got myself out of shape. And then when I posted that, a lot of guys were saying about the before pictures, like, hey, like I'd like to look at like that. I actually like to look like that body right there. The before picture, like the fat one. And then for me, I'm 45 years old. I remember 20 years ago I was like, that was actually considered fat back then.
- [46:13]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah.
- [46:14]
Dan Go
Standards have inflated. Large, large, large amounts. Now that's not done. Now that's actually considered to be healthy. But when we know about metabolic health, like anything above, like say for a guy like 20% body fat is going to be metabolically unhealthy. But standards change. Even right now they're like lowering the standard for like testosterone saying like, okay, you shouldn't have this much. You actually have like around like 500 or whatever. But I digress.
- [46:39]
Cody Sanchez
And you think that that is wrong. They're just averaging out to what society is today. And because most people have lower testosterone, they're saying this is average. You're like, yeah, but it's not good for anybody.
- [46:50]
Dan Go
They're moving the goalposts.
- [46:51]
Cody Sanchez
Wow.
- [46:52]
Dan Go
That's what they're doing. Like they're just moving the goalposts. And there is something to be said. I don't want to get into kind of like the overarching, kind of like idea of what testosterone is. But they've done studies where it's like when you have more testosterone in your body, when a guy has more testosterone in his body, he becomes more of an independent thinker. Also like if you have your body in shape, if you are metabolically healthy, I label it as like you are less likely to be controlled.
- [47:18]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah.
- [47:19]
Dan Go
Because you have agency. You have actually high agency. Any person who's in shape, you can actually say, hey, this guy has high agency at least when it comes to his health because you're willing to do what it take to keep it's discipline.
- [47:33]
Cody Sanchez
How do they show increased independent thinking with decreased, let's say visceral fat or increased muscle. How would they.
- [47:43]
Dan Go
It's more correlation with the testosterone thing than it is just the visceral fat.
- [47:46]
Cody Sanchez
So how do they measure that?
- [47:49]
Dan Go
I believe they have done correlation studies between the amount of times like or the amount of testosterone people have on their bodies and the actual like studies are actually like stats that they would pull from like surveys.
- [48:02]
Cody Sanchez
Interesting.
- [48:02]
Dan Go
But yeah, I will say find it. Yeah, we're going to find it. Yeah.
- [48:06]
Cody Sanchez
We'll link some of the studies and see what, What? Yeah, I mean, it's interesting to think that now it makes sense to me that when you have less visceral fat, your body can just be more highly functioning.
- [48:20]
Dan Go
Yes.
- [48:20]
Cody Sanchez
Is that why. So why would your brain grow new neural pathways and actually be more efficient just because you have less fat? What's the ideology? There's.
- [48:31]
Dan Go
It's about blood flow. So when you have less blood flow going to the brain, what's going to happen is that all of the brain's energy or all of your body's energy is going to be diverted to the place that needs the most attention, and that is protecting your organs. And the thing that we know about visceral fat is the fact that where it's placed in the body is around your most important organs. It's around your heart, it's around your liver, it's around your pancreas, around your kidneys. So what's going to happen is that all the energy that would be diverted to giving yourself blood flow in the brain is going to be diverted into the place to keep you healthy or to keep you alive inside of visceral fat. And what we know is, is that when you have more visceral fat on your body, it actually leads to more shrinkage in the brain for the areas. I think it's the hippocampus that has the responsibility of emotional control.
- [49:19]
Cody Sanchez
Fascinating. I had no idea. Yeah, well, I think, you know, this is the other stuff that's sort of normal now is to relegate health as something totally self, you know, self sufficient from wealth. We say, yeah, well, I'm wealthy because I have a lot of money. Are you? If you're also not healthy, I mean, you have a line that is so beautiful that I go back to a lot, which is that you can have a thousand problems in life until you have a health problem, then you only have one.
- [49:47]
Dan Go
Yeah.
- [49:48]
Cody Sanchez
That is so real. And yet we chase these dollar signs and we go after them because money does equal freedom. But damn, if we. If I got cancer right now, the rest kind of doesn't matter.
- [50:00]
Dan Go
Well, let's hope that doesn't happen. That's for sure. And I liken this to something that's small. So when I played basketball, I remember one time I sprained my ankle. If you ever. Have you ever sprained your ankle before?
- [50:16]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah.
- [50:17]
Dan Go
And then you know that walking on your ankle, the only thing that you want in life is just to walk normally at that point, that's all you want. Because when you're walking with a sprained ankle. You're like, oh, you're hobbling and all this kind of stuff. And that's something small. Let's, let's bring it to something that's a little bit bigger. Say something like cancer. That puts things into perspective. I remember we, when I was 24 years old and being a complete degenerate, we got this call from my dad and he was like, were in Toronto or we were in Ontario. He's like, you got to come to Niagara. Your mom's in the hospital. You got to come here quick because we don't know if she's going to make it. And we're like, what the. What the fuck? Like, we thought our mom was the healthiest person on the planet. We zip down there and then we go through this six month ordeal of just dealing with the hospital, being an icu, all this kind of stuff, until we ultimately lose our mom. We ultimately lose mom, the most important person in my life. And obviously when you lose your mom, you're depressed, you're grieving. And I remember at that point in time, nothing else mattered. My friends didn't matter how much money I would have made or all these like, dreams and like, of like, whatever, it didn't fucking matter. The only thing that mattered was I wanted my mom to be back in my life. And let's like, bring it to someone who's maybe a parent. What's going to happen if you don't take care of yourself? Okay, let's extrapolate this. So number one, okay, like God forbid we get a disease, then you're kind of making your family suffer as a result of the fact that you didn't take care of yourself when you could have. And then now they have to take care of you and now you're being a burden to your family. Let's extrapolate this even further. Let's just say that you, you can hit the gym three times a week. You're just too lazy to do it. Okay? Like when you're 80 years old, you're gonna have to have your kids look after you. You're not gonna be independent. They're gonna be worrying about you all the freaking time. Unless they're like going to throw you in the nursing home, which is even worse. So my whole thing is, and I've said this before, where it's like, part of the reason I get in shape is in keeping my body shape is so I don't become a burden to my family.
- [52:55]
Cody Sanchez
Do you think that you can. Are there studies and data that says that if you are healthy, you have a decreased chance of having dementia.
- [53:05]
Dan Go
Absolutely. I mean, I can't pull those studies, you know, right off the bat. But to me, there is the genetic component of having dementia or having Alzheimer's, and then there's also the epigenetic component where you have the ability to transform your genes through your lifestyle, through the foods that you eat, through the exercise that you do. A lot of people are like, oh yeah, like I'm stuck with this gene or I don't have like good genetics or whatever. But the thing is, is that you can actually change your genes through epigenetics, through kind of like your behaviors, through what you do right now. And the really cool thing that we're learning is that this can be generational. So let's just say like you're overweight, you get yourself in shape, and then you end up having a kid and you end up kind of like kicking the can. Ninety years old, whatever it is, like you're gone. You don't realize that you just passed down your in shape genes to that kid. You also don't realize that you left an imprint on how you took care of your body on that kid. So for me, it's like one of the greatest things that you can do for your kids is like lift the generational curse of not being in shape, of not having good, healthy behaviors. And the more that you can do that, the more that you're creating this kind of like family and this behavior of wealth inside of your family, you are setting up your, your generation, you're setting up your family for generations to come.
- [54:39]
Cody Sanchez
It's fascinating. My grandparents right now are. Two of them have dementia. One is pretty late stage. Thank you. It's really a terrible disease. And so I've been spending more time with my family and them. And the tough part about both of them is, you know, they kind of stopped being mobile. And so they stopped being mobile way before they needed to. You know, my grandmother got a knee surgery and really stopped being mobile after the knee surgery. They got kind of shut down during COVID Right. So then they started stopped having interpersonal interaction. My grandfather got macular degeneration, so he stopped being able to see well, which meant he couldn't walk as much and go in his garden. And I very quickly saw over the course, I mean, it was fascinating how fast it happened over the course, about a year or two, just their. Their health completely collapsed. And I think a lot of the impetus of it was this lack of movement and, and you know, they hadn't ever been, like, wildly healthy, but they made a lot of their own food, and they were very, very active. And then that stopped. And then I compare that with my grandmother, who is going to be 100 next month, and she motors. I mean, that woman played golf until she was 93, I think, and walks around, takes care of herself, does physical therapy, and is so sharp cognitively because of it. And I sort of. It's like the tale of two families. You know, we can go to the left and. Or we could go to the right. And I see similar patterns, actually, in my parents. And so, you know, my mom's super active now. She's gotten really into Pilates and working out, and my dad's side of the family, just not as much. And so watching that transcend to my brother versus how I am is. You're absolutely right. You carry a lineage that you are passing down to your children that you have the ability to affect the outcome on. And you have to ask yourself, am I not willing to only die for them, but might I live for them?
- [56:42]
Dan Go
100, and I don't. I'm sorry to hear about your grandparents.
- [56:47]
Cody Sanchez
Thank you.
- [56:48]
Dan Go
Yeah. The thing that. The thing that kind of strikes out to me a little bit is when you stop moving, that also makes you a little bit more morose.
- [57:02]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah.
- [57:03]
Dan Go
And depressed. You start to have more negative thoughts, too. And because you're just not moving your body. And to me, it's like the movement is. It's almost like there's this hamster that's. That's inside of the wheel, and you have to keep the hamster moving. You have to keep the hamster moving all the time. And if you stop it, it is the old adult or the old saying where it's like, you. You lose it or you use it or you lose it. And for me, one of the things that I. I constantly remember is like, I have. I have a really close friend, and his grandparents lived until 99 and 100. What did they do every day? They walked two to three miles, no matter what the weather was. They cooked their own meals. I met my first center, actually, I met probably my second centenarian. So she was in Haleiwa in Hawaii, and sharp as attack. And I asked her. I was like, you're. You're my second centenarian that I've ever met. Why, like, what happened? And then she was like, I played tennis. I go out. I still drink margaritas. I still eat tacos, but I stay active. I keep my weight, you know, pretty stable, and I have Fun. And then she was like the happiest person I've ever met too. Big smiles. So my whole thing is just like, you have to constantly keep yourself in motion. No matter. Because the whole thing about life right now is like, how can we make you as comfortable as humanly possible?
- [58:42]
Cody Sanchez
That is true.
- [58:43]
Dan Go
To me, comfort is a drug that's the most addictive drug on the planet right now. It's like, how can we stop you from moving? Even this whole thing with like, robotics and like all this stuff, like, how can we stop you from cleaning your home? How can we stop you from doing your dishes? How can we stop you from gardening? How can we make life easier for you? And my whole thing is like, you don't want life to be easy. Like, once life is actually easy for you. That's when all the hits the fan. That's when you see the slow degradation of the way in which you should have lived. So for me, it's like, keep yourself in motion. Yes. There are ways to do it. You want to be lifting weights, obviously, you want to be eating a nutrient dense diet. You want to be focusing on your sleep. But. But give a about your health. Yeah, yeah.
- [59:33]
Cody Sanchez
Are you still friends, close friends with people who are really unhealthy?
- [59:38]
Dan Go
Am I so. Am I so close? That's a very good question, actually.
- [59:42]
Cody Sanchez
Healthy?
- [59:43]
Dan Go
Yes, I am. And I have people on my team who are somewhat. Not as healthy or metabolically unhealthy. And for me, it's. It's about the person. It's not necessarily about their behaviors, but yes.
- [60:01]
Cody Sanchez
Do you think that being unhealthy or being fit is contagious?
- [60:08]
Dan Go
To a certain degree, yes. But will it be contagious for everybody? It depends on how much resistance that they're seeing inside of themselves. Also depends, like, how sensitive they are as well. I remember I had a conversation with. With a guy who used to be my friend. And, and for me, I'm. I'm actually of the. Of the mind of like, hey, if, if I'm a friend, I gotta be straight up with you, right? And I hadn't seen this guy for probably like three to five years, or actually probably three years. And he had gained probably, I would say like 40 to 50 pounds on his body. First time seeing, I'm like, whoa. And my wife was just like, whoa. Like, holy crap, what happened? So we're walking down the street one day and I was like, yo, I, are we gonna do something about this? Like, I'm willing to help. What do you need? And then he was Just like. And then I, I just pretty much ran up against a brick wall. Dan, you know what I'm going through, you know what's happening in my life and you know this and you don't know that. I'm just like, like, I, I never asked that. I just want to know if, you know, need help. And for a lot of people, they are stuck in this story of why they can't get in shape, of like, why they can't do this stuff, of like, why this is all happening to them. And for me, it's like me being like the, the guy that I am, it's like I almost like turn from like a type B to like a type A personality by just getting my body in shape and being like a hard driver, being so motivated. For me, it's almost like, I don't know why people would not want to do this because do you not want to have more energy? Do you not want to make more money? Do you not want to be more confident? And all it is is that people have the story around the reasons why they can't get in shape. And as long as you actually just still be stuck in that reason, then it's just not going to happen.
- [62:17]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah. My dad always says you can't teach desire.
- [62:20]
Dan Go
Yeah.
- [62:20]
Cody Sanchez
And so. But I do think to your point, you can stimulate somebody else to desire a thing that they truly want. And it sounds like that's what you do. It's by getting to that root and then saying, hey, are you aware that this idea is what's holding you back? And then they might have the desire to fix that.
- [62:38]
Dan Go
I would hope so. It depends on the person.
- [62:43]
Cody Sanchez
Can you tell right away if somebody will do the things that they need to do to change their health or not? Do you have like a 60 second gut reaction to it by now, after 20 years?
- [62:53]
Dan Go
Definitely. Are we talking about someone that's like hiring me or are we talking about someone that's like, like, do you have.
- [62:58]
Cody Sanchez
Questions that you go through that you're like, well, you're not going to make it. I can already tell.
- [63:01]
Dan Go
Okay. There's actually a, there's actually a line that people use where I'm like, you're not going to make it. And the line that they use when they hire me is like, I'm going to be your best client ever.
- [63:13]
Cody Sanchez
That's a, that's a red flag.
- [63:15]
Dan Go
That's the red flag.
- [63:16]
Cody Sanchez
Wow.
- [63:17]
Dan Go
Because to me and this. And I'm like, cool, I would love for you to be my best client ever. I'd love for you to have, like a before and after. But what I. What I've come to realize is that why you're doing it is probably the wrong reason. You're doing it for external validation. You're not doing it for an intrinsic motivation to get yourself healthy, to make yourself feel better, to become a better version of yourself. You're doing it. You're saying, I'm gonna be your best client ever. I'm just like, oh, crap, that's like the death knell. I wish you hadn't said that to me. And then for me, I'll automatically be like, no, no, no, no. Like, do this for yourself. I don't care. Like, you're hiring me. Do this for yourself. But when people say that, I'm automatically being like, you're. You're probably doing this for the wrong reason at this very moment.
- [64:04]
Cody Sanchez
That's so fascinating.
- [64:05]
Dan Go
Yeah.
- [64:06]
Cody Sanchez
All right, we have a little exercise we do at the end of every podcast. Okay, you ready?
- [64:11]
Dan Go
I think. I think so.
- [64:13]
Cody Sanchez
Okay. We give you this card, and on it you write a little letter to either young dan, maybe it's 24 year old, to Dan, or to the 24 year olds. Dan's listening in the audience. What would you tell them? And then you can choose to read whatever you want from that letter afterwards on the podcast.
- [64:32]
Dan Go
Man.
- [64:32]
Cody Sanchez
So we're gonna just give you a few minutes. We'll step out.
- [64:34]
Dan Go
Okay.
- [64:34]
Cody Sanchez
And then you think about it. We'll come right back.
- [64:36]
Dan Go
And this is a message to 20, 24 year old Dan.
- [64:38]
Cody Sanchez
Yes.
- [64:39]
Dan Go
Okay. Oh, my gosh.
- [64:40]
Cody Sanchez
So what do you want to read to us that you would tell young Dan?
- [64:44]
Dan Go
Oh, man. All right. Dear Dan, first off, let's get this out of the way. I love you. I love you regardless if you're a degenerate or a multi millionaire. But let's be straight up right now. You're not living up to your full potential. There is a world awaiting you, but only if you choose to pick yourself up and take responsibility for your life. You are so much more than you are showing right now. Lean into your resistance and trust that there's a plan for you. This is actually a line my mom would always tell me when I would sit across from her desk. She would sit me down at her conference table. She would have this talk with me every single time I was fucking up. And then the line was, you can do anything. You can do anything you put your mind to, and it's time to show the world what you can do. I love you. Signed, Dan. Go.
- [65:37]
Cody Sanchez
Ah.
- [65:38]
Dan Go
Yeah.
- [65:38]
Cody Sanchez
So beautiful, Dan.
- [65:39]
Dan Go
Go Dango. Yeah. I appreciate it.
- [65:44]
Cody Sanchez
We are going to keep them.
- [65:45]
Dan Go
Thank you.
- [65:46]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah. And we're going to put them into a book for everybody.
- [65:48]
Dan Go
Oh, wow.
- [65:49]
Cody Sanchez
And it's, it's just like a little lovely reminding. Sometimes, like when we're on stages like this, people think that we're whatever we are.
- [65:56]
Dan Go
Yeah.
- [65:57]
Cody Sanchez
And even if we're giving advice or telling our stories, like we've been in all the highs and lows between all of us, we're all a mess. So I think it's really a beautiful thing to share.
- [66:06]
Dan Go
Thank you. Thank you. And it's something to be said about the people that we see on social media where it's like, we have to understand that we're talking to human beings right here.
- [66:20]
Cody Sanchez
100%.
- [66:21]
Dan Go
Yeah.
- [66:21]
Cody Sanchez
He's super flawed.
- [66:23]
Dan Go
Extremely flawed.
- [66:24]
Cody Sanchez
Super up and just like trying to human as much as we can.
- [66:28]
Dan Go
Yeah. And I, I think about this often where it's just like in the scope and the scale, it varies, but it's just like you're speaking to millions of people and you're also getting the feedback from millions of people.
- [66:43]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah.
- [66:45]
Dan Go
And I don't know what it's like to be a girl. I don't know what it's like to be a woman. But when I look at social media, I'm like, holy. Women get it way worse than guys do. I like, God damn. Like, especially from guys, like, what's up with that? Like, anyways. But it's, it's, it's a weird game that we're in right now, and I think this is like something that no one has ever navigated in our lives. And, And I think both of us are doing a pretty damn good job of it. I think you're doing a great job of it as well.
- [67:15]
Cody Sanchez
Right back at you. Thank you. Yeah. Well, it's always good. You know what I really helps me is like meeting other people that are online. Not, not for the cloud or for. It's like to text you and Saw Hill and some of my other friends when stuff's going sideways and going, hey, did I do something wrong here? Or is this like being taken away? You know, did. Should, should I be changing? Am I presenting myself some way or do I have to just like, ignore the noise? And it's really helpful to have friends that'll tell you straight up.
- [67:42]
Dan Go
Yeah.
- [67:42]
Cody Sanchez
You know the truth.
- [67:43]
Dan Go
Yeah. It's, it's one thing to hear from like your family, be like, hey, don't worry about it, whatever. But it's, I mean, that's why this whole creator space, it's such a very intimate space, and a lot of us know each other. A lot of us actually meet each other in person, and it's so. It's so beneficial to bounce this stuff off of each other. A thousand. And also with, like, we were talking about some of the book stuff and the things I'm going through with that, it's just like. It's just so beneficial to talk to someone that understands where that person is coming from, the things that they are going through, the decisions that they have to make in their lives. And. And yeah, I'm grateful that I'm friends with a lot of the people that I interact with online.
- [68:28]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah, same. Yeah. And it does. You really quickly figure out who your real homies with or not too, because that's the other one. I always think that I'm friends with everybody. I'm like a golden retriever.
- [68:38]
Dan Go
Yeah.
- [68:38]
Cody Sanchez
And I'm like, oh, wait, we're not friends. You're just charism. Neck. Whoops.
- [68:43]
Dan Go
It's so funny because you probably see this depending on the levels of which you jump across. Yeah. So you know your homies with someone when you're, like, had a hundred thousand followers on Instagram, and then you hit a million, and then that homie's just like, she got too big for her britches. And like, all right. Yeah. And it's just like. And for me, I'm like, I still look at that person like, you're my boy. You're my homie. But it's so weird because they kind of, like, see you as, like, being different, in a sense, when you're completely the same person as you were when you were at a hundred thousand values, everything like that.
- [69:22]
Cody Sanchez
So, yeah.
- [69:23]
Dan Go
Yeah, it's. It's. It's weird to see sometimes.
- [69:26]
Cody Sanchez
I know. I totally get. I remember when I first met Tim Ferriss and, like, started becoming friendly with him. I didn't understand because I wasn't very big on the Internet thing, that whole, like, not wanting to be public and, you know, his essays that he's written on the subject. And now after being a little bit public, I'm like, oh, I do get it. It's a huge blessing. Like, oh, my God, it's such a huge gift and responsibility. But it also can. If you. If you don't have your head on straight, it can drive you crazy and you can turn into a psychopath.
- [69:58]
Dan Go
So. So I have this thing where I'm. I'm so blessed that I got started late. And yes, I would say, like. Yeah, it's like maybe you got started at like 35 or something. Yeah, whatever.
- [70:11]
Cody Sanchez
That sounds right.
- [70:11]
Dan Go
And it's just like, you have the requisite maturity to deal with this stuff. I can't imagine myself at 20 years old having to deal with this.
- [70:20]
Cody Sanchez
No, dude, I'd be Justin Bieber today.
- [70:21]
Dan Go
Oh, for sure.
- [70:22]
Cody Sanchez
Losing it.
- [70:23]
Dan Go
Oh, for sure.
- [70:23]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah. I mean, he's actually doing pretty good. I'd be Britney Spears. I'd be like, those knife job. I mean, and it's, you know, honestly, especially because people kind of forget when you get this much attention that you can get in your own head and also turn yourself into a dick. You know, and you can make everybody's looking. Nobody really cares. They care about for like 30 seconds online.
- [70:41]
Dan Go
Yes.
- [70:41]
Cody Sanchez
But then you go into the real world and people are mostly only nice.
- [70:44]
Dan Go
Yes.
- [70:44]
Cody Sanchez
You know, unless you're in politics, then I think people are probably mean.
- [70:47]
Dan Go
Yeah.
- [70:47]
Cody Sanchez
We're gonna stay out of that. I'm stick with bank accounts. You stick with bodies 100 and we'll take it from there.
- [70:52]
Dan Go
Yeah, I don't, I don't want to get into the that space, but that.
- [70:56]
Cody Sanchez
Would be un Canadian of you, actually.
- [70:58]
Dan Go
You know, Aren't you guys, like, too nice? No, no, not anymore.
- [71:03]
Cody Sanchez
That's actually true. That's actually true.
- [71:05]
Dan Go
We don't have that moniker anymore.
- [71:06]
Cody Sanchez
Dang it. I know. I watched that hockey game the other night where they booed the American flag. French Canadians, though, that's a different breed. I like that crew. Nick's laughing because he was a hockey player. He knows it's up.
- [71:19]
Dan Go
But the thing is, like, we did.
- [71:23]
Cody Sanchez
Beat the out of you guys then, but then you came back and then you beat us next time. So now we're all even and everybody could be cool.
- [71:29]
Dan Go
I don't have that sports thing in me, you know? Like, I don't have that. I, I just don't, you know, and, but then at the same time, when the Canadians were booming the Americans, I was just like, oh, we got a long way to go, man.
- [71:46]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah.
- [71:46]
Dan Go
Got a long way to go. If this is happening and, and you're, you're seeing them as an enemy right now.
- [71:52]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah, it's true.
- [71:53]
Dan Go
Oh, I was just like. It broke my heart when it happened. It did. Because I was just like, that's not. I mean, it says so many things.
- [72:00]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah.
- [72:01]
Dan Go
That I, I am just not in agreement with whatsoever.
- [72:05]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah, I agree. Well, we'll let you hang out in America now.
- [72:08]
Dan Go
Still then I, I, I, I was actually telling my panels like, oh, yeah, we're gonna become the 51st state. And they're pretty much, like, locked into the media scape. And I just. They're like. Like, I was like, oh, too soon.
- [72:22]
Cody Sanchez
Stir in the pot.
- [72:23]
Dan Go
Yeah. But I'm kind of like. I kind of like, would it be.
- [72:27]
Cody Sanchez
The worst thing ever?
- [72:28]
Dan Go
I don't think it'd be bad, you know?
- [72:30]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think. I think that if we can't make jokes about stuff like this, then we've lost our minds. But I'm sure people will tell us in the YouTube comments whether they like it. Like, the thing is that Dan go. I'm unfollowing him.
- [72:43]
Dan Go
Yeah, pretty much. No way.
- [72:46]
Cody Sanchez
Your Twitter is. And I'm not saying this just because you're on here, but. Or X. I can't keep calling it that. But is so good. And I go to it a lot, and I think about, like, the way that Dan phrases this for the body is what I think for the bank account. And then I kind of, like, try to craft. Like, I think it's so.
- [73:02]
Dan Go
It's.
- [73:02]
Cody Sanchez
It really makes me think about things. And so it's. You do a lot more than just talk about health.
- [73:07]
Dan Go
Thank you. I. And for me, it's like, there's so many corollaries between the finance and also the fitness. All of the same principles almost apply.
- [73:18]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah.
- [73:19]
Dan Go
But then it's just like, you just. You have to. It's almost like you tweak them a little bit.
- [73:23]
Cody Sanchez
Yeah.
- [73:24]
Dan Go
And. And for me, I guess, like, when you become so deep in. In one little area, then you start to see the world in that area. You start to kind of, like, mold the world and, like. Okay, so that's, like. That's why I call it the body dashboard. That's why you have to know your numbers and, like, all this kind of stuff, because that's. I'm both into entrepreneurship and fitness. So it's like. Like, when you get deep into something, then it just becomes this view in which you see the world, and you try to kind of expand that a little bit. But. But, yeah, I try to do my best. I'm not perfect, but, you know.
- [73:55]
Cody Sanchez
No, it's good stuff, man. Thank you for all the inspiration. You're the man.
- [73:58]
Dan Go
Appreciate it. I look up to you.
- [74:02]
Cody Sanchez
You got a laundromat fetish.
- [74:04]
Dan Go
I'm honestly, like, I do. I look at the way in which you present yourself. I look at the way in which you are actually dealing with conflict. Commendable. Very commendable. Because I've seen some shit, and I'm just like, okay, cool. Like, she ignores and, you know, doesn't give this shit energy. Right. But at the same time, I, I look at the rocket ship that you're on and I look at the way in which you are doing things, and it comes from a place where I really do think it's like coming from a place where it's like you have this like black belt knowledge, you know, it's like the black belt, like sensei knowledge. And then you're doing in the way that's just so educating and entertaining. And I, I look, I look at your content. I'm just like, okay, cool. Like, this is. This is it right here. So. Yeah.
- [74:54]
Cody Sanchez
Nick, you hear that? Are we proud?
- [74:55]
Dan Go
Yes.
- [74:56]
Cody Sanchez
Double thumbs up.
- [74:58]
Dan Go
Great job. No, you guys are doing fantastic work.
- [75:00]
Cody Sanchez
Oh, you're the man. Dan, go. Thank you so much for having us. Dan, go on all the social.
- [75:04]
Dan Go
Yeah, Dango and all social.