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An entrepreneur straight out of New York City. Michael Chernow. What's cracking? What was the exact moment you realized your habits were destroying your life? I remember very clearly I was leaving a party on Monday night and it was Tuesday morning at this point, and we were down in the financial district, this is probably 2002, and I was with a crew of guys and it was like seven, six, seven o' clock in the morning. And we were pro. We were definitely up all night, but we could have been up for two days, who knows? And at this point in my drinking journey, my drinking and using journey, I had become violent. I just was not. I didn't have the. I had no moral compass at all. And we were. The party was down on John Street. I remember it was like a Monday night party and we were all waiting, trying to get a cab, and this guy in a suit walked in front of us, like 20ft in front of us, and then threw his hand up to try to hail a cab. It was rude, but he didn't deserve what I did. And as soon as he put his hand up to hail the cab, I screamed at him, what the fuck are you doing? And he turned around and kind of gave a snide look. And then I just charged him and beat him up. And I remember after that happened, I was pretty disgusted with myself because I knew that that wasn't who I wasn't me, I'm not that guy. And I destroyed that guy's day, probably destroyed his. And honestly, I was with five guys. Would I have done that alone? Probably not. No matter what state I was in, I probably wouldn't have. And he knew that he was not in a position to really fight back because, you know, it was just he and I, but there was five guys behind me cheering me on. And he knew that if it got out of hand, I'm sure he wouldn't have had a. His day would have gotten worse. So I just knew at that moment, you know, that was probably a year or two years before I really got. Before I got sober, that I had zero control. Zero control. And my moral compass was completely gone and depleted. And I can't believe sitting here now telling that story, that that's what I did in those days. But yeah, I think that was one of those moments because I remember after, you know, after that happened, I was like, wow, why did I do that? That was just, why did I do that? And I couldn't figure it out. I couldn't figure out if it was anger that I had inside of me or Self hatred or was it the drugs? But I do remember not being able to control it. And as soon as that guy turned around and gave me like a snide look, I had this sense of entitlement that I was going to destroy him because he was. It was another thing to remind me of how much of a piece of shit I was. Why do most people underestimate the power of small daily habits. When people are looking to make a big change? I want to lose weight, I want to get sober, I want to level up in my career. I want to get married. Am I in the right marriage? Big changes. I do believe that the general mindset is big changes, big decisions. I got to change everything. And what they don't realize is that the little wins on a daily basis, stacked up, make the biggest waves. Because trying to walk into the gym and pick up 415 pounds on a deadlift, having not lifted heavy weight before, will never work. As a matter of fact, it'll debilitate you and you won't be able to get back to the gym for a long time if you actually Try to lift £415 with everything you've got. And typically when people want to make a change, they're like, I'm going to do this with everything I got. And then they go and they try to just like, stop, you know, stop eating sugar, stop eating dairy, stop eating bread, stop eating after 6 o' clock at night. You know, like all of those things, right? It's the little, it's the little things. It's, it's walking into the gym and picking up a barbell and learning the mechanics. Little wins, you know, that make these big changes. And typically big changes take an army, not just one person on a mission. You know, typically the big changes, you know. Yeah. What does creatures of habit actually mean to you? When I was thinking about launching Creatures of Habit, first of all, the name Creatures of Habit, I am a creature of habit. My habits literally killed me. I overdosed and died. And somehow, some way, God gave me the grace and didn't take me. And when I finally reached out my hand for help, said, please, I'm ready, I was very quickly met with a list of things to consider doing instead of drinking and getting high all the time. And I learned that the decisions that we make on a daily basis dictate our life day to day. We have really one day to live, right? Like, yesterday's gone, tomorrow is not guaranteed. And so life exists in a day, minute by minute, hour by hour. And when I was Thinking about creatures of habit. And I was thinking about what actually defines my overcoming adversity and success as a human being in life today. Where my happiness resides, it's in the habits that I've committed to on a day to day basis. And I'm not perfect, of course, right? No one's perfect. But that lifestyle of choosing better habit has given me absolute freedom in my, in my existence today. And so I, I was trying to think about a business that I could create where I'd be able to tell that story. A business that I could create that yes, of course, was going to have an opportunity to drive revenue and scale and grow. But really the foundation and the, the energy of creatures of habit is clearly defining this idea that our habits will make us or break us. And you never know what could be the one that is the catalyst for you in making just the next best decision. For me, I started my day with oatmeal every day when I was in my darkest times, just getting out of addiction and into sobriety. And what I didn't realize at the time was that that nutritional win was increasing my level of confidence that I could do something consistently that was healthy, that was good for me and something that I actually look forward to and could stick to. And so it was a springboard for me that oatmeal in the morning was just like a symbol of success. It was a win. It was just like a little, little opportunity for me to be like, all right, onto the next good decision. And at the end of the day, what I've also learned is good or great decisions make good or great decisions happen. It's a domino effect. If you start your day hitting snooze and staying in bed, you get up, you don't make your bed, you grab a donut. The chances of you going from a snooze to a not make a bed to a donut, the chances of you going to a delicious healthy salad for lunch feeling awesome, slim, you know, and so that's the, that's the real mission behind Creatures of Habit is this idea that, you know, placing, placing little flagpoles throughout people's day with meal one with daily bar, with creature sleep, that can just help them with those little wins. And whether you are someone that's struggling in some area of your life and you just need a little bit of inspiration or you need, and not you need a, a thing to actually be able to feel like you've won. Because at the, also at the end of the day, human beings are conditioned to want to win. Winning feels good, you know, and, and it's really, really hard to control wins. It's very difficult. You can control what you consume. You can, you can control how you move your body in most cases, and you can control when you go to sleep, you know, at night. And so I wanted to really have this business that would allow me to really tell my story of overcoming adversity and give people tools that I used and, and use as little pillars throughout my day. You know, I start my day like this every day. I started with this. The relationship that human beings have with food is, it's a non negotiable relationship. We have to have that relationship. We have to eat. It's a necessary component of life. Some people will say, oh, you can go, you know, whatever without eating. Good for you, right? Like 99.999% of the world is going to eat. And, and so it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a very, very intimate relationship. It is a very, very difficult relationship in many cases, right? You got to think about like you're, you're eating something, you're putting something into your actual body and your body is going to metabolize that and then ultimately build the human right or not, you know. And so it's a very intimate relationship and it's a very difficult one. And a lot of people, especially with all the options today, just don't know where to start. And so I said, man, if I can create just like an, like an a one stop shop, easy to implement product that I know has stood the test of time for me, if I can give people that, whether you're an elite athlete or you're someone that's just starting your journey and making better decisions, this is a win. This is going to fuel your performance as an elite human. This is also going to give you a win for someone that's just starting to climb out of the hole. You, you know, and, and that's what we did. And so that's what creatures of habit is. You know, it's way more than an oatmeal protein bar, hot chocolate business. It's, it's a business that really says it's never too late. And even if you are on the other side, there's never, there's, there's always room for another tool in the arsenal. You know, how did addiction and recovery shape the way you think about discipline? Discipline is available for every single human on the planet. Discipline is free. It costs no money. Discipline, in my opinion, is the Absolute greatest gift and asset I have as a human being. Because with discipline, anything is possible. And it depends on what stage you are in your life. Right? Like, it would be very difficult for me to say, okay, I'm going to get disciplined about being an NFL quarterback right now. But if I was 13 and I said I want to be an NFL quarterback, apply discipline to that in a very real way. You have a shot. You have a shot. Discipline is, I have a love affair with discipline. Discipline. I really do. I, I, I wear it on my, my hand. It's on my wall at my gym, at home. And it's not like a, you know, one of these. Like you walk into a, you know, headquarters of some company and see like the core values on the wall. Like discipline is truly what has given me the grace to live the life I live today. Knowing that I can do what I say I'm going to do every time. And if I can't, if I don't believe I'm going to do it, or if I don't believe I can do it, which is rare for me, believe, like feeling like doing something and then having the thought, oh, I don't think I can do this, it's impossible. I love feeling that way because that pushes me forward. But doing what I say I'm going to do is what has, has really made me the man I am today. I think that is the definition. I don't, I don't want to, you know, I'm a male, right? So I can only speak from the male side of the street. I don't know what it's like to walk in a female's body. But I do know today that what I think, what I think defines a man today is someone that, that does what they say they're going to do in a positive way. And. That is the definition of discipline. It's just given me. Discipline is the, is the key to the car. You know, without it, car is in the shop. Why do you think people keep self sabotaging? Fear is the foundation of 98% of failure. Fear. And the thing about fear that I've learned over the years is that fear is false. Fear is a story that we tell ourselves. Fear is a self fabricated novel of what could or is going to happen. Fear, I learned in the early days of my recovery, stands for false evidence appearing real. Not real false. And. Most people, all people, live with fear. Fear is actually way more prevalent in most people's lives than bliss and joy. And that's a shame. But it's Just a fact, in my opinion, right? We feel fear way stronger than we feel. Unbelievable, right? Um, and, and so fear, though, is in many cases not real. The story that we tell ourselves is very real with fear. And so I think once people get close enough to this potential place, like when you are getting close to an accomplished goal, there is no way around it being hard. If you set a lofty goal and you get closer and closer to that goal, the closer and closer you get to it, the harder and harder it's going to be to win, to accomplish. And I think that is the reason why most people throw in the towel. I hate saying this, but it's just a fact. Most people quit. Most people quit little and big things. And that's why entrepreneurship has been so glamorized. That's why elite athletes are so glamorized. That's why Hollywood movie stars are so glamorized. Because getting to those goals is rare. Only because most people quit. Most people quit. And so if you can commit to not quit, commit to not quit. No matter how hard it gets, commit to not quit. I'll tell a story. So I was on this 75 hour Navy Seal simulation course, and I signed up for it because A, I just wanted to see if I had what it took. I wanted to see if I had what it took physically. I wanted to see if I had what it took more. More importantly for me mentally. And I also wanted to just strip back some layers and just get, you know, get. Get down to some rawness. Anyway, 30 guys, 31 guys signed up for this thing. 25 guys showed up after paying for it, and nine guys accomplished it. Nine guys finished was one of the hardest things I've done. Not physically, but mentally for sure, because the instructors were really trying to get everybody to quit. I mean, that was their goal. Their goal was to get you to quit. They wanted to weed out every single possible dark corner of weakness that you have. So their goal was to get you to quit, but their ultimate goal was to make. Was to. To have you accomplish it. Because, you know, when you walk away from something like that, 75 hours of just absolute pain and destruction. Very little sleep, very little food, freezing cold most of the time. Because if you. If they didn't have us in the freezing cold ocean in February, they had us in freezing cold water outside. And so we were cold and wet all the time. And I. About 65 hours in, I'd commit. I. I could, I walking in there, I said, there's no way I'm walking. I'M I'm quitting. There's not a chance. But there was a moment there in the probably, you know, 65th hour or something like that, we were close where I started doubting myself. Why are you here? What the are you doing here? This is ridiculous. Like, why are you paying to go through this pain? You don't need to do this, dude. You've already come this far. Like, just, you know, do you really want to do another 10 hours? And something switched inside of me that I didn't know was there at that point in my life, which was this idea that pain is 100% temporary. Pain is fleeting. It's temporary. It is impossible, unless you are getting tortured to death, to experience pain for the rest of your life. It's going to. It's going to end at some point. And the greatest way to combat pain is to 100% overwhelm yourself with joy, even in the. In the pain. So what I started doing, and these guys thought I was out of my mind, but I started smiling, laughing, smiling in going through trudging the mud, hard, full blood, like, bloody raw elbows, raw knees, like skin stripped off my back. For the most part, I just started laughing and smiling. And I was not going to allow this fleeting experience of pain to derail my ability to. To conquer this thing. And the seals named me the honor man of that experience. The men that we finished with name me the honor man of the experience. And it showed me that, you know, you hear pain is temporary a lot, right? I mean, it's not an uncommon phrase. It's true. Fear is a lie. Pain is temporary is the truth. And someone DMed me the other night, and I had no idea who she was, but she was telling, you know, she was DMing. She was like, I'm struggling. I'm struggling. And in. In her addiction. And for me, as a sober human, 21 years sober, having somebody reach out to me like that, whether it's a. A bot or it's a. It's. It's. It's a. It's someone trying to scam me or whatever. Like, I felt the need to take action, to call this person. She said, please call me. And so I called her. And you know what? She was. She was struggling. She was hysterical. She couldn't make out a sentence. And all I kept saying to her was, take a breath. This is temporary. Take a breath. This is temporary. Because it's true, you know, and so for people listening to this, no matter what you're going through in your life right now, I Promise you, you will get through it. You might not come out unscathed, but you will get through it. Because guess what? If you're alive, you've gotten through every single moment of your life to date. There's not a single thing that you have not gone through. You're alive. Every single hard, painful. This could be the end. I can't believe I have to. Like, this is terrible. This, all of those. You've made it through the other side. It's a fact. If you're still breathing, that's just the truth, right? And so humans are resilient. Humans are fucking resilient. And we can come back from a lot. Commit not to quit. Yeah. You know, I do believe that fear is the killer of 99.9, of all great things. Most people quit for the. For the finish line. You know, motivation is overrated. Agree or disagree. Motivation is overrated is, you know, I mean, there's. I don't think motivation is going to get you to where you want to go, but I do believe that there are enough people that need motivation to get the foot in the door. So I don't think motivation is overrated. I think motivation is. Is necessary for a lot of people, especially people just taking. Even having the glimmer of thought of taking a step in a. In a different direction to. To improve their lives. I think, again, I have to go back to discipline, right? Like, motivation is. Is definitely a stepping stone to. To discipline. And no one can. No one can. Discipline is something that you have to grab a hold of yourself, right? Like, no one is going to be 24 hours a day, seven days a week with you, forcing you to do things. So I do think that, like, people seeing these little glimmers of motivational pieces ultimately feeds the machine. So I don't want to do away with. With motivation. I think motivation is, you know, whenever my kids have a basketball game or a, you know, a soccer game, and we're driving to the. To the field, we listen to Coach Payne just screaming motivational speeches. And my kids love it because they get out of the car and they are fired up. And does that mean that they're going to perform better on the field? I don't know. But does it mean that there's a chance of them performing better on the field? Yeah, I love motivation.