1017. Q&AF: Passed Up For Promotion, Optimizing Business Output & Staying True To Your Word

Summary

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Podcast Summary: REAL AF with Andy Frisella

Episode 1017: Q&AF: Passed Up For Promotion, Optimizing Business Output & Staying True To Your Word

Date: April 20, 2026
Host: Andy Frisella with DJ

Episode Overview

In this Q&AF episode, Andy Frisella responds to three listener questions centered on career growth, business focus, and personal discipline. The discussion is unfiltered, pragmatic, and at times blunt—delivering hard truths about personal responsibility, honesty in self-assessment, and what it takes to actually succeed both at work and in life. Andy and DJ challenge entitlement, call out victim mindsets, and lay out systems for measurable improvement, especially for young listeners.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Getting Passed Up for Promotion

(Starts ~04:23)

• Question: A listener is frustrated after being passed up twice for a management promotion at a trucking company, feeling favoritism is at play.

• Main Idea: Andy tears apart the idea that favoritism is the only factor, emphasizing instead that if you were undeniably great, the promotion wouldn’t even be a question.

  Key Insights:

  • Businesses "don’t exist to piss money away," and winners become favorites, not the other way around.
  • If the results aren’t there, it’s on you: “If you were that great at your fing job, you would have got the promotion… You’re getting passed over for a fing reason you’re unwilling to admit.” (04:23)
  • Stop blaming external factors and examine your own skills, attitude, and work ethic.
  • The only way to guarantee a promotion or recognition is to become undeniable—so good that “it’s laughable” for someone less qualified to be considered.

  Memorable Quotes:

  • "You have to be so much better than the person next to you that if the conversation comes up, 'Who’s better—this or that?' it’s laughable. That’s what undeniable means." (05:50 – 07:00)
  • “You want to know who I like the best? The ones that do their f***ing job the best. You know why? Because it makes my life easier and we win more.” (07:48)
  • “If you want to win, you have to be undeniably great…There’s such a gap, it’s not even a question.” (08:44 – 09:49)
  • DJ adds: “True winners, if they got passed up, they still look internally for what they didn’t do well enough.” (10:50)

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2. Figuring Out What Matters in Business

(Starts ~12:00)

• Question: With the flood of advice, tools, and strategies out there, how do you determine what’s actually productive in running your business—and what’s just busywork?

  Main Idea: Focus on critical tasks—actions that undeniably move your business forward. Most business advice on the internet is worthless unless it’s coming from someone with real results.

  Key Insights:

  • Most “marketing geniuses on the internet” haven’t actually built anything substantial.
  • Doing > consuming: “Watching a video on cold calling versus just cold calling.”
  • Learn by doing and through observation of proven players.
  • Clearly distinguish critical tasks (forward-motion actions, e.g., making calls, meeting clients) from ancillary tasks (life maintenance, errands); critical tasks come first.
  • Beware “success zombies”—people who endlessly consume content but don’t take action.

  Memorable Quotes:

  • “You have to be able to identify what’s really going to move you forward. If you lack the ability to define critical tasks…you won’t get anywhere.” (12:37 – 14:19)
  • “As an entrepreneur, you learn everything on the job.” (14:22)
  • “If you're not smart enough to determine who’s credible, you’re not smart enough to win.” (17:09 – 18:04)

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3. Staying True to Your Word (Especially to Yourself)

(Starts ~19:03)

• Question: A 22-year-old listener notices he always follows through when others rely on him, but struggles to keep commitments to himself. How can he fix this?

  Main Idea: The difference is discipline and adherence, a skill Andy says is trainable—primarily through systems designed to sharpen mental toughness (like 75 Hard and the Live Hard program).

  Key Insights:

  • Discipline isn’t an innate trait but a “perishable skill” requiring continual practice.
  • Andy recommends his “Power List” system: do five critical tasks per day; once completed, the rest of the day is yours. This is sustainable and compounds long-term.
  • Consistency alone isn’t valuable—it’s about what you’re consistent in. “You’re already consistent…just consistently bad” if your results suck.
  • Early 20s is the best time to be selfish, focus on yourself, and build—contrary to trendy advice about “enjoying your 20s.”
  • Building early leads to a much higher quality of life later; it’s not about being a “recluse” but about working with intent.

  Memorable Quotes:

  • “Mental toughness, grit, perseverance, self-confidence—they’re all skills you have to keep sharp. If you do that over the next 15 years…you’re going to be so far ahead of everybody else it’s going to be ridiculous.” (19:03 – 23:23)
  • “Consistency is NOT the key to success. The right execution, consistently, is the key.” (24:05 – 24:13)
  • “You have to be selfish before you can be selfless. You gotta take care of your own.” (25:22 – 26:07)
  • “If you do [the Power List] the way I designed it, you cannot lose. It’s impossible.” (29:25 – 29:55)
  • “There is a point of diminishing returns in a single workday…When you go past five [critical tasks], you can’t keep that up, and that compounds into feeling ineffective.” (30:24 – 31:21)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “If you want to win, you gotta be great…It’s just hard.” — Andy (11:07 – 12:00)
• “There’s so much free information out there. What are you guys doing?” (17:10)
• “It’s not listening to everybody, it’s paying attention to everybody. It’s a different thing.” (16:04 – 17:09)
• “Success is real simple: inputs and outputs. Did you do the work at the right level? What was the result?... You don’t have to rub sage on your ass.” (34:19 – 36:13)
• “I’m not going to fluff you…This is for people that want to fucking win.” — Andy (37:22 – 37:43)

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Timestamps to Key Segments

• 04:23 – "Getting Passed Up for Promotion"
• 12:00 – "How to Focus on What Matters in Your Business"
• 19:03 – "Following Through on Your Word to Yourself"
• 23:50 – Consistency vs. Effective Consistency
• 25:22 – On Being Selfish Before Selfless
• 29:25 – The Power List Method
• 34:19 – Calling Out the 'Magic' and Spiritual Shortcut Advice

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Tone & Style

• Direct, unapologetically blunt, and motivational—designed to challenge excuses and encourage real, measurable action.
• Andy and DJ maintain an energetic, sometimes comedic back-and-forth but always circle back to personal responsibility and strategic execution.

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For Listeners

If you’re looking for no-nonsense advice on business and self-improvement—without the fluff—this is an episode to bookmark. Andy’s systems (75 Hard, Power List) are laid out clearly, with reasoning that’s immediately practical. The core takeaway: do the actual work, get undeniably good, and track your critical tasks. No excuses, no shortcuts, just results.

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Transcript

[Unknown Rapper]

Yeah went from sleeping on the floor now my jury box froze up Pole stove Counted millions in a cold bad booted swole Got her own bank roll can't fold just a no head shot

[Andy Vercella]

case Cloak, cloak what is up? Guys? It's Andy Vercella. And this is the show for the realists. Say goodbye to the lies, the fakeness and delusions of modern society and welcome to reality. Guys, Today we have Q&AF. That's where you submit questions and we give you the answers. You could submit your questions a few different ways. Dj, tell them how they could submit their questions.

[DJ]

Guys, email your questions into ask andy andy forella.com or you can drop them in the comment section of the Q and A videos or click the link in the description and submit them there for a chance to be answered on the show.

[Andy Vercella]

If this is your first time listening, we have shows within the show. Tonight you're going to see CTI live, that is live on X and YouTube at 7pm central time. This is where we cruise the Internet. We talk about things that are going on in the world. We speculate, we have a couple laughs, we joke around. We talk about how we the people have to solve these problems going on in the world. Other times we have real talk. Real Talk is just 5, 20 minutes and me giving you some real talk. And then Sometimes we have 75 hard verses. That's where people who come on the show who have completed 75 hard come on and they talk about how they were before, how they are now, and how they use the 75 hard program to get their life in order. If you're unfamiliar with 75 hard, it is the initial phase of the live hard program, which is available in its entirety for free at episode 208 on the audio feed. Again, that's 208 on the audio feed. It's on the audio feed only. It's not on YouTube. There's also a book, the Book on Mental Toughness. It goes over the entire live hard program and it is not free. There's also a whole bunch of chapters on mental toughness, why it's important and how to cultivate it in your life. Get [e-mail] and yeah, that's pretty much it. One of the things we do here that's different than everybody else, we're the biggest show in the world, doesn't run ads. So we make a little deal with you guys. It's very simple. If you get value out of the show, if it makes you think, if it makes you laugh, it Gives you new perspective. It's something you need to, you know, you think needs to be heard or something that helps you out. Do us a favor and share that show, okay? Sharing the show one time a year does not count as sharing the show, all right? Real talk. This cost me a couple million bucks to fucking do every year. I don't take a single dollar for it. And I ask very simply that all you guys do is help us grow the show. All right? So don't be a hoe.

[DJ]

Share the show.

[Andy Vercella]

All right. What's up?

[DJ]

Good morning. How are you?

[Andy Vercella]

Good.

[DJ]

Good to see you.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah, yeah.

[DJ]

We were trying to. We were fucking with the lights earlier. Felt couldn't figure out where the setting was. I don't remember being that dark, dude. I don't remember it being this dark.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah, we had two week little hiatus, man.

[DJ]

Good, though, man. How are you doing?

[Andy Vercella]

Good, you know, good.

[DJ]

Back in the saddle.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah, man. Feeling good.

[DJ]

Looking good.

[Andy Vercella]

Looking good. Yeah, you are. Yeah, that's right. I'm excited to get back on cti.

[DJ]

Yeah. Well, this can be fun.

[Andy Vercella]

There's some things I wanted to say last couple weeks, I didn't get to say. I probably won't say them anyway because it's old, but we'll talk about that later.

[DJ]

Yeah, we get to it, man. We get to it. This is. This is. This is the episode where people get better.

[Andy Vercella]

That's right.

[DJ]

I mean, they get better on ctl, so.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah. But this is the main thing.

[DJ]

This is getting better. Better. Yeah. So let's do that. I got three good ones for you guys. Andy, question number one. Andy, I work for a trucking company. I recently got passed up twice for promotions in the last eight months for a management position for my shift that I currently have been operating for eight years now. I realize that time doesn't mean it's the impact you make within that time. The first promotion, the person that got it was the favorite to get it, but never worked nighttime operations. The problem is that she never started that position because she just needed the manager title for another promotion. The second time I got passed up was a person that worked under her in a different department, and she had a big influence on his promotion. Everyone in management is realizing this is not based on work performance. It's a lot of favoritism. How do I handle loss moving forward, knowing that that position is handed to someone else rather than earning it? I guess. How do you. How do you.

[Andy Vercella]

Are we fucking serious here? Like, are we fucking serious, bro? You suck. You suck at your job. If you were that great at your fucking job, you would have got the promotion. Ok, let's be fucking real. Businesses don't exist to fucking piss money away. They don't exist to give cousins jobs. They don't exist to fuck you over. They exist to fucking win. All right? So while you may think this and you may think, oh man, I'm getting passed over and blah, blah, blah, no, you're getting passed over for a fucking reason that you're unwilling to admit, okay? And it's probably that you got a bad attitude or you lack the capacity to lead or you bitch a lot or you cry a lot or, I don't know, maybe you wreck three trucks. I don't know. I don't know what it is, but something you're doing is not resonating with the leadership of the company. And while they hold your balls in their hand, you should probably figure out how to fucking make them like you. Yeah, okay, so how old did he say was?

[DJ]

Didn't say.

[Andy Vercella]

Okay, well, you're old enough to fucking know if you're old enough to drive a truck that the reason that you got passed by is because you fucking suck. So get better, dude. Like real talk, I'm sick of this shit you guys all fucking whine about. Get passed over. If it's even a question, is someone even close to as good as you? It's too close. That's the thing that you got to understand. When we talk about being undeniable, we talk about truly possessing what it takes to win. You have to be so much better than the person next to you that if the conversation comes up, who's better, this or that? It's laughable. That's the gap we're talking about here. We're not talking about splitting hairs. Oh, well, you know, they're. I don't know. You know, there should not be a discussion. You should be that much better than everybody else. And that is what the fuck undeniable means. So get your bitch ass shit out of here with this. I got passed over. You got. Okay, if you really got passed over because of these reasons, find a new place to work, all right? But I'm going to bet that that same exact shit is going to happen to you again. And I bet it's happened to you before. How many jobs have you had before where you got passed over and it was everybody else and it wasn't you? I bet you have this problem in your fucking relationship. I bet you have this problem with your friends. I bet you have this problem in your Career. I bet nothing is your fault. And I bet you will go to the grave thinking nothing is your fault and that the whole world conspires against you whenever you would just. If you would just figure out very simply that what it takes to win is greatness. It does not take almost greatness. It doesn't take kind of good. It doesn't take. I work hard. Working hard is the price of admission. You have to be skilled. You have to be good. You have to contribute. You have to earn the confidence of your leadership.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

If you're a leader, you have to earn the confidence of your team. This comes through undeniable winning effort and skill set. And right now you don't have it. Okay? I don't know. What. If I was your friend, this is what the I'd be telling you. You probably ruined a whole bunch of your life being like this. I don't know. It's, you know, Favoritism. Yeah, right. Oh, it's their favorite. Well, you know what? You know who my fucking favorites are? You know who my favorites are? It was a fucking win.

[DJ]

My win.

[Andy Vercella]

Fuck, dude. You want to know who I like the best? The ones who do their fucking job the best. You know why? Because it makes my life easier and we win more and it's better for everybody. Okay? Those are my fucking favorites. Shoot me, okay? Oh, he's got favorites. You're fucking right. I got favorites. 100%. Every fucking leader has favorites. And you know who the favorites are? The ones who do their fucking job without having to be harassed to do their fucking job. And they do it great. And they do it without fucking needing a whole bunch of hand holding and coddling and ass patting, which it sounds like you fucking need. So grow the fuck up. That's my answer.

[DJ]

I fucking love it, man. I love. Dude, it makes me think, too. It's like, you know, like. And I've heard you say this to employees, right? Like, nobody knows your name.

[Andy Vercella]

It's not their job to know your name. It's your job to make your name known.

[DJ]

That's what I'm saying.

[Andy Vercella]

Oh, man.

[DJ]

Why is that such a big lack?

[Andy Vercella]

Like, because everybody's got inflated egos, bro. No, everybody's done nothing and they expect everything. Yeah, everybody's, you know, thinks that they've accomplished the greatest thing in the world by breathing the air and. And blessing them with their presence. I hate to tell you this, dude, but your parents were wrong. Your teachers were wrong. Your aunts and uncles, they were wrong, too. Everybody that told you that, you were special for breathing the air. And that that was going to be enough for you to get respect and enough for you to be able to survive in this world was wrong. You need to wake the up and understand what the truth is. And the truth is simple. If you want to win, you have to be undeniably great. Undeniably great is not close to the next guy. It's. There's such a gap that it's not even a question, okay? It's like. It's like, is Shohei Ohtani. Should we have Shohei Ohtani play for us or should we have this AAA guy that's never played a game in his life?

[DJ]

Yeah, right.

[Andy Vercella]

Like, it's not a discussion, right? You need to be Ohtani, bro. And if you can't be Ohtani, what the you do, you ain't going to get paid like Ohtani. Okay? You understand? Yeah. This is very, very simple. The problem is all. You try to look for the cut around. You try to find the cheat code. You try to. And you waste your whole life doing it. You waste your whole life doing it. You end up bitter, frustrated, broke, angry, feeling like the world you over, when in reality, dude, you. You over. That's it. So get the out of here with your. Get passed over. You got passed over because you're not good enough. That's it.

[DJ]

Love it, dude. Oh, man, I love it, bro.

[Andy Vercella]

I'm tired of it.

[DJ]

I love it.

[Andy Vercella]

I'm tired of it. You guys are delusional sometimes, man. Not all of you, obviously, but like the out of here, dude. Oh, I. You know what? I'm in the NFL. I got, you know, the number one draft pick. I think I'll go ahead and play this undrafted guy and yeah, you know who's better? I'm sure they work out. Yeah, dude. Dude, did.

[DJ]

You know what? You know the craziest thing about this too, man, is that like the true winners, if they got passed up, they still will look internally for something they didn't do well enough. You know what I'm saying? Like. Like if they got passed up and well, I must not did this good enough.

[Andy Vercella]

No, not.

[DJ]

It's everybody else's fault.

[Andy Vercella]

No, all his favorites.

[DJ]

Like that's. It's a mindset thing.

[Andy Vercella]

It's a victim mindset, bro. Ass attitude that's infected people from the last 20 years of failed social strategy in the system. It's propaganda, okay? If you want to win, you got to be great. If you want to win the race, you got to be the fastest. If you want to Lift the most. You got to be the strongest if you want to earn the most money. You got to be willing to do shit that other people aren't willing to do. You got to be willing to do it longer, and you got to be willing to do it better. And you got to be willing to do it when you're tired and when you're sick and when you don't feel good and when fucking. You'd rather do anything else, even die than take another fucking step forward. Those are the motherfuckers that win, okay? Everybody else loses. Not. Not kind of loses. Everybody else loses, okay? This is a show about winning. If you want to win, get good at what the. You do so good that it's not even a discussion of who's of second best. It's really simple, dude. It's just hard.

[DJ]

I love it, dude. I love it. Guys. Andy, question number two. Andy, there's so much noise in business right now. Try this marketing strategy. Do this for social media. Put these systems in. Automate this. It feels like you could spend all day doing things that look productive but don't actually move the business forward. How do you figure out what really matters versus what's just busy work? I mean, 27 years and I'm sure you've tried everything, right? How'd you figure that?

[Andy Vercella]

All right, look, first off, you got to learn how to. All right? I'm gonna answer this as if I don't know anything, okay? Sometimes I forget that there's people that don't know. Yeah. Okay. The first thing you gotta understand is that most of these people on the Internet are full of. That is their brand. That's their product. What they're saying is their product that they're trying to sell. These people who claim to be marketing geniuses on the Internet, what have they done? What have they built? If they were that good at marketing, wouldn't they have their own company that was just totally whooping ass on everybody else? Do your due diligence, all right? That's the first thing. The second thing, you have to understand how to filter through the minutia and the. And figure out what the critical things that are going to move you forward are on a daily basis. If you lack the ability to define critical tasks or you lack the honesty because you're lazy, and you say, oh, these are critical tasks. When they're not really. You won't get anywhere, bro. You won't get anywhere. You have to be able to identify. And by the way, you have to be able to identify what that is. How did I do that? I've been doing this for 20 fucking seven years, bro. It's trial and error, but it's. It shouldn't be that hard for you to figure out what's going to get you further. Watching a video on, listening a podcast on branding or actually, you know, making some phone calls to actually build your brand out. Right. And like, doing some things with some real people. Like what? What?

[DJ]

Watching a video on cold calling versus just cold calling.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah. Like, dude, as an entrepreneur, you learn everything on the job. And if you're. If we're being real, every job, you learn everything on the job.

[DJ]

There's no difference in that sense.

[Andy Vercella]

There's no job out there that you don't learn. Like, you could read the training manual at Chick Fil A, you don't know how to make a chicken sandwich yet. No, you're gonna know how to make it once you make a couple.

[DJ]

Yeah, right. That's right.

[Andy Vercella]

Like, that's. That's what you got to do. So critical tasks, do they move your business forward? Is this a. A task that moves my business forward? Ancillary tasks. This is the shit I got to do today to live my life. I got to pick up the kids from school, I got to go to the grocery store. That's to do. List. Yeah. Critical list gets done first, Ancillary gets done second. Critical is the things that are going to move you forward. Ancillary are the things that you have to do in day to day. It's really simple.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

Critical tasks are things that you are actively doing to move forward. For me, that would. That looks mostly like making contact with people and having conversations with people. For you, that might be, you know, today is. Is tax day. Right. That might be. Okay. Making sure that my taxes are filed today. Right. Or it might be something else. But the point is it doesn't move you forward. Is this something that has to be done in your business? Does it get you down the pipe further? Right. It's really simple, dude.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Guest or Co-host]

I think it also brings up a topic of success zombies that you talk about all the time.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah.

[Guest or Co-host]

People think they. If they're reading and consuming content, they're progressing. But like you said, if they don't take action towards their businesses or whatever, they. They're not. Yeah, that's a big problem.

[Andy Vercella]

It's a huge problem. Especially with the inundation of all the experts. Right. And then you got. You get frozen because, you know, you get paralysis by analysis because you're getting so much information from so Many people, most of the people are not credible. And you're getting confused and you get paralyzed and you don't take action, okay? You got to make a choice and you got to move forward. And if you're having trouble moving forward and you're having trouble with the confusion, then tune out the confusion, cut the noise out, do what you think you need to do to move the business forward, and you will learn. Study people who have done what you've done, figure out what they did. Like, to me, and maybe I'm wrong, but this is basic shit. Like, if I didn't know anything, and this is what I did when I didn't know anything, I picked people who did what I did, and I watched them and I figured out what they did right and I thought about what they do wrong. And sometimes because I didn't have experience, I thought what they did wrong was wrong, but it was actually right. And I just become a student of the process. And that's what you have to do. And it's not. It's not listening to everybody. It's paying attention to everybody. It's a different thing.

[Guest or Co-host]

Observation, bro.

[Andy Vercella]

There's so much free out there, like, there's so much free information out there, like, from credible people. It's just like, what. What are you guys doing? You know what I'm saying? But I mean, look, here's the reality. If you're not smart enough to be able to. To determine who's credible and who's not, and you're not smart enough to determine what your critical tasks are, you're not smart enough to win. I. I don't know. You should do something else. Like, these are basic things. You should be able to fucking look into someone and figure out if they've actually done the things that they say they've do. If you can't do that, you're not very smart. If you can't figure out what tasks are going to move your business forward, you're not very smart entrepreneurs. You got to be somewhat smart. You don't have to be the smartest. You got to be somewhat smart, be smart enough to do that. Yeah, right.

[DJ]

That's for me.

[Andy Vercella]

That's good.

[DJ]

Yeah, that's good. I love it, man. I love it, guys. Andy, let's get to our third and final question. Question number three. I'm fairly new to you, and you have me in complete reprogram mode. I'm 22 years old from Idaho. Since listening to your content, I've noticed something about myself that's kind of frustrating. If I tell someone else I'm going to do something or show up or finish a task, be somewhere, I'll do it no matter what. But when it comes to stuff I set for myself, like going to the gym or chores around the house or working on something I said I cared about, I'll find a way out of it. It's not like I don't know what to do. I just don't follow through the same way I do for other people. After a while, it starts to mess with your confidence because you don't even fully trust yourself no more. How do you fix that? Like, how do you get to the point where your word to yourself actually means something? Something. Oof. Young buck.

[Andy Vercella]

Well, I mean, look, this is why live hard in 75 hard has been created, okay? The skill that you're talking about is adherence and, and discipline. And when you don't have the ability to adhere, it doesn't matter how good the plan is. All right? So your job, which at 22 years old, I think it's pretty interesting that you've already identified this because you have. Your job is to cultivate that ability to adhere. And the way that you do that is by training yourself in the skill set of mental toughness, which encompasses grit, fortitude, perseverance, the ability to endure confidence, self esteem, mental toughness. These. It's a, it's a concept of many different small skill sets. And when I say skill sets, I mean skill sets because they are not traits. A lot of people look at these highly disciplined people and they think, oh man, he's got what I don't, or he has something, I don't know, he doesn't have something you don't. He has cultivated the ability to be disciplined in that one area that you think is magical, when in reality you haven't cultivated that same discipline. So what you have to do is you have to become aware of where your weak points are, which you are already aware of, and then you have to practice executing at those points. I, as always, would highly recommend 75 hard and the live Hard program, which is a repeatable program. It's a one year program. You're not on it the whole year. It accounts for like 40 of your year. But you want to win. You want to really put your life in overdrive. Live the live hard lifestyle because it'll keep your mental toughness sharpened, it'll keep your ability to adhere sharpened. It'll give you the confidence and the belief in yourself that you're looking for because you are following through on the things that you've told yourself you're going to do. And this is the magic of the program. All right? The magic of the program is that it takes something that most people think are traits and teaches them that their skills that they have to understand are perishable and have to brush up and sharpen on a regular basis. Okay? So, like, once you learn these skill sets and once you get them sharp, they can easily go away if you don't practice them. All right? So you. First thing to understand is that these are skills that you could cultivate. Second thing to understand is that they're perishable and you have to practice them over and over again. The third thing you have to understand is that once you have these skill sets sharpened, if you keep them sharp, there's actually no limits to what you can do. Because if you have the ability to adhere to a plan, it doesn't matter what plan is put in front of you. You have the ability to adhere to it. Okay? So that solves the. The problem of success for, like, 99.9999% of the people. The. We don't lack information, we don't lack plans, we don't lack ideas. We don't lack successful business plans. We lack the ability to do it. That's where people lose, okay? And that's why 75 Hard is a program that's continued to grow for six years now. Yeah. When everybody's like, oh, it's a fad. It's not a fad. It's not a weight loss program. It's a success program for your brain that allows you to achieve things that you otherwise couldn't. Okay? And if you keep that sharp, if you keep that ability to adhere sharp, you won't have a problem with the things that you're talking about, nor will you have a problem doing anything else you want to do. Because the reality is, success in life is not that much different than success in baking or cooking. Okay? There's a set of directions, and you gotta follow them. How hard is it to be a really good cook? It's really not that hard. Is it hard to do off the top of your head? Sure. That takes years and years and years and years and years. Going to be Gordon Ramsay. You're going to do it for 30 years. But I can make a Michelin star meal in my house by following directions, okay? And so can you, and so can everybody in this room, and success is no different. So if I don't have the ability to follow the directions, it doesn't matter what directions I have. I think the cake's going to suck. Yeah, the food's going to suck. Your life's going to suck. All right? So you got to realize that the number one skill at 22 years old that you can give yourself, the biggest gift you can give yourself is the understanding that mental toughness, grit, fortitude, perseverance, self confidence, self esteem, the ability to endure. All of these things are skills that you have to keep sharp, you have to practice. And if you do that, over the next 15 years, bro, you're going to be so far ahead of everybody else, it's going to be ridiculous.

[DJ]

I got a couple of things on this I want to ask you about. The first thing being, you know, I'm curious to what you think or how you think about this, but it's like, I look at things like consistency, for example, right? And, like, you see people who are out of shape or something like that, Right. It's like, oh, man, they don't. They're not consistent. They're not disciplined. But it's like, if they're going to McDonald's every single Thursday and Friday, like, that's. That's consistency. They're just consistently being shit.

[Andy Vercella]

Correct.

[DJ]

Right. And so, like, I mean, what's your thoughts on that? Right? Like, people have it.

[Andy Vercella]

They just mean, like, when people say things like, all you got to do to be successful is be consistent, you're already consistent. That's right. You're consistently bad.

[DJ]

That's right. That's right.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah.

[DJ]

Right.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah. Consistency is not the key to success. Okay. The right execution consistently is the key to success.

[DJ]

Right.

[Andy Vercella]

All right. Everybody's consistent. Everybody is. You're consistent. You probably do the same. If we recorded your life for the last 10 years, I bet you do almost everything exactly the same. Okay, that's consistent. Yeah, that's consistent. And it's consistently producing the same result that you have, the one you don't like.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

So if you want to change, you got to be consistent in other things. And that. That is. That is very basic.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

But most people, like, I have a trouble being consistent. Not really, dude. I see you go into that gas station, get those taquitos and those chips and that pizza and that Big Gulp and all that. You get every. You do that consistently. You know what I mean? You just won't move your fat ass down the road. Consistently.

[DJ]

That's right.

[Andy Vercella]

You know, so.

[DJ]

Dude, that's so real, man.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah, I know it is.

[DJ]

Dude, I have a problem.

[Andy Vercella]

Consistency, bro.

[DJ]

It's application yeah, yeah. And then the second thing I want to hit on, too, because I like. Because I was as. I was like. Like reading this question. This dude sounds like he has a good heart, right. And I think this also messes up a lot of people, too, where, like, okay, you're saying you show up for everybody else, you're just not showing up for yourself. Is this the time for him to, like, maybe. Maybe just cut that off?

[Andy Vercella]

Well, I think you need to understand, so you gotta. This is another thing. As a young person, it's easy. You gotta understand this up front. You gotta be selfish before you could be selfless. You can't really serve other people the way that you could. Unless you have taken care of your own life and your own business, your own health and your own finances and all of your own, then you can actually take care of people. But when you. When you don't have any of those things and you're trying to give, give, give, give, give, and you don't have much to give, not only do you not have much to give, but you lack. It takes away from the ability to grow the thing that's going to allow you to give what you want to give.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

So it's. You know, it sounds counterintuitive, but you have to be selfish, dude. You got to take care of yourself. You got to take care of your own. You got to make sure all that shit's right, and then that equips you to do more good for more people in a more impactful way.

[DJ]

Yeah, dude, absolutely. Yeah, I think, too, like, especially for being 22, it's like prime time to.

[Andy Vercella]

Oh, yeah.

[DJ]

If you're. If you're going to be selfish in that sense, yeah, this is a great time to do it.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah. Dude, look, look, you got two schools of thought. You know, You've got one school of thought where, like, oh, you're in your 20s, you should go, you know, travel the world and be in Africa and whatever. Right, Cool. All right, well, that's 10 years you lost to people that are giving it. And then at 30, you're gonna be like, well, I'm way behind. Well, yeah, you are behind. You are behind. Now, people would like to say, you know, you're still young. True. But you're behind the guy who started when he was 20. Okay. And I'm gonna tell you this. I started when I was 19. There's no regrets that I started when I was 19. In fact, it's probably the one thing that I'm most grateful for. I'm most Grateful that I started at 19 and I'm still a fairly young man and I'm very successful because I started so young. It gives me a totally different quality of life when I. Dude, by. By. I've been. I've been living the quality of life I have since I was 33, 32.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

Okay, so that's.

[DJ]

Most people are getting started then.

[Andy Vercella]

That's what I'm saying, dude. Okay, so what's the quality of my 30s versus the quality of the 30s of the guy starting when he was 30? Big difference. Okay. And what did I really give up? I didn't really give up that much. I just worked hard in my 20s. I still went out with my friends. I still around.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

You know, could I have went harder? Yeah. But I mean, I went hard enough to get me where I'm at.

[DJ]

Right.

[Andy Vercella]

You see what I'm saying? So you guys who are young, dude, you need to ignore this. That, like, real talk. I think some of the worst advice on the Internet is, you know, just your 20s away. I think your 20s are built for building. And I think when you could commit, you'll never find someone who's committed to building in their 20s, say they wish they hadn't. It. It just doesn't. You don't hear it.

[DJ]

That's real.

[Andy Vercella]

You don't hear it?

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

Okay. You don't hear people who, like, started when they're 20 years old say, oh, man, I wish I had started at 30.

[DJ]

Waste of my life.

[Andy Vercella]

That's not what the fuck they say. They say the opposite. And you should pay attention to that because they have perspective. They know what it's like to watch some of their friends wait till they're 35 or 40. And by the way, if that's what you have to do, that's what you have to do. And the good news is technology makes it a lot faster than it used to be. So it's not like it was in the old days, like when I started, where you had to put in fucking 12 years to even get paid. All right? So I'm not trying to shit on people that are older. I'm not trying to moralize you, but if you have the choice and you have the option, I would start as young as possible.

[DJ]

Do I think the other final piece on this, too? I feel like another misconception with the young crowds on this specific topic is that it's almost presented as like an all or nothing. I'm glad you said that. Like, you still have.

[Andy Vercella]

You had. You had fun.

[DJ]

You went out you know, you had your things, but.

[Andy Vercella]

Well, I did some wild shit.

[DJ]

That's right.

[Andy Vercella]

You know what I'm saying? Like, I had a great time.

[DJ]

Yeah. But it's just like, I feel like it's presented now as, it's like it's this all or nothing. You either got to be this fucking recluse that's fucking working 48 hours out of the 24 hours.

[Andy Vercella]

That's why the fucking powerless system that I use is so perfect, dude. Okay? It's the only guaranteed system for success. All right? If you follow it the way that I designed it, you cannot fucking lose. It's impossible. It's impossible. It's literally impossible to fucking lose. If you do it the way that it's lined out.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

Now if you do it the way that you want to do it, by putting in, you know, weak ass tasks and you know, to do lists and yeah, you're going to lose.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

Okay? But if you do it the way it's designed, you can't lose. Okay? And the greatest part about it is that it's five critical tasks per day. And once those five critical tasks are done, you have the rest of the day to do anything you want. Anything. What do you want to do? You want to go to the park, you want to cut the grass, you want to hang out with your kids, you want to smoke a bowl? I, I don't know, whatever you want to do, you got it to do.

[DJ]

But you got your done.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah, your gets done and you get a life.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

Okay, so this idea, there's a. Also, dude, there is a point of diminishing returns in a single work day.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

All right, so like once you go past five, all right, and you get the five critical tasks and let's say, oh, I'm going to be, I'm going to do 10 or I'm going to do 15. You can't keep that up. Okay. And the reason that it's hurtful is because that means you're going to learn that you're failing the days over and over. You're going to say, oh, you know, yeah, I got seven done, but there's four that didn't get done. And that's going to compound into that feeling of not being effective. So it's going to take away from your confidence, it's going to take away from your belief. So it's very important that you stick to the way that it's designed. You do the five tasks and then you get to live your life. And dude, I'm telling you as someone who's built with this system, it works, and you don't have to work 40 hours a day.

[DJ]

Yeah. Right. You know, like, it's not sustainable.

[Andy Vercella]

By the way, do you ever hear, like, real, real talk? I mean, there's people say that, oh, man, I'm working. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. None of the people saying that have the life to show for it.

[DJ]

Oh, man. Where is it at?

[Andy Vercella]

Where is it? Yeah. Where is it? Yeah.

[DJ]

I'm working my balls on it. Are you?

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah. Renting a fucking. Listen, dude. Here's the guru play talking. Head reels over someone else's. Get enough people to pay you to buy a exotic car, stand in front of the exotic car, talk about how much you know, and hustle it. That's the play.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

And it's. It's beyond me that people can't look past that and understand, like, bro, if you were that good at what you say you're good at, then why the aren't you doing it? And by the way, if your coach isn't in business currently with an actual business, how do they keep up on what's actually going on in real business and not just the theory of what they think is going on?

[DJ]

Because changes every day.

[Andy Vercella]

That's right. That's right.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

That's why artist cynic is such a valuable thing that Ed and I do because we're both in the game, like, for real. In the game.

[DJ]

Still in the game.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah. Like, not, you know. Oh, yeah. This is what everybody's doing that's winning. Look at this brand and look at that brand and look at this guy's. And look at that guy. That's not what the. They're doing.

[DJ]

Hey, we just tried this.

[Andy Vercella]

I just tried. That's right.

[DJ]

Yesterday.

[Andy Vercella]

Totally different thing.

[DJ]

Yeah, bro.

[Andy Vercella]

Totally different thing. It's real easy to break down. Everybody's on the Internet and say they're doing right and wrong, except for, you know, they're winning and you're not. So.

[DJ]

Oh, man.

[Andy Vercella]

You know what I'm saying?

[DJ]

That's so real. That's so real.

[Andy Vercella]

Like, you see how many people breaking down brands that just kick ass.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

Talking about, oh, their marketing's bad, or this is better. Okay.

[DJ]

All right.

[Andy Vercella]

I just don't. Listen, man. It's predatory at this point, and you have to discern and you have to understand and you have to do due diligence. Are there people that can help you? For sure they are. It's. It's 2% of the people that say they can if they're not in the game or they haven't been in the game, the exact game that you shouldn't listen to them. Shouldn't. They don't. It's theory. It's not, it's not reality. There are lots of things that people talk about in theory that don't work in reality, but they don't know that because they don't run a company. Okay, I run a whole bunch of companies, all right, I know what the working and what's not working.

[DJ]

That's right.

[Andy Vercella]

All right, like, I know. No, I don't kind of know. I know. You know. And like, it's funny because sometimes, you know, you're getting like, you know, you'll see some of these videos that people post and I want to like comment on them, be like, bro, you sound like the biggest one I've ever heard in my life.

[DJ]

That does not work.

[Andy Vercella]

Yes, but I can't. But I'm not going to do that because I'm going to be a.

[DJ]

That's right.

[Andy Vercella]

You know, but I think it every time.

[DJ]

Well, that would have worked three years ago.

[Andy Vercella]

The other thing I can't get that I get tired of is this hocus pocus frou frou shit, you know, like, oh, you got to be in a place to receive the gifts if you're going to shut the up. Okay. Success is real simple. It's inputs and outputs. Did you do the work and did you do it at the right level? And what was the result? It's that simple. You don't have to be in a place to receive it. You don't have to kumbaya. You don't gotta rub together sage, stick it up your butthole. You don't have to do any of that. You gotta do, you gotta work, you gotta execute. Your execute has to be effective and it produces a result. And that's it. There's nothing else to it. Okay? So get the out of here with your. Oh, gotta kumbaya. Shut the up, dude. Shut up. Yeah, it's all. It makes people think they can be successful by rubbing their thumbs together and humming in the corner of their bedroom.

[DJ]

They go get it.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah, it doesn't dude, no. Anything to anything to avoid doing the that it actually takes. It's like, I haven't tried the same. And then you have. And then you have these coaches like promoting this. And you know why they promote it? Because that's an easy sell to people. It's an easy sell to people. They know that most people aren't going to do it. So what do they tell them? They tell them all this. That seems real easy. Instead of the. They need to hear, which is, bro, you suck. You got to get good or you're not working hard enough. You got to put in more time or both. And that's. Dude, it's. It's inputs and outputs. It's math. It's one plus one equals two. That's what the it is. And anybody tells you any different is full of Amen, brother.

[DJ]

Amen.

[Andy Vercella]

Now, if you want to do all that and you want to hum in the corner and get some little symbols and rub some bowls or whatever the you want to do. Cool.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

It ain't gonna make you money.

[DJ]

Now, if you get your five critical tasks done.

[Andy Vercella]

Yeah. And then you want to go. You want to go rub mud all over your body and sun your butthole or whatever it you guys do. Like, do it.

[DJ]

Yeah. Crew.

[Andy Vercella]

But that ain't gonna make. That ain't gonna fix your bank account, bro. It ain't gonna fix your business. Okay.

[DJ]

Oh, man. I love it, dude.

[Andy Vercella]

It's the truth.

[DJ]

I love it, bro.

[Andy Vercella]

How much do we hear on the Internet?

[DJ]

It's so. It's.

[Andy Vercella]

That's.

[DJ]

There's so much out there.

[Andy Vercella]

Like, that was the thing that I can't stand when people act like, watch your morning routine. What difference does it make? What difference does it make? What difference does it make? My morning routine probably wouldn't work for you. Differences it make. All that matters is did you do your. And did you do it well? And did you do it in a way that's undeniably better than anybody else? And did you do it long enough? And if you do those things, you're gonna win. Yeah. If you don't, you can hum in the corner and rub the bowls and put the mud all over you and sit in the ice bath with 15 other dudes and cry. You can do all this and you're still gonna lose. I don't know what to tell you.

[DJ]

Oh, man.

[Andy Vercella]

So this is great.

[DJ]

This is good. I like this, man. Guys, that's a hell of a Monday, man.

[Andy Vercella]

That's right.

[DJ]

That's right.

[Andy Vercella]

Dude, we know what time it is.

[DJ]

We know what time it is, man. Got CTI tonight.

[Andy Vercella]

Listen, man, this ain't a show for. Yeah, okay. This ain't. This is for people that want to fucking win.

[DJ]

Really want to win.

[Andy Vercella]

They really want to win.

[DJ]

Yeah.

[Andy Vercella]

I'm not going to fluff you. I'm not going to tell you all this stupid. I don't care what you do. In the morning. I don't care what you do at night. I don't care. But I'm telling you what it takes to win. And that's what it takes to win. Real talk. And that's it.

[DJ]

That's it, man. I love it. Dude, you got CTI tonight, man.

[Andy Vercella]

That's right.

[DJ]

7:00pm Central.

[Andy Vercella]

Yep.

[DJ]

On the tube.

[Andy Vercella]

And X. I'm feeling chippy.

[DJ]

Yeah. Hell, yeah. See you guys in a minute, man.

[Andy Vercella]

Guys.

[DJ]

Andy, that was three.

[Andy Vercella]

All right, guys. Don't be a hoe.

[DJ]

Share the show.

[Unknown Rapper]

We're from sleeping on the floor now my jewelry box froze? Pole stove counted millions in a cold bag? Booted SWO got her own bank row? Can't f just a no head shot case Close.