← THE ED MYLETT SHOW
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- [00:00]
Ed Mylett
So hey guys, listen, we're all trying to get more productive and the question is, how do you find a way to get an edge? I'm a big believer that if you're getting mentoring or you're in an environment that causes growth, a growth based environment that you're much more likely to grow and you're going to grow faster. And that's why I love Growth Day. Growth Day is an app that my friend Brendan Burchard has created that I'm a big fan of. Write this down growthday.com forward/ed. So if you want to be more productive, by the way, he's asked me, I post videos in there every single Monday that gets your day off to the right start. Got about $5,000, $10,000 worth of courses that are in there that come with the app. Also, some of the top influencers in the world are all posting content in there on a regular basis, like having the avengers of personal development and business in one app. And I'm honored that he asked me to be a part of it as well and contribute on a weekly basis. And I do. So go over there and get signed up. You're going to get a free tuition, free voucher to go to an event with Brendan and myself and a bunch of other influencers as well. So you get a free event out of it also. So go to growthday.com forward sled. That's growthday.com forward slash ed. Hey, it's Ed Mylett. Let me share something powerful with you. You know, in uncertain times, the smartest people I know protect what they've built. That's why Advantage Gold is a part of our program now. And what I love about what they're doing is they're giving away a free gold and silver investor kit that walks you through exactly how to get started. Text Wynn to 85545 to get your free kit. That's Wynn to 85545. Don't wait for the next crash. Be the one who's ready. Protect, prepare and prosper. Rates may apply. Performance varies. Always consult your financial and tax professional. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. This is the Ed Miler Show. Welcome back to the hello, everybody. So, you know, we get submitted a lot of books to have people on the show, probably, I don't know, four or five hundred a year. And so I usually have about half the guests before the year starts. I know I want to have on. And then I discover somebody that not only captivates my attention, but gains my respect. And in our guest case today, that's exactly what happened. He gained my attention and then my respect once I started to follow his content. And I love the nature of his work. Today's episode is as much for me as much as it is for all of you guys today because we're going to talk about the five types of wealth, which is actually the title of his new book. And it says here, a transformative guide to design your dream life. I've read this book and it's not a small one, but it is a very good one. It says here a transformative guide to design your dream life. And I have to tell you from reading the book, it does exactly that. And this hour, I think, is going to help you design your dream life with my guest today, Sahil Bloom. Welcome, brother.
- [03:21]
Sahil Bloom
Thank you so much for having me, man.
- [03:22]
Ed Mylett
You are a young guy with a lot of wisdom and you're 20 years my junior. And I have to tell you, I've learned a lot from you. I think part of it is probably because you were a college baseball player like me.
- [03:34]
Sahil Bloom
We definitely have a lot of things in common, man. There's a lot of parallels in our past. You were a UOP guy, I was.
- [03:39]
Ed Mylett
A UOP guy, which means my grades weren't good enough to get into Stanford, where you went. Neither was my hitting, running, base, stealing ability, or defensive skills. Other than that, I'd have been perfect for Stanford, which is where you went and played ball. So maybe that's why I like you so much.
- [03:54]
Sahil Bloom
We had a lot of good, a lot of good games against UoP though, over the years, man. My first pitching appearance was at your field in Stockton.
- [04:02]
Ed Mylett
Did we rope you or did you shut us down?
- [04:04]
Sahil Bloom
No, I, I had a good first appearance. I'm not, I'm not going to talk about it here, but yeah, I had a good one against you guys.
- [04:10]
Ed Mylett
Well, I know what I do want to talk about with you, which is life and designing your dream life. I kind of wish I met you 20 years ago, but then if I did, you'd be 14 and you might not have known all the stuff that know by now, but let's talk a little bit about some of the things in the book. A lot of guests, I enjoy their time. There's been a few, though, that have stood out over time, and one of them is my friend Jesse Etchler, who I know you know who Jesse is. And we actually recorded this on camera. But Jesse said to me in the middle of the interview, we're very similar guys. He goes, how often do you see your dad? And at that time, my dad was healthy. And he goes, I mean, like, really see him. I said, I don't know, two, three times a year. And then we went. Life expectancy, basically, at the end of the conversation, he goes, you're going to see your dad eight more times in your life. You actually open the book up with this exact point. It's only the second time I've ever heard it before. So let's just set the stage for what you think real wealth is. You talk about the five different types. For me, time is the most important currency at this stage of my life. So just talk about that story at the beginning of the book and your view on it.
- [05:12]
Sahil Bloom
Yeah. Jesse has been one of the pioneers of this idea, along with a writer named Tim Urban, who wrote a piece in, I believe it was 2015, called the Tail End, which was the first time that I had ever seen someone articulate the idea that you can actually measure time in the amount of moments, the amount of experiences that you have with the people that you care about. And that moment that you're referencing, which I opened the book with, was a conversation that I had with an old friend in May of 2021. At the time, I had spent the first seven years of my career marching down the most traditional path towards a quote unquote, successful life. I was chasing all of the things that everyone tells you you should want to chase. The money, the status, the things. And I was getting them. I was actually winning that game, if you will. But unfortunately, along that path, all these other things in my life had started to suffer. While on the outside looking in, things seemed to be going great. So I was getting promoted, I was getting the bonuses. But. But along the way, my relationships had started to show cracks. My parents, I was not seeing at all. My relationship with my sister, unfortunately, had ground to a halt. My wife and I were struggling to conceive at the time that was creating strain in our life. I was drinking six, seven nights a week. Mental health. There was all these other areas of my life that had started to suffer because I had gotten so narrowly focused on the one thing of making money, of accumulating status as the path to me feeling successful, to me feeling happy. And that all came to a head for me. In May of 2021, I went out for a drink with this old friend. We sat down and he asked how I was doing. And I said it had started to get difficult living so far away from my parents, who were on the east coast. We were living in California, 3,000 miles away, and they were getting older. Was the first time in my life as a young person that I had started to notice them slowing down. Their health wasn't perfect anymore. And he asked how old they were, And I said, mid-60s. And he asked how often I saw them. And I said, once a year at that point. And he just looked at me and said, okay, so you're going to see your parents 15 more times before they die. And you know this feeling because you experienced this with Jesse when he said it to you. But it hit me like a ton of bricks. The idea that the amount of time you have left with the people you care about most in the world is that finite and countable that you can literally put it onto a few hands. That just shook me to the core. And in that moment, I realized that if something didn't change, we were going to end up in a place where we didn't want to be. And the next day, my wife and I had a candid conversation about what we wanted to be, our center, what our true north really was, if you will, in Life. And within 45 days, we had taken a big leap of faith. I had left my job, which was this impressive finance, you know, long term career track job. We sold our house in California and moved 3,000 miles across the country to live closer to both of our sets of parents. And in that one decision, there was a really critical realization, which was, you are actually much more in control of your time than you think. We had taken an action, done one thing, and that number 15 had turned into the hundreds. My parents are a huge part of my son, their grandson's life now. I see them multiple times a month. We live right near them. So we had taken an action and actually created time. And that realization, you just start living differently when you realize that you were in more control of your time. You are not a passive taker of time. You can actually go and make it.
- [08:45]
Ed Mylett
Do you think that's. That's great that you did that at. It sounds easier to do than it is. Like let's, let's be real, let's talk. We're in personal development, self improvement, entrepreneurship, whatever you want to call this space you and I find ourselves in. And what some would call average people have that wealth already. Like the guy that you went to Stanford with, maybe not, but a guy you went to high school with, he never left town. He lives down the street from his mom and dad. He sees him four days a week. They have Sunday dinner every Sunday. But he's also missing the part of life that self expression and creating something and building something and going for it. So there's a part of guys like you and I that automatically view that as a reduced level of wealth until you go get the other stuff. So what would you say to somebody who's listening to this? I know I'm pushing you, but they haven't amassed wealth, they haven't amassed career accolades, they haven't gone to Stanford, they haven't created something, haven't built something, and they have this desire to do it. But now, having heard you, they're afraid it's going to cost them their family. What would you say to them?
- [09:54]
Sahil Bloom
There's two things I would say here. First off, one of the core concepts of this entire book, this entire idea, is that there are a lot of people out there who buy traditional measures of wealth, money, have been told that they are not doing so well. And in a more comprehensive definition, I would argue that they are really doing great in life. One of my teammates from my Stanford days actually after school, decided to move back, back to his hometown. He wanted to live close to his family. He became a gym teacher at his high school. He coaches the high school sports teams. He became a gym teacher. He probably makes, I don't know, 50, $60,000 a year for a guy that got a Stanford degree to go and do that. The world would probably tell him that he's not doing great. But then you look at the bigger picture of his life. He spends tons of time with both sets of parents. He has two beautiful kids, he's outside all the time. He's extraordinarily fit. He loves his work. He loves the act of service to these kids that he's working with. He is wealthy. I don't care what anyone says, I don't care what the world tells you that about how you're doing. You are a wealthy person if you have all of those things in your life. So that's the first thing is I would say is so good. Take a bigger picture, look at your life. Don't allow the world to tell you how you're doing, you get to decide. You get to run your own race in life. You don't have to compare yourself to everyone else's race. That's the first thing. The second thing I would say is that your life has seasons.
- [11:17]
Ed Mylett
Yes.
- [11:17]
Sahil Bloom
And what you prioritize or focus on during any one season can and should change. You may have a season when you really want to lean into building financial wealth, building that foundation. And during that season, it's okay for that to be all the way turned up, but these other areas importantly have to exist on dimmer switches, not on off switches.
- [11:40]
Ed Mylett
Very good.
- [11:40]
Sahil Bloom
I talk about that a lot in the book that the traditional wisdom has told you that if you're going to focus on one thing, everything else gets shut off. So I'm in my 30s or 20s and I really want to build my career. Okay, too bad relationships, flip that. Too bad health, flip it off. Too bad mental health, flip it off. And that is a terrible way to live because for a lot of these areas, if you leave the light switch turned off for too long, you can never turn it back on. The word later just becomes another word for never. You say, I'll spend more time with my kids later. I'll spend time with my spouse, my friends later. I'll focus on my health later. I'll build a life of freedom and purpose later. And later just becomes never. Because those things won't exist in the same way later. Your kids are not going to be five years old later. Your partner won't be there for you later. If you aren't there for them now, your health won't magically be there later. You won't wake up with freedom and purpose later. You either design those things into your life in some tiny way now or you end up regretting it later. And the last thing I'll say to this is in all of these areas of life, the reason the idea of a dimmer switch is so important, love it is because anything above zero compounds. Anything above zero compounds in your life. The point is you don't want it to be off. Off atrophies and you're going to that world of never. But if you do a tiny daily action in these other areas, you can stack and compound wins. Sending the one text to the friend letting them know you're thinking about them, calling your mom for two minutes on the ride to work is better than nothing. But we self improvement, focused people, ambitious people, allow optimal to get in the way of beneficial. So we say I don't have an hour to work out, so I'm just not going to work out today. I don't have two hours for deep work. So just guess I'm going to do emails today instead of working. And that is the worst mentality you can have because again, the 5 minute walk is better than nothing. The 10 minutes of deep work on the One Focus project is better than nothing. Anything above zero compounds in all of.
- [13:42]
Ed Mylett
These areas, very good. Anything above zero compounds. I love what you're saying. And I got to tell you, my, my, my dad passed away five years ago. I said to somebody yesterday, my dad passed away two years ago. It was five years ago now. And after my dad died, my mom handed me these stack of golf scorecards. And what I didn't know was that by the way, I, you know, what many of you would like to become to make your parents proud of you? Wealthy, or a jet or an island, or somebody important I was blessed in my life to accomplish. And I can tell you that that meant almost nothing to my dad in terms of whether he was proud of me or not. What made my dad proud of me is how I treated other people. What made my dad proud of me? Was I helping people? Was I calling my sisters? Anyway, she hands me these stack of cards. I said, what is this? She goes, oh, it's every round of golf you ever played with your dad. He kept every scorecard. And I remember many times, brother, we would be done playing my dad, I left something in the clubhouse and he'd be gone for like 20 minutes. I found out later he'd be back in the golf cart garage where they're washing the golf carts going, can you find the scorecard from my son and I? And by the way, these weren't fancy golf courses. We played it mainly El Prado golf course in Chino, California, which was next to a prison. But it was moments with me. And my mom also told me that after he died, I just don't ever want to hear this to validate your work to me, when I would just call my dad and check in, hey, dad, what's going on? We'd talk for 30 minutes. It was like, all right, I checked the box, I called dad. Good talk. My mom would tell me that he would talk about those phone calls for hours after. And the next day, you know what Eddie said? Then he said this. And she said, you don't know how much it meant to him just that you called and spent time. And so just realize that this matrix you're living in isn't the matrix your mom and dad or your siblings or your children are living in. They're living in a very different one. Receiving this time or the lack of it in a very impactful way and more than you realize in your life. It's why I love what you're doing. The time well thing obviously affects me the most because I'm running out of it. I'm 54 and I'm not in the best health in the world. I shouldn't even say that out loud, but it's a fact. In my case, the idea of mental wealth, to me, if I were measuring most people's lives right now just on me walking around the world, it would be that they are the most broke there. I think in mental wealth, I'm talking about mental well being, emotional well being, etc. What tactics or techniques do you cover in the book that give us one or two, because it's bait to buy the book. But it's also. I got something from this conversation that can help with the mental wealth part of things.
- [16:19]
Sahil Bloom
I really think that the single most important thing that people can do to build their mental wealth is to create a ritual on a monthly basis to pause and think about your life.
- [16:31]
Ed Mylett
Do you do that?
- [16:32]
Sahil Bloom
I do that. I have something in the book that I call the Think Day. So the lineage of this is Bill Gates, after he founded Microsoft, had this ritual where once a year he would take a full week and he would go off the grid and he would just read and think and learn. And it was all about the bigger picture things facing Microsoft so he could zoom out and see the 10,000 foot view rather than be stuck in the weeds every single day. The same principle applies to your own life. You live as the first player in your own video game. So you are on the ground in the weeds every single day. Everything is this loop of stimulus and response. You're constantly having stimulus. The things coming in, the emails, the notifications, the requests, all of them feel urgent. You're going back with responses and you have no time to actually think, to zoom out on your life and think about the bigger picture of what you really want. What are the things that are holding you back, how aligned or misaligned are your priorities from where you are actually trying to go build towards what is the path that you are actually on. And so I have this ritual that I talk about as a Think Day, which is once a month, get out of your normal headspace. Don't go to your office or your house. Go to a new Coffee shop, go outside, do something, take an hour and just go with a handful of question prompts that force you to zoom out on your life. My favorite one I'll share right now is if you were the main character in a movie of your life, what would the audience be screaming at you to do right now? Whoa, think about it. We've all watched a movie or TV show where we want to just jump through the screen and grab the main character and tell them like go chase the girl to the airport or don't go down in the basement, whatever. The thing is, you are that main character in the movie of your life right now. And there is something blindingly obvious from the outside looking in that you are either choosing to ignore or that you have yet to create the perspective to actually see in your life. So what is it? Think with it, sit with it, and I guarantee you will find some tiny action that you can take that will improve your life.
- [18:36]
Ed Mylett
You. You know, I think the key thing there for me is I do think you have to change the environment when you have those think days or think hours. Because your environment is loaded with triggers and anchors that bring you back to the same way of thinking that now if you're, if you have a means to do it, it's actually get away for a night or two somewhere. But if you don't, it is changing. Do you think that's one of the key things is not that it's very difficult to make life altering decisions in your current environment and space that is facilitating and supporting that current lifestyle and way of thinking? Do you agree with that?
- [19:10]
Sahil Bloom
People underestimate how much environment impacts thought patterns.
- [19:13]
Ed Mylett
Agreed.
- [19:14]
Sahil Bloom
When you are in a familiar environment, you are going to have familiar thought patterns. You are going to just find evidence that confirms the current story you are telling yourself. We all know that those stories that you tell yourself are incredibly powerful as a force for good or bad. Because humans are incredible at finding evidence to confirm the story we already believe about ourselves. If you don't think you're smart or capable, I guarantee you will find a whole lot of evidence in your current environment that will confirm that. And you'll ignore every single piece of evidence that would refute it. So if you're trying to create a change in your life, get out of your normal space, get into a new one. And ideally you get into a big space, meaning high ceilings, open, fresh air, things like that. Because scientifically there's something called the cathedral effect which says that big open spaces actually cause you to think bigger. You think more Creatively, when you're in a big open space.
- [20:07]
Ed Mylett
Whoa. Let's talk about a little bit about involving family in your work. My wife did a great job of that, by the way. So when I was leaving, it wasn't, Daddy's going to work. It was, daddy's going to change people's lives. Daddy's going to make a difference. And I would hear my kids tell other kids, what's your dad do? Oh, he helps people. And so there was a frame for my family that framed the work I was doing. So what about that? With involving family in these decisions in your work?
- [20:35]
Sahil Bloom
I think it's so important to have your family be a part of the mission that you are on. I talk a lot about the idea that I have the mental model when I view my own life, that I kind of get to pick a couple of missions, a few things that are my big picture missions that I'm on in life. And the people that are on those missions with me, those are my people. And if you're not on one of those missions with me, I might still have love for you. You can be a friend, but, like, we're not really in it together in that same way. And I want my wife and my son and my parents and my sister. I want them all to know that they are a part of this mission, of the things that I'm trying to create in my life. I felt like that was informed by my own experience with my father. My dad is my best friend. Awesome. When you talk about those stories about your dad with the golf scorecards, it makes me emotional thinking about it, because my dad has been my number one front row supporter in anything that I've done in my life. And even now, I just went on this book tour. My dad is sitting in the front row. My dad is a Harvard professor sitting in the front row of these events at my book tour, taking notes on the things that I'm talking about. The reason he's taking notes is because afterwards we sit down and he talks to me about the things he thought I really articulated well, the things he thought I could have said slightly better, the things where he noticed the audience really leaned forward. He's giving me real feedback, positive and constructive around these things. And what I think is so important there is this realization I've had that strong relationships are built on two pillars, high expectations and high support. High expectations is to say I have very high expectations for the level at which you can perform what you are capable of as a human being. I have extraordinary expectations for that, but also high support, meaning I am willing to lift you up on my shoulders to go and meet those expectations, those things that I believe you're capable of. High expectations without high support manifests as resentment. We all have people in our lives who seemingly had high expectations for us, but we're not willing to actually show up to help us meet those. But when the two come together in concert, it creates the most incredible bonds in life. And when I reflect on that now as a father, myself, and want to see that lineage, that real generational wealth of that connection get passed down through our family, that is just the most powerful thing in the world to me. It's the willingness to show up, to have those high expectations, but then to be there in the front row taking notes, to then go and support that person to go and meet those expectations.
- [23:13]
Ed Mylett
What would your dad tell me about you?
- [23:16]
Sahil Bloom
I think my dad would tell you that he is proud that I am becoming the man that I want to be. And there's a very, very subtle and very powerful idea in that statement. The man that I want to be, not the man that he wants me to be, but the man that I want to be. And the reason I think he would say that is because his own relationship with his father was a broken one, unfortunately. My father is born and raised in the Bronx, New York, from a Jewish family. My mother was born and raised in India. And when my parents wanted to get married, my dad's father was not accepting of that fact and told him that he had to choose between my mom and his family. And my dad walked out the door and never saw his family again. I never met my dad's parents. His dad passed away many years ago, unfortunately. Never met him. He has siblings that I've never met. I have first cousins that I've never met. All from this one decision that my dad made. To choose love, to carve his own path, to actually do the exact thing of this book. To reject the default path that's been handed to you, to question it, and to carve your own into the earth. And that legacy of that one decision has had powerful ripple effects into my own life. And I think as a parent, you either amplify or reject the things that you experienced from your parents in how you treat your own kids. And in my dad's case, that feeling that I think got created through his own relationship with his father ended up manifesting as him being the most supportive and loving father that I could imagine. My sister could imagine having you.
- [25:00]
Ed Mylett
You have a real goodness about you. Sahil, a real goodness about you and I have to believe that shines through. My favorite part of the book is that story about your dad. That story is in the book, everybody, in a little bit more detail. I'm sure your father's immensely proud of you. I mean, I'm proud of you watching you here today and feel really good about the future of this industry in the space too, knowing there's men like you in it. So, hey guys, I want to jump in here for a second and talk about change and growth. And you know, by the way, it's no secret how people get ahead in life or how they grow. And also taking a look at the future, if you want to change your future, you got to change the things you're doing. If you continue to do the same things, you're probably going to produce the same results. But if you get into a new environment where you're learning new things and you're around other people that are growth oriented, you're much more likely to do that yourself. And that's why I love Growth Day. Write this down for a second. Growthday.com forward/ed, my friend Brendan Burchard has created the most incredible personal development and business app that I've ever seen in my life. Everything from goal setting software to personal accountability journaling courses, thousands of dollars worth of courses in there as well. I create content in there on Mondays where I contribute as do a whole bunch of other influencers like the Avengers of influencers and business minds in there. It's the Netflix for high achievers or people that want to be high achievers. So go check it out. My friend Brennan's made it very affordable, very easy to get involved. Go to growthday.com ed that's growthday.com ed. Hey, it's Ed Mylett. Let me share something powerful with you. You know, in uncertain times, the smartest people I know protect what they've built. That includes my father in law, by the way, who've been buying gold for a number of years up until his passing. And it paid off for him every single time that he did it. And I'm licensed, so I can't tell you where to put your money and I would never do that. But I can tell you this. He bought it because gold is timeless. And that's why most of the smart people I know have bought gold. It's real. It doesn't vanish when the market takes a hit. And right now, many smart people I know are investing their money in gold and silver as part of their retirement plan and their future planning. That's why Advantage Gold is a part of our program now. And what I love about what they're doing is they're giving away a free gold and silver investor kit that walks you through exactly how to get started. Text win to 85545 to get your free kit. That's win to 85545. Don't wait for the next crash. Be the one who's ready. Protect, prepare and prosper. Message and data rates may apply. Performance varies. Always consult your financial and tax professional. 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Check it out for yourself with a Free demo@bamboohr.com Free demo that's bamboohr.com Free demo bamboohr.com Free Demo let's not make sure that before we finish that we poo poo wealth, wealth, money wealth. Because it's very easy to go. If you listen to this conversation, it'd be a guy whose dad's a Harvard professor, went to Stanford, was making a bunch of money and then me and we're like, ah, this stuff doesn't matter. But the lack of money can be a difficult way to live. And by the way, I admire your friend who went home to be a gym teacher. And in all candor, there were one of two lives. For me there was that life. I wanted to be a high school baseball coach and teach gym or the one I went for, which was expansion and creativity and what we do here now. And I think I would have been happy with both lives and so I admire both. I think it's choosing the life I want to your point. But financial abundance can do an awful lot of great things in the world and the lack of it can Create tremendous pressure on the other areas of wealth. For example, if I live in California and my parents live in New York and I have no financial means to go see them, this can make an impact on them. Obviously you had the means to move at least temporarily. So what about the importance of the financial piece of it and what would you just speak to that? Because it is one of the wealths that you list in the book. And it's easy to just say it's the least important because it's the one everybody talks about all the time. But not necessarily.
- [29:42]
Sahil Bloom
Yeah, I very explicitly in the book wanted to avoid this coming off as saying money is nothing. Give up all your worldly possessions, go move off to the Himalayas, become a monk, you know, drink warm broth all day. If you want to do that, by all means, go do it. I won't be joining you. I like having money. I like being able to afford things. Money isn't nothing, it simply can't be the only thing. Maslow's hierarchy of needs comes to mind here. Basically, in the early days of your life, you are trying to come up that part of the curve where you can use money to afford basic human needs. Shelter, food, taking care of the people around you, the earliest pleasures, vacations. Money directly buys happiness in those early years. For anyone that has come up the curve, you saw that money over and over again was able to buy you happiness in those early years. What happens unfortunately, is you get patterned to believe that that same curve, that linear relationship between money and happiness will continue in perpetuity. And it does not. It starts to level off. And above that level, money needs to become a tool, not the goal. Money is a tool for building these other types of wealth. You can use it to create experiences with people you love, to unlock freedom and time, to build and invest in your health, mental and physical. You can use it as a tool, but it is no longer the goal in that phase. When it is the goal, focusing in on it and really turning that dimmer switch up is important and actually advisable for anyone that is in that piece. That time of the game. My mental model for thinking about that fundamentally comes down to something very simple, which is making money has been overcomplicated. The way you make money is by creating value for other people. You shouldn't say I want to get rich in the next year. You should say I want to create an enormous amount of value for other people in the next year. And as a result of that, you will make money, I guarantee it. So if creating value is the thing you are, after. All you need to be thinking about is identifying problems, creating a solution, and then scaling that solution at all times. If you're trying to make money, you need to be working on one of those things. Either identifying problems, creating solutions to those problems, or scaling those solutions. The more scalable, the more money you're going to fundamentally make. That is what it all comes down to. Anyone that's trying to sell you the complicated crazy solution is just obfuscating and just making it complicated so that you buy their thing, whatever it is that they're selling you, the fancy financial product. The reality is it's just as simple as that. And you can do that in a 9 to 5 job. Start going and following your boss's life and figuring out what problems they have. I guarantee if you go and identify 10 problems that your boss seems to be having, you solve a few of those and you start scaling those solutions, you will get pay raises, you will get more opportunity, you will get pulled into the meetings, you'll get pulled into deeper networks. All of these things, all of the abundance you are after is on the other side of you solving problems that exist in the world.
- [32:44]
Ed Mylett
So good. That diminishing return concept is something I'm going to take from you. I'm going to use that actually, because it's true. You have to have. There's a lot of issues that come with the lack of it, but once you get some of it, that curve does begin to level off. One of the other guys that's been on the show that personally has affected me is Robin Sharma. People that listen to the show, that 800 guests are like, just picking names, but one of them is that Robin made a decision to move basically to Italy most of the year. My daughter, who's fortunate, got a chance to go study in Italy for like six weeks this last summer. When she got back, I just want to ask you about this. She said, daddy, my. Obviously the greatest country in the world is the United States for me and freedom and. And et cetera, et cetera. But she says, I'm not so sure culturally we don't have it wrong. And I said, what do you mean, honey? And again, she's in her early 20s and she wants to be successful and wealthy and push it and achieve and grow. And she's. Of my two children, she's probably more the one who wants to go be wealthy. But she goes, daddy, like in the US I figured it out. We just get up and go all day, exhaust ourselves, get up the next day Go all day. And she goes, you know, over there, daddy, they'll take a two or three hour lunch. And she goes, you know, the other thing I noticed, way more laughter, way more joy, way more priority on friends and time and moments and memories. And not everybody works six days a week. And she said, I wonder if we're in this like, matrix in the US that is very, very unhealthy. I'm wondering if you think even where we live, who were around conditions these thoughts. Because, like, you know, you are who the five people are you surround yourself with. If you're with five psychos all the time and you're like, you know, I'm gonna take a think day. They're like, what the heck? You know, I'm saying, so, like, do you think you also have to evaluate adding someone to your circle who may not be the climber, achiever one, but the one who just is damn happier you. You know what I'm saying?
- [34:39]
Sahil Bloom
Yeah, I. It's interesting to think about it in the context of the people that you surround yourself with, because it is very true that they condition you, your environment of people. We know this again, there is scientific evidence that the people you surround yourself with determine your outcomes. The Pygmalion effect is this behavioral phenomenon that finds that we actually rise to the level of the expectations that other people have for us. So if you surround yourself with people who think you are capable of more, who are pushing you to think bigger, who are telling you to be more creative, to create that space in your life, you will actually rise to the level of those expectations. And similarly, if you surround yourself with people who belittle you, who tell you to be realistic, you will fall to the level of those expectations. So what more reason to very carefully curate the people that you allow into your energy on a daily basis?
- [35:29]
Ed Mylett
Like, I gotta be honest with you, you would be good for me. Jesse has been good for me. Robin has been good for me. Robin, a few weeks ago, goes, hey, man, you need to go ghost for a month. I'm like, well, that's easier said than done, man. I'm booked here to speak. He goes, ed, you need to schedule a ghost month. You trust me, you will be so different. And that's where a. I want. I didn't mean interrupt you, but I wanted to ask you this. I have this theory. Like, show me your schedule. I'll kind of show you your life and the way in which you schedule things. And you talk about this in the book. So give us some hacks, guys. We're going to go into some tactic stuff the next eight or ten minutes here because I love takeaway stuff. And you have it in a very thick book full of concepts and then tactics schedule wise. Did you flip things where like you put your, your child and your wife in the schedule first and then build around? Like, is there something tactically you do in your schedule?
- [36:20]
Sahil Bloom
Yeah. So what you're referring to, I absolutely love that concept. It's the phrasing I've always heard is don't tell me your priorities, show me your calendar. And the reality is we make time and we create energy for the things we truly care about. But you have to actually structure them into your life. I am a big, big believer of that. If you're trying to make any progress in these areas, you have to structure it. The first tactic and actual intervention that anyone can go and do right now to get a better handle on their time and start allocating more towards what I think of as the energy creators in your life. Yeah, you talk a lot about that, personal or professional. The reason I talk about energy creators is because I fundamentally believe and have seen evidence over and over again in my own life and in the lives of some of the highest performers I've spent time with that outcomes follow energy. When you lean into the things that create energy in your life, you generate the ten hundred thousand x outcomes that create the step function changes in your life. That applies personally and professionally. The way that you get a handle on this first is to do what I call my energy calendar. So at the start of a given week, let's say it's Monday at the end of the day, color code your calendar from the day according to whether an activity created energy, meaning it actually lifted you up, you felt good, you felt pulled towards it. Market green if it was neutral, market yellow. And if it drained your energy, if you physically felt drained after doing it, market red at the end of a week, if you do that every day, you have a very clear visual perspective on the types of activities that created energy in your life versus drained energy. And the people who created energy first drained energy, which is arguably even more important. Because if you spend time around people who make you want to go run around the block, you're so energized after spending time with them. How I feel after this conversation, frankly, if you lean into those relationships, great things happen. And if you lean away from the ones where you feel like you need to take a shower after spending time with them, great things happen. So I would do that exercise this week anyone out there listening to this just go through that color coding and develop a perspective on the types of activities what that does. That awareness then allows you to make slow, steady changes to try to lean into the energy creators on your calendar and delegate or delete some of those energy drainers. And a lot of people push back on this. They'll say like, well, I work a 9 to 5. I don't have control over what activities I'm doing. The reason I push back on that assertion is because I first did this when I was working an 80 to 100 hour week finance job for someone else. And the way that I did it was simple. Interventions, Phone calls and Zoom meetings are unbelievably energy draining for me and I found that when I first did it. But what I noticed was doing that same caller meeting while on a walk was energy creating very good going outside and doing it made it totally feel different. I was more focused, I was more present. I couldn't multitask all of these reasons. So I took half my phone calls and zoom meetings, made them into walking calls and suddenly at the end of a week I feel totally different about my life. I feel totally different about my work and the outcomes of the work are much better because I showed up better on all those calls.
- [39:28]
Ed Mylett
There we go.
- [39:29]
Sahil Bloom
So that's just a simple example of a way where you might not think you are in control, but you can just ask the question and pull back at that assumption a little bit. And sometimes you uncover those tiny little tricks you can go for.
- [39:41]
Ed Mylett
That's outstanding. By the way. I I need to do more of that. There's a beach right out there. I could take half my calls walking on that beach just as effectively. That's really good. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses. Monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home and more. Plus you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. Hey guys, like my shirt? Guess where I got it. Quints. Yep, Quint is an awesome place to go get first class quality stuff. First class suitcases, clothes, gear, you name it. At affordable prices like lightweight shirts and shorts from $30 pants for any occasion, comfortable lounge sets with premium luggage options and durable duffel bags to carry it all. The best part, all Quince Items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. What they do is they partner directly with the top factories. Cuts out all the middlemen. You get the discounts and savings. Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes. So here's what I would tell you to do for your next trip. Treat yourself to the luxe upgrades you deserve from quince. Go to quince.comed for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's Q-U-I-N C E.comed to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.comed you know the word you use was awareness. What this conversation does today and your book, the people I believe that are the happiness are just the most self aware. Even if it's of a deficiency. It's the people who sort of live unconsciously. So they're marching towards this never ending number of wealth. They don't even really know what it is. They're just going to keep climbing, keep climbing, keep climbing. And at some point I just know I'm going to be happy when I get there, right? Or at some point I'll take care of my health. At some point I'll start yoga at some point. And the fact is it's just you're living habitually. You've habitually, unconsciously, unselfawarely started to live your life. And in the book you talk about an ABC system for habit formation. This is not easy. If you've lived 30 years or 40 years, you have built these neural pathways that cause you to think and behave in a particular way. And so if there's anything somebody can do. What is this ABC formula? I know what it is, but I want you to explain to them. And why is it so important to intentionally create this new habit? Like you know, my 10 to 1 calls now are walking calls. This new habit I'm going to do. How do you do that with this ABC process.
- [42:46]
Sahil Bloom
The idea here is that consistency is the key to life. We know this. You've been told this over and over again by everyone that you've heard speaking on the matter.
- [42:55]
Ed Mylett
Sure.
- [42:56]
Sahil Bloom
But the reality is that very few people tell you how to be consistent. They just tell you that it's important. And the ABC system is a pathway to actually being consistent because it relies on the idea that I said earlier, which is that anything above zero compounds you need to hold yourself to the fire in the act. But give yourself grace in the amount meaning hold yourself to the fire in actually doing the thing on a daily basis, but give yourself grace in the amount of the thing that you do. That's what the ABC system allows you to do. ABC says my A goal for a day for the given habit that I'm trying to do is the best case. It's the optimal case. So let's take the example of working out. I'm going to work out for an hour. That's my A goal. When I feel great, I'm going to do that. My B goal is going to be 30 minutes. Like when I feel okay, when things have just gone okay, baseline case, it's going to be 30 minutes. And then my C goal is all hell broke loose. My kid kept me up all night. I'm feeling a little under the weather. I'm just going to go for a five minute walk. What happens is life happens on a daily basis. And when you have only one level, when you set it up as to say me, being consistent means going to the gym for an hour, you are bound to fail. Because on the days when the chaos strikes, you're going to skip, you're going to miss that day. You're not going to actually show up and do the hour because that's what you've set up in your mind as consistency. The reality is the five minute walk is better than nothing. So allow yourself on the days when things go to hell to go back to the B goal or the seagull, but still get something done. Still show up and check the box. So for any given system that you're trying to build, any given new habit, set an A goal, a B goal and a C goal. And then hit one of those levels every single day. When you feel great, hit the A goal. When you feel okay, hit the B goal. And when all hell breaks loose, just hit the C goal. Because anything above zero compounds reminds me.
- [44:49]
Ed Mylett
Of the dimmer effect. Like keep the dimmer on, you know, we should step back and do just. Since we're in the middle of this and we haven't done it yet, let's tell them the different levels of wealth, like what the categories are. And then just from your perspective for you, what has been the one most recently that you're working on, if there has been one that's not quite dimmed, where you want it to be and what are you doing to brighten the light?
- [45:12]
Sahil Bloom
So the five types of wealth that I cover in the book, time wealth, the freedom to choose how you spend your time, who you spend it with, where you spend it, when you trade it for other things. Social wealth is all about your relationships. Mental wealth is about purpose, it's about growth, and it's about creating the space necessary to actually wrestle with some of these bigger picture questions in your life. Physical wealth is about your health and vitality, and then financial wealth is money. It's the one that we know with the specific nuance of really understanding your definition of enough, what it means to have enough financially in your life. In terms of my own life, what I have sort of wrestled with, I would say recently is the social wealth aspect. In particular, the relationships with my sort of like, closest people in my world have taken a step back. While I have leaned into this season of unbalance around the book launch, I fundamentally believe that the concept of balance has been hijacked. You've been told that balance is about having a perfect blend on a daily basis of life and health and relaxation and work, and that if your days don't look perfectly balanced, you're all screwed up and you need to get stressed and anxious about the fact that you're unbalanced. The reality is that balance is much more about the seasons than the days. You are going to have seasons of unbalance that are in service of a future season of balance. So I have just gone through a four month period, you know all about this, about book launches, traveling all the time, hitting the road, because it's something that I really care about. It's an idea that I believe can change people's lives. And it matters to me. That is a season of unbalance that has pulled me away from the people that I care about most in the world. My wife, my son, my parents, my sister. All of these people. I need to now swing back into that season of balance because the season of unbalance was in service of that. I need to be able to zoom out and recognize that and rebalance those dimmers.
- [47:14]
Ed Mylett
What will it look like?
- [47:15]
Sahil Bloom
It would look like what I did last week, which is a full week off the grid, the ghosting week with my wife and son in Naples, Florida. Just like no podcasts, no phone calls, nothing. Just get back to the things that really matter and then find that sort of natural point during the course of this coming year where I'm not in book launch mode. I still want to be doing the things to push the ball forward, but I'm not going to be quite as much in the like, hard charging go after every single opportunity.
- [47:44]
Ed Mylett
Is there any part of You, I want to be candid because these decisions that we make, they do have consequences. I mean, you walked from a life where maybe you'd be worth $30 million more right now than you currently are, even though you're a very young, successful, wealthy guy. Help someone make one of these decisions, whether it's I'm going to get my health wealth together or my time wealth or my friendship, there's an addiction to the way that you live. And so I read the book and I'm like, this is really, really good. But when I get them on, I'm going to push them. So you talk about the power of razors in the book. Maybe this will be part of that leading into that answer, the decision making frameworks. But this idea, when you've been addicted to an idea, I'm going to be the CEO of this company, I'm going to have $10 million, I'm going to own this home, I'm going to live in this neighborhood. There's an addictive thought process. You've thought about this thousands and thousands, maybe millions of times. You actually had the courage to make a decision to go. That is no longer my dream. Is there anything, is it this razors concept that, you know, you would impart to somebody in addition to what we've talked about, where they go, you know, like it's okay to not continue to chase this thing that, you know, doesn't fulfill you anymore. How would you, how would you talk to someone right now sitting there going, I'm not happy in my friendships or you know what, I'm not happy mentally, I'm not expressing myself or I'm not in one of these areas or four of the five I'm not happy in.
- [49:09]
Sahil Bloom
Yeah. What we're talking about here is fundamentally the Pyrrhic victory, which is the idea of the victory that comes at such a steep cost to the victor that it might as well have been a defeat. The idea that you can go win the battle but lose the war. And that is the path that a lot of people are marching down. It's the person who made a billion dollars but has four ex wives and five children who don't talk to them anymore. And we pat that person on the back and tell them that they won the game, we celebrate them, we admire them, we write books about them. But you have to ask yourself in your own life, is that actually a game that I care to win or is the game that I care to win the mountain that I care to climb, completely different than what I've been told is the successful mountain. That is what this entire book, this entire idea is about identifying the things that you truly care about. The mountain that you actually want to climb. Not the one that the world has told you, not the one that your friends, not the one that social media has told you, but what you actually care about. Because we live in this speed obsessed culture and society. Everything is about how fast can you go from here to here, how fast can I get promoted, how fast can I make x million dollars, how fast can I get Forbes 30 under 30 or whatever. The thing is. And as you get older and as you zoom out on your life, you recognize that life is much more about direction than speed. It's so much more important to climb slowly up the right mountain than to climb fast up the wrong one. Over and over and over again we see people make that mistake. So zoom out on your life, measure for the much bigger picture war. The five types of wealth rather than just the one. Because when you measure the right things, you can start taking the right actions. You make decisions in line with that bigger picture measurement so you can win the battle. You can make money, you can do well, you can achieve your ambitions. But you can also make sure you're winning the bigger picture war.
- [51:06]
Ed Mylett
I'm just listening to you thinking you're 34, right? 34, yeah. Just amazing. So I gotta be honest with you. Anything you see in my business life that forward faces the public somehow. Shopify has had their hand in and has been involved with now for about a decade. Shopify handles the entire interactive customer experience. They help track my metrics, by the way, at the register when people buy. They've upgraded for most people about 30% more buying at the point of contact, at the end of sale. It's smooth, it's professional, it makes you look like a pro. Small businesses with one or two people, up to businesses with thousands of employees, all use Shopify for their checkout, their customer experience, and even marketing now. So you can do this as well. Upgrade your business to get the same checkout we use with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com mylet all lowercase go to shopify.com/my let to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com mylet you guys, I just want you to know he's right. You should really be auditing these types of wealth. I'll tell you how I know. I'll share something with you and then I'll ask you another question. I speak 100 nights a year probably. And when I speak, I get introduced and they give you, they usually introduce you with your resume. You know, like he was the wealthiest 50 under 50, 50 year old and this or that or the other thing. And when someone reads me my bio now, usually, what should I say to introduce you? I just say, here's it. Because these bios are meaningless to me now. And what I mean by that is all of the things that are read about me when I get introduced to speak are all things that I thought I wanted when I was younger. And now when they're read, they're by and large meaningless to me and almost embarrassing. Now. I think there's an element of that, that you must live certain things before you know whether they're for you. I think we all can be spoiled with riches to some extent as well. So I, I factor that in. But what I can tell you is flash forward 25 years from now and they're reading your bio out and you've achieved these things you think you want right now, I can tell you from personal experience, the best thing you could say when you introduce me is this is a good man of faith, a good dad, a good brother, a good husband, a good person, a good friend. That's very rarely read. I can't say that all of those years that I was as present as a father as I wanted to be. And so just realize, guys, that resume, you'll probably get it someday. Make sure it's exactly what you want it to be and live intentionally about it.
- [53:51]
Sahil Bloom
Have you heard on that exact point? I'm sorry to interrupt you. You're not related. David Brooks, the author, talks about the difference between resume virtues and eulogy virtues. Resume virtues are those things that they read off your resume. The accolades, the achievements, the titles, all of those things. Eulogy virtues are the things that they're going to read about you at your funeral. It's a good man of faith. It's a father, it's a husband, it's a good friend, a loyal friend. There is a incessant quest in our culture to build the resume virtues. And sometimes those resume virtues get built at the expense of the eulogy virtues. It's okay to build resume virtues. They're great. It's great to have ambitions around those things, but not if it means sacrificing the eulogy virtues. Because we know that at the end, those are the things that truly matter. Those are the things that are going to define your wealthy life. Your wealthy life may be enabled by money, by these resume virtues, but it will be defined by everything else.
- [54:51]
Ed Mylett
That's one of the best things said on the show in a really long time. Resume virtues, eulogy virtues. That's one of my favorite things ever. By the way. Everyone, I want to say one thing, and I say this to me too. Don't beat yourself up. A lot of good has come from the decisions, whatever path you've been on. My children got great educations. My wife was able to stay at home and be the best friend of my children because of the sacrifices I've made. No one in my family has ever had to wonder whether they were going to have a roof over their head or their health covered or anything like that. So there are things in your life you've done that you really deserve credit for. But you're also allowed to take a pause like today and listen to these two men talking and reevaluate and rethink and recalibrate. Is it still what you want? Is it still what you want? Is it what you want five years from now? And I think this whole redefining wealth ideas is. Is so critical in life not to live so just down the culture and live unconsciously. I want to open end the last question for you. I don't usually do that in my interviews, but I want to do it with you because there's so many things in the book, by the way, instead of just saying it at the end. It's the five types of wealth, everybody. Okay, Sahil Bloom and a transformative guide to design your dream life. Why not take the time to do that? Start to design your dream life. If you're a person of faith in concert with God, pray about it. Enlist him as your partner. I wanted to ask you, if someone ran into you at Starbucks today, they go, hey, I heard you on the Ed My Let show. I got a lot out of it. I still don't feel wealthy. I still don't feel wealthy. And I'm not exactly sure what my next move should be. To begin that dimmer being turned up a little bit other than what you had covered the first 55 minutes with Ed Mylett, what would you add that they didn't cover in the interview that you can now cover in the interview to help them move towards the five types of wealth and designing that dream life.
- [56:40]
Sahil Bloom
We talked about awareness earlier as the starting point for all of these things. You need to create an awareness of where you are on your journey today. Create that understanding of your baseline that you can actually go build against. The book has this idea of a wealth Score these five statements within each of the five types of wealth that allow you to establish a baseline for how you're doing from your perspective in these different areas. That gives you a frame of reference for what you actually need to start building upon. Each section then has guides of things that you can do within any of these one areas. The most important piece to all of that is to just go do something. We live in a world where people are getting their dopamine from information gathering rather than from action. And that is one of the most dangerous drugs, dopamine from information gathering. That is the dopamine that you get when you read Atomic Habits and you say, I'm good at habits now, but you haven't done anything yet. You haven't actually taken action on the thing. And so the one thing I would say to anyone that reads this book who listens to the conversation, go do one tiny thing. It could be as simple as, like, call your mom for two minutes today, go out on that five minute walk, do the Think Day, do the Energy Calendar, pick one of the things we talked about and actually go and act on it. It might take five minutes. That's the only investment. But the momentum from that one tiny action is fundamentally what could change your life. And over and over again, the one thing that I will just say to close, because I think it's such an important concept, is a story from my own life that I'll share, which is recent. I was in my office and I was working on something for this book launch. So focused, really locked in, and my son, two and a half year old, barges in through my office door and just starts knocking things over, terrorizing my office. Two and a half year old. And I started having this whole train of thought, very negative complaining, why is he in here? Why is he doing this? Doesn't he see I'm working? Doesn't he know that I'm trying to focus? And in that moment, I paused and I snapped myself back to five years ago when my wife and I were struggling to conceive for two years. I had prayed every single night that we would one day have a healthy child. And there I was in that moment, complaining about the exact thing that I had prayed for. And it was a reminder to me of a very important fact, which is sometimes in life, the things you pray for become the things that you complain about. If you let them, if you don't force yourself to pause, to stop, to recognize that sometimes you are quite literally living out your prayers.
- [59:27]
Ed Mylett
Oh, you finished with me on that one bro. That's the best story of the entire interview. This was unbelievable conversation. You're going to be invited back on this show, brother, and you'll still be a lot younger than me every time you show up. Sahel Bloom. You guys, this is the five types of wealth, and this was an extraordinary conversation. You're an extraordinary man and you're making a difference in the world. Your dad's very, very, very proud of you, brother. I can promise you that.
- [59:53]
Sahil Bloom
Thank you so much.
- [59:54]
Ed Mylett
All right, everybody, share Today's episode. God. B.L. you max out. This is the Ed Milan show.