The Hard Truth: Why Your Hardest Days Create Your Greatest Success | Ed Mylett

Summary

THE ED MYLETT SHOW
Episode: The Hard Truth: Why Your Hardest Days Create Your Greatest Success | Ed Mylett
Date: August 8, 2026

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Episode Overview

This powerful episode of The Ed Mylett Show centers on a profound and universal truth: our toughest days and richest adversities are the crucibles for greatest personal and professional growth. Ed Mylett discusses "playing hurt"—the invisible skill that separates peak performers from the average—through deeply personal stories, legendary athletic moments, and rich conversations with special guests including Jeezy J. Jenkins, Eric Thomas, Dean Graziosi, Jim Kwik, and Maria Shriver. Together they break down how resilience, persistence, and shifting your relationship with pain can create lasting success and fulfillment, not just in business but in all facets of life.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Power of Playing Hurt & Adversity as a Gift (00:47–16:00)

• Ed introduces the "play hurt" theme
  • True greatness is defined by one's ability to act and perform at high levels even when hurt, in pain, or not at their best.
  • "Everybody performs well on those days where you're feeling great... the separator in life is what do you do on the days you don't feel that way." — Ed Mylett (02:05)
• Iconic sports stories illustrate the message
  • Michael Jordan’s 'flu game' (1997 NBA Finals), Tiger Woods winning the U.S. Open on a broken leg, Kirk Gibson’s legendary World Series home run, Kerri Strug’s gold medal vault on a torn ankle.
  • "We remember it because he played hurt." — Ed Mylett (10:45)
• Personal anecdote: Cade Ballou
  • College baseball player who played—and hit his first home run of the season—on the same day his mother passed away.
  • Highlighted as “one of the most inspiring things” Ed has witnessed.
  • "He hadn't hit a home run on all the good days, but he hit a home run on that day to honor his mom when he was under tremendous pain." — Ed Mylett (06:10)
• Reflections on pain, action, and healing
  • Taking action, even while healing, can itself be a form of healing.
  • Adversity is reframed as an opportunity for growth, faith, and deeper connection to purpose.

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Legendary Grit: Stories That Inspire (16:00–28:00)

• Resilience as a separator
  • “Your breaking point is God’s building point.” — Ed Mylett (27:27)
  • Emphasis: pushing through just when you’re ready to break is when breakthroughs occur.
• Cliff Young’s ultramarathon victory at 61
  • Outlasting professional runners in a 540-mile race with persistence forged by years of painful daily labor.
• Personal transparency from Ed
  • Shared his own experience of “playing hurt” through a year of physical and emotional adversity.
  • "I played this whole year hurt... It’s one of the best years I’ve ever had." — Ed Mylett (13:37)

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Conversations on Adversity and Growth

Jeezy J. Jenkins: Harnessing Adversity (32:14–47:09)

• Why “Adversity for Sale”
  • Adversity is his purpose and gift—as a tool for evolving and giving back.
  • “Adversity, to me, is that small glare of hope… every situation… He [God] always put somebody in my life…” — Jeezy J. Jenkins (32:46)
• On receiving help and being open
  • Blessings often come as people, but you must be present and expectant to recognize and accept them.
  • Ed shares the “three boats” analogy about missing God’s help if not expecting it. (35:38)
• Embracing personal work and transformation
  • Jenkins’s journey from street life to music, through loss, physical trials (vocal cord injury, Bell’s palsy), and, ultimately, to a life of purpose and service.
  • The importance of going inward to heal and achieve peace before impacting others.

Lessons in Self-Awareness and Teaching as Service

• Jenkins expands on conflict resolution, seeking knowledge, reaching out to mentors (John Maxwell, Robert Greene, Tony Robbins), and the power of teaching what you’re learning—even when you’re still imperfect.

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Eric Thomas: Work Ethic, Levels, and Systems (51:04–60:02)

• On grind, effort, and raising your standard
  • Being around high performers like Ed revealed the importance of not just hard work, but strategic, systematic effort.
  • "You're not overwhelmed, you're just rising to the level that God is asking you to rise." — Eric Thomas (59:07)
  • “If you want to see growth, you got to start grinding on the systems level…”
• Practical Application
  • Identifying the missing “one more” in business, life, or relationships—the critical action you’re avoiding.
  • Don’t just credit yourself for what you already do; find the gap and close it.

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Endurance, Resiliency, and the “One More” Philosophy

James “Iron Cowboy” Lawrence: The Edge of Human Limits (62:25–65:53)

• Completing 100 consecutive Ironman triathlons—and then doing one more
  • Speaks to mental fortitude; “That one more might be by yourself… I promise you, you can get up one more.” — James Lawrence (64:24)
• ‘One More’ as a Movement
  • Ed notes synchronicity with his own upcoming book/writeup, “The Power of One More.”
  • “My book is the Power of One More… you went on this journey, you did this… you just did it for me.” — Ed Mylett (65:53)

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Dean Graziosi: Building the Muscle of Doing Hard Things (67:14–72:20)

• Changing your relationship to pain
  • Successful people "drive through the smoke," facing difficulties rather than avoiding them.
  • “If my dad’s going to stress so much about a thousand dollar deal, what if I did it on 5,000, $10,000 deals?” — Dean Graziosi (69:11)
• Expressing your true self as fulfillment
  • Most fulfilling moments come from being the fullest expression of yourself, not just what you do.
  • Pain and challenges can become your credential to help others.

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Jim Kwik: Max Out Your Brain & Teach to Master (75:37–83:05)

• The power of observation and attention
  • Recounted meeting President Bill Clinton, who exemplifies “paying attention” as the root of great memory and influence.
  • “They’re trying to be interesting—not interested.” — Jim Kwik (78:18)
• Learning by teaching
  • When you learn with the intent to teach, you internalize knowledge better.
  • “When you teach something, you learn it twice.” — Jim Kwik (82:15)
  • Ed: "Since that time, everything I’ve listened to… intention to teach it." (82:35)

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Maria Shriver: Wisdom, Pacing, and the Value of the Pause (83:51–93:37)

• Key life lessons
  • The value of working your way up, learning every part of your chosen field, and the strength that comes from self-confidence built through experience.
  • "Who you work for is super important… I think it's really important to do every kind of a job in the profession that you choose to be in." — Maria Shriver (86:16)
• Pacing, pausing, and presence
  • Life is a marathon; embrace reflection and "the power of the pause" to gain richness and true presence.
  • On parenting: unconditional love should not be predicated on external achievement. (92:19)
  • "We need to have… what does it look like to pause? What does it look like to daydream? What does it look like to be bored? What does it look like to be reflective?" — Maria Shriver (91:15)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “The separator in life and in business is that the great ones are able to perform even when they're not at their best, even when they're hurt, even when they're wounded, even when they're down.”
  Ed Mylett (02:42)

• “Your breaking point is God's building point.”
  Ed Mylett (27:27)

• “Get up and do something, right?... Sometimes the winning can be the healing.”
  Ed Mylett (06:15)

• “Adversity, to me, is that small glare of hope.”
  Jeezy J. Jenkins (32:46)

• “If you're not looking for it and expecting it, you don't hear them or see them or feel them, and then you miss them.”
  Ed Mylett (35:41)

• "The grind, the hustle, that's the separator. Either lower your expectations, or meet the level that your dreams demand."
  Eric Thomas (52:22–60:02)

• “When you are broken and when you have reached your limit, you can do one more.”
  James Lawrence (64:24)

• "They're trying to be interesting. They're not interested. That's power."
  Jim Kwik (78:18)

• “When you teach something, you get to learn it twice.”
  Jim Kwik (82:15)

• “True fulfillment is expressing the real you… God did not make you to repress your greatness.”
  Ed Mylett (72:20)

• “My love for you is not predicated on your doing, on your accomplishing, on your winning… my love for you is there. Unconditionally.”
  Maria Shriver (92:19–92:26)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:47–10:00 – "Playing hurt" and iconic stories of resilience
• 10:00–16:00 – Examples of pain as a gift, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Kirk Gibson, and more
• 32:14–47:09 – Interview with Jeezy J. Jenkins on adversity, transformation, and purpose
• 51:04–60:02 – Eric Thomas on work ethic and pushing past comfort
• 62:25–65:53 – James Lawrence “Iron Cowboy” on conquering ultra-endurance and the ‘one more’ mindset
• 67:14–72:20 – Dean Graziosi on reprogramming your approach to difficulty and authenticity
• 75:37–83:05 – Jim Kwik on memory, attention, and the exponential power of teaching
• 83:51–93:37 – Maria Shriver on wisdom, pacing in life, pausing for self-reflection, and unconditional love

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Final Themes and Takeaways

• Adversity is inevitable, but how you respond is the true differentiator.
• Resilience and persistence, especially on the hardest days, create lasting success and fulfillment.
• Healing, growth, and purpose often lie within the pain—not in its absence.
• Be open to the blessings and support sent your way; expectation and awareness are key.
• Don’t just honor achievement—honor reflection, rest, and being present.
• Teach and share what you learn; service deepens mastery.
• Be your truest, fullest self as a path to fulfillment—and never underestimate the impact of your story.

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This episode is a masterclass in mental toughness, authenticity, and reframing pain. It is packed with wisdom for anyone facing hard times, seeking motivation, or ready for one more push towards their greatest self.

Transcript

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[Ed Mylett]

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[Ed Mylett]

Almost as hot as I am. Almost sweet. No, spicy. See for yourself. $4.99 and only at 7:11. Follow up through 8:45 46 participating stores only. While last visit store for full terms. This is the Ed Milet Show. Hey everyone. Welcome to my weekend special. I hope you enjoy the show. Be sure to follow the Ed Mylett show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. You'll never miss an episode that way. Now, on with the show. Welcome back to the show, everybody. So grateful you've decided to join me again here this week and this week I have a question for you. Do you play hurt? Because I think playing hurt is one of the invisible skills of all the great ones. And if you think back in your lifetime, the people that you've been the most, you know, emotional about, when you've watched them perform in sports or life in business, they were overcoming some pain they were in currently at the time. Typically in sports, it's some type of an injury that they have. And so I ask you, can you play hurt? Because I think that's the great separator in life and in business is that the great ones are able to perform even when they're not at their best, even when they're hurt, even when they're wounded, even when they're down. And average ordinary people succumb to the injury, succumb to the pain, the down cycle in their life. You know, I really believe the separator in life is not what you do on the days where you're feeling great, you're feeling healthy, you're feeling emotionally strong, everything's going your way. Everybody performs well on those Days, it's what do you do on the days that you don't feel that way? In sports, especially the greatest moments of my life, lifetime in sports. We'll talk about them in a minute. Have been watching athletes perform under pain, under injury, under hurt, and in business, in life, you know, we're not on television and so sometimes we don't realize that's the separator. The difference between winning and losing in life and sports is so small, it's almost too scary to talk about. One of the things that worries me is I have to be candid with you. I think everybody can help someone, but one of the things that's happened in the business space, the entrepreneurial space, is there's just so many people that are giving advice and information that have never built a business, that have never accomplished anything other than telling how to accomplish something. And so oftentimes I hear their messages and I'll commiserate with other people that I know that have actually done something in their life. And like, can you believe that they teach this stuff and that people are believing this? I worry sometimes that you don't get told the truth about what it really takes to win and that so many of you are listening to so many different voices, many of which aren't qualified to help you in the area that you're looking for help. And I say that with respect because I think everyone can help somebody. But by and large, if I want to get fit and in shape, I want my trainer to be fit and in shape. If I want to become wealthy and build a big business, I want to listen to someone who's wealthy that's built a big business. If I want to become happier and more influential and more passionate in my life, I want to listen to someone who's done that. And so I know that one of the separators from the people that I know that have become mega successful in their lives is their ability to play when they don't have their A game, their ability to win and step up and sometimes play better. And so ask yourself this question. The last year, on days when you were down or not even feeling physically well, you had the flu or cough, or you know you had an injury that you hurt yourself and your knee or your back was hurting, or someone had hurt your feelings the day before or maybe a week or two before the day before, you lost an account or didn't get a sale you thought you were going to get, or something's going on with your kids, how did you perform those days? Because that's the separator in life. And so we're so moved often by the people we see when they do this. I'll give you an example. I was recently moved by a young man, and I'm sure this will get back to him. And he might be surprised that I saw this, but a young man named Cade Ballou, and he's a college baseball player at Auburn University. I played college baseball. He's a lefty. I was a lefty. And so I took note of this young man. But the reason I saw him wasn't because he played college baseball or because he played at Auburn. He's a much better college player than I was, by the way. But the reason I saw him is that his mother had died. And the day that his mother had passed away, he still played in the game that night. And I guess, evidently he went to the coach and says, you know, mom would want me to play tonight. This young man, under tremendous pain, just lost his mother. Can you imagine? Just hours before, he said, I think mom wants me to play. And this young man steps up to the plate. I believe it was his third at bat. Guess what he did. You know, it. He had a home run. Mother of Auburn baseball outfielder Katie Ballou Stacy passed away this morning after a battle with cancer. Our hearts and Auburn baseball are with the balloon family during this time. Right.

[Jim Kwik]

It's deep.

[Ed Mylett]

It's gone. He hit it out of here, Brad.

[Eric Thomas]

You know, some things just transcend the human experience.

[Ed Mylett]

Experience and how sports could bring everybody together.

[Eric Thomas]

That's one of them.

[Ed Mylett]

One of the most inspiring things I've ever seen in 32 years of coaching was Big Blue getting hit a home run. First drive at the ball.

[Dean Graziosi]

That's it.

[Ed Mylett]

First one of the season. Hadn't hit a home run on all the good days, but he had a home run on that day to honor his mom when he was under tremendous pain. Where many people would have said, hey, hey, Cade, we wouldn't blame you at all, man. Sit out the game, sit out the weekend. You know, that's okay. And by the way, that would have been okay, you know, heal up a little bit. You know, there's so much this stuff in Percival about healing and all that stuff. And by the way, I think you can take action and still win while you're healing. And sometimes the winning can be the healing. Instead of just sitting around and machinating in your thoughts and trying to evaluate yourself all the time, get up and do something, right? And I say that out of love. I would say this. If you were my children. I talk to the audience as if they're an extension of my family. I also don't say these things sitting on some high horse because I've made the mistakes of not taking action on the days when I was down or hurting. I've sat out games when I was an athlete, when maybe I could have played. And now in life, you know, as I got older, I realized that's the separator. And so, Kade Ballou, man, Congratulations, brother. Way to honor your mom. Just want you to know I saw it. And now you've moved millions of people through our audience here today. On the day he was probably hurting the most in his life, he stepped up and hit his first home run of the season. I have to imagine that inspired his teammates. Have to imagine that his mom's very proud of him. The rest of his family is very proud of him. By the way, would. Would we been proud had Kate hit a home run? Sure. Would I be mentioning a guy at Auburn who hit his first home run of the year on my podcast to millions of people if he wasn't hurt? No. And so what I'm saying is some of your greatest accomplishments, your greatest story. We've all heard the saying that your test can become your testimony, your mess can become your message. But it's true. In fact, oftentimes this adversity is a gift. It's an opening to get something for your pain. I've always said that I don't believe God's going to give you pain without a gift on the other side of it. That if you look for the gift of the pain you're going through, that all pain is temporary. And if you can survive the temporary, whatever the pain is you're going through, mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, if you'll survive the temporary. But while you're surviving and getting through it, look for the gift. Look for the miracle. He's going to give you something. He's going to give you a new friend, a new relationship, a new insight, a new thought, a new talent, a new ability, a new innovation, a new whole new life. Oftentimes a new reference, a new whatever. It comes your way through pain. And so this is the people that we admire in life. You think about, in your sports life, think about Michael Jordan. Of all the championships that Michael Jordan won, it was winning the 1997 NBA Finals, the flu game where most people wouldn't have played. He had 104 degree fever. He no one thought he was even to show up and play that night. And somehow he comes through and wins the NBA title playing with the flu. Right. I mean, we remember this. It's iconic now. He won a lot of championships, but that's the clip that you see the most. Why? Because he played hurt. He played hurt. It's Tiger Woods. Of all the majors that he won, he won the 2008 US Open. They tell us on basically a broken leg. Are you kidding me? This is. These are the stories of legends. These are the stories that are what icons do. And you have a chance. When you're going through this down day, these are the days where maybe you're going through it today, and you're like, man, I needed this today, brother. Or send this to somebody who needs it. My gosh, this is actually an opening for me. This is where I separate. This is my separation season. Because almost, you know, it's. I almost get off in my. My mind on these days because I'm like, I know nobody's working as hard as I am. Not after how bad yesterday was. Not after how bad I'm hurting. Not after that let down. Most people are licking their wounds and staying down, and there's all this stuff as well. Maybe you should stay down for a while, Evaluate what happened, learn the lesson. Yeah, maybe. Or maybe you should get your ass up and go back to battling. Go back to fighting, go back to winning. Get in motion again. I think you can heal, learn and take action at the same time. Tiger woods winning that U.S. open on a broken leg. They tell us Kirk Gibson in the 88 World Series, hitting a home run coming off the bench. He was so injured, he couldn't play. He didn't. He didn't play the game, and he didn't play at all. After this home run. He had one at bat, limps up to the plate. He couldn't play a position, so they put him into pinch hit. He gets up there, two strikes, Dennis Eckersley, bam. Hits a home run over the right field fence to win the World Series game. One of the most, if not the most iconic home run in the history of baseball. One of them.

[Maria Shriver]

Why?

[Ed Mylett]

Because he had a home run in the World Series? No, because he had a home run hurt in the world. By the way. I was at that game. Funny anecdote. My dad wanted to leave that game. The inning before we got up to leave, and we ran into my T ball, Little League coach. We were in the bleachers at Dodger Stadium, and my T ball coach says, you don't leave World series games early, Mr. Mylett. My dad went, ah, all Right. We walked back to our seats. True story. Sat down in the next inning. Maybe the most famous home run in the history of baseball was hit by Kirk Gibson. But we remember it because he played hurt. If you're really old like me, the year before I was born. But I heard about it all. My Willis Reed for the Knicks coming out and inspiring his team to win. You know, when I speak, I walk out on stage to Thunderstruck by AC dc and everyone thinks that's because he's such an AC DC fan. Well, I am a fan of that band, but that's not why I walk out. I walk out to AC DC when I speak, because my favorite fighter of all time is Arturo Thomas Thunder Gotti. He came into the ring to Thunderstruck my favorite fighter of all time, Gotti. Why? Because he was the best fighter of all time. Arturo was not the greatest fighter of all time. If you don't know him, go watch his clips. I don't care if you're a boxing fan, female, male, go watch Arturo, guys. Because the shots he would take and keep coming. His fights with Mickey Ward, I mean, I'm just going to tell you, like, inspired me to want to be somebody. If you think about the movies, it's Rocky Balboa. It's how he came back from being hurt. Cut me, Mick. Right? It's. Those are the things that move us. The greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali and how he beat George Foreman and would come back from being hurt. The wonderful Kerry Scruggs. Most of you don't know this. One of the greatest clips of all time, Carrie Scrubs, 1996 gymnast, ends up basically winning the gold on a torn ankle. And I remember watching that and crying, literally crying when she won. I wonder, by the way, why do we cry when we see somebody accomplish something great and overcome something amazing? Whether someone heals from cancer and they come back and they live, or an athlete that overcomes an injury, like precious Carrie Scruggs did in the Olympics, and just the world cried watching her go through this pain and win. I submit that we cry when we see these great acts of courage because we know that exists within us and we're not using it. We're not even crying out of happiness. There's a part of. It's like, why can't I do that? I have the same capacity. I'm also a human being. I want to be proud of me. I want to overcome my pain. You know, the story that you're going through right now or have gone through, it's Only inspiring if you win. It's only inspiring if there's a fairy tale. There's only. It's only inspiring if there's a lesson, if there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And so you got to play hurt. And sometimes, I'll be honest with you, I think we exaggerate the pain we go through. We make it a bigger deal than it really is. You know, I've had people cancel because, well, I've got a cough or I've got the flu. Heck, this is a zoom call. I'm doing this today. My producer will tell you. I'm sitting here today. I've got at least two teeth that I need a root canal on today. I've got something wrong with my jaw where I can't really open my mouth to eat. It's enough that I can talk right. And I've got the flu. But no one asked me to run a marathon today. They asked me to do six zooms. I'm sitting in a chair. What's the difference between sitting on the couch and doing nothing and sitting here and helping change the world? And I'm not bragging about me. Heck, I'll just tell you this. I played this whole year hurt. I haven't been on social media in a year. I've had issues with my heart. I've had a back issue that's just very significant. I've had surgery on my back. I've got. I played hurt all year. It's one of the best years I've ever had. Now, has it been the biggest growth year? No. But I played hurt. Deion Sanders. Coach prime was on my podcast a few weeks ago. His agent and my agent, Constance Schwartz, was also on some of the most popular shows we've ever had, and Coach Prime's this legendary coach now at Colorado. But what a lot of people don't know is Coach prime played entire Major League Baseball season and NFL football season at the same time multiple years in a row. You imagine playing. Imagine how hard it is to get to the NFL. Imagine how hard it is to get to mlb. He got to both and played both, and some days would play a Major League Baseball game and an NFL football game in the same day. Imagine that. And guess what? One year, he did it with a bronchial infection, walking pneumonia, basically, for the entire year. Imagine that you got a bronchial infection, almost borderline walking pneumonia for a year, and he plays a full NFL football season and Major League Baseball season and went to the postseason in baseball but some people can't get on a zoom because they've got a cough or their tummy hurts, right? But you want to be a millionaire. You want to be one of the great ones ever. But any chance you're hurt a little bit down. I'm just being honest with you. Maybe this isn't the message everybody wants to hear, but it's the message everybody needs to hear. The separator is what you do on the days you're hurting. This man played an entire football season, entire baseball season, both with a condition that most people would cancel their zooms for. Can you imagine? And so it's about how many punches you can absorb. Remember this. Your breaking point is God's building point. Just when you're ready to break, just when you think you've got too much, if you'll push to that next level, that's when God starts to build. That's when he starts to break through. That's when the growing happens. But we don't take advantage of these opportunities. I'm almost to the point in my life where I believe adversity is a gift. I can't tell you that every time bad things happen, like today, I didn't want to wake up with my jaw. I didn't want all that stuff. It's just like a year of stuff in my physical being. I've had issues personally and socially. So I'm in a tough year. You know, I'm not saying I would wish that. Same time, it's. I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned how much. To be honest with you, I love what I do and how much I care about you all because in a long time ago, financially, I didn't need to do this. And I kind of always thought in my life, when I got very, very wealthy, I probably wouldn't work like I work still. But then when I got here, I fell in love over my lifetime with people and making a difference and serving them. Almost, like, feel like it's my home and it's my calling. It doesn't feel like that much work to me. And so who am I to be, you know, telling you to do all these things? And so when I'm not feeling great, I don't. And so I'm really convinced that your breaking point is God's building point. I'll tell you another story of a guy you probably haven't heard of unless you live in Australia. But reading about this guy for a few years now, 1983, it started one of the world's toughest ultramarathons 540 mile trek from Sydney to Melbourne. I want you to imagine this. Some of the top runners in the world are running in this race and a farmer shows up, true story, dressed in overalls and like galoshes over his boots is what they say. I'm just telling you what they tell you. And so people are like, who's this farmer? This guy's got overalls on. There's this combination of runners, but some of them are the best in the world. 540 miles. And so reporters ask who he was. He replies, his name's Cliff Young. Oh, by the way, Cliff is 61 years old, sheep farmer. Picture this, a marathon's 20 something miles. Guess what? Five days, 15 hours and four minutes later, he won. He finished first in this race, grueling race. He beat the next closest competitor by about 10 hours. He becomes this Australian national hero, total icon of ultramarathon running. You know, example of determination, perseverance. But what he's really an example of is pushing through pain. Pushing through pain. You know, he won the race, he slept less. Now there's some legends that say he didn't sleep at all. Evidently that's not true, but he just slept less. He didn't know how much sleep was really required of him. And all the training of chasing sheep on his farm is what equipped him for the race. So all these other guys were just running their normal race. This dude's chasing sheep for years and years and years around his farm, some days having to run days at a time. He was totally built for this. And so when the actual race comes along, he dominated because he pushed through pain for years and years and years and years. The actual race was nothing. And so I believe when you push through pain over and over and over again, it starts to not affect you like it once did. But if you avoid pain, if you shrink to it all the time, if you give in constantly, it weakens you, you know. On Wayfair, I found the perfect outdoor planters for our house and a garden bed for my wife. On Wayfair, you can find quality materials that stand up to real shop furniture and decor. That's built to last. With Wayfair verified, your shortcut to durable pieces hand vetted by product specialists using a 10 point quality inspection test. They test things like materials, the functionality, features, even how long it takes to build. It's really cool. Wayfair Rewards members get 5% off every day, helping you get even more value from your Wayfair purchases. You can Find options that fit your style and your budget and create a home you love without overspending. Shop across a wide range of price points to find what's right for you. Wayfair has more than 20 million verified five star reviews from real shoppers, so it's legit. Join Wayfair Rewards today to get 5% back on every purchase and start saving on your next home Upgrade. Head to Wayfair.com to shop all things home. That's W a Y f a I r.com wayfair everything style everything home so what happens when your dunking stops being a one night contest and becomes a professional sport? This is Dunk man, presented by Shaquille O'. Neal. Dunkman brings together 24 of the world's most explosive dunkers for a season of high flying competition, unbelievable athleticism and some serious pressure. Across four group staged events. These elite athletes will battle head to head, throwing down their biggest, boldest, most creative dunks for a chance to advance. This is so cool. But only the best will earn a spot in the Dunkman World Championship where a massive $500,000 grand prize is on the line. Every jump matters. Every dunk could. Everything. And when the lights come on, there's nowhere to hide. Dunk man is a partnership with Eli Lilly. Premieres live July 21st and every Tuesday at 8pm on TNT and streams on HBO. Max, get ready to witness Duncan like you've never seen before. Dunk man on tnt. Presented and commissioned by Shaquille o'. Neal. Remember this when you've gone through a difficult, painful mental experience. A bad day yesterday, physical, spiritual. Maybe it's in your relationship. Maybe you're just losing confidence. This is an opportunity to either strengthen you or weaken you. And how you respond means everything. I'm pretty sure Cliff, at 61 years old in overalls, didn't have all of the pedigree to be the guy to win that race, Never mind by 10 hours. But what he had done is trained himself to sleep less than most people. What he had done is trained himself to push through pain over and over and over. This wasn't something he trained for, it was his daily life. And it becomes this national icon. Isn't that an incredible story? It's just incredible. So can you push through pain until you find your truth? I think of so many of my female friends and they'll tell me the greatest experience of their life is having children. Yet they'll tell me the most physically painful experience of their life. For many of them was childbirth itself. And so for that unbelievably painful experience, you get the greatest gift of your life. Not amazing. If you really look back at your life, man, you've come a long way. And if you look back, most lessons learned, most gains were made during your flu game, during your broken leg round. Most of your great experience of your life were the painful ones. In some odd way, it's God's gift to us. Because when you go through the real pain of life, believe it draws you closer to God. At least in my case, I had to conclude, I can't do this on my own. I need you, Lord. Please help me. And so, ironically, sometimes pain is one of the great gifts we can have to strengthen our faith, but it also strengthens our resolve. There's also something that happens in us where we develop grit and toughness and resiliency and a relentless pursuit, that our conditions aren't the thing that determines our behavior. Conditions and behavior can be separate. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5, 10. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. Life can be heavy. There are moments when the weight of the trials we go through, it feels unbearable. Pain can linger. Sometimes prayers seem unanswered. And oftentimes we wonder whether we're ever going to feel whole again. But take heart, because your suffering is not the end of the story. Remember this. God sees every tear, every struggle, every weary side. And he's promised that after you've endured for a while, he'll step in and restore you. You got to endure for a while, usually. And he steps in, strengthens you. He'll make you unshakable over time. Your pain is temporary. All pain is temporary. The only thing that's permanent is our souls. But God's grace is eternal. Whatever your faith, beliefs are, just know that. And what feels like brokenness now, it's simply the ground where he's planting something new for you. Just remember that his hands are holding on to you all the time. They're rebuilding you. The storm you're facing right now, it's not going to destroy you. Because you're going to get up, you're going to persevere, and you're going to fight. One way or the other, you're going to get through it. One way or the other, you'll get through this day. Remember this. One day at a time, one meeting at a time. My book, the Power of One More. I tell you this because I believe it to be true. You don't need to decide to never quit. You just need to decide right now. I'm getting up right now. I'll make one more call right now. I'll do one more workout right now. I'll read one more book right now. I'll go one more day right now. One more. Just do one more. It's such a powerful concept. If you've not read the Power of One more, go get it. By the way, I should say this to you. You should be on my email list. Everything I send you is going to be free. If you go to edmylet.com you just put your email there. I think it says join here or follow here at the top, whatever. Go to edmylet.com and be in there. And by the way, let God's grace carry you and trust that he'll bring you through. But you got to step up and be resilient. Remember this, by the way, the best ability is availability. You got to be available. The great ones like Deion Sanders during that season, the best ability was he was available. So many people just aren't available. They miss too many hours, they miss too many meetings, they miss too much stuff. They allowed too many things in their conditions to affect their behavior. The great ones do not do this. And that's why habits matter. Rituals matter. Routines matter. Because when we're down, when we're under pressure, when we're hurting, we resort to habit mode because our brain kind of checks out. If your habits to get up and fight, if your habits to get up and do it anyway, if your habit is to show up and give it your best, regardless of how you feel, then that will be your default setting. But if your habit has always been, and it's been mine in the past, yeah, I got to rest a little bit. I got to evaluate this. You know, I'm really hurting right now. They gotta take a breather because that's what everybody does. But everybody's not successful. There's this whole thing in the world now. Everybody wants to be successful. Everybody wants to build a big company. Everybody wants a great body. Everybody wants a great relationship. Everybody wants a bunch of money. But nobody's willing to do the work on the hard days. They're willing to do the work on the good days. Man, I just listened to a great Instagram video. Man, I'm fired up. Yes, someone said yesterday, here we go. But what happens when three no's in a row, somebody quits on you, somebody hurts you and you're feeling physically ill. Can you get up those days? Can you push through? Can you do what winners do? And when you do what winners do, you get what winners get. You get what Jordan gets. You get what Carrie Scruggs gets. You get what Tiger woods gets. There's a great story. Kobe Bryant tears his Achilles tendon, but they need him to make the free throw to stay in the game, to win. They're like, kobe, you tore your Achilles. It's okay, bro. He will show you the clip. He walks out on the court and makes two free throws with a torn Achilles tendon. That's why he's Kobe. That's why he was Jordan. That's why he's Tiger. That's why she was Serena. That's why Carrie Scruggs is Carrie Scruggs. And I promise you, if you went through the lives of these people you admire, they played hurt. They found a way. They built that muscle. It's the separator. I tell my kids this all the time. Max, when he golfs, and he said to me, dad, I don't have my swing. Hey, Max, it's the days you don't have your swing. Hang in. Shoot a decent score today. Go work on your swing on the range after. Come back tomorrow with your A game. But you got to score with your B game or your D game. This is the separator. And let God's grace carry you through. We all go through pain in our lives. We all do. It's part of life. It's like, if you're not in pain right now, you're probably going to be soon. So why not have a blueprint, a mindset, a habit, a way of being? It says, oh, I see what's going on here, Devil. Okay, I'm stepping up. I'm getting more faithful. I'm taking more action. I'm coming back stronger. I'm built for this. And by the way, I know some of you listening, go, I've just never been that way. That's okay. Neither were these people until they started to be that way. No one's born like that. What happens is they all hit a wall at one point and said, I'm tired of running. I'm tired of quitting. I'm tired of giving in when I'm hurt. I'm tired of backing up. I'm going to stop at some point. Kobe Bryant said, I'm going to stop backing up. I'm going to stop making excuses. I'm going to stop quitting. I'm going to stop Flinching and I'm going to step into this at some point. I did. And I'm not equating myself with those people. But I know what it's like to give into an injury. I know what it's like to lay down too long when I'm down. I know many years ago, even at the prime of my health and fitness, I didn't work like I do now. And I'm probably in the worst physical condition I've been in in decades. Probably actually certainly ever. Yet I think I've been delivering the best content of my life. Most athletes will tell you, by the way, any of you that played sports, my dad used to tell me this. When I play sick, most athletes, most business people play better hurt, especially you got a little bit of a fever running. Everything kind of slows down a little bit. It causes you to focus a little bit deeper and a little bit more. You kind of have to move out all the noise and stay in the moment because that's all you have energy for. A lot of times you're better. And here's the truth, none of that's real pain. I was thinking about real pain this morning. I woke up, had a lot on my mind, and I was still fuzzy from waking up. And I thought, oh, I'll call dad. And it wasn't for about 10 minutes until I got up and started to move around. I remembered I can't call my dad. My dad's been passed away now for three years. I don't have any of you that's ever lost somebody. But every once in a while you forget you have a great moment, you think you'll call them or you have a dream that's so real when they're in it. And I woke up this morning and for about 10 minutes I was planning on calling my dad this morning. And then I realized I can't. You don't know real pain until you crave a conversation with someone that's no longer with us. That's some pain. And then I had to decide today, don't feel real good. Wish I could call my dad. And I can't. That hurts. I think I'll honor him with what I do today. I could have chose a different decision. Yeah, I worked real hard. I've got a little bit of money. Be okay if I kick the curb can down the curb a little bit. Did this tomorrow. I don't want to do that. Fact, what my producer will tell you is I texted him about two hours ago, I said, let's do one More today too. So we're actually doing more today. He probably wondered why he's learning right now. I decided to do more today because it's one of those days. I'm not going to meet my normal standard. I'm going to do one more. So real pain is that stuff. And if you have that in your life where you can't call someone because they're not here anymore, honor them and make them proud of you with what you do on the days you're hurting. Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. Don't forget to follow the show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. Now on to our next guest. Welcome back, everybody. I've been talking to this man about having him on the show here for, I don't know, like six or eight months. And you would think, well, you want to have a mom because he's this Grammy nominated artist that everybody knows. And that's not really why I wanted a mom. I wanted him on because this man has dimension and depth. He's a really unique person because he's obviously very talented, sold millions and millions of records, but he's got this dimension and depth because of his life experience and because of his work on himself and personal development. He's also got a book out called Adversity for Sale and it's really, really good. I read the entire thing in two days, so. Jeezy J. Jenkins, welcome to the show.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

What's up? How, how you doing, my brother?

[Ed Mylett]

It's so good to have you and I'm doing very well.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

It's an honor to be here, man.

[Ed Mylett]

Well, thank you. I'm honored to have you.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

I listen to your show every morning. Well, you know, you put episodes out like every couple days, so I check you out.

[Ed Mylett]

Thank you.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

Yeah.

[Ed Mylett]

You wrote one about adversity.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

Yes.

[Ed Mylett]

And I'm like. Because there's a ton of topics you could have done about, you know, overcoming limiting beliefs, overcoming your environment because you had. You transcended an environment which is very rare in life. Why is adversity the topic of the book and why did you think this is the thing I want to talk about?

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

Oh, wow, that's a great question. That's what I pride myself in, you know what I'm saying? Like, I would be that adversity specialist, if you will. That's what keeps me going. That's my purpose. My purpose is to continue to evolve no matter what, but to continue to give that information back to my culture. And to my people and to be an example of what it's like to come out of that. Because every situation that I've been in, and it's funny that we was talking about God. I don't care how crazy it got. He always put somebody in my life around the time that I needed some information or a ear or a connection or just a process. It never fails. Right? And I truly believe that he does that for me. To show people that you can maintain your integrity and be a solid individual and still survive. Right.

[Ed Mylett]

I love it.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

You know, without doing anything that would go against who you are as a man and then your legacy. Because, you know, when you think about some of the great leaders, they did great things, right? But their integrity is what kept you locked into them. Right? Because you got people that are successful, but they did a lot of foul things. And when you hear people talk about them, you're like, wow, I never knew that.

[Eric Thomas]

I know.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

And adversity, to me is that small glare of hope. Because if I tell you what I went through in this book, your life might be totally different, but you might be up against the same odds.

[Ed Mylett]

I can tell you that that's the truth. My life is totally different than your See, great storytellers tell me stories with a you meaning. So as I read your work, I didn't grow up like that, but I have my version of it in my life. And so the lessons in the book, the lessons in this conversation, I don't care what someone's life story is. These are facts. Like you said something so important that God has sent you that person when you needed them. The information, the insight, whatever it might be, I want everybody to hear this man said this. And the reason that I want you to hear it is he does that for you, too. The difference is you need to be in expectation that he's going to and aware that he's going to, because he has probably sent those people to you previously in your life. And if you're not aware he's doing it or open to the possibility he's doing it, you will miss them. Yeah, you will miss them. It's like that analogy of the people that are sitting on the roof during the flood. Someone comes by and says, hey, jump on the boat. Nope, I'm waiting for God to save me. Somebody else comes by in a boat. I'm waiting for God to save me. Third guy comes by in a boat. I'm waiting for God to save me. Then they drowned and they get to heaven and they go, God, I Thought you were gonna save me. He goes, I sent three damn people in a boat.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

Three boats.

[Ed Mylett]

Get in the damn boat.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

Right?

[Ed Mylett]

And so there's a. There's some.

[Eric Thomas]

There's.

[Ed Mylett]

You have to be an expectation that God is gonna send you a blessing at some point. But if you're not looking for it and expecting it, you don't hear them or see them or feel them, and then you miss them. This episode is sponsored by Roe. A lot of people assume GLP1s cost a fortune. And that assumption keeps them from even looking into the treatment. But the reality is there may be more affordable options that people realize. Ro helps people find the lowest cost path. FDA approved GLP1 treatments, whether that's through insurance coverage or cash, pay options that are more accessible than you'd expect. Getting started on a GLP one can feel unnecessarily complicated. You got insurance questions, pricing uncertainty, no clear starting point. Roche simplifies all of it by helping patients understand their options up front. And the lowest cost way to access FDA approved GLP1 treatment, whether covered or pay in cash. Ro wants to help people lose weight. That's why they have the lowest cost options out there. I use this and you should too. You can join over 1.5 million other people who trusted RO. Here's how you do it. Go to ro. Com to see if you qualify. That's RO Comylet. To get started on RO, go to RO CO safely for box warning and full safety information about GLP1 medications. You know, on Wayfair, I found the perfect outdoor planters for our house and a garden bed for my wife. On Wayfair, you can find quality materials that stand up to real life shop furniture and decor that's built to last. With Wayfair Verified, your shortcut to durable pieces hand vetted by product specialists using a 10 point quality inspection test. They test things like materials, the functionality, features, even how long it takes to build. It's really cool. Wayfair Rewards members get 5% off every day, helping you get even more value from your Wayfarer purchases. You can find options that fit your style and your budget and create a home you love without overspending. Shop across a wide range of price points to find what's right for you. Wayfair has more than 20 million verified five star reviews from real shoppers, so it's legit. Join Wayfair Rewards today to get 5% back on every purchase and start saving on your next home Upgrade. Head to Wayfair.com to shop all things home That's W A Y F A I R.com Wayfair everything style. Everything home.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

You have to be in a good place, too, though. You have to be in a good place with yourself. I really realized that because it was times that I wasn't in a good place for myself, and it was just a bunch of noise. I let things on the outside of me control my emotions, how I felt, you know what I'm saying? I just had to come to a place where. And I'm not there yet, of course, but I just started to understand what peace was like, to get a little taste of that. And I started to understand what going inward was about. Because the minute I started going inward, everything changed, right? Because now I can't fault anyone in my life for what they've done to me. I have to look inside and see how I reacted or what I've done to contribute to that, right? And I can't blame anyone else, right? And for me, when I started to understand that is when things started to slow down, right? Cause I wasn't present. I go have conversations with people. It's all on the surface. Yeah, it's all good. Whatever. I'm gone. But then I started taking time, like, to look people in their eyes and be like, are you all right, man? How you feeling? Like, what's going on? And it started to have conversations where I wasn't, you know, leading all of the conversation. Like, you know, just tell me, you know, how you feeling? What's going on? And when people came to me, I, you know, you know, and I pride myself on having a lot of advice. That's just like, my thing, you know, I think I'm like, you know, the therapist among the crew, you know what I'm saying?

[Ed Mylett]

But I ask them, and I ask

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

them now, do I say, you know, one is, you know, do you want me to just listen? You know what I'm saying? Two is, do you want me to tell you what I think? Or three is, do you want me to side with you? Cause I could do that, too, you

[Eric Thomas]

know what I'm saying?

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

So I could be like, oh, that's crazy. That should have never happened. And I started to understand because where we come from, it's hard for somebody to tell you how they really feel. It took me until I was 40 to tell somebody I was sad or I was depressed. You know what I'm saying? Think about that. Or I don't feel confident about this, you know what I'm saying? Or that I might be, you know, concerned.

[Maria Shriver]

Yeah.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

Because when you're that guy, you have to.

[Ed Mylett]

Can't show weakness.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

Yeah, you can't show anything.

[Ed Mylett]

You said earlier, I'm depressed, I'm drinking. I'm drinking a bottle of champagne in the morning, moving to tequila in the afternoon. You're eating, you're heavy, you're stressed, you're worried, you're running, you're running, you're running. Is there any one thing you did, or was there any one moment, or was it just an accumulation of things? You're like, that's enough. I can't do this anymore.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

I would say this. I didn't have a purpose before then. I was just chasing money and trying to get out of my situation. And he did that. God did that for me. Took me out of my situation. And I'm four albums in, about 8 million records sold.

[Eric Thomas]

Crazy.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

But what am I doing for him? How am I continuing his message? What am I doing? He took me out of a situation where I could have had a life sentence. It was there. I still don't know how I massage

[Ed Mylett]

that, by the way.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

I think about that all the time. But it was there, right? And I've lost, you know, so many people. And I sat there and I'm just like, yo. Like, you know, right now, I'm the issue. I need to work on myself. Because the things that I have going on inside of me is no way to lead anyone, right? And I'm making music. So I got millions of people listening to me and listening to what I'm saying. I'm not a saint, but I do got common sense, right? And it's just like, I'm saying things that might affect people in different ways, but I'm like. And my thing is the audio gotta match the video, right? So I'm saying, you know what I'm saying? I'm saying this stuff, but I'm doing something else, right? And I gotta get online with what I'm saying, right? So now I'm walking into. And it was the scariest thing in my life. And by the way, just so we clear, like, I was met with a moment where I knew it was a moment, meaning I was. I was. My first album came out, I was selling. And this is statute of limitations, by the way. Anybody listening? I'm good. I talked to my lawyers about it, and I had to make. I had to make a decision, which was one of the biggest decisions. I had to make a decision

[Eric Thomas]

what

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

I was going to do, because I was trying to balance the streets and music. And I had some small Piece of success. And I had to walk away cold turkey from the streets. Now, mind you, that mean depend on music, right? And when I did that, I had three of those next tail chirp phones. That's what we used to talk on. And all those phones had a lot of money on them. Like, people owed me money. And I woke up and I just said, I'm not doing this no more. I put the phones in the bag, threw them in the trash bin in my building, and I walked away, right? And that was like my first, like, okay, I'm gonna do this music stuff. Now, mind you, about eight months later, I'm performing at a show and tear my vocal cords. Now I can't talk. I got a record deal with a major label. I can't talk. I got shows booked up from here to 2000. Whatever. I can't go on the stage. And that was the first time he humbled me. He humbled me. He humbled me. He humbled me. And I had to really look at this and go, I'm so close. I'm. This could happen. What. What do I need to do? And that was just a lot of praying, a lot of confusion. And then he let me live. I got a throat surgery that I didn't have insurance at the time. Imagine I had Lamborghinis, all this stuff. And no, no health insurance. Imagine that. So I had to pay for my surgery with cash. And then I got back out there and I started the same. Same thing. And then that's when he hit me again with Bell's palsy. He hit me with Bell's palsy in my face.

[Ed Mylett]

For real?

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

Yeah. My face got crooked and my mouth was. And it was like my eye was shut.

[Ed Mylett]

Was that from stress?

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

That was God. Because he let me live again. And I went back out and started doing the same thing and was going about it the same way. And after that, I was just like, you know what, man? I gotta change something because I've been too blessed. You know what I'm saying? And now I'm looking at it and I'm going, like, the next thing might not even be something I can recover from. And that's what started me to just start to understand that I gotta start fixing some of my ways. And it first started with, like, a lot of my personal stuff I would do. Like, you know, just, you know, I came from a situation where if you sit down with somebody, it's like sitting down and you're being interrogated. I'm not gonna tell you the truth,

[Ed Mylett]

you know, What I'm saying, I can't.

[Eric Thomas]

You know what I'm saying?

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

It's like, it's against the cold, and it might get me in a lot of trouble. But then I started to notice that a grown man should never lie, even if it's gonna get him out of trouble. You know what I'm saying? So now I gotta change this, you know? And that wasn't easy to do because I was taught to say whatever I had to say to get out of any situation. And now I'm having to work through this. And that was like, the first step. And then it started going on different steps, different steps. And when I got to a place where I started to answer your question, when I started to realize that I gotta do some work, right, I didn't know where. I didn't know where to start. I just started YouTubing stuff, talking to older people, telling I had my business partner. Now he's been my business partner for, like, 20 years. I would just go sit with him and tell him what's really going on. I'm like, man, I got about five people trying to kill me. I got beef with these guys over here and that. And then this is happening. That was. I was in the shootout last week, and now this is that, and I gotta go to California and this is happening. And he's just like, okay, okay, just calm down.

[Dean Graziosi]

Okay.

[Maria Shriver]

What do you.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

What are you concerned about most? And then we started to, like, work through proms, and he's like, okay, have you ever thought about reaching out to them and, you know, just having a conversation? But my thing was, you know, they're the opposition, so I gotta press because I can't let my guys think that I'm trying to sort all these things out. And I just started to understand that there is a such thing called conflict resolution. So that started to help me out a little bit as far as my life. And now I got in a space where I started having a little piece, and I was able to start, like, working on myself, like, my health and reading books and just all these different things. And that thirst for knowledge kicked back in. Cause I hate learning in school. When I was in school, like, I dropped out of school in the sixth grade. I got my GED when I was in boot camp. That's crazy, right? And then around that time, it just hit me again. I just had this thirst for, like, knowledge. And I just started going around asking people questions. And think about this. Now, it went from me asking, you know, somebody that I knew that worked at A restaurant that I just felt like was. Had some type of prestige from that point to me calling John Maxwell and going, hey, I got seven questions I need to ask you. You know, John, he like shoot him at me. To that, to Robert Green, you know, to Robin Sharma, to all these different Tony, Tony Robbins and all these. And not to like name drop, but it's just like, yeah, I'm getting this information now to give back to the culture because I'm able to go outside of my comfort zone and get it. But this stuff helps me with my life as well. Like we was talking about Louis earlier, but I've always been that type of person. So to answer your question, I got the information from the people that I respected at the time that I was able to mingle with. And I don't come as a, you know, my reputation exceeds me, meaning like I don't come. And by the way, the most gangsters guys where I'm from are the coolest guys you ever see.

[Eric Thomas]

They're not loud, they're not boisterous, they're

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

like Denzel and American Gangster. They're real smooth. But they will reach out and touch you.

[Ed Mylett]

I gotta tell you, this is like an all time great conversation. It's all time great conversation. A lot of things about you that I noticed. One is like how self aware you are just driving out here. It's like, I think you're here today, there's millions of people and be like, oh my God, this is unbelievable. But at the same time, lately on this show, God sends me the right person in that seat for me. Like I was. I've got some stuff going on in my life right now that's not great. And some of it's betrayal stuff with other people like we're talking about. However, I was just talking to somebody, actually someone who's producing a TV show I'm doing right now. Literally before you got here, I was driving out here and I said, I want to figure out what God's trying to teach me with this lesson. And that's one of the things you said earlier is like, what am I supposed to be learning from this? What am I supposed to doing be? I'm not going to get nothing for Eric. Thomas says all the time, you better get something for your pain. And the other thing you do very well is a lot of times when you begin to teach things you're learning, you begin to own them more. So a lot of you that are learning things, listening to the show, you don't teach it enough to other People. And the more you begin to teach it, the more you actually begin to live it. People think, I can't teach any of this until I'm living it. No, you could say, look, I'm not good at this yet, but this is what I'm learning. And the more you begin to teach. Something I found in my own life, like, not everything I've taught all the time I was doing at the time, but I was honest enough to say I wasn't. This isn't me yet. Let me tell you. This is what so and so gave me advice on, or what I know I need to change about me. And the more I taught things, the more I own them. The other thing I've always wanted to know about you because. And I know the answer because it's in the book and in interviews you've done. But of all the people you collaborated with, one of the other things that holds people back in addition to. And by the way, I want to step back. You play such an important role in culture right now because of what you just said. There are not enough people reaching people in the communities you come from, or young people with this knowledge and information. The world's different. This isn't 30 years ago where you could just get a Tony Robbins tape. There are dudes like me, guys like you, people like John, that this information's there, but it's not what most people from these communities are consuming on their feed every single day. And the fact that you're saying, hey, listen, I come from this. Let me teach you this. And this could be someone from a particular culture, particular age group, particular part of the world. That's why I do this. This isn't. Podcasting is not a big source of revenue. Like, I got businesses.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

That's real.

[Ed Mylett]

Right? But what it is for me is. And by the way, serious. No, I'm just kidding. We're in the middle of a negotiation right now. That's a whole other story. But having said that. But. But I. I want to make sure that. Acknowledge you and the role that you're playing. And again, this combination. Yeah, I received that. It's a fact. And the combination of your humility with your confidence is crazy. That was a great conversation. And if you want to hear the full interview, be sure to follow the Ed Mylett show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. Welcome back to the show, everybody. Well, I wish this was in person, but it'll still be fire today. I'm with there is no better motivational speaker of all time. That's what you all know him for. But I got to know him a little better. And I'm gonna tell you one thing about him. I don't know a better man. I wish I was around him more so I could tell you more stories. But I will tell you this. When my book came out, very few people stepped forward, said, hey, brother, how can I help you? And this man stepped forward in a way like nobody else did and helped me in ways that I will never forget till the day I die by his support for me and my family. And as great of a communicator as he is, I admire him. I look up to him as a husband, as a father, as a friend, and as an entrepreneur as well. But particularly as a man of faith and as a husband and a father, I know no better man than him. And I could give somebody no bigger compliment, man to man, than I'm giving him right now. So, ET Eric Thomas, welcome back to the show. I love you and it's great to have you here.

[Eric Thomas]

What's up, fam? Man, Love you as well.

[Ed Mylett]

You've been around lots of highly successful people, and you are one. And one of the things that I think most people don't know is the level of work required of effort. Meaning, like, I don't know. I think if someone spent the last five years with me in business and they. I'm not trying to brag, but, like, if they thought they worked hard. There's levels to this game or like in the speaking game, you and I talk. When the. The stuff hit the last couple years, there's just levels to the work ethic and the grind, the things you got to do. You look at a Steph Curry in basketball. Oh, he's such a gifted shooter. Actually, he's not actually. It's the grind, actually. Tiger and Jack Nicklaus, the amount of golf balls they hit. Actually, Judge and Ohtani in baseball, you have no idea the amount of work. And even in coaching, you and I have been around all these great college football coaches, but I think it's one of the hardest jobs in the world. There's a level to where Saban played at Dabo Sweeney, who I know you've been with. Like, so I think most people are, like, at about. And you talk about this a lot. Like, maybe they're 50, 60% of their capacity or effort, and that is not going to get it done no matter how much you sit around and do other things that serve you. There's a level to this thing, and you've been close to it, and you are at it. Talk about that for a minute.

[Eric Thomas]

Look, I. I want to say this to everybody that's listening. It. Here's what I think would be the easier thing to do. Just lower your expectations. I'm just being real. Like, you know, when I was with Ed and he was doing the book launch. I'm just being real. I did a book launch. It was probably 70% on that level in terms of. I wasn't just in the ruh. Don't get it twisted. I'm not a good guy, okay? God makes me a better man. I was in the room learning in. I wasn't. I. I promise, y'. All, I wasn't just in there talking. I. Listen to me. I don't even know if Ed knows this. After. Before I did my thing, and after I did my thing, I was all the way in the back sitting down.

[Ed Mylett]

I didn't know that.

[Eric Thomas]

I was all the way in the back of the room with a pen in the pad. I didn't know that, like, studying, like, yo, E, bruh, this is being real. You not on this level. Like, you're not. You. Not one. You're not on this level in terms of. Of, like, maximizing, you know, your network. Like, you're not. You're not. You're not on that. The. The space that we were in. Listen to me. I don't know if I told you this, but your. Your guy, he ended up helping me. What would you call it? Like, renovate the church and put beautiful signing on it. He don't even live here.

[Ed Mylett]

I did not live here.

[Eric Thomas]

He helped me. He made some phone calls. He called the piece. Like, eve, I gotta leave Charlotte and come down there. There, I got you. But I'm gonna try to find somebody. This is what I'm talking about, y'. All like, So I was in the building learning, seeing who Ed was connecting with, then connecting with them afterwards. Look, so here's my deal. When I was in the room, I had to say to myself, e, if you want some of this stuff, Ed guy, E, you're gonna have to. You gotta raise your game some so you got an option. You can even go, hey, me being in the room with Ed and watching what Ed was doing, this. This is strictly for recreational purposes. You feel me? It's like, hey, this recreational purpose, bro, go ahead and get out of here. Or AE you. You. God showed it to you. He showed it to you. He showed you a level. Are you ready and so for me, it was like, absolutely, I'm ready. So I just want to say this to you guys. Either lower your expectations, because you don't have to do everything you see other people do. You don't have to do it. You could just go, man, it's like going to a basketball game. You're not trying to suit up and do what Curry does, but when you look at it and you kind of think it, oh, he human. Like, I'm human, so I can't. Watch yourself, okay? Watch yourself. You might not want to put them sneaks on. You might not want to get in that gym. And what I saw Ed do when I went back, I was like, okay, E, number one, you got to get more organized. So, like, you got passion, you got energy. But what you saw in Ed, you saw. Saw a system. You saw structure. You saw people over here and people over here and people doing it and people in the back, and when you get in, people in the parking. So it's like, E, when you get to the crib, from a speaking standpoint, you. You definitely give it 1,000%, right? But from a structural standpoint, you're not giving 1,000%. Then I look at the packages in the dip, and I was like, e, you don't got. So y' all might have saw if you watched it. It was a group in here, then it was a group out there, and then the level of men that was on stage who are also dominant in their particular area. Bro, I was with people who I've only seen in a podcast. I only see these dudes on social media. I never been in a room with them before. I was in a room with them. And so, yes, you know, I had to come home, not necessarily get up earlier, not necessarily grind physically harder, but I had to take my mental game to another level. I had to take my systems game to another level level. I had to. This is a grind that you probably don't know. I had to remove people, which hurts to bring in a different group of people to take me where I wanted to go, because I realized a group that was with me, phenomenal group of humans, phenomenal group of people. They probably would get to heaven before I get there. But in order to take me from number four to number one, they weren't necessarily the people that could do that. So to Ed's point, I personally went home and. And did a. An evaluation on E.T. i personally study E.T. and said, yeah, you got it going over here, but this seed is an apple seed and orange seed. This is not a watermelon seed. And these seeds that you're planting will never get you watermelon. So. So, yep, you got some dynamic. Are you posting every day? You putting out dynamic stuff? But that will not get what you saw Ed do in terms of sensitive systems. And so you got to come home and your new grind is system. I don't know what your grind is, but I'm telling you, I had to start reading books. I had to go to conferences. I had to shift what I was watching online. I had to shift who I was following. Great humans, great people, they were only going to help me sustain this energy. They weren't going to help me with the structure. Here's what I realized, E. Nobody's better than you, but there are some people who's got better systems than you. And so if you want to see growth, you got to start grinding on the systems level. So don't. I don't want you to get what Ed said and you miss it. You like, oh, I got to get up earlier. I gotta grind. Maybe you don't have to get up earlier to accomplish what you've already accomplished, but to get this done, you do have to make some adjustments. And that's what the grind looked like, and that's what the hustle look like. And can I say this, Ed? I'm. Man, I don't even know if I ever said this before, but sometimes, I don't know if you've experienced this sometimes, bruh, you putting up 40 with 30 rebounds and you like, whatever, and then you go somewhere and God shows you. And I was talking to my son the other day, and he, he kind of was hurt. Cause he was like, dad, you know, you, you, you acting like I'm. And I said, hold up, I'm sorry. You putting up 30, you putting up 10. But the 30 points and the 10 rebound have nothing to do with the assist. You don't get credit for assists because you scored and you got rebounds. They. They don't. They don't take your points and go, well, we gonna put those over and rebound. They don't take your rebounds and go, we gonna put those with your assist. And when I left you, you know, I, I, There was a part of me that was like, God, you want me to do more? Yeah, you want me to do more? Am I not grinding enough? He was like, absolutely. And every seed you planted is going to grow. But you just looked at what Ed was doing, and you saw there was a gap. So you have a choice to make here. You got Rebounds, you got points. But the assist, son, you had zero. So what do you want to do? And there was a moment where I had to go, you're not overwhelmed. You're just rising to the level that God is asking you to rise.

[Ed Mylett]

Oh, my gosh.

[Eric Thomas]

There's no anxiety. Yeah. The Bible said, be anxious for nothing, but in all things, through prayer and supplication, make your request known to God. But there was a 32nd boy was like, man, God, how am I gonna be blessed? When I. He said, how one. That's your boy. So you can just call. Of course, then I had Rory in the back interviewing me. God, like, like, yo, you don't have to do. You could just. And then just. And I did just that. My relationship with Roy, you know, went from a person that, you know, respects him to sitting at his feet to listen to the podcast, to studying you guys. And I can honestly say after that event, system wise, you know, I've gone to another level. So to me, that's what it looks like when your expectations, your dreams, your goals and your grind match. And if y' all not ready to work, work. It doesn't make you a bad human, just lower your expectations.

[Ed Mylett]

Gosh, that's so. It's so good. And that idea of the grind, I want to say one thing, everybody, when he's talking about rebounds and points, the application of that for you is this, is that if you're average, you keep giving yourself credit for the things you're already doing. But if you want to be extraordinary, you got to go. What's the thing like the power of one more. In the book, I talk about your one decision away. I think all of you listening to this right now, if I could be honest with you, you already know what it is. You know, the thing you're not doing, you need to be doing that would change your life. In your business, you already know what it is. It's having the guts, courage, the faith to call the shot. Like in ET's case, I'm going to go back. I don't need to work harder. I got to get more systematic. Maybe I could even work less hard. If I put these systems in place for you, it might be something you are doing or that you need to stop doing to get your life to the next level. Before we start the interview with my next guest, just want to remind you all that you can subscribe to the show on YouTube or follow the show on Apple or Spotify. We have all the links in our show notes. You'll never miss an episode that way. Now on with the show. All right, welcome back to the show, everybody. Hey, have you ever thought about like running a marathon? Because I've thought about it. I'm like, there's a. There's an Ironman in Coeur d' Alene where I spent my summers. Just the marathon part of it. I was like, that's bananas. 26 miles, you know. And have you ever thought about doing that or ever watch one of these Ironmans and go, man, I'll do that someday. And by the way, it's like about a two and a half mile swim, 112 miles on a bike, 26 mile run. That's kind of what an iron length triathlon is. Once you imagine doing one of those, then I want you to imagine getting up the next day and doing it again. Can you imagine back to back days? Then I want you to contemplate thinking about doing it 30 freaking days in a row. You got that? How about 50 days in a row? How about 100 days in a row? Get your mind around that. Okay? That would be one of the great all time athletic endurance feats in the history of the world. And simultaneously one of the great mental toughness and resiliency feats of all time. Guess what? I got the dude here today who did it a hundred in a row in 100 days. His name is Iron Cowboy James Lawrence. Welcome to the program, brother.

[James Lawrence]

Okay, so I don't know if you tuned out after day 100. Do you know what we did the next day?

[Ed Mylett]

No, I don't.

[James Lawrence]

Okay, so we did 101.

[Ed Mylett]

Did you really? Did you really?

[James Lawrence]

Yeah. So we went live every day during the swim. And I think this is important because of who you are and you know, your tagline of max out. And we turned on the live the following day when I would have normally been swimming every single day. And it was. And it was just me in the pool by myself doing one more. And I got asked the question a lot. Why did you do one more? And I had a lot of people understand and then I had a lot of people just, they were confused. And I hate the. Because the way I feed my family is I get on stage and we tell our story, we motivate and we do coaching and whatnot. And I love talking from stage and impacting people. And I don't appreciate the speakers that are out there telling, trying to teach a lesson when they haven't done it. They haven't been on the battlefield in the battle. And I felt like I would be a hypocrite If I told people that you can get up and you can do one more. And the campaign day 100 was on a Tuesday and Sunday night, I said, I just got the most intense impression. James, you need to do one more. And I was like, are you freaking kidding me? Like, I am broken. Like, I am mentally exhausted. I've been showing up for a quarter of a year. Why would I do one more? And I got the impression it's not for you. And I felt like our team needed to show up and do one more. Because on your journey, when you're broken and when you are at your limit, I promise you, you can get up and you can do one more. And that one more might be by yourself. And I don't know how many times you're going to have to get up and do one more by yourself, but I promise you, you can get up one more. And I didn't feel like I could bring integrity to our story if I didn't go out. And as a team, we did one more. And so we did 101. Because I want to lead from the front and I want to show people when you are broken and when you have reached your limit, you can do one more.

[Ed Mylett]

James, the book I'm writing right now is called One More.

[James Lawrence]

You just stole the title of my next book. Ed, we're in a fight.

[Ed Mylett]

I'm going to be out before you, and I'm adding your story to the book because I have the rights to this podcast. But I'm not exaggerating. I'm almost done. And I told you that you went on this journey. You did this. I know you did it for my audience, but you just did it for me. And so I'm sure the books will be very different in content. But, yeah, my book is the Power of One More, and it'll be out in the fall.

[James Lawrence]

I am so excited for that book.

[Ed Mylett]

I'm just blown away that you just said that. That may be the craziest thing that's ever been done on the show, and it was at the end. I hope everyone's still listening, because that's a. That's a wow. Thank God you added that, too. To. To an unbelievable conversation. So that was a great conversation. Be sure to follow the Ed Mylett show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. You'll never miss an episode that way. All right, everybody. Welcome back to the show. Today is very easy for me. It's a joy because I get a chance to share one of my best Friends, brilliant mind and incredible heart with you guys. He's been on the show multiple times. And you guys know I'm, I'm pretty judicious about who I have on the show more than one time. And so when someone repeats it makes me know, and you should know, that there's somebody that I just believe makes a huge impact in the world. And so my dear friend that's here today is the co founder of mastermind.com along with his partner and friend and my friend Tony Robbins. And he's here to talk today about changing your life. But also an event they have called the Game Has Changed. Live event that. It's a live event. It's called the Game has changed. It's June 13th through 15th of 2024 coming up. And if you're interested in the event, which you should be, just go to Dean and Tony live.com ed. Dean, Tony live.com ed. And that means Dean Graciosi must be here today. So, Dean, welcome to the show, brother.

[Dean Graziosi]

It's always so good to be here with you. And this is how we get to catch up. I know we're both busy, so we get to catch up on a podcast every two years. It's fantastic.

[Ed Mylett]

Here's something you're gonna have to all accept and if you already have at an even deeper level, if you're gonna win, you gotta change your relationship with pain. You gotta do hard things and build the habit of doing hard things. And what you wouldn't know about Dean, but I'm gonna make him speak to it right now. This dude leans. His tendency is to drive through the smoke. I tell this story about, we used to sponsor Carl Edwards, the NASCAR driver. Driver. I said, what's the scariest thing about driving nascar? He goes, easy question to answer. When there's an accident in front of you and there's all this smoke and you're going to drive 150 miles an hour through that smoke and you don't know what's on the other side. You could be hitting something head on and you're done. And he said, I've learned to drive through the smoke. And the people that I know that are ultra successful, they have a different relationship with fear and pain. And they drive through the smoke. They do hard things, things, they build the muscle fibers mentally of doing hard things that other people avoid doing or try to find a way around a smarter, easier way. And that is not you. You've gotten where you are. And I don't want you to be humble about this because this dude does difficult things. He does difficult things, quite frankly, like most people do easy things. He just runs towards the smoke. Tell them about that, about you. Don't be humble.

[Dean Graziosi]

I appreciate the kind words I would have to say. It's true. Because what I realized at a young age is my father not going back to childhood, but my father stressed about all the little things. And, you know, you don't realize this stuff when you're in it, Ed. You realize when you look back after 20, 30 years. But my dad freaked out and stressed about hundred dollar ideas, thousand dollar ideas. And I watched the pain this guy went through, through. And I remember at a young age just thinking to myself, if I solve, like, my dad worries so much about the little things, what if I put that much energy in just the bigger things? And what happens when you're young and you start that way of thinking? It's honestly a lot easier because I was 17, 18, young, naive, dumb in some cases, right? So I just ran towards the fire saying, if my dad's going to stress so much about a thousand dollar deal, what if I did it on 5,000, $10,000 deals? And. And the proof is in the pudding. And you know this, Ed. Some of your biggest deals that you probably have done in your life had less stress than one of the smaller deals you've done. And what I've done is just program myself to say, how could I go after something bigger? You know, I just be honest. I. I read green lights by McConaughey, right? Y. I get done with that book, just like I felt with your book. I got done. I'm like, damn, this is good. I want more. Like, the world needs more McConaughey. So I had a mutual friend. I finally got a voice memo over to McConaughey, and I told my team, we're gonna help this dude build a course through what we do, right? We're gonna help build a course, we're gonna do a live event, and we're gonna help get this course in the hands of tens of thousands of people. My team's like, how the heck could we get that done? Right? When I got on the phone with his attorney. Working with celebrities is different. You have an agent, you have attorney, you have somebody. And. And rightfully so. This crazy world, you do one thing off, it could hurt your brand, right? We get done with a meeting, my team gets off and goes, no way this is happening. How do you make that person happy? That person happy. That person happy. McConaughey's the sweetest man on the planet. You've interviewed him. He's sweetest guy, but my team's like, no way that's happening. So we get done with this meeting, and I go in and sit with my team, like, what do you guys think? Like, no way in hell. It's never gonna happen. How do you satisfy so many people? And I'm like, listen, you guys. That means no one else can do it besides us. Let's. Let's just do whatever it takes. And if we go all the way and it doesn't happen, then I'm going to love the lessons we learned along this journey. And I know it takes years to get up to that, you know, to do an event like that, but it was one of the toughest events on the planet and the most rewarding in my life. And tough in the meaning of just every ad that we did, every visual that we did, how to be approved by five different people, how to work, and I would not change one bit of it. Ed. I created new friends. McConaughey became a friend, and we did the largest event in the history of the world. We had two and a half million people on day one, live like insane, what we did. And we put his course in the hands of tens of thousands of people. They all loved it. They thank them. To this day, they.

[Eric Thomas]

They.

[Dean Graziosi]

People find him on the street and thank him. In fact, the. The last thing I'll say, I said to McConaughey, what'd you think of the whole experience? And he said, well, I thought you were crazy at first. I thought I'd never do something like this. I said, well, what do you think now? He said, I realize it's the greatest experience in my life, because my whole life, I play. He said, my whole life, I've played a character that was written by somebody else, directed by somebody else, edited by somebody else. He said, I got to play me. So when people come up, they don't go, I love the character. They say, thank you.

[Ed Mylett]

That goes to my point from earlier, Brother, which is that you get to play. You see you're most fulfilled when you're expressing the real you. And even someone like Matthew McConaughey, who's had all these external accolades, says it's the best experience of his life because he got to express him, and that's when we're fulfilled. I really believe probably the most unique un. Under. Pursued, underspoken about. Part of fulfillment in life right now in the personal development industry is the level of fulfillment one feels when they're the fullest Expression or the truest expression of themselves and serving people. And if you're looking for a pathway to have a little bit more juice in your life, peace, happiness, fulfillment, I believe that's the place to look. Am I expressing myself? My love, my gift, gift, my knowledge, my information, my feelings to the people around me, to the broader world in a way that fulfills me. And if you're not, if you're holding these things in, which is what most people do, they hold their feelings, they hold their thoughts, they hold what they believe in, they hold their opinions, they hold their knowledge. I believe you're dying. I believe that's the beginning of a death of our spirit. And I believe, you know, not to be very, you know, know, faith based here, but I really believe this. God did not make you to. For you to repress your greatness, for you to suppress your expression of you, you're not, you're not doing what I believe is God's will in your life. When you suppress your stance, when you suppress your knowledge, when you cheat another human being out of the gift of you helping them. And I always say this, my life changed because my dad got sober. But my dad got sober because somebody helped him get sober. Another human being said, I can help you. And by the way, what qualified them wasn't they were there, this magnificent, perfect person. What qualified them is they at one time were also an alcoholic and a drug addict, and that's what was qualifying them. So ironically, the great pain they went through in their life was the qualifier to help other people. Perhaps that what you should be looking at right now, my friend. Maybe this pain you've been through, through somewhere is the pathway for that expression to help other people and to your fulfillment. Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. Don't forget to follow the show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. Now on to our next guest. Welcome back to Max out, everybody. I'm Ed Mylett. Let me ask you a question before we begin today. Do you have any sense right now? Like you feel like you're just overloaded and you're overwhelmed with information in your life. Maybe you're having a hard time getting focused, you get distracted pretty easily. Maybe your concentration sort of suffers a little bit, your memory issues? Well, my guest here today is an expert on optimum brain performance, on learning, on learning quickly, and on maxing out your capacity to think and perform in your life. And it was really born out of some tragedy, out of some Difficult events out of his childhood. He's turned those tragic events into becoming a world renowned expert on brain performance. And today I'm really blessed because I've been chasing this guy for a while. I've wanted him to share his brilliance with you, the audience. And I'm grateful that he's here today because we're about to change your life and change the way you learn, think, and perform. So my guest today is the great Jim Quick. Jim. Thank you, Ed.

[Jim Kwik]

Thank you so much. I've been looking forward to this so much.

[Ed Mylett]

Me too, brother. We've had great conversations off camera and I'm so excited because I know there's some shows I know that we do that are inspirational, and then there are shows I know that are going to inspire. But also by the end of the program, people's lives are just measurably better and they can perform better. And today is heavy note taking. If you're driving in the car, you're going to want to hear it, but you're going to want to get back and listen to the video or something too, to write the notes down. We're going to cover.

[Jim Kwik]

I believe, Ed, like you, that ultimately the life you live are the lessons you teach. The O in Max out stands for observation. A lot of people say I have a horrible memory, and it's there. They blame their retention. It's not your retention, it's your attention. You know, I got to. The story I tell is, come on, that was great. The second time I got to. I got to meet President Bill Clinton. And regardless of people's political ideology, everyone would agree he's got a lot of charisma. He's a great connector, great communicator. What people don't know, he's got an incredible memory. An incredible memory. The first time I met him was very, very brief. But the second time he remembered my name and I was like, okay. He was fed that by security. And then he remembered our last conversation. I was like, nobody was there. He definitely remembers this. And I was like, you know, I'm the memory guy. How do you do this? What memory technique are you using? Because I believe genius leaves clues. And he tells me this stories about his grandfather in Arkansas in the living room, telling the grandkids all these stories. But he would do something different afterwards. He would quiz every single one of them to see if they're really paying attention. And I was like, wow, that's. He went deep in that rabbit hole. And I noticed when he was explaining this to me, we're At a fundraiser. It's 2,000 people. And I was sitting right next to him at dinner, and it was like, me, Forest Whitaker, who won the Academy Award, Richard Branson, and Ashton Kutcher, Ashton Kutcher's twin brother. I put this on Facebook.

[James Lawrence]

I've seen that.

[Jim Kwik]

But I was like this. When he's talking to me, he's like, there's a lot more important people in that room, certainly at that table. But I feel like I'm the only one, Ed. And this is a quality that you have. Like, I can feel this. Thank you. Because I believe, like, you know, you go to events, you were talking about, remember names, and they're looking over your shoulder.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

Yes.

[Jim Kwik]

And, like, who else is important in this room? And, you know, and everyone feels, especially women, they feel like when your attention goes somewhere else, they know it right away. Or if it's not being distracted outside, you know, they're not paying attention.

[Ed Mylett]

Yes.

[Jim Kwik]

Because what are they doing? They're not listening. They're waiting for their turn to speak, or they're thinking how they're gonna respond. Right. Another. Another habit of highly effective people seek first to understand, then to be understood. Most people, they want to be understood, and they're thinking about all that, and they're not so powerful. And they're not interested. They're trying to be interested.

[Ed Mylett]

Interesting the most. Oh, my gosh. They're trying to be interesting. They're not interested. That's power. Let's just slow that down a little bit. The people whose company I enjoy the most, who are some of the most influential people I've ever met, have that exact skill set that you just described. They're less interested in being interesting, and they are more interested in you. That is a hundred thousand percent true.

[Jim Kwik]

An explanation. Like, they're present with you. You know what I mean? Like, you are since I walked through this door, you're there. And that's a trained skill. Listen. If you write the word listen on your phone or just in your notes and then scramble the letters, it spells another word perfectly. It spells the word silent. And most people, they can't. They're not silent. They're talking to themselves, and they're distracting. And if you're talking to yourself and listening to a new person talk, you can't listen to two conversations stations at once. You can't multitask. By the way, just as a side note, there's a myth to multitasking. Everybody. I just have to address this.

[Ed Mylett]

Give it. I know.

[Jim Kwik]

Yeah. Because. And you know this. The science Is saying, everyone who thinks you're doing two cognitive activities. I'm not talking about riding a bike and chewing gum. I'm talking about two cognitive activities. You're not really doing it. It's called task switching. That when you go from one thing to another, which you're making more mistakes. Science has shown this, you're making more errors and you're wasting time. It takes anywhere from 5, 5 to 20 minutes to regain your focus and your flow. What do you do? You hydrate because your brain's mostly water. Even a 2 or 3% decrease in water and your brain could reduce your reaction time, your thinking ability. When you're fully hydrated, it boosts like 30% reaction time. Thinking, Hydrate and then breathe. Deep breathing. Get those six deep breaths in. Actually, to create neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, to literally just get smarter, you need two things, novelty and nutrition. Just like if you want to build your body, you give it novelty, you work it out, and then you give it nutrition, you feed it, and then you rest. Because the rest is really important because that's where you consolidate short to long term memory. So the O is observation. The U I would go to use, and I'm doing this on the spot because I know these are the principles, But I would say, remember a name, Use the name in the conversation, right? So somebody introduces themselves and you get it and you say it and you use it because you want to make sure you heard it right. You don't want to have a conversation with Ed and say goodbye, Ted, right? Because some people, you're at a wedding, you're at an event, it's loud, you get distracted. Better to be correct in the beginning. And then I'm not saying, I'm not going to say, use it a million times. Ed, you have a beautiful home. Ed, what do you want to talk about? Ed, what do you want? That's abuse, but use it three or four times in the conversation. Now, in the context of non remembering names, use it. Because anything you learn, if you want to learn it better, right? If you want to max out with your ability to apply, then you want to always think about, how do I use this? Obsessively, when you're reading something, how can I use this? When you're listening to podcasts, how can I use this instantly, right? So even people listening to this could be thinking, okay, I have this event tonight, or I have this event tomorrow. Which one am I? How am I going to use this?

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

Right?

[Jim Kwik]

So I'm going to use it and then finally, the T in max out. I would say, teacher, you know, intention, intent matters. Intent matters. And what I would suggest everybody do, and I would challenge everyone who's listening to do this. Because with challenge comes the change that you need. Right? I would challenge everybody who's listening, if you're really serious, to use this and not just be, oh, that was an entertaining show. I would say think about somebody you wish was listening to this right now. And let's say you had to teach them tomorrow or teach them or get a TED presentation on Monday about the things if you were to learn with the intention of teaching, would you focus better? Would you take better notes? Would you ask better questions on social media? Right. You would own that information. And so when you teach something, you get to learn it twice. When you teach something, you get to learn it twice. You know, when we grew up and we heard that phrase, those who can't do, teach, you can't do business, so teach it in business school. You know, yes, there's a certain truth. But then also I always thought it was in a negative. I was like, wow, if I can't do it, teach it. And then I could do it.

[Eric Thomas]

Yes.

[Jim Kwik]

You know, I could get better at it. Because when you teach it, you own it, and it becomes you. You're not using their words, you're using your words and it becomes who you are.

[Ed Mylett]

About 20 years ago, I got into the space of teaching people. And so since that time, everything I've listened to related to these topics, everything I've read, every seminar I've attended, was what, with the intention to teach it.

[Jim Kwik]

That's beautiful.

[Ed Mylett]

It's exactly what you just said. So I'm getting a double whammy every single time on all of these today. And having you here, I'm listening with

[Jim Kwik]

the intent to teach these things because it becomes you. And then that's a double benefit, double whammy. Because why learn anything? Number one, so you could benefit from it. But why learn it also? So people you care about can benefit, too. I always believe is you learn to earn, to return.

[Maria Shriver]

Oh, that's so good.

[Jim Kwik]

You learn and then with the learning comes earning, and then you could return. You could pay it forward.

[Ed Mylett]

That was a great conversation. And if you want to hear the full interview, be sure to follow the Ed Mylett show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. Welcome back to the show, everybody. Today's special for me because I get to. I get to share with you. I Just think, one of the most remarkable people walking the earth. She's, she's an amazing woman. I just, as you know, I like her very much. And so any chance I get a chance to. Any opportunity to spend time with her is a blessing for me. And I know it'll be a blessing for all of you. You all know who she is. There's a lot of things I can say. She's a journalist. She's an author, Emmy award winner. She was the first lady of California. She's a philanthropist. But she's just a remarkable and good human being. And you're going to feel her spirit today. So I'm really grateful she's here. Maria Shriver, welcome to the show.

[Maria Shriver]

Thank you, Ed. I'm kind of blushing.

[Ed Mylett]

It's all true. And there's like 80 other things I can say. You know what else? She's an amazing mother, too. And so when you have someone that's this diverse, she had an amazing life. By the way, everybody, you can go in a lot of directions. So we're going to talk about all kinds of things. We're talking about, you know, life wisdom, parenting. We're going to talk about Alzheimer's. It's going to be a far reaching convo.

[Maria Shriver]

That's a lot.

[Ed Mylett]

Are you ready?

[Maria Shriver]

Oh, I'm always ready. I'm all ready. I'm always ready to go in whatever direction you take me.

[Jim Kwik]

All right.

[Ed Mylett]

I'm gonna take you all over the place today. So I, when we met, obviously I'm you, the spirit. I immediately loved and liked you very much. But then I'm like, I'm gonna learn more about her. So I read a couple of your books right away. Like within a couple weeks of us meeting. Yeah. You guys, she's an amazing. She's known as a journalist. I think most people think TV or something like that. She's an amazing writer. She's an amazing writer. And so I want to ask you this. You wrote this book, 10 Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went out into the real world. Right. Share with everybody what one or two of those things were. I know what they are, but could you share with them? Because people watching the show, a lot of them are younger, some of them are our age, but they're all looking for some kind of wisdom to make their life better. And in this book, there was a

[Maria Shriver]

bunch that was a while ago. I wrote that I gave a graduation speech, actually, and it was, it came out of that graduation speech where I talked about career, I talked about marriage, I Talked about motherhood. I talked about working your way up from the bottom. I talked about who you work for being more important than what you do. I talked about the definition of success. I thought I would actually write a sequel to that book kind of 10, 15 years afterwards. And I started it and then kind of my life blew. So I looked a lot of things that would go into the sequel that I never anticipated. But I think one of a couple of the things that really still I think apply these many years later is the importance, I believe, in working your way up in whatever it is you do. I know some people say, well, you don't have to do that anymore. And I couldn't disagree more. I think it's really important to do every kind of a job in the profession that you choose to be in.

[Eric Thomas]

Why?

[Ed Mylett]

Why?

[Maria Shriver]

Because I think you learn. First of all, I think it gives you self confidence. I think it gives you knowledge. I think, you know, in journalism, for me, I started on the overnight. I did the police radio, I logged other people's tapes, I wrote other people's scripts. I was a producer, I was in the edit room, I learned lighting, I was a sound woman. So when I go out into the field, I know about lighting, I know about sound, I know how to produce, I know how to write, I know how to edit. And it's helped me in every way in my career. And also it helped me build up my self confidence that I could take care of myself out in the field and then behind the anchor desk. So that to the point where when I got to the anchor desk, I felt like I deserved to be there. Regardless of what anybody else said, you deserved it. I deserved it and I knew I deserved it. So I think that's super important. I think also who you work for is super important. I think you can go get a big job for someone you don't respect or admire, or you can start at the bottom with someone you respect and admire and then work your way up. So I'm a big believer in that as well. And so, you know, there's a lot, I think also kind of the whole superwoman thing being overrated. I think that was a big chapter, I think, for women when I was starting out. And I still think it worth, it's worth talking about. There's a lot on women's plates. If you choose to have a high powered career, if you also want to be a wife, if you want to be a mother, if you take on the role of daughter, if you take on the role of caretaker, whatever all these multiple roles. I think pacing yourself is really important and acknowledging the kind of marathon of life as opposed to the moment where everybody looks like they're getting ahead of the.

[Ed Mylett]

Gosh, Maria, I got to tell you, that's very true for me. I just acknowledge that. I think I've discovered that maybe just in the last year or two that there should be a pacing. Because that pacing, I think, gives a richness to your experience that you don't have if you're just all the time. It steals some of the richness out of your life, of being even present in certain places, because you're so focused all the time on do, do, do, do. And I do think you miss so many things. I totally agree with you on that.

[Maria Shriver]

I think we don't really have a culture that honors that. Right? We don't really have a society that honors you. Kind of going slow. Everybody, when they meet you, what are you doing now? You write a book and they're like, what's next? You meet a guy, what, are you getting married? When are you having a kid? When are you having your next kid? We're always. I gave another graduation speech called the Power of the Pause, and I really think that that's super important is to, you know, pause in your life, particularly in journalism, where everything is, like, you know, reactive. Let's get this up. Let's get it up now. Wait a minute. Should we get it up now? Do I really need to send that text? Do I really need to respond from that place? Do I really need to be first with that story, even if I haven't double triple checked it? So I think there's a lot to honor in the pause, but we don't honor it. When someone says, I'm taking a pause, we think, what's that about?

[Ed Mylett]

That's a weakness. Almost.

[Maria Shriver]

Yeah. Well, not almost. We don't see it as a sign of strength, as a sign of getting to know yourself, as a sign of trying to be more present.

[Ed Mylett]

You know, it's interesting. I was just writing about this, actually, and I was saying, you know, a full life requires some reflection during it. And I think that's part of the pause. Don't you, though? I mean, I think that. I think if in order to grow, there has to be some rest period of reflection. If you just worked out in the gym every day on the same muscle and it never had a chance to. To pause and grow and reflect that you're just tearing it down all the time. And so a lot of times I think you can Get a little bit further in your life. And there's stages for this, obviously, but, you know, there's. You get further in your life and you've acquired all these things or achievements. Maybe they're not even material things, they're just awards or. You were first at this. But there was no real richness to your life. And that's why I'm so grateful that you're on and you're actually saying these things. I'm writing about it right now, so I agree.

[Maria Shriver]

That's great that you're writing about it, because I think oftentimes people can't see that. They don't see the pause. They don't see reflection. They don't see you taking a break and going in and thinking about. What do I think about this? Somebody once said, you know, they told me that they were sitting there at a desk and just kind of staring into space and. And someone came in and said, what are you doing? And they said, this is what thinking looks like.

[Ed Mylett]

That's awesome.

[Maria Shriver]

We need to have. What does it look like to pause? What does it look like to daydream? What does it look like to be bored? What does it look like to be reflective? I came from two parents who went to Mass every single day, and that was where they were quiet. And so I had a visual of what praying looked like. I had a visual for going to church, you know, but I didn't have a visual for being. I had a visual for doing.

[Ed Mylett]

Doing those things.

[Maria Shriver]

Doing, Doing. But I didn't have a visual for sitting down and going, okay, what does that look like? And so I've tried to model some of that for my children, that, you know how I feel about you. My love for you is not predicated on your doing, on your accomplishing, on your winning.

[Ed Mylett]

Yeah.

[Maria Shriver]

My love for you is there.

[Jeezy J. Jenkins]

Yes.

[Ed Mylett]

Unconditionally.

[Maria Shriver]

Unconditionally. And does not. You don't have to do something to earn it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ed Mylett]

You know, it's amazing. I have not been a perfect parent. That's one thing.

[Maria Shriver]

No one is. No one is.

[Ed Mylett]

You know, but it's one thing I did well was that I really don't think my children think in any way. My love for them is conditional on something they do externally or achieve. I think it's a great lesson, by the way, on the topic of thinking. She has another book called I've Been Thinking, which I recommend. Okay, so I do my research, Mercedes. But what is thinking? Everybody?

[Dean Graziosi]

Just.

[Ed Mylett]

So before we move off, that thinking is the process of asking and answering your questions to yourself. And if you don't have that pause, there's no time to ask yourself the questions. There's no time to reflect. And so this is a really it's counterculture right now, as she's saying. That's why it's so valuable to have you here.

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[Jim Kwik]

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[Ed Mylett]

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