← THE ED MYLETT SHOW
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- [00:00]
Ed Mylett
So, hey guys, listen. We're all trying to get more productive and the question is, how do you find a way to get an edge? I'm a big believer that if you're getting mentoring or you're in an environment that causes growth, a growth based environment, that you're much more likely to grow and you're going to grow faster. And that's why I love Growth Day. Growth Day is an app that my friend Brendan Burchard has created that I'm a big fan of. Write this down growthday.com forward/ed. So if you want to be more productive, by the way, he's asked me, I post videos in there every single Monday that gets your day off to the right start. He's got about 5,000, $10,000 worth of courses that are in there that come with the app. Also, some of the top influencers in the world are all posting content in there on a regular basis, like having the avengers of personal development and business in one app. And I'm honored that he asked me to be a part of it as well and contribute on a weekly basis. And I do. So go over there and get signed up. You're going to get a free tuition, free voucher to go to an event with Brendan and myself and a bunch of other influencers as well. So you get a free event out of it also. So go to growthday.com forward sled. That's growthday.com forward slash ed. If your gut is off, everything feels off. Your digestion, your energy, your mood, your focus. It all starts in your gut. That's why I love Just Thrive probiotic. Go to justthrivehealth.com and use code ED to save 20% off on your first bottle. It's time to stop surviving and start thriving. Take the 90 day Just Thrive challenge today at Just Thrive Health.com and use code Ed. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition. These statements and information are not a substitute for or alternative to seeking care from your health care providers. 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. Live links are in the show notes. You'll never miss an episode that way. Here's today's topic. How to build something great. How to create a movement. And when I say that, I'm really talking about multiple areas. This could be how to Build a great church, how to build a great business, how to build a great family, how to build a great Boy Scout troop, Girl Scout troop. Any movement you want to build anything great has the elements we're going to cover today. There's a lot of detail here and hopefully some inspiration for you as well. So, you know, there's a great book I read long time ago, I'm going to show my age here called Selling the Dream by a guy named Guy Kawasaki. And what it really was is Guy Kawasaki was the guy that kind of helped market Macintosh way back in the day for Apple. And it was a study of the history of Apple. And basically his contention was that all great movements, I think all great families, all great churches, all great everything, sell the dream. The leader of that enterprise is almost evangelical, almost like a preacher evangelizing for their cause. You know, great businesses. Those of you that are business people, great businesses, have a cult like following, have a religious like following. It's something that all great movements have. Apple has it. The great fitness companies that you think of. Any company, you know, that's really flourishing has kind of raving fans and a level past that is almost cult like and religious like followers. They believe that deeply. And by the way, I don't mean that in a sacrilegious way, like they believe in it more than they believe in God. You know exactly what I mean when I say that deep raving fans and those followings are led by evangelists, all great business people. I think all great dads, all great moms should be evangelical about their family. All great business leaders should be evangelists. Constantly touting the great greatness of your family, the greatness of where you're going, the greatness of your company. For whatever prism you're listening today through or whatever filter, whether you're listening to this and you want to be a better mother, a better father, a better pastor, a better business leader, a better entrepreneur. I think these things we're going to talk about today are going to rock your world. Absolutely. And so how do you build a religious cult like following in your business? And how do you become more evangelical about your cause? I want you to write these three things down right now. As a dad, as a mother and as a business leader. Dream, crusade, recognition. These are the three pillars of building anything great. Great evangelists, great leaders and families are constantly selling the dream mom's sowing. Here's where we're going as a family. We're amazing. We're going to do something great. It's going to Be a great day. Great business leaders. Here's where the company's going. This is what we're going to accomplish. This is the vision. This is the future. This is the road we're heading down. This is how amazing it's going to be. See, great leaders always sell the dream. Leaders must have vision because of your position. Just by being a position, a leader, you are in front of everybody, aren't you? Which means your point of view should be different. You can see things they can't see. Your job as a leader is to say, here's what I see. This is how amazing it is and this is how we're going to get there. So great leaders, like that book said, sell the dream constantly. Great entrepreneurs are constantly conscious of selling the dream to their employees, to their clients, to their vendors, to potential clients, to people they sell to people they do business with, to people in the warehouse. No matter what your business is, I don't care what it is, always be selling the dream. Listen to me. Always be selling the dream and do it repetitiously. Don't get tired of saying the same things over and over again. See, business is not about saying new things to old people. Business is about saying old things to new people. So constantly be selling the dream. As a mother or father, you want to turn your family around. You want to raise great kids, Sell them the dream on the future. Sell them where they're going. Sell them where your family's going, all the way the time. Sell the dream. Sell the dream. Sell the dream. Second element is crusade. If you're going to build a cult like and religious like following in your business, for example, your crusade, constantly messaging, your crusade, your cause, your mission, these are all in that same thing of the difference you make in the world, the contribution you make. You must be messaging it all the time. We're making a difference. This is our cause, this is our mission, this is our crusade. These are the two big messages that all great entrepreneurs that are evangelical create. They're constantly selling the dream. Constantly selling the crusade. This creates a culture. All your systems, all your messages, all your marketing, all your social media, everything you do is about dream and crusade. You want to create an infectious environment in your company. You get on fire about selling the dream. I don't care if you're a two person dry cleaners, you sell the dream of having four. You sell the dream of making 10 of them or 20 of them and you have a crusade about it. We do the best job, we get clothes the cleanest, we're Meticulous. We take it to a level nobody else does. We care. We make a difference. We help people make more money because they're sharper dressed than our clothes. I don't care what your business is. If you make sandwiches, the crusade of being the best and them eating healthy or them enjoying it, or bringing passion to people's lives or pleasure to their lives. Talk about your crusade and your mission. If you're in the financial business or the real estate business, or the fitness business, I don't care. The tech business. What's the dream? What's the crusade? What's the mission? And sell it over and over and over again. This is how we build a following. And then lastly, recognition. Always be recognizing people, always be holding people up. Always acknowledge people that are performing at a high level. Build an environment where you're recognizing people all the time so that people want to rise up. You know, if you have an environment of recognition all the time, that the people who aren't being recognized see the ones who are and want that to happen. So recognition elevates the company, elevates your vendors, elevates your clients. By the way, what do you do to recognize your clients? What do you do in your business to recognize your clients? What do you do to recognize your recruits? What do you do to recognize your employees? What do you do to recognize your vendors? What do you do to recognize your assistant? What do you do to recognize people? How great are you at recognizing people? Right? And if you show me a leader who sells the dream, who's got an unbelievable crusade, who's got recognition in place, I'm going to assume you have systems in place because you can't function without those as an entrepreneur, but the separator between the good and the great, the extraordinary companies, the movements, the systems are not the separator. The systems are fundamentals to even get in the game. But once you're in the game, how good your dream selling, how repetitious is it? How believable is it? How big is it? By the way, on selling the dream, you have to sell a big enough dream to people that everybody's dreams who come in contact with you can fit inside the one you're selling. Do you do that? Are you cognizant of selling it? Big enough that everybody listening to you, whoever that crowd is, their dream, can fit inside the one you're selling. Your crusade and mission, is it emotional? Is it compelling? Do you hold up evidence of it? What do you do to reinforce it? Do you, on a regular basis hold up success stories? Do you reinforce it with the stories you've had? Do you reinforce it with the message you have? Do you reinforce it with your own behavior? So how well do you reinforce the cause, the mission, the crusade of your business? And then how do you do with recognizing people? Do you have an environment full of recognition and enthusiasm and winning and progress happening all the time? Do you constantly find ways and reasons to recognize the people you work with and your clients? As a mother or a father, how good are you at selling the dream of your family? We're special. We're a great family. We do great things for people. We're going to win in our lives, we're going to travel the world. We, we're going to make a difference. Then they get to the crusade. This is the kind of family where we serve people. We got a mission as a family. We're about making a difference in the world. We're special, we're givers. Do you do that and do you recognize people? Man, you look beautiful today. You look amazing. Great job on your test. I'm so proud of you. You're my favorite. Do you do things all the time to recognize your children and your spouse? How good are you at that? Like just take a step back and breathe for a second. When's the last time you recognize your spouse? And do you do it repetitiously and regularly? All the time where it's infectious? Do you recognize your children? Do you recognize your parents or your siblings? How good are you at just I love you, I believe in you. Do you call them? Do you text them? Do you write handwritten notes? Do you hug them? Do you just have an environment of recognition in your household? See, I think a great family's got a dream. A great family's got a mission and a cause. And a great family recognizes each other. That's what a great church does, is what a great football team does, is what a great business does. The most powerful force in the history of the world is religion, right? And I'm not talking about building something that's important as someone finding God, but I am talking about building the same elements. See, Rick Warren in the Purpose Driven Life wrote this great book, the best selling book of all time other than the Bible. And in that book he lists five things that are sort of the keys purposes to a religion, right? I thought it was interesting. So I'm going to give you what those five keys were because I think they apply to business, I think they apply to family. So we're going to listen to Rick Warren's five things, I'm going to give them to you right now and then I'm going to tell you they apply to business for you being evangelical and creating a religious cult like following for your company and your products, which is what you all want. So those five things are fellowship, two, discipleship and education, three, worship, four, ministry and service, and five, evangelization. These are the five purposes of religion that he lists in the Purpose Driven Life. So how does that apply to business? Let's start with fellowship. You want to create fellowship in your business. You want to create a community type environment for your clients and the people that work with you. Because people want to belong in life. Number one need for human beings is the need to belong. So if you're not creating that in the atmosphere around your company, again, if it's a dry cleaners, what do you do when they walk in to make them feel like they're a part of a community? Things you say, things you give them signs that are on the wall, it begins to build a community. If you have a financial services business or a real estate business, or a tech business, or a nutrition business, what are you doing to build community around your business? Could that be your social media, your website, your environment, the workplace, the things you mail to your clients, thanking them? What are you doing to build community or fellowship in your business? Number two is discipleship or education. What are you doing to build disciples? Which means, what does your company believe in? What did it stand for? What's the action that you want to give them? The way you build people who are raving fans and followers is they know what you stand for, they know what you believe in, they know what your mission is. This is the way that you begin to build sort of disciple type following. And then the second thing is education. Every business can be teaching somebody something. And that's another way you build raving fans and building disciples is by teaching them something. So your business ought to have an educational slant to it in some way. You need to be thinking through how you begin to create that in your business by teaching people things. And that could be just a value proposition, could be something you stand for, be something you mail them, something you teach them, but it begins to build discipleship and education in your business. The third purpose of religion that Rick lists is worship. And we do want people to kind of be in our presence in our business, being that in love with who we are and what we do. In religion. They worship a creator. In your business, they're going to worship your Cause and your mission and what you stand for. And so it's got to be constantly messaged all the time in some way, shape or form. Worship is a strong word for really believe. Strong word is to really be connected. Strong word to believe that you're different and unique and special and cause oriented. People want to be a part of a movement. Just so you know, even as a consumer. That's why you see people wear the T shirts of different brands. Anything they can do to say I belong here and I belong here because I worship or I believe in the cause, I believe in the mission, I believe in what this company stands for. That could be what the leader stands for, the product stands for, the delivery stands for, the industry stands for. But they need to know what you stand for. For is ministry and services. One of the purposes that Rick lists for religion. And that's also true for a business. Businesses exist to solve a problem. Your messaging needs to all the time be about the service that you do. Because it's how you mobilize people. You mobilize people around that mission. You're going to hear the common theme here of dream mission and recognition. And inside this, what are you doing to recognize the people that are in your service? For example, in a church, if you've ever been to a church, there are people who get identified roles, don't they? There's the pastor or the priest or the rabbi, et cetera, and whatever the religion is. There's also the ushers, there's the people who do the sign ins, there's the people who lead worship service, who play the music. These are forms of recognition inside the organization. What are you doing to recognize your client? What are you doing to recognize your colleagues, recognize your recruits at every level, all the time. This is how we begin to build this part of the element of our cult, like religious following. And then lastly evangelization. Think about all the people who you maybe think are some of the best business people or most influential people, you know, everybody from. And they're different. Think about this. From Martin Luther King to Oprah Winfrey to Mark Cuban to Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg to Elon Musk to the guy I see on TV all the time. You seen this guy with the pillow? My pillow. The guy with the mustache and the blue shirt and the cross that I don't even know the guy's name, but he's like evangelical for his cause. His pillow will help you sleep better. And he repeats it over and over and over again. This is a part of building that religious cult like following is being evangelical about your company all the time. What do they all have in common? Because they're all different people. Maybe you look at me this way. Maybe it's one of your favorite business leaders, right? One of your favorite influencers. They have that element. We all look different, we all talk different, but we all had a cause that we preached over and over again. And by the way, in no way, shape or form am I equating the my pillow guy with my hero Martin Luther King, or am I equating Oprah Winfrey with myself. My point is, is that any great leader. I'm talking about the best restaurant in your town. There's an experience when you go in there, and that's the part of it I want you to understand. There's got to be an experience in your family to make it special. There's got to be an experience of being in that household, whether it's where you go or the environment in your home, or just the spirit that's inside your home. That's an experience. People want to have a great experience that they do business with, right? So what experience are you creating when they walk in your restaurant? How do they feel from the very beginning? They meet with you to the end of their meal. What's the experience that you want them to have in your business? The transaction they make. If you're, say, in the financial services business, what's the experience that you want them to have? Think that through for a minute. From the minute they meet you, through their entire lifetime with you, what's the experience feel like? Because if you want referrals, which is what you say you want, you want new people, people refer people. When the experience is blissful, when the experience is amazing, when the experience is unique, think about the places or businesses you do business with right now that you love the most. Your favorite restaurant, your favorite clothing brand, your favorite influencer on social media. Hopefully me, right? So what's the experience like? How do they make you feel? Feel when you're in their restaurant, when you're consuming their protein product? And maybe that whole experience is how you order it, how you buy it, the note they write you, my friend Andy Frisella, my business partner, they're so specific at first form, but when you buy that product, everybody gets a handwritten note. There's an experience that's different than just getting it shipped to you. They're creative and how they make people feel, even if it's in a benign transaction, like a dry cleaners, right? Like a Sandwich shop. But it's really important in every business to just make the experience of doing business with you slightly different and more enjoyable and pleasurable than everybody else. In today's world, what distinguishes you more than anything is the experience. It's all the things we've talked about. It's the dream, it's the cause, it's the crusade, it's the recognition. It's all of that wrapped up in what's the experience that people are having when they're with us, because that's what they will recommend to people, is the experience. What makes a great family is the experience day to day of that family. It's never perfect, right? There's ups and downs. But what's the spirit and experience in that family? As a mother, what you're creating, what's the experience you're creating as a father for your family, as a business leader, what's the experience as a pastor of a church, what's the experience there from when they walk in to when they walk out to when they get home? And you connect with them through social media or however you connect with them, what's the experience of doing business with you? These are the elements of creating a movement, of creating anything great. These are the ways I believe that you create a great family, a great baseball team, a great Girl Scout troop, Boy Scout troop, church or business. These are the elements that create that kind of following and that greatness about what you're doing. You can do something great with your life. You were born to do something great with your life. Yes. You driving in your car right now, having that bad day on the treadmill right now, man, just things aren't going the way you want right now. Maybe you're watching this on YouTube going like, hey, man, I don't even have a business right now. I'm not even sure I am a good dad. I haven't. It doesn't matter. Your past does not equal your future. You were put here to do something great in big ways and small ways. You're supposed to help other people. You're supposed to make a difference. You matter. Listen to me. You matter. Your past does not equal your future. Here's the good news. Your present doesn't equal your future either. You're capable at any time of turning your life around. And if no one's reminded you lately, let me remind you. And you're supposed to do something great. You're called to greatness. You're called to something higher than where you are right now. And it's some of These elements that matter in doing it. But more than anything, what matters is you knowing it, you know in your favor. You know you can do something great. You know you're not out of time. You know you can turn your life around. I know it now. You need to know it. In fact, you need to know it deeply, because it's true. I promise you. I promise you. I promise you, you can do something great with your life. I'm always, always here, by the way, to help you do it, to inspire you. But most importantly, probably to give you the tools to do it. I wouldn't be spending my time for free with millions of people if I didn't think each and every one of you were capable of doing something great with your life. I do this because there's this little part of me that hopes in the. I'm looking at the Pacific Ocean out here. If I'm a drop of water in the ocean of your life that helps you create a wave that makes a difference in the world, I'd love to be that drop of water in the wave of your life. And I know you can be that wave. I know you can transform your own life and other people's lives at the same time. I hope you hear me on that. I mean it sincerely. This gentleman to my left, I've wanted on my show since I first heard you speak. This is a man who had a 20 year career in the entertainment business. Sort of walked away from that career for a calling in what I'd call transformational communication. So it's really my honor to present to you, Kyle Cease, everybody. So thank you for being here, brother.
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Kyle Cease
Thank you, man. Jim Carrey and Eckhart Tolle created an event called gate. They combined forces. Okay, dude, that's like. That's like my fantasy. And they're the most opposite energies. Like that's on a scale of Eckhart to Jim Carrey. How excited are you? Right? And they created an event called gate. Global alliance of Transformational Entertainers. And they called me. The people there asked me to speak on the stage. And now that I had let go of the agency, I was someone who didn't even need that agency. I didn't even need. I could say no to dating. Those type of, you know, relationships I've always wanted. I could say no to the addiction to Facebook. I could say no to needing to market myself. I am someone who doesn't even need to do what at one point was my dream career. I'm in highest alignment. I think I could be. And I felt Equal in certain ways to Eckhart and Jim Carrey. And it was an honor to be there. And I realized I'm as special also not the unworthy guy who's trying to keep an agency happy and all this shit. So when I walked on stage, it was all off the cuff. And I said Jim Carrey and Eckhart Tolle were fourth row. And I said, this is crazy because I'm told all the time that I'm what would happen if Jim Carrey and Eckhart Tolle had a baby. And I said, I don't know if you guys are picturing that. Eckhart. It's a thought. So you don't have those, so you're probably not. And then I said, some of you might think Eckhart's offended, but it's in the past. So Eckhart doesn't even know about it. All of this like spiritual stand up started happening and a voice was forming on its own off the cuff. And here was the craziest part. Producers and directors were in the audience and they started coming up to me and offering me roles in movies. So the part of me that wanted to get auditions for movies died. And suddenly I was able to receive offers. Like the thing that you think you need to get, the thing you want is often in the way. I want to feel love. If only I was dating someone. No, no, no, feel love directly. I want to feel abundant. If only I had money. No, feel abundant directly. I want to get movies. Okay, well guess what? The directors will start showing up in your audience when you change your alignment and stop moving like this cattle call person that needs to audition for everything and is unworthy. And please put me in your thing like I'm awesome so that you're awesome.
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Ed Mylett
Gosh, that's one of my favorite stories of all time. Because this decision you've made to step into your truth and who you were ends up being not coincidental at all. That kind of the first of its kind ever event ends up existing that you can step right into these different dimensions and different rooms. You can you find yourself stepping into everybody when you make these decisions are remarkable. And that was my question for you. Like I already. We're out of time. But I have to ask this, okay, because it was my question for the day and it leads to that and I get asked it a lot. And over the years my answer has gone back and forth about this topic and you were in there, but I want to ask you it directly. And it's this concept of separating from outcome. So Wayne Dyer and I had this conversation, and I've always believed in being goal oriented and having specific things that you want to achieve, although that is sort of projecting into the future.
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Rod Carew
Yeah.
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Ed Mylett
Then there's this other belief that is if we just separate from outcome and we are who we are intended to be, that these things, these different spaces that we can't even imagine will begin to exist for us. It's an interesting topic to me. It's one that I've explored throughout doing this show. I've explored throughout my life. I've sort of navigated both things. Dr. Joe Dispenza and I have these deep conversations about that. How do you feel about that concept of separating from outcome, yet having a vision of something you want to achieve? Because that vision is in the future.
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Kyle Cease
Yes.
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Ed Mylett
Right. So it's the number one question I had for today, and I hope everybody stuck around to the very end because I'm fascinated to hear your answer about it.
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Kyle Cease
Well, maybe you can use the vision like a ladder rung. Okay. But really enjoy the step up. Really enjoy the process. So, like, if we were, like doing this interview, but from the beginning said, we better get it this good, it has to hit a million, you know, 10 million views. We have to. Whatever. We wouldn't enjoy this. True, right?
- [24:20]
Ed Mylett
Yes.
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Kyle Cease
We'd be so much more stuck and making an outcome more of our God than we are. And the creativity that came through, like, I, you know, if I had a full. Everything I need to say right. Then what happens in life when something happens that's different than that, that's different than your expectations?
- [24:43]
Rod Carew
Right.
- [24:44]
Kyle Cease
So, yeah, you can have that outcome, but also get excited about the creativity on the way, because your expectations are what get hurt. And what I've really learned, and I've talked about this on different shows, is that no one's ever broken your heart. They broke your expectations. And by breaking your expectations, they got you closer to your heart. And realize that any outcome you can come up with is still the biggest you can see in this moment, and it's still very small. The biggest outcome I can see for myself from here is nothing compared to what I could create this year. Because I'm not including all the new insights, possibilities that I'm going to have tomorrow and the next day. So the greatest vision I have for, like, the end of this year, it's gonna be awesome. But I'm not including April and May and all the other insights I'm going to have. Like, I didn't know that I was going to be on this podcast. So any goal that I made before I met you wouldn't have included this as a possibility. So it actually. The greatest goal you could see is a total limitation. So use it as a ladder rung, but also be willing to adjust and keep. Okay, now that I know this, I'm going to bring this in while still having kind of some ability to be flexible and let the goal follow you, too.
- [26:06]
Ed Mylett
I love that answer.
- [26:08]
Kyle Cease
Right?
- [26:08]
Ed Mylett
We promised at the beginning today, Kyle, brother, we should go. Three hours.
- [26:13]
Kyle Cease
I would love to.
- [26:14]
Ed Mylett
Everybody's sitting there going, please keep going. We promised something in the beginning. In your last answer, all your answers simple, true and profound. And my own example, my own life is evidence of what you just described. So many things today were so wonderful and beautifully stated. You're remarkable. You're remarkable. Thank you, everybody. This is hall of Famer Rod Carew. Rod, thank you for being here, brother.
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David Rubenstein
Thanks for having me.
- [26:44]
Ed Mylett
I'm so grateful that we've reconnected and I'm so grateful that I'm able to share this treasure of a human being with people. I love these people that listen to my show. I love them. And I would not be here without you. I would not be. I'll get emotional if I go any further than that. And there's. You would not be here had you not planted those seeds and had the heart that's in your chest. You've had this amazing life, Rod. I mean, you've had this. You're beaten as a young boy. You come from a place that no one ever made it in Major League Baseball the way you did before. You have this unbelievable career. The career ends. You're then have this amazing legacy of what you do with children. Then you have this whole other chapter of your life where you lose a daughter, which is the worst thing a parent can ever have happen in their life, is to lose a child. And then you have a way of honoring her that's just remarkable and a piece about it. Then you have this other chapter of your life where you have this heart attack and a heart transplant that's connected to a child that you reached out to. And now I feel like then you then one tough out. By the way, now that you've heard this man's story, would you agree this is. He is a tough out. He was a tough out at the plate, but he's been even tougher out in life. And then now there's this other season now where being here with me today and sharing this story is just another chapter in Your life. And I'm just curious, I'm sure everybody would love to know the answer to this and just what your thoughts are. Obviously faith has been the center of your life. What life advice do you have of any type? That there's been this ride that's just, it wouldn't make it past a producer's desk for a script because it's so unbelievable and yet. And even our little version of our story that we're here today, what have you learned in life that we haven't covered today that you would, you know, you'd leave if you could have a message? Your son sitting here today with us. And I'm sure there's things that you, you know, lessons you've imparted on to him. If this whole audience was your sons, guys like me that have all been kind of extensions of your sons in your life, your actual son is here today with us physically. What would you advice you give all of us? Just about life and the pursuit of doing something great in our lives?
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David Rubenstein
Have faith in our friend upstairs. If you can maintain that faith, it's a great gift that you get from God. Because I've had faith throughout everything that I do. You know, growing up, taking beatings from my dad, playing baseball, leaving the country and coming here and doing, working with different organizations to make the dream of kids come through because they all have dreams. Like, I had a dream when I was a seven year old and my dream was to be a baseball player, to play in front of 50,000 people. And my mom used to say to me, you think you can really do that? And I says, you're going to be there when I'm playing in front of big crowds. And so when I played in, in front of like 50,000 people in New York and she was in New York, she just shook her head, she couldn't believe it. You know, she says, you've made it, you've done it. I said, mom, that's because of you, because of what you've taught me and showed me along the way and the faith that you had in me and faith that you put in me to be God's son. That's what it has done.
- [30:26]
Ed Mylett
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- [33:26]
Rod Carew
Well, the truth is I'm always trying to do something that's interesting and that I find rewarding and hopefully giving back to the country. Just like you, you want to do something in your that you think is meaningful. So I've been trying to do that for a while and I got lucky later in life and some of the things worked out well.
- [33:43]
Ed Mylett
I got to tell you, one of the things you've done to do that is David's got a book called how to Lead Wisdoms from the world's greatest CEOs. And when he says that, he's not exaggerating this book about five years putting it together, behind the scenes interviews, everybody. You're talking about people like Oprah Winfrey, Phil Knight, Jeff Bezos. There's a collection of people in this book that Fauci, you talk about a collection of people in this book, Richard Branson, and the list goes on and on. It's literally a who's who of leaders, regardless of their industry. It's the greatest collection of people in the leadership side of life that I've ever seen before. But the interesting part for me, David, was the beginning about you first, because I know you like to talk about other people. I do that too. But you're interesting to me. One thing on leadership, which is what we're really going to focus in on today, guys. And I recommend David's book completely. But one of the things that I've discovered when I work with leaders is many of them never take the time because they're busy and crises are happening. They never actually come up with a clearly defined leadership philosophy of their own. They don't put the time and intentionality in doing so. And you talk about yours in the beginning of the book. So share with us a little bit about your leadership philosophy that's probably evolved over time.
- [34:56]
Rod Carew
Well, over time I kind of observed two phenomenon. Phenomenon one is that life is divided into three periods early in life, when you're kind of getting educated. Second, when you're beginning your career and maturing as a professional. And third, when you've kind of reaped the rewards of what you've done in the second or first part of your life. And it's my observation that leaders in the first part, the Rhodes scholars, student body presidents, all American athletes who we all think in high school or college are the superstars, they often turn out not to be so great in the latter part of life. And the leaders in the world really turn out to be people who weren't so great in the beginning. For example, most of the presidents of the United States would never have been thought to be potential presidents United States when they were in college or high school. The only exception the last hundred years may be Bill Clinton who was a student leader. So I would think about your own case. You're a well known personality now. You're a leader in your areas. I don't know, were you a superstar in high school and people say this guy's going to be famous and all that?
- [35:55]
Ed Mylett
Not in the least. Of course not. No, you're exactly right.
- [35:57]
Rod Carew
So I was not, I was, you know, not that famous, not that well known. I wasn't a great athlete, I wasn't a great scholar and I got lucky later in life. The second part of what I wanted to say in the book is that there are certain attributes that leaders have. Luck is one of them. But this persistence is another. Hard work is another. The ability to get along with people, communicating with people, sharing the credit, being ethical and rising to the occasion. These are attributes that I think leaders have in common. Some are better than others in certain things. And humility is one that I think is probably good. Clearly we've had a president recently who didn't specialize in humility. But as a general rule of thumb, I think people that you tend to admire are people that are somewhat humble about what they've done.
- [36:39]
Ed Mylett
I agree. I've come up with this nuance I think with leaders that I admire. And by the way, I don't know that the president before him was necessarily dosed in humility all the time either. And the reason I say that to you is. And by the way, I'm non political in that regard. I've. I want you to. I don't know if anyone's asked you this before. What I observe and some of these people in the books I've actually got to know myself a little bit. There's this interesting combination because humility is so requisite, but it's almost combined. It's an odd nuance of a lot of confidence combined with humility. It's this road. They almost seem to Tow that's very unique. I think of the former President that way, I think of Phil Knight that way. Bill Gates, who's in the book, you know, there's a tremendous amount of confidence combined with humility. Do you notice that as well?
- [37:24]
Rod Carew
Yes, I picked up this. In some sense you're too young to remember this, but there was a President John Kennedy and what he did was something very novel. He would have every other week a press conference at the State Department, answering questions from anybody and any reporter and he had an enormous amount of self deprecating humor. He was able to make fun of himself. Why was he able to do that? Because he had a lot of self confidence. If you're insecure, you can't make fun of yourself. If you have enormous confidence in what your abilities are, you can make fun of yourself. And you'll find a lot of the leaders that ones you've referred to or ones in the book, they have so much confidence in what they've achieved that they can make fun of themselves and they're humble because they know they had a lot of luck along the way. People that are insecure very often cannot make fun of themselves and are not able to be humble.
- [38:16]
Ed Mylett
What do you think of. Wow, that's really interesting because their accomplishments has given them some of this. What about the idea of. When I say this to you, I'm curious, who comes to mind? Emotional maturity. That's one of the things that I've observed with the leaders that I admire the most that I've worked with in different, you know, different businesses I've been involved with is that, you know, under crisis they're emotionally mature, they're composed and when things are going very well, they don't seem to get too high. I think like almost a Bill Belichick type person in football, there's this almost emotional stoic maturity about them that I think gives a calm to the people that they lead. Do you think of anybody when I say that and do you agree?
- [38:53]
Rod Carew
I do. I mean, remember, people that are well adjusted recognize that a football game or a sporting event or a television show isn't the most important thing in the world. There's so many other more important things. So they're not going to get panic over whether they won a football game or not. They might be upset if they lost, but they're not going to make it the most important thing in their life because all of us recognize there are more important things in life. And as I like to say in my book and other times I've Said the most important thing in life and the most elusive thing in life is personal happiness. Very hard to get. Now, if you are happy, you can be happy in many different ways. You can be happy having a family and you're not famous. You could be happy with having fame, but it's hard to achieve it. And once you achieve it, you know, it gives you a certain serenity because you know you're happy with life. Now, as you probably know, you know a lot of prominent people, how many of them are tortured souls and they're not that happy with what they're doing, even though they might be famous. I see a lot of those wealthy and famous people who are tortured, they're not that happy.
- [39:56]
Ed Mylett
I got to tell you, as you were saying that, that's what I was thinking. I was thinking of those folks. And sometimes I almost, I don't know, I think in general, humans struggle with happiness is one of the things I talk an awful lot about. But I think there's a. Sometimes these mega achievers, there's an extra dose of it because I think they thought all their life, once I get to this destination, once I get a certain amount of money or the title of CEO or my own television show, or I do get elected to office, or I win a Super bowl, that then I'll be happy. And these destinations and achievements aren't what make us internally happy. So I actually see it maybe even more prominently in achievers than I do with everyday people. Is that crazy?
- [40:36]
Rod Carew
Yes, because achievers are always thinking they've got to have somebody on the outside telling them that they've done a great job and that's going to make them happy. They then realize later they might be inside, not that happy, even though they're outside thought to be happy because they're very famous. The happiest people I know are very often blue collar workers, people with very good families, people with nice family life, people who are not famous, but they're happy.
- [41:00]
Ed Mylett
I agree. And my philosophy behind that, since we're talking about it and we're going to go into some leadership specifics here in a second because you go five years interviewing the people you interviewed, President Bush and everybody else, we're going to pick some nuggets out of there. But one of the things that I think creates happiness is when your life conditions match up to the blueprint or the vision you have for it. So oftentimes when you live a little bit more of a simple life, if that's what your blueprint was for, what you wanted, or Your expectations and the conditions match it. That equals happiness. One of the things all the achievers listening to this need to be very leery of is if you're constantly throwing it out there in your current life, it's healthy because it causes you to grow. But it can be unhealthy in terms of bliss and happiness when your current life conditions don't match the blueprint or the vision you have for it. That lack of congruency sometimes causes people to be unhappy. Would you agree?
- [41:48]
Rod Carew
I agree. And you know, a sad situation we find now is that you see people at all ages committing suicide at a higher rate than we've seen in generations. Why is that? Somebody is 25 years old and kills himself or herself. How can you explain that other than they don't have personal happiness?
- [42:10]
Ed Mylett
And I think also the advent of social media has led people to have these just really unrealistic expectations, what they should look like. It seems like everybody's having a party every single day and you're at home and everyone has 500 friends and you have two, and one of them's giving you some hate on your social media account. And I think it's that blueprint not equaling your current life conditions. I really do so.
- [42:31]
Rod Carew
Well, in my case, I'm not on any social media because I might be embarrassed that Instagram would announce I have three followers. You know, Kim Kardashian has 80 million followers. I have three. So I don't want anybody to know how few followers I would have. So I don't have those accounts.
- [42:44]
Ed Mylett
Yeah, he also has one of the most prominent television shows on the planet, too, on Bloomberg. So don't let him fool you. But when I was researching him, thinking he doesn't have. So I didn't think he'd have Instagram. I gotta tell you, I thought you'd have a Twitter. I thought you'd have Twitter for sure. And I was surprised by that.
- [42:58]
Rod Carew
I don't have it because my staff people think I wouldn't know how to do it. Or I've watched, though, that some people that have Twitter sometimes say things they regret later on. It's tempting to say something, all of a sudden you realize 10 minutes later you shouldn't have said it. I've thought about trying to learn how to do it, and maybe now that there's an account open with 72 million followers, maybe I could get that account.
- [43:20]
Ed Mylett
Just buy it. That's a good idea. You can afford it. Let's go through some practices of great leaders. I mean, guys, I'VE never seen a collection. It reminds me of almost Andrew Carnegie back in the day, or Napoleon Hill where they did all this research of these very prominent people. Yet there's really not been anything written that way since that time. And this is the first leadership book I've read where I'm thinking to myself, General Pedras, Condoleezza Rice, Jack Nicklaus. I mean, it's just an amazing collection of conversations.
- [43:49]
Rod Carew
Well, thank you. I did these show my TV show over about a four or five year period of time. It takes a while to line them up and I generally have known these people for a while. So it makes the conversation easier rather than just showing up and interviewing somebody you haven't known. It makes it work better a bit. And you know, I enjoy doing it. It's not a skill that I realized I had. I never was a professional interviewer. And maybe you weren't a professional interviewer when you were younger, but you realize you have a skill in this area. People like it and people think that the way I do it works out as well. But I didn't go to school to learn how to do this, nor did you.
- [44:21]
Ed Mylett
You have two things that I watch in great leaders. And I don't know you personally, but just, you know, from a distance observing you. And I think also makes you a great interviewer. One, you're incredibly curious, you're genuinely interested. And then two, you have that combination of confidence and humility enough that you're really learning as you're asking the questions, like I am today. I was preparing for a lot of interviews and last night, as I was even doing a little bit more preparation, I was just really excited about this. Your team had reached out to us and I thought this is going to be really something else. And so I just want to let you know that it's an honor to be doing this with you. But I'm reading, I'm going to mispronounce her name, but let's go through some tactics.
- [44:55]
Rod Carew
Okay? All right.
- [44:57]
Ed Mylett
And I'll mispronounce her name. It's the PepsiCo CEO. Is it Indra.
- [45:00]
Rod Carew
Indra Nui.
- [45:01]
Ed Mylett
Unbelievable woman. And one of the things she does I'd like you to share with her is these letters. Because I want leaders. Listen, what can I do to build relationships, more connectivity, create culture? And she has this great strategy that seems very simple, but it's almost. Nobody takes the time to do this. So please share one.
- [45:19]
Rod Carew
Here's her technique that she used quite well. She would write letters, report cards, she would call them to the parents of her senior employees. So let's suppose you're the mother of a senior person at Pepsi. You get a letter from the CEO saying your child is doing a wonderful job. You did a terrific job of raising this person. I really hope this person stays here a long time. Well, the mother will then call the child and say, you have a wonderful boss. Look how attentive she is to you. And by the way, you're doing a good job. That makes the employee even more loyal to the CEO because if your mother thinks the person is good, how are you going to tell your mother you're quitting the job? Because, you know, the CEO is so wonderful? So it really worked and it was a good way to actually connect with the employees as well as with the parents.
- [45:59]
Ed Mylett
I agree. One of the things I do is I write personal letters still because everybody gets email and text and just you think about it the last time you got my, by the way, and my penmanship is horrific. But I still do. I think that personalizes me, humanizes me a little. This guy could barely write. But I write them to the children of the people that I work with because those ultimately end up going up on refrigerators and it stays in their home and it reminds them of those things, too. So just for what that's worth, everybody, that's another kind of tactic that's in the book. And we don't go through the whole book because I want you to get the book, everybody. What about crisis right now, let's be honest. You talk about the former president. Now there's President Biden. But anybody who's in a leadership position right now, even a leader in a family or all the way up to the CEO of being a company. At the same time, there's a lot of stress right now. This is a time in leading through crisis. Any things you've learned from these leaders of going through a cris crisis type time that you would share with leaders of families of businesses, of any enterprise right now?
- [46:56]
Rod Carew
Well, that nobody has all the answers that you've got to listen to other people. Oprah Winfrey in the interview said she's not a great interviewer. She's a great listener. And when you're a leader, you have to listen to what your troops are telling you or your employees are telling you. So I think many of the people that I've interviewed, they got ideas and get ideas from people that work with them and they listen to those people. And I think that's a good thing. You can't think you have all the answers yourself. Today we're living in a crisis where there are no perfect answers, but you've got to talk to people about what they're doing. How are you getting through the day on Covid? How are you working? How are you dealing with your children? Getting answers from people that have similar situations can be very helpful.
- [47:33]
Ed Mylett
What about getting there as a leader as opposed to staying there? It's one of the things that's talked about a little bit because I have more friends that used to be wealthy than currently are, and I have more friends that used to be leading something than currently are leading something. That's a very unique skill set.
- [47:49]
Rod Carew
Right? Well, everybody works very hard to get somewhere. And then when you get there, sometimes you forget the things that got you there. Your ego could get bigger. You don't pay attention to people. You're not listening to your troops anymore, or you're spending time on things that aren't that relevant to your job. You're spending too much time at parties rather than running the company or whatever the organization might be. In terms of wealth, there's no doubt that one of the hardest things is to make money. But it's even harder to hold onto it when you have it. Because sometimes when you make the money, you think, I'm a genius and I can keep making money. And sometimes it's not that easy to keep making it, and then they take risks that are too risky for you, and therefore you can lose money. And it's always a sad situation to see somebody who was wealthy, who made it honestly, and then bad luck or whatever, bad fortune, he or she lost it, and they're back to a situation that finds them very unhappy.
- [48:40]
Ed Mylett
You're so right. I find that there's a certain discipline in saving enough money to get wealthy. It's an entirely different discipline to hold on to the pile once you get it and continue to grow it and not have that temptation to blow it, as I've seen so many people do.
- [48:54]
Rod Carew
I tell you. See, here's what I tell people a lot when I give a talk on money management. Many people are good at making money in given area A, when they make the money, they think they're a genius in area B, C and D, and they start doing B, C, and D. And they're not good at that. And the result is they have no money at the end. If you have money, the most important thing is not to lose what you have. And therefore you don't take undue risk. Everybody's not George Soros Or Warren Buffett. And don't think you are just because you got lucky in one area of life.
- [49:23]
Ed Mylett
Oh, my gosh, where were you when I was 30 years old? Because my father would say that my father was a working man, a brilliant man, but not a rich man. And my dad would say to me the same thing you just said. And he said to me, will you please stop investing in things you can't even explain to me that you don't understand. If you can't explain it in a sentence or two, you shouldn't put your money in it.
- [49:46]
Rod Carew
That's true. Albert Einstein used to say, if you can't explain in one or two sentences what you're talking about, you really don't understand it.
- [49:54]
Ed Mylett
I'm down to like three topics. Then let me ask you, since we're on this, and we'll go back to leadership in a second, but I can't have somebody that's accomplished what you have in the area of accumulating wealth without asking you this. It's been a long time since we've been in a recession, and I've had this sort of, you know, this notion of not losing money. Believe me, sometimes I wonder if I'm a real entrepreneur because I'm not a risk taker. I'm not one of these, you know, these people that were willing to really risk it all. I'm kind of afraid of being broke still. And I've had this feeling that a recession's coming for a long time. I look around the world, I think it's gotta come here eventually. And then I thought, well, maybe when the election changes and regulations get tighter now that Biden's in, and maybe tax rates are gonna go up on corporations, that now's the time. I'm just curious your feeling about a pending recession, the possibility of it, the timing of it, et cetera.
- [50:53]
Rod Carew
Nobody is really skilled at predicting when a recession is going to occur. You can take the best economists in the world and they will always say, well, it could happen, it might not happen, I don't really know. Then when it happens, they will bring a memo out of the file saying, see, I told you this, but they didn't really tell you that. They're very good at predicting the recession that actually occurred, not the one that's going to occur. So I think right now the biggest economic problems we all have to worry about are that Covid is getting still to be a very significant problem, and it's really weighing down the economy. But that isn't the biggest problem. The Biggest problem is, and of course vaccinations have to occur and all that. But the biggest problem with the economy is that the poorer people and the people at the bottom are going further and further down and those at the top are getting further and further wealthier. In other words, the divide is becoming greater than it's ever been. If you are self employed, you work in a food truck, you're a blue collar worker, you work with your hands, you probably are not in great shape. If you're a financial executive, if you're in the healthcare business, if you're in some business that's a technology related, you're probably doing very well. In fact, in my own business, private equity, if you didn't know we were in Covid, it almost wouldn't make a difference because we're doing things over zoom and deals are getting done, finance and so forth, exits are occurring. It's the people at the bottom that are really suffering and they're going to fall further and further behind. And that is really going to weigh down the US Economy because when you have an underclass that isn't able to get out of the underclass, it drags the whole economy down. At some point.
- [52:22]
Ed Mylett
What do you do about it? Because the world is changing and I think Covid almost in some senses sped the inevitable up by 10 years in terms of the way people do business. And so you're an owner of a whole bunch of commercial office buildings. Your world's changing now, more and more people now. The upside is we're entering a spaceless economy. Right? You can now recruit and train and develop people. And I think it's occurring to more and more people that my pool of candidates isn't within 25 minutes of my office or my home anymore. But for these folks that are at the lower or middle end of the economy, you know, in some senses we're raising the minimum wage. Well, more and more places are saying, well, if we're going to do that, I can have a machine check somebody out at the grocery store. Not a human being. So what would you say is the solution to this? If I'm someone working in these careers or if I'm leading the economy? I mean, you're very humble, but you've accumulated a fortune and you've done really well for other people as well. So what would your answer to that be?
- [53:22]
Rod Carew
You should recognize that the Industrial revolution took about 100 years to change the way we work and live. And then the Internet may be 25 years, smartphones maybe 10 years. Covid has changed everything. In one year, in one year we have gone from working in the offices or working in other places to working out of our home to being dependent on computers and so forth. So if you are a person that wants to stay alive and financially and do well, you have to be computer literate, you have to have access to high speed Internet data. You have to be prepared to retool yourself. So if you were working in a food truck and that's all your skill was, you probably have to retool yourself. And people have to go back and get education, vocational education or other kinds of way to retool themselves because it's now a situation where you could be left behind and you're never going to catch up again if you don't take advantage of the situation that you now find yourself in, which is you have some time to learn something new. You got to adapt, you got to change. And you know, I've changed what I'm doing and I assume you've changed what you're doing. I'm in my home 90% of the time now. And so I've had to learn how to work differently.
- [54:27]
Ed Mylett
Certainly the interviews are different, just not the same as being with somebody in person and feeling their energy and their spirit.
- [54:32]
Rod Carew
Absolutely. Completely different.
- [54:34]
Ed Mylett
Yeah, it's very, very different that way. With that in mind, you know, I've always had this struggle as a leader. I love people and so I get really close to people that I lead. I love them. I think one of the great qualities of a leader is that you genuinely love, care and believe in people and you're very connected to what their actual giftedness or their superpowers are. Having said that, that's hurt me sometimes where people have gotten close and hurt me or potentially we've gotten so close, I don't have that. I don't know if you call it moral authority or leverage, so to speak, as a leader. And there's these two camps. Don't get too close to people. Get as close as you can to them as a leader. Where do you stand on that?
- [55:14]
Rod Carew
Well, different leadership styles. George Washington never was close to anybody but an effective leader. I would say other people are political leaders and they are close to people and they really like people. And there are different types of political leaders. I would say you have to have a certain distance from the people that you are leading because if you're so familiar, you can't fire them. You can't really tell them correctly what they should do because you're too close. It's Personally, too difficult. On the other hand, if you're so distant from them, you don't feel what they're really feeling, and they may not want to follow you. You can't be a leader without followers, so you have to do some things that want to make people follow you. But if you're so close to them, they feel that you're one of them, they may not really want to listen to you as much as they should if you have a little distance from them.
- [55:59]
Ed Mylett
This is so interesting to me. I want to ask you a question. It's going to seem like the oddest thing, but I feel like people want to know this stuff. I have the benefit of this to some extent, but not to the extent that you do. You're in some cool rooms with some really interesting people. You know, Jamie Dimon's a guy I've been fascinated by for a long time, and he's part of the book and part of your conversations. What's it like, in other words? Is it what we would think it would be? If you're in some private conversation with Jamie Dimon or Oprah Winfrey, is it different than if you're at the coffee shop talking to a regular every day? I think most people would love to be a fly on the wall or be in some of these rooms or cocktail parties you're a part of. And I know that's not a normal question you would get in an interview, but I'm really curious as to how you would describe it. Is it as intimidating? Is it impressive? Or is it just like any other gathering you'd be at?
- [56:51]
Rod Carew
Well, if you've never been to the White House, for example, and all of a sudden you go to the White House and there are three presidents of the United States sitting in the Oval Office talking, you're probably going to be intimidated. But if you've worked in the White House or you've known these presidents, it's not quite as intimidating. Everybody that you meet, no matter how famous they might be, they have some insecurities, they have some uncertainties about what they're doing. And so I don't think it's that all in. You know, you're not that awestruck. But I have to be honest. I am now 71 years old. I've been around for a while. If I was 27 years old, as I was when I started the White House, I'd probably be more intimidated than I am today when I meet these people, because I realize these are people that put their pants on one leg At a time like most people, or men, I should say. And so I'm not as intimidated by them. But I'm sure if there are some people I would be intimidated by that I just haven't met before, and I probably might be, you know, gulping a bit if I had to go meet. I've never met the Queen of England. I haven't met the current Pope. You know, I said, if you meet these people, I suppose you want to make sure you're on your best behavior.
- [57:52]
Ed Mylett
I asked that because I get asked it. And there's been times where I've met people that impressed me to an extent that I didn't expect. But by and large, I've been struck by what you just said. People's insecurities, their humanity, and that there was some luck. But also they've got a couple unique superpowers that they've, no pun intended, sort of maxed out in their chosen career that makes them special. But one of the things I've noticed about you, I think one of your superpowers, and maybe you could teach everybody listening to this, if you're conscious of how you do it, you have a unique ability to connect with people, and you have a unique ability to connect with very successful people. And I'm wondering what that is, because not everybody, in fact, almost nobody has that to the extent that you do. The collection of people that have been around you, and I know your shows helped with that. But these people seem to really respect and admire you and have a connection with you that's respectful. They respect you. And I'm curious, at 27, all the way to 71, what were some of the skills you think you have or habits that help you connect with people? Because everybody wants to connect with a higher identity person to bring into their business, to bring into their life, to mentor them, et cetera. How have you done that? And don't be humble, really, tell me.
- [59:04]
Rod Carew
Well, I try to work hard so I know what I'm doing. I'm generally prepared. My former partner, Jim Baker, said that the key lesson in life is prior preparation prevents poor performance. So be prepared. I try to be prepared. Try to be well read, try not to say something that's going to embarrass me or somebody else. Try to be friendly with people and try to respect what they've done. But also people like to talk about themselves in terms of their youth and their childhood and their parents and so forth. And so I try to engage in that part of the conversation and. And kind of loosen people up a little bit so that they feel, you know, it's not just a business related kind of interview. I also try to use humor a bit. I think typically self deprecating humor is more effective. You know, if you make humor or make jokes about other people, it's not as effective. But I try to intersperse humor for a while to break up the interviews a little bit. And I am generally knowledgeable about the people because I've met them before. It's hard to do an interview if you've never met somebody before and make it the same as if you met them many years ago.
- [60:07]
Ed Mylett
I got to say two things about that and then I've got one more question for you. I just want to acknowledge something that you said because for me, when I know I'm in the presence of a confident person, and you've said this twice, one very big telltale sign is they're self deprecating. It's immediate. When I see someone sort of poke fun at themselves, I think, well, behind that is some sense of confidence and accomplishment. And it's just a very endearing thing. And so it's a huge thing. I'll let you comment on that. Then the second thing is people's favorite topic is themselves, everybody. One of my favorite things is after a round of golf, if I played golf with somebody and they'll find a mutual friend of mine and say, well, I really like Ed. And then they'll say, what does he do? Because I spent the entire four and a half hours talking about what they do and their life and their experience and we'll get around to me eventually. So do you agree those are two just very significant things?
- [60:57]
Rod Carew
Well, the most commonly used word in the English language is I because people's favorite subject is themselves. So if you can engage in people and listen to them and not talk only about yourself, they will be more engaged and they're happy to talk about themselves. So that's no doubt a factor. Also, I would say when I was younger, working in the White House or so forth, I didn't have the confidence I do now. If you've gone out and made a fair amount of money in the business world, you have a lot of positions that people respect. You have more self confidence. So I have much more confidence than I did 30, 40 years ago. If I was doing interviewing 34 years ago, I would probably been fired after the first interview because I didn't have the confidence I do that I did have now. So it takes a while.
- [61:44]
Ed Mylett
I told you one question, but I want advice as the last one, but one of these people, you said it in the beginning, but what in the world does Jack Nicklaus have in common with Bill Gates that has in common with Oprah Winfrey, that they share with Richard Branson? In other words, as I look at all these people, some of them have big visions, but not all of them. Some of them, I think, have really high IQs, but not all of them. So what are the similarities, I guess, is the question, between these people that seem to me to be so different in terms of personality and even their outlook on life.
- [62:19]
Rod Carew
In the end, if I had to summarize anything, it's that people who become leaders and different ones you mentioned are examples of it. They had a vision of what they wanted to do. They wanted to be a great golfer, they wanted to build a great company, they wanted to become a well known television person. And they pursued it even though people told them they probably wouldn't be successful. So persistence, persistence, persistence. Not arrogance, but persistence. It pays off. You don't have to be the highest IQ in the world to be successful. In fact, I don't like to hire geniuses because they're impossible to manage. You want to hire people that are reasonably intelligent, but people who work harder or better than people who are geniuses.
- [62:54]
Ed Mylett
So true. All right, last question. By the way, I've enjoyed today so much. Everybody, here's the deal. Just go get David's book. I'm just going to tell you, there's no collection like it anywhere. I've named so many of the people. But then there's. There's a whole bunch of others in there too, that just, It's. It's just you've had an amazing life and I think you've had one of the most interesting and fascinating lives of anybody that I've ever met before. And you're in the middle of it, so it probably doesn't occur to you just how spectacular it's been.
- [63:21]
Rod Carew
Well, the next book I'm going to interview you. That'll be in my next book. Okay? How about that?
- [63:26]
Ed Mylett
I would love that. And we'll sell five copies. But I know my mom would love to read it, David, and so we can at least get that. I'm in the middle of writing one right now. I'll talk you into having me on your show when it comes out.
- [63:38]
Rod Carew
Well, that's the point that I would like to conclude with before you ask your final question. You mentioned your mother, right?
- [63:45]
Ed Mylett
Yes.
- [63:45]
Rod Carew
So one of the most important things I think is for People that are successful to honor their parents for having helped them get there. And very often people forget that. And so I like to remind people it's very difficult or harder to honor your parents when they're not around. Bear Bryant was an Alabama football coach, and he did a famous AT&T commercial on Mother's Day, saying, please call your mother today. I can't. My mother's passed away. So try to do something to honor your parents while they're alive, and they can take pride in what you achieve. I assume you've done that. I try to do it. I should have done more.
- [64:20]
Ed Mylett
I should have as well. My dad passed away just a few weeks ago, and I think I did that when he was here. But even if you've lost somebody, one of the things that's amazing, to use the word honor, because I said this last week on the show, David, I said one of the things. I just have a deeper commitment to honor my dad with the rest of the life that I live. And it just kind of gives you a true north. It gives you a compass. It gives you some inspiration that maybe you otherwise wouldn't have without doing that. So thank you for that. I'm really glad you said that.
- [64:46]
Rod Carew
And I made a mistake with my father, I should say. He was proud of what I'd done. He was a simple blue collar worker, very proud. But I didn't really do anything to honor him in a way other than just doing what I did. When he passed away, I redid the Iwo Jima Memorial. He had been a Marine, and in his honor, I kind of made the Iwo Ji Memorial, which is an honor of Marines, better than had been. And I wish I had done that while he was alive.
- [65:12]
Ed Mylett
Wow. Well, that's quite an honor. After he had passed away. I'm really glad you said that. I've been reflecting on that, too. Did I call my dad enough? Did I see him enough? Did I tell him I loved him enough? You know, Yeah, I should have done more, you know, and anybody who's got living parents, I'm really glad he said. It's a beautiful thing to say because the most important role as a leader is in our own families. That's what really matters. That's one of the things I loved about my father, is he understood that far better than I have.
- [65:39]
Rod Carew
Right. And then when my mother did pass away a few years ago as well, I went through all of her materials and she had scrapbooks, not of my business successes or anything, but of the money that I'd Given away. And she always told me that she was more proud of my giving away the money than making the money. And that was reflected in the scrapbook she kept. She kept no scrapbooks about my business or anything, just my philanthropy. So that made me feel that I'd done something that she was happy about.
- [66:06]
Ed Mylett
That's beautiful. That's wonderful. And my mom and dad would be the same way. Here's what's interesting. I'll bet the vast majority of people driving right now on the treadmill or watching this on YouTube are nodding, thinking that's what would make my mom and dad proud. And so if that's the case, then start to do those things, start to take it more seriously. Because, you know, David's lost his parents, I just lost mine. And these times aren't given or promised. And honor your children, honor your spouse, make that part of who you are. And so I gotta tell you, the more you read about David, you know, you're gonna realize what I've told you is true. He's lived this just remarkable life and he's talked about his parents. I'll be candid with you, David. When I've watched you on television, just because of your presence and the way you talk, I thought, this dude's a blue blood. I just figured this guy just has been around this. I wonder who his dad was, you know, because you just, you just know everybody. You've accomplished so much. You've accumulated this tremendous net worth and the influence you've had, the difference you've made. I just sort of figured this guy grew up connected. And then when I read about your upbringing, I fell in love with you. I'm like, this man's remarkable. So, hey, guys. You may notice I've been standing a lot more during the podcast. And one of the reasons that I'm doing that, thank God, is uplift desks. I've got one right here with me right now. You know, your daily work routine can really make you fatigued, and that's because you're sitting the whole time. With an uplift desk, you can stand more often. Also, you're going to bring better energy to the work you have when you're standing rather than sitting all the time. And I didn't realize how much sitting all day was hurting my back and just dragging my energy down, dragging me down physically and mentally. So great work starts with a great workplace. Your workday does not have to make you feel all worn out. Just go to uplift desk.com ed and use our code ED to get your free accessories, free same day shipping, free returns and an industry leading 15 year warranty that covers your entire desk plus an extra discount off your entire order. That's uplift desk.com that's up L I F T-S-K.com ed for this exclusive offer. It's only available through our link the man who shaped US Monetary policy just released a bombshell book called Our Dollar your. In it, former IMF Chief economist Kenneth Raghav warns the US dollar's dominance is under attack and if the US dollar falls, your savings could be at risk. That's why Advantage Gold is giving away a free copy of Ragoff's book to anyone who schedules a one on one precious metals appointment. Text WIN to 85545. You'll discover why gold is becoming the number one hedge against a global currency ship and how to move your IRA or 401k into physical gold tax and penalty free and how to get up to $10,000 in free gold and silver with a qualifying account. Get your free copy today while supplies last. Text win to 85545 that's win 85545 or go to advantagegold.com that's advantagegold.com data and message rate supply performance may vary. You should always consult your financial and tax professional. Very short intermission here folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. 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. Today we're going to cut through all of the BS and get to two of the most fundamental things that I think you have to have in order to go achieve at the highest levels. You know, we talk oftentimes about strategies and tactics and mindset and there's a million different things that, you know, we could talk about that contribute to winning in life. But at the highest levels, if you were to distill it down to two very simple things that I would wish for you that I see in the people I coach. Like if I'm going to recruit somebody into my business, what are the things I look for in them? Is it background? Is it intellect? Is it people skills? Is it their ability to close? There's all these things, the things that I look for in people are hunger, focus. It's their ability to be super hungry for what they want incredibly after it, and the ability to be laser focused. And I want you today to evaluate those two things in you. Let's start with hunger level. I Mean, how bad do you want your goal right now? I think there's a lot of people in the world today because it's really niche thing to talk about. I want this, this is my outcome, this is my goal. Like, how bad do you want? Do you want as bad as breathing? Do you want it as bad as anything you ever wanted in your life? And if you calibrate it at the highest enough levels, what I found is the people that are the hungriest, they find a way when you know why you want something, when it's desperation, the power of being desperate is something that most people avoid. They think desperation is a weakness. And I'm here to tell you desperation is one of the most powerful emotions you could possibly possess. Because when you're desperate, you find reserve and reservoirs of ideas, talents and a strength that you don't know you have when you find yourself in a desperate situation. So ironically, the one thing most people avoid in their life, hunger, which is caused by being desperate. When you're starving, you become desperate. Think of somebody who's starving on the street. They've got to. How resourceful would you get if your children were literally starving and you had to feed them? Right? So the number one thing we need more than anything to win is hunger, which comes from a state of desperation. Yet we're constantly trying to comfort ourselves in the real world to avoid the state of being desperate. And I'm telling you that I think you need to embrace desperation again in your life. Like, do you want it so bad that you're desperate for it? Let me give you an example. I can tell you that I think the times that you've achieved in the, the highest levels in your life, you might have been the most desperate. If you were sitting here and you're in a meeting right now and someone tapped you on the shoulder, God forbid this ever happened. They said your child's been in an accident and they've been rushed to the hospital and it's grave. Instantly you'd be desperate to get to your child, wouldn't you? Those of you that don't have children, if it was your parents, you'd be instantly desperate to get to them. And think about what happens when that desperation kicks in. All of the things we worry about, all of our fears, all of our concerns, all of the lack of resources we have immediately fade away because we must get to this child of ours, this loved one of ours. So if you were in the middle of a conference and they said, here's another, your child has been in A serious accident. It's grave. You need to get to them. Would you sit there and think for a minute? Well, I don't want to get up right now in the middle of their speech because what will everybody think about me? I mean, I don't want to make waves here. That would go away, wouldn't you? Get right the hell up and run out of the room. If when you got to the back of the room, there was a security guard that said, hold on a minute. Stop. Nobody leaves this room. A very important person's up there speaking right now. Would you go? You're right. Sorry. I don't want to violate protocol. I don't want to go. I don't want to color outside the lines here. You're right. I'll go back to my seat. Would you do that? Of course not. Because you're desperate, whatever is required of you, to get to this child, this loved one of yours, you would do. And when you went out to the parking lot and you got into your car and you realized, my gosh, I forgot my keys. I left them in the room, would you go? Well, it's just a sign. I mean, maybe I just don't have what it takes to get to my child. That silly, stupid story. You wouldn't do that at all, would you? You'd immediately respond, you get back up, you'd run in the room, you'd knock the security guard down, you'd go back, you get your keys, you'd run back out. When you turn the car on, it didn't start. The battery was dead. Would you go? Yeah, that's just another sign. You know, maybe I'm just not cut out to get to my destination, to get to my child, to get to this loved one of mine. No, because you're desperate to get there, aren't you? So you'd throw the keys away and you'd run. If you had to go to the next stoplight and carjack a car, you'd say, listen, drive me to the hospital. I have to get to my child. And the person said, no. Which would you stop at? The first objection. Would you say, well, yeah, I don't know exactly what words you say. No, you don't understand. You're taking me there. And if they hesitate, if you had to carjack the car, you'd carjack it, wouldn't you? When you got there. And when you got to the hospital, if they tried to stop you again and said, no, no, no, you got to sign in and fill out all this paperwork. You got to do it perfect. You say, no, that's my child. I've got to get to them. Wouldn't you? Whatever it took, you'd get to that loved one of yours. Nothing would stop you. All of the silly things that happen that we let slow us down is related to our lack of hunger and desperation. And so I'm here to ask you, how desperate are you for what you want? Like, here's what I think. I think most people would just like their goals, they'd like their outcome, but they're not hungry for them. They're not starving for it, they're not desperate for it. But when you start to feel that desperation, it's one of the most powerful emotions in the world because you become so resourceful, you become so determined, and all the noise goes away. See, all of these objections, all of these fears, all of these old stories you tell yourself, all the excuses that you're making, and I love you, so I'm saying this to you, are all going back to a lack of real hunger, real desire, real desperation. Because real desperation is beautiful. The most alive you'll ever feel, ironically, is when you're the most desperate. You talk to people who are the closest to death in an accident, and they'll tell you, ironically, it was the most alive I've ever felt. Because you're so desperate to survive, you're so desperate to get through it. Yet in life, we try to avoid this all the time. And I'm here to tell you, embrace the desperation. Seek the desperation. So if you ask me, what do I look for in someone I'm coaching, in an athlete, in a business person, show me somebody hungry. I'll take hunger and desire over iq, over knowledge over skills, every day of the week. Because I can teach you skills, I can teach you the lessons, I can teach you the words, but I can't give you heart, I can't give you hunger, I can't give you desire, I can't give you the courage to be desperate. Because desperate, desperate people look a little funny. Desperate people don't fit in. Desperate people stand out. You see someone desperate, you're like, whoa, what's going on with them? Desperate people get criticism. And most people would rather not stand out. They'd rather not leave the crowd. They'd rather not take the criticism, they'd rather not take the heat. So most people say, I'd love to be a millionaire. I'd love to win. I'd love my dream relationship, I'd love the best body I could have. I'd love to be happier. But I don't want to look bad doing it. I don't want to seem desperate. I don't want to seem different. I don't want to step out of the crowd. And as long as you're one of those people who won't step out, who won't look a little bit funny, who worries more about what other people think about them than truly winning, you're always going to be held back. The number one thing I want is hunger and desperation, man. Every single time. So evaluate that right now. Listening to this audio or watching this video. What's your level of real hunger? What's your level of real desperation? How bad do you really want it? Or would you just like it? Do you need it like you need to breathe? Do you need it like you need to eat? Do you need it like you need to exist? Or do you just kind of want it? Because you show me two people. You show me one person who's desperate and hungry. You show me another one who'd like it or wants it. You show me one person who's willing to look bad and get uncomfortable and color outside the lines and do whatever they got to do to get to their destination, to get to their child, to get to their dream. And you show me another one who won't. I'll take this person every day of the week. Maybe they don't come from the perfect background. Maybe they don't have all the perfect words. Maybe they don't have all the right relationships. But they got the goodies, man. They got the one thing you got to have to win, which is hunger and desire and some heart. And I know you've heard these things before, but now I want you to be self aware, really. How hungry are you? What are you doing to feed your hunger? What are you doing to feed the fact that you feel like you're starving? Because the more you want something, the lack of it makes you more and more hungry. For example, if I were really hungry and I needed some food, it's one thing to want, it's another thing when that food's right in front of me and I'm not allowed to eat it, I become hungrier. So the closer you bring what you want to you increases its hunger level. The more repetitious it is. The more you think about it, the more you bring it into your thoughts over and over and over again, the hungrier you get. That's why repetitive thought about what you want is so critical. So evaluate that. Am I as hungry as I could be? Am I as starving as I could be? Do I want it so bad I'm desperate for it? Do I want it like that person who has to get to their child or their loved one? Or would I just like it? Would I hope for it? Because as long as you're one of those people, see, in a fight, you show me two people. This is why it's so hard to repeat as a champion in the fighting game. Because you show me someone who's up and coming, who's hungry for that title, who's never had it before, who can taste it, who knows if they win that belt, their whole life's going to change. They're going to be champion of the world. All the endorsements, all the money, all their family life, all their parents lives are going to change. You show me somebody chasing that, hungry for it against someone who's just trying to hold on to a title. And that's why most of the time the challenger beats the champ. It's hard to repeat as a champion because the hunger goes down just a little bit. The greatest athletes, the Kobe's, the Brady's, the Jordans of sports, have a way of feeding their hunger all the time, time and increasing it. What separates them isn't just their work ethic, isn't just their talent. Although those things matter, isn't just they practice more. What separates them is they're just hungrier. They somehow find a way as they climb up the ranks and win championship to get even hungrier for more. Where 99% of the athletes lose just a little bit of their edge. Once they get that first championship, that first pro contract, that first big amount of money, that first world championship, they just lose their hunger a little bit. And then there's the elite. They get hungrier. It feeds the beast. For some of you, have you been hungrier in the past? Let's be honest, in the past, were you hungrier for that first promotion? Hungrier for that first goal, Hungrier for the first house, hungrier for the first relationship, Hungrier for the first time you got fit. And if you lost a little of that hunger, where you're just not to going quite as desperate as you used to be. And so it's feeding your desperation. And the way we do that is we feed it to ourselves over and over again because it becomes something we must have. We have to have it. Like we got to eat, like we got to breathe. Feed the hunger, feed the desperation. Embrace it. Don't try to look so pretty. Because this desperate state eliminates all the Things that hold you back, your fears, your worries, what you don't know what the opposite obstacles are, signs, haters, lack of information, lack of blah, blah, blah. It all goes away when you're hungry. The second thing is focus. Can you get laser focused? Human beings can get incredibly great at anything. They put their minds to total immersion in any topic. Most human beings can become great if they give themselves enough time. The truth is, most people overestimate what they can do in a month or a year. Year. And they dramatically underestimate what they can do in five years or 10 years. If you get total immersion in a business, total immersion in your body, total immersion in your faith, you totally get laser obsessed focused at something. It's incredible how great human beings are at adapting and becoming great at it. Many, many years ago, I knew nothing about communicating on camera or starting a podcast. I'll tell you a funny story. When my podcast started, I was encouraged to do it by Tony Robbins. And when my podcast started, he said, hey, you got to order. People say, now you're listening to the number one business podcast in the world that didn't even exist two years ago. Okay? I knew nothing about podcasting, nothing about how this worked. I did not even know what a podcast was. I want you to understand something. When I was first told to have a podcast, I did not know what one was. And so he says, you got to have one of these. I said, what are they? You know, where do you get the microphones? Where do you get the stuff you talk to? Before I had this stuff on camera. This is a true story. He goes, I don't know. Figure it out. My team did it all for me. I'm like, okay, so I Google how to start a podcast. This is how I began what you're listening to right now. Number one in the world right now. Fastest growing show on Earth. I Google how to start a podcast. And Tim Ferriss, who had a successful podcast, had done a podcast on how to start a podcast. And so I listened to his podcast. At the end of it, there was notes, and he said, if you click on this link, it takes you to Amazon. There's a kit there with the microphones and the recording device and all the stuff you do to start a podcast. I thought, okay, so this started by me Googling how to start a podcast. Tim Ferriss at a kit. I listened to the show, I bought the kit, I got back and I said, tony, I said, so now what? What do I do? He goes, I don't know. Set the mics up and just start talking about something. And I'm like, all right. So I do like a 30 minute audio. I set the mics up, I got all the equipment Tim Ferriss said, you should have, and I'm done. And I call him back and I said, hey, brother, I did the podcast. How do I get what I said out of the machine? And he goes, I don't know. Well, you got. It's on the chip. Take the chip. Now. Here's how stupid I am. I'm like, chips? I don't. There's no chips. He goes, yeah, there's a chip you put in the machine. I go, no one said anything about chips, man. I don't. You know what, do you eat these? Like, no, dummy, there's a chip, like a micro something or other. He didn't know either. You put it in the machine. And I go, shit. I didn't. I don't think I have one of those. So I look and there's no chip. So I literally talked for 30 minutes into a microphone that never even recorded anything. So then I go get the chip, I put the chip in the machine, I do the 30 minutes again, and then I call, okay, it's on the chip. How do you get the chip into the universe where people hear what you're saying, right? Like, how do you know this big? He goes, I don't know. You think you stick it in your computer? So I'm on the phone, I stick the chip in my computer. This is the number one show in the world now. I stick the chip in the computer. I go, it's in the computer. What button do I hit so people in the world can hear it out of my computer? I'm not kidding you. He goes, I have no idea, man. I don't know how this stuff works. So finally I figure out, oh, you got to download the chip onto your computer. And then it goes to a thing called Libsyn. And I knew none of this stuff. The first podcast I did never got recorded. I Googled how to do it. The chip sat in my computer for two months because I couldn't figure out how to get it out of my computer into the Internet. Okay? That's how my podcast started. But I become laser focused about podcasting. I'm like, oh, then people said, you should record it and put it on YouTube as well. So I've learned, where do you get the cameras? How do they do it? How do they post it on YouTube? What do you type? I knew none of this stuff. My first Instagram video Literally, true story. I do a 30 minute video. My son's kind of the guru. I do the one minute story. Rather I posted. I got three views the next day. And one like. And I call up. This is what I hear. I call up Tony and I go, hey, no one listened to my Instagram video. He goes, well, you posted it at one o', clock, man. You need to post around breakfast time. This is what I hear him say. I don't know anything about this stuff. True story. Swear to you. He goes, you got a post around breakfast time and dummy, you got no hash browns in your post. And I'm like trying to not pretend I don't know anything. So I'm going, why do you. I got a post at breakfast time and why does there need to be hash browns? This makes no sense to me. So now I'm mad. But I pretend to know what he's saying and I call my son. I say, hey, you said you knew about this stuff. You're 15 years old old. You're Internet savvy. Don't you know all the videos have to be posted at breakfast times and you got to have hash browns in the video. My son's like, dad, why would it matter what food is in your video? I don't know. But he's telling me it has to be breakfast time with hash browns. We went the whole day, my first post, lamenting the fact that I had no hash browns in my video. Turns out he was saying hash tags, but I didn't even know what a hashtag was two years ago. And so finally we figured out the hashtags, how to post, how to do a podcast. And it leads us to where you and I are here today. That's because I've been focused and obsessed in this field now for the better part of a year and a half to two years. So not only did I figure out how to get into the Internet, not that I figure out it doesn't matter what breakfast foods are in my posts, that it was hashtags. Not only did I understand how what chips were, you don't even know what kind of chips. I think he was talking after the hash browns. You don't even want to know. But suffice it to say, I figured out what type of chips a year and a half later for my podcast now. And I like him to do more downloads than Tim Ferriss does after. And he does a great podcast. But after learning about his kit and Googling how to do it, to think that it's come this far Is mind blowing because she. Human beings that get obsessed and immersed in any topic can become great at it and so can you. So pick what you want and get laser focused. Begin to eliminate all the distractions. You are not hungry enough, you are not starving enough, and you are not focused enough. I say this to you as a friend. What are the things that are stealing your focus? Who are the people that are stealing your focus? And begin to eliminate these distractions. Get laser focused and obsessed on what you you want. Be starving and hungry to get it. Be desperate to get it. The combination of desperation and hunger with laser focus over an extended period of time is the formula to be great at something. And you can apply this formula. Get laser focused. Eliminate distractions. Eliminate the things that steal your laser focused on it, your research on it, your obsession on it. It. Begin to do these things and you will begin to change your entire life. Yes. I want your mindset better. Yeah. I want your identity higher. No question. It's important to have great associations in your life. But dad got it. You've got to get hungry and you've got to get focused. And I know these sound like basic things, but go to any area of your life. You want something right now. Pick the number one thing you want to change. Body, money, business, relationship, faith. I don't care what it is, but pick it right now. One to ten. How hungry are you? How desperate are you? One to ten. The most desperate and hungry you could be. Rank yourself. Number two. How laser crazy obsessed focused are you on what it is you want? 1 to 10. 10. Being hyper psycho crazy obsessed focused. Nothing's in your way. And to the extent you can increase your desperation and hope, hunger and your obsessive focus will be to the extent that you can flourish. Because when those things convene and converge, all of a sudden, the collaborations, the people, the circumstances, the breakthroughs, the insights necessary begin to reveal themselves to you. And not only that, reveal themselves to you with momentum and speed at which you cannot believe. You can wake up a year and a half later, be number one in the world at something that you didn't even know existed before. I'm a testimony to that. And you can be as well. Your success is going to be predicated more than anything on your hunger and desperation level and your ability to get laser focus and eliminate the distractions in your life. This is what makes us great. I think of athletes that I know. I've watched them get obsessed and hungry early in their careers and as they make a little bit of money, they Start, you know, they're a rapper now, now they're an actor, now they're a producer, now they're a business person. And their basketball or football or baseball or boxing or UFC career begins to suffer as their focus gets diminished, as their obsession gets diminished, as their immersion gets diminished. The great ones never lose that. They never lose the hunger. They only increase it over time. I always try to lay out for you what the solutions are. And then I like to give you a plan. I want to give you a four step plan to both increase your hunger and increase your focus at the same time. So the first step is always to evaluate where you are currently. So give yourself an evaluation as I've asked you, 1 to 10, how would you rank your hunger and desire level? Are you all the way desperate? Are you the most desperate you possibly could be? Because again, I promise you, this is a healthy form of desperation. Okay, so 1 to 10, evaluate where you are and then also give yourself an evaluation of where you are in your laser. Obsessive, focused. 1. Being completely unfocused, distracted, constantly even forgetting what our goals are. Five is we're on it from time to time. We keep some notes, we evaluate. 10 is just obsessed, crazy. Nothing else matters. Focused. If you're not at least at a level 8 or 9, you're not optimizing your effectiveness level, both of those areas. Number two, you must become more intentional to change those things. So it's just starting out. Everything in life comes from intention. You must intend to increase these things. So I want you to become incredibly intentional at feeding your hunger level, bringing the goal closer to you. Repeating it over and over makes you starving for it. And the more you can increase that state, the more you stay focused. Ironically, there's a connection between hunger and desperation and focus. They're related, so be intentional about them. The story I gave you about if, God forbid, a loved one or a child of yours was in an accident. Can you imagine how focused you immediately become when something becomes that important to you, that desperate to you? What happens is everything else, all the distractions of what other people think about us, any other circumstances, what we don't know, what we don't have, anything scarce to us goes away because we're so desperate. It increases our focus. If you think about anything you've had that becomes desperate to you. If there was a burglar in your home, for example, and you were desperate, think about the millions of things you're no longer thinking about and how focused you are in on that one thing. We've all had that time when we're laying in bed at night and we think we hear a noise, right? You become so focused. You hear every little creak in the ceiling, don't you? Every little movement of the floor. You hear your sheets move. Oh my gosh, there it is again. You become hyper aware and hyper focused when you increase desperation. So become intentional is step two. Third, what is your plan? What is your strategy to increase your hunger level and to increase your focus level? So part of that plan might be I need to be around people more immediately who can hold me accountable and repeat back to me what I've told them. My outcomes are. I need to put myself in situations where I'm accountable, where I'm a part of a group, where I have to report my results to them. Perhaps it's going public. If it's your body and going public with this is my intention, the next 30 days, this is what I'm going to do. Putting additional pressure on yourself. Perhaps it's shrinking the time frame down. The sooner we must do something, the more desperate it becomes. In other words, if something has to be done within 10 years, how desperate is that? But if it has to become sooner and sooner and sooner, or even if there just has to be a real date put on, it gives us some desperation knowing that date is coming sometime soon. So what is your plan and strategy to increase your desperation, increase your hunger level and then focus. What's your plan to increase focus? Oftentimes that could be a plan to eliminate distractions. What's your strategy to eliminate distractions? Might be I watch too much television at night and it distracts me from my goal. Perhaps you should remove that television from the room. That's a plan and a strategy to eliminate the distraction. Perhaps it's you're being on the Internet too long or playing video games. Maybe you need to eliminate them. Perhaps in your nutrition, you're trying to get fit. The distraction are snacks that you have in your home or alcohol. Maybe they need to be removed from your home. What is your strategy and plan to eliminate distractions and increase focus? Because without the evaluation, without the intention, and without the plan and strategy, an actual plan to increase desperation. An actual plan and strategy. Get creative, get resourceful. It's only with a plan that you can begin to make changes and a strategy. Otherwise it's just a thought. And then fourth, what immediate massive action are you going to take right now? I'm talking about right when this audio or video ends. What's the immediate first massive action? You're going to take towards that plan the first step, the first, it's unplug the tv, it's remove the video game, it's throw out the junk food, it's remove a certain person from your life. I don't know what it is, but what is the immediate massive action? Because if we can evaluate where we are and get very clear, because we can't know where we're going if we're not very clear about where we are. In other words, if life is like a GPS and we want to get to a particular destination, the only way we can get clear on getting there is to understand and evaluate and be specific about where we currently are. That way we can build the directions. There's no sense of direction, not just with where you're going, where are you, you must know both places, evaluate what you want and be very honest and evaluate what where you are. Now the directions can be drawn out. So we must evaluate number one. Number two, we must make it our intention to do so. We must get intentional, get specific. There's a power to intention, there's a power to pointing our mind, which is a weapon at these issues. Third is our strategy. What is the exact plan we're going to take? Without a strategy, you have no shot. You must have a strategy. The, the strategy doesn't have to be perfect. The strategy can evolve. But there must be a game plan. There must be something you're doing immediately to start towards this journey. It tells our mind we're making progress. It sends a message of, I'm serious about this. And then fourth, you must take immediate massive action. Knowledge is not power unless it's applied and you haven't really made a decision and changed anything until you've taken an action. And if we delay the action to later, we can have all the evaluation, all the intention, and a great game plan. No action, no momentum, no progress. So what's the one step, the one action that you're going to take immediately towards increasing your focus and increasing your desperation level? What is the immediate action? Once you have those four things, we now have a recipe to change. And so today's message to you was to wake you up as a friend, as your brother, is to say, listen, if we're going to get this done, if you're going to make things great happen, you got to get very clear on what you want. Very clear. But we have got to get starving, we've got to get desperate, we've got to get hungry to perform at the elite level and for some of you who are already performing pretty high. The reason these next goals are coming more and more slowly, the reason that progress is slower the higher you climb, is because you're less hungry, you're less desperate, and you've got more distractions. Some of you that are starting out in the very beginning of your journey towards chasing goals, I'm giving you the recipe. You must increase the hunger level, the desperation level, and you must get more focused. But for some of you have already achieved that are listening to this, I'm telling you, I understand it, I relate to it. You're like that champion who's trying to repeat. And although you're not satisfied with where you are and you have big goals and ambitions, you must get honest. Am I as starving and as desperate as I was in the very beginning of my career, in the very beginning of my business, in the very beginning of my journey, in my faith, the very beginning in the journey of my fitness, whatever it is? Because I can promise you, if we drew a line back to where you made the most progress, you were the most desperate. And the goals start coming slower, don't they, as we become less and less desperate, You've got to feed that. And then the other thing is, there was a time in your life if you were achieving at a high level, whether it was getting your master's degree or graduating college or passing an exam for your business or getting to your first big promotion, I can promise you, if I went back and looked at you, you were laser focused and all the distractions went away. This is the same formula and the same recipe. Success leaves clues. This is the Ed Milan show.