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Everything I Learned From Being Around The Top 0.1% — Transcript

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0:00Most people think the top 0.1% got there
0:03by overworking everyone else. More
0:05hours, less sleep, relentless grind. I
0:07used to think that, too, until I
0:09actually got into these rooms. Over the
0:12last 20 years, I've sat face-to-face
0:13[music] for hours with many people that
0:16you only read about in headlines. From
0:18Elon Musk inside a rocket [music]
0:20factory to Richard Branson's private
0:22island, Tony Robbins in Fiji, Arianna
0:25Huffington, the Dalai Lama, Bill Gates
0:27in his home in Washington. And what I
0:29found across every single conversation
0:33is that they think in uniquely different
0:35ways. Their operating system [music] is
0:38different from what school often tells
0:40us to pay attention to.
0:42But it often comes down to these nine
0:45things. Nine principles that have
0:47nothing to do with hustle. In fact, the
0:50real secret runs almost directly against
0:53[music] it. So, these nine principles
0:54aren't taught anywhere. Not in school,
0:57not in any business book, not in any
0:58podcast. And once you see them, you
1:01cannot forget them.
1:06In 2013, I asked Elon Musk what I
1:08thought was the dumbest question of my
1:11life. I said, "Elon,
1:13if we could put you in a blender and
1:14essentially blend you down to your core
1:17essence of the Elon, what would that
1:19be?" Elon laughed at the absurdity
1:21question. And then he gets quiet and he
1:23tells me this. He said, "The core
1:27essence of Elon is this. I can take a
1:30lot of pain." He went on to share this
1:33quote, "Entrepreneurship is like
1:36crawling into a dark abyss and chewing
1:39glass."
1:40And he said with his usual Elon
1:42chuckling, "That's what I felt a lot of
1:44my life, but I could push through that
1:47pain." Now, he shared some stories. In
1:50that same conversation, he said there
1:52was a time when he was young and he
1:54really wanted a job. He read about the
1:56company Netflix. So, he walked into
1:58their office with a resume thinking,
2:00back then he said he was young and
2:02stupid, thinking that that was how you
2:04get a job. You just stay in the office
2:06in the reception room. He waited and
2:09waited and waited. No one came to greet
2:12him. No one came to ask him for an
2:15interview. He sat there with his resume,
2:17a young Elon. And when no one came, he
2:20said, "Screw it. I'll just start my own
2:23company." That started him on his
2:25journey that's about to make him, with
2:27the SpaceX IPO, the world's first
2:29trillionaire. But as he went through
2:31that journey, there was unbelievable
2:33pain. And I got to hear much of this
2:35pain
2:36directly because I produced a program
2:40with Elon's mother, Maye Musk. The first
2:42principle is this,
2:44you need to have high pain tolerance.
2:48Many people back away from pain. Many
2:50people shrink in pain. Now, pain
2:52tolerance doesn't mean that you push
2:53yourself till you collapse. It means
2:56that you are devoted to what it takes to
2:59help you grow.
3:01I do not believe in going through pain
3:03to build a business because I'm not
3:05going to sacrifice my health or my
3:06relationships for money. I want money,
3:10but I value my relationships and I
3:12absolutely value my health. But what I
3:14learned from Elon helps me when it comes
3:18to those days when I have to put in a
3:2012-hour day. When those days when I have
3:23to go to the gym and I'm determined to
3:25push my body to the point where I can
3:28barely walk out of that gym.
3:31That is pain that makes you stronger.
3:34And when you can learn to tolerate that
3:36pain, you develop an unbelievable
3:38resilience in life. Most people shrink
3:41away from pain. The greatest, they push
3:45through pain. A great gym instructor
3:48told me, "Every time you are pushing
3:52on a weight, and you feel that pain,
3:54ordinary people give up.
3:56But, the people who really build muscle,
3:59they push through the pain, and you can
4:01tolerate pain in life, in business,
4:03that's when you rise up to the next
4:06level of whatever game you're playing.
4:08Okay, so some of you might be wondering,
4:10great vision, how do I apply this in my
4:12life? Well, I gave you the gym example,
4:14that's one. But, the second example, I'm
4:16going to bring up Elon again. So, Elon
4:18was interviewed on the Neil deGrasse
4:19Tyson podcast, and Neil asked Elon, "How
4:22did you get so courageous, willing to
4:23take all of these bets?" When Elon sold
4:26PayPal, he got 200 million. Rather than
4:28buy a yacht or retire to an island, he
4:30decided to put all of that money on two
4:32risky bets, SpaceX and Tesla. Well,
4:35Elon's response to Neil deGrasse Tyson
4:37was this, Elon said, "When I was a kid,
4:39I decided to try an experiment. The
4:41experiment was, could I live on $1 a
4:43day?" And he found that he could. He
4:45could shower at the YMCA, he could sleep
4:48on the floor of his office, he could
4:49survive on ramen noodles that he bought
4:52from the cheapest grocery store he could
4:54find.
4:55Elon said, "When I found that I could
4:56survive on $1 a day, I realized I'm
5:00safe. I'm good." And he said, "That gave
5:02me the courage to really push through."
5:05What challenge can you give yourself?
5:08Whether it's training for a marathon,
5:10whether it's pushing through that final
5:12rep in the gym, whether it's attempting
5:14to survive on a low budget to train
5:17yourself to understand just how much you
5:20can go.
5:21The beauty about these challenges are,
5:23you always inevitably find that you are
5:25way stronger than you think. When you
5:27can push through the pain,
5:29you often come out on the other side
5:32much stronger than before. Now,
5:34principle number two, and I learned this
5:36from both Elon and Naveen Jain. I'll
5:40talk about Naveen in a moment, but I
5:42want to continue with this Elon story.
5:43That day in 2013 at the SpaceX
5:45headquarters in California, in
5:47Hawthorne, Elon continued sharing with
5:50us some of his insights. SpaceX was
5:53still a young company, as was Tesla.
5:55Remember, this was 13 years ago. But he
5:58said something. One of the people in our
6:00group asked him, "Elon, why are you even
6:02doing this? This is crazy risky."
6:05And this is how he explained it to us.
6:07He said, "Listen,
6:08if humankind doesn't back itself up on a
6:12different planet, one asteroid strike to
6:15Earth could wipe us all out." And that's
6:18why he says, just like you need to back
6:19up your hard drive in the cloud, we need
6:21to be able to back humankind up on a
6:23different planet. He then put up a
6:26picture of Mars, and he spoke about
6:28Mars, and he spoke about his vision. He
6:31said, "10 years out to transport
6:34millions of people to establish a colony
6:37on Mars." Now, 10 years out would have
6:39been 2023. Elon would have missed that
6:43timeline.
6:44But he was honest about that. That day
6:46in 2013, he says, "And I know I'm
6:47optimistic,
6:49and I know I have a reputation for
6:51missing timelines." And then he laughed.
6:54He did miss the timeline, but one cannot
6:56argue about his great why. His why was
7:00save humanity in case of an asteroid
7:02strike. By the way, just in case you're
7:04wondering, the odds of an asteroid
7:06actually striking Earth and causing an
7:08extinction-level event is about 1 in
7:1030,000. So, this is not like a tiny low
7:14risk. It could happen. Elon's motivation
7:18is to back up the human species and
7:21colonize another planet. This why is a
7:25reason that a couple of years ago, in a
7:28study in Silicon Valley, when they asked
7:30engineers, "What are the companies you
7:32most want to work for?" Number one and
7:34number two was SpaceX and Tesla.
7:37Elon starts with why. He doesn't speak
7:41about work. He speaks about a mission.
7:44Now, another person I learned this from
7:46is Naveen Jain. Naveen Jain started a
7:48company called Viome. It's a gut
7:50microbiome testing company. Naveen has
7:53had many, many multi-billion dollar
7:55companies under his belt.
7:57And I was fortunate one day in 2023
8:01to be invited to come and spend time
8:03with him on his private island that he
8:05shares with Richard Branson. And I asked
8:07him,
8:08"Naveen, you are in your 60s. You've
8:11started and founded multiple companies.
8:14You have a freaking private island with
8:16Branson, and you're doing it all again.
8:18Why?"
8:19And he explained this to me. He said,
8:20"Vision. With the technology that we're
8:22building, do you know
8:24that we will be able to, just from a
8:26swap of saliva, detect throat cancer in
8:30someone? We can help make illness
8:34optional. We can create a world in
8:36America where
8:38you never have to become sick. It all
8:40starts with being able to measure what's
8:43going on in your gut. And that's why,
8:45even in my 60s, I'm building this
8:48company. And I'm dedicating my life to
8:50it.
8:51I respected that idea so much. I ended
8:54up investing in Viome. Naveen Jain is
8:56another entrepreneur that shows that
8:58when you start with why, nothing is
9:00impossible. Now, one of the side effects
9:03of Naveen's company is this. Because of
9:06how passionate he is about his mission,
9:09when this man is on stage,
9:12he wows people. When he speaks about his
9:14mission, the best scientists, the best
9:16engineers want to join him. And Naveen
9:19told me this. He said, "Vision,
9:21many entrepreneurs start with a goal.
9:24They should always make their goal
9:26ridiculously big. But they're afraid to
9:28make it big because they think they're
9:29going to fail. But the thing is, when
9:31you make your goal big, when you make
9:33your goal something that can transform
9:35the human race, you make it easier, not
9:38harder.
9:39So, I asked Naveen, well, what do you
9:40mean? Naveen says, you make it easier
9:43because the best people, they don't want
9:46to work for small companies with small
9:48missions. The best people want to change
9:51the world. And when they see you're
9:53playing at that level, they flock to
9:55you. And when the best people come, the
9:57best ideas come. And when the best ideas
9:59come, the investors come.
10:01And then you can tell the investors, we
10:03don't need your money. We've got great
10:05people already. I found that really
10:07interesting. Naveen's argument that the
10:11bigger your mission, the easier it gets.
10:14I love this about Naveen. I asked him to
10:16create a Mindvalley program on this
10:18topic called The Power of Boldness. It's
10:20one of the programs we are most proud
10:21of. Boldness matters. And to be bold,
10:25you need to understand your why and use
10:28it as a rallying call for customers, for
10:30employees, for investors. And now, let's
10:33say you're not building a world-changing
10:36company. Let's say you're building a
10:37simple t-shirt company with beautiful
10:39t-shirts where human beings can pay to
10:42get their pets' faces on a t-shirt. How
10:45do you apply this philosophy? Well, it's
10:47simple.
10:48Are you doing it for money? Or are you
10:50doing it for something beyond money?
10:53Because if it's just money, I can tell
10:56you it's going to be harder. There going
10:57to be days when you're not going to want
10:59to wake up in the morning and push
11:01through getting that business launched.
11:03It's going to be harder to motivate
11:04employees.
11:05But if your why is you genuinely care
11:09about animals and you want to help in
11:11your small way create a world where
11:14owner and pet are closer together, where
11:17people get to celebrate dog ownership
11:19and cat ownership, or ferret ownership,
11:22whatever pet you're into, when you
11:24create a world where you can bring
11:26people and animals together, that makes
11:29you happy, that becomes your mission.
11:31And the beauty of that is you will start
11:33attracting employees and customers who
11:35resonate with that mission.
11:37This is why even if you are simply
11:39building a t-shirt company, having a
11:41mission that is beyond just money
11:44matters. In my book, The Code of the
11:46Extraordinary Mind, I dropped this
11:48quote,
11:49"Business people do it for the dollars,
11:51but real entrepreneurs, they do it to
11:53push humanity forward. What are you
11:56doing that will create a positive impact
11:59on humanity?" The third idea is this.
12:03So, you got to learn to push through
12:04pain. You got to have a mission. The
12:07third idea is an interesting dance
12:09between both, and it comes from Richard
12:12Branson. I got an opportunity several
12:14times to spend time on Necker Island
12:16with Richard Branson in various
12:18mastermind groups. And in this time,
12:20there were about 3 hours that I had
12:21one-on-one with Branson. And during one
12:24of those moments, I asked him, "Richard,
12:27you've started multiple companies. You
12:29employ 50,000 people.
12:31What is the best advice you can give
12:33me?" And I remember that night, it was a
12:35beautiful starry night. We were dressed
12:36as pirates. Richard was organizing a
12:39pirate party. This man loves to party.
12:42He loves to have fun. And this is what
12:44he told me. I'm going to read it out to
12:46you cuz I want to get this right. He
12:48said,
12:49"It's all about finding and hiring
12:51people who are smarter than you, giving
12:53them really good work, and then getting
12:55out of the way so that you can focus on
12:58the bigger vision."
13:00Now, notice how what Richard is saying
13:01ties so greatly to point number two.
13:04Richard was dyslexic. He had difficulty
13:06reading. He never considered himself a a
13:09particularly brilliant man in different
13:11areas, but what he was good at, and he
13:13said his dyslexia gave him this ability,
13:15is seeing the big picture. So, he would
13:17hire people smarter than him, put them
13:20on these projects while he stayed at the
13:22vision level. Principle number two.
13:25Principle number three is essentially
13:27what Branson is advocating. Hire great
13:30people and get out of the way. Give them
13:32the vision, give them the direction,
13:34give them the OKRs, and then let them do
13:37their job. Now, Elon does it a little
13:39bit differently. He goes deep department
13:42by department by department in his
13:44companies. He's famous for talking about
13:46how every week in every company he picks
13:48the biggest constraint and he goes deep
13:50with the team and solves it. That's
13:52good, too. But, Elon is also always
13:55playing at the vision level. Richard
13:57always playing at the vision level. So,
13:59which as you build a company, the bigger
14:02your company grows, it doesn't mean you
14:04can't go in and code with your team or
14:05design with your team, but you got to
14:07ensure that the company's vision is
14:10expanding, is evolving, especially in
14:12today's age when so many things are
14:14changing so fast. Another person who was
14:17really good at doing this was Bill
14:20Gates. And I know this because in 1998,
14:23I was one of the 1% of computer science
14:25graduates in America that was offered a
14:28lucrative internship at Microsoft. This
14:31was the Microsoft of 1998 when it was
14:33the hottest company in the world. And I
14:36became an intern that summer while I was
14:39a junior at the University of Michigan.
14:41Now, what happened is Bill Gates, and
14:43this is what blew me away, the richest
14:45man in the world invited all us interns
14:48to his home for dinner. There were about
14:5050 to 70 of us. And Bill Gates was there
14:54in his gorgeous home on Lake Washington
14:57grilling hamburgers. This is the richest
15:00man in the world grilling hamburgers and
15:03serving it to a bunch of interns. And
15:06back then I was wondering how the heck
15:08does he justify Could he He's a
15:10billionaire. Couldn't he pay someone to
15:12do it? What about like like ordering in
15:14from McDonald's?
15:16But, it was only later that I understood
15:18what Bill Gates was doing. He was
15:20applying the same rule books. Bill Gates
15:23was a visionary. He was building a great
15:24company, but he was applying that same
15:26Richard Branson rule book. He was doing
15:29everything he could to get the best
15:31minds into Microsoft. And then, he was
15:34taking a servant leader approach showing
15:36that you are precious to me. I am going
15:39to personally
15:41cook your hamburger patty, serve it to
15:43you, get to your know your name, invite
15:46you to my gorgeous house because you
15:48matter.
15:49And that idea never left me. That idea
15:53never left me. The way Bill Gates
15:55treated even interns. Later on, when I
15:58started my company, I applied that idea
16:01to the office space. As I brought people
16:03to come and work for Mindvalley, I knew
16:05I didn't want them to just work in an
16:07ordinary office space. So, I created a
16:10gorgeous office space that later made
16:12Inc. Magazine top 10 most beautiful
16:14office in the world because those tiny
16:17touches matter. Set the vision. Bring
16:20great great people in. Get the heck out
16:22of the way. The fourth principle I
16:24learned from the legendary hypnotist
16:27Paul McKenna. Paul and I became friends
16:30over the years. And Paul McKenna, if you
16:32live in the UK, you know this man. He's
16:34the number one non-fiction writer in the
16:37United Kingdom. Paul McKenna's
16:39hypnotherapy has changed the lives of
16:41millions of people and in the UK, he is
16:43frequently in the news. Paul and I were
16:46having dinner one day and I was debating
16:49getting a gorgeous apartment in London.
16:52The problem was this apartment was way
16:53beyond my budget. So, as I sat down with
16:56Paul, Paul shared a thought with me. He
16:58said, "Vishen, write down the cost of
17:00this apartment rental, monthly. Now,
17:03write down what's your budget. What's
17:05the gap?" And the gap was about 5,000
17:08lb. This apartment was 5,000 lb more
17:11than what my budget told me I should
17:12pay.
17:13Paul said, "Well, listen, most people
17:15are going to look at those 5,000 lb and
17:18they're going to cross it off and say
17:19no.
17:20But you are smarter than that. This is
17:21what I want you to do. He said, "Forget
17:24safe and risky. Don't think like that.
17:27Instead, look at upside, downside." So,
17:30the downside is it's 5,000 pounds, but
17:32Vision, what is unique about that
17:34apartment? And I said, "Well, this
17:35apartment has got this amazing space for
17:37filming. It's also got this stunningly
17:39massive dining room with an antique
17:42Chinese table that can seat 12." Paul
17:44says, "Aha.
17:46Okay. If you could use the space for
17:48filming
17:49and you could produce just one extra
17:51YouTube video in this gorgeous space a
17:52month, would that be worth 5,000?" And I
17:55realized, "Well, yeah." He said, "If you
17:57could host intricate dinner parties and
17:59bring in founders from different
18:01industries, maybe find new companies to
18:03invest in, new collaborators, would that
18:05be worth 5,000?" And I go, "Yeah." And
18:07he goes, "Well, you can do both. So, for
18:10the extra 5,000, you're already telling
18:12me you're getting $10,000 worth of
18:14value." I thought about it. And he was
18:17right. I was looking at it from the
18:19sheer rule of this breaks my budget. But
18:23McKenna showed me how to think upside,
18:26downside. Admit the downside, but look
18:29at what is the upside of having the
18:31slightly greater space. Now, this type
18:35of thinking can be extremely useful for
18:38entrepreneurs. I want to go back to a
18:40story about Branson. When Richard
18:42Branson was traveling with his wife in
18:44the early days, he was trying to fly
18:47back to the UK from the Caribbean. And
18:49what happened is that the flights were
18:51all fully booked, flights were canceled,
18:53and there was no way to get back. So, he
18:55decided to spend some money hiring a
18:58chartered flight. So, he grabbed some
19:01money together, went to hire a chartered
19:03flight, but he found out that it was way
19:04too expensive. He couldn't afford it.
19:06So, he goes back to the airport in the
19:07waiting room with all of these
19:09distressed, like, grumpy travelers cuz
19:11the flight to London's been canceled.
19:13and says, "Guys, if all of you pay me,
19:15I'm going to put this money together and
19:17get a plane for us and get us all back
19:19to the UK."
19:21And that's how he was able to get back
19:23to the UK.
19:25But that simple inconvenience sparked an
19:28idea.
19:29It allowed him to understand that he
19:32could collect money in advance, hire a
19:35chartered flight, and then get himself
19:38back, but also make a tiny bit of
19:40profit. That model became the model that
19:42he used to launch his airline, Virgin
19:45Atlantic. When Branson was launching
19:47Virgin Atlantic, an idea that sparked
19:49from that moment with the charter
19:50flight, he called up Boeing to buy a
19:53plane. And Boeing said, "There's no way
19:55we're selling someone like you a plane.
19:57You have no experience." So Richard
19:59said, "Well, could I rent a plane? Do
20:01you have any planes just sitting around
20:03on the runway waiting for someone to
20:04rent them? Let me rent it for a month."
20:06Boeing said, "Sure." And Richard said,
20:08"Can I pay you at the end of the month?"
20:09Boeing said, "Yes." Richard now had his
20:12plane, but he had a big bill at the end
20:14of the month. All he had to do right now
20:16is
20:17find the upside to this downside. And
20:20the upside is, "I've got a freaking
20:22plane that I can do anything with for 30
20:24days. Let's sell tickets." So in his
20:27classic PR stuntman
20:30mode, he was able to create an airline,
20:32Virgin Atlantic, sell a bunch of
20:35tickets, make a profit, pay the Boeing
20:37rental, and that's how his airline took
20:40off today, a multi-billion dollar
20:43business.
20:44All because what most people would see
20:47as a downside, a big payment on a plane
20:51at the end of the month, he turned into
20:53an upside. So what are the downsides of
20:55what you're doing that could potentially
20:57be an upside? Apply McKenna's tactic. Is
21:01the downside reckless? If the answer is
21:04no, then don't obsess about the
21:06downside. Focus on what you can do with
21:09the upside. Poor thinking obsesses about
21:12the downside. Great entrepreneurs, they
21:15stay in the positive mode and they look
21:17at the upside. Principle number five
21:20comes from the Reverend Michael
21:22Beckwith. Michael Beckwith is the
21:24Reverend of the Agape church in Los
21:27Angeles. This is a multi-denominational
21:29religious institution that teaches ideas
21:31from every religion and Michael is an
21:33incredible speaker. And one of the most
21:35incredible things about Michael is this.
21:38He is the most featured person in modern
21:43personal growth and spiritual
21:45documentaries. No one else in the modern
21:48era is featured as much as him in these
21:51movies and documentaries and it's
21:53because of how he speaks and his
21:55presence. So, I've learned a lot from
21:57Michael over the years while being in
21:59the audience in his church, but also
22:01through one-on-one conversations. And
22:03one of the most interesting ideas I
22:04learned from Michael is this. Failure is
22:06the curriculum. Michael says, "There are
22:09two ways we grow. We grow through satori
22:12and we grow through kensho. These are
22:14Zen terms. So, in Zen philosophy, life
22:17is about growth, but growth can come
22:19through kensho, which is growth from
22:21pain, but growth can also come through
22:24satori, which is growth from awakening."
22:28Now, growth from pain might be a
22:30business fails, but you pick yourself
22:32up, you understand what to do and what
22:34not to do, so your next business is
22:35stronger. Kensho or growth from pain
22:38might be you mistreat your body, you end
22:40up in hospital, but there in that
22:42hospital bed, you make an oath to
22:44yourself to eat better, to exercise
22:46more, to treat your body like a temple.
22:48I know I've been there. Kensho might be
22:51a relationship ends,
22:53but you grow from that and you start to
22:55understand what it takes and what
22:57behaviors you need to change to really
22:59create a thriving relationship. That's
23:01growth from pain.
23:03Satori is growth from awareness. Growth
23:06from awareness comes when you listen to
23:07a podcast, when you're studying on a
23:09platform like Mindvalley, when you're
23:10reading a book, when you have inspiring
23:12friends or mentors that help you gain
23:15realizations. Kensho or Satori. But the
23:18point is growth. Growth is the
23:22curriculum. Failure helps you grow as
23:25much as awakening. So Satori is
23:29wonderful, but not everyone is always
23:32going to get insights from
23:34the book they read.
23:36Kensho is often the best way to help you
23:39grow.
23:40Now, an MBA professor who mentored me,
23:43Srikumar Rao, one of the greatest MBA
23:46professors in the world, said something
23:48similar. He said, "Vision, you know the
23:50most important thing we need to teach in
23:52MBA programs?"
23:53I asked, "What?" And he says, "American
23:56MBA schools need to teach this. Your
23:59business is not about your business."
24:02And I go, "What do you mean?" He goes,
24:03"Your business is about are you
24:06growing?"
24:08If your business hits a billion dollars,
24:09doesn't matter. Did you grow? If your
24:11business fails, doesn't matter. Did you
24:13grow?
24:14As long as you're growing, you're good.
24:16Your business is nothing more than the
24:19greatest vehicle for your personal
24:21growth. That's why being a founder is so
24:24valuable. But when you fail, when
24:27something doesn't go right, the only
24:29thing you got to look at is not the
24:30failure, but what did you learn? Did you
24:33grow?
24:34And as long as you're growing,
24:37you're winning. You're gaining. You're
24:39developing an edge. When you reframe
24:42failure into opportunity for growth, the
24:45Kensho opportunity for growth,
24:48now you become unstoppable. By the way,
24:51if you enjoyed this idea of growth,
24:52check out my video The Three Most
24:54Important Questions. This is an exercise
24:56that I designed that has been retweeted
24:58by organizations like the American
25:00Management Organization to help you
25:02identify the best ways in which you need
25:05to grow in your life. You'll find it on
25:07this channel. Don't forget to hit
25:08subscribe. The next idea in the next
25:10story comes from Arianna Huffington. I
25:12got to sit down with Arianna in her home
25:15in LA several years ago.
25:18And as we chatted, she told me the story
25:21that led her to start her health and
25:24wellness company, Thrive. She'd been
25:26working crazy hard on Huffington Post
25:29and she started neglecting her health.
25:32And one day, as she came back from a
25:33long day in the office, she collapsed,
25:36hit her head against a table, and lay on
25:38the floor bleeding.
25:40She realized that for the longest time,
25:42she had been neglecting her own inner
25:45game, her health, her wellness. Arianna
25:47swore never to do that again. She
25:49started a company called Thrive. She
25:51started going deep into meditation, into
25:54health, into wellness. Today, Thrive is
25:57a massively successful company.
25:59And Arianna learned that lesson the
26:01painful way. As Michael Beckwith should
26:03say, "Ken show your
26:06outer game depends on your inner game.
26:09The world that you're building, the
26:11business that you're creating is a
26:13function of the inner state you're in."
26:17Or another way of saying it is this,
26:18"Your business will grow to the extent
26:21you grow." Listen, if you're on the
26:24ground bleeding,
26:26you're not going to have the capacity to
26:28grow your business. So, are you
26:30sacrificing sleep? Are you sacrificing
26:32gym? Are you failing to eat well because
26:35you're too busy? Well, you've just
26:37fallen down an awful trap. The most
26:40important rule to understand is this,
26:44you have to take care of yourself. Sleep
26:48is non-negotiable. Healthy eating is
26:50non-negotiable. Exercise is
26:51non-negotiable. Going back to a story
26:54from Branson. I was in Necker Island
26:56once and uh
26:58Branson, at a late-night, 10:00 p.m.
27:00party, challenged all of the founders in
27:02the room to wake up at 6:00 a.m. and
27:05swim with him
27:07from Necker Island to a neighboring
27:10island he also owned, Mosquito.
27:13The space between that island, 5 km.
27:17A few hands
27:19went up but most people decided there's
27:21no way they're waking up at 6:00 a.m.
27:23and swimming 5 km across open water.
27:26Now, I decided that, okay, I was a
27:28photographer, this was an amazing
27:29opportunity, I had to get there with my
27:31iPhone and film this. So, at 6:00 a.m.
27:34there I was, the sun was rising, it was
27:36gorgeous. A few straggling
27:38entrepreneurs, slightly nervous, were
27:39getting in the water with Branson. And
27:41Branson forgets his goggles. So, he
27:44turns to his assistant and he goes, "Are
27:46my goggles around?" And she goes, "Well,
27:48I I'd have to run back up to the house
27:50and get them. It's going to take me 20
27:51minutes." Branson, who's in his 60s,
27:53says, "Oh, don't bother. I'll just
27:56backstroke." This man, in his 60s, is
27:59about to backstroke 5 km. Now, at that
28:02point, I'm thinking, I'm not even a good
28:04swimmer, but listen, I'm 40 and it's
28:07embarrassing if I cannot do this. I had
28:10my goggles, so I decided to get in the
28:12water with Branson. I was impressed at
28:15how a man in his 60s was able to keep
28:17his body that sharp. Long story short
28:20Branson made it, 5 km backstroke. Many
28:23of the entrepreneurs made it. Branson
28:25did this not because he was trying to
28:27prove a point. He did this because we
28:30were there to learn how to think like a
28:33billionaire. And one of the things he
28:35was trying to express to us is this
28:37billionaires, even when it's painful,
28:40will wake up at 6:00 a.m.
28:42And billionaires, at least his style of
28:45billionaire, will take such good care of
28:47your health that even in your 60s, you
28:50can backstroke 5 km across open water.
28:54That experience changed my life. I
28:56started treating my body in a different
28:57way. I started training in the gym in a
28:59different way. I'm going to be in my 60s
29:02in a decade or so and I want to make
29:04sure I age gracefully just like Branson.
29:08The next principle comes from Dave
29:10Asprey, the founder of Bulletproof
29:12Coffee. The creator of the term
29:15biohacking. If you look up the word
29:17biohacking,
29:18Dave's name is the name on the
29:20dictionary as the man who coined this
29:22term and kind of created this movement.
29:25Now,
29:26when I first started getting close to
29:27Dave and he had me on his podcast, I
29:30spoke about intuition. This was 2016. My
29:32book, The Code of the Extraordinary
29:33Mind, had just come out and I got
29:35slammed on Amazon by Dave's followers
29:38because they believed intuition was not
29:40real. Spiritual was beyond biohacking.
29:43But over the subsequent years, as
29:45evidence came out, the evidence showed
29:48that your spirituality, your intuition,
29:51your ability to master your mind are
29:54some of the most important things for
29:56longevity.
29:58I knew that. Dave knew that.
30:00But we couldn't speak about it publicly
30:02in 2016 without getting slammed.
30:05But in that same year, 2016,
30:07I attended an experimental event with
30:10Dave Asprey. Today that event is called
30:1240 Years of Zen. It's a neuro-training
30:14facility that Dave now runs where you
30:16train your brain to function like the
30:18brain of monks who have spent 40 years
30:22in meditation.
30:23And the people who flock this facility
30:26are billionaires, are entrepreneurs
30:28because it costs $15,000 for 5 days. I
30:31went there with Dave in the early days
30:34when he was first exploring this
30:36technology and this is what we learned.
30:38We learned that you can train your brain
30:42to actually perform like a monk by using
30:46biofeedback to re-pattern in your brain
30:49the exact patterns that we see in a
30:51monk's brain. Now, for those of you who
30:52are brainwave nerds, it's high alpha
30:55amplitude and left-right brain
30:57coherence. But, here's the funny thing.
30:59The secret to getting there is not what
31:02you think. It's not hours of chanting or
31:05hours of meditation, it's practicing
31:08forgiveness. It's practicing this one
31:11spiritual act, forgiveness. As you go
31:13into these altered states at the
31:15neurotraining facility, what you're
31:17meant to do as you go into this
31:18neurotraining facility, you go into this
31:20egg-like structure. Your brain is wired
31:23up to machines and what you're meant to
31:24do non-stop is forgive yourself for
31:29every dumb mistake you've made and
31:31forgive everyone who ever hurt you.
31:35Forgive, forgive, forgive until your
31:38soul feels completely clear. Until
31:42you basically have no negative charge
31:43towards anyone. This
31:46is bizarre because this is a spiritual
31:49practice that saints have been speaking
31:51about, that Christ spoke about. And it
31:53turns out that this spiritual practice
31:55is incredible for optimizing you as an
31:58entrepreneur.
32:00Today, we know the science. Your brain
32:02goes into a more resilient state. When
32:04your brain is more resilient, you can
32:06push through busy days, you can push
32:08through long hours while staying calm.
32:11And this is the secret, calm when your
32:15life is so complex. Most people never
32:18get to be found as an entrepreneur
32:19because it is a freaking complex job.
32:23And you got to juggle so many multiple
32:25things. But, when you can train your
32:27brain to have this high level of
32:28resilience, calm in the storm, you're
32:31able to navigate that. And it turns out
32:34the way to do that is a spiritual
32:36practice called forgiveness.
32:38I'm going to be releasing a video soon
32:40on the exact forgiveness protocol that
32:44Dave Asprey and his neuroscientist at 40
32:47Years of Zen recommend. The exact
32:49protocol.
32:51And I'm going to share this exact
32:52protocol with you. And I ask one thing,
32:54subscribe to this channel because that
32:57forgiveness protocol is coming. And by
32:59the way, this forgiveness protocol
33:01doesn't just make you a kinder, better
33:03person, it increases your resilience.
33:06And this has been scientifically proven.
33:08It makes your brain more like the brains
33:11of monks who have spent decades in
33:13meditation. Now, this principle is
33:16extremely counter to what many people
33:19are going to tell you. And it comes from
33:21Peter Diamandis.
33:23is the man who helped create private
33:26space travel. He created the X Prize
33:28Foundation. And through the X Prize
33:30Foundation, he helped create an
33:31incentivized prize to reward $20 to
33:35anyone who could create the world's
33:37first plane that could take you into
33:39orbit and down. I got to know Peter
33:40because I joined the Innovation Board of
33:42the X Prize. And I was fascinated by the
33:45sheer amount of businesses that Peter
33:48was involved with. So, one day I asked
33:50him, "Peter, do you believe in
33:51multitasking? Because everyone I hear
33:54says focus on one thing."
33:56And this is what Peter told me.
33:58He said, "Vision, some of the greatest
34:01entrepreneurs I know do not focus on one
34:04thing.
34:05How many companies does Richard Branson
34:07have? Steve Jobs, he was CEO of Pixar
34:10and Apple at the same time. Elon Musk,
34:13CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. So, this idea
34:15that you have to focus on one thing, it
34:19applies to most people.
34:21But there is a breed of founder that
34:24actually does better when they focus on
34:27multiple things. So, don't buy into that
34:31focus on one thing philosophy.
34:34He went on to say that he's the type of
34:35founder that thrives when you multitask.
34:39I know I'm that type of founder as well.
34:42If I focus on one thing,
34:44this is what happens. I start getting so
34:47deep in that one thing, I get bored. I
34:50also end up stepping in too deep. I
34:52frustrate my employees. I end up getting
34:54obsessed in that one thing. I need
34:56multiple projects. Currently, I'm
34:59running five different companies. And I
35:02love it. And my team loves it because
35:04they get to go deep with me in different
35:07things without me being obsessed over
35:10just one tiny thing. So, I want you to
35:13know this.
35:14As we're moving into an age of AI
35:16enabling entrepreneurship, this ability
35:19to multitask becomes an advantage even
35:22bigger than before. Let me give an
35:24example why. We're entering an age where
35:27you can get on a tool like Claude and
35:28ask Claude to build you something. You
35:30can literally code your own app into
35:32existence. But, here's the issue.
35:36Claude can go run of its own, code a
35:38particular feature for your app. But,
35:40that's going to take 10 to 20 minutes.
35:42If you're focused on one thing, what do
35:44you do in that meantime?
35:45Are you going to be watching TV? Are you
35:47going to be reading a book? Now, what I
35:49like to do is I like to have three
35:51different screens on my computer. The
35:53first screen, I'm using Claude to write.
35:56The second screen, I'm using Claude to
35:57code. The third screen, I'm using Claude
36:00to think about strategy. I actually
36:02focus on three different things
36:04simultaneously, screen to screen to
36:07screen. Now, that's my founder DNA. It
36:10makes me significantly more productive.
36:14If I'm focused on just one thing, I
36:16break my flow. I get impatient while
36:20waiting for those 5 to 20 minutes cycles
36:24for Claude to actually output something.
36:26So, this new era of work actually gives
36:28you the ability to do that. And I
36:31believe Peter Diamandis' advice doesn't
36:33apply to everyone, but we've been so
36:36told that we need to focus on one thing
36:38that many people, maybe you, that have
36:40an advantage to multitask often limit
36:43yourself. Don't do that. If you need to
36:46focus on one thing, great. That's good
36:49for you. If you need to focus on
36:50multiple things, that's good, too.
36:52Principle number nine is a lesson I
36:54learned from the Dalai Lama.
36:56In 2009,
36:58I was invited to speak in Calgary
37:00on a stage when the Dalai Lama was
37:03visiting Canada. I was dearly honored to
37:06share the stage with the Dalai Lama. And
37:08after the Dalai Lama's talk, I was given
37:10a private audience with him in a room of
37:13fellow speakers. There I was in this
37:16beautiful room with the Dalai Lama and
37:17many other monks in his entourage. I was
37:20there with my then wife, Christina.
37:23Christina and I were so blessed and
37:24wanted to be there. And when it came
37:27time to ask the Dalai Lama a question,
37:30Christina was selected. Her question was
37:33this, "How is it possible to be happy
37:35when we see so much misery in the world
37:38these days?" The Dalai Lama's response
37:40was this, "Well, who can you help if you
37:44are unhappy?
37:46You must be happy first. And that is a
37:49really powerful idea.
37:51It's not just Buddhist philosophy.
37:53Turned out, science validates this. See,
37:56there's a famous book by Shawn Achor
37:59called The Happiness Advantage. Shawn is
38:00a researcher at Harvard, and he in his
38:02book did multiple studies that show that
38:06when you are happy, you simply do
38:08better. Salespeople who are positive are
38:1055% better at closing a sale. Doctors
38:13who are happy are 19% better at
38:16diagnosing patients.
38:18Kids who are happy do better in their
38:20exams. There's another book by Shirzad
38:22Charmin called PQ Positivity Quotient.
38:25Just like we have an IQ, we have a
38:26positivity quotient, which is how much
38:29happiness we can hold on to even when
38:30life is hard.
38:32And in his book, Shirzad Charmin cites
38:34multiple studies that show that if you
38:36look at how teams operate, the number
38:39one thing that determines the
38:40productivity of a team is this, the
38:42overall happiness level of that team.
38:44They did studies where within teams in
38:46corporations, bring in an actor. Nobody
38:49knew that this person wasn't an actor,
38:50but the actor's job in the team was to
38:52bring coffee for everyone, compliment
38:54people, crack a joke, or laugh. Just
38:56like really
38:58little things that elevate happiness.
39:00Those teams did the best. And Charmin
39:04said, "Happiness is the only thing that
39:08correlates with the performance of a
39:11team, or rather the overall
39:13level of happiness in a team." I call
39:15this principle bliss-cipline. It is the
39:17discipline of ensuring that you have
39:20bliss in your life. Now, bliss does not
39:22mean fake optimism. There are going to
39:25be moments when you might be
39:26experiencing a great loss, when your
39:28health might be off, and it's going to
39:31drop your happiness. Bliss-cipline is
39:34how fast you can bounce back, how fast
39:36you can see the upside. And if you can
39:39do that and keep yourself in that state
39:42and emanate it to the people around you,
39:44your teams do better, your work becomes
39:47better. I'm reminded of one of my
39:49favorite poems of all time. It was
39:51written roughly around 1880, and the
39:54poem goes like this,
39:56"I was early taught to work as well as
39:58play. My life has been one long, happy
40:02holiday, full of work, full of play, and
40:06God was good to me every day."
40:09Think about that poem. It sounds like a
40:10guy who led a pretty relaxed, happy
40:12life.
40:13But that's not the man who wrote the
40:15poem.
40:16The man who wrote that poem is John D.
40:17Rockefeller.
40:18John D. Rockefeller
40:20in 1880 was the richest man
40:23who lived, the richest man who ever
40:26lived until recently, until Elon,
40:28literally wrote a poem about his great
40:31secret.
40:33And in that poem
40:34he mentioned the word happiness multiple
40:37times. So, let that sink in.
40:40Happiness
40:42is a tool for wealth. It is a tool for
40:45success. It is a tool, we know this, for
40:47health. So, if you're working as a
40:50founder and you're miserable,
40:53you're basically making life hard for
40:56yourself.
40:57If you hate your job, you're never going
40:59to succeed at it. Find what you love and
41:02ensure that your happiness is protected.
41:05That is the essence of the term
41:07blissipline.
41:09Write it down on your mirror. Put it as
41:12a screensaver. Remember blissipline.
41:15I'll be creating a video shortly on the
41:17science of blissipline in organizations
41:21and I'll share with you some tips to
41:22bring blissipline into yourself and the
41:25close people you work with. So, stay
41:27with me because what I'm going to do now
41:28is give you a recap of the nine
41:31principles and tell you where you can
41:33learn more and go deeper.
41:34The first is tolerate pain. The second
41:38principle is know your why.
41:42The third principle,
41:43can you guess? Do you remember? It is
41:46stay in the zone of vision.
41:49The fourth principle is leverage
41:52upside-down thinking, not fear-based
41:55thinking.
41:56Principle number five is failure is the
42:00curriculum.
42:01Principle number six is
42:05the inner game is greater than the outer
42:08game.
42:09Number seven,
42:10learn
42:12the importance of optimizing
42:14consciousness. There's a video on this
42:16called the seven sacred states, which
42:18you will be able to watch on this
42:20channel, so click follow.
42:22Principle number eight is multitasking
42:26rules. If you are drawn to it, it
42:29doesn't mean you're distractible. It
42:32could be your way of work. Embrace it.
42:34And principle number nine, and another
42:36video is coming up on this principle, is
42:38practice discipline, just like John D.
42:42Rockefeller.
42:43So, I hope you found these rules useful.
42:46I hope you find this video useful. I go
42:49deep into this and all of these
42:51principles in my book, The Code of the
42:53Extraordinary Mind. That book in 2017
42:56became the number one book in the world
42:59on Amazon for 5 days.
43:02It made me briefly the number two author
43:05globally in the world, and there's a
43:07reason for that. That book is written in
43:09a really candid funny way with
43:11incredible stories from many of these
43:13personalities. I go deeper with many of
43:15these incredible wonderful people that I
43:17was able to spend time with, and I share
43:19their lessons, and I hope you enjoy it.
43:21Go check it out. I'd love to know which
43:23principle landed with you most, and what
43:26was your takeaway? Are there any
43:27principles here that you really have
43:29been applying in your business? Leave a
43:31comment. I'd really love, and I know
43:33other commenters as well would really
43:35love to see what you're applying in your
43:38life and how it's working for you.

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