What's the point, if you're not having fun? — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:00The person that you're trying to become,
- 0:01and the life that you're trying to
- 0:02build, is on the other side of doing
- 0:04things that suck. That's a belief that I
- 0:06thought to be true until about 24 hours
- 0:09ago. And now I find myself questioning,
- 0:12why is it that we romanticize pain? Why
- 0:14do we romanticize suffering? Why do we
- 0:17romanticize doing things that are so
- 0:19hard that we genuinely don't enjoy a
- 0:21single second of them? For some reason,
- 0:25in the modern day, we want to strip
- 0:26ourselves of every single aspect of fun
- 0:29in some sort of noble pursuit to become
- 0:33the most perfect, optimized,
- 0:36well-rounded version of ourselves. And
- 0:38honestly,
- 0:40I kind of I'm starting to think that
- 0:42that's a bunch of
- 0:44For some reason, we want to romanticize
- 0:47the David Goggins of the world. We want
- 0:49to romanticize the people that
- 0:52spend every waking moment suffering,
- 0:55that spend every second in the
- 0:57metaphorical pain cave. And while I
- 0:59think there is a time and a place for
- 1:01that, while I think that the David
- 1:03Goggins of the world are important and
- 1:06we need them,
- 1:07I also want to put into question
- 1:12why we don't allow ourselves to enjoy
- 1:14the life that we're building. I think in
- 1:16the modern day, we tend to villainize
- 1:18the people who aren't
- 1:21tapped in or aren't trying to achieve
- 1:25their potential. And I think a lot of
- 1:26the reason for that is we believe that
- 1:29they are not going to be able to enjoy
- 1:31their life as much as they maybe could
- 1:33if they
- 1:35trained harder, if they studied more, if
- 1:37they spent more time with their own
- 1:39thoughts trying to figure out what makes
- 1:41them tick. And while I think that's
- 1:43true, while I think that it's important
- 1:45to try and become better, to try and
- 1:47become self-enlightened, if you will, I
- 1:50also think that the never-ending pursuit
- 1:54of greatness,
- 1:56the one that
- 1:58doesn't allow us to enjoy ourselves,
- 2:01might as well be the same thing.
- 2:04If we spend 30 years of our lives trying
- 2:07to extract maximum potential from
- 2:10ourselves
- 2:11at the expense of our own enjoyment,
- 2:13what is the difference
- 2:16between that and not being top 10 at all
- 2:20and drinking beer with your homies every
- 2:22single weekend on a Saturday? It's
- 2:23literally the same thing
- 2:26because neither one of us are enjoying
- 2:28our lives.
- 2:30I think
- 2:32what is the point I mean honestly, what
- 2:34is the point in living if we're not
- 2:36going to enjoy it just a little bit. I
- 2:38want to talk today
- 2:40about my past 24 48 hours because it has
- 2:44been straight up type one fun. It has
- 2:46been one of the most fun weekends of my
- 2:49entire life.
- 2:50At least in the past year or 2 years and
- 2:54that's because I typically spend every
- 2:55single weekend with type two fun, trying
- 2:58to do things that are hard, trying to
- 2:59push myself, trying to extract that
- 3:01human potential and
- 3:03again, like there is a time and a place
- 3:05for that. That is important. But at the
- 3:08same time,
- 3:09if we're not allowing ourselves to have
- 3:11fun, if we're not allowing ourselves to
- 3:12enjoy the fruits of our labor, then what
- 3:14is the point in any of it?
- 3:16And
- 3:17maybe much to my surprise, honestly,
- 3:21I kind of feel like the growth that I've
- 3:22had this weekend is equivalent if not
- 3:26higher than
- 3:27any of the weeks that I'm pushing myself
- 3:29to my very limit. And
- 3:33at the end of the day, I think that
- 3:34you're more likely to grow if you enjoy
- 3:36what it is that you're doing.
- 3:38So, what have I been doing the past 48
- 3:39hours? What has the past weekend look
- 3:41like looked like, I mean?
- 3:44On Friday night after work, I went rock
- 3:47climbing just at a local crag with a
- 3:50friend of mine. And typically, when I'm
- 3:54out in the mountains, I'm trying to
- 3:56become the best that I can be. And
- 3:58typically, my approach to that is
- 4:00pushing myself, doing things that are
- 4:01really hard, doing things that challenge
- 4:03me, that scare me, that make me not
- 4:06fully enjoy what it is that I'm doing
- 4:09in hopes that the outsized return I get
- 4:12from that investment is an enhanced
- 4:15level of skills, a larger toolkit, um
- 4:18and just a bigger
- 4:20sort of reservoir to draw on as a
- 4:23mountaineer.
- 4:25Friday was different. On Friday, I went
- 4:28to just go and have fun. I bought a new
- 4:30rope. I had all my gear. Me and my
- 4:32friend just went out and had a good
- 4:33time. I led up a super easy route. So,
- 4:37for those of you who don't climb,
- 4:39there's top rope climbing, which is once
- 4:41there's already an anchor built up at
- 4:42the top, which basically, it's like
- 4:44creative mode in Minecraft. You can do
- 4:46anything you want. You can fall and
- 4:48you'll be fine. Hopefully, if somebody
- 4:50catches you, obviously.
- 4:52Um but, there's kind of no rules in top
- 4:54rope climbing. Lead climbing is a lot
- 4:56more consequential. If you are climbing
- 4:59up and you take a fall above the last
- 5:01piece of protection, then you could
- 5:05injure yourself. The reason that you're
- 5:06doing this is because someone has to set
- 5:08that anchor up at the top of the route
- 5:10for the rest of the people to climb it.
- 5:11So, typically, you're going to have two
- 5:13climbers. You're going to have a leader
- 5:14who will bring the rope up and attach
- 5:16little carabiners called quick draws to
- 5:18these bolts. You then attach the rope,
- 5:20and then you go up to the next bolt,
- 5:21clip it in, go up to the next bolt. So,
- 5:23if you're climbing above the previous
- 5:25bolt, but you haven't clipped into the
- 5:26next one yet, if you fall, you're going
- 5:28to fall down to that bolt.
- 5:30So, you go up, put your anchor up, then
- 5:31the next guy climbs up it. So, I led up
- 5:34a super easy route, one where there's
- 5:36basically no
- 5:37real risk of me falling unless I did
- 5:39something really stupid. But again,
- 5:41we're we're just there having fun. We're
- 5:42just having a good time.
- 5:43Testing out the new rope. After that, we
- 5:45went and set up a top rope in a really
- 5:51cool
- 5:53sort of chimney cave overhung thing. A
- 5:57bat flew out. There was
- 6:00bat crap everywhere. It was kind of
- 6:01disgusting. But,
- 6:03we did that in the dark with our
- 6:04headlamps, set up a nasty rappel down
- 6:07through the chimney.
- 6:09It looked like a scene from
- 6:13like
- 6:14a Batman movie. It was so sick. Just
- 6:17straight up fun. Just straight up
- 6:18totally fun. Again, not a particularly
- 6:21hard climb that we were doing. We
- 6:22weren't really testing our skill set. We
- 6:24weren't really trying to push the
- 6:27envelope of
- 6:28ourselves, our minds, our physical
- 6:30capabilities, none of that. We were just
- 6:32there to have fun.
- 6:34That said,
- 6:35what I got out of Friday was better than
- 6:38any other rock climbing session. A, I
- 6:40enjoyed it more than any of the other
- 6:41times that I've gone out. B, I honestly
- 6:44feel like I retained more of what I did.
- 6:47Because I was just more in the moment. I
- 6:49was enjoying what it was that I was
- 6:51doing. I wasn't so focused on how much
- 6:53it sucked and how much I wanted to get
- 6:54out of there, how ready I was for
- 6:56everything to end.
- 6:58I just
- 7:00was there. I just enjoyed it. It was
- 7:01just fun.
- 7:02And
- 7:03I think there's a lot to be said about
- 7:05that. Yesterday, I ran a trail race. It
- 7:09was a 10-miler. It was the first trail
- 7:11race that I've ever run. I've done
- 7:13number of road races, 5Ks, 10Ks, half
- 7:16marathons. I was going to run a marathon
- 7:17earlier in the year, but had an ankle
- 7:18injury, and so I had to pull,
- 7:20unfortunately. I ran the half marathon
- 7:22instead.
- 7:23And then I ran a 10-miler on trail.
- 7:26Typically, when I run road races,
- 7:28there's not a whole lot of it that is
- 7:30genuinely fun in the moment for me. I
- 7:32run them because I want to push myself,
- 7:35I want to test myself, I want to reach
- 7:38that state of
- 7:39enlightenment, right, from doing the
- 7:41hard thing.
- 7:43The trail race, I kind of expected it to
- 7:45be the same. Part of me sort of felt
- 7:48going into it that it was going to be
- 7:49easier than a road race because I just
- 7:52feel more comfortable in the mountains.
- 7:53I spent a lot of time
- 7:56exploring, adventuring, and just being
- 7:59in the mountains. And so, the trail race
- 8:01felt like it would be more natural than
- 8:02a road race to me, and it was. But, what
- 8:05I did not expect was
- 8:07purely how fun the trail race was. And
- 8:10I'm not talking from a type two fun
- 8:12perspective, meaning it was fun after
- 8:15the fact, but in the moment it sucked. I
- 8:16mean type one fun.
- 8:19In the moment, the trail race was
- 8:21genuinely fun. I was having a great time
- 8:24looking out It was on Antelope Island,
- 8:26which is a a place kind of by the Salt
- 8:28Lake, the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
- 8:31It was on Antelope Island. The scenery
- 8:32is beautiful. There's bison, there's the
- 8:35sun reflecting off of the water. The
- 8:37weather got a little heinous for a
- 8:38minute. There was
- 8:40some rain, a lot of rain actually,
- 8:43um and a bunch of wind. Supposedly,
- 8:46there's a hurricane coming through
- 8:49in Utah, which is just kind of crazy to
- 8:51me. Funny story, actually, as an aside,
- 8:54the other day my computer told me that
- 8:55there was a hurricane going actively,
- 8:58and I looked out the window, and it was
- 9:00it was sunny as could be. So,
- 9:02I don't really know, but supposedly
- 9:04there's a hurricane going on. It still
- 9:06looks fine outside right now, but um
- 9:10hopefully
- 9:11we don't get hit with a ton of rain or
- 9:13wind or whatever, but
- 9:15um Yeah, anyways, it was a little bit
- 9:17rainy as in it was a lot rainy. It was
- 9:19pretty windy, and um
- 9:22it was just a great time, though.
- 9:24Looking out at the trail, seeing the
- 9:26bison, seeing the runners on the single
- 9:27track, it was just so cool. And I really
- 9:31enjoyed the trail environment for being
- 9:35able to sort of
- 9:37mentally lock in yourself and not pay
- 9:39attention to other people, pay attention
- 9:41to the fanfare, see the billions of
- 9:43signs that you typically see when you
- 9:44run a major road race. There's people
- 9:46who come out from all over the city to
- 9:49support, that have the signs with a
- 9:51Mario power-up, and if you touch the
- 9:53sign you get super speed, and
- 9:55like that stuff's fun,
- 9:57but also you're not able to have the
- 9:58same love level of reflection that I
- 10:00think you can get through a trail race,
- 10:02and there's something really special
- 10:03about that.
- 10:04So, after running this trail race, A, I
- 10:07don't think I'll run many more road
- 10:08races. I think I'm retiring from that,
- 10:10and I'm just going full trail mode until
- 10:12I become an ultra-marathoner. So, maybe
- 10:14I'm going to become David Goggins,
- 10:15actually. Um, we'll see about that. But,
- 10:18um,
- 10:19point being, it was just so much fun all
- 10:23around. Just such a good experience,
- 10:24such a good time. The people were great,
- 10:26the vibe was awesome. All around, the
- 10:29event just kicked ass, and
- 10:32what did I gain out of this one, right?
- 10:34What what what do you think is the point
- 10:35of this story? What am I talking about?
- 10:36Sorry, this is kind of a scrambled
- 10:38podcast episode. If you're watching this
- 10:41one, I apologize for you. My brain feels
- 10:43a little scrambled today cuz I'm still a
- 10:45little bit tired from running the race.
- 10:47Um,
- 10:49I
- 10:51going into the race, I didn't really
- 10:52have a goal other than to run the race.
- 10:56I was running it with my friend Sam.
- 10:57Sam, if you're watching or listening to
- 10:59this, shout out to you, homie.
- 11:01Uh, but we're going to run it together.
- 11:02Sam was having a little bit of a
- 11:05migraine type of issue, and so then he
- 11:07ushered me to go on ahead. So, I took
- 11:09off ahead. I started crushing like 8:30
- 11:12miles for a minute, which for me is
- 11:14fast. I'm not a fast runner, but I was
- 11:16full mountain goat just down the hill.
- 11:19It was sick.
- 11:20And, um, I was having an awesome time,
- 11:22bouncing from rock to rock, running down
- 11:25the gully, just
- 11:27doing the thing. Like,
- 11:29feeling alive while doing the event. Um,
- 11:33but I kept on looking at my watch
- 11:36and I would see the time. At around 5
- 11:38miles, I think the time was 50
- 11:424 55-ish minutes
- 11:44of the 10-mile race. So, I was like,
- 11:46"Holy crap. I think I can get under 2
- 11:48hours." Which
- 11:50you know, maybe it's fast, maybe it
- 11:51isn't. I think that's like a 11
- 11:54I guess 2 hours would be a 12-minute
- 11:56mile. So, if you got uh little under
- 11:58that, then that would be you know, like
- 12:0011 something on the mile. Which for
- 12:02trail miles is not not terrible.
- 12:04I um kept looking at my watch and was
- 12:06like, "Holy crap. I think I'm going to
- 12:07be able to get sub 2 hours." And so, I
- 12:10started pushing a little bit harder.
- 12:11Started pushing a little bit harder.
- 12:13Normally when you push and you're really
- 12:15digging deep it just sucks straight up.
- 12:17It's just not a fun experience. You're
- 12:19dying, you're out of breath, your side
- 12:21hurts, and you just know that you have
- 12:23to keep on going cuz you got to shave
- 12:24off those minutes from your miles.
- 12:27This was different. I was having so much
- 12:29fun running down the hills and then I
- 12:31would get to an uphill and just thug it
- 12:34out. [snorts]
- 12:35Um
- 12:37and as we got closer, I had a second
- 12:39where I thought I wasn't going to make
- 12:40it actually. I um
- 12:43looked at my watch and started doing the
- 12:44mental math in my head and I started to
- 12:46make those excuses that we normally
- 12:47make. Once I started to get really close
- 12:49to the end of the race, around mile
- 12:51eight or so, I looked down at my watch
- 12:53and it was 1:36 I believe, meaning I had
- 12:5624 minutes to run the last 2 miles.
- 12:59Which 12-minute mile is not particularly
- 13:02fast, but I had a large uphill section
- 13:06that I had to go and tackle. And I
- 13:08basically had to have the conversation
- 13:09with myself that if you want this goal
- 13:12if you want to be able to hit sub 2
- 13:13hours, you have to run this uphill. You
- 13:15don't have time to stop, you don't have
- 13:16time to power walk. You just have to
- 13:18blitz through that uphill section. And
- 13:19so, I decided in that moment we're going
- 13:22to dig deep. We're going to push for it
- 13:23and we're going to make it happen. I ran
- 13:25that uphill section, got to the
- 13:27downhill, flew on the downhill, did
- 13:30again like 8:30 or something, and came
- 13:33in finishing strong, and I think my
- 13:34final time was like 1:56 or something.
- 13:37So, a little over an 11-minute mile,
- 13:40like 11:30s, and
- 13:44did the goal. Did the thing that I
- 13:45decided I was going to do in the middle
- 13:46of the race. Like, it was completely
- 13:48arbitrarily defined. But,
- 13:51my point is, by the way, here's the
- 13:52medal. Let me Let me show you guys
- 13:54really fast.
- 13:55Here's the the thing. If you can see it.
- 13:57It's like a little coaster. It's
- 13:58actually kind of cool.
- 14:00Um if you're wa- or you're listening to
- 14:01this, I'm That's yeah. It's a little
- 14:03coaster that says Antelope Island Fall
- 14:05Classic 2026 finisher on it.
- 14:08And it's sick.
- 14:10Um
- 14:12it was just genuinely so much fun. It
- 14:13was just genuinely one of the most fun
- 14:15experiences that I've had in
- 14:18a really long time. And it's the most
- 14:20fun race I've ever run.
- 14:22So, basically, yeah, I'm retiring from
- 14:24road races, and I'm now just running
- 14:26trail runs. But,
- 14:29at the end of the day,
- 14:30the point behind these stories in the
- 14:33beginning of this is
- 14:36I got a lot out of climbing on Friday,
- 14:38and I got a lot out of racing on
- 14:40Saturday,
- 14:41where I
- 14:44was able to dig deep, I was able to push
- 14:46for a goal, but I also had fun doing it.
- 14:48I also enjoyed doing it. And now here
- 14:51today, Sunday, even though I'm tired,
- 14:53I'm sore,
- 14:54I
- 14:56feel great. Feel happy. I feel
- 15:00proud of myself, which is something that
- 15:03I don't always get to say.
- 15:04And it feels good to be
- 15:08in that
- 15:09that world. So,
- 15:12let's just talk about this really fast.
- 15:14Let me look at my notes and see what we
- 15:15have written down, cuz I want to just go
- 15:16over a few a few points here.
- 15:19Um
- 15:20the big thing that I'm really kind of
- 15:23starting to notice as I get older and I
- 15:25think this weekend really put it into
- 15:27perspective for me, you can do more when
- 15:29you're having fun.
- 15:31Straight up.
- 15:32Because for some reason when we want to
- 15:36put ourselves through suffering, when we
- 15:37want to make things harder than they
- 15:39really need to be,
- 15:41we tend to not do them as much.
- 15:43We tend to not want to
- 15:46go to the gym or go on the run or go to
- 15:48jiu-jitsu or study the homework
- 15:51because it's hard and it's not fun and
- 15:53we don't enjoy it. But I will tell you
- 15:56all of the progress that I've made as a
- 15:57musician
- 15:59has been when I've been having fun on
- 16:00the guitar.
- 16:01All of the progress that I have made in
- 16:02jiu-jitsu has been when I want to go to
- 16:04jiu-jitsu. All the progress that I have
- 16:06made doing literally anything has been
- 16:09when I actually want to go and do it,
- 16:10when it actually sounds fun to me. And I
- 16:14think that
- 16:15the critical piece that so many of us
- 16:17are missing is it's okay to have fun
- 16:19doing things
- 16:20because we're probably going to get
- 16:21better by having fun doing it.
- 16:27I really hope this point is getting
- 16:28across. It feels kind of rambly to me,
- 16:30uh, to be honest with you,
- 16:32but
- 16:34at the end of the day, like I'm not good
- 16:35at basketball because I don't think
- 16:37basketball's fun.
- 16:39The reason I'm not good at soccer or
- 16:41football or any of these other random
- 16:42sports is cuz I just don't find them
- 16:44enjoyable. I don't think they're fun, so
- 16:45I don't do them.
- 16:47The reason I'm good at guitar is because
- 16:49guitar is fun and I play guitar all the
- 16:51time. The reason I'm halfway decent at
- 16:53jiu-jitsu or halfway decent at climbing
- 16:55mountains is the fact that I do it a lot
- 16:58because I enjoy it.
- 17:00And
- 17:02discipline's important.
- 17:04Doing things that you don't want to do
- 17:05is important. But
- 17:08at the end of the day, having fun is
- 17:09kind of underrated
- 17:12because if you enjoy every single second
- 17:14of it or most seconds of it, you don't
- 17:17need to be disciplined.
- 17:19Discipline only comes into play when you
- 17:20don't want to do something. But if you
- 17:21don't want to do something, need to ask
- 17:23yourself why is it that you're doing it
- 17:25in the first place? Of course, you're
- 17:27going to have times where you don't want
- 17:28to show up. Of course, you're going to
- 17:29have times where things get hard
- 17:31and you have to push through. You have
- 17:32to flex that discipline muscle. It's
- 17:34important that we build it.
- 17:36But if you're just doing something
- 17:37because the internet or some random
- 17:40person or me tells you that you should
- 17:42do it, you don't actually want to do it
- 17:45ever,
- 17:46maybe it's not the thing that you should
- 17:47be doing.
- 17:50And maybe that's okay.
- 17:51I think that we live for the
- 17:52expectations of other people and for the
- 17:55expectations of what a past previous
- 17:59version of ourselves said.
- 18:01You know, we might have said 3 years ago
- 18:03that we wanted to go and become
- 18:05a doctor. And now you're actually in
- 18:07medical school and you hate your life.
- 18:10If that's the case,
- 18:11quit.
- 18:13Like,
- 18:14don't do things that you to do.
- 18:17Just fill your life, fill your time with
- 18:19things that are enjoyable and your life
- 18:21will be enjoyable. It's really that
- 18:23simple. So now we do need to talk about
- 18:25when is it important to do things that
- 18:28suck. Because at the end of the day,
- 18:30like sometimes, yeah, you got to do
- 18:31things that suck.
- 18:32I think that we should be doing things
- 18:33that suck. I think we should be doing
- 18:34things that we don't want to do and
- 18:36flexing that discipline muscle when we
- 18:38need a mental win. When we need a
- 18:40victory to prove that I can do these
- 18:42things. I can do hard things. I can do
- 18:44things I don't want to do. When you need
- 18:45to remind yourself that you are who you
- 18:48say you are, that you are the type of
- 18:49person who can do tough things, the type
- 18:51of person that can push through and
- 18:52persevere, yeah,
- 18:54go and do things that you don't want to
- 18:55go and do.
- 18:57But
- 18:58if you're looking to optimize your
- 19:00growth, if you're looking to optimize
- 19:02your skill set,
- 19:04I don't think doing things you don't
- 19:06want to do
- 19:08is the best way to go about it.
- 19:10Honestly, I think the best way to
- 19:11optimize your skill set is just by
- 19:12having fun and doing things over and
- 19:14over and over again because there's the
- 19:1610,000 hour rule and all these different
- 19:19things that state the more time you put
- 19:20into something the better you get and
- 19:23they're 100% true.
- 19:25But think about something that you love
- 19:27more than anything else. How easy is it
- 19:29to hit 10,000 hours in that thing? Not
- 19:31that hard.
- 19:32Think about something that you hate more
- 19:33than anything else. How hard is it going
- 19:35to be to do 10,000 hours of something
- 19:37that you hate?
- 19:38Extremely
- 19:40freaking difficult. And so at the end of
- 19:42the day, if you can do something that
- 19:46you enjoy
- 19:47and completely build your life around
- 19:50it, you're just going to become so much
- 19:52better at it. Thanks for tuning in and
- 19:53watching this video. I hope it was at
- 19:55least somewhat productive. I'm sorry. I
- 19:57feel a little bit scatterbrained today,
- 20:00um but I really wanted to make sure that
- 20:02I could still get something out for you.
- 20:05The lesson is basically what I've been
- 20:07repeating over and over in this. Go and
- 20:10have fun. Don't spend every waking
- 20:13second doing things that suck because
- 20:14then you're going to turn around at 40,
- 20:1650, 60 and realize that yeah, you may
- 20:18have done some cool things. You may have
- 20:19done some things that were hard but like
- 20:21you didn't enjoy a single second of it
- 20:23and really what is the point in living
- 20:25if
- 20:26you're not going to enjoy any of it. But
- 20:29yeah, thank you so much for tuning in,
- 20:31for watching this video. Make sure that
- 20:33you like, share, subscribe, follow, rate
- 20:35if you're on Spotify and
- 20:37I'll see you see in the next one. Have a
- 20:40good weekend. Have a good week. Peace
- 20:42out. Thank you. Bye-bye.
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