How to Tell if the Master Class Isn’t For You (Bonus Episode)

All right, Joe.

Hey, Brett, man, I really appreciate you, uh, helping us out here on, um, doing a little session on the MasterClass. Thank you very much.

It's a really powerful course, and I want people to have an opportunity to kind of get to know what it is.

Awesome. Yeah, it's— we've gotten a lot of people asking more about it, and I just thought this would be a cool way to do it. People can decide to listen to it or not. And I'm sure it's going to be better with your questions. So let's, let's do it.

Let's just do a quick and dirty conversation and throw it out there.

Yeah, let's do it.

Yeah, so, so tell us, tell us all a little bit about the MasterClass. What's, what's the history? Where'd it come from?

Yeah, so I mean, I think you know this part of it, which is, you know, before there was the MasterClass, there was the other class courses that I did. And for whatever reason, you're not supposed to do it this way, but I did these 18-month courses to start off with and You were in the third version of that. And those 18-month courses is where I learned to do a lot of iteration to find the experiments and the exercises that people could do that would have the biggest difference for them. So when I was doing that, I looked for exercises, created exercises that I had done in my past and just continually iterated. And I found that things that had a verbal component, a physical component, an emotional component were very strong. And I found that if you, you couldn't bypass the intellect, but if the intellect were dominant, the power, the power of the exercises and experiments were far less. And so that became the, what I was looking for in exercises. And, and I, it was always really important to me from the beginning, just like in my coaching, that Everything is about a person's wisdom, not about my wisdom, meaning that there— here's an exercise, it's an experiment, you get to learn what you want from it. You have to experience it for it to be real to you. It's not about what somebody tells you. And so, so I did that and came up with these really cool exercises and learned how to invent them in a way that was really meaningful. And then I started to realize, to do these exercises It was important that they weren't solving the problems that people think they had. They were solving the things that were getting in the way from getting what they wanted. Meaning like a lot of people say, oh, I want to do this, I want to do that, and I can't. And if you— such as like quit smoking or start a business— and if you work directly on the smoking or the business, then it's not very effective. What's more important is to look at what gets in the way. Of quitting smoking or starting the business, for instance, and then— or just basically accomplishing what you want— and then to address that stuff. So I always started looking for exercises that were like that.

Oftentimes it's the same thing that's stopping somebody from quitting smoking and starting a business. Yes, something, something deep in there that if you just address the starting a business thing, you could, you could come up with a to-do list of what you need to do to start a business, but it'll still be blocked by the psychological component.

That's right. Yeah. When the big components get undone, 10, 12 things in a person's life change. That's exactly it. Yeah. And then it became— and I was really liking the in-person stuff and I wasn't— people had said, "Let's do this online," and I wasn't really compelled to do it. And I think— I mean, I don't think I know I had a limiting belief around that. And then COVID hit.

And when COVID hit, I was like, "Boy." You all had lots of limiting beliefs that COVID hit.

Yeah, exactly. And Tiago approached me. He does this course, Building a Second Brain, and he approached me and said, "Hey, I really want my audience to be able to experience you. I've experienced you and I think we can do this online." And I was like, "Oh, it's not going to be as powerful," was my thought process. And Then I got bored and I was like, "Wait, hold on a second. Let's really look at my limiting beliefs here." I realized, first of all, that I had learned completely without any of the exercises that I created or was teaching, and that I had learned completely remotely outside of silent meditation retreats. I knew that I was like, "Wait, hold on. Now I know there's something possible here." I didn't want to give up the exercises. I told him yes, and, and I got a group of students that had worked with me for some time together, and we just started experimenting every week for a couple hours. We would do exercises online, and I got to see what worked and what didn't work and what was powerful for them and what wasn't. And so I built the course around that experimentation, really seeing what worked for people, and I built it around the 7 things that I saw my clients and, and any students that I'd worked with really getting in the way of whatever it is that they wanted to accomplish. And so I look for exercises around those 7 things and just look for the most powerful ones.

Well, that's a little bit of a teaser here.

All 7 things are around things that happen generally to people that get in their way, but they're also kind of a flip on the way that you look at things. So for instance, the first course, the first week of the course, or second, I guess it is, I talk about one that's connection over perfection. So oftentimes people think that they have to get it right or be perfect to accomplish something, which is really not the case. Iteration is a much better approach. It's quicker and you get better results from it. And the trick for great iteration is to stay connected with yourself, stay connected with your audience, stay connected with your customers, stay connected with your team. And if you can really focus on the connection, and iterate, it's far better than perfection. You get far better results. And so that's one example. Say another example is defensiveness is something that most people feel like there's something that they need to defend, and every time they defend, they're cutting off a certain amount of wisdom. So how do you stay open and loving instead of defensive? And all of us have been in a business meeting where somebody has been defensive and you can just see progress grind to a halt. And so again, working with something like that. And we do exercises. The exercises themselves are something that are deeply, as you know, deeply experiential, not something you find outside of the course. And so they're, they're kind of hard to explain. So for instance, one exercise that we work with is there's just a direct questioning of somebody where you ask them over and over again, How do you want to be right now? How should you be right now? And they get to experience the difference physically in their body, what it feels like to tell themselves they should do stuff and what that creates in their body and their mind. And then how do you want to be right now? And then what does that create in your body and your mind? And you get to feel it and you get to feel like how horrible shoulds are and how stagnant they create a life and how wants can open things up. So it's always about just really, really feeling how it lands in your body and then seeing the intellectual ramifications of it. So that's what all the experiments are. And then we do them. You do one-on-one work, you do small group work. So you do all these exercises in this way. And then we have that, the weekly rapid-fire coaching that we do. And then the other part to this one, I was like, oh, there's something about doing this over 8 weeks instead of doing it like over a weekend or 4 days. And there's a way in which we can create like a consistency in people's lives that allows for a different kind of change. And that's when I got really excited about doing the MasterClass because I realized a lot of the experiments that I ran in my own life were something that I was like, oh, I'm gonna do this experiment. And I would do it for like 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 weeks. And they would have a huge impact on me. I remember one of the experiments I did was, um, I'm not going to do anything I don't want to do this week, just for a week as an example. And I ended up doing it for 2 weeks. And I remember the first week I did that experiment, I didn't take out the trash, I didn't do all the things I didn't want to do. And then I realized I don't want to live with stinky house. And so I had to learn how to want to take out the trash. Which changed everything for me, right? Where I realized that how I approach things was far more important than if I approached them, if I did them or not.

Yeah, or what you're approaching.

Yeah. So to be able to give people a series of experiments like that that they can play with in their real life, that got really exciting to me. And so then that was the last part of the course, is building those things, that homework that I had seen work for my clients, that I had seen work for myself, and putting them in Mm-hmm.

So, so how does somebody listening to this tell if they are a good fit for the course?

Wow, uh, good question. So I think the way I think about it is more firstly, if you're not a good fit for the course, meaning it's easier to say what wouldn't work. So what makes somebody a bad fit is that if they're not using their skepticism effectively.

What do you mean by that?

Yeah, meaning is if you're experimenting with something, it's really important to be skeptical, meaning don't take what I say as gospel or anybody, make sure that it works for you. That's critical. But if you do the skepticism before you do the experiment, you're gonna destroy the experiment. Meaning we know that whether it's in physics or in psychology, if you have a predetermined idea of what's gonna happen, it messes up the experiment.

Right, it's biased.

It's biased, that's right. So if you can't be skeptical after the experiment, you have to be skeptical before, then it's not as effective. So I wouldn't come if I were in that shoe, if I was in those shoes. And that's not to say that we do anything woo-woo. It's really important to me that everything is straightforward, has some neurological validity to it. So, but it's really important to keep that open mind until the experiment is over, and then, and then use your skepticism.

Yeah, to riff on that a little bit, a lot of, a lot of what I've learned from the Course is, is recognizing where just our skepticism or our doubt with ourselves in our life biases everything that we do. And just even, even noticing that is part of the process, noticing the way that resistance comes up in the Course or in any of the courses or in coaching.

Yes.

It's like the same resistance that would block me from getting something out of the course is usually the same kind of resistance that would block me from getting something out of my workout.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, yeah, like, so some people have this idea that personal transformation is hard and that would be a block to this course. That's fine that it is a block. We have lots of ways of working with that. But if you have a block like that in this course, oh, this transformation is going to be hard, then you probably have a dozen other things that you think are hard. That are also making it hard to achieve those things. Whereas if you realize that it doesn't have to be hard, that it's the way you're looking at it, you get all that freedom. So yeah, that's a great point. Another thing that makes it so that I wouldn't do the course is, you know, if you have a propensity for high drama, there's small group work here, and there are certain people who just— any work that they do or any friend group, there's just a tremendous amount of friction that they cause. Now, some friction is going to be fine. It's actually great because you get to learn a lot through it. But if you're one of those perpetually, you know, friction creators, I would say be honest about that and don't come, you know, don't come to the course. That wouldn't be good. And the other, the other thing that would make you not right for the course is if you can't admit that there's something you're working on. There are certain people out there who feel like admitting that there's anything that they're working on or that there's something to work on or that the evolution has, has, you has a place to continue and there's some way for them to receive more joy or happiness or accomplishment in their life. If you can't do that because you're that protected, I would say this isn't the right course. There's no answer that's going to be given to anything besides a question that you have. Meaning, I won't coach somebody if they don't have a question. I don't try to convince anybody of anything. I don't want to try to get anybody anywhere. It's so motivated by where you want to be and where you want to go. And so if you don't have that, and there's people out there who don't, I would say that is not— this isn't the, this isn't the place for you. It'd be a waste of your money.

Yeah, so it sounds like all three of those things that you mentioned, the skepticism, or whether you're— whether you like to create drama or find yourself creating drama in groups, or if there's— if you're not able to admit that there's something that you want to work on, all of that sort of points to sincerity.

Huh, I hadn't thought about it that way.

Yeah, that's just how it lands on me. It's like, yeah, it's totally true in each of this.

Yeah, yeah, if you are sincerely here, this is great, and if you're not, this would be a waste of your time, and it would hurt other people in the course, so you should definitely not join if that's the case. Yeah, great.

So then, so then let's say somebody, let's, let's say somebody has, has the sincerity, they really want to take ownership of what they're getting out of the course and they've got stuff they wanna work on, and so they sign up. How does somebody get the most outta the course?

Yeah, this isn't just in this course, but I would say in life, if people ask me, and I think we've talked about this before, what's the leading indicator for somebody's life transforming? It's always embracing intensity. It's not creating intensity, it's really going deep in this work and feeling that, uncomfortable part. I've had people talk about this work recently. I was just doing a gig for an alphabet company yesterday in Santa Fe. They had an offsite in Santa Fe and somebody said, "It's a little bit like a teeth cleaning. It's not entirely comfortable, some of the work, but you feel so great afterwards." And I was like, "Oh yeah, that's a pretty darn good description of some of the stuff that we do." And if you're willing to really go into the discomfort, the cleaning is far better. The refresh, the clarity, everything is far better. So I would say that's how you make the most of it for sure.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I'd add to that, there's like, there's a component of looking for deeper subtleties. There's, there's a lot of exercises that at first glance might feel like they're just a nothing burger until you actually do it and like let yourself sit in it and be like, wait a minute, what is actually making it so uncomfortable for me to be doing this exercise with this group of people? And then like, oh, the feelings that are coming up now.

Yeah.

Those are the things that are driving me. And keeping me away from, you know, many, many opportunities in life.

Yeah.

Or for my own growth.

I can't— I'm smiling so hard right now because there's so many times that someone's just like, well, we've done something like this before. This isn't going to be useful. And then I'm like, just, just do it. And then they have that moment of like, oh, and yeah, totally. It's true. It's one of our defense mechanisms. So yeah. I agree.

Yeah. Well, what else? What else? How else could somebody really get the most out of it?

I would say that's it. That's it for the most out of it. But I think that there's a way to think about it as like I didn't answer the question of what would make it a good fit. And I think there is a way to think about that question, which is— so let me, let me just let me try this. So the first thing that I would say, so if you're sitting here and you've gotten this far and you're like, okay, I want to know if this is a great fit. The first thing that I would do, and I'll just like guide you through this for a minute, I would first get in touch with the thing that if you changed would improve your life the most. So I would say take a moment, and if you can't get to it by the time I move on, just press pause and then press play. But really get in touch with like what is that thing that if it changed, it would improve your life the most? That's the first question.

And are we talking about external factors like money? Are we talking about internal factors like the way that I— It doesn't matter.

Yeah, great question.

Bring up difficult conversation. Okay.

They're all internal eventually, but it doesn't matter if you think about it like, yeah, I don't have enough money or whatever. Yeah.

Okay.

And then once you have that really in your mind, then take a moment and see what your life would look like if it changed. So I don't mean just go, okay, yeah, now I'd have money. I mean, take a look at like how your morning would be. How your day would be? What would your conversations be like? How would you interact with people differently? How would you view yourself differently? When you looked in the mirror, how would it be different? What were— what— how would you spend your time over a year differently? So really get in touch with that and really, like, visualize that for a moment of what your life looks like if this thing actually changes. So that would be the second, second piece. And then the third piece I would say is, um, consider for a moment that this thing that would change your life the most, it never changes. See what it's like, because we think about something like not having money, and there's a feeling of that if we don't have money today, but there's a feeling of that if I'm like 80 and I never never really figured out the money thing, or if I never quit smoking, or I never learned how to lead people, or I never learned how to have the deeper relationships that I wanted, whatever it is. And see what your life looks like laid out over 80 years with this never changing and feel that. And again, visualize it, visualize how your time gets spent. Visualize what's the work you're doing in the world. Okay. Visualize how you're interacting with people. Yeah. And again, take as much time with this. Press pause. Take as much time with this. And then the last thing I would say to help you figure out if this is right for you is think about what the blockers are that are stopping you from having this change. And think about the internal blockers, right? You think that it's hard. To do it, or you think that you have to be smarter to do it, or you get defensive and so people don't like working with you, or you are constantly trying to be perfect, or you're scared of what other people think, or you're, um, uh, scared of feeling so good and that you have a fear of success. So think about those blockers, and there's at least 3. So whatever it is, the biggest thing that's that you want that will change your life the most, there's at least 3 things. And identify those 3 things, at least 3 of them. And if you want to work on those things, this is the right course for you. If you want to work on the things that are getting in the way of you getting what you want here and with everything else in your life, not the symptoms but the, the root cause, then this is the, this is the course for you.? And you should immediately know like, oh wow, this is— if I can actually— if that can actually shift, then my whole life is different. It's totally worth the time and energy it takes to do the work.

Okay, so let's, let's walk through that again just really quickly, and that way people can kind of hit each question, pause, and if they want to do the exercise. So it starts with, you know, finding what's the one thing that if it changed would improve our life the most.

Yes.

And then asking, what would our life look like if it did change? Kind of going through a day in the life 5, 10 years from now or tomorrow, if that's tomorrow.

Even tomorrow is even the best. Yeah, I'll just say this because a lot of, a lot of times people think that change takes a long time, and I mean, you've seen it, oftentimes changes overnight in this work. So definitely tomorrow is a great way to think about it. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, it's interesting. A lot of the times the transformation happens no faster than we think it can happen. And so we'll have an epiphany and be like, oh my God, I see everything in a totally different way than I ever did before. I can't wait to get back in the world and then slowly integrate this into my life tentatively.

Right.

Over the course of months or years.

Okay. We blew it. So let's start from the top. You had it. You had a great thing. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

So Straight from the top.

Yeah.

What's the thing that if it changed would improve your life the most?

Yes.

Next one is looking at what your life would look like if it did change tomorrow.

Yes.

And in the future.

Yeah. And visualize it. That's right.

Visualize it. Feel it.

Yeah.

And then the next question to ask would be, what would your life look like? What would your life look like if it stayed the way it is now forever?

Yeah, that's right.

Now, 80 years from now.

Yes.

Feeling that, feeling whatever disappointment or whatever acceptance or joy or—

Yes.

Whatever you might find on the other side.

Yes, that's right.

And then asking, what are the blockers that stop you from having this change you want right now and having it be fun and easy?

That, yeah, that's a— Thanks for adding that. Yeah, fun and easy. What would it take for this change to be able to be possible and to be fun and easy??

Right?

Awesome. And list anything that stops that. And if you want to work on the stuff that stops that, then that is— this is the course for you.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Well, I'm really looking forward to this year's course.

Yeah, man.

I've been in groups in it and it's a fun time every time.

Yeah, guys, Brett is part of the people leading, so it's fantastic. Yeah, yeah. Awesome.

All right.

Thank you, man. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this, and I hope it's helpful for all the people who are interested in the course.

Yeah, you got it. Thank you, Joe.

You're welcome.