The Billion Dollar Mind feat. Rick Macci and Nivedita Uberoi Jerath

If you want to improve your net worth, you got to improve your network. You got to branch out and explore opportunities by just meeting people and being around that environment. You can't stay in that cocoon unless you want that. You get what you put into it. So you got to network. You have to be around other people. It could be one word, one sentence, one person that could make you millions of dollars and you have no idea that's around the corner. You have no idea. It's amazing. And now if you don't have the time, I don't like that excuse because a winner finds a way and a loser makes an excuse and you find the time.

This is the Invest Like a Billionaire podcast where we uncover the alternative investments and strategies that billionaires use to grow wealth. The tools and tactics you'll learn from this podcast will make you a better investor and help you build legacy wealth. Join us as we dive into the world of alternative investments, uncover strategies of the ultra-wealthy, discuss economics, and interview successful investors. Welcome back to the Invest Like a Billionaire podcast. I am your host, Ben Fraser, and very excited about today's guests, plural. We have Rick Macy, and Niva Jareth. They are teamed up and they have written an awesome book called Billion Dollar Mind. And when I first saw what they had put together to come on the podcast tours, I was very intrigued, obviously with the connection of the billionaire. But we've also been doing more episodes focused more on mindset recently and how that kind of impacts us as investors, impacts us as business owners, how we can continue to improve and grow and learn and break through ceilings. And if you don't know who Rick is, he is famously the coach for Serena and Venus Williams and has been a tennis and a tennis coach and one of the premier coaches for many, many decades. And Rick, you know, he didn't probably want me to tell this, but he charges $800 an hour for a lesson. So you guys get a very, very valuable next hour for free for you.

Since we're doing a podcast, I'm going $7.99. All right, so—

Oh wow. Okay. That's a good deal. We'll just put your Venmo in the show notes at the end. People can throw that in. And not to be outdone, we have Niva, who is a Harvard-educated neurologist. And as I said, they've teamed up to write a book called Billion Dollar Mind. So Niva, Rick, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for coming on.

Yeah, thanks for having us. It'll be a lot of fun.

Absolutely. So we have a lot to cover, but for those that maybe are less familiar with both your backgrounds, how about you each take a minute and just share a little bit about your background and kind of what you're up to now?

Yeah. So a brief background, I guess. I, I grew up in Georgia and I, I played tennis when I was a kid before I went to Harvard. And Rick was my coach. So that was a fun experience. I always you know, worked on mental strength my whole life. There was no way I could do anything, or we, anybody can do anything without positivity and being able to have a strong mind. And it was something that I just found fascinating. I think when I played tennis, mental strength was a key component to my game. So I was able to win because nothing would bother me no matter what. I would never lose the positivity, the focus, affirmations throughout every single day. Throughout my career. So I, you know, played tennis, I worked with Greg, and then I went to Harvard for undergrad and then continued my education. I decided to go into medicine and then studied the field of neurology and neuromuscular medicine, built a program in Orlando and worked there. But throughout my career, I realized mental strength is important. Throughout all the difficulties in life, mental strength's been important as well as with all my patients. And I've always been in touch with Rick, and here we are teamed up for this book. It's been a great experience.

Well, let me—

wait, I gotta dive in. Listen, you gotta understand, she's a wizard. She's one of the best. She's not gonna say it. She's one of the best in the world at what she does. You have no idea. So everything in the book is gold. People are going to be blown away and intrigued by the depth of what goes on. Regarding my story, I have a very unique story. You know, I grew up in a small town, 10,000 people, Greenville, Ohio. My dad died when I was 10 years old. I picked up a tennis racket at 12. You can't make this up. I taught myself how to play. By 18 years old, I was the number 1 ranked player in Ohio Valley. No lessons.

Okay.

Today I teach still 50 hours a week. I teach more than anybody in the United States. I grew up in a park. I grew up in a park. Uh, my facility academy is in a park here in Boca Raton. It's like Disneyland and Candyland. It's an amazing facility. Uh, so my whole career's come full circle, but in between, I really loved helping others more than helping myself and always could motivate, educate, stimulate, and always expected a lot for myself. And that's been the cornerstone of my teaching. And through that whole process, I've been fortunate to have some of the best players ever. Venus, Serena, people saw the movie King Richard, you know, Jon Bernthal played me in the movie. My mustache was kind of like yours, a little piece of athlete. He had this big bushy thing, but the movie was spot on. But I had Venus, Serena, Capriati, Roddick, Sharapova, Meskina, Kenin. Pierce, Christian Ruud, whose son's in the top 10 in the world. So I've been fortunate to have a lot of amazing players, over 300 national titles, been fortunate to have Coach of the Year 7 times. But I love it just as much today, 7 days a week, as I did back then. And that's the wild card for anybody listening. If you have the passion, you know, the sky's the limit. So that's in a nutshell. We could go on and on about that, but enough about me.

That's so amazing. And there's definitely a lot there I want to unpack a little more. But you talk about, you know, never how much the mental side of the game was, you know, something that a lot of people struggle with and how you can kind of hit these ceilings or these plateaus. And so, you know, I grew up playing tennis as well, which is what's so fun having this conversation. Never was, you know, nationally ranked or anything. But it's interesting to me playing a lot of different sports, how much tennis the, the biggest challenge is usually yourself, right? Because it's just you and you out there confronting your, yourself. And, and how do you overcome, you know, a bad hit, a bad point, a bad game, and having to work through that? That's, you know, to me, in my experience, was such a key part of being able to grow. And, you know, played in a few tournaments, other things. But talk a little bit about, you know, how much the mental piece plays in success and continuing to grow, you know, in that sport in particular? 'Cause obviously, you have base-level skills, you gotta, you know, if you're tall, it helps, you know, and if you're fast, it helps, and all these things. But how much of the success would you attribute to the mental side of this from a lot of these top players?

That's an amazing question because that would, I 100% think, I don't even, I don't know if I, if anybody can achieve anything in tennis or in life without mental strength or positivity. So, and we've discussed this before, but there's never been anybody successful in sports and especially tennis that have not had that positivity or positive thoughts during their success. So that's a key fundamental. I don't know if you've ever seen anybody succeed in tennis or in life, or, you know, any other sport endeavor if they have negative thoughts. So having said that, I think that my personal journey was that I remember when I was a little kid, I honestly struggled in my technique. I worked very, very hard. I was like, oh, but I would always visualize myself before matches. And when I would lose, in that losing time of my life, I'd always see myself lose, or I'd see myself struggle with my forehand. I was like, oh, and I wish I could be good in I wish I could win those trophies. And then all of a sudden, I picked up a book on positive affirmations when I was a little kid. And I remember reading one day in the plane because there's nothing else to do on a plane. I would open it up and said, I will ace my serve. I will hit the best forehand. I started visualizing these positive things. I did that in the match the next day. And then I started winning because I realized, oh my gosh, now I'm going to do all this stuff. I'm going to think positively. Now I'm going to act positively. And that's the fundamental premise of this book. If we think positive thoughts, that's what's typically going to happen. And that's how I started changing my game. I started changing my tennis. And then from there on, I became like eventually undefeated in the South. So I remember how much those positive affirmations and positive thoughts made such a big impact. And I don't think anybody can rise to the heights in any sports, especially tennis, without positivity. So I would say that's the most important from my opinion. On top of, you know, of course technique and Rick has all of that, but you have to have that positivity. I'm sure Rick can hit on that.

No, listen, let me back the truck up when you ask me about what I do and all that. I'm probably more a life coach as a tennis coach. I work more on the mental part of the game. Okay. Forget sports psychology. It's all wrapped in one when I do a lesson. You know, you got to remember to forget. And that implies with investing also, you know, you got to remember to forget or it could be a rough day at the office. So I work a lot on this. It's a skill. It's all perspective. You made a good point. You know, tennis, business. Tennis is one-on-one. You know, it's— there's nobody there on the court. That's why some people are better in doubles. You got your own therapist on the court with you. You have that emotion kind of get away. So it's— there's so much problem solving with tennis. Okay. And it's not always who has the best forehand, backhand, and serve, you know, running, fighting, and having the ability to forget and be in the moment. That all starts with a positive attitude. The most positive creatures, the best of the best of all the rest, business or sports, they're the most positive people in the world. Okay, I'm just telling you, and they never quit. They know they're going to fail, but that's how they're going to succeed. It's all perspective, you know, and this is what I always tell the kids, you know, all the time, you know, you could be undefeated if you don't try, you know, if you're not going to get past, if you never come to the net, you know, the best shooters of all time, you know, are the best because they've missed the most. The best quarterbacks with the best most touchdowns. They've been picked off the most. This is what greatness understands. And it's no different with, you know, investing or playing tennis. The mental part is the wild card. And that's why I knew when I had some of these kids— and we'll talk about Venus and Serena— why would I take a big gamble on these two little kids, which I did? It's one thing to say you're good, Ben. It's another thing to put your cheddar there with no guarantee. You know, there was a rage inside. The way I saw them handle pressure, they were bulletproof. And when you're all about the competition, it's easier to not to get nervous. Keep your eye on the prize and you become bulletproof. And as you can see, the rest is history with those two girls.

And how much of that, from your perspective, specifically with Venus and Serena, was just part of their DNA and how they were wired versus forged through challenges and intentional, uh, focus. And, you know, you said there's some basic attitude, you saw kind of the raw pieces, you saw the raw potential there. How much of that was just, you know, nature versus nurture, right? Some people are thinking, oh, I'm just a negative person, that's, you know, I can't, I can't do that. How much of it would, in your opinion, is, is attributed to those two factors?

Well, first off, the parents, Richard and Orsine, they hit the genetic jackpot. I mean, that's big, strong, fast, quick, you know, but the mental part was baked in double crispy when I got them at 10 years old. They were like just bulletproof. So I knew they could handle pressure, but the environment I created, okay, a positive environment. And Venus said the best thing at the after party at the red carpet. Rick, we were brainwashed to become number one. You know, they were 12 years old. I'm talking about Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova. I was talking about people 25 years old. It's all— but you got to have the goods, you know, then the technical part you can, you can learn. But environment has a lot to do with it. But that being said, I love teaching negative kids. I love people that are negative because I look at it as a challenge. And that's the sign of a great coach. You know, I don't want the perfect student. I want to flip the script, take that negativity, and try to get them to look at the world through a different lens. Because there's— life is crazy, okay? You're dealing with stuff every day, and it's perspective and how you handle it. And that's what I've helped so many kids with. Get better grades, maybe get off drugs, treat people better, but more importantly, work hard and never give up. And that's all on tennis. They don't tell me about the forehand and backhand that I made world-class. It's those things when people come back, and that's the best feeling in the world.

That, that's so cool. Talk a little bit more about, you said the ability to forget, that, that kind of jumped out at me. And, um, talk about that and why, why, why is that important? How do you do that practically, both, you know, in a business setting versus a tennis setting or whatever?

You want to go?

Yeah, absolutely. I love that question because you know, every single day I wake up, and I think this is, this podcast is really important, so we can have a lot of money, but we still may not be mentally happy. And it just, it occurs because our thoughts come, who knows what we think about, we see something on TV, we hear, see something on social media, and all of a sudden that day we're not really, you know, tuned up. Who knows, somebody said something, and all of a sudden triggered a negative thought, or negative feeling, or negative emotion, doesn't matter how much money we have. And so, Every day I'm like, okay, I clean and weed out those negative thoughts. And part of it is forgetting. And it's not like, okay, I'm going to make sure I forget. It's about reframing. So then you start saying, okay, I'm going to be grateful. And I think we have a chapter in the book about gratitude. And I love that concept because as soon as you start being grateful for everything you have and there's an immense gratitude, you can't have frustration or anger or pain or sadness. And so, Doing things like that helps you forget. You know, and I know forgetting the past is really important or training your mind to do that. But then, but there are techniques where you can just say, okay, I'm gonna be grateful for that. And then all of a sudden you forgot what you're upset about. So gratitude is important and forgetting the past. I think they're linked hand in hand and very important to start reading every morning all this stuff. I kind of do it every hour because I'm like, okay, as soon as there's like a negative thought, I realize like that's creating a negative emotion. I'm not used to that. I'm used to being positive and upbeat. So I like, like, okay, that needs to go, whatever it is, it needs to go, and I'm going to fix it right away.

First off, I love this question. It's in my wheelhouse. You got to remember to forget. Okay, that doesn't mean the important things like in everyday life. I'm just saying how you deal with things. People say, Rick, you never get mad. I go, yes, I do. You never get upset. I go, yes, I do. But they don't know that. Because I deal with it different. You got to look at it and take a negative and turn into a positive. I try to control the situation, not let it control me. And this is really like a tennis match. You look at some of these guys, they make a mistake and never even happened. It's mind control. But you got to train yourself Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It's just like investing. You got to remember to forget. Okay. And that's— you got to have thick skin when you're talking about Cheddar. You You know what I mean? If you want to feel better, okay, so you got to really have a thick skin. So it's the same thing. Now you can't be footloose and fancy free. I don't care about anything. I'm not saying that. You got to be locked, loaded, and ready to launch. But you cannot forget and let it go. Listen, Ben, there's people probably still mad about stuff that happened 20 years ago. What is that all about? You know, hey, could What, you know, I don't, and this is where a lot of times I can almost help the kids more than the parents because they're listening to a different voice, a different way, and the way like Nip said, I frame it up or how I say it, why to say it, when to say it. That's the art of coaching and being able to connect. But if you cannot forget, all right, um, and it's mindset and Nip brought something up that I think is gold every day. We're kind of aware, most people, what you eat, what you put in your mouth, but we're not aware of what we put on our brain. You know, you want to be around positive people, you want to hear positive stuff, read positive stuff, go on YouTube, listen to motivational speakers, whatever. But people like the train wreck. They like the problems of the news. They like all the crap. And listen, whether it's right there or over there, it's in your subconscious. Okay. And I'm not saying it's bad. You need balance. I mean, you gotta be in the real world. You can't just— it's not rainbow lollipop and sunshine, but I think people need to be more selective and write it down, look at it. And if you get into that routine, you'll become a machine.

I like it. To me, it seems like it can kind of be applied in multiple instances. One, both the natural one is on failures, right? Is reframing the failures as a learning opportunity or Okay, that didn't work. So how do I make a pivot? How do I make an adjustment and try something new? Right. But the other side of it, I'm thinking with investing and what I see a lot of times is we get into these, you know, I call them ruts or whatever, where what worked yesterday might not actually work today. Right. And in kind of the investing frame, you know, these economic cycles can change in the investment vehicle of yesterday. May not be the right one for today. And being able to not only look at the failures and learn from those, but also, you know, remember to forget about maybe the decisions that you made that worked out well that maybe were just based on luck, right? I've read one of my favorite books is Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke. I don't know if you read this, but she talks about how so much of success that we see most of the times is attributed to luck. Obviously it has to be met with you know, the right circumstances and preparation, these kind of things. But we as humans like to over-attribute the success to our ability versus the things we can't control. And I think there's almost a bias that can be created from success that you kind of rest on your laurels, you rest on the things that maybe, you know, worked and you don't have a fresh perspective to see something that might catch you off guard. Do you see it apply in both scenarios or is it more kind of the failure side of things?

So you're just saying that it's important to forget failures, but it's also important to, you're even saying successes because sometimes the successes are not always going to be there. There's life is about change. So every day, you know, we're changing every day. Stocks are changing every day. You know, one day you never know the stock that you invested in is suddenly plummeting. So we always have to be very pliable with the way we think. And very flexible. So absolutely, I think sometimes you have to forget success as well and think about what's new that's going to make you successful. And I remember when I was writing this book, Rick told me, he's always like, every day, learn to get better. And I love that because that means that you got to reset your mind. It doesn't matter what happened in the past, but you're going to be better that day and the next day moving forward. So that's how, that's how you have to think. It's like your mind has to be different. Everybody is.

Yeah, it's perspective. You know, you gotta look at yesterday is history. You can learn from it. Tomorrow is a mystery, you know? And even though I've had, you know, an amazing success, I'm the luckiest guy in the world. Okay? I've been fortunate. Right place, right time. Uh, sure, it takes two to tango, but at the end of the day, I gotta get better. And I tell everybody, if you're not getting better, You're getting worse. Now, if that's what you want to do, just unplug. That's okay. But, and that's why, you know, I treat the maintenance guy the same as the barber or, you know, Serena Williams. And people ask me, and I mean this, Ben, from the bottom of my heart, they go, who's your favorite student of all time besides Dr. Niv? I got to say that she's next to me. But okay, no, no. People think it's going to be Venus, Serena, Capriati, Roddick, someone, Sharapova. It's really who's on the other side of the net. That hour, that minute, that second. And that's how I feel. And if people would look at life like that, you'll be more peaceful with yourself. You'll handle stuff better. But understand, you're right. You got lucky. Don't think you're the Wizard of Oz. Because when you get too full of yourself, bang, that's when things can go the other way. And then you freak out. You got to understand slow and steady, you know, you got to understand what the landscape is, but always just try to get better. Don't think you've solved all the problems of the world. There's another one coming tomorrow.

But I wanted to, I wanted to add to this because I think, Rick, when you were talking about then about success getting you somewhere and then suddenly you have to change, I've seen with working with Rick that all the time he talks about professional athletes who've had to change their technique and their serve. He does this all— I mean, you do this every single day. Like, somebody has to change something that was maybe working but not great. And so I think that's life. That's not just in tennis. It's every single day. I had a patient this morning who, like, has been doing great for 40 years but now needs to change and stretch a little more. You know, now things have to change. You have to understand bodies are changing. You have to be very, very flexible with that. And same thing with the stock market. Who knows? One stock goes up, then the next day it goes down. So, that ability is very important. I think, uh, that's, it's crucial.

Yeah. You mentioned something else that kind of jumped out at me in Rick. I think you said in some ways it's easier to coach, train kids than it is adults. Right. And I think as we age, as we have life experiences and we're maybe not intentional with, you know, our mind castle and how we're reframing things and how we're focusing on growing and learning. We can get into these patterns, get into these ruts, you know, hit certain ceilings or plateaus and get stuck there, right? So what do you, what do you say to, to someone that, I mean, and again, these are people listening to this, this is a show are generally pretty successful in life, right? They've hit a certain level in their life of success. They, you know, became a doctor and, you know, or make a lot of money. They became an entrepreneur and they're having success in their business. They're, retired and making money on their investments. But we all have these places where we need to keep growing, we need to keep being better. And how do we keep a flexible mind as adults, right? Where maybe our, the, the actual physiology, which nobody could probably talk on, like right now our synapses get more ingrained together and it's harder to create a more flexible mind. But what are some practices? What are things that you can do as an adult if you're feeling um, you know, where you can kind of reframe and change some of these patterns.

Yeah. Well, first off, I think that you, if you really want to get better, you have to get uncomfortable if you ever want to get more comfortable. So that's what people that are successful should really try to do, unless they just want to keep status quo. You know what I mean? You gotta get outta your like strike zone to get in the end zone. You know, that's what people have to do. And it's interesting you said about adults and kids. Because I can tell when I get— because I teach adults too. People fly in from all over the world. And even though she's a doctor, I do reconstructive surgery also, and I do it in 5 minutes. No, because I can put Humpty Dumpty together so quickly, and they're blown away. And I can tell in 5 minutes. I say, wait a minute, are you an engineer? They go, uh-huh. How'd you know that? Because I can tell this guy's analyzing everything. So I got to reprogram his reflexes, change his muscle memory, and get him to look at things differently because it's all analytical. And I just said, listen, your job description today is going to be run, sweat, and shut up. And maybe not in that order. You know, that's kind of the way I have to say it. Even though I do a lot of biomechanics, okay, and we're the worldwide leader in that area, it's not always about that. So, you know, if people want to, you should always want to grow. And get out of your comfort zone. That's where people have to— unless you don't want to do that, you know, and you cannot be afraid of rejection and failure or disappointment because that means you're knocking on the door. And the only time it's over, Ben, is when you quit. Always remember that. Yeah, it's over. Okay. Serena. No, Serena. She was a kid. Even when she lost matches, She never thought she lost. She, she just ran out of time, even though she lost. That's the way her mind was. It's kind of silly, but that's a lot of mental strength, you know? And you can see what came on the horizon was the greatest player of all time.

I wanted to add to that because it's so much about being able to change. And then we talk, uh, in the book a little bit about thinking moves. So that's important techniques of whoever's listening out there, if they have trouble with change, they know they need to change, is to start watching patterns. And human beings are so predictable the way they think. It's almost to the point where like, wherever I work, whomever I interact, I almost know exactly what they're going to do because they've done it before in the past. And for everyone listening there, they want to change how they think. The first step is awareness. Than watching their thoughts and how they think. And we talk a lot about journaling. There's so many amazing, you know, almost everyone who's really achieved heights has had to journal in some way. You know, so you even journal in your phone. So, if you have an iPhone, I created like a journal for our book as well that's going to be coming out soon. So, but in the book itself, there's pages to write down, writing down how you think and what those processes are. Then you start realizing if Patterns, you know, patterns not just for the past year, patterns for the past 20 years, 30 years, where you kind of fall into the same traps, getting the same outcomes. So you want the outcome to change, you have to change your thoughts first, and then you'll see a change in the outcome. So that's a really important technique we talk about. And I think it's changed a lot of people's lives. When they read this book, they start becoming more aware, especially my patients. They start realizing they're falling into that trap of feeling Ah, when they think a thought, then they go into the sad depression that they're gonna die or do whatever, and then they suddenly can't do anything. In fact, they're not even active. They can't go and exercise because they're sad and repressed. So as soon as they flip it, they start realizing there's, you know, positive thought, then they go and do the positive action. They feel a lot better.

Let me just dive in. You know, this is all, this is mind control and it's the same thing in business. When you said the ability to to remember, to forget. You know, in a tennis match, you got 20 seconds to make it like it happened 20 years ago. And you come back up to that line to serve or return serve, you got to feel amazing. You know what I mean? You got to feel amazing, especially the guys you see on TV or the girls, or they wouldn't even be there. You know what I'm saying? That is the cornerstone to even get there. And some do it better than others. And it's all mind control and how you look at this stuff. But you got to get into a habit, you know what I'm saying? And that's what I try to do with these kids. You know, they get out of the car, bang, they skip to the court. I want them improving their footwork. We don't make excuses, okay? It's just, it's just training your mind, but you got to get into a routine. Now, change is good, but if you're into positive stuff and all that, you keep that rolling. I'm just saying, Don't— you don't want to stay on that merry-go-round of negativity and being around the wrong people. Don't be afraid to ask people for help, you know, never. You want to get smarter, be around smarter people, you know. There's some very vanilla things here, and I try to get confidence in people because my feeling is once people believe, then they're going to achieve.

Yeah, I love that. We've been kind of talking about this from different angles, but I think one thing I did want to address, specifically is, you know, how do you break ceilings? How do you break plateaus, right? You kind of achieve a certain level of success, and I'm kind of thinking, you know, say there's an entrepreneur, they've hit a certain level of revenue, they hit a certain, you know, amount of, um, you know, get clients and employees, and they're kind of coasting there, but they don't know how to get to that next level. They, uh, maybe they feel, uh, like they don't have the ability or the resources or capacity to get to the next level. Same with investing and these kind of things. What are the things that you've seen when you're working with your clients to help them? Obviously, thinking loops can help, but how do you break through these ceilings or how do you, how do you get to that next level and kind of break through?

Yeah, sure. Absolutely. I love that question because it's something where we can all relate to when we do reach a certain level, we have a certain level of financial success. A certain level of success in our job, and you know, we're just like kind of coasting in life and going through a pattern of feeling like comfortable, you know, like, oh yeah, this is it. And I think good is always the enemy of great. And so it is, you feel so good, you're like, okay, I don't need to do anything, kind of coast, and you get into this pattern of just being kind of the same, and you don't have any sort of goals or achieve any kind kind of plateau. And I think one of the most important things to do at that point is to recognize what it is that's important to you. And it— there's a lot of ways to do that. It's a lot of time spent with yourself. It's you versus you. But when you're at home, what are the things you enjoy doing when nobody's really paying you to do it? What you really enjoy on your own free time, you really love. And those passions— for instance, for me, I love diet, you know, and exercise. Those two things I really love. And of course, Rick's the master of all those too. But for me, I love that. I love optimizing my diet, and I love being on top of my health. Now, so I could be really average in it, or above average in it. And then, I talk in the book about even Djokovic, and how he's number one in it. And so, getting— learning about that, once you learn, okay, like, he's never had chocolate, He doesn't eat any gluten, really, to optimize his tennis. I start— you start comparing yourself. How can you be on top? How can you get to that next 5% of perfection, right? Because all of us will cheat a little bit. Oh yeah, we'll eat a little bit of gluten. We kind of, you know, don't have that intense perfection there. And that is the concept of self-discipline. So you get to that, you break that barrier by doing disciplining yourself, and it's you versus you. So if you want it and you start making that discipline, and then we'll start by visualize, visualizing what you want, and you'll break through with those two things of visualization and discipline and getting there. So I love those concepts because for me it was almost that little 5% that I could do better, and I was like, "Everywhere I could do better. I'm going to make this diet better. I'm going to be better. I'm going to learn more, and I'm going to achieve that rather than just saying, okay, my diet's good, I'm okay. You know, like I can always make it better and learn. And so knowing what you want and then visualizing it and then getting the discipline to get there, even if it's a 5% difference, you can maximize your life.

First off, I love the question. You know, when people plateau or they, you know, want to break through, if you want to improve your net worth, You got to improve your network. Okay. You, as I just said, you got to branch out and explore opportunities by just meeting people and being around that environment. You can't stay in that cocoon unless you want that. You get what you put into it. Okay. So you got to network. You have to be around other people. It could be one word, one sentence, one person. That could make you millions of dollars that you have no idea that's around the corner. You have no idea. It's, it's, it's amazing. So that'd be my advice for anybody listening. Now, everybody's business is different. It's situational. You know, I get all that, but maybe they could create passive income. There's many opportunities to monetize things, but they have to network because you never know what's around the corner. And now if you don't have the time, I don't like that excuse because a winner finds a way and a loser makes an excuse and you find the time. You know, I tell the kids all the time, I tell them, you know, would you, if I said go run a mile, how many of you guys are going to do it now? And they couple raise their hand. And I said, well, wait a minute. If I gave you $1,000, would you run the mile? Yes, sir. You know, She can't raise her hand. I said, you got it backwards. You know what I mean? You got to do this to get that. It's not the other way around unless you inherit a lot of money or whatever. That's a whole different thing. So maybe then when it comes easy, you could blow all that also.

Okay.

You got to keep your eye on the ball. Okay. Don't get ahead of yourself. And in my opinion, greatness has always taken the stairs. Never the escalator.

Oh, I like that, man. You got a lot of good sayings. This is great. It reminds me of this concept I've heard, uh, semi-recently, and I was like, a common phrase, but it stuck with me. And he's called it the concept of adjacent possible. And so much of what we believe is possible is by what we're adjacent to, right? And so it's this concept of networking, so it's this concept of being around people that are better than you. And if you're the best in the room, you should probably get a different room, right? If you are, um, uh, not pushing yourself, if you're not around other things that, you know, maybe don't seem possible initially, but it's, it's crazy as I've continued to, you know, improve in different areas and, and grow as I kind of keep getting to different levels, meet different people. It, it's crazy. It's like, oh, these, these things that I thought were so unattainable, so unrealistic. At one point in my life. Like, it's not— they're not doing that much different. You kind of meet people at different levels, you're like, okay, like, I can do what they're doing. It's not that much harder, right? How can I make these little tiny improvements to continue to grow? And so much of, for me, in my, my journey has been the limiting beliefs are, are created by the environment that I'm in, right? So putting yourself in a different environment, it creates the possibility, right? Because you have to have belief. But to me, sometimes You know, what's the chicken or the egg? Does belief come first or does, you know, seeing what's possible come first? And then they kind of build on each other, right?

Absolutely. I mean, I love that because even one word from somebody that's negative can just eat up everything. Like you go from 95% confidence to, or you're 100% confidence to 95, 90, oh, I can't do this. Oh, what's the fear? You know, What's the risk in doing this? So all of a sudden, being around negative people can really be detrimental, even if it's just a little bit of negativity. So it's that, you're right, the people that you surround yourself, so important. You think you see someone like Rick who eats 5 or 6 items a day and, you know, so disciplined, it's like he makes everybody around him better. You know, he's the emblem of hard work and discipline, and having a connection like that is amazing. No wonder he charges $800. I think that's still, if you know him, it's still like, it's not much for what he does. He's amazing. So I I think knowing how other people are, being around people who are positive are going to get you to the next level is crucial because that one little negative word, the one little comment when you're driving home, all of a sudden it feeds, it goes into your mind. You're like, is that really something I can't do? Start doubting yourself and that confidence can go down.

So, no, listen, I look at this thing very, very different. Okay. Let me explain. Okay, people, everybody is the same. We're all humans. Now we achieve different levels of success and we get labeled. Well, you're an actor or you're great in sports or whatever. Everybody has to understand whether you're a kid or an adult, you can do whatever you want. Okay. If you try. Okay. You have no idea how many people I've had as a ball boy for some of the best people in the world, and they beat the best people in the world 15 years later. Okay, why not you? But we get into this idolization stereotype. No one's really that amazing, and you're not really that bad, but we push ourselves down. And the power of belief, you know what I mean? But you gotta, like I said, you gotta take the steps. You can't just jump to the penthouse. So this is what I want everybody to understand. Okay, anything is possible. And I know that's such an easy thing to say, but it is if you try and you're relentless and you never give up. But people let things stop us. You know, I lost, I failed, I'm doing bad, I had a bad day. You know, you get on that merry-go-round, you can become that person. You know, never ever give up. Life goes by like that. Before you know it, And everybody almost looks back and said, I wish I'd have done that. I wish I'd have done that. I should have done that. I'm telling you right now, do it now. Don't give up. Never give up. They're— it's not that much. They're not that much better than you. All these people that have millions and millions or billions, okay, just what I'm saying now, they never thought that. They maybe worked towards it or they visualized it. And then it could happen. All I'm saying is that can be you if money's what drives you. But number one, you should be the best you can be every day and always try to get better. And at the end of the day, you gotta look in the mirror because the mirror test never lies. Okay? And just say, did I get better today? And don't lie to yourself. And when you get on that type of routine, Okay, good things are in the oven.

I love it. And you know, in this book, the book, one of my favorite quotes, it says, think big and be big. I love that quote that Rick says is because you're as big as your biggest thought. And that's your thoughts are the generators of everything. So if you generate big thoughts and big dreams, you're going to build really good life.

And you know what? People should never ever look back. If you look back, you're going to go back. You got to let go. And but people keep these anchors on them, you know, and it just, it kills people in all facets of life, you know what I'm saying? And that's kind of what it is being mentally strong as a tennis player. So many times these people, the kids I talked to, I said, how many times have you played someone, you had a better forehand, backhand, and serve, and you lost 2-2? Because they sweat. You know, you've been there, you play Texas, they just hit every ball and they're just all about being a dog and fighting and never giving up. And those qualities, okay, are the cornerstone and the underlying factor of everybody who watches this. But if they've hit the ceiling, and like I said, they got to start networking and get out of their comfort zone, like I said, to get in the end zone.

That's awesome, man. This is so good. Thank you guys for coming on. I want to make a deal with you because I know you said you charge $800 an hour. We put the Venmo in the link, but what if we— we'll put the book in the link and we'll tell people to go buy the book and support what you guys are doing.

You know what's interesting? In the book, there's so much of me. There's probably like 50 hours of lessons from me, these gold nuggets that I throw, and You know, when I hear people, even Venus, Serena, or Capriati, when they reframe it, you know, because they have, you know, especially the Williamses, they have a totally different platform. Uh, that's the best feeling in the world knowing you made a difference in someone's life. So people that read the book, it's one thing to read it. Some, some little kid, I go, hey, did you read my book? You read our book? He goes, I read the book. I go, what'd you think? He goes, I only read the COVID I go, no, wait a minute. You know, he was a 10-year-old. I said, all right, you got a ways to go. So what I'm trying to say is it's one thing to read it. It's another thing to apply it. And what's great about the book, it's the gift that keeps on giving because there's so many like little things you can go back to and look at every day and give you that little shot of adrenaline. Because listen, everybody needs a shot of adrenaline. And you got Rick Macy and Dr. Niv in this book that can really lift you higher.

Changes lives.

So, all right, we'll put the link in and go get the book. It's on Amazon and I'm sure other outlets as well. And, uh, thank you both for coming on. It was really fun and, uh, excited to have everyone listen to this.