Ep 394 | Are You Interested, Committed, or Obsessed?

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. The other day, a friend of mine, fellow entrepreneur, uh, really smart guy, uh, Matt Durbin is his name, sent me a clip from an entrepreneur, an author, a motivational speaker, guy named Patrick Bet-David. Some of you probably have heard of Patrick or seen some of his videos on YouTube or Instagram or wherever it may be, but he puts out an awful lot of content around entrepreneurship, personal development, business strategy. Really, really sharp guy, really great guy to follow. And, and Matt had sent me this video that Patrick Bet-David had put out that really, really was intriguing to me. I watched it. I've been thinking about it quite a bit. I want to share its message with you today. I also have a challenge for you after that, after I share. So Patrick Bet-David says that there's really 3 different types of people in this world. At least as it pertains to pursuing goals or entrepreneurship or sport, whatever it may be. There's, there's really 3 different types of people. There are those that are interested. Interested people have what he would say a casual desire to succeed. Maybe they want to change or improve their situation, but they want to do it without significant effort or consistency. Now, we all know that interest alone is not going to drive sustained action, and if a challenge arises, we'll probably lose motivation and tap out. We've all been interested in a subject from time to time. I'll give you an example. As a matter of fact, um, Patrick, I think, as an example, was talking about one of his kids, and he was talking about his kid's interest in soccer. Said, my kid is interested in soccer. He likes soccer. He's intrigued by soccer. Wouldn't mind being good or even great at soccer, but he hasn't done much to show more than a casual desire. He hasn't really done much to change or improve his situation. Now he's young, right? So he's going to learn, but he used soccer as an example. The kid's interested in soccer. So Type 1 would be a person that's interested. Type 2, though, the second type of person is not one that's just interested, but someone who's committed. Committed individuals are far more serious about their goals. Committed individuals take action and they stay persistent in the face of difficulties, in the face of obstacles. They have discipline. They follow through on what they say they're going to do. They have integrity. However, their commitment still might not be enough. It may be limited, limited by some external factors. They may only go as far as necessary, and they don't push themselves beyond, you know, certain expectations or a certain ceiling or perceived ceiling. I think most people find themselves throughout life, no matter the subject, in a potentially committed level. That's the top of their game. I am committed to my craft, or I'm committed to this subject. I would tell you, if I'm going to use the soccer example again, or actually I'll use baseball and me. right? Like I was, as a kid, I was growing up, I was interested in baseball. I was even committed to baseball. I was practicing every day. I was fairly serious about my goals. I was pretty persistent, mainly because my father made me persistent. I was pretty disciplined. I wanted to be really good at baseball. But there came a point in my teenage years where I was kind of burned out on baseball. I wasn't as passionate about it. And maybe those were just excuses I was making at that time. I don't really remember or what, you know, I can't— I couldn't tell you specifically what was going through my head as a 16, 17-year-old, but, uh, I knew I was burned out, or at least I was saying I was burned out. So while I was committed to being really good, um, I, I could— I didn't break through that ceiling and baseball didn't stick for me. Now the third type of person, the third type of person is not just interested. Third type of person is not just committed. Third type of person is obsessed. This is the level that Patrick Bet-David considers the highest, considers it the most extreme. People who are obsessed are fully immersed in their goals. They think about these goals. They think about this, this subject nonstop, constantly. They work relentlessly. They pursue it as almost a central focus of their entire life. This obsession leads to extraordinary results because these people that are obsessed, they will do whatever it takes to succeed. They go above and beyond the efforts of those who are just interested or, or committed. The obsessed, we probably know some individuals that we would describe as obsessed about specific subjects. Michael Phelps comes to mind for me. That guy was pretty obsessed with not just swimming, but winning golds. Kobe Bryant, guy was obsessed with being the greatest basketball player on the planet. Elon Musk is obsessed with the idea of colonizing Mars. I think that these obsessed individuals, though, don't have to be these famous stars I just, I just mentioned. I think we can look around and you see a couple people in your world, and maybe this is you, where you're obsessed about a specific subject, and as a result, you're pretty damn good at it, and you're still pursuing being even greater at it. Patrick Bet-David used this framework really to encourage people to push beyond just the standard or the ordinary commitment. And the aim— I think we should all aim for this obsession in order to achieve exceptional outcomes, right? This is just a broader philosophy in my mind. If you're looking at yourself right now and saying, gosh, why am I not having the degree of success that I wish I could have or that I believe I should have, it very well may be that you're interested or committed, but you're not obsessed. That word obsessed, like, I mean, it really should strike you at your core when you think around things in your world. Are you obsessed with achieving greatness in those particular areas? It's probably a good focusing question. If you look at your business and you're not having the result you want, where are you at? Are you interested? You committed? Are you obsessed? If you look at your Relationships. Are you interested in having a great relationship? Are you committed to having a great relationship, or are you obsessed? Now, please, please don't take that word incorrectly here in terms of obsession. Are you obsessed with being a great partner, a great friend? Are you constantly kind of thinking about how could I be even better for people? How could I show up better? That would be an obsessed nature with respect to relationship. So where are you at with respect to these 3 types of people? Now here's the challenge for you, and it's been really fun as I've started doing this just the other day. I am sharing this lesson. I want to challenge you to share this lesson with somebody or somebodies, specifically younger people in your world. I want you to ask them or teach them this concept of interested, committed, and obsessed. And I want to hear what, what they learn from what it is you're sharing. The other day I did this with my daughter Katie, who, if you've been following the No Days Off podcast, you've heard me talk about Katie. She's actually appeared a time or two on the podcast. She's 12. And I said, hey, I want to talk to you about something. I want you to listen to what I'm sharing. And then I want to hear 3 things that are going on in your head, 3 things that you've learned from what I just shared with you. And she said to me, number 1, if you're obsessed with something, no one should have to tell you, tell you to do it. I mean, that was a pretty cool observation. She said, if you're obsessed with something, and for her it's dance, right? Or what she wants it to be is dance. If you're obsessed with something, no one should have to tell you to do it. No one has to tell her to dance in her mind. Now, we do have to tell her to dance from time to time, which means she might be in the committed level. She's not at the obsessed level yet. So number 1, she told me, if you're obsessed with something, no one should have to tell you to do it. Number 2, she said, and this was based on the conversation I had, which I didn't so much describe here today, but she said there's a big difference between practicing and training. Which is a really big takeaway because I said to her that interested people and even committed people practice, but obsessed people train. And there's a difference between practicing and training. It's probably one for a future podcast episode. And then number 3, what she had said to me, if you want to be the best, you have to train with the best and like the best. And you have to be obsessed, not just interested or committed. So that's my 12-year-old. I thought it was pretty cool what she shared. And I want to challenge you today to teach this interested, committed, and obsessed lesson to someone younger and ask them for their feedback. Ask them what they learned. And I think it— I think you'll make a difference in someone's life today. That's all I have for you today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.