Dean Graziosi argues that success without moral purpose is hollow and urges choosing role models with "soul." He recounts listening to Ron Chernow's 42-hour audiobook "Washington: A Life," and uses George Washington as an exemplar of humble power, perseverance, and selfless leadership—illustrating the crossing of the Delaware, hardships of his troops, turning underdog disadvantage into advantage, and later relinquishing power to return to civilian life. Graziosi ties these lessons to parenting and personal conduct, asking listeners to reconsider who they idolize and to model better behavior for their children.
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Money without a soul is empty. I don't want my kids to idolize somebody because they just have a plane or because they have a different hot chick every single week. We idolize the wrong people. And as a parent, who are you looking up to? And do you really know what their life is like behind the scenes? So that was a 42. 42 hour audiobook. 42 hours. It was called Washington the life, Ron Chernow. It's the first 42 hour book I've listened to in my whole life, from start to finish. Babe, was I not losing my mind over that book? Baby, you were crying. I cried. I got so emotionally attached to the book because I watched what humble power truly means. Here's a guy who that was completely an underdog, right? Wasn't born in England. So when America was under British rule, the strongest power in the world at the time with the strongest army in the world, right? Since he wasn't born in England, he was born in America. He was kind of looked down on. He got paid. Even though he became a soldier in the army and a higher ranking soldier in the British army, you know, he got paid half when they came and they'd have closed door meetings. Even though he ranked the same as the ones, the men in the British army, they wouldn't even let him in the room. Like he's American born. He doesn't come from royalty, he doesn't have any money. Yeah, George Washington, he's a hustler. But leave him out in the other room, pay him half. Don't give him the respect. Give him the worst jobs, give him the worst troops. Let's just see if he could do. And what this guy did is took that underdog disadvantage that most of us feel and turn it into an underdog advantage. Like he's like, you don't respect me. Let me show you who I am. I'm not gonna talk about it. I'm not gonna be flashy. I'm not gonna bark and scream and say, I demand respect. The guy just went out and freaking owned respect. He took a ragtag army. And I'll just. I mean, you know, we know the fifth grade ve of the world, but you don't know the guy behind the scenes when his troops had no shoes and no food and they were deserting. And this is a guy that got on his horse and rode out in the front of the freaking battle. When the British soldiers would stay up on the hill and watch, he was in the front of that. He had like five horses shot out from underneath Three hats had holes in him. He literally has jackets with holes in the front and the back. The Indians thought he was some magical man because he didn't get killed. My whole point is this guy, newly married, gives up and starts fighting the Revolutionary War because of passion, because of a mission, because of a movement. He wanted freedom, not because he wanted a pat on the back, not because of the glory. And he gave up eight years of his life to fight the war, even though he was a newlywed and he desired going back to his farm in Virginia. And then when he's done, he finally, he's like, oh my God, this war is finally over. I mean, you understand? Picture one part of the war where he's in New York with 7,500 people. Soldiers, call them soldiers. They're 15 year old kids, 70 year old men. They don't have shoes, they're out of gunpowder, they barely have guns, they don't even know how to shoot. And the strongest army in the world, the King of England, sends over 35,000 troops, plus the Hessians, which were hired guns from Germany. They were ruthless. Ruthless. They'd rather bayonet you in the head than to take you as a captive. And they do it for fun. I mean, these were ruthless people. I think it was King Louis sends over 35,000 men and says, shut these ragtag Americans up. You let them know who the boss is, shut them up fast, shut them up hard, and stop this whole thought of revolution. Just picture they're in and this, this army comes over. 7,500Americans, 35,000 Hessians, and British soldiers dressed perfectly, the perfect guns, went to school for it. They come over and kick George Washington's ass. They take Manhattan, they take Brooklyn, they take Long island, they take Staten Island. They even took New Jersey. Like, if you don't know the end, you're like, it's done, it's over. 3,000 of them are killed. Another thousand run. They're like, I'm done. The British government, the British army said, hey, come to our side and we'll pardon you and we'll feed you. So a lot of them are like, hey, I'm just gonna go with the winners. So now this guy's George Washington. His ragtag army are running through New Jersey trying to not get killed after they just got, they lost everything. And you think it's over, done deal. But this guy's passion, this guy's desire. And I know I'm all over the place with this, but I want to get to a point. This guy's passion, this desire. He doesn't give up. He doesn't look at a disadvantage. He doesn't even give a chance. I mean, this is when he said this, when he attacks on Christmas Eve night. It's when he crossed the Delaware, when it was the coldest night, coldest winter on record. Icebergs. He crosses 4,000 men across the Delaware river. And he writes down and underlines it, freedom or death. It's like that. It's either, you know, death or liberty. I'm sorry, I don't know exactly. But, like, he writes this empowering word that I get goosebumps, I get tears in my eyes. And he has no. He burned the boats. Like, I talk about it a lot. You want to win the island, you burn the boats. You don't give yourself an option. There was no option. It was death or freedom for him. That's how. I mean, if we could take a glimpse of that in our own life, a glimpse of that, with our business, a glimpse of that, with parenting, passionate relationships, we could be in a whole different place. Anyway, I get excited over this. He crosses on Christmas day night. Like, gets done crossing the Delaware. 4,000 men gets done crossing 4:00 clock in the morning. The Hessians think there's no way this guy's got the nerve to attack us, especially not on Christmas Day. The troops run, the Hessians, the ones that just got done, bayoneting a thousand people, killing all the captives, bragging about it. Ruthless. Spreading blood on their face and talking, calling the Americans nothing but ragtag, you know, peasants and George Washington's men. Kick their ass in like 45 minutes, it's over. Take out 4,000, 5,000 Hessians, then they go up to Princeton, take out another one, and literally, you know the rest. It was the start of the shift of the Revolutionary War. Every single time, you think there's no way they find a way to win. This guy spends eight years, they finally win the war. They get done winning the war. He goes back to Virginia and he's like, I can finally relax. They say, you can't relax. You're the person that helped free this country. And he gets elected unanimously as the first President of the United States. After a few years of being president, he wants to retire, go back to his farm. And they say, you can't. We need you in a second term. There's too much turmoil. We need you. He leaves Mount Vernon, his farm in Virginia again, for a second term when he doesn't want to. This one. People die. At 40, he's 67 years old, he's got to go horseback. This guy sacrifices everything, does a second term, and puts America on track to be the freest, most incredible country in the world. I don't care where you live. I'm sure you love where you live. You gotta admit, America's an amazing place. Where my grandfather can come here as an immigrant with nothing. And I can live the life I want with free, with being choices, with nobody telling us what to do, with fair and just laws, all of it. Now, I say that because when I think of selfless, when I think of humble power, when I think of who we idolize, I want to idolize George Washington. So anyway, if you get anything from that or anything from my heart, a lot of it is look through the eyes of my children. Who do I want them to admire? Who do I. Who do I want them to look up to? It makes me want to be a better human being because my children won't do what I say. They'll become who I am. And I just want to be a better version of me. And things like that really change. So who are you idolizing? Who are you looking up to? Maybe you can find someone new. Why not check out George Washington? How's it going?
