No Matter Where You Start, Media is Your Secret Weapon (How to Build Lasting Leverage in Life)

I taught at a USC class yesterday. It was virtual. And all the kids were freaking out. I was like, how many of you are scared right now? Like 50% of hands go up. I'm like, how many of you are excited? Another like 50% of hands go up. So it's a good combination. But what I was telling them was, I was like, look, again, nobody is going to come save you. You have to fend for yourself. So I think starting, having a business, that's one thing, no matter what business you decide to do. But I think also looking at, you know, George, what you're doing with the content that you're creating, that is a compounding machine that doesn't stop. That to me is still investing. And Naval Ravikant always says there's 4 different ways to get leverage, right? There's, you have code, you have capital, you have media, and you have labor. A lot of people forget about the media piece. And so I think no matter where you start, I'm 20 years old right now, how do I get things going? Well, you know what? Start documenting your journey. Start, you know, let's call it Journey to $1 Million Podcast. And then after you get to $1 million, Journey to $10 Million Podcast. And you just document how you're doing things. And in, you know, 2, 3 years or so, you're actually going to have enough experience where you are the expert. And then you can start to move over to teaching. I think the people that are truly successful during this period of time are actually, yes, they feel bad about the bad stuff going on, but they're deep down inside, they're motivated. They're like, again, it's let's go again. And, you know, some of the entrepreneurs I talk to, it's like, they don't brag about their success right now. It's what they're like, dude, my business is up like a lot and I'm just going to keep working hard. So I think right now it's like, if you don't know anything, you don't have any experience right now. Let's say you're graduating from college, okay? You didn't get to go to your graduation ceremony this year. What you do, what I did in the beginning was I read so much and I, I read a lot. I learned a lot. I listened to podcasts such as this one, and I reached out to people that I admired. And let's say I want to work for Jordan Belfort. I want to learn sales more. I'm going to DM him. I know what he's interested in. I'm going to say, hey, I spotted these 3 things over here. I would like to help you for free. And if it works out well, boom, I'm negotiating. By the way, you're going to respect that. Hey, you know what? In a month, if it goes well, you know, let's do something for the long term. And like 80-90% of the time people do that to me, it works and I respect them more. And without fail, 100% of them have gone on to do amazing things. And I still talk to these people because I love them because they're driven and they want to make an impact.

What are some habits that— I mean, you mentioned resiliency already. I guess some other habits that you kind of develop or you think are like core principles that we can take from games, or maybe, maybe swap games out with something else that someone can relate to that you've taken advantage of?

For sure. I think, you know, persistence is probably one of the most important things. You know, one of my favorite quotes from Winston Churchill is, if you're going through hell, keep going. And I love that, right? I think most people see pain as this like really negative thing. As long as it's not physical pain, you know, it's all designed to help make you better, right? So I think You know, if I decided to, and I'm sure this is the same for you guys, my first podcast Leveling Up, after the first year, I was only getting 9 downloads a day. And after the second year, I was only getting 30 downloads a day. And mind you, I was spending 6 hours a week editing, reaching out to people, doing the interview, doing all— like I was doing it all on my own while I was trying to save Single Grain. It was on— everything was on fire.

Your agency.

So my mom, my mom would probably be like, you know, you're an idiot. What are you doing? Like, stop. Like, you're not getting any results here. Right. Um, but I think persistence is one thing, but also understanding to optimize for the right thing, because what I was optimizing for was the learnings, right? I was learning for free from these millionaires, billionaires, bestselling authors, and all that wisdom came over to help me save my business ultimately. And, um, you know, every now and then someone would say something nice. That's great. But eventually I kept going and that's how the audience grew. And that, and I was able to parlay that podcast into marketing school. So. Yeah, I'm sure a lot of people on this podcast say they meditate or they work out or something like that. So I'll try to go in a different direction. I actually just got this Eight Sleep Pod. So basically, it's a pod cover that I put on my bed. I used to have this thing called a ChiliPad, but it just got too loud. But the Pod will measure my sleep and then it'll also cool the bed. And I also have an Oura Ring as well. So sleep is— I'm really big on sleep. And then I actually— probably the biggest thing that's made an impact this past year is that When I go to bed now, I wear a piece of tape on my mouth. So there's sleep tape, and that actually has extended my deep sleep by about 30 minutes every day. So, you know, between that, taking a CBD pill before I go to bed, and then there's, there's also gratitude journal as well. I think you combine those things and it's a nice habit. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm guessing you've seen the benefits of you being able to get not just get more sleep, but also I guess get more impactful and meaningful sleep, it sounds like, as well. Yeah, I mean, before, I'll tell you, like, if you don't buy anything else, but go to Amazon or something and just go buy the sleep tape. Because if you sleep with your mouth open, the problem is you're gonna keep waking up and needing to drink water. And so, you know, that now it's— I don't— not only that, I don't need to go get up to use the restroom, and then I don't need to wake up to drink the water at all. So that ends up saving yourself from distractions. You know, there's 3 billion gamers in the world. And, you know, Me growing up, I spent so much of my time playing poker, first-person shooter games, a lot of MMORPGs. And I'm like, look, my parents used to look down on me, my friends used to look down on me saying it's a waste of time and all that, but I'm like, the time I spent, all those skills are actually just like sports, they're a gateway into the real world. Yes, you are like, when you're playing a game, it is kind of a shadow world, but take those skills, translate it into the real world. And honestly, every day right now, Pomp, I feel like I'm playing a game. I can do podcasts, I can work on this, I can work on that, I'm just jumping around. It's just so fun. And so that's why I decided to do it. Hopefully if you can, you know, change a few people's lives, that's great. But I think it's the message, um, that's more important to me than anything. So hopefully, you know, we're able to spread the message. Don't forget to check out the next video over there. Okay. Over there. And before we go, open a new tab, levelingup.com to learn more about the book. We may or may not have other goodies tied to this book. All right. levelingup.com in a new tab. You can check out the next video first in a new tab and we'll see you later.