Dean Graziosi: Finding Your Purpose Through Life's Biggest Challenges! | TUH #163

When you face rejection, conflict, when you face problems instead of retreating, you might not love it, but you run into the fire to fix it. When people say, find your purpose, find your passion job, sometimes you got to get dirty, fail, and be in it enough to go, damn, this is worth fighting for.

My dad used to say, life is what happens to you when you're on your way to doing something else. Get in there, roll your sleeves up, fail a little bit, because I think we all crave that safety. We don't want to leave the nest unless we have a fully baked plan.

So if you don't have a strong enough purpose and why the outside world will control you, you'll play small. You'll sit on your hands rather than saying, now is the time, not tomorrow, not next week. This purpose is so strong. Nothing in my way. I gotta go.

When you find something that you would otherwise do for free, that you love to do, you really don't feel like you work a day in your life. If you look from the outside in, it seems like I'm working my ass off, but that's what I love to do. Like when I'm on vacation, I want to do this.

If you think about it, most of us get hit with stuff. It's not your fault, but it is your responsibility to do something about it.

If someone's listening to this right now and they just feel sort of st, Maybe overwhelmed, what's a shift that they could make that could change that direction?

I would love for you if take nothing else in this podcast is every time you think you have the answer.

Hey, guys, welcome back to the ultimate human podcast. I'm your host, human biologist Gary Brea, where we go down the road of everything, anti aging, biohacking law, longevity, and everything in between. And today's guest is a very special guest. I've actually stalked him from afar on social media. I've been to a number of events that he's spoken at. He's an impactful speaker, an entrepreneur, multiple New York Times best selling author, and he has recently become a very good friend of mine. Welcome to the podcast. Dean Graziosi.

So good to be here, Gary.

Dude, I'm so. I'm so excited that you're here and. And you know what happens to me so many times when I have guests over and I should have a rule that you have to go from the elevator to the podcast room because we end up doing a podcast.

We did a podcast just now.

Yeah. For two hours off camera. And finally we both stood up. We're like, we should probably go in the podcast room. Exactly the whole reason why we came. But. And we were talking about everything. Regenerative farming, stem cells.

We covered it all in about hour and 45 minutes.

I think we saw the Russia, Ukraine crisis. I mean, we covered it all. But I'm so excited to have you sitting.

Thank you. And to be here. And.

And I think my audience is going to get so much value out of this, because there's a common theme that seems to run through the majority of my podcast guests, and that's that they are where they are, and they're making such an impact, and they're so passionate and so purposeful because they solve the problem in their life. And when I, you know, I obviously knew who you were and your work with Tony Robbins and, you know, what an. What an icon you are for so many entrepreneurs. But when I started to peel back the layers of, like, who. Dean Graziosi, you didn't really have, like, a privileged upbringing by any means, right?

Probably as privileged as yours.

Yeah, exactly. And, you know, it's.

It's.

It's always exciting for me to talk about, you know, what was the problem that you solved? I've. I've had so many people sit in that chair that they were a soccer mom and they were plagued by Lyme disease, and they became a citizen scientist, and they solved their Lyme disease, and now they're one of the most impactful speakers or. Or they were a drug addict or an alcoholic, and they overcame the addiction, and now they're one of the biggest voices in that. In that industry. So what was your journey like that set you on the path to where you are now?

Really great question. And first off, before I get started, I just want to say I have same for you. I've been watching you. My wife fell in love with how you speak and how clear you are and how you give transferable information so freely. Like, meaning when I say transfer, there's a lot of great people, doctors, physicians, and people out there that are helping, and sometimes it feels so out of reach.

Right.

And what you're so good at is taking complicated things and making it simple for all of us to go, hey, I could get healthier doing that.

Yeah.

I just want to say watching you grow has been a. A privilege and a pleasure, and we had passed each other a million times, so I was glad we finally got to meet.

Yeah. I mean, some of the same events on stage, a lot of the same events.

Amazing stuff. And it's a privilege to be here. You Know, if I think about it, not to go too deep on my story, I'm here for you guys that are listening and watching right now. But if you think about this, there's a philosophy that. I didn't say this for the last 40 years of my life, but it's something that hit me a couple years ago. And if you're watching right now, listening right now, you know you're someone that's meant for more. You want to do more, you want to be healthy, you want to live into your full potential, live longer, impact more, just do more. Right, Right. But if you think about it, most of us get hit with stuff. Yeah, Right. Whatever that stuff is. And there's a philosophy that I've been living by. I probably have lived by it for a long time, but now I say it is. It's not your fault. It might not be your fault that your parents didn't tell you they loved you. It might not be your fault that you got Lyme's disease. It might not be your fault that no one believed in your dreams. It's not your fault that the economy could go a certain way or tariffs or inflation, but it is your responsibility to do something about it.

Yeah.

And I think those that have the opportunity to live into their healthiest self, their most successful self, to live into where they're meant to be, not settling to be, realize it's on them. Right. It's not your fault. Those things happen.

Yeah.

But how do you take that and make that into fuel in your life rather than the anchor? I don't think it was one moment at. At 7 years old, I realized my dad and mom split when I was three. And I realized probably seven, eight, that my mom was working three jobs. You don't know the difference. She was cleaning houses, she was cutting hair, she was painting houses. Come home nine, ten o' clock every night.

Wow.

To make nothing. I mean, Gary, we lived in the only trailer park. Yeah, I lived in a trailer park. The only trailer park in our town. We lived in that until my mom couldn't afford it. We moved in with Grandma. Right.

Wow.

So I remember. I don't know if I was 7, 10, 15. I just remember thinking, I need to get insanely successful for a couple reasons. One, money controlled my mom. She didn't control it. She wanted to be there for our baseball games and, and try to take us to school and all that, but she couldn't. My grandmother ended up doing all of it because my mom was working her tail off.

Right.

So I realized money Controlled my mom. She didn't control her own life.

Right.

And secondly, I just wanted to retire her. I mean, I remember, I remember being 10 years old. I want to retire like I wanted my mom. Like, I remember my Uncle Larry, who is very college oriented, asked me at like 12 years old, what are you going to do? I said, I'm going to be rich. And the first thing I'm going to do is make it so my mom never has to work again. And I remember him saying to me, I remember him saying to me, well, that's a great dream. But what, what's, what college you want to do? What's your profession? Right, right. And. And I think the, the why behind you want something is way more profound and important than the how.

I totally agree with you. I mean, I really, really agree with you. So if someone's listening to this right now and they, they just feel sort of stuck. Yeah. And maybe overwhelmed or like they don't know how to make that switch. Like they know that they're capable of more and they know that what they're doing is not working. What's a shift that they could make?

Yeah. Great question.

That could sort of change that direction.

Right. And whether this is leading into the healthiest version of you, the most profit, you know, the most wealthy version of you. Right. It's all the same. Right. So if you think about it, sometimes we don't realize it's the questions we ask ourselves. It's like, how come I could never get healthy? Right. I've heard Tony do this so well. Or saying the question is, who do I need to model to become the healthiest version of myself? So some things, you just gotta watch the questions we ask ourselves because we can give ourselves bad questions, therefore we get a bad answer. Right. In my 20s, I would say, as long as you do what the best in the world do, and you model proven practices, how could you not be successful? But the problem is you could give a business on how to sell 20 bills for 10 bucks to a lot of people and they'll still mess it up.

Yeah, yeah.

And nobody wants $20 bills anymore. You know, they're kind of old. These are kind of crinkled. I didn't get a good batch. They showed up late. My wife thinks it's a dream. I don't think it's like, you know.

I saw you and Ed Mylett talking one day. I think it was out on a, a bluff in California because I recognize the background and, and you were just. It was a very simple story that you told, you're like, if I'm in a restaurant and I order, you know, well done steak and some guy somebody brings me chicken, I just eat the chicken, right.

It's like I got bigger problems to solve.

I got bigger problems. And, and it reminded me you're like, I don't get all wound up and you know, and fire up the waiter and then bring the conversation down at the table. Look at this.

They screwed up. Like, I want to get fired up over in your terms would be I want to get fired up and upset about if I can't live to 110.

Yes.

I want to get fired up about a hundred million dollar business or a billion dollar. Like, and I'm not, I'm just saying, I, you just realize all problem feel the same weight. Yeah, but they aren't solve bigger problems, get bigger results. Yeah, right. It's, it's what you do so well. So at this phase of my life, I realize that if the mindset isn't right, that it doesn't matter about the opportunity.

Right.

So, so I, I want to share a little something with you. I, I, about 15 years ago, I had something so profound shift my life. I hired a consultant, his name was Joe Stump. And I hired him and said, I want my students, people who follow me like yours, you would want more of your people to actually do this stuff you teach so they can actually get healthy.

Yes.

Join your vip, buy your supplements. Not because, I mean, I know the passion you have for people. I see it when the cameras are off and you talk about how to, like you're on this earth to change lives, like, that's someone you follow, that's someone you model. Right. So I hired him to come in and said, how do I get more of my students results? Because, like, I know this thing works, right? Because I spent 15 years figuring it out. And people say yes, but then they actually don't do it. And they still are. 15 years figuring it out and people say yes, but then they actually don't do it. And they still are upset that I want to do this seven levels deep exercise on you. I'm like, you don't have to do it on me, just give it to me. If it's, I paid you ten grand for half a day, just give it to me. He's like, no, I can't give it to you. I got to do it with you. And it's shifting my life, Gary. Like, really? Why? Okay, you still work like you broke. I said that to you, man.

So true.

You like you work.

So do I. I literally just landed after a 15 hour flight.

I know. I said, do you want me to come back? No, I feel amazing.

Well, I did a sauna in a cold plunge, but now I'm back to life.

But, yeah, but, yeah, let me say you work so hard. So if. If I said to you, why do you work so hard? What would your answer be?

2. 2. 2 reasons. One, because I believe that my. My purpose is way bigger than the problems that I have in my life. And secondly, I know that I'm on God's plan for me, because I feel that. And it sounds so cliche. I used to think that this saying was just something you put on a sign. You sort of hung it on your office because it was sort of supposed to be there, like a. Like an Ansel Adams picture or something. And you know when. When you find something that you would otherwise do for free that you love to do, you really don't feel like you work a day in your life. So if you look from the outside in, it seems like I'm working my ass off because I travel so much and I keep an insane schedule and I speak so frequently and I read incessantly, but that's what I love to do. Like when I'm on vacation, I want to do this.

Yeah, right. I get it. I get it. I can't wait to wake up every morning and then I stretch it so I'm like, how can I get up a half hour earlier so there's more of the day? I only say that because for you to work the way you work, have the success that you have, the depth of caring. Congratulations on this podcast being one of the top podcasts in the world.

Thank you so much.

Well deserved.

Yeah. Because the people that are listening right now.

Yeah, well deserved. And you're listening to the right guy. But there is something in your soul bigger than the fear, bigger than what's going on in politics, bigger than inflation, bigger than tariffs, bigger than politics, bigger than the news being negative or what it is. So they have clickbait. There has to be something bigger in your. Your. Your reason for doing it has to be greater than the reason not to. I don't want to oversimplify it. And what Joe Stump gave me that day was such a profound shift. I'd already. I was already successful, already had a great company and. But it shifted everything for me because I understood with clarity why the heck I did what I did. So I want to tell you, you just gave me a great reason why your Purpose, God, healing. I know you want to impact people. I know you want to make this world a healthy place. I know you're doing it bigger than most people realize behind the scenes. I know what you're doing behind the scenes to make this country a healthier place. It's amazing what you're doing, and I see it. But that comes along with something that when you face rejection, when you face conflict, when you face problems instead of retreating, you might not love it, but you run into the fire.

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So I. I want to. I'd love to give everybody listening if you. If you take nothing else from this podcast, take this, Joe Stump, this guy Joe. I'm sitting in front of my team, I got about six of my team members, and I'm waiting for him to give us gold, to get more of our people to do the things that we know will change their life.

One, two, three.

Yeah. What's one thing everybody should do right now to be healthier if they're not doing it? Like, sleep. Sleep, Right. So it's like you. You give them this process to sleep, you know, if they sleep, you know, all the benefits of it, but they still don't sleep. It's like, what can I do to get your butt in bed and do the thing right?

Yeah. So true.

So I'm just waiting for the, Ah, this will help me. And he said, dean, why'd you spend ten grand for me to come here today? And I gotta tell you, you start, he calls it seven levels deep. Because you ask yourself the reason why seven times, and I have to tell you, it's crazy. Five's not enough, eight's too many. He's right on point, because the first five or so questions come from your head. So he asked me, he's like, well, I said, well, I want more of my students. My clients have. The results I got to have was great. That's such a noble reason. Why do you want them to have success. I said something like, I want to leave a legacy. I want this industry to step up. You know, I. It's like it's either do better. Right. I'm sure you hate when somebody's just hawking a vitamin that they don't even know what it is. It's built with horrible products. It's got worse ingredients, and it's got to drive you crazy.

Yes.

Well, now. I mean, Tony's my partner now, but I look at Tony as grade A, and there were so many people. It was just like, step up or step out. Right? So I said some things like that that came out of my head. I don't even know what I said for the first four or five times, but, man, when he got to the fifth time, he goes, why is that important? Something shifted. And this is the part everybody should hear. Something shifted from my head to my heart. It was like. Like I physically changed. I felt like, you know, you get the goosebumps.

Yeah.

And I said something I had never said. I said, I don't ever want to go backwards. I'm sitting in front of my team. They're probably like. And I'm like, I remember being broke as a kid. I remember not being able to go to restaurants. I remember my mom struggling for money. And in this moment, talking about why I hired a consultant with my team around, I'm like, I don't want to go backwards. And he's like, thanks, Dean. You're in your heart. I feel that. He goes, that's real. I really appreciate you. And he answered it. Just. This is what he did, really, in this soothing voice, like, he was like, Matthew McConaughey. You know what I mean? He's like, but why would it be important for you not to go backwards? And I said, I want my kids to have choices. Now, as a dad, you know exactly what times. Now I'm emotional. I got a tear running down my eye. And all I remember is I didn't feel like I had choices as a kid. Right. I wanted my kids not to be entitled. The world doesn't need more entitled children. But I wanted them to have more choices in the world. Now I'm in my heart. I got tears running down my eyes. He goes, dean, that's only number six. And you were a hustler before you had kids. So I got to ask you the final time. Why is it important that your kids have choices? And I said the thing that shifted my life. I said, I need to be in control. And for me, not a control freak. What I realized at that moment, I'm an adult with children sitting around a team. I realized the reason I work so hard is because my parents were married nine times between the two of them. Five and four.

Wow.

I moved 20 times by the time I was 19 years old. Right. I never felt in control. Gary. I had a step grandfather, Leo Rizzo. He was the greatest guy in the way. Taught me how to hunt, took me fishing. Come home from school one day, our stuff's on the front yard in a moving truck. Never seen Leo again. Right. Step sister, stepbrother. Gus Valentino was a stepbrother of mine. We were like buddies. We shared bunks. Dad got divorced. Never saw Gus again. And I re. All these things come racing in my soul, and I realize I work so hard because I want to be in control of my decisions. I want to raise my kids in a different way. I want to be the husband to my wife in a different way. I dress in a black T shirt every day in my life. I want those choices.

Yeah.

And that day. So again, I just shared about me. I'm not trying to make it about me, but I would love for you if take nothing else in this podcast is find someone to do it with or do it on your own. And every time you think you have the answer, you got to go deeper into your heart. And it's usually seven times. And when it clicks, you feel this. You feel it through your body. So to this day, I mean, we all face adversity. People think as you get more successful, it gets less, just. You just deal with bigger problems. When I hit adversity, hundreds and hundreds of employees. The things we get to do around the world, partner. Like, all this great stuff, I literally go back to, hey, if I just wanted to make more money, I'd quit. Yeah. If I just wanted to make my students, even though I want them more successful, I'd quit. But I'm never going to go backwards. I am never going to let my kids down. And no one is ever going to tell me what I'm going to do with my time. Like, I still take my kids to school. I still get to ballet. I still get to jiu jitsu. I still go to tennis practice. Imagine if someone said, no, sorry, Gary, you got to finish that project. You can't go watch that.

Yeah.

Ballet session.

Yeah.

That would like to me, I'd choose death. Before that, your choices. So get out of my way.

Yeah.

Right. So just. All I know is in times and. And I mean to keep going, but I'll Share this. In times of uncertainty that we have right now, we don't know the world's going. There's lots of stuff could go amazing. Who knows? Anything that's negative in your body is compounded. So if you don't have a strong enough purpose and why the outside world will control you, you'll play small, you'll sit on your hands, you'll do what most people do. You'll wait to see what happens, rather than saying, now is the time, not tomorrow, not next week. This purpose is so strong. Nothing in my way. I gotta go.

Yeah. And how do people find that purpose? Like, you know, because for me, it took until I was in my, like mid-40s, you know, I was, I was making decent money, I had a nice, decent house, my kids were, you know, all in school, a great family life. You know, we didn't want for a lot of things. But I think very similar to the transitions that you made, I, I felt like I wasn't on the path to anything great and I wasn't fulfilling anything.

You were living a life that wasn't yours.

Yeah, it wasn't mine. And now I'm twice as busy and I am hundred more times more things on my plate and I am as content and satisfied as I've ever been. I think from the outside in it might look like chaos, but to me it's, it's the only. I wouldn't give it up for, you know, a moment because it's purpose driven. But I think a lot of people identify with that but don't know how to find that.

Yeah. I think if you separate it, one is the reason why you want to live into. You're meant to be whatever that is, and the second is the vehicle to get there. Right, Right. So I think, I think they're, they're not the same. Like, one is like you found your purpose and then your why kind of creeped in. Yeah, Right. But imagine if you did the exercise first and you're like, I'm supposed to have more time. I'm supposed to impact people. I want to change lives for a living or whatever it is that you want to do. And I want more freedom. Then it's time to go research and find the vehicle. And it doesn't mean they're going to hit it out of the park on the first one. Right, Right.

But it's supposed to suck in the beginning.

And the other thing I'd love to say to people is when people say, find your purpose, find your passion job, you're like, right, I think you're waiting for, like, clouds to open, sunshine pop out of the box. Heaven's part.

Yeah. And, like, be written like, this is.

This is.

Yeah.

Like, sometimes you got to get dirty, fail, and be in it enough to go, damn, this is worth fighting for.

Yeah.

So. So you really just line your ship up in the direction you think you want to go, do the research on it. Model people who've already been there. Like, don't try to figure it out on your own. Somebody's already done what you want to do.

Right.

So just find somebody who's already done what you want to do. Model what they do. And roll up your sleeves. Get dirty a little bit. Get in it. Fail a little. Right.

Yeah.

Confidence comes after courage.

Yeah.

Right.

My dad used to say, life is what happens to you when you're on your way to doing something else.

Which I thought was such a. That's.

He's a very simple.

So good.

Yeah, he's a very simple. Like, Captain John Brecka. Big shout out, dad. He's. You know, my mom and dad are still with us by the grace of God.

Oh, that's amazing. And.

And he was, you know, like, a simple guy, very disciplined, military guy. But he. He would say, life is what happens to you when you're on your way to doing something else. And I was like, I didn't realize how profound that was until beyond profound.

Yeah.

But it was true. Because don't you hate it when you're, like, in high school and you're like. Your parents are like, well, what do.

You want to do?

What do you want to go to college for?

I don't even know what I want for lunch.

I don't know. I don't know what I want to have for dinner. Exactly. Exactly. So sometimes those. Those sayings just. They just.

They go right through you until you get to a certain age. It's like, do you ever hear the saying, when you have kids, you wait about six months, and you call your parents and say, thank you, and I'm sorry. I had no idea. I had no idea what you went through to keep us alive. Right. It's funny. Your dad's saying there's a. There's a saying. Ogmundino. There was a section in his book. It's kind of old school therapy. Old school therapy is, don't let your emotions dictate your actions, let your actions dictate your emotions.

So true.

Right. How can you be depressed and sad when you're on the move? So sometimes we got to get on the move, and then we find the thing we should be doing along the journey. Just what your father said. Beautifully said by your dad.

Yeah, yeah. No, it was beautifully said and it was very simple. And like, in simplicity, there was. It was really profound. And it's so true because, well, I actually went to undergrad and grad school for human biology or biology and human biology. I never really realized how much of an impact that that was going to have because it was, you know, years later that it came around and found it to be, you know, really very useful. But I think it's like you were saying, you know, get in there, roll your sleeves up, fail a little bit, because I think we all crave that safety, Right. We don't want to leave the nest unless we have a fully baked plan.

Yeah. Did you ever see that meme where it shows be careful what you wish for? And it shows three meals a day, safe, protected, and all this stuff. And then it shows a lion in a cage, right? He's safe, he's protective, he gets three meals a day. Can't be hunted, can't be killed.

Yeah.

And he's in a cage.

Right.

You know?

Yeah. So true. You got to get out of that comfort zone. And so what. What are the exercises that somebody could go through? I mean, how. How do you start putting yourself and putting one foot in front of the other and taking that path towards success? You. You talk about courage. Not the definition of courage that we find in Webster's dictionary, but I've heard you talk about your own version of courage before. And what does that mean to you?

What is.

What is the cur. What does courage really mean to you? How does somebody find the courage to do that?

Yeah, really great question. You know, courage is not moving forward in the absence of fear. Courage is moving forward even though you're scared to death. Right. And how they all stack up. If you got a good enough purpose, then that pushes you to be courageous, Right? And people say, I need confidence. Confidence to me doesn't really come until you're actually in the game, Right. You have the courage to start the game.

Yeah.

You learn how to play the game when you're on the field. Like the Theodore Roosevelt quote, the man in the arena, right? And you're on the field bloody and marred. You don't. You don't want to be in the stands with someone else's name on your jersey, right. Cheering for them. You're horrible. You suck. But you're sitting in your chair doing nothing. I want to be on the field. Even if I fail. Yeah, you're learning. Right. So courage is that thing that you need to move forward so you can see if you like it.

Right.

And so there's a couple reasons you need courage. So I'll try to answer both the questions, like, how do you. What are some steps you should take? One thing you got to realize now, and I know we're on a pod, you have the absolute best podcast in the world on health and longevity, and we're talking about success. I get that it's a little.

I love this.

But it all goes at the end of our lives. We want to be successful and healthy. Yeah, right.

The first course module that I. I built for my VIP community was mindset. Because I think a lot of people struggle with mindset, meaning they. They struggle with just the simple ability to put themselves first, especially women, you know, without putting the needs of other people before theirs. And eventually what happens is this act of being so selfless comes back to haunt them. They believe that self care is being selfish when really self care is being very selfless.

Right.

You know, it's the older, better version.

Of yourself for everybody.

Oxygen mask on before you assist your own child. You know, if the plane depressurizes, which isn't, you know, a mother's first instinct, it's still tribes. Right. Not to help themselves. But I think there's a lot of truth in that. You know, you're a much better person and can show up better for your spouse, for your career, for your kids, you know, for your co workers, for your peers.

So what I. What I would start if, again, if I could answer both those questions, like, how would you start? One thing. We. We don't realize it, but we fall in a hypnotic rhythm. We fall in a routine. Right. What's probably the biggest thing to get somebody healthier is to get out of the current routine that they have. Even if it's not a good routine. I. I wake up, I have my first cup of coffee, I eat this certain thing, I do this certain thing. And you got to shift. That morning routine is hard enough. Not even your whole life, just shift the first thing you do in the first 45 minutes of waking up. Right?

Yeah.

But if you can get them to shift that little bit, then you go, oh, you got that? How about you doing this once a week? Oh, how about three times a week? Right. So it's these. So first off, it's like Kaizen. All shifts start with micro shifts that lead to bigger shifts that lead to bigger shifts. Everybody who starts new Year's resolutions, I'm gonna do all this stuff. Never gonna eat bread, no more sodas, no more thing. By January 1st, it's all January 15th, it's all gone. Right? It's too big.

Yeah.

So one thing to realize. Say you're in a career and it's unfulfilling, and you know you're meant for more. I love using that term. Like you. You're enough. You know, enough. You could do more. You could impact more. You're just not quite sure where to go. But without realizing it, in a career, sometimes we start that career thinking, hey, I'm going to. I'm going to get this career. I'm going to get promotions, I'm going to get raises. I'm going to knock it out of the park. And in a. In a. In a, you know, hierarchy of a business, sometimes you don't get recognized. Your lessons aren't heard. Your ideas are passed over and over time. You start shrinking on the inside. Like, hey, nobody listens anyway. It's a safe spot.

That's my.

I get my check, everybody. My family tells me, I should be lucky to have this job. It's okay. But then there's one day, right? We all wake up and say, I'm like, I watched the Steve Harvey interview just this morning while I was on the treadmill this morning. I thought it was so good. There's a day you wake up and go, enough. I need to be healthy today. He heard about you on a Friday. He was here on a Monday. I love that. Because we all get to a moment where you go, I'm not doing. I'm living someone else's life. And whether it's because you're let go or AI replaces you, or you decide there's got to be that definitive line and say, today, enough is enough. I'm getting healthy, starting my own thing. I'm gonna. I'm gonna shift my financial future, right? When that happens, what you don't realize is the years of maybe a career mindset made you turn down your innovation, turn down your drive a little bit, and you gotta find a way to wake it up, and you gotta be courageous to do that. Yeah, right. And you gotta realize that maybe the guardrails go away, but you were meant to drive with no guardrails. You were meant not to be in that cage. Right?

Yeah, but what are some of the ways that. That people can shift that. That inner monologue, right? That's that. That dialogue. Because I think talk about, for example, keeping little promises to yourself, okay? So you, you know, and when I say the promises that you break are the promises that nobody else knows about because you know, you don't tell your spouse, hey, I'm, I'm, I told myself I'm gonna go to bed at 10 o' clock tonight. And then you go to bed at midnight, you just breaking your own promise yourself. You know, you, you got home from work tonight, I'm going to bed at 10 o'.

Clock.

And you only shared that with yourself. You go to bed at 11:30, you know, tomorrow morning, I, I'm, I'm getting out for a 30 minute walk first thing in the morning. You don't really go for the walk. Nobody else notices but you. And what, what I believe happens is that you keep breaking these little promises to yourself and you actually lose trust in yourself.

It's so true.

And you, you actually truly don't believe yourself because your actions don't, you know, fall in line. And, and I, and I, you lose.

Faith in your own.

Yeah. So we're not this collection of goals and this collection of, of priorities. We're really a collection of habits. And you know, if you want to lose weight and you don't develop the habits of somebody who's going to lose weight, the goal of losing weight or the priority of losing weight isn't, you're never going to get there. So if you, if you don't get into the habits, so if you don't have the habits of someone who's successful, or the habits of someone who wants to lose weight, or the habits of a champion, or the habits of somebody who wants to be financially successful, I don't know any other way that you get there without developing those habits, but it has to start. And you know, like, like in my course I always start with the mindset shift.

You have to.

So how, how do people begin that shift? How do they start to change that, that monologue? Because the older we are, the harder it gets.

The stronger that monologue, like the calcium, it gets harder.

Yeah.

Right.

And then I think it's sort of a double edged sword for younger people. And I noticed this in the, in my son and my daughter's generation, not with my son and my daughter particularly, but in their generation is that they truly want instantaneous gratification. Like they're willing to try jiu jitsu for three classes and if they're not a black belt by the fourth class, you know, they're kind of out. And I think that's, society has set that framework up or, or you know, they're, they're looking at Instagram and they're like, well, this kid is making millions of dollars a year doing stupid videos and gambling, so maybe I just want to do stupid videos and gamble. You don't realize that's the one in the million. Yeah, that, that, that broke through.

I love this question. First off, I tell my kids that all the time. I'm like, don't say you're gonna make your bed every day. And then you don't, because you're lying to yourself and you'll get in that habit. Right? And even though that's a little.

Just accepting. No, it's very true.

I like to think about it is here's three things, and I'll give you a tool that I use. Like a tool in the toolbox. Right? The more tools you have, the more you further you can go right Is. And we can talk about this later. But first, if you're gonna. You want to do your own thing, then you need to spend the time understanding the industries that are going to be here and grow in the future. Right? You might say, I would never invest in a taxicab business. It's over. Right, but would you even invest in an Uber business right now when they say within two years, 90% of the cars are going to be autonomous? Right. So you have to. You got to make sure you could be the best in the world. Best Uber driver in the world. If it's replaced by a machine and there's driverless Teslas and, and waymos all over the country, it doesn't matter how good you get. So you got to spend the time to find an industry that's growing and that. We could talk about that a little bit. Number two is you got to model proven practices. Don't. We don't have time. In today's world, everything's moving exponentially. Nothing's linear anymore. AI has changed everything. There's no like, oh, in three. It's like, no, we can figure out what took three years in three seconds. Right?

It's so true.

So you have to find somebody who's already done what you've done and do what they've done so you could start off where they left off. And the third thing is you got to have that purpose strong enough that you take uncomfortable action, because it is uncomfortable to do something new. If you do something you've never done before, it's going to be uncomfortable. Most people retreat. If you don't want to be the person that retreats, you got to take uncomfortable action. So I don't want to oversimplify success, but if you're an emerging company, you model, someone's already done it, and you keep persisting, I don't think there's any way you don't succeed, whether that's with your health or the business you want to start. So if I. If I add a tool in our toolbox, like, courage is a big thing to me. It's a. It's a word I use often with my kids. I use it in my own vocabulary to myself, is I want to have the courage to move forward. And one thing I think about. I shared this once. I'll always ask. I. We're doing an event. I'm so glad you're coming.

Oh, no, I'm so excited. We'll talk about that for the end of the year. This year, you know, working with you and Tony.

I'm so excited for it. Oh, me too. And we'll talk about that in a minute. But you'll see there's hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people live. And I love. Because we got this big chat wall where you. The chats come in.

Oh, in on these events.

Yeah. And these. On these virtual events. You're gonna freak out when you see because you get instant feedback, right? So I'll say, hey, what is the thing holding you back from living into your full potential in your world? You might say, being your optimal health. And me, it's like most people there will have 800,000 people that are all saying, I want to do my own thing. And I say, what's holding you back? It'll be things like, my family doesn't believe in me. It's kind of embarrassing. It's hard to start small. My husband thinks I'm crazy. I want to wait till we have a different president. Like, it'll come in, but you'll see it like. Like our data. Then we take that and run it through AI And I know the top things. You know, one of the top things is the fear of looking small, the fear of starting over, the fear of failing. Like, all these things. So I've taken them through an exercise, and I'll not. An exercise. I'll do it in two minutes here. But I say, okay, so think about that fear. And what is that fear on a scale to 1 to 10 that your husband doesn't believe in? Your friends will think you're crazy for starting your own thing. You're already paid for college, so why should I do. Right? All these things? I'm like, what is that story? Because that's the story. Holding you back. Like, there's. There's nothing else. There's. Yeah, that's the story. I'm not good enough. I'm too old. I'm too young. My husband. That's the story. So on a scale of 1 to 10, how strong is that holding you back? And everybody will do a seven to ten. Seven to ten. Like, okay, great. Now stop for a minute. Now it's the end of your life. You live the 90 years, 95 years, and you're sitting next to your maker, sitting next to God. God pulls out his iPhone and plays you a video of the woman or the man you could have been. And you see this life of living into what it scared you, but you did it. And you had a breakthrough. Then you failed three times. Then you had a bigger breakthrough, and you watched this version of you that you didn't even. You knew it existed, but you let that story of your mom, your sister, the age stop you.

Yeah.

I said, now I want to tell you, Tell me what that feels like on a scale to 1 to 10. And it's like a hundred, a thousand, A thousand, a thousand. I'm like, and what is the only thing you would say to your maker? And everybody writes, go back, go back, go back, start over, start over, go back, go back, go back. You live the 90 years, 95 years, and you're sitting next to your maker. You're sitting next to God. And I look at the camera and I say, wish granted, right? You're here today. Today's the day you could start over. Today's the day you don't let that story stop you anymore because your family doesn't believe in you. You're going to show them what you're made of. Because you're older, you have wisdom, not just information. Because. Because you could shift that story and that motivation. Because then I sometimes go back and I say, okay, now rate the first story. And it's like, one, one, one, one. That's stupid thing, right?

Stupid little thing. My family doesn't believe in me.

And that might sound like, yeah, yeah, but Dean, how do you actually make the money to have the leverage? Right? It's the leverage to go, I'm freaking doing this. No matter what, I fail. I'm getting up. My parents criticize me. I'm getting up. My family thinks I'm up. I'm getting up. I'm going. Because when you have that, you can give a person with that much, like, reason to do it, a B opportunity, a C opportunity. And they'll make it work. Give somebody without that passion an A plus opportunity. They fail every time.

One of my favorite biohacks outside of breathwork by far is mineral salts. Baja Gold sea salt. It's got all of the trace minerals that the body needs. You know, most of us are not just protein deficient, meaning amino acid deficient, or fatty acid deficient. We are mineral deficient. So a quarter teaspoon of this in water first thing in the morning will make sure that you get all of the essential minerals that you need. It tastes amazing. In fact, I made a steak today. I actually made a grass fed steak with grass fed butter. And I put just mushrooms and a little bit of rosemary, and I sprinkled Baja Gold sea salt all over the top. Try it. It'll be your new favorite for cooking too. It's the cheape. And one of my favorite biohacks. I don't know, a 15 or $20 bag of this will probably last you five years. This is literally the world's best biohacking secret. Now let's get back to the ultimate human podcast. So true. Gosh, it's so true. And you know, for someone like you, that's, that's. You've impacted millions and you've made millions. Now that you've achieved that level of socioeconomic success for you, what's. What's on the other side of that? Like, what's, what's. What's next for you? Like what. What's still getting you out of bed?

Impact at this space.

Really?

Yeah. And. And somebody.

I hear Tony talk about that.

Yeah.

Well, and I think about it.

He's my, he's my dearest friend. Right. I just, I was with him till midnight last night. I just, I'm in Florida because I spent the last three days with him and I get to hang out with you too. So what a great. What a great couple of days, right? And I'm gonna biohack like a madman. But at this phase is you always need that compelling future, right? So Tony and I co founded. We own multiple companies together, but we co founded a company called Mastermind and we started Mastermind. We were on a golf course. We just talked about it yesterday. We're on a golf course seven years ago. We were already friends for five years. And I watched so many people before.

You had any business together. You know why?

Because I. We start to become friends and every time I'm with them, we have a meeting. Everybody's pitching them. And you. You see this look, especially with your podcast. But you're gonna have a hundred times more in the next, you know.

Oh, yeah.

So I'm like, you know what? I don't want to do business with this guy. He's becoming my dearest friend. Let's just be friends. Because I was doing well. He was doing extremely well. But then about seven, eight years ago, we're on a golf course, and we said, if we were going to start a business, what would we start?

That's how the conversation literally like that, if we were going to start a business.

He said, you know, he went to a Jim Rohn event, old school personal development, Jim Rohn event when he was 17 with his business with this guy. He's becoming my dearest friend. Let's just be friends. Because I was doing well. He was doing extremely well. But then about seven, eight years ago, we're on a golf course, and we said, if we were going to start a business, what would we start?

That's how the conversation literally like that. If we were gonna start a business.

He said, you know, he went to a Jim Rohn event, old school, personal development, Jim Rohn event when he was 17 with his last 40 bucks fundamentally shifted his life. He started teaching Jim Rohn stuff, and then he became Tony Robbins.

Really?

Yeah.

I didn't know.

For me, I was already. I had a car business, a collision shop, and auto sales. I buy Tony Robbins stuff. 27 years ago, I jumped into this industry. I asked 40 bucks fundamentally shifted his life. He started teaching Jim Rohn stuff, and then he became Tony Robbins.

Really?

Yeah.

I didn't know.

For me, I was already. So we just decided, why not show people how to do what we do, how to take your life experience, what you do right now with your VIP program, with all the things you're doing all over the world, this podcast, you're delivering value to people so they can condense time. If you model proven practices, it could take you 10 years to figure it out on your own. Or I do. What, Gary, did you do it in a year?

Yes.

Right? I could do it.

Yeah.

Tony took 40 years to do it.

And I don't need people to do it.

Right. So. So we decided, why not create a company that pulls back the curtain and shows people that their life experience might be the most valuable asset you own. So then. So then we said, this will be our passion project. We'll show people what we Learned. I have 28 years. He has 48 years. We got 76 years of combined in this industry. We're like, we'll show people you don't realize it, but the skill you have at work, it's valuable. The mess you went through and you're on the other side, it's valuable. The passion you have that you learn so much about somebody starting day one on the passion.

Yeah.

It's valuable because they want to condense time.

Yeah.

So we started a company called Mastermind. Now it started. We launched it and became. It became a movement. Right. We've. This is going to be our seventh event that averages almost a million people. Event. That is incredible. Right. We get people all over the world.

Speaking of here.

Yeah. And I can't wait for you to be there. It's going to be amazing. But the. The cool part about it is, it's so mission driven because now Tony's got a really good way about him. He's like, brother, he got to invent this industry in so many ways and create it. And it's been a legacy for all of us to model. Right. I've been doing it probably second longest to him almost 30 years. But he's like, hey, when we're gone, we can't help people anymore. So if we show people how to do what we do, we can make millions of people armed with the tools to live a fulfilled life, to live into their full potential. An industry that's always going to keep growing. And we're going like, he. He found a way to make it about a legacy, about impact. And the byproduct is the company's growing exponentially.

Right.

But we get up every day. We. Again, we. I'd say that to you. You work like you're broke. Tony and I were joking. We both work like we're broke.

Same here.

Because now he's like, we got more things to do. And. And the byproduct, you know, he's. He fed a billion people in eight years. One billion people provided one billion meals through Feeding America. He wanted to do it in 10. He did it.

Nate, you were telling me that. I mean, a billion, billion meals. I mean, that's. You want to talk about making an impact? I don't know. Another.

Somebody fed. Somebody fed him when he was a kid at Thanksgiving when he had nothing. And it just left this lasting impression on him. But the things that he gets to do. Right. You asked what drives those are Chicken.

Soup for the soul thing.

Oh, I know those. And he does those on a regular basis, like, regularly. He's doing things like that without telling anybody. Yeah. I'll give you an example. When. When the fires happen in California, he calls Me like, disturbed by it. Like, brother, there's a lot of people with money, they go wherever they want, but there's a lot of people without money. They lost their houses, they lost everything. They can't even afford an Airbnb.

Yeah.

He's like, what are we gonna do? We like. He takes. He's like, what are we gonna do? Right. Like, regularly, he's doing things like that without telling anybody.

Right.

I don't know. What can I do? What can I help?

Justice.

Right.

He can't live with that.

Yeah. Yeah. I'll give you an example. When. When the fires happen in California, he calls me, like, disturbed by it. Like, brother, there's a lot of people with money, they go wherever they want, but there's a lot of people without money. They lost their houses, they lost everything. They can't even afford an Airbnb.

Yeah.

He's like, what are we going to do? We like. He takes. He's like, what are we going to do? Right? And you know, he donated millions of bucks and he calls me back and he says, hey, let's. Let's put another million and buy Airbnbs and just give open tickets to people who can't afford it. I'm like, tell me where to wire the money.

Right?

And having that ability to send money like that in a moment or, I don't know, what can I do? What can I help?

Justice.

Right?

He can't live with it.

Yeah. Old schools in Africa or help kids out of slavery. All these things you get to do in the end, you know, he donated millions of bucks and he calls me back and he says, hey, let's. Let's put another million and buy Airbnbs and just give open tickets to people who can't afford it. I'm like, tell me where to wire the money. Right? And having that ability to send money like that in a moment or invisible goes right back to why I get up every morning. I'm because our business mastermind gets to show people how to start scale living to their full potential. And the byproduct we do this cool stuff for people.

Yeah.

I get to meet awesome people like you. We're building a friendship. We're not just doing a pod killed schools in Africa or help kids out of slavery. All these things you get to do in the invisible goes right back to why I get up every morning. I'm here because our business mastermind gets to show people how to start scale living to their full potential. And the byproduct we do this cool stuff for people.

Yeah.

I get to meet awesome people like you. We're building a friendship. We're not just doing a podcast, which is totally awesome.

Yeah.

Right. It's like, man, I want everybody to experience that. And I'm 56. Like, I don't have a lot. I got. I gotta go fast. You know what I mean? I gotta get more people.

30 years.

Yeah. Thank you. I'll take an extra 30, so. And I'm so excited you're speaking at this event. People are gonna absolutely love you.

You know, I think it's. It's so pass.

Which is totally awesome.

Yeah.

Right? It's like, man, I want everybody to experience that. And I'm 56. Like, I don't have a lot. I got. I gotta go fast. You know what I mean? I gotta get more people.

Another 30 years.

Yeah. Thank you. I'll take an extra 30, so. And I'm so excited you're speaking at this event. People are gonna absolutely love you.

You know, I think it's. It's so powerful for people to hear ways to quiet that voice of fear and doubt, because I think, you know, there's a famous story about Oprah Winfrey when she. She tried all of these diets and tried all of these different ways to lose weight, and I guess she tried Weight Watchers, and she might be the shareholder now, but she tried Weight Watchers. She tried all of these different exercise regimens, and she just couldn't. Powerful for people to hear ways to quiet that voice of fear and doubt. Because I think, you know, there's a famous story about Oprah Winfrey, and when she. She tried all of these diets and tried all of these different ways to lose weight. And I guess she tried Weight Watchers, and she might be the shareholder now, but she tried Weight Watchers, she tried all of these different exercise regimens, and she just couldn't lose weight. And she met this philosopher named Gary Zukoff and who wrote the book Seed of the Soul. And I think he wrote another book called Soul Stories.

And Seed of Soul was great.

Yeah. And so he was lose weight. And she met this philosopher named Gary Zukoff and who wrote the book Seed of the Soul. And I think he wrote an accredited with getting her to. For the first time.

Yeah.

To getting. Getting over Winfrey to lose weight. And I wrote a book called Soul Stories.

And see, the soul was great.

Yeah. And so he was. I remember reading this story, and someone asked Gary, like, what. What was it that you did to get her to lose weight? He said, it was Very simple. I had her stop seeing herself as a fat person.

And wow.

I was like, wow, that's. That's. That's really profound. You know, I mean, you're a smoker. You see yourself a smoker. You never stop smoking. And I think sometimes the subconscious way that we see ourselves is what manifests itself in the. In the real world. And when you do these things, like break a little promises to yourself, it just. It sort of reiterates and gives. Gives a voice to those kinds of things. I think a lot of people, yourself included. Doesn't sound like you were surrounded by. By a lot of mentors.

No.

Right. You didn't have, like, the rich uncle that had figured it all out. That was your mom's brother that was driving a nice car and built a business and was like, hey, Dean, I'm gonna teach you. I'm teach you how to do it. So I think, you know, very often people fall back on that crutch, too.

Is.

Is like, well, I. I don't have anybody to show me. But what you're saying is it really is within you.

It is. And. And. And once you find it within you, then the mentors appear. You didn't even know there was all the time. And the mentor could be the book, could be the podcast.

Yeah.

Could be the interview that you listen to. Right. Because it's like when you. When you buy a car, you think, nobody has it. Right. I buy. I bought a white Ford pickup truck. I love it everywhere. There's 200 of them in my neighborhood. Like, you know, and it's the same way sometimes when you shift, when you go, I don't want to get to the end of my life and realize I missed it. Oof. I got to take action today. Right. I do have a purpose. I want to be in control of my time or whatever that is. All of a sudden, you get hungry. Like, if you look at the common thread for the people who get healthier.

Yes.

That finally do their own thing. It's a depth of hunger. Where does that hunger come from? It comes from a purpose. It comes from running away from something. Whatever it is, you use it to get that momentum. And all of a sudden, I believe the white Ford pickup trucks start showing up all over the place. Right. There's a mentor. There's a. There's an event I should go to. There's. There's a speech I should listen to. This is a book I should download. Right.

Yeah. But along this journey of yours, because you. It seems to me like you've really developed a very conscious mindset. Like, you're very present, you're very in touch with how you feel, who you are, where you want to go. But along your journey, somewhere there had to be some setbacks. Even, even, even, even success had to bring a whole new set of.

Without a doubt.

Yeah. Of. Of.

Yeah.

Is there. Are there any that particularly stand out to you, tipping points that you recall?

Yeah.

What did you do in those?

And they never. Those moments, everybody's like, well, thanks. Thanks, guaranteed. You make me feel so good about success.

Bring you right back down to earth here.

Yeah. Not only do they continue to come, they get bigger. Yeah.

They get more complex.

The one that I thought I couldn't get through is. So you gotta figure I. I did own a collision shop. I owned Dean collision center at 19 years old.

Really? That's awesome.

And it wasn't a monster. But in my little town, I had Dean Collision Center. I had about 15 apartments. I would buy rundown apartment houses. So I work on cars during the day, and I'd go home and eat and I'd work on my houses. I learned how to be a plumber, a carpenter. So I had 19 apartments and a little collision shop, and I bought a tow truck. So long story short, and I watched Tony Robbins on an infomercial and I was already doing well. But when I listened to Tony, I bought his whole course. And I remember, listen, that life happens for me. Not to me. Like, I could use my past as the win, not the anchor. All the stuff we've been talking about today foundationally, got a lot of that from him 27, 28 years ago. Right, Right. Long story short, not only it performed profoundly shift some things in me. I was already having success, but I knew I was meant for more. Just like what you said. Yeah, it was something. I was living someone else's life. I wasn't supposed to be painting fenders. I'm not knocking that. But that wasn't where I. Where I felt I belonged. But the second thing that happened by buying this course is I said, wow. I gave Tony Robbins money for information. Like, think about it. It's. It's inflation proof. You don't have to store it. You don't have to warehouse it. He just. Just shared with me stuff to be better. And it worked. Yeah, exactly. So I went in that. So I decided to go in that business. So the two things that shifted, I decided to go in that business and create a course. I did an infomercial. People like, why did you do an infomercial? It's because there was no Internet when I started. Sorry. You're just older, right? But long story short, picture this blue collar guy in a little town. I have two desks in my collision shop. One is my new business, creating an infomercial and a product. I had no clue what I was doing. Look back now, but that was your.

Favorite desk because I know. I know what you mean.

Yeah.

So I have a desk with all my.

Yeah. So like somebody come in for an estimate on their car and then the other phone, oh, my God. I gotta. Like, this is the. My future, right? So long story short, I start getting momentum. I produce a product, I produce an infomercial. I put. Wait, back then to do an infomercial. And immediate. It was a couple hundred grand, which I didn't have. I put a lot of it on credit cards. So I'm launching this, and then I find a company out in Arizona who knows more than me about this space. So now picture I go about two years working in New York and upstate, my collision shop. I sold cars, apartment houses, flipping houses. I'd go back to New York, three weeks being that guy. I'd make money. I'd take it with me to Arizona. And I dump it. What seemed like this bottomless pit of this infomercial product. Like, I'd put 25 grand. I'm like, oh, we're good. Like, two days later. Yeah. And it's like two days later, they're like, it's gone. I'm like, oh, you know, so I'm hustling back and forth, and I'm finally getting momentum, Gary. I'm like, I finally, you know. You know, the breakthrough. You've been there a million times when you're like, it's the moment before you quit that you just say one more go. And that's the thing I wish everybody could have is like, sometimes we quit inches from the touchdown, the field goal, or whatever it is you want to say, right? I'm about like, can I really do this? In my mind, the story my sister told me, I'm not Tony Robbins. You're five, seven. He's six, seven. He's got friends, he's got money. Like, I remember all these things, right, of them trying to protect me. And. And right before it's quitting, Gary. I'm starting to get momentum. And I see it. I see people are starting to say thank you for the product. And. And we're getting momentum. And me going back and forth, I hire someone who's at this time is probably the age I am now at the older, wiser. I hire him as, like, cfo. Help me much as I could afford. Help me run this when I'm not here, because I got to go back to New York and actually make money to fund this. This hole. Right.

Yeah.

I start getting momentum. There's a little money in the bank. We're getting success. The infomercial is starting to rank. Like, I'm the fourth infomercial in the country. Tony's number one. My mentor. That he didn't even know it back then. I'm like, number four or five. And this guy, at 56 years old, never gambled a day in his life. He gambled his wife's retirement money away. And when he lost that, he drained all my bank accounts, went to the casino, put it all on. I was a cfo. It wasn't a CFO back then. Was an accountant. Accountant. So I wasn't for you. For me. Oh, my God. All the money out of all my accounts went and gambled to try to get his wife's money back, and he lost mine. So I'm just barely afloat. Right. You gotta think. And I got people saying, you're a dreamer out there in Arizona, infomercial guy. And back then, it wasn't. It was like you were called the infomercial guy. Like, you want to be the infomercial guy. And I go out there one day thinking we're doing good. And he calls me, and he just. He says, can I talk to you? He says, it's all gone. I'm like, what do you mean, it's all gone? So to me, we don't have $1. We can't make payroll on Friday. Like, we finally put a cushion away, go get the cushion money. And he told. Like, we finally put a cushion away, go get the cushion money. And he told me the story. Crying.

He told you the story?

Yeah, Crying like a baby.

He just threw himself at the mercy of the car. Oh, my gosh.

And I just remember leaving there, guy. I remember it was back when cell phones were those big. Not cell phone. A home cordless phone. The big antenna that you pull out and threw it so hard against the wall, it stuck. Frustrated and stuck. I went to the floor and cried. And this is the part I want everybody to hear. The human part is all of it came back. I said, my sister was right. I didn't go to college. I don't have a business degree. I don't know how to run businesses. This is for people way smarter than me. This is for people who have money backing. This is for people who weren't blue collar. I'm a damn car guy. Like, I remember just saying, you should have never left Marlboro. You should like all these things. No matter how much I didn't work on myself as much back then, but I remember all of those things. And I thank God that something shifted. I don't know if it was a day, three days, or five days, something shifted. And I just said, if I can get through this, I bet you I can get through anything. That was honestly the shift. I'd love to say it was miraculous. It was praying and I probably did all of that, but I just got this thing in my head. I'm like, well, what if I could get through this? I bet you if I got through this, nothing will ever stop me again. And just the switch of the thought. Gary went from crying in my soup. I woke up the next morning like, how do I fix this?

How do I fix this?

I mean, I did things like applied for 10 credit cards at once so they wouldn't all see my credit card check. The credit check.

Yeah.

And then you used to be able to do that, right? You can't do it anymore, right? AI, they can find it. So I applied for all these credit cards. Soon as I got them, I went to the bank and got cash advance on all of them. Made payroll. My dad had a house with no mortgage on it from years prior that I help him get. I'm like, dad, can I do a home equity line of credit on your house? But I need to do it right now. I'll pay the whole thing, please. He's like, do it, do it. He got me 100 grand off his house.

Oh, wow.

And then all of a sudden I'm like, I got 80 grand here. I got 100 grand here. What about this? I sold the house I was living in.

You did?

I sold the house I was living. I moved into a 1200amonth house rented down the street. I got 400, 300 grand in equity or 200 grand in equity in the house. I put all that in. And all I kept saying is, is imagine if I get through this.

Yeah.

And, and, and that, that's, that's the gift. I, I, I, I hope we inspired other people to see.

You know what I think too? I think that a lot of the best things in life come from perspective. And I think that when you have that perspective and then you succeed. Even if you marginally succeed.

Yeah. Even if you just don't die. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

You just.

If you just stay alive.

So, you know, I look at a lot of the negative things that have, you know, looking back, you would consider to be negative things. You know, litigation, divorce, bankruptcy, you know, all of these things. I walked out of Louis Vuitton store one time with pair of sunglasses on my head, and. And I ended up actually calling the store to. To report it, but I got arrested the next day for. For walking out of Louis Vuitton, has a zero tolerance policy. And they actually arrested me and, and, and my mug shot was in the paper and. Sorry, the case got thrown out and it was, you know, it was, it was, it was a no low process. And I got a lawful denial letter from the court and everything else. As soon as the state attorney general got it, she was like, you didn't actually steal these. You reported them before they found out. But, but I'm just saying I look back at a lot of these things, you know, divorce or bankruptcy, and God help you if you've ever been arrested. It's the worst feeling in the world. But. And the shift, the momentous shift that. That happened in me because of that event, because if you just don't stop and you get beyond that and you.

Get more tolerance, you get, you.

You build this resilience.

And then, Then if you start thinking, what if. God, I know your beliefs.

I'm a huge believer.

What if you had to experience that to be the Gary you are today?

Yeah.

I see the relationship you have with your wife and, And I feel blessed to say that I have that with mine.

Yeah.

And I am not saying not critical, but I know a lot of people that it looks like that, but behind the curtain it's not. What if you had to go through all that.

Yeah.

To be the man you are to your wife. What if you had to go through all that to have the resilience to impact so many lives? What if you had to do that to do this podcast?

Yeah.

It's all worth it, right? Then. Then you look, you have an ability. I know this sounds crazy, especially if you're younger. You might think I'm nuts, but you have ability to change your past. Everybody says you, you can change your future. Can't change your past. Not really true. You could give a different perspective to the things that happened.

Yeah.

Like why the hell I forgot the damn sunglasses on my head. I walked out. It wasn't my fault. But I guarantee, if you had a way to look at the dots when you get to your maker, at the end of your life and say, why did that happen? He's like, oh, wait, let me pull out page 47.

And you're like, oh, my. I need to bang a right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was trying to tell you to make the left, Gary. Yeah, you weren't. So I made a hard right for you. Right? And you're like, oh, my gosh. Right?

Yeah.

Whether it's true or not, if you believe it's true, it feels just the same.

Like many of you, the hardest thing for me is to shut off my mind at night when I want to sleep. And it's funny because sometimes I'll wake up tired already thinking of when I'll get back to bed again. But exactly the moment that I lay my head on the pillow, it feels like the machine of crazy what if thoughts has turned back on. Does this happen to you? Let me tell you my new secret to deal with this. You may have heard of Magnesium Breakthrough by Bioptimizers and how great it is for sleep and promoting calmness and relaxation. What I found out is that the brains behind Magnesium Breakthrough have taken it to the next level with a product specifically designed for sleep. It's called Sleep Breakthrough, and it's been a total game changer for me. Sleep Breakthrough combines the power of magnesium with other natural ingredients to help us fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and actually wake up feeling refreshed. Since I started taking Sleep Breakthrough, I've been waking up feeling rested, energized, and ready to tackle the day ahead. I highly recommend giving Sleep Breakthrough a try. Trust me. Visit buy optimizers. That's B I optimizers.com forward/ultimate and order now. Oh, and in addition to the discount you'll get by using the promo code ultimate, they're always amazing free gifts with your purchase. That's also why I love shopping at BuyOptimizers. Go now to buyoptimizers.com forward/ultimate to get your Sleep Breakthrough and find out this month's gift with your purchase. Now let's get back to the ultimate human podcast. Yeah, you know, but I think there's so much power in. And this is so off my normal topic that I usually talk about, but I don't want to get back to health here in a minute. But, you know, I think there's so much power in just the ability to reframe things, you know, to, like, you're talking about, you know, going back into the past and just reframing that.

Absolutely.

I. I have a. A friend, they call him Dr. Rewire, and I Actually watched him one night we. We went to one of his events at Saint Regis in Salt Lake City, and he. He brought all these people out around the fire, and people were disclosing their. Some very dark things that had happened in their life, you know, and it had to do with very tough breakups or tough relationships, tough emotional journeys that they'd been on different forms of abuse. And I watched him actually go into that moment with them and reframe the way that they talked about it and actually walk them from that moment to where they were. Now, I love.

Watch somebody as a skilled.

Oh, he's. Yeah, he's. He's. His. His name is Dr. Luke Trovoti and call him Dr. Rewire. But it was. Sage and I were sitting around this fire, I'll never forget, and I was watching these people go through what seemed like a torture session. Right. Because they were deep in this traumatic period of their life. I remember one girl in particular, her. Her boyfriend had actually put a pistol in her mouth and he had cocked the handle of the pistol back and he was threatening to kill her. And, you know, this massively traumatic event, but what it caused her to do was take her kid and. And leave. And finally leave him and. And stop with the. The trial of abuse. And that's a really intense story. But my whole point is that I watched him rewire these people for. From some of the darkest moments in their life into these very positive launching pads where they were almost like. Like, thank God that happened.

Right? Exactly.

Thank God that moment. Different rewrite actually happened to me. And, you know, not consciously doing it, but sometimes I. Now that I look back on some of these other little tipping points in my life, like, you know, you losing everything with your partner stealing from you. I mean, a lot of people would have gotten really pissed off and they would have gotten really angry and they would have diverted all of their energy towards holding that person accountable.

You know, it's like. It's like focusing on the spilt milk. It's already spilled. Doesn't matter whose fault it is. Doesn't matter if it's going to stay in the carpet. It's already spilled.

Yeah.

Might as well get a towel and a new glass of milk and try to fix.

Exactly. I love it. Dean, this is amazing. I wanna. I wanna shift gears a little bit because I know that you're in good shape. You're. You're in really good condition. Obviously you're taking care of yourself. What kind of role for you does fitness wellness? You know, we talked about Your diet a little bit beforehand because I think, I think the fuel that obviously goes into our bodies matters.

Absolutely.

And I think that your mindset has a lot to do with how you feel physically. And, you know, sick, fat, tired people don't build empires.

True story. And what did you.

What does your routine look like? What are some things that you do? And then. This is not a biohacking question.

I mean, the thing is to be the father I want to be. I have an 18 year old, 16 year old, 5 year old and a 2 year old. Right. So I got a big spread there. And my 2 year old, I got to be. I want to be here for a while. But how can I impact the world at the level I want or just impact the world? Might sound like a big. How do I live into the best version of me. The only thing I can do is be. I want to be better today than I was last week, last year, last month. Right. So it's a culture of progress, not perfection or comparison. Right. If you just compare yourself to who you were last year and you're better, you're moving. So for me, I don't feel I could be the man, the husband. I want my wife to look at me a certain way. I want my kids, but my kids, my older kids just work out. I never asked them to. And just see dad working out. They started working out. They're both in great shape. Right. So I don't get to have the energy, be the man. I want to be the husband, the leader. I want to be. And I need the energy at this age to go with the pace I go.

Yeah.

I run hard. So therefore I need to have my body as optimized as possible. Like my next year. I want to work with you to. I want to go from being in good, good shape to the best of my life. Right. To be, you know, the ultimate.

You're my next superhuman project.

Yeah. So I say that. So therefore, it pushes me to take care of myself. And one thing I want to share, I know this is. I guarantee you got the psychology on a way different level me. And then I'll tell you my routine. But everybody says, you know, I do work out seven days a week. I don't miss it. I. There's nothing. I could be up all night, I could fly. Like, I don't miss it, right?

Same.

And that's just a routine for 30 years. Right. And when people say, God, you must love the workout, the fact is, I don't love working it. And people say it must be Nice to have your own business and have your own world. Here's what I know. Nothing great comes easy. But if we focus on the task, if I focus on I gotta get up at 5 again so I can make everything work. Then I gotta, you know, I gotta get ready, I gotta go out in the gym. Oh, I gotta, oh, today's leg day. I don't love legs the best and I should do that. Like, if you think about the doing it, it's hard when I have days that I don't want to do it. All I can think about is I want my kids to see by example. I want my wife to still look at me with the eyes that she looks at me that way. I want to live a long time. My 2 year old, I had her when I was 54. Like I want to be here when she gets married.

Yeah.

So all I do and I think about how much better I feel, my clarity is there. I feel more alive when I'm done working out, I'm like ready to rip something open. Right. So all I do is think about how I feel at the end, how my kids are going to be, how my wife will look at me better. And if I think about the outcome, then therefore I'll do the work.

Wow.

So it's like starting your own business. It's like, oh man, I gotta figure out the first step and the next step and do I do an llc? See, that's kind of a lot. But are you going to leave yourself in a job that's slowly killing you? Think about the two years from now when your business is thriving, when you're in control of your decisions. You're in control like all the things you wanted or happen. I need to focus on where I'm going to be so the moment doesn't seem so hard. So if you ask me why I how I work out consistently is I'll focus on how I'll feel and the things that'll come after. And therefore it gets me to do it. My routine is I do the same thing. I get about 4:30 every day. I get up, I do a green drink and some fish oil and some other stuff that you're gonna make better for me.

Yep, I am.

And then, and then I do about a half hour of catching up on creative stuff that I like. I don't look at stuff that brings me down a rabbit hole. So my 4:30 to 5:15 ish is my creative stuff. Thinking about the day, having fun, like looking through those lens and then I go work out about 5, 15 every day. So three days a week is three or four days a week.

So you have like an hour, an hour into the morning.

I do, yeah.

And then, and is this like an hour? Do you, you reflect, you practice gratitude? I do meditation.

Okay, not meditation. I would love to say I meditate.

I can't.

I don't either. I don't, but I, but I'll think about, I'll think about three things. So in the morning I try to think about one thing I'm grateful for. I know, but he's like, practice gratitude. Sometimes you run out of things to be great for. Like if you ever try to do a gratitude gratitude journal.

Yeah.

Like, I think I wrote everything down. Right. So I, I try to like lower the bar of gratitude. Like, I woke some mornings, I'm like, like 170,000 people a day die if you Google it.

Yeah.

Like, some days I'm like, hey, I woke up today golden. That's all I need. If I'm in the right mood, that's enough. Or, or I slept good or my pillow felt good. Right. Like you gotta just lower it right.

Way down the ground.

My kids didn't get up last night. Damn, this is good.

If you got a two year old.

Yeah, exactly. And then, and then I think of one win from the day before because a lot of times as someone listening, if you're still listening right now, you're a hustler. You never give yourself credit for the things you accomplish. You'll beat yourself up for what you miss.

Yeah.

So I just say, what's one thing I accomplished yesterday that's cool? And sometimes it's business and sometimes it's monster deals. And sometimes it's, I made it to jiu Jitsu and my son did good. He looked up and saw him. I was there and he smiled. That's enough of a win from the day before. And then I'll think of one win I want that day. Right. So that's the little routine. As soon as my eyes open up is a little gratitude. Lower the bar of it. It a win from yesterday, a win I want today. Sometimes I'll also like send love to maybe my mom or send somebody like appreciation in the air. Right. Of like, thank you for that. And it just, it sets the clock a little different for me. It puts me in more of an offensive way to approach the day rather than defensive. Like, I think a defensive is if I woke up and looked at all my emails and I found the one bad one, I'm like, oh, yeah, I Gotta, it puts me in a different state. So I want to avoid that in the morning.

Right.

And then seven days a week, I don't miss it. I, I, there's nothing. I could be up all night, I could fly. Like, I don't miss it. Right. Same I do, you know, I, I drink this concoction in the morning that I can't wait for you to make better. And then, and then I move. Yeah, right. Then I move. Then I go exercise, rather.

Yeah.

And if I do that, which I do most days, I start the day ready. Like, oh, you're just bringing good habits.

Alone is a great habit. You're in the, you're in the 1% of 1%.

And I just make, I never diet. I just make smart, smart choices with my food for, for years I do the same. I went, I went probably two decades with barely eating anything bad. No, I, I didn't need dessert for two decades. Then I met my wife and, and she always has issues. Like, we don't deserve a lot, but when it's the right, like, I'm like, babe, it's always the right time for you. So last year I probably cheated a little bit on desserts, but other than that. Yeah, that's the routine.

That's amazing, man. Dean, I, I, we're, we're going to do a series of these, first of all, because I'm definitely going to have you back for my audience that is not familiar with you. How do they find you? Where can they find you? Online? Where? And, and which of your books do you think they should start with?

So Millionaire Success Habits. It's a great book. It's over a million copies. It was from years ago. It just consistently sells on a regular basis. It's, it's a, it's a great book. I'd love to invite everybody to come to the event you're going to speak at.

That'd be great.

And that's just a routine for 30 years. Right. And when people say, God, you must love the work at. The fact is I don't love working it. And people say it must be nice to have your own business and have your own world. Here's what I know. Nothing. It's on May 15th through the 17th. If you liked anything we shared today, if you like my partner, Tony Robbins, Gary Brecker is going to be speaking. Jay Shetty, Matthew McConaughey, some other amazing, some amazing guests are coming, and everybody's there is going to be talking about how they took a life experience and turned it into a Product, Wow. Turned it into impact. So Tony and I believe with the company we founded, Mastermind, that every single person listening has an experience, a skill, or a mess they can turn into the message that is valuable in the marketplace. And once you realize that, that could be a side business or the full time business, and you realize the leverage of a business, an industry that's at a billion dollars a day right now, heading towards a trillion a year, they predict. So this is one of those industries that's growing. If you're intrigued or ever thought about doing that or being a creator. May 15th through the 17th, we're calling it Thrive in 2025, it's our seventh one. We'll probably have about 800,000 to a million people joining from over a hundred countries.

And they can log in, they can do it remote.

So thrive900com thrive900.com I'm sure you'll put it in the show notes as well, but go register. Reserve a spot if you, if you, if you, if anything, I said today was intriguing. You'll really enjoy. It's the only time of year we do three days for free.

Really?

No charge. So. Wow. That. Or. And. And at Dean Graziosia on Instagram.

I'm Dean Graziosi on Instagram. Amazing. Well, I wind down every podcast by asking my guests the exact same question. So if you've watched my podcast and made it to the end, you know this question's coming. And there's no right or wrong, wrong answer to this question, but what does it mean to you to be an ultimate human?

As a. It's a. It's so funny. Of course I've seen you ask that question, but when it's asked to you, I know I'm not prepared for this now.

And, you know, honestly, some of the best answers weren't, like the most wildly philosophical.

Well, I'll tell you what. The first thing came to me.

Yeah.

Is at the end of my life, I could close my eyes and if my wife's still with me, which I'm sure she will be, and my kids, I can feel like I did everything in my power to be an example, to show them how to be contributing humans and live a fulfilled life. Like, literally when you said it all, like, the first thing that came my mind is if my kids were like, man, my dad set us up. Not money, but set us up to be good humans.

Yeah.

And. And live a resourceful kind of life.

That's amazing. Well, I also have a VIP community, so we're gonna head over to My VIP community now they, I, I let them know before the podcast who's coming on.

Oh, that's awesome.

Got some questions wa you if you're interested in becoming an Ultimate Human VIP, just go over to theultimatehuman.com VIP you can sign up to be a VIP for 97 bucks a month. I pour myself into this community. In fact, today I have a two hour live Q and A with them right after this podcast. Answering any question that you have on health, on diet, lifestyle, what a great opportunity. Spiritual well being, biohacking, the exact thing.

That we teach you should be doing great comes easy. But if we focus on the task, if I focus on I gotta get up at 5 again so I can make everything work, work. Then I gotta, you know, I gotta get ready, I gotta go out in the gym. Oh, I gotta, oh, today's leg day. I don't love legs the best and I should do that. Like if you think about the doing, it's hard when I have days that I don't want to do it.

Yeah.

You took all these years to you. You've failed on so many things that made you win. All I can think about is I want my kids to see by example. I want my wife to still look at me with the reason other people should fail. Yeah.

So, so true.

Go jump on that.

Shortcut it for you guys.

Yeah.

So go over to the ultimate forward slash vip. And until next time, that's just science.

Eyes that she looks at me that way. I want to live a long time. My 2 year old, I had her when I was 54. Like I want to be here when she gets married.

Yeah.

So all I do and I think about how much better I feel, my clarity is there. I feel more alive when I'm done working out. I'm like ready to rip something open. Right. So all I do is think about how I feel at the end, how my kids are going to be, how my wife will look at me better. And if I think about the outcome, then therefore I'll do the work.

Wow.

So it's like starting your own business. It's like, oh man, I gotta figure out the first step and the next step. And do I do an llc? Ah, that's kind of a lot. But are you gonna leave yourself in a job that's slowly killing you? Think about the two years from now when your business is thriving, when you're in control of your decisions. You're in control like all the things you wanted are happen. I need to focus on where I'm gonna be. So the moment doesn't seem so hard. Hard. So if you ask me why I how I work out consistently is I'll focus on how I'll feel and the things that'll come after and therefore gets me to do it. My routine is I do the same thing. I get about 4:30 every day. I get up, I do a green drink and some fish oil and some other stuff that you're gonna make better for me.

Yep, I am.

And then, and then I do about a half hour of catching up on creative stuff that I like. I don't look at stuff that brings me down a rabbit hole. So my 4:30 to 5:15 ish is my creative stuff. Thinking about the day, having fun, like looking through those things. And then I go work out about 5:15 every day. So three days a week is three or four days a week.

So you have like an hour, an hour into the morning. I do, yeah. And then, and is this like an hour? Do you reflect? You practice gratitude? I do, I do meditation.

Not meditation, I would love to say I meditate.

I can't.

I don't either. I don't, but I, but I'll think about, I'll think about three things. So in the morning I try to think about one thing I'm grateful for. I know, but it's like practice gratitude. Sometimes you run out of things to be great for. Like if you ever try to do a gratitude gratitude journal.

Yeah.

Like I think I wrote everything down. Right. So I, I try to like lower the bar of gratitude. Like I woke some mornings, I'm like170,000 people a day die if you Google it.

Yeah.

Like some days I'm like, hey, I woke up today golden. If I'm in the right mood, that's enough. Or, or I slept good. Or my pillow felt good. Right. Like you gotta just lower it right.

Way down the ground.

My kids didn't get up last night. Night. Damn, this is good.

If you got a two year old.

Yeah, exactly. And then, and then I think of one win from the day before. Because a lot of times as someone listening, if you're still listening right now, you're a hustler. You never give yourself credit for the things you accomplish. You'll beat yourself up for what you miss.

Yeah.

So I just say, what's one thing I accomplished yesterday that's cool? And sometimes it's business and sometimes it's monster deals. And sometimes it's, I made it to jiu Jitsu. And when my son did good he looked up and saw him. I was there. And he smiled. Child, that's enough of a win from the day before. And then I'll think of one win I want that day. Right? So that's, that's the little routine. As soon as my eyes open up is a little gratitude, lower the bar of it. A win from yesterday, a win I want today. Sometimes I'll also, like, send love to maybe my mom or send somebody, like, appreciation in the air. Right? Of like, yeah, thank you for that. And it just, it sets the clock a little different for me. It puts me in more of an offensive way to approach the day rather than defensive. Like, I think a defensive is if I woke up and looked at all my emails and I found the one bad one, I'm like, oh, yeah, I gotta. It puts me in a different state. So I want to avoid that in the morning.

Right.

And then I do, you know, I. I drink this concoction in the morning that I can't wait for you to make better. And then, and then I move. Yeah, right. Then I move. Then I go exercise, rather.

Yeah.

And if I do that, which I do most days, I start the day ready. Like, oh, you're just bringing good habits.

That alone is a great habit. You're in the. You're in the 1% of one.

And I just.