Manifestation, Authenticity & Spiritual Growth | Alex Sedlak

What is up guys, welcome to the Zen Hard Podcast. In this episode, I'm interviewing Alex Sedlak. Now, Alex is a bit younger than me, actually the youngest guest I've had on so far. What I will say, this conversation goes extremely deep. It's probably one of the most insightful conversations we've had here. So if you're on a plane ride or you're on a walk, like, pay attention because we go deep. I hope you enjoy. Alex, welcome.

Jared, appreciate you having me, bro.

I think I was thinking about it, you are the youngest person I've had on this show so far.

Really? By how many years?

You're 24, right? Yeah, yeah. So, well, actually the first episode I had an assistant who was 18, but he was interviewing me. He's just like a test run. Yeah, well, probably by at least 10 years.

No shot.

Yeah, you know, I, I, I, uh, that's awesome. I've been— I don't have anything against younger people. I'm just way older now than I— like, it feels like I'm still 24, but I'm 34 now. And, you know, a lot of the people that align with my values and the things I want to talk about just happen to be older.

But which makes sense. I feel like it comes with life, you know?

Yeah. And there's like, it's, it's hard to kind of weed through people on social media and kind of find people that share similar values because there's like, you know, it's kind of the Wild West out there, you know, anyone with, uh, You know, especially the space you're in, bro. Especially the space I'm in.

Dropshipping, yeah. A lot of money-hungry, greedy dudes out there, for sure.

It's very money-driven, and it's like anyone who makes, you know, $100 grand can go put a down payment on a fancy car and like post about it, and then, you know, so it's really, there's a lot of fake people out there, but when I got to meet you, I felt completely different about that, which is why I wanted to—

That's awesome.

You know, have a conversation, and I like talking to people who are younger than me, 'cause like, And again, I feel like the old guy saying this over and over again, but I guess I am. Uh, you know, the future is going to be so different. There's so many new things in society that didn't exist when I was a kid, even when you were a kid. But there's all these new things that are being built in society right now that are shaping the future. And not being in the know of these things can really put you behind. Like, obviously there's social media, there's AI, there's a whole new kind of world of ways to make money through being content creators. You know, people are getting paid so much money to make posts. And I want to learn and really understand the future because, you know, as an entrepreneur building businesses, thinking ahead, you have to really kind of be on that page. What do you see like, I mean, you're in the TikTok space, the content creation space. Like, what do you see that space kind of turning into?

Man, it's insane because it's gotten so competitive. You know, it's like everyone and their dog wants to do it. So I think it's just really coming down to who's really willing to work the hardest and put out not only quality, but a lot of it, a lot of quality. 'Cause when I first started TikTok in 2019, bro, it was like any video I posted would go viral.

Really?

Any single one, dude. It was like, and at that time I smoked a lot of weed and I would literally just be high and I would post a video and it'd get seen by 10 million people.

What kind of videos were you posting?

Literally just like the corniest shit, bro. Like little quotes and like just what I thought was really deep at the time, which some people, it really aligned with a lot of people apparently. But no effort whatsoever. Make it in 35 seconds and it would get seen by 5, 10, 15 million people.

Like motivational things?

Yeah, yeah, like motivational relationship advice, stuff like that. And it would just go viral. And now it's like I make good videos and like, if you're, if you're not on the algorithm side, like if you post controversial things, like it's a completely different game now. So it's like, it comes down to your understanding of the algorithm. As much as people think that it doesn't matter, I think it's really, really important. If someone can understand the algorithm, their whole life will be set in how it works. But I think it's just getting more and more competitive. But at the same time, as it gets more competitive, more people are watching it. So there's always going to be people And I think what people should understand if they're getting into it is like, you really only need 1,000 true people to change your life. Like 1,000 true followers to change your life. A lot of people think they need to go mega viral, but it's like, think about the people who are going mega viral, right? They post things with no significance. Yeah. Like dancing and shit. Yeah, yeah.

Like, which is one in a million.

Yeah, exactly. Like, what are you providing to people, right? And like, if you're not providing things of substance, you're not connecting with people on an emotional level, you're just going to come and go. And I think that's the only reason why I've been able to last as long as I have is because I'm vulnerable and I actually put myself out there to connect with people. And that is what I think a majority of people going into the future need to kind of prioritize, is to actually be genuine and not just be one of these dudes who are money hungry, go buy a fast car, unless like you really, really work for it and deserve it and focus on building that connection with people. And then you build a connection with 1,000 people, your life is pretty much set if you know the back end of things.

The problem with the people that post about, you know, let's just call the fake people out there, is they get so much validation from their followers. But the validation you get from those followers are not validation you want. Like when I, you know, show up in like a fancy car or something, the people that come up to me are the people that I don't really want the attention from. Anyone who you actually want attention from doesn't Like, they think that's a nice thing, but they're not gonna respect you for it. So you get all this validation, which keeps them kind of going down that path.

And it's exactly another— I'm glad you brought that up, because it's super important to be intentional about the image that you create of yourself. Because if you're just doing things to go viral, and you're just like, "Ah, I just want to get views," like, you're gonna come and go before you know it. And the reason why I've only been able to last this long is because I was super intentional from the jump of like, I want to build a connection with people and I want to have longevity because there's like this saying where it's like for someone to start, if they blow up, they have 2 years. They only have 2 years. And if they don't capitalize off of it within 2 years, good luck ever doing it again. But if you're intentional about it and you're like, I want to build it, like the people who have been watching me, bro, have been watching me since they're like in 8th grade. Yeah. And now they're like 20 years old. You know, it's because I, at that time during COVID especially when everyone was locked in their room, I connected with them at like a very, I guess, vulnerable part in their life where they had no idea what was going on, where their life was gonna go. And it was perfect timing for me personally. But the future is all gonna come down to who is authentic, right? 'Cause anyone can hire an editor and have them create some crazy edits and make a video look good. But if the message isn't good and it's not from the heart, it's not gonna connect with people.

Yeah, because there's more and more efficiencies, AI, posting tools, even like ways to hack the algorithm to get views. But I feel like as society continues to move forward and there's more and more efficiencies and more and more people doing something, the only thing that's going to separate people is authenticity, is being a human. So do you ever look back? Because I'm like, when I look back at the things I used to do on social media, I feel a little bit cringy about them, right? Like, I, when I was in my early 20s, I made a bunch of money. I bought the Lambos. I was showing off my life, and nothing wrong with that, but I was doing it because that was my business. I would show off my life and then I was selling courses and coaching and masterminds. But I look back and I'm like, I've grown into a different version of myself. Do you ever look back at your old stuff and feel cringy about it?

I think that's the only way to know you've grown is to look back at yourself and be like, geez, fuck.

Yeah.

That's brutal. But it's funny because I'm kind of currently in that stage that you're talking about. I know it's exactly the reason why I'm doing it is because it gets clicks, you know? It's like, I try to be the one guy who can use this stuff but also spread the message at the same time that's like, this is just shit.

Yeah, you know, I've seen you talk about it.

It doesn't mean anything, you know? It's like, I'm literally doing this for the sole intention of getting clicks.

But, um, well, when you first get started out and you first start like getting validation from the universe, like, you know, things that you're doing is working, mm-hmm, it's like you kind of crave more validation.

Yeah.

Yeah, so it's just a natural thing. Like, you know, I used— when I first made money, I wanted all my friends from high school to see. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and everyone is so fucking stupid, but it's so dumb.

But everyone does.

My ego wanted everyone to get that information. Yeah, but I do think that there's just so much of that right now. Mm-hmm. And like, the people that are authentic are the ones that are gonna continue.

Yeah, 100%, bro. That's why I'm doing daily vlogs on YouTube right now. Oh, and I just carry around a GoPro. That's all. I don't edit it whatsoever. I just put them all together and I post it.

That's cool.

And I, I'm gonna see what happens because I just— everything on YouTube right now is like people are filming movies, bro. Oh yeah, it's like movies. I'm like, I can't do that. Like, I'm not gonna do that. I'm just gonna try to be myself and see, see where it takes me.

We spot— we're, uh, with Zendrop, we're sponsoring someone's video. I'm not gonna say who it is on this podcast, but he made literally like a movie. Like, dude, like I'm talking like they must have been using like RED cameras and like drones.

It's crazy what people are capable of, bro. Like, it's—

well, I mean, it brings in so much more money now.

It does, yeah, than it used to.

So people invest in it. But I'm, I'm curious to see, like, so at this point, I, I don't— I only try to post genuine things and I'm not really doing it for the attention. It's actually more so, so like when my son grows up, he can look at the things I said and learn and yeah, that's so cool, proud of his dad. But like when I post something that's not a high production value and it's just genuine, it doesn't get as much views, but it does get a lot more engagement by the people that see it. So do you think that there's a, um, you know, there's a correlation between how much effort you put into the quality and the, the output?

I think I 100%— I think it comes down to like the way people are able to connect with it, because the people who are making movies, like, they'll admire it, they'll think it's like really cool and really well put together, but I don't think unless your messaging is really incredible, I don't think it'll really, really resonate with someone because they— it takes away the humanness of it, you know what I mean? When it's like there's all this flashing and all this shit going on on the screen where it's like with my, my vlogs, I'll post one every day and I won't try on the thumbnail, I won't try on the title. I'm just gonna like just go. Yeah, whoever wants to watch, it's gonna watch it. And they like— have you ever seen Outdoor Boys? I don't know if you've seen it. Have you ever seen it, Elliot? You've never seen Elliott? Or you've never seen Outdoor Boys? So it's like this old dude, Outdoor Boys, yeah, he knows. It's this old guy, he's a dad.

He's like me?

No, he's like, he's probably like, what, 40, 45? He's got 3 kids, 3 boys, and he literally just takes them camping in the woods. Like, takes them on these crazy vacations. Not like super luxury though, that's what everyone loves about him, is like, he's just a simple dude, brings his GoPro, takes his kids camping, and he has 10 million subscribers. Wow. 50 million views a video. Because it's just so wholesome. You know, I think, I think that's really my long-term goal is like, I need to make money in order to kind of fuck off, you know, like it's kind of what everyone's kind of goal is, is like, make it, make an impact, make money, and then go live your life. Um, but the reason why it, he does so well is because it's so, so genuine versus like, I mean, you can look at like, I don't know, you know, Iman Gadzhi. Yeah. Like he almost makes himself not human because his production is so high value and like people, he's like on a pedestal to these people, you know? It's like, there's no human connection with him because it's so like romanticized almost. I don't know if that's the right word, but it's like when you watch this Outdoor Boys dude video and he's just human as it gets, it's like it really, really—

People can feel the emotions.

Exactly, yeah, yeah.

I mean, we're emotional, energetic beings and we can feel that through consuming that type of content. And I think what makes things stick and what makes things— what makes people want to share something is the emotion that they attach to consuming that media. So I haven't seen that, but I'd imagine like there's a lot of love and connection between the family and it just feels good.

Yeah, 100%. You just sit there and you laugh and you smile because you get to see his family like make these incredibly wholesome memories with his like 3 boys, you know? Like that's like the ultimate goal right there. Like that's That's the goal of life at the end of the day is like have a family and like have fun with them, I feel like.

Yeah, a lot of people are taking a lot longer to have families these days.

When did you have your first kid?

I'm 34, I think I was 32.

How old is your wife?

She's 28.

That's good, yeah, that's nice.

We're relatively early compared to a lot of people.

Yeah, I mean, dude, a lot of people are choosing not even to have them.

Yeah.

You know, because I think it's just like, kind of media propaganda and shit.

I could say I grew up like with a single mom and I didn't have any siblings. So like a family wasn't in my blueprint of like what the normal progression of life was. I met Madeline and she was just such a good person that it just kind of turned into what it is. But I will say before that, I always imagined myself as like this, you know, young, rich bachelor, free, doing everything I want to do. And I got to experience a little bit of that, but like, the love you get from a family is exponentially more than that.

You want that life of the bachelor until you live it, and then you have that gaping hole inside of you where you're like—

It's a very classic example of the mind versus the soul. You know, the mind wants the excitement, it craves the dopamine, the soul wants the long-term joy and love. And the mind is where most people live in.

It's like the ego and the soul, you know?

Yeah, when I say mind, it's the same thing as the ego.

It's because your ego wants to do all these things. Like, my ego wants to get the Ferrari, you know? My ego wants to go to the clubs and stuff, but I don't do that shit anymore. But like, the ego is always gonna want you to go do these things to get that validation from yourself, 100%.

But it's like, you know, I've spent a lot of time reflecting on this type of stuff through, you know, plant medicine journeys, meditations, like, long talks.

I would love to hear about your plant medicine stuff.

Yeah, I'll tell you about it. It was, I mean, I've been to 5 of them so far.

You go down to like Mexico?

No, there's a place in Nashville actually.

Really?

I can't say the name of it here on the podcast.

You do ayahuasca?

It's not ayahuasca. It's a proprietary medicine they have there. And like only, I think, 2,000 people now have ever done it.

Wow. In the world?

In the world have done this medicine because they have this proprietary protocol. But it's like, um, you basically go to this— it's like a compound essentially. You get your own little apartment. It's a beautiful— like, you walk into the place and you're like, wow, this is beautiful. Nature, energy is really good. The people that work there are like the nicest people in the world. And then you do your journey the next day. They call it a journey, uh, where you essentially take the substances and then you lay on the— they make like a, a nest for you like with a weighted blanket and pillows and like an eye mask and headphones. And you just melt into like everything at once. And you are like, it's the most incredible thing in the world. But the cool thing is, is you have a voice recorder on.

Oh wow.

So when you're in this space, wow. You're like, all right, I'm gonna, I wanna tell myself what this is, right? 'Cause you're 100% lucid.

Yeah. Yeah.

But your body feels like, you feel like, I can't even describe, there's no words that can describe it. But then afterwards you listen to the recording and you transcribe it, so you type it all out, and then you work with a coach to like pull out the nuggets and implement them in your life. And the first thing I said on my first journey was, "Have kids, have them now." Wow. And it was because my soul was craving it, right? But we all live in this place where, you know, most people live like 99% in their mind and ego and like 1% in their soul. But when you do this journey, your mind and ego goes to sleep and you're just purely your soul. So everything you've been craving like deep down inside is just flowing out of you. And then you can go back to— and I literally had my son right after, and I'm like, I couldn't have been happier that I did that because I— he's everything to me at this point. So it's like, the more time of my, of my life on this planet with him, the better.

Dude, I, I feel like if everyone did psychedelics once in their life— I don't know if I can endorse them. I've never publicly endorsed them because I feel like if someone's in a bad space mentally, you're gonna have a really bad time.

Depends what you're doing. Like, say ayahuasca, psilocybin, LSD— those are psychedelics. What I'm talking Turns out it's actually not— it doesn't make you hallucinate. It's a psychoactive substance, but you can't have a bad experience on this.

It is— what?

It's impossible. There's people that have been there. You know, it's very expensive to go to this place.

How much is it?

It's like you buy a package for like $40,000 and you get to go 4 times. So—

wow. And you've been all 4?

I've been 5 times now. Actually, I'm going my 6th time at the end of November.

Wow. Like, is it like a quarterly thing?

Quarterly is like the recommended, but I go twice a year. It's honestly like the deepest cleanse you can imagine, you know. Maybe like once a quarter you want to do like a water fast or, you know, a detox from your phone.

This is like just like a reset, like a total reset.

You come back and you're like fresh.

And I used to be the same way with shrooms. I would do shrooms like 3, 4 times a year. And I, I feel like you can always know when you talk to someone who's done psychedelics just by like their their demeanor awareness. Yeah, yeah. And, um, because it changed my whole life, you know. Like, before I did them, I was like a— first time I did them was in a dorm room, which is not the place you want to do it, bro. So I'm in there, I'm like, what the fuck is going on? But, and then I kind of just like— it kind of brought me to understand like the potential I had. The first time I did it, I was like, wow, like, I have so much potential, I'm not harnessing it at all. Yeah, like, what if I went outside And I brought a journal and I actually, you know, intentionally wrote down everything that's going on in my head right now and then dropped out of college like a week later.

Oh really?

Yeah, dropped out of college and had no plan, no idea what I wanted to do whatsoever and kept doing shrooms, not like once a month, but like probably once every 2 months.

Yeah.

Now I haven't done them in like a year. Yeah. Because I had one bad weed high, which really is It makes no sense, 'cause I would smoke every day back in the day. Like every day I was high. I did shrooms, I did LSD, and I did everything, you know? And like, I always was grounded. I was always level. But one day in Miami, I smoked a joint that I had smoked literally the night before. And something just happened in my brain, bro. I was in a state of psychosis for like 6 months.

Like 6 months?

It was awful, bro.

Holy shit.

No, it was insane. So now like I've literally retired from drugs entirely because I just never wanna feel what I felt.

That's crazy.

Yeah, dude. Horrible. I think it was laced with something, but it was like borderline like schizophrenic for like 6 months. No, it was horrible, bro. It was like—

when did that end?

Um, so it happened still in the process. Okay, no, it thankfully it ended like a year ago.

Wow.

About— but it happened like mid-2022 and lasted till like March 2023. Damn. No, dude, it was insane. It was like— it was like I'd be staring at my computer screen and it was like a truck would hit me and I would just like completely like third person my whole life.

Wow.

For like months on months. So that's why I say like you got to be careful with it. But like the shrooms had— like if it wasn't for the psychedelics, I wouldn't have been here in the first place. And I'm a big believer in God, and I think like God put that into my life to get me to stray away from just substances as a whole, um, because of the mental clarity that you can have when you're not on them. But it's, it's, it's just tough. I mean, I don't want to say I'm completely retired from them because Yeah, of the profound benefits.

But well, I think when someone, you know, utilizes a substance like psilocybin, it opens new neural pathways, right, or synapses in your brain. So like problems that you couldn't solve, or like maybe you're in college, right, and like deep down you're like, I don't want to be in college, but your brain has just conditioned yourself right when you think about that to go to a different path. You couldn't break out of it. Now you open up new thought patterns and you have— and you're able to have realizations. But at the same time, you know, those types of psychedelics could be challenging. Like, I remember when my wife— it was my girlfriend at the time— and I lived in LA. We went and we hiked Big Bear in LA, and we actually meant to do a 2-hour hike, but we ended— or 2-mile hike— we ended up taking a 14-mile hike by accident.

And we tripping?

Yeah, we took shrooms and we took the wrong path.

Oh no.

But there was It was fucking crazy. But on the way down, I, I was in a place where like my business was like struggling. I had these partners I didn't like. I was living in this one-bedroom like place down in Silver Lake. And she was working and like, I was just like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. Like, I'm not living the life I want. And on the way down, all I could think of was, you're gonna have to become an Uber driver. You're gonna have to become an Uber driver. I don't want to be an Uber driver. You're gonna have to become an Uber driver. I don't want to be Oh my God, and it was for hours. I just only— everything I could think of was, you know, you're just gonna have to become an Uber driver.

Oh my God, that's the worst night.

Which is like, honestly, one of my biggest fears. Yeah, nothing. Again, listen, if you're an Uber driver listening to this, like, oh, I have nothing against you. I personally, at that time in life, could not have done that because it would have— it just— it was— no, it would have been a disaster for me personally. Nothing wrong with being an Uber driver. But that was a bad trip. But, but, but, but, but the next day I woke up with all the clarity. Like, I feel like I had this like deep anxiety about becoming an Uber driver for like months, and it all just came out of me.

Yeah, that's so funny.

Next day I knew all the answers. What I had—

that cracks me the fuck up. Yeah, but I always tell people the same thing. It's like, even the bad trips you're gonna learn something from, even if you don't realize it while you're tripping. Like you're gonna, there's gonna be something that resonates, whether it be, dude, I had one bad trip. Speaking of bad trips, like, oh my gosh. It's not as funny as that though, unfortunately. That's hilarious. But my friend and I, you ever do shroom tea?

Yeah.

And it just hits like immediately, right? I didn't know that. So it was our first time doing it.

He's like, dude, let's go out to the bars.

Let's do, I'm like, all right, sure. Like, cool, let's do it. So we get in the car, we get to go there, and I'm like, oh fuck, like, oh my God. And then we get there and we get to like these girls' house and it's all girls that I went to high school with, of course, you know. And it's like, I'm tripping sack as soon as we pull up. And I'm like, I get out of the car, I just start yakking everywhere, you know, like it flips your stomach. And I'm just throwing up all over the floor and it's like spinning. I'm seeing like shapes and shit in my puke. And I was like, oh my God, we gotta leave now. So then we had, I had to, like my friend who was sober, I was like, dude, I know you just got here, but like, please just take me back. And I just went and laid in the grass for like 2 straight hours, but.

That was probably nice.

Yeah, I needed it. I needed it so bad. But yeah, ultimately I think everyone should try them at least once in their life because they'll, if you're pushing things and thoughts under the rug, they're gonna make them, up, like, come to the surface.

Also, like, I mean, I'm gonna go a little deeper on the philosophical stuff for a moment.

Love it.

We're here existing in a body, and our reality is simply inputs, right? Like, what we think we're seeing is not actually what we're seeing. We're just— light is entering our eyes and our brain is saying that's a table. What we're touching, it's not solids. It's, it's, you know, 99.99999% empty space because Atoms are mostly empty space. What we're smelling is our nose is telling us this is what that smells like, you know, same with our tasting. Anyway, my point is reality is not actually reality. It's our perception of the things around us. And we're only here for, you know, 70 years, 80 years, 100 years, whatever it is. The purpose of life is to experience life and to learn and to grow, right? Like You're gonna die with none of the things you bought. You're gonna have your memories, they're gonna be gone. But there's unlimited exploring we can do. And like, when internally— that's what I mean. Yeah, that's what I mean, actually, specifically internally. Like, understanding your mind and your ego, whatever you want to call it, and your soul or your true self. Like, that path goes so deep. And when you could really go down that path, like I've had some experiences just through meditating or walking where when you let go, when you completely let go, you get completely present. And being in that completely present moment becomes ultimately blissful. Like, I've had walks where I'm just like, "You're just there," but it's like the best high I've ever felt in my life, and it's right there inside me. And people think they have to go find it, but in reality, you got to just remove the things in the way because you have it right there. And I think some psychedelics or certain experiences can help you understand what's going on so you could let go and you could get to that point.

Have you ever read The Power of Now?

Yeah, I have.

Yeah, that book was— I found that book like right after I did shrooms and it just like, like everything just kind of like clicked because I was like— It's a great book. I was like, all this shit that I'm worrying about— it's probably the best I've ever read. I've read a lot of books about like money, but like Yeah, I feel like the money— I also want to ask you a money question in a second, but it's like, I feel like I started to understand money so much more once I understood like presence and how everything kind of all stems from your perception. And my question to you was like, how do you perceive money now that you know everything's just perception? And like, because now it's— you use it as like a tool. Yeah, right. But like, for the people who have that scarcity mindset and they don't— they have never put themselves in an environment where money is like fake, money is not real.

Yeah.

You know, it's like, how do you— because you've grown a massive company, far, far more than anything I've done. So I want to know, like, how, as you've grown in the past 10 years, how have you changed your perception on money?

Yeah, it's a great question, actually. And So what I've realized, honestly, what I've realized, and, and, and it's— I've been able to witness the, the, uh, the end result of these types of things, right? Like, it wasn't just a concept. Like, I've went down this path and it's actually spit out the outcome I was hoping for, is that everything in your life stems from your energy, stems from how you feel. And time is just an illusion, essentially, right? Like, we We— let me explain this a better way. So we live in a universe of unlimited possibilities, right? Like, anything could happen right now. This camera could turn off. I can get up and have to go fix it and trip and then, you know, hurt myself, go to the doctor, meet someone who does this. My point is, there's unlimited things that could happen at any single moment. I went from, like, completely broke to, like, you know, from, like, negative $10,000 to my name to a multimillionaire in 60 days. Wow. In ways that was impossible for me to have expected. The problem is most people have expectations of how things should happen. They, you know, I'm starting this business, you know, I have to get this deal done with this person that'll lead me to here. When this happens, you know, that thing must happen. They expect it to happen in a linear way.

Mm-hmm.

But since there's unlimited possibilities, the odds of your expectations being true are zero because anything over infinity is zero. So people try to create in a linear way where it's like this happens and that happens, this happens, and when it doesn't go that way, they're attached to their expectations, which makes them feel separate. It makes them feel fear or scarcity, which then in turn creates more of that in their lives. So what I've learned is, you know, if you can change the way you feel, right, maybe it's through walking, through meditating, through running, through working out, and you can get yourself into a feeling of abundance, I have everything in this, you know, everything I need, things are gonna happen in your life in synchronistic ways, and you're going to become that version of yourself in the right amount of time. And the time part you have to let go of. So like, one thing I do every single day that's been really powerful for me, and my career has also followed it, is I do what I call the perfect walk. Formula every morning. I actually wrote a book about it. I haven't released the book yet, but it's something I want to share. And it's like a 25-minute practice every morning. I go out, I have music that goes along with it, and basically it's a 5-part walk. First part, you're opening your heart, you're feeling grateful, think about your family, like things you love. Um, next part, you're feeling power, the music gets stronger, you, you feel like, you know, you could take anything on, like you feel your energy. Third part is completely letting go, present moment. And then the fourth part is you start to feel connected with a higher power.

Mm-hmm.

Because when you let go enough, you become one with everything. And that probably doesn't mean things to most people, but if it means something to you, you know what I'm talking about. And the fifth part, celebration, where you celebrate the fact that you got up in the morning, you celebrate something that you want to happen as if it did already happen, and you get these unbelievable emotions and feelings. And then at the end of the walk, I say, all right, I did my work for the day. I'm gonna let go. I have no expectations for what's gonna happen. And, and that's it. And then things end up happening in crazy ways.

Wow.

From changing the energy. So I think money is just a part of that. Wow.

Honestly, where's that song that you listen to?

Yeah, I have actually— so I have playlists on Spotify. It's 5 songs, right? One for each part of the walk, different vibes. But I actually hired a music group to create custom music. Wow. So I'm releasing the music with the book. With the book, dude, that's at some point, like, awful. I have it all done. It's like ready to go, but I'm so like, again, time, right? It's like let go of the expectation.

So how have you, how have you detached from money, like, fully?

I haven't fully, for sure. Like, I'm far from perfect. I'm explaining the ideal situation. I still, like, you know, growing up, single mom, only child, she worked 2, 3 jobs my whole life. Like, money wasn't there. And so I have this, like, this limiting belief, the subconscious scarcity mindset. And it feels like forever. It felt like I'm going to lose everything, even though there's no logical way I would lose everything. Yeah, but I have this deep feeling. I think the important thing is recognizing those things, right? A lot of people are so, you know, they're so blinded by everything going on in their lives. They don't take the time to reflect and realize what's actually going on. So like, for me, I notice those things. And actually, you know, every night my wife and I will watch a show for an hour after dinner, like before we go to bed and read.

What are you watching right now?

Uh, we're watching Monsters. It's, uh, it's about these two kids that killed their parents on Netflix.

Yeah, sounds like a Netflix show.

Crazy.

Um, you liking it? Yeah, it's, uh, my girlfriend's into that crazy serial.

It's pretty fucked up, honestly, but It's a good one.

Uh, but I love how you've actually made time for that though in your life, and it's not all just work.

Well, I think a lot of people, you know, they, they're like, TV's bad. Like, you gotta— it's like, you gotta have a balance, bro. Like, don't watch 7 episodes, but yeah, you can watch an episode. Yeah, yeah, enjoy it, but don't have— don't lose self-control. But while before the show starts, that I just literally, I sit there, I take a moment to be in the moment and realize that in this moment there's no problems. And I'm like, oh yeah, that's where that anxiety was coming from. I don't need that right now. Everything's perfect right now. But a lot of people never do that, and it builds up and it builds up, lingers, builds up, and it— and eventually it builds up so strong that it's almost, you know, you look at homeless people, you know, in New York City, they're crazy. Like, they went too far. They went too long and too far, whether it's drug use, whether it's bad habits, and there's kind of no turning back for those people.

Another reason why psychedelics are important, because all these things that you're sweeping under the rug, you, you mask with hedonism, right? Pleasure. You're watching TV, you're vaping, you're smoking, you're drinking, you're doing all these things to mask that feeling that you don't understand.

Yeah, dude, exactly.

You just need to understand yourself and then you go from there.

And I think that's why I'm like, social media is very dangerous to society because it's, it is, it's an addiction just like anything else, and it masks the way you feel. It gives you artificial dopamine.

It's insane. You just— you're having a bad thought, you don't want to deal with it, pull out your phone.

Oh, Instagram, what's on there?

Yeah, and then it just doesn't go anywhere and it just lingers in the back of your brain.

Yeah. Oh, that's a hot girl, dopamine. Oh, there's a cool car, dopamine.

Oh, it sucks you in too. It's like they've hijacked your brain. They know you better than you know yourself.

Yeah, and then the problem is when you're reliant on external dopamine, you need more and more of it, more and more. Eventually social media is not gonna do the trick.

Alcohol.

Eventually alcohol is not going to do the trick. Drugs. Eventually drugs aren't going to do the trick. Go commit a crime. Or like, it just keeps going. And that's why I really— I'm appreciative that we're having this conversation because the awareness, I think, is so important for people to hear.

I used to do podcasts just like these every day when I was doing my shrooms every day. Oh yeah. And I would literally just set up a GoPro and me and my two friends would just talk exactly like this. And people loved it because it's, it's real shit. You know, we're not just talking about like, yeah, we're rich, we make a lot of money, we're cool. You know, it's like things that like really have to go on internally in order for you to experience the abundance that life has to offer. Because a lot of people are just like, oh, that's just woo-woo spiritual nonsense. But it's like, if you don't understand yourself, you're not going to understand what it takes for you to become that version of yourself that you want to become. You have no idea what you need to work on, um, to become that version of yourself, because that version of yourself is— it's already you. Yeah, just with time.

Yeah.

And like we said, time's just an illusion from presence delayed, I guess. It's like, yeah, the internal work will always be number one. It's not like you can just wake up one day and then you're like, "Yep, I'm gonna get rich," you know? It's like, yeah, just work on yourself. It sounds like that's how you started. So that's how I started, is internally, and then you, you work backwards. You go from there.

Yeah, and eventually the things you do, something works. Like, I wrote my first book, it's called Overnight Success, and and it's the— it's like an inner game playbook for your first big breakthrough in business. And like the kind of overarching theme of the book is that we have these limiting beliefs about our lives, but if you stick to something long enough, eventually something will happen that's greater than your belief and it raises your standard. Maybe, you know, making $200 a day is like, all right, that's, that's what I need to live.

Can you think of the one thing that changed your beliefs? In terms of money?

Yeah.

I can think of mine too, sticks out.

Yeah, I mean, I would like to hear yours.

Mine was like, I got a mentor. So I had 2 million followers at the time. And my mentor at the time, I just got introduced from him from a mutual friend that like, you know, synchronicity, just like the odds of it happening, very slim. He's like, "Dude, you're sitting on a gold mine." I was like, "What do you mean, bro? I'm like making like $2,000 a month. Like, what are you saying?" He's like, "You're doing like mentorship, right?" I was like, "Yeah, I charge $100." for like 6 calls. He goes, "Dude, you need to charge it." No, no, I was charging $40. It was crazy. And he goes, he's like, "You need to charge $1,000." I was like, "Come on, dude." I was like, "I'm 19 years old. I have zero credibility whatsoever." He's like, "Dude, just do it." I was like, "No." He's like, "All right, let's charge $100 and let's make you $1,000 in a day." Yeah. First day I tried it, I made $1,000. I run upstairs, I tell my mom, I'm like, "Mom, I just made a—" $1,000 today. And I was so stoked. What's yours?

And that changed your standards, right?

Changed everything, changed everything, bro. And now it's like, with these webinars I do, it's like, that kid could never even comprehend what the levels to the game are. And then I hear something that stuck out to me when we were golfing, you were like, yeah, I know a guy who paid $20 million for a basement. I'm like, what the fuck? Like, what is this? Yeah. What's yours? I wanna hear.

Mine was, so I was living in LA. I told you I was with my girlfriend at the time. We were struggling. I had a friend who was an NFL player. I met him at an event. We became good friends. He was like a mentor to me. Like, I looked up to him. And he invited me to Tony Robbins event. And I'd never been to anything like that. And I was like, yeah, sure, whatever, I'll go. Like, whatever. And so I had just started a dropshipping store like a few days before the event. And I was making like, I was doing alright in life. I was making maybe a couple hundred dollars a day in profit on it. And like, to me that was great. It was like supplementing my—

100K a year. Yeah, exactly.

It was like, oh, this is great. Like, yeah. And I go to this event and we did one particular exercise where you imagine yourself as someone else who just loves you and cares about you and wants the best for you. And, and as that person, you're walking up to your future life. So like, I was my aunt walking up to my future house. I was looking in the driveway. I looked at the future cars. I walked in the house, and eventually it's, you know, it's like a 15-minute thing, but eventually you walk upstairs and you look in the mirror and it was you the whole time. It was like, whoa, like, because I— it's like a deep meditation, right? And so I really had this like crazy emotional attachment to this future life of mine that I've never felt before. And so the day after the event, my wife and I were moving from LA to Florida, so we had to drive for 5 days. Wow. We had a U-Haul, we had our car packed up.

LA to Florida? I thought it was LA, Texas, Florida.

No, I was LA, Florida, Texas, Florida. So I was in Florida before Texas and then back. Mhm. But it was a 5-day drive, so I'm in the car for 5 days. I had this dropshipping store, I hired a customer support guy and someone to like monitor my Facebook ads. But I went into this car with different energy, feeling different, right? Because I changed my energy at this event and No exaggeration, my store went from like— it was like $500 a day in revenue and like $200 in profit. By the 5th day, I was making $50,000 a day in revenue with $25,000 a day in profit. It just— it went like $7,000, $15,000, $35,000, $50,000 just because I was driving with different energy. And your energy attracts thoughts of that same frequency, and those thoughts propel you to take action. And so I was attracting these thoughts. I was like, oh, why don't we try doubling this budget? Or just little random things. Hey, let's try this. Let's try this. And I went from broke. Oh, and then the craziest part is 2 months later, I dropped my wife off to do someone's hair. She was a hairstylist and I was in the area. I had like over $1 million in my bank account at that point. And I'm like, all right, I can either go home for a little bit, but you know, it's like a 45-minute drive home. So I'm like, I'm in the car, I pull up cars.com and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna go look at this Lamborghini, like whatever, it's 5 minutes down the road. I end up buying it and then like a couple weeks after driving it, I realized it was the exact same car that was in that vision. So I manifested this physical thing into real life. Wow. In ways that I never could have imagined. So that's really what changed my world.

And that was like a really short timeframe, 60 days. 60 days, bro.

I went from negative money to a millionaire with—

that's what's so cool about the game is that it can change so quick once you work on the internal. A lot of people are just expecting it all to change and they have no improvements to the internet.

Change your energy and you let go and shit happens way faster than you can imagine. Most people are attached to everything so they can't change their energy. So that's why letting go is like such a key part of it.

And that's Psychedelics. I mean, I haven't talked about psychedelics in so long because it's still, still taboo to a majority of people, you know, because they've been so indoctrinated by everything that it's like for them to let go of these beliefs without psychedelics is practically impossible. But they also grow up being told that psychedelics are— you're gonna end up homeless and shit, where it's like, yeah, first, which like I could understand, you know, like people have that big fear of like Well, is it going to lead to more potent shit like heroin and shit? And it's like, it actually does quite the opposite. Like psilocybin, you're like, I just felt that pure, pure out of something that came out of the ground. Yeah. You know, like I never want to do things that— it changed my diet. It changed everything because you're like, that came out of the ground. Yeah. Like, what am I putting in my body? You know, it's like Mother Nature put that in the ground for me to use. Yeah. And I'm putting pizza in my body, like all this greasy shit, like all this processed bullshit in my system when it's like God gave me everything we needed, literally everything. And it's like the one question that my first trip had me thinking about was like, so this grows out of the ground and I just had the most profound experience in my life and it's illegal. Yeah. And alcohol's in every single store, corner store, in culture, gas station, embedded into culture. And what are the benefits of it? None. Zero. Only negatives. And it's like, that really just led me down the rabbit hole of like, well, why is that? Yeah. And then that changed my whole life because you ask yourself that one question and then it's just poof.

It makes you not really want to believe what you're told.

Yeah, nothing. What you're programmed to. It almost makes you want to do the exact opposite, like whatever they tell you you should probably do the opposite.

Yeah, that's how I feel too. I, uh, well, also I think like psychedelics are a great tool, but like, you know, people listening, like, you don't need psychedelics to make a change. Like, what you need to do is you need to start with your physical body, really. It's like you can't be sitting there playing video games and think your way into a different situation. You gotta get up and move. 100%. Like, even though, even though your mind is gonna say 100%, I don't really want to go do this, and like and your mind thinks it knows what the experience is gonna be like. It could paint this false picture. But if you actually do it, like this morning, bro, I woke up late. I woke up at, I was supposed to get up at 6. I got up at 6:30 by accident. And I was supposed to be out the door by 7, and it was like 7:15, and I was running behind. And I'm like, I could just go sit at my desk and work, but I'm like, my mind's like, oh, going out on a walk, like, yeah, you'll get a pretty good experience, but it's not really worth it. I ended up going, just, I'm like, fuck it, I'm gonna go. I ran, and then I was walking, and I was like, this beautiful experience again. And I'm like, every time my mind tells me that I don't need to do something because of, you know, it's gonna be this or that, it's just an illusion. Your mind or ego is just trying to keep you comfortable and not make you go do something. But moving your body, I think, is the first thing to do if you want to change.

Yeah, and on your point, it's like your ego doesn't want you to do things. It's like it always tries to find a way— like, exactly what you don't want to do is probably what you should do. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, the things that are gonna move the needle are the things that you don't want to to do. Yeah, like even for example, like I, I haven't filmed a podcast in like a year and a half. Yeah, so my brain was automatically trying to think like, dude, like do you really want to drive to Palm Beach like tomorrow? And then I was like, I'm just like, I'm just gonna fucking do it. Like I know my brain is always gonna make me think of things that you, you come up with excuses to not do things, you know what I mean? And you just gotta conquer all of them, you know? It's like in every area of your life. Yeah, work, the gym, diet, it's like You have to be able to control the impulses.

Look at the biggest achievers in the world, the Michael Jordans, Kobe Bryants, you know, the Mark Wahlbergs. Like, those guys have been keeping— I mean, it all boils down to, okay, you know what you need to do, but in the moment you don't want to do it, right? Like, maybe before you go to sleep, you're like, I'm gonna get up tomorrow, I'm gonna go for a run. And you're like, I know I need to do that. You have this knowing, then you wake up in the morning, you're like, yeah, I don't really want to. You're buying— you're gonna get sick. All these bullshit excuses come up. You make a promise to yourself, and there's two things that happen. You either keep the promise or you break the promise. And breaking the promise is actually much more detrimental to you than you may realize, because not only are you not doing the thing that's beneficial to you, you're giving power to that part of you that that won that battle, and it gets harder and harder to keep promises to yourself.

The way my mentor always told me that was you're building a reputation with yourself. Yes. And it's like, what is your reputation with yourself? Are you someone that does what you say you're gonna do? Are you someone that says you're gonna do all these things and it's just empty words?

Oh, and that reputation is really—

I love it. It determines your reality.

It's, yeah, it's your subconscious that's like— because here's the thing, If your reputation with yourself is bad, you're not gonna feel worthy of success. So you're not even gonna— you're gonna blind yourself of opportunities because your subconscious won't even let you see them. But if you're like, yo, I'm fucking killing it.

I'm a good person, importantly.

I'm a good person. I'm a strong person. You're gonna see opportunity. It's confidence.

Yeah, versus like if you're someone who like goes to self-checkout and you steal shit. Yeah, or if you litter, or if you lie, your reputation with yourself is you're going to be like, unknowingly, subconsciously, you're just going to like have low self-worth, and you're going to be like, why do I feel this way? It's because you should feel that way, right? You know, like you do. You feel the way that you deserve to feel.

That's so true. That's so true. And that's why like discipline is so important. People like— when I say people, I'm talking like the people that are like on social media that don't know this stuff, right? They look, they think of discipline like, you know, David Goggins. Of course, yeah. Like, yeah, like, I don't need to be like that. It's like, that's not the point. The discipline is what makes you feel confident and makes you see opportunities. It makes you feel worthy. If you don't feel worthy, you're not going to succeed. 100%. It starts with you.

And my dad always told me 85% of success is just showing up. Yeah. You know, it's like you get to the gym, or if you don't want to go to the gym, just like, put your shoes on, put your shoes on and get in the fucking car. You know, you're not going to get to the gym and you're not going to do anything, right? The same with like work, like find a space in your house where it's like, just show up to that space where you're like provoked to work, you know?

Exactly.

And I think that's it. I've been talking about this ever since I came back from Ohio because up in Ohio I'm like, fuck, like I'm, I'm at the 0.01% of Ohio, you know? It's like small town shit. And then I come down to Boca and I'm like reminded of the levels to the game, you know? It's like your environment is so important because if you're in an environment where mediocrity is normal, you're gonna be normal. Yeah, you know, and the Elliot, mad respect for the guy behind the screen for literally just putting himself in that environment, you know, like it's prime, like you have to just fucking escape the negativity and small-mindedness really too, because at the end of the day it all stems from your mind.

Yeah, well, you have to give yourself the time and the space to reflect. Mm-hmm. Like, I like to on Sunday spend like 2 hours by myself in my office with a notebook. Yep. Like, reflect on the week, my good behaviors, my bad behaviors, write out what I want my next week to look like, write out my like non-negotiables. Like, I'm getting up with this— like, today I broke my non-negotiable by getting up at 6:30 instead of 6:00. Mm-hmm. And like, my soul feels that, but I did get out and do the thing I said I was gonna do, so I kind of recovered a little. And the other thing too, this topic is something I fucking love talking about, so I'm glad we're on it, is you're never gonna be perfect. So like, you might make promises to yourself and you might break one, but what's important is like every promise you're making, you're kind of like growing a little bit. And when you break one, you go down, but if you bounce back up, bounce back, almost there, you're not quite where you were. Yeah, but if you keep breaking promises, now you're kind of starting back from baseline. Mm-hmm. So if you break a promise, like just get back on the train.

Like if you, uh, you say you're gonna work out, you miss your workout in the morning, you're like, well shit, now I have to go to work. Just go after work. Yeah, you know, like you just gotta find— if the thing that drives me nuts is like, if you want it bad enough, no matter what it is, you're gonna find a way to do it. Yeah, no matter what it is. Like so many people say they want to be successful, they want to grow a business, they want to be prominent on social media, but it's like, what are you doing in your day-to-day life? Like, what is— what do you— what are your habits? You know, and it's like now it's getting harder and harder because of the amount of brain hijacking, you know, like algorithms, dopamine. They are literally making people slaves, bro. Yeah, slavery. Because you can't— you can't— you don't have the mindfulness. You have to have the mindfulness or you're just gonna say all these empty, empty words.

And not even just that part too, the things that people are consuming are brainwashing them to think it's impossible. Like, if you watch the, the election debates, political things, they all say you can't afford groceries, you can't afford gas. So people are like programmed to think like, oh, it's really hard, it's not my fault. You have to take radical fucking accountability for yourself no matter what, because the society is not going to change. Nope, it's not. You know, people are like, yeah, well, it's hard for the you know, the parents who are working, they can't— yeah, I get it's hard, but not impossible.

Can change. Not impossible. You have to take account. Yeah, you can't be the victim. And that's what everyone does.

They just play the victim because it's getting patted on the back. Dude, I saw a friggin post on LinkedIn about some woman complaining about how she got fired because of her race. And listen, I'm not saying that doesn't happen. Like, I'm sure it happens, but I'm also pretty sure that if you were a productive asset to the company, they're not going to get rid of you. 100%. Problem is there's thousands of people saying thank you for coming forward and sharing your story, and thank you. It's like, honestly, unless that— and I don't know the situation, I don't want to like shit on this person, but like, if you were an asset to the company, you probably wouldn't have been—

people just need to turn off the damn TV at the end of the day, unless you're like watching Netflix, there's no commercials or anything. But even in some Netflix shows, there's subtle propaganda, subtle indoctrination, but it's like The news especially, bro. It's like, if you are still watching that shit, like, you are a sheep, you know? It's like, dude, it's such bullshit, especially right now, bro. The amount of division is absurd.

Absurd. And the only goal of the news is to persuade you to that side, right? And like, at the end of the day, they don't care about truth.

They don't give a shit, bro. They lie.

They all lie.

They'll blatantly lie about anything, and it's like all of it's just for clicks. All of it's like It's— I mean, never in a presidential election has it been like— I mean, I've only been around for like fucking 3 of them consciously anyway, um, but like I talked to all my elders and they're just like, it's never been so divided. And it's divide and conquer in its finest. And it's just another thing that you have to add to your list to be mindful about. It's like people get so worked up over like who's going to be president, right? It's like What can you control about that? Yeah, what can you do? You can't do shit, you know, especially this late in it. It's like if they're voting for that person, they're voting for that, right? You're not gonna change anyone's mind. No one's changing. No one's changing your mind. You're not changing their mind. So what can you do? You can focus on what you need to focus on, focus on yourself. Exactly, on your life. Exactly.

And it's just trying to do it because like the, the algorithms, like I can look at a post and the comments on that post are validating my views. Someone on the other side will watch it, and their comments are different.

It's so fucked up, bro. And the algorithms just further ingrain all of your beliefs. Yeah. So like, you'd never see— but it's just so radical on both sides at this point, you know? It's like, like, you go far one direction and it's like, what the fuck's going on over there? You know, and you go far the other direction, you're like, this is just insane, you know?

If you take two people and they're on different ends of the spectrum, and you don't talk about specifics, you just talk about simple topics, they're going to agree on most things. Maybe not abortion because it's like based on religious beliefs or whatever. But most things— people— nobody wants criminals and drug dealers illegally coming through our border, but people want to be able to help people from other countries and support them. But when it's painted as they're all criminals versus, you know, they're all good, I mean, bottom line, there's 10 million people that came through the country, right? Nobody wants that. There's obviously going to be some bad people in there, but you could paint anything to tell a different story. I saw a video on, on X and it was a video of— it was like something to do with Israel and Palestine. And I saw two posts, one of the same video. One post was Palestine. I mean, Israel dropped food for people and then when the people went to get the food, they killed everyone. The other post said Israel brought food for the people, the Palestinian or the Hamas militia lured them in and attacked them, so they had to defend themselves.

So how do we know the truth about anything anymore? That's, you know, it's like— it's—

and those are polarizing things. If you believe one, they're evil. If you believe the other, they're good. And they're the same. It was the same video. And that's happening at scale in society. Massive scale.

Like, probably like I mean, what's at a larger scale than that other than like fucking Amazon? You know, like what has more influence over people's lives than politics right now? It's like nothing. You just need to take everything with a grain of salt and just be like, yeah, yeah, well, that could be true. Could not be true.

I'll tell you, man, when you start keeping promises to yourself and doing the things that are good for you, you're gonna feel good. Your life's gonna be good no matter what the scenarios are.

That's the whole thing. Turn off the news, turn off the politics. 6 months, focus on yourself.

Yeah, get up, get to the gym.

6 months. Eat clean, go to the gym, read, meditate.

Yeah, exactly. Reflect, journal, do things that make you aware. Be aware.

Yeah, it's, it's very interesting, um, talking to you about these things because it's so funny, like, your external perception of someone when you first, like, meet them, I'm like, dude, this dude's $3,400 million company. I'm like, he's gotta have a massive ego, you know, it's just because that's what happens. Yeah. You know, especially in Florida. So it's really cool that you're really grounded and you actually are down to earth.

Yeah, and I think like, you know, a lot of people as they kind of go through life, I was lucky like you to earn a lot of money when I was younger. And I learned a lot through that process. I learned that, you know, it didn't fill the void. It didn't, you know, it wasn't what it was about. And it kind of, I kept going down the path, but most people never actually get the thing they're chasing in the first place. So they spend their whole life chasing it, right? Like most people don't get it when they're in their 20s. They don't get it in their 30s or 40s.

Knowing what you know now, how do you find the middle point where you're like, I know money doesn't mean anything, But I want to keep working hard because I— you can't really exist without money.

I used to have the belief that if you're grinding and working hard, you're not connected with God, you're not with your soul. And, and I've realized more recently in life that you can be both at the same time. Like, you can show up and be passionate and work hard and be an effective leader and communicator, and it brings meaning to your life. And you can also be connected at the same time. Mm-hmm. And so that's what I really try to do. It's like I try to remember every day because I— you also wake up every day, and if you don't give yourself the space and time to get realigned with the truth, mm-hmm, your thoughts come in and then, you know, brings you down a path. Mm-hmm. Like, for me, like, a non-negotiable thing is— for me, it's the walk, right? People do meditation, working out. For me, my walk is my non-negotiable because by the end of it, I re-remembered through my soul, the truth. I could bring that energy into the day and I could still work hard. And so, you know, again, it's— life's an experience. Working hard gives you, gives you an experience, like building something. I think about my kids. I want to be able to give them what they need in life. There's nothing wrong with working hard. Maybe one day when I'm older, I'll be like, that was really silly and I should be, uh, you know, spending my time meditating in a cave. Like, I don't— for me, that doesn't resonate, but Eventually the spiritual path leads you further and further. I think it's a path that, yeah, people—

so would you say you have like a, like an objective, like a digestible, articulable objective, or you're just like, I'm going to show up every day and I'm going to be the best I can and see what comes of it? I think the objective actually changes regularly.

So like, for me, when I'm, when I'm on my walks and I'm letting go and I'm changing the way I feel, different visions come up.

I agree with that 100%.

And it's like Because again, like, we, we don't create linearly. We're creating in a multidimensional fashion. And when you change your energy, things start to happen. You reflect on those things, and I think it changes regularly. But the only thing I could say is like, the one thing, objective, is to show up with more love in life. That is the one like objective all the time.

You know, my mentor said the same thing when he did ayahuasca. He came back and he was just like, dude, we just need to love more. 'Just more love,' and that's all he kept saying. I was like, 'Oh shit, like, he's gone.' But like, after a week he came back, but it was like, that's what he came back preaching. It's the truth, bro. It's the truth. You need more love, which is 100% true. I mean, there's so much hate everywhere. It's like, if you just rub off a little bit of love, it can plant a seed and it just trickles.

Yeah, there's a book called, um, uh, I think it's called The Scale of Consciousness or something like that. We'll look it up, we'll put it in the show notes. Um, but it shows you basically emotions and like they put science behind it. Like, I don't know how the science— anyway, it's a really cool book. And like, like shame is like the lowest and like fear and like lust and then like, you know.

Oh, I know what you're talking about. The Consciousness Chart. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then the top is love. Yep.

And, and, and the presence is up there too, pretty high up there. Love and presence. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I'm like, even pride is not that far up there, like being proud. It's not like a high vibration. And I really think, like, again, these are just beliefs, but I think your energy makes such a big difference in the world beyond what you can directly impact. Like, I think when you can vibrate at that kind of frequency, you're affecting things in ways that you just don't even know. People around you, things around you. I think that there's— I mean, at the end of the day, science is limited to the things we can measure. Mm-hmm. But yeah, reality is not what we think it is.

And it's crazy how many people just like dismiss God because they, they just throw the word science, you know. It's like, you can't measure God. You can't, you can't do anything other than feel it, you know. It's like, I think I grew up not really religious because my brother— my dad was really the reason why, because he was unreligious. And then he rubbed that on my brother, and then my brother rubbed it on me. So it's like I had the opportunity to really find God myself, and that was an incredibly pivotal moment in my life because like, it's a pretty unarticulatable feeling of like, yes, that it is the presence of God, you know?

And it's like, how would you try to articulate it?

I know it's like a warm hug, you know? It's like a hug like in your heart almost where it's like, it feels like a— it's love. It's love, exactly. It feels like, um, like a father figure, you know, like someone that you really love fully like giving you a hug and like patting you on the back saying like, I love you. You know, that's how I would try to articulate it because it's— it's— I, I go to church every Sunday. I just started doing that like this year because my girlfriend got me into it. And like when they, when they do the singing and shit, like you really fully feel, feel the presence of God. Yeah. And it's like, that's—

it's a such an important part of life that I also overlooked.

And it reminds you of what's important in life, you know? Like, when I go to church and I'm like there in the presence of God, I'm like, like, yeah, I need to work hard, but like, what's important is the fact that I'm grounded, I'm centered, I, I'm with God. I'm— yeah, you know, because without that, what do you have? You know, you just have worldly possessions that don't mean shit.

Well, you know, you know, it's like— and this conversation will mean something different to everyone, and it'll also mean something different throughout life. Like, you can have this conversation now, have it again in 5 years, and have a deeper, different meaning. But I also grew up, you know, I'm Jewish, but I didn't like have a bar mitzvah. I didn't go to temple. I didn't do any of that stuff. And honestly, my first plant medicine journey— and I never even talked about God or anything like that— and in my first journey, I experienced God, like, which was everything all at once. And we're just a little tiny little dot of perception. Our minds are— we're all the same thing. The whole universe is one thing and we're all part of it. And you can tap into that.

It's a reflection of your inner world. That's all it is.

So like when I talk about the Perfect Walk, the formula, right? It's like, because we're going deep now, is like that, that third part where you're letting go and you're becoming present, you're becoming more and more and more and more present. Eventually you start to become one with everything around you because you're, you are just now in this one moment. Your mind is not there anymore because you're not thinking about the future or the past. You're just present. And then it kind of like, I had this crazy, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to describe this well, but it was kind of like an epiphany type thought I had, which is like you could become, you can, you could focus in on the present on a like very singular, singular place, then eventually you focus all all the way into like one cell and then one atom and then one electron. And then you're— then you kind of realize like the whole universe is just one electron. And then you kind of keep going deeper in and it's like a never-ending cycle of going deeper. Very hard to describe what I'm trying to say, but it was a really interesting like thought. And no, yeah, once you get—

have you ever Wim Hof meditation? Yeah, that's, that's what I used to do. And I would kind of, because yeah, you can't articulate what you're talking about. There's no— but with that full presence is like, yeah, there's no words for it.

Yeah, well, words were created specifically to connect separation. So words are a product of separation. They can't bring together something that deep because they are limited in and of themselves. They're limited. Words are limited. There's a limited amount of words and there's infinite experience. Wow.

Yeah, feelings are infinite. Feeling— that's why it's like, that's crazy.

That's why one thing I often like say and think of is like, you can learn something conceptually, right? Like you can listen to this conversation, understand it. You can read a book and understand. You can take a course and understand it. But when you experience it, it's 10,000 times more profound. Like when you experience, for example, Some, you know, let's say you're getting married and someone's like, it's gonna be the best day of your life. And you're like, yeah, I understand that conceptually, like it's gonna be a great day. But then in the moment you experience it, or like when you have your first kid, that's a great example. Like everyone's like, it's gonna change your life. I'm like, in my head I'm like, yeah, it will change my life. I understand that. And then when I had my first kid and my life was actually changed, that experience was like 10,000 times more potent.

What was that like? Undescribable.

Yeah, you know, it's, uh, because the words are limited. It was, uh, it was like, it was a crazy birth story. I'll tell you another time, but it was fucking mayhem. And then thank God everything worked out all right. But it was— wow, that little guy came out into this world and he's half me and half my wife.

Dude, that's so crazy. And it's like we have this little ball of life that's gonna grow and start talking and have its own beliefs and shit.

Like, he's like just starting to like talk a little bit now. And he's 3, right?

No, he's 16 months. 16 months. So what is that, a year and a half?

Almost a year and a half. Wow.

Can he walk yet?

Oh yeah, he's freaking running around. He's nonstop. He just go, go, go.

So that— I feel like that's really like the meaning of life is to reproduce.

It is the meaning of life.

I mean, and it's sad because there's so many people just not having kids. And it's like, don't— you can't let your life circumstance prevent you from—

it'll be controversial for me to say, but I think that the people that don't want to have kids, their egos have gotten in the way of the truth.

100%, without a doubt.

People will say, who are you to say that? You don't know me. And I don't know you. Maybe I'm wrong, but I believe that there's nothing greater.

It's what your soul wants. I mean, we wouldn't have evolved It's the only reason we're here. Yeah, you know, it's the only reason. It's the only way.

The love and the joy you get from a child is beyond anything else in the world, and it's one of those things that you can't understand until you experience it. It just is.

So do you have like a nanny, or is—

yeah, yeah, we're, uh, we, we're actually going to New York next, uh, Tuesday for a month. Oh wow. We're renovating our backyard, so I was like, you know how much— we had like a big win in business last year. I'm gonna celebrate it. So I rented a house on the ocean in the Hamptons, like really sick, 8,000 square foot house. We're bringing the nanny with us. That's awesome. And it's literally like out the backyard, you walk down the boardwalk, you're on the beach. And like those memories are gonna be so amazing. Do you have more kids? Yeah, my wife's pregnant.

Oh, no shit. Yeah. Oh yeah, we talked about that the other day. Yeah, yeah. You know the gender yet or no?

Nah, we might find out today or tomorrow or the next day. Like we did the blood work, so we're just waiting for the results to come in.

I know I'm getting older when like that shit really fires me up, you know. Like, I— when I was like 18, like, I didn't really want to have kids is what I told myself. But like, doing that journey within, it's like, that's really like the coolest thing in life, you know. Like, fucking Lamborghini, like, make it— make it living being, you know. Like, that's so cool, bro.

You can buy the Lamborghinis, it's fun. Yeah, but that's all it is. And, and also, like, I've bought probably 7 or 8, like, uh, like really cool cars by now. And like, the first one was really cool for like 6 months. Second one was really cool for like 3 months. It just gets shorter and shorter. Yeah, like now if I buy a car, it's really cool for like 3 days.

It's fun, it's cool, but like, yeah, dude, like, it's, it's not fulfilling. Yeah, no, not at all. Cool. Not at all. They should do it. I'm thinking about trading my X6 for a G-Wagon. I'm like, if I trade that, like, how long until I want something other than a G?

It never ends. Never ends, you know? It's like I was talking to you today about upgrading my Brabus to a, how do you say, Mansory? Mansory. Yeah. Like the only reason I would do that is because it would bring a little bit of entertainment for a day or two. Yeah.

And so, oh, this is sick. And then the next day you're just like, okay, like it's fine.

Nothing wrong with it. Nothing wrong with it. But if people are chasing it because they think that's the answer, there's something wrong with that.

Totally incorrect. I think it's cool because they're like trophies of your hard work. Yeah. You know, like once, especially once you start, you know, like I think I felt more fulfilled when I got my first decent car. It was like a BMW, like a 430i. I leased it, it was like $50 grand. And I was like, this is the coolest fucking thing ever, 'cause I had drove absolute shitters prior. So now it's like I have that new Ferrari and it's like, well, it's already like, if you gave me that when I was, it's just crazy how your perspective changes over time.

I think there's nothing wrong with buying cool things. I think they're also like that, it gives you an attachment to like a memory of the past. It's like, you know, or buying like a nice watch. It's like, it's a little trophy. Oh, after this happened, I bought this watch and here it is now. And it's like nothing wrong with things. Like, I think it's great to have nice things. I love being in a nice environment, having nice things. I love the feeling of nice environments.

Yeah. Like your country club or whatever. You just feel good, you know? It's like—

I actually think environments are something that makes a lot of sense to invest in because it changes how you feel, changes how you think.

100%. I made a video about this the other day where it's like, if you don't know what you're working for, like, go on a $10,000, $15,000 vacation and just see how they treat you, right? You know, like, you'll be treated like a like a legit human being. 100%. And like, you'll never want to experience less than that, you know?

If I go anywhere, I always stay at like a Four Seasons. You have to. And like, I go to New York, right? It's like, you know, $1,000, $1,500. And I walk in like, oh, welcome back, Mr. Goetz, we have like this ready for you, because they know you. And like, to be honest, it is nice for the ego, but it's also like You kind of just feel safe. You feel good.

You feel clean. Clean environment too, like clean. Super.

And then when you show up to the meeting you have, you go in with a little bit of a different vibration than if you did if you were staying at a Howard Johnson.

100%. It's like once you get a taste of it, then you're like, okay, well now I need to keep working hard because the quality of life is just incomparable to like a Hilton. Yeah.

And like, uh, the other thing to consider too is like as you grow financially, the relative value of those things becomes so much different. Like, it used to be like, you know, staying at the Four Seasons was like, all right, well, I'm spending some money. Now it's like when I was younger, it was like buying like a candy bar. It's like it doesn't really matter. Yeah, the ratio of what it costs to your net worth. And then the cool thing is once you get to— you kind of escape the flywheel where your interest starts to, you know, fund your life and it just keeps growing, then those things really don't matter because money is infinite.

It all comes down to how you make your money. Too, because these people, a majority of people anyway, they're exchanging their time. And then when you're exchanging your time for experiences, you're like, okay, well, this cost me 80 hours versus like you create something that takes 80 hours to make and then you just reap the rewards of that 80 hours. And it's like, money's kind of infinite.

I totally agree. I also think though, it's important to highlight that there's nothing wrong with exchanging your time for money. Depending on your environment, depending on, like, if your intuition is telling you like, I want to do this for a year, do it for a year. You, again, like, you have to follow that gut instinct. I got my first job when I was 24. I joined Yik Yak, which was a social media startup. Yik Yak.

It blew up. No, I heard of it, yeah.

I was the fourth person on the team. Like, we went from 100,000 users to 7.5 million in 4 months.

Like, I was on a trip. It's like an anonymous posting app, right?

Yeah, it was like Twitter, local anonymous.

When I lived in Miami, all these Like University of Miami chicks would like talk shit about me on there. I was like, what the fuck did I do? Yeah, that's exactly what it was. What's good?

That's exactly what it was. But like, I was like, I took a $55,000 salary and I'm like, I'm gonna go. And to be honest, I learned so much. I met so many cool people. I had so many cool experiences. I wouldn't trade it for the world. It wasn't just about the time for the money. It was like, you're making memories. You're, you know, the existence in the now is what's important.

So there's 100%. It all really just depends on where you're at in your life. Yeah, no doubt. Like, I worked at a hospital, but when I dropped out of college, I was a patient transporter. I made like $14 an hour, but it's like, it just paid my rent. Yeah, you know, while I could build something, I had to have some sort of money coming in.

Yeah, so it's 100% true. Yeah, 100%. Well, I think, um, this conversation was incredibly insightful and deep, and I think you're wise beyond your years by a long shot. And I think that has to do with the things you've learned, and the things you learn compound on themselves, you know. You keep growing, and it's, it's not a linear growth, it's a compounding growth. So I think, uh, I can't wait to see where you're at when you're my age. Thanks, bro.

Hopefully somewhere similar. Yeah, who knows, bro? Who knows? Yeah, that was awesome. I feel like if everyone trying to start a business watched this, they'd be, they'd be in a good spot afterwards.

It's a shift in, in perspective. It's not, it's not what society makes it out to be. It's a different approach. It's almost backwards. It's like people think letting go is like a weakness, surrendering. Oh, I surrender. No, like, that's how you create from that moment. So it's everything people think, a lot of it's backwards. And I think these conversations, man, like, they're important, you know. There's this huge movement of of— I don't even want to call it evil, but it's like this negative force at play taking people's attention, changing their perspective. And it's like there needs to be some good being shared, and there's not enough of it because it's not profitable. Exactly.

So in, in fact, it's probably censored.

Yeah, you know, probably not shared very much.

It's not, not at all.

You know, like you said in the beginning, authenticity. It will become what it's supposed to become.

So with time, without a doubt, bro. Without a doubt. Thank you for having me, bro. This was a great— I haven't had a conversation like this in a minute, so it was— yeah, it was needed.