Unleashing High Performance: A Journey of Growth, Mindfulness, and Philanthropy with Bret Lockett

Brett Lockett, my man, I'm super excited to have you on here. It's, it's great because, you know, you actually were the person that really got me into the personal development space. When we were in LA, we met at the ESPYs, you were there as like a celebrity. NFL player. I was there slinging products and trying to get photos with cool people. And I looked up to you a lot and you recommended going to UPW together and you really got me into the whole personal development space. So I got to credit you a lot as a figure in my life that helped me grow. And I'm super happy to have you on and be able to pick your brain about a lot of things that we talk about here. So thank you.

You know, I just, we bumped into each other, like you said, at the ESPYs and you're, you know, you're a great guy. You know, I just felt instant energy and I was like, this guy's doing something special. And, um, you know, right around that time was actually when I got— when I dove into the whole personal development, you know, kind of scene. And, you know, we both went to UPW together, and I think that's kind of been the catalyst, man, to, you know, how our relationship started, which is, you know, just wanting to be better as a human being but also wanting to create impact and change lives while we do it, you know what I mean?

Yeah, for sure. I mean, but you must have went through a lot of personal development in your career, having achieved what 1% of 1% of 1% do as athletes. You actually got drafted into the NFL, which is, it takes so much determination and dedication. I'm actually wondering, from your perspective, was it more so genetics and natural talent, or was it more so the hard work and discipline that allowed you to achieve that level of athleticism?

It's a great question because, you know, I get, I, I get that a lot, you know. And, and when I really look back on it and I kind of look at, you know, my entire family, because I wasn't just fortunate enough to play, you know, in the NFL, but my brother also played in the NFL and my sister also played soccer, right, in college. And so there's definitely a genetic component to where, you know, yeah, we, you know, we've got the genes, you know, you can't play at that level if you don't. But, you know, when I really look back at it, you know, our parents put us in, you know, sports at a very young age. We were in sports all the way from 4 onward. And so, you know, it wasn't just one sport a year. It was like 3 different sports. It was like soccer, baseball, basketball. Like it just, every season was a new sport and we did it, you know, from age, like I said, 4 all the way up to, you know, we were in high school. So, You know, all of that time, that practice, that dedication, you know, being able to multitask, you know, not just play a sport, but, you know, throughout all that time we had homework and going to school and all of that. So we had to juggle all of those things, you know, kind of being a student athlete before we knew what it was. Right. But I think part of it is talent. Right. But talent only gets you so far. Right. Talent, you know, gets you to a certain level. However, if you don't have the right systems and processes behind that, the work ethic, the right parenting, making sure our grades were, you know, above a certain GPA, right? If you don't have those components, it's very difficult to move to the next level.

For sure. So did you have like strictly regimented like diets or workout routines, or were you kind of just more so going with the flow and just going all in? What's your take on kind of getting to that peak performance level?

Back then, you know, we didn't have the internet. Right? I'm 35, I'll be 35 in 2 weeks, right? We didn't have the internet, you know, 20 years ago. So, you know, we were just kind of, I had my, you know, my parents, I had, you know, a couple people around me that, you know, I kind of looked up to, like aunts and uncles and things like that. And so we were just kind of going off of their knowledge base, right? Like, if I didn't have immediate access to it, I didn't know, right? So everything was just kind of, you know, trial and error. So if, you know, we would just eat what we ate. I mean, I know Burger King was right down the street from, from where we grew up, so we'd eat Burger King like once or twice a week, and we thought, you know, nothing of it. But, you know, as things progressed, as I got, you know, to higher levels where there was more information available, uh, you know, UCLA, yeah, we had, you know, very— I'm not gonna say strict diets, but we did have more information where we were taking protein shakes. And now I look back on it, and Muscle Milk was the main protein shake we were taking. And, you know, I don't know if you ever drinking muscle milk, but it's absolutely terrible for you. Guys would drink it before you run out, you know, before you go out for a run. And, you know, guys are out there, stomach hurting, and, you know, just couldn't really perform. So, you know, you only know what you know at the time. But, you know, as things have evolved, as the internet has become more prevalent, and, you know, as the information is just kind of expanded, the levels of performance— like, if you watch the NFL players today and you watch these guys play, one, the game has changed completely. But two, I mean, just the level of athleticism and the abilities, you know, that these guys have is next level. And it really all comes down to information at the end of the day.

So what's your take? So you're one of the most like fit guys I know, athletic-wise, like looks-wise. Like what's your take now that you have access to this information? Yeah, what do you think? I mean, there's so many things. There's like people telling you you should be vegan or you'll die. And there's people saying, no, you should only eat red meat. And then there's people saying, don't eat fat. And then there's people saying you need saturated fat or you'll have no testosterone, you know, and I hear all this different shit. And from my perspective, I'm like, I want to learn from the people that I look at and I'm like, all right, that person looks like they're healthy. And you're definitely one of those people. So, are you like deep into that kind of information at all? Or like, what's your take on the best practices?

I'm a big health nut, you know, everything from, you know, nutrition to the way I work out to, you know, the type of training that I do to managing my sleep, managing my stress levels. I wear the Oura Ring and the Apple Watch. What you can't track, you can't measure, right? And so I'm always trying to optimize my entire wellbeing. I'm a big, big fan. And one of my colleagues at the Flow Research Collective with Stephen Kotler is a gentleman by the name of Dr. Andrew Huberman, which I don't know if you've ever listened to the Huberman Lab, his podcast, but it's all about neuroscience, health, how to maximize every single facet of your body. And for me, I really have focused and hyper-focused on perfecting what works for me. And the problem with information is that it's not just health, but it's also across, you know, every other facet of your life, from relationships to business to so on and so forth. You know, one-size-fits-all templates don't work for everybody, right? Like, can you get slightly healthier if you're, you know, 200 pounds overweight or 150 pounds overweight and eat chips all day and drink, you know, 4 sodas. Like, yeah, pretty much if you stop eating chips and start drinking more water and move a little bit, you'll, you'll actually start getting more healthier. But when you're already performing at an extremely high level, right, you're not looking for, you know, to shed 10 pounds. You're looking to maybe lean up, you know, lose a half a percent of body fat, figure out how to, you know, boost your energy level to the next phase to where you're not teetering out around 2 or 3 o'clock in the, you know, afternoons, but you're actually gaining energy in the afternoons. So it's all about tweaking that. And so, you know, to answer your question, you know, my diet is very different than the next person. You know, I eat a lot of protein, low on carbs, but I do eat a decent amount of carbohydrates, healthy carbohydrates, and I really don't eat sweets during the week, right? And you know, I kind of created this thing not based off 75 Hard, but a good friend of mine named Dragan Trakowski, who's Tony Robbins' top peak performance coach. He's been with him for 11 years. We kind of created this thing called the Limitless 90, and what it is is really confining what it is that you want to create over a quarter, right? So over 90 days, creating this kind of roadmap of the goals that you want to hit and then working backwards and creating a daily plan in order to be able to hit those, right? And so for me, you know, part of that is making sure that I optimize my energy levels to where I don't get tired, right? I get better as I go, right? The more momentum I build, the more energy I create. And so all of the details in that Limitless 90 are to really help me optimize my health, right? Optimize my sleep patterns, optimize my energy levels, and be able to feel present in the moment when I'm doing what it is that I'm doing.

Right. Yeah. I mean, but doing something like a Limitless 90, that takes a lot of willpower, right? It's like to do something one day in a row or two days in a row or three days in a row, anyone can do that. But come day 4, come day 5, your mind starts chirping in your ear that, you know, hey, you should sleep in today because you didn't get enough rest, or, you know, you shouldn't work out today because you're sore, or, you know, "Hey, you've been good for the last few days, so you should eat this other thing." What kind of mental hacks or mindset shifts do you go through? And I'm sure being a professional athlete and pushing past boundaries so many times at a young age has built up a foundation of willpower that just a lot of people, they haven't went through. So, how do you keep yourself disciplined to push that long and stick to something that's true to yourself?

You know, you bring up a great point. You know, struggling for so many years— and when I say struggling, I don't physically mean like I was struggling, but I mean pushing myself and my body, right? Because people think that, you know, I have to change my mind in order to be able to achieve these, you know, incredible things. But really, it's being able to push your body, right? Because if you don't push your body physically through something, it becomes very difficult to mentally be able to push through that, right? Because as you know, once you start moving the body a certain way, you start firing certain neurons, you know, certain things in the brain, right? Neurochemicals start firing that allow you— endorphins that allow you to feel better, right? And that's in part of how you actually get into that flow and get into that, that willingness to want to be able to struggle. Because especially in today's world, right? Especially with, you know, all of the Zen and the, you know, and the meditation and, you know, the lack of wanting to deal with resistance is people don't understand that in order for you to actually push through to the next level, you have to go through resistance. You have to go through something, right, physically, in order to get to that next level. And so for me, I understand that, hey, there's this standard that I have, right? And I do not compromise. And that was a big thing, you know, that, you know, Dragon and I talked about. And part of the Limitless 90 is having an accountability partner, because when somebody's holding you accountable, you can't just, you know, say, hey, I'm not going to wake up today, right? Because, you know, part of that accountability is how do you want to be held accountable, right? Do, you know, do we have to create a pot where you put in money every time you, you don't do something? You know, it's not just a little bit of money, it's like, you know, some money that's going to hurt your pocket. Or, you know, how do we hold you, you know, accountable to whatever it is that you said you're going to do? And if you don't do it, what does that look like, right?

Yeah, it comes down to just you versus you, right? You have to battle yourself to keep pushing.

It's always you versus you, right? And it's this, this understanding of that I'm not going to compromise, I'm not going to go below what my standard is. So if I set this standard, right, this is what I'm doing, which is, hey, I'm working out 5 days a week right? And this is what it looks like. Every single day I'm going to that workout, whether I feel like it or I don't. Now, the good part is the more I do it, the better I feel like doing it, right? So yeah, first 2 days feel great. You're sore day 3, get up and do it. You're sore day 4, get up and fucking do it, right? And so the more you do something— the devil's in the details— and the more you enjoy struggling, the more you get into that struggle the easier it is to actually do what you're doing. Now, the big thing here in this Limitless 90, and that, you know, peak performers really understand, is this component of recovery, right? Which is, I can't keep going, going, going, going, and then never give myself a break, right? So part of the Limitless 90 is making sure that you build out a day or two to where you recover, right? To where you're getting a massage, you're in, you know, the infrared sauna, you're, you know, doing something that allows your body, your mind, and your, your energy, you know, your spirit to really recover, right? And so all of that is kind of built into the Limitless 90 to allow you to execute during the time that you execute, that you're supposed to be executing, and then take the time off. And that's where I think, you know, especially in today's world, I think a lot of people fail to execute when they're supposed to be executing, right? I have this time allocated to, hey, I got to execute, I got to make email, I got to send emails, I got to put a proposal together. I got to do whatever I got to do during this time. And it's when you don't execute during that time that, you know, you're taking time off and you feel like you shouldn't. You're almost regretful of taking that time off because you feel like you should be working because you didn't execute during the time you were supposed to.

Yeah, I mean, so many people, they want to see change in their lives, and in order to see change in the outcomes and, and things that you're working on, you have to actually change yourself. You have to become the person that could achieve the things that you want to achieve. People just want to achieve things, but then they're not true to themselves. They don't stick to those things that they schedule out. They don't, you know, work out those 5 days a week. They don't do the rest day that they say they're going to do. And I'm wondering why, because, you know, I speak to a lot of high achievers, and I also see a lot of average people. And the one thing that separates the high achievers from the average people is discipline. And I'm wondering, do you have any perspective as to why people just can't have that discipline? And like, any advice for them who, you know, just can't be true to themselves?

Yeah, I mean, that's such a loaded question because, you know, I think it's different for every single person. But, you know, at a very rudimentary level, discipline starts with understanding why you're doing what it is that you're doing. Because if you're like, hey, I'm going to be disciplined and I'm not eating sweets, right? Well, why is it? Because you want to lose weight? Is it because you're a diabetic? Is it because, you know, you're trying to become, you know, be in the best shape you've ever been in your entire life? Like, what is that reason? And is that reason that compelling to actually make you be disciplined? Like, for me, you know, the reason I never ate sweets when I was younger, like, I didn't eat sweets at all, was because my dad told me— I don't think it's true, but there's definitely some neurological and physical, you know, components to why you shouldn't eat sweets, which is, you know, obviously the spikes in sugar and, and all of that. But my dad used to tell me, hey, don't eat sweets, it'll make you soft, right? But I was like, all right, well, if sweets are gonna make me soft, I'm not eating sweets right now. That was part of it, right? Another thing when I played football was, you know, I was injured the first few years of my career, and, you know, I started realizing that drinking alcohol was slowing me down. And so I stopped drinking alcohol because I knew that if I drank alcohol, it was going to sacrifice my play. And playing in the NFL at that time was the most important thing to me, and I wanted to continue to play in the NFL, right? And so if you don't have a why to why you're doing what it is you're doing, it's going to be very difficult to be disciplined, right? The reason why I wake up every single day at 4:30, I meditate, I go to the gym, I read, right? The reason I do all of that every single morning is because I know that when I sit down in front of my clients and I have to coach my clients and I'm telling my clients that they have to do something or they're missing this and the reason why they're missing that, I know that in order for me to show up the right way with them, I have to be able to show up the right way for myself. Right. And so those are the things that just keep me in line and keep me disciplined. So if you're out there and you're lacking discipline right now, well, first of all, you got to ask yourself why you should be doing the things you should be doing. And when you're not doing them, how is that affecting your life and how does that make you feel? Because I know for a fact I don't feel good when I don't do the things that I'm supposed to be doing, right? I don't feel good when I sit down in front of my clients. I don't feel good when, you know, I show up in my personal relationships. I don't feel good. And so emotionally, I know that in order for me to have that, that reward of really self-confidence, right? Because that's really, at the end of the day, that's what all of this gets you to. Right? The discipline, the lack of compromise, the going through the struggle. It allows you to build momentum and build self-confidence in who it is that you are and what it is that you do, right? And so that's the main key to building discipline, is following the blueprint but understanding why you're following the blueprint.

And it's a common theme that I've been talking about a lot, is that being disciplined allows you to start believing in yourself that you can do the things that you tell yourself you're going to do, which leads to self-confidence, which allows you to, you know, go into meetings or go into opportunities and see opportunities and have the confidence that you can actually execute on those opportunities, which allow you to take bigger risks, go after bigger rewards, and actually grow in your personal and in your career. But I feel like in order to come up with a why, to have that why, you need to have a vision, you need to have a north star. And I feel like a lot of people listening that they're like, "I don't really know what my why is." It's because they haven't gotten themselves in a high-energy state and really sat down or just in general thought about where they want to be. Do you have any advice on how to get into a high-energy state and how to come up with a vision so that you can come up with that why?

Great question. So big thing for anybody who doesn't have a why is to sit down quietly, get away from the noise, right? Because there's so much noise. Turn off social media, um, you know, turn off your phone and really just sit quietly with yourself and think about what it is that you enjoy doing, right? Think about your life, think about your past experience, but most importantly, think about what it is that you enjoy doing. Right? And, you know, you can also couple that with thinking about some things you're interested in that, you know, may interest you to where if you're, you know, you're wanting to learn something over a weekend, you have some free time, like, what would be like 2 or 3 things that you actually would, would dive into and go down that YouTube rabbit hole with, right? And then from there, think about some things in the world that you want to change, like some things that you may or may not be comfortable with, some things that you either want to improve, or some things that you want to completely just just change, that you dislike, right? And then look at where some of those things that you're interested in and some of the problems you see with the world somewhat intersect, right? And this will start giving you some ideas on what actually excites you and what you're passionate about, right? And so once you start understanding, hey, these are some things that I'm interested, but these are some things that I may want to solve in the world, right? Now it's time to figure out how you could take some action to start doing some of those things to where it gets you closer to one or two of those goals, right? So maybe you're like, hey, like, I don't like the way that, you know, the pandemic has, you know, changed the way that, you know, people operate in business, or the internet's maybe exploded since, you know, the pandemic. You know, I want to figure out like what's the next big thing for the internet, right? And where do multiple facets of business, you know, this, this, and this connect with the internet, right? And so this just gives you some ideas, some ammunition on, hey, these are some things that I may be interested in, in that I want to actually create. And then now it's just taking action to get to where it is that you want to, want to go in those spaces, right? You know, maybe it's I need to become more educated in this. I need to go, you know, go back to school and get a degree in this. Maybe I need to take a 6-week or 8-week course in coding or neuroscience or, or what have you, right? Like, these are all things that I'm interested in, right? Like, I really looked at it. I was on a plane. I was sitting on a plane. I was like, what are the 3 things that I need to know over these next 10 years that are going to make me unstoppable? Right. And I was like, well, you know, one, computer science is a big one because everything is technology, right? This is the way we're moving into, right? Two is neuroscience because it's going to allow me to understand people more, understand my body more, and understand how to help people perform at a higher level. And then, you know, just honing in on my financial capabilities, which, you know, that's my background, but just making sure that I'm buttoned up and I'm tight there to make sure that I can help consult my clients and their businesses to, you know, the best of my capability. Right. And so, you know, I'm always playing the 10-year goal. I'm never playing, you know, 1, 2, or 3, because 1, 2, or 3 is short-term, right? I'm always shooting for 10 because, you know, as you know, me and you are both Tony Robbins fans, right? You overestimate what you can accomplish in a year and you underestimate what you can accomplish in 10, right? And so I'm always shooting for that 10-year goal, but more importantly, I'm shooting at who I need to be, the information I need to have, the skill sets I need to have, and the person that I need to become, because business is going to change. Industries are going to change, the world is going to change. But if I'm prepared for that change in who I am as opposed to what I do, I automatically become an X factor because no matter what the environment, the environment is adapting to me and I'm not adapting to the environment.

Yeah, it's like a loop, right? It's like the discipline leads to the confidence, the confidence leads to you to be able to see these opportunities. And see where you need to be and actually feel confident in being able to do it. So it's like, it starts with the discipline and the vision, and then it kind of all cycles back. I want to dive into a little bit about like more of your specifics, like some more actualities, some more of your actual habits and some action items that people can take away from this interview. I want to start with your morning routine. You say, you know, you get up at 4:30, you meditate, exercise. Can you dive in a little bit more specifically about what your ideal morning looks like?

Yeah, so big thing for me is making sure that I get enough sleep, right? And so, you know, the morning routine really starts at night because if I don't go to sleep at the right time, it becomes very hard to wake up at 4:30, right? And so I know, you know, I need anywhere between 6.5 on a low end, but really 7.5 hours of sleep. So I'm usually in bed by about 8:30 or 9. 9:30 at the latest, and I'm waking up at 4:30, right? And right when I get up, I don't put my phone by my bed because I understand that if I, you know, you're half asleep, you wake up, you just, you know, turn over, you hit the snooze button, you're going right back to sleep. So what I do is I put my phone in another room, so I have to physically get up, open my door, walk out into the kitchen, and then turn off my phone. So by then I'm pretty much awake. And so Right from there, you know, I just, I wake up, splash some water on my face, brush my teeth, and, you know, make sure I drink. I drink really cold water in the morning. So ice cold water, one, helps speed up the metabolism right away. And then two, I also drink like a half of a green juice. So, you know, really just trying to clear out, you know, my system in the morning. Right after that, go right into meditating. And it varies depending on, you know, what the focus is, but really it's focusing on the breath for the first 2 minutes or so. Then I go into really gratitude. So, you know, focusing on what I'm grateful for— family, friends, girlfriend, you know, me being present in that moment, you know, just being grateful for me being there. And then I go into, you know, my focus of the day, like what am I focusing on. I think about, you know, the things that I have on my agenda, how I want to show up there. And then I just— I kind of talk to the universe and I'm just like, hey, allow me to be kind of a medium to transfer information from, you know, the higher power to the people that I'm supposed to, you know, transfer it to today. And so, you know, that allows me to really center myself, be present, and then be intentional with how I start going into, you know, the activities in the day. And so from there, you know, hop right up, go to the gym. I don't look at my text messages and I don't look at my emails until after I'm done working out, right? I also read, you know, for about 10 to 15 minutes before I go to the gym. And then I listen to audiobooks on the way there and on the way back. So Really, I'm getting anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour of reading a day. And then, you know, if I'm traveling on the road, I'll put the audiobook back on. So I'm trying to read anywhere between an hour to 2 hours a day. And, you know, the gym is about an hour, okay, maybe an hour 15 depending on the time. So I'm usually at the gym at 6 o'clock and I go to about, you know, 7:30-ish. And, you know, part of it is, you know, mobility. Another part of it is flexibility. And then I get into some either form of strength training and/or anaerobic training, and that allows me to really push through barriers, understand, you know, hey, I gotta be able to show up here if I'm gonna show up at the next part of my day. And then I get right into, you know, the day from there. So I'll eat breakfast probably right around 8 o'clock, 7:45 to 8 o'clock. That's usually a protein shake. And then I get into my day from there. And that's kind of my morning routine that allows me to optimize my body, my mind. My energy level, and then my spirit.

Yeah. And that's also a common theme with all high achievers. There's some form of spiritual aspect to it, kind of priming yourself to get those right emotions to start your day. And like, I think a lot of people live a very reactionary life. You know, they wake up, they immediately look at their problems from the day before, and they don't put any focus on the person that they're trying to become. And I don't know if I told you, I went to— do you know Dr. Joe Dispenza? Do you follow his work at all?

You know what? I love Dr. Joe Dispenza. I read his book Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself. He's incredible.

Did I tell you I went to one of his 7-day advanced meditation retreats? It was pretty intense. I mean, it was like 6 hours a day of meditating and like also— but it was like broken up like an hour of learning, an hour of meditating, an hour of learning, an hour of meditating. And one of the central themes was remembering who you want to become before you remember who you were so you can move into your future self, which I think is really powerful because we live in a world that's full of distractions, that's full of reminders of the problems. There's all this news and whether it's real or fake or whatever it is that keeps you addicted to it. There's social media that you're addicted to and it's really you have to be proactive in reminding yourself of where you want to go in life. And I think, you know, meditation is a great way to do that first thing in the morning. So do you have any, like, meditation resources or like anything you follow? Or like, if someone wanted to learn, you know, how to get into meditation, like where they would start?

Yeah, so I'm gonna backtrack a little bit. And, you know, I love what you said about you know, you're meditating not just on the present, but you're meditating on the future and present or past, whatever you may be at. But I think a big reason why people have issues moving forward is because when they go about their day, or they go about solving challenges and problems, because it's not about what the problem is, or, you know, if there's going to be problems, it's about what the problem is, because there's always going to be a problem, right? Whether it's personal, business otherwise. And it's about solving those problems not as the person you, you are today, but the person that you're trying to become, right? And I always tell my clients this, is that it's going to be very difficult for you to be able to run your business as who you are today, because who you are today is not who you're trying to transform into. And so you need to start looking at situations in the light as if you would look at it if you were already running a multi-billion dollar technology company. Me, right? And that's part of the, the way that you get out of, you know, breaking the habit of being yourself is focusing on who it is you want to be and then living that today, right? And sometimes you got to smack yourself around like, oh, Brett, wait, I'm being the Brett of now. I need to be the Brett of, you know, 5, 10 years from now. So that's first and foremost. But on the meditation front, right, the reason why I meditate— and there's just scientific data to this, you know, and there is about a millisecond between an emotion forming into an actual thought. And meditation allows you to widen that gap from that emotion becoming a thought and then that thought becoming a reaction, right? And you said, you know, hey, most of us are reactive, and it's because we're not slowing down that process between us feeling something us thinking something and then us doing something, right? And, you know, emotions control your habits, right? And your habits control who you become. The reason why I meditate is to be able to widen that gap so that, you know, when I do deal with a problem, I'm not as reactive. I'm more pragmatic. I think it through. I'm patient, right? And, you know, I told this to a friend a couple weeks ago, but I said, you are the problem and you're the solution to every single aspect of your life. It doesn't matter what part you're looking at. You are the problem and you are the solution. And when you start understanding that, one, you stop making excuses for yourself, but two, you understand that you now have the ability and it's up to you to actually change your circumstance. And on the flip side of that, you know, you asked, hey, what are some resources you can use to meditate? For me, I use Spotify. I just go on Spotify, pull up a playlist, and I meditate to that. But You know what, before that I've used Calm, the, the app. Um, I've used Headspace before, and then I also use this hypnotherapy app by this woman, her name is Victoria, I think, Gallagher. I mean, I've, I've come to all kind of conclusions in, in my meditation, and the more I meditate, the more I'm able to almost create this law of attraction, if you will, right? To be able to will things into reality. Like, I remember one month I was like, hey, you know, I need to I need to make X amount of money in the next 2 weeks. And, you know, I meditated on it and literally, you know, within 10 days, you know, the money was there.

You're proactively feeling the person you need to become. And then those feelings become emotions and those emotions create thought patterns and those thought patterns lead you to where you want to go.

Right. Those thought patterns are energy, right? Those thought patterns are waves, right, that are vibrating and that are either pulling things closer to you or pulling things away from you. A great book for anybody to read, whether you're into spirituality, you're in a business, you're, you're in a fitness, whatever it is, is The Power of the Subconscious Mind. And, you know, I read this book probably 4 or 5, probably 6 months ago now. And it's a lot of things that you already understand, but there was one thing in there that just kind of blew my mind because I'm one of those kind of people that I'm not jealous. I'm not envious of people, but I do look at people and I'm like, ah, I'm better than them. I don't know how they're doing, you know, how they're doing this or how they're doing that. And, you know, one part of the book, you know, he was talking about you can't want abundance. You can't want to create prosperity or more prosperity in your life and look down on others or, you know, be envious of other people because, you know, they're doing something and they're doing better than you, or they may seem like they're doing better than you. And You know, a big part of that is obviously social media, right? Everybody has a social media account and everybody's social media account is the best aspects of their life, right?

Right. It's, it's their picture-perfect version of themselves.

Exactly. Exactly. And so, you know, part of it is a social media element, but just, you know, as a person, you know, I'm very competitive. And so when I look at people, I analyze. And what you said is like, it doesn't matter how that person succeeded, how they, you know, they got to where they got to, whether they did it, you know, the right way, the wrong way, like the best thing you can do subconsciously is say, I wish them well and I wish they continue to get everything that they get. Right. And literally that just that right there completely shifted so many things in my life to where I just spoken to a, you know, someone that I was supposed to work with and, you know, she decided that we were, you know, we were all set. She was like, oh, you know, I think you helped me a ton. I had like 2 calls with her and, you know, and I was like, all right, this is what I can do for your business. And she was like, yeah, no, I think I'm going to go down this road a little bit longer and I'll be in touch with you. And, you know, that was like a week before, like we had that conversation. And that day that I listened to The Power of the Subconscious Mind where they said, congratulate everybody based on where they're at. Don't ever, you know, hate or, you know, ask questions. Just congratulate people. Literally, she sent me a tip for $500, right? Because she felt that, you know, the help that I gave her was just immense. And she was like, you know, I want to send you a tip, right? And I appreciate that. But I just think that the universe is so powerful when you actually open up to it and use your abilities the right way.

Yeah, I mean, you get what you put out there. I mean, I'll send this to you after the interview. But there's a playlist a friend of mine shared with me on Spotify. It's called 21 Days of Abundance. It's by Deepak Chopra. And it really resonates. And we'll put it in the show notes as well. But it's like, if you're putting out that judgmental energy, and you're comparing yourself to others, you're gonna get it right back to you. But if you're putting out that goodwill, you want things to work for other people, you're just living in that abundance, and you're letting it come to you as opposed to trying to go after it. And you're going with the flow as opposed to being aggressive and trying to, you know, trying to make things happen for yourself. But it's like, if you can live in a state of, you know, things are the way they are, you know, you want good for other people, that good energy is going to come back to you. When you want things to be different from how they are, you're going to always get back to you things are different than how you want them to be, and you're going to always attract that same energy to you. So I think that's a really great takeaway from what you just said.

100%. And, you know, I was talking with a buddy, and there's these challenges that we all go through, right? But part of it is wanting things to be different than the way that they are. And not necessarily being content, but accepting that this is the situation, right? This is what it is. I remember Bill Belichick always used to say when I was playing for the Patriots, right, you know, it didn't matter if we were playing home that week, it didn't matter what the weather was outside that week, if it was snowing, if it was raining, whatever it was. He was like, we're playing outside this week, which outside in Gillette Stadium, you know, there's no dome, so the elements are the elements. Whatever we're playing in this week, we're practicing in it. So get prepared, put on, you know, whatever, you know, long sleeve, you know, sweatshirts, whatever you need. But we're practicing in it. And that's, you know, how I live my life, right? It doesn't matter what it looks like outside. Like, the situation is a situation. My mindset dictates the environment, not the other way around, right? You know, one of my mentors, you know, told me this a long time ago, but, you know, he said most people operate in worry, doubt, and fear. Like, if you talk to 9 out of 10 people, most of them— and it's not when things are good, And it's crazy because probably 50% of people operate in worry, doubt, and fear when things are good. They fear that things are going to become bad or they're going to go back to the way things used to be when things are going good, and they self-sabotage themselves, right? They put a pin in it, you know, where they should be doubling down and tripling down. They start becoming hesitant. He said most people operate in worry, doubt, and fear. He said if you operate in love, abundance, and prosperity, everything will always be okay. And I live that to this day. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, like, I operate You know, you could tell me you absolutely hate me and you never want to talk to me again for, you know, whatever reason, and it's probably something I didn't do. But, you know, you can absolutely dislike me and I still deal with it in love, prosperity, and abundance. That's how— that's how you live your life. That's how you get away from fear, right? Because fear is all in the mind, right? Fear is something that's been created that's actually not there, right? And the things that you fear today are really not fear. Like, you know, if you fall on your ass, right, you fall on your fucking ass, get up, get the fuck up. Like, you don't need anybody else except you, right? But when you understand that you're a part of this universe, you're a part of this society, and you're not here to create things for you, you're here to create things for other people, life starts to become fun, right? And I think the more you focus on yourself, the less you actually, you know, you actually enjoy life, the less happier you are. I think when you start focusing on others and lifting others up, Yeah, you have your goals. Yeah, you have your expectations. But when you start living through other people and, and wanting to hit those goals to help other people, that's when, you know, things really become fun and exciting.

Yeah, I mean, so many people are like waiting until things go the way that they expect them to go until they're happy. And it's like, you're going to keep attracting that energy of like, you want things to be different. And it's like, I'm further away now than than I was when I first started from where I want to be. Like when I first started, if I peered into my life now, I would have thought, oh, great, I made it. Like, I'm good. I should be happy now. But now I have so many bigger aspirations and I want to go so much further. And it's like if you keep waiting until things become the way you expect them to be, to be happy, you'll never enjoy the journey. And life is just a journey to enjoy at the end of the day. But I think also like society really it glorifies victimization. Like the mainstream media, they make it like it's okay to be a victim. And I think that not enough people are talking about how, you know, you're not a victim to anything, you should be responsible for every aspect of your own life. And I think more people need to talk about that.

There was a book written about, about a gentleman who was in a concentration camp in Germany, and writes about how he never had a bad day in his life, you know, It doesn't matter what life gives you. If you are prepared for every single situation, and there's no way to be prepared, like you're not a psychic, you're not gonna know what's going to happen. But when I say when you're prepared, I mean when you're mentally prepared for every situation, there is no bad day. Like if you say, Brett, when was the last bad day you had? I'd be like, I don't know, I can't tell you because I'm always prepared for the day. And the reason why I don't check text messages and emails before I work out is I'm not prepared for battle until after I've battled myself.

Oh yeah, oh yeah, that's a great takeaway. You got to prepare yourself for battle, but it first starts with battling yourself.

150%. And so I have to work through the good, I have to work through the bad to where I come out on top, right? And, you know, a buddy of mine told me, you know, this a couple weeks ago, and I thought it was brilliant. He said, you know, you never get rid of, you know, the bad things in your life. Like you'll never be able to get rid of the things that hold you back. Right. You just have to live above those things.

Everyone has problems. And a lot of people's problems are a lot bigger than your problems. Whoever's listening right now. Again, society glorifies being a victim. It says, yeah, you should be a victim. These circumstances are out of your control. And I encourage people to try to shift their thinking. And I think this conversation is really powerful for a lot of people. But I encourage people to shift their thinking from being a victim to being proactive and battling themselves before they go to war on their day.

You're absolutely right. It's about being proactive to where you're not the victim. Because think about it like this, like if you were living 150 years ago, what would you be doing? What would you really be doing with your life? Like you'd probably be a farmer. You know, factories were starting to, you know, become more prevalent. Like you may work in a factory for $2 an hour, you know, for 8 hours, right? And that's your life, and then you die, right? You're living 250 times better than people that were living 150 years ago, right? If you're surviving today, you are living in poverty, and you can't figure out how to get to the next level, right? You're content with where you're at. You're content with your situation, your family situation. You don't work out. You don't push your mind. You don't read. You're not trying to get better. You're just content with where you're at. That's surviving, right? And you'll live for 75, 80 years, maybe even longer, you know, you probably won't have any retirement savings. You'll probably be on Medicaid. You know, the government will be taking care of you, and, you know, hopefully you have family that'll take care of you. But if not, you know, government takes care of you and you die. That's survival. I'm not trying to survive.

You know, as much as it's important to have a vision and stick to that, it's like you can also leverage that negative vision of, you know, knowing that you have limited time here, knowing that if you don't start battling yourself, if you don't start getting disciplined, if you don't start doing the things that are true to who you want to be, you're going to just survive. And that's not a life fulfilled. So I think That's a great ending note here. Yeah, Brett, this was a great conversation. If anyone wants to find you or learn more about you or learn from you, is there a good place that people can find you?

You know, it's funny because I haven't been on social media for probably about 2 months now, and I had to just take a break because, you know, I really looked at, you know, my business. I looked at my life and I'm like, is this, is this adding or is it taking away? And it wasn't adding to my life. So, you know, I do have a pretty robust, you know, Instagram account. There's tons of stuff there that'll help you out. Twitter as well. Facebook as as well. But, you know, if there's anything that, you know, you need, that, you know, you're dealing with, you know, you can always subscribe to, you know, my newsletter through brettlocken.com. You know, just get, you know, weekly inspiration, weekly hacks, performance, mindset, all the good stuff that's going to help you, you know, leverage, you know, what it is that you have and take your life to the next level.

Well, Brett, this conversation was a gift to me and my soul, and I'm sure a lot of people here listening. So thank you so much for coming on and joining me today.

Anytime, Jared. I'm happy to do it and love to do it, you know, in the future.