Michael Trainer — How To Connect With The Greatest Minds To Improve The World

This is an intro. Intro, intro, intro.

Hustle and Float Shark with your boy.

My boy, Matt Wolf.

Joe Fear.

Hey. Hey. Welcome back to another episode of the Hustle and Flowchart podcast.

What?

What? There's Matt. He's sounding really funny today. And I am Joseph Fear. Funny to see you here today. We have Mike Traynor, Michael Traynor. We met him years ago. This guy is a total badass. He has connections that are just higher and bigger than we've ever even fathomed.

Oh, dude, this guy is a high achiever in every sense of the word. Like he's connected with the Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra, Terry Crews, freaking Jay Z.

Moby, you know, Foo Fighters.

This guy, he brings people together at the highest levels. He used to put on concerts out in Central park called Global Citizen where he would raise literally in the billions of dollars for charities like Ending World Povert. And now he works with these high achievers, does interviews and runs a business called Peak Mind where he sort of brings these peak minds together and puts them up on his platform. So really, really exciting stuff. And I think this is a killer interview.

Yeah, Mike gets into some really good stuff, some deep stuff, got us thinking bigger, bigger picture things and ways that we can make a bigger impact on the world using our, you know, using technology. Actually we get into crypto stuff.

Yeah, we do talk about cryptocurrency and blockchain on this one.

And I wouldn't even call it really currency a lot. It's like more the blockchain technology using.

That and how you can use it for social good, which is not an angle we've heard or talked about before.

Completely different. So it's going to be great. And that's. Yeah, it's going to be good. So let's crack into it. All right, Mike. Hey, thanks for coming on the show with us here.

Thanks for having me.

Awesome, man. Well, it's been a while since we chat. We chatted maybe a few months ago and you were talking about, I think it was your peak mind event, the.

New one you're putting. We chatted a few months ago and wow, things have moved since then. But it's always good to talk with both of you.

Yeah, we're looking forward to diving in on what you're doing there. This episode is actually going to be kind of like a two parter episode. We're going to kind of split it two ways. We're going to talk a little bit about PeakMind and what you're doing now and some of the connections you've made through that. And then the second half we'll kind of dive into what you're doing in the crypto world because you're putting on events and doing all sorts of stuff in the cryptocurrency world. And I think that'd be a really exciting topic to talk about too. So it'll be kind of a two sided podcast and I think we should talk about some really fun stuff.

Sounds great to me.

Yeah, man. So I guess give us a scoop on what you've been up to lately with peakmind. You've had some transitions from a previous thing, event planning, which we'll talk about too, but give us the lay of the land here.

Yeah, sure. Well, as we were speaking of, my background was in throwing a large scale music festival in Central park called Global Citizen and was really introduced to the power of events to create a broader base sense of movement as well as to really build community and have impact. And so with Peak Mind, based off of the legacy of what I learned in launching and growing through the first few years Global Citizen, I decided that I would apply the same principles, but really had that be around. How do we become the best version of ourselves, really? And furthermore, how could I feature the thought leaders of our time in such a way that it would really help people unlock their full potential? And so we launched with an event with His Holiness and dalai Lama in 2015 and have since really been creating content with some of the peak minds of our time across various genres, really with the interest of sharing that content such that people can.

Really utilize the insights garnered from these peak minds to unleash their own full potential.

Got it.

So yeah, that's been what I've been focused on.

Cool. And these are live events you're doing, or are they all various virtual things like that?

Yeah, principally it's been mostly live events. So in 2010 we did the event with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Forest Whitaker was really profound. We did document that out and I'm actually, if any of your viewers are interested, I'm happy to share out that link. I'm actually about to do a release with the Chopra center in the spring.

I would love to see that and I know a bunch of people would too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're going to go out. We're going to send it out actually to a few million people direct through email. So I'm happy to link up if anyone's interested and share that. But His Holiness led a very rare meditation. You know, part of what prompted me in this journey with Peakmind is, you know, we're building Global Citizen, which largely took the form of a music festival where people got their tickets based on their social activism. So as you took action.

You were rewarded for learning and for your behaviors as they related to supporting the cause to end extreme poverty. And so, you know, in year one, which was 2011, we hosted a music festival on the Great Lawn in Central park with folks like Neil Young, Black Keys, Foo Fighters, John Legend, sang Imagine. And we had about 60,000 plus people who had gotten there by taking action around issues that were in support of ending extreme poverty. And so we leveraged the stage to raise about $1.3 billion in new commitments for programs serving the world's poor with the UN, World bank, etc. About three years in, at this stage, Global Citizen was well on its way and it moved from a startup to an established organization. And unfortunately, my father was diagnosed with dementia. And I don't know if any of your listeners have contended with a family member.

Being diagnosed with a terminal disease, but it definitely was a reckoning and a wake up call. And so I told him I would take him anywhere in the world he wanted to go. And he's a beautiful, humble man. If I were to say, hey dad, my friends Matt and Joe are coming into town and it was a 2am flight, he wouldn't even ask who you were, how I knew you. He'd just be like, great, what's the gate? He's a very giving, gracious human. And so I took him to South Africa. And on that trip, that's when I actually decided that I was going to leave Global Citizen and work on building a movement around creating change from the inside out. Global Citizen was very much focused on changing the world, but I kind of came to the reckoning that actually ultimately the world is a manifestation of our collective internal states. So in addition to acting in the world, I wanted to sort of provide people with the tools to get their internal state right first.

Right, got it. That makes perfect sense. And that's, I mean, you have the people and the following. It seems like you have the connections to make that happen, at least on a large scale and get some attention.

Yeah, I mean, basically the idea is, how do we with all this is how do we leverage that which is most culturally relevant today? Right. That was kind of the impetus for Global Citizen. If you look at the most influential figures in terms of social following in the world, they're musicians. And so beyond that, music is just such a universal language. It's something that just crosses Borders. And all of us have sort of soundtracks of our lives where we can remember, you know, very distinct moments. I still to this day remember my first concert, which was Michael Jackson Thriller. Oh, wow. I remember listening to Neil diamond on the eight track player with my dad and his old Cadillac. So I mean, we all have these memories which are enforced through music. And so that was, that was really the impetus for a lot of what we did with Global Citizen. And then with Peak Mind, I realized actually with meditation, I did all this research and I saw, you know, Harvard had released a study showing that actually through meditation you could physically alter your brain. Many of us grew up with this notion that the brain was fixed and throughout our lives we killed our brain cells. But Harvard had released a study demonstrating that actually you could change your neuroplasticity effectively, decrease the size and activity in your amygdala and increase the size and activity of your hippocampus effectively, while altering the sort of size and activity of your brain itself, which as I was facing a loved one with cognitive decline, I realized how profound that could be. And then since then have delved deeper into it and realized that unfortunately, one in two people, if they live to the age of 80, will be diagnosed with dementia and it's now being called type 3, type 3 diabetes. And unfortunately, half the US population's pre diabetic, half the Chinese population's pre diabetic. So ostensibly we're on the verge of a lifestyle medicine sort of crisis. And so the impetus for a lot of the content that I created was to try to play my own small part in changing the narrative and empowering people with the tools to make some behavioral changes in their lives.

So it sounds like you're trying to go for the awareness factor, at least at this stage. In the first stage of Peak Mind. Does that sound about right?

Yeah, I would say awareness is definitely a key part of it. I mean, I would say that it's really about sharing content that can inspire and inform. And so, you know, that's looked like these events, physical events, to your earlier question. We did an event as well with the Chopra center, with Deepak Chopra, and at Cartola, the shrine. That was about 5,000 people. Really remarkable to see. You know, a sold out crowd of about 5,000 folks come to hear two gentlemen just speak on stage. You know, really, really powerful and just demonstrated the hunger that there was for this information. And then have since gone down and created a content with a variety of different folks across industries. Everyone from Maria Sharapova and Gabriela Ries kind of peak athletes to Laird Hamilton to Wim Hof, Deepak Chopra on down. So really going after people who have a unique perspective, but also.

As you mentioned, a degree of influence such that that information obviously can get exposed to a broader swath of people.

Right, right now, with all of these people that you've connected with and you've interviewed and you've shared the stage with, are there any sort of like traits or habits that you find are commonalities across a lot of these people that sort of give them this mindset to accomplish what they accomplish?

Yeah, I mean it's a great question. I think there's a variety of mindsets that I've distilled that I've found to be pretty common, I would say. Actually, interestingly enough, meditation is one of the habits that is most common amongst the different peak minds that I've interviewed. And that could look like a variety of different meditation practices. But basically the kind of brain training, taking your brain to the gym, as it were, whether it be Vipassana or Vedic meditation, I've done both. Or even just using an app like Headspace, carving out that 10 minutes a day could be 20 where you're really prepping your brain for the day ahead and kind of in a way taking out the garbage as I like to call it, which is the reactive nature that many of us succumb to in a world where we're inundated with different stimuli. And what I find with meditation is that it enables you to be more responsive and less reactive. The other traits that I've seen.

Pretty much across the board is a lot of these top performers are morning people. And I think, you know, I mean, His Holiness, the Dalai Lama gets up at 3:30 in the morning. But a lot of these folks, and you'll see even, you know, the Rock is famous for getting up at 4:00am and, and.

Some of these Navy SEALs, they basically establish this habit of getting up early morning. And what that enables is this sort of quiet time, I think, especially for those who may have families. And the demands of families can pull them away from really getting to their center. What I've seen is the most effective CEOs in the world often carve out time in the morning to exercise, to meditate, and to set up their day to day so that they can be proactive as opposed to reactive.

I mean that's amazing. And that's exactly what I've always read about big time leaders who are just very effective people, even if they're not a Big name, just effective with their life happiness. I think it's a huge, huge thing, meditation and just taking that time, being deliberate. I think it's huge.

Yeah, you're spot on. That notion of how can we be at cause in our life as opposed to at effect. Right. So we're always kind of in a tenuous balance between other people's agendas and enacting our own. And what I see is that when we take proactive steps to really set the vision for our lives and for our day, we're really set up for success and we're less apt to fall into the reactive drift of other people's agenda right now.

So have you personally adopted a lot of these habits and traits that you've seen from these people? And if so, how have you seen this impact on your own life?

Yes, I have. I mean, it's been pretty remarkable. To be honest. I haven't really spoken about it publicly, but.

I've definitely taken on a meditation habit. I'm doing some type of exercise. I do resistance training, functional movement, as well as hot yoga, vinyasa flow. And I wake up earlier than I did. And frankly, I drink a lot less alcohol. Not that I was ever like a massive consumer of alcohol, but I've just become much more to.

Foods and inputs, whether they be stimuli in the external world. People. Obviously, we all know the saying, you are some of the five people you spend the most time with. I become more sensitive to who I surround myself with and are they elevating me higher?

You don't really want to be the smartest person in the room. So I'm always asking myself, how can I? Where do I want to go? And then who are the people that I feel embody the way of being that will help me realize that dream? And so I've actually been able to kind of totally change the course of my life by systematically implementing different habits and then being deliberate in the types of people that I look to surround myself with. And what that's looked like is, I would say, principally a dramatically healthier lifestyle. You know, I spend a lot more time in nature. I spend a lot more time connecting with figures I find to be inspiring.

And a lot more time being intentional around what it is I want to create. And using the habits that I know will keep me on track.

So do you adopt? Because I would assume with how much all this stuff, I mean, how many things you're doing now with all these people, you have peak minds, so you have a massive email list, a lot of opportunities. Do you say no more often. And if you do, do you have like a process for kind of trimming the fat and only focusing on what you really love?

Great question. I would say, I would say I haven't, I haven't perfected that yet. You know, I've read, and you may have read a great book called Essentialism. Oh yeah, really about, you know, that, that notion of if it's not a hell yes, it's a no.

Right.

I haven't gotten quite that deliberate. I still am a pretty enthusiastic yes person to most things. Although one of the things that I do, I have this is tangible and I think it'd be actionable by your audience. One of the things that I have gotten more deliberate around are.

Intentionless meetings. And what I mean by that is I get kind of hit up a lot by people who want to kind of quote unquote, pick your brain.

And.

What I advise people is if you have a cogent agenda, it's really great to be explicit about that. And I think at first to actually really do your research in terms of who you're reaching out to and what's most of interest to them. Obviously in relationship building I often find it's best to sort of seek to add value and show that you've been informed by what, what someone cares about.

But what I've become more discerning around is not saying yes to random invitations for coffee and instead, not to be rude in any way, shape or form, I find opportunities. And I think this was initially presented to me by Tim Ferriss, but basically where you will set up a group outing where everyone who's reached out to you to sort of get a coffee, you kind of channel them all to one singular group activity. And it really maximizes your time because instead of doing, you know, five, six, half an hour coffee meetings, which inevitably wind up being an hour, plus transportation, etc. It enables you to sort of channel all that to a singular meeting where frankly, hopefully those people can also get reciprocal value from the other people in attendance. And also those who you become most compelled by or where there's most resonance, it provides an easy opportunity for follow up. So I have become more deliberate in terms of where I spend my time. Obviously our time is our most valuable asset. It's inherently limited. And so that's something I've become more discerning in. But I haven't yet gotten to the place. I'm still in the place of building. So I haven't gotten to the place where I'm 95% no, I love that.

No, that idea is great because, I mean, man, if I. If I had a nickel for every time somebody asked to pick our brain on something, you know, that's such a great idea to, you know, try to get 10 people together at a coffee shop or something and all just kind of work with each other and learn from the collective experiences. I think that's. That's a brilliant way of sort of filtering.

You're, like, filtering out and not. Not like people need to be filtered, but some people do.

Yeah, well, I was more. More of, like, batch handling it. Right, right. So, like, when. When we record our podcasts, we always record just one day a month, and we get all of our guests to schedule in on the one day a month that we podcast. And it's kind of a similar concept of, you know, I love it when people want to pick our brain and chat with us, but this is the opportunity to sort of batch process that, I guess. And so I love that concept. One thing I did want to ask you about, and this is a totally selfish question, I'll be transparent about that, but I want to know how you managed to connect with so many high achievers. Like, how did you get on their radar? And how. How are you able to connect with those people?

Yeah, no, I think it's a fair question. You know, I think there's a variety of different. I mean, I could go and probably do a podcast just on this, but there's a variety of different ways in which I think you can connect with these, let's call them, people whose time and attention is perhaps more in demand.

Right.

And for me, the way that I do it is one. I put myself out there a lot. You know, I show up to places.

Over the years, I think, especially because I've been focused more on adding value in regards to having entities and organizations that are focused on social impact. It's a little bit different than, say, hitting someone up and having a straight transactional request.

But one thing I will say, and I think this could be useful to people, is when we were building global citizens, we didn't have any reputation. And it was, you know, the artists that wind up saying, yes, it was a big risk for them, you know, because we had a massive vision, we had no track record in regards to having pulled off something of this scale. And so when you're asking these marquee, you know, a list artists to perform a festival, you know, they're really. They get asked, they get hit up a lot, and they, you know, they're really taking a risk. So I think one of the ways that we went about it was we really tried to build up.

Qualifying factors, right? Or social proof, if you will. And so our first approach, given that we were going after a music festival, but that was focused on philanthropy, was adding value to, for example, the Gates foundation, because we knew that the Gates foundation was so prominent philanthropically. And so we did a campaign focused around polio alleviation with the Gates Foundation. And we also went off to aeg, which is one of the marquee concert promoters. And before we even reached out to those big artists, we had sort of a tacit backing from the Gates foundation as well as aeg. So I would say, in terms of distilling down, and then we wound up getting Foo Fighters to say yes if we could get another marquee artist to say yes. And this is where I would say hustle comes into play. What we did was we really wanted the Black Keys. They were actually scheduled for a KROC interview in Los Angeles, which. Which made them a no. And what we did was we actually went to kroc, asked KROC to schedule the interview the next day, went to FedEx, asked FedEx for a $250,000 in kind grant to ship their equipment overnight to New York and then back from New York to la. Got soft yeses from both, and then went back to the Black Keys, which were no. And then they were a yes. So I would say there's a couple lessons. One is really being tenacious, but gracefully. So doing the work yourself so as to set it up so it's an easy yes. The other thing I would say about Sutter park is, you know, we weren't paying artists their fees, but. And they were doing a good. They were doing something for a great cause. But it was also in their sort of enlightened self interest because, you know, the Stones never played the Great Lawn in Central Park. The Black Keys never played the Great Lawn in Central Park. And we wound up having one of the largest syndicated broadcasts of its kind. So we had aol, New York Times, Yahoo, all putting it on their front page. Now, I'm not saying that any of the artists said yes because of that. However, it makes it more compelling of an ask.

When you have aspects that can also play to the self interest of the individual. And so that's why I say and or group. And so that's why I say, do your research and really find out. I mean, Neil Young signed on. We didn't know at the time, but our early work with the Gates, which we had no idea at the time, Neil Young was a polio survivor. So it wound up being highly synergistic. And so I think there's a variety of lessons I learned. One is if you declare a big, bold vision, the road will come up to greet you. If you're willing to be tenacious, it's really incredible the degree to which those who are aligned will support you, but also doing it in a way that's obviously not naive to people's interests and making it as easy a yes as possible. And so since then, it's again applying those principles just time and time again, whether that be on a macro scale or a micro scale, and that is leading with giving. I think experiences are a huge asset. All of us have limited time and some of us have limited resources, Some of us have abundant resources. But, you know, the thing that all of us resonate with are unique, one of a kind experiences. And so what I've often done is I try to create unique experiences and then I'll offer, you know, some of these influential figures to come. You know, I'll give it one last example. I volunteer at a wolf sanctuary called the Wolf Connection. And I invited a woman who actually brought out Moby to the. To the Wolf Walk. I had actually met Moby before. He's an advocate for dementia prevention, but I didn't know he was coming. We connected. Lo and behold, he invited me and the host of the Wolf Connection out to dinner at his restaurant with a few other kind of notable influencers. And so again, it wasn't something where there was any self agenda. It just happened organically. But those kinds of relationships. I then reached out and I was like, hey, if it makes sense, I'd love to, you know, do an interview with you and promote what you're passionate about. We haven't done so yet, but he indicated that he'd be interested in that. Sure, but. But I didn't lead with an ask. I led very much with like just an organic. I'd love to get to know who you are as a person. And. And if you are leading with an ask, doing. Doing it in such a way that it really adds value to the other person.

Yeah. And I think you did a big thing like what you just said. You show up, you're actually there, you get out of your element, you get away from your computer, most likely. Even though even just reaching out on Twitter, you could start the same kind of process and start getting to know people.

It's just interesting. Yeah, I Think a lot of people, like you said, they just jump right to the end result thinking selfishly. And even if you were thinking selfishly, at least get to know someone, act like a human when interacting with folks.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean.

In the crypto context, I've been following Vinny Lingham from Civic for quite some time and I just, again, I had no agenda, but I just happened to retweet.

His sentiment. I liked it quite a bit. And then lo and behold, he started following me and actually I wound up being with him this past weekend for a summit I was speaking at and now we're actually gonna do an interview together. So there's a situation where it was just like, you know, it was a, I didn't have a coaching objective. I just happened to like what he said, commented, you know, retweeted in the context of someone I had no contact with. And lo and behold, we wound up getting together and then, you know, now we're gonna do something. So say, you're spot on. It's thinking of things first is how can I be of value and speak to the interest of the party I want to build relationship with?

Yeah, no, that's amazing. Okay, so let's, I do want to switch topics again. I kind of prefaced at the beginning that we're going to have sort of a two parter episode and I'm really curious about what you're doing in the cryptocurrency world. In fact, Joe and I, we, we, we stayed pretty vague even in our like pre interview conversation about what you're doing in that world because we wanted to, you know, we wanted to hear it for the first time when we actually chatted on the recording. So do you want to give us a little bit of a rundown of what you're doing over there?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, so crypto's, you know, obviously a very hot topic at the moment. I've been involved for the last couple years, you know, as a, you know, a, an investor and I advise a couple of companies in the space. I've more recently become more deeply engaged, really inspired by what I think the blockchain as an underlying platform can be, especially as it relates to social impact and some of the experiences and platforms I've built in the past. I think it's really, technology is agnostic, so it can be used for good, it can be used for evil. But I think in the context of the blockchain there's so many revolutionary aspects of what it can be used for. For example, there's a company I advise called Micro Money and they do micro loans. So with Global Citizen, we had been focused on ending extreme poverty, which is the condition whereby people live under $1.25 or its equivalent around the world. And when I came across Micro Money, I was really moved because they were basically working on kind of banking me unbanked. Right. So one of the core issues.

I'll share this story real quickly. I would often share when I was doing talks, I would say, let's move away from this sort of guilt and shame ridden notion of charitable giving. That sort of what I call kind of poverty porn. Like, I'll show you an image of a starving child and ask you to give up your cup of coffee. How can we change that narrative to be one of hope and inspiration? So what I often say is we can all acknowledge that Bill Gates is a genius. Yeah, 100%.

Yep.

But even if you were a one in a million type genius, which I would argue he isn't, he also had 10,000 hours on a tool, the supercomputer of its time, before the age of 21. So basically you pair genius with opportunity. And what do we have? We have a legacy that all of us have benefited from, from the personal computer and the way that that's changed all of our lives. To the Gates foundation, which has done, you know, raised billions of dollars to impact some of the most vulnerable populations around the world. Well, that's just one person. And even if he's a one in a million genius, if you take the 1.3 billion, which at the time was the number of people living in extreme poverty, that's 1300 other geniuses, Bill Gates, that all of our lives are deprived of. And so I'm really interested in the technologies and creating the opportunities where people can unlock their potential. So in the case of Micro Money, what I got excited by was here's a system whereby you don't need a credit history or credit report to unlock capital so that people can pay their kids school fees or potentially unlock the kind of capital that is necessary to start a business, which, having lived and worked in the developing world, is something that I got really excited by. And there's just so many ways, whether it be voting, transparent voting, whether it be remittances, which actually dwarf foreign aid in terms of the money that's sent to countries where they have significant populations facing extreme poverty. There's just so many different ways in which that transparency, that immutability of the blockchain is really profound. And then I think in terms of wealth creation. It offers an unprecedented opportunity. I mean, are we in a bubble? Probably. That said, I don't think that the Amazon, Facebook.

And Google's of the world have necessarily even yet been created on the blockchain. So I just have gotten really passionate about the space. I started a mastermind with a group of folks that are sort of leaders in the industry. I've been doing dinners, small events. I just did an event up at Summit series speaking tonight and then heading off to Davos to do a panel on the blockchain and social impact. So just trying to speak and connect and learn from as many people as possible.

And see the ways that we can use this technology for good.

Yeah, what you brought up was exactly what I hoped you would have brought up because you took the question right out of my mouth, is leveraging the blockchain in this way. And a lot of people don't even know what a blockchain is. To our listeners, we have a couple episodes with Michael Taggart. The first one he explained in depth. So we won't kind of reiterate things now, but it allows almost in the way. I was kind of picturing this as you were talking about how you can then advise companies to leverage blockchain. It's like an upgrade of what we already know. So it's like, let's take a look at the world's problems and issues that we have now. Let's look at the solutions that we currently have and obviously the ones that we don't have that we don't know about. Let's work with what we do have. How can we upgrade that using the blockchain? And what you said, there's just so many ways to kind of take that thinking. And just right there, you can start advising companies with your knowledge, kind of that passion, the focus that you have, and let's leverage this massive technology that's just taken off.

Yeah, I mean, spot on. And I think the other piece is, you know, from an investing point of view, and I caution people, I'm not in any way giving investment advice, but what I would say is what's exciting is, you know, a traditional angel, if you were investing in a company, would make maybe 20, 30 bets and their capital be illiquid and many of those companies would wind up failing and you'd hope that maybe 4 or 5 would return your investment and then hopefully 1 or 2 would become moonshots, sort of 10x your investment. What's crazy right now, obviously, and we'll see in a year's Time kind of how things go if they settle or not. At the time of the recording of this interview, the industry is still relatively small. I mean, it's only $730 billion. But the degree to which it's growing in terms of market cap is unprecedented. I wouldn't be surprised if we crossed 2 trillion in 2018. So there's a lot of growth. I think what people need to be savvy about if they get into the space is it is a profound means for potential wealth creation.

For folks, I think, across the board because it allows you to.

Get involved and you don't have to be necessarily uber wealthy. But where I am concerned is I think it will largely be a tool for wealth transfer as opposed to wealth creation, from those who don't know what they're doing to those who do know what they're doing if people don't get educated. So I'm really excited to see tools evolve. And one of the things I'm doing is creating, you know, events for those who are, you know, both beginners and then those who are, you know, sort of uber advanced and finding ways for. For everyone to get educated by sharing experience such that they can navigate the waters both carefully, intentionally, hopefully with reward.

Yeah, I love that. One thing that I want people who are listening in to understand is that blockchain is not just bitcoin. One thing that came up for me over this is actually over Christmas, we had a bunch of family over.

The people that were over were not necessarily tech savvy. They didn't really understand what the blockchain was. But they did ask me about bitcoin. They're like, hey, so what are your thoughts on this whole bitcoin thing that everybody's been talking about lately? Right. So bitcoin has become very, very mainstream. It's the. What everybody in the media talks about. But bitcoin and the blockchain aren't. Bitcoin isn't the only thing on the blockchain. And one thing I think people don't understand is that there's all these other cryptocurrencies out there, and it's not that they're not backed by anything, because that's something that I keep on hearing from a lot of people, is that, you know, this is just fluff. It's just error. It's not backed by anything. What I don't think most people understand is that every single cryptocurrency out there represents some sort of new technological advancement that somebody is trying to create. And they're Using the sale of these coins to help finance them. It's a way around using angel investment in venture capital. They're actually raising money by selling these coins. And it's actually backed by whatever sort of technology that this cryptocurrency represents. And I think that's something that most people who, from an outside higher level look in at this stuff aren't totally understanding yet. They're seeing it as like, oh, bitcoin's trying to replace money with digital money and it's not backed by anything. But that is the farthest thing from the case. I think this is a technological revolution that most people don't understand. And a lot of the stuff that you're talking about is actually using this for social good as well and using some of this new technology that's emerging on the blockchain for actual social good. And I love that because that's actually something that we haven't even discussed or talked to anybody else about is, is the sort of social elements that could potentially come up because of this new technology.

Yeah, I mean, I think you said a lot there.

You're absolutely right. So people know there's a number of blockchains and there's actually private blockchains, there's actually various financial institutions that are looking to put $5 trillion in assets and asset management on, on their own blockchains. It's kind of the way I look at it is almost like the next generation of the Internet.

We're basically creating the next generation and level protocol which is much more decentralized and it does enable way more peer to peer engagement. But it is very much in its infancy. And while I'd love to say that everyone, everyone out there creating a platform which is tokenized, or in other words, has a currency associated, has ethics, I would caution people because there are definitely, as is the case with any invention in humanity, there are times people who have less of integrity and less ethic in their creation. So if you look at places like China, they actually shut down what's called the ICO or initial coin offering market because there was a number of scam coins that were coming out. So I do caution people to do their research. But there are also a number of technological platforms that are absolutely revolutionary. So you mentioned obviously Bitcoin, which is, as you said, is kind of the established coin that most people know. Ethereum, which is second in market Cap is really exciting, I mean, because, I mean obviously people can do their own research. But you know, Joe Lubin, one of the founders is, has created Consensus, which he's funding entirely himself. They have over 500 employees and they're really trying to utilize a lot of this technology for social good. And so I think there are interesting protocols, Ethereum being a protocol, Bitcoin being, you know, a protocol level, you know, these various protocol level tokens that have absolutely revolutionary implications. But like anything, they're agnostic. So it goes down to who are the people that are backing them, what's the community that winds up being galvanized around them and how can we use these tokenized assets, protocols and platforms as well as the communities that support them to create the world that we want. And so that's what I'm committed to putting a bit of my time and energy into and really looking to surround myself with others who are committed to the same.

That is amazing. I mean, so how do you, what would you recommend someone listening here? How should they somehow get involved or feel like they're making progress on leveraging the blockchain, contributing, maybe creating something, maybe.

Beginning to earn and you know, where should they start to learn to be on the right side of that wealth transfer that you were talking about?

Yeah, I mean there's a variety of different resources that I share with people who are just getting started. Frankly, I didn't create all those resources but I've kind of curated them because I think they're really savvy in helping people establish the right mindset as they're getting in. So I don't know if you're going to link up in the show notes but feel free to link up.

Infoeekmind.Org.

And, or you can find me on social media ichaeltrainer across social platforms. But I'm gonna put together a link with resources on kind of getting started if that's of value. Yeah, please can tune into that. And then, yeah, as I mentioned, I do informal events and have now formalized a mastermind which that's a much more high end mastermind. However, we also do events for beginners who are just getting started. We did an event last month and a lot of people what we'll do is we'll break out and provide the value exchange that's necessary for people who are just getting started. Maybe they're thinking about it or they have their first Coinbase account, they're intrigued and then breakouts for others who are, you know, advanced crypto asset traders and you know, maybe starting a fund. So it's a very, it's, you know, it's a very broad base in terms of experience but Looking to try to create educational resources across the spectrum.

Sounds fair enough, no? Yeah, definitely shoot us the link. We'll link everything. You give us any kind of resources in the show notes for sure.

Or just reach out to Michael. We'll make sure we put his contact details in the show notes as well.

Cool. All right. I'm just thinking of anything else that we left untouched here because we covered a lot and this is kind of like wide ranging here. What is. Let's see. I guess what are some good resources that you can think of that could help people going back to reaching out, connecting with others? Maybe something that can help someone shift from maybe not being able or feeling comfortable to make the shift to allowing them to make that shift into reaching out and kind of doing more with whatever purpose they have.

Yeah, I mean, if you're speaking specifically to connecting to influencers and ascertaining purpose. Yeah. One of the resources I recommend is my good friend Lewis Howes. Go on his site, which is Lewishaus.com he actually did a video that breaks down how he connects with influencers. He also has a very successful podcast called School of Greatness, which he has really remarkable people on there. Oh, yeah, he actually does kind of a video of how to build authentic relationship with relationships with influencers that might be useful for your audience. I think also he does do some excellent work around vision. So I think that's the thing that everyone needs to start with in that kind of Simon Sinek sense. We all need to know what our why is. And that's not an indictment if you don't yet know what your why is. But I think once you're clear on your vision, everything else moves from there.

And, you know, we're all works in progress. So that proceeds, as I would say, as an iterative process. But I think getting really clear on why you're doing something will enable you to persevere through any what. And I think Luis also has some pretty great resources in regards to uncovering your why. Tim Ferriss has some excellent resources. I love his book blog as well. Marie Forleo, who I'm actually about to go out for a coffee with in about half an hour, has some excellent resources. She's a bit more focused on.

Women on the female audience. So those are three folks that I highly recommend in terms of both determining.

What your why is, as well as kind of being tactical and sharing your message in the best possible way and building support around that. So all friends, all wonderful, wonderful humans and their wealth, treasure trove of information.

Awesome. Awesome. Well, we have a few last little wrap up questions and then we'll let you go to get your coffee here in a minute. Do you have any books that you recommend to people? They could be on the topics we talked about or just completely off topic, but we're always looking for new book recommendations.

Yeah, I actually over this past weekend I was with Ryan Holiday and he wrote one of my favorite books, which is the Obstacle is the Way.

Oh, yes.

Seeing the challenge as opportunity. And I think that's a key mindset for all of us and a key reminder for all of us.

I love that book, one of my favorites. Yep, that's like a once a year read for me.

Yeah, it's amazing. In terms of just a beautiful book in terms of prose. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is absolutely stunning. One of my. One of my favorite books. If you're to go on holiday and just want to get lost in the beauty of narrative, I highly recommend that.

And then, you know, I mean, in terms of. I'm trying to think of a third, you know, in terms of a third book that I would recommend, I would say I go back a lot to the four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz. I think it's very simple and applicable for everyone, but I really love the principles that it embodies. And then I'll throw a fourth in there. The Alchemist is another one.

The Alchemist is amazing.

Yeah, there's a few I could go on and on actually. I love reading, but those are some great ones. Oh, you know, an interesting one that I read recently that I wouldn't normally put in here, but I'll share with the audience that my friend Taylor Conway recommended, which is.

It'S called, I think it's I'm a Badass at Making Money.

Oh, didn't you read that one, Joe? The. You are the. You are a badass one.

I think I. It sounds familiar, but I don't think I did. Oh, no, I'm a badass.

So funny. And I would say, you know, as someone who in the past, because I've got a relative orientation towards social impact and in the past, unfortunately have vilified at times kind of, you know, making up money for money's sake. That book was remarkable in terms of shifting my mindset towards seeing the ways in which the two are in no ways mutually exclusive. And so she's just got a really funny approach. It was something that was recommended to me. I was like, I don't know about that. But then I read it and I was like, this woman is hilarious. And it was really worthwhile reading.

Awesome.

Yeah, Joe, I did read that, actually. You totally jogged my mind. It's been a while.

Well, there's a series of you are a badass books.

Yeah, I wrote one of the bad. I read one of the badasses. Forget which one.

Well, very cool. So where would you want people to go after listening to this? What's your main website you want to send them to?

Yeah, I mean, you can go to Michael Traynor dot com. That's probably the best. Peakmind.org and then I'm pretty much on every social platform at Michael Trainor.

Very cool. And you've got some amazing interviews and just with some amazing high achievers. And those are on peak mind.

That's right. We're actually going to be releasing those in the spring, so I've been building them up. We've got now almost 30 interviews. So we're going to be releasing that spring of 2018. So feel free to send me a note infoeekmind.org if you're interested and I can get you on the list for release.

Awesome.

Appreciate that. Well, Mike, you've been. Yeah, you brought. You brought the fire.

No, no, you brought. You brought a wealth of stuff here. And you never cease to amaze us with the connections and all the good you're doing for the world. And obviously technology is going to keep helping you. So let's stay in touch. We'll probably have a round two because I think you have a lot of cool stuff coming up this year.

2018 sounds great, Matt. I really appreciate you guys. Hope your audience gets value and, yeah, let me know any way I can be helpful.

Definitely, man. All right, have a good one.

All right, guys. Bye now.

All right, thank you. And I hope you just enjoyed this episode you just listened to. Now, right now, before we sign off, I have a few things I would love for you to do. So the very first thing is to go find our guest on Facebook and tell them that you loved their episode with us. That's going to help them just feel good about themselves, but also it's going to spread the word a little bit more for us. Go find them on Facebook and everybody's on Facebook and go say that you love their episode and maybe one cool thing that you learn there. The second thing is to go to itunes and subscribe to our podcast. Just look up hustle and flowchart and hit the subscribe button. And the very last thing, the third thing is to leave us a review on itunes. Or wherever you're listening to this podcast and help us spread the word more. That's how more people are going to get this out. Awesome knowledge, this, this cool podcast training and a whole bunch of other cool free training that we give out@evergreen profits.com so that's about it. Go find them on Facebook, go subscribe on itunes and leave us a review. You would be amazing if you did that, but you're always amazing. So thanks for listening and we'll catch you in the next episode.

You're awesome.