787 The Secrets of Millionaires with Dean Graziosi

This is episode number 787 with Dean Graziosi. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former Pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now, let the class begin. Jonathan Swift said, A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their hearts. And Benjamin Franklin said, An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. I am all about that last quote. The investment in knowledge pays the best interest. For decades, I've been investing in knowledge. I've been investing in mentors. I've been investing in self-education. I've been investing in optimizing the tools to better my life. And the School of Greatness is that investment for myself in finding these top experts in the world and bringing them to myself and then bringing them to the world, to you. And Dean Graziosi has been a friend of mine for a few years. I've known about him for, I don't know, 15 years because I used to see him on TV all the time. When I was broke and, you know, a teenager, I would see this guy on TV. He knows about success. He knows how to create success. He's one of the best teachers One of the biggest givers that I know. And he started from extremely humble beginnings. He started with a firewood business in high school to a collision repair shop to then his first real estate deal before the age of 20. And from there, he went on to create a multimillion dollar real estate empire, becoming a multiple New York Times bestselling author over 16 years every day on TV and is one of the most watched real estate and success trainers of our generation. Now, Dean has maximized success and profits in each of these endeavors. along with his evolution and his businesses and brand have generated nearly $1 billion in revenue. It's crazy, guys. It's just amazing to see what he has created and the wealth of information that he has assimilated over the last few decades. He's got a best selling book called Millionaire Success Habits that has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. He's blowing up online everything. and I had him on a few years ago and I wanted to bring him back on because he taught me some things recently that just really helped streamline my business and generate more revenue and help me optimize things. And he's just got a wealth of information. In this interview, we talk about the power of shaping your mindset around money because money is one of the most powerful things that we talk about on the School of Greatness. It's got some of the biggest episodes that we've ever done are around money. for whatever reason, people want to learn how to make more money, they want to learn how to overcome the fear of money, they want to get out of debt, all these things. So we continue to have these episodes. And we talk about the power of shaping your mindset around money so that you can attract an abundance of money. Also the three moments in Dean's childhood that defines his drive and how to turn being an underdog into an advantage. So if you've ever felt like you were smaller, less than, didn't have the education, didn't have the skills, you know, came from a small town, didn't have a silver spoon. We're going to talk about how you can turn that into your greatest advantage and the three secrets that millionaires have in common. This is going to be powerful. Make sure to share with your friends lewishouse.com/787 okay, guys, this is going to be a game changer episode. I just feel it. In the middle of this interview, I was just getting so excited. I know so many of you are going through challenges financially, or maybe you're making a lot of money, but struggling on how to manage it and how to break through the next level. So I want to continue to give you as much value as possible. And Dean is just such a giver of knowledge and value. Also, Dean is doing something really cool and powerful with Tony Robbins, who we've had on the show a few times and we're looking to get back on here soon. And they are doing a free class. They're doing a free class of training about knowledge. If you want to learn more about them, and how you can turn your expertise, your knowledge, your skill set into millions, then you're gonna wanna get on this free class with them. So at the end, I'm gonna tell you how you can get access to this free class where Dean and Tony are gonna go live and teaching about how you can turn any skill, passion or hobby into making millions. So stay tuned for that at the end as well. Without further ado, let's dive into this episode. with the one, the only, Dean Graziosi. Welcome everyone to the School of Greatness podcast. We have a living legend, Dean Graziosi in the house.

Thanks for being, thanks for having me here, man. This is awesome.

I'm excited. I first found out about you probably, I don't know, 10 or 15 years ago from TV.

Yeah.

Late night when I was probably broke and depressed, trying to figure out about what I was gonna do with my life. You were on there interviewing, talking about a book and real estate stuff. I remember you in front of a house talking about how you generated like, or this house, like someone made 30 grand from or something like that, 130,000 or something like that vaguely. And I met you the first time, I don't know if you remember this, I think it was probably five or six years ago at Josh Bizony had a mastermind. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, in Austin.

Yes.

That's right.

I was wondering where I met you the first time.

I briefly just shook hands. And then I met you again, I think for like a hot second, through Than Merrill, I believe, at one of.

His events or something.

I think we met briefly, but this is-- But now we're here, so-- Now we're here. And thanks to Joe Polish for connecting us. And I know you guys are going to love this.

He's the total connector, right?

Yeah, exactly. I've got a lot of questions for you today. But you wrote a book called Millionaire Success Habits. Make sure you guys go check this out. We'll tell you where to go at the end here. It's the gateway to wealth and prosperity. and you are a New York Times bestseller. You've written a number of books, five books, right? Yep. And why, why this book, most of it in real estate minded books, why a book about millionaire success happens? It's a great question.

My first book I ever wrote, my first New York Times bestseller was called Totally Fulfilled. I was in the business and I read it now, and you know, it's like you look back, if you're a person, it's someone who grows, I look back at that now and I'm like, oh, can I take it off the shelves? But I wrote that book because I had already been in the education business for 10 years. And when, you know, when you find, when you obsess on getting people results, right? And which everybody watching whatever you do in life, like there's nothing better than being passionate about what you do. And when I'd look where people would fall short on doing a real estate deal or taking their life to the next level or taking action, it had nothing to do with my tactical skills on what I taught in real estate. Because what I was teaching was exactly what I did. I literally, you know, not to tell to go to the story, but I was lived in a trailer park. I was homeless with my dad for a year. We lived in a bathroom. I went through that. I didn't go to past high school, I had dyslexia, all this stuff that a lot of us have gone through. I know that the strategies worked in real estate. When I got so frustrated, I'm like, I don't need to write a real estate book. I need to write a book to get out of their own way, to get over the obstacles, to just use.

The crap that I'm giving you so.

You can take action. Because they would have the strategies, but they want to get the results. Right. They couldn't, you know, the first obstacle, they turn around and go backwards. Right. First time it doesn't work. Limiting beliefs, people from the outside, the stories they tell themselves, all the things that we all know. And if you're, if your audience is watching this, they get a lot of that stuff. So I wrote that book and then went on to write four or five, five more real estate books. I've been blessed to sell lots of millions of books sold. And then in the last couple years, it's just been on my heart to share the process in which I went through and then being blessed to be friends with really successful people and billionaires. And the more success you have, the more you realize it's less shifts in your life than you would think. I think when you're struggling and you want more, if you think back to when you were on the couch at your sister's house, you probably thought there was 100 or 200 things you had to change about you. You had to discover the latest and greatest and technology and all the things, the complexity of today's world, right? We're overloaded with information. We're overloaded with delivery systems. If anybody's in marketing, it's like, do I do Facebook? And if it's Facebook, is it Facebook Live? Is it? We get all so much complexity with the delivery systems and we forget that it really boils down to about a handful of things, handful of things that make someone successful or not. so through my years and touching the lives of millions of people and reading tens of thousands of posts and doing live events, you realize that people are just lacking these habits that they can shift. And that's what I got on this obsession about 18 months ago and that's why millionaire success habits.

Who was your biggest mentor growing up?

You know, I would say I didn't have a lot of mentors growing up. I was probably more running away from the life I had. I hated watching my parents struggle. I mean, all they were worried about was money. There was no time for coaching Little League. And I was telling you, I'll tell you more. My daughter's here with me today, too. Her first business trip when she turned 10, she's here on the business trip. But I get to coach Little League. I get to go to every dance recital. I play at the park in the middle of the day. I watched my parents not have any of those options. They were great parents. They just didn't have those options. So I think I was running away from the pain of money and broke and all that. But I would have to say, 18 years ago, Tony Robbins made a massive impact on my life. Just, I mean, he's one of my dearest friends in the world now, but 18 years ago, it was his course and my journal where I said, someday.

I hope to meet him, you know?

And. Right.

So I would say that he made a big impact on me, for sure. Crazy.

Wow.

Okay. Was there, how did you get out of the, I guess, the scarcity mindset or the scarce life you were living in where you're in the trailer park or you were living in a bathroom.

And your parents had these conversations? How did you shift it? Was there information you learned from Tony or from someone else that helped you get started? It's funny, I've been asked that question before and I don't have a specific epiphany, like, oh, this one moment. I can remember thinking throughout high school and even in my early 20s, maybe not my early 20s, I flipped pretty quick, right around 20 years old. I didn't go to college, right? No, I didn't go to college. I barely got out of high school. But I can remember thinking in high school, whatever years that was, is that, you know, I hope someday I can get a job and make a thousand bucks a week and just get by. I'm not that smart because I had trouble reading. I still can't read great, but I I've just had dyslexia is what I think it's been diagnosed now, but I still can't comprehend good when I read, but I didn't realize I was an audible and visual learner. I could listen to a book and I'll memorize the whole book. I can watch somebody on stage and emulate that if it fits my life. But sometimes we're judged by a scorecard that doesn't, it's an outdated scorecard, right? So not only did we not have money, I also felt, well, I'm not smart enough to go to school. And something changed around 17, 18 years old, just something flipped and I just, I noticed, and this is gonna sound like it's a pitch for the book and it's not, I noticed the people in my town, this little tiny town I grew up in upstate New York, the people that had money, the people that seemed happier, I don't know behind the scenes, but they seemed happier, more fulfilled. They were more relaxed, like life just happened. They were walking up a ladder instead of like, my family seemed like they were running on a treadmill. It's like, we're going fast, but we're not going anywhere. So why is this guy or this woman in this town doing so well? And I remember just obsessing on it. and what I noticed it was, I didn't call it habits. I'd love to say I figured this out when I was in my twenties, but what I realized is they just did different things than my family and my friends were doing. And I just started obsessing on that and I was young enough and naive enough to just think I could do it. Wow. You know, I mean, sometimes you wish you could give that gift to somebody in their twenties, thirties, fifties, seventies, right? I had the gift of being naive and a little dumb and not listening to anybody. I mean, I was, in 1998, I did my first infomercial.

Wow.

And almost 20 years ago. Yeah. 1998. I filmed my first one. And my sister, my daughter's aunt, my daughter's sitting here with this, my sister drove from Virginia because by then, so in 1990, I had apartments, I had a collision shop, I had an auto sales, and I was building houses. Wow. Doing it from, from that broke kid. I was doing well.

How were you when you started that?

That was probably in 1998. It was 20 years ago. I was 28, 29 years old.

So in your early 20s, you started to do things.

Yeah. So by then, yeah. So I I hit it big in real estate by the time I was 26, 27 years old, just by taking action, knocking on a million doors and finally got someone to do a no money down deal with me when I was 20 and then another one. And I rolled that into the next deal, the next deal and it was an action. Consistent action. Consistent action and consistent, you know, failing and getting back up, right? The space between failures is really a huge determining factor of your success, right? It's like if you can fail fast, you can win quicker, right? So I remember the first, I decided to do an infomercial, I'm gonna write a book on how to make money and go on TV and my family lost their mind. Like my sister drove from Virginia Virginia to sit down with me and say, it's time to get real. You did good. You got lucky. Not lucky, you work hard, you got here, but you're gonna blow it. And I remember that conversation like it was yesterday. It was your sister. My sister. And she did it out of pure love. She thought she was protecting me. How many people listening right now want to listen to you or do something? Go, oh, you're listening to that, wasting your time. Just get real, you know, do something. So I remember that conversation and I literally almost gave up on it. I remember gonna cancel the whole thing and say, what am I thinking? I can't read that good. I'm gonna write a book. and all this stuff. And luckily, I just remember thinking, if I keep these patterns, I'm going to continue the same process my family has, and I want more. And we filmed it and the show went on TV and, you know, it aired in 1999 and I went 17 years straight without missing a day on TV. 17 years. Without missing a day on TV. It stopped now. It stopped because we're going from my real estate book to this. So we're just pausing until this, this, the show I did with Larry King is going to roll out on millionaire success habits sometime in 17 years. Yeah, I didn't miss a day on TV.

Was it all throughout the US, over the world?

Just US. Just US. Yeah.

Wow. And how did you know, was there a guy named Big who was a part of this?

Big, yeah. Big, he bought my media. Gotcha. I met him. Right. He bought some of my media. When we were, yeah, he's a great guy. He's an interesting character. I love that guy. Yeah. So he worked for Mercury Media. And Merc, I had three media. At one time when we were really cranking, I had three media companies at the same time.

Just buy media for us.

Yeah, we were running out of media.

It was converting so well.

So amazing.

Now, is this the same infomercial for 17 years? No, no.

You should have done one about every year. Really? Wow. Yeah, somewhere it was an interview, some I drove in my car. That was one of my biggest ones. I just put a camera on the dash of the windshield and I drove in the car for a half hour and pitched. I'd stop it, literally, I'd stop at streetlights and pitch my book. I'd stop and then I'd hold the book up and be like, Hey everybody.

I'm driving to my house right now from my office, but if you want my book, call the number. Wait, lights, light screen.

I gotta go. Gosh.

What did you, what do you, how did you think that these infomercials were gonna do well for you? You know, you had a good system already. You were making good money.

Why?

I was naive.

Because of Tony. I, I, if I lost all my money, yeah, if I lost all my money, I'd have to blame him. Right? Because he was on TV. He was on TV and he inspired me. I'm like, I want to inspire people with my story. So I didn't, I, I didn't even know, I didn't know about direct mail or the internet really wasn't there yet. I mean, it was AOL dial up that would, you know, so it wasn't the internet. And I was naive enough. I mean, I, I shot the a commercial, and then I didn't know how to get it on TV. I was calling, like, stations, and, like, who books the media?

How do you get on?

Like, so naive. And then just what formula was gonna work? Didn't. I didn't. I just watched Tony, and I. Let me try this. Let me try this. And I just, I remember I was a nervous wreck and scared, but my, you know, there's a. And, and I'm, I'm happy to talk about me, but I really want to serve today. I want to, I want to give back anything that I can do to help somebody watching right now that wants to get over that obstacle or they feel like they're at a plateau or just they're, they know there's more, and they can't. I mean, that's the biggest frustration in life, is knowing , you have more gas in the tank and you don't know where to go, how to go or get that momentum. I did the infomercial being so naive, had no idea how to get it on and I just, and that the part I was going to tell everybody is persistence. Like I didn't, I literally flew to Arizona to meet a media buyer and I said, I have no idea what I'm doing. And I just kept pushing in, and one of those things that I think during the evolution of growing from wherever you are to where you want to go, is do whatever you do best. I mean, do whatever you're doing the best you can. knowing there's the bigger horizon. So I literally was working during the day on cars. I was a paint cars. I was doing collision repair at night. I'd go work on my apartments and I was a plumber and hung sheet rock and I'd work till midnight on houses and I was tired. But I had a dream I knew I wanted to help people do better. So it made what I was doing okay because I knew there was more. So the big problem I see is people want more and they hate what they're doing. So they're in a state of mind where, God, I just, when I'm done with this crap, then someday I'll reach my dreams. And if you can flop that to go, no, this is the gateway to my dreams. I don't care that I'm serving coffee or I'm painting cars or I'm a teacher right now or I'm on my sister's couch. Like this is what I have to do and I have to do it the best. Become a master at that. Just become a master at that because, and that's the income and the security and the mindset that fuels the next level. It's not, this is miserable, I hate it.

I feel the next level and now I'm amazing.

It's like you need to master that.

Yeah, the process. process.

Yeah.

You gotta fall in love with that process.

You do. You have. And the evolution. Yeah.

And the failure. You're not going to have, like, overnight success. You know, it took you probably 10.

Years and so until you got into that. It's like the first time you see an actor in a movie, and you're like, man, I never saw that person overnight success. It's like they don't show the summer.

Stock and all the stuff, you know, the millions of theater and no money and editing. Extra work.

Yeah.

From there, drinking coffee in the background. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly.

Wow.

Okay. Can you share I wasn't even gonna ask about this, but I'm fascinated about infomercials now since you've done it over so long. Is there a formula to like the most successful infomercial, like five or six.

Things that you must have? Yeah, you know what's so funny, when I went dead before, when my brain, there was a thought I had, and it never happens, 'cause we just got off a plane, it might be the drama mean. But I went flat for a second, 'cause what I was thinking, what I was gonna tell you is you said, how do you know it was gonna work? And what I'd share with anybody watching in any kind of marketing or any kind of persuasion or any kind of getting some attracting somebody persuading somebody to get them to take action. When I look back at those original infomercials, I had two things going for me. I wasn't the smartest guy in the world. Struggled reading, insecure about that. Wasn't college educated. I don't have a really incredible vocabulary. It's hard for me to articulate certain words because they're not in there. But what I had was is enthusiasm and authenticity. When I look back at those infomercials and they hit like monsters, I mean, one infomercial I did, one of the first sit down infomercials I did, did 150 million in sales. Wow. Just one infomercial. And how long of a period was that? About 18 months.

Wow. It's amazing.

And I look back at that and I don't say that to brag and that all that's not profit, you know, it's not a media. Of course. So I don't want anybody. I'm not. And I, I barely say anything about money. I'm saying that to make an impact because I wasn't the smartest guy. I didn't go to college. I didn't come from anything. Most people watching are way further ahead than I was when I started. You weren't trying to make a camera. Right. But what I did as I look back even at those old shows where I'm embarrassed to see myself and my New York accent was like super heavy, that's where I grew up, is I had authenticity and enthusiasm and I think people could see this guy really wants to help. It wasn't scripted, it wasn't perfect, I stuttered, I said words wrong. I mean, I look at some of those, I use the wrong words in the wrong context, but it's still converted. And as I evolved, so I say, what's the foundation? Like as I evolved and I did the first time I did a sit down Larry King style infomercial, he's the one that gave me the idea for that. Then I did the one where I was driving in my car. The reason I did that driving in my car is I wanted people to know that I wasn't using a teleprompter. There wasn't somebody scripting me. There wasn't a million cuts. It was me just driving. It wasn't produced. It was me driving from my office. I started it with a backpack. I said, I'm going home. You want to take a ride with me? And I talked till I got home. Brianna and my son were probably three and one. When I got to the door, they came running out. That was the end of the infomercial. That's cool. Right? And that wasn't even planned. They just ran out because dad was home, right? But I did that. because I could tell the authenticity and the enthusiasm I had to change people's lives there. So what I'd say for an infomercial, for any kind of marketing, for selling yourself, you still need the core, I mean what I wrote in this book, but what you need is the core foundations of what success are. Now, I would say a couple of things when it comes to persuasion. Out of all my years of doing this and being lucky to sell, I wasn't a scientist of selling. I was just an innate, I had an innate ability to sell. through that passion and then you get your 10,000 hours in and all of a sudden it becomes good, right? So on the job training, right? But when I look back, and if I go off in an area that you want to reel me back in, reel it back in, but people buy from you, will love you, will learn from you, will give you a promotion when they feel understood, not when they understand you. And that was one of the biggest lessons I ever read. When you watch someone who is so full of knowledge, so full of wisdom and wants to sell their products sell themselves, get the raise, close the deal at the boardroom. They're always want to just exude who they are, their credentials, what they have and how they could solve the problem. And that will get you so far. Being great at sharing who you are will get you out of Egypt. Understand how people feel and letting them feel understood will get you to the promised land. Right? So when you go to an audience or you're talking to close a deal, most people want to share. Most of the time, you just need to be quiet and find what's going on in that person's life. Be, be be an expert at the temporary state of mind. Understand what they're going through at that minute and let them feel understood. When you let people feel understood, when someone's watching you and you do an amazing job, dude, I've been watching you forever, and I love what you do. But when someone watches you and go, man, that guy gets me. He understands where I'm going at. He understands my struggles. He understands where I want to go. That's someone I can hitch my cart to rather than someone who's got great credentials and tells you can go, I understand that person, but I don't think he understands where I'm Right? Right. And so the two things when it comes to an infomercial, comes to anything with persuasion, the two things I always tell myself is how do I make sure that person feels understood? And secondly, how do I enter a conversation going on in their mind, not mine? You know, when you were on your sister's couch, you had different struggles, right? Now I come to Doheny Drive in LA, you're in a completely different world, a completely different space, flying to the White House and all this stuff that you got going on. The conversations in your head have changed. dramatically from when you're on your sister's couch to now. So what happens, and I've watched this with marketers and people in business, as they evolve, they hit a certain, you remember that pain, that passion, the desire for more. I mean, you could probably close your eyes right now and remember that desire and thinking, am I ever gonna make it? And even a little bit of envy for maybe some of your buddies who made it or a little jealousy, doesn't mean that you wished ill thoughts on them, but it's like, damn it, they made it. I don't have it. What if I never get it? if you remember that pain, if you remember that process, you remember that thoughts, you will always serve anybody watching who needs that. But what happens to some people is as they evolve and you're gonna join the country club, maybe you're gonna get married, you're gonna move to the suburbs, now you got an accountant and you got two assistants and now should I hire a sales team? Got a private jet and then is the pilot gonna be late? And then you're like, I got a Facebook team, should I outsource the Facebook marketing? And all of a sudden, your conversations change. You get to do an interview or you pitch on camera or you do an infomercial and all of a sudden you're having conversations in your head and your audience feels disconnected. And you don't even know why. Like what did I miss? Because now you're asking questions of a completely different group because you've evolved. So the two things, again, I always go back to even before I turn the camera on, before I go on stage, before I do an infomercial, I said, people buy from you, love you, adore you, will learn from you if they feel understood. And I want to enter conversations going on in their heads, not mine. Wow.

Powerful.

So, too simple, like such simple little things, but it's a foundation for persuasion.

Amazing, man. So, what are some of the habits then that you learned over the years that the millionaires have that the rest of people don't have?

So, this is going to sound, this one's going to sound crazy, but this is one that I've, I shouldn't say it sounds crazy. It sounds too simple. But this one has been a passion of mine for the last probably two years more than ever. last six months especially. I told you before with being a dad, you always want to be able to look in the mirror no matter how much money you're making and what you're doing for a living and look at that person and say, Are you good with you? Like, are you compromising who you are? Are you going against your values to be successful? You have to have that conversation with the man in the mirror, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

But when you have kids, it compounds times a thousand. Anybody watching who knows exactly what I'm saying, kids don't do what you say. They do what you do. so you have somebody watching, if I want to be the best dad possible, I want to, I need to keep evolving and faster than ever. So I would say a morning routine, this is just one of them that's been huge in my life, is setting my day up for success. And in an interview like this, there's so many different directions we can go, but I want to give some really strong takeaways here is everybody watching, we suffer on all different levels of suffering. We, some people suffer on a high level. Some people suffer because is the job going to get done? Is the, is the, deal going to come through. Like we have these moments of suffering, no matter if it's five minutes of suffering or an hour of suffering or months of suffering. Some people lose a relationship and they suffer for years. Some people have a partner take their money. They suffer for years and they're stuck in that. And if you can limit the time you suffer, the more you can work on the solutions to better your life. People stuck in suffering are stuck forever. And we know right now I'm saying it and you're thinking of friends that you have that are stuck. Some they went, went found some suffering and then just crippled.

Moments where I was suffering and I.

Didn'T let go of it. You can't let go of it, right? Where I held onto it for too long and if you hurt me. And if you hold onto it, there's not enough energy or focus to keep moving forward. That's when you stall, right? So I've been on this obsession and literally Tony Robbins flew out, him and I got really close. He flew out and him and I had lunch about nine months ago and he's on the same thing of eliminating complete suffering gone. Instead of it hours or weeks, it's moments that you catch it. Morning routines help me more than ever. And I'll tell you mine. Anybody wants to steal this, this works for me because I want to set my days up for the least amount of suffering, feeling grateful and ready to just rocket the day. Like nothing can get me off. Now, everybody knows gratitude is a key to success, happiness, joy. You can't be grateful and depressed, grateful and sad. You just can't do the two together. But it's hard sometimes. I feel like the road runners before your time. But when I was a kid, remember beep, beep, the road runners. There was the Tasmanian devil. so most of our lives with Facebook and social media and cell phones and tech, we're like the Tasmania, there's so much dust around us, it's hard to like see through it, right? Like it's like I just gotta get through this storm and then I'll be okay. How do I, you want me to set a goal and be grateful? How do I get out of this dust storm, right? So I'm just obsessed on how do I start my day to make sure it doesn't happen. So one thing I do is at night, I put my phone on airplane mode and for the last year, especially when I wake up in the morning, I do not check email or text. because I can't if I check email or text. Especially in bed, right? Right. And I've done it for years. I'm not telling something I haven't done, but the great text put me in a good mood. Bad text, I become the-- We find anxious. Yeah. And if you're like, oh, you know, I should get this done. I should just get this out of the way, right? And you become the thermometer of life. Life just grabbed a hold of you and they're gonna tell you how your day is gonna be. I don't know if I'm gonna adjust you on the heat up, the ice cold, or stressed or anxious or-- so I leave my phone on airplane mode. And the first thing I do is I feed my soul. And that's not this, I'm just being honest, I don't chant, I don't do hours of meditation. What I've done is I've lowered the bar of gratitude. Now these are habits that you think, oh, this is revolutionary. These are the habits that I look have made me successful, make me keep going forward, push through the negative times, keep reaching for the next thing. So I find gratitude, but I've lowered the bar. And I just said this, but I'll wake up some mornings and be like, damn, these sheets are amazing. You know, I mean, 150,000, you can Google it, 150,000 people die every day. There's some days I just wake up and go, damn, I'm not one of them. I'm here. And when you can find gratitude on the lowest level, not I conquered, I did. Look, I see your wall. You've interviewed such amazing people. You got to be so proud of yourself. I look at it, I admire it. That's amazing goals. But sometimes we just set ourselves up until you get the next one of those pictures up there. The rest of the stuff is just mundane. It's not. We're in this beautiful world. We're blessed every day. We're learning every moment. Even an interview like this, take all the stuff I say, throw most of it away. If you get one thing I say today, it was worth your time with us being together. Just one thing, right? So I find a way to be grateful in like the first few moments I wake up by lowering the bar. No big special thing. Or sometimes I'll open a book like I just read the Untethered Soul for the second time. Love that book. I'll read two sentences out loud and then I feed my body. So I immediately get up and I do, I mean, just my personal thing, but I do a glass, a full big glass of water with a lemon, a green juice, some essential oils, and I down that 'cause I feel like I'm feeding my body, and then I go move. Whether it's workout, run, exercise, and someone isn't working out, I just move. And those three things set me up for a successful day. And then when I get back, this is something I've been doing for a year, and I'd say Rob this, because there's things that, listen, you're in business, there's things that you love to do. It's your core competency, you were put on this earth to do. It's interviewing, it's meeting people, it's networking. whatever you have is meant to be. But there's some things that you do. It's like, I don't want to do that conference call. I don't want to sit with my accountant and go over numbers. Right, right. Whatever it is, right? And I used to think, man, I have to do that today. And I just switched that. In the mornings, I write a quick little list every day of what I get to do. I just put that word, what I get to do. When I think about that, I used to literally live in a bathroom with my dad. And in my teens, I worked on cars every day and smelled Melled fumes because I was like, the rooms were always smoky. I was the only painter in our collision shop and I'd have headaches and like, I could be doing that. So I have to do conference calls on Tuesdays and I don't like conference calls. Whippy doo.

Now when I say I get to.

Do conference calls, it changes everything. So that little routine. I'm not a victim anymore.

I'm not a victim anymore, right? And again, on every level, it makes a difference.

I love it.

Any other thing in the morning that you do? No, that's it.

That's my morning routine. Are there any non-negotiables every day for you?

Besides the routine?

No, not really. Yeah. I'm pretty flexible.

Yeah. Okay, cool. There's a part actually that I wanted to go over in your book called Seven Levels Deep. Is that what it is? Yeah. And this is an exercise that you do, right? And what is this exercise for?

Okay. And how does it go? Okay. So Seven Levels Deep was probably the biggest impact, the biggest thing in the impact in my life ever. Really? Yeah. One day. So I hired a guy named Joe Stump. Do you know Joe?

Great guy.

He's in the marketing world, but I hired him because I want more engagement with my students. So it's all about if you can get somebody to digest some of your book, if somebody will read 30 pages of your book, they'll read the whole book. But how do you get them to the first 30 pages? So I'm always obsessing and trying to create ethical bribes, whatever I can do to get you to take action, right? We know books work. It's the books and the action. So I was so anyway, so Joe comes in and he said, I want to do whatever I can. And he said, have you ever done the seven levels deep? I don't know where he got it from. This is probably about eight years ago. She was two, so about eight years ago. And I said, if it's good, just give it to me. I'll take it. I'll take it. And he's like, I want to go through it with you. I'm like, listen. And I paid Joe 10 grand for half a day of consulting at the time. And he's like, I said, I want to go through. I just want it. He goes, I won't give it to you unless you do it. So we sit there and what the seven levels deep is, is finding, everybody wants to know your purpose and what's, what's this meaning of life and what's my why and all that. I get it and it's kind kind of played out. But I don't know if anything really gets to the heart of it, of it as simple as this. So what it basically was, he's like, why would you give me 10 grand for half a day? And I said, because I want to create a company that stands out from everybody else. I want to engage more students, change more lives. And he basically said to me, that's a really great answer. So I asked you why I'm here. And you said, you want to engage more students and, and get more people to change your life. So why is it important for you? to engage more students and change people's lives. And I remember saying, you know, there's a lot of people in this industry that shouldn't be here, and there's some great people. I want to help rise all boats of the good and push the rest out. I want to leave a legacy for my kids. So he said, okay, I asked you why you paid me 10 grand. I'm not gonna go through this whole thing. And he's like, you did this, you know, you said you wanted to stand out and you wanted to leave a legacy. So why is it important to leave a legacy? And the whole point is asking the previous question seven times. I took that that day by the time I got to the third third question. What happens is the third, when there was three questions left, I should say, he asked me four times. It switched from my head to my heart. And I felt my physiology change. I felt my emotions change. I felt like tears welling up. And when he asked me, and I don't even remember what the fourth thing I said, but the third thing I said was, I never want to go backwards. And he got me thinking about things I haven't thought about in years. I didn't like being the kid with hand-me-downs, and I'd make my parents drop me off down the street with their junky car, and I'd go to lunch. And it's just not a poor me. I, I, my life was designed to be exactly the way it was. I wouldn't be the man or the father I am today. But there was days I'd go to school without lunch money and I just tell my buddies, I'm not hungry because we didn't have a buck, right? So I never want to go back there. And I felt that emotion and it, it, it hit me so hard. I'm like, that's what it is. And he's like, well, there's two more left. So he said, Dean, why is it important that you never go backwards? And I'm like, I don't know. And it hit me and I thought, my kids, I just want to give them options. I don't want to raise entitled kids or brats, but I want to give them options that I didn't have. And I'm like, that's it. so he's like, well, that's not really it, because it's seven. It's not nine. It's not five. It's seven levels deep. And by now, I'm crying because I'm thinking about my kids, literally. And I got half my staff there, and I'm, like, just weeping. And it came to me. He said, why is that important? And it just hit me. And I never knew why I worked so hard since I was cutting firewood in high school and did all stuff. I said, I need to be in control of my life. And these emotions flooded in my pair. Everybody's got their thing, right? But for me, and I'm saying this because I want you at home to be, or when you're watching us, listen to this. I realized that my parents were married nine times when I was a kid. So I moved 20 times by the time I was 19. Different stepbrothers, step-sisters. Both parents were married. Five for my dad, five for my mom, four for my dad. Oh my gosh. Yeah. It's crazy. Always moving. Like military kids know what that feels like, right? So I'd be in a cul-de-sac with a new stepdad, stepbrothers, step-sisters, have the bike come home one day and my mom's like, We're moving again. And then I move in with my dad, move in with my grandma. So I had this crazy hopscotch, my whole childhood. There was no certainty. So what I realized at that moment, I'm bawling loose. I mean, literally crying. It's like, I don't want anybody to ever tell me when to move, how to dress, how to live, how to work, how I'm going to raise my kids, definitely not going to kiss somebody's ass for money. Right. And I realized at that moment, my why was, I don't want to be a control freak. I just want to be in control. When I was 27, I retired both my parents. I stopped worrying about them. I took care of my grandmother. I take care of my-- so I got those problems out of the way. And when I anchored that in, and you watching at home, it's like if you think you're watching this because you want to be an entrepreneur, you want, or you already are, if you're watching this, you've already had great success in your life. You want that next level, or maybe it's income or better health or better diet or better physiology, whatever it is you want, so many times we think it's because I want to get out of that job. I want this freedom. I just want more money. I want to take the better vacations. And it's seven times deeper than that. And when you find that, and the reason I know this, not only because it wasn't just transformational to me is I did live events in Las Vegas for six years straight. Every single month, there was 400 people in the room that paid 20 grand.

To go to real estate events.

Real estate events. So about five and a half years, I did them every month in Las Vegas. So once a month, I'd fly in, and that was, like, the highest level. And every single month, I'd raise. I'd get. I'd pick somebody out of the audience, and I'd say, come on up. Let's do this seven levels deep. Like, I got it, man. I know what it is. And I'm like, okay, so, like, I'm gonna give you a quick example. I won't beat this up, but this is so important. When you feel fatigued, when you want to say no, when you don't want to go to the gym, when you don't want to make that sales call, when you don't want to get your funnel working, when you don't want to start new, when you don't want to say no to someone you should say no to or say yes to someone else you should say yes to. Literally for me still, I fall back on my why. When I think of my kids and going backwards and being in control, I could push through anything. Nothing will stop me a bad day. I don't know what it's like to be sick because my mind, I can program my brain to just power through because I focus this foundationally on this why. So I remember this guy, he was awesome. Big dude, he had dreadlocks. He was like six foot seven. I mean, six foot five. He was huge. This awesome dude, he comes up. He's like, Man, I picked me up. He gives me this big hug. He's like, so I said, why are you here? He's like, I already know, dude. You're not going to get seven levels on me. You're not gonna. I've already done the exercise. He goes, I'm here because in my neighborhood, there's no dads. There's not enough dads in my neighborhood. I grew up without a dad. These kids need dads. So I'm making money in real estate and I'm starting this youth group. I already had debt. We get dads together and we go spend these days. He had this amazing story and I mean, I melted on the first one. I said, why is that important? He goes, Dude, what do you mean why is that important? Of course it's important. And he's laughing, he's joking, he gives me another reason. I want more money because I want to build a building for it. But I could tell he was still in his head. He gets to number two or one and his everything changed on him. He gets small and he starts crying. I mean, like uncontrollable crying. And he gets to his number one. He's like, my mom raised a good boy, but when she died nine years ago, I was a drug addict and she never saw the man she created. And she said, I'm showing her in heaven what a man she, I'm saying it right now. I got physical good. He said that. And I said, he said, I'll never stop now. I'll never stop. And again, we all have our own reasons for doing stuff, but when you get to the heart of why you're watching, why you do what you do, It's so much deeper than what you think. And I forget sometimes. I hope I don't sit here and feel like, seem like I got my life all figured out. I've been blessed to have more, I've had more blessings in my life than I ever could imagine. If somebody would have told me at 25, this is where I'd be, I'd say impossible. So I appreciate my blessings, but I'm not perfect at all this stuff. But when I practice these habits, when I think through this, when I recognize my why, the days that I'm off track, the days I think I bit off more than I can chew, or the days where I feel like I.

Plateaued, when I go back to that.

Why, It's like game over. You're not getting in my way. Nothing is. Wow.

Got me emotional. You've achieved so much over the years. You know, you said in the first 18 months, 150 million in sales, you know, and that was 20 years ago. And the things you've created, 10 years ago, the things you've created now, you've created so much. You've impacted so many lives. It sounds like you don't need to work or need to keep pushing. What's the dream and why do you.

Keep going after it? So I think it's three things. So real quick, I think there's three types of entrepreneurs. There's an entrepreneur who wants to work under the blanket of someone else, right? They're the company, they're the person that's in a company, like, man, that guy, that woman, she just, they want to rise up through the ranks and be an entrepreneur, but kind of with the safety net. And it doesn't make them better or worse than anybody. I mean, without the implementers in your life, without the team, who would I be without the amazing people on my team? Secondly, there's lifestyle entrepreneurs. Like my buddy Dean Jackson, he's got this, I know I'm being successful when list. this is for anybody who's got a lifestyle entrepreneur. There's just a certain amount of money. He says, I know I'm being successful when I don't have an alarm clock in my house and it never goes off. I wear black t-shirts every day and no one gives a. I golf at least five times a week. I live on a $50,000 a month net income. I live like, what do you say? I live like an artist with a trust fund, except I don't know how to paint. So he's got this. So he, like, he has this list. He knows he's being successful when and that that's lifestyle entrepreneur. And then there's entrepreneurs that just want to keep, that just want to, they're accomplishment based. It has nothing to do with the money. They thought it was the money, and I think this with me, they thought it was when I get the money and success out of the way, then I could stop worrying. And it's not, it's the next accomplishment. What can you do? It's, yeah, it's the game. And I think it converts. That's why you see somebody like Richard Branson that, that his whole life now is, is Virgin Unite, you know, his charity. I spent a couple weeks with him out in his island because we, me and Joe Polish raised a million bucks for him, so we got to spend time with him and he started that same process, made all the money, and then now he's still driven. But now it's how many more schools he can build in Africa. So it never changes. It just. But always have your focus on something. Like, you see people who go to, you know, Warren Buffett, his age, he's still crushing because he has a bigger purpose. We always have to have that. So I would say, yeah, I, you know, a couple years ago, especially when the kids are young, I was thinking of, should I just cash out and spend 10 years being dad? I wouldn't be the best. Me. I love accomplishing. I love creating.

I love something new.

So, you know, so what do you.

Want to accomplish in your life? What's the big thing?

First and foremost, I'd love to say it's, you know, I'd say top two is showing people an easier path. I think most people are, are, are, they're driving a hundred miles an hour and they don't know where to go. It's like even if they got a Ferrari engine, they don't have any GPS, and it's like everybody's going fast. And most of the time, they think it's going to be this dramatic, spectacular thing. And a lot of teams, it's the same thing that they could have learned from Dale Carnegie or Earl Nightingale or Napoleon Hills. or, or somebody, you know, it's just these simple core things that can make them slow down and achieve. And I think that I can, I think I have the ability to deliver a message in a way that it sticks. And that's what I've been blessed to do in real estate is it's not that I had found the only way to make money in real estate. But I'm the, I was the biggest real estate educator in the entire world. There was nobody even close to me. It was like second, second through 20th place didn't make up the volume I did. Right.

Right.

And there was other guys that were great at education. I just think I found a way to deliver it. It's probably because of my dyslexia and my learning disabilities and stuff. I found a way to give people recipes. So I would say a big fuel is getting people these strategies in their hands so they could see there's a better way. But the number one is to just be a totally present and impactful father. It's just where I'm at. It's magical age. Anybody who's watching it remembers their kids eight, ten years old. It's like, They're just, it's all, I'm still Superman.

They still love me.

Yeah, exactly. So I'm gonna absorb it while I can, you know? That's cool. A couple years, I might have a new, you know, thing for trying to.

Get teenagers to like you or something. I don't know. Sure. What's the thing people misunderstand about you the most?

I would say 'cause I did infomercials for years. Tony and I had this conversation. A lot of times when somebody sees you on an infomercial, it's like, oh, that guy's, you know, that guy's gotta be a huckster. Just schlepping books on an infomercial. So I think the biggest misconception is that I'm an introvert. When I'm on stage or on camera or an interview, I love it. But if I go to my kid's school function, there's a whole bunch of people around, I'm the one hiding in the corner or playing with the kids. I'm not a networker. I've never had a business card in my entire life. And I think some people, when they see that, if they're looking from afar, if they don't come up and shake my hand, people will say, oh, that guy, he's too good for everybody. He doesn't talk to anybody. I really don't know, I'm hiding. Sure. Right. So I would say that, and I think the infomercial I'll give, I got to just one more thing about Tony Robbins. The first time I met him, about five years ago, I go up to his hotel room. He's doing a date with Destiny, invites me up for lunch. And I get there and we're talking for like 15 minutes. And he stands up and he picks up and he gives me a hug and he says, I gotta apologize to you. He's like, I almost canceled this meeting today because you're an infomercial guy. And he goes, I made a judgment. And he goes, what an ass, because I was the infomercial guy. He goes, I've been trying to run away from it because people look at you and wonder, and he said, and I judged you wrong. And we've been really close since then. So I think that those two things are probably the biggest.

Wow. I'm so surprised you still do infomercials then if you think so many people.

You know, I don't mind because it's all about the message. I want to get my message out there. I've been off TV for two and a half years on purpose by choice. But with millionaire success habits, I just, I ran across Larry King, who was a big impact in my life. We met. I said, do you want to do a show? You're the who inspired me to do sit down information. So he interviewed you? He interviewed me. And the funny thing is, so I'm gonna digress here for a minute. I'm really gonna digress on two things that are really funny. Eight, nine years ago, I'm watching Larry King interview Joel Osteen. He says to Joel, I'm guessing nine, nine, ten years ago, he says to Joel, I'm a Jew. I don't believe in Jesus. That mean I'm going to hell. I'm like, oh my God. Could you imagine getting asked that on Larry King where there's millions of people watching? Joel, like, turned different colors. He didn't know how to answer. and if you don't know Joel Osteen, he's like the biggest pastor in the world, right? So I see that and I remember thinking, oh my God, could you imagine if Larry just looked at the camera and said, Hey, like Joel or not, if you'd like to get his book, call our show. And that's what inspired me to do a Larry King show. I just thought, so I raced and I built a set like Larry King. I spent four grand for Larry King's microphone, right? I did all this stuff. I do an interview and that was my big breakout show. That's when my company went from 10.

15 million a year.

We broke $100 million in a year within 18 months because of that sit down live. I know, teleprompter, no, no, no, no, no.

The bald guy or the bald guy?

Yeah, we had different guys. Yeah, we had different guys through the years, but we did all these different things, right? So I say that. And so Larry King inspired me to do that. It was just the chain. Now everybody does sit down interviews, but I was the first one out there and the first one who sold a book, direct to consumer. On the infomercial, direct to consumer. So we sell the book. Larry makes an impact in my life. He doesn't know it. Fast forward years. Now Larry comes, I haven't used that set in ages. We wheel it back out because Larry's coming, right, to do this interview. and I'm nervous. Like, I'm a little kid. Larry King's coming. I mean, I know, you know, Larry. Yeah. So Larry comes and he gets there, and we go to dinner that night, and the next day, he comes in the studio, and I'm telling him this story, and as it, he's kind of not paying attention to me. He looks over and he goes, you know, the mic is supposed to be here. No way. And he moved it. I was just like, oh, this is so amazing. And we just riff. He goes, you have questions for me? I said, here's my goal, Larry. I I do. I have all your questions, and they're loaded on a teleprompter. But why don't you just start the show like you always start your shows when you say to somebody, why this book? Why now? He used to say that all the time and he goes, Dean, you don't need this. Why the hell are you doing a book now? And we just rift for a half.

Hour and so that's everybody watching. You guys will see that show.

So there's no pre and there's no questions he really used off the top. He just kind of went off one or two. And yeah, and we've rocked it and the show tested it solid.

It'll be out in February.

So can I tell you a really funny story? Larry, he is an amazing joke teller. Amazing joke and storyteller. Oh my God, there's nobody better than the book. Jokes for days. Yeah, and I don't know if you know who Harvey McKay is. Yeah, swim shark. So last Friday, Larry came to my office and Harvey's there. They're there for two hours. I'm between these two, 83 and 84 years old. They got more history and stories and they're just out doing each other with stories. It's non-stop. And I just, and they'd look at me and I'd be like, I got nothing. Just you guys keep going. So Larry, for like all the years he's doing Live with Larry King, they have this, he has a producer who's like a practical, a prankster. And he said, but big time, really good at what he does. And he said, anytime that someone was in the office, a little off or grumpy, they'd get him. So he said they had this guy, I don't know what department, but he was kind of a pain in the ass for lack of a better word. So they wanted to get him. So the guy came in every day structured. He came in with his briefcase, his hat, his overcoat, he'd hang his hat, hang his overcoat up and go to work. So they went and found the hat, the exact hat, and bought one two sizes too small. So every day he'd come in, they let him go for a week where he'd go to put the hat on. He couldn't get over his head. Like me, I'd have to tell the guy like in a day. So the guys freaked out. He's coming in off, like, just off. He thinks his head's swell. Oh, my God. So then they didn't just leave it there. I'm like, then you told him? He goes, no. He goes, then we bought a hat two sizes too big. And we left that there for a week. And he said he was rolling up paper and stuffing it in his hat. And I'm like, oh, my God.

I mean, but Larry tells that story. So amazing. And then they finally told him after two weeks. That's hilarious.

Anyway, I didn't mean to digress. It was just a funny story. No, it's amazing. Is there any question that you wish more people would ask?

But they don't ask.

God, that's a really good, that's a really good question. Yeah, probably how to get, you know, I think, and I watched this when we did the fundraiser with Richard Branson, we went there, I watched everybody trying to ask him, like, how'd you get to be a billionaire? And I don't, I think that's the wrong question when you see somebody successful. I think it's, I think it's more of like asking them either what their why was or how they overcame obstacles. or how they persevered. So I think, and I don't think it's about our, it's about the story. It's just, I think so many people give up on the five yard line. I think so many of you are just there and you think it's so much heavier. When you start playing at a higher level, there's not a lot of competition. No. And it's not doing, I'm not doing much different. I'm just being honest with you. I'm not doing much different now than I did to start my collision shop and start my auto sales. I'm doing the same thing just on a on a bigger scale. I still have to overcome negativity. I still have to get out of bed. I still am stressed some days. And there's some days I question myself. There's some days I make bad decisions. And it's just how you get over them, how you handle it and how you go forward is everything. And you say that and I'm talking and thinking at the same time and I don't know how much time we have left, but I would say the last thing or one of the last things I'd love people to really think about is their thoughts. have you ever read the Untethered Soul? No. And so, got to put it on your list. It's, it's an, how about Eckhart Tolle, the Power Now? Sure, yeah. Sure you read that? I have, yes. Okay, so, and Untethered Soul is, for me, it's that and so much more. It's a great book. So, I don't know if you have another question. So I think, so I'll reframe that. It's that one. But if it's one specific question, I'd love for people to say, how do you be the observer of your thoughts? And that's something, how do you? Yeah, and that's something I would And the only reason I say this is because I've been obsessed with it for the last three years because I want to be the observer of thoughts immediately and I'm not there yet. I want it to trigger because when you're having a bad day, an angst day, a stressful day, you feel off or overwhelmed, most of the time it's just the thoughts we're having in that particular day. And when you can look back and view those thoughts, you can make a decision to throw them out or not let that spin you up or feel it for 10 minutes and then throw it out. But when you leave them there, they just linger. And the more I've become aware of my thoughts, the more I've evolved as a person. So again, I'm sitting here because my daughter, you're probably bored to death, hun. Love you. She's doing great over there. I'm gonna tell a story about her. I am trying to observe my thoughts as they happen. So I don't know if she'll remember this, but we were, and I'm sharing this as my story, but I want you to put yourself in these shoes. This could be your husband, your wife, your kids, your co-worker, your partner, people you do business with, employer, employees. But we're at breakfast and breakfast is really important to our family. We have breakfast every single day and I cook for them most of the time. And so we sit at breakfast and try to have conversations about gratitude and all this kind of stuff. And my son, Brody, was obsessed with these crayons. And they were like these crazy colors. They weren't red, they were like aqua blue, marine, something. So I'm sitting there using them and I pull it out and I go, God, this is a cool color. And he names it. I'm telling you for a reason. So I pull out another, he names all, I was at 25 or 50 in that pack. So he names all of them, these big long names. I'm like, dude, what an incredible gift. I couldn't memorize these if I spent a month trying. That's not how my brain thinks. But that's him, he's this structured, organized kid. So Bree, she says to me, I can do that. So I don't know if you remember this honey, but she studied it and like five minutes later on the second one, she didn't remember. I'm like, we're all blessed with different gifts. I couldn't remember, he does that, but my daughter's the inventor. She comes up with ideas that are real, not kid inventions. She's gonna be a maid, she's gonna be the visionary. My son's gonna be the implementer. If you ever read Rocket Fuel, that's the two kids I have. I have an implementer and a visionary, right? So when she tried all of a sudden she got upset and started almost crying and she said, 'cause there was so much attention going to my son. And she says, Dad, it's because you spend more time with Brody than me in the mornings. And I remember just having the immediate thought that may have came from my dad or the way I was brought up and I said to her, Don't lie to me and don't lie to yourself. That's not true. I work my butt off to be completely equal and you're telling yourself a lie. It's not a good story. And I went on this rant and she tucked it up. She stopped tears. She tucked up. It was the first time ever that she left the house without kissing me goodbye, ever. And I'm like, well, she just got to learn that lesson. And she left for about a half hour and I like, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I observed that thought I had. And what I basically told my daughter is that I didn't give a shit about her feelings, that it didn't matter how she felt. That dad was right, tuck it down. I said, if she was married to a man and I watched her try to tell her husband about her feelings, how she was feeling, and he basically told her to shut up and tuck it down, I'd have a talk with that dude if he's married to my daughter. And I treated my daughter that way. I got in my car, only because I'm sharing this 'cause I practiced trying to observe what's going on. Why am I feeling this way? What is this thought I'm having? Step back, look at it. When I stepped back and looked at it, I knew I screwed up. I drove to school 100 miles an hour. Even if you were right. Even if I was right. No, I might have been right that I keep equal time. Yes. But I didn't acknowledge her feelings. Exactly. I didn't acknowledge her feelings. I mean, and that's the gift of selling. It's not what people need. It's what they want and how they feel, right? So I told her her feelings were off. I drove to her school 100 miles an hour. You were at Chapel. Do you remember I came and got you out of chapel? I got her out of chapel and I walked her outside and I said, Dad screwed up. I said, I may have been right in context, but I wasn't right in telling you your emotions mean something, your feelings mean something. And we had a great talk. We hugged, we kissed her and I had the best relationship in the world. And I left and I felt amazing and she felt amazing. And I never would have caught that if I wasn't observing my thoughts. So I say that story about my family, my daughter sitting here right now, but who are you not what thoughts are clouding your judgment in a marriage or in a relationship or in your partnership or trying to get a raise or taking your life to another level, whatever it is in your life, most of the time it's those thoughts that are messing with us and if you can observe them, you can adjust them.

Amazing, man. I've got a few final questions for you. This has been great. This one's called the Three Truths. Many, many years down the line, you've achieved everything you want, but it's your last day. It's your last day here, okay? And you know it's the last day. Your whole family is there, friends, everything. For whatever reason, all your books have been erased from time. They've sold hundreds of millions of them at this point.

They're all gone.

Okay. And someone in your family comes up and says, I have a piece of paper and a pen. And all you get to do is write down three things you know to be true about everything you've experienced in your life. The three simple truths or the three lessons that is all we remember you by physically. All the stuff in the books is gone. what would be the three truths for you?

Wow, what a great question. I'm glad I didn't know that one in advance because I would have thought about it too much. That's really good, dude. I think the three truths are that it's not the objects, it's the things that we get to experience. So you can't buy your way. I had a lot of pain as a kid, which we all have. And I know I thought for a time in my life that money would fix that. And there's nothing more than the experience. My daughter's on her first trip with me as a business trip. This will last This is worth millions to me. I'd give up all my books to have that. So it's the moments and the experience, not the things, is one. I would say that I lived true... Okay, this is a really good question. Sorry, I'm done studying. Good. But I would say success is easier than people think. Like, I think there's a lot of days I'm like, man, when is everybody gonna figure out I'm not that smart? I'm just being honest. I literally for years I would say, people are gonna feel I'm not that smart. I'm just enthusiastic and I have the momentum. So I would say that that truth is don't be over prepared, be overly enthusiastic and committed. And I would say last is that I found a way to let thoughts be things, not who I am. If thoughts can be automatically a thing but not who I am in my soul, and I lived a good life.

Those are great truths. Thank you. Before I ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you for a moment, Dean, for your incredible generosity and your enthusiasm for wanting to impact so many people.

Oh, thank you.

From a guy that has gone through so much pain and suffering to a person who's led a life of service and constantly pushing the envelope and showing what's possible for people like me who are dyslexic as well and who I barely, you know, got through high school and college myself, seven years of college. You're such an inspiration. Every time I see your message or see you in person, you're always smiling and happy and want to give to people. Well, thank you.

I want to acknowledge you for all those kids. Well, thank you. And I give that back. That's why I'm here, because I love what you're doing. And then don't, don't stop.

Keep pushing. Yeah. No matter what it takes, get it out there. I appreciate it. Thank you, man. Appreciate you.

We have one final question, but make sure you guys go get Millionaire Success Habits.

Habitats. Go get the book.

Where's the link for it again? Of course it's on iTunes, but we set up a special link at MSHBook.com. MSHBook.com.

Yeah, like Millionaire Success Habits. Yeah, MSHBook.com. Awesome.

We'll have that linked up in the show notes. And where do you like to hang.

Out the most online? Do you spend time on social media at all yourself? I don't, not much. A little bit on Facebook, a little.

Bit on Instagram, but we'll link it up there in the show notes. Yeah, that would be great. And the final question is what's your definition of greatness? just going at it full tilt boogie. A buddy of mine used to say when I was in high school, he used to say when he was playing football, if he had a great day, he goes, and I was full tilt boogie. I don't even know what that means, but I think definition of greatness is just knowing that you gave it your all. And I think so many people on that last, when you're 90 years old and you look back, if you say, if you don't, if you didn't give it your all, I think that's gonna be one of those things. Like, I had one shot at this. Why didn't I just go for it? Why didn't I say, why didn't I finally say no? So I think greatness is just freaking putting the pedal to the metal. Dean, thanks for the love. Appreciate being here, man.

Appreciate it. There you have it, my friends. I hope you enjoyed this. I hope you are getting a ton of value. And if you did, make sure to share this with one friend. Just take the link from the podcast, share it with one friend. or text them, Hey, check this out, lewishouse.com/787 and it'll take them right to the episode as well. We want to spread this message. If you know someone who's struggling financially or who's got a big business that wants to continue to grow and get to the next level, then send them this and add the value of greatness to someone's life today. It's the best thing you can do is to help someone improve, learn, and grow. Again, make sure to check check out GreatnessLink.com to get that free training by Dean and Tony Robbins. It's going to be a game changer. You can get it right now. It's out this moment. So go check that out, GreatnessLink.com to bring it back to the beginning. A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart, said Jonathan Swift. And Benjamin Franklin said, An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. Are you investing in your knowledge? are you constantly finding new ways to learn and add skill sets to your capabilities so that you can pay dividends to yourself every single year moving forward? It's one of the greatest things I've done for myself is self education. It's learning new skills, learning new mindsets, learning new beliefs, learning new information to give me those tools that I can tap into in any moment. You're doing that with the School of Greatness. So I acknowledge and honor you. and we've got some big guests coming up. Wow, some huge names coming up. We just had some previous big guests in the last couple weeks. So if this is your first time here, make sure to subscribe to the podcast. Leave a review as that helps us spread the message of greatness. And as always, you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.