Cracking the Code of Success: Lessons Learned from Joe Polish

Hey, jj, My next guest is Joe Polish. What would you say in one sentence about my friend Joe Polish?

So he. He's another one I should have thrown into that mix because Joe has been such an amazing mentor to me. So when I talk about Go Givers, and I have it right here, actually his book, which everybody has to have this book, like, this book is the best book. It's his book. What's in it for them? Joe Polish is the epitome of the Go giver. He is single. He is the most generous human being I have ever met on the planet. I love this man so much. He has been such a huge help for me and for so, so many people. He is the nicest, nicest, most kindest soul. He's got a really twisted sixth sense of humor, though. However, Joe is just, you know, Joe is just fantastic. You are in for such a treat here. Show the book again. It's called what's in it for Me Here. He runs something called Genius Network. I've been in it for years, like, one of the most greatest Rois ever. And just, I've met the most tremendous group of people. I think you're in it too, aren't you?

I am. Seven years.

Yeah. It's been just a fantastic experience. Now Tim is in it with me, too. And, you know, Joe is surrounded by incredible humans because, like, draws like. And he is just. He's just done so much for me. And he's one of those people that I know if something goes sideways, I can call Joe and he will absolutely. He's, you know, it's like, you know, those people get too big for you and they can't. Joe, that's not Joe. Joe is absolutely just a stellar human and, you know, will help me all along the way. And Joe, I love you. Thank you so much for everything you do, jj.

Thank you.

And nearly everything I just said was true.

Thank you. Thank you.

All right, bye, guys.

Hi, jj. All right. The moment many of us have been waiting for amongst many moments from this past weekend. I love all of us with our wiggling fingers and our big smiles to welcome my dear friend Joe Polish to the stage. I'm going to read his bio because he's earned every single sentence that I'm going to read right now. And then I'll do a less formal introduction. So Joe Polish is the founder of Genius Network, one of the highest level groups in the world for entrepreneurs, curates the annual Genius Network. Genius Network, which is a 25k program, and 100k, which is a hundred thousand dollar program. All three groups bring home some of the most successful entrepreneurs alive and and he's considered the most influential connectors in the world. Joe has also helped build thousands of businesses and generated hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients. He has been featured in Inc. Fortune, Forbes, Success, US News and World Report amongst others. And he has spoken at Stanford. Joe also hosts three of the top ranked marketing and business podcasts on itunes including I love marketing, 10x talk and genius Network. He's also changed the lives of many others through his charitable causes including the Make a Wish Foundation, Artists for Addicts, Genius Recovery, Joe Volunteer.com and as well as being the single largest contributor to Sir Richard Branson's charity Virgin Unite. His documentary, which I had the privilege of being at the premiere of the Joe Polish Story premiered at the historic TCL Chinese Theater and his documentary Black Star won the Audience Choice Award at the Sedona Film Festival. Joe's mission with entrepreneurs and Genius Network is to build a better entrepreneur and his mission with Genius Recovery is to change the global conversation of how people view and treat addicts with compassion instead of judgment and how to find the best forms of treatment that has efficacy and share those with the world. So I don't know how you do it all. You're going to tell us the secrets in the next 40 minutes or so, but what an accomplished and amazing and contributory life. You've done so much to help entrepreneurs like myself, people like JJ Virgin, people like Tony Robbins. People call you in a crisis state, I bet, I bet you get calls like that all the time because you're the person that people turn to when stuff goes sideways. So not only do people deeply respect you for your business acumen, your entrepreneurial mindset and the way you look at a problem and solve it, but they appreciate you for your generosity and they appreciate you for your vulnerability and they appreciate you for your friendship and your sense of humor. You're like the nicest, the funniest. Like you're, you're all the S's in my life. You're like such a wonderful friend and I'm so grateful that you've taken time out of your busy schedule. You just came out of a two day event of your own and here you are on a Saturday to spend time with us. So thank you, thank you, thank you. And brother, I love you and I'm so grateful our community gets to share some time with you today.

Thank you. Love you too. And yeah, it's great to be here. So you know and everyone that is is here has gone through all stages of their life where they're probably kind and generous and awesome and amazing and contribut and other times where you're in pain or depressed or self serving or maybe arrogant or a whole mix, you know, because it's a mixed bag of being a human and being in business. Years ago I was at a talk with, I don't know, it was probably like 7 or 800 young people in the room all wanting to learn how to market their businesses. And I had made a comment that if I would have known being successful was this much work, I would have stuck with being a loser. And you know, I said it just, you know, kind of to be funny. And the, the truth of the matter is the, the process of entrepreneurship is difficult. Even though I teach people how to develop a elf elf business which is easy, lucrative and fun, you act, you have to set up a lot of things in order to have the condition of an elf business. And oftentimes, you know, a lot of people have half businesses which are hard, annoying, lame and frustrating. And it's not just a business. It is, it is life. You know, life has its, its journeys and you're going to have your heart ripped out of your chest and most people already have at some point or multiple times. You're going to be betrayed. You're going to have people that you thought had your back that don't have your back. As a matter of fact, they stab you in the back. And so there's a whole mix of stuff. And what I've learned along the way is that the more compassion, the more humor, you know, the more lightness that you can bring to the difficulty of just simply being a human is what helps you esteem yourself and weather many of the storms. So whatever I can say or do today that would be useful or helpful to everyone here that is with you, I would love to do that if I can be of any sort of usefulness. I will say that I am extraordinarily tired because we did a two day Genius Network meeting that was amazing. That ended yesterday. And then we went on a two hour hike with some of the crew and that was led by one of our Genius network members, Martha McSally, who's the first female combat fighter pilot in the United States. And it was great, but bad. When I was done, I was like, oh, but I am so glad to be here, Sasha, because any nice thing that you said about me in the beginning, of course it's a mirror to you because you are one of the smartest, brightest, caring, most contributing person, you absolutely live the message of what's in it for them. And so I'm glad to be here. So let's.

Thank you.

Ask me anything you want and we'll talk about anything that would be most useful to everybody.

Okay, well, I'd like to, I love to ask you a few questions, but I'd also love for us to crowdsource some questions as well. So this is a very rare opportunity for all of you that Joe has been so kind to help us curate and I want your engagement and participation as much as we can. Joe, the question I have for you to kind of get us started is as somebody who's very discerning with their health because you live that message as well. And somebody who's an entrepreneur and somebody who's seen all kinds of bullshit that's out there and then genuine healers and people who are, you know, masters at what they do. Many of us may work with entrepreneurs or aspire to work with entrepreneurs, but what is your process when you're trying to choose a healthcare practitioner or someone to help you with your most important asset? Right. You refer to yourself and us as the million dollar racehorse. So what's that process like for you when you're choosing who to seek help from?

Yeah, that's a good question because I've sought help from a lot of different people. And first, do they walk the walk and talk to talk as much as you can tell, not just front stage but backstage. Secondly, are they always a collaborative person? Because as you know, a lot of people in healthcare and doctors, they want to be the all knowing guide that will, you know, their advice is the best. And I've seen a lot of my friends, I mean I, I know most the famous celebrity doctors. A lot of them are clients or have been. A lot of them are friends. And what I often notice, not all because there's some really amazing well known doctors, but the more that someone pursues status versus growth, they become less of being a good doctor and more trying to be a celebrity. And so I don't really like the influencer type of thing. I understand the value of it, but I don't try to pursue fame. I'd rather be well paid than well known. You know, some people would rather be well known than well paid. And it's nice to be both if you want to utilize influence and, and celebrity for that. The thing though is do, do are you, do you start with a beginner's mind. And so there are some real Experts. And by the way, you know, I mean, I'm dating a brilliant doctor. My partner is one of the top doctors and surgeons for her category in the world. And she's very much into peptides and exosomes and ozone and all kinds of other health modalities and whatnot. And the whole do no harm. You know, are the doctors that you're seeing doing harm? I mean, without having me go on a tangent, over the last three years of the pandemic, you know, we can open up a can of worms here, but there has been a lot of quote unquote doctors that are doing a tremendous amount of harm. And whoever profits from the crime is guilty of it. So are you really caring about your patients? Are you treating them like a real human being? Have you developed, you know, compassion for fatigue where someone's really hurting and painful, you still treat them like a specimen versus you're sitting there with a real living, caring human being. So first off, do they live, you know, do they live the life? Do they do the things that you're suggesting you do? It's really critically important. I mean, that would apply to everything, not just health care. Take advice from people that actually live it as best you can and do. Are they empathetic? Do they really care about you? And the other thing, do they ask, who else are you working with? And what have we discovered so far that is working? And let's talk to that person. I can. It's amazing to me how many people in healthcare are not collaborative. You've done all this work, you've done all these different tests with other people, and they don't even inquire about what have you discovered, what has worked, what has not worked? And do they have a what's in it for you Attitude. You're the patient. You're paying them to advise you, you not to have them lord their. Their power over you. So the way that I would translate that is, do you vibe with them? Do you feel a real sense of care? Because I'll tell you, so much of the physical ailments that humans suffer from and you know, this are psychosomatic. The vast majority of physical pain is not structural. It's psychological. There are real breaks, there are real tears, there's diseases, there are injuries. But a lot of it is truly stress. When you go to a doctor and you're hurting, do they ask, you know, what's your relationship like? What's your sleep like? You know, what is, you know, what, what, how are your kids? How's your career? Because there's all kinds of elements, from gut issues to depression to physical mental anguish that do not stem from something that shows up on a scan. It shows up that something that's in. In your. You cannot. You can identify certain things, but are they really a caring, connected human being? My whole thing is about connection. The more connected you are with yourself, the easier it's going to be to connect with others. It's very hard. Same with doctors, you know, are they really connected with what they're trying to help you with? And, and what, and what's their track record? You know, I'll tell you, just simply looking up some reviews and talking to other people or reading what other people have experienced with someone is such. There's so many things you can find out about someone just by doing 5 to 10 or 20 minutes of research before you engage.

So our online presence obviously matters. Our integrity and alignment with our message matters. How we connect with that person and empathize with them and collaborate with others is something that also matters. Now, you know, one of the things that, you know, comes up is. And so these themes, you guys are recognizing a theme right over the weekend where you've got to be your. You've got to be a product of your product. That communication and connection with your client is very, very important. And that ability to build rapport and resonance. And of course, you know, if somebody searches your name, what shows up, right? What is, what is your online presence? Sometimes that precedes you, and you may never even get a chance to make that first impression. We're going to talk a little bit about that tomorrow on how to optimize your online presence. But you can clearly see that this is very important when it comes to setting the stage up for your success.

You know, Joe, and I say to that too, you know, you don't build a great reputation by talking about what you're going to do. You actually do it by doing it. And if you have people that have been transformed by you being a doctor, by you being an advisor, by you being a coach to them, the best marketing will often be created by just happy people that have been transformed. And if you're in the transformation business, business, really not just. These are not just words that I'm saying here because they sound good. You can be in the transaction business, or you could be in the transformation business. And if you really are able to transform someone, help guide and take them through a plan and a path, by all means, you know, utilize that. Don't ever use people. Utilize people. No one wants to be used. I don't want to be used. I want people to utilize me. I love being utilized. I hate being used. And so people will really appreciate just often presence being present in, in the doctor has to, you know, let's go to the million dollar racehorse. What's the analogy? If you owned a million dollar racehorse and every time that horse ran a race and it won, you'd make a million dollars, then the question is how would you treat that horse? You'd get have the best nutrition, the best trainers, proper rest and relaxation. You wouldn't have that horse up till three in the morning drinking and smoking, you know, looking at porn online. You would, you would take care of that horse. You'd have the horse well taken care of. You wouldn't have the horse hanging out with losers, you wouldn't have the horse in a toxic environment. And more importantly, you'd have the horse in the right races because you never win a race you don't want to be in. So some games in life, the only way you win is you don't play. So there are certain things you, you don't play games that no matter, even if you win, you lose. So if you're disengaged yourself or you're overworked and you're stressed out, how well are you going to do advising other people? And that doesn't mean everyone. So like I said earlier, I'm tired today, but if I did this non stop for a month straight, you know, I'm going to be completely burnt out. But everyone here, you know, professionals wait for inspiration. I mean, no, let's say it this way. Amateurs wait for inspiration. Professionals do it with a headache. And so there are often times where you got to show up and just do what you have to do and you do that in doses. But it can't be a lifestyle. So you have, I think, the most successful people. The word success is so weird because it's not my job to tell anyone what success is. You know, success is someone could be a great body, it could be a, you know, a deep spiritual practice, it could be being an amazing parent, it could be being a great artist. Some people's success is often associated with, you know, money and how much money and status you have. Because in America and as an example, when someone says, you know, who are, you know, what do you do? They're really asking, who are you? Because our identity is so wrapped up in that. So you know, if you're, if your identity is wrapped up in some sort of status success, you often Become disconnected with the, with, with the being in the person. So to be the million dollar racehorse and to, to really attract the very best clients is live a life that people would literally aspire to have, be inspirational. Not like gawking is like, oh my God, I want to be like that person. Because they, you know, I, I see them with a bunch of cool people on Instagram or whatever. That's sort of a bit of fake flattery. It does work. I mean, people are certainly attracted to it, but it's not any more substantial. Substantial than like, you know, cotton candy and chocolate fudge will satiate a certain level of hunger. But it ain't nutrition. You know, it's not real nutrition. You're not going to live off of it for long term without being really sick. So I think the way that one behaves is that way. So anyway, I just wanted to add those, those, those other thoughts to that.

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. You know, speaking of food, because that was going to be my next question. You've done a lot of work around addiction. And, you know, we have people here that may be addicted to work. We have people here that may know people that are addicted to substances or people that are addicted to gambling or people that are addicted to certain types of foods. And so one of the things that many of us may struggle with is we can give great advice. But if a person is struggling with addiction, I love your definition of what addiction is and how to uncouple it. So perhaps that could be very instructional for our coaches and our practitioners that are here who might be struggling with addiction, either themselves or their clients or a loved one who may be addicted even though they know they shouldn't be doing it, but they're stuck in that loop. Where does that, where does that loop come from? And how do we break that cycle?

Yeah, okay. Well, there's a lot of different ways that I've heard addiction defined. I've asked a lot of some of the world's leading addiction minds this question. That's, you know, I have online and lots of videos and stuff on geniusrecovery.org which is my foundation. The simplest way that I would say to think about it is, is addiction is a way to soothe pain. Addiction is a solution to pain. When you have a war on drugs, it's the wrong war. It's like a war on addicts. Drugs are not the problem. They're the solution. They're a solution that has a lot of bad consequences that can come with it, that can destroy your life. That could make other people around you miserable. Drugs and alcohol are often what people think of as addiction, but there's all the process addictions, all the behavior addictions. And just for clarity, I was a very bad cocaine addict when I was. My worst state was when I was 18 years old. Cocaine is a huge dopamine boost. And so if you. Two things that cause addiction, I believe there's many layers to this. But just to, you know, I can speak for two hours just on this one question alone. And we're not going to do that. What I, what I will say is that let me, let me frame it this way. The number when substances. The number one killer in America and in many parts of the world is sugar first, tobacco second, alcohol third, opiates fourth. I became a marketer and a business guy, Learned a lot of stuff about sales and persuasion, you know, became a millionaire before the age of 30, all that jazz. But I never dealt with the underlying trauma that happened to me as a kid. And I got sober from out. From drugs and alcohol, even though I wasn't an alcoholic. Was really. Cocaine was my core drug addiction. But my real core addiction was sexual addiction. And sex addiction is a intimacy disorder. And that came from being raped and molested as a kid. And I was paid money not to say anything. And so I was in deep pain and shame. Didn't know how to talk to anyone about it. Never talked about it for years. Wasn't until 2015 that I decided to just come out and front of a group of genius network members at one of my annual conferences. I had all kinds of. Had a few billionaires in the room. You know, I don't. It was. I was like, this is either going to ruin my career or maybe it's going to be something. I just felt the need. I was ready at that point to talk about it. And I just got on stage and shared everything shared about sleeping with prostitutes, being a cocaine addict, all of these things that had so much pain. And I'd already processed a lot of this in years of therapy, in years of groups and all kinds of stuff. But you're as sick as your secrets and silent battles, the hardest battles to fight. And workaholism, you know, I'm a classic workaholic. Spent many years just full blown workaholism. And it's very enticing. It's very, you know, because you get a big dopamine hit from deal making or, you know, giving yourself the belief that, oh, this is a healthy addiction. I don't believe any addictions are quote unquote healthy. Addiction is real human suffering. It is a craving that goes beyond willpower and some of the hardest struggle. People that struggle with addictions are very smart, clever people that are very resourceful in many areas of their life. So they, they think they can outthink and intellectualize a trauma thing. So I believe addiction is a response to trauma and it's biochemical disorder like dopamine. My, my friend Dr. Anna Lemke, she wrote a great book called Dopamine Nation that explains so much. You know, for instance, everyone here, many people would know this since you have so many very smart doctors and health practitioners on chocolate gives you a 55 dopamine hit. Sex is 150%. Cocaine is a 225% increase. Amphetamines is a thousand percent increase. So whenever, so I mean that's why speed and so many people consume amphetamine like substances. But let's take cold plunging, which is a healthy way to get a dopamine hit. It's a 200% increase. It's 50% more dopamine than sex. So getting into a sauna, getting into a cold plunge, you know, physical exercise, getting into a state of flow, meditation, breathing, these are all healthy ways that you can, you know, take your nervous system which you can jack up with food and drugs and behavior and gambling and sex and all kinds of other things. But for the entrepreneurs that are here, which is almost everyone. My favorite definition of intimacy was given to me by an 80 year old gay man that spends his life sponsoring people that have sexual addictions. And he said intimacy is a mutual exploration of a shared safe place. Abuse is anything that takes away the safe place. And addictions are what we do to make ourselves feel good when we don't have a safe place. So if you don't feel safe in the world, you're going to look for a way to soothe and drugs and alcohol and work and looking at the Internet and doing all kinds of things temporarily give you a dopamine hit or you know, different biochemicals that you can speak to way better than I could sashan. However, the pain inside humans, the pain inside each of us is where we struggle. When people come to you as a doctor, they're in pain. The symptoms, there's, you know, most people treat the fruit, not the root. And the root cause for a lot of people is a deep internal pain. And we live in a culture where it's a pill for an ill. You know, if you're a naturopath or Functional medicine, doctor, oftentimes, here's a supplement. And sometimes those things do wonders because a lot of this is, you know, it's, it's biochemical. You know, how you eat, what you have run into your system, how your gut is. You know, what is it? 80 to 95% of serotonin is made in the gut. Right. And why are so many incarcerated people? 2.2 million people are incarcerated in the United States. 25% of the world's prisoners are in the United States. It's the highest incarcerating country in the world. 80 to 90% of everyone arrested is either on, you know, drugs or alcohol were involved. You know, you have all this stuff about shootings and murders and sexual assault. Well, 50% of people that are raped were intoxicated. 50% of people that are raping or assaulting someone are intoxicated. Same thing goes with people that are murdered. In many cases, it's like more like 80 or 90%. And so murder and sexual assault has to do with inebriation. You know, during Nazi Germany, you know, I think they called it perpetine, but Nazi Germany invented crystal meth. I think in 1932, in the majority of the German army, including Hitler, were consuming crystal meth every single day. And long term exposure to amphetamines. At that level, you sleep less, you're more aggressive, you, you know, you fight harder, eat less food. And it removes empathy. So concentration camps and very violent things. The story that's rarely told. There's a book called Blitz that people can read about it. You can watch things on YouTube, you know, Hitler's secret drug habit, high Hitler, like his H I G H. You know, Hitler was high as a kite when he was doing those, you know, motivational speeches that you see him screaming, he's whacked out on drugs. So much of wars right now, if you were to look at Russia and Ukraine, how many, how much amphetamines are they feeding those soldiers because of food, because of sleep, because of aggressiveness. So much of the world is being driven by addiction and all of these symptoms and all of this, these fighting and stuff. A lot of the patients that are showing up, they have addictions, but we live in a world where you're looked at as a moral degenerate. So my goal is to change the global conversation about how people view and treat addicts with compassion instead of judgment and find the best forms of treatment that have efficacy and share it with the world. And so I know that's a lot. I know I'm Throwing a lot out there. And I. And some of these are difficult conversations and they, they really deserve longer reflection and time. And there's nothing real easy answers to them, but it boils down to pain and connection. The opposite of addiction is connection. And the more that you can connect with your patients, the more that you can connect with yourself. You're going to be a better friend, you're going to be a better leader. And I do believe, like the title of my book, what's in it for them? If you really can, if you have the empathy and the ability and you're a true giver, you want to align yourself with people that are aligned with you. You want to give your resources in what I call your tami, time, attention, money, effort. And those are what you can spend your time, attention, money, effort and energy. You want to give those to people that appreciate it. You want to give those to people and to communities that you can actually make an impact in. And if you want to change the world, that's great, but I think it's a cop out. I want to change the world. We'll start with one person, change one person, then maybe change five people, and then maybe 10 people. And you know what? If you become really good at it, maybe you'll impact thousands, maybe you'll impact millions, maybe. And the people that are out trying to change the world or saying it are really often not the people that do. It's the ones that are just doing the things that they're. They're built to do and they're, you know, they're really. It's not about winning friends and influencing people. It's about winning the right friends and influencing the right people and having the giver attitude. And so, you know, put up boundaries to takers, spend your time with givers, spend your time with people that are reciprocal and be the best version of you. But take care of yourself, because you can't fix the world with broken hands. And if you want to be an amazing doctor, be amazing to yourself.

That's.

That's first and foremost.

And there's like so many tweetables and truth bombs and meditations and things to unpack. Every. Everything you're saying is like, rep. My whole body is like literally vibrating because it's resonating with me. And, you know, one thing I want everyone to take away from this is, is compassion, right? Because sometimes our patients come to us and we're frustrated, like, why can't this person just give up the gluten or the sugar or the dairy or the thing that, you know, they need to change. And the reason is, is because what they're actually seeking, as Joe said, is comfort. They're doing something to bury or drown out a pain that they're experiencing. So if we as practitioners can have empathy and compassion towards that, then we can actually get to the root cause and, or get them the help that they need. We may not be that therapist or that person that helps them unlock that, but we have a moral obligation to them if we do find that that's the case. So you wrote an amazing book. You've written many Life Gives to the Giver, one of my favorites. And you live by that. This is you in a nutshell. And the other one which, very similar, which is what's in it for them. So I bought this book for, you know, about 170 of my, my best clients because I want them to hear what you have to say in this book. And it really is how you live. I remember I'll share a story because I think it expresses how generous you are. So I met Joe for the first time in person. I doubt he even remembers it because there was a swarm of people that, that surrounded him after a talk he did in Toronto. And I just like. I mean, I would imagine that if you were in person right now, everyone who would run up to Joe right afterwards, thank him profusely for what he just shared. Yeah, it would be all of us. Right. So virtually we can give him a hug or just show our love and appreciation for him, but that's exactly what I ran to the back and you were offering an online course. And I took it. I bought it right away, got a picture of you. You were so generous to take that picture with me. And I said one day I want to hang out with him more. I want to join his Genius Network. So it became very aspirational for when I joined, it was like literally a dream come true. And I imagine it's like that for many people who join your community because you have to apply. You don't just get in. Right. It takes more than a check to make it. And so I then a few years later, fast forward, I was giving a talk in Arizona and another Genius Network member, Charles Poliquin, many of you might know Charles Poliquin, the late, great Charles Poliquin, just an amazing strength coach. And he had me come in to do a talk on neurotransmitters. And I guess he invited Joe. And I had no idea Joe was going to be there. And I walk in the room. And I'm like, what the hell? That's Joe Fallish. What's he doing here? And he was so kind and just so generous, and he literally took us all out for lunch. And I wasn't expecting him to pay, but pulled out his wallet, paid for all of us, and, you know, just had an amazing, beautiful lunch with him. And then afterwards, he told his assistant, Eunice, I don't know if you remember this, Joe, but he's like, I want you to give Sachin access to the last three years of all the genius network recordings. And I was like, oh, my God, that's like $75,000 worth of recordings probably. Well, actually worth way more than that because of all the value that's in there. And I was like, man, he barely knew me, right? But he's so generous, right? So what I've learned from people like him, and him in particular, is that generosity is something that builds a bridge in our relationships. It's something that it enables us to express gratitude towards others. And you just never really know how that's going to change somebody's life. And the downstream effect of that show is that it gave me permission to be more generous, and it inspired me to be even more generous and to be the most generous person and version of myself that I can possibly be. So that's part of why we do this event for free. It's not because there isn't value here. It's not because it doesn't cost us money, but it's because I want to be generous with my knowledge and I want to, you know, bring people here that normally you'd have to pay thousands of dollars to hear speak. But it's that generosity that, you know, he's expressing towards our friendship and to all of you and, you know, just living that embodiment, and. And so you've inspired me in probably more ways than I could ever express. If I had to tell you every time you inspired me, I'd be texting you on a regular basis, even more regularly than I do now. So thank you. Thank you for being such a role model for each and every one of us. And in the what's In It For Them Book, you talk about so many things. Funny story. I sent you a video a few weeks ago when I was in Costa Rica listening to the audiobook. And in the video, I said, man, I hope I don't crash this car while I'm driving and doing this video. And I literally ended up on the wrong side of the road. I never told you this But I was thanking him so profusely because we got through the audiobook, Deepa and I, and it was just so amazing. So if you don't have a copy of what's in it for them, the audible version is wonderful. You know, you could, if you could listen to Joe talk all day, the audible version is amazing. And you spent a lot of time in the studio recording that, didn't you?

You know, anyone that's ever had to record their own audiobook, you know, and this is not written by AI, this is like we now have AI systems that you can literally model your voice and help you write books and all that. Although this is full blown, I spent two years on this book and went through every line of it, you know, six times. I mean, I really wanted it to be not a time timely book, but a timeless book so that when I'm long, long gone, hopefully generations from now, people will still read my book and the principles will still be useful and helpful for them with. With connecting. Yeah, anyone that's recorded an audiobook, it is a pain in the butt. But I like it when authors read their own books. You know, I like their own voice because there's just something that goes along with it. But yeah, and you know, look, Sachin, being helpful, I don't do that with everyone. I do that for people that I feel a real energetic, good connection or I see them demonstrate care what my book really is for. People often say, why'd you write your book? And you'll hear these authors say, oh, because I just wanted to share my gifts with the world and give back and all that nonsense. You know, certainly we hope that happens. If we write a book, we want people to like it. We want people to find it valuable. I wrote the book though, so I could actually learn what the hell was I doing in my life that has worked. And what are the cautionary tales that didn't work? Where did I do stupid things? Where did I step in the pitfalls? And so the book is really for givers to be better, boundaried givers so that they don't give their energy to people that will use and abuse them. Because, you know, Zig Ziglar has that, that famous line, you can get anything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want. But my friend Martin Howey came to Genius Network probably a decade ago and he said, you know, there's some lines that people say that we take as truth, but you have to really question them. You can help other people get what they Want that many won't do a damn thing for you and some will use you and abuse you and betray you. And that is true. So it's about selecting who to give your energy to because getting results, and this is a line from my, my friend Dan Sullivan. Getting results doesn't take time. It's the not getting results that takes up all your time. And if you give your time, attention, money, effort and energy. This is what chapter two of my book is about. Tammy. I don't call it Tammy in the book, but I just use that as a, as a reference point. T A M E E Time, attention, money, effort and energy. If you give your Tammy to the wrong people, they will take advantage of you. And the, the unfortunate thing is, is if you're an amazing giver, if you really operate, life gives to the giver and takes from the taker. That's one of my books. You'll get more if and only if you become selective and develop your spidey senses of who to give the giver energy to. If you become a doormat, if you just give just for, with no discretion. And the problem is you don't learn that until you actually get hurt. You know, see what, what comedy in life is. So I want everyone to think about an experience in their life that they can look back on now and laugh their ass off about it. But when it happened, you were suicidal or you were like so depressed or you thought life was over. But now you can look back at it and it's funny, you know. So what is comedy? You know, it's pain plus time equals comedy. That's what comedy is. And if you look at some of the funniest comedians, some of them that have had really dark lives and most humor is developed out of pain. Most businesses, I guarantee you More than 75% of all the health practitioners that are here right now with you, Sachin, part of this are because they are a convert of their own system. They had to figure out some very painful part of being sick or being ill or being challenged. And what's funny is people try to make all this pain go away by drugging themselves and avoiding it. When pain is the biggest messenger, pain is like a big neon sign that says pay attention, pay attention. There's an opportunity here because wherever there's anxiety, there's opportunity. And so you know, my book, I wrote it really so I could figure out what the hell did I do right and what did I do wrong and how do I present it in a way that could be helpful to People to save them from stepping in some of the potholes and how to better boundary themselves. Because right now, man, the world needs real leaders that are caring and compassionate. Think about the role models that some young people have right now. They're looking at politicians, they're looking at certain people that are leading companies and organizations that are despicable in what they are doing, that are lying through their teeth and they're rich and they're famous. Like, what does that say to a young, impressionable person? I don't need to have integrity, I don't need to care that much. I'm just going to be an arrogant. I'm going to lie to people and I'm going to get to the highest ranks of society. And, you know, that's not how I believe life works. I believe life gives to the giver and takes from the taker. And if you spend your life making withdrawals from other people and exploiting people, there will come a point in time that you will pay the price physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, maybe with your freedom, if you have any freedom. And, you know, people that profit from the crime are guilty of it. So my whole thing is produce more than you consume. And here's my thing of who becomes my friend because, you know, people are like, how do you have so many relationships? So I have a lot of relationships, but there's a few core people that are my dear friends, my dear close friends. And how I determine that is not by their, you know, social status. It's. It's by how are people that are more powerful, treat people that are less powerful than them. Some of the greatest heroes in the world are hospice nurses. They're people that are single mothers that are working multiple jobs.

They're.

They're people that are landscapers and gardeners and amazing humans that just care and they love people and they don't have an agenda.

And.

And it's, you know, it's people that pursue growth, not status. I mean, I'll say that over and over again because you can. It's really seductive to get caught up in external validation. And I'm very aware as a book author and a speaker, almost everyone that puts themselves out there publicly wants the world to like them. They want external validation, they want applause. I like it when people make like my ideas and say good things about me and nice things about me. That should happen. You know, if you are having wonderful testimonials, if you're a good person putting out good work into the world, people should say good things about you. It's not like you're so magical and I love it when people do that. But I also have to check myself so I don't wreck myself and say, yeah, I have low self esteem, I have low self worth. I, you know, feel like at times I have to make amends to people when I say the wrong things or do the wrong stuff. And you know, I've spent over 20 years in, in recovery and I've, you know, I've, I've done awful in my life, mostly to myself, thank God, you know, I've made amends to every living person that I'm aware of that I've hurt to the best of my abilities. I follow the, you know, the 12 step analogy of, you know, one of the steps is make amends whenever possible, except to win, except when to do so would injure yourself or others. And the problem with being a human is we always think we're right. And it takes a tremendous amount of awareness to be like, you know, maybe I'm not right here, maybe I need to, to. So I'm really, I really try to listen to other people and you know, in, have people that are willing in a compassionate, caring way to call me out when I'm being an idiot and to give them permission to call me out when I'm being an idiot. I make mistakes all the time. I hope to look back at this 10 years from now and say, I remember I was talking to Sasha and you know, and it was April and it was 2023 and I said something to a group of, you know, over 300 and something people live, who knows how many will watch the, the recordings of this. And you know, maybe I shouldn't have said that. Maybe I was, you know, kind of full of myself in that one particular moment. And I, I do try to carry that with me all the time. And, and if I, you know, I'm always questioning what I know and what I learned and, and I always want to be aware of, you know, I want to guide and direct people. I want to be open, I want to be present and I want to care, you know, but I also, I also give myself permission to make mistakes. And almost everyone here, you have goals and aspirations. What do humans want? They want more woo and less. Ah, that's what we want, like more woo. So people will do all kinds of things to pursue woo, but a lot of those things create, ah, and so to be a response, like for instance, getting into a cold plunge in a sauna, which I do almost every day now, initially it's hard like the ah, you know, when you first get into it, but the woo that comes from it. Just like exercise. Most people don't build successful businesses because they're not willing to work through the burn. And we have to be willing to work through the burn of our life. And that's not just like if you're going to lift weights, you're going to be sore if you haven't lifted weights in a long time for the first couple of weeks. And most people won't work through the burn. And I know the people that are here that are building businesses or having to work through different levels of burns in all particular areas of your life. Do that with good intentions with the most amazing people. Treat yourself like the million dollar racehorse. And every person that is investing their time and it, since you're giving this away for free, you're leading with the what's in it for them? Attitude. And if people like what you're sharing here, guess what, they may want to join up with you. They may want to buy things from you. And in the same thing here, I mean people are like, how do I build a business? Like, well, give people a lot of woo and they'll keep coming back for more woo. And if you are getting a lot of ah, then you may want. Is that ah really bad? I mean, how many people have gone to a personal trainer that they don't really like, but they like the consequences? I don't really like working out, but not working out is worse than if I do. So I've, I've learned to love the consequences. Not, you know, I don't like traveling, I like the destination. But in order to get to the destination, you got to put up with all the crap with traveling. And so there are certain things that, you know, pain is a really interesting thing. The first chapter of my book is Be a pain detective. And one of the best places to connect with yourself and others is what are your own internal pains that you're ignoring or you're numbing? What are they trying to tell you? And all of the pain that's in the world if you have the ability to transform that pain. I have one of the, I actually can't see it here. I'll, I'll take my screen off and let me show you this. Choose virtual background. Let's say none. So I'm sitting in the big genius network room and there's one of these signs on the wall back here that says, see, it's right there, you can barely see it. It's this Right up here it says, other people's bad news is your good news. And that's a quote from Dan Sullivan. And what that basically means is almost all money is made transforming other people's bad news into good news. If you're hungry, that's bad news. But if you can go get food, that's good news. If you break your ankle, that's bad news. If someone could help you with that broken ankle, a doctor, that's good news. If you're bored, that's bad news. If you can go to a movie or you can do something entertaining, that's good news. If you're tired, that's bad news. If you can go to sleep, that's good news, Right? So making money is solving problems for a profit. Problems and pain are the ingredients that help you transform life constantly. And if you are one of those people that becomes a pain detective, really connects with people, can become a. Like, I have a domino behind me, big, giant domino. Big, giant domino, right? And I end each chapter in my book with the dominoes, which are like exercises that people can easily do. But the, the analogy, though is who's. You know, I bet you this series that you're doing for everyone right now, they will have heard something that will be a domino in their life. They'll heard a quote, they'll heard a recommendation, a link, an insight, a philosophy, a viewpoint, a perspective, and it will change the trajectory of their life. Everyone has read a book that has changed the trajectory of their life or met someone. So to everyone that's here who's been a domino in your life, to you, what are the things that you've learned that have been a domino? Can you listen to not just me, if I'm useful in any way to anyone or anyone that anything that Sachin says or any of the guests that he has here, write down the dominoes and say, if I actually go with this, it could actually change the trajectory of my life. And how do you keep stacking more dominoes? And how do you become that to other people? And when we're. When you have some free time today, write down, you know, five to eight people that are part, that are part of your genius network. They're people that are amazing. They could be friends, family, spouses, kids, loved ones, teachers, mentors. Dead or alive. If they are alive, just send them a message, a voice text, a video, an audio hand, write a letter and say, thank you. I love you. You're awesome. Because oftentimes people ignore the most important, valuable relationships in their life because that whole line, the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Well, the squeaky wheel should get replaced. Squeaky wheels are a pain in the ass. Okay, replace the squeaky wheels and spend your time on the people that actually care about you and love you. Spend your time you know you can. My late friend Dave Keckage said, you know, an hour of integrated, precise discipline, hard thinking can be worth a month of hard work. You can literally come up with a multi million dollar business in the span of 10 minutes, an hour, a day, a week. Or you can squander months or years of your life on. So the thing is, what are the dominoes? Listen for the dominoes. Be the first domino, acknowledge the first domino, and life gives to the giver and takes from the taker. You know what's in it for them. Be a great giver to other people, but to the right people. Align yourself with people that want to align themselves with you. Connect with real connectors. Be careful of connectors. There are a lot of people that they connect with people by conning them. And then there's true connection. And then the final riff I'll say here on this, on this part is we all have wants. No one would show up here if they didn't want something. They want to make more money. They want to have better clients. They want to have better insight on building their practice. They want, they want to learn something about health. Whatever is the reasons that you're here. You want to meet other people, you want to what? Whatever it is, everyone has a want. Like, I want to eat lunch here in a little bit because it's. I'm in Arizona and, and it's 1:15 and I've not eaten lunch today, but I will after this session, right? But here's the thing. So we all want something from everybody. We want something. The people we're married to, we want our kids to do something. Our kids want something. That's great. We're a whole planet of wanters. Make sure that your give is equal to or greater than your want. And if you show up with people with a give that's equal or greater to than you want, guess what? They're going to want to hang out with you. They're going to want to buy from you. Because the people that we like and appreciate are people that are givers, not takers. And if you think of who texts you on the, on your, your phone or who calls you and you look at it, and some people, you say, oh, you know, you just kind of cringe when you're Getting a message or other people, you're so excited to hear from them. And I tell people to gauge, you know, be the type of person you want to answer the phone for. And if you owe them money and you're cringing, they're not the. You're the one being an asshole. Maybe you need to say, hey, I'll pay you back, or I need. Let me make amends to. Or whatever. But you can look at your phone and you can gauge who are the givers and who are the takers in your life. And so be the type of person you always want to answer the phone for and make sure that your give is greater than your want. And if you operate that way in business, as a doctor, as a practitioner, as a parent, as a lover, as a friend, you don't need to be a magician. You just need to be aware. And you can recalculate stuff and you can transform your life with just a flow. 5% increase of increasing your connection if you were more connected with the people that care about you by 5%. Not by double.

Not.

Not by taking massive action. You know, Tony Robbins is a friend of mine, and he's take massive action. Frankly, that's not how most of this works. It's tiny little actions. You don't need to be dramatic. You just need to develop and be consistently be more aware. And you can transform your life and you can transform the lives of other people, and it's a consistent thing. And in your. You've been a first domino for so many people, Sasha. I mean, you really are a gem of a human. I'm not just saying this because you're here. I mean, you have an aura around you. You're a really caring dude. I mean, you're really awesome human. And so it's nice when people say things and acknowledge me, and I love that edification. I also want to share it right back. I mean, I wouldn't be doing this on a Saturday for most people, you know, because. But you're awesome. And I know you had a timeline here, and I wanted to be helpful and contribute because you're always offering. I mean, you'll call me up and offer things to me related to health, you know, issues that. Like gut issues. An example, stuff I don't normally talk about. You've been instrumental in helping me in areas of my life where I've messed up in my sleep. I'm screwed up here. You're a smart doctor. You're a great guy. You know, so those are the people we hang out with. You become friends with people that are awesome, and those are the people that I want to learn from. I mean, I'm just as much of a student for you, and you're as much of a mentor to me, so it's a mutual thing.

Wow. Thank you. Thank you. I received that, and I greatly, greatly appreciate that. Well, I want you to get lunch because I know how important that first meal is, and I know that we had you on until 4. So I thank you for sticking around a little bit longer and appreciate you for being flexible. I think that's. That's an important entrepreneurial trait as well, is. Is being flexible when you can be. Of course. And you've shared so many nuggets here. There's so much to unpack. I know people have taken tons of notes, and there's literally 354 conversations and presentations that are happening simultaneously as you speak. So what I would love for people to do is share what their big aha moment was. And as you're doing that, Joe, I would love for you to share a little bit more about the book and the QR code that you've got posted there. Where does that take people and what steps. Action step would you like?

Well, if. If anyone likes anything I've had to say and you want to hear more from me, then, yeah, get my book. All of the proceeds of the book go to my foundation, which is genius recovery.org which is a 501C3. And we do do invest the money wisely in helping with an educational platform for addiction. So it takes people to what's in it for them dot com. What's in it for them dot com. And if someone just doesn't want to buy my book, you can get my Life gives to the giver for free@joe's freebook.com and that's what it does. And if anyone is struggling with addiction, just go to geniusrecovery.org. we don't charge for anything. It's just an educational platform for resources and videos and interviews with smart people like my buddy Gabor Mate, and, you know, different individuals and. Yeah, what's in it for them? You can get my audio also on audible or wherever audios are sold. And that's. That's pretty much my. My spill for that. And thank you, thank you, thank you.

I'm gonna put it on gallery mode on my end so I can see all the beautiful faces and you all know what to do. Let's show Joe some love. Let's clap for him and show our gratitude. And our appreciation gallery also.

Yeah. And by the way, there's a lot of comments that people made. I'm so sorry that I could not respond to that. I'm one of those people that can't be present totally and then read the comments at the same time. But I will. I will save them and I will read through them and. And I very much appreciate it. And I wish everyone just an awesome life. And whenever you're feeling shitty, feelings are not facts. Just because you feel crappy doesn't mean things are crappy. And just because you feel good don't mean things are good. So as my late friend Dave Keckage said, he you know, things are seldom as good as they seem when they're going well or seldom as bleak as they seem when they're going wrong. Lighten up. You'll live longer. So spend some time laughing and have super happy, fun days and stay around awesome people and go deep with everything that Sasha recommends because he's a. He's a good guy that I cannot endorse higher to help guide and direct people. And he does walk the walk and talk the talk better than anyone I know in this space. So thank you.

Thank you, Joe. So grateful. So grateful and so much love for you. I love you. I appreciate you. Thank you for being such a wonderful role model to me. And now I think you've gained another 300 plus fans of what you do. So thank you for spreading your love and light with the world and hey, let's keep changing the world. Helping people through more compassion and understanding and helping them get to the root of their pain and removing it so they can be liberated and live an amazing life, which is what you want for us and we want for all of our clients. So thank you.

Thank you. Take care, everyone.

Bye.