IF you change your MINDSET You Will Change Your LIFE | Tony Horton

Natalie, I'm on a podcast. I cannot talk right now, but I'll call you back. All right, bye. I have no wife or assistant here today, and so that's real life, baby.

You've had a very successful career in helping people transform their lives, literally on the outside. But I was very interested to know. When I started reading through the new book, the Big Picture, I was very interested to know that much of that change happened on the inside first. Right. So. So what happened? How'd you.

How did you.

How did you walk through that?

Well, I was a miserable, sad, pathetic, lonely, single, broke man. And a lot of people are like that man, and they don't want to be like that man. And so I didn't have good coaches, mentors, and teachers, really, you know, because it was the 60s and 70s, and it was all about, you know, winning and losing, and it wasn't really about deep thought and.

And.

And mindset and mindfulness. None of that stuff existed. But I found my first personal development books, and they really had a significant change on me. I thought, well, these guys are smart enough to write a book, and I'm not doing any of the things in this book, and maybe I should do some of the things in these books. A lot of them are behind me, right? Stacked up everywhere. That's my mountaineering section. But behind a lot of this is personal development. You know what I mean? Learning about how to use, you know, use the tools that you have and then learn new tools and get rid of the old things that don't work. Stop doing the same stuff that doesn't work over and over again, expecting a different result. Thank you, Albert Einstein. I didn't even have to read his book to know that that was it. Really. It was. And it was sort of a. And then the fitness thing came in shortly after that. And then I discovered there was a physical, mental, and emotional connection that I needed to progress forward just to get, you know, just to achieve some of the things I wanted to achieve in life.

Well, I mean, so a lot of us, I think we should know, well, we should take care of ourselves. We should get a lot of rest. We should control our attitudes. But many of us don't do it. The question is, why don't we do it when we know it's what's best for us? What have you uncovered?

Well, because the alternative is easier. It's easy to be lazy. It's easy to be angry. It's easy to point fingers. It's easy to place blame somewhere else other than yourself. You Know, I mean, that way you're. You get off scot free sort of, but you're still a miserable son of a bitch, you know what I mean? You're still broke and poor and sad and lonely and all those things that we don't want to be. And so, you know, for me, I mean, I wrote the Big Picture. You know, it's autobiographical in a sense. I mean, it's really another personal development book based on all the things that I learned along the way that applied to me that I practice every day. Yeah. And these are things that, you know, I didn't know before, you know, Don Miguel Ruiz's book. And if you say that really fast, it sounds like Dom DeLuise, but it's not.

I learned a lot from that. Simple the Four Agreements. I learned a lot from that. A lot of, a lot of, you know, Gary Zukoff and Tony Robbins and, and, you know, there's just, you know, get off your ass and get busy and stop, focus, stop focusing on the past and, and your expectations of the future and just be in the moment. Go to work. You know what I mean? And like the, like Romancing the Shadow, Stephen Wolf's book was really powerful for me because I. A lot of people are two different people or three or four different people, depending on their audience, depending on at home and who you are with your family. Are you the same person there as you are at work? Are you the same person? If you're out there in the world and you run into kind of conflict and issues, you know, I mean, and the idea is to sort of, you know, get rid of the shadow person that really is causing all the problems and be the best, be your best self. I mean, I have a. I have an event here at my house two or three times a year called the Paragon Experience. And it's really about learning how to be your best self more often than being the, the nasty, angry curmudgeon, psycho conspiracy theory theorist that you are, you know what I mean? Like, you know, there's the real world and then there's the sort of the fantasy version of the world. And if you're over here, you know what I mean, hoping that all this made up stuff inside of your head is going to all turn out okay, then you're going to struggle when you don't need to. So that was a lot of it for me. And then I understood that. I understood that physical movement has a direct connection to how I feel mentally and emotionally. Like I don't have a crystal ball. I can't predict the future, but I can strongly influence it by simple things like diet and hydration and mindfulness and proper sleep and regular exercise and the right kind of supplementation. And when that formula is figured out, all those choices are a hell of a lot better than the lack thereof when I was younger and struggling.

Yeah, well, the crazy part was in knowing your career and how successful you've been. One of the things that I was expecting when I picked the book up was for it to be more about fitness than anything else. And then you start breaking down the laws. And I'm like, yeah, I did that wrong. I should do that. Yeah, I did that wrong. I should do that. And I wanted maybe touch on a few of the laws because I find that at the root of all evil, so to speak, at the root of all this self limitation, self beliefs, limiting minds, all this kind of stuff is a lot of things you talk about in the book. And one of those is, is the pursuit of perfection rather than improvement. Right. Is that something you personally struggle with, is trying to be perfect before, you know, before you actually just thought about consistent improvement?

Yeah. I mean, perfectionism. Right. Especially for somebody who don't, you know, you don't have a high level of skill in a particular area. I mean, you know, people at NASA gotta be perfect, you know, And a few times, few times they haven't. It's been a disaster. You know what I mean? I mean, there's a certain amount of precision and perfection and. And, you know, paying attention to the. To the teeniest things so that you can be successful. But the average person doesn't have to be perfect. They just need to show up. You know what I mean? They just need to be. You know, I talk about. I talk about, you know, chapter three is having a plan.

Yeah.

Being consistent. You know what I mean? And, you know, the first one is do your best, forget the rest. That's the first chapter. I mean, I trademarked that phrase and I learned that from Don Miguel Ruiz in his book. You know, I mean, and I kind of. I kind of do a Tony Horton version of that. You know, his is your best. And I focus on the fact that a lot of us are spending too much time and energy on things that do not provide us with any. Anything that helps us grow and change and transform. Yeah, we're focusing on the rest all the time. Like, I can't, I shouldn't. And my parents and the thrill and hit their expectations and God, I used to be this. And all this stuff. And then, you know, What? You're just stuck, and then, you know, weeks, months, and years go by, and you haven't. You haven't progressed. So you find your purpose. You find out, well, what am I doing here? What am I on my earth for? The Magic Lamp. Steve. Steve Wolf. Not Steve Wolf. The Magic Lamp. Who wrote that? Keith Ellis's book was huge for me, helping me understand why I'm here. Like, what am I doing here? Am I supposed to be, you know, an accountant or working as an assistant manager at the Oak Tree Men's Store?

No.

You know, figure out what you're. If you don't know what. A lot of people just have a job, and they have all the stuff that they love, and their job is not something that they love. It's not to say that your job has to be your raison d', etre, as the French say, reason for being. Right? But if you don't have a job that gives you that, you gotta find an outlet. Like, what's your hobby? You know what I mean? There's a great story of a gentleman who was an accountant. He was very good. He had a family. He provided. I'm even gonna do this. My accountant's gonna hate that.

So, you know, he was. He loved bikes. He loved mountain bikes and street bikes and everything about bikes. And he would end up at the bike store on Saturdays and Sundays just because he loved it. And the people that were customers there thought he worked there because he knew so much about it. And he was just hanging out one day, the manager said, hey, you're here all the time. Why don't you just work for me on Saturdays or Sundays? He asked his wife. His wife said, hey, you're there anyway. You might as well get paid. Five years later, he owned the place. You know what I mean? And that's just it. Like, you know, what is the thing that you.

Natalie, I'm on a podcast. I cannot talk right now, but I'll call you back. All right? I have no wife or assistant here today, and so that's real life, baby.

And it's all good.

It's all good. So.

All about being authentic and transparent.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, there's no smoke and mirrors here, only really good lighting. And that's just how. That's what I decided to do. You know, I thought to myself, I was a mime at the pier. I was working on a men's clothing store. I was a handy man. You know, I had all these. I was a Go Go dancer at Chippendales. You know, I Mean. And I was just trying to survive, but I wanted to thrive, right? So most people are surviving and they're getting by, and the only good time they have is watching the ball game with their friends and having a couple of beers and some pizza. To me, that doesn't seem like a high point in my life. I like those things, but I don't make them the most important things. And so for me, it was just like, wow. And, you know, I just read the books and I followed the lessons and I. And I kept trying to do, you know, challenge myself, opening new doors, trying new things. And inevitably, a lot of them, I fell on my face. But I saw the value in some of these things. I said, you know, I'm going to keep trying. But the things that didn't resonate with me, that didn't seem to work, then I discarded those and, you know, you know, row, row, row your boat gently down the stream. Life is but a dream. Too many people are trying to, you know, swim up the waterfalls, make it.

Harder than they have to, especially if it's Niagara Falls. That's. That's a hot mess.

That's going to be a tough swim.

Maybe not impossible. Pretty damn close.

Well, you talk about, you know, finding your purpose, and obviously that's one of the pivot points of the book. There's a lot of different folks said, find your purpose. Find your purpose. How do you find your purpose? Finding purpose. How do you see finding your purpose? Because it sounds like curiosity has played a huge role in you kind of walking your way into the things that you enjoy most.

Well, you know, in Keith Ellis's book, there's a simple exercise, right? So you. There's two categories, and category one is if you could be given anything you want, any career in the world, like, you didn't have to work, you didn't have to lift a finger. What would it be? Astronaut, movie star, you know, the world, whatever it has to be. Right. Category two, though, would be if you had the time and energy and work ethic and didn't mind, you know, didn't understood the time and patience that it took, what would be the things that you would love to be able to do now? You'll probably see a lot of the same things in both, obviously, category one, it'd be like, I don't have to work for it. Sure, I'll just, you know, I'll pick some really outrageous careers. But maybe they're not so outrageous. I mean, look at me. I have a career that's kind of outrageous and it ended up happening. And then you pivot 1 and 1, 2 and 2 and whatever. And then you start crossing out. All right, well, astronaut or movie star? Cross out astronaut. I'm going to pick movie star. What's number two? And all of a sudden. And then you. Once you've gotten rid of half, then you keep doing it over and over again. You could do that exercise three or four times. And it turns out that that there. That list will give you a general indication of kind of what most interests you, you know, and for me, it was own my own gym and to be a movie star. Right. So to own my own gym. I was trained in Tom Petty and Billy Idol and Annie Lennox and Bruce Springsteen and Sean Connery.

Incidentally. I've been watching all the old Bond movies recently just for fun. Oh, yes, Gold Finger.

He's a Man with the Golden Gun. Anyway, that's a classic from the 60s. And so, you know, it kind of came up for me, you know, a performer and a fitness gym owner. Yeah, that's kind of what I ended up being. I don't have. I don't have a bricks and mortar fitness facility which is, you know, a lot of work with managers and employees and cleaning and insurance. I still have insurance because I have live events and stuff. But, you know, I was doing the acting classes and the improv classes in the standup comedy and the scene study classes and getting the headshots and having the agents for commercial and theatrical agent, you know, and I was doing that. And then I was getting occasional acting gigs for NordicTrack and for other, you know, beer commercials or whatever I would get. So I was getting very comfortable in front of a camera. And then over here, you know, I'm training some of the top celebrities and.

Rockers in the world and understanding, you know, and spending time with people with. Who had tremendous success. Like, you're training the Boss, right? And the Boss is talking about his life. Annie Lennox from the Eurythmics, her story, Billy, you know, like, oh, these are, you know, people look at these folks like, wow, you know, and I think, yeah, they're people who found their raison d' etre and just dove in and failed and failed and failed and failed and didn't fail as much and then didn't. Weren't failing at all and just were successful. So I had those people in my life. I was like, you know, you're not just talking about bench presses and squats and lunges the whole time. You're talking about how they got to where they Are. And so the combination of those two things came together to be, you know, basically, you know, when you do my. One of my routines, whether it's P90X or my new power of four, you're entertained while you're also doing hard things physically. And so that's partly. That's a niche that I found that no one else has really gotten into. And some have tried.

And just haven't done quite as well.

Right. So, yeah, I mean, for me too, like, you know, even with all that work, my initial, you know, I mean, what is luck? Opportunity meets readiness. Yeah, a lot of. Lot of opportunities that came, and I wasn't ready, so there was no luck. But then, you know, I was preparing for that and it took. I mean, P90X. I was 46. Yeah. I wasn't a kid. Right. There was a lot of. I lived in the same apartment for 21 and a half years, you know, with a view of a convalescent home, which is kind of where I thought I'd end up. Just go down the stairs.

Just walk a little further down the stairs.

I'll take that wheelchair. Thank you very much. That won't be mine. So. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of, you know, luck is. Depends on how you look at it. For me, it was really the work ethic and all the other jobs to survive, and then now I'm in a cool, thriving mode. It's fun.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and the work's still not over, obviously, with live events and retreats and all kinds of stuff you're doing. I mean, there's still a ton of work to do. You know what. How much of. How much of what you're doing now is intentional strategy versus just. This is something I love to do. So I'm just doing what I love to do.

That's a 5050 man all the way.

You know what I mean?

I mean, I get to pick and choose what I want to do. And sometimes you make mistakes. I mean, I have 23 failed businesses. People don't know that. Tony. Let's do mouth guards. Let's do insoles. Let's do home delivery food. I had a deal going with 711 to put th kitchen. So I have a t. I have a Tony Horton life brand. Th Life brand, which is, you know, supplement. Not supplements, but it's my hair care product, which is th care you can, you know, I have shampoo. I have my own shampoo and stuff. You know, anyway, I make not a whole lot of money on that one. I don't put a lot of energy.

Into it, but unfortunately, I'm not one of your customers there.

Yes, but there's skin care.

Oh, well, there's skincare.

I use skincare moisturizer, you know, organic oils, and then shape shave bomb. You get all over that.

No, I can do that because I got to get the line right on the beard. Right, so.

That's right. Yeah. You know, you don't want to look. You don't want to look like you.

Haven'T shaved in about six months.

Yeah, yeah. But, yeah. So, you know, for me, it was really about, you know, focusing on the things that I wanted to focus on. And even though there were 23 failed businesses, hey, let's. I had my own watch for 10 seconds. I had my own. You know, I had to deal with that 711 where we were going to put, you know, th kitchen and every 711 around the world. You know, I was counting my castles at that point. And then, you know, 711 decided they'd rather sell cigarettes and hot dogs than healthy food. So that was their choice. But along the way, you know, as an entrepreneur, you know what I mean, somebody calls you up or somebody emails you, hey, here's this opportunity. I mean, I just met with this physical therapist out of Vegas, this guy Scott, and he's got this amazing device, and we're going to have our. I just. I just fell in love with him as a person. I mean, he works top football, basketball, baseball players in the country. You know, everybody knows who he is. He's. He's a big deal in his industry. And, you know, maybe I'll do something with him, who knows? But that's how tonal I saw tonal. And I was like, this is an amazing piece of equipment. I just called him up, I said, yeah, hey, you know, it's cool, because people kind of know who I am, you know, that helps. Yeah. So, like, oh, the P90X, it's not.

Quite a cold call is what you're saying.

Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, I can just go, oh, hi, I'm, you know, Steve Sashin, who's the CEO and creator and founder of Zero Shoes. You know what I mean? I saw his little infomercial when I was watching a rock climbing video, and I called him up, you know what I mean? So it's just interesting how that can work now. I'm at that point in my career where I can do those kind of things and make those kind of connections. It doesn't necessarily mean that there's always going to be some synergy there. I mean, obviously. Oh, you have all the meetings and you pay all the lawyers and then when it comes down to crunching numbers, you go, oh, well, yeah, that's not going to work out.

It seemed like it was going to be fun, but it turns out it might make me bankrupt. I probably shouldn't.

It was a marriage made in heaven. Love it. You know, the folks over at Golden Hippo, the parent company for powerlife, which is my supplement brand. I mean, right away we sat down, you know, negotiations, never easy, but we just, we were just so determined to make it work because I love who they were and they love me. And now I have got 10 different SKUs. You know, from protein to, you know, digestive stuff to, you know, a pre workout, you know, it's just. And I take my own stuff every day because it was really custom made for me, so. And a lot of, you know, it's doing great. And. And now I, you know, I have basically four balls in the air. And that, for right now, feels like enough. But, you know, who knows.

For is quite a bit. I have seven businesses.

Throw that fistball in. Throw it in.

Yeah, right.

I got this.

Yeah, exactly.

Come on, baby.

Yeah. I got seven businesses myself. Fortunately, two of them are based on autopilot. The other, the other ones take a lot of consistent work ethic, a lot of focus. I've got a management meeting when we're done here and then another podcast. Like it's, it's, it's consistently. And that's one of the things that I've always struggled with, is switching my brain in between projects. I'm curious to know, with so many successful things that you've worked through and you've developed, how much of that is switching or how much of it is just consistent, meaning it's a consistent escalation of what you're already doing.

Well, my Persona, I mean, the reason why I do what I do, whether it's my own business or working for somebody else, my Persona is consistent throughout. You know, I mean, it's not like I'm an actor where I have to play, you know, a criminal over here and Santa Claus over there. You know, I mean, it's just sort of a, hey, be enthusiastic, be upbeat, be honest, be authentic, and then go to work. You know, I mean, it's pretty easy. And having had that acting background, it's pretty easy to do that. It's. The transition from one to the other is. I don't even have to think about it, really. Yeah, I Mean, not that every day is perky and upbeat and some days around this tired and I'm sore and there's. And I feel like the weight of the world is on me a little bit. But I have a very strong mindfulness practice. Right. So. Oh, I feel kind of worn down. Epsom salt bath. Yay. And I get in it, you know what I mean? Or hey, I'm not having, I'm having a tough time falling asleep right now. Let's meditate. Let's do some 5.5 breathing that I learned from David Nestor out of the book breath. Oh, wow. He's a smart guy. He did all the research. Let me just do this one simple breathing technique and I fall asleep and sleep like a baby. You know, it's cool. It's like you have to be willing to learn and then you have to be willing to practice the things that you learn and if they work great, if they don't try other stuff, you know what I mean? It's like that's not like nobody questioned that you had to go to first grade and then second grade and then third grade. Like, think of all the, you know, 12 years school and then maybe I'll go to get an advanced degree four more and then maybe I'll get my doctorate. I mean, some people are just learners. Other people can't get out of school fast enough. You know what I mean? Yeah. And they just like that, they become very myopic. Right. And then it become very myopic and very pious at the same time. And typically not always those folks run into more walls than folks that are, you know what I mean? Either you have a fixed mindset or you have a flexible slash growth mindset. I mean, everybody's heard those two terms before. Yeah, fixed mindset. Folks, you know me, are you going to be the fittest, happiest, most financially successful folks in the world? I don't know. You're going to have to work a whole lot harder if your brain's looking through, looking through a pinhole, you know what I'm saying? But if you're open minded, willing to try stuff like, you know, I mean. Yeah. I mean you just got to reach out and who is like one of the things I, that I talk about quite often is, you know, who's in your circle, who's in your tribe. Right. And if you got go getters and fun people with great senses of humor and are really authentic and tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, then you're, you're hanging around the right kind of people where you're going to grow faster and more successfully as opposed to finger pointers and wannabes and naysayers, you know what I mean? Like, and they're in your family, they might even be in your house. And you know, you gotta learn how to tap dance around all that. You just gotta find a skill, a skill, skill level there to deal with it all. I'm really good at.

Eliminating bad people out of my life. I don't, I don't, you know, forever and ever, like, oh, I'm going to help this person. I'm going to, I'm going to deal with this person. I'm going to hang. Right. And so it just, it's just like, wow, you're just, they're just human anchors on your happiness and growth. And so, you know, I mean, if you're going to be a bonehead and you're going to prove it and you're not going to, you're not willing to change or even apologize for who you are and what you've done, Bye. Bye. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Let me ask you that. I mean, so you've got, so obviously there are, there are 11 laws, principles, if you will. There, there are two or three of them that I think go hand in hand. But I'm also, if I'm being honest, I'm like, okay, well, like for example, right. The variety of spice of life. So that's, you know, making sure that you have enough variety of things coming in, but yet you got to be consistent long enough to try it to make it work. But then if you don't love it, you leave it. So I'm curious, I'm curious to know, like, at what point have you tried long enough and been consistent and discovered that it's not fruitful and it's time to move on versus, hey, I just need to put in a little extra work.

Wow. I mean, that kind of comes down to the individual, you know what I mean?

Like, you know, love it or leave it has a lot to do with, with, for me, originally that had to do with just exercise. There's a lot of trends and fads out there that everybody's, you know, and you know, if you got a, if you got a pretty good marketing team, you can fool anybody into buying your thing, you know what I mean? And then you do that thing and you can't figure out why you're miserable and hurt and bored, you know what I mean? But you keep doing it because, you know, everybody else, you know, is Doing it. I mean, if Orange Theory is your thing and you love it, then that's probably something you should continue to do. But at the same time, is Orange Theory the only thing you're ever going to do for the rest of your life? Maybe not. Maybe you might want to take a yoga or Pilates class, or maybe you want to start lifting weights. My wife is into this AKT program. It's kind of a. It's got dance in it. There's dance stuff and there's also standard cardio and resistance training kind of stuff. It's a really unique, interesting mix. And I think the reason why she loves that and also the reason why she loves Orange Theory is there's a bunch of variety there. A bunch of variety. With P90X, P90X2, P90X3, you're working on your weaknesses as much as your strengths. Right. And I, you know, my hope is that you'll love my stuff because it provides you with that variety and you understand that philosophy about fitness. You know what I mean? But that can also apply to other things in your life. Like if you're only hanging around with like your high school buddies, Right. And there's all these people that are coming into your life. Like you're, you've got this really small group. Do they provide enough stimulation in your life where you feel like you're growing and changing and experiencing new things? Right. I mean, if you went to a rock climbing gym and none of your rock, none of your buddies were rock climbers, I'm guessing you'd have a whole new experience, a whole new bunch of friends and a whole new skill level. That's where variety comes into play. And you can experiment with different things, you know, back to the. I'm going back and forth between the love and the leave it and do your best to forget the rest.

Yeah, that's exactly what I was hoping for. I mean, it's because I think it's where people are at, right. They're trying to figure out like when, Try, try everything.

Yeah. And eventually you'll find your, your niche and if, you know, and. But the thing is, like for example, plyometrics. I hate plyometrics.

Right.

I mean, I have it scheduled tomorrow night at 5:30. I invite 30 people to come. Not all 30 show up, but usually I'll get five or six or two or three or maybe sometimes as many as 10. And I only do it because I love what it does for me, like jumping up and down northeast, southwest, you know, I mean, for an hour and 10 minutes, 30, 40, 50 reps of this stuff. It's just hideous. You know, it's hiit training. It's just like. Just like you're fried and burnt. Breathing your hands around your knees in between every exercise, you're trying to go as high as you can, trying to go as deep as you can. And I'm 63 years old, and so my body's like, f you, buddy. You know what I mean? But I'm a skier, right? And so I work my legs Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I have to add that variety in there. Do I love those things? No. Am I going to leave them? No. But what I love about them is what they provide for me, right? So there's. That's the difference between, like, you know, it's not like, hey, quit everything unless you're smiling and have a good old time like you're watching a comedy show.

Yeah.

No. Sometimes, you know, you get to love what you're doing, but you also might not love what you're doing, but you love what it does for you. So the nuance there.

So that. So my. That was kind of cool because I was like, benefit, okay? So if there's a. I may. It may be difficult for me, but if there's a benefit for me, there may be a cause to hang with it.

If you understand the benefit and you don't get bored, hurt, or plateau, then it's probably something that you want to stick with because you're seeing what it's doing for you. You're getting leaner, you're getting more muscular. You're burning body fat. You're becoming more athletic. Right? Your balance, your speed, you know, it's not just cardio and resistance anymore. It's speed, balance, and range of motion, too. Right. If you look at, like, I focus more on speed, balance, and range of motion, I still do my resistance. I did it this morning. I did shoulders and arms. I did 24 sets of shoulders and arms. I'm still going to do that, and I'm still going to do basic cardio when I. When cardio comes. I understand those benefits, but I'm back to the variety again now.

Right.

So you've asked. The Pandora's Box is open now, Steven.

So, yeah, let's go.

So that's the reason why, like, my. My shoulders and arms routine today. I've never done it before. Like, you know, there's. There's about 10,000 moves in my head, and so I'll just. Two buddies walk in, they go, okay, okay, Dr. Frankenstein, what do we got today? I'll think let's do brachial, brachialis curls. Let's do bare push ups and they'll get on my tonal and do like these front up upper chest, like just wacky, you know what I mean? Wacky combinations and that, that keeps the boredom and the plateaus and the injuries away and there's that then the varieties there too, you know what I mean? So, and I, and I love kind of creating things on the spot. That's one thing that I do love and I think my friends like it. The reason why they show up over here because they don't.

What?

You know, they don't, they don't know what to expect.

It really is, it's, it really is entertainment. What are we doing today?

Yeah, we hang out and tell jokes in between and, and throw up in our mouth a little bit. It's all part of the deal, man.

You can't go, go away from a good friendship. A little, a little vomit in there.

I am kidding about that, by the way. Yeah. I'm curious.

How important is being flexible in life as also. Also being flexible in physiology? How important are those two things?

It's huge. Oh my God. It's everything, you know, I spoke about a little bit earlier in our conversation. But, but kind of a myopic, pious way of looking at the world. Just limits you from other philosophies and thoughts and methods and techniques and ideas. You know what I mean? Like my way or the highway? Like what in the world? What are you doing? You know what I mean? I mean, look, if you're happy and joyous and you got your little small crew and you're not being mean and angry and awful to other people and you feel like, you know, because if you are somebody who has that, you, you have a very limited experience in life. But maybe that's, that's just your nature and that's what you. I'm happy with it. I don't like, people just don't fly in airplanes. They ain't going, you know what I mean? They just thought of getting an airplane is just too much and they don't do it. And I'm not going to force anybody to, you know, go from here to, to Tokyo. But you know, there's, there's more people, people in this country who don't have a passport than do. Yeah. And that's really unfortunate because they don't get to see anything. You know, I mean they get to go to the Grand Canyon and the Eiffel no, no. And the.

Sorry, did they move that thing?

Yeah, it's. It's in Vegas now. I don't know if you know, but, you know, I've been to Tokyo, and I've been to South Korea, and I've been to Europe, and, you know, I've been to. From Kosovo to South Korea, you know, I mean, I've seen a lot of. It has to do with. With people who have done P90X and huge fans. So the Pentagon rang me up and said, hey, you want to go on some tours? You know, and so it's just like. That's just one example of people not taking advantage because they're scared. It's all based in fear, you know what I mean? Like, oh, I don't speak the language. What am I going to do? And how am I going to communicate with people? They overthink things, you know what I mean? Like, if you talk about. One of the things I talk about in the book is reverse engineering something. So if you're gonna go climb Kilimanjaro, right, It's not like you just hop in a plane and show up, you know, with. With a. With a suitcase and a couple ropes, maybe get to the top when you realize there's some stuff to do. So, you know, you call the right people, you talk to certain folks who do you want to do it? You plan out ahead, like, you set a date, and then you look at all the. You do all the research. I mean, you got Google and bing, you know what I mean? Like, there's a lot of ways you just get on your keyboard and there'll be answers there. You know what I mean? And so you see yourself, you know, like, the first thought, you see yourself on the top. What are you wearing? What's the temperature? What's it look like? Is it sunny or cloudy? I mean, it sounds sort of rudimentary. What the day before look like that and the day before that, all the way to the point where you think, man, you know, I want to go climb Kilimanjaro, right? So. And any kind of goal is like, that, you know what I mean? I never thought of myself to be somebody who sold over a billion dollars worth of fitness, you know what I mean? But I did. I did see myself after having read a lot of personal development books, what, my final date. A lot of people do vision boards. You know, that's one way of doing it, right? I never got that far, like, you know, putting up their favorite car and what their house would look like and blah, blah, Blah. That's a form of reverse engineering your future. And again, we don't have crystal balls, but we do have. We do have an influence on our future. So, you know, what are the things that you need to do right now just to improve your life in general?

What are the things that you need to do to give you the energy and enthusiasm to go after your goals? Energy and enthusiasm, right. And so if your life is filled with pain and fatigue, you're not going to have the energy and enthusiasm to go do what you want to do. And pain and fatigue is a constant in a lot of people's lives. You know what I mean? Bad backs, bad knees, bad shoulders. They're just exhausted. A lot of that has to do with, you know, lack of mobility, lack of exercise, poor diet. Their inflammation is everywhere. They probably have leaky gut or irritable bowel syndrome. There's all these things that are happening where you can survive. Like you can survive with irritable bowel syndrome. You can survive with leaky gut, but it creates pain and fatigue. And so forget about your goals. I just need to get to work and not to get fired so I can pay my.

I need that extra cup of coffee, please. Yeah.

So I can sit on my ass all weekend and just survive, you know, survive the week. Ick. Right, so. And by the way, exercise hard. Changing your diet hard. Quitting drinking, hard. Quitting smoking, hard. Making new friends hard. This stuff is hard. And you know what I mean? But it's worth it in the end. And then after, after, after the first, your head's hitting the wall. It's not hard anymore. It's just part of who you are. And you're a brand new person, and you're an elevated human being. You are on a different level than who you used to be, and that is that. I mean, I have 2,000 people in this Power of Four, Power Nation group. The story is coming out of that thing because it's food, fitness, supplementation, and mindfulness. Those are the four elements to it. Right? It's not just the exercise. You got to eat right? You got to let the pendulum swing in the other direction once in a while. What is your mind? What are your top 10 mindfulness practices? Write them down, do them. Meditation, by the way, napping is one. You get to write that down. Like I get to go lay down and do nothing for five, ten minutes. Yeah, yeah, because you, you know, you burn a candle at both ends. No wonder. You know what I mean? Walking your dog, playing with your kids, gardening, you know, What I mean, there's so many, you know, mindfulness isn't, you know, hour and a half lotus meditation. You know what I mean? Inside of a refrigerator. It doesn't have to be that. That painstaking. It can be anything that takes your mind off the grind. That's really what mindfulness is. And a lot of people don't do it because they feel guilty about just shutting the hell up and, you know, and doing something that's selfless, you know.

Yeah, well, it seems like there. And I deal with this a lot with a lot of folks that I've worked with. It's giving yourself permission to do. Giving yourself permission to take a nap, giving yourself permission to eat better, giving yourself permission to evaluate your relationships. Like so much of it seems like of. I'll use the word suffering because I mean, suffering to one person is as painful as it is to somebody else based on what it is. Right. So they suffer through life. Maybe it's a leaky gut. Maybe it's not having rest. Maybe it's having low flexibility, low mobility. Maybe it's limiting beliefs, any number of different things. But you're basically not giving yourself permission to move forward. And for some reason, it seems to me that people have a hard time giving themselves permission to do. Have you ran into that as well with all the programs that you have?

Absolutely. Because it's not part of their history. You know what I mean? And most people don't. Most usually when you're in, you know, elementary school, junior high school, high school, a lot of this stuff isn't even on the radar. You know what I mean? Yeah, this isn't on the radar. And then once you get into, you know, your 20s and 30s, you kind of fall into this grind and you have no history of that. And then at some point, there needs to be sort of a. Some kind of a. The Japanese call it a satori, like.

Some sort of awakening, maybe.

Awakening, tipping point. Whatever it is, something that severe has to happen before they go, wait a minute, man. None of this is working. And sometimes people get. They're too far gone. You know, they're in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, and. And there's nothing that you just don't have the wherewithal or the work ethic or the. Or the history to be able to make those kind of changes. And that's why people like me exist. And that's why the authors like this exist. And that's the reason why there's. There's Deepak Chopra and Tony Robbins and. And Gandhi, and in Christ. You know what I mean? I'm not putting myself in a category, but just people who do, you know, like, who try to. Who try to make. Make a better life for themselves and then share that with other people and then hopefully they can, you know, I mean. I mean, I have hundreds of thousands of fans.

And. And that's amazing. Really.

Yeah, it is amazing.

You know, I mean, they've read my book and they've done my programs and. And a lot of them have been. The majority knows. The minority have been consistent with that. The majority seem to kind of still struggle, you know, And I can know I'm only one guy. I can only do so much and tap into so many people. But that's what it's about. It's sort of reaching out to.

Yeah.

And we're getting back to the people in your life. Like, you know, over here I'm trying to better myself, but over here I got people that are just not good people.

Yeah.

Keep hanging out with them and I keep having conversations with them and. And they're having an influence on me.

Right.

They're talking about.

Influence goes both ways, basically.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, you got to, you know, one of the.

One of the.

I stopped caring what other people think about me a long time ago.

Yeah. How has that benefited you? Because I find that people have a hard time with that.

Yeah. I mean, I still comb my hair in the morning. You know what I mean?

I can hear there. That kind of stuff.

I don't look like Rip Van Winkle as I sit here.

Yeah. I mean, there's. There's subtlety to that statement because I still, of course, care. You know, I have to be very conscious of who I am and how I am. I mean, I was a stand up comic and a lot of my material was very blue, you know, I mean, I was a Sam Kenison guy and.

Richard Pryor, I mean, you know, like.

Irreverent Andrew Dice Lake.

Yeah, yeah. Just, you know, I mean, I was outrageous, but I was also young and immature. And I thought that the more f bombs I threw around the front, the more laughs I would get. And that turned out not to be true. You know what I mean? And so one of the things you have to do is kind of know your audience. You know, I'm very conscious of who I'm speaking with and who. And how I'm. How I'm relating to those folks and transcending. There's. I heard a great story. A friend of mine's daughter is in a Division 3 basketball team. It's a very good school, and they hired a Division 1 coach. Now, this Division 1 coach, she didn't. These. None of her recruits were at the school, right? She was just kind of thrown into this thing. And she's a mean, horrible son of a gun, you know what I mean? Like, she doesn't give any positive feedback. One girl had, like 30 points and 14 rebounds, and she screamed and yell at her at halftime because I don't know, you know what I mean? So kids are quitting the team because this is a professional mentor, coach, trainer, and she doesn't even know how to communicate with her players. That. That's just insanity to me. You know what I mean? So, you know, sometimes you're a trainer, sometimes you're a shrink, sometimes you're a therapist, sometimes you're. You know what I mean? It's kind of get, you know, read the room. That's really, really, really important. And I think I do that pretty well most of the time. And that's part of my success, I think.

Well, and I think, you know, essentially that's. That's what we're trying to unbundle is, you know, the big picture, right? The. The 11 laws that can ultimately transform or change your life. Right? It's. It's trying to break those things down. And I know we. We've touched upon on several subjects today, and I'm grateful that you've had time to come on and hang out with me for a little bit. I've had a lot of fun. I've enjoyed it a big time. I am curious, where can everybody actually go out and find the book as of right now? For those that want to take a deep dive into transform their life, well.

Let'S give Bezos another rocket ship. Okay. So.

Maybe he can give you a seat if you sell enough books, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like to get past the stratosphere at some point. Yeah. Amazon.com, the big picture. There she blows. That's where you'll find it.

Awesome. Well, as far as everybody staying connected with you, obviously, you got all this stuff going on. Where's the best place to connect with you and learn more about what's going on?

Well, Tony, HortonLife.com, that's really. You'll see my Instagram, my Twitter, my Facebook, my YouTube. All my stuff is there. If you want to buy my supplements, that's where you do it. If you want to buy my fitness equipment, I've got power stands and mats and jump ropes and med balls and whatnot. All right, there's Tony HortonLife.com. you can let me look at my little list here. Let's see. YouTube is Tony Horton. That's easy. Instagram at Tonys Horton.

You'll find me in all those places. One thing about Tony HortonLife.com. a lot of live events. We've got a. We've got a ski event coming up. Ski trip in Jackson Hole in January. End of January, if you're a skier, snowboarder. It's very intimate. It maxes out at 30 people. We've got 20 right now. 10 more spaces, so that's good. That'd be fun.

Yeah. And there might. And there might be snow. I hear maybe some snow.

Dirt.

Please. Please. Kind of hard to see without the powder, huh? Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, dude, I've enjoyed having you on, man.

Say that again, Steven.

I said I've enjoyed having you on, man. We got to do this again.

My pleasure. Yeah, I will definitely come back if you'll have me.

Rock on, brother. All right, well, have a good one. See you.

Yep. Bye.

If you love that interview, go ahead and check out this next one right here.

Much of depression, much of anxiety. Much of what we call mental illness is, in fact, a gut illness that is manifested in our, you know, in our behavior.