WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 Hey guys, I heard a great little snippet from Ben Horwitz. 2 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:11.280 We talked about how follow your passions, bad advice, and I started thinking a lot about 3 00:00:11.280 --> 00:00:16.560 it, and I've been a big advocate of not following your passion, but I wanted to take the time 4 00:00:16.560 --> 00:00:18.720 to break down a logical argument to why things bad idea. 5 00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:22.080 I feel like the argument is fairly compelling, and it's not what you think. 6 00:00:22.080 --> 00:00:24.720 It's not me just saying, hey, just go make lots of money, and that's the only thing that 7 00:00:24.720 --> 00:00:25.720 matters. 8 00:00:25.720 --> 00:00:26.720 It's not that. 9 00:00:26.720 --> 00:00:29.320 You don't understand me well at all. 10 00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:31.000 Anyways, please enjoy this. 11 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:34.760 I think that it really applies to anyone at all levels of business, because even this 12 00:00:34.760 --> 00:00:38.200 morning I was talking to a good friend of mine who's very successful. 13 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:40.600 They reached out to me and said, why do you still work? 14 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:44.440 They're struggling because they're just like, I don't need to do anything anymore, and 15 00:00:44.440 --> 00:00:46.800 I'm just kind of struggling to find my why. 16 00:00:46.800 --> 00:00:50.640 But I think that these stopping points happen at all points in life, and so sometimes 17 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:56.640 it's good to reflect, and so that's why I made this pot. 18 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:01.040 Following your passion keeps people poor, or at least poor than they ought to be, and 19 00:01:01.040 --> 00:01:03.480 maybe you feel lost right now, I get it, I've been there. 20 00:01:03.480 --> 00:01:07.000 I was dead broke in my early 20s, and I read all the self-help books I could get my hands 21 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:08.000 on. 22 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:12.560 And a lot of them said, follow your passion, and ironically, that didn't help me. 23 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:16.160 Then I started changing what I did, and my life changed as a result. 24 00:01:16.160 --> 00:01:19.560 So today, I own acquisition.com, portfolio of companies that makes more money that could 25 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:23.920 ever possibly use, and I have this gazillion dollar, I'm gonna say laboratory, but it's 26 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:25.280 not a laboratory, it's a studio. 27 00:01:25.360 --> 00:01:26.880 And nobody cares. 28 00:01:26.880 --> 00:01:31.160 But what I can help you with is potentially explain a different path that might help you 29 00:01:31.160 --> 00:01:34.800 if the following your passion thing, or not knowing what your passion even is, is something 30 00:01:34.800 --> 00:01:35.920 that's gotten in the way. 31 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:38.520 So problem number one, with follow your passion. 32 00:01:38.520 --> 00:01:41.080 It gets cause and effect backwards. 33 00:01:41.080 --> 00:01:45.560 So often we become passionate about things after we get good at them, not before. 34 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:50.320 So there's a great book by Angela Duckworth called Grit, and I'm going to summarize that 35 00:01:50.320 --> 00:01:52.920 entire thing in the next like two minutes so you don't have to read the book. 36 00:01:53.080 --> 00:01:57.280 And so she's this fancy PhD professor, did a bunch of research about like why do successful 37 00:01:57.280 --> 00:01:58.280 people succeed? 38 00:01:58.280 --> 00:01:59.680 Cause it's obviously not intelligence. 39 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:02.040 It's not all these other things that they try to isolate. 40 00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:06.400 It's not how good they are at sports, or academia, or arts, or business like. 41 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:09.600 She tried to look at all this different things, and found that there was something that was 42 00:02:09.600 --> 00:02:11.280 unique that she was able to identify. 43 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:13.000 And she referred to it as Grit. 44 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:14.000 All right. 45 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:17.800 And so there's four stages of development for Grit. 46 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:20.360 So number one is that you have some sort of initial discovery. 47 00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:25.240 So that's exposure usually by chance, maybe your brother's into cars, or your friend 48 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:27.200 really likes Pokemon, whatever, right? 49 00:02:27.200 --> 00:02:30.000 You have some chance discovery of something. 50 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:33.480 Then you develop some sort of competence through deliberate practice, the key word there's 51 00:02:33.480 --> 00:02:36.920 deliberate practice, meaning you start, you get feedback, you get better. 52 00:02:36.920 --> 00:02:38.880 You change and iterate what you do. 53 00:02:38.880 --> 00:02:42.440 Then, and this is key point number three, is that you start to recognize the value of 54 00:02:42.440 --> 00:02:44.520 your new skills that you're developing. 55 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:49.080 And then because you recognize the value of those skills, you start a second feedback 56 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:53.320 loop, which then deepens your passion, and then from that passion and those continuous 57 00:02:53.320 --> 00:02:56.840 loops of you going deeper and deeper and getting more and more repetitions, creates mastery 58 00:02:56.840 --> 00:02:58.320 and guess what? 59 00:02:58.320 --> 00:03:00.000 Now you have passion. 60 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:03.040 And so competence plus time leads to passion. 61 00:03:03.040 --> 00:03:07.440 And so that's what a very fancy PhD person came up with, even though here's the craze 62 00:03:07.440 --> 00:03:08.440 bar. 63 00:03:08.440 --> 00:03:11.560 You will hear people say follow your passion, you'll hear really smart people, very successful 64 00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:12.560 people say that. 65 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:14.720 And think about why they might say that. 66 00:03:14.720 --> 00:03:18.080 They're like, well, let me look at myself, I'm passionate about what I do. 67 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:19.720 So just do what I do. 68 00:03:19.720 --> 00:03:20.720 Be passionate. 69 00:03:20.720 --> 00:03:23.840 The thing is, it's just like saying, hey, if you're going to be rich, fly private or if 70 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:26.160 you want to be tall, go play basketball. 71 00:03:26.160 --> 00:03:27.600 It doesn't work that way. 72 00:03:27.600 --> 00:03:31.600 You get rich and then as a result of being rich, you can fly private. 73 00:03:31.600 --> 00:03:32.600 It's not that flying private. 74 00:03:32.600 --> 00:03:34.440 It's the reason that you're rich, right? 75 00:03:34.440 --> 00:03:39.760 So you will do the work to become passionate, not that being passionate is necessarily 76 00:03:39.760 --> 00:03:40.760 the thing. 77 00:03:40.760 --> 00:03:41.760 Now, here's the thing. 78 00:03:41.760 --> 00:03:44.360 Some people are like, well, some people just naturally have a passion. 79 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:46.640 No, they found the thing earlier. 80 00:03:46.640 --> 00:03:51.200 They had their chance experience when they were in their early toddler years or their 81 00:03:51.200 --> 00:03:54.000 five, six, seven, they start painting and it's like, oh, God. 82 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:55.800 So they follow the same process. 83 00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:57.360 They had some sort of chance encounter. 84 00:03:57.360 --> 00:03:59.680 They start doing a little bit of deliberate practice. 85 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:01.320 All of a sudden, they realize there's value in their skill. 86 00:04:01.320 --> 00:04:03.280 Their parents, their friends are like, oh, you're good at drawing. 87 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:04.760 Oh, you must really like this. 88 00:04:04.760 --> 00:04:07.000 And then boom, all of a sudden, deeper passion emerges. 89 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:11.400 They start identifying as it and then boom, competent skill and then passion. 90 00:04:11.400 --> 00:04:16.120 And so I say this to say that some of you, myself included, like, never really had some 91 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:18.440 thing that just magically occurred. 92 00:04:18.440 --> 00:04:22.400 You have to start stuff that you're not necessarily as good at and have broader exposure 93 00:04:22.400 --> 00:04:25.560 so that you can have a loud chance to take root. 94 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:30.560 Number two, it's too vague and assumes everyone has a clear passion and many people have 95 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:31.560 no idea. 96 00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:32.560 Right? 97 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:35.240 So it's hard to say that you like X more than Y. 98 00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:36.560 You might like both. 99 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:37.560 Right? 100 00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:38.560 And so it's very hard to quantify. 101 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:40.520 It makes it hard to decide. 102 00:04:40.520 --> 00:04:45.120 And so how good you are at something is a little bit easier to make an AB decision on. 103 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:46.120 Right? 104 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:48.280 So if I said, you know, do you like pizza more than you like tacos? 105 00:04:48.280 --> 00:04:51.080 You might be like, I don't know, like I kind of like both of them, right? 106 00:04:51.080 --> 00:04:54.920 But if I said, are you better at English than you are at math, it's probably easier for 107 00:04:54.920 --> 00:04:56.920 you to make a call there, right? 108 00:04:56.920 --> 00:05:03.720 And so preferences versus skills are easier to determine a decision path which then gives 109 00:05:03.720 --> 00:05:06.120 you clarity on what next steps to take. 110 00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:08.920 So even examples of Bill Gates tried a bunch of different things. 111 00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:09.920 We tried law. 112 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:10.920 I tried mathematics. 113 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:11.920 You tried programming. 114 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:12.920 Before he found his direction. 115 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:16.320 He was following a clear passion, but he was exploring his abilities and opportunities. 116 00:05:16.320 --> 00:05:18.400 And I'll give you a personal example. 117 00:05:18.400 --> 00:05:21.320 So I was interested like back in the day before I started business. 118 00:05:21.320 --> 00:05:23.960 I was like, well, I kind of like fro yo and I learned a little bit about that. 119 00:05:23.960 --> 00:05:26.320 I was like, I like fitness and I like test prep. 120 00:05:26.320 --> 00:05:30.400 And so I kind of had these different skill sets and these different domains, but I was 121 00:05:30.400 --> 00:05:34.280 only able to have clarity once I started and then took action on it because then the feedback 122 00:05:34.280 --> 00:05:35.280 loop begins. 123 00:05:35.280 --> 00:05:40.960 And so the objective of developing passion is to get a feedback loop started. 124 00:05:40.960 --> 00:05:44.720 So third reason that follow your passion and at the onset is terrible advice. 125 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:46.920 Liking something doesn't make you good at it. 126 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:47.920 All right. 127 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:48.920 So think about it like this. 128 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:51.680 Being passionate doesn't even guarantee that you have the skills for it. 129 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:55.200 And sometimes it's better to have a career and enjoy your passions in your free time. 130 00:05:55.200 --> 00:05:59.120 My dad used to tell me, well, if I did what I was passionate about, I'd be a bartender 131 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:00.120 at a ski slope. 132 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:03.960 I mean, he used to say it in jest, but like the point with rain clear to me, he was like, 133 00:06:03.960 --> 00:06:06.480 listen, there's things that you do to provide for your family. 134 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:09.240 There's things that you do to provide for yourself, build a future, have security. 135 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:11.240 There's things that you do with your free time. 136 00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:15.280 Now, some people are like, those things can be one and the same, but I'll tell you what. 137 00:06:15.280 --> 00:06:16.600 My dad loves what he does. 138 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:18.560 I'll tell you that he didn't start it because he loved it. 139 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:21.360 He started because he wanted to be a productive member of society. 140 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:25.240 Maybe it's a little bit that immigrant in me, but like the rest of the world isn't so 141 00:06:25.240 --> 00:06:27.440 comfortable that they're sitting in sunshine and rainbows. 142 00:06:27.440 --> 00:06:28.440 But here's the crazy part. 143 00:06:28.440 --> 00:06:31.600 Many of them are more fulfilled than we are because they don't see anything wrong with 144 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:32.600 doing the work. 145 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:36.800 Doing the work is seen as a very, like it's seen as a dutiful responsibility, seen as 146 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:37.800 a good thing. 147 00:06:37.840 --> 00:06:40.200 I provide for his family, nothing wrong with that. 148 00:06:40.200 --> 00:06:43.400 So I'll give you a little example here. 149 00:06:43.400 --> 00:06:47.080 So Warren Buffett follows the philosophy that he calls the circle of competence, which 150 00:06:47.080 --> 00:06:52.360 is focusing not on what excites you, but on what you understand best. 151 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:56.160 And his passion follows his competence, not the other way around. 152 00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:00.400 So for example, me personally, all the gym owners I know love fitness. 153 00:07:00.400 --> 00:07:02.520 But many of them were very broke. 154 00:07:02.520 --> 00:07:05.720 And so they said, hey, I should start a business around fitness because I'm passionate about 155 00:07:05.720 --> 00:07:06.720 it. 156 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:09.360 I don't know what I mean because they had to realize, oh, wait, I don't really think 157 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:10.560 about business. 158 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:13.840 And so it's like understanding fitness is like 5% of the fitness businesses, just kind 159 00:07:13.840 --> 00:07:14.840 of like, oh, I like cooking. 160 00:07:14.840 --> 00:07:15.840 I should start a restaurant. 161 00:07:15.840 --> 00:07:16.840 It's like, well, it's about 5%. 162 00:07:16.840 --> 00:07:20.880 And what's crazy is the thing that you're actually passionate about cooking or doing fitness 163 00:07:20.880 --> 00:07:24.200 has almost nothing to do with monetizing that skill. 164 00:07:24.200 --> 00:07:26.840 So here's the fourth reason I think it's bad advice. 165 00:07:26.840 --> 00:07:29.200 Follow your passion, skips the hard work part. 166 00:07:29.200 --> 00:07:33.760 So getting really good at something means practicing the boring or the hard parts too. 167 00:07:33.760 --> 00:07:37.320 So for example, I actually really like playing ping pong, something that I enjoy. 168 00:07:37.320 --> 00:07:40.440 So I decided I was like, oh, I'm going to look into what it would take to get better 169 00:07:40.440 --> 00:07:43.720 at ping pong because I do like it and I played a lot when I can. 170 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:45.880 And I started watching what some of the teams do. 171 00:07:45.880 --> 00:07:49.480 And they're like, all right, 504 hands, 500 back hands in a row. 172 00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:53.320 And I was like, oh, yeah, I don't want to do this. 173 00:07:53.320 --> 00:07:57.280 And so I may be passionate about it, but I don't want to do the work that is required 174 00:07:57.280 --> 00:08:03.360 to go from passionate to like world class or state level or whatever, right? 175 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:08.760 And so like I mentioned earlier, with grit, all of the research on deliberate practice 176 00:08:08.760 --> 00:08:11.280 shows that it's not an enjoyable process. 177 00:08:11.280 --> 00:08:16.800 I want to say this again, the research on deliberate practice, which is what is required 178 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:20.640 to gain competence, which competence is required to become passionate. 179 00:08:20.640 --> 00:08:24.360 Okay, cut that out because that's not true because we just made the point about being passionate. 180 00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:29.120 And so all the research on deliberate practice, which is required for competence and competence 181 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:34.040 is certainly required for making money and whatever career you want is that it is not 182 00:08:34.040 --> 00:08:35.720 an enjoyable process. 183 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:36.920 This is what the research showed. 184 00:08:36.920 --> 00:08:37.920 All right. 185 00:08:37.920 --> 00:08:38.920 I was actually kind of blown away by that. 186 00:08:38.920 --> 00:08:42.600 And so when you're repeating the same sales script over and over again, it's not that 187 00:08:42.600 --> 00:08:43.600 fun, right? 188 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:47.160 It's very tedious where you do the same basketball shot over and over again, right? 189 00:08:47.160 --> 00:08:50.920 Or, you know, you do the same presentation, the same speech, you do it over and over 190 00:08:50.920 --> 00:08:51.920 and over again. 191 00:08:51.920 --> 00:08:53.560 So it's not novel. 192 00:08:53.560 --> 00:08:56.120 It's just focused on tiny iterations on feedback loops. 193 00:08:56.120 --> 00:08:58.880 It's just sanding off the edges over and over and over again. 194 00:08:58.880 --> 00:09:04.120 And once all of the first level of roughness is faded off, you take a lower grade stand 195 00:09:04.120 --> 00:09:05.120 paper. 196 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:09.040 And then all of a sudden you do it another level of smoothness, like you just, you approach 197 00:09:09.040 --> 00:09:10.600 it and levels of feedback. 198 00:09:10.600 --> 00:09:14.360 A lot of skilled development is like running a marathon where you have a couple of people 199 00:09:14.360 --> 00:09:17.560 might cheer you on in the beginning for making a decision to start. 200 00:09:17.560 --> 00:09:22.360 And then for 26.1 miles, basically no one cares. 201 00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:25.320 You're running and you're like, wow, this is really long and then you're like, oh my 202 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:28.120 god, I have to do four more of these one fifths, right? 203 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:32.120 And you're like, oh, my god, this is, or five more of these one fifths is tough. 204 00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:35.640 And then at the very end, right, as you're about to accomplish, people just see you sprint 205 00:09:35.640 --> 00:09:39.720 the last bit and they're like, oh, congratulations, but you're like, it's the mundane middle. 206 00:09:39.720 --> 00:09:41.520 You have to master the middle. 207 00:09:41.520 --> 00:09:44.200 That's where all the, that's where all the gains come in. 208 00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:48.080 So I'll share a rule that has worked very well for me for developing skills. 209 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:51.280 And so this is the 100 million dollar leads book step four of outbound. 210 00:09:51.280 --> 00:09:55.120 I'll talk about this, which is reach out to them 100 per day, right? 211 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:57.240 And so I call this the rule of 100. 212 00:09:57.240 --> 00:09:59.360 I talk about it at a length a little further in the book. 213 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:03.880 But like when I did my book launch, actually for this book, I practiced the presentation 214 00:10:03.880 --> 00:10:08.160 that I did 90 times before I actually did it live, right? 215 00:10:08.160 --> 00:10:10.840 Now the rule of 100 is about doing 100 per day, right? 216 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:13.440 So it's hard for me to do the entire question 100 times a day because there's literally 217 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:17.280 not many hours, but I did it three full times per day and was a 90 minute presentation. 218 00:10:17.280 --> 00:10:20.320 It's about four and a half hours of deliberate practice per day. 219 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:24.080 And I would watch the recording and then I would tweak the presentation where I stumbled 220 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:28.040 or where I felt like I needed a better visual, whatever and I did that every single day. 221 00:10:28.040 --> 00:10:32.720 And so the idea is that it just requires significantly more work and it's also not going 222 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:33.720 to be fun. 223 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:38.240 And the more practice you have at practicing, the better you get at it. 224 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:42.560 Because I know that practice precedes excellence. 225 00:10:42.560 --> 00:10:47.200 And so the more times you start practicing and realizing that that practice leads to winning, 226 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:52.160 you start to get excited to practice, not for that practice itself, but because what 227 00:10:52.160 --> 00:10:57.120 practice means to you because you know what comes after practice, which is winning. 228 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:00.760 Here's the fifth reason that I think follow your passion is terrible advice. 229 00:11:00.760 --> 00:11:03.680 It also sets false expectations. 230 00:11:03.680 --> 00:11:06.560 So it makes you feel like work should always be fun and exciting and it isn't. 231 00:11:06.560 --> 00:11:09.400 An early mentor of mine told me, and I will never forget this. 232 00:11:09.400 --> 00:11:13.000 He said, never try to make money out of something you love. 233 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:16.040 He said, because then you'll just ruin it and turn it into work. 234 00:11:16.040 --> 00:11:18.760 And it was so interesting because he was a very successful guy. 235 00:11:18.760 --> 00:11:20.760 And of course, you're going to have people on both sides of this. 236 00:11:20.760 --> 00:11:22.720 And again, I want to be clear. 237 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:25.600 I think that you want to do things you enjoy. 238 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:30.080 I just think that it takes time of not enjoying it to get to the part where you enjoy it 239 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:32.200 because it takes time to get good. 240 00:11:32.200 --> 00:11:36.360 And so for anybody who's going to like try and blow me up on this, file means do it. 241 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:37.360 We're all going to die. 242 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:38.360 No one's going to remember us. 243 00:11:38.360 --> 00:11:42.680 But like the point is, you have to develop passion rather than follow it. 244 00:11:42.680 --> 00:11:44.360 You have to create it. 245 00:11:44.360 --> 00:11:46.480 And so I'll give you a different example. 246 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:53.440 Many Hollywood actors realize that it sucks and that many actors and careers involve more 247 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:58.480 waiting, rejection, and business administration than actually create a fulfillment. 248 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:01.560 And so Jeff Bezos talks about this where he said, everything is overhead. 249 00:12:01.560 --> 00:12:04.440 You basically have like maybe 10% or 20% or 30% of your day. 250 00:12:04.440 --> 00:12:08.320 Like if you have 30% of your day that you love, I feel like you're winning it life, right? 251 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:13.280 Because the other 70% of stuff that is required in order to get that 30% because the thing 252 00:12:13.280 --> 00:12:16.040 is, let's look at the alternative, you could just do nothing. 253 00:12:16.040 --> 00:12:20.600 And I think that if you do nothing or you hate everything you do, that there's probably 254 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:21.680 a middle path. 255 00:12:21.680 --> 00:12:25.000 And I'll also say something that I think most people will disagree with, but I'll just 256 00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:26.000 shoot. 257 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:27.160 I'm going to shoot my shot. 258 00:12:27.160 --> 00:12:32.200 I think that the way that you approach the work you do can fundamentally change the 259 00:12:32.200 --> 00:12:33.200 work itself. 260 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:37.080 And so there's this great, I think it's a parable analogy, maybe it's a story. 261 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:41.400 Basically of this man who basically swept floors for like 35 years and he just did an amazing 262 00:12:41.400 --> 00:12:44.200 job at the Japanese story. 263 00:12:44.200 --> 00:12:48.160 And the way that he approached this and was like how are you, like there's no way that 264 00:12:48.160 --> 00:12:50.400 this is fun or interesting. 265 00:12:50.400 --> 00:12:54.800 And he ends up saying like I imagine that they're paying me a million dollars every single 266 00:12:54.800 --> 00:12:56.520 day to sweep the floors. 267 00:12:56.520 --> 00:13:01.720 And so I think how would I sweep them if they paid me a million dollars every day to sweep? 268 00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:06.000 And so it changes entire perception of how to approach the work. 269 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:10.960 I saw this little post that went viral the other day of a waiter that had a tip that said 270 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:11.960 do better. 271 00:13:11.960 --> 00:13:12.960 Right? 272 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:16.400 So instead of having money there, it said basically zero dollars and the person said do 273 00:13:16.400 --> 00:13:17.400 better. 274 00:13:17.400 --> 00:13:20.600 And he said normally, you know, I could, you know, take this and be like really offended 275 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:24.760 or say these people sucked, but he decided to take it to heart. 276 00:13:24.760 --> 00:13:28.720 And so the next day he showed up to work and was like, I'm just going to try and be the 277 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:29.720 best. 278 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:30.720 He's like, I'm going to try to remember everyone's names. 279 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:32.880 I'm going to try and smile, be charismatic. 280 00:13:32.880 --> 00:13:34.280 He's like in the craziest thing happened. 281 00:13:34.280 --> 00:13:38.320 All of a sudden people were telling me I was so nice and they started giving me bigger 282 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:40.880 tips and they started talking to me about other opportunities. 283 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:44.200 And the thing is is that he was still doing the same job, but he was the way he approached 284 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:45.200 it was different. 285 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:50.800 And so like, would you say that you're, was he, did he become passionate about his work 286 00:13:50.800 --> 00:13:56.840 or did he just decide to see the larger picture that the work we do works on us more than 287 00:13:56.840 --> 00:13:58.400 we work on it? 288 00:13:58.400 --> 00:14:03.280 That leads me naturally to the sixth reason that I think follow your passion is terrible 289 00:14:03.280 --> 00:14:04.280 advice. 290 00:14:04.280 --> 00:14:06.280 It also just ignores money realities, right? 291 00:14:06.280 --> 00:14:08.680 Just because you love something doesn't mean you can make enough money doing it. 292 00:14:08.680 --> 00:14:11.080 So just look at American idol tryouts, right? 293 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:13.200 Nobody try to see them sing, right? 294 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:14.800 Even though those people love it. 295 00:14:14.800 --> 00:14:19.520 And so I remember for me early in my career, I wasn't driven really by a specific passion. 296 00:14:19.520 --> 00:14:21.400 I just didn't really want to be broke anymore. 297 00:14:21.400 --> 00:14:25.560 As terrible as the sounds like people used to ask me like, what's the mission of gym launch? 298 00:14:25.560 --> 00:14:29.040 The mission of gym launch when I started gym launch was Alex not being broke. 299 00:14:29.040 --> 00:14:30.800 That was the mission of gym launch. 300 00:14:30.800 --> 00:14:36.680 Now here's the thing as I developed the business, it did become to take an industry from its 301 00:14:36.680 --> 00:14:37.920 needs to its feet. 302 00:14:37.920 --> 00:14:42.440 But at the moment when I started gym launch, I just lost everything for the second time. 303 00:14:42.440 --> 00:14:46.160 And I was like, I am not doing this again. 304 00:14:46.160 --> 00:14:48.600 That's like, this has to work, right? 305 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:52.000 And so I say this that like a lot of people have a lot of romances and but it's just not 306 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:53.160 based in reality. 307 00:14:53.160 --> 00:14:55.760 And people doctor their memories. 308 00:14:55.760 --> 00:14:58.760 They look back and it feels different than when you're going through it. 309 00:14:58.760 --> 00:15:00.320 And I'll give you a simple example of this. 310 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:03.920 When you look back on some of the hardest things you've gone through, you probably have 311 00:15:03.920 --> 00:15:06.840 a sense of pride for having gotten through them. 312 00:15:06.840 --> 00:15:09.480 The thing is that when you actually think about what it was like when you're doing it, 313 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:10.480 it sucked. 314 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:12.440 But you're proud in retrospect. 315 00:15:12.440 --> 00:15:14.680 And so if someone says, hey, you know what's it like? 316 00:15:14.680 --> 00:15:16.040 It's like, oh, you know what? 317 00:15:16.040 --> 00:15:18.000 You just got to enjoy the moment. 318 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:19.000 You got to revel in it. 319 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:20.480 It's like, you're not reveling in it. 320 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:21.480 It sucks. 321 00:15:21.480 --> 00:15:25.920 But you keep going, you persist because of what you know it's building inside of you. 322 00:15:25.920 --> 00:15:29.680 The skill sets so that you can persevere at a higher level. 323 00:15:29.680 --> 00:15:32.400 So I'll give you a business example, all right? 324 00:15:32.400 --> 00:15:36.560 So there's a very harsh reality of supply and demand, all right? 325 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:40.720 And so if your passion is something that a lot of people like to do, there's probably 326 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:43.120 a lot of people wanting to do it. 327 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:45.000 And so that means there's a lot of supply. 328 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:48.840 And so it's going to be super, super competitive, think acting, think singing, think painting. 329 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:53.200 And so it might not be the most realistic path for making money. 330 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:56.400 And like one of my own early mentors said, it's like, well, what stops you from just 331 00:15:56.400 --> 00:16:00.040 painting when you want to paint and then making money when you want to make money? 332 00:16:00.040 --> 00:16:03.880 Hey, guys, if you know somebody who's trying to figure out some season of life, like they're 333 00:16:03.880 --> 00:16:06.360 about to make a career change, they're about to start a new business, maybe they're 334 00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:09.000 five years, 10 years into business and they're deciding whether they want to keep doing 335 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:10.000 it. 336 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:11.000 A teenager perhaps. 337 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:12.000 I do probably curse. 338 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:14.440 So maybe it's not the best person to refer to, but it would be the world to me. 339 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:17.120 If you sent it to them, this podcast only grows off word of mouth. 340 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:19.280 And so your word of mouth matters to me. 341 00:16:19.280 --> 00:16:20.280 So thank you. 342 00:16:20.280 --> 00:16:21.280 Seven. 343 00:16:21.280 --> 00:16:24.480 The reason I think that follow your advice is follow your advice. 344 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:27.080 Follow your advice is bad advice is bad passion. 345 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:28.840 Follow your passion is bad advice, all right? 346 00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:32.840 Is that it misses often more important life things, all right? 347 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:39.240 So good work needs decent pay, good co-workers, good recognition, security and purpose, all 348 00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:40.240 right? 349 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:44.520 And so the environment you work in will absolutely affect how much you like it and how long 350 00:16:44.520 --> 00:16:45.520 you can endure it. 351 00:16:45.520 --> 00:16:46.520 All right. 352 00:16:46.520 --> 00:16:50.360 So this is a quote from my good friend, Sharon, Sirvazza. 353 00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:53.440 In my 20s, I thought it was about the destination. 354 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:56.600 In my 30s, I thought it was about the journey. 355 00:16:56.600 --> 00:16:59.880 And in my 40s, I realized it's about the company. 356 00:16:59.880 --> 00:17:01.240 And I thought that was so profound. 357 00:17:01.240 --> 00:17:03.400 It's like in the beginning, you're always focused like, how do I get there? 358 00:17:03.400 --> 00:17:04.400 How do I get there? 359 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:05.400 How do I get there? 360 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:06.400 And then a little later, you're like, you know what? 361 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:07.800 It's about enjoying the process. 362 00:17:07.800 --> 00:17:10.080 But then later, you're like, well, how do I enjoy the process? 363 00:17:10.080 --> 00:17:14.960 Well, if I've got the people I like around me, it makes almost any process enjoyable. 364 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:19.280 And so there's other components that factor in the overall soup of what you want to do 365 00:17:19.280 --> 00:17:22.440 in your life and what you actually spend your time on. 366 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:23.760 And so I'll give you two examples. 367 00:17:23.760 --> 00:17:29.600 So imagine you've got one career where you do what you like, but it's terrible work environments. 368 00:17:29.600 --> 00:17:30.600 You hate all the people. 369 00:17:30.600 --> 00:17:34.680 You actually don't like the thing you're producing, but you like the work that you do, 370 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:36.320 but not what the outcome is, right? 371 00:17:36.320 --> 00:17:37.720 So it's for moving purpose. 372 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:40.920 And it doesn't allow you to do some of the other things that you enjoy. 373 00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:43.040 Well, that would probably be pretty painful. 374 00:17:43.040 --> 00:17:46.840 On the flip side, if you had a job where you're like, okay, I don't like this component 375 00:17:46.840 --> 00:17:49.200 of my job, but I like literally everything else. 376 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:51.920 Well, you'd probably have a more filling life that way. 377 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:53.280 Now I will zoom out for a moment. 378 00:17:53.280 --> 00:17:56.880 If we want to break the world for a second, you don't need to have a filling life. 379 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:58.520 Who made that demand at the universe? 380 00:17:58.520 --> 00:18:04.280 So I'll give you something we're like, well, life should be, life should be fulfilling. 381 00:18:04.280 --> 00:18:07.120 I should, life should make me happy, right? 382 00:18:07.120 --> 00:18:08.440 You just demand of the universe. 383 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:11.600 And by doing that, by the way, you create space between you and the outcome, which means 384 00:18:11.600 --> 00:18:12.920 you'll never achieve it. 385 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:13.920 Anyways. 386 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:18.640 So eighth reason why follow your passion is terrible advice is that it doesn't allow 387 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:20.040 flexibility in a changing world. 388 00:18:20.040 --> 00:18:21.040 This is a big one. 389 00:18:21.040 --> 00:18:22.040 All right. 390 00:18:22.040 --> 00:18:23.040 And a changing you. 391 00:18:23.040 --> 00:18:27.800 So think about like this, what did you like when you were 12? 392 00:18:27.800 --> 00:18:31.240 Probably different things than you like when you're 22, which I can promise you is different 393 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:35.760 than things that you like at 32 and probably different than things that you like at 52. 394 00:18:35.760 --> 00:18:42.160 And so the thing is, is that the world cares also about different things 20 years later. 395 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:46.600 And so you are going to change and the world is going to change about what you like and 396 00:18:46.600 --> 00:18:48.160 about what it likes. 397 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:53.120 And so if you say follow your passion, what if you change the world change as that's happening? 398 00:18:53.120 --> 00:18:56.960 And so being obsessed with your one thing doesn't give you the flexibility to evolve. 399 00:18:56.960 --> 00:19:00.720 And for example, you probably will date different types of people in your 20s versus what 400 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:04.880 you do in your 30s or 40s if you're not married at that point. 401 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:07.560 On the other hand, if you were really into making my space pages, that was something 402 00:19:07.560 --> 00:19:10.000 you're really passionate about, well, the world moved on. 403 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:12.240 And so like either you're going to move on or the world moves on. 404 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:15.320 And if you always obsess about that one thing, then it's like that might change. 405 00:19:15.320 --> 00:19:18.720 And if you burn all these boats around this one passion, it assumes that it will be there 406 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:19.720 forever. 407 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:21.360 And that's not reality. 408 00:19:21.360 --> 00:19:24.360 Here's the ninth reason that I think follow your passion is terrible advice. 409 00:19:24.360 --> 00:19:27.160 It's self-focused rather than others focused. 410 00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:30.680 And there's tons of research that says that people who focus on others are the happiest. 411 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:35.280 And so we tend to look back and are proud of the hard things that we overcame, especially 412 00:19:35.280 --> 00:19:38.080 in service of other people or a larger mission. 413 00:19:38.080 --> 00:19:41.120 So for me, I would make real business education accessible for everyone. 414 00:19:41.120 --> 00:19:43.640 And the thing is, is that I don't always want to record content. 415 00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:47.480 I don't always want to think about what we're going to talk about today or what we're going 416 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:48.480 to put out. 417 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:51.720 But the service of that mission is very valuable for me. 418 00:19:51.720 --> 00:19:53.200 And there's a different body research. 419 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:56.640 I can't tell you where it is so you can choose to believe it or not. 420 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:01.240 But that people can actually endure a significantly larger amount of pain for other people. 421 00:20:01.240 --> 00:20:02.240 So hear me out. 422 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:05.880 So if you got hooked up to an electric shock machine and they said, cool, we're just going 423 00:20:05.880 --> 00:20:08.600 to turn this up and just tell us when to stop. 424 00:20:08.600 --> 00:20:09.600 People stop. 425 00:20:09.600 --> 00:20:13.800 But if you tell the person that their loved one is in the other room and that every shock 426 00:20:13.800 --> 00:20:20.960 that you take, they don't have to take, people's tolerance for pain goes up like tenfold. 427 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:24.880 And so to me, I see that as an allegory for how we can choose to live our lives. 428 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:27.840 So that person who is experiencing the pain for let's say their loved one, their wife, 429 00:20:27.840 --> 00:20:32.600 their spouse, their daughter, their son, do you think that in that moment when they feel 430 00:20:32.600 --> 00:20:35.840 like they're shielding the storm from the people they love that they don't feel like 431 00:20:35.840 --> 00:20:37.600 they have purpose? 432 00:20:37.600 --> 00:20:39.000 But objectively, they're suffering. 433 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:40.960 See how there's layers to this? 434 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:46.240 And so the idea is, I think that saying follow your passion is very self-interested. 435 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:51.200 And it actually doesn't allow you to plug into a much stronger motivation or fuel. 436 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:53.520 And so I would prefer follow your purpose. 437 00:20:53.520 --> 00:20:55.880 And so the fancy, if you want to Google that and find out more about it, it's called 438 00:20:55.880 --> 00:21:00.560 the martyrdom effect, but basically you can handle way more pain in the service of others, 439 00:21:00.560 --> 00:21:01.560 which is wild. 440 00:21:01.560 --> 00:21:04.920 But the thing is, if you're like, man, I'm struggling to get motivated, it's because 441 00:21:04.920 --> 00:21:09.000 you're trying to get motivated for you or I think get motivated for other people. 442 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:11.440 And I know that sounds a little fufu, but at the end of the day, like the research 443 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:12.440 of the research, right? 444 00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:15.040 We're built this way or social creatures. 445 00:21:15.040 --> 00:21:21.120 And it would make sense that people get applauded for sheltering and protecting and serving 446 00:21:21.120 --> 00:21:22.680 the community. 447 00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:27.000 And I think that that's so woven into our culture or most cultures that we're willing 448 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:28.560 to do so much for it. 449 00:21:28.560 --> 00:21:32.120 I can tell you right now, I absolutely can take more pain for Layla than I can for me. 450 00:21:32.120 --> 00:21:35.280 And just replace Layla with whatever that thing is that you love. 451 00:21:35.280 --> 00:21:40.280 I want to tell you the story because I think it's, it's a parable that really resonates 452 00:21:40.280 --> 00:21:41.280 deeply with me. 453 00:21:41.280 --> 00:21:45.240 And it's similar to that Japanese man who sweeps the floors, which is a traveler came 454 00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:48.120 upon three stone cutters working at a quarry. 455 00:21:48.120 --> 00:21:50.400 And so he asked them what they were doing. 456 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:53.400 The first stone cutter replies, I'm cutting stone. 457 00:21:53.400 --> 00:21:54.400 I'm exhausted. 458 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:55.400 It's back breaking work. 459 00:21:55.400 --> 00:21:56.400 I'm miserable. 460 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:59.440 He goes to the second stone cutter and he says, you know, what are you doing here? 461 00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:03.480 He says, I'm earning a living to support my family. 462 00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:05.640 And you know, cool. 463 00:22:05.640 --> 00:22:08.680 He goes to the third stone cutter and he says, what are you doing? 464 00:22:08.680 --> 00:22:13.520 The third stone cutter smiles and he says, I'm building a cathedral that's going to inspire 465 00:22:13.520 --> 00:22:17.240 people for generations that my grandchildren and their grandchildren are going to be able 466 00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:19.960 to go to and worship our Lord. 467 00:22:19.960 --> 00:22:28.120 And the thing is is that all three stone cutters, all three men are doing the same work. 468 00:22:28.120 --> 00:22:33.120 But fundamentally, having an entirely different experience of what that work means to them. 469 00:22:33.120 --> 00:22:38.640 And so that same work that you do that right now might feel terrible can be a job. 470 00:22:39.320 --> 00:22:44.680 That work can be a career or that work can be a calling simply depending on your own 471 00:22:44.680 --> 00:22:46.480 perspective. 472 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:52.480 And so maybe just do what the world wants that you're good at it and then allow yourself 473 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:57.160 the time to become passionate about it along the way as you get better. 474 00:22:57.160 --> 00:23:01.240 And so passion happens as a consequence, not a requirement. 475 00:23:01.240 --> 00:23:03.760 So if you're like, that's all well and good Alex, but what do I do? 476 00:23:03.760 --> 00:23:05.600 Well, big operationalization fan. 477 00:23:05.600 --> 00:23:07.440 And so what do you do instead of following your passion? 478 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:11.920 So here's a practical action oriented framework that will invert that advice into positive 479 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:13.360 steps that anyone can take. 480 00:23:13.360 --> 00:23:16.120 Number one, start with curiosity, not passion. 481 00:23:16.120 --> 00:23:19.900 So begin by exploring things that peak your interest, even moderately, just like Duckworth 482 00:23:19.900 --> 00:23:23.480 Research showed, most big six-essual people didn't start with a burning passion. 483 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:26.920 They began with just simple curiosity that they were willing to investigate. 484 00:23:26.920 --> 00:23:27.920 They were willing to follow up. 485 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:31.520 A different way of saying that is just something that you might be interested in, right? 486 00:23:31.520 --> 00:23:34.120 The second is embrace the learning process. 487 00:23:34.120 --> 00:23:40.000 So commit to developing the skills and competence first, get good first, recognize that mastery, 488 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.720 precedes passion, getting good, precedes enjoying it, not the other way around. 489 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:50.400 And set skill specific building goals rather than kind of waiting for motivation to strike 490 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:52.560 because I promise you you're going to wait for a long time. 491 00:23:52.560 --> 00:23:54.840 Number three, value your existing ability. 492 00:23:54.840 --> 00:23:58.080 So assess what you're already good at and then consider building from there. 493 00:23:58.080 --> 00:24:02.200 Like Warren Buffett says, look at the circle of competence, focus on the areas of natural 494 00:24:02.200 --> 00:24:03.200 advantages. 495 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:08.160 Some things you naturally have done more early on in your life, just do more of those things. 496 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:12.680 Four, commit to the deliberate process, burn the boats, and I define commitment as the elimination 497 00:24:12.680 --> 00:24:17.080 of alternatives, meaning except that meaningful progress requires hard work and fundamentals 498 00:24:17.080 --> 00:24:18.600 might not feel exciting, right? 499 00:24:18.600 --> 00:24:21.080 Like Olympic athletes do so many repetitive drills. 500 00:24:21.080 --> 00:24:22.080 Thelps used to talk about it. 501 00:24:22.080 --> 00:24:23.080 It's eight hours of swimming. 502 00:24:23.080 --> 00:24:24.080 Can you imagine that? 503 00:24:24.080 --> 00:24:28.920 Just lap after lap, after lap, after lap, after lap, after lap, after lap, after lap. 504 00:24:28.920 --> 00:24:32.960 It just so many repetitions and just understand the excellence requires practice and the boring 505 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:34.240 parts are included. 506 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:36.680 Five, set realistic expectations. 507 00:24:36.680 --> 00:24:40.800 So recognize that all work involves tedious aspects, stuff that sucks, right? 508 00:24:40.800 --> 00:24:45.640 So instead of expecting constant enjoyment, aim for overall satisfaction in meaning. 509 00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:50.640 And just remember that even dream jobs, like Basis said, have administrative tasks, challenges, 510 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:51.640 they have overhead, right? 511 00:24:51.640 --> 00:24:52.640 They have stuff that sucks. 512 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:54.200 It's just part of the life. 513 00:24:54.200 --> 00:24:56.880 Six, take the reality of money seriously, right? 514 00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:01.520 Like money will not bring you happiness, but it can help you avoid pain. 515 00:25:01.520 --> 00:25:06.520 Now I also have a little bit of a nuggy on this, which is that people do get happier 516 00:25:06.520 --> 00:25:09.160 up to a certain amount of money and then it stops. 517 00:25:09.160 --> 00:25:14.120 Alex's theory on this, spending money is a skill. 518 00:25:14.120 --> 00:25:17.280 Most people can only learn how to spend money up to here and then they don't learn how 519 00:25:17.280 --> 00:25:18.560 to spend it effectively. 520 00:25:18.560 --> 00:25:22.360 I believe that money can continue to make you happier as you develop the skill of spending 521 00:25:22.360 --> 00:25:28.160 in a way that gets you better returns, unintangible returns rather than tangible returns. 522 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:32.200 So if you have to pick between two different things, follow the path that might have higher 523 00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:33.360 income running. 524 00:25:33.360 --> 00:25:36.280 If you're about even on both, follow the money. 525 00:25:36.280 --> 00:25:39.200 Next, prioritize other environmental factors, all right? 526 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:40.800 So if you want to change your life, change your environment. 527 00:25:40.800 --> 00:25:42.200 I've said this a hundred times. 528 00:25:42.200 --> 00:25:45.920 But if you want, if you're like, I'm really getting, I'm struggling to do this, you know, 529 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:50.040 to find this passion, go to a place where other people are passionate about it, all right? 530 00:25:50.040 --> 00:25:53.720 That environment in itself will create multiple feedback loops because all we're really looking 531 00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:57.800 back for here is like just be very real is you just want to find a feedback loop. 532 00:25:57.800 --> 00:25:58.960 That's all we're looking for. 533 00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:02.320 You just want to find a place where you can do something and get someone that says that 534 00:26:02.320 --> 00:26:03.600 sucked, that was terrible. 535 00:26:03.600 --> 00:26:06.000 This is what you need to do better or different. 536 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:09.280 And so finding a place where you have supportive colleagues or you've got supportive people 537 00:26:09.280 --> 00:26:12.640 who are all kind of in pursuit of the same thing, all trying to get better, it will change 538 00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:13.640 your life. 539 00:26:13.640 --> 00:26:15.920 Next, allow your passions to evolve. 540 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:18.240 So stay open to developing new interests throughout your life. 541 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:19.400 You don't have to be stuck with one thing. 542 00:26:19.400 --> 00:26:21.240 If you change your mind, that's okay, right? 543 00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:24.000 Your four year old self will likely have different passions than your 20 year old self. 544 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:28.520 You'll probably find different people interesting at 40 as you do as 20. 545 00:26:28.520 --> 00:26:30.360 And the world will also change too. 546 00:26:30.360 --> 00:26:31.840 So having that flexibility is important. 547 00:26:31.840 --> 00:26:36.840 And so committing to this one passion forever, it's too heavy of a decision, I think. 548 00:26:36.840 --> 00:26:40.320 And so if you come into it saying this might change, we'll allow you to take the first 549 00:26:40.320 --> 00:26:43.280 step because it's not this has to be the perfect pick. 550 00:26:43.280 --> 00:26:44.760 This has to be the one thing forever. 551 00:26:44.760 --> 00:26:46.920 It's like, it's too big, right? 552 00:26:46.920 --> 00:26:50.360 Just shrink it down like, all right, well, I'm kind of interested in this for now. 553 00:26:50.360 --> 00:26:51.360 So start, right? 554 00:26:51.360 --> 00:26:52.360 Right? 555 00:26:52.360 --> 00:26:54.240 And then finally, connect your work to serving others. 556 00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:56.720 And I think this is arguably one of the biggest ones just because there's so much research 557 00:26:56.720 --> 00:27:00.560 that supports it is that you just want to find ways on how your work benefits other people. 558 00:27:00.560 --> 00:27:02.520 You look at think about the stone cutters, right? 559 00:27:02.520 --> 00:27:04.440 All three guys do the same work. 560 00:27:04.440 --> 00:27:09.120 One of them feels like so incredibly passionate about this because it's helping the world. 561 00:27:09.120 --> 00:27:10.120 It's helping his family out. 562 00:27:10.120 --> 00:27:12.000 And he's getting paid while he does it. 563 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:15.160 And the crazy part is that all of them are doing the same work. 564 00:27:15.160 --> 00:27:21.280 And so the easiest way to become passionate about what you do is to choose. 565 00:27:21.280 --> 00:27:23.600 To become passionate about what you do. 566 00:27:23.600 --> 00:27:27.600 And find a reason this larger than yourself to pursue it and that passion and your ability 567 00:27:27.600 --> 00:27:32.640 to withstand the pain because the pain now has purpose behind it, rather than being meaningless.