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We scour the planet to find the biggest names in Hell creativity Wellness strategy here and Foreman's management more. This is going to be crazy.
This Jason overcome red met on Gator coach.
Hi, this is Cal Newport author of deep work day. This is Ryan Parker
from the Canadian national women's rugby team
indeed. I'll be coming to see you.
Big questions. Oh man, this is such a great question actually landed right on the mark another really good question. Great talking to you some other dudes probably a little bit more in depth with you and that I have in the book have died like five hundred interviews, but nobody asked me about this. Wow. I'm sometimes we talk about darts. There we go. Can I tell you Dina Gary's favorite sport is darts. How athletic is that? I think it's
Interesting director favorite but I won't be judgmental. Look. It's the only sport that I know of her a prerequisite is a pint of beer and a cigarette. Come on. Let's be honest the Mojo radio show.
We don't take ourselves too.
Seriously. You try throwing half a dozen dots in a row and just see how you go. We hope you will welcome back to work to the Mojo radio show. Hey everybody and welcome to season seven on the Mojo radio show the season.
Seven ready to rock and roll is everybody on board the bus IP afternoon chaps nice to be here. Of course. See you've taken up station at the back of the bus as per usual as per the last six seasons Lola you and the house hello boys sounding as sassy as Eva and the driver of the Big Red Bus looking bit larger with the Christmas pudding Robbo. Welcome back a Christmas. Ham. I actually have my own this year. Did you try that Chili Bomb sauce? Did he sent through for the
D summer speaking of Christmas lunch. I actually hand on my heart had it on my Christmas hand. It's beautiful. Holy hell. It's got some kick to it. It did. Luckily. The pool was right behind me man. That had some fire in the belly. I must say the other thing that kept me going through the Christmas period on the fire ground doing a lot of overnight deployments in the wee hours of the morning was rev. He's dip into your into your pack pull out a rabies get you through until dawn to the coffee cart arrives. Yeah indeed.
Solutely yet. They there. Well, I think we've spoken about that the The Stave staple diet of the with ER Doc's the with the dice shave you up again this year. Yeah, we're up again this year. It's all happening. I got another year another year another wheelchair. I lie about another six weeks and we're on to kick us off buses in gear. It's out of the shed ready to rock and roll remarkable fact robbo's remarkable facts. Let's go remarkable facts / book review actually did something useful with my holidays this year.
I picked up a book by whoo a remarkable fact, would you actually reading a book that congratulations? We actually stop the segment right there because that is remarkable the fact you read our book. Did you finish it or just ideas couple chapters? I did and actually even more remarkably is it might be a book that you know about I don't know. It's by a guy called Tom Cooley cor L ey and it's called change your habits change your life. We're not. Okay. So what Tom did is he survey 233 self-made millionaires
in the United States and compared their habits to 128 lower earning individuals people who earned around 35,000 a year or so in America just to sort of get an idea of what was the difference between these people who, you know made a million and those who didn't so these are these were some of his findings that I've scribbled down firstly one that you'll appreciate they get up early nearly 50% of the Millionaire's got out of bed at least three hours before they work days.
Audit second one was they read a lot 88% of his wealthy respondents devote at least 30 minutes a day to self-education the third one. They spent 15 to 30 minutes each day focused on thinking they make exercise a priority they spend time with people who Inspire them and one of his quotes which I actually liked by you as only as successful as those you frequently associated with and six they pursue their own goals. He says most self-made millionaires plan to
Rich and then make it happen and they get enough sleep. So we all know about that. There's no secret there. And the last one which I which is another good one is they all have multiple incomes, but the average was three income streams before they became millionaires. So that was that was a couple of nights were well spent I thought nice good good book summary remarkable the Mojo radio show. So today's guests.
I have been chasing for six years and I still remember I was on holidays on an island by the pool finish. This guy's book and after finishing it at the very end of the book. He had actually dropped in his email address and said, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please contact me. His name is Derek severs. He wrote a book called anything you want. I really like the book it is.
One of the books that I read again each year to his credit. I wrote to Derek some six six seasons ago. He was one of the very first guests I ever wrote to and he replied and he said I'm programming now's not a good time. I'm completely focused on this. I'm not doing anything keep in touch and then I wrote to him each year probably to two or three times a year to say is now a good time and he always wrote back and said now is not a good time that he wrote and he
done a brand-new book. In fact, he done three new books and I wrote to him to say would you like to talk about the books? You said? No, I wouldn't like to talk about the books because I don't like coming on shows to promote and blow my own trumpet, but I will come on your show. So this show was literally six years in the making and I've got to say we kept this show back to start season 7 because it is quite special. It is about resilience persistence because those things can show themselves in lots of different ways. Not just a sport.
Field or on the business boardroom table. So without further Ado would you please welcome is to Derek severs to the Mojo radio show. Thanks for the call when people Google you Tim Ferriss Ryan holiday Simon sinek at the names that come up around you. What do you think you guys all have in common?
Probably a name to keep doing things in the public eye. I found that to be a difference when I was living in New Zealand it was
Very easy there to just turn inward do things for myself.
And I saw difference between my between that and my previous focus of constantly doing things for the public in the public keeping it out in the public eye like trying to get a broad reach to what I'm doing and I think it takes an extra effort to like put your ass on the public line instead of just your your private achievements.
You know, it's like you're putting yourself out there for critique more. So it's a bit of a pain like I don't completely enjoy it but it seems to be it seems to be worth it. You know what I mean? Like it's that's the difference between just being a private success to yourself and being more of a public success
in what you do. What's interesting. You see you have said that you have a lack of interest in the existing game.
Wait,
is this stem from feedback? What is this desired to not play the existing game that the majority want to play yet. The majority don't want to wear. Where's that come from as a stem
from I can think it's two things for one. I think I remember my background that really shaped me was in the music business. So from the age of 14 years old. I wanted to be a famous rock stars at least a successful musician.
And so my heroes were people like Prince Miles Davis, but even like watching long careers of people like David Bowie, whatever they were people that always would do things differently from what everyone else was doing. And that was like the strategy to success in the entertainment world is usually to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing if you do what everyone else
Is doing then you're like yet another one of those little names that passes by on the radio that just sounds exactly their the innovators than their the followers. Right? And if you want to be an innovator, if you really want to call attention to yourself and do something cool to people pay attention to then you look at what the rest of the world is doing and you do the opposite. So that's part of it, but then it also
Comes from the fact that I've just been happy since like the mid late 90s. I've just been happy with where I'm at in life. Like I've kind of ticked off most of my boxes for what I wanted out of Life by the late 90s, like I achieved it. So everything after that just feels like
It's kind of light-hearted. It's kind of it's going to see crazy. But you know what the saying is whatever. It's like I'm good. Everything else is just dessert so I don't need to do anything. I don't want to do.
All right, so I look around it what I don't like about the world and I don't do it. You know, like I don't know. I've never liked TV. I'm not going to watch TV just too so I can chat at the water cooler about Game of Thrones. Fuck that. I'd rather reclaim that 300 hours of my life or whatever it is. And yes same with you know people who are all into Instagram or whatever. I just look at that like, oh no that just that looks kind of doesn't look like fun to me. It looks good.
Disgusting it so I won't do it
do it. There's a couple of stories that I want a recount with you about people and kind of people and Circumstance that shaped you just were to use the word who shaped who you are and I just want you to talk to about the circus and what does the circus towards you early on in your when you're starting out in life in work and business?
Des take us back to that time in the circus and the greatest lesson you learned from that time
when I was 18 years old. I got a call from a booking agent. I was living in Boston. I was going to Berklee College of Music in Boston and it was just a random call I got to do a gig is like my very first paying gig ever it was somebody was off the booking agent called offering $75 to play at a pig show in Vermont and it was my first paying gig I was 18 years.
Hell yeah paying gig or right? It's like even though it was like a $50 round-trip bus ticket to get to the gig and back and it was an all day thing. So, you know, you'd sail I called all day to make $25 doesn't sound like a good deal, but I was psyched because it was my first paying gig. So yeah, I went to a pig show in Vermont and played for a few hours and came home. And so that's how I got hired to play at the circus is because that booking agent the booked me also ran a
circus so
It was just something that kind of popped into my lap, but get to interesting lessons came out of that. The first one was I'll call it the I prepared some thoughts before are called thinking about the subject of your show and why people listen to the show and I made what I call the Mojo lessons. So Mojo lesson here is about over.
acting so
in the circus when I first started the gig they needed me to be be not just the musician but also like the ringleader MC. So I'd get up there on stage and I go hey everybody, you know, welcome to the circus. I hope you liked the show today. We're about to begin and I'd go backstage and they say no you need to be more Sensational you're being too casual. So I'd get up on stage the next time ago. Hey everybody Welcome to the circus.
I hope you like it. Let's go backstage and they say no be more Sensational be more entertaining. Come on. You're the ringleader. You're the MC. And so I went up there kind of aggressively rebelliously kind of like to go over the top go I'll show them but it was done. I meant to go too far. It's good. You know what? I mean? Like I did it to punish. You know that you that Thing You Do ever since you're a little kid when somebody just do something and you kind of anger you
do it over the top. So I went up there and I said, please Denim and what you're about to see is what about Sensational things you've ever seen do that. Well, you're about to have Dolphins coming out of the sky. We're going to have Bears coming jumping through hoops. You're going to see this man. We're ready for the circus and I went backstage and they said there now, that's what we want. It worked and it was great. So from that day on like that became my stage Persona was like this overacting over the top.
Version of fake it till you make it right then years later. I was playing guitar for a Japanese pop star ryuichi Sakamoto. I had moved to New York City and and got this random gig offered to me and I said, yes, so I went to Japan playing guitar for Sky. That's like the Peter Gabriel of Japan and this was the opposite where they put us in these black Armani suits. No not our money what
the forget the designers name and I would get up there on stage and I love this guy's music. So I'm up stay on stage front of 10,000 people playing guitar and I'd go backstage and they'd say you are moving too much. Could you please try to stay still and I'd say okay and I'd get up on stage the next day and I I'd be a little more still and they they say backstage afterwards like no we need you to be much more still.
And so once again, I went I did the overacting I went over the top like I'll show them I'm gonna be a fucking statue may be absolutely still on that'll show them that I went on stage and I just like did not move. I'd like just played my guitar and didn't move an inch and I went backstage and they said their thank you that is exactly what we want. I was like, all right, but it feels like there's a life lesson in here. Like we've all heard the fake it till you make it advice.
but I think sometimes if you really want something and you're just not getting the results try overacting
this is interesting and I'm gonna take a little off ramp here because you just use the word stage Persona and I've heard you quote Kurt Vonnegut who said you are what you pretend to be when you think today Derek of
Your own Persona today based on that quote. What are you pretending to be
today? Nobody's ever asked me this. This is there's a funny thing among.
Famous people, which is your last name, if you use the full version of your name, that is your famous self.
And then when you're just among friends you only use your first name or your nickname. All right, so fresh like I'm friends with Tim Ferriss and for example, and so people joke when you're with him. That's like oh look Tim Ferris says I should do this. It's like when you say the last name, you're referring to the public persona.
And I think that's a really ideally I think that everybody I wish that everybody had a like a stage name, you know like Bono's Bono from U2. I think his real name is Paul hewson or something. So if somebody calls him Bono, he knows that they're referring to the public Persona. He's created.
And that has two advantages for one if somebody attacks the public Persona, so like a bomb has just full of himself. He's a blowhard. He's a and it's like they're not talking about Paul. They're talking about Bono. So it's like all right. Somebody can attack it all you want and it's as if you drew a drawing of something in somebody's attacking your drawing, you know, it's not you it's something you made but then it also
Works for compliments and praise it helps you from getting too full of yourself because if somebody stealing is saying oh my God Bono's it genius Bono's like modern-day savior. It's like OK, they're still praising the drawing you made it's not the real you so it's a separation. So I wish that we all had stage name. It's actually advise. My kids only seven years old, but it just came up last year. It's like for the very first time he was about to create some kind of
Profile on I think like a Minecraft thing or whatever and I said, well it's time to make up your internet name. Then. He said internet name fits in here. You gotta make up. What is your what is your internet gonna be? Because it's not your real name. You got to make up what name you're going to be on the internet and I just gave gave them this is just like a fact of life. There's your internet name and so he made up an internet name and
Yeah, I think we all should do that. If you're going to do something in the public eye like make up a name for it. And so that so then that public Persona can be whatever you want the Kuno, you know, those people that are like public jerks. Like I've never seen the show but there's a cook right? There's like a Gordon Ramsay. Is that his name. I've never seen the show, but I think like isn't his whole thing like Tico's and like a attacks people in the kitchen and just raging Church them.
Who knows if he's like that in real life or maybe he's like a sweetheart that just crafted this public Persona because he knows that people tuned in to watch people being jerks. And so yeah, I think you can craft your public self. I'd there's an interesting book about this. So I've kind of felt this for years ago, maybe because of my background in music, but just earlier think in 2018 or 2019 book came out called the alter ego effect that was surprisingly good and it was about how to apply this way of.
Going to Everyday Life the author found that I think he's like a coach too many athletes and he found that a lot of athletes could have have an alter ego that they think of when they're about to go out on the field or whatever. They say like, they're back in the locker room. They're saying okay it's time for the time for the tiger ninja to come out or whatever. Like they have these code names for their they're performing self and then he found that some Executives have this to that.
Like okay here goes the dealmaker dealmakers going into action or they make these uh code names for themselves to so anyway, I think there's something it's a really interesting subject. Sorry. I did by the way, you're right. I did accidentally do that thing where you ask me one question. I answered a related question. So all that stuff. I just said was more about Alter Ego than it was about the Kurt Vonnegut kind of becoming what you pretend to be because you're right. That's a that is a different thing that if you really want to become something there is the
Classic fake it till you make it or acting like something until you become that something so sorry. I didn't really answer your question directly.
It was still a damn good answer though. I have still golf. It was still got will take it. Absolutely. What's interesting. Is it what Todd talks about is that and I think there's something with you. If you look at the creating an online name that your son adopts online for that game and so on what he talks about is it's going to be a part of you and not the whole of you.
Right, and he does talk about that faculty make it where people it's actually not that it's actually knowing it's not identity. You step into to create the values and the Persona you would like to use to go beyond perceived barriers. Do you do you have an alter ego today in Derek's world? Is there a character a person a Persona and animal a piece of music that
at you step into when you need to get beyond your own perceived
barriers not like that. No, I don't really have the you know backstage. Okay, here comes the ninja tiger kind of thing, but I have found it. For example my writing which is what most people know of me now.
I have a very succinct direct style of writing that just appeals to me and then it so it kind of seems like my Persona because most people just know me through my writing. So I like being very succinct. I don't want to put a sentence out into the world unless that sentence is really needed, you know, so I edit the hell out of everything I put out into the world and so that
Makes me seem more. I don't know got this app is probably a nice adjectives. I'm missing here somewhere like the the sage like it probably makes me seem a little more safe like than I really am when you when I'm just sitting here talking and conversation and I get overexcited until these long-winded stories. It's not very sage like so that I'd say that that's like a different Persona. There's like my writing Persona that really is
Me but it's is focusing on a certain side of myself that's trying to be as succinct as possible
when I was writing to you and we have conversed over of number of years. There was a story you told of a music teacher that very early on impacted you and I must have been I had it in mind in staying in contact with you and you were very gracious to say. Yes. Keep in contact, but I knew that this this
Music teacher was resonating in my mind to know that you have to follow through tell me about meeting this music teacher the lessons you got from it and how that impacts your world of learning today. All
right, the Mojo lesson of this story is the power of a different pace. Yes. So chemo Williams. I was 18 years old, maybe even 17. I was living in Chicago. I was about to go to Berklee College of Music in a few weeks.
And I it was like this, you know summer holidays before beginning the new school year and in Chicago, I saw a classified ad in the paper about music typesetting and I had a question about it. So I called the phone number and the guy said he answered my question he goes so why do you want to know and I said, well, I'm about to go to Berklee College of Music and then I doubt it on he said Berklee College of Music home. He said
I taught it Berklee College of Music. You know, I've got a theory that I think I think you can graduate that school in half the time it takes why don't you come by my studio tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. The let me see if I can show you a few things. I said great and so he showed up at his Studio at 9:00 a.m. The next morning and apparently he'd forgotten he'd know it wasn't that he had forgotten that he said that it's that he apparently he tells this to every
Young ambitious musician that asks him questions. He says show up at my studio at 9:00 a.m. Tomorrow. Apparently, I was the first one that ever had so he told the story years later like at my wedding that that he'd been saying this for years to students, but nobody ever shows up at 9 a.m. And so I showed up at 9 a.m. Ready to learn and he's so he kind of sized me up and said, all right. Now look he said he said the world goes at the pace of the lowest common.
Later said especially schools. They have to teach the curricula in such a way so that nobody gets left behind he said but if you were smarter than the average if you are more focused than the average you can go so much faster than most people he said so I think that the stuff that Berkeley teaches you in four years. I think you can learn it all in one or two years. Let's give it a try. Are you ready? I said, yeah, so you'll he opened up this book of jazz standards that he said. Okay. What is the major scale?
I said today I said, okay, how do you build a cord off the second note of the major scale dfac said write what kind of courses are called that's called a to minor chord. Okay. So what is the 5 chord that I'm g b d f right that's a 5 quart now we're resolution in jazz. Harmony is a 2 to the 5 to the 1 why does it resolved because you've got the tritone there in the five Court, don't you I said, okay. Yeah I said what is the tritone is it it's this it's dissonant. He said write it wants to resolve now build a new skill where else can you put the
Try 200 with 7th chord. I went the flat the deed the d flat 7 is it right? That is called a substitute court. Now where does it is like go and make substitute chords for each one of the cords on this page go. I'm going to give you one minute. There's like this intense Pace it was so amazing. I was like it was it is like learning music theory but with the intensity of playing a video game or something. I was it just had this adrenaline to it. I loved it and we kept up like that for like three hours.
And after three hours, I walked out of there at about noon went back home. I was like and it felt like what we know later from the the movie The Matrix, you know, where they go like they go. Well, hold on. I'm going to teach you how to fly a helicopter. It's a good got it. Now. I know how to fly a helicopter. It's like I learned so much in three hours it like blew my mind and I went back there for the following weeks like my last three or four weeks before I began Berklee school of music.
And by the time I got to Berkeley after only three or four five lessons with chemo Williams sure enough on my entrance exams on my opening day of school. I tested out of four semesters of jazz Harmony that stuff that I hadn't known a month ago. So yeah four semesters two full years of Harmony classes. I would have had to sit through to learn what chemo taught me in a few.
Lessons, so but so that's the that's the story of what happened and then the belief system it changed for me is it he just taught me this course area that there's the standard Pace that is meant to include everyone and leave nobody behind but that doesn't apply to you if you're if you're more focused more ambitious than most you can go way faster than the norm.
And the t-shirt that came from that did Tim Ferriss wanted to produce is
the standard piece is for Chumps
God. I love that God that is this one of my favorite sayings of all time standard pace is for Chumps. So does that mean gopher gopher seven seven eighths over 4 for
4 or something like that. Is that what that means? Right? Right, right, but what's funny is after I
Said that story publicly and then I went and tracked down chemo. I just hadn't talked to him in a couple years and I said, hey man, I just put wow, it's how we met and he goes standard pays is for Chumps. He said I never said that word before I never said that if you make that up,
so apparently Kid Rock would say that would be on a Denim and t-shirt by Friday. Absolutely
Derek it obviously
I love that story and
I love that saying and I mentioned it to people and credit you often when you got married. Keep the only had three people at your wedding an ex-girlfriend, which is curious chemo Williams. And another lady called talzin who was the wife of the booking agent that we started this show with the story. You told about the circus tell me tell me tell them was a special person in your life. Tell me what Talton Drew out of you as a
man.
I was only 18 and she was probably 33 and if she was by my boss or manager on the circuit said that it would mostly be like the other guys in the circus were asleep in the back of the truck and she would up she and I would often be the two drivers. I've never been that into sleeping. So I would often be up front driving the truck with her. And so we just had hours and hours and hours and hours to talk for this is like six years of my life and
Of course being a teen I went through heartbreak e kind of things, you know got dumped a couple times whatnot. So I'd be moaning to her about being dumped and she just kept saying over and over again. And I think it's helped it the fact that she was super hot and you know, this this older woman at 35 saying this kind of stuff made a difference is she's like Derek. I've been with dozens maybe even hundreds of
Let's see said you are just you just blew everybody else out of the water. She said you are just smarter. You're more considerate. You're sweeter. You're you're just a better catch than like anybody out there just like all these guys like people just puff up themselves. And isn't that she said any girl that doesn't realize that you are just fucking amazing. That's her loss and see just told me this sweet stuff for years and like I think for the first year or two,
R 2 or 3 I was like well, thank you. I thought she was just trying to make me feel better. But after like three years of her saying this stuff, I just noticed like it just kind of slowly sunk in and just changed my my self-image. So yeah, just kind of sunk in so after a few years, I think next time I had some kind of break up. Like I really took the court felt like well, that's that's a shame that she's going to miss out on being with me like I'm fucking awesome.
And I just noticed that it was just it just felt like a truism to me when I tried to unravel that and wonder why did I think that I think it's really just because of Tarleton telling me over and over and over again Mojo lesson. It's okay to have somebody else assist in your self-image. I wonder where that
that middle ground is because we've had Alter Ego has been alter ego identity has been a thread through the show, which I've been really interested in probably three.
Seasons now and going into our seventh season with this show the other thing that we have heard a lot about Derek which I'd be curious on your perspective on is one of the most important traits in leadership is humility. And I wonder in your mind. Where is that fine line between yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I am awesome and humility. How do you see that that place that beautiful spot rather sweet spot in the middle are between those two
things. I haven't thought about this a lot, but it started.
The bit and I think the difference is whether you look down on others or not. The you don't you can think I'm awesome without thinking you suck. You know, so I think the I think it's fine to be as confident as can possibly be on earth as long as you're not
looking down on others because of it. So I was thinking about the word smug so
we tend to think of smug as a completely negative word, but
I think smug is actually.
A feeling of Pride meaning that you are living the life. You want to live. You've been following your own best advice. You've been doing the right thing. You've been making the right choices and now you're really happy with where you're at and who you are to me that feeling is smug.
And it's a positive thing and I asked a friend of mine about that is the same thing as well. Why is smug a bad thing? Like, why do we think it's negative? And and my friend said he thought about it for a second. He said I think when because it's assumed when you say smug that you're looking down on others that you think you're better than other people as and there's the difference like if we just get rid of that that secondary effective looking down on others and just
take the first half of it those two don't have to be Inseparable. Um, like like somebody was talking about private sending their kid to a fancy expensive private school or not. And he said I don't want I don't want my kid to be some kind of privileged asshole and I said, you know those two words don't have to go together your kid can be privileged without being an asshole. It's not like everybody with privilege become the nozzle. Why do we assume
That there's this always going to be this dark side because that goes with this thing. So I like to separate those two things. So yeah, I think being smug is is a great thing as long as you don't look down on others but being smug is a wonderful feeling of just like yeah, I'm living according to my values. Like I'm living the life. I want like this feels great and same was confidence that you could be confident as anybody in the world as long as you don't.
Active look down on others during one of the
fatties you seem just an observation you seem to live by is the world of extraction or minimalism as opposed to adding more end. And the reason I bring it up is because you wrote a Blog not long ago. The said the adding mindset is deeply ingrained. It's easy to think I need something else. It's hard to look Instead at what to remove and we quite often quote Bruce Lee who said it's not the
the daily increase but the daily decrease hack away at the unessential and I'm just in your world with how you operate your standard operating procedures. What have you hacked away at and or removed from your world in recent times, which has had an impact or a profound impact on you your life your family your world your health. What is there something you have removed and taken out that's made a
difference.
Let's look at productivity. For example. Just trying to get more done in one day.
people often comb the internet looking for productivity hacks looking for things they can do to be more productive and and I've done that too and
over and over again. I have to catch myself when I realize I'm trying to like add some new morning routine or add some new way of thinking about this or add some new technique to get things done better. But actually why am I doing any of this or this entire project or this whole secondary thing I'm doing
It's pretty secondary, isn't it? Like maybe instead of trying to get more productive at doing this thing? I should just say. Sorry. I'm not going to do this anymore. Why did I agree to this? So it's more of a constant reminder?
that that the solution to things is not just always adding more things that it's
You kind of have to question when you find yourself trying to find a new way to do such and such it just even the other whole idea of like I need to find a new way or a new approach or a new philosophy or another book or whatever. Like for example the books sometimes what you need. The most is to stop reading new books. Like if you're thinking that there's something information you need. You're looking out there thinking I need think I need another book Maybe.
Stop reading new books for a year. Go back through the ones you've read in the past and try to apply what you've already learned like all this information that sitting in your head on used try to apply that or let go of more of your goals. For example, I mean, that's a okay. Sorry. I'm realized I'm still kind of talking around things without asking directly. Here's a huge one.
When you ask for an example just a month ago. I gave away all my musical instruments and have officially closed that chapter in my life. I am no longer making music.
And it's because I was almost every day looking at the piano over there and those two guitars hanging up on the wall kind of kicking myself for not putting aside time to make music. Like I know I want to and I'd say got it got it, you know, I gotta get better at stopping my writing earlier putting aside time to be Oregon need to work on these before I start my day with the other stuff because it's just not happening.
The otherwise and I was kind of kicking myself daily. Like how can I make more time to make music this is something I really want to do. And yeah, then I just kind of looked at it again and I thought like or maybe it's time to just let go of that goal. It's something we never talk about is is letting go of goals as a good thing. We also just talk about goals as if they are something that must be achieved Do or Die.
Like once you've set a goal, you must find out how to achieve it. But I've the last few years just really over and over again been looking at Old goals that I set things that I really felt like I must achieve this and just looking at it going huh or not. I could just let go of this entire thing. Would that be so bad? So yeah, I kind of just did a thought experiment with myself about well what if I just got rid of all my musical instruments and just let go of that part of my life.
The and I was surprised that that thought didn't horrify me. You know, that'd be kind of nice a friend of mine. I'm living in Oxford England now and friend of mine here is a full-time professional musician. He called him up. I said Tom, it's your lucky day. It's yours. It's your lucky bad. I have it and he's like, oh my god, dude. I was just thinking about buying that keyboard because I like yours so much. Is it? Well, it's yours now. I just
It gave him all my stuff and I was like I in fact do you want these speakers to he said hell, yeah, so I just gave him everything I think well if I'm not using my room is recording studio. I don't need these nice big speakers either. So he was just it was so liberating. I just got rid of all that stuff. And now I'm just monomaniacal only completely focused on my one single goal, and I've just let go of all my secondary goals
Derek other the show, you told the story of the pig farm and the guy said hey, do you want this gig? It's 25 bucks you and hell. Yeah, and you've become known as the hell. Yeah or no guy and it's just such a simplistic but profound way to go about thinking and making decisions and what I'm interested in is we had Jason Jay.
Who is a u.s. Foreman US Navy SEAL who was shot in the face in Afghanistan very very badly and he was in hospital and there's a famous sign that you can find on Google quite easily of JJ Redmond that he hung on his door. And it said don't enter this room with sympathy. I did what I wanted for a country. I'd love for a job that I did for and he wrote this story which became
Very famous because one of the u.s. Presidents went saw the sign I went to visit him in hospital and he became the overcome guy and during the show. He said there are times when it catches himself. He wants to give in or not do something or take the easy way to go. So well, whoa, hang on a sec. I'm the overcome guy all these people look to me the other come guy get off the X. I'm the overcome guy. I had this identity. I can't let them down. If I let myself down do you ever find the being the hell? Yeah or no guy. Does that identity ever play in?
Decision making again. I need to answer this sideways. It helps that I'm not that famous. It's not like I'm going on TV every day being the hell. Yeah or no guy, but even if I was
I think it's more interesting to look at the things that you might even consider the absolute core of Who You Are.
And keep questioning those things and be ready to let go of them because there's some things that we decided like is teenagers like this is who I am and here we are, you know, 15 years later in your 30s, like still being that guy because you decided as a teenager at this is who you are.
And I think you need to be willing to look at any of these things and try letting go of them and doing the opposite or just saying like Okay. Well that that was a goal that I a goal or even a persona.
I adopted years ago and maybe I don't need it anymore. Maybe that goal or that Persona or that approach got me through that time in my life but times change and people change and I think it's more important to constantly look at where you're at. Now what your current goals are now.
And who you need to be now or who you are now either cool you are now and what beliefs you need to get you to where you want to be or you know who you need to be now to get where you want to be and acknowledge that those goals change. So there's a wonderful book out there. I think is Marshall Goldsmith is to go cold what got you here won't get you there.
And its core idea is it was written to successful business Executives saying the collection of tools that got you from nothing to being the head of a successful company are different tools than you need to now get to the next level to get to a certain level of success. You have to be selfish.
You have to focus more on yourself than others to get to the top of something for example, not for everybody. But for some people yeah being selfish can can work well to get you to a certain height be said to get to the next level in your career. You need to reverse that. Now you need to stop being the way you've been for decades and flip it around and be more focused on others and be more of a team player.
And and be more of a listener than a talker Etc. So yeah it like say for example, even in relationships or let's say romance love whatever you want to call that stuff. There might be a certain way. You need to be to find the person that you want to be with.
And once you find that person and you're in a relationship, there's a different way of being that you need to be now like a different you need to close that toolbox and put it away and open up a new toolbox that you've never used before in order to stay in the relationship and make it a great relationship. It's a whole different set of tools. So now going back to your question do I?
Feel the need to be the hell jarno guy or does it shape my decisions?
Tell no absolutely not. I'm totally welcome. Welcome myself. I allow myself to completely Slough off anything I've done or said in the past.
Because that was that was then this is now
I've heard you talk about this saying which I think ties into where we've been the last few minutes and it's a saying that I've heard mentioned with you and Tim and a few other people you've hung out with and done shows with you said easy choices hard life hard choices easy life.
Do you still
do you still agree with that today? And if you do?
Do you have an actual example of a hard choice that you have made personally of recent times that you made that has led you to have an easier
life? Yeah, I think that's that version of that quote doesn't work as well for me as the version that says.
To focus on the difference between is this what you want now or what you want most I think of it that way like when you think of easy choices hard life that that to me means like easy present hard future, you know hard present easy future for some reason that that way of thinking about it works better for me. So
yeah, the
Any given moment maybe Liam 5 or 10 times a day.
I'm tempted.
to just go do the easy thing to just
Stop writing my book and just go relax and just call a friend or go eat a donut or whatever and then I just kind of catch myself going. Okay, what do I want most? That's what I want. Now. What do I want? Most? What I want most is to finish this book and I just kind of like stand up crack my Knuckles sit down again. Keep writing. That's one version for me. I also had this
Long-term goal of wanting to be more of a world citizen a lot of us Americans get trapped into feeling that a America is the whole world. Yes. We know there's some other little countries out there and they have very nice little Eiffel Towers in Sydney Opera House has but come on. This is the only real country a lot of Americans really feel that way where they whether they'd say it that way or not. It's just like being surrounded by the Hollywood and the media that
Surrounded by and whatnot. It can really feel like a marik's the whole world and I kind of like what kind of shook myself out of that about the age of 40 after selling my company and I said God, I really there's a big world out there. I want I don't want to just see it as a visitor. I want it like integrate. I want to really attach myself to different parts of the world and feel it in my soul and that involves some of those
those
It involves being uncomfortable in the present moment to be comfortable in the long term.
And there's a specific example. I can point to that I think back to when I was 20 years old and I moved to New York City coming from like a little Suburban town in Illinois and moving to New York City, especially back in 1990. It was actually it was really it was the city was more overwhelming than I actually found out very recently that the year. I moved to New York City crime was at an all-time high like it.
Never been that high before or since and that's the year that I moved to New York. It was a really scary place like you really felt on edge walking through New York City. It felt dangerous and coming from my safe little Suburban upbringing. It was a scary place to move to so it was it was very uncomfortable. But then within two years of in a meeting people making friends going about going to events people's houses and parties around the city pretty soon Within.
Two years like that whole city is my comfort zone now like everywhere in New York City is just like this is my city. Like I know this. Well, this is my home. This is my comfort zone and I think back and I think how cool is that that I went to this place that terrified me and now it's comfortable and how cool would it be to do that over and over again, like look at whatever Place scares me and goes are and stay in.
It becomes comfortable like Rio de Janeiro at Place scares me. It's terrifying like how cool would that be to move to to Rio and stay there a couple years until it actually feels like home. Like I know this city inside out. All my friends are here I speak perfect Portuguese. How cool now let's move to Beijing do it again. Now, let's move to rule on but our Mongolia or whatever it may be how cool would that be is like a life's?
Compass or Playbook to go wherever scares you and stay until it's comfortable and then by the end of your life, you know, you can look at the globe of the world and spin the globe and every place could feel like home, you know, you've got circle of friends and all these places like that's a really cool idea and then even if you don't feel like,
Traveling the world like even if that idea sounds kind of nice, but you don't want to live in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia. Well, then you can apply it metaphorically. You can look at what in your life scares you or what what ideas scare you or what approach to life scares you or doing what we look at your various goals in life using a which one's scares me the most that could be the one that you should be aiming towards.
Because then you get that transformational thing of whatever scares you go do it and soon it doesn't scare you anymore. What's really
interesting?
About your World Eric is this is just something I'm curious about and I just want to put a few things together here and get your view on it. But you said that you prefer talking in the phone to hanging out with people in person. We've talked about and you're well-known For Your Love of music and your history music you build a business on music you've actually said you love voices, but then you hate noise because you don't like crowds cities bars party streets because
Too noisy and you can't pick out one voice from another when I read that it seems you have a very strong auditory sense in that tone sound is terribly important for you as a learning tool. Are you big on audiobooks? Because people quite often say well, I don't really enjoy reading books and which case they sort of back out of learning at all, but they haven't thought about their own preferences of how they
Learn best it seems you're very auditory. And even when you tell stories you tell with this melodic tone is your learning style where you are taking in information is it is it an auditory sense is that you're stronger sense?
That was a very that was a sweet fresh, but but no no, I find it for communicating. Actually. Let's just say for like heart stuff.
I'm more auditory forehead stuff.
I like text like I mean meaning I like books and in fact, I actually prefer ebooks now because I have my whole system with everything. I'm reading I take notes on and I save clippings from it and I save it as a text files and I put it into a database and I review it. I got a whole system for for taking in information and retaining it so because of that
Non-fiction audiobooks don't work for me. But yes, if I'm going to read a novel then I'd rather it be audio, but it's actually I don't sorry. I don't really listen to podcasts because of this fact that that anything I listened to feels quite fleeting. It kind of goes in one ear and out the other maybe a little bit of it sticks, but it's to ephemeral
To meet words if I really want to integrate something into my life. I really want to have it in text because I'm just a computer nerd. I'm a programmer. I'm sitting on the command line all day. Like if something's not in text form on my computer, it feels gone. So even if I do listen to a podcast and learn something and interesting from it, I have to immediately let go over the computer and write it down in context. Otherwise, it's just girls
ready interesting. I want this something in their learning styles, which I've never ever heard spoken about
The depending on the situation in particularly the Motions come into it whether you do tend to favor a different learning style. So for you if it's something emotional, yes, I want to have that conversation. It's auditory. But if you are processing something technical or learning environment you prefer something in a written sense, which is more visual. So those I find it interesting. I wonder what wonder where this if there's something in
that. Yeah. I know you're my friends and I don't text each other. We don't email.
Each other we just call it best. Maybe my friends will you know text to ask if I'm free. It's the I just call me. Yeah, because I don't want to communicate by text to me. That's like that's that's for information. Not that's not an emotional connection. And yes some people it's funny. I haven't really tried video courses very much like people to put together a really good like
Media presentation where you're watching, you know, like a coarser or one of those things. We've got like a somebody's really taken the time to put together something visually and not like a TED Talk where you just looking at somebody standing on stage talking. I hate those but the ones where somebody puts together something really Visual and can like control mathematical Concepts in visual terms like that might be a really interesting way to learn Maths for example would be if somebody could show it to you.
You so it's not just an abstract concept. It's something you can see. Yeah, that makes more sense than the I haven't really experimented with that much but that would be interesting at the head of the
show as I say in the business. You mentioned the words still and then I read that you said about yourself you thrive in solitude. What does what does solitude bring to you that you so greatly
desire?
Max friction, I think of obstacles obstacles to my concentration and obstacles to my productivity. In fact, I was thinking once about what home means to me what is home and to me home is the place without obstacles home is a place where it's like, I don't even have to think about my surroundings.
I can just focus on whatever I'm doing with zero obstacles. I was like, yeah that is that is what I want from home home is the place where that obstacles so Solitude to me is the place where I can just do do what I'm doing think what I'm thinking be lost in thought or be lost in output productivity and creating writing thinking
Without any friction of having to interact with other people community, you know be understood be considerate pathetic. I think I just have that sensitivity where even if just somebody else is in the room or even in the building with me.
I'm too aware of their presence and I feel a need to be considerate and like part of my brain is being used up on my thoughts of whether I'm being a good companion or host or whatever word, you know, another person on Earth for that person. I just don't want to think about any of that. In fact got this. This makes me sound a little crazy, but I actually
I'd have to get dog earlier this year in theory. I wanted a dog I love dogs. And I mean like I love other people's dogs. And so I thought I really in theory. I really want to have a dog. So I got a dog and I just found that like part of me was my it was like I was missing the Solitude even though it's just a dog. I like part of my brain was like always wanting to make sure that he's happy make sure yeah, I hope he's alright like I hope he's not too bored. I wonder if
If he needs something more from me right now and like exercising him enough, I can't do this like part of my brain is always like trying to make my dog happy and so my mom loved my dog so much. It was like her dream dog that she was thinking of getting these dancing and what type of motorcycle here just take mine. So I my mom adopted my dog. Yes. So yeah, my mom adopted my dog and God, I love it so much more now. I mean, I thought Tim but Solitude to me is so crucial.
He loves like 12 hours per day of alone time. And that's where I get everything done in once somebody else is around just do whether it's a part of me or all of me is just focused
on the other. I'm going to go there to Second just before we do that. You just mentioned home, which is actually really interesting because you said that home can be that place without the friction yet when you actually look at where your traveled and you spent a few years in a number of places Singapore, India.
Belgium New Zealand England Portugal and you don't just go there to visit you go there to become either a legal resident or a citizen of those places and yet you've said Each one feels like home in a way because you like to slowly expand your sense of home. So home must be a little more than just a place with no friction where you can create it feel comfortable. So there must be something else.
That environment travel brings to your sense of what home means and how it's different to what we commonly think of what home is
it actually fits in with my New York City story earlier where what I want is to take things that used to be uncomfortable and make them comfortable.
So you could do it with your physical environment. It's almost too obvious. You know, you can you can rent a tiny crappy little apartment and then change it until it's the way you like it, you know? Okay, like now there's no Breeze blowing through that window. Now, there's like I fixed the radiator so it's not making that clanging noise, whatever it may be but then
mmm, emotionally or intellectually their places that seem confusing at first like when I first moved to Singapore, I was coming out of my time at cdbaby and the music business and I'd meet a lot of people that would say a lot of singaporeans that would say
Oh, I used to make music but my parents really wanted me to be a lawyer. So I stopped making music and I'm just a lawyer now I'd say no that is so wrong. You must follow your dreams doesn't matter what they want about his what you want. You know, you've got to follow your individual passion in the world blah blah blah blah blah and I really felt this for probably my first know six to nine months or so. I really felt like they were wrong and I was right and then it took me a while to
They get to know my Singaporean friends and really spend some time there and listen more than talk before I finally understood the mindset of this kind of confusion style of thinking which is what you want is a fleeting thing. That shouldn't be heated you do what's best for the group the group meeting your immediate family or
your neighborhood or your extended family or your country you do what's best for the group and that is what's right and it's to me it almost related or if I almost felt like meditation when when people are meditating you have thoughts that come into your head and you just let them go right back out again. You just say, oh that's just a thought Let It Go and he just stayed still.
the confusion and therefore Singaporean mindset that it took me a while to understand for example was that yeah, these these passions these things you want to do you can just they can come in and they can go right back out again, like passing thoughts like ultimately what's most important is doing what's best for for the group for the family and
Now, I don't think that's wrong anymore. Like now I understand. It's just a different way of looking at something and
So now I have comfort in in that mindset or in that culture and it's no longer an obstacle to my Tranquility her, but if we go to gone, I don't get upset anymore. So
Yeah, and so you see that I that's that's me expanding my sense of home. So now Singapore is also my comfort zone. I love ya. I'm gonna I'm a legally a permanent resident of Singapore. I own a home in Singapore. It's my comfort zone. It's still have more friends in Singapore than hardly anywhere else and and I love it. I'm very very comfortable in Singapore. And how cool is that that I got to expand myself deficient definition. And so ultimately I
And I'd like to keep doing that and make new places home and expand my expand the places that are home which to me means no obstacles. So as show is
it's all about the guests. But we also love our music robot. I used to work in a rock radio station together cells in important thing and at the start of the show you combined a number of things.
And this is right up rubbers laying way you went Prince.
Miles Davis Bowie you tell stories of Brian Eno who work with Talking Heads, you mentioned Bono and U2 you mentioned some of our favorite artists that we play here in the studio if I could play a song.
Of your request that when I listen to the lyrics it was the best song that represented Derek severs as a person as a man. What song would I play that if I heard it went? Yeah. That's that
guy. I've never been into lyrics it's funny that
Lyrics are an assumption it's some of my favorite songs that I've listened to a hundred times for years. I still don't know what the lyrics are. There was like some there's some Bjork song that I just love and and I've loved that song for like like 15 years 20 years and I've listened to it so many times and I just ran across the lyrics to it online and I went whoa what really that's what she's like.
So to me, I think maybe because okay the relationship that have Muse of musician has to music can sometimes be kind of Twisted the in the same way that a programmer looks at computer code. Hey remember that he who would now I'm quoting The Matrix twice number of the Matrix where it's like the guys sitting in front of the screen with all the little like green symbols going across it goes, you know, I just see a woman in a red dress.
And so when I look at computer code because I'm a programmer. I can look at this stuff and it's like okay makes sense. I see what they're doing here where somebody else would just look at the it up screen full of symbols and music is a bit like that too that I've learned almost too much about music theory so that often what I love about
Music can be like interesting little nuances about what they're doing with the with the way that they arranged that chord for example, they're spreading out the voices instead of doing a tight cluster or vice versa or or the way that their layering the Rhythm say like, oh God. I love my favorite favorite thing in music is
The combination of instruments and how the arranger or the producer combines instruments. I'm never so interested in an instrument on its own like when somebody's strumming a guitar if somebody strumming a guitar and singing I'm not interested but on the other hand if you're combining like a flute with a harp and a base in some way that I've never heard before like now you got my attention. I love thee.
The nation of instruments that I've never heard
before well, let me throw this at you then because this year coming from as Gary said coming from a rock and roll background this year. I've truly discovered Jazz like I've always had it on as a background or something. But this year I've really sort of focused down and discovered for a myriad of reasons. I've discovered a love of jazz and one of the oddest you mentioned at the beginning of the show and and Gary mentioned just then a guy called Miles Davis if there was a track in there or if
Track of his that made you stop and go. Wow, which would you be able to put your finger on
once the playing it with my hand, but it what is it called the is it is it all Blues? I think it's like track for 5 from the album kind of blue. Yes, Bill Evans like starts out with piano. It's I'm doing this with my hand like to hear this is
like the most beautiful it is you are absolutely right though. It's a great track.
It's honey. I just speaking of audiobooks. I just listened to my first audio book in a Gear 2, which was Miles Davis's autobiography. Wow. I just finished that last nice. And yeah, anyway, it's it's funny when it you know, speaking of music, it's funny. If you go to a jazz club and you're sitting there with a few other people that that understand a jazz and the person can be on stage soloing.
And playing a solo and suddenly like they may play something that's like to bleep people in the club will like laugh at once because they get the inside joke of what that means isshin just did and the grips of the rest of the audience Stay Together the two people in the room got that joke. So I feel a little bit like that with especially when it comes to music production to like they're like say in the song Closer by Nine Inch Nails. I love the fact that as soon as the track starts there's a little
Digital glitching underneath it. It goes like it's a Sizzle. There is a Sizzle really? I've never heard of check it out the sizzle begins at the beginning as soon as the kick and the snare come it's a but there's a Sizzle underneath and the sizzle stays there for the first almost minute of the song and suddenly when it gets to the he'll be part suddenly the sizzle disappears and its
absence or is it like a distorted kick and snare not like they've copied a debt copied it and started.
He's actually a digital
glitch. Actually. It's a it's a it's a Sizzle. It's like the sound of bacon on a frying pan, but it's very subtle and as soon as and as soon as the lyrics go help me this is all stops and its absence is delicious. I love those kind of like those little tiny music production things like
sigh Derek's if is don't tell me you're not auditory. Don't tell me you're not all different so you to pick up a little
Sizzling there don't ever to say and I'm not Audrey, but now I see what happens when he puts you audio guys in the room. See where the conversation goes.
This is interesting to me than the lyrics I don't care about lyrics but it's got the the nuances of music and with you and in fact, you know, as long as we're on the subject, I'll tell one other tiny story when I bought my apartment in Singapore a friend of mine is an interior designer and I said, you know what you're my
His friend have a go at it. Why don't you go design my new home? So she went into the place and like did a whole bunch of visual things to it that she felt was right and then I moved in I spent my first night there.
And everything she did visually was moot because the windows were really noisy. It's like wait. No the sound is off and I had to like so she got so mad at me that I had to like, I wrote replaced her fancy little booty key Windows with soundproof windows and she said but it looks horrible I said, but that sounds great.
Yeah, like I'm not going to spend time going through what you're well-known for which has been well covered in
It shows about the directives the directives that you have written for how we should approach our life and just to finish off because I'm very conscious of your time. What would be really interested in knowing is what's the directive that you think is the most misunderstood yet, if people embraced it would have probably one of the most profound impacts on them as people
I think
I'm biased to the one that's that's on my mind a lot. Now wait, sorry, you know what? I have to give the meta answer to this actually just recently found out that meta is the Greek word for about I never knew that just took metaphor example for granted but meta means about so I'm going to talk about that subject. We often think we often ask the Alaska stranger.
What book do you think I should read or what's something you would tell your younger self when you're 20 or whatever it is. Like they're these it's a type of question that assumes there's a best answer for everybody. But I don't think there is one bit of wisdom that I think the world should know because just everybody's in a different place a different time and it kind of come back to comes back to something I said.
Hour ago about letting go of your old goals. And even your old Persona your old beliefs things that you might have formed years ago, maybe on a whim because of circumstances at the time and now you're still holding on to it because you've defined that this is who you are. I think we need to acknowledge that those things change that we need different tools for different times.
Different beliefs for different phases in our life. We need to let go of the old ones even let go of bowls that we made that aren't serving us on so I don't think there is a one thing for everybody unless you want to count that as my meta thing about letting go of old beliefs old goals constantly questioning them and
letting yourself
Slough them off and walk away from them with no loyalty to your previous proclamations, even if you've announced it to the whole world. This is who I am and this is what I believe it's if you are in a different phase now and change your mind, you should loudly say like I've changed my mind. We don't know why people don't do that more often. We feel like we need to be consistent for some stupid reason. We need to be loyal to what we've said in the past.
But I'm constantly disloyal to everything I've ever said and done
Derek. I've been looking forward to this for it's fair to say Gary. You've been talking about it for years. Let's be honest and we made it happen. You've been very very gracious with your time. We have gone way over time, but honestly, I've got another page of stuff that I wanted to ask you about. But I'm very very conscious of your time and how you allocate your time. I know that you are very precise with what you do.
Do I've never had anybody send me an outline of here are some things we could talk about that directly relate back to Mojo and honestly, it's just it's a it's a it's it's uncommon. There you go. So we started the show with common vs. Uncommon having you a guess how you approach it. Derek is uncommon. It's such a privilege and honor to spend time with you because I know how I know. How precious and how you allocate and how you think about how you want what you want.
This is what you want most. So thank you made. It's just it was
fantastic. Yeah, actually, I really like hearing from strangers around the world. It's actually part of why I do what I do in part of why I do podcasts is that I think it can be like a little Beacon to hear from kindred's around the world. So anybody who listened all the way to the end of this show, please send me an email and introduce
yourself.
That would be everybody. So how do I find you Derek the people who want to speak find out more about you find the directives? You've got some new books that you are now have into the world where it where's the hub for Derek servers?
You know the answer don't you serious? Not org SIV ERS dot o-- r-- g-- is my sight and my email address. Is there in a Big Font? I don't hide it. I actually really really
Like hearing from people that introduce themselves and just say hello. So yeah, go to my site say hello. It's all
there.
Well, thank you. We'd like to extend an invitation to you that when you decide to add Australia to Singapore India Belgium England Portugal and so on when you finally decide to come and spend some time here and call Australia home for a while. We promised we record live with you on Bondi Beach in front of the famous Bond diet Lifesavers Tower will record with you will have tea or coffee or beers or pure air or years and fish and chips actually hold the putter.
I almost moved there instead of New Zealand when I was living in Singapore and decided to do that fancy looked at Bondi Beach and I was just like it actually kind of came down to that or New Zealand. I chose New Zealand, but I am now a New Zealand citizen. So I have the legal right to live in Australia. Yeah,
New Zealand is a special kind of place. Let's be honest.
Yeah. I got your Center. Yeah, it's International Security expert and tactical trainer after spending time on the motor.
No radio show I'll be filing my own
report. That was cool with a six-year white. I think the thing is with all of these things is think I've been pondering over the break is the discipline to take the things that these guys talk about. Well the discipline to take the stuff that you read about in your book and then applying it but I think the big thing I'm hearing from people like Derek or the Tim Ferriss or the Jocko.
life's Pat McNamara the difference with those guys versus the rest is consistency and Derek does his thing I've been following him for almost a decade and he is consistently showing up he's got his rules he knows what he wants to do he's very very intentional something Colin right talked about in the show is very intentional with what he wants to do and it's something you'll hear Ryan Hawk from the learning leader show on our show talk about a lot is
being very intentional and then doing it consistently and I think the issue today is people start going really good fall off the wagon off the path oh I got to get back on the path do it again for a week and then fall off it but I read my guys like Derek because he is consistently intentional year after year after year I thought he was great okay so I hear what you're saying and that certainly Rings true about getting on the horse and falling off you deal with people one-on-one on a daily basis who were trying to
On the horse give us some tips. How do we what do we do? How do we stay on the horse? You build your rituals you build your routines. So you start the way you start your day. You are very intentional about having your day planned, you know, what's important in your day? You know, what you need your priorities for the day you limit your distractions you get to the end of the day and you review your day the night before you plan for the following day. And if you're going to do it get it done.
A distraction so people who say I've got so much to do but then spend an hour watching YouTube or spend a half an hour down the rabbit hole on this socials or spend an hour by doing something. It's inconsequential to them that just waste time and the consistency is very being very how you allocate your day. You do it the night before your very intentional you focus around what's important to you what has to get done as a priority in all areas of your life if you go back to your book review.
Priorities the night before you plan. Where's my reading time? Where's my thinking time? Where's my family time? Where's my me time if it's playing with the dog, if it's working a particular project and you block out all other things and get it done and compartmentalize and we've got a few guys coming up on the show. They're going to talk through this the famous David Allen who wrote getting things done 30 years the top of his game about planning guy called Charlie Gilkey wrote a book called start finishing. Excellent book about how do you
Actually finish because we start a lot of things but then we don't finish. So my thing is build your rituals build your routines be intentional plan the night before limit the distractions when you're focusing just do that and at the end of the day of review what you've done do what Christian bhikkhus has talked about what I set out to achieve what happened. What was the reason what will I do differently and it keeps going back to it. And you know, it's Charlie.
He talks about in his book. We don't need an accountability partner deed ice cream, but we haven't we need an accountability partner to keep us on track for these things because we like we like discipline. We like planning an intentionality and that does that leads us down to having a lack of focus and a lack of consistency. So I think all these things we're talking about and there are a lot of people do it, but there's a lot more people don't say. Yeah. There you go. Nice few plans of action there.
Oh Joe radio show. So the one thing with podcast people are consuming a lot of stuff and I spoke to a guy who drives a lot in his consuming podcasts reading blogs. Not as many books. He might he might listen to an audiobook, but he's still not on the path. And the reason was he that he wasn't applying it. And the thing for me with podcasts books blogs videos, whatever you choose.
Thing to use to improve yourself is this goes back to it may not be a lesson of rock made this call a list of music or less than a one-hit wonders. No. No you see if you can pick who the artists are in this clip Lola Too Sexy For My Love Too Sexy
For My Love loves going to leave
me.
Do you know who the artists are on that track? Well, the first one to come on who doesn't know that song Right Said Fred. I'm Too Sexy. What a great song. I was Boppin to that at the blue light disco when I was
Chain, and the other one, I believe after extensive experience doing Imaging for contemporary hit radio stations would be Taylor Swift correct on both accounts. Now what I found interesting about that is somebody had written as a Blog but what I found really interesting is I think it's so true with anything we consume is rather than copy what any of our guests do or anybody that you read a book or you see video or
Listen to a podcast rather than copy it take the best of the best and then apply it to your own world. Now. I like the fact that Right Said Fred. He's only had I think it's fair to say he's probably a one hit wonder but I like the fact that he stayed true to himself. But then he's Incorporated Taylor Swift and that track into his own music to create something new. So my point is that we listen to stuff and then we want to we want to be that person we want to
Replicate we want to have the alter ego of that person, which is good. My thing is take the best of the best from all the people you see but then apply it and that comes back to the question you had about. Well, how do we stay on track? It's the night before Planet take all the best of the best routines rituals be very intentional how we capture those ideas be intentional night before how am I going to execute them into my day review your day plan for the next day and keep it in front of you all the time.
I don't know. I just like the fact that Right Said Fred said you know what I'm going to I'm going to not plagiarize but I'm going to take the best at the best you can do. You can't deny Taylor Swift success. I didn't know I didn't know the tracks. I wouldn't have picked it but you with your musical taste. Obviously Europe Taylor Swift your sweetheart Swifty High rotation in the studio. You know that now listen I'd like to do a quick gone, but not forgotten if you'll indulge me. Yep. Well, if we go back 30 odd years to the start of my career there was a gentleman by the name of
Craig Goldman who a lot of Australian people will probably know he was a well renowned breakfast host on countless stations around the country. He was also the first host of countdown a very popular Australian music TV show he's had cancer for many years and unfortunately over the break he passed away and I would just like to publicly say what a loss it is not
Just for the media itself for me. Personally. The guy was a great friend. He got me my start in the career. He got me into the office of the guy who gave me my first radio job. So he's the guy the blind he is to blame and he was also a goddamn nice guy. He was the ground announcer for the Mighty Sea Eagles down a Brookvale ovilus an Australian rugby league team the voice of Val Morgan Cinema advertising he voiced the trains the next train on platform blah blah blah amazing amazing guy. So
I just like to pass on my thoughts and condolences to his family first and foremost and secondly, unfortunately all too late just say again because I know I know he knew it but again just say thank you for everything. I'm sure 100% sure I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for Grant. So what song would you like to dedicate to Grant? Well, I'm fairly sure. It was his favorite song. If not, it was certainly up there because every time I would walk into the on-air studio, and it was playing he would have a crank to 11.
The Doobie Brothers China Grove, I reckon is the perfect way for us to get out season 7 episode 1 just for you grant.
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