Transcription
And so that launched my career. Every night, I was doing a different type of event. I had every kind of change you can imagine, and I started doing these impossible interventions. I'll do one session; I don't care what it is. You're addicted to something? I'll turn around; you pay me nothing. It was $1,000 in those days, which was a huge amount of money, you know?
But I did it to put it on the line. I'm putting myself on the line; if I don't get a result, you don't get anything. That's how I built it. Then I had a woman who hadn't had an orgasm in 10 years, and I gave her an orgasm without touching her. Guys were like, "Can you teach me to do that?"
Then I started working with sports teams. All of a sudden, I literally sat down with a lady who hadn't had an orgasm for 10 years, and I taught her how to do it without touching her. I didn't teach her; I didn't touch her. I just eliminated the barrier that she had. What was the barrier in her head? She was constantly analyzing every single moment.
A woman is very different from a man; they can't have that experience unless they let go completely. So I got her to let go completely and then experience the joy that she'd been wanting to have. But she had all these blockages, all the pain of other relationships, problems, complex. It took me about 45 minutes to do it.
When I started doing that, then I had all of a sudden politicians. I had sports teams—not politicians needing help with orgasms, just politicians calling for other reasons. Well, they might have needed that also; by nature, they're politicians, so I'm sure they don't have that many orgasms, right?
But all of a sudden, I started working with Olympic athletes in 1984 in L.A. That's how long I've been doing this. The guy I worked with wasn't supposed to win the team, and he ended up winning the 1500 freestyle in swimming. That gave me another notch. Then the army, and then all of a sudden, I worked with Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Gorbachev, and Clinton.
I mean, I'm only 32. I'm going to be 65 in about 30 days here, so it's been 48 years of that continued growth and expansion. Then I got into businesses and figuring out the patterns in businesses. It's all patterns, as you know, Patrick.
If anyone listening wants to say, "Okay, the world seems uncertain," yeah, I look at—I have five kids and five grandkids. I have a 50-year-old daughter and a three-and-a-half-year-old daughter because three of my kids I adopted early on when I was just 24, 25 years old.
I look at my grandkids, especially my youngest daughter, and I think 40% of the jobs, if you believe the studies, are going to be gone because of AI, because of robotics, because of nanotechnology, and so forth. So how do I arm them to do well in the future?
The answer is there are three skills everybody needs, and they're so simple. They are the skills that make anybody masterful. It's made you successful in your insurance business; it's what's made you successful in this business.
The first thing is pattern recognition. If you start recognizing patterns, fear disappears. Right now, people say, "Oh, we've never been so divided," or "Now we're, you know, the country has a little more optimism." But we've never been so divided; it's total BS.
I can show you the letters that were put out between Jefferson and Adams, and if you read what they wrote, it makes anything the left or right has said about each other look calm compared to that. We go in cycles. When you recognize a pattern, you no longer react.
It's like losers react; leaders anticipate. Anticipation is power. When you know the pattern, that's what makes anybody great—they see the pattern. But what makes them really great is the second skill: when you learn to use the patterns.
If you and I look at anybody, you see somebody that's great in investing. I've invested and interviewed more than 50 of the very best in the world—the Ray Dalios, the Carl Icahns, the Warren Buffetts, all the best in private equity. What you begin to see is there are certain patterns, even though they go about it differently, that are universal.
If you sow the same seeds, you reap the same rewards, but they know how to use it. If you see somebody great in music or dance or a movie maker, they know where to move the camera to move your emotion. They bring it in close, when to bring the music up, how to do it. They know it; that makes them masterful.
But the third-level skill is pattern creation. That's what you've begun to do; that's what I've begun to do. It's like when you learn to play a piano, most people learn someone else's patterns. You learn to see the patterns, recognize them, then you learn to use them.
But if you do enough other music, then now you get to come out and start creating things. I'm standing on the shoulders of all the people before me, as are you, because I learned so many things from them. But now, at this stage of my life, the last 15, 20 years, I've been able to create things because I know what those patterns are.
Those skill sets are how my kids will do well. If you can learn rapidly and recognize patterns, there's nothing you can't do well at. And by the way, noting the patterns of where we are in history, the pattern of where you are in your own life.
I'll give you a simple example: what made human beings go from survival, living in fear, where we were hunter-gatherers, to where we could stay in one place, build communities, build cities, build countries, have homes, have education? What made that possible is one pattern recognition that changed humanity.
Do you know what it was? Pattern recognition that you're not talking about fire; you're not talking about pattern recognition community that we need each other. What is it? Seasons. Until we understood seasons, we had to constantly move from place to place and hope we could find our food.
But once we understood seasons, we knew if you do the right thing at the wrong time, there is zero reward. But if you do the right thing at the right time, the rewards are immense. So if you plant in the winter, I don't care how hard you work, or in the summer, you get nothing.
It's like recognizing the seasons changed humanity. Well, there's a season in your own life. Some of your viewers are younger, maybe Z to 21. Think of that; it's springtime. When it's springtime, what does spring have? Everything grows easily.
If it's springtime in business, you think you're a genius because your business grows. Everybody's business grows because it's a time of tremendous optimism and immense growth. The environment's different; people's attitudes are different.
These cycles go through 18 to 20-year cycles. If you study a thousand years of Roman history, which I've done, or 500 years of Anglo-American history, you see about every 18 to 20 years there's a shift. It's kind of like we exhaust an emotion.
Do you ever smile so much your face hurts? Yes, you know what I mean. You need a change. Well, after springtime, the easy time comes summer, and summer is always a testing time. It's tougher. A lot of people plant in the spring and go, "Where's my crop?"
You have to get through all the seasons, right? So summer tests people, and then you go to another reaping time. You go to the fall, where it's easy again, where now things flow. Economies go crazy; people want to give you a mortgage even though you barely have a pulse and no job.
You remember those days, of course—no income, no assets, and boom, just give it to you anyway, and markets go through the roof. But again, what follows that is winter. The great thing about life is you never skip from fall to spring; you always go through winter.
Some are short, some are long, some are hard, some are easy, but we go through them. They have a purpose; they weed out the weak. They make us, if we push through it, stronger. They make everything better going forward, so there's a purpose in every season.
So 0 to 21, you could call the springtime of most people's lives. Some of us had to go to work at 78 years old to support our family, but still, you are protected. If there's a war, you're not going to war; someone's protecting you.
Someone's mostly providing for you; you're usually providing for you. You're being fed information; you're learning. 22 to 42, that's the summertime. That's the testing time. That's when most people come out and go, "I know I was taught all this, but I'm going to test what I believe."
You're very optimistic; in fact, you think you're invincible at 22, 23, 24. You go, "I'm going to be president of the United States. I'm going to be a multi-billionaire, and I'm going to have 100 relationships simultaneously, and everyone's going to be happy."
Then you're 30, and you're going, "I can't even keep one relationship happy, and I'm burnt to the ground." So you go through the phase. But think of 22 to 42 as being like the soldier of society. In fact, if we go to war, you're the one going to war.
22 to 42 in business, you're the soldier. You're learning, you're growing, you're grunting it out, you're hustling, right? If you work hard during that time and you've done well during spring, you come to the fall, which is, you know, 43 to 63. That's your power period, right?
That's the period where you had explosive growth in your business, as an example. That's when you became who you are, where your name became known. That's where all of a sudden you can do probably more today with your pinky than when you worked 20 hours a day.
Now, if you work a 20-hour day, you produce generational impact much greater than that. So that period of time, by the way, 22 to 42, of people are in that stage of life right now, is statistically the most unhappy period because people are trying.
They thought it was going to be easy; it's not so easy. They eventually learn, usually the hard way. What they learn is it's not as easy as I thought; I'm not as invincible as I thought, and they have to figure things out.
They're trying to prove themselves to themselves and others; they haven't figured it all out yet. Now, some people do these seasons earlier, some later, but it's a good range. In that power period, that's when you have the greatest economic growth.
That's when you start having long-term relationships. But the ultimate time, and I say this as a brother who's heading in that direction because I never would have believed it, is really when you get to 63 to 83, or 63 to 103, or 63 to 120, which is the oldest humans—the final season, the winter season.
But that's the season in which you really are the elder of society. If you've done your job up front, you've reaped so much. All you want to do is give back, and you don't worry about what people think about you.
You sure like to make everybody happy, but you know, unless you've got holes, you know Jesus couldn't pull it off, so I don't know if you're going to do that, right? It's like I'm here to help the people that are interested. I'm not here to say I'm the right thing for everybody.
You own yourself at a different level, and you really can move with your pinky and make things happen. I remember you had the gentleman from "The Four Turnings," and we had him on as well. Very interesting guy to talk to.
They wrote that book on December 31st of '97, the fact that we're going to go through these four turnings—Neil Howe and his co-author, William Strauss. I interviewed them in '97. I remember that. I'm saying, "Trust me, I know."
That's why I'm bringing it up. So, you know, with you, Tony, this is very helpful, but I want to transition into the next cast. But I want to mention one thing, if I may. The same thing happens in history.
So just for a second, if you're born in 1910, you don't have to be a historian to think about this. Those first 20 years are protected. People born in 1910 were born at a time when World War I was going on. But then we went and solved the war, won the war, came back, and had the Roaring '20s.
We had this incredible economy. When they were 10 years old, the economy was going crazy. We got all this new technology; we got cars, we got planes, we got radio, we got television. That generation was called "Flappers" because they were looked down on, like a lot of, let's say, Z generation or Millennials are by X Generation people or sometimes baby boomers because they didn't have to go through the tough times.
And they didn't, frankly. But what happened to that kid born in 1910? In 1929, when he was 19, thinking he was going to go get a car, he was going to go party, the whole world turned upside down. The Depression—people jumping out of buildings, the Dust Bowl, people standing in line for bread.
By the way, they made it through 10 years—10 years of depression. Now, that doesn't mean every day is dark. You can be in winter and have beautiful days, 31, 32, or nice times. But the overall thing was testing, and they became strong because they had to be.
Then, right when they turned 29, in 1939, what happens? World War II. You and I weren't alive then, but anybody who was alive then thought it looked like the world was ending. Hitler was taking over countries in days, blitzkrieging everywhere.
What happened is that generation volunteered and went to war, and they won the war. They came back the heroes; they're now known as the Greatest American Generation. They were known as Flappers and losers.
What made them strong was pushing through winter. Everybody, listen to me now: everybody goes through winter if they live 80 years plus. You don't have a choice; just which season are you going to do it in? The early stage, middle stage, late stage—it's coming.
But watch this: think about those people. They come home, and think how the world changes. After winter, it's now springtime, and the vets are now moving out to the suburbs. They got basically a free down payment on the home, and we have all these new technologies.
Think about the '50s, early '60s, until Kennedy is killed. There's a level of optimism in this country that's amazing—springtime. After Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, it's a different world.
It's a testing summer where young and old fight each other. It happens every 80 years—generational fights. I'm not going to war; it was a completely different mindset. Those people raised kids differently than they did.
They weren't around; they were doing their mission or doing whatever their love was. Their kids became latchkey kids—kids that let themselves in the house and watched television, had to fend for themselves. So they developed different values as a generation.
The X generation is more pragmatic. If you ask people during the '60s and '70s, which they did in the universities, what's more important: a philosophy of life that will make you happy or the pragmatic skills to make you financially secure or free?
82% said philosophy of life. Wow! In the '80s, '90s, 2000s, they asked the same question—a complete reversal. 80, 81% said no, pragmatic skills to be financially free.
And what season are we in now? Winter. When it's winter, everything's exaggerated. It's World War III; we're all going to die. Some of the same things were happening before. You don't have that mindset; it's a fear time.
We're about three-quarters of the way through it. If you study historians, the four-turning guys, various people will tell you that we still have to go through some more economic challenges. We still have to go through probably some form of war, even a cyber war with China or something.
But on the other side of it is another springtime. What I want people to get is you got to know where you are in your life and where you are in history, and you got to learn to take advantage of it.
You can't complain that it's winter during winter. If you start a business in winter and you succeed, 60% of all the Fortune 1000 companies that are alive today—the biggest, most successful companies—could have been born in any one of those four seasons. They were all born in winter, wow, in a recession or depression.
Got to love it. FedEx, Disney—Disney was during the Depression; FedEx was a recession. I can walk you through them all. So that process makes you strong, sure.
And that is why here's the history of the world in four sentences, and I'll shut up: Good times create weak people. They're not bad people; they're just weak because they haven't been challenged. Weak people create bad times. Bad times create strong people. Strong people create great times.
So Millennials and Zs are the next heroes, and they're already starting it because they're starting to go through winter. We're not done with it; they're going to open things up. I'm very excited about what the future will have. I'm very optimistic about it because studying history shows you patterns.
There's no guarantees, but there's patterns. When you understand the patterns, fear disappears. You're able to figure out how to maximize anything you're involved with.
I think it's important to understand these patterns, and I help people see the patterns. Whatever stage of life you're in, there are predictable problems and predictable opportunities.
I see you're 46. Yeah, 46. So I'm 65. I can remember 46 so vividly. What was going through? You and I are different in lots of different ways, but there are certain patterns that are immutable.
If I can help someone say, "Hey, here's some opportunity; here's the challenge you can face," so you can anticipate the challenge, then I can help you have a lot less suffering and a lot more joy. That's my mission.
And you know, when you explain the patterns, I mean, that's really the way you solve a business. Like, you know, "Hey, Blue Ocean strategy, what's the pattern? Increase, decrease, boom, create, eliminate."
"Hey, what's the marketing for this? I just need the formula. Once I figure out the formula, we do consulting for engagements for businesses." The first thing I say is, "Tell me your formulas in your business."
"What do you mean?" "Doing what times what plus this minus this equals a million dollars. Can you show me that?" "I don't know what you're talking about."
If we can figure out the best formulas within your business, we drive it; we're going to get the results. How can we drive that more? It doesn't matter what business you're in.
But you have to become a business owner, not an operator. The death of most young entrepreneurs, even older entrepreneurs, is you get in, and then you hire the person who's most talented for the least amount of money.
Then the next people you hire are not as skilled, and so you know you can do it better. So you end up doing everything. It's funny.
I could not run 114 companies at the size and scope of $8 billion doing everything else that I do and be a father and be a human. But I became an owner.
As an owner, I'm strategic. There are a dozen I run real directly; the rest of them, I'm strategic. I come in and do the very thing you're doing. I do my Business Mastery programs; it's like a boot camp for businesses twice a year.
I don't care; we got people in there with billion-dollar businesses. We got people who are just getting started with a business, and we guarantee them their money back if in 18 months or less they don't at least grow their business 30% to 130%.
And they all do it because the pattern is so simple. In a big company or a small company, there are still core patterns. Are you driving? Are you holding accountability? Are you solving problems? All of the above.
But 80% of success in life and in business is psychology, meaning the mindset and the emotion. You can get the answers if you have the right mindset.
20%—and it's a very important 20%—is the strategy. The right strategy can save you 10 years. So I'm a strategist, but I always know I've got to make sure your psychology is strong enough first so that no matter what season we're in, you can do what.
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