Why Doing More Never Creates the Life You Actually Want with Alex Dripchak

Speaker A: He spent 16 years in the corporate world. He had the career, he had the network, he had the salary, he had the title. And the whole time, there was a voice that got louder and louder telling him that he was supposed to be doing something else. So what did he do? Like most of us entrepreneurs, he walked away from all of it to now spend his days teaching high school kids how to invest, how to network, how to interview, and all the things that school never taught them and that life truthfully punishes you for not knowing. And today I sit down with my friend Alex Dripcheck to talk about what it actually takes to act on what you know and why the gap between knowing and doing is almost never about information. And on personal front, Alex sent me his book, and I keep his book on my kitchen counter, and I look at it every single day because it has been so helpful and productive for me. Where we share exercises in this episode, productivity routines, what it actually means. And so I'm really excited for you to dive in. And if this conversation ends up being worth your time, could you please do me a favor and leave a review? It is the fastest way to help more people find the Mind of George show. And so, without further ado, let's get into the episode. All right, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Mind of George Show. I am stoked for today's guest. Today's guest is a new friend, a fast friend, and one that I both admire, respect, and also can say that I love. Um, because he. He has a soft spot in my heart because of what he does in the world. And I'm just gonna do this intro based on what I know, what I felt, and what I've experienced from the moment I met this man. He connected with me. He was empathetic, he was compassionate. He's gone out of his way to help me. And that's how he is in the world as a father, as a husband, and as an entrepreneur. He founded and leads a company called the Comments foundation, and it's a charity that teaches high school and college students the importance of networking, investing, interviewing, and all these other skills, but also is on a mission to help change the world. He helps young adults with the missing skills that school never teaches them, but also helps us as well. Because when I say I've met my match in productivity, in mindset, in little NLP hacks and consistency for all of us, I say I met my match because I'm not joking. He sent me two copies of his book, Maximize. I gave one to one of my Best friends. And the other one was on my kitchen counter. And I wake up in the morning, I read my Bible, and then when I put my Bible down, I pick up the book. And it's always like, one of a few things. Number one is like, alex, get out of my head. Number two is Alex, thanks for the reminder. Or number three is Alex. I never thought about that. Thanks for shifting my perspective. And so, without further ado, I'd love to welcome my friend Alex Dripchak to the show. Alex, welcome to the show, brother.

Speaker B: I don't know what I can say to that. You know, I have to bring you around as my personal hype man, George. You know, gonna be like, uh, let's get ready to rumble Michael Buffer style here for all of my interviews. I appreciate you.

Speaker A: I'm friends with Bruce. I've known Bruce for a long time. That's a whole. We could do a podcast on the fact that those two brothers didn't know about each other, but both ended up as professional announcers and then met after their careers were established. And I'm like, holy moly. Talk about a godwink. But, yeah, sounds like somebody who needs.

Speaker B: I was gonna say, sounds like somebody needs to be on the podcast. That's quite a story.

Speaker A: I know. It, it did. The stories that he shared with me years ago, I was like, huh? Come again? Can you tell me that story again? Like, that's almost, like, unbelievable. Um, but yeah, I, I, I love it. And it's, it's so good. So good, in fact, that I forgot my train of thought. But that's where we are today.

Speaker B: No, the introduction. I appreciate you for the wonderful introduction. I love you too, man. Uh, yeah, I'm excited for today's discussion. However, I can add value to your listeners. I'm all about it.

Speaker A: Yeah, man, you, well, you hit a soft spot in my heart. I've said this on the podcast before. I have. I have two retirement plans. Number one is to be everybody else's hype man. It's my favorite spot. Like, just let me be your mc. I'll intro you on your podcast, I'll intro you on your keynotes, and I don't want any notes. And number two is a fortune cookie company, but loaded with actual wisdom, like Bible verses and guidance instead of, like, here's your winning lottery numbers, and maybe I'll even make them gluten free. Right? So we can all win and, and not have the, uh, poison food approach.

Speaker B: Check all the boxes. I love it.

Speaker A: Yeah, brother. So I, I want to, I Want to start with this for everybody listening, because I, I look at you and, and you like, live with a foot in both worlds. And I love this. Like, you live in the world of like, students and, and the younger generation who are like, finding their identity and coming up through the world, which I would probably submit right now is probably one of the hardest times to come up in the world. And then on the other side, you're in the world of entrepreneurship and productivity. And there's a lot of wisdom inside of that and probably a lot of common threads that we forget about or we think about. And so I'm curious, as somebody who helps people with identity and life skills and productivity, for the person listening, what would you say is actually possible if somebody really starts to understand the things that you teach or how to maximize their day or how to focus on actually growing and building themselves in that life department?

Speaker B: Yeah, it's a really good question. Uh, fortunately I had one student come up to me and he goes, I feel like whoever takes all your courses is going to take over the world. That's very dramatic, but I appreciate you. Um, so if you ask him, then, uh, it's taking over the world, but not that we need that. So I think just, you know, as far as tapping into some of these ideals, you know, you mentioned putting it on your, on your kitchen. Kitchen, uh, table, or having it visible. So James Clear, one of the people I cite most in the book, people are familiar with, probably atomic habits, but making things, uh, obvious and making things attractive. So I think, um, if you take this book, you take some of these insights, you find ways to implement them. That's really most important. So Keith Ferrazzi, in his book Never Eat Alone, he has a very, ah, good quote that says the only thing that should exceed your desire to learn is your desire to act or your willingness to act, to paraphrase. So I think, you know, learning is great, but finding ways to make things actionable is even more important. So I'm going to give some little, a little spoiler for people later on.

Speaker A: Stick around.

Speaker B: I'm going to give some little, uh, giveaways and insights, um, to make sure that people are taking action.

Speaker A: I love that. And, and I'm going to go a little bit deeper than the productivity because I'm so curious. Right.

Speaker B: You.

Speaker A: By the way, I, I love in James Clear's book, um, you know, he said, make the things you don't want to do harder to do and make the things that you want to do easier to do.

Speaker B: Yeah. Reduce or add Friction. Yep. That's one of the top 10 practices in my book.

Speaker A: Yep, yep. And I saw that in your book as well. And, and I'm curious because I think you have a unique perspective. Right. Like you helped me on a phone call, navigating some personal stuff and shifting my perspective. But I also think about students that you help. Right. 15, 16, 17, and you see this resistance on both sides. And so, you know, I think it's really easy to relegate productivity down to a checklist, but it never sticks. Like, hey, what have you noticed in helping people with this? Or like the, the two to three biggest reasons that people fail to act. Like, what gets in the way of them actually going after the things that they want?

Speaker B: Yeah, I would say, well, number one is just your, your typical day to day, right? So you, you took that, whatever it is, hour, two hours, five hours of the seminar, you took that outside of your day to day. So then you, a lot of people feel like, oh man, I need to catch back up to everything else that I have going on in life. And then the catch up process just deters you and you never get back on track. So I think that's number one. I think number two is another James Clear pearl of wisdom is, um, you know, missing once is an accident, missing twice is the start of a new habit. So I think a lot of people focus on how many times they hit, right? So what their hit rate is. I got a 10 day streak, a 20 day streak, a 30 day streak, and they think about all of the hits they have. But as far as the misses, you know, the submarines, um, in Battleship, you know, how many misses did you have in a row? You don't really track those, right? It's just, okay, one and then one could turn into 10. And you know, you're not even mindful of it because you're not tracking the misses, you're only tracking the hits. So those are probably the top two things that I would say. Um, you know, as far as a third for why people fail to act, I think it's, you know, it's uh, looking around, right? Uh, you're the product of the five closest people or you know, there's all those different sayings. So if you look around and you're not seeing people progressing, if you're not seeing people wanting to change, wanting to improve, wanting to develop in life, you know, it's gonna be much harder for you to do it as well. So I think those are, those are probably the top three.

Speaker A: Yeah, well, I actually, I have A question about this because you're, you're kind of an example of this because I know for me there's so many things in my life that I quote unquote, wanted to change for so many years. But you know, uh, it took me getting rebuked with Matthew, like judge a man by his actions and not his words, right? And then what really ended up happening is that I changed because my desire to change was there. But I had to let go of that identity. I had to let go of being right. And you know, I look at you, who's been investing since like an early age, and you just did this, like you just shifted the entire trajectory of your life, right? And so can you kind of tell us that story just for background for everybody listening? Because I think it's so powerful and profound with what you're going to share?

Speaker B: No, yeah, uh, absolutely. First of all, love the Matthew reference. So Matthew 5 is one of my favorite, uh, in the Bible. So, um, very good. But yeah, as far as my story for investing, I started investing at 15 years old. I, uh, had a part time job working at a golf course and had some tips left over. And fortunately, um, had the advice from my dad and he said, you should open up a Roth ira. And I said, what the heck is that? Right? It's not something you come across in the day to day of education. And uh, explained it to me and I'm like, all right, you know, and I, I looked around, I looked at my friends, nobody was doing it. You know, I looked at my brother at the time, he wasn't doing it. Not to call him out, but you know, so I was looking around and I got it. Nobody else is doing this, but you know, at the end of the day, I trust my dad, whatever, it's only a few dollars, I'll give it a shot. So I did that. And not only is compounding for 20 plus years really powerful and that's going to continue on for another 20, 30, 40 years, but, but the domino, uh, or ripple effect of everything that it opened up to me, right? So I started investing into that Roth ira. What did I invest in? Mostly exchange traded funds into the s and P500. So what is the S&P500? What are these stocks? How is it kind of weighted? So then it just, you know, it opens up a whole new world to you that is extremely beneficial to you. So it's that domino effect or that ripple effect, um, that just helped the rest of my life. And that's what I want to go out and preach to, uh, students everywhere. You know, that this, the only that I can really think of safeguard to success is starting early. So if you start these skills early, life becomes a lot easier.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I think too, like, didn't you just go through, like, a massive pivot in even starting the thing for the students? Like, what was that journey?

Speaker B: A, uh, pivot as far as how things are delivered or just be going to it now full time?

Speaker A: No. Like, weren't you.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Weren't you, like, working completely fine and then you're like, I'm going all in on this with the students. Like, what was that like?

Speaker B: Yeah, stressful. But, um, but, you know, putting your faith in God, um, de stresses the situation for sure. And we can talk more about that. You know, when you serve a higher power, a higher being, a higher force beyond yourself, um, you know, then that's, that's really the, uh, what you're. You should be striving for. So I think that helped de Stress the process. But yes to your question. Uh, I've spent about, about 13 years or so in the, the corporate professional world, and then a few more years working at a Fortune 500 company during my college time. So about 16 years in the corporate world. And, uh, yeah, just as of early, um, March, I went to this full time. So really, really trying to serve. Um, the voice in my head was just way too loud. The Holy Spirit was just, you know, way too loud, saying, you need to do more, you need to do more. You need to spend more time on this. Uh, and, you know, I was like, okay, I need to make sure I'm putting this as my primary focus.

Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Because I'm curious because the reason I asked is, like, I was talking about, you know, identity a bit before of, like, why we don't change. And so, you know, for you to go that. To leave the fortune, uh, 500 and to go full time, there's a giant identity shift in that. Right. And you just alluded to part of this, which is like, you know, getting your identity from a higher power. For us, it's Jesus, God, right?

Speaker B: Yep.

Speaker A: Once you have that clarity, though, like, how did you go about attacking that? Because, like, you're going from something known, something predictable, something that's like, I can just coast in this to, like, I'm going in a completely different direction. And, um, I'm, I'm, I'm all in. Right. Like, what was that process like? But also, like, how do you, how do you navigate yourself through that to, like, walk away from something Established and then go into something brand new.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's a good question. Um, and I'll let you know as it continues to go on. But it's been about six years, you know, that I've had this as a side business. Um, so, you know, I saw some trends with grants and obviously the government's really focused now on outcomes as opposed to just academics. So I think there were some trends in the right direction. Um, you know, had a couple clients, a couple, you know, donor. Um, so I think that I did take off of a existing kind of force or some momentum. Um, so that definitely made it a little bit easier. But as far as the shift, it is, it is different, right? So I built out a whole network, right, that knows me for my, my sales experience, my negotiation, my discovery call playbooks, you know, all of my expertise in that, that space. And then when the, when the content shift, uh, happened, so did the followers or so did the likes. And all of the comments, they dropped off, right? They're like, hey, this isn't something that's germane to me. Yes, I still follow you, but this isn't the content that I was here for. So now I have to kind of restart on building that whole process. Uh, so that's, that's one of the things that's been eye opening for sure. But I think, you know, centering on God, using the existing momentum and then focusing on what you're delivering, um, the value that you deliver out to the next generation, uh, I think that's, that's really been helpful for me.

Speaker A: Yeah, well, I think, I think it's, you know, when you were answering the question earlier of like, what stops us from acting? It's like, well, who you surround yourself with. Well, that is friends, that's peers, that's also your community. And so you also in, in pivoting and changing, you change a part of that feedback circle. So have you had to like, get, uh, reintentional about changing some of those relationships? Like you're obviously changing your audience, right? You're showing up a new content, but you don't really have that external feedback loop coming in per se, because everything was established. So like, how are you navigating that, like, while being consistent and rebuilding and doing all of that?

Speaker B: Yeah, it's a really, really good point. And um, I guess practice what you preach. Conferences, uh, for me, right, Getting exposure to the people that are in the spaces that I want to be or adjacent. Right? So not only in the space, but adjacent to the space. So, um, that's One of the practices I do with some personal coaching is mapping out all of your adjacencies. So, entrepreneurs, I think you said you have a good number of entrepreneurs in this community.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: It's not just, you know, who's your client.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: But, um, like, just earlier, I had, um, this weekend I had, uh, one of my students or one of my folks I coach was here, and he owns his own insurance business, and there was a gentleman that I had over from the neighborhood for our little barbecue, and he was a realtor. And it's like, all right, somebody who has offers, auto and home insurance is perfect to pair with a realtor. Right. Once somebody gets their home, what are

Speaker A: they going to need?

Speaker B: They're going to need home insurance. So mapping out your adjacencies is really important. And, uh, where I was going with that is I'm going to a conference tomorrow, um, to meet a lot of folks in the space and adjacent to the space that I want to be in. So, uh, trying to be visible, trying to get out in front of people. Um, and even if that means, you know, flying and paying for different events, that's, uh, that's kind of how I'm tapping, um, into and getting that feedback. Feedback loop that you were mentioning earlier.

Speaker A: Well, I love it because, you know, I think all too often I did a podcast on this maybe like, six years ago, and I said, kevin Costner lied to you. If you build it, they don't come, but if you go out and build it with them, they stay forever. And that's kind of like I. I remember I ranted for, like, 20 minutes straight of, like, you can sit back and wait, or you can, you know, kind of go do something with it. But I actually want to. I want to get granular for a minute because I love the way that you just described that. Can you just define adjacencies? Like, what do you mean by that? Uh, that's a very educated word. And there's a Marine in me that's like, I kind of get it.

Speaker B: Sure. Yeah. I mean, it's people that are near to or running a parallel path to, or, you know, whatever. It might be near to your clients near to you, but they're not exactly what you do. Right. So, um, maybe you're a podcast host, but then there's a radio host. Right. Or maybe there's a journalist, or there's people that are doing similar things through different mediums, through different domains. So figuring out whether it's adjacent to your client or adjacent to your role, who Are the people that are serving in similar manners? Um, and, you know, how can you kind of tap into them and their network and their expertise? Does that answer your question?

Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. And leads me to my next one. Amazing. Because the whole premise of this podcast is that relationships beat algorithms.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And I tell people that there's two roles in relationships. There's leaders and there's followers. And if you're not leading, somebody else is. Right. And. And what I'm hearing underneath this for everybody listening, is that you take a very proactive approach to relationships, to creating them, to nurturing them, to leaning into them, what you call adjacencies. And it's probably been, I'm assuming, one of the biggest feedback loops for you in this big pivot, which is like doing that. So I'm curious, you know, you have a background in sales. You have a background in all of this. So now how do you strategically do this? Right? You identify your adjacencies, right? Like, who do I know? And then you take a very proactive approach. You've done it with me. You're flying to an event, and I'm assuming that's where a lot of, like, your business success comes from. So I'm just curious, like, what your process is and what your thinking is on that, because I. It. I think it's so profound and it's a lost art, and I just kind of want your thoughts on it.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's a great point. So one thing I'm going to start with. I'm going to lean back here. If you haven't read this book, I'd recommend it.

Speaker A: The Go Giver Bob. He's been on the show, so everybody's heard him on the show.

Speaker B: I just connected with Bob. He's. He's a great gentleman. So, um, yeah, so I'm not surprised to hear that. That he's been on the show. But, you know, that's kind of the. The principles, even though I only read it recently, the principles I've been kind of living, uh, my life by. And some of them have crystallized since reading it. Some of them, you know, I'm still getting. I'm still working on for sure. Number five, being Being open to receive. I'm still working on that one. But, um, you know, so there. I think that's a great book. Never read alone, I mentioned by Keith Ferrazzi. But, um, you know, we teach a course on relationship building, network building, advocate building, I like to call it, so very much trying to focus on offering value. So, like, I'm Going to go to this conference and I'll give everybody a little, little tip here. If you see me at the conference, do not steal my idea. But no, I'm just, if you, if you're at your own conference, use this tip. So if you look at a conference, the speakers and the videographers, they have a direct line of sight because there's nobody in the way, right? So there's a direct line of sight. However, if you're looking to build your authority, what do you want? You want the people clapping, you want the people smiling, you want the people laughing? Whatever it is, you want to see the full room. So I'll go bring, you know, a um, camera that I was fortunate to win at a raffle, a pretty nice camera. And I'll go and take the photos of people on stage with a captive audience and then I'll just send it to them.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: For free. I'm not a professional photographer, I'm not making any money out of this. But it's just one of those ways where I've already demonstrated value to you right off the bat. Bat, right. So people talk about no like trust Bob's principle there. So now they get to know you, they get to like you right off the bat. So it's a, uh, it's a quick way as opposed to pitching your solutions. So that's one way for relationship building. Back to your initial question that I like to start is figuring out. Anthony Iarino, in his book Eat Their Lunch and a few other books he has talks about entering from the right. So if the left hand side of this matrix or you want to say or slide is pitching your solution and the right hand side is saving someone's child from a burning building, how do you enter from the right without being an arsonist? That's what I like to call it. So, so how can you add as much value as possible right off the bat? And that's, that's where I always start.

Speaker A: Hey everybody. Welcome to a one sentence summary of the whole 700 episodes that I've recorded on this show, which is value. And if you haven't listened, that episode with Bob, Bob Berg, the book is the Go Giver. But just so everyone knows, it's an incredible parable. But the, the five laws, it's the law of value, the law of compensation, the law of influence, the law of authenticity, and then the law of receptivity, which ironically value has to be reciprocated for it to actually build trust. You have to go both ways. I'm curious and I'm just gonna ask the um, I'm gonna ask a question I get asked all the time and I'm curious, your perspective in this lens of relationships and value. Where's the line in value? I just over give or I give too much of myself or they never reciprocate it back. This is probably the number one thing I get. And I'm so interested in your perspective because I have multiple answers. But I want to know what you think of that.

Speaker B: Yeah, I guess maybe Bob might be, uh, upset when I say this, but I unfortunately have been victim of that. Um, there's been some awards I've given, you know, and then people go silent or whatever, especially when you're associated with sales because people just think, oh, you were pitching me. It's like, no, I, I was really trying to do something nice for you. Like, no, I wasn't pitching you. So, um, I, I have a loose theory on this. And uh, the numbers, take them for what you will, but the concept, hopefully it helps. So I, I, for me it's about 50, 40, 10. So it's 50% of people. You bring up your goal on the first call. Um, 40% of people. I'll do 1, 2, 3 things first before I, you know, kind of have my ask or whatever it is. And then 10% of people, usually my most high profile people, I just give, I never ask anything, you know, I, I, if they're famous and if they're good at what they do, at some point they're gonna be like, wow, this guy's pretty good. He's been helping me a lot. Let me look to give back. So, um, you know, whatever the numbers are for you, whether it's 40, 40, 20, or you know, it's 30, 30, you know, 40, whatever numbers work for you, those are kind of the three buckets I usually think of.

Speaker A: I, I actually love that. I, I see it very, very similar. And you know, I've been teaching relationships at scale for a long time. But I think the premise for everybody listening is that relationships are two way streets, right? And value doesn't necessarily mean you need somebody to do something for you. Value could just be their perspective, your, their friendship, their, their connection. Right? But I think what really is underneath all of this is that you have to have and know your identity and what your value is. Because I do something similar. But I just, I have rules for myself. Like I have a God honest rule that if we are aligned anywhere in life, even if we're on two different opposite ends of the political spectrum, or the faith perspective. But, like, you're a decent human being. My rule is simple. I will give anybody an hour of my time, no matter what. Right. It's a call, a series of calls. I'll give you this, I'll share this. Right. Like, I believe in that all day. Uh, but then the feedback loop is what determines kind of what bucket you go into. Right. And I think you have a concept, too, or something that you mentioned before of, like, in the personal development world, we called it energy givers or energy vampires. Right. And basically, that is the premise that I'm weighing them against. Of, like, when I give life, is that person giving life to somebody else or giving life back to me.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: There's people that I give to that. Giving to them fills me up because I know what they're going to do with it. Right.

Speaker B: Say that. Yeah.

Speaker A: And then there's other people I give to where I'm like, oh, no, I'm getting a little empty in this, which means, like, I'm doing it for the wrong reason. So I would love your thoughts on that.

Speaker B: Yeah, I think what people do with it. Right. So before we started this, you mentioned you're reading the book, Right. And that you gave it to somebody else who's also reading the book. So I'm like, awesome, right? If George wants more copies of the book, George is going to get more copies of the book. However, other people. I send it to the book. You know, I, I. Some people get an audiobook, so I can kind of see if they ever opened it. They didn't. I'm like, uh, all right, noted. I'm not going to give them a book. Or, you know, maybe, maybe I'm not going to engage with them quite as much. So if people are taking the things that are valuable and they're implementing them and they're, you know, saying, whatever, I'm going to be a reference or a testimonial or here's a win story for you. Um, that's. That's wonderful. You know, I'll give to those people, like you said, all day long. Um, however, if people are just taking and not even taking action, that's a double. No, no. If you're only taking and you're never looking to reciprocate, and then you're not even moving the needle forward or, you know, moving the ball forward. No, those are two strikes, you're out. M. Yeah.

Speaker A: Yeah. I, I love the way you think about. So let me just, for everybody listening, let me give context. So Alex's book is Called Maximize. Right. And it's, um. I mentioned this before. It's. It's like a reference material, I think the subtitles of Playbook Style countdown of the top 100 productivity practices. Right. And I'm going to ask you in a minute about some of the ones that didn't make the book. But I want to. I want to go really simple on this first because I know something that you help you, and this is me tying two worlds together. I know something you help your students with is thinking that like a checklist is something of value. Right. I just hit the list. I got it done. Right. But I think that happens with productivity as well. And I see it all the time. Right. Where. Well, I did the thing, I did my journaling. Right. I hit that thing consistently. But it's not shifting anything. Right. And I think there's this trap that people can fall into of almost like over maximizing to where it just becomes the thing that you do, but there's nothing shifting it. So first I want to ask you is like, what is the purpose of productivity in your mind, in your eyes?

Speaker B: Yeah. So it actually gets back to the title, the title sometimes I hate because it says productivity. And I wanted to put like productivity, peak performance and purpose. So I think, um, you know, having productivity leading to your purpose. We talked about serving higher power earlier. I, uh, think that there needs to be some kind of rationale or follow through. Uh, so I think there's one really good story. Simon Sinek talks about it and he says when you're doing the tasks, is it just. So let's say you're. You're building a. You're building a building. I'll leave it there for now. And you're a mason and you have all these stones to put together when you're cementing the stones. Is it just that I'm cementing some stones. It's a hot day. I can't wait to get this done and get my paycheck. Or is it I am building a cathedral. Right. Do you see the vision through the. The trees, so to speak. But, um, are you serving that broader higher power we talked about God. But also just the higher power of what you're doing. Like what the. The vision is, what the output is, what the goal is. Do you see that when you're doing the work?

Speaker A: M. Yeah, because I think that's with, um. It starts with why. I think that's in. Where he tells the story of like when they interviewed the janitor at NASA.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And he asked the question the Answer wasn't like, oh, I'm the janitor. He said, I'm helping to put a man on the moon. Right. There's a, uh, there's a why associated with it, which, which I absolutely love that, you know, for the, for the people listening to, I think just a correlation. Like, as we're entrepreneurs, as we're adults, as we're parents, as we're growing, I think one of the traps that I see people falling into, Alex and myself included, is I end up living in the groove. And over time, the groove distances me from the why. And I keep doing things because that's how I've always done them, or that's the thing that I was doing. And then you get the sunk cost bias. And so I think that's why I'm, I'm bringing that up.

Speaker B: No, I think it's a perfect item, uh, to bring up. And yes, we like to talk about some of those sunk cost or all those different principles and kind of strategic thinking models in the courses, too. But just when you said about, um, start with why, it just made me think about. It's practice number 36 actually in the book. So I'll just. I talk about. Is your why hurricane proof? Right. So if a hurricane comes through, is it going to still stand up? Is it going to last? Right. If a job loss happens or a health issue happens or whatever it is, do you keep going or is it just on to the next thing? So I just. I listed 10 things. I can rattle some of them off.

Speaker A: Yeah, please.

Speaker B: It's cool. Yeah. So it's. When you're working on it, does time fly by for you? Will you go past tired, hungry, thirsty to finish your idea, your session, your flow? Um, does talking about it bring a smile to your face, a lift in your spirits, arise in your posture, a boost in your physical well being? Um, do you have to go do it or do you get to go do it? Um, are the mundane tasks we talk about this cementing rocks or building that cathedral? What's easier? Getting into a rhythm or getting knocked out of one? Who do you do the work for? Is it for yourself and for, you know, God and for your higher power? Or is it for money? Is it for, you know, all the people that told you this is what you need to do, or this is what your skill set aligns to? Uh, when working, are you inattentive, trying to concentrate, focused, or really indistractable? And then two more were. If you were independently wealthy, would you still work on it? And if so, how Many hours per week, would you work on it? And then last but not least, if you were structuring your ideal day and could do anything you wanted, would you work on this endeavor?

Speaker A: What chapter was that in the book? What number?

Speaker B: Oh, that was number 36.

Speaker A: 36. I'm just gonna. I'm gonna reference 36. But just for everybody listening, we'll have a link to the book and everything in the show. Notes. It's on his website, alex, um, alexdripchak.com it's also. It's on Amazon, too. Right?

Speaker B: It is. Here. Here's where the little preview I was going to do a little bit later in the show, but, you know, middle of the show, maybe, uh, it's fine. So for anybody who sends me a note on LinkedIn, taking one thing that you learned from today, or one thing you're going to take action on from myself or from George, doesn't have to be from me. Um, send me. Send me that note, and you'll get a free copy of the book. So it might just be, uh, you know, an audiobook or, I'm sorry, an ebook or an audiobook. But, um, you know, at least get. You get the material in your hands.

Speaker A: Based on what Alex said, you'll probably get the audiobook, and if you actually listen to it and then reach out for a physical book, he might send that one, too.

Speaker B: Yeah, right, Exactly. Based on what I said earlier in the conversation, if you start taking action. And then speaking of taking action. So this is a little bookmark I have, but it just basically says that there's a $500 giveaway. So for anybody who takes a picture with the book or, you know, copy of the book or whatever, and says, here are the five actions I'm taking from. Maximize to work on my purpose, contribute to my legacy, my fulfillment, serve my higher power. However you want to word it. Um, you'll be entered into the. The drawing, which is going to be, um, in a month from, uh, just about a month. So it'll be, uh, late July.

Speaker A: Awesome. So probably right around when this comes out. So, yeah, I, um. I have two questions. I'm going to open a loop right now. I love that you just talked about the five things they're taking action on. I'm gonna. I'm gonna ask you about that in a minute. Yeah, but on chapter 35 that you just talked about having a, uh. Would you say having a hurricane proof? Why, yes. I connected with a gentleman last week who's currently climbing Mount Kilimanjara. Right now for his 28th time. But he was diagnosed, and I'm having him on the podcast, and I already recorded an entire episode about him. But, yeah, um, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given, like, 14 days to live. And within a short period after that, he was the first ever cancer survivor to summit Mount Everest. Then he summited the highest peak on all seven continents, and he skied to both the North Pole and the South Pole. And now he takes cancer survivors up Kilimanjaro, and this is his 28th trip. He goes every single year.

Speaker B: You're going to have this guy on after me, right? Not before me?

Speaker A: Yes, I am. Okay.

Speaker B: All right, good. I don't want. I don't want anybody to, you know, get their hopes up after hearing him and then watching mine.

Speaker A: But it reminded me. He said we were geeking out about mindset, about purpose. Like, we just had a personal connection call for, like, two hours. Yeah, we were crying after, right? And we were talking about summits and fall summits. And he asked a question or he shared something with me. So everybody wants to climb Kilimanjaro, but for everybody listening, this is something to reflect on about having a hurricane proof.

Speaker B: Why?

Speaker A: And he's like, everyone's amped up. They all have their own personal reasons. They're ready to go. And he's like, I always ask him one question before we hike, and I do it on purpose. And I take them side by side, one by one, and he's like, hey, Alex, I have a question. If you couldn't tell anybody for the rest of your life that you were going to hike this mountain, would you still be doing it? And he's like, that's the one that I leave them with. And put him in silence before we start hiking. He's like, it's the one that leads to all of their breaking points, their butthole pucker moments, because I think that that speaks to your hurricane proof. Why? Of, like, is it a higher purpose? Am I truly doing it for me because it's a desire of mine that I get to do? Or is there some false narrative in there? Like, well, my parents said or my teacher said or the comparison game? And I think it, uh. I've been. I've been waffling on that question nonstop since that conversation. My car rides. Me as a dad, me as a partner to my lovely partner. Like, me as an art, me recording this part. I ask it all the time now. And it is a massive perspective shift for me every single time. So I just wanted to leave everybody with that question.

Speaker B: I think it's a very, very powerful one, you know, and, um, I think if you're truly centered on a higher power, then, you know, your answer should be, yeah, like, right, he knows. Right? They know. So, uh, that's all that matters. So.

Speaker A: It also reminds me of another book that I love. Have you ever read the Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter?

Speaker B: I have not.

Speaker A: Okay, you'll love that book. You'll love that book. But, you know, in the book, he talks about the Japanese culture of Masogis. Right. Which is a rite of passage. And Michael modernizes the book. The stories are incredible. He has another book out called Scarcity Brain now. Um, but he's like, you have to do a masogi, like, at least once a year. And I love his rules because his rules are simple. He has two rules. You have to have at least a 50% chance of failure. Okay? And rule number two, you can't tell anybody. You can't tell anybody you're doing it. You can't tell anyone you've done it. You can't talk about it. It's between you and you. And the whole premise is that, you know, we've removed pressure from our lives, right? We have Comfort, we have Uber Eats when we want it, we can doom Scroll. We can do all of it. And we've lost that ability to, like, stretch and to push, but also, truly for us and our own growth. I just thought, I think you'd really enjoy that book.

Speaker B: One more time on the. The name of, uh, the, um, the author, I guess I said I'll find his other books too.

Speaker A: Yep. Michael Easter is the author, and the book is the Comfort Crisis. And then his new one that just came out as Scarcity Brain, which I actually think you'll geek out about as well. Um, and so as you're writing that, you know, you were just talking about your giveaway, and you said when somebody takes a photo of the five things that they're working on. Yep. Your book has a hundred things. But also when it comes to optimization and maximization, you can't do a hundred things at once.

Speaker B: No. Ah. Physically, you cannot. Some of them can actually compete. So. Yeah.

Speaker A: Yeah, but I, I m. Used to do this is I would collect productivity hacks or purpose hacks or maximization hacks, like notches on my bedpost. And I was weighing myself on how many of them I could do, not what outcome they were creating in my life. So what is your advice or what are your thoughts on? Focus on what somebody focuses on first. Like when does it become a habit that sticks and I can add another one. I'm just curious what your perspective is on that.

Speaker B: Yeah, so it's a good question. And, uh, I mean, it's basically not giving away too much of the book, but one of the final practices is, um, you know, figuring out what 20 things you've kind of started along the way. Taking, um, you know, five of those. I would say that you're an implement right away. 5 As a backup in case something's not working out. When you start getting to 18 days is the minimum. Everybody. So, uh, 18 days is the minimum time it takes to build a habit. 66 is about the average 254 for the really hard, long habits. But, um, so you give it your 18 days or 50 days and it's just not working out. Let me try substitute with another one. But what I do is the book's broken out, so in the introduction, you can kind of jump into wherever you're having a challenge. So is your problem getting started, Is it sustaining effort? Is it finishing strong? Or is it optimizing the output kind of across the way? So where is your challenge? And then I would suggest you center on the couple tips that are within that area, and those are what you're gonna implement. So if your challenge is on sustaining effort, right, you start strong, but then you, you know, struggle during, uh, most of, you know, as the way, as you progress, Uh, I think that's where a lot of people are. You want to focus in on getting at least maybe three of your five from that section, uh, to implement. So that. That's kind of how I would take it as a playbook.

Speaker A: Oh, I love that. I love that. Yeah. And I love the. The breakout of that session, too, and the awareness of, like, where am I? Right? Like, you know, kind of audit and come to the table. Cause I think, and this is not so much a question as it's a thought, I think also we forget how quickly we grow as people. And in part of the process is at least what I've learned. Like, for example, when I lost £100 and kept it off and I had, like, veins in my abs, there was a period after I had the veins in my abs where I almost became over obsessed with keeping them. But I never asked myself, like, is this really, like, what I want? Is this helping me be a better father? Is this like, helping me be a better partner? And I had to be like, you know what? I'm okay not having, you know, veins in my abs. I don't need and really re. Auditing and rechecking in against those goals to make sure that we're just not maximizing or producing for the sake of

Speaker B: producing here, for the sake of maximizing producing.

Speaker A: But there's like, um, m a reason underneath that I think is so important for all of us, and also the willingness to. To be okay with that. Right. Like, to m. Let it go or. This no longer interests me. Like, for example, I used to play racquetball three days a week. I addicted to racquetball because I played it in the Marine Corps. And then there was a period where I stopped going because some life stuff happened. But then I would guilt myself into the fact that I wasn't going on Tuesdays anymore and I wasn't going on Thursdays. And I made myself wrong instead of asking me, like, do I still want to play racket ball? And when I started really unpacking, and I know this is a cheesy example, I got to the core of the only reason I was doing it is because it was extra cardio to keep me lean. And I see all of those dudes outside of it, and I didn't actually enjoy it that much anymore, but I guilted myself for like, nine months after, and it was such a greased groove that I was just so afraid to, like, let it go. And, you know, that's why I'm sharing. I just think it's important for all of us to audit and check what we really want and why we're doing it.

Speaker B: Yeah, I have an audit situation in there that I recommend doing. At least I. I recommend quarterly in there. So, um. But yeah, nine months, like you said, a lot of times you get caught up in something and it's just you. You guilt trip yourself, and then you don't even. You shouldn't even be doing it at all. Right? There's so many things. You take a step back and it's like, oh, wait, I don't have to be negative, right? I can move on with my life and treat myself with some, um, some. Some ease. Right? So there's. There's. There's two sides of the account. The, uh, coin. So there's. You need to be more accountable, and you need to treat people like you're like others. And yes, you want to be more accountable, but you also need to be easier going. Right? You wouldn't be so tough on the other people, so you shouldn't be as tough on yourself, uh, with that too. So I think there's. People always talk about they're a little bit easier going on themselves, but also, there's people that are harder on themselves. So, you know, treat yourself with kindness and grace.

Speaker A: Yeah, I. I love that. Now I'm an author, so I gotta ask the question because I published a New York Times bestselling cookbook. Yeah. I remember once that book went into publication. Uh-huh. The weeks that came after, I made some of the best recipes in my life. And I was like, this should have

Speaker B: been in the book.

Speaker A: This should have been in the book. And they're like, we're not remaking this entire book. And I'm like, oh, man. And I had, like, guilt about it. And I'm assuming when you put, like, a hundred of the best tips in a book, you end up with a list of some of them. You're like, you know what? This should have made it. This should have made it. So I'm curious, like, what are, like, three things that didn't make the book that you would share with everybody?

Speaker B: Now, it was so funny when you were talking about, um, your abs with the veins in your abs, and you were like, you know, is it that much more? Is it important for me to have this? And I started thinking about, not only, um, is it an important priority, but the amount of time it takes to have veins in your abs versus just a strong core. I mean, dang, what could you be doing with that time? Right. So, uh, one of the ones I have on here is excellent is greater than exact. So doing something excellently is better than getting it to 100% or the absolute perfect for most of the things. So that's. That's one of the principles that didn't make the book. So I. I cheated a little bit. I have a little section after the book finishes for, like, the next 11 that I cut that weren't necessarily good enough to make the list. They were, you know, 111 to 100. However, to your earlier point about, um, you know, you had some recipes that you learned after the fact. Uh, I'm always, you know, looking to improve. And there are nine that I've come up with so far that I'm like, dang, this would have made the book. So I'll give you the nine. We can figure out which ones you want to, uh.

Speaker A: Give them to me.

Speaker B: Yeah, I was gonna say, no pun intended, because one of them is on drilling. But number, um, one is proximity to productivity. Number two is juggle or drill. I'm talking about segmenting of work. Number three is focus to task alignment. Number four is Excellent is greater than exact. Number five is changing your denominator, which is an interesting1. Number six is be careful of energy sapping activities. Seven is analyze your true working hours. So not necessarily when you're available, but you know, what actually gets done. Number eight is find your fire, find your enemy. And number nine is negate the negative.

Speaker A: Oh, man, they're all so good. The. The first, the. Okay, I want to talk about. Change your denominator, because that one I'm really, really curious about. Yeah, I want to talk about drilling. And then you pick, and it's either the find your fire, find your enemy, or measuring your actual workday.

Speaker B: Okay, very cool.

Speaker A: All right. Yeah.

Speaker B: Change, changing denominator is an interesting one for me. So when we think about a day, how long is a day?

Speaker A: Uh, 24 hours.

Speaker B: No, so that's right off the bat. It's like, that's where we need to start. So 24 hours. But if you're sleeping right, that should be eight hours. That's important for your health or whatever, Whatever your number is. Six and a half, seven, eight hours. Some people are a little bit around eight or eight and a half. So if we use eight, it's 16. So now your denominator is no longer 24 hours, it's 16. So when you think about everything in relation to that, you know, let's say you have some tasks you can absolutely not move, right? You have commuting time, you have to go to work, and it takes an hour to get there. You know, you have to cook dinner, whatever it is. Uh, it might even be down to 12. So when you start thinking of an activity, like, for me, I'm a sucker for giving people rides wherever they need to go. They're like, hey, can you give me a ride to the train station? Sure. Can you give me a ride to the airport? Sure, whatever. And, um, I'm like, dang. You know, in my mind, I go, it's only half an hour, Alex. However, I'm thinking of half an hour. And I'm thinking of it against a denominator of 24 hours. So I'm thinking that it's not that long. However, when I think about my usable time, half an hour is really like an hour. So if you only have 12 hours, you know a half an hour in your mind, when you're formally thinking of a day as 24 hours, a half an hour is an hour.

Speaker A: I think this one helps with one of the other one is, like, measuring your day of, like, really looking at, you know, uh, you're a sucker for giving rides. I'm a sucker for being TaskRabbit for people I love. Yeah, I don't know, I don't know what it is, but I know one of my love languages is Acts of Service. So if we're on a call and I'm close to you and you're like, man, I really wish I could have this for dinner. I'll go pick it up and bring it to your house. And I'm like, well, I heard you say this, right? And it fills my bucket. But it also, I have to be real about to some degree what it's costing me. And not that that's a bad cost, but it is costing me time, you know, for something else to focus on. And so having an accurate denominator, I love that perspective for everybody. It's a really, really good one.

Speaker B: Yeah, thanks. I was, I was happy with that one. So the next one was, um, drilling, right, you said?

Speaker A: Yeah, drilling, yeah.

Speaker B: So juggle or drill. So it's kind of juggle or drill.

Speaker A: Yeah, that one. Yep.

Speaker B: So it's about doing, um, the demanding work when you're totally unbothered and then saving the one offs and the casual replies like an email that you can do when life is busy. So sometimes this is what I'm kicking myself on most right now. So for those that don't know, I have a 16 month old at home. He's currently napping upstairs. So, um, you know, when I am like doing a podcast, it's a good use of that time because I can't do that when I'm juggling my son. However, if I spent this time right now and people are like, hey, can you do this day? And I'm like, you know, from my phone being like, yeah, that day will work for me. Let's do, you know, 60 or 90 minutes. Those are things I can do when he's in my, even in my arms.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: I can, I can juggle that, you know, when he's up. So I think really, really focusing on, um, not only being productive, but making sure that your, your, your tasks align with your amount of, of focus. So these two kind of the focus task alignment and juggler drill go hand in hand.

Speaker A: So I'll skip everybody listening to this. You're gonna have to go listen to a Monday episode. I'm doing math in my head probably seven weeks ago because I did an entire episode on that. But I love the juggling vers drilling as the summary of like basically having an awareness of your gas tank and Then knowing when to deploy it and when. And those, those heavy tasks of like drilling, you need to be focused. You need to make sure you have fuel in your tank. Right? The, the lift is not the same of like recording a podcast interview with a guest as it is replying to emails in your inbox. Right? And so you have to use that to your advantage and be aware of that. Okay, now I need to know about the. Find your fire, find your enemy.

Speaker B: Yeah, so this is, this is an interesting one. And this one, you know, I think I was listening to, um, a motivational speaker and I was like, oh, this is, this is an interesting one. I'm trying to think about how I would reframe it, but positive energy. So I, I talk about positive energy cultivators a lot in the book and there's 64 of them for those that go through, um, and read the book. And for me, exercise is number one. So if I'm feeling a lull, I, I structure my day. I know there's a lot of people that love doing morning exercise and that's great for you, but for me, my peak energy time is, or my low energy time, when I need to go Exercise is around 4 o', clock, 5 o' clock in the evening. Um, depends on your circadian rhythm. You know, roughly eight hours after you wake up is kind of when you start to hit that wall. So for me, around 4 o' clock is when I need to exercise. So I'll structure my day where I exercise around 4, 4:30, and then I, I'm rebooted for the rest of the day. So I've kind of eliminated fatigue, um, in my day, which I'm very happy about. So, but beyond that, positive energy cultivators, you know, what are your unstoppable pills or your untouchable catalyst? You know, what really incense you or motivates you when things are really difficult. So there are certain songs for me that'll do it. Uh, so that's actually in the book and practice number 50, where I'm just like, if I'm really, really, really tired or really, really, really down, I'll throw on that song. Uh, and I'll, I'll get going. So make, make way for the king. Ohana. Bam. Uh, I believe is how you say his name. So that's, that's one of the new ones I saw in a show called Invincible. And I'm like, this is one of my, this is my unstoppable pill. So that's the positive energy side. So that's the Find your fire. The find your enemy would be, um, what is it that you seek to crush? What is it you seek to remove? What is it you seek to eliminate? So every great superhero conquers an enemy. So you know, find your enemy and become the superhero. Mhm.

Speaker A: I'm actually glad you explained that because I was going, I was going somewhere else. One of my dear friends, mentors and people I love and respect, Alex Charfen. When he used to coach business, one of his favorite quotes that he ever said to me and to everybody is if you're constantly fighting fires, there's a good chance you're the arsonist. And so when I heard you say find your fire, find your enemy, I was like, oh yeah, like what's causing the fires and the distractions? And then like, how do we root to like who's lighting that fire? And I know for me as an entrepreneur, I am the king of lighting my own yard on fire and then complaining about the fire and I'm like, oh yeah, but I have the matches. And so I love that perspective too though. Yeah.

Speaker B: I mean this is like more as like two separate things that's like, you know, they're connected and I like that it's like interwoven. M. What was the gentleman's name?

Speaker A: Um, Alex Charfen. He's now doing relationship coaching. He took a two year sabbatical and now he's doing relationship coaching but had ah, an incredible business that he sold to my friend Gabe Arnold. But Alex is.

Speaker B: How do you spell the last name for myself and the listeners, Charfen?

Speaker A: Um, C H A R F E N. We did a three hour episode on this show maybe like five years ago. We went, we went deep on a Saturday morning and his wife got mad at me, but I love her so we're safe. Um, and so you know, I actually, I have a, I have a selfish question as we get near to like landing the plane and I think this will help it land for everybody. One thing that I pick up on, that I'm sure everybody listening picks up on is you are so well read, like so well read.

Speaker B: All these behind me are all cover to cover.

Speaker A: Yeah. And, and I don't doubt it. Right. I don't, I don't doubt it. And so I'm going to make this like a two part question. Part number one is like where does learning rank in the importance for you? Like in growth and success? Like where does learning. But then what's your secret to bridging that gap between knowledge and applied knowledge? And how do you do It, Right. Because I know even for the person listening to this podcast, I always ask this question of my guests of like, hey, if they could do one thing today after listening this show, like what would it be? And I know for me, and I'm just going to put myself on blast here. I consume via audiobooks and YouTube shorts that then lead me to like deeper podcasts. My watch later playlist on YouTube is probably 2600 items right now. Right. And then I like always have this hunger but I'm also very self aware that I will consume it and then do nothing with it. So it just becomes a liability. It's just knowledge, like I'm not applying it, I'm not doing anything of that. So I'm curious like what your personal practice is on taking something from knowledge and making it applied knowledge.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's actually really fascinating question. I think the first person ever asked me this. It's kind of almost the secret sauce behind uh, how I curate the program. So I would say this. The program I've, I've created is a curation, consolidation, collation, crystallization of all the world's best thinking kind of fused into, into action plans for people. So like when I'm reading a book, um, you know, I kind of have a, almost like a um, prioritization scale. So if I underline it, it was good. If I um, star it, you know, then it was really good. If I circle the page at the bottom, that means I have to go back to it and I have to insert that into the course or something like that. And then if I take notes in the margins, I got to go back through and read the notes. And then what I'll do is so I have um, some different subscriptions, headway and Blinkist and all these like little shorts. And I'll listen to a bunch of books and the top 20% of books I'll buy. So then I'll buy that book and then I'll read it. And then of those books, probably about same, about top 20% I will go through and reread. And then of the ones I reread, maybe it's 50% for that I will install into a memory palace. So if anybody's not familiar with the memory palace, phenomenal concept, basically, if you want to remember anything, use a memory palace. And what a memory palace is, is you take something. We're very spatially aware creatures, so you take something and then you drop it off at points along the way. So like take your neighborhood walk or you take uh, for me, I Use golf courses, but whatever you can see as a map in your head. And then you say, all right, I want to learn. You know, for me, I use 27 points of a book. So I go back through the books, And I do 1 through 27, and then I drop off three things on each hole. So I play nine holes of golf usually. So then I'll put something on the tee box, I'll put it in the fairway, I'll put it on the green, and then if you say, all right, Alex, you know, Limitless by Jim Quick, Tell, uh, me about it. Initially, I'm like, oh, oh, dang. Like, you know, I don't know. And I go, wait a second. That's stored at Tasha Knowles golf course, if anybody's in Connecticut. And I go, it's on the front nine. Let me just walk the course in my head. And then, okay, what do you want to know? I can rattle off all 27 points because I've. I've walked that map in my head so often. So there is kind of that process for me. So I start with, you know, the kind of triage within the book, and then I go back through it, add it to the course to teach some of these principles. Um, and then, you know, from there, if I really love something, I'll commit it to memory.

Speaker A: I. I love that. I'm glad I asked that question, because I'll just. Because you love a feedback loop. I'm really big on organization and prioritization. I've never thought about just prioritating it at the consumption level.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: I've treated it all the same, right. Where I'm like, oh, I'll make a note, I'll make a highlight. I'll go back, but then I'll forget why. And it was like, oh, because I thought it was interesting that I want to record a podcast on it, that I think I should shift something. So my homework is I'm going to create a prioritization scale for my consumption. Because I love the way that you did that. Underline it. It's like, oh, that was good start. Is like, got to include this, like, right in the margin with a note of, like, I need to install this in myself. I love that.

Speaker B: Yeah. And then if I circle a bottom page, that means I'm gonna come back to it and probably teach it. If I, uh. Sometimes I do a circle and a star, and that's like an immediate, like, that needs to go into the whatever course I'm teaching soon. Like this week.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's so good. That's so good. I. I love that. I love that. And yeah, I love the memory palace. Obviously, you know, I know, Jim, but, you know, for anybody listening, you know, it's a muscle. And I think the other thing that I'm hearing you say, right, like, we understand that repetition is what puts things in. And I. I heard a speaker years ago, and actually this is a perfect place to land the plane and close the loop all the way from the beginning. You know, I asked you, like, the three, three or four mistakes that you see people make when it comes to changing, you know, and. And I heard this speaker, and he explained it well, and he's like, if you want any meaningful change in your life, it comes down to two things. It comes down to reps paired with emotional charge. And he's like, if there's no emotion, there's no sticking of the rep. Everything's going through the emotion, and I'm. I even going through the motion. And I love when you talked about, like, find your fire, find your enemy, right? Because when you can elicit an emotion, either this song lights me up, I'm going to do a rep when I state change, or I'm attacking this enemy, I'm going to do a rep, a state change. You have to know what the rep is that you want to install, but then you have to repeat it attached to an emotion over and over again. And the emotion is what makes it stick in our bodies. And I'm like, hearing and seeing all of this collapse in my mental mind palace right now of how I remember stuff. And I just think it's so big because you can also see the repetition in you and the way that you do it. And I think for all of us, if, you know, I'm getting really geeky for a minute here, but, like, when you understand the four stages of competence, which is the four stages of learning, I won't use the big words. I'll use my summaries, which you go from unaware to aware. Aware to learning. Learning to mastery. Once you become aware of it, the learning and mastery is that rep paired with emotional charge. And so my question for you is as a. I have two left. Number one is like, there's a person listening to this right now that, like, this resonated, this landed. And it can also feel, like, overwhelming, right? We're like, oh, my God, I get all of this. Like, dude, like, you're speaking to my soul. Like, what is your advice to the person listening today of, like, what's one thing they should go do? Or one Action that they should take or one way to apply anything from the episode to get fruit from it.

Speaker B: Yeah. So one of the things that I've traditionally liked to do is, um, I will take like a jar of marbles. Mine's. I just realized I have right next to my, my other books on my other bookshelf, but it's like a jar of marbles. And then I will drop in the marbles and I'll put whatever goal I have there. And then I just drop in a marble for every day that I or every time that I do that activity. So you keep that jar of marbles, um, and I apologize for not having it in front of me right now. You keep that very visible and you write the goal on it itself. And then that's one of the biggest ways that I try to instill good actions. It's in the book. Um, but you make it pretty. Maybe it's a pretty jar of marbles. Whatever it is, uh, you have neat handwriting. I don't have neat handwriting. So I had my wife do it. So making it attractive, right? Getting back to landing the plane, coming full circle here. We talked about making things attractive. So making it attractive and then also making it unattractive. So if you messed up, I take the jar of marbles and I'll spill it onto my desk. And then I have to work around it right. Until I can then put it back in. So I think, um, that's how I would start. Is whatever your number one goal is, write it down and start having a visible way of tracking it.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Mhm. It's simple, but you know, it's something. I think just making it attractive and unattractive is important. I think, uh, people do a good job on attractive, but on the unattractive, right. So me taking out 60 marbles and spilling them on the table and having

Speaker A: to work around it, it's a pain in the ass. So you know, excuse my language, but yeah, it is. And I, I think it's so profound. Like it's, it's what works with my nine year old son. It also works with me. I just like to think I'm way more complicated than that. I'm like, no, I'm, I'm, I'm actually really, really simple. I'm really, really simple. I have the same reward system as he does. If it works for him, it works for me. But I think there's also power in accepting the simplicity and applying it because then I don't have a hiding place of like this gets to be more Complicated. There has to be another way. No, there, there is no easy button. There's the simple button and like having the obedience to follow it, which I love.

Speaker B: So yeah, I, what I will say if someone's kind of rolled their eyes and said, hey, you know, I'm looking for something a little bit more complex or complicated or, you know, I've tried that doesn't work for me. Reach out to me again, you know, and then, uh, I'll give you some other tips.

Speaker A: Yeah, I love it. And speaking of, um, where is the best place? So LinkedIn, you said earlier, is that the best place? It's just your name on LinkedIn, Alex Dripcheck. Yeah.

Speaker B: And then we're going to be launching, or I'm going to be launching, you know, credit to my digital media team here, but launching a new kind of series on um, the 10 things that they should teach in school. So since that's all related to our foundation's work, uh, you'll start to see more content on there for productivity and peak performance is on there. Financial well being is on there. Uh, uh, we're gonna have kind of all little excerpts from the course and, and little learnings for people to, to take advantage of.

Speaker A: I love it. Yeah. So for everybody listening, I'll have his LinkedIn in the show notes. I'll have his website in the show notes. You can grab the book, you can shoot him a message, you can share what he shared earlier, which is a uh, takeaway, something you're applying proof of it. He'll send you a book like all of that. I love that. So my last piece is Imagine Everybody Listening Just got Men in Blacks and we erase their memory. They forgot absolutely every single thing that we talked about. But right now you have one thing that you want to commit to their memory palace forever. Like that you'll tattoo to their soul that they'll remember forever. What would your tattoo wisdom be?

Speaker B: What would my tattoo wisdom be? I, uh, mean for me, what I live my life by is Colossians 3:17. So doing everything for the glory, uh, unto God. But um, what I would say for everybody, that's a, that's a tough question. I guess if we were summarizing this session, it would be finding ways to add value to folks as quickly as you can and as most valuable as you can. So uh, I mentioned the example of taking photos for people at the conference. But when you go somewhere, stop thinking more about what you can extract from people as and more on what you can give someone.

Speaker A: And that's the Best life advice and a good place to land the plan. I had a personal development teacher 14 years ago, and she looked me dead in the eye, and she's like, the easiest way to get what you want is to give it away to somebody else. And it changed my life forever.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And she's like, you want love, Give love. You want compliments, give compliments. You want support, give support. And it's the easiest pattern interrupt that I've taken to my life forever. And it's almost like the Bible tells us to serve. So it's.

Speaker B: It is. And they're all really good. And what I'm going to give a shout to for a new item. So, John Lee, I just finished reading his book Money Unlocked. Very, um. I don't want to say misleading, because there is stuff on money, but there's a lot in here. And one thing is your little you versus Big you. So this really stick stuck with me. So he goes, you know, we've all had difficulties and we've all had challenges, and you can continue to sit in that, and you can continue to use that trauma as like, an excuse or sit in and be challenged by it. And even if it's really, really tough and everybody understands, you know, you're still sitting in it. So there's. That's Little you. So how can you bring Big you to the table more frequently? So, you know, every time you go somewhere and you're feeling down, I try to use this myself. Um, be like, what would Big Me do? Um, so Little you. Big you. Um, it's not your fault what's happened to you, but it is your responsibility, like how you interpret it. Mark Manson talks a lot about this, too. So just think about that. How would Big you show up? Shout out to John Lee.

Speaker A: Yeah. And also reminds me, just because this is the episode that's turned into book recommendations, uh, another one, Todd Herman wrote a book years ago called the Alter Ego Effect, which is the same thing, which is actually how I'm going to wrap the show. Because I'm going to be honest, there's probably nothing that we talked about today that you haven't heard before. Uh, maybe a different wrapping paper, maybe a different perspective. But the question I would leave us with is if we've heard this and we've read it in 15 books and we've heard it on podcasts and we've talked about it and it's been repeated, maybe there is magic in the simplicity that we can think about it, we can hear it, we can listen to it, but it doesn't apply itself and shelf help doesn't help any of us. And so for me, there's even reminders for me in the show today of like, man, I've taught that for years. I get to go back to that practice. I get to go categorize what I'm consuming to help me apply it to better. I get to implement these things so I can commit them to knowledge. I get to habit stack in a way that I've gotten lazy with. But for all of us, my invitation is to let go of the complication and let go. Thinking about hearing it or consuming it is going to apply it. And let this be the one that installs it, right? A prescription is only as effective as the person's willingness to take it on schedule. And this episode is loaded with prescriptions, right? And he said it. If there's something light that landed, you're going to have to apply consistently for 18 days. If it's a little bit of a bigger lift, could be 60 to 70 days. If it's a life changing habit or something that's going to support you, you got to commit to the long haul. You gotta find your fire that gives you the why to keep doing that. And then you gotta give yourself an enemy to fight against so that you have the emotional charge to keep going. But you gotta give the prescription time to work. Antibiotics never work when you don't complete the cycle. Or at least that's what the pharmaceutical industry tells us. I'm using it as a metaphor. Don't fight me. But you gotta complete the cycle. So whatever that was for you today, complete that cycle. Give it time. Plant the plant the seed, water the seed, tend to the seed, and make sure you give it enough love until it sprouts and you can see it. And then keep caring for it, because when you apply it, it will work. But let this be the invitation, let this be the permission slip, because there is so much juice in this episode, but it can't apply itself. Alex isn't going to fly to your house and do it with you. It's not David Goggins moving in with you for a year. I mean, if you want to hire him, I'm sure he'd love it. But the rest of it boils down to you. And so let this be the last time you hear it until you do something with it. And so, Alex, thank you so much for coming on the show, brother. It was a blast. I appreciate you sharing so openly.

Speaker B: Yeah. No, really, really. One of my, one of my very favorites. If not my favorite, I've done. Uh, so I appreciate you, George. Um, you know, like I said, how I can help your listeners. I've given you a little bit of the prescription, right? So hopefully you've listened to it, and I, uh, look forward to connecting with you.

Speaker A: I love it, man. I love it, man. And, uh, for everybody listening, this has been another episode of the Mind of George Show. You ain't got to go home, but you can't stay here. So we will either see you in the next episode or you will hear me in your earballs, but either way, we are done for today.