Answering Uncomfortable Questions About Our Biggest Regrets & Failures

Sam Parr

So, I haven't seen any of these questions. It started off from a tweet where someone said, "Here are 10 questions to get to know people." Is that right?

Shaan Puri

Yeah, I'm a listener of the pod, and I think your friend Blake Burge, I think is his name, tweeted out a thing like, "You know, whatever, there are many questions but few will change your life. Here are 10 questions that will change your life." You know, the thread goes viral. So, by the way, you know, normally it's kind of like an eye roll.

Sam Parr

No, it's good. There's this thing, Ben, you'll have to look it up again. No research here. There was this thing I remember from years ago. It was called like "The New York Times 21 Questions," and it was like you ask these 21 questions on a first date.

Shaan Puri

part of it right

Sam Parr

Well, on a first date, I thought, "Here's how you get intimate with people." As a single 21-year-old, I read that and was like, "Oh, I could hook up with girls." I remember those questions, and they're very similar to what these guys' questions are. But it was like, "When did your father make you cry?" or like... it was pretty deep questions like that. So, I'm down with these questions.

Shaan Puri

So, I actually read these questions and I was like, "These are actually good questions." But the way he presented it, I think—no offense—this is how most people do Twitter. It's like, "Here's some general advice or some general questions." What's interesting to me is not the question itself, but rather seeing somebody struggle with their answer to that question. For example, he would ask a question like... and I'll give you the first question, which is going to come out here in a second. So, Ben, read question number 1. I'll explain how he tweeted it and how I think we should answer instead. I want...

Ben Wilson

to talk to everyone about it in what areas of my life am I settling

Shaan Puri

Okay, so what areas of my life am I settling? That's a powerful question. It's a good thought-provoking question. Now, the rest of his tweet was like, "You know, just enough or just okay is not good enough. Identify the areas of your life where you're just settling." To me, that's the part where it was like, "No, no, no, Blake! I want to hear your answer." Like, you tell me. If you're going to put out one of these "bullshit" threads that's like, you know, generic, generic, generic to try to get likes, I think that the next level of this "bullshit" thread thing is that people are going to get a little more vulnerable. They're going to put their actual answers in the thread rather than just general advice.

Sam Parr

Who's invented this theme I'm seeing? So, like, Upworthy was like, "Here's 10 things you're not going to believe. Number 7..." This new one that I'm seeing on Twitter is, "There are 8,000 of this thing. Here are the 4 best."

Shaan Puri

8,000,000,000 humans on this earth. Not all of them are worth following. Here are my 11 friends that are worth following.

Sam Parr

who we do who created that

Shaan Puri

Did one of our buddies create that, or is it...? I have no idea who started that, but that's the formula.

Sam Parr

that is the formula well ben alright what's the first one

Ben Wilson

I just tried it it's in what area of my life am

Shaan Puri

I settling it's

Sam Parr

you go first

Shaan Puri

Okay, so what areas of my life am I settling? By the way, this is called "The Boys Go to Therapy" because we gotta open up a little bit. We gotta see what the answer might be. I would say two come to mind. The first is fitness. I think I got kind of comfortable with my workout routine and diet. I was like, "Oh, okay, I'm not as fat as I was. I'm on my way to getting fit." I just kind of got okay with it. I was settling for, "Wow, you're much better than before." But I've been riding that for, you know, 12 months now. And now the "before" is the same as the "current" because it's been a while—like six months of the same. So I just realized this recently and was like, "Why did I settle here? This isn't the destination." I basically was on a road trip, stopped at a gas station, and then unpacked my bags instead of being like, "No, no, no, this is not the destination. This is the pit stop. I gotta get to the hotel." Why is my suitcase open?

Sam Parr

you made a lot of progress though in a relatively short amount of time you just gotta keep going

Shaan Puri

Yeah, so I would say I'm settling there. The other one I'm settling on is me and my wife. We have two little kids, and there's this feeling of, you know, we put a lot into work. Okay, then we put a lot into our fitness and a lot into our kids. It's like, whatever's left over at the end of the day for each other, we take what we can get as scraps of energy and effort we put into our relationship. So I think we've both kind of settled on that, which is fine. They're not leaving; they're not going anywhere. It's fine.

Sam Parr

we can always she we can always listen

Shaan Puri

to this when the kids grow up

Sam Parr

is she gonna listen to

Shaan Puri

this no that's the beauty of it

Sam Parr

You should have her listen to this. I think that’s good that you said that. Maybe that will make her like you more.

Shaan Puri

Yeah, especially because I didn't say that she is doing all this. I said we are doing it, which is, you know, the key. Alright, alright. What about you? What areas of your life do you think you're settling?

Sam Parr

my a consistent diet needs to I I think I I could I

Shaan Puri

like to improve that I looked at my goals over the last 10 years

Sam Parr

So, I created a goal tracking system 10 years ago when I was about 21. I hit all of my goals except for wanting to weigh 190 pounds. I've always struggled to lose 10 pounds. I've always wanted to do it, but I've never succeeded, so I'm really struggling with that. The second thing is career-wise. I've settled a bit. I purposely set out a plan where I was like, "For one year, I'm going to sell, and for the next year, I'm just going to chill. I'm just going to read and learn." However, I still am not ready to go all in on something. I'm not there yet, and I feel a little guilty about being a bit lazy. Then, I'll mention a relationship aspect. Dude, I'm super dependent on Sarah. If someone wants me to come speak somewhere, I'll be like, "Sarah, can you just handle this?" or "Do you want me to go speak here? Let me know." I'm often only going if she's available. If she doesn't go, I don't want to go because I enjoy being around her. I think I should learn to be more independent.

Shaan Puri

few things by myself a little bit more than I have

Sam Parr

I've been relying on her a bit more than I have been lately. I tend to rely on her so much that I need to go do stuff by myself. Give me one that's a settle that you...

Shaan Puri

I feel like all those "settles" maybe that both of us said are like settles that we're kind of cool with. What's a settle you're not cool with?

Sam Parr

The weight thing... yeah, I'm not cool with that. I get upset; I'm pissed off. I'm like, "Why can't I just be consistent?" If I was just consistent for like 5 months with a certain amount of calories, I'd be good. I would hit it. But it is so freaking tempting, and I just give into that... and that pisses me off. What else? I don't know. I do think that... so tell me if this is a settling thing. I've created a couple of little small products in my free time, and I get so excited about making like $500, $100, $1,000 a day. I get so much joy from that. I'm like, "Dude, I could crush this if I want to. I can build things that are huge." Why am I not? Why don't I have the motivation to do this? I feel like I feel soft and like I'm settling in that aspect.

Shaan Puri

yeah I think one one that I've seen in myself and by the way I don't think that that was I forgot what you said you said tell me what you think about this like I agree with you so so I think that was good I'm thinking more and more that the the the settling thing the easiest way for me to pinpoint where I'm settling is when I see the contrast when I see somebody who's not settled in this area and I'm like oh they wow they were really pushing it beyond beyond where I am right now in this like and it doesn't mean I'm always gonna just chase and do what others do necessarily but it kinda takes me seeing that for me to be like oh word like that's this isn't this isn't the kind of the spot to just settle down and and and dig my heels in and so that's happened to me with money like for example I've seen people's lifestyle or I've seen people's just people talking about stuff it's like somebody will be like yeah we you know we picked up this project and then we you know like a real estate deal we we picked up this this deal and we're gonna flip it you know basically 4 months later and you know we should make 1 and a half 1000000 on that and I'm just I'm just sort of like oh okay so like their normal where they have settled for their normal is like what would have been let's say an outstanding outcome for me but like to them that's the normal course of business and then I just sort of check myself and I say alright do I care and usually I usually I do care usually I do care when I notice those things because that's why they stood out to me in the first place and like sometimes they don't stand out in this way that I'm saying where I'm saying it all calmly I'm just sort of like usually it's like I'm jealous of them or I'm like I find myself trying to come up with a reason why that's not good and then I gotta hold I gotta pull myself back like oh or maybe instead of coming up with reasons why that's not good I should just admit that it's probably good and something that I actually want for myself and I'm just trying to kinda like mentally in my own justification tear their shit down a little bit to make myself feel okay but in reality maybe I should just say oh cool they showed me something I want and maybe I've I've I've actually just kind of settled here but I could go further than I than I currently have

Sam Parr

Do you journal? Do you have a history of journaling or goal setting? At least just writing down thoughts or targets that you want to achieve for different ages?

Shaan Puri

Not ages, but do you kind of have ideas in mind? It's not based on how old I am. I've done some... no.

Sam Parr

I don't mean like in the future

Shaan Puri

current age what what I

Sam Parr

mean is like when you're 21 were you like alright this year I wanna accomplish this

Shaan Puri

When I was 21, I said, "Okay, by 30, I want to have $1,000,000 in the bank." I had a couple of goofy ones, like wanting to have $1,000,000 in the bank, wanting to have gone on *Survivor*, and I had like two other goals that I don't even remember at this point. As I got older, I realized, "Oh, well, that number needs to be bigger." And then I thought, "Time isn't really a factor." I don't care about Forbes' 30 Under 30; that's actually all bullshit. So, I kind of adjusted my goals once I wasn't 21 anymore.

Sam Parr

Well, I think it's good to look at those things because I'll look at all my old journaling and writings. I'm like, "What energy was I putting into there? What was I bummed about? What was I excited about?" Then, oftentimes, I do one of two things. I either try to impress my past self or try to make my future self pumped. I'm like, "What will I be really excited that I did now in 10 years?"

Shaan Puri

So, there's this thing. I don't know if you've heard of it. Chris Sacca, who is one of the best investors of all time, is one of the biggest investors in Twitter, Instagram, and a couple of other badass companies. He had this thing, which I think he mentioned on the Tim Ferriss podcast or something. He read out a note that he had written to himself when he was 20 years old. And he goes, "I actually just found it while we were talking here, so this is perfect. I found the transcript." Do you know what I'm talking about? Do you know what I'm about to say?

Sam Parr

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember it. I remember it. What did he say? I don't remember exactly what he said, but I remember this episode.

Shaan Puri

He goes, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" So here I am, I'm 20 years old, living in Cork, Ireland. We’d start the day drinking at 11:30... blah blah blah. I had never heard of an investment banker. I had never heard of a venture capitalist. So I just wrote in there, "I don't know what the job is called, but I know it's going to involve a lot of talking on the phone, a lot of negotiating, a lot of yelling at people. High risk, high reward, unbelievably high stakes. And I'm going to do it part-time from the mountains, part-time from the beach. Whatever it is, I'm going to be done with it before I'm 40." Then he’s like, you know, fast forward... he was, you know, just I think he was 40 or 41, and he basically...

Sam Parr

he's a billionaire

Shaan Puri

A common showman is exactly that. Yeah, so he's now a billionaire who does exactly that—makes deals. He didn't know what a VC was, but he became a VC, which is that deal. He has a house in Truckee and another one on the beach, so he has the mountains and the beach thing. It was like, literally, it all played out. He retired from the game and was done with it. He moved on with his life and started doing other things. I always thought that was really cool. I thought it was cool because it wasn't like these lame goals; it was a description of his life. It was like a painting of his life, like a movie scene of his life. I've noticed that the people who kind of do this, they call their shot; they manifest it. They don't really call their shot with some... it doesn't feel like Excel. It feels like iMovie. It's not like a bullet, analytical thing. It's like a vision for how their life is going to be and what life is going to feel like. They don't even know the words to describe it or the route to get there. They're like, "But that's it! That thing at the end, that's how it's going to feel. That's what it's going to look like. That's what it's going to sound like."

Sam Parr

I'm doing this tonight. I'm doing this in iMovie, not Excel. That's a good one.

Shaan Puri

If you were going to do like... let's do a kind of off-the-cuff, **shitty** version, right? Again, we do it for the entertainment. We do it for the people. What do you think would go into that? What comes to mind as your version of that?

Sam Parr

I like physical places as opposed to internet places. I really want to own some type of physical land or buildings throughout the country where I can entertain all of my friends at one time.

Shaan Puri

and pay for all of it can I propose something here

Sam Parr

yeah

Shaan Puri

Can I propose we do a 2-minute thing where we just jot down on our notes here what we think it is? We'll just cut that out. No?

Sam Parr

because I'm not prepared I'm not prepared

Shaan Puri

You know, what's yours? How are you going to do it? What are you doing? That's what I'm saying. We gotta write it down. We gotta figure it out. Okay, so I think...

Sam Parr

I'm not ready

Shaan Puri

Alright, look at that reaction. This tells you that's what we call resistance. When the boys go to therapy, we've identified some resistance. I have to figure this out; this is such a hard thing to do.

Sam Parr

next question ben fuck

Ben Wilson

are you

Sam Parr

guys ready for the next question

Shaan Puri

No, no, wait. Okay, let me give you my scene right now. My scene that I have in my head is you're already where I'm living. No, dude, my house is like this big house. Everything's white inside. I have the same chef I have today, but it's in this giant area. There are people just coming in and out of my house because we're like the lobby. My whole life and work are so integrated that my trainer shows up, they're having brunch with us, and then I'm having this meeting with another person, but they're also going to work out with us. The whole thing is just integrated into one big experience. My mom's over, my sister's over because we all live nearby. We all made it. The second thing is I take a nap midday with no guilt. So, zero guilt midday nap. I already know that implies the rest of the stuff worked itself out. Then the last piece is all I get to do is meet interesting people and be super curious about them. I just either, I don't know, record or type or something, kind of like what we're doing right now. I take the interesting bits, I put it out there, and it's in a million people's ears or eyes the next day because they are following it. They love the content packages I put out. I never meet those people. I don't have to talk to them. I'm not their consultant, I'm not their motivational speaker. I'm just taking little bits of what I'm curious about and putting it into a million people's ears every morning.

Sam Parr

I think you're almost there. I don't know, you gotta get the house and the fancier chef dude. You could take a nap now, I'm sure.

Shaan Puri

dude the midday nap right now with kids that's indulgent if you take

Sam Parr

you can do a nap

Shaan Puri

That's like giving the middle finger to your spouse. I'm going to go take a nap right now.

Sam Parr

what what's the next question ben

Shaan Puri

By the way, that million people's ear things—that was old. I had said that before we started this podcast. I had told Sui, he was like, "What do you want to do next?" when I was selling the company. We were on like a fucking 10-mile walk. We just kept walking in the middle of the night, and he was like, "Tell me more. What are you thinking?" I said, "Dude, I think what I want to do is just have some way that I could get my thoughts out there, and it gets in a million people's... I remember calling it 'earballs.' I said it's in a million people's earballs in the morning. I just think that would be so cool if I could be in people's ears while they're on their commute to work or whatever else." And that was before the podcast. Now the podcast is getting close to that. Yeah, you have that.

Ben Wilson

alright question 2

Shaan Puri

and but you can go out of order ben pick pick the questions that are interesting to you

Ben Wilson

Let's go with question 10. You should choose your battles wisely. What battles do I choose?

Sam Parr

Dude, I choose so many petty battles. Like, when I'm driving and I see someone behind me driving like an asshole and cutting other people off, I go out of my way to slow down and purposely block them. I'm going just as fast as the fast lane so they can't get by me. Also, I reply...

Shaan Puri

they're like I go to their destination

Sam Parr

Yeah, dude, I'm really pet. It just pisses me off that someone is rude. I also reply to just so many comments that I shouldn't reply to. I think someone has said something, and it's just kind of ridiculous. I reply to it, and there's no reason why I should be doing that. So, I pick a lot of really, really, really dumb battles. Your HOA battle that you had? I would die on that one. That would not stand. That's what I would... I mean, I would go hard on that one. What was the question though? What battles do you pick that you shouldn't?

Shaan Puri

It's basically saying, "Choose battles wisely." What battle do I choose? So, which really is asking, "What battle do you want to be choosing?" Another way of looking at it is, "What are the stupid battles I am choosing right now that I need to stop choosing?"

Sam Parr

Dude, I choose so much small stuff. For some reason, I stay hardcore in the dirt. For example, I'm out at my ranch, and I've got people here setting up my Airbnb and stuff. People are doing the work, but I just have to be here, putting things together. Or like, "Fuck it, I guess I'm gonna go rent a car and go to Costco." It's like, "No, we're already doing that." I choose the smallest stuff as opposed to leveraging my skill set. That is an unwise battle that I should not be picking. Instead, I need to be thinking about much bigger things, and I simply don't. I think having kids might change that. I think there's a world where I'm praying that having a child is gonna somehow show me the way. You guys can tell me if I'm wrong, but dude, I focus on tiny, tiny issues.

Shaan Puri

That's like, I have a friend who is in a couple that’s kind of going through problems right now in their relationship. She said something like, "I just feel like I need to have a kid, and then that’s going to help us." I was like, "Oh my god, no! That is not the answer." I understand why you think that, but that will not make this relationship better. It is going to do the exact opposite.

Sam Parr

I think it could be the answer, to be honest. Having a dog is like 2% of having a child. Not in the sense of taking care of it, but it's like I've got something that I need to protect and take care of, and it makes me a little bit happier. I imagine properly having a human being where you're like, "Oh, I have to dedicate my life to this person." It's beyond me at this point. I have a feeling that can be very inspiring. That's why I think a lot of 35- to 40-year-olds who are childless and are getting messed up on psychedelics all the time and feel depressed... I'm like, "Dude, just pop out some babies!" I bet you won't be asking yourself, "How do I find myself?" You'll be saying, "How do I just make this kid happy?" When you dedicate yourself to others, I think you're happier.

Shaan Puri

can I read you something cool by the way that I just do

Sam Parr

you disagree with that

Shaan Puri

No, I think you're right in two ways. First, having a kid definitely takes the focus off yourself. That eliminates a huge number of worries that you have. However, it replaces them with new worries. If your habit is to worry, guess what? Whatever situation I put you in, you're going to find something to worry about.

Sam Parr

it's just better to worry about other people though it's it's more rewarding to

Shaan Puri

So, it is an improvement. The other thing is that, yeah, some bullshit just gets thrown out the window because you don't have that bandwidth. You don't have that extra time to think about stuff, do things, or make that trip to Costco because it's just off the table. You don't have the time. So, that's one thing, but it doesn't fundamentally change the nature of the problem—the root cause of the problem—which would be, you know, a focus on minor things. Because guess what? Then you're going to start to focus on, you know, why your kid's pinky toe is a little bit crooked, why they have this little rash on their knee, and why they didn't eat a balanced lunch. There are a million things you could worry about with a kid, and you could even justify them further because you're, "Oh, I'm a martyr. I'm a great parent for doing so." So, you gotta be careful with that. I don't think it goes away, but I do think it changes the problem a little bit. So, what's yours? Okay, I'll answer the question. I'm going to read you this thing. The battles I should pick, the battles I want to choose, are health—being in the best health that I can be and having a healthy lifestyle for me and the people around me.

Sam Parr

is your wife healthy because does she eat healthy

Shaan Puri

Yeah, she... she’s in and out. When she’s on it, she’s super clean. She doesn’t have the problem I have of discipline. Once she flips the switch, she’ll just never eat bad again until she flips the switch off, and then she’ll eat Oreos all day. So it’s like, you know, one or the other. The same thing goes for working out; she’s hardcore intense about that and hardcore intense about her diet. She doesn’t waver at all. But it’s just a matter of what mood she’s in. The mood is like a year-long mood, not like a daily fluctuation. I think health is the first one because I’ve seen that once your health goes a little sideways, none of the other battles have any relevance anymore. I think the second one is probably something around parenting, but I don’t even know how to phrase it. It’s about not constantly trying to rush through parenting and just getting the job done. That’s probably the second one: the battle of enjoying being patient with my kids. The last one is probably that I do too many projects. I have so many projects at once, and they’re all good projects, but collectively, they probably add up to a bad number of projects.

Sam Parr

so did it

Shaan Puri

that's probably the worst one

Sam Parr

I know I always say it but how many people criticize you about that

Shaan Puri

I don't know my friends and people who actually care about me like I don't know like the people who know me and care about me

Sam Parr

too they do they do

Ben Wilson

and the people

Shaan Puri

Who don't? They're like, "Oh, that's cool! You do so many things." My friends are like, "That's not cool." All these things could be cool, but you gotta do them. You gotta do them right. If you're not gonna do them, you gotta figure out how to hire somebody who's gonna do that thing for you.

Sam Parr

Dude, if I were you, I would only do three things. I would do the podcast because that's not that hard, and it kind of drives the other things. I would do Milk Road, and I would do investing.

Shaan Puri

Yeah, the problem is I'm too deep into e-commerce. I either have to hire my way out, sell this thing, or... I don't know what the other option is.

Sam Parr

I think you sell it or something. Everyone talks about hiring someone to run things, but you're still involved somehow. You're not actually... I think that that's really hard to do.

Shaan Puri

I don't know when you did it for the hustle you were pretty good about it it

Sam Parr

Right, yeah, but I thought about it all. I mean, I still felt like I was working there. But yeah, I didn't do other projects, though.

Shaan Puri

I want to read something to you real quick. There's a quote from Naval that reminded me of this. I have a Slack channel called "Wisdom," and this is in there. He says, "The only true test of intelligence is if you get what you want out of life." It's the only true test of intelligence: if you're getting what you want out of life. He goes on to say there are two parts to this. One is, are you able to hack reality to get what you want? The more important one is, were you smart enough to figure out what you should want in the first place?

Sam Parr

that's the hard part

Shaan Puri

That's the hard part, exactly. You read this and you nod, and then it's like, "Have I been smart enough to figure this out in the first place? What do I even want?" Then, do I... like both you and I, we have developed the skills of hacking reality, but we get a little loose on remembering what we actually want and what doesn't matter—what we don't care about. It's about remembering which game to actually play.

Sam Parr

Bending reality is, in my opinion, the easy part. Knowing what you want is the way, way harder. I don't know... I don't know.

Shaan Puri

That's one other part that I really liked. He goes, "You live in a society which has a bunch of people in it, so that will train you to play the bunch of people game, the multiplayer game. But only as an individual do you get to stumble on the hidden game, the single-player game, and that is the real game." He says a couple of things. He goes, "If you had no adversity, it would be a very boring game." So remember, you gotta play the game. It's your game. You get to design the board, design the challenge, and design the victory condition. That is the creativity. You get to decide the purpose of your own life. In the same way, you get to design what game you're gonna play, what the rules are, and what the victory condition is. And if you haven't intentionally done that, you're not playing it. You haven't actually started playing that game consciously yet. Where did he write that? I know he said this on like a Twitter Spaces or something like that. This guy, Zach... that's good. Zach Pogrub tweeted it out. I liked it.

Sam Parr

that's good ben what's another question what's another one

Ben Wilson

Alright, I think this is an interesting one. What are you letting in? In other words, he says, "Turn off the news, don't read the comments, quit interacting with negativity." Think of it as mental fitness. What things are you letting in? What noise are you letting in that you shouldn't let in?

Sam Parr

oh that you shouldn't

Shaan Puri

I have a question. What are you letting through the window or the door that you actually shouldn't be allowing in?

Sam Parr

what are yours

Shaan Puri

Well, I had... you had written something on the document that I think is interesting. It was about feedback. So, let's just zoom in on feedback. What was your question around feedback?

Sam Parr

So, I have a few ways that I go about doing this. You could do this when building a product or when just asking people about your personality, which I think you should do. Like, "What do I suck at? What do I rock?" What you'll notice, and it's very clear, is that I tweeted out, "What do you like about the podcast? What do you want more of? What do you want less of?" For every person who says they want a longer podcast, there's an equal amount of people who say they want a shorter one. There are some people who say more guests, and there are some people who say no guests. That makes things really hard for you to figure out feedback. So, I was going to ask you: How do you decide which feedback to listen to and which to ignore?

Shaan Puri

so I started off like I used to the way I used to think about this was dude feedback is the key you need a feedback loop you need to talk to your customers you need to know your audience and there was all these like you know books written about how important that stuff is and so I became fucking mister feedback I would you know if I had a project idea I'm taking the designs out to a mall and I'm stopping people and say hey will you give me feedback on this idea and you know every coworker I was like hey would love some feedback what do you like about me what do you hate about me what's good about me to work with etcetera I was fucking mister feedback and then I started to get what you what you just described which is information whiplash which is it's like information overload but it's not just an overload it's contradictory information yeah and so then I'm like oh shit what to do so then I got paralyzed so then I went to steve jobs mode fuck feedback people don't know what they want why would I ask them what they want they don't they don't even know what they want for breakfast how how could they tell me what they want out of this out of this app they've never heard of how could they tell me how to be a better boss blah blah blah people don't know what they want and I became mister steve jobs in the turtleneck then I sort of realized well that's not good either right because now I've isolated myself from actually getting feedback so I I have no signal to go off of and so now I've come up with a better balance I think between the 2 which is I seek out feedback from people who I think are are gonna give me relevant feedback so I don't just ask everybody and then the last piece is the feedback is not the answer it's the question so when I hear feedback I'm not looking for the answer to what we should do more of what we should do less of how I can be better how I can be worse I'm just looking for the feedback to just surface a couple of questions so for example if they if the feedback said you know longer podcast some people say oh I want longer podcast some people say I want shorter podcast it's just a question that comes up which is what do I think is the right length of the podcast what podcasts are great when they're long what podcasts are great when they're short and what would be the what would be a great short version of our podcast so I use the feedback to ask myself a better question and then it's my job to come to the answer it's their job to just give me their opinion which which gives me a question that that can ask and so same thing goes with products which is when I ask for feedback we both like this book called the mom test and the the central principle is I only get to ask them about their problems they I don't get to ask them what solution they want and so similarly when I go ask for feedback now I'm just looking for them to say things that's gonna get me to ask a better question that will get me to to come up then it's my job to come up with the answer to that because that's the that's the main principle when when in doubt there's one final thing which is at the end of the day I gotta like trust myself and I gotta know that ultimately if I just do the thing I think is right over and over and over again I will happen to I might some people might not like it but I will ultimately attract the people who love what I do so that comes back to that that saying my my trainer gave me which is who are my customers the people that love what I do and it became that simple for me so that that's what I that's what I fall back to so it's like if it was like a if else statement it's like if the if their feedback gives me a clear question and an answer that I know what to do with great I'll make an adjustment but if not then I'm just gonna do what I do and I know that that will attract the type of person who loves what I do

Sam Parr

I think that you can, I always call it like "excel sheet your way" to creating a big business. So, I think that you could just say, "Where's the opportunity based off of traffic demand?" I just hired these people, and you could create wealth that way. I don't like when people say you have to be passionate. You don't really have to; you can just excel your way to this. But what I've learned throughout the years is that it's a lot more fun to do things that you think are cool. Typically, that's more of the feedback that I'll listen to: just do I think this is cool? The second thing when I get feedback is that I don't actually care, like you said, about what they're saying. I care more about why they're saying it. For example, when people say, "Make the podcast shorter," they're not saying make it shorter; they're saying it's not always that interesting.

Shaan Puri

and exactly it's

Sam Parr

And so, because if something's really long, it doesn't matter as long as it's badass. Or if I made a 3-hour movie about Sean, you know Sean's gonna watch it. So, it's really not about listening to the actual feedback, but rather why I think they're saying it. That's what I listen to.

Ben Wilson

Alright, this one you guys get to talk about some other people. This one is: **Am I surrounding myself with the right people?** Who are the five I want to spend time with?

Shaan Puri

Oh, that's a powerful question! So, let's just... we'll make it light. Tell me right now, who are the 5 people you currently spend the most time with? If you had to say, "I spend my time the most with these 5 people," who would they be?

Sam Parr

Wife Sarah, probably Sarah. Yeah, Neville Medora, my best friend, and lives next door to me. Ramon, who a lot of people know, Ramon Van Meer, and then Jack Smith.

Shaan Puri

that's 4 you got one more

Sam Parr

I wouldn't put anyone else in those categories no that's it your dog

Shaan Puri

well and and you know I I

Sam Parr

Like you guys, that's pretty in-depth. But I would say that I would end it there.

Shaan Puri

Alright, so then let's just add one more. Who's somebody you wish was in that five? That is, you're not spending as much time as you'd like. In an ideal world, you would be... Steph Smith. I would add Steph Smith. Whoa, yeah, nice!

Sam Parr

I think steph smith is is amazing just like what

Shaan Puri

I was like just like our podcast listeners they also want more steph smith so

Sam Parr

Every time I talk to her, I think, "Damn, she's brilliant." She's a very special person. So maybe her and anyone else... I sometimes wish I had some baller, baller, baller friends. A lot of my friends are pretty great, but I would love to hang out with a Russian oligarch just to see how some of these crazy people think. I like extreme people. Even though I may think they're bad people, I would like to hang out with some of these extreme individuals who are on the extreme ends of success. It could even be an athlete. What's it like to hang out with the person who holds the world record in the marathon? So, it would be nice to be around more extreme people.

Shaan Puri

That's a good... that's a really good twist to this. I think a lot of people have heard this idea that "you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with," and that's true. But there are two other groups of people that I think really matter. One is like the equivalent of a bender. You don't want to go on a bender every day or every weekend, but like twice a year, a bender is a lot of fun. If you don't do a bender twice a year, if you're not really having like one amazing party or an all-nighter or some kind of experience that's a little out there, you kind of are leaving a little bit of life on the table. There are some people that are amazing in that capacity. You would never want them in your everyday life, but they're amazing for those twice-a-year hangs. The other group is the people you have just not even encountered yet. Who is just outside of your bubble? It's like you don't even know what you don't know yet because you just don't hang out with anybody like that. You have zero exposure, and therefore, it's just not part of your worldview. It's not part of your mental model yet.

Sam Parr

so I

Shaan Puri

think that's another no you're wise 2 categories who are

Sam Parr

the 5

Shaan Puri

or the those those 2 2 2 new categories

Sam Parr

do the 5 and then the other

Shaan Puri

Alright, so my five would be Sonia, my wife, and my kids. I'll just put it all together. My mom is the next one. I spend time with my mom; she comes over one week out of every month and stays with us. Then there's Ben, who's kind of like my right-hand man, my business partner at Milk Road and in the fund. He helps with the podcast and does a bunch of things, so I talk to Ben for hours a day. Then there's Andre, who I don't think you've met, right? No? Andre is kind of like the new Ben; he's the next Ben. He's a new guy in the fold on that level. Andre is kind of amazing because he has this story. He had some illness; he caught some bug or had some infection that gave him chronic fatigue syndrome or something like that. Basically, he couldn't get out of bed for, I don't know, like two years or something like that. The guy was in a wheelchair or something.

Sam Parr

like that

Shaan Puri

And nobody knew what it was. He kind of recovered from it, but it was like this multi-year thing. So this motherfucker is the most grateful person you'll ever meet because he's like, "Dude, I walked today." It doesn't take much for Andre to be high on life. And because Andre's around me all the time, I get that secondary high, you know, the contact high.

Sam Parr

right

Shaan Puri

Off of Andre, and like, you know, because he kind of like was just battling and got out of it. Now he's like, every day, you can tell he's just savoring every day. It's as if you haven't eaten in like two weeks and you're having your first meal. That's how Andre is, and so I love that about Andre.

Sam Parr

who and who are the other 2

Shaan Puri

The other one is Sully, who's our mutual buddy. I don't hang out with him that much because he moved, but he's a partner in one of my businesses. I talk to him, you know, because of that. But the one downside is now that he's like an official business partner, we don't really just talk to shoot the shit anymore. It's like anytime I'm talking to him, I'm sort of talking to him as if he's my investor or business partner instead of just catching up, you know? So I guess that's probably the downside. Those are the five that I'm currently hanging out with the most. I would put you next, as we hang out, you know, 2 to 3 hours a week doing this, so that's more than most people. The one I wish I hung out with more is Ramon because Ramon is like the best human on earth. So, you know, the more Ramon in my life, the better human I would be, just by default.

Sam Parr

I completely agree. When he teaches me, I learn a lot. He's a very thoughtful person, and I learn a lot from him.

Shaan Puri

And then the category that I was mentioning is the people I have no exposure to. I basically have no exposure anymore to people that are in high school and college, which is actually pretty important as an investor and, you know, as a person of the world. It's important to know what it's like. Oh, I forgot! I used to think about these stupid things, and they were the most important things in my life. Or like, oh wow, you know, we didn't have phones, so we couldn't do these things that they're doing now in high school or college. So I have like zero exposure to that. You know, like people in third world countries. When I went down to Mexico, I was like, "Oh wow, I kind of forgot just how simple and different life is for most people on Earth." You know, I used to live in Indonesia and in China and stuff like that, so I definitely was in it every day. But now, you know, I'm just sitting in the suburbs in California, so it's easy to forget that. I think I have a lot... my bubble is pretty tight right now. I think I should pop that intentionally once in a while.

Sam Parr

do you wanna do one more question ben

Ben Wilson

yeah we're doing 5 questions five questions seems like a nice round number

Shaan Puri

And you, Ben, you can remix it because some of these are sort of the same. So you could just ask a different question. You're a good question asker in general, so you...

Sam Parr

can ask a different question

Ben Wilson

I've been thinking about one of these, so let's go with this one: In what ways am I in my own way? Oh...

Sam Parr

I can say that one easy. I lose my temper and I get very emotional. I'm like, "No, fuck this! This is wrong. We have to do it this way." I have lost a lot of money for doing that. For example, if there's an employee who I think has maybe underperformed, even though they talk like they're hot shit, I would just fire them. Instead of thinking, "Well, we could definitely salvage this," and recognizing that there are lots of ways to make things better, I often just think, "No, I'm out. I don't want to deal with the headache. I'm over it." That is a very emotional decision. I make so many emotional decisions. Oftentimes, it's ego; oftentimes, it's temper. But mostly, if I think, "Oh, I think this person is trying to get one over on me," I think, "Fuck them! I want to crush them." You know what I mean? I make a ton of emotional decisions as opposed to practical decisions.

Shaan Puri

that's interesting alright I got 2 I have one that's real but

Sam Parr

but is that true have you have you seen that with me

Shaan Puri

Yeah, for sure. You've been mad at me sometimes, and I'm like, "Because you think I'm trying to get one over on you." I'm like, "Dude, I'm really not." Then once you realize I'm not, your whole perspective changes right away. I was like, "Oh, that's what you thought? I had no idea." Because I wouldn't... it's so different than the way I think, so I just never... I couldn't understand it, basically. It's not like...

Sam Parr

like I'll

Shaan Puri

we'll we'll we can give a real we

Sam Parr

Can give a real example. I got mad at you for being late, and I'm like, in my head, "He doesn't care. He doesn't care about this."

Shaan Puri

he thinks he's better

Sam Parr

And it was reality. It was like, "No dude, my baby was sick," or like, "You know, I liked that she was in the bath and it took forever to get her out." That's like a legitimately good excuse.

Shaan Puri

Like, even a bad excuse, which was just like, "Dude, I literally was sitting here and I just lost track of time. I'm not doing anything. I'm not more important. I'm not like a diva. I'm not trying to do that." I feel horrible every time I do that. Sometimes, I literally don't even have a good excuse. But even that was fine with you. It was just like, as long as you didn't know I was sort of actively doing it, it didn't bother you. You know what I mean? No?

Sam Parr

It doesn't bother me. Another thing that I do all the time, and I think everyone should learn from me, is replying really quickly to text-based messages. Whether that's an email or anything else, it's okay if you sit on this for an hour, or even a day, or even five days. Sometimes I'll get something like a text or an email, and I'm like, "Oh no, forget that!" I quickly reply, and then I think, "Oh, I should have just sat on that for like three hours. What was I thinking?"

Shaan Puri

Yeah, I'm... that's actually a great one. That's a great answer for me too. I'm massively disorganized, which affects everything. It's like replying... there are so many emails and text messages that people are either offering me something or trying to help me, and I'm just not replying. People take it very personally. As you know, maybe I would too if I felt like I was getting blown off by this person. Or I'll just miss a deal that is just a clear win for me because I just don't reply. Yeah, I forget to reply. I don't see it.

Sam Parr

I would say, "Fuck them." You know, I actually don't think you should. I've been struggling with that too. I had, and lately I'm just like, I'm just not gonna feel bad about replying to these people. Like, and...

Shaan Puri

it this is the most douchiest of it

Sam Parr

Wait, listen. Here's the most **douchiest** thing I could say: just subtract this by like a lot, and that's the reality. Imagine you're Justin Timberlake and people are always presenting you with stuff. You're just like, "Dude, I don't care. I'm gonna do what I wanna do." Of course, we are not that big a deal, but it's like a much, much smaller version where there are lots of opportunities, and I'm just like, "I'm just gonna ignore them." I don't expect JT to reply to a DM, do I?

Shaan Puri

Yeah, that's true. But I'm talking about people who I'm doing business with, or they're my friends or something like that. Those are people I do intend to be replying to. I've asked them for something, and then they gave it to me, and I forget to do something with it.

Sam Parr

but would you say joe what

Shaan Puri

do you think laziness there like imagine my checking your joe

Sam Parr

rogan check how much is that

Shaan Puri

I don't want to show the check on screen, but this is a $13,000 check that's just been sitting here for like 6 months. Then it expired, so now I just had to go get a new check. This is the new check after the other one expired, and I still haven't deposited this one. Another month has gone by. That's how disorganized I am. It's just sitting here because I'm disoriented for no reason. The same thing goes for my company's bookkeeping. Here's the bad way it plays out: I've never hired a bookkeeper, and I'm like, "Oh yeah, I don't know. Aren't the transactions just on the credit card?"

Sam Parr

no they're gonna ask you

Shaan Puri

They gotta ask you at the end of the year. I'll just cram for my taxes final and figure this out. So now I'm like learning, "Oh, how do people do this?" Oh, they hire bookkeepers. And then they're like, "Okay, gotcha." There were just things that are messy in my world. That's me getting in my own way. You know, it cost me a lot of money to have messy books or not reply to certain emails. So I think that's me getting in my own way. The other one was just staying up late, which is, again, so boring and cliché. I'm almost embarrassed to even say it on the podcast because...

Sam Parr

how late do you stay up

Shaan Puri

Nobody gives a... well, you know what I mean. On average, I was staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning, and then I'd wake up at 9. I just started, like, last week, I was like, "Forget it, I'm going to sleep early." It solved like five of my biggest problems. It's like my diet cleaned up because I no longer late-night snack or eat junk, which is all I would do. Right? If I had dinner at 7 and now it's 1 AM and I'm hungry, guess what? I'm not eating junk at that time.

Sam Parr

nothing good happens

Shaan Puri

after midnight and

Ben Wilson

click it

Sam Parr

could be eating or it could be fighting

Shaan Puri

Yeah, exactly. It's like my sleep was **shitty**, my work was **shitty**. I was editing the Milk Road at night. Now, I just sleep at like 10:30 or 11. I wake up at 6:30 or 7 in the morning. I write the Milk Road and edit it, and it's done. By the time the kids wake up, I've already finished my workday almost. So, I just cleaned that up and cleaned up like five other things. But again, it's so **fucking cliché** to say sleeping early... I bleeped this whole thing out to make it mysterious instead.

Sam Parr

Do you remember how regimented Rob Jurdick was about tracking his time and waking up at 6 AM or 5 AM or whatever he did? I actually like... if that's what makes him happy, do it. I also respect how crazy he is about that. I think I like extreme people. Part of me was like, "But that's like, you don't need to do that." But then the other part is like, that would be kind of cool to do for like 2 or 3 weeks just to see what would happen. Just what would happen if you do get up at 6 AM and you have a very strict schedule? I actually do think that sounds kind of fun to try it once in a while.

Shaan Puri

what time do you sleep and wake up typically

Sam Parr

Last night, I couldn't go to bed. I went to bed at 1 or 2 AM and got out of bed at 7. I normally always get out of bed at 7.

Shaan Puri

but are you like super regressive with your schedule

Sam Parr

I'm not productive though usually I'm not productive until about 9 or 10

Ben Wilson

My baby wakes up at 6 in the morning, usually, so that's when I'm up. I try to go to bed around 10 or 10:30. Then, once or twice a month, I'll go to bed at like 3 AM because I need to get something done.

Shaan Puri

that's that's why you go to bed

Sam Parr

at 3 am

Ben Wilson

I I you're not

Sam Parr

like going on doing shit wait do you do you drink do you drink or do drugs

Ben Wilson

no when it's usually like I god

Sam Parr

this is the lamest trio ever

Ben Wilson

When I do "How to Take Over the World" episodes, I usually do a bunch of them in one sitting. I'll work from about 9 PM to 3 or 4 AM. I do that twice a month.

Sam Parr

sean do you so let me recap these 5 questions here

Shaan Puri

I drink if like the occasion calls for it but not with any regularity no

Sam Parr

but do you get drunk

Shaan Puri

I used to, but no. Like, the last 5 years, I have not been getting drunk.

Sam Parr

and do you do any drugs

Shaan Puri

no god that's crazy

Sam Parr

what a bunch of prudes

Shaan Puri

dude I just drink green smoothies bro I I don't even drink coffee

Sam Parr

we are so lame alright go ahead

Shaan Puri

Alright, I'm going to recap the 5 questions. The 5 questions were: 1. In what areas of my life am I settling right now? 2. Choose your battles wisely. What battles am I choosing right now, and what do I want to choose? 3. What am I letting in that I need to shut out? That's noise, information, and opinions from the outside world. 4. Am I surrounding myself with the right people? Who are the 5 people I want to spend the most time with? And what was the 5th one? Did we do 5?

Ben Wilson

yeah question 5 was in what ways am I in my own way

Shaan Puri

Oh yeah, in what ways am I in my own way? What are the things I'm doing that get in my own way? Those are the five. Ben, which one of those questions, when we said them, did you go off on a tangent thinking for yourself what your answer is? Which one shook you? One of these questions shook you.

Ben Wilson

I... the first question shook me. In what areas of my life am I settling? Okay, so you guys are looking at me. I thought maybe I'd get away with not actually giving you the answer because that's one that penetrates your soul. But you both are just like, "You're gonna answer right now." For both of you, you talked about health and fitness stuff. One area in which I settle a lot in my life is that I get super concerned about environmental pollutants, especially plastics and microplastics and stuff like that. I always feel like a psychopath when I talk about it because everyone else is like, "What? Plastics?" I feel crazy because I'm like, "No, actually, this isn't a conspiracy theory. The research is out there that all these microplastics are crashing our testosterone levels and disrupting our endocrine systems." I'm not crazy, but the fact that everyone else is like, "Whatever," makes me feel even crazier. So, a lot of times...

Sam Parr

weird obsession

Ben Wilson

I just settle. I compromise. I'm like, "Look at my baby," putting this plastic toy in her mouth, and a part of me dies. I'm just like, "Whatever, I settle. I'm not gonna fight this fight right now." But it is something that... do you?

Sam Parr

have plastic tupperware

Ben Wilson

we have plastic tupperware that I wish we would just like throw away

Sam Parr

so just do it

Shaan Puri

Dude, that is not at all where I thought you were going with that answer when you first said it. Because you were like, "So, it was weighing so heavy on your heart," and that's what it was. It matters a lot to me, Sean. Most random answer.

Sam Parr

are is is is

Shaan Puri

is rubber

Sam Parr

Is it like a... what do they call it? Like a binky? A pacifier? What is that? Is it rubber? I don't even know what that is. Is that plastic?

Ben Wilson

Yeah, so most of the time, no, they won't do plastic in pacifiers. They'll either use silicone, which is better, or they'll use rubber, which is also better.

Sam Parr

is is better okay

Ben Wilson

Right, silicone... I have my doubts about it, but it does not have the same proven track record of disrupting your endocrine systems the way plastics do.

Sam Parr

do you do you reuse water bottles

Shaan Puri

we

Ben Wilson

no in fact I try not to use disposable water bottles because a lot of times they leach

Shaan Puri

what do I go watch or read that's gonna scare the shit out of me about

Ben Wilson

There's a Joe Rogan episode that I'll link up in the show notes. He talks with a Harvard researcher who does a bunch of this stuff, and she's really good. It will scare you a lot.

Sam Parr

Yeah, dude, plastic's pretty bad. And then, like, I... I don't know that, Sean. You microwave plastic, don't you?

Shaan Puri

Only on this podcast... Yeah, I microwave everything and everything's in plastic in my house. So I'm like, "Oh shit, okay." I've heard this, but I've never gotten shook yet where I'm like, "Oh, take action on this." But that's why I asked, "What do I need to go watch that's gonna trigger me?" Where I need to be like, "I will go and make a dramatic change in my life."

Ben Wilson

I'll link it up, but the short of it is basically that our testosterone levels are decreasing at 1% per year. Fertility levels are just crashing. It's not just that people who want to have children are having them less; people who are trying to have children are able to have them at much lower rates than in the past. To the point where, in 50 years, we're not sure that anyone is going to be able to have unassisted children anymore. Our plastic use is increasing so much that this is becoming a real concern.

Shaan Puri

but how do they know plastics cause that you know versus just

Ben Wilson

Plastic waste is a significant issue. They do studies with rats, and they're able to demonstrate the correlation.

Sam Parr

good answer that was a very good answer

Shaan Puri

And what do you think is an example of something you can swap out that is a big culprit for plastic? Like, most people are doing this, but if you swap this, it solves like, you know, 20%.

Sam Parr

of the battle right

Ben Wilson

Well, the biggest thing that she said was, **"Never heat plastic."** If you can do one thing, it's that. So, if you have a water bottle with water in it, yes, that will leach some plastic into your system. It's not great. But if you leave it out in the sun and it heats up to 100 degrees, you're going to get like **10 times** as much plastic. So, it's not about eating things hot from plastic.

Sam Parr

But how do you reconcile that fact with the fact that you smoke? You told me that you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day.

Ben Wilson

yeah noted chain smoker ben wilson that's what people know me for

Sam Parr

How do you do both well? How could you have 24 Newports a day just to tell me not to microwave plastic?

Ben Wilson

you know it's just one of those mysteries sam I don't know how to explain it

Shaan Puri

and how do you could you test to see how much I

Ben Wilson

don't know that's a good question I would love to do it if you can I don't know that you can

Sam Parr

I got a new business that we're going to talk about on Monday. That's going to address that. By the way, I was all prepared for today, really.

Shaan Puri

did you say it what was it

Sam Parr

It's called Float. Did you see it in the doc? It's called Float. What is it? What's the URL? Is it called Float Bend? Where's my... it's called Float.

Ben Wilson

no it's called fount

Sam Parr

Fount... sorry, Fount Bio. It's basically a $5,000 a month concierge service where they test your blood and tell you all about your body. It's very expensive, but it sounds incredibly cool.

Shaan Puri

for for $5,000 a month you're probably touching my body

Sam Parr

Well, we'll see. Maybe for $5, it'll make women that actually want to touch your body. Oh, maybe that's... maybe we'll do one better.

Shaan Puri

We're getting tested over here. **$5 a month?** What? **$5 a month?** That's such an absurd number. You're doing this?

Sam Parr

No, I'm not doing it, but I think it's close to beta. $5 a month—would I do it? I would sign up for 3 months for sure. I think you could do it in 3 months in increments for $15,000. Yeah, I would try that. Dude, I had a concierge doctor one time for like a year when I was really sick, and it was $25 for a year. It was mostly amazing. Also, I understand why rich people have access to so many drugs. Because, like, if I wanted to, I could just text the doctor and be like, "Hey, can you refill this Xanax for me?" Or, "Hey, I need some more oxy." It's like... and you're paying them so much money that it seems like they're willing to do that. It is kinda crazy. This took a turn, hey?

Shaan Puri

alright can

Ben Wilson

I do we have time we're we're we're way over time do I have time to ask you guys one more question

Sam Parr

as long as it's 5 minutes or less okay

Ben Wilson

I think you give me 5 minutes or less. I'm just curious about this. I don't know why I thought of this as we were asking the 5 questions, but if you were to simulate your life a thousand times, what do you think the ceiling is and what do you think the floor is? In other words, are there a few little things that, if they broke in the wrong way, like Sam Parr is working at a McDonald's in Missouri right now? Or like a few breaks where, if things had broken the wrong way, you would be worth $100,000,000,000, one of the richest men in the world? What do you think your floor is? What do you think your ceiling is? And do you think you ended up about what your average is?

Sam Parr

I think in my case I could tell you I think my floor is

Shaan Puri

Put, set the ground rules. The ground rules are the same genetics and the same family—not like I'm born in a different country.

Ben Wilson

I'm... yeah, it's just like a few little random variables get changed. You make a few different decisions as you go through life, but it's the same family, same situation, same person.

Sam Parr

I think I was not far from being like a homeless alcoholic or drug addict. I think that was actually potentially in the cards, or just like being in jail because I would con people and steal. I think a lot of people honestly could say that, though. If they ever did certain drugs, they might think, "Oh man, I could see myself living off the streets." The best of the limit, I think, is that I could have not sold my company. I believe it could have been worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and I could have been worth many hundreds of millions of dollars by the time I was 50. I think I could have pulled that off if I was willing to put the work in.

Shaan Puri

Yeah, but you'll probably end up there now anyways. You're 30 now, that's 20 more years. Given where you're at now, it's pretty likely that you end up with over $100,000,000.

Sam Parr

It's very likely that I'll be worth $20 more. It's almost guaranteed I'll be worth $9.50. I mean, it's almost at...

Ben Wilson

a certain

Sam Parr

yeah so then fuck it I don't have good answers exactly

Shaan Puri

So, you peaked. You got one of the good rolls of the dice. I don't think... I mean, obviously, there are some scenarios where, yeah, I end up in jail, a drug addict, whatever. But I don't think that's like the realistic floor for me. I think the realistic floor for me was probably like...

Sam Parr

working at twitch forever

Shaan Puri

you know no not even like you know working at working as a lab assistant at fucking you know you know greenville university's like biology department or some shit like that like you know basically some some job that was like I got on some track that didn't really have a merit based system it was a time based system so like you know you basically just get rewarded for how long you've been in the game and not like how much impact you've been able to make and and it might have been in a very kind of like complete I I was very close to a complete non business field right I was like about to go to med school so you know I I was very likely gonna be in a different thing but like even if I hadn't done the med school path you know just being a engineer somewhere or being a you know project manager somewhere was extremely likely for me had I just made 1 or 2 different decisions kind of at some? The more interesting question is like how far off the peak am I and I think I'm pretty far off the peak to be honest with you and in fact you know ben you were there when we had david freiberg on the on the podcast and I told him sam I was trying to butter him up I was like dude so you've created not 1 not 2 but pretty much $3,000,000,000 companies if you know he created climate which is a $1,000,000,000 company he created metromile which is basically a $1,000,000,000 company and he created the production boards a $1,000,000,000 company and I said you've done that and you know if I went back to you at age kind of 18 19 20 or you're in college and I told you hey man this is how it all shakes out you're gonna create $3,000,000,000 companies 3 separate $1,000,000,000 companies in like the in this like kind of space science space what would you have said would that have been unbelievable to you would you could you have believed that he goes honestly I'd probably have been disappointed I was like what why he because I think 2 things like one is he wasn't really like money wasn't the like the the driving force and then the second piece is like I don't think he feels like he's had a big impact on the world yet like okay metro mile exists and okay climate exists but like you know what he's trying to do now with like canada and other stuff like that is like he's like trying to find it like be like the the way we produce food is gonna change or like the way we produce pharmaceuticals is gonna change like that's not now the like the type of swing he goes for which is like the world used to produce things in factories and farming and blah blah blah and now we do it in a laboratory blah blah blah like that he's trying to fundamentally change the means of production and so I think that's what he meant but I was kinda blown away by that answer and that's the type of thing when remember I said like you hang out with that x factor person who like just sort of like stuns you into a different like when I said when do I realize I'm settling is when a guy who's created a $3,000,000,000 company says I probably would have been disappointed if I knew this was the this was the outcome it makes me think wait what is this guy even going what is this guy's scoreboard if he doesn't think this is a win and then what does that make me think about my scoreboard how could I update my scoreboard not to match his but to like let's let's definitely question it right like let's

Sam Parr

is he a billionaire

Shaan Puri

keep it the same as it's been for 10 years

Sam Parr

is he a billionaire

Shaan Puri

I think he's personally a billionaire now

Sam Parr

probably but like in that ballpark

Ben Wilson

I think he said on the podcast that he hasn't hit a billion yet. So, I think he's close by, but I don't think he said it.

Sam Parr

Isn't that funny how you can achieve what most single people on Earth would consider like the top of the top of the top, and you're like, "That's funny, I don't know... once."

Shaan Puri

I googled my mentor and kind of business investor's net worth. I remember being surprised. Then I googled a whole bunch of celebrities. At that time, my ballpark estimate for his triangulated net worth was around **$700 million to $800 million**. Then I googled Britney Spears, and it was like **$25 million or $50 million**. I thought, "Great, Britney!" He was more than **10 times richer** than Britney Spears. I also looked up Alex Rodriguez. I remember when he signed the biggest MLB contract ever, which was a **10-year, $225 million** or **$250 million** contract at that time. I thought, "Oh my God, he already has **3 times** A-Rod's contract!" I just googled every celebrity I could think of, and he has more than all of them.

Sam Parr

did you know that you're richer than ryan sheckler

Shaan Puri

I think I literally said that. I was like, "You're 15,000 Jermaine Dupri's."

Sam Parr

dude he's probably even richer than denzel washington this guy's amazing

Shaan Puri

that's what I'm saying oh easily watch you know denzel net worth dude I

Sam Parr

Bet you Denzel's gotta be worth at least $100 million. He's been in the game for a while.

Shaan Puri

pisspoor 280 he's a double denzel you know like come on man

Sam Parr

that's awesome alright I'm out