Speaker 1: He was up on about the Dramady Rodriguez.
Speaker 2: This is those amigos, and honestly so and the last
Speaker 2: part we you know, we had just started talking about
Speaker 2: your book, and I am grateful that you wrote this
Speaker 2: one because there is so much about making money that
Speaker 2: is daunting, that is scary, that is a hard conversation
Speaker 2: to have with oneself. There's a lot of fear that
Speaker 2: comes with that. It's attached to a lot of wounds
Speaker 2: that we have. So make money easy, create financial freedom,
Speaker 2: and live a richer life again available everywhere that you
Speaker 2: read or listen to your books. I kind of already
Speaker 2: know what this book is about. I love that you
Speaker 2: chose screen, I love the title. Can you tell us
Speaker 2: a little bit about the inspiration of this book, and
Speaker 2: like you know how you drive it to be this.
Speaker 3: Because money robs people of their joy. Money if you
Speaker 3: have a wounded relationship with it, robs people of relationship,
Speaker 3: rich relationships, a rich life, and their joy. And a
Speaker 3: lot of us chase money to feel safe, but so
Speaker 3: often we still don't feel safe with the money we have,
Speaker 3: or we feel like it's still not enough. And when
Speaker 3: I made my first million dollars, I remember being more
Speaker 3: upset and angry than ever because I still didn't love
Speaker 3: and accept myself, and I thought the money was going
Speaker 3: to make me feel something different. I thought, like I
Speaker 3: hit that number, I don't know something's going to unlock
Speaker 3: for me, and it didn't. I just knew how to
Speaker 3: make money, but I didn't know how to create a
Speaker 3: sense of peace within me. So money didn't give me peace.
Speaker 3: It didn't give me a sense of inner freedom. Momentarily,
Speaker 3: it gave me options to solve certain things, but it
Speaker 3: almost created a bigger wound for me because when I
Speaker 3: was broke, living on my sister's couch for a year
Speaker 3: and a half in Columbus, Ohio when I was twenty four,
Speaker 3: no one was reaching out for me to ask for
Speaker 3: money or anything because I didn't have anything to offer.
Speaker 3: Wilmer gets asked every day by someone for Hey, can
Speaker 3: you connect me to this person? Can you give me
Speaker 3: a loan? Can you give me money for this? Can
Speaker 3: you fund my project? He's had that for twenty five
Speaker 3: years since he's been you know, rich and handsome and successful. Right. Yeah.
Speaker 2: The handsome point is the more handsome you are, the
Speaker 2: more they want from me.
Speaker 3: But when I when I started making money. Kids from
Speaker 3: high school college started coming out and saying, Hey, can
Speaker 3: I get some money or can you work in this
Speaker 3: project with me? And I was like, this doesn't feel good.
Speaker 3: You're not my friend, Like you didn't talk to me
Speaker 3: for eight years, and now you see I have money.
Speaker 3: You're asking for something from me because I have this
Speaker 3: thing that doesn't feel good. So it's almost like the
Speaker 3: wound expanded inside of me.
Speaker 1: And it exposed the other stuff you hated about. Society
Speaker 1: didn't like it.
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, man, I feel like I'm
Speaker 3: getting taken advantage of and a whole new way and
Speaker 3: not valued for other things. And so most people. I've
Speaker 3: done a lot of interviews with billionaires, people have sold
Speaker 3: huge companies wealth experts over the last twelve years for
Speaker 3: my own learning, and a lot of people wanted this
Speaker 3: information because so many divorces end out of money arguments,
Speaker 3: so many problems in relationships and because of money frustration. Again,
Speaker 3: people are not in alignment around money when they're in
Speaker 3: relationship with each other, and that causes friction, that causes
Speaker 3: just a feeling of stress and pain and tension and
Speaker 3: all these things in our nervous system. Because we don't
Speaker 3: communicate about money. And each of one of us has
Speaker 3: a money story and a money personality style. And when
Speaker 3: you're in relationship with a friend, they have a different
Speaker 3: money story and personality style. Your parents, different one, your spouses,
Speaker 3: your kids, everyone has a different money story and money
Speaker 3: personality style how they choose to interpret. And I'll just
Speaker 3: ask you guys this question, and I would love to
Speaker 3: hear both of your responses. Imagine for a moment, money
Speaker 3: is in the form of a person. Money, the idea
Speaker 3: of money, all the things mixed up around money is
Speaker 3: in a person's body, and that person walks to the
Speaker 3: door and sits down right there. What is your initial
Speaker 3: reaction or response to that idea of money if they
Speaker 3: sat right in front of you right now, what would
Speaker 3: you initially? And I want true honesty here, and I'm
Speaker 3: gonna share some different examples. Yeah, yeah, money walks in
Speaker 3: the door, it sits down. How do you think, how
Speaker 3: do you feel? What do you say? What do you
Speaker 3: not say?
Speaker 1: I mean?
Speaker 2: And this is like my younger self speaking because immediately
Speaker 2: went there, like how do I validate myself to earn
Speaker 2: a conversation with them?
Speaker 3: The interest thing that's interesting, like how.
Speaker 2: Do I show enough colorspecass, you know, to feel like
Speaker 2: I can speak that language, like can speak whatever that
Speaker 2: language is. And not because not because I needed right,
Speaker 2: not because I need the money, not because I want
Speaker 2: the money, but because.
Speaker 1: I have this.
Speaker 2: YEARN this, this YEARN in this this this, I want
Speaker 2: to be accepted for understanding it.
Speaker 3: Interesting. Wow, what about what's the first response? My first
Speaker 3: initial response?
Speaker 4: I think with me, I had I had children at
Speaker 4: a really early age, and I was married at an
Speaker 4: early age, and so I had the sole responsibility of
Speaker 4: being my family's provider. And so my relationship pressure a
Speaker 4: lot of weight, tons tons, and so my relationship with
Speaker 4: money has always been try to be the best at
Speaker 4: what you do, because your famili's existence depends on and
Speaker 4: am and so I would. I came into town, and
Speaker 4: I tried to fricking kill every audition, every job I
Speaker 4: ever did. I approached it with such fervor and such
Speaker 4: focus and intensity because my family's existence depended on it.
Speaker 3: Interesting. Yeah, And that energy showed up in almost probably
Speaker 3: every moment and every interaction unconsciously with people. Maybe you met,
Speaker 3: you're trying to get introductions. Maybe it wasn't even thinking,
Speaker 3: how can I gain something from this, but you're like,
Speaker 3: I need to deliver at all times. Yes, my family
Speaker 3: depends on it. And probably both your parents had the
Speaker 3: same mindset as immigrants, like we got to survive, you know,
Speaker 3: and the weight of like month by month bills. We
Speaker 3: six months bill, we don't have that. We got to
Speaker 3: figure out next month right now. And I can't take
Speaker 3: a sick day and I can't do you know.
Speaker 2: It's like, it's so crazy you're saying that, because here's
Speaker 2: the thing. I it's gonna sound really crazy, but this
Speaker 2: is kind of a version of like letting go of perception,
Speaker 2: letting go of expectations.
Speaker 1: Right the moment that I stopped looking at my bank.
Speaker 2: Account, the more I never worried about the life staying on.
Speaker 2: I just knew I had to get up in the morning,
Speaker 2: I had to show up right. But the moment I
Speaker 2: took the pressure of knowing how much I had in
Speaker 2: the bank, all of a sudden, refrigerator have food. It
Speaker 2: isn't that crazy to think about the simplicity and the
Speaker 2: power you can take away from from the perception of
Speaker 2: how much you have, which also dictates what the status,
Speaker 2: what you can afford, what you want in life or whatever,
Speaker 2: like once I divorced that once I kind of got
Speaker 2: rid of the how much money do I have in
Speaker 2: the bank?
Speaker 1: Like how much do I have left?
Speaker 2: By the way, how much do I have left in
Speaker 2: the bank, Because it's two things.
Speaker 1: How much money I have and how much much money
Speaker 1: I have left.
Speaker 2: It's two different perspectives, right, how many how much money
Speaker 2: you have left? It's like I'm gonna be running out,
Speaker 2: so there's a there's an an urgency to do other
Speaker 2: things that are not within what you're gonna be because
Speaker 2: you got to put more in it. And the other
Speaker 2: one is how much for me not knowing how much
Speaker 2: money I had in the bank give me this freedom
Speaker 2: that I never had to worry about the number. But
Speaker 2: I'm telling you it's really hard to say because you're
Speaker 2: you know you people are building their budgets and they're
Speaker 2: building how much do I have for rent? How much
Speaker 2: I But the moment I let go and trust me,
Speaker 2: I came from a very humble start with my family.
Speaker 2: You know my story. You know my story and all
Speaker 2: you guys have heard the story. But the moment I
Speaker 2: just kept looking ahead of me, the less worry I
Speaker 2: had about refrigerator and rent.
Speaker 1: So was it a sense of faith?
Speaker 2: Maybe like faith, but also like trusts.
Speaker 3: The word you said is once I created freedom and
Speaker 3: I stopped worrying about it. And that is the whole thing.
Speaker 3: Most people don't feel free around their relationship to money.
Speaker 3: And if you don't feel free, you are trapped or
Speaker 3: you're a prisoner to it, or you're scarce, your energy
Speaker 3: is clenched, or I was fervolously like going after it,
Speaker 3: whatever it is. It's like I was chasing it, you know.
Speaker 3: I was like running away from something, chasing it. Like
Speaker 3: I had that same energy. And you can create a
Speaker 3: lot of financial success but not have financial freedom. Four
Speaker 3: years ago, I was living in a building in Century
Speaker 3: City and during the pandemic, and I went off for
Speaker 3: a road trip one weekend. I came back and it
Speaker 3: was probably the most expensive building in LA like apartment building.
Speaker 3: And you know, Matthew Perry was in there, like Jim.
Speaker 3: I saw Jim carry out a place in there. At
Speaker 3: one point. It's like, yeah, I haven't even start, you know,
Speaker 3: talking about it. And it was a every day is
Speaker 3: freaking masera, the most expensive cars in the valet and
Speaker 3: just wealth. The building just smelled of wealth, right. You
Speaker 3: didn't know where the money came from sometimes, but it
Speaker 3: was a lot of money in there and celebrity all
Speaker 3: that stuff. And I drove back from this road trip
Speaker 3: one day and in the valet as as I'm pulling up,
Speaker 3: there's a white tent out front in the parking garage
Speaker 3: like out front, and I go, I said at the
Speaker 3: valet attendant, I go, someone didn't jump. Did they making
Speaker 3: a joke? Someone did jump? And he said, yeah, they did,
Speaker 3: And I thought he was joking. I was like, wait
Speaker 3: what I just so, I was just like, wait a minute.
Speaker 3: What this building. I've lived in this building. I've seen
Speaker 3: these people. People seem fine, and they have tons of money.
Speaker 3: And as I went down the rabbit hole and researched it,
Speaker 3: the guy who jumped was worth like a half a
Speaker 3: billion dollar. And you know, I'm not here to understand
Speaker 3: his whole life story or whatever, but he was very
Speaker 3: well known. He was in the industry, executive proved to
Speaker 3: a lot of movies. And it was the day after
Speaker 3: Father's Day. And the more I read about it, he
Speaker 3: was a strange from his teenage son. He didn't have
Speaker 3: good relationships. He was doing like I later found out
Speaker 3: he was doing drugs and alcohol and all these different things.
Speaker 3: I'd seen the guy a couple of times. He looked normal,
Speaker 3: he looked fine and happy, but inside the money didn't
Speaker 3: make him happy. It wasn't you know. There was no
Speaker 3: amount of money. It sounded like a half a billion
Speaker 3: dollars didn't make him want to save his own life.
Speaker 3: So he had financial success, but he did not have freedom.
Speaker 3: And the freedom comes from healing. Yeah, if you're out
Speaker 3: of alignment, there is a deep pain inside of you, emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, relationally.
Speaker 3: If you're out of alignment, that means there's a wound somewhere.
Speaker 3: And if you're out of alignment, you're scarce around money.
Speaker 3: You're chasing it, You're needing, You're looking to see how
Speaker 3: much you have left? Uh? Do I have it? Can
Speaker 3: I speak about it confidently in front of someone? Or
Speaker 3: will I be judged? You're in a disalignment with yourself
Speaker 3: around money? Can I speak about it at all with people?
Speaker 3: Am I afraid to talk about it? Can I pay
Speaker 3: for people? Or do I feel like they're gonna take
Speaker 3: advantage of me? How is my relationship? Am I the
Speaker 3: one who always pays. I'm assuming Wilma always pays and
Speaker 3: picks off the tab, right because because he has a
Speaker 3: folk but he has but he has abundance, he has success,
Speaker 3: so and he's probably like he's a very generous guy.
Speaker 3: It doesn't mean it's something wrong with that. But I
Speaker 3: always pay too, and it's hard for me to let
Speaker 3: people pay for me. So it's hard for me. But
Speaker 3: we're blocking the flow of abundance. We're blocking the flow
Speaker 3: of generosity from another if we don't allow people to
Speaker 3: give us gifts or pay for us even once in
Speaker 3: a while. And if you want freedom in your life,
Speaker 3: gratitude and generosity is the gateway to abundance. And so
Speaker 3: if we're always being grateful and generous, but we're not
Speaker 3: allowing others to also appreciate us or say, hey, I
Speaker 3: really acknowledge you one, I really acknowledge you for ready
Speaker 3: for what you guys have created yours. And if we
Speaker 3: just say, oh no, it is nothing even our energy
Speaker 3: of like uh, don't worry about it, like really say
Speaker 3: thank you, and just allow the flow of generosity of
Speaker 3: gratitude to not just be one sided. You giving all
Speaker 3: the time we're giving, We're gonna we're gonna pay, we're
Speaker 3: gonna take care, we're gonna be responsible, we're gonna be providers.
Speaker 1: Guilty of that, so guilty. And it doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: went broke twice.
Speaker 3: Just giving given, And it doesn't mean we have to
Speaker 3: be you know, someone has to match our generosity. Doesn't
Speaker 3: mean because I'm gonna give, I'm gonna pay for a year,
Speaker 3: you have to pay for a year back. It's like,
Speaker 3: but allowing someone to give gratitude and generosity is the
Speaker 3: gayway to abundance.
Speaker 1: Yea, But you're you're like that to the next stent.
Speaker 4: Warm are so and you know them right very You're
Speaker 4: so generous, but not only with like I'm not talking
Speaker 4: about money.
Speaker 5: Sexy, You're you're.
Speaker 3: So generous with your sexy.
Speaker 4: Uh No, you're like about so much sex if you're
Speaker 4: you're you're so giving and generous with with everything. And
Speaker 4: I'm not talking about financial. Yeah, of course your heart.
Speaker 4: You're so your your everything. Uh And I noticed that
Speaker 4: sometimes when it's reciprocated, sometimes you you you sort of yeah,
Speaker 4: you don't receive.
Speaker 5: It in the way that you have earned it, Yeah,
Speaker 5: the way that you deserve it. And I noticed because
Speaker 5: I'm the same way.
Speaker 3: So I'm like, oh, why do you think that is
Speaker 3: for both of you? Why do you think you block
Speaker 3: the love or the generous?
Speaker 2: I think that we I mean we both I can
Speaker 2: say that we both come from not a very privileged platform.
Speaker 2: We weren't given we weren't set up to like win, right.
Speaker 2: We were entering a world that everybody calls it lucky
Speaker 2: if you make it right, There's nothing lucky about what
Speaker 2: we do.
Speaker 1: There's nothing lucky about you know. We talked about it
Speaker 1: in your show.
Speaker 2: If I remember back in the day, we're talking about
Speaker 2: the word luck. Luck to me is like an excuse
Speaker 2: for the lazy. Right the moment you say you're lucky,
Speaker 2: I mean you just open the loss of possibilities that
Speaker 2: it could also go the other way.
Speaker 3: If you're lucky, I could be unlucky.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I could also be unlucky or like I'm lucky
Speaker 2: and I didn't earn it right, So I'm like, Noah, No,
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm so. I think the point is that
Speaker 2: I'm trying to make is that when I was given
Speaker 2: so much by you know, God, opportunity, the road map,
Speaker 2: the road that I traveled, and I've been on every
Speaker 2: face of all my friends and family and everybody in
Speaker 2: my life.
Speaker 1: I've been in every.
Speaker 2: Pace that they were and now being at this place
Speaker 2: where I can prove and I can share it and
Speaker 2: I can.
Speaker 1: You know, I can create environments for people to enjoy.
Speaker 2: I feel like it's me having to give it back
Speaker 2: and it's and you know, and it's like, Okay, I
Speaker 2: received it, so I give it back.
Speaker 1: I received this, so I give it back.
Speaker 2: And in many ways, and I said, in many ways
Speaker 2: is how the blessings I've kept coming, but in others
Speaker 2: has also worked against me because to your point, where
Speaker 2: you're blocking the blessings where, yes, where I think I'm
Speaker 2: blocking the blessings at a place where you know, where
Speaker 2: I don't allowed for some of that, for some of
Speaker 2: those blessings to return in unexpected ways, because I just
Speaker 2: have to make sure that I control the environment the
Speaker 2: outcome of most of the things. Because I felt in
Speaker 2: a privileged place, yes, but we did earn this place.
Speaker 2: It's not like I I'm privileged because blah blah blah
Speaker 2: blah blah, you know, which a lot of people make
Speaker 2: as artists and all of us here that you know,
Speaker 2: make us feel like it's almost like well, it's lucky
Speaker 2: for you because blah, lucky for you because you're this lucky.
Speaker 2: There's nothing lucky about what we're doing, you know, and
Speaker 2: we're fortunate to not be breaking rock. But there is
Speaker 2: an amount of work that comes to the stuff that
Speaker 2: we do that is that it's also hard to manage
Speaker 2: for anybody at right, you know, But I don't know.
Speaker 1: For me, that's kind of where interesting.
Speaker 2: You know, it's tough for me to receive because I
Speaker 2: feel like I got to give it back.
Speaker 5: But even but even like, okay, I'll give an example.
Speaker 2: His birthday just passed, right, Yeah, what is it, Marcia,
Speaker 2: No January Genuary third time?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's just like a week after mine, and we're
Speaker 4: and we're all and you're like, you canna have a party?
Speaker 3: Man, he doesn't celebrate himself. No.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And it's like his own people had to be like,
Speaker 4: we're you're you're getting a damn birthday party. We're going
Speaker 4: to celebrate you because it's your day in a in
Speaker 4: a way for everyone to show gratitude.
Speaker 5: But but he's so like.
Speaker 3: You know, it's so interesting because I never celebrated any
Speaker 3: of the success I never celebrated my birthdays either for
Speaker 3: another reason growing up. But Martha, she comes from a
Speaker 3: Mexican family, and it's like it's a party for everything.
Speaker 3: Every week there's a freaking birthday. There's less money and meets,
Speaker 3: there's something being performed, celebrating the littlest things, like we
Speaker 3: we went to lunch just to celebrate the book launch.
Speaker 3: I'm like, okay, I would never do that for myself.
Speaker 3: I know, but I'm like, okay, like we'll go to lunch.
Speaker 3: And she was like, and I'm buying. And now it's
Speaker 3: like our money. I'm like, okay, you can buy. But
Speaker 3: it's it was allowing the act of generosity from my
Speaker 3: wife to say, hey, we're going to go to have
Speaker 3: a lunch. It doesn't have to be some crazy big thing.
Speaker 3: We went to cheesecake factory because I'm like, where do
Speaker 3: you want to go? I don't care where we go?
Speaker 3: And she bought uh And I was just like, okay,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna allow this, you know, hour and a half
Speaker 3: interaction with her family to have fun and be a moment.
Speaker 3: It doesn't have to be some massive big thing, but
Speaker 3: allow the hard work to come back.
Speaker 4: But how does it block your blessing though by you
Speaker 4: refusing that.
Speaker 5: How does it block that?
Speaker 3: Because generosity is part of creating abundance, and so it's gratitude,
Speaker 3: these two things mashed together. So if you're saying, don't
Speaker 3: express your gratitude to me, you're blocking that flow of
Speaker 3: someone giving to you that energy. And if you're blocking
Speaker 3: the generosity as well, Okay, I want to pay for
Speaker 3: your lunch, right if I want to pay for you.
Speaker 3: If I say no, I got myself, you're blocking money
Speaker 3: literally from coming to you, physical money. You're saying, no,
Speaker 3: I don't want you. So imagine if there's a person
Speaker 3: is money and you say I don't want you today,
Speaker 3: I don't want you. I'm good, I'm good. You're saying,
Speaker 3: get away from me energetically and physically.
Speaker 1: My brain is melted right now.
Speaker 3: You're literally you're looking making it is making. And then
Speaker 3: and then here's what we do as providers, as overachievers,
Speaker 3: as workers. Uh, we get resentful when no one gives
Speaker 3: us anything because we're like we're always giving to our
Speaker 3: family and our friends. And then people stop offering because
Speaker 3: we say, no, I got you, Okay, take you here, Yeah,
Speaker 3: I appreciate you, I got you. Don't worry about it.
Speaker 3: I got you, I got don't worry about it. And
Speaker 3: then it's like ten years goes by and no one's
Speaker 3: showed it, no one's We haven't allowed anyone to give
Speaker 3: We blocked the blessing from others. But it's a very
Speaker 3: hard thing. The last two years I've I've had to
Speaker 3: learn this because I was blocking myself. So it's been it.
Speaker 3: This is just as much for me. It was like,
Speaker 3: I need these exercises. I'm wearing a watch. My friend
Speaker 3: gave me this watch my fortieth birthday. I never bought
Speaker 3: a watch. I never wore watch before, And for six
Speaker 3: months I didn't wear the watch because I was like,
Speaker 3: I don't want to be flashy. I don't want to
Speaker 3: like wear money on me. I was just like, I'm
Speaker 3: a simple guy, and I was like, I'm blocking the
Speaker 3: flow of abundance. Someone gave me a gift, and I'm
Speaker 3: essentially saying I'm just gonna put it in a safe
Speaker 3: and just hide it there, like as opposed to appreciating
Speaker 3: the value of exchange. He gave me a gift. Let
Speaker 3: me appreciate it, not just by saying thank you. Let
Speaker 3: me use it, let me enjoy it, let me wear it.
Speaker 3: Let me, let me appreciate it. When we appreciate something
Speaker 3: or someone it or they appreciate in value. If we
Speaker 3: don't appreciate our spouse, it's probably going to depreciate in value,
Speaker 3: and they're not going to show up for us as much.
Speaker 3: They're going to be angry or resentful. Why don't you
Speaker 3: ever say how nice I look? Why don't you ever
Speaker 3: say thank you? If we depreciate something, it will not
Speaker 3: appreciate in value magically. So I was learning this for me.
Speaker 3: I was like, I need to learn to appreciate this.
Speaker 3: I need to enjoy it, not just hoard my money.
Speaker 3: I was afraid to go back to my sister's couch.
Speaker 3: For the last fifteen years. I had millions in the bank,
Speaker 3: but I want to spend it on me. I lived
Speaker 3: in a two bedroom apartment for fifteen years because I
Speaker 3: was like, I'm good here. I don't need to expand.
Speaker 3: Let me just I want to have more money in
Speaker 3: the bank as opposed to a sanctuary like Wilmore House.
Speaker 3: I was like, I'm happy in a two bedroom apartment,
Speaker 3: like I don't need more.
Speaker 5: It's okay, But do you need to speak easy?
Speaker 3: I do need to speak easy now.
Speaker 1: This is so.
Speaker 3: It's learning how to create the expansion of the environment
Speaker 3: within us. It doesn't mean, oh, let me go blow
Speaker 3: my money or blow a relationship or over extend myself,
Speaker 3: but how can I expand my capacity in my nervous
Speaker 3: system or my soul to give, appreciate, and receive more.
Speaker 1: And look, this is why this book is so important,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: It really is like phase one of carving your path
Speaker 2: to your success and your personal success, identifying where you're
Speaker 2: going to go by having a healthy relationship of not
Speaker 2: of being free to make the money as supposed to
Speaker 2: be a prisoner to have to make it right. It's like,
Speaker 2: it's how you kind of frame it, and what I'm
Speaker 2: taking and what I'm learning from what you're saying is
Speaker 2: really that it's how is how is the outlook on
Speaker 2: the act of making money that actually dictates whether you're
Speaker 2: going to be successful or not?
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: And the first thing you got to say, I mean,
Speaker 2: like I had my own very humble version, and you know,
Speaker 2: what you have kind of taught me today is is
Speaker 2: really your own personal perspective on like what you receive
Speaker 2: and your personal perspective about how you spend it. But
Speaker 2: most importantly, how you hold space for this money. Yes,
Speaker 2: you know, and it's like it is now I'm free
Speaker 2: to make this money as opposed to like I have
Speaker 2: to make this money.
Speaker 1: Yes, and it's so hard when you need the money.
Speaker 3: So hard, right, And that's the time we need to
Speaker 3: learn how to expand and feel safe even though you're scarce.
Speaker 3: Because there's four ways of living life with money, four
Speaker 3: different types of relationship. I don't know which time we have.
Speaker 3: It's just good.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is now going to be two episodes.
Speaker 3: Okay, there's four different ways to live life with money
Speaker 3: in relationship to money, and I've lived all for of them.
Speaker 3: I'm assuming you guys probably have as well, but we'll see.
Speaker 3: The first one is being financially broke and emotionally broken. Essentially,
Speaker 3: financially scarce, I have no money, I'm on my sister's couch,
Speaker 3: three credit cards, student loan, debt broke. That's financially scarce
Speaker 3: and emotionally scarce. I have no purpose. I'm broken spiritually,
Speaker 3: my dream is over. I have an injury. I don't
Speaker 3: know what to do with my life. I'm emotionally and
Speaker 3: financially scarce. That's level one. No One wants to live
Speaker 3: like that, saying why am I here? And I have
Speaker 3: no money to do anything with the second phase is
Speaker 3: financially broke but emotionally abundant. This was phase two for
Speaker 3: me on my sister's couch. After about six months of
Speaker 3: feeling depressed and sad and down on myself, I was like,
Speaker 3: how do I get off this couch. I need to
Speaker 3: start creating a game plan. I need to find some mentors,
Speaker 3: some coaches. I need to address my fears and start
Speaker 3: overcoming those fears. Once I start overcoming these fears, one
Speaker 3: of them was learning how to read and write literally
Speaker 3: because I had a poor reading level all through school.
Speaker 3: So I wrote a book, my first book self published.
Speaker 3: I found a mentor who was a writer and he
Speaker 3: coached me on how to write a book. We wrote
Speaker 3: it together. I gained confidence, I gained skills. I overcame
Speaker 3: a fear and that gave me encouragement and I felt
Speaker 3: more abundant. I was like, Okay, I can do this.
Speaker 3: Second thing was learning how to speak in public. I
Speaker 3: could not speak in public to save my life. I
Speaker 3: went to Toastmasters every week for a year and practice
Speaker 3: public speaking, which is a class on public speaking, and
Speaker 3: it was horrible for the six months. For six months,
Speaker 3: but it got better every single week and I felt
Speaker 3: more empowered, so my energy shifted. The third one was
Speaker 3: salsa dancing. I was terrified of salt dance.
Speaker 1: And by the way, I've seen himself the dance. It's unbelievable.
Speaker 2: Really, Oh yes, he can get out better than by
Speaker 2: the way, a lot of Latinos.
Speaker 4: I know, yes, absolutely, my heart next week.
Speaker 3: And I went salsa dancing three or four times a
Speaker 3: week to overcome this fear. I mean, you're a gringo
Speaker 3: in a culture of Latinos, listening to Latin music, listening
Speaker 3: to people speak Spanish. It felt like a different world.
Speaker 3: When I would go to the salsa club, right and
Speaker 3: I for the first three months I would go out.
Speaker 3: This is when I was just broken doing nothing. I
Speaker 3: would just sit in the corner like a creeper, you know,
Speaker 3: just watching people dancing, because I was like, this is
Speaker 3: fascinating and it's himidating. At the same time, ugaraways grew
Speaker 3: up like this right Puerto Rico specifically, You're like, you know,
Speaker 3: everyone's saws to dancing. And eventually I went out in
Speaker 3: the dance bar, girl grabbed me and brought me out
Speaker 3: there and I was like horrible, but I was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: I've overcome the fear, now let me go on in. Yeah.
Speaker 3: For the next year, I obsessed over salsa dancing and
Speaker 3: that gave me confidence, gave me courage. So I had
Speaker 3: this like richness inside of me. It was overcoming all
Speaker 3: my fears. I was building skills. I was like feeling
Speaker 3: good about myself, but I was still broke on my
Speaker 3: sister's couch. So that's level two emotionally abundant, feeling empowered,
Speaker 3: financially scarce. The third level is financially rich, having success financially,
Speaker 3: but emotionally scarce. After about five six years, I started
Speaker 3: making money building a business. I had some coaches. I
Speaker 3: just took extreme action, kind of burning myself out all
Speaker 3: day to make money, and I lost that emotional abundance.
Speaker 3: I used that energy to go create, but then when
Speaker 3: I had money, I started shrinking and started being scarce.
Speaker 3: I was like, I can't spend this money. I was
Speaker 3: anxious around the money. I was worried about it. I
Speaker 3: didn't want to lose it because I didn't want to
Speaker 3: go back to the couch. So that abundant energy shifted
Speaker 3: into scarcity even though I had financial richness, and that
Speaker 3: was the level three, And that's almost the worst level
Speaker 3: to live because you have money but you're emotionally poor.
Speaker 2: So was pretty scary because if you forget how you
Speaker 2: made the money because you let go of that other
Speaker 2: side exactly, you know, how do you get back to it?
Speaker 3: Right? It's saying now the fourth level is getting to
Speaker 3: a place of financial freedom. Whatever that looks like. It
Speaker 3: doesn't need to be millions of dollars, but you feeling
Speaker 3: like I'm good with my money. I'm not living months
Speaker 3: to month. I feel like I have some flexibility, some options,
Speaker 3: and I have financial piece, but I also have emotional piece.
Speaker 3: I have emotional abundance, and that takes practice. So these
Speaker 3: different levels of being broke financially and broke emotionally broke,
Speaker 3: financially abundant, emotionally rich financially emotionally scarce, to having money
Speaker 3: and being emotionally abundant. It was a journey of like
Speaker 3: learning growing here. First was like I need to make money,
Speaker 3: so let me just work really hard to make it.
Speaker 3: And then it was like I need to feel good
Speaker 3: about myself, but I have the money. It was all
Speaker 3: these different levels that that's one of the reasons why
Speaker 3: I wanted to write this book. So I was like,
Speaker 3: I have this money, but I made less one year
Speaker 3: and something happened inside of me where it made me
Speaker 3: feel anxious. So every year until three years ago, for
Speaker 3: like fifteen years, I made more money than the year
Speaker 3: before until three years ago, and it did something to me,
Speaker 3: and it was part of the reason why I wanted
Speaker 3: to write this book, because I was making more money,
Speaker 3: but I was worried about the number increasing every year.
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's something you've ever felt like, Ah,
Speaker 3: I didn't do as well, then something's wrong with me.
Speaker 3: What do I need to do more? And I was like,
Speaker 3: for six months, I was in a not a darker place,
Speaker 3: but I was like it was stressing me out. I
Speaker 3: was like, I've done really well saving my money, investing
Speaker 3: my money, I have every life insurance, I have like
Speaker 3: every investment account, retirement. I'm like, I'm good.
Speaker 2: Why am I Do you think it was because you
Speaker 2: were investing in your personal stability in life?
Speaker 3: I just think it was I'm so used to seeing
Speaker 3: the number of my business increase every year, and that
Speaker 3: was where my.
Speaker 2: But your currency was going up because I know in
Speaker 2: those last couple of years you're talking about, you would
Speaker 2: really invested in stability.
Speaker 3: Of your home.
Speaker 4: Exactly was it the dopamine of seeing just think?
Speaker 3: It was like I was so used to like my value.
Speaker 3: My self worth was tied to my net worth and
Speaker 3: a lot of us can become net worth millionaires but
Speaker 3: be broke with self worth. It doesn't mean we're a
Speaker 3: self worth millionaire. That's a different currency, networth versus self worth.
Speaker 3: And again, the guy who committed suicide was a net
Speaker 3: worth mega millionaire, but he was a self worth bankrupt.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying. Otherwise you wouldn't jump. Yeah,
Speaker 3: if you're a self worth millionaire, it doesn't matter how
Speaker 3: much money you have. You love you, you accept you.
Speaker 3: You know you can handle hard times also and get
Speaker 3: through it like you've got your own back. Even if
Speaker 3: the world's against you, you show up for you. And
Speaker 3: so for six months I was stressed about it, and
Speaker 3: then I was like, I need to do the emotional work.
Speaker 3: Why is this relationship with money holding me back? And
Speaker 3: can I find peace even if I'm making less money
Speaker 3: or if the money's going away in my bank account
Speaker 3: and I was like, I need to step into more
Speaker 3: generosity and more gratitude because that's where the abundance flows. Internally.
Speaker 3: I need to continue to do anything any healing work
Speaker 3: around money wounds. Take myself to money therapy as were
Speaker 3: as that sounds or in la so you guys are
Speaker 3: with it. And that process made me feel at peace.
Speaker 3: I invested more in my relationships and how can I
Speaker 3: expand those relationships and knowing that money is going to
Speaker 3: come when it comes and it's okay if it's up,
Speaker 3: if it's down, I'm at peace. Yeah, But it also
Speaker 3: doesn't mean like never look up my money and blow
Speaker 3: the money however I want. It's like, make sure I
Speaker 3: have a structure an organization and respect money. Don't just
Speaker 3: I don't come whenever it comes. It's like, you still
Speaker 3: have to respect a relationship when it sat down, you
Speaker 3: still need to like good to see you, how are you?
Speaker 3: You know, like give me a hug. You know you
Speaker 3: still have to respect it and be a responsible steward,
Speaker 3: be a steward of it. Absolutely, So that was the
Speaker 3: process for me. It was like, oh, something still off
Speaker 3: inside of me. I need to continue to evolve this
Speaker 3: and it doesn't mean I've mastered it. It's like a
Speaker 3: constant evolution, but it's a beautiful one when you can
Speaker 3: feel you have inner peace because that is the new rich.
Speaker 1: In your book. So I was filtering through it a
Speaker 1: little bit.
Speaker 2: Here you have this quote and every couple of pages
Speaker 2: this is so, this is so red.
Speaker 3: I do that for me because I need big words
Speaker 3: to be able to read. It says.
Speaker 2: In your book you have every couple of you know,
Speaker 2: between some of these chapters, you have a page where
Speaker 2: you have a quote, and it's very striking because it
Speaker 2: kind of reminds you where you are in the learning
Speaker 2: process of your book and as you're getting through it.
Speaker 2: These are things that either questions or things that make
Speaker 2: you reflect. If you never map out your future, you'll
Speaker 2: tend to retrace your past.
Speaker 3: What do you mean by that, Well, again, our belief
Speaker 3: system influences our behaviors. Right, If you believe a certain thing,
Speaker 3: it's based on your past, past memories and the meaning
Speaker 3: we give those memories create our beliefs, and our beliefs
Speaker 3: are only from our past. So unless we shape a
Speaker 3: new future, a new vision that the next project I create,
Speaker 3: I'm going to give full effort, and I'm going to
Speaker 3: appreciate the effort and the process and it doesn't matter
Speaker 3: the results. Sure, I want this result, and I can
Speaker 3: be a little let down if it doesn't hit it,
Speaker 3: but I'm really going to celebrate the day to day
Speaker 3: effort of how I showed up, and that's what's going
Speaker 3: to matter for me in the future. And I'm shifting.
Speaker 3: IM going to start to shift my belief and put
Speaker 3: value in how I show up with gratitude and generosity
Speaker 3: in every interaction daily versus the end result of a project,
Speaker 3: even though I know it takes two years to do
Speaker 3: lots of projects and all this time and energy and money.
Speaker 3: I'm going to shift my past way of being and
Speaker 3: believing because my behavior influences the results and reacting to
Speaker 3: that's good And when it start saying, you know what,
Speaker 3: me showing up adding value, coming up with my creativity,
Speaker 3: engaging with my team, appreciating my life, appreciating my spouse,
Speaker 3: being there, present as a father. That's where I'm going
Speaker 3: to place my value. And the results. If I'm on
Speaker 3: the red carpet this week are not, It's okay. If
Speaker 3: I'm number one on Netflix or number three, it's okay,
Speaker 3: and putting my value in the daily act of gratitude, generosity, appreciation, giving, receiving,
Speaker 3: presence versus the result. We're shaping a new behavior and
Speaker 3: mapping a new future, and then we can draw that
Speaker 3: future closer to us. We can start bringing it into
Speaker 3: us now because we're believing and behaving differently.
Speaker 1: Or you're going to say.
Speaker 4: No, no, you're saying, it's funny because the conversation we're
Speaker 4: having earlier, you're saying to put the value on who
Speaker 4: you are are as a person as opposed to the
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 5: The value coming from the hows.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's hard to do because I you know, if
Speaker 3: I can go into comparison mode easy, if I wanted to,
Speaker 3: I could be like, I know, I'm adding a lot
Speaker 3: of value in the world. Why is my bank account
Speaker 3: not reflecting it? When someone might be doing some trash
Speaker 3: stuff and they have a lot more money. But I'm
Speaker 3: playing a different game when I go into that space
Speaker 3: versus the value is the impact. The value is in
Speaker 3: being creative. It's and being able to express my art.
Speaker 3: It's not in the amount that Netflix or Apple or
Speaker 3: Disney paid me for the bank That's just so hard
Speaker 3: to do when you when you could compare and ask
Speaker 3: your friends, oh, you made that much for this thing?
Speaker 3: You made that much I should be making. It's like
Speaker 3: the ego goes quickly into why didn't I make that much?
Speaker 3: Is it because I'm an immigrant? You know, it's like
Speaker 3: going all these things. Yeah, you could definitely, I'm not
Speaker 3: pretty enough, were talented enough of this?
Speaker 2: It's easier to find a villain of course, then actually
Speaker 2: self you know, self accountability and in reflection right like this, it's.
Speaker 4: Kind of like in our industry, I guess the equivalent
Speaker 4: of that is sort of what we were talking about earlier. Uh,
Speaker 4: how an actor and artist can put that value right,
Speaker 4: you're saying the value is on the money, where the
Speaker 4: value is on the level of fame you achieve or
Speaker 4: these projects that you in the followers, and then that
Speaker 4: dictates who you are.
Speaker 5: But you're really a crappy person inside exactly.
Speaker 3: And you guys probably know tons of people in the
Speaker 3: industry who are not good people, but they're on every
Speaker 3: red carpet or every ward show. They're being celebrated.
Speaker 1: They are putting out a signal of a brand that
Speaker 1: they're not.
Speaker 3: Of course, and you all know those people who are
Speaker 3: out there. You're in that daily but but they're dead
Speaker 3: and they're living, they're living a miserable life inside.
Speaker 2: So going back to School of Great News, by the way,
Speaker 2: is I want to I want to make sure that
Speaker 2: people understand the the you know, the gravity of what
Speaker 2: you've built. But School of Great News, you've you've obviously
Speaker 2: explored some of the most incredible minds.
Speaker 1: And I was talking.
Speaker 2: About it earlier that you know that the world went
Speaker 2: from listening to this great conversation to them being like,
Speaker 2: louis you heard enough of this thing, You've practiced enough
Speaker 2: of it, and you're also.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what what do you think?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: Is there a conversation or who was I know everyone
Speaker 2: probably asked of the same thing.
Speaker 1: What's your guess? What's the one guess?
Speaker 2: But is there uh an episode where you yourself was like, hm,
Speaker 2: I I you know, I either I either I learned something.
Speaker 2: I mean, you always learned something primary guests, but I
Speaker 2: guess the big conversation, the big question is is there
Speaker 2: been an episode or a guess and where you saw
Speaker 2: either some of yourself in them and you felt like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, I get this person at a different
Speaker 2: level because seeing myself.
Speaker 3: Uh huh. The two guests that come to mind, well,
Speaker 3: I mean, again, there's lots of great guests, but there's
Speaker 3: a there's two moments. One was interviewing Kobe, which was unbelievable,
Speaker 3: which was just a cool moment for me. I guess
Speaker 3: it was like six years ago a while ago now,
Speaker 3: but it was just a cool moment to see someone
Speaker 3: of that much fame and success and accomplishment, at least
Speaker 3: with me, be very present and very genuine when he
Speaker 3: had just won an Oscar like six months before then.
Speaker 1: He just retired.
Speaker 3: He retired, he won five NBA championships, he had all
Speaker 3: the money he sold some company for like hundreds of
Speaker 3: million dollars, like body arm or some water company. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's just like win after win. And he was just
Speaker 3: so present and so generous. Again, he had a grateful
Speaker 3: and generous heart. So the session felt abundant, you know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying. He was present with me, He was
Speaker 3: grateful that I was there to interview him when I
Speaker 3: was still like kind of up and coming. It wasn't
Speaker 3: like big right, and he was. He was grateful and
Speaker 3: he was generous, and he created abundance in the moment
Speaker 3: through those two things. That energy. He could have been
Speaker 3: hurry up, he could have been like, let's go, yeah,
Speaker 3: create a really scarce energy, but he created abundance through
Speaker 3: gratitude and generosity. That energy amplified a message that inspired
Speaker 3: so many people around the world. It impacted me personally.
Speaker 3: I'm still talking about six years later, moment of gratitude
Speaker 3: and generosity. So that was a really cool experience, which
Speaker 3: reminds you that it doesn't matter how successful you are.
Speaker 3: He could be a jerk to someone and create a
Speaker 3: horrible moment. And our life is made up of moments,
Speaker 3: meaning we give those memories. That's our life.
Speaker 1: When people walk away from from you, right, it's this.
Speaker 3: It's moments and the interpretation of these memories that is
Speaker 3: our life. That's all we have. And so he created
Speaker 3: a moment that for me, it was really impactful. There's
Speaker 3: a there's a brain surgeon and neuroscientist that I had
Speaker 3: on His name is Rahul and he'd done over a
Speaker 3: thousand brain surgeries. So he was physically like opening skulls
Speaker 3: and like taking out tumors cancer from brains. He's here
Speaker 3: in like calabasis area, but he also studied neuroscience. So
Speaker 3: he had a PhD in neuroscience, which studies the mind.
Speaker 3: So he is a brain surgeon studying physical matter but
Speaker 3: also studying the mind.
Speaker 1: How that thing he's upbraiding on works.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, Like how does energy influence matter? Right? The
Speaker 3: mind is not in the brain. It's like what is
Speaker 3: the mind? So it's fascinating. So I interviewed him. I said,
Speaker 3: as a brain surgeon who's done a thousand surgeries but
Speaker 3: also a PhD in neuroscience studying the mind, what is
Speaker 3: the number one skill that every human should have and
Speaker 3: if they have this skill, they will better themselves in
Speaker 3: their life forever. He said. Emotional regulation. He's like, if
Speaker 3: every human being could master emotional regulation, which is healing
Speaker 3: the nervous system healing, yeah, which is going back into wholeness,
Speaker 3: which is being in alignment. If we're out of alignment,
Speaker 3: we are not going to be able to regulate our
Speaker 3: emotions because anytime we're triggered or wounded or ah, we're
Speaker 3: going to react to defend, we're going to shrink. But
Speaker 3: if we learn to regulate our emotions or nervous our emotions,
Speaker 3: emotional regulation, that means that we are whole. Within our
Speaker 3: nervous system, we are in alignment. From the way we
Speaker 3: think to how we feel is whole. Yeah, And if
Speaker 3: we don't think and feel in a sense of alignment,
Speaker 3: it doesn't mean we're not going to have frustrations or
Speaker 3: challenges or stressful moments. It doesn't mean everything is perfect
Speaker 3: all the time. That's a spiritual bypass. But it's being
Speaker 3: able to regulate and get back to Okay, I'm having
Speaker 3: a moment. I'm going to process this moment and I'm
Speaker 3: gonna get back into alignment and move on, not stay
Speaker 3: in the past hurt or pain, but be able to
Speaker 3: process and move on. And so for me, that's been
Speaker 3: kind of a through line for the last twelve years
Speaker 3: of interviews. It's like a lot of people are just
Speaker 3: trying to teach these tools around how to heal right,
Speaker 3: because that is true greatness.
Speaker 1: It's like, sure, you can be optimal at that point exactly.
Speaker 3: And if sure, we can teach people how to prepare
Speaker 3: for the moment, how to prepare for an audition, how
Speaker 3: to get the gig, how to launch a business, how
Speaker 3: to make money. You can teach all these things how
Speaker 3: to get into great shape. But if you still don't
Speaker 3: feel whole and complete? Are you great?
Speaker 4: Do you find that that's been a common thread in
Speaker 4: all of the guests that you've interviewed, and do you
Speaker 4: feel like that's been a part of why they've been
Speaker 4: able to achieve the great achieved, whether it's a brain
Speaker 4: surgeon or a monk or Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think the first couple of years I was more
Speaker 3: interested in, like how to be successful?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: Then it turned into okay, well success doesn't mean your head.
Speaker 1: There's a common de nominator, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like, okay, so how do I how do
Speaker 3: I have the life of my dreams and feel that
Speaker 3: I actually have it? Because still Wilmer doesn't feel that
Speaker 3: he has life my stream, It's very true.
Speaker 5: I feel like they've all said that same thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just kind of how I think about it all.
Speaker 3: It's like they haven't said that, but it's more of
Speaker 3: like that's what I've been asking questions around from like
Speaker 3: leaders in every area of life. I'm more like, are
Speaker 3: you truly Like what's the key to you being the
Speaker 3: best you can be and getting the results, but also
Speaker 3: feeling like you matter whether you have it or you don't.
Speaker 3: That's kind of the season about now.
Speaker 2: So as first of all, unbelievable pool of incredible inspiration,
Speaker 2: so many tools, and so many things we can walk
Speaker 2: out of this beautiful conversation that we can practice, that
Speaker 2: we can acquire, that we can aim to learn more of. Obviously,
Speaker 2: I really want everyone to get make money easy because
Speaker 2: there is an emotional attachment to, you know, the the
Speaker 2: unlocking of your success. And I think that's something that's
Speaker 2: very evident based on all the conversations with all the incredible.
Speaker 1: People that you've had.
Speaker 2: So you've had so much success in the last you know,
Speaker 2: in the last decade and a half, you have built
Speaker 2: something that has not just inspired the world, but has
Speaker 2: probably made a lot of people very successful.
Speaker 1: You know, And as you look.
Speaker 2: At ahead, you look at the world in front of you,
Speaker 2: what's next for you?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 1: What do you what? What is that that you pictured next?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: Like you talked about you asked us about you know,
Speaker 2: if money rolls in here, like you know, you know,
Speaker 2: how do you prepare for that?
Speaker 1: How do you talk to it?
Speaker 2: But you know, you know you lewis, how do how
Speaker 2: do you look at the future? And he says, what
Speaker 2: do you where do you want to go next. What's
Speaker 2: what's next for you? Or do you have that picture?
Speaker 5: Prime Time Talk shot?
Speaker 3: Now? My vision is to serve and impact one hundred
Speaker 3: million lives every single week to help them improve the
Speaker 3: quality of their life. That's the vision I have for myself.
Speaker 3: How can I show up today, do the best I
Speaker 3: can to serve and reach a hundred million lives this week.
Speaker 3: I'm not there yet. That's been my mission for the
Speaker 3: last twelve years. I haven't reached that goal, you know.
Speaker 3: And the reason I'm doing a podcast is because the
Speaker 3: best avenue to be able to reach that many people
Speaker 3: in this season. If there's a new tool or new avenue,
Speaker 3: like I'm open to that avenue, it doesn't the mechanism
Speaker 3: I'm not attached to. The mission is what I'm committed to,
Speaker 3: and that is service, and that is serving people where
Speaker 3: they're at to help them overcome their challenges. There's no
Speaker 3: greater joy for me. That is my art. How can
Speaker 3: I create a piece of content and speak to one
Speaker 3: person who's listening or watching to unlock something in them
Speaker 3: where they feel a sense of peace and freedom in
Speaker 3: their life where they once felt blocked. And you guys,
Speaker 3: get to do this through art through movies, TV, music,
Speaker 3: you know, whatever it might be, podcasts. You guys express
Speaker 3: yourself that way to give people a lesson, a story,
Speaker 3: something to unlock with them of relatability to hopefully create
Speaker 3: some type of freedom. And that's the way you guys
Speaker 3: do it in many other ways as well. That's my art.
Speaker 3: It's how can I be the example and continue to
Speaker 3: be on my own journey and serve the best way possible.
Speaker 3: Now in my therapy and coaching sessions today I ask
Speaker 3: my coach what are men at seventy eighty years old,
Speaker 3: fifty sixty seventy eighty years old? What are they struggling with?
Speaker 3: What is their achilles heel? What is the thing that
Speaker 3: gets them in trouble? And I'm more thinking about my
Speaker 3: future self every day, right, How can I make sure
Speaker 3: I'm preventing anything that could I could put myself into pain.
Speaker 3: It doesn't mean I'm not gonna make mistakes and I'm
Speaker 3: not gonna have challenges. Life's gonna throw things at me.
Speaker 3: But how can I set myself up now that fifty
Speaker 3: sixty eighty year old me says, I'm so glad you
Speaker 3: woke up early.
Speaker 2: So power folks, you know so many people ask you
Speaker 2: this one question, what could you will? What will you
Speaker 2: tell your your Yeah, your younger self or you think
Speaker 2: your ten year old self, you're fine.
Speaker 3: I asked my future self this christ that's so much better.
Speaker 3: I'm Matthew McConaughey myself. I say, I'm chasing the ten
Speaker 3: year old version of me. That's my hero. I'm never
Speaker 3: going to be my hero that speech that he did
Speaker 3: at the office of me. But I'm thinking twenty thirty
Speaker 3: years out and I'm asking my therapist who coaches, you know,
Speaker 3: uber successful men in their fifty sixties seventies, I'm like,
Speaker 3: what are they dealing with? And a lot of it
Speaker 3: is up. Their marriages are broken because they were chasing success,
Speaker 3: Their kids don't hang out with them, they hurt them,
Speaker 3: you know, whatever it is. And so, okay, how can
Speaker 3: I continue to evolve myself spiritually, emotionally, my health so
Speaker 3: I don't like get overweight and have to deal with
Speaker 3: like some horrible disease when I'm seventy and then be
Speaker 3: a burden. Right, It's like, how can I show up
Speaker 3: with my best version. It doesn't guarantee everything's gonna be okay,
Speaker 3: but it's setting myself up for greater success. So I'm
Speaker 3: thinking about that. But my own personal dream is Los
Speaker 3: Angeles Olympics in three and a half years.
Speaker 1: Oh, yes, being.
Speaker 3: An Olympian, because when I was on my sister's couch
Speaker 3: sixteen and a half years ago, I had a full
Speaker 3: arm cast on and broke my wrist playing professional football.
Speaker 3: I was in a cast in this position for six
Speaker 3: months sleep on my sister's couch. Was twenty four and
Speaker 3: twenty four attorney in twenty five, So when I turned
Speaker 3: twenty five, it was in two thousand and eight, the
Speaker 3: Olympics in Beijing, and I just got my cast off,
Speaker 3: and I was kind of depressed and down sad that
Speaker 3: I wasn't going to be able to play football anymore.
Speaker 3: This was my life, my dream, Like imagine never being
Speaker 3: able to act again. That's what happened to me, and
Speaker 3: my identity shattered, and I was just kind of depressed.
Speaker 3: What do I do with my life? I have no
Speaker 3: other value, I have no their talents. What can I do?
Speaker 3: And at three am in the morning, Beijing Olympics two
Speaker 3: thousand and eight, the sport called team handball comes on.
Speaker 3: You watched a little bit of highlights before you came
Speaker 3: in and I go, where has this sport been my
Speaker 3: whole life? And I was like, this is the thing
Speaker 3: I was meant to do.
Speaker 5: Why do you think it resonated that way?
Speaker 3: Because the way the athletes were performing, I was like,
Speaker 3: I have those skills right now. It's like running, jumping.
Speaker 3: They're tall guys. They're like throwing really fast, hard like
Speaker 3: and it's like it's like soccer with.
Speaker 1: Your hands, soccer with your hands.
Speaker 3: And I was like, I can do this. I played baseball,
Speaker 3: I played basketball, I played football. Is like this is
Speaker 3: built for me. Dream planted in my soul sixty and
Speaker 3: a half years ago. Now. As a kid, I always
Speaker 3: wanted to go to the Olympics, but I didn't know how.
Speaker 3: I wasn't good enough in track and field. But when
Speaker 3: this happened, one tragedy struck and a dream started and
Speaker 3: I moved to New York City two and a half
Speaker 3: years after that to go play with a team in
Speaker 3: New York City. I made the club team ten months later,
Speaker 3: as I moved to LA I remember the exact moment
Speaker 3: I was backstage at Jimmy Kimmel. I got like an
Speaker 3: invite to go backstage to watch Jimmy Kimmel and I
Speaker 3: was fresh in LA. It was like, I'll do everything
Speaker 3: and Hollywood. I was like, yeah, the bar bar exactly.
Speaker 3: I wasn't on Jimmy Kimble, but I was like I
Speaker 3: had like a backstage thing to like go back there.
Speaker 3: And I got an email that said, You've been selected
Speaker 3: on the USA national team. I'm getting chills thinking about
Speaker 3: I got this email and I was like the dream
Speaker 3: was like coming alive because I was taking the action
Speaker 3: steps for years and we never qualified for the Olympics
Speaker 3: because you have to win the Pan American Games and
Speaker 3: we haven't qualified since nineteen ninety six. So I played
Speaker 3: for eight years and I kind of gave up on
Speaker 3: it because I was like, no matter how good I get,
Speaker 3: the whole team has to be great to qualify. It
Speaker 3: doesn't matter if I'm the best player in the world,
Speaker 3: were not qualify. So I haven't played for six years.
Speaker 3: The last time I played, I was on the USA
Speaker 3: team in Brazil playing against Brazilian national team twenty nineteen,
Speaker 3: and I was like, I think I might be done
Speaker 3: because there's no path. But then we got the bid
Speaker 3: for the Olympics, and if you're the host country, every
Speaker 3: sport has an automatic qualifier. But this was like ten
Speaker 3: years out and I was thirty five, right, and I
Speaker 3: was like, man, ten years is a long time. And
Speaker 3: then COVID happened. Then I tore my achilles and I
Speaker 3: was just like, I think I might be done. But
Speaker 3: then I went to Paris to watch the Olympics to
Speaker 3: see that. I was like, I need to see if
Speaker 3: this dream is inside of me. So I flew to Paris,
Speaker 3: I washed handball and it was alive.
Speaker 1: Well, Caddy was boiling. You're like, it's like still that guy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm still that guy. But do I have what
Speaker 3: it takes? So for the last eight months, I've been
Speaker 3: training and rehabbing, and next month I'm going to Spain
Speaker 3: for a month to play with the protein for a month. Now,
Speaker 3: it's still it's still three and a half years away.
Speaker 3: It's a marathon. It's a month by.
Speaker 2: It is, but it is enough time for you to
Speaker 2: like really take your times the mechanics bag.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to see and one month I'm going
Speaker 3: to know is this even possible or not? Why Spain?
Speaker 3: Why do you have to go to It's one of
Speaker 3: the best countries that plays handball. I know a coach
Speaker 3: who's like invited me to come play. And if I'm
Speaker 3: going to play professionally and go back and forth somewhere,
Speaker 3: I want to be in Spanish speaking country so I
Speaker 3: can continue to learn Spanish. Where in Spain are you going?
Speaker 3: This is a small town called Leone. It's about two
Speaker 3: hours north of Madrid.
Speaker 1: Small town, dude, Well.
Speaker 3: This is my personal dream.
Speaker 1: That's amazing.
Speaker 2: First of all, thank you for just yeah, everything, just everything.
Speaker 2: There's just so much and every time we talk, we
Speaker 2: you know, you know, we go to these places that
Speaker 2: just on taps. One of the things that I'm absolutely
Speaker 2: one percent going to continue to dwell on is is
Speaker 2: you know, what do I want to be and what
Speaker 2: do I want to be able to say when I'm
Speaker 2: sixty five? You know, like I'm going to start building
Speaker 2: towards that sick the happy sixty five year old version
Speaker 2: of myself, which starts as soon as I'm done go
Speaker 2: upstairs and and passionately kiss my wife. You know, it's
Speaker 2: like I'm going to start with that when I'm gonna say, hey, baby,
Speaker 2: you're the best daughter in the planet.
Speaker 1: You know, like there's just so much that wakes up
Speaker 1: in me and that.
Speaker 3: So also celebrating yourself for all the little winds. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's like allowing your friends to celebrate. It doesn't have
Speaker 3: to be a freaking you know, Mexican party every day,
Speaker 3: that'll be, But it's like allowing a dinner and friends
Speaker 3: coming over and hanging out and having whatever.
Speaker 1: It's like, well today we're going to in or you're
Speaker 1: you're gonna pay.
Speaker 3: I'll pay, I'll pay.
Speaker 2: And and then for me, you know, to be able
Speaker 2: to hear you this motivated, this excited and first of all,
Speaker 2: you're in great shape already you walked up, you know,
Speaker 2: like a Greek god from.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, this guy's doing something right.
Speaker 2: But to see that you have this this goal and
Speaker 2: knowing the amount of mental strengthening you've done, uh, the
Speaker 2: amount of soul fueling that you have done, like it's you're.
Speaker 1: Not gonna be stopped. It's like it's going to happen.
Speaker 3: Well, here's the thing. You know, the dream is to
Speaker 3: be an Olympian. And I thought that dream was over
Speaker 3: years ago. The dream is still alive now. And I
Speaker 3: am at a place where whether it happens or not,
Speaker 3: I'm at peace. Yes, because I'm going to pursue it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's the wind and that is the win.
Speaker 3: Now, it doesn't mean that if I don't make it,
Speaker 3: I'm not going to be disappointed. Sure I might be
Speaker 3: sad or disappointed.
Speaker 1: But friends will throw you a party, exactly right.
Speaker 3: It's also when I'm sixty five, Well, I regret not
Speaker 3: going and pursuing this, right. I don't want to be
Speaker 3: regretting at sixty five, at eighty five and be like, oh,
Speaker 3: I was too scared, too scared to go for it.
Speaker 3: Like I'm okay with not making it, but I'm not
Speaker 3: okay with not going for it.
Speaker 1: I'm liu.
Speaker 3: That's so incredible, And it's really hard when we're at
Speaker 3: this level of like credibility or success or comfort to
Speaker 3: try new things or to pursue something that's scary.
Speaker 1: That's a different gear change.
Speaker 3: It's a different gear change, and it's like that it
Speaker 3: demands something inside of me that's I've never had before.
Speaker 3: It's like being married, trying to manage the business going back.
Speaker 3: It's like a whole new way of being. But again,
Speaker 3: I don't want to regret in four years, three and
Speaker 3: a half years, when the Olympics are here at least
Speaker 3: I'll know either way, like, Okay, you went for it.
Speaker 3: You did everything you could. You either made the team
Speaker 3: again you're on it, or you did it. And at
Speaker 3: least I'm okay with that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we can take so much serenity, so much you know,
Speaker 2: peace from knowing that these tools are available to all
Speaker 2: of us.
Speaker 1: Right And and I think today you.
Speaker 2: Created enough road map that some of us who not
Speaker 2: only listened to this conversation or watching this conversation from
Speaker 2: comfort home home, found a little bit of inspiration today
Speaker 2: to move forward with the things that either scared us
Speaker 2: or two we never thought we deserved, you know, and
Speaker 2: allowing for that grace to come back into your life,
Speaker 2: because that grace turns into the fresh air you need
Speaker 2: to kind of mobilize that passion again and really aim
Speaker 2: to the place that you you always knew you could
Speaker 2: go to and and really give yourself that love and respect,
Speaker 2: that love. You know that that you're you know that
Speaker 2: you're worth the success you want. There's so much about
Speaker 2: that any any frontal things.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah, first of all, thank you, I'm so grateful
Speaker 4: that you're here.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 4: And and I think the biggest thing for me and
Speaker 4: that I love to hear from you. Was about healing.
Speaker 4: It's about healing, was about working on yourself, was about
Speaker 4: working on your character as a human being, and how
Speaker 4: that is the currency, and how that is the most
Speaker 4: important thing. And the money and the success and all
Speaker 4: that other stuff is secondary because you could, like you said,
Speaker 4: the guy who jumped off the.
Speaker 5: Building, right, you could have all the money in the world.
Speaker 1: But if if your if your.
Speaker 4: Character is not in place, if your quality as a
Speaker 4: person is not in place, and then that means nothing.
Speaker 3: Right exactly right?
Speaker 2: Well, uh, Louis, I mean, I just knew in my
Speaker 2: heart this this conversation had to happen. And uh, and
Speaker 2: you know, and again this is why it's valuable to
Speaker 2: you know, to identify these individuals in your life that
Speaker 2: continue to reignite you and to you know, to energize
Speaker 2: you and who you want to be.
Speaker 1: And that's so I'm just so grateful.
Speaker 2: We always do this for each other, and like the
Speaker 2: fact that we're able to do this, you know, for everyone,
Speaker 2: and you've done this for so many people in your
Speaker 2: show and all that school of greatness is everywhere you can,
Speaker 2: you know, you find your podcasting. Yeah, this is Uh,
Speaker 2: did you do the audio.
Speaker 3: Yet for that, I did the audit too. I recorded
Speaker 3: it O great.
Speaker 2: So the audio in the book is available everywhere that
Speaker 2: you can find a book or you listen to your books.
Speaker 2: Make sure you're listening to Lewis House make money easy,
Speaker 2: create financial freedom and live a richer life, which is
Speaker 2: a beautiful, beautiful message.
Speaker 1: And that being said, thank you so great, hey Lewis.
Speaker 1: I'm Wilmer Valdorama.
Speaker 5: I'm Freddie Rodriguez.
Speaker 1: This was Those Amigos and see you next time.
Speaker 4: Those Amigos is a production from WV Sound and iHeartMedia's
Speaker 4: Michael through That podcast Network, hosted by Me, Freddie Rodriguez
Speaker 4: and Wilmer Valdorama.
Speaker 2: Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burleson and Sophie Spencer's abos.
Speaker 4: Our executive producers are Wilmer Valdorama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlson,
Speaker 4: and Leo Klem at WV Sound.
Speaker 2: This episode was shot and edited it by Ryan Posts
Speaker 2: and mixed by Sean Tracy and features original music by
Speaker 2: Madison Devenport and Halo Boy.
Speaker 4: Our cover art photography is by David Avalos and designed
Speaker 4: by Deny.
Speaker 2: Holtzclaw and thank you for being their third amigo today.
Speaker 2: I appreciate you guys always listening to those amos.
Speaker 4: For more podcasts from my Heart, visit the ir heart
Speaker 4: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 4: favorite shows.
Speaker 1: To you next week.