Mario sits down with author, movie producer, entrepreneur and motivational speaker John Shin. John is responsible for motivating and changing thousands of lives across the globe with his life and business advice. His new book 'How Rich Asians Think' which comes out in May is the modern day version of one of the best selling books of all time, 'Think and Grow Rich'. You don't want to miss this incredibly positive, thought provoking and potentially life changing episode of 'Listen To Mario'!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, so one plump for this episode listen to
(00:01):
Mario Mario Lopez here and this week I've got John
Shinn in studio. Now. John's an author, uh, movie producer, entrepreneur,
really and and now motivational speaker. He's just all around
a real positive guy who's helped turn people's lives around
all across the globe. And he's got the whole family
and on the act. Anyway, He's got a new book
coming out in May, which is basically the modern version
(00:24):
of Think and Grow Rich, called How Rich Asians Think,
which he says has the power to completely change your life.
He's just a wealth of knowledge and uh looking forward
to talking to him. So let's get into it. Please
welcome Mr John Shinn. How are you, sir? Fired up? Man?
Fired up? I it's one of the things I like
about you. Always got such positive um high energy, which
(00:47):
which I try to exude. And I don't think it's
something you can you can fabricated, something that you either
have or you don't. But I want to dive in
John too. Think and Grow Rich? Now, that was base
basically a book that came out what in the thirties, Yeah,
actually came out It was published in nineteen thirty seven.
Nineteen thirty seven, so in the middle of the depression, exactly,
(01:09):
how are you going to think and grow rich when
you're trying to be alive and to survive? Exactly? Who
wrote the book originally? So it was Napoleon Hill, who
at the time was a reporter, and he began writing
it and he was commissioned by Andrew Carnegie, you know.
And he asked Carnegie Mellen, Yeah, I mean Carnegie, the
steel mogul, right, you know, and said yeah, and he said,
what what you know? He says, what is the secret
(01:32):
to becoming successful? And he said, wow, he says, what
a great question. He goes, you know, I'd love to
I'd like to commission you and have you go and
interview some of my closest friends about what they would say,
what is the secret to becoming successful? You know? And
so he sent him off for twenty five years where
he interviewed over five hundred of the biggest you know,
(01:53):
financial and business giants. Wad twenty five years? Why so long?
I mean couldn't he couldn't do this like the course
of a year. Yeah, I mean, well that back then, right,
because they didn't have the technology that we have today.
You know, that's true. And then traveling I think traveling
and all over the country, you know. So yeah, so
so it took a minute. So wait a minute. So
then this reporter got just fascinated how this man um
(02:16):
could become the smogul in the time when our country
was was at its lowest at least financially speaking, exactly.
And was it a hit? Initially it was not, and
and then all of a sudden it started getting some
traction and then all of a sudden, now it's you know,
that book has sold almost two hundred million copies around
the world, influencing almost a billion people. That's incredible. And
(02:39):
you essentially wrote the modern day version of the book.
And how did that come to be? And was was
your background in this space? Uh? You know, I mean, so,
you know, both my wife Arlene and I are entrepreneurs,
you know, and we started our little business back in
the early nineties. And then you know, we read the
(02:59):
book in ninth six and we applied all the principles
to our life. And when we say think and grow rich,
it's just not rich financially, but it's rich in all areas.
Of your life right, your relationships, your marriage, your family,
and you just spiritually and all that kind of those
things right, exactly right. And so we read it and
everyone I worked with, if you were going to work
(03:21):
with me in some capacity, it was a mandatory read.
I didn't care if you're the front desk girl or
the mailman guy or the my attorneys or c p a. S.
Everybody had to read that book. And so we all
got on the same page. That was our playbook, you know,
and we all embraced it. And then we started growing up.
And now we got a couple of hundred offices around
the country. We have, you know, we're in forty two states.
(03:43):
And so that's how it began. So so before that,
how it really began. Um, are you from here originally?
Where were born? Yeah? I grew up in Glendale here,
local boy from a local guy here. Son of immigrants, yes,
you know, from from South Korea and my parents came
here in the sixties and we ended up right there,
(04:04):
just a few blocks away from the original Tommy's Burger,
So right there in the bodios, you know, Glendale's rampart
district is where we were like, you know, so yeah,
and then from there, my parents, you know, save their money,
and then we moved to Glendale and then so, wow,
Southern Kelly, is I learned something today? A home of
(04:25):
the original Tommy's Burger and the original McDonald's. Yeah, right,
so we own the burger essentially down But but okay,
so you came here and and uh, how are you
as a student going up? I was an average student,
you know, but I was like, you know, taking any
class that ended with an ology you know there in
(04:45):
the you know, physiology. Biology just wasn't my thing, right
because I just you know, I never wanted to become
a doctor, you know, but as a son of an
immigrant family, you know, the parents know how to lay
in the guilt trip, right. You know. They always say
things like, we did not come to this country to
screw up this opportunity, right, I mean, you know, you
(05:06):
you got to go do something with your life. But
it's like the traditional Asian parents, they want you to
become doctors or lawyers. Right. So I didn't want to
become a doctor, so I had no choice but to
go to law school. So yeah, it was interesting. So
so you ended up going to law? Yeah, so I
went to law school just to pease my parents. And
you know, you always wonder like why certain things, you know.
And I didn't love law either. It was just not
(05:27):
my thing. But I did it because I didn't want
to let my parents down, right, Yeah, because you know
that's their dream was to send their kids to go
off to college and you know, be somebody and be
one of those two things that parents know how to
that they wanted to become. Now their parents are living
vicariously through their own children, right, So yeah, I did that,
But then it was not my thing. I wonder why
(05:47):
am I here? Like what is this real purpose? And
the purposes? That's where I'm met my wife, right, it's
school in law school. Yeah, so I met her there
and then weel, yeah, you know, and she married me.
So I mean, so oh you got you got jokes,
but no, but I mean I would love at first time,
(06:08):
you know, when you know, you know, right, and because
you have what four kids? With four kids now, you know,
boy girl, boy girl. And what I love too about
your family is everyone's in the business too. Yes, I
love all the families staying in the business. Okay, keep
the family, keep the money within the family. Yeah, exactly,
which is great. You know, it's great. Okay, So you
met go on so, you know, and they said when
(06:29):
you know, you know, and after about three months of
just dating, you know, I proposed to her. Yeah. Yeah,
you know what I mean, I closed her basically, you know.
And and so I mean I got down on my heels. Yeah,
and I said, hey, I said, hey, would you want
to marry me on August thirteen or August what day
works for you? Romantic? Yeah, exactly what I mean. It's
(06:51):
like pick one or the other. You know. It was business,
you know. And she said, no, I'm busy on August twenty.
And I'm like, oh, no problem, August thirteenth it is.
And she show it up with a pretty large you
know posse, you know, her her tribe like und people. What. Yeah,
we had almost two thousand people on our weddings. Come on, yeah,
it was enormous. Where you hold it. We're here in Glendale, yeah,
(07:13):
we I mean, I mean, and uh, we've been married.
This year will be our twenty fifth anniversary. We'll finally
pay off our wedding, you know exactly. Oh my gosh. Wow.
So and you also work with your wife, right, So okay,
So so you met and clearly it's worked out twenty
(07:33):
five years later and four kids. But when did you
start working together? Or so you're in law school? And
then what happened after that? Yeah, so in in in
about she decided to start her own business in the
financial industry, and so I said, great, I said, go
check it out, you know, see how you do. And
that first year she made you know, two or fifty
thousand back then, So that was a no brainer. I mean,
(07:55):
I quit my job and started working with her. So
by we're now a partnership and we're working together and
I just loved every moment of it. And and when
did when did um this book become a part of
your life? So uh, in our mentors, you know, gave
us the book and said read this, you know, and
(08:17):
and you know we just we didn't. I'm not a
big reader, you know, I hate reading. I was like,
you know, I want to get to the meat and potatoes,
like the cliff note version of it, right, And so yeah,
I can tell because you haven't read my book daughter
the first after no, it's just not but you know
your book so far, the first chapter is just also
just teasing, but go on, go on, Yeah, so we so,
(08:39):
you know, we uh so we started working together and
and you know, I thought, in this day and age,
you know, where we are, a lot of the younger
generation have not heard of Thinking Grow Rich, right, they
haven't heard of the book. They haven't even heard of
Thinking bro Rich. And so, you know, I talked to
the Napoleon Hill Foundation and suggested that we make a
movie out of it, and they granted us the rights
(09:00):
to do that. So we made a movie out of
Thinking Grow Rich, called Thinking Grow Rich The Legacy a
documentary or right now, it's a docu drama. Yeah, So
we reenacted the whole Henry Ford story, the Thomas Edison story,
you know, and and so some great scenes in there.
So you were so you were that moved, and then
you eventually ended up writing sort of was it would
(09:23):
he be an updated version or just a modernized tape? Yeah,
it's it's a it's an updated version with today's people,
because you know, it's kind of sad that we go
to the younger generation today and you're like, hey, do
you know who the Rockefellers are? You know, do you
know who Thomas Edison is or Henry Ford? Like I
asked a kid. A couple of weeks ago, I was like, hey,
you ever do you know a guy named Henry Ford
and back you know in the early nineteen goes, was
(09:43):
he a president? Right? And I'm like, no, no, no,
he was the founder of Ford Motor Company? Right? You
know a guy named Andrew Carnegie? He goes, yeah, did
he did he invent like the the uh? Like, I
don't know, did he's an inventor? Right? And I'm like, no,
he's the big steal mogul, right. And they're like, oh no,
I don't. I don't only know those people. But if
I go to him and say, do you know a
guy named Steve Aoki? Right, They're like, oh my god,
(10:05):
I know Steve. You know? And so sees in my book,
you know. And so it's kind of cool because it's
amazing how many people today have never read the book,
but they actually applied the principles of thinking grow rich
in their own personal life. Well, that's what I want
to talk about because in fun fact about Steve Aoki,
I didn't realize that his father was the um owner
(10:27):
and in the original the person who created Benny Hannah, Yeah, exactly,
which was created a phenomenon with the tap on grill. Yeah,
so it's still thrived to this day. Benny Hannas, I
love it there. Yeah right seriously, So okay, people all
it Listen, who doesn't want financial stability and who doesn't
always want to improve their life right economically? And you
(10:50):
feel that, um, this book really has the essential principles
that no matter what your passion is and no matter
what you want to get into you, it could help
you economically at the least, right, but also benefit in
these other aspects of your life. So what what do
they have? Are they do they have like certain principles?
Is it a certain guideline? Yea, So there's thirteen principles, right,
(11:16):
thirteen principles, thirteen principles. Yeah, So basically the cliff note
version is what's number one? It's it's burning desire? And
is it in order of importance one through thirteen? Well
he says not really, but I mean that necessarily but
the start. But he does say that the starting point
of all achievement is to have a burning desire, right,
(11:38):
that hunger where you really want something that bad, where
you're thinking about it all the time, and what you
think about and this is an important lesson too, because
everything begins with what's going on in between those ears, right,
you know the six inches of your ears? Is what
do you think about every day? Right? Because whatever you
think about will affect the way we feel, right, and
(11:59):
then the way we feel will affect the way we act,
and then the way we act will determine the results. Right.
So if you're thinking about piste off and you're being
revengeful and that kind of stuff, what do you It
affects your feelings to be very angry, right, and then
what do you do? You carry out that anger and
you beat somebody up, right, and then you do your action,
and then what's the result? What what would you get
(12:20):
out of it? Hopefully you didn't get any joy out
of that. There was no purpose in that, right, So
think of it the other ways? What do you think
about every day? I always tell people, do you ever
think about what you think about? Right? Because if you
think it right? I mean yeah? Because you know, it's
like you've got to think about every single day what
it is that you want? What's consuming my mind? Okay? Well?
(12:42):
And then and then whatever you think about have to
be congruent with what you do your actions, right, And
then the word act in itself is an acronym right
to act because everybody always says, well, you know, like
when I made the movie, you know what I mean,
people said, well, I I was thinking about doing the movie. Well,
then why need you to do it? You know what
I mean? Like, you know, people always say there's a
lot of people that think about a lot of stuff,
(13:03):
but actually doing it. Yeah, there's no action, you know
what I mean. I was going to well why didn't you?
I was gonna ask that girl to the prom? Well
why didn't you? And some other guy did? Right, So
if you don't move and you're always thinking about it
and you procrastinate, it's not going to serve you, right,
And so I tell people act act means what take
(13:24):
appropriate action? Right? So Okay, I want to man, I
want to look yoked, right, I want to be ripped.
But they're at the cheesecake factory. Nothing you know wrong
with that. But if you're getting burgers and pizza all
the time, are you with you all that and chocolate
supporting your what you're thinking about? Right, it's not congruent. Right.
(13:46):
So number one is be appropriate. I mean, if you
want to get fit and you better what you better
eat the right food. You gotta get in a gym,
you gotta drink a lot of water, you gotta risk
your bodies, your muscles and whatever those That is the recipe.
If you want to look like that muscle fitness guy
on a front cover of a magazine of some sort,
well then guess what. There is a recipe to look
that way. Right, But do you have the discipline to
(14:07):
do that? So A is what? So A is appropriate.
C stands for consistency. Right, are you consistent with what
you want to do? That's key and right? Yeah. So
a lot of people they do it a little bit,
you know. They want to be a martial artists, right,
They see some martial art movie and they say, I
want to be like that martial art I want to
do that spinning hook gig. And they can't do it,
(14:28):
and they go try it for thirty days like, oh,
this wasn't meant to be. I'm just you know, I
don't have the body of what Bruce Lee or whatever.
You but man, you know, and people have all the excuses,
they have these air tight alibis. Consistency requires discipline, absolutely, Okay,
So that's what's what's t stands for tenacious, your tenacity
(14:49):
right and being you know, persevering on all those things
that you're supposed to despite what other people tell you.
Don't you know, don't do this. You know, you know,
you know how many people somebody wants to become a
mu position or an actor and everybody wants to rein
in on their parade. We'll get a real job. Don't
do this, staying focused, keeping those blinders exactly right, and
if you really want it, do it. Got it? Okay,
(15:11):
it's a solid principle. Second one, So the second one
is faith right knowing you know, you know your faith
is urtual necessarily, not just spiritual, right, but faith in
like you know it's gonna happen right, knowing that it's
like there's you already see the end, right result, and
just knowing it's going to happen for you. So it's
like yourself, yeah, absolutely, you know you don't need to
(15:33):
be validated, and you know that's the thing a lot
of people today, you know, they need validation, right, they
need approval. So they go post something on social media
and they're looking to see how many likes they got,
how many what shares or comments and they're looking for validation, right,
and so people need to learn how to make And
one of the other principles in the book is making
a decision. Right. You know, if you if you don't
(15:54):
know how to make a decision, you're you're asking for
everybody else's opinions, right, and you're like, what do you think?
What do you think? Should I what are your thoughts?
You need to stop looking for everybody else's approval of
validation and know that you should be validated by your
own one. How do you how do you approach making
a decision? So here's the thing, Like, that's a great question.
(16:15):
You know that I and you've got to make a
decision because the word D right or decide. The word
D means what to do. The word side means to die. Right,
that's what we got suicide, homicide, pesticide. Right, So you
take right, you know, you take those two words, make
the decision. You either do it or you don't. Okay,
well that's interesting, yeah, okay, so you know, and the
(16:37):
thing is, at the end of the day, you know,
people say, oh, yeah, I think a lot, I want this,
but I mean, but how big are you thinking? In
other words, how big are your dreams, right. I mean,
you know, you know, people they don't dream big enough.
Isn't it amazing when you approach a young child at
five six years old? They're dreamers, right, I mean they go, Man,
you go up to little Johnny, like Johnny when you
when you grow up? What do you want to be?
(16:59):
You know what Johnny's as he goes, I want to
be an astronaut. I'm gonna be an NBA basketball player, right,
I'm gonna be a what an Olympic gold medalist I'm
gonna be And you're like and and and these children
dream and then what are the parents do? The parents
come and says no, no, no, no, I want you
to go to college. I want you to get a degree, right,
(17:19):
and they start to what steal their dreams? Right? And
and that's you know. Dr Martin Luther King said that
most people die right, right, the most people die at
the age of twenty one. We just don't bury them
until they're eighty five, right, because by the time we
hit twenty one years of age, we've had all these
people influenced the way we think. Can we go back
(17:40):
to the word about what how do we think? What
do we put into our mind. What are you watching
on TV? You know if if you're watching news all
the time and you're watching you know, you're reading stuff
and you're on and it's just you're constantly putting negative
things into your head. Well, I guess what you think
that there's no hope, right, But if you're looking at
the other things, right, of all the positive things that
are going in live, right, all all the all these
(18:01):
different fruits will begin to manifest themselves. You know, in time,
you gotta give a time. I listen, I'm all about
eternal optimism and being positive. But at the same time,
I think you gotta be honest with yourself too, right,
And if I wanted to be an NBA player, I
know I'm not six ten or I can't post it up.
That's true. So there's certain things I think it isn't
in there a fine line though, where you need to
(18:22):
be sort of practical and realistic at the same time
and and just be honest with yourself about that and
then still keep that tenacious approach. Yeah, So you have
to be realistic, right, I mean, yeah, like I'm probably
not with my body not going to become a linebacker, right,
you know what I mean, I mean, I'm only what
five seven, five eight, right, we have a hundred and
seventy pounds, So me becoming a linebacker is probably not
(18:45):
gonna happen, you know what I mean? But yeah, you
know what I mean. Yeah, I mean, me become an
NBA basketball player is not gonna happen, right, But if
but if you have those you know, genes to do it,
why not you know? I mean? Right? No, exactly, no, exactly, Okay,
So I'm with you so far in these prints. But
now number three. So number three is you know it's
called auto suggestion, right, so, which means your self talk.
(19:08):
You know. Do you ever have your your conversations with yourself? Right? Um?
And and I do you know? I actually like driving,
you know, it's like one of my best times to
actually meditate, believe it or not, because I have these
conversations with myself. I kind of do too. To tell
you the truth, I'm in my mind and I'm not
talking out loudly, but yeah, I wander and thoughts sometimes
(19:29):
and just kind of meditate on stuff. That's a good
especially here in l because there's almost traffic right right,
you know, I mean I don't I like it you
know what I mean. So so that's three and you know, um,
I mean we can go through all thirteen principles. I
want to touch upon them lightly. I mean ultimately, I
I you think you get obviously the most from from
reading the book, but I just want to give them
a little like sort of tease. So it is important
(19:50):
to kind of keep yourself in check. And I think
always have that constant dialogue going on because they compliment.
It will help you make that decision better, help you
recognize what you're passions are. And the thing is, I
tell people all the time, even though if you know
what they are, you know people know what it is,
you still have to learn how to apply them into
(20:10):
your life, right because people know, okay, they all right,
I know how to lose weight, and I know, I mean,
I know what I gotta do. I know, I gotta exercise.
I know I got to eat the right food. But
it's so important to have a coach to help you
along the way, right. I mean, I have a coach
who comes over to my house, right because I'm trying
to get fit right now. You know, I want to
look like Mario Lopez, right because because I've seen here
(20:33):
you have a trainer. I have a trainer. Yeah, as
a trainer comes over, you know, and he put the
first thing. I come down the stairways and he's waiting
there with a scale, right, and what's he measuring? He
is looking at my body, my water and all that
kind of stuff. And so we we call that you
have to inspect what you expect. Right, So if you
constantly have somebody inspecting what you expect, there's there's some
(20:55):
sort of accountability there, right, So it's important to go
and find a coach who's gonna you know, so this
is a coach for your life, kind of like having
a coach for your life. Okay, I'm with I'm with it,
I'm with it. Okay, where do we leave off? Number four?
So number four is um uh is uh specialized knowledge? Right?
So having you know um, you know the right knowledge?
(21:18):
You know. So people like today's say, should I go
to college or should I not? Right? What depends on
what you want to do? I mean, if you want
to become a heart surgeon, where do you want to go? Yeah,
well you need Yeah you're not gonna go on YouTube
university and learn how to become a heart surgeon, right,
So yeah, I mean, so it's important to know. So
there's two different kinds of knowledge. One's called general knowledge,
of the one specialized knowledge. Well, since you since you
(21:39):
mentioned college, what are your thoughts on I mean, there's
a college admission scandal happening at the moment. You see
what parents will do to try to obviously cheating and
take shortcuts into getting their kids into certain universities. But
you also see thousands, if not millions of kids in
debt and basically paying off that debt for years to
(22:02):
come in their life. Is it does it hold as
much weight as it used to? Do you still feel
it's a necessity to being successful? Is that a tough
question since you've got kids? Yeah, I mean, you know
what I mean. So here's the thing. It is, especially
because Arlene and I both went to college, right, and
when you lost you know, we got our doctorates and
we got our masters and all that, and so coming
(22:25):
from that type of you know, programming, say you got
to go to college, right. My oldest son actually when
he graduated from high school. You know, it's interesting because
he actually um called up my office and he put
into my my calendar, uh, an official appointment, like he
wanted to meet me, and I walked out to my assistant.
I like that, yeah, And I was like, wait a second,
(22:47):
so is this somebody whose name is just like my
sons or is this my son Matt you know? And
there's like, no, what your son? I was like, so
he made an official meeting. When I'm yeah, I was like, wow,
all right. So we you know, we go to a
rest trym We sit in He's all dressed up in
business attire and he says, um, Dad, He says listen.
He goes, I, I just wanted to see if I
(23:07):
if you can give me fifteen minutes to speak freely,
and then at the end of that fifteen minutes you
can you can talk all you want, right, and and
I just want, you know, to to tell you where
I am in my life. I said, okay, great, and
he says, so, first of all, I've decided I don't
want to go to college. Oh he hit you with that. Yeah.
I go what and he goes, Dad, seriously, you said
you're gonna give me fifteen minutes. I'm like, yeah, all right,
(23:29):
that's when I gotta hear this and he says to me,
goes Dad, He goes, now, let's talk about why you'd
want me to go to college, because if I go
to college, you're gonna say, well, it's gonna be a
great experience. Well, what kind of experience? You know, the
party live, you know what I mean, the social life,
you know what I mean some of these people. And
I was like, or the fact that I'm gonna go
in and I'll have more what confidence? And he goes,
(23:51):
If that's true. I've been a lot of people who
have gone to college and they don't have that kind
of confidence. Right, I'm gonna you know what I mean?
And they said, uh, you know there's a lot of
people you've very go to college. They become smarter, and
they might be very you know, they might be intellectual,
but all these people lack common sense. Right. So I mean,
you just had like a list of like thirty different
things of why you know it wouldn't be warning him
(24:13):
to go to college, and you're listening. I'm listening, and
I'm like, all right, buddy, And I said, so he goes,
and he goes. At the end of the day, he goes.
You know, you're always on stage and you're talking about
how you have to go and find yourself a mentor.
And I see how you're all you're always mentoring all
these people. They come over to the house, you're mentoring them,
you're coaching them, and they're all making six seven figure incomes.
(24:36):
He's like, I was wondering if you could, if you
could just mentor me. It's pretty it's a pretty tough
I mean, a pretty good sell. I didn't what did
you say? So I was like, uh, he goes, I mean,
because what what better mentor than my own father to
be my own mentor? Oh? He hit you with the
I like this kid, yeah right, yeah, And I was like,
you try to get you on the soft spot there,
(24:57):
and it's kind of like, but you know what, what
a great compliment it too right to have, you know,
to have your own child look at you and say, hey,
you know I want you to be my mentor. And
how did you respond to you? It's a very clever
way to get out of Yeah. I meant, first I
have to take a moment from not like crying like
a little baby, you know what I mean, because it
was an emotional moment there, you know. And then I
kind of looked at him and said, hey, buddy, I said,
(25:19):
you know whatever, you do, I'll support you, I'll mentor you,
I'll coach you, aft and and and and he said
thanks Dad, and he goes, so, I'm I won't be
going to college and I will be working under you.
And I was like, how did mom feel about that?
And I said, oh, that's a that's a crazy thing.
And I said all right, and I said, but I
think you have one. We're gonna have one obstacle budding.
(25:39):
And he says, what is it? And I said, You're
gonna have to overcome this with your mother. And he
goes exactly, and he goes, that's why I wanted to
see if you can be at the meeting. When I
talked about I like this kid. I like this kid
because because man, he goes the two of us, I
think we can close Mom. And I was like, so,
I was like, I think this when you're on your own. Okay,
I want find my marriage nice and happy and I
(26:02):
really don't want to get in between all that kind
of stuff. Did Mom eventually succumb? Yeah? I mean, well,
so he did the same thing. So he picked the
same restaurant, the same booth, he wore the same suit,
and he got in there and Arlene showed up and
he said, Mom, I need fifteen minutes, and he did
the whole thing and she said okay, and he says, mom,
I'm not going to college, and she laid in on him.
(26:23):
He didn't get fifteen seconds. Are you with me on that?
Like she said, you college body? And that's it. I
don't care about doo doo doo doo, you know what
I mean. And of course you didn't say those kind
of things. You know, She's just a classy lady and so.
But so they had to compromise. So he ended up
taking some general ed classes at a local university, you know,
and he was a compromise, yea, a compromise. So he's
(26:44):
taking a few units, you know what I mean. But
you know, I mean, here's a kid who's making a
multiple six figure income right now, and uh, he's like saying,
he goes, Dad, he goes, why don't need to call
a college? I make more money than the professor does.
I'm like, well, it's not just about the money, all right,
it's a out. You know, are you challenging this right
your mind? You know? Are you in the right environment?
(27:06):
You know? They say that if you're the smartest guy
in the room, you're in the wrong room, right. I mean,
if you're the wealthiest guy in the room, again, you're
in the wrong room. You know, you want to go
and seek out people who are going to challenge you
and and make you think different. And this is one
of the things that Napoleon Hill talks about, is creating
a mastermind. Right. So, I certainly I'm always growing. I'm
not where I'm at right now, and I know you're
(27:27):
not where you're at, right. I mean, you know, Mario
is always trying to get better. Right. So a lot
of people right now are bitter, right, and they'd love
to play the game playing game. But don't be bitter,
just get better, That's what I tell people, you know
what I mean. And so absolutely there's no question about that. Okay,
we we left off. Thank you for sharing that. We
left off at number five. Yeah, I believe. So what's
(27:49):
number number six? So if ive was imagination, right, and
then uh six is organized planning? Right? And just when
you're talking about imagination, going back to that, right, let
me let's look at somebody who had one of the
most unbelievable imaginations, right, which is Walt Disney. I mean,
who would have ever thought that. When he was going
to create this theme park, everybody thought he was a nutcase, right,
(28:11):
everybody thought he had lost his marbles, right, you know,
and and he did it, and look at today, it's
the happiest place on this planet, they say, right, yeah,
I mean, yeah, you know you're buying a six dollar
pickle and you're still happy. I got a six dollar
over six months, right, yeah, exactly, But I know I
get it. Yeah, but you know it's imagination, you know
(28:32):
the things that he's done, and look at the movies
that you know, Walt Disney is producing all that. I mean,
it just makes you think differently, you know, flexing those
CREATI muscles absolutely, you know. And then the next one
is um is planning. You know that's the next one. Yeah,
so six part yeah, so six is like having that
organized plan, knowing how you're and so people I always say,
(28:53):
people don't plan to fail, right, but they failed to
plan right. So people are like, Okay, so John, I
got this idea. I want to do it all right,
show me with your plan, show me your business plan.
How do you get this done? Well, it's just an idea,
like it was up here and I'm like, yeah, but
how are you going to go and execute this thing?
You know what I mean? So there's got to be
a plan behind it. And he talks about that in
the book and how you get organized planning going on. See,
(29:16):
I've always been a big believer in writing stuff down,
visually putting it up and trying to I need a
visual to want to achieve um certain goals or or
benchmarks right too and too, And I've had I don't
know that just subconsciously that helps me, but it just
it um it motivates me to have that visual sort
(29:40):
of plans. So yeah, no, I get okay, right. So
then he goes on and he talks about and we
talked Number seven is decision, So we talked about decide right,
do or die right? Uh. Number eight is persistence and
that's something we all know, right staying on at consistency.
We talked about that Number nine was the master of
the uh is the power of the master mind, you know,
(30:00):
getting all the right people around you. So, you know,
that's tough for a lot of people because sometimes you're
a product of your environment, or you grow up in
a certain neighborhood, or you've got some lazy friends that
just want to either they want to hang on get high,
or they are they're just up to no good or
in trouble, or or maybe they're just not as ambitious. Right,
So you can conflict it about kind of leaving guys
(30:22):
you grew up with, but it really as as I've
grown older, my circle has gotten a little bit smaller,
and it's just it's like you don't I just I
don't know something clicked. Where's like I don't have time
for this and you're with me or or you're not
right peace out? Yeah, I have to ech. But those
are hard decisions that you do have to that you
do have to make because just like uh, that old
adage goes where one stone sharpens another, one man has
(30:43):
to sharpen another and you gotta keep moving forward, right,
So it really is about the company you keep, Yeah,
it is, you know. And and then of course you
know some people may not be creative, right, and some
people may not have the technical understanding. So you want
to so like, for instance, you know, I don't I
have a team of people around me, and I'm I've
got the created the creativity, but I don't have somebody
(31:04):
who can go and do all the editing on my videos. Right,
So that's just not my forte. So I hire somebody
to do that, right, Um, I hire somebody else to
to do all the marketing because that may not be
my forte, you know what I mean. So you create
people that your weaknesses, you know, so that you bounce
yourself out. Like you said, you don't want to be
the smartest guy in the room. So it's always, I imagine,
(31:24):
better to have smarter people than you around you. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah,
you know, keep and check for that because a lot
of people do on that, but I'm all about it. Yeah.
Number ten is probably the most controversial one, right, and
he calls it the mystery of sex transmutation? Right, what
the hell's that? Sex transmutation? That sounds sounds naughty and
(31:44):
confusing all at the same time. So I need to
find that. Well, basically what he talks about. And later
on in in Napoleon Hills Works, he got very meta science,
you know, he started getting into the whole science of
of why the way we're all wired right in so
so in other words, he talks about like if you
if you take a bull, right, a bull is a bull.
(32:06):
But if you castrate that bull. Okay, it becomes it
becomes a dolphile, dolphile as a cow. Right. And so
what he's talking about is that sex, what drive that
people have that's in us, right, that that if you
take that same amount of energy and channel it into, right,
the things that you want to accomplish. Right, And so
(32:27):
he talks about the energy. He's talking about that inner
energy inside you. So it's a very profound chapter, very controversial.
You know, it's probably the most controversial chapter of the book. Well,
when that sort of energy is really flowing is when
you're young, obviously high and uh, that's when you get
sort of blinded exactly and easily distracted, at least I did. So.
(32:51):
But if if you're going back to the principles, discipline
enough to stay focused and do that and be able
to channel all that. So it's a tall task, but
you gotta keep yourself check and if you have certain
people to help keep you in checking out of the
same mindset, and then yeah, you can, uh, you can
work towards achieving whatever does he want? That's right, that's right. Yeah.
And then he goes on and he talks about the
(33:11):
subconscious mind, right, and what we think about on the inside, right,
And the subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between real
and fake. It's just it's it's in there. But it's
about programming. And what happens is it becomes it becomes
like an instinct. Right. And so this is why when
you're doing martial arts, okay, and you like people, you know,
like when I and I did martial arts for twenty
(33:31):
five years, right, So I competed, that started, I started
a five years of age. I competed, you know, and
and and and so we did three in our school.
We did taekwondo, right, judo and hop ydaw right, so
that you kind of know how to defend yourself in
all different scenarios, right, if it's a distance or if
you're clothes or girl on the ground or whatever it is.
(33:53):
And so I started competing and uh and then and
you know, it's interesting because when I competed at our school,
it took us seven years to get a black belt, right,
And there's no if what's our butts? Like, I mean,
they tell you straight up to become a black belt,
it's seven years, right. And there's a takeaway from this
because when people started coming to our school, they didn't
have the patience and they want to get that black
belt instantaneously. And then a school opens up down the
(34:15):
street and they said black belts are two years. Okay, great,
So so now so here's a guy we go to
a tournament, and here's a guy who goes into a
black belt division, right, who's only had two years of training, right,
two hours a day, right, three times a week. And
at our school, you had to go five days a week, right,
minimum six days, but it took seven years to get there.
(34:38):
So now imagine the two of us getting into a
rain exactly, are gonna be huge. Wow, that's even uh,
you know for jiu jitsu it's ten years, which is yes,
would really really opinion your due. You are, you know,
and then when you come out that's why you don't
you know, you're good at what you do, right, But
these people would show up students, young people, and they
want to be able to do all of those spinning
(35:00):
hug kicks or whatever you want to call them, and uh,
as they're doing it, they're realizing how how hard it is.
It's it's it's it's it's like, how came we're doing
the same thing over and over and over. Every day
it's the same you know, basic punches and the same blocking,
and it's always the basics, over and over and over.
And finally it is because it becomes instinctual. Right, so
(35:20):
you don't have to think about it. If I see
a punch coming my I've done it so many times
that even whether I'm doing it consciously or unconsciously, my
arm just goes up and it does the blocks exactly right.
It becomes instinct. And so this is why it's so
important that subconscious mind has to get programmed right. And
so I tell people that we're wired for success, but
we're programmed to fail, right because you're created by you
(35:45):
know whoever your whoever your creator is or I don't
want to preach here, but you know I I know
who my creator is, okay, And I know that I'm
a piece, right because I tell everybody you're the fact,
you're a miracle child. Every person who's born is a
miracle and self. They say that for every person who's born,
the chances of you becoming born is one point five
trillion to one. Right, So you're a miracle baby, right,
(36:08):
And so I say you're a masterpiece. You are absolutely
a masterpiece, because you're a piece of the master right,
So why would you ever doubt yourself? Right? And so
I know that as long as I sit there, right,
And I said, this is why we're wired for success,
but program to fail? Why are we program to fail?
Because who do we listen to? Right? We listen to
people who are broke typically, you know, I mean, I say,
(36:29):
be careful who you take constructive criticism from, right, because
those people usually have never done anything with their life.
There who usually people said given out most of the
advice that you're you're broke as friends? Yeah there, yeah, right,
those usually are give it a so called quote advice. Yeah,
you're trying to take care of your right or look
it out? Okay, okay, So we got to subconsciousers. We
(36:51):
had a program that okay, and then uh, the next
one is the brain use the brain, right, And he
talks about how the brain works, you know, and there's
a whole the brain because the study of the brain
is just such a miraculous thing. You know. One of
the things that Steve and I were talking about Steve
Aoki and I said, you know what is what is
one of the charities that that we really want to
go and support, you know what cause. And everybody's got
(37:13):
a cause and there's a reason for it, right because
they've personally experienced it themselves or they know someone close
to them is going through that. But people say, John,
what is it? What is it that you fear? John?
Do you have any kind of fear? And I say, usually,
I don't have any fear, you know, And there's a
different acronym for fear, right, because what does it stand for?
You know, um Tony Robbins calls it false evidence that
appears real? Right, I got my acronym for fear is
(37:35):
feeling excited and ready. Right, I don't have any fear,
you know what I mean. I don't let fear control me.
I I control whatever is gonna you know, change me.
But I do have concerns, you know, things that concern me.
And my my biggest concern is is the brain is
you know, is losing my memory? You know what I mean?
Because that would be my biggest you know concern is
(37:56):
that I won't remember my own children, or I won't
remember later in life my experiences that I had this
journey in life with my wife. Right, I want, I want,
I want to die with all those experiences and memories,
you know, and the fact that somebody can have Alzheimer's,
you know, I mean, what causes Alzheimer's, what causes dementia?
Because that that is something that I want to find
(38:17):
the cure for, right and so, uh Napoleon Hill does
does a lot of research in his book and talks
about the brain and how it works and how most
of us are not even using one percent of one
percent of one percent of one percent of our brain,
you know, because it's a very powerful thing, you know.
You hear that a lot. That's interesting. I'm sure that
the debreed, did we did we leave off the principle? Uh? Yeah,
(38:38):
no In the final of the final one is the
sixth cents? Right, which is that gut? You know? And
some people call the universe, some people call it energies.
I mean, whatever it is, you know, the infinite intelligence,
that soul, whatever it is. For me, it's just it's
my gut, you know what I mean, Like I trust
my gut all the time. You know, something tells me
there's something wrong with that guy. I've always found a
(38:59):
hundred percent times something wrong with that guy. So intuition,
absolutely intuition is powerful. Go with your guy. So thank you.
By the way, we obviously lightly touched upon all the
principles just just to hear them. And and uh, we
all in your book, we we were. I know you
really go into details. But I'm always about I always
like having in life a certain infrastructure, whatever it is,
(39:22):
writing stuff down, putting it out there, and having certain
go to and have something to reference, right, whether it's spirituality.
I mean, I happen to be a spiritual guy, So
I like having something to go back and determined right
from wrong aside of what to do. And all these
people that back in the day this reporter spoke to
(39:42):
and over this long period of time, essentially all these
um successful men are they saying like they they essentially
all adopted these principles to a certain all of that
that was the common thread, that was a common denominator
of all of these individuals, you know. And and it's
crazy because if I look at people today and I'll say,
(40:03):
and I'm as I'm interviewing them for you know, different things,
and I'll say, what do you attribute your success to?
You know? And it could be different things. Whether they're
an Olympic gold medalist, right, or they're they're a competitive
fighter or a business person or someone whatever it is.
I say, have you read thinking grow Rich? Like, oh no,
I haven't, right, And I said, great, So what is it?
Isn't it crazy that they still will say it's one
(40:24):
or more of those thirteen in grade. They just happen
to be doing it without either knowing it exactly, and
so it's spelled out to you. You mentioned Tony Robbins
a little earlier. How I don't know if you've ever
been do any of the seminars? Yes you have? How
is how do I haven't? So? How was his approach
different or does he incorporate a lot of the same principles? Oh?
No question about it. Really. Yeah. In fact, if you
(40:45):
look at all the speakers today, whether it's a the
John Maxwells or the Tony Robbins or any other motivational speaker.
There was a movie that came out to years ago
called The Secret, and everybody was like, what's the secret?
You know what I mean? Like, what is it? And yeah,
putting out you managed exactly right? The law of attraction
and all that kind of love, all that stuff. Yeah,
I'm always fascinated and I love all that stuff. All
(41:06):
that stuff comes right from that book. They can grow rich.
Yea there in the same yeah, not ever that same space,
in that same world. So is it really like just
kind of hearing it a certain way that makes it
click for some people. That's what it is. Right at
the end of the day. It's kind of like I'm
coaching my son. I came to this realization recently. I
grew up UM wrestling and I did pretty well and
(41:32):
it was a state champion whatever. So I'm excited to
kind of have my son take these classes. And when
I was growing up, I didn't have my My old
man didn't he didn't wrestle. He just used a show
for the tournaments, and say that's my boy went. But
now when because I have all this knowledge and I
know all the nuances and everything that goes into it UM,
(41:53):
I want to help him and I want to coach him.
But he gets mad and he he we but heads
a lie because he doesn't like me telling him anything,
and I get so frustrated as a parent. And then
something I heard something the other day and it kind
of registered. One of the coaches, whose father was a
champion wrestler and coach Tim said Mario, you're when your
your son's gonna hear I'm gonna take direction different from you.
(42:16):
You hear it different from your father. You take it
very personal and so kind of registered. And I'm like, okay,
I get it, and he goes you watch me tell
him the same thing in the little apply and sure
enough he told the same direction. I was doing it
like five minutes later, and he clicked, and he clicked
in registers. So sometimes, you know, I was like, I
gotta pull back. I get it. So even as I'm
still growing, I'm still learning as a as and I
(42:38):
still want to learn. But in now, when you have
children too, it is all about the way you're going
to communicate and the way you're gonna hear something like
this goes a long way around to the point I
was making it. It is all about how you hear it.
Maybe when you hear it or who you hear it
from that makes it click, makes it register. So I
have to pull back at the chill in that sense.
(43:01):
But that's my point. So he heard it from somebody
else that and maybe now even as an adult, someone
hears something from someone else, an individual. I'll reads a
book or whatever. Here's you speak on stage and the
register and he could click and he could help them
in a way. See that's interesting. Yeah, and and and
I'm in the same boat, like you know, it's like
mike just all my kids, like I'll tell him, Okay,
(43:23):
you need to do this, and you need to do this,
you know, and they would tell me, like, Dad, stop
telling me how to do it or what to do,
and and it's crazy. And I'm telling them that, right,
And then they're coming from a place to love, like
because I want to help them, right, you want to
help them exactly their father. But then and then my
mother friend will come along and say the same thing,
and it's like, Dad, did you hear what Mikey just said? Yeah,
(43:43):
Mikey just said this. And I'm like my inside voice
is saying, I've been telling you that the whole time,
and now you'll you take him right. But you know,
and what I always tell parents to what to do.
The most important thing a parent can do is um
is CPR. You're instead of like CPR your kids, because
everybody needs to be resuscitated every day, right, because we
get beat up every day just verbally just whatever it
(44:05):
is our work, boss, somebody, so I always tell people,
just just EPR. Right, people every day you know cprs
where you're you know, you're giving them mouth to mouth
chest compressions. You get the electrical thing. And so EPR
is how you revive people every day, right, e is
(44:26):
to encourage daily. Right, you gotta encourage people every day.
Everybody needs it. I need it. Everybody's like you know,
who motivates the motivator, you know what I mean, like yourself. No,
it's nonsense. I need somebody to come and say, man,
you know, encourage me and all that kind of stuff,
right John, Yeah, thanks. So then p is praise, okay,
(44:47):
and then our is recognized. Right, So you have to
e PR people on a daily basis. So one thing
I do with my kids would be a better way,
would be a world to be better if we EPR
every every day every day. You can never EPR too much,
you know what I mean? And I ep are my
kids on a daily basis. Yeah, there's nothing I call
my kids the champ. You know what I mean, You're
you're the champ. You're the champ. Parents should do that
to their kids. And by the way, why not your coworkers. Absolutely,
(45:09):
people just come across and you build each other up
and you got to go. That's cool man. The EPR, Well,
there's so much we can obviously talk about and stuff
we go down. I like that we touched upon these principles. Um,
and I think it really is fascinating. I love a
story about your son too. With with college. Where can
people uh find you or or if they want to
hear you speak? And and um uh talk about a
(45:31):
lot of these princes in length. Oh that's great. Um,
we are actually going on a world tour, I mean here.
You know, it's interesting that I wanted to just get
my book out. And the book is called How Rich
Asians Think? Right, And so I want to get it
out to everybody because I want crazy rich Asians, not
crazy rich Asians, know what I mean, but crazy yeah,
but you gotta parlay that title. So but how do
(45:53):
they think? And so as I'm gonna go on, I'm
gonna go on a tour, you know, and talk about
my book and get people think differently, you know. And
then some friends came along and said, I want to
go with you, and I want to go with you.
And next thing I know, there's about sixty different speakers
who have called me and said I want to go
on this tour with you. So now we're doing this
world tour. We're going to twelve countries, we're doing fifty
(46:14):
cities around the globe, and we're going we're starting right
here at the Anaheim Convention Center on May three and fourth, right,
and uh, you know, tickets are online at t g
R World Tour dot com. You know, t g R
World Tour dot com. And you know there's uh if somebody,
if somebody wants, like we have a little tap if
you if you really want to be a volunteer because
(46:34):
you can't afford it, right, they come and work it,
you know what I mean, Like, you know, because you
can't afford it. I'm not we're not trying to make money.
We're just trying to teach you and guide you. But
it does cause money to fly on all these speakers
and house them and rent the facilities and all that.
So we're trying to just you know, cover our cause.
But if you can't afford it, then coming, you know,
click the link or or or hit me on Instagram
and and uh dm me and we'll definitely get you in.
(46:56):
You gotta do a little work. You know, work the
work and be a volunteer, help with the security or whatever.
You get a free ticket, you know what I mean. Now,
if that's not the case and you want to come
and be in the room because you don't want to work, right,
then you know, it's a couple of hundred bucks, you know.
And so we just want everybody to show up to
blow up, right, That's what's it's all about. Show up
to blow up. You gotta show up to blow up
up EPR. That's right. Good away with all kinds of stuff.
(47:18):
I'm feeling better already. So John Man, thank you for
your time. Absolutely super great time, had a great time,
Good luck on the tour. Thanks so, don't forget new
episodes and listen to Mario dropping every Friday all on
Mario dot com to catch up on the podcast, and
please make sure you follow listen to Mario on I
Heart Radio and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you
(47:41):
get podcasts. More fun next week. Thank you so much
for listening.
All right, so one plump for this episode listen to
(00:01):
Mario Mario Lopez here and this week I've got John
Shinn in studio. Now. John's an author, uh, movie producer, entrepreneur,
really and and now motivational speaker. He's just all around
a real positive guy who's helped turn people's lives around
all across the globe. And he's got the whole family
and on the act. Anyway, He's got a new book
coming out in May, which is basically the modern version
(00:24):
of Think and Grow Rich, called How Rich Asians Think,
which he says has the power to completely change your life.
He's just a wealth of knowledge and uh looking forward
to talking to him. So let's get into it. Please
welcome Mr John Shinn. How are you, sir? Fired up? Man?
Fired up? I it's one of the things I like
about you. Always got such positive um high energy, which
(00:47):
which I try to exude. And I don't think it's
something you can you can fabricated, something that you either
have or you don't. But I want to dive in
John too. Think and Grow Rich? Now, that was base
basically a book that came out what in the thirties, Yeah,
actually came out It was published in nineteen thirty seven.
Nineteen thirty seven, so in the middle of the depression, exactly,
(01:09):
how are you going to think and grow rich when
you're trying to be alive and to survive? Exactly? Who
wrote the book originally? So it was Napoleon Hill, who
at the time was a reporter, and he began writing
it and he was commissioned by Andrew Carnegie, you know.
And he asked Carnegie Mellen, Yeah, I mean Carnegie, the
steel mogul, right, you know, and said yeah, and he said,
what what you know? He says, what is the secret
(01:32):
to becoming successful? And he said, wow, he says, what
a great question. He goes, you know, I'd love to
I'd like to commission you and have you go and
interview some of my closest friends about what they would say,
what is the secret to becoming successful? You know? And
so he sent him off for twenty five years where
he interviewed over five hundred of the biggest you know,
(01:53):
financial and business giants. Wad twenty five years? Why so long?
I mean couldn't he couldn't do this like the course
of a year. Yeah, I mean, well that back then, right,
because they didn't have the technology that we have today.
You know, that's true. And then traveling I think traveling
and all over the country, you know. So yeah, so
so it took a minute. So wait a minute. So
then this reporter got just fascinated how this man um
(02:16):
could become the smogul in the time when our country
was was at its lowest at least financially speaking, exactly.
And was it a hit? Initially it was not, and
and then all of a sudden it started getting some
traction and then all of a sudden, now it's you know,
that book has sold almost two hundred million copies around
the world, influencing almost a billion people. That's incredible. And
(02:39):
you essentially wrote the modern day version of the book.
And how did that come to be? And was was
your background in this space? Uh? You know, I mean, so,
you know, both my wife Arlene and I are entrepreneurs,
you know, and we started our little business back in
the early nineties. And then you know, we read the
(02:59):
book in ninth six and we applied all the principles
to our life. And when we say think and grow rich,
it's just not rich financially, but it's rich in all areas.
Of your life right, your relationships, your marriage, your family,
and you just spiritually and all that kind of those
things right, exactly right. And so we read it and
everyone I worked with, if you were going to work
(03:21):
with me in some capacity, it was a mandatory read.
I didn't care if you're the front desk girl or
the mailman guy or the my attorneys or c p a. S.
Everybody had to read that book. And so we all
got on the same page. That was our playbook, you know,
and we all embraced it. And then we started growing up.
And now we got a couple of hundred offices around
the country. We have, you know, we're in forty two states.
(03:43):
And so that's how it began. So so before that,
how it really began. Um, are you from here originally?
Where were born? Yeah? I grew up in Glendale here,
local boy from a local guy here. Son of immigrants, yes,
you know, from from South Korea and my parents came
here in the sixties and we ended up right there,
(04:04):
just a few blocks away from the original Tommy's Burger,
So right there in the bodios, you know, Glendale's rampart
district is where we were like, you know, so yeah,
and then from there, my parents, you know, save their money,
and then we moved to Glendale and then so, wow,
Southern Kelly, is I learned something today? A home of
(04:25):
the original Tommy's Burger and the original McDonald's. Yeah, right,
so we own the burger essentially down But but okay,
so you came here and and uh, how are you
as a student going up? I was an average student,
you know, but I was like, you know, taking any
class that ended with an ology you know there in
(04:45):
the you know, physiology. Biology just wasn't my thing, right
because I just you know, I never wanted to become
a doctor, you know, but as a son of an
immigrant family, you know, the parents know how to lay
in the guilt trip, right. You know. They always say
things like, we did not come to this country to
screw up this opportunity, right, I mean, you know, you
(05:06):
you got to go do something with your life. But
it's like the traditional Asian parents, they want you to
become doctors or lawyers. Right. So I didn't want to
become a doctor, so I had no choice but to
go to law school. So yeah, it was interesting. So
so you ended up going to law? Yeah, so I
went to law school just to pease my parents. And
you know, you always wonder like why certain things, you know.
And I didn't love law either. It was just not
(05:27):
my thing. But I did it because I didn't want
to let my parents down, right, Yeah, because you know
that's their dream was to send their kids to go
off to college and you know, be somebody and be
one of those two things that parents know how to
that they wanted to become. Now their parents are living
vicariously through their own children, right, So yeah, I did that,
But then it was not my thing. I wonder why
(05:47):
am I here? Like what is this real purpose? And
the purposes? That's where I'm met my wife, right, it's
school in law school. Yeah, so I met her there
and then weel, yeah, you know, and she married me.
So I mean, so oh you got you got jokes,
but no, but I mean I would love at first time,
(06:08):
you know, when you know, you know, right, and because
you have what four kids? With four kids now, you know,
boy girl, boy girl. And what I love too about
your family is everyone's in the business too. Yes, I
love all the families staying in the business. Okay, keep
the family, keep the money within the family. Yeah, exactly,
which is great. You know, it's great. Okay, So you
met go on so, you know, and they said when
(06:29):
you know, you know, and after about three months of
just dating, you know, I proposed to her. Yeah. Yeah,
you know what I mean, I closed her basically, you know.
And and so I mean I got down on my heels. Yeah,
and I said, hey, I said, hey, would you want
to marry me on August thirteen or August what day
works for you? Romantic? Yeah, exactly what I mean. It's
(06:51):
like pick one or the other. You know. It was business,
you know. And she said, no, I'm busy on August twenty.
And I'm like, oh, no problem, August thirteenth it is.
And she show it up with a pretty large you
know posse, you know, her her tribe like und people. What. Yeah,
we had almost two thousand people on our weddings. Come on, yeah,
it was enormous. Where you hold it. We're here in Glendale, yeah,
(07:13):
we I mean, I mean, and uh, we've been married.
This year will be our twenty fifth anniversary. We'll finally
pay off our wedding, you know exactly. Oh my gosh. Wow.
So and you also work with your wife, right, So okay,
So so you met and clearly it's worked out twenty
(07:33):
five years later and four kids. But when did you
start working together? Or so you're in law school? And
then what happened after that? Yeah, so in in in
about she decided to start her own business in the
financial industry, and so I said, great, I said, go
check it out, you know, see how you do. And
that first year she made you know, two or fifty
thousand back then, So that was a no brainer. I mean,
(07:55):
I quit my job and started working with her. So
by we're now a partnership and we're working together and
I just loved every moment of it. And and when
did when did um this book become a part of
your life? So uh, in our mentors, you know, gave
us the book and said read this, you know, and
(08:17):
and you know we just we didn't. I'm not a
big reader, you know, I hate reading. I was like,
you know, I want to get to the meat and potatoes,
like the cliff note version of it, right, And so yeah,
I can tell because you haven't read my book daughter
the first after no, it's just not but you know
your book so far, the first chapter is just also
just teasing, but go on, go on, Yeah, so we so,
(08:39):
you know, we uh so we started working together and
and you know, I thought, in this day and age,
you know, where we are, a lot of the younger
generation have not heard of Thinking Grow Rich, right, they
haven't heard of the book. They haven't even heard of
Thinking bro Rich. And so, you know, I talked to
the Napoleon Hill Foundation and suggested that we make a
movie out of it, and they granted us the rights
(09:00):
to do that. So we made a movie out of
Thinking Grow Rich, called Thinking Grow Rich The Legacy a
documentary or right now, it's a docu drama. Yeah, So
we reenacted the whole Henry Ford story, the Thomas Edison story,
you know, and and so some great scenes in there.
So you were so you were that moved, and then
you eventually ended up writing sort of was it would
(09:23):
he be an updated version or just a modernized tape? Yeah,
it's it's a it's an updated version with today's people,
because you know, it's kind of sad that we go
to the younger generation today and you're like, hey, do
you know who the Rockefellers are? You know, do you
know who Thomas Edison is or Henry Ford? Like I
asked a kid. A couple of weeks ago, I was like, hey,
you ever do you know a guy named Henry Ford
and back you know in the early nineteen goes, was
(09:43):
he a president? Right? And I'm like, no, no, no,
he was the founder of Ford Motor Company? Right? You
know a guy named Andrew Carnegie? He goes, yeah, did
he did he invent like the the uh? Like, I
don't know, did he's an inventor? Right? And I'm like, no,
he's the big steal mogul, right. And they're like, oh no,
I don't. I don't only know those people. But if
I go to him and say, do you know a
guy named Steve Aoki? Right, They're like, oh my god,
(10:05):
I know Steve. You know? And so sees in my book,
you know. And so it's kind of cool because it's
amazing how many people today have never read the book,
but they actually applied the principles of thinking grow rich
in their own personal life. Well, that's what I want
to talk about because in fun fact about Steve Aoki,
I didn't realize that his father was the um owner
(10:27):
and in the original the person who created Benny Hannah, Yeah, exactly,
which was created a phenomenon with the tap on grill. Yeah,
so it's still thrived to this day. Benny Hannas, I
love it there. Yeah right seriously, So okay, people all
it Listen, who doesn't want financial stability and who doesn't
always want to improve their life right economically? And you
(10:50):
feel that, um, this book really has the essential principles
that no matter what your passion is and no matter
what you want to get into you, it could help
you economically at the least, right, but also benefit in
these other aspects of your life. So what what do
they have? Are they do they have like certain principles?
Is it a certain guideline? Yea, So there's thirteen principles, right,
(11:16):
thirteen principles, thirteen principles. Yeah, So basically the cliff note
version is what's number one? It's it's burning desire? And
is it in order of importance one through thirteen? Well
he says not really, but I mean that necessarily but
the start. But he does say that the starting point
of all achievement is to have a burning desire, right,
(11:38):
that hunger where you really want something that bad, where
you're thinking about it all the time, and what you
think about and this is an important lesson too, because
everything begins with what's going on in between those ears, right,
you know the six inches of your ears? Is what
do you think about every day? Right? Because whatever you
think about will affect the way we feel, right, and
(11:59):
then the way we feel will affect the way we act,
and then the way we act will determine the results. Right.
So if you're thinking about piste off and you're being
revengeful and that kind of stuff, what do you It
affects your feelings to be very angry, right, and then
what do you do? You carry out that anger and
you beat somebody up, right, and then you do your action,
and then what's the result? What what would you get
(12:20):
out of it? Hopefully you didn't get any joy out
of that. There was no purpose in that, right, So
think of it the other ways? What do you think
about every day? I always tell people, do you ever
think about what you think about? Right? Because if you
think it right? I mean yeah? Because you know, it's
like you've got to think about every single day what
it is that you want? What's consuming my mind? Okay? Well?
(12:42):
And then and then whatever you think about have to
be congruent with what you do your actions, right, And
then the word act in itself is an acronym right
to act because everybody always says, well, you know, like
when I made the movie, you know what I mean,
people said, well, I I was thinking about doing the movie. Well,
then why need you to do it? You know what
I mean? Like, you know, people always say there's a
lot of people that think about a lot of stuff,
(13:03):
but actually doing it. Yeah, there's no action, you know
what I mean. I was going to well why didn't you?
I was gonna ask that girl to the prom? Well
why didn't you? And some other guy did? Right, So
if you don't move and you're always thinking about it
and you procrastinate, it's not going to serve you, right,
And so I tell people act act means what take
(13:24):
appropriate action? Right? So Okay, I want to man, I
want to look yoked, right, I want to be ripped.
But they're at the cheesecake factory. Nothing you know wrong
with that. But if you're getting burgers and pizza all
the time, are you with you all that and chocolate
supporting your what you're thinking about? Right, it's not congruent. Right.
(13:46):
So number one is be appropriate. I mean, if you
want to get fit and you better what you better
eat the right food. You gotta get in a gym,
you gotta drink a lot of water, you gotta risk
your bodies, your muscles and whatever those That is the recipe.
If you want to look like that muscle fitness guy
on a front cover of a magazine of some sort,
well then guess what. There is a recipe to look
that way. Right, But do you have the discipline to
(14:07):
do that? So A is what? So A is appropriate.
C stands for consistency. Right, are you consistent with what
you want to do? That's key and right? Yeah. So
a lot of people they do it a little bit,
you know. They want to be a martial artists, right,
They see some martial art movie and they say, I
want to be like that martial art I want to
do that spinning hook gig. And they can't do it,
(14:28):
and they go try it for thirty days like, oh,
this wasn't meant to be. I'm just you know, I
don't have the body of what Bruce Lee or whatever.
You but man, you know, and people have all the excuses,
they have these air tight alibis. Consistency requires discipline, absolutely, Okay,
So that's what's what's t stands for tenacious, your tenacity
(14:49):
right and being you know, persevering on all those things
that you're supposed to despite what other people tell you.
Don't you know, don't do this. You know, you know,
you know how many people somebody wants to become a
mu position or an actor and everybody wants to rein
in on their parade. We'll get a real job. Don't
do this, staying focused, keeping those blinders exactly right, and
if you really want it, do it. Got it? Okay,
(15:11):
it's a solid principle. Second one, So the second one
is faith right knowing you know, you know your faith
is urtual necessarily, not just spiritual, right, but faith in
like you know it's gonna happen right, knowing that it's
like there's you already see the end, right result, and
just knowing it's going to happen for you. So it's
like yourself, yeah, absolutely, you know you don't need to
(15:33):
be validated, and you know that's the thing a lot
of people today, you know, they need validation, right, they
need approval. So they go post something on social media
and they're looking to see how many likes they got,
how many what shares or comments and they're looking for validation, right,
and so people need to learn how to make And
one of the other principles in the book is making
a decision. Right. You know, if you if you don't
(15:54):
know how to make a decision, you're you're asking for
everybody else's opinions, right, and you're like, what do you think?
What do you think? Should I what are your thoughts?
You need to stop looking for everybody else's approval of
validation and know that you should be validated by your
own one. How do you how do you approach making
a decision? So here's the thing, Like, that's a great question.
(16:15):
You know that I and you've got to make a
decision because the word D right or decide. The word
D means what to do. The word side means to die. Right,
that's what we got suicide, homicide, pesticide. Right, So you
take right, you know, you take those two words, make
the decision. You either do it or you don't. Okay,
well that's interesting, yeah, okay, so you know, and the
(16:37):
thing is, at the end of the day, you know,
people say, oh, yeah, I think a lot, I want this,
but I mean, but how big are you thinking? In
other words, how big are your dreams, right. I mean,
you know, you know, people they don't dream big enough.
Isn't it amazing when you approach a young child at
five six years old? They're dreamers, right, I mean they go, Man,
you go up to little Johnny, like Johnny when you
when you grow up? What do you want to be?
(16:59):
You know what Johnny's as he goes, I want to
be an astronaut. I'm gonna be an NBA basketball player, right,
I'm gonna be a what an Olympic gold medalist I'm
gonna be And you're like and and and these children
dream and then what are the parents do? The parents
come and says no, no, no, no, I want you
to go to college. I want you to get a degree, right,
(17:19):
and they start to what steal their dreams? Right? And
and that's you know. Dr Martin Luther King said that
most people die right, right, the most people die at
the age of twenty one. We just don't bury them
until they're eighty five, right, because by the time we
hit twenty one years of age, we've had all these
people influenced the way we think. Can we go back
(17:40):
to the word about what how do we think? What
do we put into our mind. What are you watching
on TV? You know if if you're watching news all
the time and you're watching you know, you're reading stuff
and you're on and it's just you're constantly putting negative
things into your head. Well, I guess what you think
that there's no hope, right, But if you're looking at
the other things, right, of all the positive things that
are going in live, right, all all the all these
(18:01):
different fruits will begin to manifest themselves. You know, in time,
you gotta give a time. I listen, I'm all about
eternal optimism and being positive. But at the same time,
I think you gotta be honest with yourself too, right,
And if I wanted to be an NBA player, I
know I'm not six ten or I can't post it up.
That's true. So there's certain things I think it isn't
in there a fine line though, where you need to
(18:22):
be sort of practical and realistic at the same time
and and just be honest with yourself about that and
then still keep that tenacious approach. Yeah, So you have
to be realistic, right, I mean, yeah, like I'm probably
not with my body not going to become a linebacker, right,
you know what I mean, I mean, I'm only what
five seven, five eight, right, we have a hundred and
seventy pounds, So me becoming a linebacker is probably not
(18:45):
gonna happen, you know what I mean? But yeah, you
know what I mean. Yeah, I mean, me become an
NBA basketball player is not gonna happen, right, But if
but if you have those you know, genes to do it,
why not you know? I mean? Right? No, exactly, no, exactly, Okay,
So I'm with you so far in these prints. But
now number three. So number three is you know it's
called auto suggestion, right, so, which means your self talk.
(19:08):
You know. Do you ever have your your conversations with yourself? Right? Um?
And and I do you know? I actually like driving,
you know, it's like one of my best times to
actually meditate, believe it or not, because I have these
conversations with myself. I kind of do too. To tell
you the truth, I'm in my mind and I'm not
talking out loudly, but yeah, I wander and thoughts sometimes
(19:29):
and just kind of meditate on stuff. That's a good
especially here in l because there's almost traffic right right,
you know, I mean I don't I like it you
know what I mean. So so that's three and you know, um,
I mean we can go through all thirteen principles. I
want to touch upon them lightly. I mean ultimately, I
I you think you get obviously the most from from
reading the book, but I just want to give them
a little like sort of tease. So it is important
(19:50):
to kind of keep yourself in check. And I think
always have that constant dialogue going on because they compliment.
It will help you make that decision better, help you
recognize what you're passions are. And the thing is, I
tell people all the time, even though if you know
what they are, you know people know what it is,
you still have to learn how to apply them into
(20:10):
your life, right because people know, okay, they all right,
I know how to lose weight, and I know, I mean,
I know what I gotta do. I know, I gotta exercise.
I know I got to eat the right food. But
it's so important to have a coach to help you
along the way, right. I mean, I have a coach
who comes over to my house, right because I'm trying
to get fit right now. You know, I want to
look like Mario Lopez, right because because I've seen here
(20:33):
you have a trainer. I have a trainer. Yeah, as
a trainer comes over, you know, and he put the
first thing. I come down the stairways and he's waiting
there with a scale, right, and what's he measuring? He
is looking at my body, my water and all that
kind of stuff. And so we we call that you
have to inspect what you expect. Right, So if you
constantly have somebody inspecting what you expect, there's there's some
(20:55):
sort of accountability there, right, So it's important to go
and find a coach who's gonna you know, so this
is a coach for your life, kind of like having
a coach for your life. Okay, I'm with I'm with it,
I'm with it. Okay, where do we leave off? Number four?
So number four is um uh is uh specialized knowledge? Right?
So having you know um, you know the right knowledge?
(21:18):
You know. So people like today's say, should I go
to college or should I not? Right? What depends on
what you want to do? I mean, if you want
to become a heart surgeon, where do you want to go? Yeah,
well you need Yeah you're not gonna go on YouTube
university and learn how to become a heart surgeon, right,
So yeah, I mean, so it's important to know. So
there's two different kinds of knowledge. One's called general knowledge,
of the one specialized knowledge. Well, since you since you
(21:39):
mentioned college, what are your thoughts on I mean, there's
a college admission scandal happening at the moment. You see
what parents will do to try to obviously cheating and
take shortcuts into getting their kids into certain universities. But
you also see thousands, if not millions of kids in
debt and basically paying off that debt for years to
(22:02):
come in their life. Is it does it hold as
much weight as it used to? Do you still feel
it's a necessity to being successful? Is that a tough
question since you've got kids? Yeah, I mean, you know
what I mean. So here's the thing. It is, especially
because Arlene and I both went to college, right, and
when you lost you know, we got our doctorates and
we got our masters and all that, and so coming
(22:25):
from that type of you know, programming, say you got
to go to college, right. My oldest son actually when
he graduated from high school. You know, it's interesting because
he actually um called up my office and he put
into my my calendar, uh, an official appointment, like he
wanted to meet me, and I walked out to my assistant.
I like that, yeah, And I was like, wait a second,
(22:47):
so is this somebody whose name is just like my
sons or is this my son Matt you know? And
there's like, no, what your son? I was like, so
he made an official meeting. When I'm yeah, I was like, wow,
all right. So we you know, we go to a
rest trym We sit in He's all dressed up in
business attire and he says, um, Dad, He says listen.
He goes, I, I just wanted to see if I
(23:07):
if you can give me fifteen minutes to speak freely,
and then at the end of that fifteen minutes you
can you can talk all you want, right, and and
I just want, you know, to to tell you where
I am in my life. I said, okay, great, and
he says, so, first of all, I've decided I don't
want to go to college. Oh he hit you with that. Yeah.
I go what and he goes, Dad, seriously, you said
you're gonna give me fifteen minutes. I'm like, yeah, all right,
(23:29):
that's when I gotta hear this and he says to me,
goes Dad, He goes, now, let's talk about why you'd
want me to go to college, because if I go
to college, you're gonna say, well, it's gonna be a
great experience. Well, what kind of experience? You know, the
party live, you know what I mean, the social life,
you know what I mean some of these people. And
I was like, or the fact that I'm gonna go
in and I'll have more what confidence? And he goes,
(23:51):
If that's true. I've been a lot of people who
have gone to college and they don't have that kind
of confidence. Right, I'm gonna you know what I mean?
And they said, uh, you know there's a lot of
people you've very go to college. They become smarter, and
they might be very you know, they might be intellectual,
but all these people lack common sense. Right. So I mean,
you just had like a list of like thirty different
things of why you know it wouldn't be warning him
(24:13):
to go to college, and you're listening. I'm listening, and
I'm like, all right, buddy, And I said, so he goes,
and he goes. At the end of the day, he goes.
You know, you're always on stage and you're talking about
how you have to go and find yourself a mentor.
And I see how you're all you're always mentoring all
these people. They come over to the house, you're mentoring them,
you're coaching them, and they're all making six seven figure incomes.
(24:36):
He's like, I was wondering if you could, if you
could just mentor me. It's pretty it's a pretty tough
I mean, a pretty good sell. I didn't what did
you say? So I was like, uh, he goes, I mean,
because what what better mentor than my own father to
be my own mentor? Oh? He hit you with the
I like this kid, yeah right, yeah, And I was like,
you try to get you on the soft spot there,
(24:57):
and it's kind of like, but you know what, what
a great compliment it too right to have, you know,
to have your own child look at you and say, hey,
you know I want you to be my mentor. And
how did you respond to you? It's a very clever
way to get out of Yeah. I meant, first I
have to take a moment from not like crying like
a little baby, you know what I mean, because it
was an emotional moment there, you know. And then I
kind of looked at him and said, hey, buddy, I said,
(25:19):
you know whatever, you do, I'll support you, I'll mentor you,
I'll coach you, aft and and and and he said
thanks Dad, and he goes, so, I'm I won't be
going to college and I will be working under you.
And I was like, how did mom feel about that?
And I said, oh, that's a that's a crazy thing.
And I said all right, and I said, but I
think you have one. We're gonna have one obstacle budding.
(25:39):
And he says, what is it? And I said, You're
gonna have to overcome this with your mother. And he
goes exactly, and he goes, that's why I wanted to
see if you can be at the meeting. When I
talked about I like this kid. I like this kid
because because man, he goes the two of us, I
think we can close Mom. And I was like, so,
I was like, I think this when you're on your own. Okay,
I want find my marriage nice and happy and I
(26:02):
really don't want to get in between all that kind
of stuff. Did Mom eventually succumb? Yeah? I mean, well,
so he did the same thing. So he picked the
same restaurant, the same booth, he wore the same suit,
and he got in there and Arlene showed up and
he said, Mom, I need fifteen minutes, and he did
the whole thing and she said okay, and he says, mom,
I'm not going to college, and she laid in on him.
(26:23):
He didn't get fifteen seconds. Are you with me on that?
Like she said, you college body? And that's it. I
don't care about doo doo doo doo, you know what
I mean. And of course you didn't say those kind
of things. You know, She's just a classy lady and so.
But so they had to compromise. So he ended up
taking some general ed classes at a local university, you know,
and he was a compromise, yea, a compromise. So he's
(26:44):
taking a few units, you know what I mean. But
you know, I mean, here's a kid who's making a
multiple six figure income right now, and uh, he's like saying,
he goes, Dad, he goes, why don't need to call
a college? I make more money than the professor does.
I'm like, well, it's not just about the money, all right,
it's a out. You know, are you challenging this right
your mind? You know? Are you in the right environment?
(27:06):
You know? They say that if you're the smartest guy
in the room, you're in the wrong room, right. I mean,
if you're the wealthiest guy in the room, again, you're
in the wrong room. You know, you want to go
and seek out people who are going to challenge you
and and make you think different. And this is one
of the things that Napoleon Hill talks about, is creating
a mastermind. Right. So, I certainly I'm always growing. I'm
not where I'm at right now, and I know you're
(27:27):
not where you're at, right. I mean, you know, Mario
is always trying to get better. Right. So a lot
of people right now are bitter, right, and they'd love
to play the game playing game. But don't be bitter,
just get better, That's what I tell people, you know
what I mean. And so absolutely there's no question about that. Okay,
we we left off. Thank you for sharing that. We
left off at number five. Yeah, I believe. So what's
(27:49):
number number six? So if ive was imagination, right, and
then uh six is organized planning? Right? And just when
you're talking about imagination, going back to that, right, let
me let's look at somebody who had one of the
most unbelievable imaginations, right, which is Walt Disney. I mean,
who would have ever thought that. When he was going
to create this theme park, everybody thought he was a nutcase, right,
(28:11):
everybody thought he had lost his marbles, right, you know,
and and he did it, and look at today, it's
the happiest place on this planet, they say, right, yeah,
I mean, yeah, you know you're buying a six dollar
pickle and you're still happy. I got a six dollar
over six months, right, yeah, exactly, But I know I
get it. Yeah, but you know it's imagination, you know
(28:32):
the things that he's done, and look at the movies
that you know, Walt Disney is producing all that. I mean,
it just makes you think differently, you know, flexing those
CREATI muscles absolutely, you know. And then the next one
is um is planning. You know that's the next one. Yeah,
so six part yeah, so six is like having that
organized plan, knowing how you're and so people I always say,
(28:53):
people don't plan to fail, right, but they failed to
plan right. So people are like, Okay, so John, I
got this idea. I want to do it all right,
show me with your plan, show me your business plan.
How do you get this done? Well, it's just an idea,
like it was up here and I'm like, yeah, but
how are you going to go and execute this thing?
You know what I mean? So there's got to be
a plan behind it. And he talks about that in
the book and how you get organized planning going on. See,
(29:16):
I've always been a big believer in writing stuff down,
visually putting it up and trying to I need a
visual to want to achieve um certain goals or or
benchmarks right too and too, And I've had I don't
know that just subconsciously that helps me, but it just
it um it motivates me to have that visual sort
(29:40):
of plans. So yeah, no, I get okay, right. So
then he goes on and he talks about and we
talked Number seven is decision, So we talked about decide right,
do or die right? Uh. Number eight is persistence and
that's something we all know, right staying on at consistency.
We talked about that Number nine was the master of
the uh is the power of the master mind, you know,
(30:00):
getting all the right people around you. So, you know,
that's tough for a lot of people because sometimes you're
a product of your environment, or you grow up in
a certain neighborhood, or you've got some lazy friends that
just want to either they want to hang on get high,
or they are they're just up to no good or
in trouble, or or maybe they're just not as ambitious. Right,
So you can conflict it about kind of leaving guys
(30:22):
you grew up with, but it really as as I've
grown older, my circle has gotten a little bit smaller,
and it's just it's like you don't I just I
don't know something clicked. Where's like I don't have time
for this and you're with me or or you're not
right peace out? Yeah, I have to ech. But those
are hard decisions that you do have to that you
do have to make because just like uh, that old
adage goes where one stone sharpens another, one man has
(30:43):
to sharpen another and you gotta keep moving forward, right,
So it really is about the company you keep, Yeah,
it is, you know. And and then of course you
know some people may not be creative, right, and some
people may not have the technical understanding. So you want
to so like, for instance, you know, I don't I
have a team of people around me, and I'm I've
got the created the creativity, but I don't have somebody
(31:04):
who can go and do all the editing on my videos. Right,
So that's just not my forte. So I hire somebody
to do that, right, Um, I hire somebody else to
to do all the marketing because that may not be
my forte, you know what I mean. So you create
people that your weaknesses, you know, so that you bounce
yourself out. Like you said, you don't want to be
the smartest guy in the room. So it's always, I imagine,
(31:24):
better to have smarter people than you around you. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah,
you know, keep and check for that because a lot
of people do on that, but I'm all about it. Yeah.
Number ten is probably the most controversial one, right, and
he calls it the mystery of sex transmutation? Right, what
the hell's that? Sex transmutation? That sounds sounds naughty and
(31:44):
confusing all at the same time. So I need to
find that. Well, basically what he talks about. And later
on in in Napoleon Hills Works, he got very meta science,
you know, he started getting into the whole science of
of why the way we're all wired right in so
so in other words, he talks about like if you
if you take a bull, right, a bull is a bull.
(32:06):
But if you castrate that bull. Okay, it becomes it
becomes a dolphile, dolphile as a cow. Right. And so
what he's talking about is that sex, what drive that
people have that's in us, right, that that if you
take that same amount of energy and channel it into, right,
the things that you want to accomplish. Right, And so
(32:27):
he talks about the energy. He's talking about that inner
energy inside you. So it's a very profound chapter, very controversial.
You know, it's probably the most controversial chapter of the book. Well,
when that sort of energy is really flowing is when
you're young, obviously high and uh, that's when you get
sort of blinded exactly and easily distracted, at least I did. So.
(32:51):
But if if you're going back to the principles, discipline
enough to stay focused and do that and be able
to channel all that. So it's a tall task, but
you gotta keep yourself check and if you have certain
people to help keep you in checking out of the
same mindset, and then yeah, you can, uh, you can
work towards achieving whatever does he want? That's right, that's right. Yeah.
And then he goes on and he talks about the
(33:11):
subconscious mind, right, and what we think about on the inside, right,
And the subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between real
and fake. It's just it's it's in there. But it's
about programming. And what happens is it becomes it becomes
like an instinct. Right. And so this is why when
you're doing martial arts, okay, and you like people, you know,
like when I and I did martial arts for twenty
(33:31):
five years, right, So I competed, that started, I started
a five years of age. I competed, you know, and
and and and so we did three in our school.
We did taekwondo, right, judo and hop ydaw right, so
that you kind of know how to defend yourself in
all different scenarios, right, if it's a distance or if
you're clothes or girl on the ground or whatever it is.
(33:53):
And so I started competing and uh and then and
you know, it's interesting because when I competed at our school,
it took us seven years to get a black belt, right,
And there's no if what's our butts? Like, I mean,
they tell you straight up to become a black belt,
it's seven years, right. And there's a takeaway from this
because when people started coming to our school, they didn't
have the patience and they want to get that black
belt instantaneously. And then a school opens up down the
(34:15):
street and they said black belts are two years. Okay, great,
So so now so here's a guy we go to
a tournament, and here's a guy who goes into a
black belt division, right, who's only had two years of training, right,
two hours a day, right, three times a week. And
at our school, you had to go five days a week, right,
minimum six days, but it took seven years to get there.
(34:38):
So now imagine the two of us getting into a
rain exactly, are gonna be huge. Wow, that's even uh,
you know for jiu jitsu it's ten years, which is yes,
would really really opinion your due. You are, you know,
and then when you come out that's why you don't
you know, you're good at what you do, right, But
these people would show up students, young people, and they
want to be able to do all of those spinning
(35:00):
hug kicks or whatever you want to call them, and uh,
as they're doing it, they're realizing how how hard it is.
It's it's it's it's it's like, how came we're doing
the same thing over and over and over. Every day
it's the same you know, basic punches and the same blocking,
and it's always the basics, over and over and over.
And finally it is because it becomes instinctual. Right, so
(35:20):
you don't have to think about it. If I see
a punch coming my I've done it so many times
that even whether I'm doing it consciously or unconsciously, my
arm just goes up and it does the blocks exactly right.
It becomes instinct. And so this is why it's so
important that subconscious mind has to get programmed right. And
so I tell people that we're wired for success, but
we're programmed to fail, right because you're created by you
(35:45):
know whoever your whoever your creator is or I don't
want to preach here, but you know I I know
who my creator is, okay, And I know that I'm
a piece, right because I tell everybody you're the fact,
you're a miracle child. Every person who's born is a
miracle and self. They say that for every person who's born,
the chances of you becoming born is one point five
trillion to one. Right, So you're a miracle baby, right,
(36:08):
And so I say you're a masterpiece. You are absolutely
a masterpiece, because you're a piece of the master right,
So why would you ever doubt yourself? Right? And so
I know that as long as I sit there, right,
And I said, this is why we're wired for success,
but program to fail? Why are we program to fail?
Because who do we listen to? Right? We listen to
people who are broke typically, you know, I mean, I say,
(36:29):
be careful who you take constructive criticism from, right, because
those people usually have never done anything with their life.
There who usually people said given out most of the
advice that you're you're broke as friends? Yeah there, yeah, right,
those usually are give it a so called quote advice. Yeah,
you're trying to take care of your right or look
it out? Okay, okay, So we got to subconsciousers. We
(36:51):
had a program that okay, and then uh, the next
one is the brain use the brain, right, And he
talks about how the brain works, you know, and there's
a whole the brain because the study of the brain
is just such a miraculous thing. You know. One of
the things that Steve and I were talking about Steve
Aoki and I said, you know what is what is
one of the charities that that we really want to
go and support, you know what cause. And everybody's got
(37:13):
a cause and there's a reason for it, right because
they've personally experienced it themselves or they know someone close
to them is going through that. But people say, John,
what is it? What is it that you fear? John?
Do you have any kind of fear? And I say, usually,
I don't have any fear, you know, And there's a
different acronym for fear, right, because what does it stand for?
You know, um Tony Robbins calls it false evidence that
appears real? Right, I got my acronym for fear is
(37:35):
feeling excited and ready. Right, I don't have any fear,
you know what I mean. I don't let fear control me.
I I control whatever is gonna you know, change me.
But I do have concerns, you know, things that concern me.
And my my biggest concern is is the brain is
you know, is losing my memory? You know what I mean?
Because that would be my biggest you know concern is
(37:56):
that I won't remember my own children, or I won't
remember later in life my experiences that I had this
journey in life with my wife. Right, I want, I want,
I want to die with all those experiences and memories,
you know, and the fact that somebody can have Alzheimer's,
you know, I mean, what causes Alzheimer's, what causes dementia?
Because that that is something that I want to find
(38:17):
the cure for, right and so, uh Napoleon Hill does
does a lot of research in his book and talks
about the brain and how it works and how most
of us are not even using one percent of one
percent of one percent of one percent of our brain,
you know, because it's a very powerful thing, you know.
You hear that a lot. That's interesting. I'm sure that
the debreed, did we did we leave off the principle? Uh? Yeah,
(38:38):
no In the final of the final one is the
sixth cents? Right, which is that gut? You know? And
some people call the universe, some people call it energies.
I mean, whatever it is, you know, the infinite intelligence,
that soul, whatever it is. For me, it's just it's
my gut, you know what I mean, Like I trust
my gut all the time. You know, something tells me
there's something wrong with that guy. I've always found a
(38:59):
hundred percent times something wrong with that guy. So intuition,
absolutely intuition is powerful. Go with your guy. So thank you.
By the way, we obviously lightly touched upon all the
principles just just to hear them. And and uh, we
all in your book, we we were. I know you
really go into details. But I'm always about I always
like having in life a certain infrastructure, whatever it is,
(39:22):
writing stuff down, putting it out there, and having certain
go to and have something to reference, right, whether it's spirituality.
I mean, I happen to be a spiritual guy, So
I like having something to go back and determined right
from wrong aside of what to do. And all these
people that back in the day this reporter spoke to
(39:42):
and over this long period of time, essentially all these
um successful men are they saying like they they essentially
all adopted these principles to a certain all of that
that was the common thread, that was a common denominator
of all of these individuals, you know. And and it's
crazy because if I look at people today and I'll say,
(40:03):
and I'm as I'm interviewing them for you know, different things,
and I'll say, what do you attribute your success to?
You know? And it could be different things. Whether they're
an Olympic gold medalist, right, or they're they're a competitive
fighter or a business person or someone whatever it is.
I say, have you read thinking grow Rich? Like, oh no,
I haven't, right, And I said, great, So what is it?
Isn't it crazy that they still will say it's one
(40:24):
or more of those thirteen in grade. They just happen
to be doing it without either knowing it exactly, and
so it's spelled out to you. You mentioned Tony Robbins
a little earlier. How I don't know if you've ever
been do any of the seminars? Yes you have? How
is how do I haven't? So? How was his approach
different or does he incorporate a lot of the same principles? Oh?
No question about it. Really. Yeah. In fact, if you
(40:45):
look at all the speakers today, whether it's a the
John Maxwells or the Tony Robbins or any other motivational speaker.
There was a movie that came out to years ago
called The Secret, and everybody was like, what's the secret?
You know what I mean? Like, what is it? And yeah,
putting out you managed exactly right? The law of attraction
and all that kind of love, all that stuff. Yeah,
I'm always fascinated and I love all that stuff. All
(41:06):
that stuff comes right from that book. They can grow rich.
Yea there in the same yeah, not ever that same space,
in that same world. So is it really like just
kind of hearing it a certain way that makes it
click for some people. That's what it is. Right at
the end of the day. It's kind of like I'm
coaching my son. I came to this realization recently. I
grew up UM wrestling and I did pretty well and
(41:32):
it was a state champion whatever. So I'm excited to
kind of have my son take these classes. And when
I was growing up, I didn't have my My old
man didn't he didn't wrestle. He just used a show
for the tournaments, and say that's my boy went. But
now when because I have all this knowledge and I
know all the nuances and everything that goes into it UM,
(41:53):
I want to help him and I want to coach him.
But he gets mad and he he we but heads
a lie because he doesn't like me telling him anything,
and I get so frustrated as a parent. And then
something I heard something the other day and it kind
of registered. One of the coaches, whose father was a
champion wrestler and coach Tim said Mario, you're when your
your son's gonna hear I'm gonna take direction different from you.
(42:16):
You hear it different from your father. You take it
very personal and so kind of registered. And I'm like, okay,
I get it, and he goes you watch me tell
him the same thing in the little apply and sure
enough he told the same direction. I was doing it
like five minutes later, and he clicked, and he clicked
in registers. So sometimes, you know, I was like, I
gotta pull back. I get it. So even as I'm
still growing, I'm still learning as a as and I
(42:38):
still want to learn. But in now, when you have
children too, it is all about the way you're going
to communicate and the way you're gonna hear something like
this goes a long way around to the point I
was making it. It is all about how you hear it.
Maybe when you hear it or who you hear it
from that makes it click, makes it register. So I
have to pull back at the chill in that sense.
(43:01):
But that's my point. So he heard it from somebody
else that and maybe now even as an adult, someone
hears something from someone else, an individual. I'll reads a
book or whatever. Here's you speak on stage and the
register and he could click and he could help them
in a way. See that's interesting. Yeah, and and and
I'm in the same boat, like you know, it's like
mike just all my kids, like I'll tell him, Okay,
(43:23):
you need to do this, and you need to do this,
you know, and they would tell me, like, Dad, stop
telling me how to do it or what to do,
and and it's crazy. And I'm telling them that, right,
And then they're coming from a place to love, like
because I want to help them, right, you want to
help them exactly their father. But then and then my
mother friend will come along and say the same thing,
and it's like, Dad, did you hear what Mikey just said? Yeah,
(43:43):
Mikey just said this. And I'm like my inside voice
is saying, I've been telling you that the whole time,
and now you'll you take him right. But you know,
and what I always tell parents to what to do.
The most important thing a parent can do is um
is CPR. You're instead of like CPR your kids, because
everybody needs to be resuscitated every day, right, because we
get beat up every day just verbally just whatever it
(44:05):
is our work, boss, somebody, so I always tell people,
just just EPR. Right, people every day you know cprs
where you're you know, you're giving them mouth to mouth
chest compressions. You get the electrical thing. And so EPR
is how you revive people every day, right, e is
(44:26):
to encourage daily. Right, you gotta encourage people every day.
Everybody needs it. I need it. Everybody's like you know,
who motivates the motivator, you know what I mean, like yourself. No,
it's nonsense. I need somebody to come and say, man,
you know, encourage me and all that kind of stuff,
right John, Yeah, thanks. So then p is praise, okay,
(44:47):
and then our is recognized. Right, So you have to
e PR people on a daily basis. So one thing
I do with my kids would be a better way,
would be a world to be better if we EPR
every every day every day. You can never EPR too much,
you know what I mean? And I ep are my
kids on a daily basis. Yeah, there's nothing I call
my kids the champ. You know what I mean, You're
you're the champ. You're the champ. Parents should do that
to their kids. And by the way, why not your coworkers. Absolutely,
(45:09):
people just come across and you build each other up
and you got to go. That's cool man. The EPR, Well,
there's so much we can obviously talk about and stuff
we go down. I like that we touched upon these principles. Um,
and I think it really is fascinating. I love a
story about your son too. With with college. Where can
people uh find you or or if they want to
hear you speak? And and um uh talk about a
(45:31):
lot of these princes in length. Oh that's great. Um,
we are actually going on a world tour, I mean here.
You know, it's interesting that I wanted to just get
my book out. And the book is called How Rich
Asians Think? Right, And so I want to get it
out to everybody because I want crazy rich Asians, not
crazy rich Asians, know what I mean, but crazy yeah,
but you gotta parlay that title. So but how do
(45:53):
they think? And so as I'm gonna go on, I'm
gonna go on a tour, you know, and talk about
my book and get people think differently, you know. And
then some friends came along and said, I want to
go with you, and I want to go with you.
And next thing I know, there's about sixty different speakers
who have called me and said I want to go
on this tour with you. So now we're doing this
world tour. We're going to twelve countries, we're doing fifty
(46:14):
cities around the globe, and we're going we're starting right
here at the Anaheim Convention Center on May three and fourth, right,
and uh, you know, tickets are online at t g
R World Tour dot com. You know, t g R
World Tour dot com. And you know there's uh if somebody,
if somebody wants, like we have a little tap if
you if you really want to be a volunteer because
(46:34):
you can't afford it, right, they come and work it,
you know what I mean, Like, you know, because you
can't afford it. I'm not we're not trying to make money.
We're just trying to teach you and guide you. But
it does cause money to fly on all these speakers
and house them and rent the facilities and all that.
So we're trying to just you know, cover our cause.
But if you can't afford it, then coming, you know,
click the link or or or hit me on Instagram
and and uh dm me and we'll definitely get you in.
(46:56):
You gotta do a little work. You know, work the
work and be a volunteer, help with the security or whatever.
You get a free ticket, you know what I mean. Now,
if that's not the case and you want to come
and be in the room because you don't want to work, right,
then you know, it's a couple of hundred bucks, you know.
And so we just want everybody to show up to
blow up, right, That's what's it's all about. Show up
to blow up. You gotta show up to blow up
up EPR. That's right. Good away with all kinds of stuff.
(47:18):
I'm feeling better already. So John Man, thank you for
your time. Absolutely super great time, had a great time,
Good luck on the tour. Thanks so, don't forget new
episodes and listen to Mario dropping every Friday all on
Mario dot com to catch up on the podcast, and
please make sure you follow listen to Mario on I
Heart Radio and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you
(47:41):
get podcasts. More fun next week. Thank you so much
for listening.
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