Transcript of Episode 532: Building Focus and Follow Through With the Habits & Hustle Book Club

Hi, guys. It's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.

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Hello, and welcome to another solo episode on Habits & Hustle, where I'm joined by the one and only Shani. Hello. Yes, who's the best foil of all time. And I'm lucky enough, she's gracing me and you with her presence. So thank you for being here.

Thank you. So happy to be here.

So you know what we're going to talk about today?

What are we talking about?

Book clubs.

Oh, my God. First of all, I love book I know that you just launched one, and I signed up immediately.

I love that you did. You know that book clubs are trending again?

They are. I've seen quite a few people popping up with book clubs. I saw a sub stack the other day with one. That was cool.

Do you know why?

Why?

Because I think people are getting exhausted by just consumption and doomscrolling on social media. I think people are the comparison... Number one, everything you see there on social is very, very polarizing, right? Listen, I'm part of the problem. I'm not polarizing necessarily. My personality can be polarizing at times. But I think that the constant, the barrage of just a lot of the same information being told over and over again. And it also creates this this polarization. If you're a vegan or a meat eater, if you're one and you're someone else on the other side, then there's this fighting, I think the doomscrolling in general, the amount of time and hours that you spend just wasting valuable time is, I think, starting to dawn on people. That is probably not the greatest thing. And I think the comparison angle, I think people are sick of seeing people that make them feel bad about themselves. And if you actually think about this, how often or when have you doomscrolled? Or when were you on socials? And then you You got off it after 20 minutes and you felt great about yourself.

That I got off of it?

No, that you got off it and you felt like you felt revitalized and refreshed.

Oh, yeah. I mean, every time I put my phone down, I feel better. I think that it's just so intense. There's so much on here. Just the notifications, the things that are coming through, even when you're just... I don't know. There's so much imagery. You're scrolling through an Instagram feed. You see so many different faces, so many different opinions, so many different sounds. It's so stimulating.

Right. And also, it doesn't benefit you in any way. No. That's the thing. You can't even probably remember 99 % of the things that you see. I don't.

I have a wild memory.

Okay, well, I'm telling you, I don't. Maybe be my age, and you'll see how your memory depletes. But I don't remember half the things that I see. And I think that once I'm off of it, I'm always like, well, that didn't make me feel better. That didn't improve my life. One iota. Maybe I learned something from one one real or another.

One minute segment of that 20 minutes may be valuable.

Right. But then I don't remember it anyway. Why I'm even saying all of this is that I think that there's been now Now, there's been a shift that where people are valuing social connection, personal connection more than ever. And I think that's one reason why I think book clubs are becoming popular regular again. I think that the other reason is I think so, the feeling of having a community, something to talk about that's out of your own head, and something that can benefit you. In my book club that we just started, so if you haven't signed up or you haven't joined, please do just go to jennifercohen. Com. It's free. There's no gimmick, by the way. There's no like, Oh, sign up, and then we're going to get you for some like 999 a month thing. There's no funnel, trust me. You're a six-week core because you're not coming out. Yeah, my six-week core is on nothing. No, no, no. Every book that we choose and basically read is something that can be beneficial to you. It's like self improvement to some extent. So either behaviorally, cognitively, emotionally, we're going to hopefully learn something, and then we can talk about it every month at the end of the month.

Anyway, I just think it's a really... I think also people need to read more. Yeah. Bottom lines, I was like, that was a long ass way of saying, we need to get off of our phones and start to do things that are more productive, more valuable, that will benefit us more than just like doomscrolling, which is a very long-winded way of saying, read more.

Absolutely. I started not going on social media during Shabbat or trying to, and it's genuinely helpful. Because I work in it so much, I'm always seeing everything. I always have to be on it. It's exhaustive.

Well, I also think it's just extremely addictive. I just think that it's never enough. What I think is... And by the way, I'm not talking from my white castle. It's your white cast My white castle. I'm a victim of this myself. I feel whenever I have a moment free, I'm always just reaching for my phone. I'm always just scrolling TikTok. I'm always- Oh, are you on TikTok? I'm on TikTok, and I'm on Instagram. I'm an Instagammer. Yeah. But TikTok has some great information. There's some great news. No, what I think I get stuck on with TikTok is the shopping because of all the shopping that you can do. I'm starting to shift from buying stuff on Amazon, and now I'm buying things more regularly on TikTok. So not only am I just doomscrolling, and I'm spending money on the most stupid shit you could possibly I can't imagine. Do you know how many white powders I bought for my teeth? No, so many. What do you call it? Not white, not cocaine. What do you call it? Like, bleaching, not like you dip your... What do you call it? I don't know. You put your chocolate, you put your toothbrush in this powder, and then you brush your teeth.

It's supposed to give you a really whitening, like a whitening. Like a whitening. Like, teeth whitening polish.

You're buying that stuff off of TikTok?

I bought five different ones because every commercial that comes up says, This one's the best. No, no, no, this one's the best. I'm like, Okay, I'll try that one. Oh, no, I bought the wrong one. So not only am I just spending money stupidly, but that's why I like TikTok, because I think that, number one, some of the things I see there is more entertaining. And like I said, I love TikTok shop.

So funny because I keep trying to convince my friend to do live shopping videos with me. I just feel like it would be so fun.

Oh, I'm going to do that. Are you? Yeah. I'm learning I'm not thinking how to do that right now because I think it's a It's easy. It's a missed opportunity. It is. Do you know that in Asia, 95 % of the content is- It's shopping? It's shopping. It's shopping. It's a bit insane. And Here in America, I think it's only like five %. So we're not, of course, we're not caught up to what they're doing, even close.

But do we want to be? Do we want that? Do we want 95 % of our content to be shopping related?

I don't think I do. Okay, listen, what's better? That or just basically politics basically making you- My feed is- Or is it just or hate Venom? Is that better for you?

No, I want dogs and food and comedy and the good stuff. Show me some travel.

So you know what my algorithm is now is really funny. What is it? I want to know what your algorithm is.

We should switch feeds.

We should. I'd love to see what you're seeing because I'll tell you something interesting. I was with my friend Emily. I guess we were somewhere, went on some trip. And what we noticed was what I see on my social media is extremely different than what she's seeing. Our algorithms are totally different. I'm sure. She was getting all these things on topics and things that I just had no... I get nothing on. I'm sure. I'm getting things that are things that I'm looking for. I was getting... I love stand-up comedy, so I get a ton of comedy. I get a ton of fitness stuff, like workouts, comedy. And what was it? Oh, that's basically what I get a lot of. I wasn't really getting much politics anymore or a lot of food stuff. I used to get more food. But what's so interesting is if you just like one thing, your whole feed becomes that. And so I just love all the comedy stuff because it makes me happy and laugh, then that's now what I'm getting. But it's still doomscrolling, and I still don't like.

Okay, so I have the biggest dilemma with that, right? Because I get fed the I have an occasional dog that needs a home post. I love dogs, but I used to work with rescues, and my Facebook feed is all just shelters and rescues. Oh, wow. So I can never log on to there anymore because I used to only share dogs that needed homes. So I'm so tired. Do I want to create Instagram as this space now where I'm just going to keep getting fed these dogs? But then I can't not like it because I just want to help with the exposure. So I will like it and scroll really fast in hopes that Instagram- You think that the speed would make a difference?

Yeah. They know that you liked it if you went through with it?

No, but I like it, and I didn't watch the full thing. So it's like, Oh, okay. So maybe she doesn't love it that much. If you watch something multiple times over and over again, the algorithm is- Oh, so you think because if you like it and scroll fast, then they won't just flood your algorithm. They haven't yet. It's still like one in every 30.

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Okay, what other things are you getting on your algorithm?

I mean, I get a lot of funny stuff, sketches, hilarious things. I saw there was some teenager singing some song, and then she had her hamster, and she held it up to the screen and the hamster did the rap part because it was chattering its teeth. I get that stuff.

It's hilarious. Oh, interesting. That's what you get? Okay. That's so funny. Okay, so you get comedy, too. I guess because we both do like comedy.

I get funny. Yeah, but I get less... Well, I do get some stand-up here and there, but I get more sketches, just funny things, viral clips, families doing hilarious things. A lot of dogs, a lot of dogs.

A lot of funny things, though. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's good. So why do you think clubs are popular besides the reasons why I said?

I think people are looking to make sense of things. And once you read one book that helps you make sense of one thing, you realize, oh, there are books out here that can help me do that. And then you get into it and you're like, what else can I make sense of?

Also, though, don't you think reading is just important in general?

Yeah, I think it's also a really pleasurable experience. I like sitting with a book. My eyes feel better reading a book, obviously, than being on some device. And I think it's something that you can I don't know. It's a great activity.

Are you going to be... That's a good question. I mean, that's a good point. You just said something that I was just going to say I've been thinking about. Are you going to be doing the actual reading or are you going to be doing the audible?

It depends on the book. Some books I'd rather read and some books I'd rather listen to. If the author is narrating it and it's an interesting story to hear, or it's an autobiography and the person is narrating it, then I find that really nice to listen on Audible. If there's some value add, it also depends on where I am in life. Am I super busy? Do I have time? Am I multitasking this? Some books I'll do both.

Yeah, that's good. So you buy the hard copy and then you also do the Audible?

Yeah. Sometimes I've done that. If I really want to consume something, I will listen and read.

Do you know what I like about the Book Club? Not to interrupt you, I'm sorry. No, please. Is I like the idea of you have a finite period of time to read a book because when you do have spare moments or you'll pick up that book because you have to finish it versus going on social media, right? I like that idea better. Or it will force you also to maybe go for a walk for 20 minutes so then you can maybe listen to the book.

Yeah, or to just finish it. I find finishing books is my biggest struggle always.

And then also finishing the art of accomplishing a task, right? It's so important for everything that I speak about, right? So if you know you have a task or a book that you have to complete by a finite period of time, then it would help you be accountable for other areas of your life. So for me, that's one of the reasons why I even decided to create this book club, because of the fact that it gives somebody accountability to themselves. It's teaching you to finish something that you started. It's giving you a finite period of time where you have to finish something. It's also stopping you potentially from going on social media and maybe picking up that book with those potential 20, 10 minutes that you have available or free and doing something that will expand your brain, help you learn, all the things like that. So I think there's so many benefits to it, which is why I wanted to do it. And like I said, there was nothing in it for me. It wasn't like, oh, I'm going to get something out of it. I also think when you need something for yourself, those are the best times to do something for everybody else and to put it out there to the world.

Because if you need it, chances are other people need it, too.

Yeah. And this also helps keep you accountable in reading books, which is going to be great.

A hundred %. I mean, listen, I have to read a lot for this podcast, but a lot of- I don't know how you keep up with that. Well, it's hard, but I will say some of the books I have to skim through when I'm not terribly interested or the topic actually... No, seriously, not just because I'm covering something on the podcast doesn't mean it's going to be a Book Club book. Even Because the first book that we're covering now, which is The Courage to be Disliked, is not a book that I covered on the podcast. I never talked to the authors. They weren't on the podcast. But I chose to read that book as a hobby thing because I've heard good things about it. And that's when it sparked in my brain, you know what? I'm going to tell so and so about it and so and so about it. And then I'm like, hey, why don't we just start a podcast about it? Sorry, not a podcast, a book club about it. And like I said, just the books are not going to be... They're not going to be the same. Some may have overlap, but that's not the point.

Are you ever going to do novels or it's just going to be...

No, I don't think I want to do novels right now. Right now, I want to stick to books that I think that people can really get a lot of value out of. There's a lot of books out there that I think, like me, I haven't had a chance to read that I've heard a lot about that I want to read. Like There's a book like, Psychology of money.

All these books- Oh, psychology also on my list. Really?

Yeah. I think that's going to be the second book. That's a good book. Because this is what happens in the podcast, or when you have a podcast, is that you have all these guests who have new books that come out, and then you have to read that new book or as much as you can of it before they come on your show, which then takes up a lot of time where I can't read the books that I have on my wish list of books to read, which is another reason why I wanted to start the book club. So then I can actually give myself an excuse or a reason to read a book that I just otherwise wouldn't have the chance to read.

So how's it going to work? You guys are going to meet on Zoom once a month? Yeah. Okay, great. And we just got the link in our email? Yeah.

So it's funny. We're trying to work it out now because so far, I'm not sure how many... We have a lot of signups, people who have signed up, but a lot of people drop off. So this is all about the accountability piece. How accountable are you to yourself? How much are you going to follow through? So of the amount of people we have right now, I would be curious to see how many people actually stay and show up at the end of the month. I'd be curious.

I hope I'm one of those people.

I know. You may not even be one of them. Well, I think, and what we're going to do is we're going to have a recording. So if people can't make that particular time, because listen, life does happen and you can't accommodate everybody, but we're going to have a recording, and then you can listen afterwards, or you could hopefully listen afterwards, but come to the next one. We're not expecting everyone to be able to show up all the time because, like I said, it's a timing thing. But yeah, right now, it's about doing it on Zoom.

I love it. I'm excited. Everybody should join. Right.

Everyone join the Book Club. I'm telling you, you will be happy you did. There's so many benefits beyond just reading a book. Also, guys, if you are on YouTube, and or not on YouTube, if and whatever, please subscribe to the podcast because that's how people know about us, because the more subscriptions you have, the more it goes out there in the ether. If you can comment and subscribe, I would love it if you did that. Thank you, and have a wonderful day. Bye now.