Transcript of The Daily Habits Behind Endless Income - Garrett Gunderson

Welcome to The Proven Podcast, where we don't care what you think, only what you can prove. If you ever want to sit around a bunch of entrepreneurs and listen to their proven tactics on what they do and how they do it and what their routines look like, this is the episode for you. Garrett and I sit down so much so that we're going to have to do another episode just to talk about the finance stuff. This episode is about our routines, about the things that we've seen that create success and really what it's like when we all sit down and talk to each other. The show starts now. All right, everybody, welcome back to the show. I'm really excited to have my guests on. Thanks, man. Thanks for coming on. I appreciate you.

Yeah, it's been fun chatting until we got to the show, like right away, you know, I, you know, just hit it off. So look forward to this.

So for the 4 or 5 people on the planet who aren't lucky enough to know who you are, let's get everybody caught up. Who are you? What do you do? How'd you get here?

I grew up in a small coal mining town, so I didn't come from money, but I teach money, you know, so when I was a teenager, I won $5,000 being the Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the state of Utah. And I wanted to invest that money, but my mom was like, you're going to mess that up. I'm not signing off, you know, so she wouldn't be a custodian. So as soon as I turned 18, I made a really dumb investment in this variable universal life insurance policy that they said was going to earn 18% a year for 40 years, which was nonsense. But that led me to getting an internship by the time I was 19. And that internship was basically teaching me how to peddle products, but it also was the foray into like finance. And in the year 2000 and 2001, 2002, the market starts to tank. That's when I got my real education because I didn't want to just tell people, oh, you're in it for the long haul, or dollar cost average, or any of that kind of nonsense. And so I became really good at like efficiency, helping people save tax, help them save on interest, help them find where there's non-performing fees or design their insurances more appropriately.

And I just was fascinated with what, the wealthy did versus everyone else. So a lot of my books are about where would that apply to everybody.

Yeah, I think you and I both grew up, huh, we couldn't afford the last few letters of poor. That's just how we were, and that's how things kind of, kind of worked out. We just got a little obsessed with the, the freedom that money buys. I think it's one of the things that people don't understand. Money's not going to buy happiness, but good God, will it buy some comfort, because those business class seats are really quite nice.

It makes a big difference, man. Like, lack of money creates a lot of uncomfortable moments that are unnecessary if you had money.

So it's just like a life of inconvenience.

And unfortunately, in the world of finance, they kind of teach inconvenience. Like, oh, just wait till you're old. Just keep setting money aside. You know, it's, it's never about enjoying life along the way, which I abhor. I like, I want to make sure that people have a high quality of life. And the more you can, you know, have good energy and have a life that you love, the more you're going to create value in the world. The more you hate everything because you have to wait till you're too old to enjoy it, to finally, you know, enjoy the money you've been saving. I think that's just a bad path.

Absolutely. And I think we're taught that too much. We're taught, hey, do this and avoid it and don't enjoy now and push it off to the end and all that. And there's so many myths out there when it comes to money because, you know, again, what I was taught growing up was, you know, work hard. And I was like, what are you talking about? That is absolutely ineffective. So what are some of the myths that you have towards money that you're like, yeah, absolutely no, this isn't what you do, completely wrong. I've learned this. What are some of the myths?

Yeah. Like, One of the things you just mentioned is hard work with the wrong philosophy still leads to limitation or bankruptcy. So I kind of learned this a little bit at an early age because this Miss Oliveto, I would ride my bike to do her lawn, pull her weeds, do her, pull her weeds and all this kind of stuff. And she would pay me with, with quarters and dimes. So it was excruciatingly painful work, yet it didn't pay off. And then one week I worked at the East Carbon dump site where it was 105 degrees trying to pound stakes into a ground that was hard as coal. And you know, so the next thing you know, I was like, all right, I've got to get an education. Now, at first I thought that education was going to be school, but I got most of my education outside of the classroom. I did have professors that used to be fund managers that I learned a ton from, or just people that were like really intelligent that I could have conversations with and that knew a lot about business. And so that really did help. But the way I've kind of figured out these myths was making mistakes myself and just questioning everything.

I went to, I went to Korea to teach English when I was 18 years old. I'll be honest, I went to Korea 'cause someone said, you should go to Korea and model. Why do they need a 6'3" white dude to model in Korea? That's how stupid and naive I was and vain. Oh yeah, I end up teaching English there. I go to this movie one day and they have subtitles in English because it's Korean and they were showing how this woman was getting really sick because she was running her air conditioner too much during the day 'cause they're having rolling blackouts at the time. And then when she turned off her air conditioner, she got healthy even though she's sweating 'cause it's monsoon season. And I was like, oh man, this is propaganda. And I came home going, what am I buying into that isn't real as well? And I had just made that mistake of putting the money in the VUL and stopping that. So I just started to question everything almost like annoyingly. And that's where I really kind of figured out there's a lot of myths. The 3 main myths are based upon this accumulation philosophy of it takes money to make money.

Well, it doesn't take money to make money. It takes relationships and ideas. It takes value in exchange. And yeah, you can make money on your money. But there's other ways. Number 2, high risk equals high return. Actually, the wealthiest people are amazing at mitigating and managing risk, not taking it. It just looks like someone's taking risk because they're taking action. And third is when they say you're in it for the long haul. Well, that's how most people, you know, run their finances. Money times rate times time. But that's a really slow, kind of dangerous way to run finances instead of cash flow, instead of financial independence, instead of enterprise value, instead of like, there's, there was a completely different way to look at it. But those are kind of the first 3 myths I talk about in Sacred Cows was, you You know, those, it takes money to make money, which almost everybody said at some point in their life, high risk equals high return. And you know, for the long haul, that's, it's not true. It's just what institutions like to preach to people because then they get to take someone else's money and make money on it.

They get the other person to take the return, the risk while they get the return and they cash flow from day one when they tell everybody else to wait for 30 years before they touch the cash.

Absolutely. I remember the first sacred cow that I shot in the head was that you have to work hard. I was sitting down and I got brought into an environment and I was pitching IT services at the time. And he came in and while I was there, there was an individual who did a slip and fall. This was a swap shop type environment. It was an open-air mall and the person fell. He was losing millions of dollars a year every year to these pretend slip and falls. And I was like, "Well, why don't you just put cameras up?" And he's like, he goes, "Well, I don't know how to do that." And I was like, "Well, let me walk around." I go, "I can give you an answer to this." So, I walked around, took out my cell phone, called the closest dealer next to it and said, "Okay, this is where I am. This is what I'm doing. What would it cost?" gave me the cost. I walked back in the office, 2 or 3x the cost, and said I could do it. I can give you a 1-year warranty, but that's going to cost you an extra this, which it was already included with the vendor.

Sold it and made more than I made in— I think it was like 2 hours that it took me to do this. Made more in 2 hours than I did in the last 3 years. And I was like, okay, that's a different conversation. And it just—

it was a whole problem that was putting someone out of business, solving a problem that someone couldn't see, right?

Right. It was just, you know, find the pain, eliminate someone else's pain, and you will be rewarded. It's— that's the, the cow that I started praying to. So you went Imagine you gave us a formula to say, hey, this and this and this, and it's completely wrong. What is the formula that, you know, you now know to be completely true? That is a sacred cow for you that you're like, no, this is the actual formula you should use to create wealth, freedom, and everything else included.

Yeah, the first part of it is instead of diversifying, most people prematurely diversify. It's about focus with Investor DNA. So risk is in the investor, not the investment. So you figure out like, What investments make sense based upon who I am? And you go first in the investment in yourself. Gain the skills, gain the knowledge, increase your financial intelligence first before you try to save another dollar. You put it there. Then second, focus on financial independence instead of retirement, which is how can you create enough cash flow from assets to cover your lifestyle expenses? So the first place to do is go, all right, well, where can you plug financial leaks? Are you tipping the government? Are you overpaying on interest? Do you have hidden fees or commissions on your investments? Do you have improper design on your insurance? And you plug those leaks so it actually comes in to help you create more cash flow. Then once you've got that, you focus again on velocity instead of accumulation. Velocity, you know, to break it down, is just the GDP or the gross domestic product or output of a country divided by its money supply.

So it's how many times does a dollar exchange hands. So rather than accumulating, Velocitize. So one way to velocitize is be more efficient, right? If you keep the money supply the same, but you can increase output, you can do it through efficiency or expansion. So expansion is that value creation game. How can you solve bigger problems, serve more people, and deliver value? Because money will follow value. And so when you put the money into yourself first, when you then focus on an asset class that makes sense, then you look at like three-dimensional assets, which are things that create equity as time goes on, cash flow and tax advantage versus just deferring taxes in something one-dimensional like retirement plan. Now here's the thing. This does require a little bit more work upfront, but it has way more reward long-term.

Yeah, I agree. And I think there's a huge part that you talked about the difference between capital and cash flow, because when I talk to people all the time, if they're talking about, oh, I want to make $1 million or I want to have $10 million in the bank, I know where their financial literacy at that point. I'm like, okay, I know the conversations I'm going to have. If I've got someone coming in saying, hey, you know, I'm doing $1.50 right now in pure passive income, I want to write that up into something else. I'm going to have a very different conversation. Everybody I know that's a billionaire talks about cash flow. They do not talk about capital. We're just— it's a totally different conversation. What are the things that I can buy immediately that's either going to help me stop tipping the government or B, what's going to create more cash flow? And I don't think people understand what the ROI is on paying taxes. And listen, I'm all for legally paying taxes. You absolutely should. The government gives us an immense amount of things. I love firemen. I love I love police officers, I love roads, I love plumbing, I love our military, I love all that.

There is money that needs to be done. However, if the government's going to reward me for investing and allow me to get through things like cost seg or things of that nature, I'm going to go do that. So how does this asset make me money right now? So what are some of the things that you're invested in versus some of the things that you're like, I am not touching that, that's a nightmare?

Yeah, I'm not like a, I'm not an index fund guy. I think that most of the stock market or companies that I I don't really care about and don't necessarily want to support. And I don't like having my hand, my money outside of my own influence. Like, to me, if you, if we went back and looked at me in my 20s, I just invested in everything. I had IPOs I was putting money into, oil and gas I was putting money into. I had over 100 real estate properties and doors, you know, some was commercial, some was residential. I did a fix and flip. I had a hard money lending. I just, everything looked like an investment. I worked my ass off on things I didn't enjoy doing. So Warren Buffett said, hey, look, if you could only invest in 20 things over your lifetime, you become a better investor because you become more selective. It's about focus. So now I just feel like I have a big enough vision in my business that I'm investing there, and I just turn that business wealth into personal wealth with one or two asset classes that are very simple and straightforward.

I don't want to have anything that requires a lot of management that would take me away from where my biggest focus is in that business. But sure, I have some gold and silver and Bitcoin as a hedge. And yes, I have some like property, but it's property that I can drive to, one that I rent out, but I'm probably going to sell it because the renter wants to move on and he's been with me for 5 years. And so I'm just going to make a profit by selling it. And then I've got my, you know, my house and my cabin that I don't rent out, but it's just kind of inflation hedges. I really see like my business, the more I grow it where it doesn't require my daily involvement, the more enterprise value and cash flow that comes in. And ultimately that's my great tax advantage because there's so incentives with it that I've just simplified and focused. So I just have, you know, a very simple portfolio now.

So one of the things that I learned really early on was from a guy named Melvin Simon. Melvin Simon, any mall you've ever been in is a Simon Mall. He was 64th richest person on the planet at the time and said, don't invest in things you don't understand, period, full stop. If you don't understand it. So, you know, I got in a lot of trouble because I haven't touched any of the crypto and I was there when it was like $100 a coin, which of course in hindsight, Would I have loved to have bought it knowing what I know now? Yeah, but I still don't fully understand crypto. I still don't understand the blockchain. Just, I'm like, I don't know. So don't invest in things that you don't know. I've made a ton of cash doing other things that this makes sense. I'm a real estate guy. I understand it. Conceptually, this makes sense to me. I'm going to stay in that lane because I have some sort of control over it. But the other stuff, I'm very much with you. I'm like, I don't get this, but I have made more money from business opportunities for acquisition and scaling and flipping businesses than I have in any other businesses that I've worked with.

'Cause that's just something I'm good at. If you're really good at hockey, play hockey. Don't try and play baseball. It, it gets you real comfortable.

That's investor DNA. That's investor DNA right there. And if you can have the muscle to say no to all the things that are really just distractions disguised as opportunities, you have more time, you enjoy life more along the way. And I think the biggest problem some people have is they go, oh, well this sounds like a really good story over here and I want to be part of that cool kids club. Club. And so they get outside their expertise because it sounds good, but it's actually just a complete distraction. And the people that can stay focused are the ones that grow the most wealth. And even if you miss out on some deals here and there, that's okay, because then you stick to what you know. And when times change and economies start having difficulty, your knowledge becomes so essential because you've got the mental capital and the relationship capital to see it through. But if all of a sudden you invest in something you know nothing about, you don't have the network for that, You don't have even maybe the desire to learn about it. And there's a learning curve to that. And especially if we're going against pros, like someone that doesn't do anything in real estate is going to go up against pros in real estate.

And if they think they're just going to get amazing returns because they saw one deal, how many deals do you pass up on before you say yes? What's the criteria that you've created so that you have a formula and a format for what you do? And the people that I know that are the wealthiest, they do that. The people that aren't just go, oh, I have the money, here's a deal, I'm going to go ahead and do it, or here's a story. And there's way too many people that are good at selling the story that aren't capable of getting the deal done the way it's supposed to be done.

Correct. And I think it's, it's also hugely important to understand that as you're going into whatever these deals are, what do they have? There's always gonna be another deal. I missed Google's IPO. I missed Yahoo's IPO. I, there's always gonna be another. And as I started stacking all these, I was like, wait, they're always coming. There's someone in another city somewhere right now that is making a deal that's gonna retire their next 3 generations. That happens multiple times a day. You just need to relax. It's a big-ass pie, and just because someone else is getting their cut of the pie doesn't mean yours got any smaller. Get over it. It's a big pie.

Yeah. And if you can say no to something because it has the wrong deadline, even if you miss out on it, the next deal will come. The problem is if you circumvent and kind of avoid going through your rules, and then all of a sudden you say yes and it works out,, then you might get sloppier in the future. Like when I first started investing, when I was 19 years old, I bought a house. It was a townhome and I got a CHAMP loan, which means I didn't have to make the down payment. My mom signed as a cosigner and I rented out 2 of the, 2 of the 3 rooms, lived in the 1 room. And then a few years later after school, I sold it and I made, you know, I paid $96,000, sold it for $170,000. I thought, man, this is amazing. My second deal, my buddy Joel, who I just actually saw for the first time in years a couple weeks ago,. He said, hey, I have a buddy that's just got him a job, but he's really behind on his mortgage payments. Any way that you could buy his home and then rent it to him and then you guys could split the equity because there's a ton in it?

Did the research, ton of equity in it. So I do that deal. Third deal, I just gave someone $25,000 that I knew well and they gave me back $50,000 3 weeks— or sorry, 3 months later on a real estate deal. So I have 3 deals that are all just huge percentage returns, almost infinite on 2 of the 3 because I put no money down on either property, just financed it. And the other one, I put in $25,000, got back $50,000 3 months later. That's 400% annualized return. So I thought I was a genius, but I was young and naive. Yeah. And so I just was like, well, if 1 or 2 or 3 is good, I might as well get to 100. And I just started doing deal after deal after deal without being selective enough because I confused lucky with good. And so this is the, this is why that I was saying the first place you invest is in yourself and you get really knowledgeable. Then you invest in a team. So you've got this, the safeguards and people that can do due diligence because I've seen people that, they can't do real analysis on a deal because they're so sold on it and they need that outside perspective of someone not involved in the deal to ask the questions they don't know how to ask.

And you know, that's the thing in finance. There's not enough people doing due diligence. There's a lot of people doing selling, not enough people doing what could go wrong and how do I protect myself?

And well, also to your point, I think there's not enough people investing in themselves and educating themselves. So if you're in that situation, you're listening to this wherever you are in your life, if you're in your 60s or if you're in your teens, you know, with how the world's changing, as dramatic as it's happening with AI right now, with everything that's happening politically, which I will not get into, the world is not going to look the same in 5 years, per period, full stop. It's going to be one of the most radical changes we've ever seen. So if we're having people coming in and we want to have them invest in themselves and they want them to make sure that we're doing a better job with this, how do you walk them through this, man? How do you sit there and say, hey, this is how you start investing in yourself. This is what you read. This is what you do. Walk me through that.

Yeah. So there's a couple of things I start them with. First is I usually start with like my own story, just so they could understand. I didn't just like pop into money and then all of a sudden invest in myself. I won that $5,000 and I invested almost the full $5,000 in education while I was in school. Meaning it wasn't for college, it was for things I was doing outside of college, flying and traveling to places to learn. And I took every dollar and put it put it all in there right from the beginning, which allowed me to hit the ground running while I was still in school. And by my final year, I made more than any of my professors. So that was, you know, that was pretty big. But for someone that doesn't even have money, we're in a world where we have access to pretty amazing information really inexpensively. And with AI tools, we can sort through it pretty quickly. So my suggestion is people start their day with investing in themselves in at least 3 ways: exercise, education, and enlightenment. Like the things that you could listen to while you're getting ready in the morning, while you're working out, and then just take time to see how it applies to you by asking yourself questions of what's one thing I could do from this to improve my life.

If you start your day right, the rest of the day gets better. So I spent several hours this morning just writing, just taking time to write. And then when I was getting ready, I was listening to an amazing audio because I'm focused on what can I do to improve in media. So I'm obsessing about that. And learning about that. In the past, that might have been something that was so hard to access or so hard to get information with, but I just, I set my house up that every bathroom has books, you know, piled up in it. You know, I've got every, uh, every place I go, they're like in my backpack, I've got books. So if I'm on a flight, I've just, I'm constantly finding easy ways to access what I'm reading. And we're carrying around phones that have so much information on them that I just make sure I always have something downloaded, whether it's a book an audiobook or even a podcast or a program I'm part of. And so if you just start your day that way, but what I recommend to make it really real is say, all right, what is it that if you learned would make the biggest difference to apply?

So you're not just going for generalized knowledge, you're going for specialized knowledge. So this quarter, everything I'm listening to is how do I improve with media when it comes to YouTube, when it comes to Instagram, so I can get more reach and reputation to serve more people. To be able to be known because it's not just what you know, it's who knows you. So I've just set my life up like that. I tend to pay attention to that which I pay for. So I've hired coaches in that. I'll be with my coach right after this call and we're going to be doing walkthroughs of what I'm writing and, and how I can improve my performance and delivery of it. So you pay attention what you pay for and then just create like this. I look at it this way, like mentors are so essential to this because they ask me questions you don't ask yourself.. So have a mentor that asks you the questions. Have a coach when you know what you want that tells you precisely what to do to get that. Then create the systems and tools to reinforce it, which is all the morning habits and rituals that kind of help you out.

And then fourth, create accountability. That's why paying for it will help you pay attention to it, because too many people in the world, what they do is they spend time to save money. I know you're the kind of guy that spends money to save time. And so If you find yourself not sticking to your education, not sticking to learning, you've gotta make sure it's something that can apply and that you can see results with, cuz that'll make it more specialized. And then maybe put your money where your mouth is will be the next level of accountability. Or find someone that you can study with and work with this on in some type of accountability group, whether that's paid for or not paid for, because it's someone with a shared vision or a shared goal that they're working on too, so that you're not left to your own devices, that when you're tired or when something doesn't go your way, you don't just abandon it.

Well, I think there's some proven steps in here, right? So, the first thing I always do when I talk to my people is, "Mike, listen. If there's a game on your phone, delete it. If YouTube, the app, is on your phone, get rid of it. Sit down." So, that's step 1, clear out all the distractions because don't let the distractions distract you. Number 2, understanding time is not your most valuable resource. It is not. Your health is because there's a bunch of people who had polio who were stuck in those Coke cans who had tons of time. They lived 80 years. But they couldn't move. So, health above all else. So, you start with health. You want to do that. I love how you broke things up into quarters, right? Say, "Okay, what am I focusing on this quarter?" And then also, the conversation of Eating the Frog, which is a great book. What is the 1 or 2 things that you're going to focus on that will radically change your life more than anything else? Everything else can wait. What are those 2 things? So, if your case, it's social media because again, your network is your net worth.

We've all heard that. It's not what you know, it's who you know. And more importantly, it's the pain you can eliminate in those people's lives. The more pain you can eliminate. And I tell people when I go to networking events, I hate networking events. So if you ever see me at a networking event, please understand I'm not having fun. So what I normally do is I'm playing matchmaker. I walk up to you and I say, you know, Garrett, what is it that you have? You need a plumber. I'm going to walk around until I find a plumber and I'm going to grab some plumber and bring them to you. Now I've eliminated a pain. Now I've given value. I will be rewarded for value. So when you go through the things that you're listening to and the mentors, which I agree with you wholeheartedly, what are some of the things that you've listened to in the past that you're like, hey, Hey, you gotta listen to this, or hey, this is this one mentor, this is the next step. What are some of the lessons that you've done?

Yeah, like, I— there's some, some books I revisit every year, like, uh, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, because it just talks about like when people face resistance, how you get through that resistance. Because if you're resourceful and resilient, you can accomplish almost anything almost no matter where you start. Because a lot of people don't have the every resource. But as you know, like spending time around billionaires, they always think in other people's time, other people's ability, and other people's money, so they find a way to get there. Where other people go, well, I just, I don't have the time. Well, if you don't have the time, you probably aren't managing it properly. Number one, I don't have the money. You might, but you just say that as a good excuse that lets you off the hook. Or I don't have the ability. Well, grow into it. Grow into the ability. I wasn't a great speaker when I started. I wasn't a great writer when I started, but I grew into it by investing in that because it was something that mattered and it was something significant to me. So I put in the reps and I had the people that supported me.

So that's, you know, That a lot of it is we have to not just get information for information's sake. It's not just about like, you know, because sometimes what we think is productive is just a distraction.

Yes.

Like we do it, it feels good in the moment, but is it really leading to the life that we love or was it just the easiest thing? Like you mentioned, Eat the Frog. Was it the easiest thing that made us still feel good? Versus like when we're creating a new skill that we don't have, that's uncomfortable. And I'm doing that, it's like I'm frustrated sometimes. I'm like, this sucks, this pisses me off. I want to get better at it. And it's part of the motivation. And figuring it out is also kind of fun sometimes because I'm like, oh, this— I'm not used to not just getting my way. What? And it starts to refine that. You build that muscle. And so too many people are afraid of what will I look like, sound like? What if it doesn't work? Work. They go through all of these kind of like fears and doubts, and then they make excuses instead of taking action. Well, it's not that important. I don't want to do that. This doesn't matter to— they, they excuse it away versus commit to it. So there's a difference between interest and commitment. Commitment's 100% or nothing.

You know, when someone— if I said, dude, I'm 50% committed to this interview today, you'd be like, so you're probably not going to show up or what? You know, you're either 100% or zero. And I think that a lot of people people don't go all in because they're afraid. What if I go all in and it doesn't work? What does that say about me? But it's like, all we have to do is change the timeline sometimes. Sometimes we have to give ourselves a little bit of grace and say, I'm going to put in the extra reps. And when it doesn't work out, like, I was dealing with something with media yesterday, super frustrated about it. So I just called Sam Goddett, who's Dan Martell's creative director, and said, hey dude, I'm struggling with this. We spent 20 minutes and then he goes, hey, can you help me on some financial things? I said, sure. So we had this amazing exchange and Just so happens we're gonna be in San Diego, so we're gonna have dinner on Sunday and talk to each other and help each other out. That's being resourceful. That's going straight to the source instead of trying to like, you know, filter through 100 things till you finally give up.

Well, also I think you did it really well. You know, I'm gonna sit and say I completed a book. I read a book every single day. Don't do that. Take one page and implement it. Don't read the whole damn book. One page, implement it. Like, this is what I did. I'd rather have you just read 4 pages all year. And master those 4 pages than read a book a day. I'm like, what are you doing? You're letting the distractions distract you. The other thing, because you know the same people that I do in my world, it's very much the same people. What you set as your tolerance, what you set is important. For example, I have a client that if he doesn't do $1 million a week, he freaks out. He just absolutely freaks out. And I sat down with him and I was like, walk me through this. He's like, would you cut your hand off? I'm like, absolutely not. Is there anything that you could do to cut your hand off? I was like, no, there's not a single thing. No, absolutely. And I just had this regret and he kept getting my face and get in my face.

He goes, that's how I feel about not making $1 million a week. That's how I had to train my mind with this intensity of there's no way in hell that this isn't going to happen. So any opportunity that remotely came in to me, if they're like, oh, well, I know you don't want to cut your hand off, like maybe just the tip of your pinky. I'm like, what are you, out of your mind? I'm not cutting off my pinky. It's the same mindset he has towards I'm going to create $1 million, period, because he has a goal. He knows that when he hits a certain amount of numbers, it'll kick out a certain amount of cash flow, and then he gets to spend a bunch of time with his little girls, which is all he wants. He just wants to time with his daughters. So he's like, I have to do this and either I'm going to abandon my daughters or I'm going to hit this goal. That's my only choice. So he, everything he does filters through that filter of that. It just, it's really simple.

Yeah. I remember in 2008, you know, overleveraged with real estate business went down for the first time in 10 years. It had just been going up every single year. And I met Johnny and Missy Butcher and when I, they had a program called Lifebook.. And so I'm in the middle of like my first book tour and, you know, and they're like, so I, I go to Chicago, go to this 4-day event and I take this assessment and it's in 12 categories, right? So everything from like business and health and marriage and all. So he goes through these 12 categories and my fitness and my marriage were the 2 lowest scores of the 12. And I was like, all right, well let me look at the other areas. Where do I have a high score? And I looked at these other areas, I'm like, well,— in the areas I had the highest score, I was reading books, I was in groups of people, and even had mentors that like helped me focus. You know, I was paying money towards those things. So I said, all right, I'm going to start doing this in my marriage. So I basically had this formula that if anything that you want to achieve, there's a way to accelerate your way there, right?

And so the first part is you figure out your success formula. You look at any area of your life that's working and say, what am I doing there that is missing in an area that's not working as well? Wow. So in my marriage, I went and I called 3 couples that I was like, you guys have amazing marriages. Why don't we get together where my wife and I can interview you? Because we want to do better. And when I found out they were doing date nights, I'm like, cool, I'm going to start planning date nights every single week. They did regular meetings where they talked about their vision and what they're up to and also the details and what's happening with the kids. So we scheduled— they said put each other first over the kids. You put each other, and my wife's like, needed to hear it from them. Hire support. Don't do everything yourself. So I got us a part-time nanny and man, just like we got to see all of that and then we got to implement it because we saw people. And by the way, anyone that was going through really bad parts of their marriage for 6 months, I decided I'd take a break.

I wouldn't be around them because I only want to be people in extraordinary relationships as I was trying to take my relationship from mediocre to extraordinary. So I then looked at my business. I said, look, I have a vision in my business. Why don't I have a vision in my marriage? So I created a vision for my marriage to be a premier romantic an extraordinary husband. I had values in my— I'm like, why not have values in my marriage? So I just did that. And then the same thing with my fitness. I said, all right, if I'm going to be more fit, I'm going to pay someone to show up to my house every day and we're going to work out. I'm going to get together with the fittest people I know once a month. What are the best practices they're doing? So I had that success formula. Now I use it in everything. I go anytime I want something, like, who's my co-creator? Who will support and inspire me? Bring me accountability and make sure that I stay in abundance and move forward. Number 2, what escapism would I have to eliminate? What thing is an excuse or reason that would prevent me from doing what I do?

Because that's what you're saying. I gotta raise my standards so that I don't go back to something that's comfortable, even like that I might justify as, well, I needed to do it, or it was productive. Or a lot of people, it's not even productive. It's just, you know, binging TV, or it's cleaning the garage for the 8th time that didn't need to be cleaned, or whatever it is. It's like this excuse. Then the third thing is I learned to delegate roles, not tasks. Roles remove the micromanagement and someone owns that role so I can free up my time and my mind. And then finally, I get into a place of collaboration. Who are the people that if I'm gonna do something world-class, I could bring in that brings skill sets that I don't have? And so it's co-create, eliminate, delegate, and collaborate. That's the acceleration path. And so it's not just about reading, it's about about who you bring into your life. It's about what you're implementing and how you implement it. It's about enrolling other people in the vision so they're excited about it too. And to me, just getting a skill for the sake of getting a skill is not as powerful as having a vision that's so compelling that other people want to work in it.

Yeah, I love what you said. You know, someone— and that's important, I'm separating those two words— someone owns a role. One individual person owns the role, owns the outcome. It's got to be one person, because if not, they're always going to flack off. So, one of the things that I have that, that's really hard for people to understand is getting access to these individuals. If you're a situation where you're like, okay, that's great for the two of you, you guys know these people, that's, that's, it's really adorable. You two a-holes are just, yeah, you hang out. What are you, if that individual who doesn't have that, how do you start putting yourself into that circle? What would you recommend to those guys?

So when I didn't have that circle, what I would do is I would always look for people that I wanted to know.. And if I knew someone that knew them, I always got introduced to them versus just approach them. So if that's one strategy, the second is I would just look to add as much value as possible to them to get to know 'em. So I, I was in Strategic Coach in my early twenties. I've been listening to these audios with Dan Sullivan and I finally meet him the first day that, like, I've been in Coach for a couple years and I'm in the bathroom and he's in the urinal next to me. So I'm like, okay, I'll wait till we wash our hands. We go there and I go, hey, I'd like to, get a chance to have lunch or meet you? He's like, yeah, come over, have lunch. So I go to have lunch and he's surrounded by people, so it doesn't happen. But again, I'm resourceful. So I call the home office. I say, hey, I was supposed to have lunch with Dan. It didn't work out. Next time I'm in Chicago, is he going to be teaching and could I maybe have lunch then?

They said, well, if you can come in a day early. I said, you bet. So I come in a day early and the whole conversation with him and his wife, I was going, I want to find out what makes them tick, what's important to them. I want to be able to add value to them and make this memorable. So I got really clear early in that meeting. They want— they love referrals. They track referrals. They see who's made the referrals and what impact that is. And so I just told them, I said, hey, we host an event like every 6 weeks. I'd love to just have one of your coaches come and speak at it and we'll tell them about Strategic Coach. 170 people are at the event. Tons of people sign up. All of a sudden I've got that relationship. I was in my early 20s. I hadn't even made $1 million in a year yet, but I looked for ways to add value. I looked for ways to build that bridge in that relationship. And so that's what I do at all times is I look at how can I deliver for them.

I mean, sometimes I'm asked to speak at an event and by the time I go on stage, I've hopefully talked to the person hosting the event and saved them so much tax. They're like, oh my God, like, I just had a conversation with Garrett. He just told me 3 things I had no clue about. It's going to save me like $100 grand. I can't wait for him to speak to you guys. I even have more questions for him. So I'm always looking like you want to build a relationship. To be memorable is to add a ton of value, to really figure out how I could do something for them instead of look to get something from them. I make those deposits first.

I agree. And I think it's also important for people to understand, like, you might not have access to Tony Robbins, but you could have access to Timmy Robbins or someone else that's lower down in your ecosystem. Practice with them there. Do your reps there. Keep going. There's always someone in your world, even if it's just the local small business owner down the street who's got more experience or has wisdom that you don't have. Don't dismiss them because they're not an influencer. Make sure you're eliminating their pain. It's one of the things I learned really quickly. The difference between millionaires and billionaires You know, millionaires ask, what do you do? Billionaires ask, what can I do for you? And it's always this of being in service, always providing value. How do I do that on the highest level? Just make— if you, again, it's real simple. If you can eliminate someone else's pain, that you will get rewarded. That's your job in life. Eliminate people's pain. So what are some of the biggest challenges you've run into and how did you get yourself out of it? You know, you talked about, you know, date night, which anybody of you guys who, because I've had to coach couples for 20 years, guys, just date night.

Night, every single night, even if that means I'm exhausted and my newborn's driving me out of my mind. Just drive down the street, sit in the car, and take a nap in the car next to each other for an hour. Whatever it is, just make it a non-negotiable. So what are some of the problems that you've run into?

Yeah, when we had young kids and, you know, we ended up having just someone that would come every Wednesday night or Monday night depending on the week. And now we had that carved out, right? And then I got an apartment apartment that was just our date night pad that we would have for a while because when the kids were young and we would go there, we would cook. One time we just went and literally took a nap. We were like so tired. We're like, hey, we're just going to go take a nap. You don't have to have the money to maybe do that kind of stuff. But what you could do, like I've used AI now to describe so much about my wife. I'll spend 20 minutes on a prompt and what it tells me to do for like Mother's Day or date night is amazing because it's crawling everything. In my area within a certain radius and saying, here's all the different things you can do. There's just no excuses. I always ask my friends, what are your best practices? What are the things you've done? What's the coolest date night? What's the most romantic thing?

So that's that level. And I think that a lot of entrepreneurs lie to their spouse and say, I'm doing this for you. Now, we say that, but we're doing it for us. Entrepreneurship is kind of like a trauma response, and we're trying to fill this void of like, are we good enough yet? Are we lovable enough? Are we proud? Are you proud of us enough? Do you respect us enough? And, and so I remember my wife called me up and saying, I just, like, I didn't ask for this. I asked for you. Like, do we have to sell some stuff for me to get more time with you? And I was like, oh, I just need to, like, be less— I just didn't have the mindset at the time to think I could have it all. I kind of thought, well, you have to give up one thing to get another. And that's not necessarily true. It's just when you're bad at delegating, or when you have a belief system that doesn't believe there's another way to do it, or you're maybe addicted to, you know, there's no boundaries. So, yeah, I mean, I think the biggest problem is partnerships is where the biggest struggle is in business.

Right. I think, well, there's an equation, right? There's— everyone has been taught this equation that if I do this, I'll be enough. And if I'm enough, I'll be worthy of love. And that equation in itself is broken. Because if you think about the person you love the most in this world, and you say, what does that person have to do to be worthy of my love? The answer The answer is nothing. So then if you finish the equation, which is what do I have to do worthy of love? The answer is also nothing. When you realize that, you will find peace. But we're trapped in this loop of if I make enough and pretty enough and drive a fast enough car, blah, blah, blah, blah, then I'll be enough. And then I'll be maybe worthy of love. That equation by itself is just broken and getting people out of that is so hard.

Right. It's like, it's, it's so, it's so funny because I got I got just so shredded in 2024, and you know who it really impressed?

Dudes.

Dudes. Yes, the dudes. My wife was like, I think you're too rock hard. It's like, you're too skinny. Like, I like what— like, you're not as fun to cuddle with, you know? So it's like, here we are a lot of times doing stuff to impress other people, not even what we say we're doing. So it's just kind of this, when are we enough? That's the question. When can we love ourselves? I didn't really get a good roadmap when I was born of like, here's how you love yourself.

Myself.

I've been super judgmental of myself. I've been like super harsh. I've forgiven everyone before I've forgiven myself quite often.

1,000%. 1,000%. And we try and fill it up with different forms because people don't understand that being an entrepreneur, I always tell people, I don't drink, I never have. It's just I can't have more than 3 sips, it comes right back out. But I tell people it's kind of like AA. You stand up and like, hi, I'm an entrepreneur. I don't know the difference between my personal life and my business life. They're like, oh yes, hello, hello, hello, welcome. Because we just don't. We grind and we're just like, oh wait, And I can tell you, I've been on dates and I've been sitting around date night. I'm, oh, I just had this idea. It's my funnel and people, and I've watched the person I'm dating be like, what are you doing? I'm like, I can't turn it off. It's just how my brain works. It's just, it is what it is. So as you're going through this, you know, going back to, you know, what are some of the, you know, we have everyday carries. We're talking about this all the time. Like, hey, this is in the military. You have your everyday carry. You've got the guns.

You got this. What are the everyday things you do in your life because you've been around this environment of things that are like, you know what, this has given me the most most value in my life? You talked about journaling earlier. What are some of the things that has radically changed your life on how you do things?

Yeah, there's a journaling process I use that was taught to me by one of my coaches called the LAF, Love Accept Forgive. So I did this yesterday because I just woke up and I was in some angst and I was like, man, this is weird. You know, I just, I normally get up, I want to write, I want to work out. I didn't want to do any of those things. So I just pulled it out. It's just right here. I just pull it out. I was like, all right, we're going to do this exercise. And it was like, what am I protecting, defending, and trying to control? That's the first thing I write down, right? So I go through that, just kind of brainstorm what I'm doing there. Then it's like, all right, what can I accept and acknowledge that I'm protecting and defending or trying to control in myself? And so where can I take responsibility and what can I confess, essentially as a confession? Then it's like, well, why am I protecting, defending, and trying to control myself or someone else? Am I afraid of feeling guilt, shame, or fear? So I'll go through, what am I afraid of losing?

What is it that I've got to forgive? And then can I move into loving myself and just loving what is? And then from there, I just go through, what am I hating? What do I hate, shun, judge, like, make, or make wrong? And then go through this accepting that, forgiving that, loving that, and then going through the truth of who I am. And so just, I'm the only one that ever sees it, but it helps me understand those emotions and move them versus hide from them or ignore them. Or pretend they don't exist or bottle them up. It's like, no, I'm just going to go through them. And by the end of the day, I had an amazing day. And it also got me to be more resourceful to figure out what I was frustrated with, just being like, oh, what can I do about it versus being like held captive to it? So, that's an exercise I've been doing for years is going through that. It's been super helpful. I do a 5-minute journal every morning and I use a productivity planner. I don't know, have you seen a 5-minute journal? I use those.

It's just I got it right here. I mean, so the 5-Minute Journal, I actually did. It's just ask a couple questions like, what are 3 things you're grateful for? So, I start the morning with what are 3 things I'm grateful for? What would make today great? 3 more things. And then, daily affirmation, just write that down. And then, I do the highlight of the previous day in the morning. And so, it's like, what are the 3 biggest highlights and what did I learn from that day? And then, I've got these sitting in the sauna, I've got them sitting in my truck, I've got right here in the drawer. So, it's just something I can easily do. And, I was working out with my buddy Michael right before this and he was like, "Oh, what are you doing there?" Because I just got in the sauna and start writing. I'm like, "Oh, this is just my 5-minute journal to just take time to appreciate what I have and have an intention about what I'm doing." And then, the productivity planner is where I can just write down what my priorities are for the day and then I use the Pomodoro method where you just go set an alarm for 25 minutes, work on it, take a break, come back to it.

So, it just is really nice to get those little endorphins every time you fill out one of the circles or I do. And, it just kind of helps me prepare what I'm up to. So, those are definitely some daily uses that I have or those things. I work out 5, 6 days a week as well. I always hang from a bar, dip my head in a cold plunge, hit the sauna. I do that kind of standard stuff for the most part as well. And, if it's a good— if some days I meditate, I'm not as consistent with meditation And some days, I'm good at it. Some days, I just go, "All right, I'm going to get up and listen to something and move because this meditation, I'm too in my head." Ben: Right.

Well, I think when you do it matters instinctively for each individual. For example, I do what I call gratitude prayer at the end of the night because it allows my brain to relax and to kind of spit the bit, which I'll sit there before I go to bed. I'm like, "Okay, what am I really grateful for today? What is it?" Because it's hard to be anxious or down or freaking out when you're in a place of gratitude. To. There's just no way around it. Your brain can't do both at the same time. It's just not that efficient. So, I've done this for years that before I go to bed, I'll sit down like, "What am I grateful for?" And even some of them could be failures. I'm like, "What are the failures that I'm grateful for today?" And sometimes, it's ridiculous. I'm like, "I'm so glad I went to this all-you-can-eat sushi place. That was awesome." Or, "I'm so glad this deal made me XYZ dollars." Just having that and celebrating like, "Okay, cool." Your body, for me at least, goes, and it lets go. And then, the other things that I found that are really valuable is making sure that all tech, no matter what it is, doesn't go into my room, especially if it has a screen on it.

If it's got a screen, it can't see my bed. It just, they have to be polar opposites of each other. They're never around each other. And it's just a non-negotiable. One of the guys I know really well, he was a client, he's like, "How do I get my kid to start reading? I want my kid to start reading." I said, "All right. Well, from now on, just take your phone, put it in a box, and then go sit down on the couch and read in front of them. He goes, "Yeah, but I'm going to tell them I'm reading." I'm like, "No, don't tell them anything. Just sit down and start reading in front of them." Within 2 weeks, the kid was bringing books over and reading because kids ignore everything that you're saying and they only follow what you're doing. There's no way around that.

Great advice.

So, one of the things is also you talked about cold plunges and IR saunas or saunas and all of that. You're also someone who cares about their fitness. What are you doing with your diet? Are you doing blood work? Are you going through blood work? What do you do with Diet? that?

So I have a, I have something that designs, I have two people just 'cause I had some kidney things in 2023. So I have one person, Deborah, who says what foods are approved for me to eat that are healthy for me. And I have Alan that kind of designs the, you know, the quantities and the frequency of eating. And then, so I, I pretty much eat the same thing every morning. I eat this organic oatmeal with papaya or kiwi, and a little cinnamon, and then I'll put in some bone broth protein powder in it. And then, I have Christina who makes my food now because this was just a big thing. It seems extravagant for people a lot of times to think about hiring a cook, but it's actually mentally extravagant, but it's financially pretty affordable for an entrepreneur, meaning I'm paying her $35 an hour. So, I'm paying her, she works basically 3 to 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, and then she gives me back 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, or really 7 days a week. How much more can I make with that? So I've— health has never been easier from that standpoint because I know what I'm eating.

She makes that food. She made some banana bread that was paleo. I probably wasn't supposed to eat that because she's like, I just want to get you a treat. And then I just realized, oh, I'm— I can't have that around. I'll probably just eat it. Like, so I'm going to tell her. Just keep it, you know, she just thinks I'm a little bit boring on the food side, but you know, I have meat and veggies for the most part throughout the day. Sweet potatoes, you know, I can have goat stuff so I could have like goat yogurt, not cows, but like, dude, I'm now trying to gain weight, which has never been the case my whole life. I always tried to like get leaner. Now it's like, no, I'm trying to put weight on. I'm eating anytime I'm hungry in whatever quantity. It feels so abundant. Because I'm eating whole foods. I'm eating real foods. I'm not eating the processed stuff that is chemically, you know, changes our taste buds and really impacts our minds and can hijack our life. In the past, when I didn't have someone like this, I would just skip meals a lot of times, get really hungry, and then have to like go look and see what we had.

And it might not have been the best option. And I'm now famished. I'm just eating so much now. It's like, now I'm eating every 2.5 hours. Everything's kind of planned out. And then I just do kind of old school weightlifting, like do progressive overload weightlifting. All my stuff right now is just super slow on the way down, time under tension type of stuff. It's a new workout that I started just a few weeks ago, and I'm getting sore again, which feels really good. And that's kind of the, you know, it's so nice that now that I know what I want, the coach tells me, here's what you do. The system helps me get it done. And something that used to be an up and down struggle is just easy.

Right. And I think it goes back to the form we were talking about. Costs $35 an hour to do this, 5 days, you know, 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. So if you're using that, that's 15 hours. Can I offset the $900 that it's gonna cost me? If you can't make $900 in 15 hours a week, you're not an entrepreneur. Please go back, go work it, go get a job. You're just in the wrong ballgame. I remember when the rule was, and I was in my 20s when this happened, I was told by my mentor, 'cause I was hiring a mentor, he goes, if it's less than $200 an hour, you shouldn't be doing it. Doing it. And I'm like, I'm sorry, what? He goes, never cut your lawn again. I was like, wait, what? He goes, you do not do laundry. You do not cut your lawn. You do not cook your foods. And I was like, huh? He's like, do it for 90 days. I know you can afford it. I know what your bank account looks like. Do it for 90 days and get back to me. I have not cut my own lawn since.

I'm just like, it's just a— because the ROI was just huge. I was like, this is the best investment I've ever had. So getting people to understand that. I also like that you're data-driven. And I'm an individual who true diagnostics is I'm close to the people who run it. Give them your blood work. Have fun. This is where you are. This is what you need to do. This is how your body reacts to this. Hey, you might be super athletic and thin, but your tendency to be pre-diabetic. Awesome. Adjust your food intake. Simple and easy. You might find out that for you, like I love lamb. I love it more than I can possibly tell you. Lamb does not work well in my system. I've had to have the biomarkers come back and say, "You can't eat lamb." I'm like, "Ah, darn it." I'm like, "But, Is ice cream good for me? And they're like, no, I'm like, damn it. So you get to have those ghost conversations when you go into it. So if you have someone who's on the outside looking at the entrepreneur journey, trying to get the investment DNA, things are changing and it's only gonna speed up.

We've got AI. Again, that doesn't mean artificial intelligence, it means always incorrect. So some of the data you're getting back doesn't have the experience. So if you're sitting here and you're looking at the scope of where society's going, where entrepreneurship's going, where investment's going, where's AI going into it. Where do you tell someone right now, say, hey, should I be— because I know you're focusing on, on scaling your social presence and more of the influencer and having that impact. Where would you tell the average person to go and how to get there?

I think that the way that things are going is people want more one-on-one interaction or human interaction with people. So intimacy is going to be valued at a whole different level. Just like getting to— like, AI might be able to remove so much busyness that we could just sit down and have a conversation without a thousand things on our mind. You know, in the early stages right now, people in AI are working 10 times harder because they're trying to figure out what's valuable, what's not valuable, what works, what doesn't work, build out those systems. So I think community, I think connection, that's what we're going to see is the future. Because now people could, you know, go to a mastermind and actually have human contact and be like, So like, look what came out after COVID. People were so excited when I did my comedy special in 2021. People were, uh, it was like I got more laughs than I deserved. I got more applause than I deserved cuz people were just so excited to be out and be with other people and have so much fun. So I, I think that AI's gonna help people be a lot more effective when they learn to use it properly.

And then other people are gonna get sucked in and waste their time with it because they're thinking of it as a tool to replace people instead of enhance ability. I look at it like, something that helps us to become more productive, not something that helps us to become replaced because it doesn't have point of view at this point. And, you know, again, I still like to do business with human beings. Now, I have no idea what it looks like in 5 years, honestly. So I'm just like, let's figure it out and do the best we can so that you're in the best financial position you could possibly be and be willing to adapt and adopt faster and make changes quicker than we did in the past.

I think it's the conversation of productive versus purge. 'Cause so many people with AI are so afraid it's gonna be T2 or it's gonna be Mad Max and we're all gonna die. I'm like, okay, what's the winning lottery number? They're like, well, I don't know what the winning lottery number is. I'm like, why are you predicting something in 5 years? What are you doing? So having that productive versus purge, I agree with you completely when it comes to community. It's the one thing that I'm being begged for right now from my environment. They're like, can you do events? Can you bring us together? You know, you've got these, you know, the people who come on, we wanna sit together. How do we help each other? How do we get in rooms? And that's been something that, yes, people, I'm listening, I'm working on it. Leave me alone. Working on putting those things together because that's what I'm being begged for more than anything else is that connection. What are your— I'm just curious because you, again, you've got the reps in, you've got access to this. Someone listening right now who might not have access to you, what are the top 5 books they need to read right now?

Well, If they're, if they're looking at like money, there's, you know, like I have 3 books that are really the core financial fitness books. One is Killing Sacred Cows too, because it helps to understand what the financial myths are so you can avoid them. Because once you can see it, then you're like, oh, and it helps you break free from a lot of that constraint. So it's, there's a lot of prosperity and permission to succeed. The second one is Money Unmasked, which really helps people heal their relationship to money. Understand like where they could put more money in their pocket by plugging the leaks and expand their mind. So they create a vision that's so compelling that they enjoy their life. And then what would the Rockefellers do is making legacy accessible to the people who normally wouldn't think about it till they're far down the road, the things that they could do today so they can invest in their kids and so that they can build the structures that don't require a single dollar but can change the trajectory of their family and change their financial future and destiny. So those are like the 3 big ones.

Those are all mine. So it's super self-serving on the books to read that I'm, they work out that I'm saying there, you know, on the financial side. But 'cause a lot of the other books I read in finance are pretty dry and boring and hard for people to get through. Yeah. Like Opportunity Cost and Finance and Accounting, or The Ascent of Money is a really fascinating book, which talks about how money started in its history of money and how that evolves. And it gives you really interesting perspective. As we hear in today's world, everybody's saying, oh, the dollar's going to lose all of its value. You got to get into gold. And like all that's the distraction economy. It's turning up the noise. The reality is your business is a solution to solve inflation. Your business is a solution to solve tax hikes. Your business is a solution when interest rates change. The solution is there. You just feel like, oh, you're maybe behind or should be further along. And then you get involved in things you know nothing about and outside of your influence. Because you're not focused enough. That's the distraction economy. So I think staying really like clear and concise and focused on that is super helpful.

And then I think for like a, for a business owner, it's really like what book's going to help you increase your business acumen? You know, what's going to help you really understand whether it's, you know, anything from like 10x is Better Than 2x or Buy Back Your Time, or, you know, like there's these books that help you think. When you first invest in yourself, that's step one. The next step is you invest in others. And when you read the books to help you invest in others, that's going to be more profound than investing in investments you know nothing about. So grow yourself, grow your team, and that's the access to a whole different financial world.

When it comes to like relationships outside of the business world, what are some of the books that you've seen that have been, that have changed the ballgame for you on the relationship level?

Way of the Superior Man, I really like by David Deida. There's a book called The Married Man's Sex Life Primer by Athol Kay. Love that book. Reread that book quite often. I think that does a really good job of talking about like, you know, attraction and is it's, you know, alpha and beta and like just it's so good. It's such a good book. That one was a game changer. I loved the Five Love Languages when I was first married. That thing still kind of resonates with me and is something that I think about and has been super helpful. So I think those are kind of like the top 3 that made a big difference for me.

Perfect. And then the last one I want to ask you about is fitness. What is the fitness stuff that you read or that has come across that you're like, yeah, this is, this is the game changers for me?

You know, like on the, on the, like my wife is a ferocious reader on health. So she kind of is the catalyst on a lot of this for me, but I read, I love Deep Nutrition by Cate Shanahan back in the day. It got me thinking about like the quality of the food and the nutrition inside of the food. I mean, I just, I love Robb Wolf and pretty much anything that he writes. He's been instrumental in my health journey and a client and a friend for a long time. So, that's super helpful. And now, I actually do watch a lot like on Instagram around health from the people that I think are, you know, really dialed in, the people like Mark Hyman or even like my fitness trainer, Alan Dick. Like, I like watching that stuff because I can get really, you know, concise. And then I was in Alan's program where he's doing like full-hour sessions once a week teaching stuff about nutrition and health. And, you know, so, man, I've read a lot in the nutrition space over the years because I've spoken at so many events with people that in that world, like, half of our clients felt like they were in functional medicine or chiropractic and biodentists and stuff like that.

So, there's so much good out there and there's so much bad. I think that almost anything that's traditional is pretty much antiquated and outdated. And, even Andrew Huberman said that half the stuff they're learning in medical school doesn't apply. It's not even real. So, I'm kind of like, where can we get nutrition from food? What can we do use it like with the quantity of food and how often that we have but I have so many good friends that have huge channels that are fun to watch and learn from like my buddy Warren Phillips or Dan Pompa. Those guys put out really good content on health. Yeah.

So, I think it's all really powerful stuff. When I first learned about chiropractor, I learned it from this guy named John Stockton. So, he's a basketball player and he was—

Yeah, John Stockton Jr. is my chiropractor. His chiropractor is my chiropractor.

Yeah, there you go. And, John used to go out and have it done 3 times a day when he was practicing and he retired because they wouldn't let him wear shorts anymore. Not that he was injured or getting too slow. So, I fell in love with the world of chiropractic. I was like, "Oh, that was so much better because the other day, I just corkscrewed my hip. It is what it is. Just the joys of being 48. I corkscrewed my hip and I walked in my chiropractor, snap, I'm like, 'Thank you.'" He's like, "Have a good day." It was just simple and it was easy. God, I love it. Anyway, if people want to try— sorry, go.

You and I were talking before, how basically I went to this meditation retreat, my flight was canceled, I ended up having to sit middle seat instead of first class and I'm pretty tall. And then the beds at the meditation retreat weren't very good. I came home with a sore back, but I went to Bühler's immediately, right? And then he does that muscle activation stuff. And then I happen to be speaking at an event for chiropractors last week. They did the rest of the work, which came off of even my biofeedback machine that I was working on with Deborah, this woman. She's like, here's where you need to get adjusted. And they— and when they— like, here's where it was all aligned, even though biofeedback, I wasn't even in the same room. It's— there's so much more going on than we even know. You know. And you think there's like trillions of things happening inside of a body. And so, we're just going to continue to evolve and learn so much more that I think is going to change the game with health. But there's almost nothing that will beat just move, get rest, drink plenty of water, get some sun, you know, and be in love.

That right there is going to solve a lot of problems.

That's pretty much it. That's the formula. So, if people want to track you down because there's, you know, Garrett, you give so much value and you're connecting in so many different If people want to get access to you, what's the best way to find you? What's the best way to connect?

I drop daily nuggets on Instagram, @GarrettBGunderson. So, if you want like specific insights of on finance and things that you could do, GarrettGunderson.com, you can grab my newsletter in 5 minutes or less, what's going to help you get financially fit, independent, and free. And then, YouTube, I do longer form stuff like we did here today. So, if people want to do deeper dives, I'm doing a video today on the habits of marriage that made me rich and the things like it's got so many golden nuggets or the 9 habits in money that make the biggest difference. So, I do videos like that. And then, people can just DM me if they want. Like, we barely mentioned tax today, but if you want to save tax because I know you're an entrepreneur, Tax Navigator. I have a full checklist where people can go through and see if they're doing all the tax strategies that are out there because we find that the average business owner overpays taxes by about $11,000 per quarter million dollars of revenue. So when someone's making millions of dollars, they're just tipping the government unnecessarily on very down the fairway, simple things.

So this checklist is extraordinarily helpful for people to learn about how they can take the qualified business deduction, and that's a 20% less tax, or how they can rent their home out for 14 days a year to their business, and that's tax deductible, or how they could pay their kids, or whether or not they should do a home office, or what type of corporation to choose, or how they could sell assets completely tax-free with charitable trust. Like I just geek out about that kind of stuff. So if you DM me, Tax Navigator will hook you up, give that to you for free.

All right, man, I really appreciate it. We should have you come back just to talk about that because with my last name being Schwartz, anything I could do to save money, I get really excited about it. So we'll have you come back and we'll do that, man. I really appreciate you, man. Thanks for coming on.

Thanks for having me, man. I certainly appreciate it.

Hard work with the wrong philosophy still leads to broke. High risk does not equal high return. And waiting 30 years to touch your money Money is not a strategy. Garrett flipped the script on everything we were taught about wealth, and it is about time. See you on the next one.