In short
Podcast Notes: The Ed Mylett Show - Episode: The 5 Types of Wealth To Design Your Dream Life with Sahil Bloom
Episode Overview In this episode, Ed Mylett discusses the concept of wealth beyond financial measures with Sahil Bloom, who emphasizes the importance of redefining wealth to include various aspects of life—time, relationships, mental clarity, health, and financial stability. The conversation encourages listeners to examine their lives and to ensure they are pursuing what truly matters to them.
Key Themes
- Redefining Wealth
- Sahil Bloom's Five Types of Wealth:
- Time Wealth: Freedom to choose how to spend your time.
- Social Wealth: Quality relationships with family and friends.
- Mental Wealth: Growth, purpose, and mental clarity.
- Physical Wealth: Health and vitality.
- Financial Wealth: Financial stability and understanding one's definition of "enough."
- The Importance of Awareness
- Understanding where you are on your journey is crucial.
- Create a Wealth Score to assess your current standing in each of the wealth categories.
- The Danger of Pursuing Conventional Success
- The conversation warns against the "Pyrrhic victory," where one achieves success at the expense of personal happiness and relationships.
- It emphasizes the need to reflect on whether the "mountain" that one is climbing is truly the right one.
- Practical Strategies for Life Changes
- ABC System for Habit Formation:
- A Goal: Optimal target (e.g., an hour of exercise).
- B Goal: Moderate target (e.g., 30 minutes).
- C Goal: Minimal target (e.g., a five-minute walk).
- This system promotes consistency by allowing flexibility based on daily circumstances.
- Energy Calendar: Track and color-code activities based on their energy-creating or -draining effects.
- Seeking Balance
- Balance in life is viewed as a seasonal pursuit rather than a daily one. There will be times where one part of life requires more focus (e.g., work commitments during a book launch).
- The Importance of Environment
- Changing environments can foster new thinking and perspectives. It helps to break habitual thought patterns.
- Reflection and Rituals
- Think Day: A monthly ritual to step back, reflect, and realign with personal priorities.
Key Quotes
- “Sometimes the things you pray for become the things you complain about, if you’re not paying attention.”
- “Anything above zero compounds.”
- “Life is much more about direction than speed.”
Action Points
- Evaluate Current Wealth: Assess all five types of wealth in your life and identify areas needing attention.
- Implement the ABC Goal System: Start building new habits with varying levels of commitment.
- Engage in Monthly Reflection: Dedicate time to pause and reflect on life goals and relationships.
Final Thoughts The episode encourages listeners to actively design their dream lives and not let societal expectations dictate their paths. It’s about creating a holistic approach to wealth that encompasses personal values and relationships, ultimately leading to a fulfilling life.
*Max out.*
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:28So, hey guys, listen, we're all trying to get more productive. $10 ,000 worth of courses that are in there that come with the app. Also, some of the top influencers in the world are all posting content in there on a regular basis, like having the Avengers of personal development and business in one app. And I'm honored that he asked me to be a part of it as well and contribute on a weekly basis, and I do. So go over there and get signed up. You're going to get a free tuition-free voucher to go to an event with Brendan and myself and a bunch of other influencers as well. So you get a free event out of it also.
0:53So go to growthday.com forward slash ed. That's growthday.com forward slash ed.
1:26you options within your budget. Try it today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.
1:43Mutine. Adjective. Used to describe an individual whose spirit is unyielding, unconstrained. One who navigates life on their own terms, effortlessly. They do not always show up on time, but when they arrive, you notice an individual confident in their contradictions. They know the rules, but behave as if they do not exist. Muteen, the new fragrance by Miu Miu, defined by you.
2:15This is The Ed Miland Show. Welcome back to the show, everybody. So, you know, we get submitted a lot of books to have people on the show, probably, I don't know, four or five hundred a year. And so I usually have about half the guests before the year starts. I know I want to have on. And then I discover somebody that not only captivates my attention, but gains my respect. And in our guest case today, that's exactly what happened. He gained my attention and then my respect once I started to follow his content. And I love the nature of his work. Today's episode is as much for me as it is for all of you guys today, because we're going to talk about the five types of wealth, which is actually the title of his new book.
2:56And it says here, a transformative guide to design your dream life. I've read this book and it's not a small one, but it is a very good one. It says here, a transformative guide to design your dream life. And I have to tell you from reading the book, it does exactly that. And this hour, I think is going to help you design your dream life with my guest today, Sahil Bloom. Welcome, brother. Thank you so much for having me, man. You are a young guy with a lot of wisdom. And you're 20 years my junior. And I have to tell you, I've learned a lot from you. I think part of it is probably because you were a college baseball player like me.
3:29We definitely have a lot of things in common, man. There's a lot of parallels in our past. You were a UOP guy. I was a UOP guy, which means my grades weren't good enough to get into Stanford where you went. Neither was my hitting, running, base stealing ability or defensive skills. Other than that, I'd have been perfect. for Stanford, which is where you went and played ball. So maybe that's why I like you so much. We had a lot of good games against UOP, though, over the years. My first pitching appearance was at your field in Stockton. Did we rope you, or did you shut us down? No, I had a good first appearance.
4:01I'm not going to talk about it here, but I had a good one against you guys. Well, I know what I do want to talk about with you, which is life and designing your dream life. I kind of wish I met you 20 years ago, but then if I did, you'd be 14, and you might not have known all the stuff that you know by now. But let's talk a little bit about some of the things in the book. A lot of guests, I enjoy their time. There's been a few, though, that have stood out over time. And one of them is my friend Jesse Itzler, who you know who Jesse is. And we actually recorded this on camera, but Jesse said to me in the middle of the interview, we're very similar guys.
4:33He goes, how often do you see your dad? And at that time, my dad was healthy. And he goes, no, I mean like really see him. I said, I don't know, two, three times a year. And then we went life expectancy. see. Basically, at the end of the conversation, he goes, you're going to see your dad eight more times in your life. You actually opened the book up with this exact point. It's only the second time I've ever heard it before. So let's just set the stage for what you think real wealth is. You talk about the five different types. For me, time is the most important currency at this stage of my life.
5:04So just talk about that story at the beginning of the book and your view on it. Yeah. Jesse has been one of the pioneers of this idea, along with a writer named Tim Urban, who wrote a piece in, I believe it was 2015, called The Tail End, which was the first time that I had ever seen someone articulate the idea that you can actually measure time in the amount of moments, the amount of experiences that you have with the people that you care about. And that moment that you're referencing, which I opened the book with, was a conversation that I had with an old friend in May of 2021. At the time, I had spent the first seven years of my career marching down the most traditional path towards a quote-unquote successful life.
5:44I was chasing all of the things that everyone tells you you should want to chase, the money, the status, the things, and I was getting them. I was actually winning that game, if you will. But unfortunately, along that path, all these other things in my life had started to suffer while on the outside looking in, things seemed to be going great. So I was getting promoted, I was getting the bonuses, but along the way, my relationships had started to show cracks. My parents, I was not seeing at all. My relationship with my sister, unfortunately, had ground to a halt. My wife and I were struggling to conceive at the time.
6:16That was creating strain in our life. I was drinking six, seven nights a week with mental health. There was all these other areas of my life that had started to suffer because I had gotten so narrowly focused on the one thing of making money, of accumulating status as the path to me feeling successful, to me feeling happy. And that all came to a head for me in May of 2021. I went out for a drink with this old friend. We sat down and he asked how I was doing. And I said, it had started to get difficult living so far away from my parents who were on the East Coast. We were living in California, 3000 miles away.
6:50And they were getting older. It was the first time in my life as a young person that I had started to notice them slowing down. Their health wasn't perfect anymore. And he asked how old they were. And I said, mid sixties. And he asked how often I saw them. And I said, once a year at that point. And he just looked at me and said, okay, so you're going to see your parents 15 more times before they die. And you know this feeling because you experienced this with Jesse when he said it to you, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. The idea that the amount of time you have left with the people you care about most in the world is that finite and countable that you can literally put it onto a few hands.
7:28That just shook me to the core. And in that moment, I realized that if something didn't change, we were going to end up in a place where we didn't want to be. And the next day, my wife and I had a candid conversation about what we wanted to be our center, what our true north really was, if you will, in life. And within 45 days, we had taken a big leap of faith. I had left my job, which was this impressive finance, you know, long-term career track job. We sold our house in California and moved 3 ,000 miles across the country to live closer to both of our sets of parents. And in that one decision, there was a really critical realization, which was, you are actually much more in control of your time than you think.
8:13We had taken an action, done one thing, and that number, 15, had turned into the hundreds. My parents are a huge part of my son, their grandson's life now. I see them multiple times a month. We live right near them. So we had taken an action and actually created time. And that realization, you just start living differently when you realize that you are in more control of your time. You are not a passive taker of time. You can actually go and make it. Do you think that's great that you did that? It sounds easier to do than it is. Like, let's be real. Let's talk. We're in personal development, self-improvement, entrepreneurship, whatever you want to call this space you and I find ourselves.
8:59and what some would call average people have that wealth already. Like the guy that you went to Stanford with, maybe not, but a guy you went to high school with, he never left town. He lives down the street from his mom and dad. He sees them four days a week. They have Sunday dinner every Sunday, but he's also missing the part of life that's self-expression and creating something and building something and going for it. So there's a part of guys like you and I that automatically view that as a reduced level of wealth until you go get the other stuff. So what would you say to somebody who's listening to this?
9:33I know I'm pushing you, but they haven't amassed wealth. They haven't amassed career accolades. They haven't gone to Stanford. They haven't created something, haven't built something. And they have this desire to do it. But now having heard you, they're afraid it's going to cost them their family. What would you say to them? There's two things I would say here. First off, one of the core concepts of this entire book, this entire idea, is that there are a lot of people out there who, by traditional measures of wealth, money, have been told that they are not doing so well. And in a more comprehensive definition, I would argue that they are really doing great in life.
10:10One of my teammates from my Stanford days, actually, after school, decided to move back to his hometown. He wanted to live close to his family. He became a gym teacher at his high school. He coaches the high school sports teams, he became a gym teacher. He probably makes, I don't know, 50,$60 ,000 a year. For a guy that got a Stanford degree to go and do that, the world would probably tell him that he's not doing great. But then you look at the bigger picture of his life. He spends tons of time with both sets of parents. He has two beautiful kids. He's outside all the time. He's extraordinarily fit.
10:40He loves his work. He loves the act of service to these kids that he's working with. He is wealthy. I don't care what anyone says. I don't care what the world tells you that about how you're doing. You are a wealthy person if you have all of those things in your life. So that's the first thing is I would say is so good. Take a bigger picture. Look at your life. Don't allow the world to tell you how you're doing. You get to decide. You get to run your own race in life. You don't have to compare yourself to everyone else's race. That's the first thing. The second thing I would say is that your life has seasons.
11:12And what you prioritize or focus on during any one season can and should change. You may have a season when you really want to lean into building financial wealth, building that foundation. And during that season, it's okay for that to be all the way turned up. But these other areas, importantly, have to exist on dimmer switches, not on-off switches. I talk about that a lot in the book, that the traditional wisdom has told you that if you're going to focus on one thing, everything else gets shut off. So I'm in my thirties or twenties and I really want to build my career. Okay. Too bad relationships, flip that off.
11:48Too bad health, flip it off. Too bad mental health, flip it off. And that is a terrible way to live because for a lot of these areas, if you leave the light switch turned off for too long, you can never turn it back on. The word later just becomes another word for never. You say, I'll spend more time with my kids later. I'll spend time with my spouse, my friends later. I'll focus on my health later. I'll build a life of freedom and purpose later. And later just becomes never because those things won't exist in the same way later. Your kids are not going to be five years old later. Your partner won't be there for you later if you aren't there for them now.
12:25Your health won't magically be there later. You won't wake up with freedom and purpose later. You either design those things into your life in some tiny way now, or you end up regretting it later. And the last thing I'll say to this is in all of these areas of life, the reason the idea of a dimmer switch is so important is because anything above zero compounds, anything above zero compounds in your life, the point is you don't want it to be off. Off atrophies, and you're going to that world of never. But if you do a tiny daily action in these other areas. You can stack and compound wins. Sending the one text to the friend, letting them know you're thinking about them, calling your mom for two minutes on the ride to work is better than nothing.
13:10But we, self-improvement focused people, ambitious people, allow optimal to get in the way of beneficial. So we say, I don't have an hour to work out, so I'm just not going to work out today. I don't have two hours for deep work, so I guess I'm going to do emails today instead of working. And that is the worst mentality you can have. Because again, the five minute walk is better than nothing. The 10 minutes of deep work on the one focus project is better than nothing. Anything above zero compounds in all of these areas. Very good. Anything above zero compounds. I love what you're saying. And I got to tell you, my dad passed away five years ago.
13:46I said to somebody yesterday, my dad passed away two years ago. It was five years ago now. And after my dad died, my mom handed me the stack of golf scorecards. And what I didn't know was that, by the way, what many of you would like to become to make your parents proud of you, wealthy or a jet or an island or somebody important, I was blessed in my life to accomplish. And I can tell you that that meant almost nothing to my dad in terms of whether he was proud of me or not. What made my dad proud of me is how I treated other people. What made my dad proud of me? Was I helping people? Was I calling my sisters?
14:24Anyway, she hands me these stack of cards. I said, what is this? She goes, oh, it's every round of golf you ever played with your dad. He kept every scorecard. And I remember many times, brother, we would be done playing my dad. I left something in the clubhouse. And he'd be gone for like 20 minutes. I found out later he'd be back in the golf cart garage where they're washing the golf carts going, can you find the scorecard from my son and I? And by the way, these weren't fancy golf courses. We played at mainly El Prado golf course in Chino, California, which was next to a prison, but it was moments with me.
14:53And my mom also told me that after he died, I just don't ever want to hear this to validate your work. To me, when I would just call my dad and check in, hey, dad, what's going on? We'd talk for 30 minutes. It was like, all right, I checked the box. I called dad, good talk. My mom would tell me that he would talk about those phone calls for hours after. and the next day, you know what Eddie said? Then he said this. And she said, you don't know how much it meant to him just that you called and spent time. And so just realize that this matrix you're living in isn't the matrix your mom and dad or your siblings or your children are living in.
15:25They're living in a very different one, receiving this time or the lack of it in a very impactful way and more than you realize in your life. It's why I love what you're doing. The time well thing obviously affects me the most because I'm running out of it. I'm 54 and I'm not in the best health in the world. I shouldn't even say that out loud, but it's a fact in my case. The idea of mental wealth to me, if I were measuring most people's lives right now, just on me walking around the world, it would be that they are the most broke there. I think in mental wealth, I'm talking about mental wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, et cetera.
16:03What tactics or techniques do you cover in the book that give us one or two, because it's bait to buy the book, but it's also, I got something from this conversation that can help with the mental wealth part of things. I really think that the single most important thing that people can do to build their mental wealth is to create a ritual on a monthly basis to pause and think about your life. Do you do that? I do that. I have something in the book that I call the think day. So the lineage of this is Bill Gates, after he founded Microsoft had this ritual where once a year he would take a full week and he would go off the grid and he would just read and think and learn.
16:41And it was all about the bigger picture things facing Microsoft. So he could zoom out and see the 10 ,000 foot view rather than be stuck in the weeds every single day. The same principle applies to your own life. You live as the first player in your own video game. So you are on the ground in the weeds every single day. Everything is this loop of stimulus and response. You're constantly having stimulus, the things coming in, the emails, the notifications, the requests, all of them feel urgent. You're going back with responses and you have no time to actually think, to zoom out on your life and think about the bigger picture of what you really want.
17:16What are the things that are holding you back? How aligned or misaligned are your priorities from where you are actually trying to go build towards? What is the path that you are actually on. And so I have this ritual that I talk about as a think day, which is once a month, get out of your normal headspace. Don't go to your office or your house, go to a new coffee shop, go outside, do something, take an hour and just go with a handful of question prompts that force you to zoom out on your life. My favorite one I'll share right now is if you were the main character in a movie of your life, what would the audience be screaming at you to do right now.
17:57Think about it. We've all watched a movie or TV show where we want to just jump through the screen and grab the main character and tell them like, go chase the girl to the airport or don't go down in the basement. Whatever the thing is, you are that main character in the movie of your life right now. And there is something blindingly obvious from the outside looking in that you were either choosing to ignore or that you have yet to create the perspective to actually see in your life. So what is it? Think with it, sit with it. And I guarantee you will find some tiny action that you can take that will improve your life.
18:31You, uh, you know, I think the key thing there for me is I do think you have to change the environment when you have those think days or think hours, because your environment is loaded with triggers and anchors that bring you back to the same way of thinking that now, but if you're, if you have a means to do it, it's actually get away for a night or two somewhere. But if you don't, it is changing. Do you think that's one of the key things is not that it's very difficult to make life altering decisions in your current environment and space that is facilitating and supporting that current lifestyle and way of thinking.
19:04You agree with that? People underestimate how much environment impacts thought patterns. Agreed. When you are in a familiar environment, you are going to have familiar thought patterns. You are going to just find evidence that confirms the current story you are telling yourself. We all know that. Those stories that you tell yourself are incredibly powerful as a force for good or bad because humans are incredible at finding evidence to confirm the story we already believe about ourselves. If you don't think you're smart or capable, I guarantee you will find a whole lot of evidence in your current environment that will confirm that.
19:36And you'll ignore every single piece of evidence that would refute it. So if you're trying to create a change in your life, get out of your normal space, get into a new one. And ideally, you get into a big space, meaning high ceilings, open, fresh air, things like that. Because scientifically, there's something called the cathedral effect, which says that big open spaces actually cause you to think bigger. You think more creatively when you're in a big open space. Whoa. Let's talk about a little bit about involving family in your work. My wife did a great job of that, by the way. So when I was leaving, it wasn't daddy's going to work.
20:14It was daddy's going to change people's lives. Daddy's going to make a difference. And I would hear my kids tell other kids, what's your dad do? Oh, he helps people. And so there was a frame for my family that framed the work I was doing. So what about that with involving family in these decisions in your work? I think it's so important to have your family be a part of the mission that you are on. I talk a lot about the idea that I have the mental model when I view my own life that I kind of get to pick a couple of missions. A few things that are my big picture missions that I'm on in life. And the people that are on those missions with me, those are my people.
20:51And if you're not on one of those missions with me, I might still have love for you. You can be a friend. But like we're not really in it together in that same way. And I want my wife and my son and my parents and my sister, I want them all to know that they are a part of this mission of the things that I'm trying to create in my life. I felt like that was informed by my own experience with my father. My dad is my best friend. And when you talk about those stories about your dad with the golf scorecards, it makes me emotional thinking about it because my dad has been my number one front row supporter in anything that I've done in my life.
21:30And even now, I just went on this book tour. My dad is sitting in the front row. My dad is a Harvard professor. Sitting in the front row of these events at my book tour, taking notes on the things that I'm talking about. The reason he's taking notes is because afterwards we sit down and he talks to me about the things he thought I really articulated well, the things he thought I could have said slightly better, the things where he noticed the audience really leaned forward. He's giving me real feedback, positive and constructive around these things. And what I think is so important there is this realization I've had that strong relationships are built on two pillars, high expectations and high support.
22:09High expectations is to say, I have very high expectations for the level at which you can perform, what you are capable of as a human being. I have extraordinary expectations for that. But also high support, meaning I am willing to lift you up on my shoulders to go and meet those expectations, those things that I believe you're capable of. High expectations without high support manifests as resentment. We all have people in our lives who seemingly had high expectations for us, but we're not willing to actually show up to help us meet those. But when the two come together in concert, it creates the most incredible bonds in life.
22:46And when I reflect on that now as a father myself and want to see that lineage, that real generational wealth of that connection get passed down through our family, that is just the most powerful thing in the world to me. It's the willingness to show up, to have those high expectations, but then to be there in the front row, taking notes to then go and support that person to go and meet those expectations. What would your dad tell me about you? I think my dad would tell you that he is proud that I am becoming the man that I want to be. And there's a very, very subtle and very powerful idea in that statement.
23:25The man that I want to be, not the man that he wants me to be, but the man that I want to be. and the reason I think he would say that is because his own relationship with his father was a broken one unfortunately my father is born and raised in the Bronx New York from a Jewish family my mother was born and raised in India and when my parents wanted to get married my dad's father was not accepting of that fact and told him that he had to choose between my mom and his family and my dad walked out the door and never saw his family again I never met my dad's parents His dad passed away many years ago.
Read the full transcript
24:02Unfortunately, never met him. He has siblings that I've never met. I have first cousins that I've never met. All from this one decision that my dad made to choose love, to carve his own path, to actually do the exact thing of this book, to reject the default path that's been handed to you, to question it, and to carve your own into the earth. And that legacy of that one decision has had powerful ripple effects into my own life. And I think as a parent, you either amplify or reject the things that you experienced from your parents in how you treat your own kids. And in my dad's case, that feeling that I think got created through his own relationship with his father ended up manifesting as him being the most supportive and loving father that I could imagine my sister could imagine having.
24:55You have a real goodness about you, Sahil, a real goodness about you. And I have to believe that shines through. My favorite part of the book is that story about your dad. That story is in the book, everybody, in a little bit more detail. And I'm sure your father's immensely proud of you. I mean, I'm proud of you watching you here today and feel really good about the future of this industry and the space too, knowing there's men like you in it. So, hey guys, I want to jump in here for a second and talk about change and growth. And you know, by the way, it's no secret how people get ahead in life or how they grow.
25:27And also taking a look at the future. If you want to change your future, you got to change the things you're doing. If you continue to do the same things, you're probably going to produce the same results. But if you can get into a new environment where you're learning new things and you're around other people that are growth oriented, you're much more likely to do that yourself. And that's why I love Growth Day. Write this down for a second, growthday.com forward slash ed. My friend Brendan Brouchard has created the most incredible personal development and business app that I've ever seen in my life.
25:53Everything from goal-setting software to personal accountability, journaling, courses, thousands of dollars worth of courses in there as well. I create content in there on Mondays where I contribute as do a whole bunch of other influencers like the Avengers of influencers and business minds in there. It's the Netflix for high achievers or people that want to be high achievers. So go check it out. My friend Brendan's made it very affordable, very easy to get involved. Go to growthday.com forward slash ed. That's growthday.com forward slash ed.
26:24This episode brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out? Well, with the Name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can get a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too. You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll help find you options within your budget. Try it today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.
27:00When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you know your choices matter. You're the expert because you know what fits your life. And getting it right starts with good information. That's why America's beverage companies are sharing more information about our ingredients at goodtoknowfacts.org. No spin, no judgments, just the facts straight from the experts for more than 140 beverage ingredients. Visit goodtoknowfacts.org. Let's not make sure that before we finish that we'd poo-poo wealth wealth, money wealth, because it's very easy to go. if you listen to this conversation, it'd be a guy whose dad's a Harvard professor who went to Stanford, was making a bunch of money, and then me, and we're like, ah, this stuff doesn't matter.
27:45But the lack of money can be a difficult way to live. And by the way, I admire your friend who went home to be a gym teacher, and all candor, there were one of two lives for me. There was that life. I wanted to be a high school baseball coach and teach gym, or the one I went for, which was expansion and creativity and what we do here now. And I think I would have been happy with both lives. And so I admire both. I think it's choosing the life I want, to your point. But financial abundance can do an awful lot of great things in the world. And the lack of it can create tremendous pressure on the other areas of wealth.
28:23For example, if I live in California and my parents live in New York and I have no financial means to go see them, this can make an impact on them. Obviously, you had the means to move, at least temporarily. So what about the importance of the financial piece of it? And what would you just speak to that? Because it is one of the wealth that you list in the book. And it's easy to just say it's the least important because it's the one everybody talks about all the time, but not necessarily. Yeah, I very explicitly in the book wanted to avoid this coming off as saying money is nothing. Give up all your worldly possessions, go move off to the Himalayas, become a monk, drink warm broth all day.
29:02If you want to do that, by all means, go do it. I won't be joining you. I like having money. I like being able to afford things. Money isn't nothing. It simply can't be the only thing. Maslow's hierarchy of needs comes to mind here. Basically, in the early days of your life, you are trying to come up that part of the curve where you can use money to afford basic human needs, shelter, food, taking care of the people around you, the earliest pleasures, vacations, money directly buys happiness in those early years. For anyone that has come up the curve, you saw that. Money over and over again was able to buy you happiness in those early years.
29:39What happens, unfortunately, is you get patterned to believe that that same curve, that linear relationship between money and happiness will continue in perpetuity. And it does not. It starts to level off. And above that level, money needs to become a tool, not the goal. Money is a tool for building these other types of wealth. You can use it to create experiences with people you love, to unlock freedom and time, to build and invest in your health, mental and physical. You can use it as a tool, but it is no longer the goal. In that phase, when it is the goal, focusing in on it and really turning that dimmer switch up is important and actually advisable for anyone that is in that piece, that time of the game.
30:22My mental model for thinking about that fundamentally comes down to something very simple, which is making money has been overcomplicated. The way you make money is by creating value for other people. You shouldn't say, I want to get rich in the next year. You should say, I want to create an enormous amount of value for other people in the next year. And as a result of that, you will make money. I guarantee it. So if creating value is the thing you are after, all you need to be thinking about is identifying problems, creating a solution, and then scaling that solution. At all times, if you're trying to make money, you need to be working on one of those things, either identifying problems, creating solutions to those problems, or scaling those solutions.
31:02The more scalable, the more money you're going to fundamentally make. That is what it all comes down to. Anyone that's trying to sell you the complicated, crazy solution is just obfuscating and just making it complicated so that you buy their thing, whatever it is that they're selling you, the fancy financial product. The reality is it's just as simple as that. And you can do that in a nine-to-five job. Start going and following your boss's life and figuring out what problems they have. I guarantee if you go and identify 10 problems that your boss seems to be having, you solve a few of those and you start scaling those solutions, you will get pay raises.
31:38You will get more opportunity. You will get pulled into the meetings. You'll get pulled into deeper networks. All of these things, all of the abundance you are after is on the other side of you solving problems that exist in the world. So good. That diminishing return concept is something I'm going to take from you. I'm going to use that actually because it's true. There's a lot of issues that come with the lack of it. But once you get some of it, that curve does begin to level off. One of the other guys that's been on the show that personally has affected me is Robin Sharma. People that listen to the show, the 800 guests are like, just picking names.
32:11But one of them is that Robin made a decision to move basically to Italy most of the year. My daughter, who's fortunate, got a chance to go study in Italy for like six weeks this last summer. And when she got back, I just want to ask you about this. She said, Daddy, obviously the greatest country in the world is the United States. for me and freedom and, and et cetera, et cetera. But she says, I'm not so sure culturally we don't have it wrong. And I said, what do you mean, honey? And again, she's in early 20s and she wants to be successful and wealthy and push it and achieve and grow. And she's of my two children.
32:43She's probably more the one who wants to go be wealthy, but she goes, daddy, like in the U S I figured it out. We just get up and go all day, exhaust ourselves, get up the next day, go all day. And she goes, you know, over there, daddy, they'll take a two or three hour lunch. And she goes, you know, the other thing I noticed way more laughter, way more joy, way more priority on friends and time and moments and memories. And not everybody works six days a week. And she said, I wonder if we're in this like matrix in the U S that is very, very unhealthy. I'm wondering if you think even where we live, who were around conditions, these thoughts, because like, you know you are who the five people are you surround yourself with if you're with five psychos all the time and you're like you know i'm gonna take a think day they're like what the heck you know i'm saying so like do you think you also have to evaluate adding someone to your circle who may not be the climber achiever one but the one who just is damn happier you you know i'm saying yeah i um it's interesting to think about it in the context of the people that you surround yourself with because it is very true that they condition your environment of people.
33:55We know this again, there is scientific evidence that the people you surround yourself with determine your outcomes. The Pygmalion effect is this behavioral phenomenon that finds that we actually rise to the level of the expectations that other people have for us. So if you surround yourself with people who think you are capable of more, who are pushing you to think bigger, who are telling you to be more creative, to create that space in your life, you will actually rise to the level of those expectations. And similarly, if you surround yourself with people who belittle you, who tell you to be realistic, you will fall to the level of those expectations.
34:28So what more reason to very carefully curate the people that you allow into your energy on a daily basis? Like, I got to be honest with you. You would be good for me. Jesse has been good for me. Robin has been good for me. Robin, a few weeks ago, goes, hey, man, you need to go ghost for a month. I'm like, well, that's easier said than done, man. I'm booked here to speak. he goes, Ed, you need to schedule a ghost month. You trust me, you will be so different. And that's where I want, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I wanted to ask you this. I have this theory, like show me your schedule. I'll kind of show you your life and the way in which you schedule things.
35:04And you talk about this in the book. So give us some hacks. Guys, we're going to go into some tactic stuff the next eight or 10 minutes here. Cause I love takeaway stuff and you have it in a very thick book full of concepts and then tactics. Schedule-wise, did you flip things where like you put your child and your wife in the schedule first and then build around? Like, is there something tactically you do in your schedule? Yeah. So what you're referring to, I absolutely love that concept. The phrasing I've always heard is, don't tell me your priorities, show me your calendar. And the reality is we make time and we create energy for the things we truly care about.
35:41But you have to actually structure them into your life. I am a big, big believer of that. If you're trying to make any progress in these areas, you have to structure it. The first tactic and actual intervention that anyone can go and do right now to get a better handle on their time and start allocating more towards what I think of as the energy creators in your life, whether that's personal or professional. The reason I talk about energy creators is because I fundamentally believe and have seen evidence over and over again in my own life and in the lives of some of the highest performers I've spent time with, that outcomes follow energy.
36:15When you lean into the things that create energy in your life, you generate the 10 ,000x outcomes that create the step function changes in your life. That applies personally and professionally. The way that you get a handle on this first is to do what I call my energy calendar. So at the start of a given week, let's say it's Monday, at the end of the day, color code your calendar from the day according to whether an activity created energy, meaning it actually lifted you up, you felt good, you felt pulled towards it, mark it green. If it was neutral, mark it yellow. And if it drained your energy, if you physically felt drained after doing it, mark it red.
36:51At the end of a week, if you do that every day, you have a very clear visual perspective on the types of activities that created energy in your life versus drained energy. And the people who created energy, first drained energy, which is arguably even more important. Because if you spend time around people who make you want to go run around the block, you're so energized after spending time with them. How I feel after this conversation, frankly. If you lean into those relationships, great things happen. And if you lean away from the ones where you feel like you need to take a shower after spending time with them, great things happen.
37:23So I would do that exercise this week. Anyone out there listening to this, just go through that color coding and develop a perspective on the types of activities. What that does, that awareness then allows you to make slow, steady changes to try to lean into the energy creators on your calendar and delegate or delete some of those energy drainers. And a lot of people push back on this. They'll say like, well, I work a nine to five. I don't have control over what activities I'm doing. The reason I push back on that assertion is because I first did this when I was working an 80 to 100 hour week finance job for someone else.
37:57And the way that I did it was simple interventions. Phone calls and Zoom meetings are unbelievably energy draining for me. And I found that when I first did it. But what I noticed was doing that same caller meeting while on a walk was energy creating. Very good. Going outside and doing it made it totally feel different. I was more focused. I was more present. I couldn't multitask. All of these reasons. So I took half my phone calls and Zoom meetings, made them into walking calls. And suddenly at the end of a week, I feel totally different about my life. I feel totally different about my work. And the outcomes of the work are much better because I showed up better on all those calls.
38:34So that's just a simple example of a way where you might not think you are in control, but you can just ask the question and pull back at that assumption a little bit. And sometimes you uncover those tiny little tricks you can go for. That's outstanding. By the way, I need to do more of that. There's a beach right out there. I could take half my calls walking on that beach just as effectively. That's really good. This episode is brought to you by Marshalls, where you never have to compromise between quality and price. The buyers of Marshalls hustle hard, working to bring you great deals on brand name and designer pieces, because Marshalls believes everyone deserves access to the good stuff.
39:11Visit a Marshalls store near you or shop online at marshalls.com.
39:21When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans, send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom's 60th, and never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end-to-end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp. Message privately with everyone. Learn more at whatsapp.com. You know, the word you used was awareness. What this conversation does today and your book, the people I believe that are the happiness are just the most self-aware, even if it's of a deficiency.
39:58It's the people who sort of live unconsciously. So they're marching towards this never-ending number of wealth. They don't even really know what it is. They're just going to keep climbing, keep climbing, keep climbing. And at some point, I just know I'm going to be happy when I get there, right? Or at some point, I'll take care of my health. At some point, I'll start yoga. At some point, and the fact is, it's just you're living habitually. You've habitually, unconsciously, unselfawarely started to live your life. And in the book, you talk about an ABC system for habit formation. This is not easy if you've lived 30 years or 40 years.
40:37You have built these neural pathways that cause you to think and behave in a particular way. And so if there's anything somebody can do, what is this ABC formula? I know what it is, but I want you to explain to them. And why is it so important to intentionally create this new habit? Like, you know, my 10 to 1 calls now are walking calls. This new habit I'm going to do. How do you do that with this ABC process? The idea here is that consistency is the key to life. We know this. You've been told this over and over again by everyone that you've heard speaking on the matter. Sure. But the reality is that very few people tell you how to be consistent.
41:14They just tell you that it's important. And the ABC system is a pathway to actually being consistent because it relies on the idea that I said earlier, which is that anything above zero compounds, you need to hold yourself to the fire in the act, but give yourself grace in the amount. Meaning hold yourself to the fire in actually doing the thing on a daily basis, but give yourself grace in the amount of the thing that you do. That's what the ABC system allows you to do. A, B, C says my A goal for a day, for the given habit that I'm trying to do, is the best case. It's the optimal case. So let's take the example of working out.
41:52I'm gonna work out for an hour. That's my A goal. When I feel great, I'm gonna do that. My B goal is gonna be 30 minutes. Like when I feel okay, when things have just gone okay, baseline case, it's gonna be 30 minutes. And then my C goal is all hell broke loose. My kid kept me up all night. I'm feeling a little under the weather. I'm just gonna go for a five-minute walk. What happens is life happens on a daily basis. And when you have only one level, when you set it up as to say, me being consistent means going to the gym for an hour, you are bound to fail because on the days when the chaos strikes, you're going to skip.
42:27You're going to miss that day. You're not going to actually show up and do the hour because that's what you've set up in your mind as consistency. The reality is the five minute walk is better than nothing. So allow yourself on the days when things go to hell to go back to the B goal or the seagull, but still get something done, still show up and check the box. So for any given system that you're trying to build, any given new habit, set an A goal, a B goal, and a seagull, and then hit one of those levels every single day. When you feel great, hit the A goal. When you feel okay, hit the B goal.
42:58And when all hell breaks loose, just hit the seagull because anything above zero compounds. Reminds me of the dimmer effect, like keep the dimmer on. You know what we should step back and do just since we're in the middle of this and we haven't done it yet. Let's tell them the different levels of wealth, like what the categories are. And then just from your perspective, for you, what has been the one most recently that you're working on if there has been one that's not quite dimmed where you want it to be? And what are you doing to brighten the light? So the five types of wealth that I cover in the book, time, wealth, the freedom to choose, how you spend your time, who you spend it with, where you spend it, when you trade it for other things.
43:36Social wealth is all about your relationships. Mental wealth is about purpose. It's about growth, and it's about creating the space necessary to actually wrestle with some of these bigger picture questions in your life. Physical wealth is about your health and vitality, and then financial wealth is money. It's the one that we know with the specific nuance of really understanding your definition of enough, what it means to have enough financially in your life. In terms of my own life, what I have sort of wrestled with, I would say recently, is the social wealth aspect. In particular, the relationships with my sort of like closest people in my world have taken a step back while I have leaned into this season of unbalance around the book launch.
44:25I fundamentally believe that the concept of balance has been hijacked. You've been told that balance is about having a perfect blend on a daily basis of life and health and relaxation and work and that if your days don't look perfectly balanced, you're all screwed up and you need to get stressed and anxious about the fact that you're unbalanced. The reality is that balance is much more about the seasons than the days. You are going to have seasons of unbalance that are in service of a future season of balance. So I have just gone through a four-month period. You know all about this, about book launches, traveling all the time, hitting the road, because it's something that I really care about.
45:04It's an idea that I believe can change people's lives, and it matters to me. That is a season of unbalance that has pulled me away from the people that I care about most in the world, my wife, my son, my parents, my sister, all of these people. I need to now swing back into that season of balance because the season of unbalance was in service of that. I need to be able to zoom out and recognize that and rebalance those dimmers. What will it look like? It would look like what I did last week, which is a full week off the grid, the ghosting week with my wife and son in Naples, Florida. Just like no podcasts, no phone calls, nothing.
45:40Just get back to the things that really matter. And then find that sort of natural point during the course of this coming year where I'm not in book launch mode. I still want to be doing the things to push the ball forward, but I'm not going to be quite as much in the like hard charging, go after every single opportunity. Is there any part of you, I want you to be candid, because these decisions that we make, they do have consequences. I mean, you walked from a life where maybe you'd be worth$30 million more right now than you currently are, even though you're a very young, successful, wealthy guy.
46:11Help someone make one of these decisions, whether it's I'm going to get my health wealth together or my time wealth or my friendship. There's an addiction to the way that you live. And so I read the book and I'm like, this is really, really good. But when I get them on, I'm going to push them. So you talk about the power of razors in the book. Maybe this will be part of that leading into that answer, the decision-making frameworks. But this idea, when you've been addicted to an idea, I'm going to be the CEO of this company. I'm going to have $10 million. I'm going to own this home. I'm going to live in this neighborhood.
46:44There's an addictive thought process. You've thought about this thousands and thousands, maybe millions of times, you actually had the courage to make a decision to go, that is no longer my dream. Is there anything, is it this Razor's concept that you would impart to somebody in addition to what we've talked about where they go, it's okay to not continue to chase this thing that you know doesn't fulfill you anymore? How would you talk to someone right now sitting there going, I'm not happy in my friendships. Or you know what? I'm not happy mentally. I'm not expressing myself or I'm not in one of these areas or four of the five I'm not happy in.
47:23Yeah. What we're talking about here is fundamentally the Pyrrhic victory, which is the idea of the victory that comes at such a steep cost to the victor that it might as well have been a defeat. The idea that you can go win the battle but lose the war. And that is the path that a lot of people are marching down. It's the person who made a billion dollars, but has four ex-wives and five children who don't talk to them anymore. And we pat that person on the back and tell them that they won the game. We celebrate them. We admire them. We write books about them. But you have to ask yourself in your own life, is that actually a game that I care to win?
48:04Or is the game that I care to win, the mountain that I care to climb, completely different than And what I've been told is the successful mountain. That is what this entire book, this entire idea is about. Identifying the things that you truly care about. The mountain that you actually want to climb. Not the one that the world has told you. Not the one that your friends, not the one that social media has told you. But what you actually care about. Because we live in this speed-obsessed culture and society. Everything is about how fast can you go from here to here. How fast can I get promoted? How fast can I make X million dollars?
48:37How fast can I get Forbes 30 under 30 or whatever the thing is? And as you get older and as you zoom out on your life, you recognize that life is much more about direction than speed. It's so much more important to climb slowly up the right mountain than to climb fast up the wrong one. Over and over and over again, we see people make that mistake. So zoom out on your life. Measure for the much bigger picture war, the five types of wealth rather than just the one. because when you measure the right things, you can start taking the right actions. You make decisions in line with that bigger picture measurement so you can win the battle.
49:15You can make money. You can do well. You can achieve your ambitions, but you can also make sure you're winning the bigger picture war. I'm just listening to you thinking, you're 34, right? 34. Yeah, just amazing. Next up is a little song from CarMax about selling a car your way. You want to sell those wheels. You want to get a CarMax instant offer. So fast.
49:38Or like a month?
49:43With OfferWatch.
49:51So, want to drive? CarMax. Pickup not available everywhere. Restrictions and fee may apply. You guys, I just want you to know, he's right. You should really be auditing these types of wealth. I'll tell you how I know. I'll share something with you and then I'll ask you another question. I speak 100 nights a year probably. And when I speak, I get introduced. And they usually introduce you with your resume. You know, like he was the wealthiest under 50, 50-year-old and this or that or the other thing. And when someone reads me my bio now, usually what should I say to introduce you? I just say, here's it.
50:30Because these bios are meaningless to me now. and what I mean by that is all of the things that are read about me when I get introduced to speak are all things that I thought I wanted when I was younger, and now when they're read, they're by and large meaningless to me and almost embarrassing. Now, I think there's an element of that that you must live certain things before you know whether they're for you. I think we all can be spoiled with riches to some extent as well, so I factor that in, but what I can tell you is flash forward 25 years from now and they're reading your bio out and you've achieved these things you think you want right now.
51:09I can tell you from personal experience, the best thing you could say when you introduce me is this is a good man of faith, a good dad, a good brother, a good husband, a good person, a good friend. That's very rarely read. I can't say that all of those years that I was as present as a father as I wanted to be. And so just realize guys, that resume, you'll probably get it someday. Make sure it's exactly what you want it to be and live intentionally about it. Have you heard on that exact point? I'm sorry to interrupt you. It's so related. David Brooks, the author, talks about the difference between resume virtues and eulogy virtues.
51:49Resume virtues are those things that they read off your resume. The accolades, the achievements, the titles, all of those things. Eulogy virtues are the things that they're going to read about you at your funeral. It's a good man of faith. It's a father. It's a husband. It's a good friend, a loyal friend. There is an incessant quest in our culture to build the resume virtues. And sometimes those resume virtues get built at the expense of the eulogy virtues. It's okay to build resume virtues. They're great. It's great to have ambitions around those things, but not if it means sacrificing the eulogy virtues, because we know that at the end, those are the things that truly matter.
52:26Those are the things that are going to define your wealthy life. Your wealthy life may be enabled by money, by these resume virtues, but it will be defined by everything else. That's one of the best things said on the show in a really long time. Resume virtues, eulogy virtues. That's one of my favorite things ever. By the way, everyone, I want to say one thing, and I say this to me too. Don't beat yourself up. A lot of good has come from the decisions, whatever path you've been on. My children got great educations. My wife was able to stay at home and be the best friend to my children because of the sacrifices I've made.
52:59No one in my family has ever had to wonder whether they were going to have a roof over their head or their health covered or anything like that. So there are things in your life you've done that you really deserve credit for, but you're also allowed to take a pause like today and listen to these two men talking and reevaluate and rethink and recalibrate. Is it still what you want? Is it still what you want? Is it what you want five years from now? And I think this whole redefining wealth ideas is is so critical in life not to live so just down the culture and live unconsciously i want to open end the last question for i don't usually do that in my interviews but i want to do it with you because there's so many things in the book by the way instead of just saying it at the end it's the five types of wealth everybody okay sahil bloom and a transformative guide to design your dream life why not take the time to do that start to design your dream life if you're a person faith in concert with God.
53:50Pray about it and list him as your partner. I wanted to ask you, if someone ran into you at Starbucks today, they go, hey, I heard you on the Ed Milet show. I got a lot out of it. I still don't feel wealthy. I still don't feel wealthy. And I'm not exactly sure what my next move should be to begin that dimmer being turned up a little bit. Other than what you had covered the first 55 minutes with Ed Milet, what would you add that they didn't cover in the interview that you can now cover in the interview to help them move towards the five types of wealth and designing that dream life? We talked about awareness earlier as the starting point for all of these things.
54:30You need to create an awareness of where you are on your journey today. Create that understanding of your baseline that you can actually go build against. The book has this idea of a wealth score. These five statements within each of the five types of wealth that allow you to establish a baseline for how you're doing from your perspective in these different areas. That gives you a frame of reference for what you actually need to start building upon. Each section then has guides of things that you can do within any of these one areas. The most important piece to all of that is to just go do something.
55:06We live in a world where people are getting their dopamine from information gathering rather than from action. And that is one of the most dangerous drugs, dopamine from information gathering. That is the dopamine that you get when you read Atomic Habits and you say, I'm good at habits now. But you haven't done anything yet. You haven't actually taken action on the thing. And so the one thing I would say to anyone that reads this book, who listens to the conversation, go do one tiny thing. It could be as simple as like call your mom for two minutes today. Go out on that five minute walk. Do the think day.
55:42Do the energy calendar. Pick one of the things we talked about and actually go and act on it. It might take five minutes. That's the only investment. But the momentum from that one tiny action is fundamentally what could change your life. And over and over again, the one thing that I will just say to close, because I think it's such an important concept, is a story from my own life that I'll share, which is recent. I was in my office and I was working on something for this book launch. So focused, really locked in. And my son, two and a half year old, barges in through my office door and just starts knocking things over, terrorizing my office, two and a half year old.
56:19And I started having this whole train of thought, very negative, complaining, why is he in here? Why is he doing this? Doesn't he see I'm working? Doesn't he know that I'm focus. And in that moment, I paused and I snapped myself back to five years ago when my wife and I were struggling to conceive for two years. I had prayed every single night that we would one day have a healthy child. And there I was in that moment complaining about the exact thing that I had prayed for. And it was a reminder to me of a very important fact, which is sometimes in life, the things you pray for become the things that you complain about if you let them.
57:04If you don't force yourself to pause, to stop, to recognize that sometimes you are quite literally living out your prayers. Oh, you finished with me on that one, bro. That's the best story of the entire interview. This was unbelievable conversation. You're going to be invited back on this show, brother. And you'll still be a lot younger than me every time you show up. Sahil Bloom, you guys, this is the five types of wealth. And this was an extraordinary conversation. You're an extraordinary man. And you're making a difference in the world. Your dad's very, very, very proud of you, brother. I can promise you that.
57:38Thank you so much. All right, everybody, share today's episode. God bless you. Max out. This is the Ed Myland Show.
From the publisher
Are You Climbing the Right Mountain?
What if the life you’re chasing isn’t the life you actually want?
In this conversation, I sat down with Sahil Bloom—someone who’s not only full of wisdom well beyond his years but has the guts to question everything we’ve been told about success. You’ll hear how Sahil traded the “dream” job, the big checks, and the societal applause for a life that actually meant something to him. He’s not just talking theory—he lived this. And together, we unpack what it means to redefine wealth in a way that includes all the parts of your life that truly matter.
This episode is packed with real talk about time, health, relationships, mental clarity, and yes—money. Sahil breaks down his Five Types of Wealth and gets brutally honest about why chasing only one can cost you everything else. I loved what he said: “Sometimes the things you pray for become the things you complain about, if you’re not paying attention.” That hit me hard—and I know it will hit you too.
We also talk about how to actually make changes in your life. Not the fluffy stuff. Real, actionable tools—like how to schedule energy-giving activities, reframe your relationship with money, and audit your time to reflect your true values. We get into how to stay consistent with new habits, even when life is chaotic, using Sahil’s ABC system that anyone can implement today.
Look, this is one of those conversations that might just shift the direction of your life. Don’t listen passively. Evaluate where you are. Take the action. Because if you’re climbing the wrong mountain fast, you’re still going the wrong way.
Key Takeaways:
Why financial wealth is only one part of the equation—and how to identify the other four.
The concept of “anything above zero compounds” and how it reshapes consistency.
Why time is your most valuable currency—and how to design more of it.
The dimmer switch model for life balance (and why the on/off switch ruins your future).
The Think Day ritual: how one hour of reflection can realign your life’s direction.
Let this be your pause. Let this be your moment to check in. Because maybe, just maybe—you’re already living out your prayers.
Max out.
👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈
→ → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ←
➡️ INSTAGRAM
➡️FACEBOOK
➡️ LINKEDIN
➡️ X
➡️ WEBSITE
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
